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Like it or not, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing the world of work, and the public sector—like the Philippines’s Bureau of Customs—is following the lead of private business in adopting cloud computing for more efficient services.

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By Bernadette D. Nicolas

ORE and more people from the public and private sectors are now shifting to cloud technology for its security—ironically the same main reason they weren’t inclined to embrace it before.

EDWIN CHAIDIR, head of IT, WWF Indonesia

AMAZON WEB SERVICES

Teresa Carlson, Vice President of WorldWide Public Sector at Amazon Web Services (AWS), admitted that security concerns prevented people from using cloud technology back then.

“In fact, I hear more people now telling me that they move to cloud now because of security. I used to hear I can’t move to cloud because of security; now it’s really the top reason. Of all these, it’s agility and security,” Carlson

said at the 1st Asean Public Sector Summit hosted by AWS in Singapore.

Aside from agility and security, she said people choose cloud technology because of the speed that it provides and it gives them the ability to experiment.

With cloud, buying too much technology to support the operations of one’s business is now a thing of the past as customers are also given the chance to only pay

TERESA CARLSON, Vice President of WorldWide Public Sector at Amazon Web Services (AWS), admitted that security concerns prevented people from using cloud technology back then. AMAZON WEB SERVICES

for what they only use of its storage. Deploying business operations globally is now a lot easier because of cloud.

As one of the leading online cloud service providers, AWS means business when it comes to security as it provides more than 200 services dedicated to security and compliance, according to Vincent Quah, Regional Head for Edu-

cation, Research, Healthcare and Not-for-Profit of AWS Asia Pacific and Japan.

“Security is our number-one job. AWS is an online cloud service provider. That is our only business.

So for us, it is incumbent that we provide the best security capabilities to our customers, to secure their data and to secure their AWS environment,” Quah said.

While he said AWS is really committed to providing security, he also pointed out that security is a “shared responsibility” between AWS and its clients.

AWS provides the security of the cloud or the physical infrastructure but the customer has the responsibility to take care of the security inside the cloud, including the right data encryption and

the security of their operating systems, he explained.

“So we see security as a handshake between AWS and our customer. We always advise our customer what are the best practices when it comes to security,” he said.

As part of this shared responsibility model of AWS, Quah also said there will be no stopping their Continued on A2

China’s hottest startups are having trouble raising cash

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By Lulu Yilun Chen | Bloomberg News

OU know it’s bad when even China’s hottest startups are having trouble raising capital.

A trio of technology innovators have postponed or pulled back on fundraising this year after venture capital pools dried up - the latest sign the country’s remarkable tech startup boom is beginning to peter out.

SoftBank Group Corp.-backed Full Truck Alliance nixed plans to raise as much as $1 billion and is now focusing on its bottom line.

SenseTime Group Ltd., the world’s highest-valued artificial intelligence (AI) startup, says it’s now on a “non-deal roadshow” with no funding targets, months after it’s said to have held talks to raise roughly $2 billion. And Royole Corp., first in the world to sell a flexible portable device, still needs anchor investors

for a private round targeting about $1 billion that it began contemplating months ago, people familiar with the matter said.

China’s tech industry has flourished over the past decade, driving one of the fastest and largest creations of wealth the world has ever seen. That boom has birthed global leaders from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. to ByteDance Inc. and attracted billions from the likes of SoftBank on a scale at times surpassing the US. That all changed in 2019 after Washington-imposed trade curbs soured investors on the world’s No. 2 economy, suppressing deal flow. The euphoria that created more than 100 unicorns, or billion-

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.1700

CAMERAS for SenseTime Group Ltd.’s autonomous driving system are mounted inside a Lincoln Motor Co. MKZ sedan during a test-drive in Hangzhou, China, on September 6, 2018. QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG

dollar firms, is waning: just seven Chinese unicorns have been born as of June, versus 30 in all of 2018.

On the global stage, The We Co.’s calamitous float preparations and market reception have further fanned investor caution.

“The speculative investment mentality that’s dominated China for the past few years has cooled right off this year,” said Michael Norris, a Shanghai-based research and strategy analyst at consultancy AgencyChina. “SoftBank’s grandiose investments offered a sense of validation to the companies, but this year the Ubers and WeWorks of the world have shown SoftBank might not have the innate ability to pick winners.”

Connie Liu, a spokeswoman for Royole, declined to comment.

No one’s yet predicting a dot-com bubble-style bust - some of the more aggressive internet players like ByteDance rival Beijing Kuaishou Technology Co. remain on the hunt for capital with hefty Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4839 n UK 64.2943 n HK 6.6561 n CHINA 7.3160 n SINGAPORE 37.7524 n AUSTRALIA 35.2043 n EU 56.9853 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.9083

Source: BSP (September 27, 2019 )

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, September 29, 2019

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Silver lining in the cloud Continued from A1

customers, including some Philippine government agencies, should they decide to pull out the data that may be stored in AWS.

“Data still belongs to the Philippine government. While it may be stored in AWS, at anytime they can choose to take the data back.

We’re very clear,” he said.

“Which is why some of the most highly regulated industries like the banking industry, the life science, healthcare, pharmaceutical, those with very, very valuable sensitive information, they use Amazon,” he added.

In the Philippines, the Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Fire Protection and the International Rice Research Institute are some of those that have tapped the cloud computing services of AWS in a bid to improve their operations.

Cloud computing means the on-demand delivery of computing power, database, storage, applications and other IT resources via the Internet with pay-as-you-go pricing.

For 13 years, AWS has been the word’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform as it offers over 165 fully featured services within 21 geographic regions worldwide.

Millions of its customers in over 190 countries across the world, including the fastest-grow-

ing startups, largest enterprises and leading government agencies, trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile and incur lower costs.

Moreover, it has continued to deliver close to 2,000 new features and service enhancements last year.

Touting the wide range of services it offers and its track record, AWS said it continues to serve a growing demand from both public and private sector worldwide, including the Philippines.

Before shifting to cloud technology through AWS, the Philippines’s Bureau of Customs (BOC) relied on labor-intensive, paperbased systems and its own data centers housing servers, storage and networking equipment.

However, these systems not only took three or four days to process a transaction, but also slowed activities and left opportunities for corrupt behavior.

As the Philippines signed off on the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act to streamline BOC’s practices, including the mandated use of advanced information and communications technology to accelerate processes and make them more transparent, the BOC was prompted to plan an extensive transformation and digitization of key processes, such as importing cargo clearances to improve efficiencies and reduce corruption.

TAN KOK YAM, Deputy Secretary, Singapore’s Smart Nation and Digital Government Office

AMAZON WEB SERVICES

It led the bureau later on to choose AWS because it was costeffective, global and credible.

Had Customs chosen a physical infrastructure rather than AWS, they would not have been able to save hundreds of millions of pesos, which also does not include yet the cost of operating systems, associated storage and networking equipment. Also, the bureau would have had to purchase and maintain servers in 48 locations throughout the country.

In March 2016, the BOC started developing the Advanced Manifest System (AMS) and completed its production deployment of the application by June 2016.

The AMS system allowed brokers, government agency employees and others to review and assess inbound goods 24 hours after their departure from the port of origin, streamlining clearance processes before goods arrive in the Philippines.

“This really saves a lot of costs for the Bureau of Customs because what they need to do previously is that [for] all the foreign offices that they have, they need to maintain servers. Now, they can consolidate it into a single service hosted on AWS and all the offices around the

world can then access this system.

And start the clearing process way ahead before the ship actually arrives on the port,” Quah explained.

By digitizing customs processes and enabling payments and pre-clearances up to 35 days before import cargo arrives at a port, the new system running on AWS helps BOC reduce the incidence of corruption as well as provide other authorized government agencies near real-time access to information about all inbound cargo.

Despite the BOC being regarded as one of the most corrupt agencies in the government, Quah conceded that technology can be used for good or bad.

“It is how you use it. So in this particular case of Bureau of Customs, it was a very clear specific project in terms of driving efficiency in the way they do their customs clearance. They may be corrupt, we don’t know.

That is not our focus. Our focus is helping our customers achieve the goal they want,” he said.

“If we see a benefit to our customers in using this particular set of technology, we will help them to achieve that and if it saved them money, that’s great,” he said.

Asked if he thinks the Phil-

ippines is ready for digital transformation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Quah said: “This is going on regardless of whether the country is ready or not. The commercial companies are already doing this, so what more the government.”

While the AWS helps both private and public sector adopt cloud, it also helps young Filipinos acquire cloud skills to prepare them for the future, by hosting events such as week-long training sessions under AWS Siklab Pilipinas 2019 to equip students and educators in higher education institutions in major cities, including Cebu, Davao and other parts of Luzon, with cloud computing skills.

The week-long training events conducted monthly from May to December this year are supported by global AWS programs, AWS Educate and AWS Training and Certification.

“So adoption [of cloud computing] is moving very fast and in order for the adoption to continue, we need to move very fast. We need to prepare the skills, help as many people [as possible] acquire the skills and the knowledge and the abilities to be able to contribute to this effort of adoption,” Quah said.

China’s hottest startups…

Continued from A1

price tags. And others, such as Alibaba-backed Megvii, remain confident they can show investors enough to get them to buy in on an initial public offering.

It is clear, however, that the go-go era is winding down. Investors who just two years ago helped fuel some of the biggest cash-burning battles - in ride-hailing, for instance - are now demanding their portfolio companies demonstrate they can establish profitable models and strategies.

The fundraising frenzy of yesteryear - often culminating in investment led by the goliath SoftBank Vision Fund - is subsiding. Startups in greater China have raised $32.5 billion via venture capital deals so far in 2019, versus 2018’s $111.8 billion, according to consultancy Preqin. As of mid-September, Chinese venture capital houses had raised $9.9 billion, only about a third of 2018’s $25 billion, the research house added.

Many young companies are finding it hard to secure backers willing to swallow the kind of premium valuations they crave for.

Beyond WeWork’s well-publicized setbacks, investors are also getting skittish after watching once-celebrated Asian startups, including Mogu Inc., go public at valuations below previous funding efforts.

Some startups trying to avoid that calamity are resorting to alternative financing. Starbucks Corp. competitor Luckin Coffee Inc.’s shareholders pledged a certain amount of its stock to secure borrowing, according to its exchange filings. Luckin declined to comment in an emailed statement.

Tesla Inc. wannabe NIO Inc. issued convertible notes to its own founder and chief executive. Companies that pledge shares for cash can only typically get 20 cents on the dollar, according to a person who has helped startups access liquidity through such means. Once freely cash-burning firms are dialing it back.

But it’s the recent travails of sector-dominant startups with marquee backers that may prove most alarming to would-be Chinese tech investors.

Full Truck Alliance, the country’s largest Uber-for-trucks platform, backed by SoftBank, was considering raising about $1 billion at a pre-money valuation of about $9 billion, people familiar with the matter said in October. The round, which was supposed to have closed by the end of the year, never went through as older investors refused to dilute their shares at a valuation of less than $10 billion, one of the people said. The company has since broken even as of May. SenseTime Chief Executive Officer Xu Li told Bloomberg the AI firm is hosting roadshows from time to time to help investors understand its business better - with no intention of filling its coffers. ”If we want to do an IPO, we must have a very clear business model,” Xu said.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The World BusinessMirror

Investors slam the brakes as trade war fogs forecasts

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EW YORK—The Trump administration’s trade war with China is largely to blame for stocks’ screeching halt on Wall Street since April, analysts and economists say.

The benchmark S&P 500 index, a closely watched gauge of the stock market’s performance, has risen just 1 percent this quarter, coming to a near standstill after a gain of 4 percent in the second quarter and a sizzling 13 percent in the first three months.

The Trump trade war’s drag on Wall Street is a dramatic turnaround for investors, who survived a whip-saw winter that saw the S&P plunge late last year only to recover at the start of this year.

“Companies are saying they have to make decisions on business plans. You can’t continue to have companies putting that decision off because it will start affecting the longer curve of growth,” said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade.

Without a definitive view on where and how businesses will invest, companies and investors will likely remain in a “holding state” with no significant rally on the horizon, Kinahan added.

Trump’s announcement last month of new tariffs on a host of Chinese goods directly impacting consumers added ballast to a Wall Street already rattled by his May

move to lift tariffs on $200 billion of other Chinese imports.

Corporate earnings growth has also evaporated, following 2018’s one-off boost from Trump’s tax cut. That’s added more worry to an already uncertain economic environment.

“We’re doing this on lower expectations and at some point earnings drive markets,” Kinahan said.

“If the expectation is that earnings will grow at ever slower rates, at some point the market will have to start reflecting that.”

While the S&P 500 is still hovering near record highs analysts don’t expect growth to accelerate until there is a clearer path to ending the trade war.

