Philippine Canadian Inquirer #354

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VOL. 1 NO. 354

GOING FOR 'GREEN'

Abigail Aguilar (center), campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia-Philippines, discusses the results of a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showing that more Filipinos will support candidates who will push for environment-friendly policies such as the ban on single-plastic bags and stricter implementation of solid waste management. Story on page 12.

BEN BRIONES / PNA

Olongapo court places Hanjin under corporate rehab

BY BENJAMIN PULTA Philippine News Agency MANILA — An Olongapo court has formally declared cash-strapped shipbuilder, Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines Inc. (HHIC Phil.), under corporate rehabilitation.

In a four-page “commencement order” dated Jan. 14, Olongapo Regional

Trial Court Branch 72 Judge Richard A. Paradeza acted on the firm's petition filed under Republic Act 10142, otherwise known as the “Financial Rehabilitation and Insolvency Act of 2010.”

In the stay/suspension order, which formed part of the court directive, the Olongapo court suspended all actions or proceedings in court or otherwise for

13

Panelo wants to ‘clear up’ alleged passport data breach

Kimi Mugford ‘from the Philippine community of Canada,’ ready to represent the country in Miss Multinational 2018!

❱❱ PAGE 10 Olongapo court

Get the latest news & updates www.canadianinquirer.net

❱❱ PAGE 17

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British businesses call for ‘Plan B’ after Brexit deal rejected

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Philippine News

JANUARY 18, 2019

FRIDAY

Thousands join unity walk for clean, honest elections

BY MA. TERESA MONTEMAYOR Philippine News Agency MANILA — Some 4,000 people on Sunday joined a unity walk and prayer rally as part of efforts in calling for a safe and peaceful elections this year.

Multi-sectorial groups, stakeholders, leaders, personnel and members of government agencies, religious groups, academe, students, civic and other nongovernment organizations attended the Unity Walk, InterFaith Prayer Rally and Peace Covenant Signing for the 2019 Midterm Elections event at the Quezon Memorial Circle.

At 4 a.m. the attendees, together with the electoral candidates, walked from the Quezon City Hall to the Quezon Memorial Circle. The event conveyed the start of the election period.

After the walk, the people gathered in front of the grandstand where different religious leaders interceded for unity and peace during the mid-term polls in May. In his speech, National Capital Region Police Office chief, Director Guillermo Eleazar said the activity emphasizes the importance of teamwork of different commissions, groups, organizations and candidates all nationwide to achieve fair and peaceful elections.

“Let us offer the peaceful signing of covenant to our God who is with us in our vision as we allow him to intervene in this quest.

Sinisimbolo ng paparating na halalan ang karapatan ng bawat Pilipino sa pagpili ng magiging pinuno at ang sama-sama nating pagdarasal ay daan para ating ipagbigay alam sa ating mga kababayan na tayo’y nagkakaisa sa adhikain na lagi tayo

nakabantay sa mga may planong parumihin o dayain ang eleksiyon (The upcoming elections symbolizes the right of very Filipino to choose leaders and our united prayer is a way to inform our fellowmen that we are one in the aim to guard against who plan to stain and defraud the elections), he added.

Meanwhile, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chiefof-Staff, Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr. said the participation of their personnel shows the military’s “unwavering commitment in keeping the integrity, sanctity and security of a fair and honest elections.”

“At this moment, AFP is affirming its commitment in assuring that our fellowmen are able to exercise their right to vote. AFP is the protector of the Filipino people and the state, intensifying our efforts to keep all electoral threats at bay, co-

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Candidates for the 2019 polls take their oath during the "Unity Walk, Covenant Signing" to promote clean and honest 2019 mid-term elections.

OLIVER MARQUEZ / PNA

ordinating with everyone who attended here to uphold successful elections and the AFP shall remain apolitical and non-partisan as the president continues to remind us to be neutral,” he added.

The speeches were followed by an integrity pledge and covenant signing by all the candidates.

The candidates led the ceremonial releasing of the doves

which symbolize “divine intervention” for honest, peaceful and successful elections.

Among the candidates who attended the event include re-electionist senator Bam Aquino, Chel Diokno and Rafael Alunan III. Party-list representatives Mocha Uson for AA-Kasosyo, Arturo Lomibao for ONE Philippines and Cezar Mancao II for Kilusang Maypagasa also joined the covenant signing. ■

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Philippine News

JANUARY 18, 2019

Pinoy absentee voters now at 1.7-M

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BY FERDINAND PATINIO Philippine News Agency MANILA — The country has now over 1.7 million overseas absentee voters (OAVs) representing 86 posts, the Commission on Elections said.

This is 77.78 percent higher than the 1.06 million in 2016.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said of the additional 783,076 new voters, a total of 437,779 came from the Middle East and Africa with 20 posts.

“We have a total of 1.789,823 million registered voters in 2016 we had this number of active voters from the post, 1.06 million voters. Nadagdagan tayo ng (We have an additional) 783,000 registrants, an increase of 77.78, with the biggest increase happening in the Middle East and Africa,” Jimenez told reporters Friday.

“Still overall, ang pinakamalaking area kung saan pinakamaraming OAV is the Middle East. Consistent naman sila (the biggest number of OAVs came from the Middle East. It is consistent)” the poll body official added.

Based on OAV data, the number of

new voters in Asia and Pacific, covering 32 posts is at 149,285, with a total of 388,619 voters.

For the Americas with 20 posts, there are 337,060 registered OAVs, with 132,724 new voters.

Jimenez noted that the increase can be attributed to the poll body’s voter education initiatives, which attracted the active participation of Filipinos abroad.

With this, Jimenez noted that there are two modes of voting for Filipinos abroad: manual, (postal) and using vote count machine (VCM) under the automated election systems (AES).

He said in postal or manual voting, the counting will be done manually or by hand.

Meanwhile, votes cast through the AES will be counted by vote counting machines.

Filipinos overseas will be voting for national positions only, particularly 12 senators and one party-list group.

The one-month voting period for the OAV will be from April 13 until May 13.

The counting of the votes from the country’s posts abroad will be held simultaneously with the local counting on Election Day. ■

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Group urges The Netherlands to abort Joma’s asylum status

BY CHRISTINE CUDIS Philippine News Agency

revolutionary movement, said most of the rebels who joined during his time dropped the fight because they realized it made no sense.

MANILA – A group of former rebels “Malaking pagsisi namin na dating urged The Netherlands Embassy to ter- kabahagi ng movement ang pagsali. Mali minate Communist Party of the Phil- yung pakikipaglaban, mismo yung mga ippines (CPP) founder Joma Sison’s kasama na nakikibaka, sila mismo yung asylum status and repatriate him to the nag-aaway away at karamihan ay terPhilippines so his punishments may be roristic act (Joining the movement was served. a huge mistake. Fighting was wrong, In a rally staged Monday in Makati our comrades in the group were fightCity, members of the Liga Indepen- ing against each other, mostly terroristic dencia Filipinas called on the embassy acts),” he added. to remove the CPP In February 2018, a founder’s privilege as 55-page petition was Dutch citizen. filed before a Manila Nolan Tiongco, court to legally deleader of the antiFighting was clare the CPP-NPA as communist group, in wrong, our a terrorist organizaan interview, said Sicomrades in tion. son has conveniently the group were Early this year, made The Netherfighting against Senator Panfilo Laclands his safe haven each other, mostly son has reminded the while the communist terroristic acts.

Department of Jusgroup he founded has tice to follow-up in lost touch of its purits petition seeking to pose to bring injustag the CPP-NPA as a tices to light in the country. terrorist group.

“Ang nangyayari pa, mas marami pang “I urge the executive branch, particuinjustices na idinulot ang mga giyera ng larly the DOJ to follow up with the judiNew People’s Army (NPA). Maraming ciary the case that they filed calling for nasaktan at namatay, wala naming na- the prescription of the NPA as a terrorist ligtas katulad ng dapat sanang mithiin group which is provided under Section ng grupo (What happened here is more 2 of the Human Security Act of 2007,” injustices were brought by the NPA. Lacson said on Twitter.

Many were wounded, nothing has been “They have not succeeded for the past resolved),” Tiongco said, adding that in five decades so I don’t see how they can. the 50-year struggle of the communist Right now, they are reduced to a band of group, no proof surfaced that the group’s extortionists, arsonists and robbers, even fight is even legitimate. a terrorist group,” added Lacson, former Tiongco, a former member of the Philippine National Police chief. ■

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FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2019

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Philippine News

JANUARY 18, 2019

FRIDAY

DOJ urged to fast-track terror tag petition on CPP-NPA

BY CHRISTINE CUDIS Philippine News Agency MANILA — Members of an anti-communist group massed in front of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday as they called on the agency to expedite its petition seeking to tag the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) as a terrorist organization.

Nolan Tiongco, leader of the Liga Independencia Filipinas, in an interview, said once the justice department declares them as terrorists, “they will lose financial support from international communities” and thus, put an end to the rebel group’s harmful activities.

“Kaliwa’t-kanan na ang kanilang pamimiwersyo sa tao gaya ng pamamaslang at pagwasak sa mga ari-arian ng tao at mga private corporation (Their atrocities against our

people and the destruction they caused on properties are seen left and right)” he said.

In a separate interview, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) public affairs office chief Col. Noel Detoyato said once the declaration is official, the military can go after the rebel group’s supporters and financers.

“It will come as a huge aid to us, we can have the support of the international community in cutting off any forms of help that the terror group receives,” Detoyato said in a text message.

In a text message sent to the Philippine News Agency, DOJ Usec. Markk Perete said the department is still “awaiting updates from the prosecutors handling the case.”

The anti-communist group, which consists of former rebels, has been going around telling people on NPA’s “unpleasant outcomes.”

The group stormed the Dutch

embassy on Monday as they called for the termination of CPP founder Joma Sison’s asylum status and repatriate him to the Philippines so his punishments may be served.

Previous reports show that the communist group has been suspect to numerous cases of killings and billions of pesos worth of damaged properties.

The communist organization, Tiangco said, has caused fear instead of relief for the last 50 years.

The DOJ has formally made its first step to declare the CPPNPA a terrorist organization last Feb. 21, 2018, pursuant to President Rodrigo Duterte’s earlier proclamation.

In a 55-page petition submitted before the Manila Regional Trial Court, the DOJ sought to declare the CPP-NPA as a terrorist group, citing Republic Act 9372 or The Human Security Act of 2007.

The petition, signed by Se-

Anti-communist group before the DOJ.

nior Associate State Prosecutor Peter Ong, accused the CPPNPA of having an “evil plan of imposing a totalitarian regime.”

Senator Panfilo Lacson has recently urged the DOJ to determine what happened to its petition seeking to tag the communist party as a terrorist group.

PNA

“I urge the executive branch, particularly the DOJ to follow up with the judiciary the case that they filed calling for the prescription of the NPA as a terrorist group which is provided under Section 2 of the Human Security Act of 2007,” Lacson posted on his Twitter account on January 3. ■

Arroyo says she uses medical marijuana

BY JOANNA BELLE DEALA Philippine Canadian Inquirer HOUSE SPEAKER Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday, January 15, has seconded to the public the effectiveness of medical marijuana by revealing that she herself uses it to ease the pain she is suffering from her cervical spine problem.

Speaking to reporters in a chance interview during a medical mission in Barangay Holy Spirit in Quezon City, Arroyo said, “I really believe in medical cannabis. As you know I have my problem here (cervical spine) and when I’m in a country that allows it, I put a pain patch but here in the Philippines I cannot do it.”

Arroyo, who has multilevel cervical spondylosis, is one of the authors of House Bill (HB) No. 6517 also known as the Philippine Compassionate Medical Cannabis Bill that seeks to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes in the country.

Once enacted into law, the

bill will establish medical cannabis compassionate center (MCCC) or entities that are “registered and licensed by the Department of Health (DOH) to acquire, possess, deliver, transfer, transport, sell, supply and dispense cannabis, devices or related supplies and educational materials to duly registered qualified patients.”

It will also create medical cannabis research and safety compliance facility (MCRSCF), also registered with the Health Department, which will “conduct scientific and medical research on medical use of cannabis and provides testing services for its potency and contaminants relative to its safe and efficient use, cultivation, harvesting, packaging, labelling, distribution, and proper security.”

The Pampanga congresswoman said she authored the bill, believing that it can help her and many other people. HB No. 6517, however, has yet to be approved by the House of the Representatives.

“There was a lot of objection

House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

to the bill from the House and from the Senate,” Arroyo said.

“We are just letting the legislative process take its course.

Right now it’s on second reading,” she added.

The Palace earlier said President Rodrigo Duterte will sign any measure that seeks the legalization of medical marijuana www.canadianinquirer.net

GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO, BEAT THE ODDS / FACEBOOK

in the Philippines.

Prior to this, Duterte, last December 3, admitted that he uses marijuana to keep him awake amid his jam-packed schedule but later took back what he said, explaining that it was only a joke.

But Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, Duterte’s fierce

critic, dared the President to take a drug test and said it was too late for the latter to retract as he already ‘revealed that he himself is a drug addict.’

Malacañang, however, defended Duterte, saying that there is no need for the Chief Executive to undergo such test. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2019

7

Deleted P75-B can fund PH gov't takeover of Hanjin shipyard

BY FILANE MIKEE CERVANTES Philippine News Agency

ALBERT ALCAIN / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

PRRD appoints new Sandiganbayan Associate Justice

BY AZER PARROCHA Philippine News Agency MANILA — President Rodrigo R. Duterte has appointed former Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge Ronald Moreno as Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan.

Duterte appointed Moreno on June 8, 2018 but his appointment paper was only released to the media on Wednesday.

Moreno replaces former As-

sociate Justice Alexander Gesmundo.

Last year, Moreno was included in the list of four candidates recommended by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to Duterte.

He was appointed as presiding judge of Makati RTC Branch 147 by then president Benigno Aquino III in 2012.

Moreno earned his law degree from the University of Santo Tomas. ■

MANILA — Senator Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday recommended using the PHP75-billion "insertion" that was deleted in the proposed 2019 public works budget to fund the potential Philippine government takeover of the Subic facility of

the bankrupt Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines.

Lacson made the proposal during the plenary deliberations on the proposed 2019 budget of the Department of National Defense (DND).

He said the deleted funds can be used to purchase a new facility for the Philippine Navy.

"What if the Philippine government will just take over

Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson.

Hanjin and bid out to possible partners, private entities? This will mean potential income for the government," Lacson said.

He also noted that the appropriate agencies can hold consultations with the National Economic and Development Authority regarding partnerships between the government and a private entity for this en❱❱ PAGE 8 Deleted P75-B

SENATOR PING LACSON/FACEBOOK

Arroyo not surprised to get low approval, trust ratings in Pulse Asia survey

BY JOANNA BELLE DEALA Philippine Canadian Inquirer HOUSE SPEAKER Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was not bothered by a recent survey which shows that the former president was the least approved and trusted top government official in the country.

“Those trust ratings are not new to me. Remember I was pilloried very much when I was president? So I haven’t done much to overcome that because I just have to do my work,” Arroyo said.

“My thrust is to concentrate on my work. I already said it the last time, I am not a stranger to those kinds of ratings,” she added.

The House Speaker told this to media on the sidelines of her gift-giving event in a coastal village in Sasmuan, Pampanga on Friday, January 11.

In the survey released by Pulse Asia on the same day, Arroyo only got a 27 percent approval rating and a 21 percent trust rating.

She obtained a 43 percent disapproval rating and a distrust rating of 45 percent on her performance as a government official.

Arroyo’s trust rating is highest in Metro Manila which is at 52 percent.

While the House Speaker is at the bottom of the list, President Rodrigo Duterte, on the other hand, got the highest approval and trust ratings which is at 81

percent and 76 percent, respectively.

Duterte was followed by Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo who obtained a 62 percent approval rating and a 56 percent trust rating.

Senate President Vicente III, meanwhile, ranked third, with 74 percent approval rating and 66 percent trust rating.

Pulse Asia conducted the survey from December 14-21 last year using face-to-face interviews with its 1,800 survey respondents whose age ranges from 18 years old and above.

The polling body noted that one of the prominent issues that preoccupied Filipinos during the survey period is the allegation of Senator Panfilo Lacson where he said that apart from the P2.4www.canadianinquirer.net

House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO, BEAT THE ODDS/FACEBOOK

billion “fund insertions” in the budget allocated to the districts of Arroyo and House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya which amounted to P2.4-billion and P1.9-billion, respectively, several

districts in Bohol, Surigao, and other areas in the Visayas and Mindanao whose representatives are “close” to Arroyo also got “huge allocations” in the 2019 budget. ■

Philippine News

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JANUARY 18, 2019

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Correspondent/Hosts Bea Kirstein T. Manalaysay Joanna Belle Deala Gianna Llanes Arianne Grace U. Lacanilao Violeta Arevelo Babes Newland Graphic Design Shanice Garcia Ginno Alcantara Arlnie Colleene Talain Singca Account Manager Kristopher Yong Director/Producer Boom Dayupay Photographers/Videographers Ginno Alcantara Ronnie Garcia Maria Crizandra Baylon Aldyn R. Soriano Sales Aireen De Asis Paul Acosta Dennis Cruz Margarita Perez Operations and Admin Victoria Yong Amelia Insigne Management Alan Yong Victoria Yong For photo submissions, please email editor@canadianinquirer.net For General Inquiries, please email info@canadianinquirer.net For Sales Inquiries, please email sales@canadianinquirer.net or contact 778-788-4998 Philippine Canadian Inquirer is located at 11951 Hammersmith Way, Suite 108 Richmond, B.C. V7A 5H9 Canada

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DOH hands tied over study of medical marijuana

BY AZER PARROCHA Philippine News Agency MANILA — The Department of Health (DOH), and its regulatory and enforcement arm, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), cannot go full-blast in studying the benefits of medical marijuana because it has yet to be considered a “registrable product” in the country, a health official said Wednesday.

Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo made this remark a day after House of Representatives Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo vouched for the effectiveness of marijuana for medicinal purposes, admitting that she herself had used it in a country where it was allowed to treat her spinal condition.

Domingo said the hands of both the DOH and FDA are tied because Congress has yet to pass a law enabling government agencies to conduct clinical studies on medical marijuana.

“We cannot go full-blast into studying the actual product kasi (because) it’s not listed as a registrable product with FDA at this time. Walang batas (There is no law) listing it as a registrable product,” Domingo said in a press briefing in Malacañan Palace.

“Hindi rin naman ang gobyernong maaaring gumastos ng pera para magresearch sa isang produktong di naman pwede irehistro sa Pilipinas (The government cannot spend its own resources to conduct research on a product that is not registered in the Philippines),” he added.

Domingo, however, bared that other agencies, including the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), and the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care are already studying the benefits of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

He said that the DOH and FDA will have to wait for an enabling law before

they can conduct their own clinical studies on medical marijuana.

“FDA will have to wait for an enabling law that will allow it to be a registrable product before we can actually consider pouring some resources into clinical researches for it,” he added.

There is a current measure at the House that seeks to legalize cannabis strictly for therapeutic purposes – House Bill No. 6517, otherwise known as the Philippine Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act. Once enacted, medical marijuana should be subject to stringent government regulation under DOH supervision.

Earlier, Malacañang reiterated that the President is in favor of legalizing medical marijuana, so long as it is regulated.

"He (Duterte) said for purposes of medicine to heal, he's in favor, but not for use other than that," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said. ■

lion outstanding loans -- USD400 million from Philippine banks and USD900 million from South Korean lenders.

According to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, HHIC-Phil filed a petition Tuesday last week at the Regional Trial Court in Olongapo City "to initiate voluntary rehabilitation under Republic Act No. 10142, otherwise known as "An Act Providing for the Rehabilitation or Liquidation of Financially Distressed

Enterprises and Individuals".

With this, Hanjin has sought help from the government to find investors that can take over the operation of its shipyard in Subic, as well as to help its employees, who have taken the brunt of the company's financial woes.

In December 2018, the company laid off more than 7,000 workers. ■

Deleted P75-B.... ❰❰ 7

deavor.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, meanwhile, said President Rodrigo Duterte is "very receptive" to a government takeover of the Hanjin shipyard.

"We are excited with this development because we see the possibility of having our own shipbuilding capacity in the Philippines," Lorenzana said.

Hanjin revealed that it has USD1.3 bil-

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FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2019

Philippine News

BI mulls deportation case vs. actor Tony Labrusca

PRRD most trusted among top officials in Dec. poll

BY FERDINAND PATINIO Philippine News Agency MANILA — A deportation case is being pushed against television and movie actor Tony Labrusca before the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

“The (Intelligence Division) recommended to Legal (Division) the filing of deportation case against Labrusca for working without permit I think,” BI Deputy Commissioner Tomas Javier said in an interview Wednesday.

Javier said there is no charge sheet yet against the actor, noting that the recommendation for his deportation is being reviewed by the BI’s Legal Division.

The BI official admitted that he received information that the actor, who holds an American passport, has filed a petition for recognition as a Filipino citizen.

“I was informed that Tony Labrusca also filed a petition for recognition as a Filipino citizen, considering that both his parents are Filipinos,” Javier added.

BY EARL JED ROQUE Philippine News Agency

Tony Labrusca.

Once Labrusca’s petition has been granted, the deportation case would be moot and academic.

Javier said the process of the petition for recognition involves a hearing with the BI Board of Special Inquiry (BSI).

