BusinessMirror September 24, 2023

‘AN ALLY TILL THE END’

No

By Rex Anthony Naval

This was after Indo-Pacific Command chief Admiral John Aquilino and Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. on Thursday, September 14, said that they are both recommending increasing the number of Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites in the country. Th e two officials issued the statement shortly after the annual Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board (MDB-SEB) meeting held in Camp Aguinaldo, Que -

zon City, last week.

“General Brawner and I may make recommendations to our senior leaders for the consideration of additional sites, but there is still work to do there before we get to that answer,” Aquilino said.

Aquilino added that both he and Brawner will talk to their “bosses” about the matter and these senior leaders will be the ones making the decisions on whether to go ahead with having these additional EDCA sites in the Philippines.

He did not give an exact timetable on when these recommendations will be operationalized, but revealed that 63 more projects have been agreed for construction in the nine EDCA sites earlier approved by the two countries.

These will be added to the 32 projects earlier allocated.

Aquilino emphasized that the US has also had an “investment of $110 million to those sites to build capability capacity for the AFP to use every day and for the United States to fall in on when invited.”

The five initial EDCA sites are the Cesar Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga; Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation in Nueva Ecija; Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro; Antonio Bautista Air Base in Puerto Princesa, Palawan; and Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu.

The four additional are the Naval Base Camilo Osias in Santa Ana, Cagayan; Lal-lo Airport in Lal-lo, Cagayan; Camp Melchor dela Cruz in Gamu, Isa-

bela; and Balabac Island in Palawan. These locations strengthen the interoperability of the US and Philippine militaries, enabling the forces to respond more seamlessly together to address a range of shared challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.

500 military activities slated for 2024

AS this developed, the recently concluded MDB-SEB between the Philippines and the US saw both parties agreeing to conduct “over 500 activities” for next year.

During the meeting, US and Philippine military leaders agreed to over 500 joint activities scheduled for 2024 to include exercises, high-level exchanges between the allied nations and capability building in maritime security, combatting terrorism and transnational crimes, cybersecurity, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and many other national security interests.

The number of participating troops and assets from both sides was not revealed for security reasons.

“ These underscore the continued partnership and collaboration between the Philippines and the United States in enhancing national defense capabilities, as well as the shared commitment to regional security and disaster response efforts,” Brawner said.

He added that this signifies the AFP’s commitment to further strengthen cooperation with its US counterparts, ensuring that both militaries are equipped and well prepared to respond to evolving security challenges.

The successful completion of the MDB-SEB furthers cooperation between the US and the Philippines and renews their shared commitment to the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty and the joint pursuit of a free and open IndoPacific region against a backdrop of a rules-based international order.

The MDB was established in 1958

and the SEB was established in 2006. The two boards form the framework that directs and enables defense and security cooperation between the US and Philippine militaries.

Footing the EDCA bill

AS this developed, Brawner clarified that the Philippine government also spends for the development of the EDCA sites as these are located in its existing camps and bases.

Let me also add that when we talk about EDCA sites, these are [located within] existing Philippine camps or bases, we are just opening this up for shared use with our counterpart with our only ally the United States because we believe that doing certain things together would bring more value; some of these EDCA sites would be designed specifically for joint training,” he added. And while the US is spending for the development of these sites with the construction of several projects, the Philippines is also doing the same to make these facilities sustainable for Filipino personnel.

On track

MEANWHILE, Brawner and Aquilino appreciated the steady progress being made in the development of the projects under the EDCA during their visit to Cagayan on September 13.

Aside from the two, US Ambassador Marykay Carlson also joined the inspection trip in Lal-lo Airport and Naval Base Camilo Osias in Cagayan, as well as Basa Air Base in Pampanga.

The work that [General Brawner’s] team has done in coordination with our team to further advance capabilities here in the Philippines is truly impressive. We’re very pleased. I was here a year ago, and the progress of the runway and all the sites is moving at a great pace, thanks to our strong partnership,” Aquilino said.

Meanwhile, Brawner expressed optimism that more of the projects will become operational by next year to support joint exercises and operations.

“We are very pleased with the progress of these projects, and we are

THE Americans might not have categorically answered on how they will back up their avowed “ironclad commitment” to the Philippines in the wake of the ongoing tensions with China in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), but they will certainly maintain a larger presence in the country in the coming months.

Mutual Defense Board revision ‘for now,’ but US assures bigger presence in the Philippines with 500 military exercises in ’24

AN aerial view of Lal-lo Airport is seen in Cagayan province, on August 3, 2023. The Lal-lo Airport is one of the additional sites for the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States. JAM STA. ROSA/POOL PHOTO VIA AP

GEN. Charles Flynn, left, Commanding General USARPAC, shakes hands with Philippine Army Commanding Gen., Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner during a “Balikatan” joint military exercise at Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, April 13, 2023. This year’s Balikatan exercises between the treaty allies are the largest since the two sides started joint military combat-readiness exercises in the early 1990s. AP/AARON FAVILA

ADMIRAL John C. Aquilino, left, Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, at Clark Air Base, Pampanga, on March 20, 2022. AP/AARON FAVILA

Taiwan’s former top cop wants China talks if voted president

By Scarlet Fu and Jennifer Creery Bloomberg News

The 66-year-old’s decades-long career, which saw him work his way up from a police officer to become Taiwan’s top law enforcement official, is a core part of the image he’s projecting ahead of the election in January 2024. Hou’s pitch is simple. His time working as a cop in very high-stakes situations makes him the best choice to manage one of the world’s mostdangerous geopolitical hot spots as Taiwan’s next president.

I have participated in countless gun battles and I always stood on the front line,” Hou said during an interview in New York on Saturday. “Facing down opponents in a hostage situation teaches you that whether you’re on the offensive or the defensive, you must also engage in dialogue and negotiations.”

He has a lot of work to do. Polling

by broadcaster TVBS in August put Hou, running as the candidate of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), in third place with 19 percent support. Lai Ching-te, the nominee for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was in the lead with 30 percent, followed by Ko Wenje, who’s running as the candidate of a party he founded in 2019. Billionaire founder of Foxconn Group Terry Gou, who Hou defeated for the KMT nomination, is running as an independent and polling in fourth.

Open lines of communications

IN addition to being cool under pressure, Hou’s campaign has also argued that he’d be able to open lines of communication with Beijing, something current president Tsai Ing-wen, also a member of the DPP, hasn’t been able to do since she first took office in 2016.

The main stumbling block to dialogue over the past eight years has been an understanding between the two sides known as the “92 Consensus,” which essentially says that Taiwan is part of China. Beijing has insisted that Tsai, like her predecessor, must first affirm the 92 Consensus before there can be talks. Tsai and Lai, who currently serve as her vice president, have both said that isn’t something they’ll do, suggesting if Lai were to win that the communications freeze would continue.

Ko, running as the nominee of the Taiwan People’s Party, said in an interview earlier this month that he wouldn’t outright reject the 92 Consensus in order to keep the door open for talks with Beijing, even though he felt there was “no market” for the understanding among the island’s population. Gou has indicated he’d affirm the 92 Consensus.

A sked in New York if he saw any value in the 92 Consensus, Hou responded that he has “the responsibility to protect the lives of 23 million people and to ensure the sustainable

prosperity of this land. This is my responsibility.”

A few days after that interview, which took place as part of a US trip that also included stops in Washington DC and San Francisco, Hou published an article in Foreign Affairs magazine that affirmed his support of the understanding. “I support the 1992 Consensus, the approach to cross-strait dialogue agreed to by Taiwanese officials and counterparts from the mainland,” he wrote.

The relationship with China is the top issue facing Taiwan’s voters. Beijing, which considers the island a part of its territory, has pledged to take control of Taiwan, by force if necessary. With the US having long been the guarantor of the island’s security, that’s fueled concerns about a potential military conflict between the world’s biggest economies.

Military build up

IN addition to dialogue, Hou also stressed that he’d seek to bolster Taiwan’s military capabilities by increasing

defense spending to more than 2.5 percent of gross domestic product. He said he was open to spending increasing to 3 percent or more of GDP, though emphasized the need to spend wisely because of the disparity in military budgets between Taiwan and China.

“No matter how the mainland changes, we must be prepared and we must have strength,” Hou said. “Sun Tzu’s Art of War said: ‘Don’t rely on the enemy not coming, rely on me being prepared to wait for him.’”

As Hou was traveling in the US, where he met with members of the US Congress as well as State Department and national security officials, China’s People’s Liberation Army sent a record 103 warplanes and nine ships into the vicinity of Taiwan through Sunday and into the early hours of Monday. Those sorties coincided with visits to Taipei by US Undersecretary of Commerce Laurie Locascio and the governors of Arizona and New Mexico. Beijing has long protested visits by American officials to the island.

The current state of ties across the Taiwan Strait are a far cry from where they were eight years ago, during the final days of the last KMT president’s term in office. Then-President Ma Yingjeou traveled to Singapore in November 2015 for a historic face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Since, there has been a US-China trade war, a global pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a series of American sanctions that have cut off Beijing’s access to advanced semiconductors.

Asked if he’d seek a meeting with Xi as Ma did, Hou downplayed the possibility. What is most needed now, he said, was stability in the relationship.

To do that, Taiwan has to first improve its own defense capabilities and then to seek dialog with Beijing.

The situation at that time was completely different from how things are now,” Hou said. “At this stage, Taiwan is facing constant conflicts, and it would be easy to spark a conflict accidentally and trigger a war. We must be prepared to face a conflict that could trigger a full-on war at any time.”

‘AN ALLY TILL THE END’

Continued from A1

highly optimistic that next year, more of these projects will be operational, allowing us to engage in joint exercises and operations immediately,” the AFP chief said.

Both military officials said all EDCA sites are sovereign Philippine territory and added that all future projects will undergo vetting by the Philippine government for consideration in future operations and mutual benefit.

Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro Jr. earlier said there is a need to expedite the development of all nine EDCA sites, which are set up for logistical purposes.

“ The EDCA is purely a logistical site of the United States to help us speed up operational tempo and response; these are non-offensive,” Teodoro explained.

He, however, clarified those Filipino assets that will be deployed or positioned in EDCA sites “are Philippine national security items for our territorial defense.”

US aircraft operating with PHL forces

MEANWHILE, Brawner said there is nothing alarming about seeing US military aircraft operating aside from Filipino units.

If you are referring to the airplanes that [were] seen during the resupply missions, let me tell you that this is nothing new. During the Marawi Siege we also received the same kind of technical support from our ally, the United States, and even our partner, the Australian Defense Force,” he stressed. Brawner was referring to the US

Navy P-8 “Poseidon” maritime patrol aircraft seen overhead during the two recent resupply missions to Filipino troops aboard the BRP Sierra Madre (LS57) in the Ayungin Shoal, WPS.

And in the case of the Marawi Siege, which ran from May to October 2017, the AFP chief said that the “technical assistance” received from these aircraft was “critical in identifying the position of the Maute ISIS.”

He added that this also allows the AFP to be very precise in its targeting.

If you recall even our former President then gave the order for us to be very precise in our airstrike operations; we were given the restriction of not hitting mosques, for instance, and other facilities like hospitals and schools, so with the technical help that we were receiving from the United States and Australia, these made our operations even more effective,” Brawner noted.

Same rule for PHL, US warships

AQUILINO emphasized that it is usual for Philippine and US warships to patrol jointly as the militaries of the two nations are allies and have been operating together for many years.

“ The Philippines and the United States have been operating together for decades, so under the title of joint patrols, just recently on the 4th of September, we executed the first one that was aligned, designed, and built by General Brawner’s team and my team executed with approval from our leaders,” he added.

Aquilino said such operations would continue to ensure that freedom of the seas and peace can be maintained.

“And we’ll continue to do that for a long term, ultimately to ensure that we can maintain the freedom of the seas, freedom of airspace so that all the nations in the region can enjoy peace and prosperity,” he noted.

On September 4, Filipino and American warships conducted a “bilateral sail” in waters off the western part of Palawan province.

The activity highlights the “robust maritime cooperation” between the two nations.

The activity is done under the MDB-SEB framework that aims to develop operational interoperability between the navies of the two countries,” the AFP said in an earlier statement.

The AFP deployed the Navy’s guided-missile frigate, BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), while the US Navy deployed the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, the USS Ralph Johnson (DDG114).

The AFP chief earlier said the successful conduct of this year’s MDB-SEB affirmed the steadfast commitment of the Philippines and the United States in safeguarding the country and the IndoPacific Region.

“I am pleased to stand before you following the successful conclusion of the MDB-SEB meeting. The meeting was marked by fruitful discussions and strategic collaboration, reaffirming the steadfast commitment of the Philippines and the United States in safeguarding our nation and the IndoPacific Region,” he added.

In line with this, the AFP expressed its commitment to “addressing the dynamic and evolving challenges that confront our nation’s security.”

Dialogue would make Taiwan safer by reducing the potential for misunderstanding and would also improve business links with the island’s biggest trading partner, Hou’s team have argued.

ONE thing Hou Yu-ih wants

Taiwan’s voters to know about him as they prepare to elect a new president is that he used to be a great cop.

The World

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Monaco bankers face trial with client linked to ‘Mafia Capitale’

By Gaspard Sebag, Anthony Cormier & Sergio Di Pasquale

INSIDE three of Monaco’s private banks, an Italian businessman had become a valuable client.

At Banque Havilland, authorities say a manager suggested “quietly” storing money in a safe deposit box rather than a regular account after too many €150,000 cash drops. A short walk away, an Edmond de Rothschild employee told investigators that he saw Fabrizio Amore enter the office near Port Hercule with a bag full of banknotes and walk out emptyhanded. At Societe Generale, officials reportedly discovered the man had two boxes in the vault stuffed with nearly €800,000 in currency, $474,000 in diamonds and 132 watches.

Now, six bankers face a criminal trial in the city-state on the Mediterranean Sea, where some are charged with helping Amore launder money and others are accused of failing to alert the government about suspicious transactions. The allegations and order for the group to stand trial, reported here for the first time, are based an 88-page judicial document seen by Bloomberg News. It shows that the investigation began in 2015 and formal charges were first brought in 2016, and that authorities spoke with dozens of witnesses and obtained e-mails, account statements and audio recordings.

Even as the Monaco bankers welcomed Amore, police in Italy were investigating him. For years, gangsters and builders had bribed and threatened politicians in the city of Rome to win contracts for municipal construction projects and services. Known as the Mafia Capitale case, the investigation led to about 80 arrests and its tentacles extended across the country, unearthing corruption in housing, garbage collection and even park maintenance, Italian prosecutors alleged in court filings.

Amore was named as a suspect in the Mafia Capitale case in June 2015, according to a court document filed by an Italian judge. He was not formally charged in that case, however, but Monaco authorities say Italian detectives mounted a “parallel” investigation into Amore’s dealings with the city of Rome. Italian law enforcement discovered that he was involved in an allegedly rigged contract to renovate the “Julius Caesar” wing of the building where the city council meets, according to the Monaco document.

An attorney for Amore, Giorgio Martellino, told Bloomberg in an emailed statement that “he was acquitted in the proceeding” of the Julius Caesar case. Three people with direct knowledge of the matter said the case is ongoing; one of them said that one count, for bid rigging, had been dropped. The people asked not to be named because details of the case are not public. The next hearing is scheduled for November, the people said.

In March, Italian authorities announced they had seized €60 million from the businessman’s bank accounts after financial police in Rome said they believed he had developed a 30-year scheme to “obtain illicit profits” and that his assets were “completely disproportionate to the declared income.” Martellino said that the

Trillion-dollar industry that powers Chicago may pack up and leave city

By Isis Almeida

THE letters are stamped all over the hallways of Chicago’s giant skyscrapers and grand office buildings.

DRW, IMC, CME, Cboe. These are some of the derivatives firms that collectively handle trillions of dollars a year in trades, greasing the wheels of global markets with everything from stock options to corn futures. Most of them have called Chicago home for decades—providing thousands of jobs within the city’s $75 billion finance industry.

Now, the firms’ commitment to the Windy City is being tested by some $800 million in taxes proposed by a new mayor staring down a budget gap that’s swelled to half a billion dollars. One idea is a levy on financial transactions, which has alarmed companies already worried about a jump in crime that shows few signs of abating.

Behind the scenes, market makers and exchanges are working together to press their case with policymakers, with firms that typically compete with each other sharing data to help explain their economic benefits to Chicago. While executives haven’t explicitly threatened to leave, in private conversations it’s clear they will consider quitting the city if crime remains an issue and the financial transaction tax passes.

