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pcinews_twt JANUARY 13, 2023
People buy white and red onions at a Kadiwa stall at the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards on Visayas Avenue in Quezon City on Tuesday (Jan.10, 2023). The Department of Agricul-
ture has set the suggested retail price of red onions at PHP250 per kilo from Dec. 30, 2022 to the first week of January 2023, while Kadiwa stores sell them for as low as PHP170 a kilo.
‘Resigned’ PNP officials
to undergo lifestyle check
BY CHRISTOPHER LLOYD
CALIWAN
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Philippine National Po-
lice (PNP) chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr.
said police officials who have submitted
their courtesy resignations will undergo
a lifestyle check.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday,
Azurin said the measure is part of the in-
vestigation to be conducted by the five-man
committee tasked to assess their courtesy
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16
resignations and will issue a recommenda- Brazil: swift and robust response
tion to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to the insurrection highlights the
on whether to reject or accept the same. strength of democracy
“As of now we need to ask the mem-
bers of the committee about the other
procedures to be undertaken, but defi- 20
nitely that would be part of the investi-
gation or inquiry that will be conducted `
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by the committee to assess and evaluate
all third-level officers,” Azurin said. Review: Le Crocodile — A Delectable
The PNP personnel undergo yearly Trip to Fine Cuisine Wonderland ‘Drowning for love’ – 5 ways to protect
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FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2023
Marcos wants DA OKs importation of
more qualified 21MT yellow, red onions
PDLs released to
decongest jails
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday
directed the Department of Jus-
tice (DOJ) to release more per-
sons deprived of liberty (PDLs)
who are qualified for parole to
ease up congestion in the coun-
try’s correctional facilities.
In a press release, Mala-
cañang said Marcos made this
directive in his first Cabinet
meeting of the year.
Citing his experience as gov-
ernor of Ilocos Norte, Marcos
said most of the PDLs are lan-
guishing in jail because they
could not afford the services of
good lawyers.
“Wala naman silang magaling
na abugado (They don’t have
good lawyers). So that’s why we
are in favor now to release many
of them. They just needed rep-
resentation to set them free. So
let’s continue with that,” Mar-
cos was quoted as saying during
the Cabinet meeting.
He expressed support for the
DOJ’s plan to transfer hardened
criminals to an Alcatraz-type pris-
on that would isolate them from
the general inmate population.
The President also cited the
need to transfer inmates to spe-
cial facilities to “isolate them
properly” and avoid corruption
within the Bureau of Correc-
tions (BuCor).
Based on its 2022 accom-
plishment report, the DOJ said
Bureau of Correction officials pose with some of the 371 persons deprived of liberty
(PDLs) at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City on Sept. 13, 2022. (AVITO DALAN/PNA)
it released almost 3,000 PDLs
from July to December last year
as an immediate step to decon-
gest correctional facilities.
The DOJ, likewise, fast tracked
the processing of the release of
qualified prisoners by digitaliz-
ing the systems of the Probation
and Parole Administration.
This year, the DOJ is eyeing
to decongest prison facilities
by transferring the maximum
security compound in Muntin-
lupa City to a dedicated correc-
tional facility in Sablayan town,
Occidental Mindoro.
It is also planning to estab-
lish separate heinous crime
facilities in Luzon, Visayas and
Mindanao.
In December last year, the Bu-
Cor allowed for the first time “in-
mate to inmate” visits, where in-
mates were allowed to visit loved
ones held in another prison.
BuCor allowed 300 inmates
from the Correctional Institu-
tion for Women (CIW) in Man-
daluyong City to visit their hus-
bands at the New Bilibid Prison
in Muntinlupa City on Christ-
mas and New Year’s Day.
“The physical presence of their
family will give PDLs the courage
to fully serve their sentences and
maintain good behavior so that
their release may be expedited,”
said BuCor Officer in Charge
Gregorio Catapang.
Under the Mandela rule, con-
victs are categorized as PDL as
they are entitled to minimum
humanitarian treatment under
the United Nations protocol. ■
BY STEPHANIE
SEVILLANO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Department
of Agriculture (DA) said Tues-
day it has approved the impor-
tation of 21,060 metric tons of
fresh yellow and red onions.
According to the approved or-
der, these imported onions will
only be delivered to selected entry
points including the “Port of Ma-
nila-South Harbor, Port of Subic,
Port of Cebu, Port of Davao, and
Port of Cagayan de Oro for strict
monitoring purposes.”
In an interview, DA Assistant
Secretary Rex Estoperez said
this move was in response to
the tightening inflation amid
increasing demand for onions.
“The sanitary and phytosani-
tary import clearance (SPSIC) will
be issued now to the applicants…
So that one, we are balancing the
volume of the harvest of the farm-
ers and the peak season of harvest
‘Resigned’ PNP officials..
❰❰ 1 public Act 3019 or the
“Anti-Graft and Cor-
ruption Practices”,and
Republic Act 6713 or the “Act
Establishing a Code of Conduct
and Ethical Standards for Public
Officials and Employees.”
Meanwhile, PNP spokesperson
Col. Jean Fajardo said around 70
percent of all police generals and
colonels have already submitted
their courtesy resignations.
She expects the figure to in-
crease as they await those from
officials deployed in far regions
in the country.
Fajardo said they are still
checking if the 10 police officials
PNP chief, Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. (center), urges 955 third-level police officials to submit a courtesy
resignation during a press briefing held in Camp Crame on Jan. 5, 2023. (JOEY O. RAZON/PNA)
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
of the farmers also,” he said.
He said there were several re-
visions from the recommended
version in contrast with the ap-
proved measures for the issu-
ance of SPSIC.
At the Laging Handa public
briefing, he cited the change in
import volume and the timing.
“Pinirmahan na po ni Senior
Usec. Panganiban. At may mga
pagbabago po doon sa mga re-
komendasyon natin, instead
of 22,000 metric tons, naging
21,060 ang nilagay na volume.
Tapos ‘yung ‘must-arrives’ dapat
hindi lumagpas ng January 27
(Senior Usec. Domingo Pangan-
iban already signed it. And there
are changes in our recommen-
dation. Instead of 22,000 metric
tons, the indicated volume be-
came 21,060. And the ‘must-ar-
rives’ must not be delivered be-
yond January 27),” he said.
The recommended volume
was 22,000 metric tons, where
50 percent will be allocated for
Luzon, and 25 percent each for
purportedly involved in the illegal
drug trade have already submit-
ted their courtesy resignations.
“Sa ngayon ay wala pa tayong
information doon sa mga si-
nasabi at nababanggit ni Chief
PNP na less than 10 na tina-tar-
get ng investigation kung kasa-
ma na sila doon sa more or less
70 percent at aalamin natin yan
at magbibigay tayo ng update
kapag nakakuha na tayo ng da-
tos (Right now we don’t have
information on what the Chief
PNP mentioned earlier that
less than 10 are being target-
ed by the investigation if they
are included in more or less 70
3
Visayas and Mindanao, with the
proposed timing reaching up
until the first week of February.
The DA said the approved
timing is a way to protect the lo-
cal production of farmers, espe-
cially for the coming peak har-
vest season from mid-February
up until May.
Estoperez, meanwhile, said
the temporary importation also
intends to lower the retail cost
of onions in the market.
“Tinitingnan namin ‘yung
sa September level na PHP100
to PHP150, Pero hindi pa ‘yun
final. We have to check. Ang
importante dito is we have the
cost of production ng ating
farmers (We are looking into
the September level of PHP100
to PHP150. But that’s not yet
final. We have to check. What’s
important is the farmers’ cost
of production),” he said.
As of Tuesday, the prevail-
ing price range of local red and
white onions is PHP420/kilo-
gram to PHP600/kg. ■
percent and we will find out and
give an update when we get the
data),” Fajardo said.
Meanwhile, National Capital
Region Police Office (NCRPO)
chief Maj. Gen. Jonnel Estomo
announced that all 76 third-lev-
el officers have submitted their
courtesy resignations.
Estomo led the signing of
courtesy resignation together
with third-level commissioned
officers of NCRPO as well as
underwent a surprise drug test
which resulted in positive feed-
back from the media, citizens
and the community.
He also ordered a surprise
drug test of 30 station com-
manders with the rank of Lieu-
tenant Colonel -- 16 from the
Quezon City Police District
(QCDP) and 14 from the Manila
Police District (MPD).
“The conduct of this drug test
to the station commanders of
QCPD and MPD is to show their
subordinates that their officers
are not involved in illegal drug
use. As a matter of fact, it is on
record that out of 72 full col-
onels and up who underwent
drug test, all tested negative for
illegal drugs,” he added. ■
4 Philippine News
Expedite CLOA distribution, SC voids 2005
PBBM orders DAR joint exploration
BY MARITA MOAJE
Philippine News Agency deal with China,
MANILA – President Ferdi-Vietnam
nand R. Marcos Jr. has directed
the Department of Agrarian Re-
form (DAR) to speed up the dis-
tribution of Certificates of Land
Ownership Award (CLOAs) to
qualified farmer-beneficiaries.
Marcos issued the order
during the Cabinet meeting on
Tuesday when DAR presented
its accomplishment report for
2022 and targets for 2023.
DAR Secretary Conrado
Estrella III assured the chief
executive they will bring gov-
ernment programs to farm-
er-beneficiaries, according to a
news release of the Presidential
Communications Office.
“For 2023, DAR will deliver
Telcos must work
double time to avoid
SIM registration cramming
BY WILNARD BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Telecommunica-
tions companies (telcos) must
work harder in encouraging
mobile phone users to register
their subscriber identity module
(SIM) cards to avoid the usual
cramming when deadline nears.