“We would process it, may hearing pa ‘yan (there will be a hearing) with our BSI, then it (BSI) would recommend to the Department of Justice for confirmation if they find sufficient basis for the granting of recognition,” he noted.

Among the requirements for the petition to be granted, the BI official said, is that one or

TONY LABRUSCA / INSTAGRAM

both parents of the petitioner are Filipinos.

“In the case of Labrusca, his father I think all the way, Filipino. His mother, I have no idea, baka nag convert to (maybe she has already converted her citizenship to) American, pero ‘yung (but the) father ay (is a) Filipino,” Javier said.

Labrusca is the son of local actor Boom Labrusca and model Angel Jones.

The actor drew flak for allegedly disrespecting an immigration officer at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) after he was only given a 30-day stay in the country. ■

Olongapo court places Hanjin under corporate rehab

BY BENJAMIN PULTA Philippine News Agency MANILA — An Olongapo court has formally declared cash-strapped shipbuilder, Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines Inc. (HHIC Phil.), under corporate rehabilitation.

In a four-page “commencement order” dated Jan. 14, Olongapo Regional Trial Court Branch 72 Judge Richard A. Paradeza acted on the firm’s petition filed under Republic Act 10142, otherwise known as the “Financial Rehabilitation and Insolvency Act of 2010”.

In the stay/suspension order, which formed part of the court directive, the Olongapo court suspended all actions or

proceedings in court or otherwise for the enforcement of all claims against HHIC Phil. Inc. It also “suspends all actions to enforce any judgment, attachment or other provisional remedies against HHIC Phil Inc.,” and “prohibits HHIC Phil Inc. from selling or disposing (of ) its properties except in the ordinary course of business”, as well as prohibits the firm from making any payment of its outstanding liabilities.

The court also ordered the creditors, government agencies and all interested parties to file a comment on Feb. 8 and prohibited HHIC Phil. Inc.’s suppliers of goods and services from withholding the supply of the goods and services in the ordinary course of business for as long as HHIC Phil. Inc. makes payment

for the said goods and services.

The court also authorized HHIC Phil. Inc. to pay its regular administrative expenses as they become due and ruled that contracts not confirmed in writing by HHIC Phil. Inc. within 90 days following the issuance of the commencement order shall be considered automatically terminated.

The firm located in Subic Bay in Zambales employed up to nearly 28,000 persons at its peak before financial woes forced it to trim down its workforce to around 20,000 last year.

Hanjin revealed that it has USD1.3 billion in outstanding loans — USD400 million from Philippine banks and USD900 million from South Korean lenders. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

MANILA — President Rodrigo R. Duterte enjoys the highest trust and approval ratings among the country’s top four officials, a Pulse Asia survey conducted last December showed.

“Most Filipinos (81 percent) express appreciation for the performance of President Rodrigo R. Duterte,” the Pulse Asia survey said.

The President’s approval ratings climbed to 81 percent from 75 percent in the same survey conducted in September.

Duterte’s trust rating was also higher at 76 percent in December from 72 percent in September.

Vice President Leni Robredo’s approval and trust ratings remain virtually unchanged at 62 percent and 56 percent, respectively.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III sustained his approval rating at 74 percent in December from 73 percent in September while his trust rating is the same at 66 percent in both sur-

9

veys.

House of Representatives Speaker Gloria MacapagalArroyo scored a 27 percent approval rating and higher 21 percent trust rating from 19 percent in September. Arroyo was not included in the September approval survey as she had been in office for less than three months during the time it was conducted.

The survey was conducted on December 14-21 with 1,800 respondents and a margin of error of +/-2.3 percent.

Some of the prominent issues in the weeks prior to the conduct of the survey were the conviction of three police officers involved in the Kian delos Santos slay, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit in the country, the naming of the third telco player, appointment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin, the arrest of former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and 17 others in Talaingod, Davao del Norte, the budget debate in Congress, the proposal to abolish the Road Board, and the House’s passage of a federal form of government. ■

REY BANIQUET/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

Philippine News

10

JANUARY 18, 2019

FRIDAY

Daraga Mayor Carlwyn Baldo charged with criminal, admin case before Ombudsman

BY JOANNA BELLE DEALA Philippine Canadian Inquirer THE MAYOR of Daraga, Albay is facing a legal challenge after the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNPCIDG) lodged administrative complaints against him in connection to the killing of AKO Bicol Representative Rodel Batocabe.

In its complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman on January 11, Friday, the PNPCIDG charged Baldo, the alleged mastermind behind the murder of Batocabe, with conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, and graft and corruption.

The first complaint, according to the document, refers to the “administrative aspect of two counts of murder and six

counts of multiple frustrated murder” slapped against Baldo.

The second one, meanwhile, is for “willfully allowing the disbursement of public funds” for salaries of his alleged six-man hit team, who were working as “ghost employees” under the Office of the Municipal Mayor.

Batocabe, who was eyeing the mayoral seat of Daraga, was killed along with his security escort, Senior Police Officer (SPO) 1 Orlando Diaz, after they attended a gift-giving event for senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Barangay Burgos last December 22.

All these six individuals allegedly employed by Baldo to gun down Batocabe are now in police custody.

These hitmen, identified as suspects Rolando Arimado alias “RR,” Danilo Muella alias “Manoy Dan,” Jaywin Babor

alias “Jie,” Henry Yuson, Christopher Naval alias “Tuping,” and Emmanuel Rosello alias “Boboy,” all pointed Baldo as the one who asked them to kill Batocabe, according to the police.

Baldo allegedly offered to pay the suspects five million pesos for the hit job, but they said the mayor failed to give them the full reward money after they killed Batocabe.

The mayor, however, had previously denied the claims against him.

Aside from tagging him in the AKO Bicol Representative’s murder, the PNP, on January 7, also claimed that Baldo also planned to kill former Daraga Mayor Gerry Jaucian, stressing that the information came from their primary witness in Batocabe’s case, Emmanuel Judavar. ■

Daraga Mayor Carlwyn Baldo.

AWIN BALDO/FACEBOOK

Olongapo court.... ❰❰ 1

Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines Inc. HHIC PHILS HANJIN HEAVY INDUSTRIES - CONSTRUCTION CO., LTD / FACEBOOK

the enforcement of all claims against HHIC Phil. Inc. It also "suspends all actions to enforce any judgment, attachment or other provisional remedies against HHIC Phil Inc.," and "prohibits HHIC Phil Inc. from selling or disposing (of ) its properties except in the ordinary course of business", as well as prohibits the firm from making any payment of its outstanding liabilities.

The court also ordered the creditors, government agencies and all interested parties to file a comment on Feb. 8 and prohibited HHIC Phil. Inc.'s suppliers of goods and services from withholding the supply of the goods and services in the ordinary course of business for as

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long as HHIC Phil. Inc. makes payment for the said goods and services.

The court also authorized HHIC Phil. Inc. to pay its regular administrative expenses as they become due and ruled that contracts not confirmed in writing by HHIC Phil. Inc. within 90 days following the issuance of the commencement order shall be considered automatically terminated.

The firm located in Subic Bay in Zambales employed up to nearly 28,000 persons at its peak before financial woes forced it to trim down its workforce to around 20,000 last year.

Hanjin revealed that it has USD1.3 billion in outstanding loans — USD400 million from

Philippine banks and USD900 million from South Korean lenders. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2019

11

Davao court denies gov’t plea to issue HDO vs. Trillanes

BY JOANNA BELLE DEALA Philippine Canadian Inquirer

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy Cimatu (right) inspects the Estero de San Antonio de Abad along Mabini Street in Manila on Friday.

AVITO C. DALAN/PNA

DENR prepares for Manila Bay rehab

BY CATHERINE TEVES Philippine News Agency MANILA — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is in the thick of preparations this week for the rehabilitation of Manila Bay set to begin later this month.

DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu said the department would spearhead a multi-stakeholder discussion on the plan’s coverage so rehabilitation efforts can be guided accordingly.

“We’ll be holding a meeting with stakeholders to discuss the plan in depth and determine tasks and responsibilities of stakeholders involved in the rehabilitation,” Cimatu said at the 10th International Water Association Conference on Efficient Urban Water Management in Pasay City on Monday.

The rehabilitation operations of Manila Bay, a major fishing ground, will begin on January 27.

Cimatu said decades-long flow of solid waste and untreated discharges into Manila Bay raised the level of harmful coliform bacteria to over 330 million most probable number (MPN) per 100 milliliters. The safe level is 100 MPN per 100 milliliters only.

The environment chief noted that the rehabilitation plan would be “dynamic” as this would accommodate new inputs when necessary.

“Along the way, if there’s ad-

ditional inputs that should be incorporated in the plan, we’ll do it,” he said.

Several companies have also pledged support for the rehabilitation, including private water concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc., which will provide guidance on pipe-laying, Cimatu said.

DENR has not yet identified companies that signified intention to help rehabilitate Manila Bay but Cimatu expressed gratitude for the offers of support.

Last week, Cimatu conducted an ocular inspection of pipes discharging into Manila Bay and trace the sources of untreated wastewater so that corrective measures can be undertaken to prevent the bay’s further degradation.

Earlier, the DENR reported undertaking several measures for the bay’s rehabilitation, including the establishment of the Manila Bay command center under the agency’s National Capital Region office.

The center will oversee zonal operations of a field office in each of Metro Manila’s coastal areas of Manila, Las Piñas, Pasay-Parañaque and MalabonNavotas.

DENR also reported looking into technologies for treating water pollutants in Manila Bay. The agency will also run after violators of environmental laws, tapping the help of law enforcers in bringing these culprits to justice. ■

SENATOR ANTONIO Trillanes IV can still set foot on other countries as a Davao City court junked the motion filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue a hold departure order (HDO) against the lawmaker.

In his order dated December 14 but was only made public on Tuesday, January 14, Judge Melinda Alconcel Dayanghirang of the Davao City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 54 ruled that Trillanes is not a “flight risk,” noting that the latter “voluntarily surrendered” himself by posting bail when the court issued four arrest warrants against him for libel.

“To the Court’s mind, the immediate voluntary surrender of the accused to the court upon his knowledge from media ac-

counts of the warrants of arrest issued against him indicates that the risk of his flight or escape from this jurisdiction is highly unlikely,” the order read.

“His voluntary surrender and placing himself under the jurisdiction of the court is a demonstration of his utter respect for the legal processes of this country, it added.

The senator recently went to Europe from December 11 to January 12 for speaking engagements. This will be followed by a United States (US) trip on January 27 to February 10 to meet with officials of various groups in California, Washington D.C., and Maryland.

The court stressed that the said trips were supported

by Senate President Vicente Sotto III and that these were “planned and scheduled a long time” even before the cases against him were filed.

“From the viewpoint of the Court, the above trips or speaking engagements abroad cannot be equated to flight or the voluntary withdrawal by the accused in order to avoid continuance of the criminal proceedings,” Dayanghirang said.

As of writing, Trillanes is currently in Davao City, the hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte, to face libel cases filed against him by Presidential son, former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, and Presidential son-in-law, Manases Carpio.

The younger Duterte and Carpio’s complaint is only one of the cases that Trillanes is facing. Apart from this, the lawmaker still has pending rebellion case, inciting to sedition case, and grave threats case which was lodged against the lawmaker four days ago by the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office. ■

Palace rejects birth certificate requirement for passport renewal

BY AZER PARROCHA Philippine News Agency MANILA — Malacañang on Monday described as “cumbersome” the ongoing practice of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to require applicants renewing their passports to bring their original birth certificates following the agency’s declaration it lost passport data to its old contractor.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this remark as the DFA vowed to address its passport data loss after a previously outsourced printer allegedly took off with passport holders’ documents when its contract was terminated.

“Applicants should not be burdened by submitting original copies of their certificates of live birth, obtaining which requires another application process before the Philippine Statistics Authority, to renew their passports just because the producer lost their relevant data,” Panelo said in a statewww.canadianinquirer.net

ment.

Panelo said that the submission of the old or current passport, which the applicant seeks to renew “should suffice for the purpose.”

“The ongoing practice is not only cumbersome to everyone affected but is a form of red tape which this administration frowns upon and will not tolerate,” he added.

Panelo described the passport data breach as a “serious and grave matter” and assured that the National Privacy Commission (NPC) is determining whether there were any violations to the Data Privacy Act 2012 (R.A. 10173).

“The National Privacy Commission (NPC) has been directed to investigate the incident in the Department of Foreign Affairs and ascertain whether certain provisions of Republic Act No. 10173, otherwise known as the Data Privacy Act of 2012, have been violated, particularly with respect to the personal information of the data subjects,” Panelo said.

Panelo, however, emphasized that the current arrangement for the printing of passports should also be examined to determine if there are violations of pertinent laws, which may be detrimental to the public.

He also assured that the Palace would not treat the issue lightly.

Earlier, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., bared that the previous contractor has made inaccessible the data it was entrusted to after its printing contract was terminated.

It may be recalled that Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, through French firm Francois-Charles Oberthur Fiduciare, had been printing passport booklets before the contract for the production of Philippine electronic passports was awarded to the APO Production Unit Inc. Locsin hinted that the “crooked” passport deal in the previous administration is to blame for the passport mess. ■

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Philippine News

JANUARY 18, 2019

FRIDAY

Briones to teachers, other DepEd personnel: Be non-partisan

BY MA. TERESA MONTEMAYOR Philippine News Agency MANILA — Teachers, nonteaching personnel and officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) are reminded not to engage in partisan politics this election season.

“Teachers teach the difference between a political official and employee of the executive branch of the government, and we’re merely reminding them of what they already know to make sure everything is clear.

We will have another conference on Jan. 22 to clarify specific instances on this which might need to be clarified in details,” DepEd Sec. Leonor Briones said in a press briefing at the SEAMEO INNOTECH in Quezon City on Tuesday.

Under DepEd Order Number 48 series 2018, in accordance with Civil Service Commission and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) rules and regulations, the acts regarded as partisan political activities include:

• Formation of groups of persons for the purpose of soliciting votes or undertaking any campaign for or against a candidate or party; • Making speeches, announcements, or commentaries, or holding interviews for or against the election of any candidate or party for public office; and • Publishing, displaying, or distributing campaign literature, or materials designed to support or oppose the election of any candidate or party.

Also prohibited are: • Receiving any contributions for political purposes, either directly or indirectly; wearing of t-shirts or pins, caps or any other similar election paraphernalia bearing the names of the candidates or political party except as authorized by Comelec; • Being a watcher for a political party or candidate during the election; and • Utilization of government resources such as personnel, including job order or contract of service hires, time, and properties for political purposes DepEd Undersecretary and

Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones in a press conference on January 15, 2019.

LEONOR "LILING" MAGTOLIS BRIONES/FACEBOOK

Chief of Staff Nepomuceno Malaluan clarified that the exercise of one’s right to vote is not prohibited.

“For example, casting one’s vote, expressing one’s views on political issues and mentioning the names of candidates and parties whom one supports, it also includes social media functions such as liking, commenting, sharing or following a candidate or party’s account unless this is used as means to solicit support,” he added.

Meanwhile, Briones said serving in the May mid-term elections remain a voluntary act, as public school teachers “usually say their preference before the electoral period especially in places considered as election hotspots.”

DepEd Undersecretary for Planning Service and Field Operations Jesus Mateo said the Comelec is responsible for identifying the replacement for teachers who choose not to serve during the elections.

“May mga committee po iyan like board of canvassers, election returns committee na sinasalihan ng teachers, may hierarchy iyan na hindi ko lang maalala pero definitely kasama diyan ang kapulisan natin at members of the community na pwedeng humalili sa committee (There are committees such as board of canvassers, election returns committee which teachers join, there’s a hierarchy which I don’t remember but definitely the policemen are included and members of the community who can assist the committee),” he said.

So far, DepEd has not received information from the Philippine National Police about areas tagged as election hotspots, Malaluan said.

“The Comelec will have to consult with other agencies about the election hotspots... as it is the top agency as to the sequencing of election events... but we will take action, if the department is informed of it, to protect our teachers in places where extreme security, protection must be taken,” he added. ■

Advocates urge dual action vs. single-use plastics

BY CATHERINE TEVES Philippine News Agency MANILA — Environment advocates are calling for a twopronged approach to address the nationwide problem on waste.

Greenpeace Philippines and Break Free From Plastic Movement said a legislation banning single-use plastics should be passed as these are mostly thrown away afterwards -- polluting the environment and increasing volume of waste for disposal.

In a press conference in Quezon City Tuesday, Greenpeace campaigner Abigail Aguilar said corporations have funds to innovate. From production of single-use plastics, companies could shift to alternative packaging and product delivery systems.

She said results of the third quarter 2018 Social Weather Stations survey, which indi-

cated rising public awareness about the country's waste problem, calls for the need for environment-friendly alternatives to disposable plastics.

Product delivery systems like installing and operating refilling stations instead of packing goods in single-use plastics would help address the country's waste problem, she added.

The idea is not new as some stores refill the customers' own reusable containers.

"That old system can be brought back and mainstreamed - it's the way to go," she said.

The same survey showed that seven out of 10 Filipinos will support electoral candidates who will ban establishments from using single-use plastics.

It also showed that eight of 10 Filipinos will vote for candidates who will advocate the strict implementation of solid waste management laws.

Results of the survey reflect the global trend favoring alter-

natives to single-use plastics.

"Such results validate Filipinos' clamor for addressing the waste problem," Break Free From Plastic Movement coordinator Von Hernandez said.

Hernandez debunked claims that many plastics can be re-

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cycled.

"Most plastics aren't recyclable - these disintegrate into microplastics instead and end up in the environment," he said.

He noted that microplastics are tiny plastic particles which animals can easily ingest thus,

harmful to health.

Single-use plastics account for most of the residual waste that must be disposed and efforts to reduce volume of single-use plastics in the country are still fragmented, Hernandez said. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2019

13

Panelo wants to ‘clear up’ Congress alleged passport data breach leaders agree on amendments to Road Board

BY AZER PARROCHA Philippine News Agency

MANILA — Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo on Monday said that he will write the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), and a sub-contractor involved in the reported passport data loss caused by a previous contractor of the DFA to find out whether passport holders’ data is really missing or not.

Panelo made this remark due to the conflicting claims made

by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and his predecessor, Perfecto Yasay, after the DFA declaration that it lost passport data to its old contractor.

While Locsin claimed that foreign contractor, French firm Francois-Charles Oberthur Fiduciare, took the personal data of passport holders, Yasay argued that Locsin’s statement is false and that the DFA chief wanted to deflect the real issue on the passport mess.

“Di pa nga natin alam kung totoong nawala (We don’t even know if data is really missing or not). I need to know exactly, nawala ba o hindi(is it missing or not)? I’m waiting for the DFA to tell us,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

“We’re writing the DFA regarding that matter. We’re also writing PCOO relative to the same. We’re writing also UGEC (United Graphic Expression Corporation),” he added.

Panelo said he wanted the DFA, PCOO, and UGEC to clarify “the real score” on breach in passport data.

“I will just ask for a status, ano ba talaga (what really happened)? What’s the score?

Nawala ba o hindi? At sino (Did they go missing? And who’s fault was it)? I need to know the facts,” Panelo told reporters in an interview after the briefing.

Before the contract for the production of Philippine electronic passports was awarded to the APO Production Unit (APO) Inc., the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, through French firm Francois-Charles Oberthur Fiduciare, had been print-

BY FILANE MIKEE CERVANTES Philippine News Agency

Salvador Panelo.

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESPERSON/FACEBOOK

ing passport booklets.

Yasay claimed APO, a government owned and controlled corporation that operates under PCOO’s wing, sub-contracted UGEC for the production of the new e-passports “without bidding” which is in violation of the law.

Formal communication

Panelo refused to further comment on the issue noting that his office has yet to receive complete documents or formal communication explaining the passport data mess.

“Kulang yung mga dokumento kaya hindi ako makagawa ng (We lack the documents so I cannot make a) conclusive opinion on the matter. So, we’ve been asking them to give us all the documents relative to that matter pero kulang e (but they’re lacking),” Panelo said.

“I need the facts bago kami gumawa ng komentaryo (before I make comments). I want formal communication coming from them and giving me the facts,” he added.

Panelo said it was best to

await results of the investigation being conducted by the DFA and the National Privacy Commission (NPC) to clarify the issues at hand.

According to Panelo, President Rodrigo R. Duterte himself was concerned about the passport data going missing.

“The President of course doesn’t want these birth certificates being lost, even without him saying it, di dapat mangyari yun (it should not have happened),” Panelo said.

He assured the passport holders that government is addressing the problem and will not allow any other delays in the issuance or renewal of passports.

“We will not allow any delay in the issuance of passports or putting stringent requirements that will burden our people into getting their passports,” Panelo said.

Panelo said the DFA should also make it a point “to learn from whatever lessons they have” with respect to a breach in data security. ■

MANILA -- Congressional leaders have agreed to introduce “short and simple” amendments to the bill seeking the abolition of the corruptionridden Road Board.

This was the result of the meeting between Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya on Tuesday night at a hotel in Makati City.

Zubiri, who described the meeting as “successful," said they agreed that “all monies collected from the road user’s tax will be remitted to the National Treasury.”

Zubiri added that the fund, which would be included in the annual General Appropriations Act, will be used for the construction, repair and rehabilitation of roads, bridges, and road drainage.

He expressed hope that the senators would agree to recall the measure, raising the possibility of a “quick” bicameral

conference committee meeting to approve these amendments.