“We don’t want to leave,” said Ed Tilly, the chief executive officer of Cboe Global Markets Inc., the firm behind Wall Street’s so-called “fear gauge,” the VIX. “But we cannot be in a position where we are disadvantaged in the most competitive markets in the world, where our competitors don’t face the same economics that we would.”

The city is in a tough spot. Officials are projecting a $538 million budget deficit next year, with spending pressured by inflation and a surge in asylum seekers who have arrived in Chicago with no money or means of support.

The derivatives industry, home to some of the most profitable businesses in the city, is a tempting target to plug that gap.

Just CME Group Inc. and Cboe, the two firms that are publicly traded, had combined adjusted income of more than $3.6 billion last year.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office said

that no decision has been made on a transactions tax and the administration is open to dialogue with businesses. Jason Lee, a senior adviser, noted that Chicago has a diversified economy and “we are lucky we don’t depend on a single industry.”

“We know the financial transaction one has been highly debated and there may be merit in that, but we look forward to that debate,” he said. “What the mayor has said is that solutions cannot disproportionately impact the working and middle class of our city.”

The threat of new taxes comes at a tricky time for the city. Any firm mulling over a move would likely get a friendly reception from economic development officials in Texas, Florida or other Sun Belt states that have seen a wave of relocations since the start of the pandemic. New York and California have each lost companies that managed close to $1 trillion of assets.

The exodus from Chicago hasn’t been as severe, but the city suffered a reputational blow last year when finance billionaire Ken Griffin moved his Citadel business to Miami, citing out-of-control violent crime and chronic budget problems that plague the state.

Months later, Johnson, a progressive Democrat, surprised pundits by beating incumbent Lori Lightfoot in the mayor’s race. Crime was a top issue—with incidents reported to the police up 54 percent since 2019—and he ran on a pledge to invest $1 billion to make a “safer and stronger city.”

But in the midst of the campaign, Johnson promised not to raise property taxes, a pledge he stuck to in his 2024 budget proposal released September 13. That’s left him very limited options for coming up with the money.

One of his campaign proposals would generate $20 million annually by reinstating a $4 per employee tax on big businesses. An additional $100 million could come from raising the levy on high-end property purchases—the kinds of homes bought by wealthy finance workers.

Most importantly for the derivatives industry, Johnson has floated seeking another $100 million with a levy of $1 to $2 for every securities contract traded. That would boost costs by as much as 800 percent, according to CME.

100 days

SOME levies might be more palatable if there were encouraging signs the city is moving in the right direction, but just over 100 days into his administration, Johnson has yet to corral crime, with robberies up 24 percent and vehicle theft almost doubling this year even as murders fell 10 percent.

While Johnson’s proposal to slap a socalled mansion tax on sales of homes worth more than $1 million is likely headed for a referendum, he’s been quiet on the headcount tax and the financial transaction levy. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who would need to approve a transactions levy, opposes the idea, saying he’s worried “it would be easy for those companies and servers to move out of the state.”

Packing up and leaving isn’t as hard as it used to be in the heydays of trading floors, when dealers wearing colorful jackets roamed the streets of Chicago and shouted orders at each other in the city’s infamous pits.

Trading has moved to electronic screens.

And the computer servers where transactions are matched can be easily relocated elsewhere to potentially dodge the tax. In fact, Cboe’s servers are already in New Jersey.

Ralph M. Martire, executive director at the nonpartisan Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, says the mayor is in a tough spot as he tries to shore up the city’s finances.

Johnson “is recognizing that the city of Chicago can’t continue to operate with its current revenue stream,” Martire said, adding that keeping property taxes steady is, however, untenable.

As the city looks to boost revenue, Chicago businesses perceive they’re under attack from politicians hostile to wealth, according to Justin Marlowe, a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.

The sense is “this is all part of a larger trend, a view among the emerging dominant force in Chicago politics that there’s a lot of money to be taken out of the pockets of wealthy folks and big business,” Marlowe

said. He added it’s in the industry’s best interest to showcase its contributions to the city.

Top of mind

CHICAGO’S derivatives industry started in the late 1800s, when what’s now known as CME was founded as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board—an agricultural commodities exchange. The city’s position in the heart of the Midwest was key. After all, Illinois is still today the only state where all major freight railways meet.

Over the years, former employees of the exchange left to start their own firms. The derivatives industry now employs some 58,800 people in Illinois, expanding 19 percent over the past decade. That trounces the state’s overall employment growth of 5.9 percent in that span.

Real estate boom

THE industry has also been a boon for commercial real estate. While corporate downsizing since the pandemic has left parts of downtown hollowed out, 60 percent of the trading companies that have signed leases since 2020 have expanded their footprint in the city, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.

The Chicago firms that are sharing information in an informal group include Cboe, market makers Optiver Holding and IMC Trading, as well as DRW Holdings, best known for high frequency trading. They want Johnson to know that the economic benefits could be at risk if rampant crime makes it too hard to recruit talent or a transaction levy puts the industry at a disadvantage to peers including Intercontinental Exchange Inc. in Atlanta and Nasdaq in New York.

A spokesperson for CME CEO Terry Duffy, who isn’t part of the group but has shared similar concerns in the past, said he has had a “very productive” meeting with the mayor. Johnson often speaks of an economic vision for the city that seeks to address inequality and past injustices. Lee, his senior adviser, said the mayor looks forward to discussing his proposals with the derivatives firms. With assistance from Alex Tanzi, Linly Lin and Shruti Date Singh/Bloomberg)

The World

Ukrainian brigade’s battle ‘through hell’ to reclaim village on the way to Bakhmut

By Mstyslav Chernov & Lori Hinnant The Associated Press

Monaco bankers face trial with client linked to ‘Mafia Capitale’

Continued from A3

seizure case “will certainly be annulled as totally unfounded.”

In Monaco, Amore, 66, is accused of money laundering and providing forged documents to banks. Martellino said that Amore’s deposits in Monaco “are entirely lawful sums” that “had been duly declar ed to the Italian state” with the “relevant taxes paid.”

Two of the Monaco bankers—one who worked at a Mediobanca unit and another at Banque Havilland—face money-laundering charges. The four others are alleged to have failed to report suspicious transactions while holding compliance roles at Banque Havilland and Edmond de Rothschild. The banks themselves haven’t faced prosecution and, while Societe Generale also held some of Amore’s funds, none of its staff members were accused of wrongdoing.

A spokesperson for Banque Havilland said the institution “has fully cooperated with the relevant authorities in their investigation and rejects any allegation of wrongdoing.” Representatives from Edmond de Rothschild, Societe Generale and Mediobanca declined to comment.

Scathing report

Courier knew the platoon’s orders were to move forward through the forest, on the road to Bakhmut. He hesitated for 30 seconds near his mortally wounded commander. Maybe a minute. Then he decided: There would be no turning back. “Forward!” he howled.

He fired toward a trench just ahead until he was sure the Russians inside would never shoot again. Then the men stumbled through the charred spindles of trees toward the village of Andriivka—the objective of the 3rd Assault Brigade since the start of Ukraine’s counteroffensive this summer, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) south of the city of Bakhmut.

The sergeant, Gagarin, and other injured soldiers could only be evacuated after dark, because the Russians were also hunting downed Ukrainians. Days later, as he prepared for Gagarin’s funeral, Courier predicted his own future, his pale eyes unfocused.

“This forest is taking our friends away, and this is the worst,” he said. “And when I think about how far we still need to move forward ... most likely someday I will be the one to remain lying in the forest, and my friends will just go forward.”

This stretch of dead forest— a couple dozen trees wide and a mile (2 kilometers) long—toward the equally dead village of Andriivka is one of countless like it on the road to Russian-controlled Bakhmut, which has now taken on huge symbolic significance in the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The Associated Press spent two weeks with the brigade for an intimate glimpse into the speed, direction and cost of the counteroffensive, through scenes witnessed in the forest and at rest, in helmet camera footage and drone video.

A lot rides on their progress.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is making his country’s case to Washington and to the world this week for more money and more weapons, and must persuade his audience that the counteroffensive is working. The US Congress is currently weighing President Joe Biden’s request to provide as much as $24 billion more in military and humanitarian aid.

In an interview with “60 Minutes,” Zelenskyy acknowledged the counteroffensive was slow, but added, “It is important that we are moving forward every day and liberating territory.” A study earlier this month by the Royal United Service Institute, a London-based think-tank, found that Ukrainian forces are averaging 700-1,200 meters of progress every five days. That gives Russian forces time to dig in and especially to mine territory as they pull back.

The 3rd Assault Brigade, composed entirely of volunteers and considered one of Ukraine’s best and most experienced corps, has been fighting almost nonstop in the east since January, while

less-experienced units received new training and modern weapons to fight in the south. The AP is identifying the men by their call signs, which is both how they identify each other and a military requirement to report in-depth on the unit.

Bakhmut fell to Russia in May, largely due to waves of attacks from mercenary Wagner fighters, including prison conscripts thought to have died by the hundreds. Ukraine has been trying to reclaim it ever since, hoping to deal a major psychological blow to Russia.

But the soldiers sent to carry out the task are relying on largely Soviet-era armored vehicles and older weapons. In the past month, the 3rd Assault Brigade had only been able to move a mile (2 kilometers), crossing mines and booby-trapped trenches and dodging artillery, drone-launched grenades and Russian forces within shouting distance.

The questions now facing them were the same ones facing their country: Would they succeed, and at what cost?

Andriivka was their goal, as important as any strip of land in Ukraine. And on September 6, the day Courier left his commander’s body behind, he and his men took over a trash-strewn trench in the middle of the forest and held it for four full days. On either side of them were mined fields that once grew wheat and now sprout only craters.

During moments of rest, he leafed through a diary, written longhand by a Russian soldier: “I’ve been at war for four weeks already and I miss my mom,” Courier read.

Courier asked one of the Russian prisoners who surrendered what he knew about the diary. The Russian replied, “I don’t know. I just got here today.”

Maybe the author was the Russian whose body Courier propped up to protect himself from incoming fire. Or maybe he was one of the Russians who had shot Gagarin and been killed in turn a few minutes later. Courier didn’t know.

But by then, Gagarin was dead. And the forest kept claiming others.

Shepherd, who was wounded in the leg in the morning and had to wait hours for evacuation from the battlefield, was a mask of pain. Chapa too. A grenade struck Spaniard’s helmet, and the resulting head injury would leave him helpless. Gary had no obvious injuries but was so shell-shocked he could barely make it through a conversation.

Courier would go to western Ukraine and represent the platoon at Gagarin’s funeral. Gagarin, ironically named for the Russian cosmonaut who was the first human in space, was buried in his hometown of Polonne, a 550-mile (900-kilometer) drive from the battlefield.

As military pallbearers walked uphill toward the churchyard,

residents along the way stopped and knelt to honor the dead along flower-lined roads. One of the men carrying the casket remarked on the view from the village cemetery.

“I’ve done this 56 times,” he said grimly. Social media feeds from the brigade show dozens of funeral announcements since the counteroffensive began.

Gagarin’s mother sought out Courier, who was among the last to see her son alive. But he finds it hard to talk to civilians these days.

“I feel like there is a gap between civilians and us now,” he said. “When the war is over, I will probably just leave to fight elsewhere.”

For Courier, war is complicated. He says he enjoys the dopamine rush, when he leaves the “horrible grinder,” comes back to headquarters and jumps down from the armored vehicle.

“You look at the sky and you look around, and you understand that you’re alive and nothing can kill you,” he said. “This is the moment. This is a feeling you cannot get anywhere else in life.”

And yet he did not want to return to the strip of forest leading to Andriivka. His commanders ordered him to take 10 days’ leave, a break for a fighter whose anguish they sensed despite his outward calm. He would take the time to go fishing and clear his head.

“Unfortunately, I’m only able to leave after going through hell,” he said bitterly.

On the day of the funeral, September 13, any man whole enough to fight was in the forest, including another sergeant in the platoon, Fedya. On September 5, Fedya had been lightly wounded by a cluster munition, and the injury may have saved his life. Gagarin took his place in the assault, and that was the day he died.

The last push started on September 14. Men from other depleted units from the 3rd Assault Brigade joined in for the usual three- to four-day stint on the battlefield. After two months of inching their way forward through the stand of ash trees, maybe they would finally break through the woods to Andriivka.

“How many more lives do we need to give?” Fedya asked. “How many more forests are there?”

Fedya sees war as something to be perfected through a combination of study and experience.

A 24-year-old with a smooth and unlined face, he wears his authority lightly, introspective but with little time or energy to spare on s elf-doubt or guilt. He dreams of war, and when he wakes, it is there waiting for him to move forward.

“War is a science, and you have to get better at it and study. If you don’t, you have no chance of survival,” said Fedya. “The smarter you are, the more qualified you are, the better your chances of coming

back alive.”

On September 14, they finally did it—more than three months after receiving the order to reclaim Andriivka. They broke through the shelling and the drone-launched grenades, firing at Russian forces that fled in front of them.

The day was a blur. The Ukrainians pummeled the tiny village with artillery and then threw a smokescreen into its main street. Russian artillery hit retreating and surrendering Russian soldiers, whose bodies lay face down or curled on their sides. The last hundred meters was a mix of blood, metal, trash, spent cartridges and shredded armor.

The Ukrainians went house-tohouse, taking Russian prisoners and killing those who fought back. Even after the last of the Russian forces were expelled, Andriivka came under constant shelling, with buzzing drones on both sides. Fedya warned his men to shoot down the ones that hovered: They were the ones that dropped grenades. That night, Fedya dreamed he was cowering behind a shrapnel-pierced truck on the battlefield and was hit by artillery fire.

The next morning, September 16, Fedya carried a Ukrainian flag to hoist in the reclaimed village of Andriivka.

It was time to retrieve the bodies. There was the body of 19-yearold Riley, killed on the first day he ever fought. There was Zima. There were others, placed carefully into bags and carried back through the forest. The men left dozens of Russian bodies for later.

Andriivka was now nothing but a pile of bricks and scorched trees with the smell of death. But it was in Ukrainian hands, and Fedya was ready to hand control to the next brigade to reclaim the next forest. He huddled in one of the few basements left and tried to explain to the incoming commander why the fight for this broken town was worth it.

“Look at these fields, this forest. Everything grows again,” he said. “The cities that we reclaim, they will be rebuilt.... We will clear out all that’s left of the Soviet Union.... The war could be the best thing to happen, in the sense that everything can start fresh.”

Ukrainian officials said this month’s battle’s for the road to Bakhmut may have taken as many as three Russian brigades out of combat, as cited in an assessment Tuesday by the Institute for the Study of War. But Fedya was ready to leave.

“I’m tired of this forest. I want to go home. I want to wash and sleep,” he said with a curse. “Until morning. And in the morning, I’ll come back.”

THE trial in Monaco, which doesn’t yet have a date, promises to be a flashpoint and comes on the heels of a scathing assessment of the city-state’s ability stem the flow of dirty cash. In January, European inspectors found that Monaco struggled to address money laundering, with a “low number of prosecutions” and a “very low” number of convictions.

Unlik e in the US, criminal charges in Monaco are not announced to the public and there is no publicly available docket to track a case’s progress. While courtrooms are open, the only details provided—usually just days in advance of a trial—are an accused person’s initials and the alleged offense.

The two men who face money-laundering charges—Alexandre Balga, formerly at Banque Havilland, and Nicolas Gelso from Mediobanca’s CMB Monaco unit, previously known as Compagnie Monegasque de Banque—were banned from the industry after they were indicted in 2016, according to the Monaco document. Gelso is accused of helping launder funds on behalf of other businessmen who held accounts at CMB Monaco.

Gelso’s attorney declined to comment. Neither Balga nor his attorney returned detailed messages requesting comment.

The maximum penalty for money laundering is 10 years in prison. A conviction for failing to file a suspicious transaction report can lead to a fine.

Opening doors

IN 2012, a banker in Switzerland approached Edmond de Rothschild on Amore’s behalf and said a wealthy client was seeking to diversify his holdings by moving money into the city-state, the Monaco document says. According to an internal filing reviewed years later by investigators, as far as the Monaco bankers understood, Amore was a construction and real estate entrepreneur seeking to stash away some of his savings. At Edmond de Rothschild alone he allegedly deposited a total of €657,000 between October 2012 and February 2015 in nine bundles of cash as large as €140,000.

Banks in most countries, including Monaco, are required to scrutinize large cash transactions to figure out where the money is coming from and how it is being used. But the bank had “shortcomings in the documentation, description or justification” for Amore’s behavior, authorities said in the document reviewed by Bloomberg.

At Banque Havilland, according to the document, Amore stockpiled almost €585,000 in cash over 18 months, including a seven-week period beginning in February 2014 during which he made three consecutive deposits of €150,000.