Meanwhile the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates twice this year, responding to slowing economies at home and abroad. It cut its forecast for economic growth this year to 2.2 percent, down from last September’s forecast of 2.5 percent.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has an even more cautious view, predicting 2.1-percent growth for 2019.

“We expected a slowdown, but not this extreme,” said Joseph Song, senior US economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

“What really took out some of the steam from our numbers was the trade war.” AP

In this July 21, 2019, file photo, a speedboat of the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard moves around a British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, which was seized on Friday by the Guard, in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. A ship-tracking web site shows a British-flagged oil tanker held by Iran since July moving for the first time in weeks. The movement of the Stena Impero on September 24, comes after a government spokesman in Iran on Monday said legal proceedings against the vessel had concluded. Hasan Shirvani/Mizan News Agency via AP

UK-flagged tanker held by Iran sending location for first time

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UBAI, United Arab Emirates—A British-flagged oil tanker held by Iran since July began transmitting its location on Friday morning for the first time in weeks, a ship-tracking web site showed, as the company said the ship was preparing to leave Iran.

Citing satellite data, MarineTraffic.com showed the Stena Impero just outside the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas in the Persian Gulf, where it has been held since being seized by Iran on July 19.

The Stena Impero’s owner, Swedish-based Stena Bulk, told The Associated Press the vessel was “preparing to leave Bandar Abbas.”

There was no immediate comment from Iranian authorities.

The ship-tracking data showed the ship was stationary at 8:18 a.m. local time (4:48 a.m. GMT).

On Monday, Iranian government Spokesman Ali Rabiei told journalists that legal proceedings against the tanker had ended.

“Based on a friendly approach that allows forgiving mistakes, ground for freedom of the tanker has been paved and it can move,” Rabiei said. But the ship did not leave the Iranian port.

Stena Bulk’s CEO had said in recent days that the company was working to secure the release of the ship and its crew.

Ira n sei zed t he t a n ker i n the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20 percent of all oil passes. The raid saw commandos rappel down onto the vessel via helicopter carrying assault

rifles, dramatic images later replayed on state television.

Earlier this month, Iran released seven crew members of the Stena Impero. Sixteen remained on board.

Its seizure came after authorities in Gibraltar on July 4 seized an Iranian oil tanker carrying some $130 million in crude oil on suspicion of it breaking European Union sanctions on Syria. Gibraltar later released the tanker, then called the Grace 1, after it said Iran promised the ship wouldn’t go to Syria.

That ship, renamed the Adrian Darya 1, later sat off the Syrian coast, angering Britain. Iran hasn’t said who purchased its 2.1 million barrels of crude oil.

The ship seizures come after months of heightened tensions in the Persian Gulf, sparked by President Donald Trump’s decision over a year ago to unilaterally pull out of a nuclear deal with Iran. The US has imposed sanctions that have kept Iran from selling its oil abroad and have crippled its economy. Iran has since begun breaking terms of the deal.

Meanwhile, there have been a series of attacks across the Middle East that the US blames on Iran.

They reached their height on September 14, with a missile and drone attack on the world’s largest oil processor in Saudi Arabia and an oil field, which caused oil prices to spike by the biggest percentage since the 1991 Gulf War. While Yemen’s Iranian-allied Houthi rebels claimed the assault, Saudi Arabia says it was “unquestionably sponsored by Iran.” AP

Sunday, September 29, 2019

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Iranian president: US should end ‘maximum pressure’ policy

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EW YORK—Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged the United States on Thursday to “cease this policy of maximum pressure” on his nation, saying it was driving the possibility of negotiations even further away.

Rouhani stuck to his insistence that US sanctions must be lifted before he would talk with US President Donald Trump, although he did not explicitly rule out such a meeting if they remain in place.

He spoke about discussions with the leaders of France, Japan and Pakistan about trying to promote talks, and he made clear that such contacts are continuing.

At a wide-ranging news conference a day after his address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, he said the Americans are still using “more pressure aimed at reaching discussions, which is the same thing that is taking them farther and farther away from discussions and negotiations.”

“Cease this policy of maximum pressure and pursue a policy of dialogue and logic and reason,” Rouhani said. Moving in that direction, he said, “would be a different set of circumstances and a different atmosphere.”

Iran has been accused by the US, Britain, France and Germany of carrying out drone and missile strikes against key oil facilities in Saudi Arabia on September 14 that temporarily knocked out nearly 6 percent of daily global crude production and rattled oil markets.

Rouhani again denied any Ira-

nian involvement. “As we say in Persian,” he said, “we’re not the top end of the onion or the bottom of it, so we have nothing to do with it.”

In discussions with some European countries that made the “wrong” conclusion, Rouhani said he asked for their evidence, and they offered no documentation.

Saudi Arabia has invited UN investigators to assess where the strikes were launched. It says Iranian weapons were used.

Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf told the General Assembly later Thursday that “we know very well who stood behind this aggression.” He explicitly named Iran.

“Utmost pressure with every tool available should be applied to end the terrorist and aggressive conduct of the Iranian regime,” alAssaf said. He urged the international community to cut off Iran’s sources of finance “to compel the regime to renounce its militias, prevent it from developing ballistic missiles and put an end to its destabilizing activities in the region and the world.”

I r a n’s e c o n o m y h a s b e e n buckling under the weight of the sanctions. Trump added to them on Wednesday, targeting

Tehran’s ability to sell its oil by imposing penalties on six Chinese companies and their chief executives for continuing to transport Iranian crude.

Rouhani called for an end to the war in Yemen, noting the rebel Houthis’ recent offer of a cease-fire, which he said went unmatched by the Saudi-led coalition that backs Yemen’s internationally recognized government.

“If there is a cease-fire in Yemen, in my opinion, our problems with Saudi Arabia, in a more expedient fashion, can be resolved,” the Iranian president said. Such a statement could be inter preted as a possible olive branch toward R iyadh.

Tensions in the Middle East have risen as the 2015 nuclear deal unraveled and Iran turned back to expanding its nuclear enrichment program, despite complying with it for up to a year after Trump’s withdrawal from the accord.

Rouhani made clear Thursday that Iran could reach a new agreement with the United States that goes beyond the 2015 nuclear deal—but only after the US implements all provisions of the accord.

Trump pulled Washington out of the deal last year and re-imposed sanctions. Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia remain in the accord.

In his own UN address Thursday, Israeli Foreig n Minister Israel Katz called on the international community to support Trump’s “maximum pressure policy” against Iran, its archenemy.

“They promote terror in the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and all over the world,” he told the UN General Assembly’s annual meeting of global leaders. “And the world must stop them.”

In his news conference, the Iranian leader also touched on a host of other issues.

French President Emmanuel Macron has been talking both to Washington and Tehran about a proposal to create a $15-billion line of credit for Iran to entice it to remain in the nuclear deal. “In our opinion, that is still on the table,” Rouhani said, though he said it would be a temporary measure and would probably evolve.

On the issue of prisoners, Rouhani said the Trump administration had said if at least one American was freed by Iran, then Washington would reciprocate. He cited the release in June of Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese and permanent US resident detained in 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in prison on accusations of spying for the United States. “ T hey only thanked Iran,” Rouhani said. “The ball stands in America’s court.”

As for the British-f lagged oil tanker Stena Impero seized by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz in July, Rouhani said, “the case file is going through its last stages in the court system, and I foresee that it will be freed.”

The United States delayed issuing Rouhani’s visa, and a Russian journalist, noting that Russians and others seeking to come to the General Assembly were denied visas, asked whether the Iranian president thought UN headquarters should be moved to another country.

“If we are ever asked, we will of course vote for it,” Rouhani said. He said it should move to “a more secure and better countr y that does not have the narrow view points that we have been witnessing.” AP

PM Johnson faces backlash over confrontational tone

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ONDON—Angry and despairing British lawmakers accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday of whipping up violence and division with his charged language about opponents of Brexit, and the speaker of the House of Commons pleaded for an end to the “toxic” atmosphere.

But the government and Parliament remained at loggerheads, as lawmakers rejected a request to adjourn for a week so that Johnson’s Conservatives can attend the governing party’s annual conference.

The 306-289 vote makes it harder for Tory legislators to take part in the four-day gathering that starts Sunday in Manchester. The conference usually sees speeches from senior government officials, including the prime minister.

It was the latest sign of the mistrust and animosity that have consumed British politics since the country narrowly voted in 2016 to leave the European Union.

Three years later, Britain and its politicians remain bitterly divided over how, or whether, to leave the 28-nation bloc.

In a raucous, ill-tempered parliamentary debate on Wednesday, Johnson referred to an opposition law ordering a Brexit delay as the “Surrender Act” and the “Humiliation Bill,” and he said postponing the country’s departure would “betray” the people. He also brushed off concerns that his forceful language might endanger legislators as “humbug.”

Johnson took power two months ago with a “do-or-die” promise that Britain will leave the EU on the scheduled date of October 31, with or without a separation agreement outlining commercial relations with the Continent. His foes are determined to avoid a no-deal exit, which economists say would disrupt trade with the EU and plunge Britain into recession.

Opponents accused the prime minister of fomenting hatred with his populist, people-versus-politicians rhetoric.

“We can see what the prime minister

In this handout photo provided by the House of Commons, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks in Parliament in London, Wednesday. An unrepentant Prime Minister Boris Johnson brushed off cries of “Resign!” and dared the political opposition to try to topple him at a raucous session of Parliament, a day after Britain’s highest court ruled he acted illegally in suspending the body ahead of the Brexit deadline. Jessica Taylor/House of Commons via AP

was doing with that horrendous, divisive language yesterday,” Labour Party lawmaker Lisa Nandy said Thursday. “We can see that this is a clear electoral strategy to whip up hate and try to divide us, and to whip up the hate of people against Parliament.”

Some lawmakers warned Johnson to be more cautious, citing the 2016 killing of lawmaker Jo Cox. The Labour member of Parliament, who campaigned to stay in the EU, was shot and stabbed a week before Britain’s EU membership referendum by a far-right attacker shouting, “Death to traitors!”

Labour lawmaker Paula Sherriff brought up the assassination—and the death threats many legislators still face—and implored the prime minister to stop using “pejorative” language. Johnson caused an uproar when he replied: “I’ve never heard such humbug in all my life.”

On Thursday, the prime minister said that “tempers need to come down and people need to come together,” but he offered no apology and defended his use

of the term “Surrender Bill.”

He also told the BBC: “I totally deplore any threats to anybody, particularly female MPs, and a lot of work is being done to stop that and give people the security that they need.”

Since the Brexit referendum drove a wedge through British politics and society, several people have been convicted of threatening politicians, and a neo-Nazi was found guilty of plotting to kill a Labour legislator.

A n o t h e r L a b o u r l a w m a ke r, J e s s Phillips, said a man was arrested outside her constituenc y office on Thursday after trying to smash the windows and shouting, “Fascist!”

Ellie Cooper, daughter of prominent Labour legislator Yvette Cooper, said on Twitter that since Cox’s slaying, she has been “scared every single day” that the same thing would happen to her mother.

“Boris Johnson, take a stand. It’s your job to unite the country. Or you will be responsible for putting other people’s

lives at risk,” she wrote.

Johnson’s critics include members of his own family. His brother Jo Johnson quit the Conservative government this month, saying he had been “torn between family loyalty and the national interest.”

On Thursday, his sister Rachel Johnson, a journalist and opponent of Brexit, called the prime minister’s language “tasteless.”

“My brother is using words like ‘surrender,’ ‘capitulation,’ as if the people who are standing in the way of the blessed ‘will of the people’—as defined by 17.4 million votes in 2016—should be hung, drawn, quartered, tarred and feathered,” she told Sky News. “And I think that is highly reprehensible language to use.”

Johnson was also criticized by Cox ’s widower, Brendan Cox, who said he felt “a bit sick” at the way her name was being used. As Parliament resumed Thursday, Commons Speaker John Bercow said there had been “an atmosphere in the chamber worse than any I’ve known in my 22 years in the House.”

“The culture was toxic,” he said, imploring members of Parliament to “treat each other as opponents, not as enemies.”

Some Conservatives, however, accused the opposition of stirring up trouble. ProBrexit lawmaker Iain Duncan Smith said Johnson’s use of the phrase “surrender bill...is a statement of fact because it would surrender rights to the European Union.”

“It doesn’t incite anything else except debate,” he said.

Wednesday’s fiery session of Parliament came a day after Britain’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Johnson’s attempt to suspend Parliament for five weeks until October 14 was illegal because it stymied debate over Brexit.