The Senate earlier maintained its position that there is no need for a bicameral conference committee on the Road Board abolition bill since it has already adopted the House version.

Andaya, for his part, said the agreement to “genuinely abolish the Road Board” is a “victory for transparency.”

He said the House leadership maintained its position to treat the road user’s tax or the motor vehicle user’s charge (MVUC) collections as part of the general fund and be earmarked for transport-related activities.

“The House-Senate consensus spared the President of signing a defective bill, which some powerful interests wanted him to. The attempt to hoodwink the President has been foiled,” Andaya said.

President Rodrigo Duterte repeatedly called for the abolition of the Road Board, tagging it as a "milking cow" for corruption.

He said he wants to divert the road user's tax funds to flood control projects. ■

PNA

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14

Canada News Montreal MP Lametti becomes justice minister as Trudeau shuffles cabinet

BY JOAN BRYDEN The Canadian Press OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rejigged his cabinet Monday, adding two new faces and a new portfolio — and rewarding competence and friendship.

However, it was his decision to move Jody Wilson-Raybould that was all the talk in political circles, despite Trudeau’s insistence that her shift from the senior justice portfolio to the junior veterans affairs post was not a demotion.

Tongues wagged even more later Monday when WilsonRaybould took the unusual step of posting a long defence of her three years at Justice on her website, in which she hinted that she may have rubbed people the wrong way because her role as the government’s lawyer required her to “speak truth to power.”

Although she said she’s proud to take on Veterans Affairs, Wilson-Raybould appeared to hint that she may quit politics, repeatedly thanking her supporters and constituents and even at one point saying she will continue working to build a more just Canada “whatever public or private roles I may play.”

Trudeau took pains to stress the importance he puts on the veterans portfolio.

“I caution anyone who thinks that serving our veterans and making sure they get the care to which they are so justly entitled from any Canadian government is anything other than a

deep and awesome responsibility,” he told a news conference, saying the government owes “a sacred duty” to those who have served the country “with heroism and valour.”

Trudeau praised Wilson-Raybould for overseeing legalization of medical assistance in dying and legalization of cannabis, and said he needed her “tremendous skill in navigating very complex files” at Veterans Affairs.

The shuffle was precipitated by veteran Liberal Scott Brison’s surprise decision to retire from politics which left Trudeau’s cabinet without a representative from Nova Scotia and without a president of the Treasury Board. The latter is a key economic post that oversees how the government is managed, how it spends money and how it goes about regulating many aspects of Canadians’ lives.

Jane Philpott, who has emerged as something of a fixer dispatched to put out political fires, was moved to Treasury Board while long-time Trudeau friend Seamus O’Regan took her place at Indigenous Services.

Bernadette Jordan, a backbencher from rural Nova Scotia, was tapped to take Brison’s role as her province’s cabinet representative. But rather than move her into O’Regan’s previous slot at Veterans Affairs, Trudeau created a whole new post for her: rural economic development.

The new role is an apparent bid to shore up Liberal support in rural areas, where the Conservatives tend to dominate. Trudeau also made a little history, with

Jordan becoming the first female Nova Scotia MP to be named to a federal cabinet. Jordan is tasked with creating a rural-development strategy, including bringing high-speed internet to rural communities and help in rural infrastructure development.

Trudeau’s decision to move Wilson-Raybould resulted in the addition of Montreal MP David Lametti, a former law professor, to cabinet as the new justice minister.

Heralded as Canada’s first Indigenous justice minister, Wilson-Raybould has been, in many ways, the face of Trudeau’s commitment to make reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples his top priority. Moving her to Veterans Affairs looks like a big step down.

Asked after her swearing-in ceremony if she was disappointed with the demotion, a subdued Wilson-Raybould said no. After a lengthy pause, she added: “I would say that I can think of no world in which I would consider working for our veterans in Canada as a demotion.”

But Veterans Affairs has long been treated as a junior post by both Liberal and Conservative governments. Perhaps because of that, ministers have regularly gotten into trouble, accused of insensitivity to or betrayal of Canada’s military vets. O’Regan had his own share of difficulties in the job, including coming under fire for likening the depression he felt upon leaving a highprofile career in journalism to the post-traumatic stress faced by some veterans.

For some Liberals, who’ve

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David Lametti.

grumbled about Wilson-Raybould’s performance in Justice, the move was long overdue.

They have privately complained that she is difficult to get along with and a poor communicator who has taken what some consider a conservative, restrictive approach to respecting charter rights in a number of bills, including those dealing with assisted dying, impaired driving and genetic discrimination.

“I can’t imagine where you’ve been hearing that,” WilsonRaybould said when asked about the grumblings. She said she’s “incredibly proud” of the work she did in Justice.

In her website post, she acknowledged she’s received “many questions and inquires” about why she was shuffled out of Justice, a job she called “one of the greatest privileges” of her life. She suggested she’s accomplished everything in that post that Trudeau had asked of her.

But Wilson-Raybould also took what could be a veiled shot at Trudeau’s vaunted Indigenous reconciliation agenda, saying that “while our government has taken some very important steps, and hard work

@DAVIDLAMETTI/TWITTER

is being done, the necessary shifts have not yet been fully achieved.”

She vowed to continue being “directly engaged in advocating for and advancing the fundamental shifts in relations with Indigenous peoples that are required and will continue to work with my colleagues and to ensure my voice is heard.”

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May tweeted that she was “absolutely baffled” by Trudeau’s decision to move Wilson-Raybould. Combined with Philpott’s move, May questioned whether the shuffle is “a sign Trudeau is demoting Indigenous issues.”

On Twitter, Conservative MP Erin O’Toole said Philpott and Lametti “are solid performers and well regarded,” but called the remainder of Trudeau’s move “quite a head-scratcher.”

He predicted Indigenous Peoples and veterans “will be concerned.”

With all other senior ministers staying put, Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre said Monday’s moves amounted to shuffling “the chairs on the deck of the Titanic.” ■

Canada News

FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2019

15

RCMP to review arrests at B.C. pipeline blockade and create temporary detachment THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SURREY, B.C. — The RCMP will review the actions of officers who arrested 14 people at an Indigenous pipeline blockade in northwestern British Columbia, and will also erect a temporary detachment to maintain safety in the area.

The Mounties enforced a court injunction Jan. 7 allowing Coastal GasLink workers and contractors access to a work site where a natural gas pipeline is planned near Houston, B.C. Assistant commissioner Eric Stubbs held a news conference Monday to provide more details about the police operation, in the wake of criticism from Indigenous leaders that the use of force was excessive.

“I appreciate that for those directly involved with the police at the barricade, it was an emotional situation,” he said.

“I also understand that there are some concerns surrounding our actions on Jan. 7.”

The RCMP will conduct a review of the incident that will produce recommendations to address any issues and identify the parts of the operation that went well, as it does with any major operation, he said.

There is ample evidence available to assist with the review, including the use of body-worn cameras, drone and helicopter video and publicly available video, he added.

“To date, we have not yet identified any issues regarding police officer conduct. However, it is important that we engage with the hereditary chiefs and any other involved persons,” Stubbs said.

He said police have been engaging with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs since the approval of the pipeline, which would carry natural gas to an export terminal in Kitimat as

RCMP E Division headquarters in Surrey, BC. WAFERBOARD/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0

part of a $40-billion LNG Canada project.

“We had hoped ... the terms of the injunction order would be met through dialogue and the need for enforcement would

not be required,” he said.

After the court order was issued, protesters erected a second blockade on a forestry road. Given the remoteness of the location and the unpredict-

able situation, Mounties developed an operational plan that included moving additional forces into the area, Stubbs said.

Local Indigenous leaders gave officers cultural awareness training as a part of the plan, he added.

RCMP made “every effort” to peacefully resolve the situation, but could not reach a deal and so enforcement actions commenced late in the day on Jan. 7, he said.

Initially, the primary role of the officers who climbed over the barricade was to make the situation safe so they could remove a gate erected by the protesters, as directed by the court order, he said.

“The situation was challenging,” he said. “The protesters’ reaction to the police ranged from passive resistance to active resistance to actual assaul❱❱ PAGE 25 RCMP to

China acting ‘arbitrarily’ in imposing drug case death sentence: Trudeau

BY JIM BRONSKILL The Canadian Press OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s very concerned to see China “acting arbitrarily” by applying the death penalty to a Canadian convicted of drug trafficking.

Canada will do all it can to intervene on Robert Lloyd Schellenberg’s behalf and Beijing’s actions should be worrisome for “all our international friends and allies,” Trudeau said Monday.

The development further strained already tense relations between Canada and China over the treatment of each other’s citizens by their respective justice systems. And rights organizations said it raises serious questions about possible political interference in China.

A court in Dalian in northeastern Liaoning province announced Monday evening that it had given Schellenberg the

death penalty after reconsider- nadian diplomats and foreign “All I can really say at this moing his case. and domestic media, attended ment is, it is our worst case fear Schellenberg was detained in Monday’s trial, the court said in confirmed. Our thoughts are 2014 and sentenced to 15 years an online statement. with Robert at this time,” she in prison in 2016 on charges Canada’s federal government said in an email to The Canadiof being an accessory to drug intercedes on behalf of any Ca- an Press. “It is rather unimagismuggling. nadian facing execution abroad, nable what he must be feeling His new sentence comes after Trudeau said in Ottawa. and thinking. It is a horrific, China detained unfortunate, two Canadians heartbreaking on national sesituation.” curity grounds The famin December in I have never seen this level of ily also issued a apparent retaliacleanliness measures at any other short statement tion for Canada’s holy city. late Monday arrest of a Chiwhich said they nese technology are working with executive. their MP, Ed Canada deFast, who they tained Meng Wanzhou, chief fi“This is very much a concern said is “working hard on our benancial officer of Chinese tele- to see that China is acting arbi- half to ensure that the Trudeau communications firm Huawei, trarily and applying the death government makes every efon Dec. 1 at the request of the penalty to a Canadian,” he said, fort to secure fair treatment for United States, angering Beijing. adding the government “will Robert.”

The Chinese media began continue to talk to our allies “The Schellenberg family republicizing Schellenberg’s case and to China about this.” quests that all Canadians stand after Canada detained Meng, Schellenberg’s aunt, Lauri with us and pray for the safe who faces extradition to the Nelson-Jones, said the family is return of our loved one,” the U.S. on fraud charges. awaiting any news regarding an statement said.

Fifty people, including Ca- appeal.

Schellenberg’s lawyer, Zhang www.canadianinquirer.net

Dongshuo, said his client has 10 days to contest the latest sentence.

Zhang said he argued in the one-day trial Monday that there was insufficient evidence to prove Schellenberg’s involvement in the drug-smuggling operation, nor had prosecutors introduced new evidence to justify a heavier sentence.

“This is a very unique case,” Zhang told The Associated Press. He added the swiftness of the proceedings — with a retrial held so soon after it was ordered — was unusual, but he declined to comment on whether it was related to Meng’s arrest Schellenberg had been prepared for a more severe punishment so he maintained a calm demeanour in court, Zhang said.

The court said it found that Schellenberg was involved in an international drug-smuggling operation and was recruited to ❱❱ PAGE 16 China acting

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Canada News

JANUARY 18, 2019

China acting... ❰❰ 15

help smuggle more than 222 kilograms of methamphetamine from a warehouse in Dalian city to Australia.

A Chinese person convicted of involvement in the same operation received a suspended death sentence earlier.

A death sentence anywhere in the world is a travesty but it is more so in places like China, where fair-trial rights remain at best elusive, said Sophie Richardson, China director of Human Rights Watch. “Beijing will have to answer to the world why this particular case against a citizen of this particular country had to be retried at this particular moment.”

China’s abrupt retrial of Schellenberg ”is suspicious, to say the least,” tweeted Roland Paris, a University of Ottawa professor of international affairs and a former adviser to the Trudeau government.

John Kamm, head of a U.S.based organization that promotes clemency for at-risk prisoners in China, said the rapidity of the most recent court process raises questions about political interference.

“There are a number of very disturbing aspects to this whole case,” said Kamm, executive director of the non-profit Dui Hua Foundation.

He said his organization is advising Schellenberg’s family to seek an appeal, though the likelihood of winning such a case is slim.

“They are in shock and disbelief that this has happened

FRIDAY

Ontario won’t fund French so quickly,” Kamm said in an interview from his office in San Francisco.

If Schellenberg loses on appeal, the death sentence will be reviewed by the Supreme People’s Court, which overturns sentences only about 10 per cent of the time, he said.

“I am looking forward to hearing the Canadian government’s response,” Kamm said.

“It must protest in very strong terms and make clear to the Chinese government that there will be consequences for this.”

The friction between Canada and China has been steadily increasing since Canadian authorities took Meng into custody in Vancouver and Chinese officials subsequently arrested Canadians Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur, for allegedly endangering national security.

The Opposition Conservatives have been calling on Trudeau to address the controversy by telephoning Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Direct engagement by the prime minister with the Chinese leader would highlight the seriousness of the issue, said Conservative MP Michael Cooper, who just wrapped up a visit to China as part of a parliamentary delegation. “It needs to be dealt with by officials in the Canadian government at the highest level, and that is the prime minister.”

In 2009, China executed a Briton, Akmal Shaikh, on charges of smuggling heroin

despite his supporters’ protest that he was mentally ill.

The episode was terribly damaging to relations between the United Kingdom and China, said Ben Rowswell, a former diplomat and current president of the Canadian International Council, a non-partisan thinktank.

He said Canadians are divided as to whether China should be seen primarily as a partner or as a threat. “My concern is that if a Canadian is executed in China, it will tip the balance in favour of the latter, and it will take years and years for the Canada-China relationship to recover.”

The collective power of likeminded liberal democracies could help Canada assert its position in an increasingly splintered world, Rowswell added.

“On that, I think Canada’s in relatively good position because we traditionally have been excellent at banding together and creating meaningful alliances and institutions with a large number of very powerful countries.”

Amnesty International noted in a statement that China executes more people every year than all other countries around the world combined. The organization called on Trudeau to press the Chinese government abandon any plans to carry out Schellenberg’s death sentence. ■ With files from Alison Auld, Michael MacDonald and The Associated Press

JUSTIN TRUDEAU/FACEBOOK

www.canadianinquirer.net

language university despite Ottawa support

BY SHAWN JEFFORDS The Canadian Press TORONTO — Ontario will not reverse the cancellation of a proposed French-language university despite a federal commitment to extend funding for a team working on the project, the provincial government said Monday.

Merrilee Fullerton, the minister of training, colleges and universities, said the Progressive Conservative government was not in a financial position to support the Universite de l’Ontario francais project at this time.

“As a result, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities will not provide further funding to support the development of the new university while the initiative is on pause,” she said, adding that the working group could access private and public funding from other entities.

Fullerton’s comments came after Federal Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie Melanie Joly informed the Ontario government that Ottawa had provided 1.9 million in funding to a team developing the school called the Francophone Knowledge and Innovation Hub. The provincial funding for the hub and its staff was to expire on January 15.

“This project is greatly supported by the community, and enjoys support across the country,” Joly said in a letter Sunday to Ontario’s Francophone Affairs Minister Caroline Mulroney. “I am concerned about the impact of this decision on the vitality of the Franco-Ontarian community.”

Plans for the school were announced by the previous Liberal government in 2017, but the Tories scrapped the project in November as part of their effort to balance the books. It would have been the first French-only university in the province, which is home to 600,000 francophones, and was set to be located in southwestern Ontario.

The move sparked outrage and protests amongst Franco-Ontar-

ians and prompted Progressive Conservative legislator Amanda Simard to leave the party caucus and sit as an independent.

Normand Labrie, interim president the Universite de l’Ontario francais, said the federal money will give the hub a year to secure additional funding to continue development of the school.

“We’re very relieved because otherwise we would have had to let the staff go,” he said. “It would have been a loss to stop the activity at this point and it would have been hard to start all over again if the government decides the pause is over.”

Joly said the federal government’s Action Plan for Official Languages 2018-2023 could provide funding for the Frenchlanguage university, but that would be conditional upon the province applying for it and committing to at least 50 per cent of the total costs.

“Let us be clear, the responsibility to carry out this project lies with the Government of Ontario,” Joly said.

Fullerton said that by providing cash to the hub, the federal government is acknowledging its under-funding of francophones in Ontario.

“We are pleased to see our message is finally getting through to the Trudeau government,” she said. “This funding is a step in the right direction and we will continue to work so the federal government reduces the gap between Ontario and other provinces for funding to francophones.”

The Francophone Knowledge and Innovation Hub could not immediately provide comment.

NDP legislator France Gelinas called on the Tory government to restore funding for the school.

The federal cash does not mean the Francophone university will be sustainable in the long-term, she said in a statement.

“It remains nearly certain that (Premier) Doug Ford has stopped the university from opening its doors to students in 2020 — hurting the dreams and impacting the futures of thousands of Ontario students,” she said. ■

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FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2019

Kimi Mugford ‘from the Philippine community of Canada,’ ready to represent the country in Miss Multinational 2018!

BY GIANNA LLANES Philippine Canadian Inquirer AMBITIOUS, ARTICULATE, charismatic, creative, determined, energetic, opinionated, talkative, and adventurous. Those are just a few of the character traits that describe 18-year-old Kimi Lei “Kimi” Mugford, which is why she’s a shoo-in for Miss Multinational 2018.

When this brunette enters the room, she truly lights it up with her big brown eyes filled with wonder and captivating voice that can truly attract the audience. This roots back a lot from her childhood to why she became so headstrong.

One of the Boys in London, Ontario

Growing up in London, Ontario to a Filipina mother and Caucasian Father, Kimi actually considered herself “extremely Canadian,” attending Mother Theresa Catholic Secondary High School, where French easily became her second language. She even jokes, “I learned to skate within the same week I started walking,” saying that she possessed “the whole scheme” of being a stereotypical teen from Ontario -free-spirited, opinionated, and independent.

She made sure to excel in everything she does, toughing it out with the boys as a competitive hockey player for 11 years, getting top grades as a student with an interest in political science, and joining various singing competitions.

Although she identified more as being from North America, Kimi’s mother, who originated from Baguio, made sure to continuously teach her about the roots of Asian culture.

“My mom was always trying to be as active as she could in our Filipino community. That’s why some of my best friends from school are also Filipino Canadian!”

This inspired Kimi herself to try her knack at an industry that was huge in the Philippines - the pageant world.

MISS WORLD PHILIPPINES/FACEBOOK

Jumping into Pageantry

“I was encouraged to join my very first pageant this past summer in attempt to be more active in the Filipino-Canadian/American community,” Kimi shares when referring to her entry into The Continental Miss Philippines America pageant that was based in Los Angeles (LA).

Like Kimi, all of the applicants she competed against to were other Filipinos who grew up in North America that aspired to represent their respective overseas communities in the pageant community of their home country.

“I never really thought I’d even consider being part of the beauty community until it was brought up to me last July 2018,” Kimi reveals, even admitting that she feared the common beauty pageant misconceptions in the beginning.

But, despite being a first-timer, Kimi bested out 19 other candidates for the top Continental Miss Philippines America 2018 crown last August 4. “Pageantry was and still is new to me!” she exclaims, joking, “That was beginner’s luck, I guess!”

Along with Crystal Velasco Freedman and Cleopatra Jones, who also received titles during the pageant, Kimi was flown to the Philippines and housed in Manila to compete for the prestigious Miss World Philippines 2018 pageant.

A More Competitive Beaucon

Although delighted to receive ‘a free vacation’ and opportunity to discover more about the Philippines as a whole, Kimi admitted struggling with adjustments to a ‘more competitive pageant industry’ in the beginning.

“I’ve struggled with culture shock and social norm such as what standards were here in the Philippines, especially within the beauty pageant community,” she says. “They train beauty queens very differently here than in America. Standards are a lot higher and a lot more competitive.”

Yet, to relieve herself of the pressure, Kimi exemplified a very happy-go-lucky attitude absorbing the experience rather than focusing on getting a crown, which won the hearts of her co-candidates and the pageant organizers.

Being one of the youngest aspirants, Kimi showed her passion for music, strength in sports, and flair for articulating her thoughts that got her to be a standout during the competition. She received a nomination for both Talent and Sports Fastracks, eventually winning the latter that automatically put her in the Top 16.

Immediately after announcing her name, Kimi was asked by hosts Ruffa Gutierrez and Miss World Philippines 2017 Laura Lehmann about how she www.canadianinquirer.net

assured gender roles did not interfere with her pursuit of hockey as a hobby, confidently answering that growing up in a family filled with boys inspired her competitive nature and that she was always told her capabilities are not limited to her gender. This same ‘head-held-high’ attitude inspired the judges to qualify Kimi as a contestant in the coronation night’s Top 10.

During the Question and Answer portion, Kimi’s eloquence put her a cut above the rest. Her question worded, “If you won the lottery, how do you plan to use your winnings?” which she was quick to respond with, “I think this is the perfect question for this specific occasion especially because it’s a beauty pageant. We are all woman standing here in behalf of a specific cause and charity and so for me, I’m raising awareness on substance abuse and drug abuse. So my proceeds from my earnings would go towards that and educating the youth in the Philippines is where I want to start.”

Later on in the night, Kimi made her represented community, ‘The Filipino Community of Canada’ proud by being crowned Miss Multinational Philippines 2018.

Using the crown for her purpose

An abundance of photo shoot and interviews quickly followed after Kimi’s moment of glory.