The deposits were never reported to the Monaco government, according to investigators. Originally, bank documents labeled Amore as “low” risk but someone scratched out the word “low” on the file and replaced it with “high,” the Monaco investigators found.

Avoiding alarms

AS the inquiry ramped up, Monaco authorities pulled e-mails and other records from the financial institutions. They discovered audio recordings of a conversation between Amore and Balga, the account manager. A transcript of a May 2014 call, included in the document reviewed by Bloomberg, suggests how the banker may have come up with an idea to avoid triggering internal alarms:

“The next time we’ll see together whether it could be better to take a safe at the bank, put it all in the safe and then administer the cash together, quietly,” Balga said. “It’ll be easier.”

Balga had a second idea, according to the Monaco report. He connected Amore, who made large deposits of cash, with another customer who wanted to withdraw large amounts of currency. Soon, the customers were trading with each other, with Amore handing over currency and receiving a wire transfer or check. The exchanges happened in the bank’s office and at the Fairmont Monte Carlo hotel.

In the months following Amore and Balga’s conversations, Monaco’s antimoney-laundering watchdog, Service d’Information et de Contrôle sur les Circuits Financiers, or SICCFIN, began combing through accounts at Banque Havilland and at Edmond de Rothschild as part of one of its regular audits of banks’ systems. SICCFIN agents discovered what they termed anomalies—large cash deposits that should have triggered alerts—but no one at the banks had singled out Amore’s transactions as suspicious until news of his legal woes in Italy became public.

That was so despite at least some concerns raised by back-office staff. At Edmond de Rothschild, a compliance officer told authorities that he pressed the account manager for more information about Amore. Five times over six months into 2015, those requests went unanswered.

Information sharing

AROUND the same time, Monaco was nearing an agreement with Italy to share tax information. For decades, affluent Italians sought refuge from income taxes at home by parking undeclared wealth in the city-state. But the government of Monaco began negotiating with dozens of nations, including Italy, that sought to recoup their lost revenue.

Bankers would later tell investigators that they hadn’t felt it necessary to report Amore’s cash transactions to the government because they believed it was tax dodging and not money laundering. The former wasn’t a crime in Monaco, they reasoned, and the Monegasque government “tolerated” foreigners using banks in the city-state to hide their undeclared wealth, they said.

“As far as the bank was concerned, the funds deposited in cash stemmed from tax evasion and that didn’t trigger alarms at the bank—even for an amount of €450,000,” Banque Havilland’s then-chief financial officer, Patrick Dauguet, told investigators. For some bankers, the information sharing agreement, signed in March 2015, landed like a bombshell. The Monaco document cited an Edmond de Rothschild compliance officer who told a colleague that they should stop taking in cash from Amore: “I don’t see how we can continue to accept such deposits.”

ANDRIIVKA, Ukraine—The Russian bullet struck the sergeant just above the left ear. The leader of the Ukrainian platoon was down. Headquarters radioed a battlefield promotion to the private who had called him “brother”—a man known as Courier.

Ukrainian servicemen of the 3rd Assault Brigade monitor and coordinate as units move towards Andriivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine on September 5, 2023. The village of Andriivka is significant largely because it’s on the road to the Russian-held city of Bakhmut. AP/MSTYSLAV CHERNOV

Hinnant reported from Paris. Alex Babenko contributed to this story.

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

US researchers engineered bacteria that can break down plastics in oceans

By Manuel T. Cayon

DAVAO CITY—American researchers have developed a marine bacteria that may help solve plastics pollution of the world’s oceans when laboratory results showed their ability to break down plastics.

Researchers from the United States North Carolina State University “have successfully engineered a marine microorganism that can break down polyethylene terephthalate (PET),” or plastics commonly used as packaging of many consumer goods, Biotech Updates, the online weekly publication

of International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), cited in its September 20 issue.

The ISAAA said the researchers worked with two species of a bacterium, Vibrio natriegens and Ideonella sakaiensis, in conducting the experiment.

“A sequence of DNA from I. sakaiensis that is responsible for the production of enzymes that can break down PET was taken and incorporated into a plasmid, genetic sequences that can replicate in a cell,” it said.

“The plasmid containing the I. sakaiensis genes is then introduced into the V. natriegens

DOST tech provides safe drinking water

WATER is life. As essential as breathing, water is a very important resource to sustain life and communities, as well as to power industries and economic activities.

With this in mind, the Department of Science and Technology-Industrial Technology Development Institute (DOSTITDI) unveiled a groundbreaking technology to solve the shortage of safe drinking water during calamities and emergencies, such as typhoons, flooding, and earthquakes, as well as in remote areas where water supply is disrupted.

The technology, “SAFEWTRS: Emergency Disinfection System of Drinking Water,” involves a manually controlled, compact, and mobile water treatment system powered by solar energy that can produce up to 2,000 liters of potable water in nine hours.

SAFEWATRS has been installed in several areas in Luzon, particularly in Bagong Silangan

in Quezon City, Agoncillo town in Batangas, Sto. Domingo in Ilocos Sur; and San Clemente in Tarlac.

Ilocos Region is currently on the list of recipients of this technology through the efforts of the

DOST-Region I. I ntroduced by Engr. Reynaldo L. Esguerra, chief science research specialist at DOST-ITDI Environmental and Biotechnology Division, the system is no different from other filtration

and disinfection systems that are effective in removing chemicals and metals from water, making the post-processed water safe for public consumption.

This technology can process saltwater, rainwater, spring waters, and turbid waters from lakes, producing water that conforms to the mandatory parameters prescribed in the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water (PNSDW of 2017).

Thus, the quality of drinking water always follow the highest standards, performance testing conducted using Laguna Lake water yielded positive results and was given an excellent rating following the PNSDW of 2017.

The innovation was developed not for the agency to earn from it but to help communities lacking drinking water resources and ensuring enhancement of human well-being, which is one of the four DOST strategies.

Jacqueline R. Parairo/S&T Media Service

Searca leads project to boost climate resilience in PHL

ANEW project was initiated by Asian research and development agencies in order to enhance climate resilience in agriculture, natural resources and ecosystems in the Philippines.

Being led by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca), the project is in collaboration with Niras Asia Manila Inc. and the International Centre for Environmental Management.

Funded by the Asian Development Bank, and titled “Accelerating Climate Resilience in Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment Project,” the initiative aims to advance the Philippine government’s climate resilience reform agenda under the Climate Change Action Program (CCAP).

The project kicked off with an inception workshop held on September 8.

Antti Inkinen, Niras regional director for Asia and the Pacific, enthusiastically supports the project and encouraged collaborative discussions to propel it forward.

Searca Director Dr. Glenn Gregorio said the workshop brought together 47 national and international experts from relevant government agencies and multisectoral institutions in agriculture, natural resources, and the environment to deliberate on the project’s objectives. He said the project focuses on three key areas.

According to Gregorio, the project aims to strengthen climate resilience in agriculture by promoting climate-resilient farming and supporting climate-smart technologies in crops, livestock, and fisheries in collaboration with Climate-Resilient Agriculture Office and National Organic Agriculture Program under the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture.

It also intends to enhance climate resilience in natural resources and ecosystems by expanding the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-

bacterium that thrives and reproduces quickly in saltwater. Results of the study show that the genetically engineered V. natriegens was able to break down PET in a saltwater setting,” ISAAA added.

The researchers have published their work at the AIChE Journal, official publication of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers on September 14.

The ISAAA said that Nathan Crook, the corresponding author, “Says that this is the first time that V. natriegens was able to express foreign enzymes on its cell surface.”

“Similarly, Tianyu Li, the first

author of the paper, says that this is also the first genetically engineered organism to break down PET microplastics in saltwater,” it added.

It said that “with the promising findings of the study, genetic engineering has the potential to mitigate the issue of plastic accumulation in saltwater environments.”

It said that PET “is a highly recyclable plastic that is a major contributor to plastic pollution in the ocean.”

In Asia, the Philippines has been identified as one of the major sources of plastics dumped into the seas and oceans.

PHL students bag medals in 35th

Intl

Olympiad in Informatics in Hungary

ONCE again, the Filipino has proven itself as world class, exhibiting academic excellence amid fierce international competition.

Three Filipino students achieved the country’s best overall performance in the recently concluded 35th International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) in Szeged, Hungary, held from August 28 to September 4.

program is supported by the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI).

Risk Resiliency Program with resiliency roadmaps, guidelines, online monitoring, and capacity building to address climate hazards. This will be implemented in partnership with DENR.

Finally, the project seeks to improve agricultural insurance for climate risk by developing a medium-term insurance roadmap for the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), exploring innovative financing solutions, and prioritizing financial sustainability and cost-effectiveness with guidance from PCIC.

Project Deputy Team Leader Cesar Umali highlighted the project’s role in advancing the government’s climate resilience agenda as outlined in the CCAP.

“Together, these efforts will strengthen the Philippines’ ability to face climate-related challenges head-on,” Gregorio said.

The Philippine team was composed of Cassidy Kyler Tan from Ateneo de Manila Senior High School, Jerome Austin Te from Jubilee Christian Academy, Filbert Ephraim Wu from Victory Christian International School, and John Lloyd Allas from City of San Jose Del Monte National Science High School.

They brought home one silver medal courtesy of Tan and two bronze medals courtesy of Wu and Te.

The contestants were chosen by the National Olympiad in Informatics Philippines (NOI PH), the premier programming olympiad of the Philippines for high school students. The

“The International Olympiad in Informatics has just concluded, and the Philippine Team bagged one silver and two bronzes, making it the best overall performance of the country ever!” said NOI PH in a Facebook post. “Congratulations and thanks for making the Philippines proud!”

The DOST-SEI also congratulated the winners through its Facebook page as it always gives its full support for such undertakings.

“Young Filipino students showcased STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] excellence at the international stage once again!” the agency said.

“Your hard work and dedication paid off! We are proud of you!”

The IOI is an annual international informatics competition for high-school students. This year it was attended by 351 contestants from 87 countries, including the United States, China, Japan, Canada, and Germany.

Jacqueline R. Parairo/S&T Media Service

DOST chief represents PHL at G77, China Summit in Havana, Cuba

SCIENCE Secretary Renato Solidum Jr., representing President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., participated in the recent Group of 77 (G77) and China Summit of heads of state and government on current development challenges focusing on the vital role of science, technology and innovation (STI) in Havana, Cuba.

The G77—attended by more than 100 G77 member countries including various International Organization partners—is the largest intergovernmental organization of developing countries in the United Nations. The group provides the means for the countries of the South to

articulate and promote their collective economic interests; enhance joint negotiating capacity on major international issues; and continue pursuing South-South cooperation for development.

Thirty heads of states and government from Africa, Asia and Latin America also joined the in-person general debate.

As Solidum delivered the national statement on September 16, he shared some of the major challenges that the Philippines must overcome.

They include poverty, hunger, food insecurity, health, energy, gender inequality, the digital divide, disasters

and climate change, among others. He then acknowledged the critical value that STI upholds toward providing solutions and contributing towards sustainable development.

Solidum cited some of DOST’s key programs on capacitating people through scholarship programs; supporting micro, small and medium enterprises through technology upgrading; community empowerment; promotion of science communication; GeoRiskPH and PlanSmartReady to Rebuild, which focuses on risk assessment, resilience against natural hazards, and disaster reha-

bilitation and recovery initiatives especially in the vulnerable areas.

He pointed out the need to work together in the hopes for a better and more prosperous, fair, just, and balanced world order.

Cuba President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez emphasized that the deliberations and positions on the current global challenges will lead to tangible results in the interest of friendship, solidarity, humanity, and cooperation.

Bermúdez also mentioned that STI plays a key role in fostering productivity, efficiency, wealth creation, and promotion of well-being and hu-

man development.

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres highlighted that the G77 and China Summit is a good platform to raise the voices of the member countries calling for a more effective and stronger collaboration between and among multilateral institutions.

Believing in the principle that no one should be left behind, Guterres called for a global and collective action in strengthening the STI in the international arena as it is essential towards solving common problems and inequalities and contributes in the sustainable development.

RESEARCHERS from North Carolina State University have successfully engineered a marine microorganism that can break down PET, a highly recyclable plastic that is a major contributor to plastic pollution in the ocean. BIOTECH UPDATES IMAGE

THE Philippine team at the International Olympiad in Informatics, composed of John Lloyd Allas, Cassidy Kyler Tan, Jerome Austin Te, and Filbert Ephraim Wu. NOI PH FACEBOOK PHOTO

SCIENCE Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. speaks at the recent Group of 77 and China Summit in Havana, Cuba. DOST PHOTO

Vatican beatifies Polish family of 9 killed by Nazis for sheltering Jews

IN an unprecedented move, the Vatican on September 10 beatified a Polish family of nine—a married couple and their small children, including an unborn child—who were executed by the Nazis during World War II for sheltering Jews, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

During the Mass at the ceremony in the village of Markowa in southeastern Poland, papal envoy Cardinal Marcello Semeraro read out the Latin formula of the beatification of the Ulma family that was signed last month by Pope Francis.

In his homily Semeraro noted that for their “gesture of hospitality and care, of mercy” the Ulmas “paid the highest price of martyrdom.”

A procession brought relics taken from their grave to the altar. It was the first time that an entire family has been beatified.

At the Vatican, speaking to the public from a window in Saint Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said the Ulmas “represented a ray of light in the darkness” of the war and should be a model for everyone in “doing good and in the service of those in need.”

Last year, Francis pronounced the deeply Catholic Ulma family, including the child that Wiktoria Ulma was pregnant with, martyrs for the faith.

The Ulmas were killed at home by German Nazi troops and by Nazi-controlled local police in the small hours of March 24, 1944, together with the eight Jews they were hiding at their home, after they were apparently betrayed, the AP reported.

Below is an essay by Archbishop Stanislaw Gądecki, Metropolitan of Poznań and president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, about the Ulma family’s beatification.

Special mission of faithfulness

WE have given aid in the past, and we continue to give it today. Relative to its population, Poland has the largest number of refugees in Europe. This year, 3.5 million refugees from Ukraine found shelter among Polish families, thanks to the support of the

LAST September 15 evening and again on the evening of September 24, Jews around the world have and will be filing into synagogues to mark their “Days of Awe”—the High Holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

For many who observe these holidays in the United States, the Days of Awe will be the only time that they visit a synagogue this year. Only one in five American Jews attend services once a month or more.

What is more, Yom Kippur is among the most somber and punishing holidays of the Jewish calendar.

Why, then, do so many individuals who rarely pray in a synagogue choose to do it during the dour Days of Awe, rather than on many of the joyful, celebratory feasts that the Jewish calendar has to offer?

The answer lies partly in the nature of Jewish civilization itself.

While today observers perceive Judaism as a religion, Jewish culture is not focused on individual belief and worship so much as on an entire community and its collective relationship with God and its history.

As a scholar of Judaic studies, I believe these are core, galvanizing elements of Jewish civilization that the Days of Awe bring into relief, making the High Holy Days a focus of congregants’ cultural lives as Jews.

state and the Church.

The beatification of the Polish family of Ulma from Markowa village in southern Poland has a symbolic dimension. The family was executed by German gendarmes on March 24, 1944, for harboring Jews.

In December 1942, the Ulmas gave shelter to a Jewish family from Łańcut: Saul Goldman with his sons Baruch, Mechel, Joachim and Moses, and Chaim Goldman’s two daughters and granddaughter: Gołda Grünfeld and Lea Didner with her daughter Reszel.

The Germans learned about them through a denunciation and murdered Józef and Wiktoria Ulma along with their children: Stanisław, Barbara, Władysław, Franciszek, Antoni and Maria.

They also killed all the Jews sheltered by the Ulmas. In all, 17 people were murdered, including an unborn child whose birth had just begun.

The execution was part of the antiJewish Operation Reinhardt. The assault in Markowa was commanded by Lt. Eilert Dieken.

After the war, he worked as a police officer in Esens. He died in 1960 as a “respected citizen” and has never been held accountable for his crimes.

In 2013, his elder daughter wrote, ‘From the letters, I know that he served in Lańcut during the war. To my great joy, I also know he has done a great deal of good for the people. I would have expected nothing else from him.’

Józef and Wiktoria Ulma sheltered the Jews despite a decree issued by the

While the High Holidays may seem like days of individual soul-searching and repentance alone, their focus is actually communal, taking stock of an entire people’s identity and traditions.

Rosh Hashana: The Jewish New Year

ACCORDING to rabbinic interpretations, Rosh Hashana commemorates God’s creation of humanity.

Tradition has it that Rosh Hashana is a time when God judges humans, and especially “his people,” Israel.

Meanwhile, they affirm their acceptance of God’s sovereignty over everything and everybody.