Opposition legislators demanded Johnson apologize and resign for breaking the law. But Johnson showed no sign of contrition. AP

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Sunday, September 29, 2019

The World BusinessMirror

Hong Kong protests threaten billionaires’ ties with Beijing

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ess than a decade ago, Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Kashing, was granted an exclusive audience with China’s then-President Hu Jintao, a rare honor. State television lauded the September 2010 meeting, saying Hu lavished praise on the tycoon for contributing to the city’s prosperity and stability.

Protesters march during a rally in Hong Kong on June 16. Paula Bronstein/Bloomberg

These days, as Hong Kong reels from months of violent demonstrations, China’s government is weaving a much harsher narrative around the billionaires who dominate the business and politics of the city. In recent weeks, it’s linked them to the rising inequality it blames for the social unrest, a new stance that threatens the close ties Hong Kong dynasties have forged with Beijing.

While most of Hong Kong’s wealthiest families have sprawling property holdings, they also dominate industries from telecommunications to retail, giving them outsize influence. The 20 Hong Kong tycoons tracked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index—including moguls like Li and property magnate Lee Shau Kee—have a combined net worth of more than $200 billion. So any shift in China’s posture toward those wealthy families has the potential in coming years to ripple through the city’s $360-billion economy.

In a scathing article posted on social media earlier this month, China’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the nation’s most powerful law-enforcement

body, lashed out at Hong Kong’s property tycoons for “hoarding land and grabbing money.” Next, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, said the government should take away land from Hong Kong developers through compulsory acquisition.

“It is very clear that Beijing’s attitude toward Hong Kong’s property tycoons has changed,” said Joseph Wong, who was secretary for commerce, industry and technology under the city’s former leader, or chief executive, Donald Tsang.

China appears to be encouraging state-backed enterprises to expand in Hong Kong, a special administrative region, and, over the coming years, these companies likely will play a leading role in industries the tycoons have controlled, Wong said.

China Mobile Ltd., the mainland ’s biggest carrier, has increased its subscriber base in Hong Kong by more than 50 percent since 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. Mainland developers, including China Resources Land Ltd., bought almost 60 percent of the residential land sold by

Hong Kong’s government in the first half of this year.

Representatives at family holding companies of Li and Lee didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Beijing’s priority has shifted toward pursuing social equality, said Li Xiaobing, a professor at Nankai University in Tianjin who has written on Chinese regional politics.

“The central government wishes tycoons to contribute more to society,” Li said. That shift has come as China searches for answers to end Hong Kong’s protests.

On Wednesday, developer New World Development Co., run by the billionaire Cheng family, announced that it will donate 3 million square feet of land to help ease Hong Kong’s housing crisis.

In recent weeks, several tycoons, including real-estate and casino magnate Lui Che-woo, have attempted to show Beijing their loyalty by issuing statements or placing newspaper advertisements condemning violence and pledging full support to the government.

Li earlier this month called for the government to “have mercy” on Hong Kong’s young people and

for the youth to show more understanding. But China’s highest lawenforcement body lashed out, accusing Li of encouraging crime. The 91-year-old billionaire then said his remarks were misinterpreted.

Hong Kong’s billionaire families long hedged their risks because they knew their political and economic favors wouldn’t last forever, said Joseph Fan, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who studies family-run businesses.

Some tycoons, in recent years, sold their businesses to mainland firms. In 2018, former city Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa’s family sold its stake in a shipping line to state-owned Cosco Shipping Holdings Co. That year, the real-estate arm of Li’s business group sold its stake in an office tower, The Center, for about $5 billion to a consortium controlled by mainland companies.

Michael Tien, a pro-Beijing lawmaker in Hong Kong and a deputy to China’s National People’s Congress, expects more mainland firms to play leading roles in Hong Kong industries traditionally controlled by tycoons. Bloomberg News

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Ships set to burn raw crude OIL to beat new clean fuel rules

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or almost three years, the oil industry has been puzzling over how to supply merchant ships with fuel that will meet tough new environmental standards.

Turns out part of the solution was sitting in the ground and under ocean floors all the while: crude oil.

Oil from off the UK’s coast, which requires blending—but no refining—before being used as a ship fuel, is now being marketed as just that. Similar crudes from places like West Africa and Australia can also be used with little modification. Suitable supplies are ideally low in sulfur and not too flammable.

Using crude to power vessels isn’t entirely new. Back in the 1980s, oil tanker owners would illicitly run pipes from their vessels’ cargo tanks to their engines, according to Per Mansson, a retired merchant seaman and ship broker. Provided the engineers on the ships were experienced and knew how to deal with the combustibility of the crude—known as its flash point—it was a safe operation, he said.

What’s happening now is different.

Certain crudes can go—almost directly— into vessels’ fuel tanks with very little adjustment. It all depends on a few key parameters, including sulfur content and density of the oil, and how flammable or combustible it is. Rather than going to a refinery, such grades can simply be blended with other products to make something suitable for powering ships.

The UK grade that fits the bill is called Kraken—pumped from a field in the North Sea operated by EnQuest Plc. Its sulfur content is a little over the 0.5 percent required under new ship fuel rules, and it will only ignite at a high temperature, making it potentially good for ship fuel.

Positive feedback

“A cargo has already been sold to a ship owner and thus we remain very optimistic regarding Kraken’s utility in this market,” says Russell Wall, a commercial and marketing manager at EnQuest. “We have received positive market feedback.”

That shipment was bought by Euronav NV, which plans to use the crude as part of a mix to produce fuel that complies with next year’s rules. The barrels are part of a massive 420,000 ton cargo being hauled to the Singapore area by one of the biggest oil tankers on the planet, the Oceania.

Traders looking for suitable crudes from

which to make ship fuels will typically prefer those that are dense, low in sulfur, and have a high flash point, said Cosmo Kedros, a senior trading specialist at Vortexa, a shipping analytics firm.

“Shipowners are highly motivated by price and not messing up their engines,” he said. “If they have the infrastructure and the capital to blend their own bunkers— whether with heavy crudes or not—they should consider doing it.”

Heavy sweets

Hotbeds of so-called heavy-sweet crudes— which represent a small portion of the market—include West Africa, Australia and Brazil. Australian grades have traded more than $10 a barrel above Brent this year, around a fourfold increase versus two years ago.

Different types of crudes will be blended in particular ways to meet the marine fuel specification. Kraken, for instance, contains slightly too much sulfur. The Republic of the Congo’s Yombo, on the other hand, is low enough in sulfur but is very viscous, or thick.

Other crudes simply need to be “topped,” one of the simplest refining processes where the raw oil is heated until the lighter components are burned off. What remains, with its higher flash point, can in some cases then be used to make ship fuel.

There are other challenges, too. Anybody looking to buy crude for blending into a marine fuel will have to compete with a normal refinery that wants to turn that oil into other products like gasoline and diesel. With no certainty on the future price of shipping fuel—or other products for that matter—it’s hard to say which will be more profitable in 2020 and so to what extent crudes will be used as vessel fuel ingredients.

As the world’s shippers gear up for IMO 2020—the name of the regulations forcing reduced sulfur emissions—an armada of supertankers being used to store oil has built up off the coast of Singapore, according to Vortexa. Though the ships are filled with a mix of products, they do hold some crude, showing that it may well have a future as a ship fuel. The giant Oceania will also soon join their ranks.

“You can do it,” Rudolph Kassinger, who has more than half a century of experience of refining and petroleum quality testing, said of using crude as ship fuel. “It’s all going to be a question of economics.” Bloomberg News

As deadly attack drones multiply, Israeli companies develop defenses

By Ilan Ben Zion

The Associated Press

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EHUD, Israel—Israel, one of the pioneers of drone warfare, is now on the front lines of an arms race to protect against attacks by the unmanned aircraft.

A host of Israeli companies have developed defense systems they say can detect or destroy incoming drones. But obstacles remain, particularly when operating in crowded urban airspaces.

“Fighting these systems is really hard ... not just because you need to detect them, but you also need to detect them everywhere and all the time,” said Ulrike Franke, a policy fellow at the European Council of Foreign Relations.

Drones present unique challenges that set them apart from traditional airborne threats, such as missiles or warplanes.

They can fly below standard military radar systems and use GPS technology to execute pinpoint attacks on sensitive targets for a fraction of the price of a fighter jet. They can also be deployed in “swarms,” which can trick or elude conventional defense systems. Even small off-the-shelf drones can be turned into weapons by rigging them with explosives or simply crashing them in crowded areas.

A series of drone strikes across the Middle East, including an attack on a Saudi oil field and processing plant that jolted international markets earlier this month,

have underscored the devastating effectiveness of small unmanned attack aircraft.

The drone attack on Saudi energ y infrastructure knocked out about half of the kingdom’s oil supplies.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels claimed the attack, but the US has blamed Iran itself, which is a leading developer of drone technology and is locked in a bitter rivalry with both Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Similar drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry by the Houthis a month earlier caused a “limited fire.”

Elsewhere in the region, Israeli warplanes last month struck what Israel said was an Iranian-trained Hezbollah squad that was preparing to launch a group of drones toward Israel from Syria. A day later, Hezbollah said two Israeli drones crashed outside the group’s offices in Beirut. Israeli media said the drone strike had destroyed valuable equipment used to make guided missiles.

Earlier this month, the Israeli military said an unmanned aircraft crossed into Israel from the Gaza Strip and dropped explosives on a military vehicle, causing minimal damage and no casualties. It was the second such attack from Gaza in the past year.

These threats are not confined to the battlefield. London’s Gatwick Airport shut for parts of three days, stranding over 100,000 travelers ahead of Christmas last year, after drone sightings.

In this Monday photo, Ariel Gomez, a systems engineer at Israel Aerospace Industries, works on the Popstar system that can track and identify flying objects day or night without being detected, at Israel Aerospace Industries, in the Israeli town of Yehud near Tel Aviv. Israel has long been a dominant player in the military drone export business, developing small attack aircraft, as well as long-range spy planes. Now, Israeli firms are at the forefront of a global industry developing means to protect against the drone threat. AP

Israel has long been a dominant player in the military drone export business, developing small attack aircraft, as well as long-range spy planes. Now, Israeli firms are at the forefront of a global industry developing means to protect against the drone threat.

“There is a lot of knowledge that was adapted from the area of unmanned aerial vehicles, which is something that the military had to deal with for a long, long time,” said Ben Nassi, a researcher at Israel’s Ben Gurion University specializing in drone threats.

In a laboratory near Israel’s main international airport, Israel Aerospace Industries offered a glance at its new optical detection system: a black cube resembling a souped-up subwoofer that it says can spot a standard

commercial drone from several kilometers away.

The state-owned company says the Popstar system can track and identify flying objects day or night without being detected. Developers say the system, which has already been field tested by the Israeli military, can differentiate threats from standard civilian aircraft with an advanced algorithm.

“On a daily basis we see these small-scale threats, such as drones, that can tie up a whole airport and shut down the entire air traffic,” said Ariel Gomez, a systems engineer at IAI who worked on the new drone detection platform.

“Our system can discern from several kilometers away any threat that approaches,” he said.

Popstar focuses on protecting fixed, high-value targets like air-

ports or energy infrastructure.

Experts say it is much more difficult to use the technology in crowded urban environments, where heavy air traffic and highrise buildings can create confusion and obstacles.

“Most of the industry is actually targeting the threats in a no-fly area,” said Nassi. “When it comes to populated areas, law enforcement has much more difficulties to understand whether a drone is being used maliciously or not.”

Israeli company Vorpal says it has found a partial solution to these challenges by developing a system that can detect and track virtually all commercial UAVs in urban airspaces.

Avner Turniansky, Vorpal ’s vice president of strategy, said the company has compiled a database of signals—what it calls the “signature”—emitted by 95 percent of drones on the market.

With these signatures, it says it can identify a drone—and locate its operator—within two seconds. Customers can track these aircraft and determine whether they pose a threat.

He said the system has a range of several kilometers, but still has some limitations. If an operator is flying a commercial drone whose signal hasn’t been previously collected, it won’t be identified. The system would also struggle to identify sophisticated drones built by hostile governments, since those signatures are likely unknown.

Still, he said the system can t rac k “t he va st m ajor it y” of

popular drones on the market.

He said the firm has conducted several successful tests with the New York Police Department and counts Israel’s national police force and the Defense Ministry as customers. During this year’s Eurovision song contest in Tel Aviv, he said police caught more than 20 operators who were flying drones in no-fly zones.

According to Israel’s Economy Ministry, UAV exports topped $4.6 billion between 2005 and 2013, around 10 percent of the country’s defense exports.

Over a dozen Israeli firms presented cutt ing- edge ant idrone technologies at London’s DSEI e x hibition t his mont h, from defense heavyweights Elbit Systems, Raphael and Israel Aerospace Industries, to smaller start-ups like Vorpal. They are part of a booming global industry with competitors from the US, Europe, Singapore and China.