With all eyes on her, she made sure to continue shedding light on the topics she was passion-

ate about and the true reason why she entered pageantry.

Even though she was only18, Kimi knew what she wanted to fight for because she could relate to a younger audience.

In an interview for GMA News online, she shares that prior to arriving in the country, the drug war was a common topic being discussed, which prompted her to research on the Philippine government, the country’s educational system, and the amount of actions being done pertaining to the topic -- therefore invoking her advocacy.

“When I came here, all I really knew was the issues regarding the drug war. However, as I started doing more research and being more updated with what’s happening in the Philippines, I noticed that the government focuses on, like, three major issues and tends to forget about everything else.”

During the interview, she elaborates, “In terms of what my advocacy is, I’m following the same advocacy I have during Miss World Philippines, which is promoting the awareness of drug abuse and substance abuse, especially because it’s such a big subject here in the Philippines.”

She adds, “The government has been shedding a lot of light on that issue and have been changing certain taxes — (increasing) prices on certain things like cigarettes to (try to get rid of it).” ❱❱ PAGE 20 Kimi Mugford

World News

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JANUARY 18, 2019

FRIDAY

Early career choices influence personality PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY CHICAGO — In a study that tracked young adults over a period of six years, University of Illinois (UI) researchers found that early life career choices are associated with shifts in personality, or influence on the young adults’ personality years later.

The researchers focused on two groups of 16-year-olds in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. The first group chose to enter apprenticeships or other vocational training programs while the second continued in school and entered the labor market after attending higher education.

At the beginning of the study, and again six years later, researchers asked participants to rate themselves on multiple measures that included personality traits and vocational interests. They used a technique called propensity score matching to align the traits of the two groups of study subjects.

The study revealed that, after six

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years, self-reported conscientiousness increased more among those who pursued vocational training and employment than among their peers in academia. Those on the vocational track also expressed less interest in engaging in scientific, business or entrepreneurial activities.

“This means that those who didn’t continue their education were losing interest in jobs that normally are fostered by going to college,” said UI psychology professor Brent Roberts, who led the study.

The research adds to mounting evidence that personality is not immutable, but changes throughout life. The changes are often subtle, but meaningful. The evidence suggests that many of those changes are the result of one’s life choices.

“This study provides the strongest evidence we have yet that the path you choose may change your personality,” Roberts said.

The study was published Monday in the journal Psychological Science. ■

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Companies that have business with the UK are also jittery.

Michael Strobaek, global chief inLONDON — British businesses urged vestment officer of Credit Suisse, said the government to take an immedi- t”People, business and financial marate action to introduce a “Plan B” after kets in the UK need certainty on future Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit UK-EU relations.” deal was rejected overwhelming in the “Tonight’s parliamentary vote merely Parliament on Tuesday night. heightens the uncertainty,” he added.

Catherine McGuinness, policy chair The UK members of Parliament at the City of London (MPs) voted 432 to Corporation, tweet202 against the Brexed that “parliament’s it deal after a five-day decision to reject the debate, further comGovernment’s deal All MPs need plicating the counmeans businesses to reflect on try’s historic exit across the UK will the need for from the European continue to face uncompromise Union (EU). certainty.” and to act Prime Minister “The Government at speed to Theresa May has must urgently set out protect the three sitting days to its ‘Plan B’ to ensure UK’s economy. return to parliament we can secure a deal with a “Plan B.” locking in a legally Britain is due to binding transition leave the EU on before 29 March,” March 29.

McGuinness said.

“Every day that passes without this Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of issue being resolved means more unthe Confederation of British Industry certainty, more bitterness and more (CBI), said “Every business will tonight rancour,” said May reacting to the huge feel no deal is hurtling closer. A new plan government loss. is needed immediately.”

Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a She noted that it is time for the politi- motion of no confidence in the governcians to make history as leaders. ment following the deal defeat. The mo“All MPs need to reflect on the need tion will be debated in the Commons on for compromise and to act at speed to Wednesday. ■ protect the UK’s economy”, she said.

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Poland: Huawei exec, Polish security expert spied for China

BY VANESSA GERA AND KELVIN CHAN The Associated Press WARSAW, POLAND — Poland has arrested a director at the Chinese tech giant Huawei and one of its own former cybersecurity experts and charged them with spying for China, authorities said Friday.

The development comes as the U.S. is exerting pressure on its allies not to use Huawei, the world’s biggest maker of telecommunications network equipment, over data security concerns.

The two men — one a Chinese citizen who was a former envoy in Poland before moving over to a senior position at Huawei and the other a Pole who held several top government cybersecurity positions — were arrested Tuesday, according to Poland’s Internal Security Agency.

Polish security agents searched the Warsaw offices of Huawei and Orange, Poland’s leading communications provider, where the former Polish security expert recently worked, seizing documents and electronic data. The homes of both men, also in Warsaw, were also searched, according to agency spokesman Stanislaw Zaryn.

It’s the latest setback for Huawei in Europe, where the company has ambitious plans to roll out next-generation “5G” mobile networks, which it is a leader in developing. The arrest is a fresh sign that a U.S. dispute with China over its ban on the company is spilling over

to Europe, Huawei’s biggest foreign market.

Some European governments and telecom companies are following the U.S. lead in questioning whether using Huawei for vital infrastructure for mobile networks could leave them exposed to snooping by the Chinese government.

Maciej Wasik, deputy head of Poland’s Special Services agency, said the operation that resulted in the arrests of the two suspects had been underway for a long time. He said “both carried out espionage activities against Poland.”

Zaryn told The Associated Press that prosecutors have charged the two men with espionage, but agents are continuing to collect evidence and interview witnesses. Further indictments are expected, he said.

He said no further details would be released about the case because it is classified and the investigation is ongoing.

Polish state television TVP reported that the men have proclaimed their innocence, but Zaryn said he could not confirm that. If convicted, they could face up to 10 years in prison each.

TVP identified the arrested Chinese man as Weijing W., saying he was a director in Poland at Huawei. It said he also went by the Polish first name of Stanislaw and had previously worked at the Chinese consulate in Gdansk.

A LinkedIn profile for a man named Stanislaw Wang appears to match details of the man described by Polish television.

Wang’s resume said he

worked at China’s General Consulate in Gdansk from 20062011 and at Huawei Enterprise Poland since 2011, where he was first director of public affairs and since 2017 the “sales director of public sector.” The resume said he received a bachelor’s degree in 2004 from the Beijing University of Foreign Studies.

State TV identified the Polish man as Piotr D., and said he was a high-ranking employee at the Internal Security Agency, where he served as deputy director in the department of information security, until 2011.

The Polish state news agency, PAP, said the man had also held top cybersecurity positions at the Interior Ministry and the Office of Electronic Communications, a regulatory body that oversees cyber and other telecommunications issues.

It said, while at the Internal Security Agency, he was involved in building a mobile communications system for top Polish officials, and he was fired in 2011 amid a major corruption scandal.

Geopolitical tensions over Huawei have intensified since Canada arrested a top executive last month at the request of U.S. authorities. The company has been blocked in the U.S. since 2012 over fears that its equipment is a security risk, and last year Australia, New Zealand and Japan instituted their own bans against using Huawei.

U.S. officials have reportedly fanned out across Europe recently to make their case with governments and Huawei suppliers for blocking the company.

The company and analysts have long maintained that it has never been found guilty of a cybersecurity breach but the latest accusation, if confirmed, will deal a blow to that defence.

“One thing is clear: this is another nail in the coffin of Huawei’s European ambitions,” said Thorsten Benner, director of the Global Public Policy Institute, a think-tank .

The arrest might not have a big impact on broader trade tensions between China and the U.S., but it shows that “there will always be competition and acrimony related to Chinese tech companies,” Benner said.

Huawei, which also makes smartphones and other consumer devices, issued a statement from its Chinese headquarters saying it was aware of the situation in Poland and was looking into it.

“We have no comment for the time being. Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations in the countries where it operates, and we require every employee to abide by the laws and regulations in the countries where they are based,” the statement said.

Poland is Huawei’s headquarters for Central and Eastern Europe and the Nordic region.

An official at the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw said China attaches “great importance to the detention” of the Chinese citizen in Poland and that Chinese envoys had met with Polish Foreign Ministry officials to urge them to arrange a consular visit “as soon as possible.”

Orange Poland told the AP on Friday it was co-operating with Polish security services in the case and had “handed over belongings of one of our employees” in Tuesday’s search of its offices. Orange told the AP it did not know if the suspicions against its employee were related to his work at Orange or elsewhere.

Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested Dec. 1 in Canada in connection with U.S. accusations that the company violated restrictions on sales of American technology to Iran.

The United States wants Meng extradited to face charges that she misled banks about the company’s business dealings in Iran. She is out on bail in Canada awaiting extradition proceedings. ■ Chan reported from London. Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed to this report.

GOP Rep. King loses committee posts over racial remarks

BY MATTHEW DALY AND LAURIE KELLMAN The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Veteran Republican Rep. Steve King will be blocked from committee assignments for the next two years after lamenting that white supremacy and white nationalism have become offensive terms.

King, in his ninth term representing Iowa, will not be given committee assignments in the Congress that began this month, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Monday night. King served on the Agriculture, Small Business and Judiciary committees in the last Congress, and he chaired Judiciary’s subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.

McCarthy, R-Calif., called

King’s remarks “beneath the dignity of the Party of Lincoln and the United States of America.”

King’s comments “call into question whether he will treat all Americans equally, without regard for race and ethnicity,” McCarthy said, adding: “House Republicans are clear: We are all in this together, as fellow citizens equal before God and the law.”

The action by the GOP steerwww.canadianinquirer.net

ing committee came after King and McCarthy met Monday to discuss the remarks on white supremacy, the latest in a yearslong pattern of racially insensitive remarks by King.

King called McCarthy’s decision to remove him from committees “a political decision that ignores the truth.” He vowed to “continue to point out the truth and work with all the vigour that I have to represent

4th District Iowans for at least the next two years.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell denounced King earlier Monday, saying, “There is no place in the Republican Party, the Congress or the country for an ideology of racial supremacy of any kind.”

Meanwhile, House Democrats moved to formally pun❱❱ PAGE 21 GOP Rep.

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India’s mega Hindu festival begins under cloud of toxic air

BY EMILY SCHMALL The Associated Press PRAYAGRAJ, INDIA — Thousands of portable toilets line roads constantly swept clean, drinking water flows from newly installed taps, electric substations power a massive tent city and billboards encourage a “clean Kumbh,” an extension of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s huge push to improve sanitation across the country.

But the skies over the confluence of sacred rivers in northern India where millions of Hindu priests and pilgrims have come to wash away their sins at the ancient Kumbh Mela festival are thick with toxic dust, a sign that government officials are struggling to grapple with the country’s worsening air pollution.

The hazardous air may also hinder the government’s drive to make the Kumbh Mela, or pitcher festival, a global tourism event.

Four sites in India rotate every three years hosting the Kumbh, the world’s largest pilgrimage. The river baths, prayer, meditation and yoga sessions and other religious rituals are organized by sadhus, Hinduism’s holy men, and financially supported with public funds.

Tens of millions throng to the sites for a holy dip, many with little money, few provisions and nowhere to sleep.

The Indian government has for years provided security and

Kumbh Mela · Allahabad.

SEBA DELLA Y SOLE BOSSIO/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0

free food and shelter for the And like elsewhere in India, a dirty. I have never seen this poorest pilgrims. person’s comfort is determined level of cleanliness measures For this year’s Kumbh — by wealth and social standing. at any other holy city,” said Gita though less religiously signifiThe expansive campgrounds Mishra, 58, one of the guests at cant than the Kumbh that hap- hosted everything from luxury a public tent near the banks of pens every 12 years, and still “glamping” options that cost the river. less than the one that occurs up to 35,000 rupees ($494) per When people waiting for a every 144 years — the govern- night — private, tent “suites” spot outside the tent learned it ment shelled was full, they laid out an estimated blankets around 4.3 billion ruthe periphery to pees ($650 milsleep in the hazy lion), hoping to I have never seen this level of open air. impress India’s cleanliness measures at any other Still others, largely Hindu holy city. including about population 500 sanitation ahead of general workers, pitched elections this pup tents near a year and draw row of some of visitors from around the world. with plush bedding and flush the toilets they are paid 300 ruThe budget supplied thou- toilets — to a cot with a thin pees ($7) per day to clean. sands of toilets and urinals, foam mattress in a public dorThe production of any public dormitories, and hun- mitory in a high-top tent that Kumbh is a gargantuan task, dreds of water stations, as well costs 200 rupees ($2.83) per particularly in the low-lying as police, hospitals, 24-hour night.

Indian army parade grounds pharmacies and fire and ambu“I go to holy sites very often, in Prayagraj where the ritual lance services. but I’m used to them being very baths take place. Regular sum-

mertime floods leave organizers only 40 to 50 days to erect the temporary city, according to city commissioner Ashish Goel.

But this year’s public provisions are unprecedented.

“It’s a very aspirational Kumbh Mela,” Goel said.

The dust plumes encompassing the camp come from the sandy riverbanks, Goel said, and not from construction, which is banned during the 55-day festival. Still, in the city centre outside of the fairgrounds, brick kilns send up clouds of PM 2.5, tiny particulate matter that can dangerously clog lungs.

Even with the construction ban, PM 2.5 levels in Prayagraj on Tuesday were more than six times what the World Health Organization considers safe, according to AQI India, an online air quality monitor.

India’s cities are among the world’s smoggiest.

The Indian government has announced a five-year program to cut air pollution by up to 30 per cent from 2017 levels in the country’s 102 worst-affected cities, including Prayagraj.

Key targets include reducing burning of field waste, firewood and charcoal, cleaning up thermal power and auto emissions and heavily polluting brick production and controlling dust from construction.

Critics say the plan lacks details on enforcement and funding. ■ Associated Press videojournalist Rishabh R. Jain contributed to this report.

Kimi Mugford... ❰❰ 17

A lot of Kimi’s passion stems from growing up in Canada, where the views are very liberated and the youth have an equalized voice as their elders.

In conclusion she states, “The Philippines isn’t poor, there’s money here,” she believes, “It’s just not being dispersed in the proper manner. There are ways that we can balance it out and diminish the inflation happening in this country.”

Preparing for the international pageant scene

Since being crowned as the

Philippine representative, the young queen has been spending hours training and preparing.

She reveals, “Aside basic walk training a few times a week, most of my preparation is done by the help of my agency and team!”

She elaborates, “When I say ‘team,’ it isn’t just my manager, but all my friends and family who continue to support and encourage me to never lose faith and push through my most frustrating times.” She specifies that although she eats healthy, she doesn’t pressure herself with a diet since she works out with her trainer every morning.

Speaking is her strength, so

she simply just stays informed with current events, adding, “I listen to my everyday podcasts, read the news, look into all the books my boyfriend recommends - just that type of stuff!”

Current Miss Multinational titleholder is Sophia Senoron also from the country, so a backto-back win is what she’s setting her mind on. “I’ll be competing on behalf of my home, so the journey isn’t over yet, but hopefully I’ll be able to be three for three in my pageant journey and represent the Philippines as best as I possibly can!” she concludes with excitement. www.canadianinquirer.net

“From the Filipino community of Canada, Kimi Lei Mugford!”

Amidst the whirlwind of a year that Kimi had after entering pageantry, she attributes a lot of the experience and her youth in solidifying her identity. “Although one of the youngest contestants in the pageant, she uses her young age as an advantage in obtaining the crown. “It’s more about experience and drive. Sometimes, I feel like girls may treat me a certain way because they’re older than me, but I see my age as an advantage because I’m constantly learning from people who have more life experience. I get to learn

from girls from different parts of the world.”

Post-pageant, Kimi isn’t assured yet when she’ll be returning to Canada to pursue her prelaw degree in the University of Western Ontario, as she wants to complete her titleholder duties first. However, one of the most important lessons she learned is that when you identify as a Filipino, the word ‘home’ can be applied universally.

In her words, “Being a Filipino means being a part of a community that is so welcoming and proud, no matter where you are in the world.” ■

World News

FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2019

GOP Rep.... ❰❰ 19

ish King. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the third-ranking House Democrat and the highestranking African-American in Congress, introduced a formal resolution of disapproval late Monday.

Addressing what he called “a tale of two kings,” Clyburn said the Iowa lawmaker’s remarks were offensive because they embraced evil concepts.

Invoking the memory of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — whose 90th birthday will be celebrated on Tuesday — Clyburn called on colleagues from both parties “to join me in breaking the deafening silence and letting our resounding condemnation be heard.”

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said he will introduce a censure resolution, a more serious action by the House, that Rush said would announce to the world that Congress has no home for “repugnant and racist behaviour.”

“As with any animal that is rabid, Steve King should be set aside and isolated,” Rush said Monday in a statement that also called on Republicans to strip King of his committee memberships until he apologizes.

A third Democrat, Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, introduced a separate censure resolution against King.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or Republican, we all have a responsibility to call out Rep. King’s hateful and racist comments,” Ryan said, noting that the white supremacy comments were not the first time King has made headlines for inappropriate language.

The text of Rush’s censure resolution lists more than a dozen examples of King’s remarks, beginning with comments in 2006 in which he compared immigrants to livestock and ending with his lamentation in the New York Times last week that white supremacy and white nationalism have become offensive terms.

McConnell, in his statement, said he has “no tolerance” for the positions offered by King, and said “those who espouse these views are not supporters of American ideals and freedoms. Rep. King’s statements are unwelcome and unworthy of his elected position.

If he doesn’t understand why ‘white supremacy’ is offensive,

he should find another line of work.”

One Republican did not join the chorus of criticism. Asked about King’s remarks Monday, President Donald Trump said, “I haven’t been following it.”

King on Friday suggested he’s been misunderstood. He said on the House floor that the interview with the Times was in part a “discussion of other terms that have been used, almost always unjustly labeling otherwise innocent people. The word racist, the word Nazi, the word fascist, the phrase white nationalists, the phrase white supremacists.”

King said he was only wondering aloud: “How did that offensive language get injected into our political dialogue?

Who does that, how does it get done, how do they get by with laying labels like this on people?”

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who is the only black Republican in the Senate, cast King’s remarks and those like them as a blemish on the country and the Republican Party.

“When people with opinions similar to King’s open their mouths, they damage not only the Republican Party and the conservative brand but also our nation as a whole,” Scott wrote in an op-ed last week in The Washington Post.

“Some in our party wonder why Republicans are constantly accused of racism — it is because of our silence when things like this are said,” Scott wrote.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, also condemned King, telling CNN Monday that King “doesn’t have a place in our party” or in Congress and should resign.

King’s position in the GOP had been imperiled even before his remarks about white supremacy.

Shortly before the 2018 midterm elections, in which King was running, Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, then the head of the GOP campaign committee, issued an extraordinary public denunciation of him.

King has already drawn a primary challenger for the 2020 election: Randy Feenstra, a GOP state senator. Feenstar said Monday, “Sadly, today, the voters and conservative values of our district have lost their seat at the table because of Congressman King’s caustic behaviour.” ■

21

56 killed, 130 missing in latest California wildfires PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY MOSCOW — As many as 130 people remain missing amid the deadly wildfires in the United States’ western state of California, Butte county Sheriff Kory Honea said, adding that at least 56 people have been killed in the blaze.

“As of tonight, we currently have 130 people on our unaccounted for list … Additional eight human remains were recovered. That brings the total up to 56 [people killed in the fire],” Honea said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Forty-seven human remains have been tentatively identified, according to the police chief.

Over 200 people who the police considered unaccounted for turned out not to be missing, Honea added.

The police have published a list of 98 names of people missing amid the wildfires, pledging to release the updated list after the press conference.

PNA

The authorities dispatched an additional 287 search and rescue personnel to search for the remains of those killed in the fire, bringing the total number of personnel on the mission to 461, according to Honea.

California has been struggling with several huge fires, which have already destroyed over 8,000 structures, since

last week. One of the blazes, the so-called Camp Fire, has already been dubbed by many as the most destructive fire in the state’s history.

According to media reports, residents blame the fires on a local power supply company due to its alleged failure to properly maintain power lines. ■

were physically assaulted, had to ask for permission to eat or use the restroom and were taped engaging in sex acts.

Some women said they had to escape or be rescued.

Critics suggested that Kelly’s alleged abuse continued and was largely ignored because the victims were black women.

Jim DeRogatis, a longtime music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, played a key role in drawing the attention of law enforcement to the allegations.

He received the recording of the sex tape in the mail in 2002, then turned it over to prosecutors. Kelly was charged months later. In 2017, he wrote a story for BuzzFeed about the allegations Kelly was holding women against their will in Georgia.

Kim Mehlman-Orozco, author of “Hidden in Plain Sight: America’s Slaves of the New Millennium” and an expert witness in sex trafficking cases, said she was struck by the similarities from the accusations in

the “Surviving R. Kelly” documentary and the stories told by convicted sex traffickers.

“These sex traffickers didn’t allow women to talk to each other, and the traffickers compared themselves to God,” Mehlman-Orozco said.

Kelly’s Chicago attorney, Steve Greenberg, said in a phone interview that the allegations in the Lifetime documentary were false.

Winning a conviction under current sex-trafficking laws will be a challenge because Kelly’s defence will argue that the women entered into his home willingly and Kelly did not benefit financially from their exploitation, Mehlman-Orozco said. Prosecutors could seek a conviction on lesser charges such as endangerment of a minor or money laundering — charges some alleged sex traffickers have faced.