That is largely why Jews exchange New Year’s greetings along the lines of, “May you be inscribed [in the Book of Life]”—folkloric shorthand for wishing someone a good fate for the year ahead.

Whether they occur in traditionalist or modernist settings, Jewish New Year ceremonies are mostly held in synagogues.

The services begin with attendees’ recitation of an ancient liturgy that underscores God’s kingship over the universe. Yet the centerpiece is the loud blowing of a shofar, a ram’s horn, whose powerful blasts the biblical book of Joshua describes as bringing down the walls of the city of Jericho.

Germans on October 15, 1941, which imposed the death penalty not only on Jews “who leave their assigned district,” but also on anyone who harboured them.

The reason the Ulmas decided to risk their lives was their deep, traditional Catholic faith. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friend’ (John 15:13).

Estimates show that during World War II between 300,000 and a million Poles aided in hiding Jews, with over a thousand facing the same fate as the Ulma family.

Of the 120 Jews living in Markowa, 21 survived the war thanks to the help of the local population.

The Ulma family’s beatification is unique as it will be the first time an unborn child is also raised to the altar. The reason for that is the fact that Wiktoria Ulma was in her seventh month of pregnancy.

According to the teaching of the Church, this child received baptism by blood, which has the same benefits as baptism but is not a sacrament. The Church, thus, emphasises that the unborn child is entitled to human dignity and all the rights that come with it.

T he beatification of the Ulma family reminds the world of the need to

During the High Holidays, the sound “opens the gates of heaven” so that congregants’ acknowledgment of divine sovereignty can enter God’s abode and inform his judgment.

Notably, Jewish law has it that individuals should not mark the High Holidays alone. Ideally, the services require a “minyan,” or quorum of 10 adults—as do many Jewish rituals.

Before 70 C.E., when Roman legions destroyed the Jerusalem Temple, sacrifices at its altar were an important component of Jewish social, political and ritual life.

Afterward, rabbinic law radically democratized the Israelites’ rituals, mostly as liturgical services. These took the place of activities that the priests of the temple had performed.

Thus the people, along with their history as a political community, remained the protagonists of a comprehensive cultural system—not the relatively narrow, private sense of “faith” that the word “religion” can suggest.

Confession—as a community

—on Yom Kippur

AFTER Rosh Hashana, the mood darkens as Yom Kippur approaches: the Day of Atonement.

On the eve of Yom Kippur, before its onset at sundown, Jews return to their synagogues.

respect the life of every human being and defend values with unwavering commitment.

In the secularised Western world, it may come as a surprise that parents risked not only their own lives but also those of their children to save people of different nationalities and religions.

This attitude is rooted in Christianity, which remains a characteristic part of Polish culture. This stance was also shared by other Polish saints: Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Blessed Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski, Blessed Father Jerzy Popiełuszko and Saint John Paul II.

The Solidarity movement emerged from this same stem, ultimately causing the fall of communist totalitarianism and the end of the world’s division into two hostile camps. This happened through the “commitment of people who, while always refusing to yield to the force of power, succeeded time after time in finding effective ways of bearing witness to the truth” (Saint John Paul II, Centesimus annus).

Józef and Wiktoria Ulma took to heart the answer the scholar of the law received from Jesus, after asking Him “And who is my neighbour?”

As a prelude to the first Yom Kippur service, a cantor or another skilled congregant sings the famed Kol Nidre: the Renunciation of All Vows.

This poem asks God to preemptively annul any oaths Jews will make to God unknowingly or involuntarily, or ones they cannot fulfill.

Notably, Kol Nidre plaintively asks, “May all the people of Israel be forgiven, including all the strangers who live in their midst, for all the people are at fault.”

One of the Yom Kippur liturgy’s distinctive elements is a section called the Viddui—the “confession.”

That word may summon images of a one-on-one encounter with a priest in the privacy of a small, partitioned booth.

“Confession” may also suggest a creed: “I believe in X, Y, Z—and that my belief will save my soul.”

Yet Jewish “confession” is neither an affirmation of faith nor a purely individual mea culpa.

Instead, the Viddui affirms a long list of wrongdoings for which all congregants repent: Among other things, “We and our fathers have sinned. We have trespassed. We have betrayed; We have stolen. We have slandered.”

The focus of the services, in other words, is not exclusively on personal sin and salvation. The language of the

(Lk 10:29).

Jesus replied to him with the parable of the merciful Samaritan, which has become part of the canon of European culture.

The Samaritan has no fear. He does not ask the man lying by the roadside who he is. He is not interested in his nationality, religion, views or social position. He breaks all barriers without even noticing them. The dying man’s identity is so meaningless that Jesus gives the scholar of the law no detail that would allow him to guess it. We do not even know if he was a Jew. It does not matter, because every human being is created in the image and likeness of God, and everyone is worthy of being treated as our fellow man.

Following the recent Russian aggression against Ukraine, the Poles have shown this Christian compassion by welcoming war refugees into their hearts and homes.

Around 14.5 million people, mostly women and children escaping the war, have come to Poland since the conflict began; nearly 13 million of them have returned to their homes.

At the peak, around 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees found shelter in Poland, with about 30 percent of them staying with Polish families. Others

liturgy uses “we,” not just “I.”

It does not matter whether individuals reciting the liturgy have erred in the specific ways the confession mentions. What matters is that they take responsibility for the entire Jewish people—past, present and future— in relation to their fellow humans, and in relation to the God of Israel: One for all, and all for one.

As the Talmud puts it, “All Israel [is] mutually responsible.”

The biblical Book of Deuteronomy, too, is packed with laws for the entire people of Israel as they are about to enter their promised land, so that they “may prolong your days upon the land.”

Commandments about theft, mercy and caring for the stranger and the orphan, for example, are explicit blueprints for a functioning, socially just state—not just guides to individual or universal morality.

The books of the Hebrew Bible enshrine a story of the Jewish people, a collective story at the root of these awe-filled days.

Indeed, the High Holidays affirm a sense of belonging that keeps even some of the least traditional Jews returning to ceremonies every year, affirming the ideal of a kinship-based society rooted in collective justice.

David L. Graizbord, University of Arizona/ The Conversation (CC) via AP

were accommodated by state, local authorities and church institutions.

All this happened without the creation of refugee camps. In addition to humanitarian aid, Ukrainians were granted certain civil rights, such as the right to use the public health service, the right to enrol their children in Polish schools, the right to certain social benefits and the right to work.

Relative to its population, Poland has the largest number of refugees in Europe.

This identity also gives rise to the Church’s long-established responsibility. “Polonia semper fidelis [The Poles are always faithful],”—these words express our special mission of faithfulness.

This was once the slogan of other nations as well. It is with this attitude that the Church in Poland intends to participate in the forthcoming Synod on Synodality, hoping to renew the Church in Europe by emphasising the essential values without which the Church and Christianity—and consequently Poland and Europe—would not be themselves.

The Ulmas’ beatification is a reminder of the irrefutable value of marriage as a union between a man and a woman, a family open to having children and fostering an atmosphere where faith and values are shared and passed on.

It also affirms the value of life from the moment of conception and reminds us of the commandment to love one’s neighbour to the point of giving one’s life for one’s friends.

The beatified spouses understood well the role of the laity in the Church and the world. They remind us of what is important in our mortal life and what must be done to achieve eternal life.

[This piece by Archbp. Stanislaw Gądecki was published in cooperation with the Polish monthly “Wszystko co najważniejsze” as part of a historical project run jointly with the Institute of National Remembrance and the Polish National Foundation.]

DepEd told: Be beacon of truth on Marcos dictatorship .

AN ecumenical youth group called on the Department of Education (DepEd) to ensure the accurate portrayal of the historical facts on the martial law years.

The Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP) said that adhering to the truth is essential to prevent the repetition of history

“The truth sets us free, and teaching that the Marcos dictatorship caused massive human rights violations and economic exploitation urges us to stand up and say never again to fascist dictatorship,” SCMP said.

The group was responding to a DepEd proposal to exclude the identity of the Marcos family from grade school lessons about Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship.

However, the agency clarified that the directive is not final and must still undergo a vetting process.

“SCMP ends by challenging everyone to become beacons of truth, especially in a time of widespread systematic disinformation and historical distortion,” it said.

Pushing through with the plan, the group added, is like allowing disrespect to the heroes and martyrs during the martial law years.

“DepEd is spitting on the graves of numerous martyrs and heroes, who fought the dictatorship, including church people, who have been inspired by faith in seeking justice from the horrors of martial law,” it also said. CBCP News

FILE photo of several members of the Ulma family VATICAN NEWS

ARCHBISHOP Stanislaw Gądecki PHOTO CREDIT TO INM

Jews’ Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur are times for soul-searching

Asean Champions of Biodiversity

Media Category 2014

Biodiversity Sunday

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

‘Tiny insects play big roles in biodiversity’

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

The Philippines, one of the 17 megabiodiverse countries in the world, harbors over 20,000 described insects, each unique in terms of size, shape, color, behavior and even diet.

W hile they may be tiny, insects play big roles in the sphere of things in the natural environment.

But not all bugs are insects, in the strictest sense of the word, as insects are strictly sixlegged, usually with a pair of antennae and some adults have wings.

The extinction of one insect species may lead to the extinction of another, and so on and so forth, eventually leading to mass extinction that may eventually lead to the extinction of the human race.

Friend or foe?

INSECTS , sometimes called bugs, usually refers to familiar pests or disease carriers.

In the city, who doesn’t hate flies, mosquitoes, or cockroaches? Some people even abhor or fear ants.

Mosquitoes are the most feared among insects for causing outbreaks of the dreaded dengue or malaria diseases.

F lies and cockroaches can also cause a variety of diseases as these filthy animals have their feet onto anything from rotten food to animal manure, and end up flying on top of the food on the table.

Fortunately, these “pests” serve as prey to other animals. However, they are not a mere part of the food chain.

Important ecosystem services

THEY also provide very important ecosystem

services.

Some insects act as pollinators. The bees and butterflies are among the most popular food producers.

Bees produce honey and act as pest controllers as they are also biological control agents by preying on other living organisms that carry diseases.

Some of them also act as scavengers.

Ants, for instance, hasten the degradation of dead plants and animals, in the process fertilizing the soil and keeping forests healthy.

Amazing animals

INSECTS are amazing animals, says Entomologist Juancho B. Balatibat, an associate professor at the University of the Philippines-Los Baños’s College of Forestry and Natural Resources Department of Forest Biological Science.

Balatibat says some insects are capable of adapting to their natural environment, changing their color and appearance, and making themselves “invisible” to other animals, or even humans—either to avoid being a snack of a bigger animal, being captured and kept as a pet in a bottle, or to ambush a potential prey to feast on for the rest of the day.

Balatibat, currently the deputy director and head of the Makiling Botanic Gardens (MBG) at the Makiling Center for Mountain Ecosystem in Los Baños, shares his knowledge of some of the small creatures that dwell at the MBG. incidentally, the botanical gardens is a beneficiary of the Asean Green Initiative of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB).

Interviewed during a tree-planting

ceremony on September 10 as part of ACB’s 18th founding anniversary at its headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna, Balatibat says thousands of species of trees and plants at MBG attracts a diversity of wildlife, including unique insects, making the place ideal for visiting school children to have fun while while learning about biodiversity.

He introduced native tree species that were planted by Asean envoys and dignitaries at the ACB event.

A haven for diverse plants, animals

THE Makiling Botanical Gardens is a haven for a diverse species of trees, plants, and yes, animals that seek refuge in this man-made forest inside the Mount Makiling Forest Reserve.

According to Balatibat, there are around 2,000 trees in the botanical garden, mostly native trees, and other tree and plant species from other countries.

“Of course, because it is a botanical garden when visitors come here, they contribute trees and plant it themselves,” he says.

Because of the diversity of the trees and plants, it is no surprise that MBG attracts a variety of wild animals—including insects.

A school for biodiversity learners

“ WE inform our visitors, more about butterflies. But we have the stick and leaf insects, which are very unique,” Balatibat says. Stick insects, he says, are basically leaf eaters.

These insects perform natural pruning. In the natural environment, leaf feeders

contribute to the benefit [of plants]. Plants bloom better by pruning, it allows the sun to reach and help sun-loving plants grow,” he tells the B usiness M irror in Filipino.

Speaking mostly in Filipino, Balatibat says that in agricultural areas, some insects like the grasshopper (tipaklong in Filipino), are considered pests when they destroy crops, like rice.

However, in the natural environment, they are important biological agents.

Stick insects and grasshoppers are both experts in blending with their environment.

A stick insect can change colors, depending on the environment it is into. But mostly, it pretends to be a stick by staying still, to avoid detection by potential prey, like birds.

On the other hand, grasshopper, which can also change its color, from green to brown, does so to easily capture prey.

“Unlike the stick insect, the grasshopper camouflages so that it can successfully catch a prey,” he says.

Defense mechanism

SOME insects develop defense mechanisms to protect themselves from predators.

“We have a blister beetle, a ground crawler. It releases a chemical substance that is toxic to other insects, when it feels threatened,” he says.

The chemical substance harms other insects, forcing them to stay away.

“Another is the bombardier beetle. From its anus, it releases a chemical substance, like the ‘pantot’ [referring to a skunk that is unique to Palawan.] At a distance of maybe 100 meters,

you can smell it. It is really stinky,” he says.

According to Balatibat, other insects grow hairs that can harm other insects, like the infamous hairy caterpillar, or “higad”.

T hese insects, like the large red ants, notoriously known as “hantik,” somehow become protectors of the ecosystem, too.

“When you knew there’s higad in that tree, would you still go to pick the fruits? Naturally not. The same with the hantik,” he says.

Migratory insects

REGARDLESS of their size, insects can travel great distances from one island to another. In fact, some insects are known to travel across borders in some Asean countries.

Bees, for one, can travel great distances to haul pollen from tree to tree, flower to flower, from one place to the next, and bring them back to the bee hive “for storage.”

ACB Executive Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim told the B usiness M irror via Messenger on September 12 that indeed, there are migratory insects.

“The most famous is the monarch butterfly,” but she says these amazing migratory insect does not naturally occur in the Asean.

Lim says Asean shares common insects, especially those who share protected area borders.

Tangible, intangible benefits

ACCORDING to Lim, a licensed veterinarian, insects have tangible and intangible benefits.

“Tangible because some species can be alternative protein sources for local

communities. Some serve as ingredients for farm feeds,” she says. Lim is a former director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (DENR-BMB). According to Lim, some insects, like the pollinators, help in naturally propagating trees and plants.

“Some are detritus feeders, helping to break down organic materials to help enrich the soil. Some [bees] produce byproducts [honey] that can be important as part of the diet for humans and animals, and if properly packaged, can also be a source of livelihood for communities,” she adds.

“All these benefits, directly or indirectly, contribute to biodiversity in Asean,” she says. According to Lim, the ACB’s programs directly or indirectly help raise awareness and promote the protection and conservation of plants and animal wildlife, including the “lowly” insects.

The ACB, which implements the Asen Heritage Park (AHP) program, values insects as part of the web of life.

“AHPs protect areas rich in biodiversity, including habitats of important insects,” she says.

Moreover, the Asean Green Initiative, which propagates native trees, supports the life cycles of native insects, either as part of their food source, as nesting ground, or as shelter.

“We also implement a project that encourages the protection of local honey bees by helping develop a local bee farming for honey production,” Lim adds.

Prince William, Earthshot Prize name Coastal 500, with PHL, among finalists

NEW YORK CITY—Prince William and The Earthshot Prize announced on September 19 the Coastal 500— including the Philippines—as one of the 15 finalists for the 2023 prize.

Coastal 500 is a global network of mayors and local leaders committed to healthy, prosperous and thriving coastal communities.

Founded by Prince William in 2020, the Earthshot Prize is a prestigious global environmental award that celebrates and champions innovators focused on solving our most pressing global climate challenges.

The Coastal 500, which Rare helped launch in 2021, is among three finalists in the Revive Our Oceans category. The winners will be announced in Singapore on November 7.

The Coastal 500, along with 14 other Earthshot Finalists, were chosen from more than 1,100 nominees.

Each of the finalists will receive one of five £1 million (approximately P70.17 million) prizes awarded at the third-annual Earthshot Prize awards ceremony in Singapore

The Coastal 500 consists of more than 160 mayors or their equivalent from communities in Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Micronesia, Mozambique, Palau and the Philippines.

In addition to their eligibility for the £1 million prize, all finalists will receive mentorship, resources and technical support from The Earthshot Prize Fellowship Program, a year-long program for each cohort of 15 finalists to accelerate the growth of their groundbreaking solutions.

The support includes access to the prize’s robust network of influential businesses, investors, and climate experts, including The Earthshot Prize’s Global Alliance of Partners, which is comprised of some of the world’s largest businesses, donors, investors and environmental organizations committed to climate action.