As of the Jan. 9 data, just over
16 million SIM cards or around 9
percent of 168 million users of the
three major telcos have registered,
according to Sen. Grace Poe, prin-
cipal author of Republic Act 11934
or the SIM Registration Act,
“Telcos must ramp up their
drive to encourage subscribers
to register. No amount of days
will be enough if most of the over
100 million phone users will
sign up at the last minute,” Poe
said in a statement on Tuesday.
The first legislation passed
into law in the 19th Congress,
RA 11934 requires subscribers
to register their SIM cards to
as expected and we will contin-
ue to bring government closer
to the people,” Estrella said.
During his first State of the
Nation Address (SONA) in July
2022, Marcos vowed to provide
support services, implement
land distribution and improve
the living conditions of agrari-
an reform beneficiaries (ARBs).
Among the targets of DAR
this year is the complete sub-
division of about 34,500 col-
lective CLOA involving 345,089
hectares and distribution of
some 134,000 individual titles.
Estrella said they expect the
Senate approval of House Bill
No. 6336 or the New Agrarian
Emancipation Act.
Under the proposal, the un-
paid amortizations, interest
payments, surcharges and pen-
alties of existing loans of ARBs
help curb phishing attempts,
scams and other cybercrime at-
tacks propagated through calls
and text messages.
All mobile device users are
required to register until April
26, subject to an extension of
120 days by the Department of
Information and Communica-
tions Technology.
“There’s a learning curve and
some growing pains, but many of
our countrymen are actually an-
ticipating that they will register
soon,” Poe said. “I am just wor-
secured under the Compre-
hensive Agrarian Reform Pro-
gram or other agrarian reform
programs or laws shall be con-
doned and written off.
The balances of unpaid obliga-
tions of ARBs to landowners shall
be assumed by Land Bank of the
Philippines and DAR shall issue
a certificate of condonation to be
annotated on the beneficiary’s
emancipation patent or CLOA.
The bill states that lands dis-
tributed to ARBs under the se-
ries of agrarian reform programs
“shall not be sold, transferred or
conveyed except through hered-
itary succession, or to the gov-
ernment or to Land Bank of the
Philippines, or to other qualified
beneficiaries through the DAR,
for a period of 10 years from
the issuance of the certificate of
condonation or the CLOA.” ■
ried that everybody will try to do
it at the very last minute, which
will bring challenges in handling
the traffic of registrants.”
Poe also warned against fake
or unauthorized sites that could
dupe subscribers into sharing
their personal information.
She stressed that registration
is free amid reports of assis-
tance to sign up but for a fee.
“We are asking the telcos to
keep sending messages or em-
❱❱ PAGE 11 Telcos must work
www.canadianinquirer.net
The Supreme Court of the Philippines building in Manila, Philippines. (MIKE
GONZALEZ (THECOFFEE) - OWN WORK/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, CC BY-SA 3.0)
BY BENJAMIN PULTA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Supreme
Court has struck down as uncon-
stitutional an agreement signed
in 2005 for mineral “pre-explo-
ration” in the South China Sea.
In a statement on Tuesday,
the SC said it voted 12-2-1 to void
the Joint Marine Seismic Un-
dertaking (JMSU) by and among
China National Offshore Oil
Corporation, Vietnam Oil and
Gas Corporation and Philippine
National Oil Company, covering
142,886 square kilometers.
The tribunal said the tripar-
tite agreement, signed on March
14, 2005, is unconstitutional for
allowing wholly-owned foreign
corporations to participate in
the exploration of the Philip-
pines’ natural resources without
observing the safeguards pro-
vided in Section 2, Article XII of
the 1987 Constitution.
All lands of the public domain,
waters, minerals, coal, petro-
leum, and other mineral oils, all
forces of potential energy, fish-
eries, forests or timber, wildlife,
flora and fauna, and other natu-
ral resources are owned by the
State and exploration, develop-
ment, and utilization of natural
resources shall be under the full
control and supervision of the
State, according to the law
The case was filed by former
Bayan Muna party-List repre-
JANUARY 13, 2023 FRIDAY
sentatives Satur Ocampo and
Teodoro Casiño.
Noting that “exploration”
pertains to a search or discovery
of something in both its ordi-
nary or technical sense, the SC
ruled that the JMSU involves
the country’s natural resources,
particularly petroleum.
Under the JMSU, the parties
will “engage in a joint research of
petroleum resource potential of
a certain area of the South China
Sea as a pre-exploration activity,”
a clear indication that the deal
was executed for the purpose of
determining if petroleum exists
in the agreement area.
“That the parties designated the
joint research as a pre-exploration
activity is of no moment,” the SC
ruled. “Such designation does not
detract from the fact that the in-
tent and aim of the agreement is to
discover petroleum which is tanta-
mount to exploration.”
The deal stated that the par-
ties involved will “contribute to
the transformation of the South
China Sea into an area of peace,
stability, cooperation, and de-
velopment in accordance with
the 1982 United Nations Con-
vention on the Law of the Sea
and the 2002 ASEAN-China
Declaration on the Conduct of
Parties in the South China Sea.”
Sought for comment, Solici-
tor General Menardo Guevarra
said his office has not received
an official copy of the decision
and would not react yet. ■
FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2023 5

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 6 Philippine News
Galvez named
new DND chief
BY AZER PARROCHA,
PRIAM NEPOMUCENO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. has named
Presidential Adviser on Peace,
Reconciliation, and Unity Secre-
tary Carlito Galvez Jr. as the new
secretary of the Department of
National Defense (DND), Mala-
cañang announced Monday.
In a press statement, Presi-
dential Communications Office
(PCO) officer in charge (OIC)
Secretary Cheloy Velicaria-Ga-
rafil announced that Galvez
was named DND chief after the
President accepted the resigna-
tion of Jose Faustino Jr.
The PCO also shared two pho-
tos of Marcos and Galvez having
a chat and shaking hands.
“It is with deep regret that the
President has accepted the res-
ignation of DND OIC Sr. Usec.
Jose Faustino Jr. The President
has offered the position of DND
Secretary to Presidential Advis-
er on Peace, Reconciliation, and
Unity Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. and
he has accepted,” Garafil said.
She did not give any reason
for Faustino’s resignation.
Galvez is a member of Philip-
pine Military Academy (PMA)
Class of 1985.
He is best remembered as
commander of the Western Min-
danao Command wherein he led
the AFP in liberating the city of
Marawi from the hands of the
Maute-ASG-ISIS terror group.
Galvez headed the 6th In-
fantry “Kampilan” Division of
the Philippine Army, the 104th
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. (right) and new Department of National Defense
Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. (left). (PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE/FACEBOOK)
Brigade of the 1st Infantry Divi-
sion, the 1st Scout Ranger Bat-
talion and the Task Group Pan-
ther Bravo of the First Scout
Ranger Regiment.
He also held the key positions
of Deputy Chief of Staff for Opera-
tions, J3, Chairman of the Govern-
ment of the Philippines Coordinat-
ing Committees on the Cessation of
Hostilities and Deputy Command-
er for Peace Process of the Western
Mindanao Command.
Galvez was a recipient of the
United States Eisenhower Fellow-
ships in 2006 and was adjudged as
one of the “The Outstanding Phil-
ippine Soldiers” in 2007.
He is also a recipient of the Mil-
itary Merit Medal, Military Com-
mendation Medal, Gold Cross
Medal, Distinguished Service
Star, Leadership Award and Out-
standing Achievement Medal.
Meanwhile, Faustino, a grad-
uate of the PMA “Maringal”
Class of 1988, is a Mindanao
veteran who has served under
the special forces, infantry and
intelligence posts.
He was also the commander
of the Joint Task Force Mind-
anao and was a commanding
General of the Philippine Army
before being appointed as the
56th AFP Chief of Staff.
Faustino was named DND
OIC in June 2022.
Deserving
The DND on Monday wel-
comed Galvez’s appointment as
its new secretary.
“With Secretary Galvez’s
years of experience as a military
commander and as a civilian
❱❱ PAGE 18 Galvez named new
Marcos vows to
continue upgrade of
PH transport system
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. on Monday
reiterated his vow to continue
upgrading the country’s trans-
port system to relieve commut-
ers of their daily ordeals due to
traffic congestion.
“We will continue to invest
and improve our transportation
system as well as pursue more
projects in the years to come so
that Filipinos can gain greater
access to places of work, com-
merce, recreation, and other
vital areas,” Marcos said in his
speech during the launch of the
Metro Manila Subway Project’s
(MMSP) tunnel boring machine
(TBM) at its depot in Barangay
Ugong, Valenzuela City.
“Having an effective and ef-
ficient transportation system
will have multiplier effects on
employment, the economy, our
society, it will bring comfort,
convenience, an easier life for
all,” he added.
Marcos said developments
on the country’s first subway
system allow Filipinos to look
forward to “better days” as it
would also spur economic de-
velopment and job creation.
He thanked both the public
and private sectors for work-
ing to ensure the realization of
what he described as an “ambi-
tious” endeavor.
In particular, he expressed
gratitude to the Japanese gov-
ernment and the Japan Inter-
national Cooperation Agency
(JICA) for being active partners
in the fulfillment of the Philip-
pine infrastructure program.
According to Marcos, the Phil-
ippines would not have fulfilled
its many infrastructure projects
without the assistance of JICA.
“This tunnel boring machine
highlights Japan’s expertise
and technology and trailblazing
contributions in the modern
world and thus I am confident
that they will help us shape our
railway infrastructure and keep
them at par with the highest in-
ternational standards,” he said.
He expressed hope the subway
www.canadianinquirer.net
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. leads the launch of the Metro Manila Sub-
way Project’s tunnel boring machine in Barangay Ugong, Valenzuela City on
Monday (Jan. 9, 2023). (ALFRED FRIAS/PNA)
would be completed on time.
“I hope that both of you and
the DOTr (Department of Trans-
portation) will not waver on your
commitment to finish the con-
tract package by the end of 2027
to ensure that Filipinos will get
to enjoy the project at the soon-
est possible time,” he said.