“But witnesses will have to come forth,” Mehlman-Orozco said. ■

Documentary puts... ❰❰ 24

him famous.

“Absolutely not, and I tell people all the time, man,” Kelly told The Associated Press in 2012.

“Make no mistake about it, R. Kelly is not going anywhere.

It’s just that R. Kelly has such a unique talent, and I’ve been blessed to be able to do all type of genres of music … I’m exploring my gift right now.”

Now 52, his hits have dwindled, but he was still able to sell out arenas across the nation until the pressure of the #MeToo movement damaged his reputation and hurt concert bookings.

He settled at least three lawsuits accusing him of having sex with underage girls filed between 1997 and 2002. One accuser said Kelly forced her to have an abortion.

The accusers, all black women, said years after the trial that Kelly kept them locked up and used them for sex at his will. The Lifetime series interviewed women who said they www.canadianinquirer.net

22

JANUARY 18, 2019

Sanib-Saya Models Unity, Love in Fil-Can Community Event

BY BOLET AREVALO

EVERY FILIPINO who lives abroad could have his own tale of witnessing fellow Pinoys squabbling or must have heard about in-fighting in local organizations. Factionalism, they sometime call it, where some groups unhappy and discontented decide to break away from their own organizations and form their own group or faction.

Well, that certainly is not a good act to follow, or worse not a good example to the young ones who are next-in-line for leadership or community service, or even for those who are merely closely observing by or looking for a role-model.

Exactly, the opposite, Sanib-Saya proves that there is strength in unity among at least eight (8) groups that share the same values and common desires to serve or bring happiness to their respective communities.

Undeniably, eight groups coming together is eight times the fun.

Thus, last Dec. 14, eight (8) hardworking organizations in the GTA gathered together their time, effort, and resources to bring cheers to children and seniors. Children and seniors are two of the most vulnerable sectors in the community where need for support and gesture of love are most welcomed.

These groups were: Filipino Achievers Canada, Philippine Chamber of Commerce, Filipino Center Toronto, Filcore, Dabawenyo, BisMinDak, Our Lady of Assumption, and Burgos Ilocos Sur Canada.

Filipino Achievers Canada is a three-year old organization that has sustained its nonprofit endeavours through civic and charitable projects. While Fil-Core support group is a non-profit organization with a mission and vision to support and empower caregivers and was founded on February 24, 2014. Philippine Chamber of Commerce Toronto, founded

SUPPLIED

in 1991, is an association of Filipino-Canadian Entrepreneurs living in Greater Toronto Area and neighbouring cities.

Dabawenyo of Ontario (DAO) is a social club started by a few Dabawenyos. They welcome anyone who has any association with Davao. BisMinDak or Bisaya Mindanawong Daku is also a social club mostly supported by people from Mindanao.

Initiated by Ms. Corie Laraya Coutts and her team (Nita Rejdik, Jackie Cristini, Judith Gonzales, Mann Nacario, Primo Pagao, Jeanette Rosales, Frederick Reyes, Arnel Lopez and Pepito Toralba), Sanib-Saya was held at the Filipino Center in Toronto.

It should be noted that this Filipino Center used to be situated in a refurbished property Parliament St. beginning 2002 but is now located in 4395 Sheppard East, Scarborough at more sprawling and comfortable quarters. The Center was born from the vision of Dr. Guillermo de Villa, Jr. His vision came to fruition many years later with the help of the Philippine Consulate and likeminded Filipino civic leaders and citizens.

Today, it describes itself as “a community centre to help Filipinos preserve their identity and individuality while at the same time making their presence felt in their new country.”

All these eight organizations, put up and run by passionate Pinoy movers in the community, showcased their oneness of spirit and purpose on the night of fun and surprises for everyone last Dec. 14. Other organizations entities who showed their approval and lent their presence to the event were: FCT, Daughters of Isabela, Pinoy Radio, Filipino-Canadian Association of Vaughan, SIPAT, UPAA, Kapuso Lions Club, Knights of Columbus, JDL Entertainment, PCOO, Franciscan Sisters, JRS, and Silayan.

Other indefatigable Fil-Can personalities sighted at the event were: Ms. Michelle Serrano of PCCT, Joey Abrenilla, Mary Ann San Juan, Julius and Bunny Tiongson, Rose Tijam, Silayan president Ben Ferrer and his wife Cristina, and a host of others who were there to show their support for such unifying activity as this one.

Sanib-Saya is one great act to follow. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

FRIDAY

Tearful Murray... ❰❰ 29

champion is scheduled to open against No. 22-ranked Roberto Bautista Agut at Melbourne Park, where the season-opening major begins Monday.

He has reached the final five times at the Australian Open but never won the title. Getting through the first round will be a major achievement in 2019 for the former No. 1-ranked Murray, who has slumped to No. 230 after playing just 12 matches last year following surgery on his right hip in January.

He opened this season last week at the Brisbane International, where he won his opening match against James Duckworth but lost in the second round to Daniil Medvedev, showing visible signs of limping between points and struggling to move freely around court.

He had an incomplete practice match against long-time friend and top-ranked Novak Djokovic on Thursday at Melbourne Park, but only won two games.

Murray has had a celebrated career, breaking long Grand Slam droughts for British men when he won the U.S. Open in 2012 and at Wimbledon the following year — when he was the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win the prestigious lawn tennis title. He also became the only player to win consecutive singles gold medals at the Olympics when he won at London in 2012 and Rio in 2016.

Long considered part of the so-called Big Four in men’s tennis with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, Murray likely will be the youngest of them to retire after 20 months of trying to deal with his painful hip.

At 37, Federer is in Australia attempting to win the title for the third consecutive year and for a seventh time overall. At 31, top-ranked Djokovic is at Melbourne Park also trying to win a seventh Australian title. The 32-year-old Nadal is ranked No. 2 and confident of extending his career for several years.

Murray has been preparing for the 2019 season knowing that his career could be over within months. In his training program last month, he told his support group that the pain was becoming too much and that he needed to set a date for retirement.

“I spoke to my team and I told them I can’t keep doing this,

that I needed to have an end point because (I was) sort of playing with no idea when the pain was going to stop,” he told the news conference Friday. “I said to my team ‘I think I can get through to Wimbledon’ … that’s where I would like to stop — stop playing.”

Murray added, becoming tearful again, “But I’m also not certain I’m able to do that.

“I’m not sure I’m able to play through the pain for another four of five months.”

Players and coaches around the world rallied around Murray . Juan Martin del Potro, who has struggled with injuries throughout his career, posted a message on Twitter expressing his support: “Andy, just watched your conference.

Please don’t stop trying. Keep fighting … You deserve to retire on your own terms.”

Commentator Darren Cahill praised his contribution to the sport , as did fellow playerGrigor Dimitrov.

Murray said he’s considering another hip operation, more to improve his quality of life than as a way of returning to the top level in tennis.

“I have the option to have another operation, which is a little bit more severe than what I’ve had before — having my hip resurfaced,” he said. “That’s something that I’m seriously considering right now. Some athletes have had that and have gone back to competing (but) the reason for having an operation like that is not to return to professional sports, you know, it’s just for a better quality of life.”

Murray said he’d spoken extensively to long-time doubles star Bob Bryan about recovering from a similar operation, but couldn’t see himself recovering to be fit enough for singles and he wasn’t considering transitioning to doubles.

“I have a severely damaged right hip,” he said. “Obviously you see me running around a tennis court, walking in between points, and obviously I know it doesn’t’ look good … look comfortable.

“But there’s little things, dayto-day, that are also a struggle.

It would be nice to be able to do them without any pain: putting shoes on, socks on, thinks like that. That’s the main reason for doing it.” ■

23

Entertainment Pixnoys: Filipinos to see first Filipino characters in Pixar

BY BEA KIRSTEIN T. MANALAYSAY Philippine Canadian Inquirer IT CANNOT be denied that a lot of Filipinos love to associate almost anything with being Filipino. While some may not acknowledge or may even be irritated with this #PinoyPride mentality, it stays true until today especially with the exposure to online media and today’s technology.

This is why some prominent persons being linked to any Filipino – a fan, an assistant, a coworker, or anything, it becomes featured in news sites.

Similarly with foreign animated films; just like when the adorable yellow minions from the Despicable Me series started gaining more attention, some Pinoy netizens went gaga and just found fun in hearing Filipino-esque words from the said characters who have their own language. Another viral concept came about when Mo-

ana’s origins were discussed in a post, possibly linking to Filipino roots.

But now, through FilipinoAmerican Bobby Rubio, known for his contributions on various animations like Tarzan, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, Inside Out, and many more, Pinoy characters will finally be making a debut in the world of Pixar –Pixar Pinoys or Pixnoys as he dubs.

“It’s official! I can finally tell you I’m the writer/director of the Pixar SparkShort ‘Float,’” this was how Bobby greets Twitterverse when Disney’s Pixar Twitter account officially announced the launch of SparkShorts this year.

The studio describes it as “an experimental storytelling initiative that welcomes new creative voices at Pixar to share their stories.”

In the video accompanying the Tweet, Bobby says that he sees this as a wonderful opportunity to tell his story, followed by a really short clip of two

Screenshot from Pixar's announcement video.

characters – a man and a baby.

Answering one of his followers, he confirms that, the two leads of his SparkShort film “Float” are indeed Filipinos and are “technically the first Pixnoys.”

Bobby also states that he is proud to tell “our stories” as he knows the importance of being represented on the big screen in the international scene.

“I’m so proud to be part of this program and to be among these very talented people! And I have to give a shout-out to my wonderful and talented crew,

Team Float!” he continues his tweet regarding the announcement.

According to Pixar, the filmmakers had six months to make their projects come into fruition.

SparkShorts Production Lead David Lally said that they are given “a little bit” of money and time, and this grants them the freedom to do what they want for their project.

Meanwhile, President of Pixar Animation Studios, Jim Morris, says that despite the low budget, this serves as an

@DISNEYPIXAR/TWITTER

avenue to cater and hone the fresh ideas of artists.

His followers celebrated Bobby’s excitement, including Andy Park – Marvel Studios Director of Visual Development and Concept Artist on projects such as Thor: Ragnarok, AntMan and the Wasp, and the upcoming Captain Marvel – who congratulated him.

The first three SparksShort films will be launched on El Capitan Theater on January 18, followed by a Youtube launch weeks after. ■

Filipina-Canadian ‘You’ star Shay Mitchell visits Manila

BY GIANNA LLANES Philippine Canadian Inquirer

Shay Mitchell and Penn Badgley.

@NETFLIXPH/INSTAGRAM

THIRTY- ONE -YEAR- OLD Filipina-Canadian Shay Mitchell visits her mother’s hometown as she brings along Netflix Originals’ ‘You’ co-star Penn Badgley to Manila to promote the first season of their thriller series.

Shay announced her arrival last Sunday, January 13 with a tweet that said, “Hello Manila!” also providing details for their fan event happening two days later at a set designed like their show’s iconic Mooney’s Bookstore at Greenbelt 5. Both Hollywood stars also posted phowww.canadianinquirer.net

tographs on their Instagram sharing an oversized Halo-Halo at The Manila Peninsula.

In a video, Shay is seen introducing her co-star to the dessert, saying, “So this is halo-halo. It’s a Filipino dessert basically shaved ice with condensed milk. But I have never seen anything that big.” In her Instagram story, Shay elaborates, “So truly, I’ve never seen a halo-halo this big. Halo-halo means ‘mix-mix.’ Basically, this is a dessert mixed with a bunch of stuff.” As a response to his treat, Penn jokes “It was great.

I mean it has a lot of sugar, but it was nice.”

The official Netflix account as well teased the visit of their cast

to the Philippines, as they posted an image of Penn and Shay posing by a jeepney captioned, “Did someone order a jeepney?

These two are on the way to see you” using the hashtag #NextflixIsHere4You in honor of the momentous event.

The day after their arrival, the two held a press conference to promote ‘You,’ which is a series revolving around Badgley’s character Joe and his obsession with the best friend of Shay’s character, Peach. When talking to the media, Penn says he “loves working with Shay because [they]’re different,” adding, “Like the ingredients of halo-halo – unity in diversity.” ■

24

Entertainment

JANUARY 18, 2019

FRIDAY

Documentary puts new attention Chavit Singson on R. Kelly sex allegations confirms new

ownership of Miss Universe PH

BY RUSSELL CONTRERAS AND MICHAEL TARM The Associated Press KELLY, one of the top-selling recording artists of all time, has been dogged for years by allegations of sexual misconduct involving women and underage girls — accusations he and his attorneys have long denied.

But an Illinois prosecutor’s plea for potential victims and witnesses to come forward and new protests have sparked hope among some advocates that the R&B star might face criminal charges.

“Please come forward. There’s nothing that can be done to investigate these allegations without co-operation between victims and witnesses,” Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx said Tuesday at a news conference in Chicago. “We cannot seek justice without you.”

Still, some legal experts and prosecutors say it may be difficult to bring charges. Accusers and witnesses would have to speak out, and even then, prosecutors could have a hard time winning a conviction.

In recent days, Kelly has faced increased pressure from advocates who have protested outside of his Chicago studio and demanded that police investigate allegations against minors.

The latest attention comes days after Lifetime aired the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly,” which revisited old allegations and brought new ones into the spotlight. The series follows the BBC’s “R Kelly: Sex, Girls & Videotapes,” which was released last year. It alleged that the singer was holding women against their will and running a “sex cult.”

Activists from the #MeToo and #MuteRKelly social media movements have seized on the renewed attention to call for streaming services to drop Kelly’s music and promoters not to book any more concerts.

The allegations extend beyond Illinois. A lawyer representing an Atlanta-area couple who appeared in the Lifetime documentary said Georgia prosecutors have reached out to him. Attorney Gerald Griggs

BY GIANNA LLANES Philippine Canadian Inquirer

R. KELLY/FACEBOOK

represents Timothy and Jonjelyn Savage, who have said repeatedly that Kelly has brainwashed their daughter and kept her from contacting them.

Despite the accusations that span decades, the star singer, songwriter and producer who rose from poverty on Chicago’s South Side has retained a sizable following.

Kelly broke into the R&B scene in 1993 with his first solo album, “12 Play,” which yielded such popular sex-themed songs as “Bump N’ Grind” and “Your Body’s Callin’.” Months later, the then-27-year-old faced allegations he married 15-yearold Aaliyah — a multi-platinum R&B vocalist who later died in a plane crash in the Bahamas.

Kelly served as the lead songwriter and producer for Aaliyah’s 1994 debut album, “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number.”

Kelly and Aaliyah never confirmed the marriage, although Vibe magazine published a copy of the purported marriage license. Court documents later obtained by the Chicago SunTimes showed Aaliyah admitted lying about her age on the license. In May 1997, she filed suit in Cook County, Illinois, to expunge all records of the marriage, court documents showed.

A judge later agreed to seal the marriage records. Kelly won three Grammys that year for “I Believe I Can Fly,” a song that would be sung at churches and graduations across the U.S. He has not only written nu-

merous hits for himself but for other artists including Celine Dion, Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga. His collaborators have included Jay-Z and Usher.

Still, accusations of inappropriate sexual misconduct followed Kelly for much of his career.

In February 2002, a 27-minute video surfaced that showed a man purported to be Kelly engaged in sex acts involving an underage girl. The singer was later indicted on child pornography charges and it appeared that Kelly’s career was in jeopardy.

Almost a year later, Kelly was arrested in Florida after authorities found digital images of the singer allegedly involved in sex acts with an underage girl, but those charges were dropped over a dispute on the search warrant.

Both Kelly and the girl denied they were the ones in the video, even though the quality of the video was good and multiple witnesses at trial testified it was clearly them.

In Chicago, the jury of nine men and three women deliberated for about seven hours before acquitting the singer in 2008 on charges of videotaping himself having sex with a girl who prosecutors allege was as young as 13.

After the acquittal, Kelly vowed not to abandon the explicit music that helped make ❱❱ PAGE 21 Documentary puts

www.canadianinquirer.net

AFTER NUMEROUS rumors and controversies circulated, former Ilocos Sur governor Luis “Chavit” Singson has confirmed with the media that he is officially the new owner of the Miss Universe Philippines Franchise.

Last Sunday, January 13, Chavit told The Philippine Star that, “True, the [Miss Universe Philippines] franchise is already with [him], but it has not yet been announced.” In his words, “ I think it shall be formally announced this January or February when Catriona comes back again to the Philippines.” He further elaborates in a mix of English and Filipino, “Binibining Pilipinas Universe will be replaced with ‘Miss Universe Philippines.’ I’ve been offered the franchise even before because I’ve been helping them since 2016.”

When referring to his involvement with the pageant organization for the past two years, Chavit explains, “I dealt with them for the hosting of the Miss Universe pageant here in the Philippines in 2016. Instead of talking to many companies before, they just talked to me and I then gave them a non-refundable deposit of $1 million. Who would disagree to that, non-refundable? I gained

their trust. Before the signing in 2016, they even first asked me to pay $12 million.”

The businessman also says he looks forward to the upcoming Miss Universe 2019, which will be held in South Korea. Besides owning numerous establishments in the country, Chavit says that the country will also be a special place to hold the next edition of the international pageant because it will be the first time that North Korea will submit a candidate. He adds, “Before, it was held in Jeju island because it doesn’t require visas for foreign tourists. The 2019 Miss Universe will be unique because for the first time in history, North Korea will participate but no swimsuit portion for their candidate, only the national costume.”

Despite Chavit’s announcement, the Miss Universe Organization has yet to confirm the official owner of the Philippine franchise. Since 1964, the candidate representing the Philippines in the international Miss Universe pageant was always selected by the Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc. (BPCI), chairperson Stella Araneta denying all rumors involving Chavit Singson just ten days ago. In an interview, ‘Madame Stella’ stated, “[The franchise] is still with us. If some people say something else, let them talk about it.” ■

Chavit Singson and Richelle Singson-Michael. @ARCH_RICHELLESINGSON/INSTAGRAM

Entertainment

FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2019

25

Beautiful! Carole King shows up as herself in Broadway bio

BY ANDREA RODRIGUEZ The Associated Press NEW YORK — Anything can happen in live theatre, and audience members seeing “Beautiful,” the life story of Carole King, got a surprise when King appeared in the role of herself to celebrate the show’s fifth anniversary on Broadway.

The packed house at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre erupted into thunderous cheers and applause as King appeared Saturday night, sitting at a baby grand piano and showing all the love in her heart as she sang “Beautiful,” the final song.

“It’s kind of miraculous that this show has lasted for five years because not many do. And it’s a testament to, I think, people say the music … but the book is so good and the direction and the lighting and the sets. It’s really a well put together production,” King said in an interview with The Associated Press after the show.

She has sung onstage during curtain calls during the show’s long run but has never appeared in the show itself.

In the show’s final scene — set during her famous 1971 Carnegie Hall concert — the 76-year-old King played a much younger version of herself as she took over for Chilina Kennedy, who recently returned to the Broadway production of “Beautiful” after playing the King role in the North American tour.

King and the cast then performed the show’s encore number, “I Feel the Earth Move,” at the curtain call as the audience danced and clapped along. The singersongwriter held hands with Kennedy as the two took several bows and accepted

flowers from the cast.

“Everyone connected with this show will agree that the people we have to thank the most are you, the audiences; please give yourselves a hand,” King told the audience, a sea of cellphones snapping pictures.

“It’s thanks to you, you who have come once … twice, three times,” she said. “I hear from people who’ve brought friends, family and shared the joy and shared the love, and it’s amazing.

“So if you keep doing that, you never know when I might show up again,” she joked.

Among the audience members was Chuck Schumer, the U.S. senator from New York, who waved to the crowd and gestured thumbs up as he exited the theatre. “CBS This Morning” anchor Gayle King was also at the show and said it was her fourth time seeing it.

“I love it. I love her,” she said. “I still have my ‘Tapestry’ album.”

“Beautiful” is based on King’s life from when she was a teenage songwriter in New York, to her time as wife, mother and author of scores of recognizable songs. The show features a collection of famous pop music, written by King and her ex-husband Gerry Goffin, as well as Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, including the classics “You’ve Got a Friend,” “One Fine Day,” “Up on the Roof,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” and “Natural Woman.”

King called seeing herself played as a character onstage “surreal” but said she is pleased the show has had such longevity.

“Beautiful” opened on Broadway on Jan. 13, 2014, and won the 2014 Tony Award for best actress in a musical for Jessie Mueller; the 2015 Grammy Award

RCMP to... ❰❰ 15

tive behaviour.”

One person secured themselves to the barricade, while two others attached themselves to the underside of a bus that was blocking access to a bridge and another was suspended in a hammock from the bridge, he said.

There were also fires nearby that caused significant safety concerns, Stubbs added.

After the arrests, the RCMP worked to establish a dialogue with the hereditary chiefs, he said, leading to an agreement last Thursday allowing for access by the company across the bridge.

The implementation of the agreement occurred over the weekend without any significant issues, he said.

Carole King.

MARK REINSTEIN / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

for best musical theatre album; and two 2015 Olivier Awards, Britain’s version of the Tonys. Productions have played in London, Japan and Australia and toured the United Kingdom. The North American tour is celebrating its third anniversary of sold-out runs and is currently playing at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music.

When producers came to her to sug-

gest she appear in the last scene to mark the show’s anniversary, King said, she did not hesitate.