The five winners of this year’s prize will be selected by Prince William and Earthshot Prize Council. The council is chaired by The Earthshot Prize Board of Trustees Chairman Christiana Figueres DBE, architect of the Paris

Agreement.

Besides Prince William, The Earthshot Prize Council members include Queen Rania Al Abdullah, actress Cate Blanchett, Sir David Attenborough, Ernest Gibson, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Indra Nooyi, Jack Ma, Luisa Neubauer, Naoko Yamazaki, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIwealaformer basketball player and Yao Ming.

The Coastal 500 leaders represent

communities adjacent to coastal waters, which are high in biodiversity and critical habitats, but are under enormous pressure from climate change, overfishing, pollution, and other human activity.

The leaders commit to protecting and restoring coastal ecosystems to safeguard ocean biodiversity, which improves the livelihoods and food security for half a billion people worldwide, while curbing climate change, Rare said.

Since its inception, the Coastal 500 network has been a global leader in influencing stakeholders within the fisheries sector to ensure positive shifts in public opinion, political will, and government policies impacting coastal ocean waters and coastal communities, Rare added.

It has also served as a valuable platform for peer-to-peer learning, technical and network support, and advocacy development for coastal leaders from all over the world.

“Healthy oceans are vital to securing livelihoods, ensuring food security and slowing the effects of climate change,” said

Rocky Sanchez Tirona, managing director of Rare’s Fish Forever program.

“Rare nominated the Coastal 500 for the Earthshot Prize because we know the best way to restore and protect our ocean is to give the communities closest to them the tools, resources and rights to care for them.

The members of the Coastal 500 are inspiring their fellow local leaders to commit to thriving coastal communities through ocean protection and turning local action into global impact,” Tirona added.

For his part, Rare CEO Brett Jenks said:

“The concept of the Coastal 500 is rooted in Rare’s belief that locally-led solutions achieve the greatest impact for people and nature.”

“We are thrilled to see the spotlight shine on these local leaders and the communities they serve in hopes that it inspires even greater support for locally-led conservation. And we are grateful to the Earthshot Prize Council for recognizing the value of local leadership in tackling our planet’s greatest environmental challenges,” Jenks pointed out.

The primary feature of Coastal 500 is

the Participant Pledge. Members commit to take specific actions to build healthy, prosperous and thriving coastal communities through activities focused on: Promoting responsible fisher behaviors; Advocating for the rights of local fishers to access local waters; Encouraging participation in fisheries management; E ndorsing no-take reserves; Investing in community-based fisheries management; and Sharing lessons and experiences with other local leaders from around the world.

Rare, through its Fish Forever program, is the main facilitator of the Coastal 500.

Fish Forever works to empower coastal communities to sustainably manage coastal resources and prevent overfishing. It has engaged over 1,700 communities across eight countries and is helping place over 5.5 million hectares of ocean water under sustainable management.

Rare and the Coastal 500 get support from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Bloomberg Ocean Initiative that fight climate change and protect the environment.

THE insects are often dismissed as worthless, annoying bugs.

The small six-legged creatures are the most diversified living organisms on the planet. With around 1-million living species, insects are by far the biggest class within the animal kingdom.

INSECTS play big roles in biodiversity. A dragonfly, giraffe bottle, locusts and moth. PHOTOS BY GREGG YAN

WILDLIFE photographer and explorer Gregg Yan captured these fireflies and created a work of art with the dark sky as the canvas as the insects painted tiny lights while they fly.

By Josef Ramos

BREAKING, or breakdancing, debuts at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou with three Filipinos hoping for a breakthrough performance in the event that will be a medal sports in the Olympics for the first time in Paris 2024.

R epresenting the Philippines in the dance sport that became a craze in the 1980s are College of Saint Benilde Discipline officer Yer Lord Ilyvm Gabriel, trimedia editor Ronald Ruadap and Alyanna Talam.

The Asian Games breaking competitions are set October 6 and 7, the trio’s trainer and coach Melvin Jansen Ang told BusinessMirror

But before flying to Hangzhou, Ang will coach Talam in the World Dancesports Federation World Championships this coming weekend in Leuven, Belgium, hoping to earn points in women’s break dance or qualify outright for Paris if she wins gold.

A ng and Talam will return to Manila on Tuesday before rejoining Gabriel and Ruadap in a flight to Hangzhou on October 2.

Everybody is excited to compete there [Hangzhou]. It will be the first time that breakdancing will be in the Asian Games and Olympics,” said Ang, noting that Japan, South Korea and host China are the teams to beat in the Asian Games.

It’s going to be tough, but we will give our best,” he said. “We are not only aiming to win gold but to qualify as well for Paris.”

Paris will feature 16 breaking athletes—eight each in the men and women divisions. The path to the Olympics include the world championships, continental competitions and Universality rule.

“We are so motivated to win a medal in the Asian Games and make it to the Olympics,” Ruadap, 33, said. “We’ll be facing younger opponents in Hangzhou, maybe in their 20s. At 33, I’m in my peak age so I’m hoping to deliver.”

We are praying that all the hard work, sacrifices and our long training especially our two weeks in Taipei will have a fruitful result,” said Ang, a 47-year-old dance coach at the University of Santo Tomas.

BREAKING DEBUTS IN HANGZHOU

ANOTHER CHAPTER IN NESTY’S CAREER

ANTHONY NESTY made more history Thursday when he was picked to lead the US men’s swimming team in Paris, where he will become the first Black head coach for the powerhouse American squad at the Olympics.

Nesty’s selection was announced by USA Swimming, which also appointed Todd DeSorbo to head the women’s squad next summer.

Nesty, the University of Florida coach, works with top American swimmers such as Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel and Bobby Finke.

I’m excited to be the men’s head Olympic coach in Paris,” Nesty said in a statement released by

USA Swimming. “Todd and I look forward to coaching these athletes to the best of their abilities in Paris next summer.”

C ompeting for Suriname, Nesty was the first Black male swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal when he upset Matt Biondi at the 1988 Seoul Games.

I n 2022, Nesty became the first Black coach to lead a US team at the world championships. Ne sty and DeSorbo, who coaches at the University of Virginia, will be reprising their roles from the Budapest worlds, where Nesty led the åmen’s team and DeSorbo headed the women’s group.

I am thrilled coaches DeSorbo

and Nesty will be joining us in Paris and am looking forward to the experience and leadership they will bring to the games,” said Lindsay Mintenko, managing director of the US national team.

Nesty and DeSorbo served as assistant coaches with the US team at the Tokyo Olympics, where the Americans won a total of 30 medals.

Nesty’s swimmers included Finke, who captured a pair of golds, and Kieran Smith, who earned a bronze.

Since then, Dressel and Ledecky have joined his Gainesville, Floridabased pro training group.

I n Budapest, the Americans captured 45 medals in the pool, surpassing the previous record of 38

by an individual country.

The US team will be decided at the Olympic trials, which will be held next June at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

I n an interview with The Associated Press ahead of this year’s national championships, Nesty acknowledged the significance of having a prominent Black coach in a sport that is still struggling to diversify.

“ You know you’re a role model,” he said. “You have to take that very seriously. Maybe it’s why I work so hard at what I do. I try to be the best Anthony Nesty I can be.”

A s a swimmer, Nesty produced one of the greatest upsets in Olympic

COMPETING for Suriname, Anthony Nesty was the first Black male swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal when he upset Matt Biondi at the 1988 Seoul Games. AP

swimming history when he beat Biondi by one-hundredth of a second in the 100-meter butterfly at Seoul. He remains the only gold medalist from Suriname, a country of less than 1 million people.

It’s just an amazing story,” Nesty told The AP. “Whether it was being in the right place at the right time or just luck or just God-given talent that I, of course, had, it’s a unique story, that’s for sure.”

Now, he’s adding another chapter to that story. AP

NEW YORK—Looking for an “inexpensive” way into the lucrative sports memorabilia market? One of Roger Federer’s matchworn outfits might be your ticket. Not just any shirt and shorts, of course. An online auction that starts Wednesday is offering a Federer outfit from his winning run at the 2018 Australian Open. That was his 20th and final Grand Slam title.

The Nike-made outfit is “expected to achieve up to $35,000,” Prestige Memorabilia said. Both items are signed by the Swiss great, who retired one year ago. Bidding closes October 8.

A m int condition Mickey Mantle baseball card sold for $12.6 million in August 2022. That broke a record for the most expensive auctioned piece of sports memorabilia set a few months earlier, when the shirt worn by Diego Maradona when he scored the controversial “Hand of God” goal against England in the 1986 World Cup went for $9.3 million.

The Brisbane International, meanwhile, is back among the tournaments scheduled ahead of next year’s Australian Open along with the mixed teams United Cup in Sydney and Perth before the first Grand Slam event of the year in Melbourne.

Former world No. 1 players Pat Rafter and Ash Barty lauded the return of their hometown event at the Queensland Tennis Centre on Friday that will see an expanded 32-player field in men’s and women’s singles.

The Australian Open lead-up event had been a big success between 2009-2019, with huge crowds on both Pat Rafter Arena and outside courts watching as Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, Nick Kyrgios, Andy Murray, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova all won Brisbane titles.

The men’s Association of Tennis Professionals Cup was then introduced and the Brisbane International was contested as a women’s event in 2020, before last year’s mixed teams United Cup debuted.

Barty endorsed the move to reinstate Brisbane as a separate event from December 31 to January 7, but was adamant it would not lure her out of retirement now that she’s a mother to son Hayden with her husband Garry Kissick.

“It’s the very first week of the calendar, the players love to come here, love the atmosphere,” she said. “But I’m absolutely loving every single second [of being a mother].”

The Australian season will begin on December 29 with the mixed teams United Cup in Perth and Sydney in a streamlined event after Brisbane also hosted two group stages last year.

The Adelaide International— like Brisbane a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 500 and ATP 250 tournament—will follow from January 8 to 13 while the Hobart International (WTA 250) will again be held. AP

NHL tries to grow game with ‘ice’ hockey push Down Under

definitely non-traditional, it’s been around for a while, and has a profile.

The semi-professional Australian Ice Hockey League has 10 teams, made up of a lot of expatriate and some former pro players, and it completed a 26-game schedule this season.

Ice hockey has a surprising 120-year history in Australia.

The first rink in Australia was the Glaciarium Ice Palace in Adelaide, South Australia where the first games of “bandy” were played using field hockey sticks with a ball on the ice.

I n 1904, a notice at the Glaciarium asked for skaters to express their interest “in the introduction of a new form of amusement on the ice.”

Canadian because he was only a year old when his family moved to Japan from Australia, is expected to play this weekend for the Kings against Arizona.

Ice Hockey Australia says St. Louis Blues forward Nathan Walker made NHL history twice: in 2014, when he became the first player of Australian nationality to be drafted by an NHL team when he was selected by the Washington Capitals in the third round—at No. 89; and again in 2017 when he became the first Australian player to appear in an NHL game in his debut for the Capitals.

BRISBANE, Australia—It’s a frequent—and most often frantic—high-pitched yell when kids playing street hockey in North America know their game is about to be interrupted.

Car!” screams one of the players, and the nets at either end of the makeshift asphalt or cement “rink” are quickly—and most often begrudgingly—pulled to the side of the road to allow a vehicle to pass. Then the nets are back on the street and play with the often tattered hockey sticks and a battered tennis ball resumes—at least until the next car approaches.

If the National Hockey League (NHL) has its way, youth in Australia— where it’s common to see cricket being played in parks and on quiet streets— will soon have an opportunity to do the same with a variation of North American street hockey.

T he NHL, attempting to build on its first foray into the Southern Hemisphere with two preseason games between the Los Angeles Kings and Arizona Coyotes on Saturday and Sunday in Melbourne,

is expanding its NHL Street Hockey program to Australia.

The program is designed for children ages 6 to 16. The North American version has incorporated various aspects of previously successful NHL club programs in non-traditional hockey markets such as Las Vegas, Nashville and Tampa, Florida.

A lthough Australia fits the nontraditional hockey market, Mark Black, the NHL’s vice president of international operations, told The Associated Press that the league feels it’s a long-term viable market.

There is an interesting history of hockey in Australia and a lot of passion there for all sports,” Black said in a telephone interview. “It may be a smaller market, but there is a lot of knowledge.”

The NHL’s plan Down Under will be to use the upcoming year to pilot the program within a selection of interested local schools in Victoria state, with a focus on the Melbourne area. It will then attempt to expand it across the country by mid-2024.

W hile ice hockey in Australia is

So hockey on ice, unlike its distant field hockey cousin which is played outdoors on grass or artificial turf and with a slew of different rules, equipment and styles—no serious contact among competitors, for the most part—was born.

A nd field hockey in Australia has plenty of street cred. The men’s Kookaburras and women’s Hockeyroos have won numerous Olympic medals and World Cup or world championship titles.

Organized hockey games featuring more North American rules started when ice rinks opened up a few years later in 1906 in Melbourne and Sydney. It’s had its dry spells, particularly with the fledgling domestic league over the past 20 years.

Australian ties to the NHL are somewhat distant.

The first Australian-born NHL player— Jordan Spence—made his NHL debut during the 2021-22 season with the Kings. He was born in the beachside Sydney suburb of Manly and started playing hockey in Osaka, Japan before moving to Prince Edward Island in Canada as a teenager. Spence, who identifies as Japanese-

Walker was born in Cardiff, Wales, but grew up in western Sydney and moved to the Czech Republic in 2007 after dominating local competition in Australia. He will soon begin his seventh season in the NHL and his fifth with the Blues.

The lack of top-notch talent currently in Australia is highlighted by the fact that Ice Hockey Australia has asked on its website for “expressions of interest” from potential players to fill its men’s and women’s teams for the world championships next year.

Australia, which has more than 6,000 registered hockey players, has been a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation since 1938 and played at the 1960 Olympics, though it lost both of its games, outscored by a combined 30-2 by Czechoslovakia and the United States.

The NHL’s Black says he hopes that the two preseason weekend games at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena and the street hockey program in schools might result in more home-grown Aussies in the NHL in the future, and help create a player pool for Australian teams in international competitions.

We are looking at leaving a lasting impact beyond the weeks that we are in the market,” Black said. “It’s not a tomorrow thing, it’s a 20-year thing.” AP

Editor: Jun Lomibao

A WORKER tends to the plants surrounding a welcome sign on a field fronting the spacious Hangzhou Asian Games Village in Hangzhou, China, on Friday. NONIE REYES

Federer’s outfit from 20th major championship run expected to fetch $35,000 at auction

KIDS play ball hockey during a National Hockey League Street event last June in Boston. AP

School diScrimination?

Black student suspended for his hairstyle

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INTO THE GROOVE

Meet audiophile Yayo Aguila

Text and photos by Reine Juvierre S. Alberto

ALTHOUGH initially best known for her role in Bagets, actress Yayo Aguila has become one of the country’s most sought-after actresses with numerous teleseryes, movies, and even reality shows to her name.

Who would’ve thought Yayo would land a serious role with a cast and crew full of music lovers and entrepreneurs?

when Yayo’s beau began selling vinyl records online. He eventually moved to the south, in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, to get away from the hustle and bustle in the city where he found peace and solace and a place to get back into business.

T. Anthony C. Cabangon

Lourdes M. Fernandez

Aldwin M. Tolosa

Jt Nisay

Edwin P. Sallan

Eduardo A. Davad

Niggel Figueroa

Anabelle O. Flores

Tony M. Maghirang

Rick Olivares

Patrick Miguel

Jill Tan Radovan

Reine Juvierre Alberto

John Eiron R. Francisco

Pocholo Concepcion

Francine Y. Medina

Apparently, there’s no stage fright for Yayo in wearing different hats. She revealed that since childhood, she’s always loved music because it makes her dance and feel happy.

“As I mature, ngayon, yung music is therapy talaga eh Parang it distresses you, takes you away to a different world, away from your problems and everyday stress,”Yayo told SoundStrip in an interview during the One Stop Record Fair 2023 at the Estancia Mall.

The 56-year-old actress shared that whenever she’s in her room, in a car, or resting at work, she always listens to music since she finds it therapeutic and calms her down.

But what drew her closer to music was her nonshowbiz boyfriend, who she opted not to name. It was this guy who introduced her to the “old-school” music format: vinyl records.

Talking about his decision, “Iniisip din niya, as you get older, mas gusto mo ng quiet. Hindi mo naman vision yung retirement pero gusto mo na parang tahimik na lang,”Yayo said.

As if everything went into place, as Yayo described it, the couple ventured into the music business and opened a record store called Tambai Records located in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Yes, she is taking her love of music to the next level.