Anti-drone defenses fall into several categories. Detection systems usually rely on either radio or optical technology to spot incoming drones.

Other systems can stop the aircraft with jammers that down aircraft by scrambling communications, kinetic systems that try to knock the craft out of the sky or systems that allow authorities to seize control of an aircraft.

But for now, none of these systems can provide full protection.

“It ’s a nast y target. It ’s a problem,” said Turniansky. “It’s going to be cat and mouse for a while.”

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

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time: ‘Luke 16:19-31’

The Church’s constant care for the poor Msgr. Josefino S. Ramirez SUNDAY GOSPEL IN OUR LIFE

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he gospel of today is all about the parable of Lazarus and the rich man.

The rich man was completely unconcerned for the situation of his poor neighbor Lazarus. The rich man enjoyed himself, while Lazarus wallowed in his needs, while they were both alive on Earth.

But when they died, and had to receive their eternal recompense, the situation was reversed. Lazarus was in Heaven (the bosom of Abraham), while the rich man was thrust to hell. We can say that he had made a very bad investment of his riches.

T he Church, follow ing the teachings and actuations of Christ, has always had a special concern for all those in need—the poor, the orphans and widows, the sick, prisoner, travelers, etc.

Some people falsely claim that the Church has historically sided with the rich, to the disadvantage of the poor; and that now, the Church has to change sides because of a greater awareness of the need for social justice.

That position is historically and doctrinally wrong.

The Church does not take sides in temporal matters, because Her aim is supernatural—the salvation of souls, of all souls, sick and poor, young and old, black and white.

However, She does manifests a preferential love for the poor, because of Christ’s commandment of love.

Even historically, the Church has always had a preferential love for the poor and the needy, without in any way neglecting the materially rich who, in some way, maybe even more needy.

The apostles already had a

special concern for the care of the helpless (e.g, poor widows), as we can read in the book of the Acts of the Apostles.

The Christians of the first centuries were composed of all kinds of people, and there were many who were actually slaves. They helped one another in their spiritual and material needs.

When the Roman Empire collapsed and the barbarians took over, it was the Church, through her great bishops, who protected those oppressed by the violence of those times. Victims of violence often sought refuge in the sanctuaries of the Church.

To alleviate the various needs, especially of people who were neglected by society, the Church inspired the establishment of charitable institutions, such as leprosariums, hospitals, orphanages, educational centers, etc.

The Church has always denounced slavery; and when the New World was discovered and unscrupulous persons took advantage of the Negroes and Indians, great saints of the Church came to their relief, such as Saint Peter Claver.

With the coming of the modern age of industrialization and the great World Wars, the Church always sought to relieve the sufferings of the needy, especially through the spread of its social doctrine.

If only people would heed this doctr ine, and the Chr istians would live up to the teachings of the Church, then many of the temporal needs of man would be remedied. This is now a great task of the Church, especially of the laity, who are the forefront of these temporal concerns.

20 couples exchange ‘I dos’ at 6th ‘Kasalan sa SM’

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rchbishop Romulo Valles, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, received a collection of 14 million digital images from FamilySearch a genealogical service provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, during a hand over event on last week at CBCP headquarters in Intramuros.

Spanning over 400 years of history, this collection is of priceless value to the Church, researchers, historians and the Filipino people in general.

Felvir Ordinario, FamilySearch manager, highlighted that it took four decades to collect the records.

Ordinario added that through digital preservation “we can assure that the memories of these people are all preserved in the collection.”

Elder Aretemio Maligon, Area Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints emphasized, “Our commitment to helping people connect with their ancestors is rooted in the belief that families are meant to be central to our lives and that family relationships are intended to continue beyond this life.”

Valles, in accepting the hard drives where the images were stored, said, “We are very grateful to FamilySearch and the Church of Jesus Christ for these records.

I’m sure this would be a great help to us and for the coming years.”

The digital records, which include birth, marriage and death certificates, as well as parish records, decrees and inventories of

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who stood as the ring bearer at their wedding.

Sano, who works at the Shoe Department of SM Megamall said, “My life is complete... this ceremony completes it.”

Another couple, Lorna Padilla, who works at the ladies department of SM Quiapo, and Sheldon Balatero, a stockman at Children’s Department of SM Sta. Mesa, had a civil wedding officiated by a mayor on July 2, 2018.

When the religious group of SM announced the mass wedding, they grabbed the opportunity.

After obtaining all the requirements needed for the wedding, they signed in and said, “This is it,” they recounted with big smiles.

They also encouraged their friends in SM to avail themselves of the offer of mass wedding.

The reception, which followed at the Saint John Paul Youth Center of the Shrine, was a gift of the Foundation to the couples. They shared the special occasion with their parents and other members of their immediate families.

The couples received personalized gifts from Nanang Sy, the matriarch of the Foundation.

Merry-making ensued with a special program for the couples and their families, including photo ops with their sponsors and friends.

Church items, were collected from different dioceses and parishes all over the country since 1970.

The oldest records, which date

hilosophers stress the rationale for angels. “A perfect God would necessarily create the best of all possible worlds. So He created angels who do not belong to man’s concept of matter, time and space.”

As one of God’s masterpieces, angels live in His presence and sing His glories. With intuitive intelligence, they “contemplate on what they know—God, themselves, each other and us.”

Purely spiritual, they surpass in perfection all visible creatures as the splendor of their glory bears witness. They are the “mighty ones who do His word, heartening to the voice of His word.” Present since creation, “they stand beside each believer as protector and shepherd leading him to life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church).

As one of God’s masterpieces they do not belong to “man’s concept of matter, space and time.” They are spirits in pure form and pure minds of superior intelligence and no gender.

But they can be seen by blessed people to help man in spiritual and earthly tasks.

Man’s staunch friend

Saint Thomas Aquinas is called Angelic Doctor because of his marvelous intelligence about angels. He wrote “voluminously

back in 1614, were from Binmaley, Pangasinan, while the most recent documents were from Biliran province in 2014.

FamilySearch works with governments and archives throughout the world to digitally preserve records that connects families across generations.

Preservation of records

To safeguard and conserve the records, Valles said that the CBCP would turn over the digital documents to the Archives of the University of Santo Tomas (AUST), which is equipped in storing the priceless records.

AUST Archivist Prof. Regalado Trota Jose, who also attended the event, expressed gratitude to CBCP for entrusting the precious records in their care.

According to Jose, UST has

proper system and qualified personnel to handle such documents.

They will also follow protocols to ensure they are compliant with data privacy laws as they make the records available to academic researchers and scholars who would need the documents in their study.

UST and FamilySearch already have a long-standing relationship, accord ing to Ord inar io and Jose. In the 1990s, FamilySearch, formerly known as the Genealogical Society of Utah, handed over microfilm records to Fr. Angel Aparicio of the UST Prefect of Libraries.

As the Philippines is prone to natural calamities, especially typhoons, records are always at risk.

Hence, the need for continuous collaboration in the preservation and digitization of records.

Archbishop Romulo Valles (second from right), president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, receives from Elder Aretemio Maligon (third from left), Area Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Felvir Ordinario, Area Family History manager, the collection of 14 million digital images from records preservation projects between FamilySearch and the Catholic Church in the Philippines over the last four decades.

Angels in the world

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wenty couple-employees of the SM Group exchanged marital vows in Catholic rites at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Rev. Fr. Reynaldo Reyes, SSP, was the officiating priest, while the main sponsors were Linda Atayde, executive director of SM Foundation and Rollie Macatangay of the Religious Committee of SM under the Felicidad Sy Foundation, which sponsored the event.

Besides Fr. Reyes, the couples exchanged their “I dos” before six other priests.

Each couple had their own personal sponsors, who marched down the aisle together with the flower girls, ring bearers, bridesmaids and groomsmen. Some pairs acted as veil and cord sponsors.

In an interview with couple Maricar Sano and Joey Concepcion, they said the occasion gave them the opportunity to have their union blessed in a special ceremony with “all the works.”

Sano was dressed in a beautiful white gown, while Joey was in a dapper suit. SM offered them wedding attires but the two opted to have their own outfits made-toorder. They have been living together that bore them their eight-year-old-son Adriel Dane,

Sunday, September 29, 2019 A5

FamilySearch turns over to CBCP 400 yrs of digitized Catholic records

By Corazon Damo-Santiago

Nanang Felicidad Sy (sixth from left), founder of Felicidad Sy Foundation which sponsored the mass wedding, and Mel Elido (fifth from left), CEO of the foundation, join the 20 newly wed couples for a souvenir photo.

Sunday

and magnificently about angels.”

In Power of God and Summa of Theology, he discussed the hierarchies, ministry and speech of angels. On evil, he discussed Satan, the fallen angel. He experienced a unique grace of confirmation in chastity when two angels wrapped a rope like belt around his waist.

Saint Francis of Assisi is called the Seraphic Saint and Father. His seraphic love for Jesus was great, intense and fiery that inspired others to love God, too.

Saint Bonaventure continued Saint Francis’s devotion to angels in his mystical and theological writings.

Saint John Bosco’s teachings courted the anger of heretics.

Whenever a group of men conspired to harm him, a big dog he named Grigio appeared to defend him.

Saint Lidwina of Schiedam became bedridden after an accident. Her angel was a visible companion to give her consolation.

Once, a fire threatened her life, her angel placed a tough branch of aromatic spell on her chest to enable her to part the curtains to avoid suffocation.

After a pledge of spiritual conversion and strict penance, a demon appeared before her to frighten Saint Margaret of Cortona. Her guardian angel appeared before her and said, “Fear not daughter and do not lose courage. I am with you,

the guardian angel of your soul which is an exalted abode of God.” Saint Gemma is a stigmatic mystic of Lucca, Italy. Her angel was present when she received her stigmata from Jesus. Destined to save thousands of souls from the fires of hell, she was protected by her angel from committing sin. Once she was with a group of friends, she was about to share her thoughts when her angel appeared and looked at her sternly.

Task helper

Saint Zita de Lucca, the patroness of domestic helpers worked for the Fatinelli Family in Lucca, Tuscany. The other servants “resented her wellknown dislike of sinful suggestions, foul language and exactitude in supplying for their deficiencies.”

Once she left her task of baking bread to attend to someone’s needs. The other servants told the Fatinelli family of the oversight. They went to investigate and saw angels baking the bread for Zita.

Saint Isidore, the patron saint of farmers, died in 1130.

He was canonized only after 492 years after his death because of the scarcity of materials about him, but could not disregard the many marvelous events witnessed around the tomb and his preserved body.

Blessed with celestial vis i o n s , h e w e nt t o C hu rc h ever yd ay and prayed whi le work ing. His companions

complained that his prayer life is the cause of his tardiness.

To verify the accusations, the landlord spied on him. He was really late in coming to work although he finished the tasks assigned him. The landlord w itnessed angels were helping him in the field.

A ngels too helped pr iests administer the Holy Eucharist. Some saints who received communion from angels are Saints Francisco and Jacinta Mar to, Saint Gerard Majel la, Saint Francesca of the Five Wounds, Saint Agnes of Montepu lciano, Saint Cather ine of Sienna, Saint Pascha l Baylon and Saint Stanislaus of Kostk a.

Words of caution

Stories about angels fascinate men through the ages.

Esoteric philosophies in the New Age Movement sometimes classify angels in the categor ies of fair ies, elves, spir it guides and even ascended masters of other religions. And worst, descendants of God, thus, above angels.

The Church then reminds the faithful of the Satan’s ability to “masquerade as angel of light,” to lead people astray from God’s truth (2 Corinthians 11:14).

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

Science

A6 Sunday, September 29, 2019

BusinessMirror

Sunday

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

D.O.S.T.’S Tuklas Lunas program leverages on PHL’s biodiversity

Local cures for gout, inflammation, hypertension and blood glucose

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id you know that locally developed cure for gout, inflammation, hypertension and blood glucose might soon be available which could make their prices lower?

University-based researchers and pharmaceutical laboratories in the Philippines are now having ongoing formulation and standardization for medicines for these illnesses by testing 26 plants.

This development came amid the recently reported clinical trial being made for the management of dengue using a fixed-dose combination of three plants.

All these came following the success brought by the lagundi and sambong medicinal products developed a few years back under the National Integrated Research Program on Medicinal Plants (NIRPROMP) of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD).

Following the favorable lagundi and sambong outcome, the “Tuklas Lunas” program was established to pursue drug discovery and development by leveraging on the country’s very own biodiversity.

Given that most medicines available in the country are developed abroad and are distributed by multinational companies, these products are usually offered at higher prices, which in turn, becomes a barrier for Filipinos to access treatment.