Marcos likewise sought the
public’s continued patience,
trust and support as big-ticket
projects take years to complete.
“Let the launching of this tun-
nel boring machine become a tes-
tament to this administration’s
commitment to continue to proj-
ects of the previous administra-
tion and more importantly build
better more,” he added.
He described the launch of
the TBM as “a very apt begin-
ning” for a year with renewed
vigor and commitment to his
administration’s mission to im-
prove the lives of Filipinos.
“We also gain inspiration from
the selfless individuals who con-
stantly strive to turn our vision
for the transportation sector into
a grand reality,” he said.
The PHP488.48-billion Met-
ro Manila subway will stretch
for about 33 kilometers across
seven cities, from Valenzuela
City to the Food Terminal Inc. in
Bicutan, Parañaque City, with a
“spur line” to Ninoy Aquino In-
ternational Airport (NAIA) Ter-
minal 3 in Pasay City.
It will be able to serve over
JANUARY 13, 2023 FRIDAY
519,000 passengers daily once
completed.
The project is also expect-
ed to generate 18,000 jobs and
boost the economic activities of
communities in Metro Manila.
‘New dawn of PH transport’
Matsuda Kenichi, minister
and deputy chief of mission of
the Embassy of Japan in the
Philippines, believes that a “new
dawn” is now “on the horizon”
following developments on the
Metro Manila subway project.
The idea was first proposed
in 1973 under the then Urban
Transport Study in the Manila
Metropolitan Area.
“The plan was first initiated
during the time of the late Pres-
ident Marcos Sr. Decades later,
it can be considered a legacy
that is now in the hands of His
Excellency President Marcos
Jr. to fulfill,” Kenichi said.
He congratulated Marcos
and DOTr Secretary Jaime
Bautista for their dedicated ef-
forts and leadership despite the
coronavirus pandemic.
Kenichi assured that the Jap-
anese government will contin-
ue to work with the Philippines
so that Filipinos can enjoy the
benefits of a subway system.
“Please let me assure you
that we, the Government of Ja-
pan, will continue to cooperate
in this flagship project in a full-
❱❱ PAGE 10 Marcos vows to
FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2023
PBBM distributes aid, vows new
resettlement for flood victims
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Despite initially
having trouble touching down
at the Ozamiz City airport,
President Ferdinand R. Marcos
Jr. on Wednesday led the distri-
bution of assistance to families
affected by massive flooding in
Misamis Occidental and Mis-
amis Oriental late last month.
In a news release, Presiden-
tial Communications Office
Secretary (PCO) Cheloy Gara-
fil said the plane carrying the
President made three landing
attempts before touching down
at the Ozamiz City airport.
“The President then pro-
ceeded to conduct a briefing
with Misamis Occidental Gov-
ernor Henry Oaminal at the air-
port instead of Oroquieta City
as originally planned due to in-
clement weather,” Garafil said.
Garafil said the bad weather
also prevented Marcos from
1.2M devotees join
Feast of Black Nazarene
activities
BY FERDINAND PATINIO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Over 1.2 million dev-
otees participated in the different
activities to celebrate the Feast of
the Black Nazarene in Manila.
Based on the data released by
Quiapo Church Command Center,
a total of 1,268,435 devotees joined
the celebrations from Jan. 6 to 10.
“This is far from the 5 million
total projected during the pre-pan-
demic Traslacion, but double
the number during the pandem-
ic Traslacion,” Fr. Earl Valdez,
Quiapo Church spokesperson, said
in a statement Tuesday.
A total of 925,782 devotees went
to the Quiapo Church while those
who were at the Quirino Grand-
stand were 254,653 devotees.
Another 88,000 faithful
joined the “Walk of Faith” pro-
doing an ocular inspection over
Oroquieta City to see the extent
of the devastation.
Marcos, in his speech before
the aid distribution activity in
Gingoog City, Misamis Orien-
tal, said he wanted to visit as
soon as possible, but the in-
clement weather prevented
him from doing so.
“Mula nung dumating ang
balita…mga reports sa atin na
nagkakabaha ay gusto na namin
makapunta ngunit ang weather,
hindi kami makalipad, ayaw ng
mga piloto. In fact, galing kami
sa Ozamiz, lilipad din kami dun
sa flood-hit areas, hindi na na-
kalipad yung helicopter dahil
masyadong mababa ang ulap
(Since we heard of the news…re-
ports that there was flooding we
wanted to visit but the weather
did not allow us to fly, the pilot
didn’t want to travel. In fact, we
came from Ozamiz and wanted
to fly over flood-hit areas, but
the helicopter couldn’t take off
because of the clouds),” he told
cession where they walked
from the Quirino Grandstand
to the Quiapo Church on Jan. 8
Data also showed that most
devotees came on feast day it-
self on Monday at 709,945 while
another 409,785 people showed
up the day before.
On Jan. 6, the first Friday of
the year, some 95,160 devotees
participated while devotees on
Jan. 7 and 10 were 49,175 and
4,370, respectively.
The 2023 feast marked the
return of some of the physical
activities after being suspended
due to the coronavirus disease
2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
For the third straight year,
organizers suspended the tradi-
tional “Traslacion” or the pro-
cession of the image of the Black
Nazarene from the Quirino
Grandstand to Quiapo Church
in Quezon Boulevard in compli-
guests in Gingoog City Hall in
Gingoog, Misamis Oriental.
Data from the PCO showed
that some PHP55.81 million
worth of financial assistance
from the Assistance to Individ-
uals in Crisis Situations (AICS)
were provided to 11,133 bene-
ficiaries in Misamis Occiden-
tal and Misamis Oriental.
Of the figure, PHP8.67 mil-
lion was provided to 1,733 ben-
eficiaries in Oroquieta City.
Livelihood for fishermen
Marcos distributed to fish-
ermen PHP5,000 cash assis-
tance each under the Assis-
tance to Individuals in Crisis
Situations (AICS) program
of the Department of Social
Welfare and Development.
The government is providing a
wide range of assistance to calam-
ity-hit farmers and fisherfolk, in-
cluding the Sure Aide Program and
the Rice Farmer Financial Assis-
tance (RAFA), both programs un-
der the Department of Agriculture.
Other assistance available are
ance with pandemic protocols.
The Manila Public Informa-
tion Office (MPIO) reported
that 99 trucks collected garbage
around Quiapo Church and
Quirino Grandstand.
Princess Abante, MPIO chief,
said loads of trash were gath-
ered from Jan. 6 to 10, based on
the data from the Department
of Public Services (DPS).
“As per DPS, for this year
the total volume is 265 metric
tons (MT),” said Abante in a
statement. “We collected more
compared to the previous [two]
years due to the pandemic.”
In 2021, Manila collected 196
MT of garbage. Last year, 34
trucks gathered 89 MT.
In 2020, when the “Pahalik”
(kissing of the statue) and “Trasla-
cion” were held two months be-
fore the pandemic, there were 394
MT of garbage collected. ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
the Emergency Shelter Assis-
tance from the Department of
Social Welfare and Development
and the ‘Bangka Ko, Gawa Ko’
Program of the Bureau of Fisher-
ies and Aquatic Resources.
The number of families af-
The government is
providing a wide
range of assistance...
fected by floods in Gingoog City
has risen to 18,452, according to
local officials.
Forty-five out of 59 baran-
gays have been affected, with
villagers living along the coastal
areas having the most damage.
Resettlement housing
Meanwhile, Marcos vowed to
BFAR warns
public vs. unsafe
shellfish in 9
coastal waters
BY STEPHANIE
SEVILLANO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Bureau of
Fisheries and Aquatic Resourc-
es (BFAR) warned the public on
Wednesday against the consump-
tion of unsafe shellfish from nine
coastal waters in the country.
In a bulletin, the BFAR said
these include coastal waters of
“Milagros in Masbate; coastal
waters of Panay, President Rox-
as, and Pilar in Capiz; coastal
waters of Dauis and Tagbilaran
City in Bohol; Irong-irong, and
San Pedro Bays in Samar; Du-
manquillas Bay in Zamboanga
del Sur; and Lianga Bay in Su-
rigao del Sur.”
7
provide building materials for resi-
dents whose houses were partially
damaged and resettlement hous-
ing for those whose homes were
completely destroyed by floods.
“Yung mga completely de-
stroyed na bahay ay titignan
natin kung pwede pang mag-
pagawa ng bago o dadalhin
namin sa resettlement center
kung saan mayroong ibibigay
ang National Housing Au-
thority na mabibigyan ng
pagkakataon para makatira
dun sa ating mga resettle-
ment areas (We’re going to
check whether we can put up
new houses or bring residents
to resettlement centers of the
National Housing Authority
for residents whose houses were
completely destroyed),” he said.
He also assured that residents
staying in evacuation areas will
be provided with their basic
needs such as food and water.
“Patuloy ang aming pag mon-
❱❱ PAGE 11 PBBM distributes aid
“All types of shellfish and
Acetes sp. or alamang gathered
from the areas shown are not
safe for human consumption,”
the BFAR said.
The BFAR released this year’s
first shellfish bulletin after the col-
lected samples tested positive for
“paralytic shellfish poison or toxic
red tide beyond regulatory limit.”
However, the BFAR clarified
that the public may still eat oth-
er sea foods from these coastal
areas, provided proper sanita-
tion is practiced.
“Fish, squids, shrimps, and
crabs are safe for human con-
sumption provided that they are
fresh and washed thoroughly, and
internal organs such as gills and
intestines are removed before
cooking,” the BFAR added. ■
8 Philippine News
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Member
Mental health office proposed
for all SUCs
BY LEONEL ABASOLA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – There is a need to establish
a Mental Health Office (MHO) in state
universities and colleges (SUCs) to en-
able students to lead fulfilling and normal
lives as they venture into adulthood.