“I’m partnering with my boyfriend. Siya talaga yung brains dito kasi he’s a vinyl collector,”Yayo spoke candidly about her partner.

When her acting duties are wrapped, Yayo said she makes sure to oversee and help in their business, “I see to it that I’m able to help him out ‘pag wala akong work.”

Having someone she can share her love for music, Yayo said her partner also teaches her more about music and its business aspect.

listening to the rustic and warm sound of music, served with a free cup of coffee on the side.

Their store’s cozy interior invites avid listeners and collectors to dig through crates and crates full of thousands of record vinyl and hear from their various sound systems from Bowers & Wilkins, ProJect, and others.

With her partner being the only one to accommodate inquiries and transactions, she said she always makes sure to help out whenever her work is done or there’s none for the day.

“Sobrang hands-on niya talaga,” Yayo admired her partner’s organizational skills, craftsmanship, and dedication to their business.

Yayo’s business approach YAYO admitted that sometimes she gets frustrated because business comes with a lot of things to take note of, including what they sell and etiquette, among others. “Iba yung sa show business. Alam ko na yung gagawin ‘ko, aarte, ganyan. Yun na yon Master ‘ko na yon,” but she keeps an open mind when it comes to business.

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Nonie Reyes

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Despite having easy access to music using various streaming platforms, Yayo said the experience of digging through records, listening to music coming from speakers, and having a personal collection of records, “nothing beats analog.” Her favorite artists include Michael Jackson, Dua Lipa, and Harry Styles, and music from the 70s to 80s.

What started as a mere hobby for her partner many years ago turned into a collection consisting of thousands of vinyl bought from Japan, sellers, and friends.

When the pandemic hit, everyone was confined in their homes, discovering hidden gems like vinyl records and turntables their relatives stored for so long, their love for music rekindled.

As a restaurateur, some of her partner’s restos weren’t spared by the lockdown and eventually went out of business including the Tambai Yakitori Snackhouse in Makati City.

But when one door closes, another opens. That’s

“Happy ako kasi at least we’re working together, marami akong natututunan, ang dami kong nakikilala sa side ng business,” the actress humbly admitted since the only work and business she knows is show business, which she’s been in since the 1980s.

“Grabe nga siya eh! Yang mga plaka na yan, lahat yan memorized niya kahit sino magtanong,”Yayo exclaimed and pointed to Tambai Records’s booth manned by her partner in the record fair.

The mahogany crates from Prizmic & Brill filled with mint-condition records spanning from classic rock, pop, to hip-hop genres, were neatly arranged while various audio equipment such as turntables, speakers, amplifiers, and vinyl accessories were also up for grabs.

Tambay at Tambai

BACK in Sta. Rosa, the first neighborhood record store offers a different experience. From the word tambay, audiophiles can hang out in Tambai Records.

Here, audiophiles can listen to their choice of records, take it for a spin in their turntables, and enjoy

Labeling herself as a mature woman, Yayo said, “Dapat hindi ka nagsto-stop mag-grow. Dapat you go out of your comfort zone. Gusto ko yung ganon, yung matuto ako ng ibang bagay.”

Before, she and her children wanted to have a small business and open a cafe, but Yayo thinks God has a reason for putting her into this kind of role.

“Sign ‘ko na ‘to at libre kong natututunan sa boyfriend ko. Why not grab the opportunity?” she thought to herself.

“I want to take it slow because I’m learning a lot from him. He’s teaching me so many things about running a business, about being an audiophile,” she added.

Speaking about the future of Tambai Records, Yayo said they are planning to expand soon by combining their record store and a restobar to serve food and drinks, which is her partner’s forte.

From the looks of things, the show that is Tambai Records is on the road and is ready for the next edition of the One Stop Record Fair. Sharing the driver’s seat with her equally passionate partner, Yayo the audiophile looks more than capable of running it like a well-oiled machine.

A SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER 2: Resurgent singles-o-rama

SANDWICH

- “Ibang Araw Na Lang”

RECORDED and engineered by longtime collaborator Shinji along with guitarist Mong Alcaraz. “Ibang Araw Na Lang” finds Sandwich showing more restraint. The band keeps it together with a rock solid groove and minimal playing, offset by adding elements like horns, strings, and keys.

Showcasing a different side of the 5-piece group, “Ibang Araw Na Lang” is a somber song about loss, longing, and hope. The new track contains themes that the band themselves were dealing with coming out of the pandemic and its narrative everyone can relate to and maybe have even dealt with. They’re also hoping that maybe, the song will help people to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.

MEEK & CHILL- “Asta”

THIS thought-provoking hip-hop track diverges from the typical narrative of violence and gang-related themes often found in the genre. In “Asta,” Meek & Chill offers an alternative perspective and vibe, urging those in the hip-hop community to consider a different direction. Through their lyrics, the rising duo emphasizes the potential consequences of glorifying violence in music and encourages a more positive and reflective approach to the genre. The track delivers a powerful message about the impact of music on society, making it a must-listen for those looking to be inspired by a socially conscious musical experience.

PAUL LAGAC & YNISH – “Home”

An upcoming track from Paul Lagac & Ynish, “Home” deals with selflove and finding your place in the world. It tells the story of two people who decide to leave behind their old lives and start anew, hoping to reconnect with each other and themselves. Along the way, they face challenges and uncertainties, but they never give up. They trust that everything happens for a reason and that they have each other’s support. At last, they reach their destination, where they can be free, happy, and authentic. “Home” is a song that will touch your heart and motivate you to follow your passion.

NOEL CABANGON. - “H’wag Kang Mag-Alala”

FOLLOWING “Kung Ako” released last March from Icons Music, easylistening fan-favorite Noel Cabangon takes a strong presence on music platforms with his latest single “H’wag Kang Mag-Alala”. According to Noel, “H’wag kang Mag-alala” is not merely a promise but a lifetime commitment to love and take care of your loved ones. He said that it’s a reflection that “came at a time we were all experiencing isolation.” The track’s chorus should make listeners feel it’s inspired songwriting, with words singing intensely on its own, “Aalayan ka, dadamayan ka/ Pagsisikapan ka sa habang panahon.” Noel noted, “”For me, being able to release a new work from my soul is more than special. Songwriting is making art. Making art is to bear yourself out, and bearing yourself out is not that easy.”

NO ROME – “Brother”

GUENDOLINE Rome Viray Gomez, better known by his stage name No Rome, is a London-based Filipino musician. “Brother” single release the first new music from him since he debuted in 2021.

The new single, produced by Kurisu and recorded in London, finds No Rome exploring platonic love, inspired by poet Rachel McKibbens and conversations with Kurisu during the studio sessions, as he explains: “Me and Chris (Kurisu) were listening to an old record called Plantasia by Mort Garson while watching random shit about AI.” No Rome continues: “There’s this poem that Rachel McLibbens wrote called “Letter from my Heart to my Brain” where she says “It’s okay to feel like only a photograph of yourself, to need a stranger to pull your hair and pin you down”. That spoke so much to me, understanding that it’s okay to fuck up. I felt the need to write something that shows love in a platonic way and being there for each other more.”

JAIN - “Makeba”

FRENCH pop sensation JAIN is experiencing resurgence in popularity as her 2015 global hit “Makeba” recently peaked at No. 8 on Spotify’s Viral 50-PH. The explosive dance track even inspired a dance trend with Filipino celebs and influencers Regine Tolentino, et. al. hopping on the viral wave. The track’s stratospheric journey combines odes to South African singer and civil rights activist Miriam Makeba with throbbing club-beats and fade-outs with the distinctive “ooohe” vocal hook that spearheaded the trend.

School diScrimination?

Black student suspended for his hairstyle

by Cheyanne mumphrey & Juan Lozano The Associated Press

Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, was initially suspended the same week his state outlawed racial discrimination based on hairstyles. School officials said his dreadlocks fell below his eyebrows and ear lobes and violated the district’s dress code.

George, 17, has been suspended since August 31 at the Houston-area school. He was in tears when he was suspended Monday despite his family’s arguments that his hair does not violate the dress code, his mother Darresha George said.

“He has to sit on a stool for eight hours in a cubicle,” she said. “That’s very uncomfortable. Every day he’d come home, he’d say his back hurts because he has to sit on a stool.”

More than a fashion statement

T H E incident recalls debates over hair discrimination in schools and the workplace and is already testing the state’s newly enacted CROWN Act, which took effect September 1.

The law, an acronym for “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” is intended to prohibit race-based hair discrimination and bars employers and schools from penalizing people because of hair texture or protective hairstyles including Afros, braids, dreadlocks, twists or Bantu knots. Texas is one of 24 states that have enacted a version of the CROWN Act.

A federal version of the CROWN Act passed in the House of Representatives last year, but was not successful in the Senate.

For Black people, hairstyles are more than just a fashion statement. Hair has always played an important role across the Black diaspora, said Candice Matthews, national minister of politics for the New Black Panther Nation. (Her group is not affiliated with another New Black Panther organization widely considered antisemitic.)

“Dreadlocks are perceived as a connection to wisdom,” Matthews said. “This is not a fad, and this is not about getting attention. Hair is our connection to our soul, our heritage and our connection to God.”

In George’s family, all the men have dreadlocks, going back generations. To them, the hairstyle has cultural and reli-

gious importance, his mother said.

“Our hair is where our strength is, that’s our roots,” Darresha George said. “He has his ancestors locked into his hair, and he knows that.”

Is hair political?

HISTORIANS say braids and other hairstyles served as methods of communication across African societies, including to identify tribal affiliation or marriage status, and as clues to safety and freedom for those who were captured and enslaved.

After slavery was abolished, Black American hair became political. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin, Black people continued to face professional and social stigma for not adopting grooming habits that fit white, European beauty standards and norms.

The issue of race-based hair discrimination in the workplace has long existed alongside concerns in public and private schools. In 2018, a white referee in New Jersey told a Black high school wrestler to cut his dreadlocks or forfeit a match. Viral video of the wrestler having his hair cut with scissors as the crowd watched prompted the referee’s suspension and spurred passage of the state’s CROWN Act.

Darresha George said her son has been growing his dreadlocks for nearly 10 years and the family never received pushback or complaints until now. When let down, his dreadlocks hang above his shoulders but she said he has not worn his hair down

since school started in mid-August. George said she couldn’t understand how he violated the dress code when his hair was tied on top of his head.

“I even had a discussion about the CROWN Act with the principal and vice principal,” she said. “They said the act does not cover the length of his hair.”

Barbers Hill Independent School District prohibits male students from having hair extending below the eyebrows, ear lobes or top of a t-shirt collar, according to the student handbook. Additionally, hair on all students must be clean, wellgroomed, geometrical and not an unnatural color or variation.

The school does not require uniforms. The school previously clashed with another Black male student over the dress code. Barbers Hill officials told a student he had to cut his dreadlocks to return to school or participate in graduation in 2020, which garnered national attention.

GR EG POOlE , who has been district superintendent since 2006, said the policy is legal and teaches students to conform as a sacrifice benefitting everyone.

“When you are asked to conform...and give up something for the betterment of the whole, there is a psychological benefit,” Poole said. “We need more teaching [of] sacrifice.”

Nearby districts have less stringent policies in place. For example, Poole noted others allow students to wear jeans with holes

in them, while Barbers Hill does not. He said parents come to the district because of its strict standards and high expectations, which he credits for the district’s academic success.

Attorney Allie Booker, who represents the family, said the school’s argument doesn’t hold up because length is considered part of a hairstyle, which is protected under the law.

“We are going to continue to fight, because you can’t tell someone that hairstyles are protected and then be restrictive. If style is protected, then style is protected,” she said.

Darresha George said she and her son refuse to conform to a standard set by someone who is uncomfortable or ignorant.

“My son is well-groomed, and his hair is not distracting from anyone’s education,” Darresha George said. “This has everything to do with the administration being prejudiced toward Black hairstyles, toward Black culture.”

The district defends its dress code, which says its policies are meant to “teach grooming and hygiene, instill discipline, prevent disruption, avoid safety hazards and teach respect for authority.”

Drawing solidarity

GEORGE ’S situation has drawn solidarity from young Black people around the nation, who say they have long dealt with discriminatory dress codes and comments from adults about their hair.

“When I was in fifth grade, I had a teacher tell me that my blue hair, my pink hair, was unnatural and too distracting for the other students in the class,” said Victoria Bradley, 19, who lives in Detroit. Michigan passed the CROWN Act into law this year.

Bradley, whose hair is braided and currently dyed multiple colors, said she attributes a lot of her hair confidence to her mother, Bernita Bradley, a longtime hair stylist and director of parent voice for the National Parents Union.

Bernita Bradley said her first introduction to the CROWN Act was in 2021, when a biracial, 7-year-old girl in Michigan had her hair cut by a school worker without her parents’ permission. The girl’s father, Jimmy Hoffmeyer, filed a $1 million lawsuit against the school district, alleging racial discrimination and ethnic intimidation. The lawsuit was settled earlier this year.

“That was modern-day scalping of this Black child,” Bradley said.

This is Darryl George’s first year at Barbers Hill High School. l ast year, he went to a school in nearby Baytown, Texas, where he had no problems wearing the same hairstyle, his mother said. Darresha George said they recently moved to the Mont Belvieu area for personal reasons.

The family was told they need to schedule a meeting with the principal, Darresha George said.

After the suspension, “his grades are suffering, which also means he is not able to play football or participate in any extracurriculars,” Darresha George said. “He was on track to graduate early, and now he is falling behind and will have to work double time just so he can still graduate.”

mONt beLVIeU, texas—A black high school student in texas has served more than two weeks of in-school suspensions for wearing twisted dreadlocks to school. When he arrived monday with the same hairstyle, he was suspended again, his mother said.

‘We need more teaching (of) sacrifice’

Cover photo by Monstera Production on Pexels.com

Darryl GeorGe, a 17-year-old junior, before walking across the street to go into Barbers Hill High School after serving a five-day in-school suspension for not cutting his hair. AP

DarreSHa GeorGe, Darrly George, and Candice Matthews, National minister of politics for the New Black Panther Nation, walk to Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas. AP

Wine Dine&

Discover Dubai through Orfali Bros Bistronomy

By Brian K. Ong (@briankingong)

Photos by Jason Ong (@jasonkingong)

ORFALI BROS Bistronomy, which made its debut in Dubai in 2021 after offering culinary classes since 2015, has achieved significant awards and recognitions since then. This year, they have been crowned as No.1 in the MENA’s (Middle East and North Africa) 50 Best Restaurants list. Additionally, it earned a spot on the 2023 Michelin Bib Gourmand List and, for the first time, secured a place on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, ranking No. 46.

The culinary journey of three Syrian brothers, Mohamad, Omar, and Wassim Ørfali, united by their deep passion for food, has transformed Orfali Bros Bistronomy into the remarkable culinary haven it is today.

Following a delightful dinner at Orfali Bros Bistro, we had the privilege of chatting with Chef Mohamad Ørfali about his early beginnings, his journey as a celebrity chef, the inception of the Bistro, and his unique philosophy regarding food and family as a source of identity.

Culinary journey

CHEF Mohamad Ørfali was born and raised in Aleppo, Syria, where his profound love and curiosity for food took root and flourished. He eventually left Syria to learn English in Dubai, where he received instruction from, among others, Filipinos. Subsequently, he embarked on a culinary journey that led him to France, where he further honed his skills at Le Nôtre Culinary School in Paris and gained experience working at restaurants owned by Michelin-starred chefs.

Prior to establishing Orfali Bros, Chef Mohamad had been captivating Middle Eastern audiences with his cooking shows on TV since 2011.

Chef Mohamad emphasizes that at Orfali Bros, they believe that “rules are meant to be bent and broken.” He elaborates by saying, “While respecting tradition, we continually push the boundaries of culinary art to discover new flavors and sensations in our food and pastries.”

Here in Dubai, where everything is the biggest, the tallest, we are probably the smallest, and we are okay with that. For us, authenticity and the celebration of diverse cultures are paramount, mirroring the essence of Dubai itself,” ex-

plains Chef Mohamad.

Food as a Melting Pot of Cultures

“OUR food at Orfali Bros Bistro has a lot of stories behind it, and we bring these to our guests,” says Chef Mohamad. “Our menu reflects our roots and our essence. We don’t simply serve Syrian cuisine; while inspired by Aleppo, our offerings are a reflection of what tastes exceptional to us. We are modern chefs with contemporary perspectives,” he adds. The 25 items on their menu re-

flect the multicultural diversity of Dubai. “We don’t serve Syrian food — although we are Syrian boys and proud about that,” says Ørfali. “We’re a family of 18 nationalities in the restaurant, and we speak food. That is our language.”