To develop drugs which are sou rced loc a l ly m a kes t hem more accessible and affordable to communities. The Tuklas Lunas program aims to harness the

potential of the country’s own resources under two tracks: the herbal and drug tracks.

The program also aims to help strengthen the capacities of both researchers and the local industry in drug discovery and development.

In the Tuklas Lunas program, the DOST-PCHRD partners with institutions in the regions to study their biodiversity potential for drug research. The institutions’ diverse outputs are attributed to the resources peculiar and abundant to each region.

To date, the program has supported and partnered with 27 institutions nationwide for the implementation of projects addressing various stages of the drug discovery and development.

The researches on cures for deng ue, gout, inf lammat ion, hypertension and blood-glucose lowering are part of the Tuklas Lunas program.

Some of the most advanced projects in terms of development include the clinical trial of fixeddose combination of three plants for management of dengue-associated symptoms by Pharmalytics Inc. and De La Salle University Health Sciences Institute.

These also include the ongoing formulation and standardization for gout, inf lammation, hypertension and blood-glucose lowering by the University of

the Philippines-Manila, Ateneo de Manila University, Pascual Lab Inc., Pharmalytics Inc. and Herbanext Lab Inc. There is also the development of functional food and herbal d r ug ca nd id ates f rom ed ible

mushrooms and ferns by the Central Luzon State University and Central Mindanao University.

Besides drug discovery and development, the DOST-PCHRD supports researches and projects that address the country’s most

pressing health concerns outlined in the National Unified Health Research Agenda and the Harmonized National Unified Health Research Agenda from conceptualization to technology transfer.

Weapons from local materials?

DOST-FPRDI checks ‘sawale’

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id you know that the lowly sawale (woven bamboo mat) is a possible material for making body armors to save our soldiers’ lives?

The Department of Science and Technology’s Forest Products Research and Development Institute (DOST-FPRDI) recently found that the woven bamboo mat paired with a stainless steel plate can be used for bulletresistant vest for pistol shots.

The vest was light enough for use in combat and 700-percent cheaper than most imported body armors.

According to DOST-FPRDI’s Director Romulo T. Aggangan, “This was an initial study in support of the Department of National Defense’s [DND] SelfReliant Defense Posture Program. SRDP seeks to help the country become self-sufficient in its basic military needs by producing its own weapons such as small arms, ammunitions, and tactical communications equipment, among others.”

In January 2018, the DOST and DND signed a memorandum of understanding which prov ided a f ra mework for their scientific and technical cooperation to achieve SRDP. Under the DND-DOST partnership, DOST-FPRDI has committed to develop explosives and propellants using local materials, such as abaca, and gums and resins from native forest tree species.

“After research and development, we will be piloting promising production processes to see if they are technically and financially viable, as well as environmentally and socially acceptable,” Aggangan added. “Our goal is to help boost the country’s internal defense capability, given the security threat posed by both communist insurgents and Islamic extremists.”

Rizalina K. Araral/S&T Media Service

S&T Media Service

High-flying marijuana vapes take hit from health scare

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ORTLAND, Oregon—Vaping products, one of the fastest-growing segments of the legal marijuana industry, have taken a hit from consumers as public-health experts scramble to determine what’s causing a mysterious and sometimes fatal lung disease among people who use e-cigarettes.

The ailment has sickened at least 530 people and killed nine. Some vaped nicotine, but many reported using oil containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), marijuana’s high-inducing ingredient, and said they bought products from pop-up shops and other illegal sellers.

The only death linked to THC vapes bought at legal shops occurred in Oregon.

Amid the health scare, the amount of the legal pot industry’s revenue that comes from vape products has dropped by 15 percent nationwide, with some states, including Oregon, seeing decreases of more than 60 percent.

Health officials in California, home to the world’s largest legal marijuana marketplace, this week issued an advisory urging people to stop all forms of vaping until a cause is determined.

Massachusetts, which like California allows so-called recreational use of marijuana by people 21 and older, went further than any other state, issuing a four-month ban on vape sales.

Vaping THC is popular for those who want a quick high but don’t want the smoke that comes from lighting up a joint.

Marijuana companies are trying to boost the public’s confidence by promoting that their vaping products are tested by the government, demanding ingredient lists from their vendors, and in some cases, pulling items from shelves. Some also are scrambling to get liability insurance.

Still, many have seen notable declines in

sales in the few weeks since the health scare emerged on a national scale.

“It’s having an impact on how consumers are behaving,” said David Alport, owner of Bridge City Collective in Portland, which in two weeks saw a 31-percent drop in sales of vape cartridges that hold the oil that vaporizes when heated. “People are concerned, and we’re concerned.”

In the United States’s booming legal cannabis market, vaping products have exploded in popularity.

In roughly two years, they have grown from a small fraction of overall sales to about onethird, with $9.6 billion in sales between 2017 and 2019, according to New Frontier Data, an economic analysis firm that tracks the industry.

About one-fifth of US cannabis consumers report using them.

New Frontier found a 15-percent decline in the market share for vape sales nationwide during the first week of September and saw no rebound in data collected through September 18.

At t h e s t ate l e ve l, Ne w M ex i co, Massachusetts, Nevada and Montana all saw drops of one-third or more, while California fell by 6 percent.

Oregon—which announced its death at the beginning of the month and said it was from a vape purchased at a regulated dispensary— saw one of the biggest drops in market share for vape revenue at 62 percent, said John Kagia, the firm’s chief knowledge officer.

Analysts are watching to see if further erosion occurs following congressional testimony last week by Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who said the number of lung illnesses could soon climb by the hundreds.

“This is a very, very fast-moving issue, and it will likely be a couple more weeks, if

not months, before we understand the impact it’s really had on the retail ecosystem and on consumers’ attitudes,” Kagia said.

In an explosively growing market, “it’s not unexpected that something would come up that would be disruptive,” he said. “But the question is, how quick is the industry’s response and how agile is that response to assure the public and regulators that this issue is being addressed and there’s robust self-governance?”

Doctors have said the illnesses resemble an inhalation injury, with the lungs apparently reacting to a caustic substance.

So far, no single vaping product or ingredient has been linked to the illnesses.

Some patients who have vaped only nicotine also have gotten ill.

Health officials in New York are focusing on vitamin E acetate, a viscous solution that’s sometimes added to marijuana oils. Retailers in some markets are pulling products from their shelves that contain that and other additives.

Other companies have proactively released public statements saying their vape oils contain only pure THC. In Illinois, a message board for medical marijuana patients banned posters from sharing home vape recipes.

“I just do THC. No flavor additives. I won’t even take that chance,” said Lisa Haywood, a medical marijuana cardholder who lives outside Chicago and follows the board for advice and support.

Other medical marijuana users are worried about restrictions on vaping.

If there’s a ban, “what does it do for all these people who have been seeing relief?... it is going to really impact patients and the industry that we’ve fought” to create, said Melanie Rose Rodgers, a Colorado medical cannabis patient and a leader of the state’s chapter of Americans for Safe Access, which

advocates for medical marijuana patients.

State regulators track the cannabis sold to consumers but don’t monitor what additives, if any, are in marijuana oil vapes.

That’s led states to begin discussions of how to tighten restrictions on vaping products even as retailers themselves try to determine which of the products on their shelves contain so-called cutting agents.

“We haven’t evolved our system that far to think about what we would test for in those products. A lot of these additives were conceptual at the time when the [marijuana legalization] law passed and the program came into place,” said Steve Marks, executive director of the Oregon Liquor License Commission, which oversees the state’s cannabis industry.

“Figuring that out is part of the evolution that we have to do as a consumer protection agency,” he said. “Science is not going to guide us because science is lagging.”

Hilary Bricken, a Los Angeles-based attorney whose firm specializes in cannabis business law and regulatory issues, said the legal marijuana industry is moving so fast that many states are “literally making this up as they go,” and the vaping scare has stripped away the sense of security that consumers get from buying from a licensed dispensary.

The vaping crisis will undoubtedly hasten tighter regulation at the state level and force the industry to patrol itself better to avoid crippling lawsuits, she said.

Bobby Burleson, an analyst with Torontobased investment and financial services company Canaccord Genuity, said the initial problems for the vape segment of the cannabis industry should moderate, and the health scare may in the end help the legal marijuana industry.

The crisis “should ultimately accelerate the shift away from the black market for cannabis products in the US,” he said. AP

Zamboanga’ RSTW showcases Filipinos ingenuity Zamboanga,

among the country’s top producer of rubber tree, partnered with the Department of Science and Technology-Region 9 to transform mature rubber tree into creative, functional pieces of furniture. These wood pieces were showcased at the three-day celebration of Zamboanga’s Regional Science and Technology Week (RSTW) and Regional Invention Contestszz and Exhibits at the Palacio del Sur, Zamboanga City. Geraldine Bulaon-Ducusin/S&T Media Service

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Sunday, September 29, 2019

A7

An ironic encounter at the Earth Towers of Fujian

The Fujian Tulou displays the ingenuity of the Hakka settlers; the circular design is unique and eye-catching.

The Tulous or Earth Towers in Fujian have been around for centuries.

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Story & photos by Joshua Berida

he rhythmic hum of the bullet train leaving Xiamen for Nanjing was the soundtrack of my ride en route to see the Fujian Tulou.

The moment I saw these architectural wonders online, I included it in my itinerary. It was a slow day going in fast forward as the train zipped through towns and eventually reached Nanjing Station. The concrete jungle of Xiamen was replaced by jungle, plants and hills as far as my eyes could see.

I stepped out of the station and waited for the bus to the Tianluokeng Tulou cluster.

The Ancient Earth Towers

The bus meandered through the small towns and villages of Nanjing. Locals came and went, going about their daily business; grocery-check, go-to-school-check, go-to-work-check routine. Then the bus drove up and around the mountains, the snake-like roads providing stunning views of the countryside. We passed by a handful of tulous but these were not my final destination.

Thankfully, there was a local who spoke fluent English; she was a teacher, teaching English in Chinese. As the cliché goes, you’ll discover some of life’s many contradictions and jokes while traveling.

She asked the driver where I should alight; directly at the tourist center she said. Time slipped by smoothly,

under the door, through the cracks in a window, like the slow pouring of rain.

I got down in almost empty tourist center and bought my ticket.

The driver spoke to me in Chinese, I didn’t understand what he said but I replied “I’m not Chinese.” He spoke again; this time I tried my best to understand him. We were just waiting for other passengers he said. A group of three friends arrived and we were off. We occupied a bus, just the four of us, and the driver as our captain.

It took a while before I finally got to see the Earth Towers or Fujian Tulou. But I was there looking down at them, my eyes on their circular frames. China’s Hakka settlers built these architectural wonders centuries ago. The construction of some of these structures spanned three centuries, wood by wood, piece by piece, family by family. The fireresistant materials used allow it to survive the years, and natural and man-made disasters. The round and oblong-shaped tulou is the most common design.

The designated English speaker of the three friends I was with asked me to have their photo taken.

I obliged and did the usual tourist photographer thing, yi-er-san (one-

The Earth Towers aren’t just tourist attractions, but places where local families still live in them.

Inside the tulou you’ll find an organized type of chaos where local families still live together.

two-three) all smiles, click, click.

OK my turn, yi-er-san, click, click.

Why don’t all of us take a selfie?

Okay, click, click. Traveling is not just about discovering the meaning of life (or death) and immersing in a unique culture or learning about its history for a day, two days, or three or more days, then leaving (sometimes never to return with a post on social media as a memory or commentary). But also about the small things, taking selfies and photos, and random conversations; like the ocean, there is the shallow, and then there’s the deep blue in different gradations.

Vestiges of the past in the present

We hopped from one small village to the next, click, click. The locals didn’t mind us entering their homes and taking pictures. The tulous weren’t just attractions; they breathed, they ate, they lived. Laundry lines stretched across the balconies, airing out their clothes and beddings, a worn out bicycle with a rusting body, a brand-new umbrella and a room under repair. The

From the outside you wouldn’t realize how big a Tulou is until you enter it.

makeshift shops just outside the kitchen, bedroom or living room on the ground floor bustle with a slow, easy pace. Different families shared the communal homes, probably passed on from great-grandparents to grandparents to parents to children; an internal serpentine river of memories from life to life, with death only a memory at the end of a melting candle or burning incense stick.

As we walked back from the village toward the bus, our trip ended,

yi-er-san, click, click. Now that we ticked off a place on our list, we went back to discussing practical matters, like how am I supposed to get to the train station before the last train for Xiamen leaves.

The designated English speaker (I forgot his name) spoke to the driver on my behalf. He found a shared taxi that will take some staff members and me to the bus station, where I can catch another taxi to the train station.