Acting on reports that depression, anx-
iety and behavioral disorders are among
the leading causes of illness and disability
among adolescents, Senator Jinggoy Es-
trada has filed Senate Bill No 1508, or the
SUCs Mental Health Service Act.
A study of the World Health Organi-
zation (WHO) released in 2021 showed
that globally, one in seven 10 to 19-year-
olds experiences a mental disorder, ac-
counting for 13 percent of the burden of
disease in the age group.
The same study said suicide is the
fourth leading cause of death among the
15 to 29 age bracket.
The House of Representatives approved
a similar measure on Dec. 12, 2022.
Under House Bill No. 6416, the Com-
mission on Higher Education shall re-
quire all SUCs to establish an MHO, sub-
ject to the rules and regulations of the
Civil Service Commission and the De-
partment of Budget and Management,
Senate sees need to reform,
upgrade cultural education
BY WILNARD BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – There is a need to amend
Republic Act 10066 or the National Cul-
tural Heritage Act of 2009 to integrate
cultural mapping and living traditions
from the community level up to
the branches of the national gov-
ernment.
Senate President Pro Tempo-
re Loren Legarda, chair of the
Committee on Culture and the
Arts, led a hearing on Tuesday to
tackle various bills that seek to
strengthen the protection and
conservation of the Philippine
cultural heritage.
Legarda emphasized the impor-
tance of a cultural education pro-
gram because it will give meaning to what
being a Filipino means.
“We believe that this is one step in our
goal of harmonizing our diverse identi-
ties and building a nation that is rich and
www.canadianinquirer.net
just like Estrada’s proposal.
Estrada said failure to solve the prob-
lem at the adolescent level will impair
physical and mental health and limit op-
portunities as adults.
“The establishment of MHOs in all
SUCs and strengthening our already exist-
ing campus MHOs will ensure easy access
to mental health care for the well-being
not only of our vulnerable youth popu-
lation, but of the faculty, teaching and
non-teaching staff and other personnel in
SUCs,” read the bill’s explanatory note.
The measure allows hiring of addi-
tional faculty, teaching and non-teaching
A group of students holds a Zumba session at a public park fronting the city hall in Marikina City on
Saturday (Aug. 27, 2022). (RICO H. BORJA/PNA)
proud,” she said during the hybrid hearing.
“I believe that culture is the narrative that
binds us as a nation, and it is something we
owe to our ancestors and heroes who built
the Philippines as it is today.”
Sen. JV Ejercito lamented that Filipinos
lack a love of history, culture and heritage.
“There are significant in strengthen-
There are significant in
strengthening patriotism
and our identity as Filipinos,
ing patriotism and our identity as Filipi-
nos,” he said.
Dr. Ivan Henares of the University of the
Philippines-Asian Institute of Tourism
agreed that there is a need to standardize
JANUARY 13, 2023 FRIDAY
staff and other personnel in the campus-
es of SUC nationwide to ensure health
services are provided to resolve emotion-
al, behavioral and psychological issues.
Salaries and other allowances of the
MHO personnel will be based on the
government standardization law.
Estrada pointed out that special atten-
tion shall be given to those identified to have
mental health problems or conditions, espe-
cially those at risk of committing suicide.
There will be an awareness campaigns
on suicide prevention, stress handling,
mental health and nutrition, and guid-
ance and counselling, the bill states. ■
cultural mapping procedures, especially
among local government units (LGUs).
“While we have received a lot of cul-
tural maps, there’s still a need for more
training among our local government
units in order to standardize our cultur-
al maps,” he said.
Henares noted that the country has
no definitive categories or in-
ventories of its cultural assets.
“We don’t have an exact num-
ber. There has always been a de-
bate as to what the exact number
is and I think it is about time that
we come up with a definitive list
of all our cultural groups, lan-
guages, designations for cultural
properties both tangible and in-
tangible,” he said.
Henares proposed to grant
every LGU the right to build
their heritage sites or establish intangi-
ble heritage practices.
Legarda likewise proposed to include
❱❱ PAGE 18 Senate sees need
FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2023
Building an anti-racist
child-care system in Canada
BY KAITLIN PETERS
Policy Options
We need a three-pronged ap-
proach based on better train-
ing, flexible program delivery
and refined workplace strategy.
In 2021, a Montreal daycare
flagged a three-year-old Black
child for ”troubling behaviour,”
deciding to call Quebec’s youth
protection services before hav-
ing a meeting with the child’s
parents. The parents – both of
whom had previously received
only positive feedback about
their son from daycare staff
– were shocked. One parent
noted: “Once you’re reported,
the powers the department of
youth protection have are ex-
tremely scary. They have the
right to come in and take your
children based on any report.”
Following months of un-
certainty and distress, a social
worker deemed the concerns to
be unfounded and the case was
closed. But that hasn’t erased
the pain or stress for the par-
ents of being flagged in the first
place. With their son being the
only visibly Black child in his
daycare group, the couple also
began to question whether they
were judged differently.
In fact, research shows Black
families are overrepresented
in youth protection in Quebec
and beyond. The rate is partic-
ularly high for the province’s
English-speaking Black popu-
lation, which is about five times
more likely to be reported than
white children, according to a
2020 study by McGill Univer-
sity assistant professor Alicia
Boatswain-Kyte.
Systemic racism remains a
problem across Canadian child-
care settings in ways that impact
both racialized children and ra-
cialized child-care workers. As
the provinces and territories
work with the federal govern-
ment to build $10-per-day child-
care systems, we need to ensure
that these systems are equitable
and inclusive to racialized chil-
Canada News
dren and their families.
We can build towards an an-
ti-racist child-care system using
a three-pronged approach that
involves developing accessible
anti-racism training for child-
care workers; implementing a
flexible mode of child-care de-
livery that is accessible to ra-
cialized families; and developing
a workforce strategy that will
ensure a well-trained and sta-
ble workforce is able to provide
racialized children with consis-
tent and high-quality care.
Anti-racism training
Currently, the bilateral agree-
ments negotiated between the
federal government and the
provinces and territories to es-
tablish $10-per-day child care
commit to monitoring and re-
porting on inclusion goals for
vulnerable populations. But
these agreements do not go far
enough in specifying how gov-
ernments plan to provide child
care that is anti-racist in its pro-
gramming and delivery.
Because racialized children
and workers continue to ex-
perience discrimination and
prejudice in child-care settings,
mandatory courses on anti-rac-
ism need to be developed for
all child-care workers. These
courses should be produced in
collaboration with racialized
communities, using regional
meetings, focus groups, home
visits and online surveys to bet-
ter reach community members.
Ongoing anti-racism training
also needs to be accessible to all
child-care workers, not just new
graduates who enrolled in accel-
erated diploma programs. This
training needs to be co-ordinat-
ed through the College of Early
Childhood Educators, which es-
tablishes requirements for con-
tinuous professional learning,
in collaboration with provincial
professional associations, in-
cluding the Association of Early
Childhood Educators of Ontario,
which has taken on an advocacy
role for children and workers.
Workers should be able to en-
gage in this educational work
9
during paid work hours to ensure more direct control over pro- the country that is based on a
training is accessible to everyone. visioning to meet the needs of $30-per-hour starting wage for
This will require governments to racialized families. ECEs and is subject to increas-
commit additional funds to en- Workforce strategy es in areas with high costs of
sure child-care centres can hire Providing anti-racist child living (for example in Northern
additional workers to relieve reg- care also depends on retaining communities).
ular staff when they participate well-trained professional early This three-pronged approach
in paid education time during childhood educators (ECEs), must also be supported by com-
normal working hours. especially racialized ECEs, who mitments to concrete timelines
Flexible program delivery can work with children from that specify when governments
Beyond maintaining subsi- vulnerable populations. expect to achieve equality in
dies for low-income families, an The child-care sector is in child-care coverage for racial-
inclusive and anti-racist child- crisis now because its workers ized children. So far, Prince
care system needs to be flexible make only slightly more than Edward Island is the only prov-
to meet the needs of racialized $24,000 a year on average while ince that has established a spe-
families who are more likely to working in conditions that of- cific date for when it expects to
be employed in precarious and ten lead to burnout. With 96 per confirm that marginalized and
low-income forms of work. cent of child-care workers being vulnerable children will have
Parents who do shift work, women, and with racialized and access to spaces that are equal
especially in retail and front- immigrant women filling the to, or greater than, their share
line service jobs, need access to most difficult and lowest-paid of the overall population.
child care outside regular 9-to- jobs in this sector, low wages and In the absence of these tar-
5 work hours – in the evenings, poor working conditions must geted supports, racialized fam-
on weekends and overnight. be understood as a symptom of ilies will continue to face bar-
While most provinces and systemic sexism and racism in riers to accessing child care,
territories have committed to the labour market. irrespective of cost. Their chil-
providing flexible care in their To improve outcomes for dren will also continue to face
$10-per-day bilateral agree- these workers so they can im- discrimination in child-care
ments with the federal gov- prove outcomes for the children settings, challenging the ob-
ernment, it will be difficult to in their care, the federal gov- jective of building a universal
guarantee this. That’s because ernment must work with the child-care system. ■
governments do not directly provinces and territories to es-
plan for or create child-care tablish reasonable and age-ap- This article first appeared
spaces. Instead, the majority of propriate child-to-staff ratios on Policy Options and is repub-
child-care centres are operat- to reduce burnout. A wage grid lished here under a Creative
ed by non-profit and for-profit should also be instituted across Commons license.
providers, or through unli-
censed in-home care providers
who may decide not to provide
flexible child care for precari-
ous workers, even if there is a
demand for it from parents.
In the absence of direct con-
trol and as centres struggle with
staff shortages and high turn-
over rates, governments will
need to incentivize them to pro-
vide flexible programming. This
can be achieved in the short
term by providing them subsi-
dies for child-care workers who
work evenings, overnights and
weekends, while making access
to federal funding contingent
on providing flexible child care.