During our visit, our server, who was also from Aleppo, recommended some of their best dishes, which were presented in a sharing-style experience, allowing everyone to sample and savor each delightful creation.

For starters we got the OB

croquettes (AED21) – celeriac, 18 months comté cheese and truffle mayo; and the Umami éclair (AED34) – porcini emulsion and marmite, fermented quince glaze, cacao nibs and beef prosciutto.

Th is was followed by Patatas Bravas (AED39) – Triple-cooked chips, bravas sauce and aioli; Shish Barak A La Gyoza (AED75) – Wagyu beef dumplings, garlic yogurt, sujuk oil, pine nuts and mint; Come With Me To Aleppo (AED95) –Wagyu beef kebab, sour cherry, parsley, pine nuts and cinnamon; OB Cheese Burger (AED89) – Wagyu beef, Hokkaido bun, OB sauce, cheddar cheese and caramelized onion; Halloub (AED135) – Braised short ribs, tomato & vinegar glaze, morel mushroom, onion confit and rice; Burnt Leeks & Truffle Pide (AED95) – sourdough, brown butter miso, hazelnuts, stracciatella burrata, truffle and chives

Leave Room For Desert

DISPLAYED beautifully by the open kitchen and bar are Orfali Bros’ visually stunning desserts, masterfully crafted by Omar and Wassim Ørfali. These desserts are not only visually appealing but also bursting with flavor. When asked about their bestseller, the unanimous response was that all nine varieties of cakes on display are all bestsellers. We finally decided to go with the Ferrero (AED55), Mandarina (AED45), and The Japanese Square (AED55). The Ferrero is made from hazelnuts of Alba, Hazelnut cake, crispy hazelnut praline

and milk chocolate ganache , reminiscent of a Ferrero Rocher confection shaped like a cane or log. The Mandarina, on the other hand, showcases rice pudding with mandarin baloza, while The Japanese Square stands out with its unique blend of flavors featuring black sesame and yuzu.

Building A Culinary Community

“ORFALI Bros represents something entirely new for Dubai; it is an establishment that didn’t exist before. That’s why we refer to it as community cuisine,” Chef Ørfali explains. “We serve food that is genuinely representative of our community, reflecting the diversity of Dubai as a melting pot of cultures. The way we bring these diverse influences together is through my cuisine.”

Chef Mohamad also emphasizes that Orfali Bros sources only the freshest and finest local ingredients. “Here are Orfali Bros, we are also sustainable. We get our ingredients from local farms. It’s fascinating to discover that Dubai also has numerous hydroponic and aquaponic farms,” he adds.

“ You’re now part of the Orfali Bros community,” says Chef Mohamad cheerfully after our memorable meal. Everything we ate was really that good. It had influences from Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, but ultimately, as Chef Ørfali would put it, “good food gets put on the plate,” and it was certainly good food we had that night.

W hat’s next for you chef, I asked. “Still Orfali Bros Bistro.

We’re focused on making sure that everything runs smoothly and that we continue to put out good food,” he said.

Filipino Influences

FILIPINOS stand out prominently in Dubai’s vibrant culinary scene, and Orfali Bros Bistro is no exception. During our visit, we had the pleasure of meeting Marco, Lau, and JR, who were part of the dining experience. Marco oversees the beverage offerings at Orfali Bros Bistro, while JR, who started as a dishwasher, has risen through the ranks and is now one of the chefs.

One dish on Orfali Bros’ menu that particularly stands out is the “Adobo Chicken Wings – Rice, Sesame, Black Pepper, and Chives.” Chef Ørfali reveals that this recipe originated from his Filipino dishwasher, who has since become a valued member of the culinary team.

It was his recipe, I tasted it, and it was exceptional, so it found its place on our menu,” he shares.

We learned that JR, the Filipino chef, was the creative force behind this delectable dish, and he takes pride in sharing Filipino cuisine with Orfali Bros.

“I have never had the opportunity to visit the Philippines, but I definitely want to go,” Chef Mohamad Ørfali expresses. “I adore KareKare, although you won’t catch me eating a Balut,” he jests while expressing his fondness for Filipino cuisine. “You know, probably Filipino cuisine is one of the most underrated cuisines out there,” he ends.

Editor: Anne Ruth Dela Cruz | Sunday, September 24, 2023

Mandarina

Halloub

Burnt Leeks and Truffle Pide

OB Croquettes

Umami Éclair

Come with Me to Aleppo

Shish Barak A La Gyoza

The writer with the friendly Filipino staff at Orfali Bros Bistro Marco, JR and Lou

Chef Mohamad Ørfali happily poses with Gel Gomez, Carlo Cruz, the writer, Leslie Soriano and Jason Ong.

OB Cheese Burger

Wine Dine&

The promise of Prana in elevating Indian cuisine for the Filipino palate

By Rory Visco Contributor

Though most of our introduction to Indian culture was about myth and folklore to scare children and an unbelievably one-sided payment arrangement for incurred financial obligations, that ended there, fortunately. There is one part of Indian culture, their cuisine specifically, that may also have had a strong influence in the Filipino palate, especially when it involves the use of a wide array of spices. We Filipinos like our food salty, sour or sweet, an incredibly vibrant tapestry of tastes that may also trace its roots to Indian food.

The Indians were undoubtedly virtuosos when it comes to the accurate use of spices such as coriander seeds, mustard seeds, nutmeg, cumin, turmeric and coriander, to name a few, that punctuated the characteristics of a unique cuisine that has captured the imagination of many food lovers around the world, the Philippines is one of them, and may have influenced Filipino cuisine, to some extent.

A fascination for Indian food

“THE fascination for Indian food among Filipinos may have begun perhaps due to Filipinos working overseas. Many of them got to taste Indian food and they loved it. It’s healthy and delicious, and that made it popular then, and even more popular now among the young generation of Filipinos,” says

Rajan Veeranan, Indian Master Chef at Prana, the newest Indian restaurant in the city located at Novotel Manila Araneta City in Quezon City in an exclusive interview with BusinessMirror.

Chef Veeranan said many people now enjoy the kebabs, the biryanis and essentially the curries, all cooked naturally, nothing deep-fried, no chemicals, just pure, unadulterated spices that some offer health benefits as well.

W hen it comes to spices in cooking his food, Chef Veeranan says there’s not much of a secret.

“It’s in the use of spices, which sometimes may reach as high as 24 different kinds of spices in a single dish like in the biryani. That’s the secret,” the young-looking chef explains with a slight chuckle.

Prana brings life-giving force to the palate

THIS year, March 15, 2023 to be exact, was when Novotel Manila Araneta City opened the doors of Prana Indian Cuisine to Indian foodloving Pinoys. Prana, which means “breath” or “life force” in Sanskrit, is located in a medium-sized corner in the hotel that seeks to give every authentic Indian dish it offers a lifegiving force to its guests’ palates.

Prana’s launching was nothing short of amazing, punctuated by a graceful inauguration and official ribbon-cutting ceremony attended

AS the “ber” months usher in a season of warmth and celebration, B Hotel Quezon City proudly presents its latest offerings that promise to elevate both culinary experiences and event spaces. The distinguished addition of the “Luneta Function Room” and an exquisite new menu across its outlets mark a new era of sophistication and innovation at the heart of Quezon City.

Luneta Function Room:

Redefining Celebrations

EMBRACING the spirit of intimate gatherings and professional events, the newly unveiled “Luneta Function Room” at B Hotel Quezon City sets the stage for unforget-

by The Ambassador of India to the Philippines, His Excellency Shambhu Kumaran, who highlighted the strength of the partnership between India and the Philippines and how Prana can bridge both countries’ love for Indian food. The Indian envoy to the Philippines stood alongside Novotel Manila Araneta City General Manager Maria ManluluGarcia, the very first female GM for an Accor property in the country, and Araneta City, Inc. (ACI) Senior Consultant Rowell Recinto.

“It is targeted to those who keep coming back for Indian food and the hotel wishes to promote Indian cuisine not just to its guests and other diners but also for people to discover more of the flavors it can bring to the table as there is much more to Indian food than just the heat,” explains Erwin Doña III, Director of Marketing and Communication at Novotel Manila Araneta City.

“ With Prana, it takes the palates on a flavorful journey to experience signature dishes full of strong flavors and mouthful bursts of spicy, sweet, smokey, and savory tastes,” adds Doña, who sat down with BusinessMirror together with Christiana June Mongaya, Novotel Manila Araneta City’s Marketing Communications Manager.

It is with great honor to showcase the rich heritage of Indian cuisine here in the City of Firsts. Every mouthful of our Indian specialties brings the awakening energy to your palate. I hope you enjoy this flavorful journey with us,“ Chef Veeranan shared.

Chef Veeranan pointed to some noteworthy dishes to try at Prana such as Pani Puri, Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken Masala), Hyderabadi Lamb Dum Biryani, and Lamb Seekh Kebab.

Prana Indian Cuisine has a la carte choices and a set menu with four-course or seven-course options. It is open from Wednesday to Sunday, lunch (11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) and dinner (6 p.m. to 10 p.m.).

table moments. This venue seamlessly combines modern design with spacious comfort, providing an ideal canvas for a wide array of occasions. Whether it’s a corporate affair or a personal celebration, the Luneta Function Room’s ambiance and versatility promise to create meaningful experiences that linger in the hearts of guests.

Culinary Excellence:

A Feast for the Senses

B HOTEL Quezon City’s culinary scene takes an enchanting turn with a meticulously crafted menu that spans across its renowned outlets. Under the culinary expertise of Executive Sous Chef Vince Odejar, the new menu captures the es-

sence of both international flavors and Filipino inspirations. Guests can indulge in these new delightful offerings across three outlets:

Lobby Cafe

THE industrial-themed Lobby Cafe welcomes urban professionals and the younger generation. The sumptuous buffets and enticing a la carte dishes offer an array of flavors that cater to diverse tastes, making every meal an experience to remember.

Johnny’s Steak and Grill

JOHNNY’S Steak and Grill redefines upscale dining through a blend of unconventional ambiance and the art of crafting exceptional steaks. This innovative approach,

combined with reasonable pricing, allows guests to savor top-tier cuisine without constraints. At

Johnny’s Steak and Grill, tradition meets innovation for a remarkable dining experience centered around quality steaks.

Mezzanine Bar

ELEVATE afternoons and evenings at the cozy Mezzanine Bar, where skillfully crafted cocktails and appetizers take center stage. Guests can relish a refreshing change that sets the tone for relaxation and enjoyment.

The indulgent experiences await at B Hotel Quezon City’s outlets. Lobby Cafe offers their sumptuous fare daily from 6 am to 10 pm

Johnny’s Steak and Grill welcomes

guests Tuesday to Thursday, 5 pm to 10 pm, and Friday to Sunday, 5 pm to 11 pm. The Mezzanine Bar invites guests every Monday to Saturday, 5 pm to 1 am. For inquiries and reservations, please contact B Hotel Quezon City at (+632) 8990 5000 or visit www. bhotelqc.com. Discover the epitome of affordable luxury and exceptional service that B Hotel Quezon City, managed by The Bellevue Hotels & Resorts, brings to its guests. The Luneta Function Room and the tantalizing new menu offerings are poised to redefine your experience at B Hotel Quezon City. Join us in embracing these exciting chapters of elevated indulgence and memorable gatherings.

FILIPINO culture, as many would say, is an amalgamation of varying influences, mostly from our early conquerors the Spanish and the Americans, and with a nice a stream of immigrants from China, and to some extent, Indian.

Indulge in Culinary Delights, Unforgettable Events at B Hotel Quezon City’s Newest Offerings

Lobby Cafe

Chicken Biryani

Lamb Biryani

Pani Puri

Salmon Kebab

The interiors of Prana

Wine Dine&

CCA Manila has a new culinary haven in Bonifacio Global City

Culinary Innovation and Industry Partnerships

BEYOND the classroom, CCA Manila engages in culinary innovation and industry partnerships. Collaborations with the Department of Agriculture, Philippine Rice Research Institute, and International Rice Research Institute aim to develop recipes using Malusog rice.

Customized training programs showcase CCA Manila’s flexibility in addressing industry demands.

The inauguration and media launch of CCA Manila was an exquisite culinary affair as Chef Joaquin Rivilla Cruz, a talented student at CCA Manila, presented a sumptuous private dining experience in the brand-new test kitchen located within the UP BGC Campus.

For starters, guests were treated to a delectable array of snacks. Sinuglaw, a harmonious blend of smokiness, tanginess, and creaminess with a hint of coconut, creating a delightful start. Longganisa Pani Puri, brought a unique twist and a fusion of flavors, combining the spiciness of longganisa with the crunch of pani puri.

Meanwhile, Tinapie Tee is an intriguing mix of textures and seafood essence with the squid ink pie tee adding depth and sophistication.

The culinary journey continued with a delightful soup course. Suam Na Mais, a comforting and aromatic corn bisque, elevated with various layers of flavors, from bagoong to coconut gel, delivering a balanced taste.

The main course, Pares, was a masterful creation crafted from a 48-hour cooked beef short rib, rich in umami, enhanced by a taosi glaze and crowned with luxurious black truffle sabayon.

Eiron R. Francisco

IN a culinary coup of sorts, the Center for Culinary Arts Manila (CCA Manila) has boldly staked its claim in the heart of Bonifacio Global City (BGC), unveiling a state-of-the-art facility poised to revolutionize culinary education in the Philippines.

CCA Manila’s new residence located in the University of the Philippines BGC campus provides an excellent spot for aspiring chefs to pursue their professional studies.

Badjie Trinidad, President of CCA Manila, highlighted the convenience: “Our students will have easy and safe access to top destinations

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such as restaurants, malls, parks, offices, and residential buildings.”

At the core of this institution, the new facility is a grand kitchen laboratory, boasting 45 individual cooking stations to ensure handson learning.

“Our new campus can provide a good nurturing environment for

our students by providing them with individual stations,” Chef Sonny Mariano, Chef consultant and alumnus, said.

Th is approach fosters kitchen independence, allowing students to unleash their culinary creativity while mastering essential techniques.

Chef Sonny enthuses, “If I’m not mistaken, this is the biggest kitchen that can provide individual stations for students.”

He emphasizes their commitment to innovation and evolution, stating that they consistently adapt to changes to ensure they can offer their students a higher standard of education.

Nica Lucero, a Diploma in Culinary Arts & Technology Management student of CCA Manila says the things she likes about the culture in CCA is that “we don’t simply just cook. We understand how and

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Adding, “I can really tell that they do keep the fire burning to fuel our culinary business,” in which she mentioned that they have a lot of yearly programs where “we go to different provinces and learn about their traditions and what it’s like behind their culinary scene.”

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ing to culinary enthusiasts of all levels.

Their flagship program, the Diploma in Culinary Arts and Technology Management, accredited by the American Culinary Federation Education Foundation, equips students with skills, creativity, and leadership for culinary success.

Further studies are possible through partnerships with the University of Asia and the Pacific, offering avenues for entrepreneurial management in culinary arts or culinary agripreneurship.

CCA Manila also pays homage to the rich Filipino culinary heritage with its “Fundamentals in Filipino Cuisine” program.

Th is course empowers students to reinvent classic dishes while preserving authentic flavors, reaffirming CCA Manila’s commitment to championing Filipino cuisine on the global stage.

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Of course, no extraordinary meal is complete without dessert. Guests indulged in Churros served with a luscious latik sauce, expertly demonstrated by Chef Anne Atanacio, a distinguished Chef Instructor and Alumna.

For the grand finale, the Mazapan de Pili is a luxurious dessert that combines the richness of pili butter and Batangas chocolate, complemented by a salted dulce de leche, resulting in a perfect sweet and salty finale. And Ginataang Halo-halo is made of coconut tres leches, langka namelanka, bilo-bilo and sago, purple potato mousse, and banana chips prepared by Chef Sony.

In the words of Trinidad, CCA Manila’s new site in BGC is a significant milestone in culinary education.

W hether you aspire to become a professional chef or dazzle your loved ones with culinary creations, CCA Manila invites you to start your journey, guided by their expert faculty and modern resources available at their new facility.

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Words and photos by John

Indulge in Filipino-inspired snacks: Sinuglaw, Longganisa Pani Puri, and Tinapie Tee.

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Savoring the richness of this deluxe suam na mais - a symphony of flavors in a bowl

Chef Anne Antanacio and her talented team crafting the perfect churros recipe in a new demo kitchen of CCA Manila.

Chef Joaquin Rivilla Cruz presenting his culinary masterpieces, a Filipino-inspired lunch.

Savoring an array of delightful flavors with these exquisite Mazapan de Pili confections – an exceptional taste experience.