Time went by at its usual pace

TPB brings more fun to more Filipinos I

n line with the Department of Tourism’s thrust of expanding domestic tourism, the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), the marketing arm of DOT, recently concluded another successful run of its Regional Travel Fair held in the City of Golden Friendship, Cagayan de Oro. Held at the Limketkai Center, the travel fair provided Cagayanons, as well as those from the neighboring provinces in Region 10, a chance to discover and book exclusive and affordable tour packages from DOT-accredited tour operators, airlines, and other exhibitors like hotels and resorts.

A half-day travel exchange table-top session also take place for participating tour operators, travel agents, domestic hotels and resorts, destination management companies, and airlines to generate direct sales and business leads, meet new partners, and renew deals.

Supported by local government units of Northern Mindanao, the Regional

TPB Regional Travel Fair at Limketkai Center in Cagayan de Oro City.

Travel Fair was held in time for the celebration of the Higalaay Festival, and aims to promote and strengthen domes-

tic tourism in Cagayan de Oro. Cagayan de Oro has been considered as one of the nine “emerging cities of to-

morrow” by the United Nations Human Settlements Programe in 2014. With a rich culture and history as reflected in its landmarks, churches and museums, as well as scenic locations like pristine beaches, rivers, majestic mountains and caves, CDO indeed has a lot to offer its visitors.

TPB, through its Domestic Promotions Department, has been developing and implementing aggressive marketing strategies to increase domestic travel to key regions in the country to encourage a greater level of spending, especially in emerging regions. As per DOT’s data, domestic tourism expenditure ballooned by 19.1 percent from P1,770.7 billion in 2015 to 2,108.2 billion in 2016.

Domestic tourism expenditure also represents 19.8 percent of the household final consumption expenditure in 2016.

With the TPB Regional Travel Fair, more and more Filipinos will now get a chance to discover and experience the many wonderful and unique destinations the Philippines has to offer.

outside the bubble of sightseeing and childlike wonder of experiencing life inside a tulou, in a fast forward sequence with no pause button in sight. In a moment I was at the station with my shoe wet in the rain. I ran into one of life’s contradictions again, the one I left as I got off the bus, the English teacher teaching English in Chinese. It’s funny how these things happen while doing the most routine of things. I was waiting for the train to arrive while eating cup noodles and drinking my favorite bottle of milk tea.

We talked about nothing in particular, if I could speak or understand a little Chinese which I confirmed, showed pictures of the tulous we just saw, how much the taxi fare was, what seat number and cabin we were in, etc, etc, click, click.

Our train arrived, just on time.

We parted ways and decided to meet at the metro station that connected with the high-speed railway station. We would return to Xiamen together, at least until we reach our stop.

AirAsia now flying from Manila to Bacolod City

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irAsia today launched a new thrice daily service from Manila to Bacolod— the 11th domestic destination from the capital—commencing October 27, 2019.

AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricardo P. Isla said, “We are pleased to continue growing connectivity in the Philippines. The new ManilaBacolod flights will provide access to Bacolod City and the Central Visayas, a region full of charming locations and local food delicacies.

I am confident the new flights will continue to grow Bacolod’s thriving tourism industry.

Located in the northwestern part of the Negros Island, the coastal community once sprawled with sugarcane plantations, thus earning its title as “The Sugarbowl of the Philippines.”

Today, Bacolod is an urbanized city known for its food, heritage sites, ancestral homes and annual MassKara Festival, held on the fourth Sunday of October. During this celebration, the city’s streets are filled with groups of festive dancers wearing ornate smiling masks. This eventually gave rise to its more popular nickname, the “City of Smiles.”

Sports BusinessMirror

QATAR SIZZLER A8 Sunday, September 29, 2019

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OHA, Qatar—Marathons at midnight. Training sessions in saunas. Cooling vests packed with ice. Air-conditioners humming inside an outdoor stadium.

Coaches, athletes and event organizers have been at their creative best in an attempt to beat the heat at world championships in Qatar. For 10 days, athletes will run, throw and jump in the desert, where the 100-degree temperatures (38 Celsius) and 70 percent humidity will be every bit as fierce as anyone they line up against.

It w il l be a track meet like no ot her — good prac t ice for next year’s Oly mpics in Tok yo, which is ex pected to be ever y bit as much of a sizzler—and quite a challenge for the nearly 2,000 par ticipants descending on Doha to go for gold, silver and bronze in some of the most e x t r e m e c o n d it i o n s t h e y ’v e ever faced.

“I’ve never raced in heat at this

level,” American marathoner Roberta Groner said.

Organizers scheduled both marathons—beginning with Friday’s women’s event—to start a minute before midnight, and for the race walks to kick off at 11:30 p.m., figuring that pounding the streets under floodlights was better than doing it under the broiling sun.

T his week, the sea breeze kicking off the Persian Gulf has actually made it more humid at night—it was 90 degrees (32˚C) with 69 percent humidity and a real-feel temperature of 104 (40˚C) at midnight Thursday—and the question has now become whether they’ve simply traded one problem for another.

Botswana’s Christine Botlogetswe exercises in the heat during a training session at the Qatar Sports Club in Doha. AP

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

“ The thing with these athletes, they don’t know when to stop. They’re too competitive,” said associate professor of physiology Santiago Lorenzo, a former Oly mpic dec at hlete who has done studies on the effects of heat on athletes. “They’ll keep running until they drop. So the organizing committee, they have to make sure they think about the safety of their runners.”

Inter n at ion a l A ssoc i ation of Athletics Federations (IA AF) President Sebastian Coe bristled at the notion that taking world championships to the desert in September was folly, and wouldn’t bite when asked about speculation that more than half of Friday night’s 70-woman field might not finish the race. He said there will be more water, and more medical staff, on the course. Everyone will be keeping a keen eye open for signs of dehydration, heat exhaustion and heatstroke.

“We want as many people to finish in as good shape as possible,” Coe said. “The medical team will be very alert. The heat is not the big issue. Anyone who has run or competed knows you can deal with heat, but humidity is a challenge.”

Qatar retrofitted Khalifa International Stadium, an open-roof venue, with air-conditioning— one piece of this country’s plan to become a big-time host of major sporting events. The World Cup soccer tournament will be there in

three years, and the track championships will offer an instructive glimpse into how the system works at one of Doha’s crown-jewel venues.

“It was very, very nice in here compared to the walk from the car into the stadium,” American steeplechaser Emma Coburn said during a news conference Wednesday inside the 48,000-seat stadium.

Indeed, temperatures inside are a good 20 degrees cooler than in the parking lot.

A nd stil l, adjustments are being made.

One example comes from an unlikely place: Shot putter Ryan Crouser said he’s been running hot water over the shots before he brings them outside for practice so they won’t get slick with condensation.

“We’ve been heating them up to 100 degrees to get them above the dew point,” Crouser said.

The US and other countries are keeping ice-filled cooling vests at the ready, while some teams are sending their athletes into saunas as part of a training regimen designed to prepare them for the conditions.

After a recent practice, distance runner Molly Huddle posted a picture of the readings on her phone.

Humidity: 80 percent. Dew point: 83 percent. Feels like: 112˚F (44˚C).

The time was 9:32 p.m.

Also on social media, a tweet from Nigerian discus thrower Chioma Onyekwere: “Heading to my first practice in Doha. Hoping the heat won’t be the end of me.”

The IAAF has done away with its tradition of holding both day and night sessions, instead choosing to pack all the action into the evening hours and avoid the daytime highs, which can still approach 105 (40˚C), even in early fall.

Nobody will stay up later than the marathoners.

American Andrew Epperson, an assistant cross country coach at Colorado State, will keep his body clock on Colorado time, traveling to Doha only a few days before the men’s marathon, which takes place October 5. He’s been practicing at 3 p.m. in Colorado—when it’s midnight in Doha. His plan is to not adjust to the local time, and instead just fly in, stay on his normal time and then compete.

“I’m pretty familiar with humidity and burning and some wa r m cond it ions,” Epperson cracked. He grew up in Houston.

Meanwhile, Groner, the American marathoner who races Friday night, wore tights and two longsleeved shirts on her recent training runs in New Jersey.

Thankfully, headlamps won’t be required. The marathon course is set on a well-lit, looped path along the waterfront of Doha. The backdrop is the city’s tableau of futuristic skyscrapers, giving the TV cameras a chance to capture some cool looking scenery despite the stifling heat.

Back inside the stadium, the air conditioning will run full steam during the day to keep things cool, then be turned off when actual competition starts, lest the currents affect the sprinters, or blow a javelin or discus off line.

Different, for sure. But not enough to faze high jumper Vashti Cunningham. She trains in the desert climes of Las Vegas and recently won the US title during a broiling weekend in Des Moines, Iowa.

“But there’s hotter to come,” Cunningham said.

Track at the Tokyo Olympics starts July 31, 2020. The temperature there on July 31, 2019, was 95 degrees (35˚C)z. AP

Fan racism remains a serious problem in Italy

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OME—It was the day after Christmas and the festive atmosphere was quickly ruined when a soccer fan died in clashes outside of the venerated San Siro stadium in Milan.

Inside the arena, the situation grew worse when Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly, who is black, was targeted with racist monkey noises by Inter Milan supporters for the full 90 minutes.

After Napoli Coach Carlo Ancelotti pleaded with the referee to no avail for the match to be suspended, Koulibaly sarcastically applauded the official and was sent off with his second yellow card.

Days later, an emergency summit of Italian soccer and government leaders called to address the problems of fan violence and racism resulted in little more than opposing opinions.

“The feeling I took home was that we don’t all view the problem in the same manner and we don’t all want to confront it the same way,” Damiano Tommasi, the president of the Italian players’ association, said in an interview this week with The Associated Press. “Not everyone was convinced that this is unacceptable.”

No surprise then that, nine months later, fan racism remains a serious problem for Serie A and there has been a complete lack of punishment after

three cases of discriminatory chants during the opening five rounds of the Italian league.

Inter Milan’s Romelu Lukaku, AC Milan’s Franck Kessie, and Fiorentina’s Dalbert Henrique—who are all black— have been targeted by racist chants but no sanctions have been handed out by the Italian league, federation or police.

“There’s always someone who says, ‘Yes, but. Yes, but that’s not racism.

Yes, but it’s only one person. Yes, but it’s not a racist insult. Yes, but we can’t prevent someone from saying these things inside a stadium. Too many ‘Yes, buts,’” Tommasi said. “That results in a level of tolerance that doesn’t come into line with other countries.”

With coaches like Ancelot ti and Antonio Conte at Inter having recently returned home af ter experiences abroad, plus the arrival of more high-profile foreigners in the Italian league like Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus and Lukaku, who recently transferred from Manchester United, the racism in Serie A has taken on a new dimension.

“They notice the difference much more than other players and coaches.

And they’re personalities who are known internationally. Their voices gain more attention,” Tommasi said.

As Conte said recently, “I’m back in Italy after three years and I’ve discovered that the situation has really worsened. In England whoever offends someone pays for it because they put them in jail right away and throw away the key. That’s why so many families go to the stadiums there.”

The racism isn’t just against black players. Juventus midfielder Miralem Pjanic was recently insulted as “a Gypsy.”

Then there are degrading territorial chants constantly aimed at Napoli in which supporters of other clubs associate Napoli with cholera or sing that the southern city should fall victim to an eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

During Napoli’s opening match of the season at Fiorentina, Ancelotti uncharacteristically lost his cool at the final whistle and confronted opposing fans behind his bench.

“After 90 minutes of insults, I turned to the crowd and suggested that they just go home,” Ancelotti said. “It’s certainly not pleasant to hear nonstop insults.”

Fiorentina fans, meanwhile, have been known to celebrate the Heysel Stadium disaster, when 39 people— mostly Juventus fans—were killed in a stampede at the start of the 1985 European Cup final. AP

Ex-world champion Benn returning to boxing at 55

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ONDON—Former middleweight boxing champion Nigel Benn is returning to the ring at the age of 55 for a one-off fight, saying he wants “closure” on a career blighted by drug abuse, depression and the death of his brother.

Benn, who has not fought professionally since 1996, will face 40-yearold Sakio Bika in Birmingham on November 23.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Benn, whose boxing nickname was the “Dark Destroyer.”

“This fight is all about me,” he said.

“It wasn’t financial. It was always about

closure that I wanted that I never had.”

Speaking at a news conference in his home city of London, Benn said he is in the best physical condition of his life and compared himself to Benjamin Button, the character created by F. Scott Fitzgerald who ages in reverse.