In the long-term, the federal
government should work with
the provinces and territories to
expand public child care across
the country. This will allow
www.canadianinquirer.net
 10
A tip too far? Why tip fatigue may be
setting in for North Americans
BY MICHAEL VON
MASSOW, University of
Guelph
The Conversation
Tipping has long been an es-
tablished and widely accepted
social norm in North Ameri-
ca. Although it is not required,
many Canadians feel pressured
to tip — even in situations when
we are dissatisfied with food or
service quality.
For many, deciding exactly how
much to tip in a given situation
can be uncomfortable. Two re-
cent phenomena are exacerbat-
ing this and increasing tensions
around the practice of tipping.
The first is an increase in tip-
ping percentage, known as tip
inflation or “tipflation.” The
second is tip creeping, which
refers to the increase in ser-
vices that now expect a tip from
customers. Both tipflation and
tip creep are reigniting the
conversation about tipping in
Canada and drawing attention
to how entrenched tipping is in
North American culture.
Tip inflation
Before the COVID-19 pan-
demic, the standard tip per-
centage in Canada was between
15 and 18 per cent. Now, we are
seeing tip prompts of 30 per
cent and higher.
There is evidence that Cana-
dians have started tipping more
since the pandemic, as well.
What is less clear is whether
Marcos vows to..
❰❰ 6 speed ahead manner
until such time that
Filipinos can finally
enjoy the convenience of a sub-
way,” he added.
‘Point of no return’
Bautista said the beginning of
tunnel boring activities marks a
“point of no return” for the project.
“We are going full speed
ahead to complete the country’s
first subway,” Bautista said.
He noted that there is an
“urgent need” for improved
railway transportation in the
country, particularly to serve
passengers at NAIA.
“During the recent holiday
rush when I inspected NAIA
Terminal 3, I discovered the ur-
Canada News
consumers are being pushed to
tip more, or whether they are
choosing to do so on their own.
Given the size of most restau-
rant transactions, the majority
of them occur using a debit or
credit card. The concern over
the transmission of COVID-19
or other infections has in-
creased the appeal of contact-
less or minimum contact pay-
ment. This provides businesses
with an opportunity to prompt
customers with an “acceptable”
tipping amount through pay-
ment terminals.
These nudges are a way for
businesses to frame choices to get
a desired outcome. The payment
terminals provide suggestions
as to the amount to tip and make
it easy to choose that amount.
Choosing a different amount re-
quires more effort and is, there-
fore, less likely to happen.
Nudging works, but it can
backfire. A Harvard study found
that higher default options led
to higher average tips, but when
the defaults were too high, a
whiplash effect led to lower tips
and negative feelings about the
restaurant. Businesses need to
be careful not to alienate their
customers when doing this.
Nudges make tipping re-
quests explicit, meaning cus-
tomers are pressured into tip-
ping, suggesting an expectation
to tip, rather than a choice. This
has the potential to induce feel-
ings of guilt in customers.
Tipflation is also compound-
gent need of providing a railway
station as one of the multi-mod-
al land-based transport options
for arriving passengers,” he said.
He cited President Marcos’ sup-
port for the project and the efforts
of the Duterte administration.
“The launching of this tunnel
boring machine become a tes-
tament to this administration’s
commitment, to continue the
project of the previous admin-
istration, and more important-
ly, to build better more,” he said.
He thanked the Japanese gov-
ernment and JICA for helping
fund the project through its official
development assistance loans.
The launch marks the start
of construction for the MMSP’s
ed by regular inflation. Restau-
rant prices increased by 7.7 per
cent in Canada in 2022, mean-
ing tips in the food industry are
increasing substantially.
In the past, tipping percentag-
es have been applied to the pre-
tax amount. When you calculate
a percentage yourself, you calcu-
late the tip based on the pre-tax
amount, but when using termi-
nals, tips are calculated after tax.
All of these factors are contrib-
uting to tip inflation.
Tip creep
At the same time as tip per-
centages are increasing, the types
of businesses explicitly suggest-
ing tips are expanding. Histori-
cally, tipping in North America
has been reserved for restaurant
serving staff, taxi drivers and
hairstylists. Before point of sale
Contract Package 101 (CP101),
one of the project’s seven civil
work contracts.
CP101 involves the construc-
tion of three underground sta-
tions in Quezon City and an
additional semi-underground
station in the northernmost part
of the Valenzuela City depot.
In a press bulletin, the DOTr
said a total of six TBMs would be
used during the tunnel-boring
phase of CP101, while stations
will be completed using the “top-
down” construction method.
Around 1.2 million cubic me-
ters of soil are expected to be
dug by the TBMs for the partial
operability section of CP101,
equivalent to 500 Olympic-size
www.canadianinquirer.net
terminals, you would occasion-
ally see a tip jar on the counter at
coffee shops, as well.
But now, other industries like
fast food, retail outlets and even
mechanics are offering tipping
options on sales terminals to
encourage — or pressure — cus-
tomers into tipping.
Many auto industry insider
blogs are also promoting tip-
ping in an effort to normalize
the practice in industries that
have not historically been part
of the tipping norm. Tip creep-
ing can create both confusion
and resentment in consumers.
The nudge towards tipping is
not just happening on payment
terminals, either. The freelance
service platform Fiverr suggests
a tip after delivery — work is paid
for when it is requested. This cre-
swimming pools.
“For the tunnels alone, the
excavation will be around
711,000 cubic meters or an
equivalent of 285 Olympic-size
swimming pools,” it said.
A total of 7,419,940 cubic
meters of soil, equivalent to
2,500 Olympic-sized swimming
pools, will be excavated for the
entire alignment of the MMSP.
Bridging the gap
In a statement, Senator JV
Ejercito said the Philippines is
years behind its neighbors in
terms of infrastructure develop-
ment and transportation mod-
ernization but the subway proj-
ect will soon reduce the gap.
He said improving the coun-
JANUARY 13, 2023 FRIDAY
ates uncertainty for customers.
Tip fatigue
Many Canadians are feeling
tip fatigue from being bombard-
ed with tipping requests more
frequently. At the very least, tip
fatigue means customers are
leaving interactions that involve
tipping with negative feelings.
But at the worst, tip fatigue could
cause customers to tip less or
stop altogether. Those pushing to
increase tipping risk alienating
consumers who find the amounts
and the range of services expect-
ing tips too much.
As consumers, we should re-
member that we are in control.
We choose when, where and
how much to tip. While tipping
is a social norm, no one should
feel pressured to tip more than
the standard percentage, if at
all. If a business is prompting
you with a tip percentage high-
er than you are comfortable
with, you can always enter a
custom amount that you feel is
appropriate instead.
We can send a message that
we won’t be pushed or guilt-
ed into tipping. We could even
push for a model where cus-
tomers only pay what the ser-
vice is worth and businesses are
required to pay their workers
a reasonable wage, rather than
forcing them to rely on tips to
make a decent living. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
try’s transportation system,
especially railways, will boost
efforts to revive the econo-
my after being battered by the
Covid-19 pandemic.
“With transportation, with
railway systems, more than
airports, movement of people,
movement of goods will be eas-
ier. That will attract, of course,
foreign investments. That will
make doing business easy and
more convenient,” said Ejerci-
to, who also graced the event.
“Transportation moderniza-
tion and infrastructure devel-
opment will cost a lot but the
returns are enormous.” (with
reports from Raymond Carl Dela
Cruz, Leonel Abasola/PNA) ■
FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2023
Supporting minority languages
requires more than token gestures
BY VEACESLAV BALAN,
L’Université d’Ottawa/
University of Ottawa,
FREDERICK JOHN
PACKER, L’Université
d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
The Conversation
In August 2022, Statistics Can-
ada released the latest census data
on languages in Canada. Accord-
ing to the data, over nine million
people — or one in four Canadians
— has a mother tongue other than
English or French (a record high
since the 1901 census).
Twelve per cent of Canadians
speak a language other than En-
glish or French at home. Statistics
Canada observes that the coun-
try’s linguistic diversity will likely
continue to grow into the future.
Yet, recent developments in
language policy and practices in
Canada reveal that there is con-
fusion and misunderstanding
among government officials and
the general public about language
use, international language rights
and their implications.
In Canada, there must be
greater understanding of the cul-
tural and linguistic rights of mi-
norities. According to universally
accepted human rights, persons
belonging to majorities and mi-
norities should have equal rights.
Minorities are entitled to equal
conditions and services to enable
them to maintain their identity,
culture and language.
The 1966 International Cov-
enant on Civil and Political
Rights, a human rights treaty
to which Canada is a party, pro-
vides that “In those States in
which ethnic, religious or lin-
guistic minorities exist, persons
belonging to such minorities
shall not be denied the right,
in community with the other
members of their group, to en-
joy their own culture, to profess
and practise their own religion,
or to use their own language.”
Telcos must work..
❰❰ 4 bark on an advertising
campaign to contin-
uously remind sub-
scribers of the link to their offi-
cial websites or other channels
of registration,” Poe said.
The implementing rules and
The 1992 UN Declaration
on Minorities clarifies and ex-
pands on this treaty provision.
It stipulates that UN member
states should enact legislative
and other measures to protect
minority identities.
Confusing words
Two words are often con-
fused in Canada: integration and
assimilation. When speaking
about immigrants and refugees,
Canadian law’s stated objective
is integration. And the default
framework for integration is the
majority culture and language.
Non-anglophone and
non-francophone immigrants
are expected to adapt and con-
form to the Canadian way of
doing things, learn Canadian
history, celebrate Canadian hol-
idays and speak in one or both of
Canada’s official languages.
But these languages reflect
the cultures of Canada’s two
historically dominant groups.
For many Indigenous people
and immigrants, histories, hol-
idays and languages differ from
the majority of Canadians.