“I totally envisioned that moment, and it was a thousand times more than I had imagined,” King told the AP. “I love watching people come and see them forget about their cares and troubles for two hours and forty minutes,” she said. “It’s a wonderful feeling.” ■

PSYCHIC FAITH Reader, Healer and Adviser TELL PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

Stubbs said the deal included a framework for continued police presence in the area and RCMP are in the process of bringing in a temporary detachment that will support safety in the area.

The hereditary chiefs have offered to provide cultural awareness training to all members assigned to the detachment, he added.

He said it hasn’t been determined yet how long the detachment will stay in the area.

A timeline for the review also has not yet been established, but Stubbs said he understands there is “urgency.” It hasn’t been determined yet whether a report would be made public or whether its findings would be summarized in a news release, he said. ■

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26

Lifestyle Scientists seek ways to finally take a real measure of pain

BY LAURAN NEERGAARD The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Is the pain stabbing or burning? On a scale from 1 to 10, is it a 6 or an 8?

Over and over, 17-year-old Sarah Taylor struggled to make doctors understand her sometimes debilitating levels of pain, first from joint-damaging childhood arthritis and then from fibromyalgia.

“It’s really hard when people can’t see how much pain you’re in, because they have to take your word on it and sometimes, they don’t quite believe you,” she said.

Now scientists are peeking into Sarah’s eyes to track how her pupils react when she’s hurting and when she’s not — part of a quest to develop the first objective way to measure pain.

“If we can’t measure pain, we can’t fix it,” said Dr. Julia Finkel, a pediatric anesthesiologist at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, who invented the experimental eyetracking device.

At just about every doctor’s visit you’ll get your temperature, heart rate and blood pressure measured. But there’s no stethoscope for pain. Patients must convey how bad it is using that 10-point scale or emoji-style charts that show faces turning from smiles to frowns.

That’s problematic for lots of reasons. Doctors and nurses have to guess at babies’ pain by their cries and squirms, for example. The aching that one

person rates a 7 might be a 4 to someone who’s more used to serious pain or genetically more tolerant. Patient-to-patient variability makes it hard to test if potential new painkillers really work.

Nor do self-ratings determine what kind of pain someone has — one reason for trial-anderror treatment. Are opioids necessary? Or is the pain, like Sarah’s, better suited to nervetargeting medicines?

“It’s very frustrating to be in pain and you have to wait like six weeks, two months, to see if the drug’s working,” said Sarah, who uses a combination of medications, acupuncture and lots of exercise to counter her pain.

The National Institutes of Health is pushing for development of what its director, Dr. Francis Collins, has called a “pain-o-meter.” Spurred by the opioid crisis, the goal isn’t just to signal how much pain someone’s in. It’s also to determine what kind it is and what drug might be the most effective.

“We’re not creating a lie detector for pain,” stressed David Thomas of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse, who oversees the research. “We do not want to lose the patient voice.”

Around the country, NIHfunded scientists have begun studies of brain scans, pupil reactions and other possible markers of pain in hopes of finally “seeing” the ouch so they can better treat it. It’s earlystage research, and it’s not clear how soon any of the attempts

might pan out.

“There won’t be a single signature of pain,” Thomas predicted. “My vision is that someday we’ll pull these different metrics together for something of a fingerprint of pain.”

NIH estimates 25 million people in the U.S. experience daily pain. Most days Sarah Taylor is one of them. Now living in Potomac, Maryland, she was a toddler in her native Australia when the swollen, aching joints of juvenile arthritis appeared. She’s had migraines and spinal inflammation. Then two years ago, the body-wide pain of fibromyalgia struck; a flare-up last winter hospitalized her for two weeks.

One recent morning, Sarah climbed onto an acupuncture table at Children’s National, rated that day’s pain a not-toobad 3, and opened her eyes wide for the experimental pain test.

“There’ll be a flash of light for 10 seconds. All you have to do is try not to blink,” researcher Kevin Jackson told Sarah as he lined up the pupil-tracking device, mounted on a smartphone.

The eyes offer a window to pain centres in the brain, said Finkel, who directs pain research at Children’s Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation.

How? Some pain-sensing nerves transmit “ouch” signals to the brain along pathways that also alter muscles of the pupils as they react to different stimuli. Finkel’s device tracks pupillary reactions to light or to non-painful stimulation of cer-

www.canadianinquirer.net

tain nerve fibers, aiming to link different patterns to different intensities and types of pain.

Consider the shooting hip and leg pain of sciatica: “Everyone knows someone who’s been started on oxycodone for their sciatic nerve pain. And they’ll tell you that they feel it — it still hurts — and they just don’t care,” Finkel said.

What’s going on? An opioid like oxycodone brings some relief by dulling the perception of pain but not its transmission — while a different kind of drug might block the pain by targeting the culprit nerve fiber, she said.

Certain medications also can be detected by other changes in a resting pupil, she said.

Last month the Food and Drug Administration announced it would help AlgometRx, a biotech company Finkel founded, speed development of the device as a rapid drug screen.

Looking deeper than the eyes, scientists at Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital found MRI scans revealed

patterns of inflammation in the brain that identified either fibromyalgia or chronic back pain.

Other researchers have found changes in brain activity — where different areas “light up” on scans — that signal certain types of pain. Still others are using electrodes on the scalp to measure pain through brain waves.

Ultimately, NIH wants to uncover biological markers that explain why some people recover from acute pain while others develop hard-to-treat chronic pain.

“Your brain changes with pain,” Thomas explained. “A zero-to-10 scale or a happy-face scale doesn’t capture anywhere near the totality of the pain experience.” ■ The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education.

The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Lifestyle

FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2019

27

‘Miracle’ flight survivors mark decade of thankfulness

BY DEEPTI HAJELA The Associated Press NEW YORK — It’s been 10 years, but there isn’t anything Tripp Harris doesn’t remember about the cold January day he cheated death on US Airways flight 1549.

The jolt when the plane collided with a flock of geese and the engines stopped moments after takeoff from New York City’s LaGuardia Airport. The smoke filling the cabin. The electric, burning smell. The panic from the people around him. The calm, steady tone of Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger telling everyone to brace for impact as he steered the Airbus A320-214 into the frigid waters of the Hudson River on Jan. 15, 2009.

And, of course, he knows the happy ending of the “Miracle on the Hudson”: All 155 people aboard survived.

Harris has also never forgotten what that day taught him about what really mattered: his wife and then-2-year-old son.

“Everything that I could think about was the things I was going to miss,” said Harris, 47, of Charlotte, North Carolina, where the flight was headed.

“That fundamentally shifted my priorities.”

It’s colored his life ever since.

He decided to spend more time with his family and have adventures and experiences he might otherwise have put off.

That day “made me a better father, a better husband,” Harris said.

It’s a common refrain among survivors, of how that day led to big life changes and small everyday choices, and to feeling joy more readily. But some also speak of the anxiety that can still rise every time they’re on a flight.

“I have a lot more gratitude about my life,” said Sheila Dail, 67, one of the flight attendants.

After taking the better part of a year off, she returned to working in the skies and helped to create a peer support group for air stewards at her airline. “I have three grandsons I possibly would never have seen.”

Flight 1549 took off from LaGuardia a decade ago Tuesday, with Sullenberger’s co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles at the controls, three flight attendants and 150 passengers aboard. It was cold, only about 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 7 degrees Celsius), but the skies were clear.

“What a view of the Hudson today,” Sullenberger remarked to Skiles, according to National Transportation Safety Board’s report on the crash.

Less than a minute later, plane and birds collided at 3,000 feet (915 metres). Both engines stopped. Sullenberger took the controls and told air traffic controllers he couldn’t make it back to LaGuardia. His choices were a small airport for private aircraft in New Jersey — possibly too far — or the river.

Sullenberger picked the water.

At 3:31 p.m., the plane splashed down, somehow stayed in one piece, and began floating fast toward the harbour. Passengers got out on the wings and inflatable rafts as commuter ferries raced to the rescue.

One flight attendant and four passengers were hurt, but everyone else was mostly fine.

The submerged and damaged plane was recovered and is now held at the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, where survivors are planning to gather Tuesday to mark the 10-year anniversary, including a toast at the exact time of the crash.

“While I don’t know that I would do it again, it certainly gave me some clarity around my life priorities and the importance of my family,” said Pam Seagle, 52, of Wilmington, North Carolina, who was on the flight.

In the aftermath, she made some big life decisions.

Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger.

CAPTAIN C.B. SULLY SULLENBERGER/FACEBOOK

She and her family moved away from Charlotte to a new home at the beach in Wilmington. While she still works for Bank of America, her employer in 2009, she moved to a division that promotes women’s economic empowerment. She took time to be with loved ones, including a long-overdue break with her sister. She held those moments with family even dearer after her sister’s unexpected death months later in 2009.

That January day 10 years ago “kind of put me on this path to where I am now, and where I’m very happy and content,” she said.

Getting over the trauma of the experience took some time for passenger Steve O’Brien, 54, of Charlotte.

“That first year was tough.

You’re scattered. You can’t fo-

cus. You’re impatient,” he said.

“There’s this thin place between life and death ... and we were at a really thin place and then you get yanked back.”

When he flies now, he looks for the emergency exits and can’t sleep as easily in his seat anymore.

“I’ll be on a plane and I’ll be nodding off or something, and a bump will happen and all of a sudden it comes back, and you just feel this electric scared, overwhelming feeling that hits you in the chest,” he said.

But he says he feels he’s a more relaxed person now with life’s lesser frustrations.

“I realize that little things are to be appreciated, that mundane things are what make up your life,” he said, “and that’s the things you’re going to miss if it’s going to be yanked away from you.” ■

Hear these engines roar: Female team says this is no gimmick

BY JENNA FRYER The Associated Press DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. — Every racing series in the world is full of wealthy enthusiasts with ideas that sound too good to be true. Expensive promises to fund life-changing opportunities are usually broken before cars even make it to the track.

Jackie Heinricher has defied those odds and turned an outlandish idea into one of the most highly anticipated debuts in racing.

She has put together an allfemale team of drivers that will debut later this month at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, one of the most prestigious endur-

ance races in the world. Her vi“We are going to be under a in Sun Valley, Idaho. She is sion became a reality because spotlight whether we like it or also the female equivalent of a she found a commercial spon- not, and the last thing we want “gentleman racer” in the world sor with Caterpillar, landed a to do is go out there and be like of exotic cars, which means she partner in Meyer Shank Racing the ‘girl team.’ That is detri- pays her own way for the right and signed up to race against top racers — all professionals on of whom wanted the top circuits to be part of the in the world. unique project.

Thinking about space as a separate Heinricher “I am scared, a entity in itself that deserves found that racing little bit,” British attention and expertise, I think is a was the same as driver Katherine good idea. the STEM field Legge said. “I am in that women scared that it will are an anomaly. be gimmicky and There just were we won’t be taken seriously. mental to what we are trying to not many female role models to That’s why we have the drivers achieve.” follow. we have, that’s why we are going Heinricher is an Air Force Heinricher is a racing fan with a professional team, that’s veteran, scientist and founder who often rooted for the female why we made sure we had ev- of her own biotech company, drivers, and just as the driverything to do it right.

Booshoot Technology, based ers themselves grew frustrated www.canadianinquirer.net

with their inability to advance in American racing, Heinricher grew tired of seeing the women leave the U.S. for opportunities in Europe.

“I started having this vision to bring these top women professionals together to race a season together,” Heinricher said.

Then she had to sell it, to drivers and sponsors. Sports car racing is one of the few series that requires multiple driver lineups, and Heinricher’s attempt to field an all-female team in a world-renowned series is unprecedented.

“I’ve watched many of these things fall flat on their faces, go ❱❱ PAGE 28 Hear these

28

Lifestyle

JANUARY 18, 2019

Hear these...

‘McJesus’ sculpture sparks outrage among Israel’s Christians

❰❰ 27

out in the press without any substance,” she said. “I started talking with drivers and I was always very transparent that I had to accomplish the money side. There was skepticism.

They were like, ‘Who is this crazy gentleman driver woman?

What does she want from us?”‘ Legge has been part of enough crummy deals to be wary of hair-brained ideas. Legge was part of Lotus’ noncompetitive return to IndyCar, she was a centerpiece in the lineup for the weird DeltaWing sports car project and the announced driver for an Indianapolis 500 team that was going to be composed entirely of women. It never happened.

Legge knew of Heinricher’s idea for two years and agreed to be part of it because, for once, it looked as if the pieces were in place for something to actually come together.

Legge was already part of Meyer Shank Racing, and her Acura team won twice last season and finished second overall in IMSA’s GTD class. When Heinricher landed Caterpillar as sponsor for her vision, she was able to take it to Legge and the Meyer Shank team.

Then came signing the rest of the lineup. The roster for the twice-round-the-clock endurance race at Daytona is Legge, the full-time driver of the car, along with: --Simona de Silvestro. A former IndyCar driver who has been a Formula One test driver, the “Swiss Missile” most recently competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.

--Bia Figueiredo. She raced as Ana Beatriz in IndyCar because it was easier to pronounce, and the Brazilian was the first to win at that series’ second level and the only woman to win multiple Indy Lights races.

--Christina Nielsen. A twotime IMSA class champion, the Danish driver was brought in to complete the Rolex lineup because Heinricher injured her back in a crash testing the car in December.

The lineup has more combined experience and success than Danica Patrick, the most well-known female racer of this generation. And the group views it as a chance to further opportunities for women.

“Being the only girl you are

FRIDAY

BY AREEJ HAZBOUN AND ISABEL DEBRE The Associated Press

DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY/FACEBOOK

given a hall pass. It’s, ‘Katherine is OK or Danica is OK,’ and you are taken as an independent person in a sea of women and they still make fun of woman drivers, but you are different somehow,” Legge explained.

“And I am like, ‘No, that is not true. We can if we are given the opportunity to prove that we can do it.’

“There aren’t that many girls coming up through the ranks.

Give girls positive role models that aren’t just stripping off and posing on the front of a car. You go to a race track and you see ‘Grid Girls’ and very rarely do you see engineers, people working behind the scenes, working on race cars. If you are a parent, and you have a kid who wants to be in racing, I wanted to show that that’s not the only way you can do it.”

The team is slated to run the entire IMSA schedule, and Figueiredo posted the fastest lap in class during a qualifying session earlier this month.

That proved the car is no joke, and the lineup goes into the Jan. 26-27 season-opening race determined to prove they can compete with their male counterparts and confident they may even win their class.

“I think we can be a contender for the race win,” Nielsen said. “We are all on the same

page and have been for years.

Kat and I frequently quote the saying ‘Once you are behind the wheel, the car can’t tell if it is a man or woman driving.”

Heinricher still plans to be part of the lineup at some point this season, but for now revels in her creation. She knows Legge worries about an effort that might set women back in racing. She is confident this venture will be different.

“I never sold this partnership to go out and be on the podium every day. There are very few role models for young girls in STEM,” she said. “Part of this partnership is not only does this do that, but it steps into cars and leadership and the STEM side. If I put together Humpty Dumpty with six broken pieces, I am sure that would be a gimmick and we’d be laughed at all day long. I just wanted to work with professional people.”

Heinricher has a real race team, but Legge believes judgment will still be based on the bottom line.

“One race is not going to be gimmicky or not gimmicky, but over the season if we finish last every race, absolutely that would be gimmicky,” Legge said. “But that’s not going to happen with the people we’ve put in place.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

HAIFA, ISRAEL — An art exhibit in Israel featuring a crucified Ronald McDonald has sparked protests by the country’s Arab Christian minority.

Hundreds of Christians calling for the removal of the sculpture, entitled “McJesus,” demonstrated at the museum in the northern city of Haifa last week.

Israeli police say rioters hurled a firebomb at the museum and threw stones that wounded three police officers. Authorities dispersed the crowds with tear gas and stun grenades.

Church representatives brought their grievances to the district court Monday, demanding it order the removal of the exhibit’s most offensive items, including Barbie doll renditions of a bloodied Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

Museum director Nissim Tal said that he was shocked at the sudden uproar, especially because the exhibit — intended to criticize what many view as society’s cult-like worship of capitalism — had been on display for months. It has also been shown in other countries without incident.

The protests appear to have been sparked by visitors sharing photos of the exhibit on social media.

Christians make up a tiny percentage of Israel’s Arab minority and say they face unique challenges.

“We need to understand that freedom of expression is interpreted in different ways in different societies,” said Wadie Abu Nassar, an adviser to church leaders. “If this work was directed against nonChristians, the world would be turned upside down.”

Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev, who has been accused of censorship for pushing legislation mandating national “loyalty” in art, also called for the removal of the “disrespectful” artwork.

The museum has refused to remove the artwork, saying

that doing so would infringe on freedom of expression. But following the protests it hung a curtain over the entrance to the exhibit and posted a sign saying the art was not intended to offend.

“This is the maximum that we can do,” Tal said. “If we take the art down, the next day we’ll have politicians demanding we take other things down and we’ll end up only with colorful pictures of flowers in the museum.”

But that did little to placate those who want the artwork removed. A protester remained camped out in a tent at the museum on Monday with a sign reading “Respect religions.”

Police watched closely as local Christians complained to reporters in front of street signs spray-painted with crosses and windows still shattered from last week’s clashes.

“This is very offensive and I cannot consider this art,” Haifa artist and devout Christian Amir Ballan said. “We will continue through peaceful rallies and candle vigils... We won’t be quiet until we reach a solution.”

Jani Leinonen, the Finnish artist behind “McJesus,” has also asked that it be taken down — but for a different reason.

He says he supports Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, or BDS, a Palestinian-led movement aimed at pressuring Israel to change its policies toward the Palestinians. The group has made significant gains in recent years, persuading a number of foreign artists to cancel performances in Israel.

Tal said the museum won’t bow to religious or political pressure.

“We will be defending freedom of speech, freedom of art, and freedom of culture, and will not take it down,” he said. ■

29

Sports June Mar Fajardo breaks record for most MVP awards bagged straight; shares about childhood

BY GIANNA LLANES Philippine Canadian Inquirer THE 44TH Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) season has officially begun after the opening at The Philippine Arena, Bulacan last Sunday, January 13 where Barangay Ginebra defeated the Talk N Text KaTropa, 90-79, during their match-up after the league’s opening ceremonies.

Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter led the way for their team, who played in front of almost 24,000 people, with Aguilar scoring 21 and Slaughter adding 15 points and seven rebounds. For the KaTropa, RG Pogo had a double-double

with 21 points and 16 rebounds, while teammate Jayson Castro had double digits for both points and assists at 17 and 10 respectively. Rookie Brian Heruela debuted with 14 points after being expected to fill in the shoes of recently-released Terrence Romeo.

Ginebra head coach Tim Cone explained that “opening game is always tough because it is a long day,” explaining, “Your guys are standing around a lot and it’s hard. You can always start lethargic and we are not in great shape as we are. We’ve got real good talent, we know what we want to do, but sometimes we get tired,” however, he further stated that he is pleased with the amount

June Mar Fajardo.

of potential for the rest of the season his team showed, stat-

PBA/FACEBOOK

ing, “It was good to go out there and get that win against Talk

‘N Text. They started with four smalls, and we were concerned because we didn’t know how we’ll match up. But luckily, they didn’t shoot the three-ball as well as they usually do, and we were able to control the inside.”

The last time the two teams faced off for the opening of a season was during the 20142015 Philippine Cup, where again, the Ginebra Kings dominated the KaTropa with a 10181 win.

Prior to the game, the PBA hosted the Leo Awards, where the Most Valuable Player, as well as the Mythical Teams, were acknowledged, and the opening ceremony, where all 12 teams paraded around the arena with their muses. ■

Tearful Murray: Australian Open Alaska Aces anticipate could be his last tournament adjustments for start of PBA season

BY ANDREA RODRIGUEZ The Associated Press

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — Andy Murray is still hoping to make it to one more Wimbledon tournament before his problematic hip forces him into retirement. For now, he’s only committing to the Australian Open.

In an emotional news conference Friday, when a tearful Murray had to leave the room shortly after his first attempt to get it started, and needed to pause several times to compose himself once it had resumed, he confirmed he’d play his firstround match at the Australian Open next week but wasn’t sure how much longer he could continue beyond that.

The 31-year-old Murray said he practiced in the off-season with the main goal of making one last run at Wimbledon, where he ended the 77-year drought for British men with

BY GIANNA LLANES Philippine Canadian Inquirer

Andy Murray.

his title in 2013, but now wasn’t sure he’d make it that far.

“I can still play to a level — not a level I’m happy playing at,” he said. “But also, it’s not just that.

The pain is too much really.

“I don’t want to continue

@ANDYMURRAY/INSTAGRAM

playing that way. I tried pretty much everything that I could to get it right — that hasn’t worked.”

The three-time Grand Slam ❱❱ PAGE 22 Tearful Murray

www.canadianinquirer.net

AFTER A first runner-up run in the recently concluded Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors Cup, the Alaska Aces have announced an incomplete lineup for their first game of the 2019 season.

According to head coach Alex Compton during the media conference that occurred last Thursday, January 10, the Hotshots will only resume practice next Monday, January 14. “We haven’t started yet because we’re at a low point with injuries,” he explained, “We have to recover and we have to try to build our bodies right back again. What happened is that last month, we were playing for 14 months straight so the players got beaten up.” Coach Alex is referring to Simon Enciso,

Vic Manuel, and Chris Banchero, all recovering from knee and ankle injuries and are out indefinitely. Sonny Thoss and Jayvee Casio are nursing their respective injuries as well.