Wine Dine&

INDULGE IN COMFORT FOOD FAVORITES AFTER A WORKOUT SESSION

By Anne Ruth Dela Cruz

Photos by Nonoy

Lacza

ASPORTS club is usually a place where the family goes to enjoy doing recreational activities. Members actually consider the sports club an extension of their home. After doing a number of laps in the pool, play basketball or doing your usual routine at the gym, the next best thing to do is to eat.

And what better way to cap off your visit to the sports club than with a very sumptuous meal that includes Tapsilog, Baby Back Ribs and Kare Kare with a sauce made of five different nuts?

This is exactly what Tivoli Royale Country Club has to offer to its members. Tivoli Royale Country Club was originally founded 25 years ago. It is now a fully rejuvenated sports and leisure facility located in the heart of Quezon City. It was open for operations in May 2022.

Cherryl Ann Go, General Manager of Tivoli Royale Country Club, recalled that when the club opened last year and the threat of Covid-19

was still around, they only had a membership of less than 100 families. Now with 420 member families in their roster, Go said they make sure that they get as much feedback as possible when it comes to the activities that they organize and more importantly, with the food that they will be serving.

We started with the concept of comfort food. The members and their guests, when they go to a recreational place, they will undertake their activities and then after that, they will look for food,” Go related.

“

The members consider the club an extension of their home. We have members who come here every day to have their lunch. We don’t want them to think much of what they want to order. We offer the favorites and we started with many offerings. As we moved forward, we introduced more items and introduced our takes in different dishes,” she added.

Extensive experience

THE person tasked with coming up with the dishes to serve the club members is Chef Em-

manuel Jonnel Cruz Roxas, who has extensive experience from the hospitality industry.

“We definitely consider the voice of the members, but we also allow our culinary team to exercise their creativity. We come up with our own takes with the dishes that we serve,” Chef Jonnel said.

Considered one of their best seller comfort foods is their Kare Kare with a sauce that is made from scratch. Chef Jonnel not only makes use of peanuts but four other nuts as well. In addition to peanuts, he makes use of walnuts, cashew nuts and two other nuts that he did not want to name. The result is a sauce that is creamier and tastier when compared to the other Kare Kare dishes from other restaurants.

Another favorite among the members is the Baby Back Ribs. Chef Jonnel makes the barbecue sauce from scratch, adding the homemade feel to the dish. The same can be said about the Salmon with Tamarind sauce, another sauce that is made from scratch.

“I brought the famous Tapsilog of Don Galo, Paranaque to the Country Club as well.

Since most of our members are from the Quezon City area, they rarely have the opportunity to go to the southern part of Metro Manila. I thought that it would be a good idea to bring it to them,” Chef Jonnel explained.

Dipping sauce

TO ENJOY the tapsilog, Chef Jonnel recommends that the tapa is dipped into a sauce made of banana catsup, vinegar, and a pinch of salt. He adds that diners should make sure that the egg yolk of the fried egg is oozing on your order of rice.

When you taste that, you will definitely order a cup of coffee to go with it,” Chef Jonnel said with a smile, adding that another a dish to die for is their take of the Chicken Inasal.

For the younger club members, a big hit with them is their carbonara, hamburger and their pizzas. Go related that while the sauce of the carbonara is made of egg, Chef Jonnel added a bit of cream because their members prefer their carbonara to be “saucier.”

A meal would not be complete without

dessert and the club has its to die for Chocolate Lava Cake that goes well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The perfect Chocolate Lava Cake is when you cut through the cake and the chocolate sauce comes oozing out of the cake. The vanilla ice cream helps to neutralize the sweetness a little bit,” Chef Jonnel explained.

More dishes to come

ACCORDING to Go, the culinary team will continue to add more dishes to the menu. The culinary team is slowly introducing healthier items with their line of smoothies.

“Chef Jonnel and the culinary team have a number of surprises up their sleeves and we expect to roll out these dishes in the next few months,” Go said, adding that the restaurants in the club are open to non-members.

If non-members want to use the facilities, they will have to be endorsed by our members. We also do banquets because we have function rooms for them. We do a lot of birthday parties. There are instances when the visitors of our members made inquiries about our banquet services because they enjoyed their experience here,” she said.

For now, those who want to become members of the Tivoli Royale Country Club, they only need to pay membership fees and dues. Eventually, the club might consider selling shares.

September deals

THE club is currently offering a special Corporate Membership package. Designed for well-rounded executives who need to balance entertaining clients, gathering family and friends, and working and playing, the P40,000 annual membership and P6,000 monthly dues are inclusive of

12 months of unfettered access to the refreshed club facilities such as the family pool, gym, locker, sauna, and steam bath.

Members can find both enjoyment and discipline games with the guidance of the club’s professional coaches to get started with an active lifestyle. Relish priority invites to club events and exclusive access to food and beverage outlets like the all-day dining restaurant Royale Lounge. Sign up this September and receive P2,000 worth of complimentary vouchers which can be used for sports activities or dining.

Embark on a fitness journey, sign up for at least five sports sessions at the Tivoli Royale Sports Academy, with options from basketball, volleyball, muay Thai, karate, taekwondo, fencing, and so much more. The package is inclusive of one free session to the country club’s partner registered dietitian-nutritionists, who will create a tailored nutrition plan that begins with a thorough assessment, intervention strategies, and an option for monitoring and evaluation.

The ”ber” months make the al fresco Royale Lounge a delightful destination for a freshly-grilled, perfectly-charred rib eye steak. For only P2,000 net, it is paired with mashed potatoes, grilled vegetables, with expertly crafted signature sauces, every order elevates even the most straightforward gathering.

Start the day with a filling, freshly cooked breakfast and take advantage of the 20 percent discount on weekdays from 9 AM to 11 AM at the Royale Lounge. The extensive all-day breakfast with unlimited brewed coffee includes hearty rice dishes, comforting arroz caldo, fluffy pancakes, and many more.

“Tivoli Royale Country Club has a lot to offer to its members. We can assure you of five-star hotel service in a country club setting,” Go said.

Salmon with Tamarind Sauce Tapsilog

Carbonara

Kare Kare

Chicken Inasal

Chocolate Lava Cake

Baby Back Ribs

Food and Beverage Manager Stephanie Balallo, Chef Jonnel Cruz Roxas and General Manager Cherryl Ann Go.

The reception area of Tivoli Royale Country Club

Chef Jonnel and his culinary team

Chef Emmanuel Jonnel Cruz Roxas

The Virgin of Peñafrancia 2023

Sunday, September 24, 2023 | Edited by Jose F. Lacaba

UP fetes “Mr. Shooli” with Gawad Plaridel

By Pablo A. Tariman

Photo by Arnold C. Jumpay

Thousands join the 2023 Our Lady of Peñafrancia procession

PHOTO BY ARNOLD C. JUMPAY

THE late Director and National Artist for Film Marilou Diaz-Abaya directing a scene from her last film Ikaw Ang Pag-ibig, a religious family-drama commemorating the tercentenary of the devotion to Our Lady of Peñafrancia in 2011

Procession scene from

move Ikaw Ang Pag-ibig

Theme of 2023 Our Lady of Peñafrancia celebration

THE VIRGIN OF PEÑAFRANCIA

Bicol piety & lessons from the last film of Marilou Diaz-Abaya

By Pablo A. Tariman

THERE is no doubt that the feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia is Bicol’s runaway religious celebration.

It is just as grand and equally moving as the celebration of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, as it draws thousands of pilgrims and tourists from all over the country and beyond.

For another, the feast is celebrated not just in Naga City but also in some church parishes all over the country with their own versions of the Traslacion (fluvial parade).

As observed in the past many years, the celebration begins with the Traslacion, where the image of Our Lady of Peñafrancia is transferred from her shrine at the Basilica Minore to the Naga Metropolitan Cathedral.

An awesome sight is the procession accompanied by thousands of barefoot male devotees who carry the image as a symbol of humility and penance.

FAITH, CULTURE

INDEED, a testament to the deep religious fervor and rich cultural traditions of the Bicolanos, the 2023 spectacle of Our Lady of Peñafrancia is a celebration not just of faith but also of the culture and socioeconomic inroads of the City of Naga.

This year, 2023, the annual Traslacion Procession was held on September 8. A Fluvial Procession followed on September 16, culminating in the celebration of the Feast Day of Our Lady of Peñafrancia on September 17.

A local news agency reported that more than 600,000 devotees attended this year’s traditional Traslacion. It started at Basilica Minore and ended at the Naga Cathedral, which highlighted the nine-day novena.

Lt. Col. Malu Calubaquib, Naga City Police spokesperson, said that 2,316 police personnel were deployed to man security during the month-long Peñafrancia Festival.

GROWTH OF NAGA CITY

HISTORY has it that Don Miguel Robles de Covarrubias initiated devotion to Our Lady of Peñafrancia, venerated in Pena de Francia, Salamanca, Spain, in the early 18th century.

In 1710, the inaugural Peñafrancia Festival was held to commemorate

the installation of an image revered throughout the region for her miraculous feats. The festival continues to this day.

The celebration soon covered other aspects of the growth of Naga City.

Part of recent celebrations are the exhibits and trade fairs where local artisans, craftsmen, and businesses display their products, handicrafts, and delicacies to generate income for the local economy.

The cultural aspects cover music competitions and marching and choral competitions in schools and universities.

ABAYA FILM

HOW the Virgen of Peñafrancia affected its devotees was the touching highlight of the last film of National Artist for Film Marilou Diaz-Abaya.

The film was Ikaw Ang Pag-Ibig, which had its world premiere in Naga City in 2011.

A big revelation was that the film has a sweeping and dramatic footage of Marian devotees completely in awe of the Virgin of Peñafrancia which is just as powerful and gripping as the yearly procession of the Christ of Nazarene in Quiapo.

This religious footage overwhelms, such as it is, but filmmaker Abaya goes beyond this by weaving an interesting story around it. In the process, it gives us another choice on how we can all cope by turning to someone in total control of our destiny.

SLICE OF LIFE

ONE’S reservation about this film is that it may turn out to be the usual devotional output of a Marian devotee.

But as the film progresses, you get a slice of life of an ordinary family coping bravely with assorted moral and temporal crises.

On the other hand, the family profile is complex, such as it is. The husband (Nonie Buencamino) has a second family, the daughter (Ina Feleo) is a single mother, and the matriarch (Shamaine Centenera) puts up a brave front but is really hurting inside.

For obvious reasons, the matriarch’s source of strength is the priest-son (Marvin Agustin) and this special attention unsettles the daughter (Feleo). Moreover, her grandson (Yogo Singh) provides another loving source of courage.

The big come-on of this film is the sensitive and powerful performance of the cast. Nonie Buencamino and Shamaine Centenera turn in contrasting and well-nuanced acting as the estranged couple. Marvin Agustin as the ailing priest is the composite profile of what a priest ought to be—a dedicated, passionate, and hardworking shepherd. For once, Jomari Yllana gets to play a doctor and the father of a love child, and delivers a far more human and complex performance that shows a growing indication of maturity in his evolution as an actor. Even Singh, who plays the precocious grandson, manages to match the powerful performances of the adult cast.

Even more revealing is the performance of Ina Feleo as the video editor coping with a hectic work schedule on top of her being a single mother. Hers is the kind of acting that flows spontaneously, and it is amazing how she has improved over the years. The transition of her character from hardworking single mother to a concerned sister confronting the tyranny of hospital bills even as she copes with the hassles of the work-a-day world is what gives us one of the many clues on how divine intercession works.

EPITOME OF TRUE LOVE

DIRECTOR Abaya is in full control of her material, and she has made sure that she didn’t turn off even the non-believers. True to her credentials, she was able to get the best from her artistic team.

The music of Nonong Buencamino has a contemporary feel and gives us the best writing for the cello (Renato Lucas) in the film’s emotionally wrenching moments. The cinematography of David Abaya has many good things going for it: it avoids the trite shots and makes sure the images of The Virgin doesn’t overshadow the domestic drama of a family in crisis. In this young cinematographer’s hands, The Virgin acquires a human and contemporary look, avoiding shots that may convey unnecessary “miraculous” effect.

Produced by the late Most Reverend Leonardo Legaspi of the Archdiocese of Caceres, Ikaw ang Pag-Ibig portrays The Virgin as the ultimate epitome of true love as it should figure in ordinary lives. Here, you see the lost and rekindled love between parent and daughter, between man and woman, and their love child actually re-examines love in many complex but insightful levels.

Like it or not, the film is a true gift for believers and offers open

spiritual choices for non-believers. Happily, the film doesn’t preach; the characters don’t spout Bible passages, the cinematography doesn’t evoke pious scenes from religious films, and the music avoids the predictability of worship melodies and doesn’t try anything resembling passages from an oratorio.

Here, Director Abaya shows us that we are on Planet Earth, with all its worldly cycle of earthly cravings.

PIETY OF BICOLANOS

IKAW ang Pag-Ibig offers us another chance to re-examine our dormant spiritual life and to re-evaluate our mundane existence.

Come to think of it, the Abaya film is a classic movie package that encapsulates the true meaning of piety.

Understandably, the Bicolanos came in droves and cheered the film during its world premiere at the Sta. Isabel College Auditorium in Naga City in 2011.

Abaya died a year after the world premiere.

Before she passed away, she said that being an artist was not about money and that living was just another phase in her early life. She said she was well-prepared to leave her earthly body for a new phase in her spiritual existence. Her final words: “It is easy to let go of all earthly concerns when you remain basically a child of God.”

On the whole, the Abaya film is a tribute to the piety of the Bicolanos.

On the year it was shown (2011), the film was a fitting offering to the Tercentenary of Our Lady of Peñafrancia.

JOURNEYING WITH INA

THE Most. Rev. Rolando J. Tria Tirona, Archbishop of Caceres, said the themes of this year’s dual celebration should be clear.

Celebration for El Divino Rostro is a renewed church journeying with Christ through Christ and in Christ.

The theme for solemn fiesta is “Journeying with Ina in deepening our relationship with God in these challenging times.”

The ultimate reminders: “As devotees, we must not forget that the Peñafrancia Fiesta is a religious activity. A pilgrim must have a sacred experience during the celebration. It is not a typical town or barrio fiesta. It is not a carnival or a mardi gras.”

Image of the Our Lady of Peñafrancia PHOTO BY VINCE CARLO PUNO

UP fetes “Mr. Shooli” with Gawad Plaridel

THE University of the Philippines Diliman College of Mass Communication will be awarding this year’s Gawad Plaridel on October 11 at 2 p.m. at the UP Film Institute’s Cine Adarna to actor, satirist, and advertising creative Manuel Urbano Jr., popularly known on television, film, and the Internet as “Mr. Shooli.”

Urbano Jr. will be feted for both his unforgettable social commentary in numerous performances across time and media as a peculiar Mongolian figure pondering on Philippine realities, as well as for his remarkable contributions to multimedia commercial advertisements which are distinguished for their humane values and Pinoy humor.

At 84, he continues his work via social media and even participates in antidisinformation campaigns

through his own YouTube channel.

HIGHEST AWARD

THE Gawad Plaridel is the university’s highest award

for outstanding practitioners known for their integrity and excellence in the different fields of media (print, radio, television, cinema, and new media).

Named after the great propagandist Marcelo H. del Pilar, whose nom de plume is “Plaridel,” the award comes with a trophy sculpture depicting the editor of La Solidaridad, a sculpture by National Artist Napoleon V. Abueva.

Since the establishment of the award in 2004, the Gawad Plaridel laureate has customarily delivered a lecture on important issues pertaining to his/her/their field or craft.

PAST AWARDEES

PAST recipients of the Gawad Plaridel include Eugenia Apostol (2004), Vilma Santos-Recto (2005), Fidela Magpayo (2006), Cheche Lazaro (2007), Pacheco Seares (2008), Kidlat Tahimik (2009), Eloisa Cruz Canlas (2011), Rosa Rosal (2012), Jose F. Lacaba (2013), Nora Aunor (2014), Ricky Lee (2015), Francisca Custodio (2016), Tina Monzon-Palma (2017), Jessica Soho (2018), and Bonifacio Ilagan (2019).

F or more information, contact the Gawad Plaridel Secretariat at gawadplaridel@up.edu.ph.

Manuel Urbano Jr., popularly known as “Mr. Shooli” is the Gawad Plaridel Awardee for 2023

Gawad Plaridel Trophy by Napoleon Abueva. The Gawad Plaridel is the University of the Philippines’ highest award for outstanding practitioners known for their integrity and excellence in the different fields of media—print, radio, television, cinema, and new media.

Mr. Shooli through the

”Mr. Shooli” Urbano with actress Marita Zobel

Urbano with late Sen. Merriam Defensor-Santiago