Involuntary assimilation is
prohibited under internation-
al law. This is a colonialist and
imperialist practice which ulti-
regulations task telcos to work
with local government units in
reaching out to subscribers, es-
pecially those in far-flung villag-
es or with physical constraints
like disabilities and the elderly. ■
mately forces people to alter or
surrender their identity, culture
and dissolve into the majority.
Canada’s notorious resi-
dential schools were one of
the harshest examples of such
assimilationist policies. Oth-
er essentially assimilationist
practices continue to this day.
For example, the law states
that provinces must pro-
vide education to English or
French-speaking minorities in
their own language. But there is
no similar legislation for Indig-
enous languages, nor for those
spoken by people who immi-
grate from all around the world.
These policies will increasingly
conflict with growing diversi-
ty as Canada seeks to welcome
1.5 million immigrants over the
next three years.
In contrast, integration is
based on recognition of diversi-
ty. Integration is a two-way pro-
cess through which minorities
and majorities learn about and
engage with each other’s cul-
tures and languages.
While maintaining their own
distinctiveness, majority and
minority groups contribute to
shared foundations and institu-
tions of the society out of common
PBBM distributes aid..
❰❰ 7 itor sa inyo at pagtiyak
na kayo ay secure, kayo
naman kahit papano
nabibigyan ng tulong. Ginaga-
wa namin lahat para makauwi
na kayo at makabalik na kayo sa
inyong tahanan, makabalik na
www.canadianinquirer.net
Canada News
interest and for mutual benefit.
This is important for the many in-
dividuals who possess multiple or
overlapping identities.
In 2012, the Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Eu-
rope, of which Canada is a partic-
ipating state, released Guidelines
on Integration of Diverse Societ-
ies, in which it explained:
“Integration is a process that
requires that all members of a
given society accept common pub-
lic institutions and have a shared
sense of belonging to a common
State and an inclusive society.
This does not exclude the possibil-
ity of distinct identities, which are
constantly evolving, multiple and
contextual. Mechanisms aiming
at mutual accommodation are es-
sential to negotiate the legitimate
claims put forward by different
groups or communities.”
Integration requires ac-
commodation of diversity. It
also means that governments
should invest proportionally in
the promotion of majority and
minority cultures and languag-
es with a view to facilitating full
lives in dignity and equal rights
for everyone. This requires
more than token support for
cultural activities such as tradi-
tional food and dance.
There is also confusion
around the issue of minori-
ty language status. In Canada
there is a common belief that
the only minority language(s)
entitled to protection are the
ones with official or other rec-
ognized status. But according
to international human rights
principles, all minority cultures
and languages should be pro-
tected regardless of whether
they hold “official” status.
This means that the languag-
es of Indigenous Peoples as well
as of other people living in Can-
ada should be acknowledged
and facilitated. This is essential
for their well-being and for gen-
uine equality in rights.
kayo sa inyong mga trabaho (We
will continue monitoring the
situation and ensuring that you
are secure and that you receive
assistance. We are doing every-
thing to ensure that you can
return to your homes and your
11
Not a zero-sum game
Genuine integration should
respect and promote diversity
in the languages used in vari-
ous contexts of public life. This
does not necessarily require
changing the number and sta-
tus of official languages; it’s not
a zero-sum game. But it does
require adjusting language
policies to reconcile with exist-
ing realities in reasonable and
meaningful ways. The aim is
real and effective equality.
Technological innovations
(such as easily accessible re-
al-time translation) make this
more possible and cost-effec-
tive than ever.
In order to live together peace-
fully and embrace diversity, Ca-
nadians need to understand that
languages are not just a means
of technical communication,
but are often at the core of peo-
ple’s identity and culture. Taking
away a person’s language often
amounts to taking away their
sense of self, dignity and commu-
nity belonging. It also suppresses
the remarkable linguistic assets
that Canada possesses.
Building a Canadian nation
through assimilation of minori-
ties in the face of increasing
diversity only generates social
tensions and conflicts. It is not
democracy, it is majoritarianism.
It is contrary to fundamental hu-
man rights and signals social re-
gression rather than progress.
Instead, Canada should foster
a forward-looking, human-cen-
tred and dynamic society that
embraces diversity, multicul-
turalism and multilingualism.
This is to our advantage. Cana-
da’s rich linguistic diversity is an
asset that should be valued. We
must cast off the old colonialist
thinking and seize the rich pos-
sibilities that are at hand. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
livelihood),” he added.
Marcos was joined by Defense
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., Pub-
lic Works and Highways Secre-
tary Manuel M. Bonoan and Spe-
cial Assistant to the President
Anton Lagdameo Jr. ■
12
What you need to know for your
next hybrid or electric vehicle purchase
BY GAOLIANG FANG,
McMaster University
The Conversation
As part of its goal to achieve
net-zero emissions by 2050,
Canada has introduced new
regulations to mandate one-
fifth of all vehicles sold in Can-
ada be electric by 2026.
With the price of gasoline being
projected to rise again, and con-
sumers worrying about the legacy
of fossil fuel emissions, now is the
perfect time for Canadians to shift
toward hybrid and battery-pow-
ered electric vehicles.
But making an informed
choice can be daunting. There are
many different new forms of pro-
pulsion systems and energy-stor-
age methods among hybrid and
battery-powered electric vehi-
cles — all of them different from
conventional gas-burning cars.
The sheer number of hybrid
and electric vehicle options can
make the idea of switching to a
hybrid or electric vehicle daunt-
ing for many. Here’s a guide to
understanding hybrid and elec-
tric vehicles and deciding which
is most suitable for your lifestyle.
What makes hybrid and
electric cars different?
Traditional gas-powered
cars use a type of engine called
internal combustion engines
that use fuel to propel them-
selves. However, even high-per-
formance gasoline engines are
only 20 to 35 per cent efficient.
In other words, a gas-powered
car loses two-thirds of its energy
in the form of heat, rather than
useful work. Electric and hybrid
vehicles, on the other hand, are
much more efficient.
This is because in hybrid
and electric vehicles, unlike
gas-powered cars, only part of
— or none of — the propelling
force is generated by engines.
Canada News
They use electric machines, fea-
turing a high-efficiency energy
conversion process at around
90 per cent to propel the vehi-
cle. Electric machines improve
fuel economy and drivability.
Hybrid electric vehicles
Before deciding which type of
electric vehicle to purchase, it’s
important for buyers to know
whether electric vehicle chargers
are available in areas where they
live and drive. If charging sta-
tions are difficult to access and
buyers do a lot of long-distance
driving, the hybrid electric vehi-
cle is a good option to invest in.
Hybrid electric vehicles
straddle the line between fully
electric vehicles and conven-
tional cars by pairing an inter-
nal combustion engine with an
electric machine. Hybrid ve-
hicles store energy in both the
fuel tank and battery pack.
One distinct difference among
hybrid vehicles is how the vehi-
cle turns the engine’s power into
movement, known as the power-
train. Powertrains are important
because they affect a vehicle’s
fuel economy, drivability and
purchasing price. There are three
main types of hybrid vehicle clas-
sifications based on this.
Series hybrid system
Series hybrid vehicles, like
the BMW i3 extended range
and Fisker Karma, only use the
motor to provide the driving
force. The power flows from the
engine to the generator to the
battery, then to the motor, the
axle and finally the wheels.
The engine works at its nar-
row optimal region with high
efficiency and delivers mechan-
ical energy to the coupled gen-
erator, which later converts the
mechanical energy to electric
power and charges the battery.
Because the generator and
motor normally have an effi-
ciency around 90 per cent, the
conversion process delivers im-
proved fuel economy.
In addition, part of the me-
chanical energy is converted
back to electric power during
the braking process and stored
in the battery pack, resulting
in better fuel economy. This
makes it a good choice for stop-
and-go driving caused by heavy
traffic or traffic signals.
Parallel hybrid vehicles
Parallel hybrid vehicles couple
both the engine and electric ma-
chine to the transmission. Com-
pared to the series hybrid archi-
tecture of using one generator
and one propulsion motor, the
parallel hybrid system uses one
electric machine, but the engine
does not always work optimally.
This configuration is less suit-
able for the stop-and-go scenar-
io, but has better performance
at high-speed driving since both
propulsion sources operate with
high efficiency. Examples of
parallel hybrid vehicles include
the Honda Insight, Land Rover
Range Rover P400e, Hyundai
Tucson Hybrid, Hyundai Ioniq
and BMW X5 530e.
Series-parallel hybrid ve-
hicles
Series-parallel hybrids com-
bine the advantages of the series
and parallel configurations. The
www.canadianinquirer.net
drawback of these hybrids is the
price — because these vehicles
consist of both series and paral-
lel systems, they are more com-
plex, resulting in a higher price.
Examples of series-parallel
hybrid vehicles are the Toyota
Prius, Lexus CT 200h, Ford Fu-
sion Hybrid and Toyota RAV4.
Fully electric vehicles
If charging stations are easily
accessible and long-distance driv-
ing is not a concern, battery-pow-
ered electric vehicles are a good
option for buyers to consider. Ful-
ly electric vehicles rely solely on
an electric machine and have no
combustion engine. They obtain
energy from the electric grid and
store it in its battery pack.
Electric vehicles are very effi-
cient because of the energy con-
version process of electric ma-
chines. Apart from the size and
type of the battery pack, differ-
ent electric vehicles use electric
machines in different ways.
Most electric vehicles use
one electric machine as the pro-
pulsion source — either front-
wheel-drive or rear-wheel-drive.
One drawback of this configura-
tion is the electric machine does
not always operate at its optimal
efficiency. This affects how far
the electric vehicle can be driven
between charges.
JANUARY 13, 2023 FRIDAY
To improve their efficiency
and drivability, some electric ve-
hicles use multiple electric ma-
chines. Some vehicles split vehi-
cle power between two motors,
which results in higher efficien-
cy and a broader speed range.