Amidst the adjustments, Coach Alex is staying positive nonetheless. “We usually don’t focus on the results right away.

For us, it’s going to be trying to play right, are we making the good decisions, are we playing hard, the Alaska way,” he continued, “We’re gonna be a little out of shape, and have key players that aren’t playing, we going to have other players excited for the opportunity and the responsibilities that they’ll have trying to set into those roles.”

The Alex Compton-led squad will debut their new lineup on February 3 as they go head-tohead against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters at Ynares Center in Antipolo. ■

30

Business Trump’s Cuba policy hurts private sector, new figures say

BY ANDREA RODRIGUEZ The Associated Press HAVANA — President Donald Trump’s Cuba policy is driving hundreds of millions of dollars from the island’s private entrepreneurs to its militarycontrolled tourism sector, the opposite of its supposed goal, new statistics say.

Trump announced in June 2017 that he was tightening limits on U.S. travel to Cuba in order to starve military-linked travel businesses and funnel money directly to the Cuban people.

He restricted Americans’ ability to travel to Cuba on their own, rather than with a tour group. At the same time, he allowed U.S. cruise lines to continue to take passengers to Cuba, where they pay millions to disembark at military-run docks and make quick trips onshore that are generally coordinated by government tour agencies that steer travellers to state-run destinations.

Cuban government figures from the first full year under Trump’s policy show occupancy of private bed-and-breakfasts in Havana plunged to 44 per cent in 2018 after years at near capacity in the wake of President Barack Obama’s start of normalization with Cuba, said Michael Bernal, commercial director for the Ministry of Tourism.

Even as the private sector suffered, U.S. travel to Cuba was growing, from 618,000 in 2017 to 630,000 last year, Tourism Ministry figures say. Most of those travellers came by ship, avoiding the confusing rules on travel to the island with package tours that are guaranteed to comply with the law.

The shift to cruises meant the average U.S. stay on the island dropped from six days to three, said Jose Luis Perello, a former University of Havana professor who studies Cuba’s tourism industry.

That has had a devastating effect on owners and employees of Cuba’s 24,185 private

bed-and-breakfasts and 2,170 private restaurants. They cherished U.S. travellers as heavy tippers who crammed days full of activities like classic car rides and cooking classes that put money into private hands.

David Pajon, a university professor who bought an apartment to rent in Old Havana, said he has had to drop his rates 40 per cent since Trump’s new policy went into effect in 2017. He still was a third empty last month, the first time in three years that he wasn’t fully booked in December.

“U.S.-Cuba normalization inspired a lot of people who thought this was a good business to invest their savings in,” Pajon said. “And all of a sudden you have the U.S. government creating a situation that has an impact on the number of people who came, or changes the way they’re coming — on cruise ships!”

The number of U.S. travellers to Cuba grew from 162,000 in 2015, the year after Obama and then Cuban President Raul

GAGE SKIDMORE/FLICKR, CC BY-SA 2.0

Castro announced detente, to 284,000 in 2016 and 618,000 in 2017.

The overall number of travellers grew, too, from 3.5 million in 2015 to 3.7 million in 2016, 4.3 million in 2017 and 4.7 million last year.

Nonetheless, the private sector suffered.

Enrique Nunez, owner of La Guarida, perhaps Havana’s best-known restaurant, said he had to cut his employees’ hours

last year because his revenue fell 40 per cent.

“We don’t understand the U.S. rules,” said Bernal, the tourism official. “We heard the president’s speech saying that the U.S. government supports entrepreneurs. However, that’s the sector that’s suffering most in Cuba.” ■ Associated Press writer Michael Weissenstein contributed to this report.

PH prepares for infra funding deals with China, Japan

BY JOANN VILLANUEVA Philippine News Agency MANILA — A Department of Finance (DOF) official revealed several projects have been lined up for financing by China and Japan, and signing of these agreements have been set to take place in the first half of 2019.

Finance Undersecretary Mark Dennis Joven said about USD10 million worth of projects will be signed with the Japanese government in February.

These projects include the North-South Commuter Railway, the Phase 4 of the PasigMarikina River Project and the Mindanao Road Network Project.

Joven said signing of the project financing deals will be made in time for a high-level meeting to take place in Japan.

Relatively, several projects to be financed by China will be signed in time for President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s visit to the world’s second-largest economy in April.

Joven did not disclose the amount of the loan but said it will be used to fund the construction of the PNR South Long-Haul project and the Safe Philippines project of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), among others.

In 2018, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III signed several agreements with the officials of the Japan Internation-

Mark Dennis Joven.

al Cooperation Agency (JICA) and these include the Metro Manila Subway project, the www.canadianinquirer.net

BUREAU OF CUSTOMS PH/FACEBOOK

third phase of the Arterial Road Bypass Project in Bulacan, and the second phase of the Bohol

Panglao International Airport project.

Loan agreements with China, in turn, include those for the construction of the BinondoIntramuros Bridge, the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge, two drug rehabilitation centers in Sarangani and Agusan del Sur in Mindanao, the Davao River Bridge (Bucana) Project.

The Duterte government has strengthened its ties with these two countries, which in turn, have vowed to support the administration’s massive infrastructure program.

It vowed to increase infrastructure investments to more than seven percent of domestic output by 2022, after noting neglect in public infrastructure in the past. ■

Business

FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2019

Tax reforms to help PH become upper middleincome economy

BY JOANN VILLANUEVA Philippine News Agency

or a total of PHP102.9 billion as of end-September, which is the revenue loss for the government.

MANILA — Ensuring truly inTo counter its impact on govclusive growth, sustained high ernment revenues, excise taxes level domestic output and a on oil products were increased healthy dose of tax reform will and excise taxes on sugarpropel the Philippines to up- sweetened beverages and veper middle-income economy hicles were introduced. status this 2019, Finance AssisTotal TRAIN-related coltant Secretary Antonio Joselito lections of the government in Lambino II said. the first three quarters of 2018 In an interview over radio amounted to PHP41.9 billion, DZMM Sunday, Lambino said already near the full-year target the domestic economy’s de- of PHP44.3 billion. cades of continued expansion, Gains from TRAIN are alwith growth rate of over six per- located for the government’s cent growth in recent years, is a massive infrastructure probig plus for the country. gram called “Build, Build, The finance official, there- Build.” fore, stressed the need to put Lambino said the Duterte in place measures that would administration’s infrastructure further strengthen domestic program aims to put in place growth and one necessary infraof these meastructure that sures is the tax would benefit reform program. the country in The first tax So those who the long-term. reform package, have more He explained which cut workcan contribute that when an area ers’ income tax more, those is developed, inrates, was implewho have less vestors will be enmented starting should also couraged to set up January 2018. contribute but enterprises and Under the not as much. this will, in turn, Tax Reform for increase ecoAcceleration nomic activities and Inclusion and provide jobs, (TRAIN) law, which will also alworkers first PHP250,000 an- low people to pay their taxes. nual income is now exempted “It’s like a virtuous cycle,” he from taxes. said.

Adjustments were also made Aside from improvement in for those receiving higher sala- the business climate, Lambino ries to make the tax system eq- said increased tax collections uitable, he said, adding that it due to the tax reform program is better to have lower tax rates will also allow the government so more people will be paying additional funds for its protheir taxes. grams on education, health and “So those who have more can social protection. contribute more, those who “Kaya po ngayon, this year, have less should also contrib- in 2019 papasok na po ang Piliute but not as much. That is the pinas doon sa kategorya na principle that our tax reform upper-middle income country program follows,” he said. status. (That’s why this year Earlier, Finance Secretary the country will be entering the Carlos Dominguez III said upper middle-income country TRAIN provided workers who status),” he said. are earning PHP250,000 and This will elevate the country below some PHP12 billion a to the likes of Thailand, Malaymonth in additional income sia and China, he added. ■

31

China to cut taxes, keep policy flexible to counter slowdown THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIJING — China plans to slash taxes, step up spending and provide ample financing to private and small enterprises to help counter the country’s worst slowdown since the global financial crisis and the impact of a bruising trade war with the U.S. The People’s Bank of China is confident it can keep the value of China’s currency, the yuan, steady while maintaining a stable but flexible monetary policy, Zhu Hexin, a deputy central bank governor, told reporters at a briefing Tuesday on plans for 2019 that were set by top leaders at an annual meeting in December.

The yuan, also known as the renminbi, or “people’s money,” sank to a 10-year low of 6.9756 per dollar at the end of October, coming close to breaking the level of seven to the greenback.

It has strengthened since then to about 6.7580 per dollar.

A further slide in the yuan could fuel U.S. complaints about Beijing’s currency controls. It also might prompt potentially destabilizing outflows of capital, which would raise borrowing costs and hobble efforts to shore up growth.

In July-September, China’s economy expanded at a postcrisis slow annual pace of 6.5 per cent despite government efforts to stem the downturn by ordering banks to lend more and by boosting spending on public works construction.

The government reported on Monday that China’s exports to the U.S. slipped in December as the delayed impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes on Chinese products began to pinch demand. China’s trade surplus with the U.S. surged to a record $323.3 billion in 2018.

World markets tumbled in response, but recovered on Tuesday after the news conference in Beijing, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumping 1.8 per cent while the Shanghai Composite index climbed 1.2 per cent.

Sales to the U.S. market had kept growing by double digits in previous months as Chinese exporters rushed to fill orders.

But forecasters said American www.canadianinquirer.net

orders would slump once the full impact of Trump’s penalties hit. Global demand has also moderated.

The slump in exports adds to pressure on Beijing to resolve the dispute with Washington over Chinese technology policies. U.S. and Chinese officials ended a three-day negotiating session last week with no sign of agreements or word on what their next step would be.

The plans for 2019 outlined Tuesday included specific measures such as raising the maximum income levels for tax exempt companies and individuals and reducing the tax rate.

The government plans to begin construction of major projects and promote settlement of rural migrants in cities, slash bureaucratic and anti-competitive red tape, cut energy consumption and open more business areas to foreign investment, said Lian Weiliang, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s planning agency.

“We will do our best in the spirit of getting it nailed down to ensure that the economy gets a good start in the first quarter and keep it within a reasonable range throughout the year,” Lian said.

Xu Hongcai, an assistant minister of finance, said the scale of tax reductions for the year would be about 1.3 trillion yuan ($190 billion).

“The focus is on enhancement and efficiency,” Xu said.

China’s communist leaders have been trying to guide the economy toward a more sustainable mode of growth in recent years by reducing reliance on massive investments in infrastructure and on export manufacturing and expanding the services sector and private consumption.

It’s a balancing act that requires just enough spending and access to credit to support businesses without setting off inflation and driving asset prices perilously higher.

Zhu said the central bank would keep monetary policy sound, “forward-looking, flexible and pertinent.”

It’s unclear if that will suffice to keep manufacturing on an even keel as Beijing and Washington work to resolve their trade disputes.

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on Dec. 1 to postpone additional tariff hikes by 90 days while they negotiated. But the penalties of up to 25 per cent already imposed on billions of dollars of each other’s goods remain in place, raising the cost for American and Chinese buyers of soybeans, medical equipment and other goods. ■ AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach in Beijing contributed to this report.

32

Technology Smart but nosy: Latest gadgets want to peer into our lives

BY MARTIN CRUTSINGER The Associated Press LAS VEGAS — Many of the hottest new gadgets are also the nosiest ones.

This week’s CES tech show in Las Vegas was a showcase for cameras that livestream the living room, bathroom mirrors that offer beauty tips and gizmos that track the heartbeats of unborn children. All will collect some kind of data about their users, whether photos or monitor readings; how well they’ll protect it and what exactly they plan do with it are the important and often unanswered questions.

These features can be useful — or at least fun — but they all open the door for companies and their workers to peek into your private life. Just this week, The Intercept reported that Ring, a security-camera company owned by Amazon, gave a variety of employees and executives access to recorded and sometimes live video footage from customers’ homes.

Our data-driven age now forces you to weigh the usefulness of a smart mirror against the risk that strangers might be watching you in your bathroom. Even if a company has your privacy in mind, things can go wrong: Hackers can break in and access sensitive data, or your ex might hold onto a video feed long after you’ve broken up.

“It’s not like all these technologies are inherently bad,” says Franziska Roesner, a Universi-

ty of Washington computer security and privacy researcher.

But she said the industry is still trying to figure out the right balance between providing useful services and protecting people’s privacy in the process.

Amazon’s video feeds

Like other security devices, Ring cameras can be mounted outside the front door or inside the home; a phone app lets you see who’s there. But the Intercept said the Amazon-owned company was also allowing some high-level engineers in the U.S. to view customers’ video feeds, while others in the Ukraine office could view and download any customer video file.

In a statement, Ring said some Amazon employees have access to videos that are publicly shared through the company’s Neighbors app, which aims to create a network of security cameras in an area. Ring also says employees get additional video from users who consent to such sharing.

At CES, Ring announced an internet-connected video doorbell that fits into the peepholes in apartment or dorm-room doors. Though it doesn’t appear Ring uses facial recognition yet, records show that Amazon recently filed a patent application for a facial-recognition system involving home security cameras.

Living room livestream

It’s one thing to put cameras in our own homes, but Alarm.

com wants us to also put them in other people’s houses.

Alarm’s Wellcam is for caretakers to watch from afar and is mostly designed to check in on aging relatives. Someone who lives elsewhere can use a smartphone to “peek in” anytime, says Steve Chazin, vicepresident of products.

The notion of placing a camera in someone else’s living room might feel unsettling.

Wellcam says video streaming isn’t started until someone activates it from a phone and then it stops as soon as the person turns it off. Chazin says such cameras are “becoming more acceptable because loved ones want to know that the ones they care about are safe.”

Just be sure you trust whom you’re giving access to. You can’t turn off the camera unless you unplug it.

Bathroom cameras

French company CareOS showcased a smart mirror that lets you “try on” different hairstyles. Facial recognition helps the mirror’s camera know which person in a household is there, while augmented-reality technology overlays your actual image with animation on how you might look.

CareOS expects hotels and salons to buy the $20,000 Artemis mirror – making it more important that personal data is protected.

“We know we don’t want the whole world to know about what’s going on in the bathroom,” co-founder Chloe Szulzinger said.

www.canadianinquirer.net

The mirror doesn’t need an internet connection to work, she said. The company says it will abide by Europe’s stronger privacy rules, which took effect in May, regardless of where a customer lives. Customers can choose to share their information with CareOS, but only after they’ve explicitly agreed to how it will be used.

The same applies for the businesses that buy and install the mirror. Customers can choose to share some information — such as photos of the hair cut they got last time they visited a salon — but the businesses can’t access anything stored in user profiles unless users specifically allow them to.

Bodily data

Some gadgets, meanwhile, are gathering intimate information.

Yo Sperm sells an iPhone attachment that tests and tracks sperm quality. To protect privacy, the company recommends

t h a t users turn their phones to airplane mode when using the test.

The company says data stays on the phone, within the app, though there’s a button for sharing details with a doctor.

Owlet, meanwhile, plans to sell a wearable device that sits over a woman’s pregnant belly and tracks fetal heartbeats. The company’s privacy policy says personal data gets collected.

And users can choose to share heartbeat information with researchers studying stillbirths.

Though such data can be useful, Forrester analyst Fatemeh Khatibloo warns that these devices aren’t regulated or governed by U.S. privacy law. She warns that companies could potentially sell data to insurance companies who could find, for instance, that someone was drinking caffeine during a pregnancy — potentially raising health risks and policy premiums. ■ Lerman reported from Seattle.

Technology

FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2019

33

Facebook bans PH’s Twinmark Media Enterprises for violating misrepresentation, spam policies

BY JOANNA BELLE DEALA Philippine Canadian Inquirer SOCIAL NETWORKING company Facebook said it has banned digital marketing group Twinmark Media Enterprises and all its subsidiaries from its platform for violating its misrepresentation and spam policies.

This was announced by Facebook’s head of Cybersecurity Policy, Nathaniel Gleicher on Friday, January 11.

In his statement, Gleicher said, Twinmark has “repeat-

edly” violated its policies “including through coordinated inauthentic behavior, the use of fake accounts, leading people to ad farms, and selling access to Facebook Pages to artificially increase distribution and generate profit.”

A total of 220 Facebook pages, 73 Facebook accounts, and 29 Instagram accounts affiliated with Twinmark were taken down by Facebook.

According to Gleicher, there were about 43 million accounts that followed at least one of the Facebook pages.

Some of those pages that have highest number followers were as follows: Filipino Channel Online with 10.4 million, Gorgeous Me with 5.7 million, Unhappy with 4.9 million, Text Message with 4.4 million, and TNP Media with 4.3 million.

Gleicher said Facebook conducted an investigation after they learned that Twinmark was “selling admin rights to Facebook Pages it had created, in order to increase distribution and generate profit,” violating Facebook’s spam policy.

“This prompted our teams to

take a deeper look at a broader group of Pages and accounts associated with these users, ultimately uncovering a large network of Pages and accounts that were engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior, the use of fake accounts, leading people to ad farms and selling access to Facebook Pages,” he said.

He also noted that banning Twinmark from its platform is just one of the many steps they took to prevent users from “abusing” Facebook.

“We are continuously working to uncover this kind of

abuse, and we know that the people behind it — whether economically or politically motivated — will continue to evolve their tactics,” he stressed.

“We will continue to invest heavily in safety and security in order to ensure that people can continue to trust the connections they make on Facebook,” he continued.

It can be recalled that last October, Facebook had shutdown a total of 95 online pages and 39 accounts in the Philippines for violating its spam and authenticity policies. ■

CES 2019: A high tech spin for the old school peephole

BY MATT O'BRIEN AND JOSEPH PISANI The Associated Press

thumb. It can also be controlled using the built-in Amazon Alexa voice assistant, but the joystick has to be pressed down for it to start listening.

Getting people to buy smart glasses has been a challenge — Google famously stopped selling its smart glasses to the public about four years ago.

Aaron Grant, North’s cofounder, says his product is different because they are designed to look like regular frames. And prescription lenses can be added.

But there’s a small projector on one side, and the frames on the side are slightly thicker.

LAS VEGAS — The CES 2019 gadget show is revving up in Las Vegas. Here are the latest findings and observations from Associated Press reporters on the ground.

Ding-dong, the peephole is ringing

Ring is giving the old-school peephole a high-tech spin.

The company unveiled a new internet-connected video doorbell that fits into most peepholes. The new device is aimed at apartment dwellers or college students who want a video doorbell, but may not be allowed to install one next to their doors.

Amazon bought Ring last year, giving it a shot at competing better with Google’s Nest, which also makes cameras and doorbells. Privacy experts have long sounded the alarm on WiFi connected cameras and how video is stored. Amazon recently filed a patent application for a facial-recognition system involving home security cameras, which would allow multiple cameras to create composites of faces to identify people who may be trying to burglarize a house. It doesn’t appear Ring uses facial recognition yet, as Nest already does, though Ring may add such features over time. Amazon did not respond

Ring Peephole.

to a request for comment.

Ring’s Door View Cam will go on sale in March for $199.

Ring’s new device will still act as a peephole, but will also send alerts to user’s smartphones when the doorbell is pressed or someone knocks the door.

Eye of the beholder?

The makers of a robotic “personal massager” for women won a prestigious CES award.

Then organizers took it away.

Its maker, the startup Lora DiCarlo, was also banned from exhibiting on the show floor (though it’s in Las Vegas at a separate media event).

The show’s organizer, the Consumer Technology Association, said in an email to Lora DiCarlo that it reserved the right

AMAZON/WEBSITE

to disqualify any entry “deemed

by CTA in their sole discretion to be immoral, obscene, indecent, profane or not in keeping with CTA’s image.”

An independent panel of judges had selected Lora DiCarlo’s Ose vibrator last fall to win a CES 2019 Innovation Honoree Award in the robotics and drone category. Gary Shapiro, CTA’s president and CEO, apologized in a separate letter and said the company should have been told it’s “ineligible for entry.” CTA declined to provide further comment to The Associated Press on why the product was ineligible.

Ose’s makers say it’s sexism, noting that “a literal sex doll for men launched on the floor at CES in 2018.” Lora Haddock, www.canadianinquirer.net

the CEO of Lora DiCarlo, says that makes for a double standard at the tech show already under fire for not including enough women.

Shades that text

Smart glasses haven’t been a hit, but at least one startup still sees them in our future.

A company called North will be delivering its $999 smart glasses to customers in the coming weeks. Called Focals by North, they pair with a smartphone and show text messages, weather and mapping directions on the glass that only the wearer sees.

Users also need to wear a ring with a joystick on their index finger, so they can flip through messages or respond with their

Fresh bread, no baker

That smell wafting through the CES show? Freshly baked bread.

Wilkinson Baking Co. unveiled a 22-square-foot machine that can bake 10 loaves of bread every hour — no baker needed. But a human is needed to dump the ingredients into the machine, which then mixes them, forms the dough and starts baking. Someone also needs to slice the bread, although the company says it’s working on a way for the machines to do that, too.

The BreadBot, as it’s called, is being pitched to supermarkets as a way to deliver fresh bread to shoppers who are increasingly worried about the ingredients in their foods. The machine is ❱❱ PAGE 38 CES 2019

JANUARY 18, 2019

34

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35

Travel Casino resort Circa to open in downtown Las Vegas in 2020

BY REGINA GARCIA CANO The Associated Press LAS VEGAS — Downtown Las Vegas will see its first casino-resort built from the ground up in more than three decades when Circa Resort and Casino opens in December 2020, continuing the resurgence of the area’s Fremont Street entertainment district.