“I feel the time is right now. People may say, ‘You’re 55.’ It’s nothing to do with age,” Benn said. “I’m fitter now than when I was world champion. It’s not the Dark Destroyer because everything synonymous with that name is not who I am. Now it’s Nigel ‘Benjamin Button’ Benn—the older I get, the fitter I am and I 100 percent mean

that. I am so fit.”

The fight with Bika, a former World Boxing Council (WBC) super-middleweight champion, will be licensed by the British and Irish Boxing Authority (BIBA), rather than the British Boxing Board of Control.

BIBA’s chief medical officer said Benn is fit enough to return to the ring.

“The tests that we have done on Nigel Benn to date indicate that his physiological age is at least 15 years younger than his chronological age,” Prof. Michael Graham said. “That’s scientific blood tests, MRI scans, cognitive function, body fat, etc. AP

CRosta Pizzeria owner Ingga Cabangon-Chua

Serving a slice of success

Serving a slice of success

Entrepreneur Ingga Cabangon-Chua talks about tossing and baking her passion into a thriving pizza business

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

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Photos by Roy Domingo

ntrepreneur Ingga CabangonChua developed a fondness and love for pizza when she was a child. “When I was a young girl,” she recalled, “I tried all the local pizza brands.”

Cabangon-Chua carried her passion for pizza through her adult life and developed a habit of baking her own at home.

She bought books and read articles online, learning everything there is to know about pizza, such as the importance of using the right temperature to produce good dough.

After four years of trying to perfect the art of pizza making, Cabangon-Chua and her boyfriend, Tommy Woudwyk, decided to co-open Crosta Pizzeria at Poblacion in Makati City in 2017.

The first few months proved to be a challenge. Cabangon-Chua said she had to tweak the entire process to accommodate volume. She was used to making only four to five pieces at home, but the business required her to produce around 100.

“I haven’t dealt with so much volume,” she said. “In the first couple of months, we were still tweaking the whole process. It was a learn-as-you-go experience.”

Cabangon-Chua eventually got her rhythm and even diversified their offerings.

Aside from meat-based pizzas, Crosta started offering plant-based options, which continues to warm reception from Filipinos.

“I think we’re a little faster in the vegan market compared to our Asian counterparts,” she said. “You would be surprised that in a country where pork is king, there’s a massive vegan following.

Sometimes, our vegan pizzas even outsell our regular pizzas.”

Cabangon-Chua said it was a challenge to find suppliers for Crosta’s vegan pizzas. But they found the right partner in United States-based Beyond Meat Co., thanks in part to the growing clamor for sustainable lifestyle and vegan diet, a cause pushed globally by prominent personalities such as Leonardo DiCaprio.

Cabangon-Chua believes the growth of veganism among millennials has helped the movement to advance, as well. She said the generation have been aware through social media of the issues surrounding sustainable development, from climate change to animal rights to veganism.

With a wide range of high-quality products, Crosta has attracted customers who

“Crunchy crusts on the side and soft in the middle is how I like my pizza,” said Cabangon-Chua, owner of Crosta Pizzeria, located at Poblacion in Makati City.

order through delivery services just by learning about their food through word-ofmouth. She said the method has been one of the most useful in the promotion of the brand, along with social media.

A lot of their customers, she said, are repeat clients who went to Poblacion to try their pizza. After getting satisfied, they would bring their family on their next visit to share the experience.

Crosta has also become so popular that Italians from all over Metro Manila go to Poblacion just to sample their pizza. Cabangon-Chua recalled a memorable experience with their first Italian customer.

“He went here and started asking who the Italian chef is,” she said. “There’s no Italian chef,” she replied. “It’s just me.”

As an artisanal pizza brand, CabangonChua had to be hands-on with the production of Crosta’s products. She would flip the dough, man the oven and reorient her staff to achieve the desired outcome.

“I have to train people in every station

2 BusinessMirror

to ensure the quality. Consistency is important whether I am here or not here. It needs to be the same quality,” she pointed out.

Cabangon-Chua said she based the taste of the pizza on her favorite bread, sourdough. One of the signature qualities of Crosta’s pizzas is the crunchiness of the crusts.

“Crunchy crusts on the side and soft on the middle are the things I love in a pizza,” Cabangon-Chua said.

The Crosta owner has been able to travel around the globe. She said of all the pizzas she has tried in different countries, the best one was from Japan. Although initially surprised that the Japanese could make delicious pizza, she believed Asians could give the Italians a run for their money as far as pizza making is concerned.

“At the end of the day,” she said, “you just have to love the taste of the pizza.”

Several customers professed their love for Crosta’s on online travel site reviewer September 29, 2019

TripAdvisor Philippines, where the brand got raves from the 12 reviewers. A certain Martim Canar Hoya of Olhao, Portugal, gave Crosta five stars, saying, “pizza was incredibly good.”

Meanwhile, Alexx T from Metro Manila commented that Crosta’s sourdoughinspired crust is not just hype and should be tried by pizza lovers whenever they are in the Poblacion area.

“The sourdough crust was perfectly crisp with just a right amount of chew and resistance when bitten into. The melted cheese, toppings, and garlic confit complimented the crust, without overpowering it by flavor and texture,” she said. “Till this day, I continue to rave about Crosta to my Manila friends and family.”

Cabangon-Chua added that they continue to train people to expand to other locations as demand for artisanal pizza grows.

She also plans Crosta to cater to weddings, parties and corporate events.

One of the things Cabangon-Chua is most proud of in turning her hobby into business is the opportunity to help other people through employment.

With people’s livelihood depending on her, and pizza making no longer just a hobby, she said: “I have to make it work.”

To do that, Cabangon-Chua said Crosta does not go for being authentic, but is more concerned to cater to what the market needs. Case in point, she said, was their willingness to try and create different pizzas, which led them to their best-selling vegan option.

“I don’t care about the perception,” she said. “I care about what the people want.”

BusinessMirror

MUSIC

PRINT PHOTO BY ALDWIN MARALIT TOLOSA

CHNDTR LAUNCHES SULAT MV

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he girl-fronted band CHNDTR (pronounced as “Chindetera”), an act fine-tuned for the current lovestruck and stylishly digital, daring generation, officially launched the music video for their latest single “Sulat.” The video was directed by a four-man team, namely, Paul Bagsic, Ibrahim Manalo, Michael Bihla, and Joseph Cacanindin.

CHNDTR has had solid achievements over the past few years of its remarkably noteworthy existence. Its debut album “Habang Umuulan” already garnered a total of almost two million streams and more than 87,000 listeners on popular digital engine Spotify and other platforms.

Their breakout gig came in 2016 when the group won grand champ at the Deli Music Festival Battle of the Bands supervised by retailchain Robinsons. In no time they became brand ambassadors for Pony, a reflection of their music’s positive public reception.

The band has likewise been reaching out to its audience by playing in packed gigs and significant guest appearances

heard in the airwaves or seen on TV or social media sites. They have performed on Wish 107.5’s Wishclusive, MYX Bandarito stage, Tower Sessions, and in special media office gigs MB Life and INQPop Sessions. Their radio touring has included air slots on MOR Live 101.5, Brgy LS 97.1, RX 93.1, EnergyFM 106.7 and Pinas FM 95.5.

Their new single “Sulat” is definitely proving to be an instant hit among the band’s growing number of fans, with the song’s music video quickly getting thousands of views right after it got posted on YouTube.

It is a track, the apparent sequel to their well-accepted song “Kulang,” that captures the essence of “HugotCore” — a phrase describing

their music and style.

In an interview about their brand of music, they mentioned the term in reference to the fact that “most of their songs have so much feel to it.”

While the songs have naturally turned out to be relatable to young, in-touch-with-their-feelings people, CHNDTR manages to catch music fans’ attention in other facets of the band, like its very name. CHNDTR is actually an abbreviation of the front talent’s name, Chin Detera.

With her soaring voice and gift as songwriter, it sounds like an understatement labeling her as

the group’s heart and soul. Well, it’s self-explanatory that CHNDTR is dubbed by fans as “the band name without vowels.”

Embracing the value of having regular music mates she can rely on throughout this life-empowering musical journey, Chin is happy to note she is supported by a trio of talented instrumentalists in Sean De Leon (Bassist), Benjo Criste (Drummer) and Niko Bacani (Lead Guitarist).

Be sure to get updated through their social media @CHNDTR (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter).

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Sound BusinessMirror

SEPTEMBER 29 , 2019 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

MUS

TUNOG TRANSCOM TAYO

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ore than 2,000 Manila-based employees of Transcom Worldwide Philippines once again celebrated camaraderie and togetherness at the second year of the company’s Tunog Transcom Tayo musicfest at the Metrotent Convention Center in Pasig City.

The event was graced by live performances from various well-loved Filipino musicians and bands such as Ebe Dancel, Mayonnaise, Chiquerella, Sponge Cola, Where’s Ramona, This Band, Ben&Ben, and Aegis.

“As we’ve been transforming our business in recent years, creating a positive culture where our folks can express themselves has been and continues to be a key focus.

Tunog Transcom Tayo, our annual musicfest, is just one building block in the foundation that is Transcom Tayo and sits alongside our annual CSR activities, our support for the Continued on page 5

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LGBTQ community and our HIV & AIDS awareness campaign in conjunction with The Red Whistle,” said Mark Lyndsell, Transcom’s CEO for the Global English Region.

This is also the second year that a Karaoke-inspired “The Viral Voice” competition, which Transcom coworkers participated in, was held.

“Our awesome multi-talented co-workers are placed at the heart of Tunog Transcom Tayo and have been auditioning for months as part of our very own The Viral

Voice competition. Filipinos are known across the globe for their musicality and singing abilities and this is no exception here at Transcom where our finalists will be showing off their talent alongside bands such as Sponge Cola, Ben&Ben, and Aegis,” Lyndsell further shared.

The event also had a run on September 21 at the Iloilo Convention Center, Iloilo City and at the SMX-Bacolod City on September 22.

51TALK TEACHERS’ DAY CELEBRATION

PHOTO ABOVE SHOWS Ms. Jennifer Que (2nd left), 51Talk Country Head; Founder and CEO, Mr. Jack Huang (4th left) and COO Liming Huang (2nd right) awarded top-performing teachers during the event.

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ore than a thousand 51Talk teachers from the different parts of the country flocked to SMX AURA Convention Center in Taguig City to join the day’s festivities featuring two of the country’s hottest bands, Hale and Ben&Ben.

Ahead of the World Teachers’ Day celebration on October 5, English online education leader 51Talk, recently paid tribute to its growing family of online, homebased teachers by hosting a whole day teachers day event dubbed “A 51TALK DAY WITH THE STARS.” 51Talk Country Head Jennifer Que explained that they work hard preparing for their teacher’s day event every year, as it is their way of honoring and giving back to their thousands of dedicated home-based online teachers spread across the archipelago. “We do this annual tribute so our teachers can unwind,

enjoy the day and have fun and memorable experiences with other co-teachers who are also into homebased, online teaching. And today, is the largest gathering of 51Talk home-based, online English teachers so far. This goes to show how our Filipino English teachers using 51Talk continue to shine online and provide quality English education to thousands of Chinese learners,” Que said.

51Talk Founder and Chief Executive Jack Huang was also present and joined the teachers in Continued on page 6

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SoundSampler | by Tony M. Maghirang

Celebrating The Alternative:

JAY SOM, SANTILMO, PLOVERSTREAM, APOCALYPTICA

JAY SOM Anak Ko

SANTILMO Malignant Entity

.A.-based Melina Duterte, who goes by her musical moniker Jay Som in indie music circles, finds her loudest voice on her third and latest album as Jay Som. In her previous album, Ms. Duterte already earned serious praise as an important emerging artist in both the international and local press. Today, she assumes a definitive profile in her indie music and at the same time, celebrates her Filipino roots starting with the album title, “Anak Ko,” the Tagalog phrase for My Child.

Calling her new body work her child can only mean she has produced or “given birth” to the full measure of Melina as a musician and as a Filipino.

Early reviews refer to shoegaze and dream pop as major influences although the pleasing hooks and the delicate performance in each track could very well echo twee pop that once occupied the underside of Pacific Northwest grunge.

Shoegazey or not, “If You Want It” captures The Pixies in a somber mood. Acid folk rock propels “Superbike” to the psychedelic stratosphere while “Anak Ko,” sang with English lyrics, invites you to dance to a helter skelter beat.

To these ears, “Nighttime Drive” is OPM at its most elegant, freely associating with the likes of Bic Runga, Alanis Morisette and Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell.

Her whispery voice may not appeal to a lot of listeners but the assured playing is so articulate such that what you hear over the course of “Anak Ko” can be beatifically soothing. So take a deep breath and dive into the depths of Jay Som’s indie progeny.