The Model 3, Model Y and Mod-
el S Tesla cars have this configu-
ration, allowing all-wheel-drive
and better traction control.
Another way electric vehicles
improve drivability is by using
three electric machines. This
allows vehicles to control the
torque in rear wheels separate-
ly in a process known as torque
vectoring control. Typical exam-
ples of this configuration are the
Model S Plaid and Model X Plaid.
There has never been a bet-
ter time to switch to an electric
vehicle. To help Canadians tran-
sition to this greener vehicle op-
tion, the Canadian government
has financial supports available.
The Incentives for Zero-Emis-
sion Vehicles program provides
cash rebates for battery electric
and plug-in hybrid electric vehi-
cles. Some provinces, like British
Columbia and Québec, also offer
their own provincial rebates. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2023
Russia’s war in Ukraine threatens students
daily and forces teachers to improvise
BY KRISTINA HOOK,
Kennesaw State University
The Conversation
Svitlana Popova’s students
didn’t realize she was leading their
online math class while outside
the charred remains of her home
in Ukraine until they saw a news
video about it on social media.
Her students were in their
own difficult circumstances, too
– seeking refuge away from their
homes, some in other countries.
Popova is a mathematics
teacher in the town of Boro-
dyanka, in the Kyiv region of
Ukraine. Her school was seized
as a headquarters by Russian
military forces and heavily dam-
aged before their retreat. Af-
ter her classroom transitioned
to online instruction, Russian
tanks fired on her house and
burned it down. Yet this dedi-
cated teacher continued to lead
virtual lessons from a small um-
brella-covered table in the yard.
Ordinary Ukrainians have
been hailed for their heroism
since Russia’s full-scale inva-
sion. “There are no small mat-
ters in a great war,” Ukrainian
president Volodymyr Zelenskyy
affirmed in an emotional New
Year’s address. “Each of us is a
fighter,” Zelenskyy stated. “Each
of us is the basis of defense.”
Listing the tools of war – ship’s
helms, steering wheels, weapons,
scalpels – Zelenskyy ended with
an unexpected inclusion: the
teacher’s pointer. This passing
remark highlights an often hid-
den front in Ukraine’s defensive
struggle – the fight by countless
teachers and parents to keep
more than 8 million children ed-
ucated, even as their worlds have
been thrown into upheaval.
Educational efforts
Like Ukraine’s stunning resis-
tance itself, local educators are
rising to the occasion despite
enormous challenges. Viral vid-
eos show teachers continuing
to instruct their small pupils
in bomb shelters during active
World News
bombardments, or conducting
lessons inside a post office after
schools lose electricity. Gas sta-
tions and grocery stores, pow-
ered by generators long after
homes and schools lose power,
are being transformed into hubs
for filming virtual lessons.
One Kyiv teacher spent hours
crouching on a snowy sidewalk
outside a store, determined to
finish sharing the day’s home-
work assignment despite roll-
ing blackouts. Other teachers
now bring their pets for online
lessons, lifting spirits and pro-
viding psychological support.
Many teachers, like Popova,
comfort their students despite
their own traumatic losses.
Long-term displacement
As an anthropologist working
in Ukraine since 2015, I have long
observed the effects of armed
conflict on Ukrainian children.
After Russia first invaded in 2014,
regular bomb threats to schools
have been attributed by Ukrai-
nians to Russian governmental
efforts to sow fear.
Between that first invasion
and the second in February
2022, armed conflict with Rus-
sia internally displaced 1.5 mil-
lion Ukrainians and damaged
740 schools. I have analyzed the
impact of this warfare on chil-
dren for trauma healing since
Russia’s invasion began nine
years ago. Still, these earlier
challenges pale in comparison
with what the Ukrainian educa-
tional system faces today.
Russia’s nationwide offensive
against Ukraine in early 2022
led to the largest refugee flows
in Europe since World War II. In
the weeks following the invasion,
nearly 16 million Ukrainians
were driven from their homes
to seek refuge abroad and else-
where in Ukraine. Many of these
were women and children, ex-
acting a heavy toll on Ukraine’s
female-majority teaching corps,
as well as their students.
With large numbers of
Ukraine’s young people at least
temporarily resettled in primar-
ily European countries, some
teachers reported a surge in their
students’ motivation linked to
the structure of returning to
their online Ukrainian school-
ing. “The children missed it
(school) … because most of them
were on the road for a long time.
It was very emotionally drain-
ing, and when they returned to
school, it was something they
were used to,” one teacher told a
Ukrainian reporter.
Teaching online, again
Teachers around the world
developed remote-teaching
skills during the COVID-19
pandemic. Now that war had
driven their classes apart again,
Ukrainian teachers adapted
those skills to teach students
across Europe and the world.
Some private online schools
like Optima made their mate-
rials available free of charge.
This step allowed Ukrainian
students to study at home if
they could not otherwise ac-
cess schooling because of the
war. It also provided a way for
Ukrainian refugee children to
retain access to school mate-
rials in their native language.
Still, new obstacles emerged.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Many countries that took in
Ukrainian refugees required the
children to attend local schools,
even if they didn’t speak the local
language. Some children thrived,
like the young Ukrainians who
stunned their Welsh hosts by
learning the local language in less
than 12 weeks. Yet for many chil-
dren, these host country efforts
at integration created new prob-
lems. In my ongoing ethnograph-
ic research, Ukrainian parents
described how these attendance
requirements left their children
frustrated. “The children just sit
there not understanding any-
thing all day,” one parent told me.
Parents told me that after
their children finished these
long days in a foreign school,
many would begin their day’s
real learning late at night. Par-
ents said Ukrainian language
materials gave children the
chance to stay on schedule with
their grade level back home.
Failure to do so might further
derail their future state exams
and graduation dates.
By nightfall, however, chil-
dren had lost their most produc-
tive educational hours. Harmful
spirals soon followed. Even for-
13
merly top students experienced
exhaustion-driven pressures to
copy virtual assignments. Los-
ing their joy of learning added
to the strain of the war’s intense
trauma in these young lives.
A focus on education
Ukraine’s literacy rate is
99.8%, one of the highest in
the world, and education is a
national point of pride. In war-
time, Ukraine’s government is
working to adapt its education-
al system to new realities.
Home schooling is permit-
ted, so long as students can pass
standardized tests. Still, many
supervising parents are over-
burdened with the tasks of daily
survival in the face of the Rus-
sian military’s relentless attacks
on the civilian population. One
mother revealed to a reporter
that she soothes her children to
sleep in bomb shelters before ar-
ranging shovels around them in
case they become trapped in the
rubble of a missile attack. An-
other mother told me she sends
her young child to school with
an emergency backpack filled
with food, water and clothes in
case he becomes trapped with
his teachers.
The Russian military has also
damaged or destroyed over 2,400
schools, adding to construction
burdens. When the school year
began in September, government
data indicated that less than 25%
of Ukrainian schools nation-
wide were able to offer full-time,
in-person instruction. Even
those that were intact are now
required to have a bomb shelter
before they can hold in-person
lessons. Major campaigns have
rushed to build bomb shelters for
schools, but, even so, many are
simple, dirt-floor basements.
In addition, Russia’s inten-
tional targeting of Ukraine’s
electrical grid and civilian infra-
structure poses new dangers to
children’s health and schooling.
Power outages have affected
an estimated 10 million people,
❱❱ PAGE 15 Russia’s war in
14
Vietnam war: how US involvement has
influenced foreign policy decisions over 50 years
BY MARA OLIVA, University
of Reading
The Conversation
2023 marks the 50th anniver-
sary of the US withdrawal from
Vietnam and the war still casts
long shadows over American life.
The cost in lives was enor-
mous. Over almost 20 years,
more than 2.7 million Americans
served in uniform in the conflict,
and around 58,318 lost their lives.
Estimates of Vietnamese deaths
are more than 3 million civilians
and soldiers from both sides.
Thousands of US veterans suf-
fered from post-traumatic stress
disorder and tried to readjust on
their return home.
Americans struggled to make
sense of events in Vietnam. They
had to come to terms with the re-
ality that for the first time in the
country’s history, they had lost a
war. Disturbing televised images
of conditions on the ground and
war atrocities made them ques-
tion the wisdom and the morality
of US foreign policy.
Vietnam had been a very differ-
ent experience from the second
world war. The “good war” against
Pope reiterates call Macron plans to complete
for end to ‘senseless’ restoration of Notre Dame
Ukraine war in 2024
ANADOLU
Philippine News Agency
ANKARA – Pope Francis on
Monday called for an immedi-
ate end to the “senseless” war
in Ukraine, and efforts for a
two-state solution between Pal-
estine and Israel.
“Today, I feel bound to renew
my appeal for an immediate
end to this senseless conflict,
whose effects are felt in entire
regions, also outside of Europe,
due to its repercussions in the
areas of energy and food pro-
duction, above all in Africa and
in the Middle East,” he said in
an address to ambassadors ac-
World News
the fascist powers in Germany,
Italy and Japan had united the
country in a fight to save democ-
racy and freedom and made it the
leader of the free world. Vietnam
had divided the nation and turned
it into the world’s bully.
Soldiers returning from
south-east Asia were received
with mixed feelings: anger and
hostility in some cases, but
mostly indifference and a desire
to forget and move on. In the de-
Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. (SCARLET SAPPHO/FLICKR, CC
BY-SA 2.0)
credited to the Vatican.
On the Palestine-Israel dis-
pute, he urged both sides to en-
gage in direct dialogue “for the
sake of implementing the two-
state solution in all its aspects,
in conformity with internation-
al law and all the pertinent res-
olutions of the United Nations.”
“Status quo of Jerusalem
should be guaranteed and re-
spected,” he said, according to
the Vatican News website.
Francis also reiterated his
call for a total ban on nuclear
weapons and stressed that even
their possession is “immoral.”