Details of the planned property that will rise along the historic casino-flanked street were announced Thursday. The owners promised a boldly designed property that will honour the destination’s vibrant history — complete with an iconic cowgirl neon sign in the lobby — and offer modern amenities.

“We are going to offer things to do with a lot of fun and excitement, no matter what your age is. We are certainly going to have a bit of a focus on sports, water, sun, and it’s all themed around fun and high energy,” co-owner Derek Stevens told The Associated Press. “We are focusing on a design that is consistent with downtown Las Vegas but all new.”

Circa will feature a two-level casino; a three-level, stadiumstyle sports book equipped with what they claim is the largest screen in a facility of its kind in Las Vegas; and a multi-tiered

pool amphitheatre featuring several pools and another massive screen.

“Vegas Vickie,” the famous neon sign of a high-kicking cowgirl in a fringed white outfit that was a staple of the area for decades, will be in the lobby for everyone to photograph.

The property will also feature an outdoor bar that is being billed as the longest along the Fremont Street entertainment district.

The property’s hotel tower will be the tallest building north of the Las Vegas Strip. It will add 777 rooms to the destination’s inventory of more than 148,000.

The casino-resorts in downtown Las Vegas are smaller than those on the Strip. They lack the theatres and expansive shopping malls of the megaresorts, but still offer a variety of restaurants, spas and pools, including one that incorporates a shark tank aquarium.

As of June, the 32 properties in the downtown area had 8,481 hotel rooms. Their occupancy rate in the first 11 months of 2018 was 83.7 per cent. The average daily room rate during the same period was $70.29.

Las Vegas’s gambling market, including downtown’s, spiraled downward when the recession hit in 2008. Gambling revenues downtown have since turned

Circa Las Vegas.

around — up 1.1 per cent in the first 11 months of 2018 — and existing casino-hotels have undergone renovations, from expanding their casinos to remodeling rooms.

Now, Circa is not the only planned development in downtown Las Vegas. The Downtown Grand casino-hotel on Monday announced it will debut an additional tower with 495 rooms in mid-2020. And the massive video canopy above Fremont Street is set to undergo a renovation that will enhance its resolution.

Stevens said choosing the name was not an easy task, characterizing it as even more difficult that designing the facility itself. The term circa is used when giving the approxi-

CIRCA LAS VEGAS/FACEBOOK

mate date of when something took place or was made.

“I wanted to make sure that in the design of the resort we remember a little bit of Vegas past while we are building something brand new,” Stevens said.

“So, we felt that the name coming together kind of represents a lot of where Las Vegas started in downtown Las Vegas.”

The property’s design also includes a stand-alone, ninestory parking garage with considerations for ride-sharing, which didn’t exist when downtown casinos were built. The owners are also aiming to make sure that the property is able to offer a strong Wi-Fi network to allow everyone to post or stream content to social media platforms.

Stevens and his brother, Greg, own the D and Golden Gate casino-hotels and an outdoor events centre in downtown Las Vegas. Circa will occupy at entire city block that once housed the Las Vegas Club casino-hotel, Mermaids casino and the Girls of Glitter Gulch strip club.

Stevens said guests of his two existing properties and Las Vegas residents will be able to take advantage of Circa’s pool, which will show sporting and other events and will be available for corporations to use to launch products.

“I feel comfortable saying that it will be the most dramatic and most fun pool in the United States’ history,” he said. ■

Rude foreigners face blacklisting: BI

BY FERDINAND PATINIO Philippine News Agency MANILA — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) reminded on Sunday disrespectful foreign passengers that their rude behavior does not only bar them from entering the country but they will be also included in the agency’s blacklist.

BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said the Bureau has been

strictly implementing a policy to disallow the entry of misbehaving foreigners against immigration officers, the latter being symbols of Philippine authority.

“While we have been instructed to observe maximum tolerance, arrogant and discourteous foreigners are sent back and blacklisted. Symbols of the country, such as authorities, should be respected,” she said in a statement.

The BI official said such pol-

icy is grounded under a memorandum order of then BI chief Andrea Domingo issued on Mar. 29, 2001 which provides not only for the exclusion of a disrespectful foreign passenger but also his inclusion in the immigration blacklist.

In his report to Commissioner Jaime Morente, BI Port Operations Division chief Grifton Medina said a total of 133 foreigners have been barred from entering the country in 2018 for www.canadianinquirer.net

being rude and disrespectful to immigration officers.

He noted that the number of rude aliens who were turned back last year was slightly higher than the 129 excluded in 2017.

Statistics show that Chinese nationals topped the list with 37, followed by 25 Americans, and 23 Koreans.

“They were also placed in our immigration blacklist of undesirable aliens, thus they are banned from re-entering the

country,” Medina added.

At the same time, he advised foreigners visiting the country not to be discourteous and avoid using foul and indecent language when talking to immigration officers whom they encounter in the ports of entry.

“The entry and stay of foreigners in the country is only a privilege, not a right. Aliens are not allowed to verbally abuse or disrespect our immigration officers,” the BI official added. ■

36

Travel

2019 travel expo promises cheap tours, services

BY JOYCE ANN L. ROCAMORA Philippine News Agency MANILA — The Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) on Wednesday invited Filipinos to its 2019 Travel Tour Expo (TTE), expected to gather more than 400 exhibitors that offer markdowns on travel packages and services to international and domestic destinations.

TTE organizing committee chairperson Marlene Dado Jante said attendees can expect “packages that are only exclusively available” at the expo.

Jante said flight tickets may go as low as 50 percent less than regular prices. She added that curated packages for holiday travelers in the upcoming Lenten season will also be available during the expo.

“Actually, we have cheaper offers in domestic destinations.

The airfare is marked down by 50 percent, and you can get hotel accommodation as low as PHP1,500,” she said.

“We also have Holy Land tour offers during the expo, prices depend on the hotel classification and tours.”

The expo, to cover the entire 16,230 square meters of floor space at the SMX Convention in Pasay, will host more than 400 exhibitors including the biggest airlines, hotels, resorts, theme parks, and cruise lines worldwide.

Participating sellers from 16 countries will participate in the event, including those from Australia, Cambodia, Croatia, Dubai, France, Guam, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, and Turkey.

Setting the bar higher for the TTE, one of the largest annual travel affairs in the Philippines, Jante said the event will also provide platform for undiscovered local destinations to promote their places.

The organizers are looking forward to break foot traffic records when the 26th edition of the TTE opens on February 8.

Over the last three years, Jante said the TTE has seen a 10 percent increase in its foot traffic.

The expo, which runs from Feb. 8 to 10, is open to the public with an entrance fee of PHP100 for regular patrons and PHP70 for senior citizens. ■

Filipinos warned vs. carrying personal defense weapons to HK

BY JOYCE ANN L. ROCAMORA Philippine News Agency MANILA — FiIipinos visiting or transiting through Hong Kong are advised on Friday against bringing restricted items such as personal defense weapons after a Filipino student was detained by airport authorities for carrying extendable batons in his luggage.

The Filipino student bound for Canada was transiting through Hong Kong when he

was arrested and detained by airport authorities who found two extendable batons in his check-in luggage.

In an advisory issued Friday night, Consul General Antonio Morales said personal defense weapons such as stun guns, pepper spray, tear gas, extendible batons, flick knives, and knuckledusters are considered dangerous weapons in Hong Kong.

Unlicensed possession of these items is punishable by a fine of HKD100,000 and maximum sentence of five years imprisonment upon conviction. ■

JANUARY 18, 2019

FRIDAY

Spiders invade Royal Botanical Garden during kid friendly exhibit

BY MIKE BLANCHFIELD The Canadian Press HAMILTON — Roses and lilacs aren’t yet in bloom but nature enthusiasts can escape the winter cold by visiting a spider exhibit making its Canadian debut this week at the Royal Botanical Gardens.

Spiders Alive, developed by the American Museum of Natural History in New York, runs through mid-April.

Seventeen species of arachnids will be on display at Canada’s largest botanical gardens near Hamilton, Ont. In addition to live critters, the show will feature a 100-million-yearold spider fossil, bilingual days, a climbable spider model for kids, a children’s pyjama party and an after-dark adult social.

An estimated 50,000 people are expected to visit the exhibit, which follows one last year that focused on frogs.

The winter exhibit is part of the botanical gardens’ efforts to cater to families with young children, says spokesman Nick Kondrat.

“Hopefully they develop a relationship with the Royal Botanical Gardens and see all the other things we do and ultimately develop a lifelong appreciation for nature and the natural world and the environment,” he said in an interview.

Admission includes entry to the indoor atrium and Mediterranean Garden that features plants currently in bloom as well as four formal gardens within the 1,100 hectare nature reserve and 32 kilometres of nature trails that welcome leashed dogs.

The vast property situated within the Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Reserve is a frequent stop for migratory birds, making it a coveted spot for bird watchers, photographers and artists.

Come spring time, the outdoor gardens begin buzzing with visitors looking at blooms ranging from tulips to lilacs and roses.

The RBG has one of the most diverse lilac collections in the world and the rose garden underwent a $3-million rejuvenation last year to introduce www.canadianinquirer.net

Indian Ornamental.

hardy varieties that bloom from mid-June throughout the summer.

The gardens also feature a summer music series, Shakespeare at the rock garden, culinary events along with a pumpkin trail and Christmas displays attractive to children.

Outside groups were contracted last year to conduct concerts in the arboretum, a vast area that is home to dogwood, cherry, magnolia, lilac and native trees.

“You’re not going to get a concert venue with that kind of scenery in very many other places,” said Kondrat.

The not-for-profit facility receives funding from the province, city of Hamilton and Halton Region.

The gardens is the only one in Canada with a royal connection. King George V granted a royal charter in 1930 as it changed its name from Westdale Park.

“We’ve really done a lot of work to try to make sure that this is a year-round kind of event facility beyond just the horticultural collections that we have been known for over 80 years.”

ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS/WEBSITE

It has a mandated educational component and offers courses for all ages, camps and school programs. It is a conservation leader, helping to eradicate much of the carp from the marshland of Cootes Paradise which flows from Lake Ontario.

It also works on turtle recovery to prevent roadside deaths.

Although Hamilton is known as a steel capital and industrial city, the gardens offer free access to greenspace used daily by residents and Borer’s waterfall, one of several accessible in the Hamilton area.

“A lot of people who haven’t made their way down here are surprised to see how many beautify natural areas that we actually have.”

If you go

Dates: Jan. 19 to April 14 Venue: The Royal Botanical Gardens, 680 Plains Road West, on the border between Hamilton and Burlington, Ont. Prices: Adults $18, youth/student/senior $15, child 4-12 $10, child under 4 free; Free with membership except Spiders After Dark.

For more information: https://www.rbg.ca/ ■

37

Food Morning buns combine richness of croissant with cinnamon bun AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN COMBINE THE rich layers of a croissant with the sweet swirls of a cinnamon bun and you'll have one of our favourite brunch pastries: morning buns.

For a simpler route to a yeasted, croissant-like pastry, we added a packet of yeast to a quick puff pastry dough. We created long, thin pieces of flake-producing butter by adding chilled butter to the dry ingredients in a zipper-lock bag and rolling over it with a rolling pin. Orange zest and juice offered sweet, citrusy brightness.

We started our rolls in a hot oven for a rapid rise but later dropped the temperature to impart gradual, even browning.

If the dough becomes too soft to work with at any point, refrigerate it until it's firm enough to easily handle. Unrisen buns can be refrigerated for at least 16 hours or up to 24 hours; let buns sit at room temperature for 1 hour before baking.

Morning buns

Servings: 12

Start to finish: 1 hour, 30 minutes (not including 1 hour, 15 minutes to 1 hour, 45 minutes freezing and rising time) Dough: • 3 cups (15 ounces) all-purpose flour • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar • 21/4 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast • 3/4 teaspoon salt • 24 tablespoons (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch slices and chilled • 1 cup sour cream, chilled • 1/4 cup orange juice, chilled • 3 tablespoons ice water • 1 large egg yolk Filling: • 1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar • 1/2 cup packed (3 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar • 1 tablespoon grated orange zest • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract For the dough Combine flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in 1 gallon zipper-lock bag. Add butter

to bag, seal, and shake to coat.

Press air out of bag and reseal.

Roll over bag several times with rolling pin, shaking bag after each roll, until butter is pressed into large flakes.

Transfer mixture to large bowl and stir in sour cream, orange juice, ice water, and egg yolk with wooden spoon until combined. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and knead by hand to form smooth, round ball, about 30 seconds.

Press and roll dough into 20 by 12 inch rectangle, with short side parallel to counter edge.

Roll dough away from you into firm cylinder, keeping roll taut by tucking it under itself as you go.

With seam side down, flatten cylinder into 12-by-4 inch rectangle. Transfer to parchment paper-lined rimmed baking sheet, cover loosely with greased plastic wrap, and freeze for 15 minutes.

For the filling: Line 12 cup muffin tin with paper or foil liners and spray with vegetable oil spray. Combine all ingredients in bowl. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and roll into 20-by-12 inch rect-

angle, with long side parallel to counter edge. Sprinkle with sugar mixture, leaving 1/2 inch border around edges, and press lightly to adhere.

Roll dough away from you into firm cylinder, keeping roll taut by tucking it under itself as you go. Pinch seam closed, then reshape cylinder as needed to be 20 inches in length with uniform thickness.

Using serrated knife, trim 1/2 inch dough from each end and discard. Cut cylinder into 12 pieces and place cut side up in muffin cups. Cover loosely with greased plastic and let rise until doubled in size, 1 to 11/2 hours.

Adjust oven rack to middle

position and heat oven to 425 F. Bake until buns begin to rise, about 5 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 325 F. Continue to bake until buns are deep golden brown, 40 to 50 minutes, rotating muffin tin halfway through baking. Let buns cool in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and discard liners. Serve warm. ■ Nutrition information per serving: 431 calories; 238 calories from fat; 27 g fat (17 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 84 mg cholesterol; 160 mg sodium; 44 g carbohydrate; 1 g fiber; 19 g sugar; 4 g protein.

Never make dry or overcooked salmon by using a multicooker AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN COOKING SALMON can be intimidating since it overcooks and dries out so easily. But the multicooker makes the process foolproof: The consistent moisture level and temperature, as well as the precise timing safeguards against overcooking, produce evenly cooked salmon each and every time.

Cooking the salmon on a foil sling made it easy to transfer in and out of the multicooker, and www.canadianinquirer.net

propping the fish up on lemon slices insulated it from the direct heat.

While both methods produced great salmon in under an hour, we slightly preferred the slow cook setting since it allowed us to regularly check the doneness of the fish, guaranteeing that it was cooked perfectly.

To complete our healthy dinner, we made a fresh and light salad with cucumber, tomatoes, olives, and herbs. If using the slow cook function, check the salmon's temperature after 15 minutes of cooking and contin-

ue to monitor until it registers 135 F. Poached salmon with cucumber and tomato salad

Servings: 4 Pressure cook total time: 25 minutes Slow cook total time: 45 minutes • 1 lemon, sliced 1/4 inch thick, plus 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest and 2 tablespoons juice • 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, ❱❱ PAGE 38 Never make

38

Food

JANUARY 18, 2019

FRIDAY

A one pan chili with maximum flavour starts with toasted rice AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN LOOKING TO make enough chili for one night's dinner without hauling out a heavy pot, we turned to our trusty skillet.

We would use it to make both the chili and the rice, cooking in stages, for a one-pan meal with maximum flavour and minimal fuss.

We started by toasting and simmering the rice, flavouring it with lime zest and juice to brighten it up. We then transferred it to individual serving bowls, which we kept warm in a low oven.

While the rice cooked, we prepared our ingredients for a quick but flavourful chili. We found that treating ground beef with salt and baking soda ensured that it would remain moist and tender, even with a short cooking time. Blooming ground cumin, minced garlic, and chipotle chile powder boosted their potency, which contributed complex flavour to the finished chili.

We also whipped up a simple lime-cilantro crema (made from sour cream, cilantro, lime

zest and juice, and salt); when our chili bowls were ready to serve, we topped them with the crema for an authentic finish.

You will need a 12-inch nonstick skillet with a tight-fitting lid for this recipe. Serve with pickled jalapenos, shredded cheese, and diced avocado.

Chipotle beef chili bowls with lime-cilantro crema

Servings: 4 Start to finish: 1 hour, 15 minutes • 1/2 cup sour cream • 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro • 2 teaspoons grated lime zest plus 3 tablespoons juice (2 limes) • Salt and pepper • 1 pound, 90 per cent lean ground beef • 2 tablespoons plus 2 cups water • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil • 1 cup long-grain white rice • 1 onion, chopped fine • 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped • 1 tablespoon ground cumin • 2 garlic cloves, minced • 2 teaspoons chipotle chile powder

CES 2019... ❰❰ 33

covered in glass, so customers can watch bread get made. They then select the loaf they want on a touch screen, sort of like a vending machine.

Three local supermarkets are already testing it. The company says a couple of big chains have agreed to try it out soon, but it won’t say which.

Smart bra

Is your bra dumb? An underwear company is pitching a solution to an age-old problem for women: finding a bra that actually fits.

In the past, women could get help from an expert human in finding their right size. A simple measuring tape wouldn’t do, as it doesn’t reflect other factors such as the shape of a woman’s breasts. But these oldschool “bra fitters” are hard to find these days.

• 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce • 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed • 1 cup frozen corn, thawed Adjust oven rack to middle position, place 4 individual serving bowls on rack, and heat oven to 200 F. Whisk sour cream, 2 tablespoons cilantro, 1 teaspoon lime zest, 1 tablespoon lime juice, and 1/4 teaspoon salt together in bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Toss beef with 2 tablespoons water, baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pinch pepper in bowl until thoroughly combined; let sit for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add rice and cook, stirring often, until edges begin to turn translucent, about 2 minutes.

Add remaining 2 cups water and 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, about 20 minutes.

Off heat, add remaining 1 teaspoon lime zest and remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice and

JABB/FLICKR, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

fluff gently with fork to incorporate. Divide cooked rice among warmed bowls, cover with aluminum foil, and keep warm in oven.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in now-empty skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and bell pepper and cook until just beginning to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Add beef mixture, breaking up meat with wooden spoon, and cook until no longer pink, 6 to 8 minutes.

Stir in cumin, garlic, and chili powder and cook until fragrant,

about 1 minute. Stir in tomato sauce, beans, corn, and 1 teaspoon salt and cook until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.

Spoon chili over rice in bowls, sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons cilantro, and serve with lime-cilantro crema. ■

sling, then scatter parsley and dill stems over top. Add water until liquid level is even with lemon slices (about 1/2 cup).

Season salmon with salt and pepper and arrange skinned side down in even layer on top of herb stems.

-- To pressure cook: Lock lid in place and close pressure release valve. Select high pressure cook function and cook for 5 minutes. Turn off multicooker and quick-release pressure.

Carefully remove lid, allowing steam to escape away from you.

-- To slow cook: Lock lid in place and open pressure release valve. Select low slow cook function and cook until salmon is opaque throughout when checked with tip of paring knife and registers 135 F (for medium), 15 to 20 minutes. (If using Instant Pot, select high slow cook function.) Turn off multicooker and carefully remove

lid, allowing steam to escape away from you.

Meanwhile, whisk oil, shallot, capers, lemon zest and juice, and chopped dill together in large bowl. Add cucumber, tomatoes, olives, and parsley leaves and gently toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Using sling, transfer salmon to baking sheet; discard poaching liquid. Gently lift and tilt fillets with spatula to remove herb stems and lemon slices and remove any white albumin.

Transfer salmon to individual plates and serve with salad. ■

Nutrition information per serving: 565 calories; 137 calories from fat; 15 g fat (6 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 68 mg cholesterol; mg sodium; 77 g carbohydrate; 13 g fiber; 10 g sugar; 31 g protein.

Never make...

To address that, a company called Soma has added some circuits to a brassiere and connected it to an app.

The Soma Innofit has four lines of circuitry hooked up to a circuit board in the back, which then connects to an app via Bluetooth. The smart $59 bra then recommends a bra — from Soma’s line, of course.

The smart bra isn’t meant for regular wearing, though it could be used again if sizes change because of pregnancy or other factors. The company says people who don’t want to buy one can use it at a Soma store. ■ AP video journalist Jona Kallgren in Las Vegas and Technology Writers Barbara Ortutay in New York and Rachel Lerman in Seattle contributed to this report.

❰❰ 37

stems reserved • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill, stems reserved • 1 (1 1/2-pound) skinless centre-cut salmon fillet, 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick, sliced crosswise into 4 equal pieces • Salt and pepper • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil • 1 shallot, minced • 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and minced • 1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced thin • 8 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved • 3/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved Fold sheet of aluminum foil into 12-by-9 inch sling. Press sling into multicooker, allowing narrow edges to rest along sides of insert. Arrange lemon slices in single layer on prepared www.canadianinquirer.net

Nutrition information per serving: 427 calories; 262 calories from fat; 29 g fat (4 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 62 mg cholesterol; 1145 mg sodium; 16 g carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 6 g sugar; 26 g protein.

39

FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2019

www.canadianinquirer.net

40

JANUARY 18, 2019

Canada

FRIDAY

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