O most people, death metal is a joke even if to the cognoscenti, the death-fixated genre has already mutated to the eclectic division into technical DM (e.g. Atheist, Arsis), progressive DM (like Opeth, Alcest) and even Christian DM! Death metal also has a brutal history of church burning, murder and the eternally infuriating growls but once you get past these background irritants, there’s fascination and fun to be had in DM’s thrash-fueled earache.

Latest entrant to the local scene is this trio from Mati, Davao Oriental who describe themselves as advocates of darkness. To each his own and Santilmo’s love of the dark side aka “Malignant Entity” in their EP cover, has produced four songs that pay equal tribute to ‘80s Metal Blade and Nuclear Blast catalog as well as to contemporary extreme metal labels Willowtip and Century Media.

The death growls owe a deep debt to past heroes but the guitars in Santilmo’s fierce attack draw a straight line between UK’s New Wave of Heavy Metal (Judas Priest) to the fairly recent finger-snapping rampage of Cynic, once critically acclaimed to have a few things in common with jazz fusion greats Mahavishnu Orchestra.

The drums in Malignant Entity are perfunctory slams on the skin as if allowing the guitars ample space to roam and gloat especially in “Hordes of the Abyss” where the guitarist shreds gloriously vanishing away DM’s traditional funereal tones. The titular track goes for “Master of Puppets”-era Metallica in which James Hetfield & co. found the unifying bridge between rabid thrash and majestic prog-rock.

Come Halloween, let Santilmo’s life-affirming death metal kick out the jams with your classic Goth and sadcore favorites.

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celebrating the day together. He revealed that when he was searching for the best English teachers, he discovered the Filipino teachers to be the best.

During the event, 51Talk also recognized and awarded its topperforming teachers and clubs coming from the different regions.

“I thank all of you for your hard work and dedication to the teaching profession. On behalf of our hundreds of thousands of learners from China who are very grateful for the top-quality service you provide, Happy Teacher’s Day! Remember that in every lesson you do, you are changing the lives for the better,” Huang said. “This teachers’ gathering

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today show our appreciation to all of your contribution in shaping the future,” he added.

51Talk teachers had a lot of fun participating in the games and contests such as the “Lip Sync Battle” and “Win to the Max,” reminiscent of popular Pinoy game shows. Lucky winners took home raffle prizes.

The highly energized performances of Hale and Ben&Ben entertained the teachers and prompted them to sway, sing and dance with the bands.

“The event was truly a ‘51Talk Day with the Stars’,” Huang said.

Although celebrities were present on that day, the real stars are none other than the teachers. “My dream is for all of you to be a star in your own right and shine together with 51Talk,” he ended.

APOCALYPTICA Aquarela (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

PLOVERSTREAM Hand in Hand

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N bandcamp, Filipino four-piece Ploverstream slot their music under the emo/punk/alternative category. The alternative part looks well and good, but emo = punk? Where in hell’s seventh circle did that connection come from?

The album title would have clued anyone in that going punk, a combative term any way you cut it, is farthest from Ploverstream’s musical cache, “Head to Head” would have done it, but here we go again, plowing through a collection of fresh tracks to excite the senses.

A surge of ready to post-rock guitars ushers the album followed by, true enough, aching emo vocals that wants you to think of alt-Air Supply. Then midway, the drums zip on a mile a second speed-core and the possibilities open up.

Unfortunately, despite the volcanic eruptions from his rocking mates, the vocalist keeps to the wimpy side of the rock and roll divide. Sure, he whips up lyrics that can warm a loving heart like, “Hail to the King of QC/Long live the Queen of Cali/So far apart ‘til when?/Holding on as long as they can.” Throughout the record, the lyrics rhyme in almost perfect cadences as if someone learned his ways around onomatopoeia and synecdoche.

The instrumental better half of the band has promises to keep. Perhaps, its songwriter should find another pre-occupation while Ploverstream plot their next move.

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HE documentary Aquarela is being hailed as one of the most enthralling cinema on the state of water resources globally in the time of climate change. Finnish classical and heavy metal fusionists Apocalyptica, best known for doing Metallica with four cellos, provided the soundtrack that based on music alone reanimates the flow, slosh and roar of water.

Available on most digital video platforms, Aquarela’s trailer already offers a preview of how image and sound cohere aesthetically. The “Aqua Icebergs” track, for instance, reflects the slow break-up of century-old glacial formation until it slides down into an avalanche into the arctic sea.

Meanwhile, “Aqua Coma” could foreshadow the beginning of the end as humanity fails to respond to the immediate challenges of global warming.

The latest bulletin from the UN International Panel on Climate Change predicts that the world has 10 years to get its act together to prepare for the adverse impacts of a 1 degree rise in global temperature happening by 2030 onwards. Let’s just hope Apocalyptica’s name does portend of direr things to come.

Presented by PULP Live World, Apocalyptica 'Plays Metallica by Four Cellos' happens on October 1, 2019 (8PM) at the New Frontier Theater, QC. (Hear ye! Hear ye! Check out bandcamp and spotify for a taste of these brand-new sounds.)

BEN AND BEN performing to the delight of the 51Talk teachers.

TWO OF THE COUNTRY’S HOTTEST BANDS, HALE and BEN and BEN (below) performed during the 51Talk event dubbed as “A 51Talk Day with the Stars” held at the SMX AURA Convention Center in Taguig City.

Masters of improvisation: Hungry artists set up burger joint Shack’s three shops can produce around 900 burgers per day. He puts the total figure of ground beef that the store has turned to burgers at 215 kilos.

In August, Snack Shack celebrated its 10th year anniversary. As a way to give back to customers, management ran a special promo wherein the price of the burgers was returned to its original amount of P55.

“That’s one way of showing our gratitude,” Nacabuan said, adding that they sell out their burgers before six in the evening during the annual special promotion. “Some burger lovers even queue for nearly two hours just to avail at the original price.”

Nacabuan and de la Peña could not help but look back with joy at the times when they went to the market in the morning to refill their inventory. Aboard their mountain bikes, they carried kilos of ground beef in their backpacks, with burger buns in front.

“Our burgers sold out almost every day,” he said. “But we almost did not make any profit.”

By Oliver Samson

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Correspondent

verything started with a hunt for a well-seasoned but reasonably priced sandwich at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus.

Over 10 years ago, Miguel de la Peña and Jed Nacabuan ended their search without their desired snack, but came across a tasty idea: Since there were no burgers around the area, why not start cooking and selling their own?

“Without much planning, we opened the shop,” said de la Peña, son of Science Secretary Fortunato de la Peña.

The two freelance artists from UP Fine Arts decided to spend their earnings from a recent commissioned artwork to rent a space at Area 2 in the UP Diliman campus. With a small dining table, de la Peña and Nacabuan, started to grill beef patties over charcoals in 2012. They named their store “The Snack Shack.”

Costing and expansion

Riding to the market

Nacabuan recalled going to Tandang Sora on their mountain bikes to buy the burger ingredients, storing items on their backpacks, and pedaling their way back to the shop in UP. They only bought 3 kilos of ground beef for the opening, he said.

The burgers sold out quick and they had to buy another 3 kilos as customers came in droves.

In just four months, they had to tap a meat supplier to accommodate demand. Soon after, Miguel’s brother, Tito, joined the fold.

The Snack Shack expanded to Maginhawa in January 2013 with their second shop, which was eventually transferred to Sikatuna. They also started made the switch from charcoal to LPG to grill patties and hired employees.

“We did not expect the demand for our burger would grow,” Nacabuan said.

The early customers of The Snack Shack were UP students, just how Nacabuan envisioned. But as they expanded outside the confines of the campus, the business became more popular to the general public as all walks of life began to queue at the shop.

In 2014, Snack Shack opened its third branch in Marikina. Mean-

Jed Nacabuan (left) and Miguel de la Peña at The Snack Shack in UP Diliman

while, its first store was transferred from Area 2 to the UP Epsilon Chi Center, across Bahay Alumni, while expanding its menu to sausages, chicken wings and fries.

To ensure product freshness and

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quality, Snack Shack orders beef, vegetables, buns, sausages, and other items on a daily basis.

900 burgers per day

Nacabuan said that The Snack September 29, 2019

The reason for the lack of profit, Miguel said, was costing. They addressed the issue by making small price increases over a seven-year span.

“As much as possible, we try to avoid any increase in one whole year,” Nacabuan said. “But when the price of ingredients for burgers increases, we tell our customers of the need to adjust our price.”

After resolving costing, they turned their focus on product quality. The Snack Shack ensures that they only use fresh ingredients, without using frozen meat.

“Our beef is fresh every day,” Miguel said.

Nacabuan takes competition among burger makers positively. He said it is always for the good, as competition holds players accountable in offering only the best products to the market.

According to Miguel, they run the business intuitively. They currently don’t have any long-term plans, as they simply face opportunities when it knocks on the door.

“So far, our approach is working,” he said, adding the mindset relieves them of the pressure of expansion or achieving a target revenue for a particular year. “We just focus on quality.”

The owners said they are already looking for locations for a fourth The Snack Shack branch.

Greta Thunberg is right, world leaders say: We are failing

By Will Wade & Saijel Kishan

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Bloomberg

orld leaders and chief executives of global corporations gathered at a United Nations summit on Monday to say that a 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden is right: They are failing.

Greta Thunberg—the teenager who sparked a global youth movement to fight climate change—arrived in New York on a zero-emissions sailboat, climbed the stage at the UN and told a crowd of more than 300 presidents, prime ministers, CEOs, bankers and delegates that they’ve let down her entire generation by not acting on climate change.

“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” she said Monday. “How dare you!”

Nobody refuted her. Most agreed.

“I want to echo the sentiments and the emotion of Greta—that she could come here and condemn us all,” said Allen Michael Chastanet, prime minister of the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia. “And deservedly so.”

UN Secretary-General AntÓnio Guterres called on world leaders at Monday’s Climate Action Summit, held in tandem with a two-week general assembly, to make more aggressive pledges to curb greenhouse-gas emissions and keep the world from warming to

The 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg delivers a powerful message at the UN Climate Action Summit. BLOOMBERG

catastrophic temperatures.

The meeting was marked by, at times, contrite remarks from the likes of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Even US President Donald Trump made a surprise appearance, but didn’t speak.

The Climate Action Summit followed youth-led climate strikes that

inspired millions to take to the streets on Friday and over the weekend in major cities from London to Paris to New York, kicking off a series of more than 150 climate-related events being held across Manhattan as part of a larger program known as Climate Week. In all, billions of dollars were pledged by governments and businesses to combat global warming, but few made commitments that went significantly beyond

what they were already doing.

Also, the leaders of the world’s two biggest polluters—the US and China—were noticeably absent from the speakers’ list.

“Not one single nation is getting the job done,” former US Secretary of State John Kerry said during an opening ceremony of Climate Week.

“It’s no wonder our kids are in the streets, screaming at us.”

Filipinos dropping out of the work force could benefit the economy

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ow unemployment in the Philippines may be masking the fact that more people are opting not to work—and preferring to stay in school for longer.

The jobless rate has been fairly steady around 5 percent for more than a year, down from 6.6 percent two years ago. A closer look at the data shows more than 750,000 Filipinos aged 15 or above dropped out of the labor force last year. That means some 28 million people, or about 40 percent of the working-age population, aren’t employed and aren’t looking for jobs.

“Most of the youth stayed out of the labor force,” Socioeconomic Planning

Secretary Ernesto Pernia told reporters in Manila. “Boys cited staying in school as their reason for not working.”

At first glance, that would seem like a major drag on growth. But a bettereducated work force would be a significant boost down the line for a country that counts population size as a major driver of its economy. Traditionally, young Filipino men have worked without pay on family farms or earn meager salaries for manual labor at construction sites, markets or ports.

The number of men aged 15 to 24 who were not in the labor force—and which would include students—increased by 1.25 million between 2010 and 2018,

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according to the statistics agency. At the same time, the number of females joining the labor force climbed: About 1 million more young women actively looked for employment or had joined the work force in 2018 compared to 2010.

Families may be keeping their sons in school longer as they benefit from a decade-old government cash-transfer program, as well as free tuition at technical schools and state colleges, said Emilio Neri, a senior economist at Bank of the Philippine Islands in Manila.

“All of those efforts led to more students gaining more access to tertiary and technical or vocational education,” he said.

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In addition, high schools, which used to end at 10th grade, added two extra years of studies several years ago.

That may have kept young people out of the work force for longer, but wouldn’t have stopped some families from taking teens out of school and sending them to work if necessary.

Among Filipino men, 21 percent have undertaken college or other postsecondary education, compared to 25 percent of women, the latest data from the statistics agency show. Most male students in tertiary education are studying information technology, while most women are in business administration and related fields.

Bloomberg Opinion