He also reaffirmed the Cath-
olic Church’s opposition to the
death penalty and abortion. ■
cades that followed the end of
the conflict, the national trauma
shaped many aspects of Ameri-
can politics, society and culture.
Vietnam syndrome
Since the end of the Viet-
nam war, most Americans have
looked with fear at any US inter-
vention or use of force abroad
that might end up in another
long and bloody stalemate. In
1973, Congress passed the War
Powers Resolution designed to
TASS
Philippine News Agency
PARIS – The Notre Dame de
Paris Cathedral will be opened
after restoration in 2024, said
French President Emmanuel
Macron, who visited the cathe-
dral with Japanese Prime Min-
ister Fumio Kishida.
“We maintain our goal of
opening the cathedral in 2024,”
the French newspaper Le Pari-
sien quoted Macron as saying.
Kishida, who began his tour
of the G7 countries on Monday,
noted that “Japan was shocked
by the fire that occurred in the
cathedral.” At the same time, the
www.canadianinquirer.net
limit the president’s ability to
commit forces to conflicts with-
out congressional support. This
so-called Vietnam syndrome,
a phrase apparently coined by
President Richard Nixon, has
been haunting US foreign and
military policy ever since.
President Ronald Reagan crit-
icised former presidents Gerald
Ford and Jimmy Carter for be-
ing constrained by the ghost of
Vietnam and showing weakness
and overcaution in international
affairs. Trying to reinvigorate US
foreign policy and put Vietnam
in the past, he used bold rhetoric
to tell Americans to stop feel-
ing guilty about the devastation
brought about by the war and
stop questioning the morality
of the war because America had
fought for “a noble cause”. Yet,
in practice, his foreign policy was
deeply influenced by persistent
anxiety about getting into a new
quagmire.
Reagan’s military interven-
tion in Grenada in 1983 was
wrapped in secrecy to head
off any pre-emptive action by
the communist dictatorship in
control of the island but also to
prevent an anti-interventionist
head of the Japanese Cabinet ad-
mitted that he was “surprised by
the speed of restoration works”.
According to estimates by inde-
pendent experts, even under the
most favorable scenario, “the open-
ing of the cathedral for visitors will
not be held until December 2024”.
Most likely the cathedral will
not open in time for the Sum-
mer Olympics in Paris. The
games will be held in France
from July 26 to August 11, 2024.
General Jean-Louis Georgelin,
who oversees the restoration of
the cathedral, said the recon-
struction work will require at
least 550 million euros.
Fire in cathedral
The fire in the Notre Dame
JANUARY 13, 2023 FRIDAY
Congress from leaking to the
press with the prediction that
Grenada was going to become
another Vietnam. A year later,
following the death of 241 US
servicemen in Beirut barracks,
Reagan withdrew US forces
from Lebanon because he didn’t
want to repeat the Vietnam ex-
perience in the Middle East.
Similarly, President George
H.W. Bush was careful to prevent
the Gulf War of 1990-91 from
turning into another Vietnam. To
ensure that US intervention had
the moral legitimacy Vietnam had
lacked, he secured UN backing
and led a coalition of 35 countries
to swiftly eject Iraqi forces out
of Kuwait. The quick victory led
Bush to declare: “By God, we have
kicked the Vietnam Syndrome
once and for all.” For President
Bill Clinton putting US boots on
the ground was an option to avoid
at all costs as he declared during
the 1998-99 Kosovo war.
Response to 9/11
Though very different in
nature, the parallels between
the recent wars in Iraq and in
Afghanistan and the Vietnam
❱❱ PAGE 15 Vietnam war: how
Cathedral broke out in the eve-
ning on April 15, 2019.
The investigation said the fire
started around the spire. Sever-
al hours before that, restoration
works were carried out on the
upper levels of the Cathedral.
The fire, which lasted for more
than 15 hours, fully destroyed the
wooden roof and the spire.
Macron ordered that Notre
Dame be restored within five years.
In November 2020, after many
months of hard work, experts dis-
mantled the scaffolding that had
been around the central part of
the cathedral even before the fire.
The fire had melted the met-
al, threatening to collapse this
structure onto the basilica. ■
FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2023
First grader who shot teacher in Virginia is
among the youngest school shooters in US history
BY DAVID RIEDMAN,
University of Central Florida
The Conversation
Barely a week into the new year,
a 6-year-old boy shot his teacher
at Richneck Elementary School
in Newport News, Virginia, be-
coming one of the youngest school
shooters in the nation’s history.
While details of the case are still
emerging, his teacher remains
hospitalized with serious injuries.
David Riedman, creator of the
K-12 School Shooting Database,
discusses the relative rarity of
school shooters under age 10 and
the likely aftermath of the event.
How rare is it to have a
school shooter this young?
This is the 17th shooting in-
volving a student under the
age of 10 at a school since 1970
– the first year for which my
database keeps track. Most of
these shootings were not inten-
tional. But in 1975, a 9-year-old
student at the Pitcher School
in Detroit was in a fight with a
13-year-old, left campus, got a
rifle from his house and came
back to the school and shot the
student in the head, killing him.
In 2000, a 6-year-old boy fatal-
ly shot his 6-year-old classmate,
Kayla Rolland, in their classroom
at Buell Elementary School in
Michigan while their teacher
lined up other students in the
hallway. The shooting followed a
Vietnam war: how..
❰❰ 14 war have helped en-
sure Vietnam’s con-
tinued relevance
to foreign policy decisions.
George W. Bush failed to draw
lessons from Vietnam and fell
into some of the same traps
that the US government had
encountered in Vietnam. Ini-
tial carefully targeted strikes
against al-Qaida and the Tali-
ban in Afghanistan in response
to the 9/11 attacks turned into a
20-year-long war that has taken
the lives of more than 2,300 US
military personnel and an esti-
mated 43,074 Afghan civilians.
Like the Pentagon Papers in
1971 which revealed the blun-
ders and intelligence failures
in Vietnam, the publication of
the Afghanistan Papers by the
dispute on the playground.
How do kids this young
typically get guns?
In most school shootings, the
gun is taken from the student’s
home or from the house of a
friend or relative. In the 2000
shooting at Buell Elementa-
ry, the student’s uncle plead-
ed guilty to involuntary man-
slaughter and was sentenced
to prison for a minimum of two
years for leaving a firearm in an
easily accessible place.
The 6-year-old shooter did
not face charges due to his age.
What stands out about
this recent case?
The most striking part of
this shooting is that it appears
to be intentional. While many
details remain unknown, it is
likely that the student had the
gun with him the entire day,
possibly multiple days, before
shooting his teacher. In many
states, the legal system assumes
that young children are not ca-
pable of the thought and plan-
ning that goes into committing
a violent crime. In Virginia, the
minimum age to charge some-
one with a felony is 14 years old.
Do schools need to start
searching first graders?
Despite the attention that they
generated, school shootings at
any age are relatively rare. There
have been 17 shootings involving
kids under 10 publicly reported
across a 52-year period. More
Washington Post in December
2019 showed that the US lacked
realistic objectives and a clear
exit strategy in Afghanistan.
They also revealed another sad
parallel between the two con-
flicts. Military and government
officials in both the Bush and
Obama administrations delib-
erately misrepresented condi-
tions in Afghanistan to appease
an American public opinion
suffering from war fatigue.
Current president Joe Biden
rejected any comparison be-
tween his withdrawal from Af-
ghanistan and the US retreat
from Vietnam. His response was
unequivocal: “None whatsoev-
er. Zero.” Yet, it is impossible to
look at images of desperate Af-
ghans running alongside a plane
than 50 million students attend
schools every year, and fewer
than 300 of them shoot someone
on campus.
When most guns that end up
in schools come from the home,
I’d argue it is the responsibility
of parents, relatives and older
siblings to make sure that every
firearm is locked, secured and
accounted for.
The use of metal detectors
has been shown to increase
students’ anxiety and are only
effective with constant main-
tenance, training, staffing and
screening procedures. Some
of the incidents involving chil-
dren have resulted from adults
putting a firearm in the kid’s bag
at what was then Hamid Karzai
international airport on August
31 2021, and not compare them
to the image of the US helicop-
ter perched on an apartment
building, loaded with evacuees,
in Saigon in 1975. Meanwhile,
50 years on, Biden is making
strengthening relations with
Vietnam a key part of his foreign
policy agenda for Asia, building
on the decades-long project of
reconciliation. However, the les-
sons from the Vietnam war re-
main the prism through which
US policymakers, media and
public opinion often view armed
conflicts. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
www.canadianinquirer.net
World News
and the child firing it when they
find the gun at school.
What’s next for this boy?
This remains unclear, and
due to juvenile privacy laws, we
may never know. The 6-year-old
who killed his classmate at Buell
Elementary in 2000 was not
charged with a crime. In 2021
in Rigby, Idaho, a 12-year-old
girl shot three people during a
planned attack at Rigby Middle
School. Based on her written
plan, this young girl intended to
kill 20 students and wound 40 to
60 others. She is being held in ju-
venile custody until she turns 19
– and possibly until age 21 if she
is not deemed fully rehabilitated
– following a guilty plea to three
Russia’s war in..
❰❰ 13 over one-quarter of the
Ukrainian population.
Over half of Ukraine’s
pupils are enrolled online and
need electricity to attend classes
and do schoolwork. Continued
electrical outages would be a
foreboding new hurdle.
Under occupation
The status of children’s educa-
tion in Russian-controlled ter-
ritories is even more alarming.
Russia’s occupation has ushered
in new forms of ideological coer-
cion in the classroom. Teachers
in the liberated Kharkiv region
have spoken of arbitrary arrests
and torture by the Russian mil-
itary when they refused to teach
their students that Ukraine was
a territory of Russia.
Ukrainian teachers have also
15
counts of first-degree murder.
What’s next for the school?
While much attention is fo-
cused on the shooter and teach-
er, a classroom full of first graders
witnessed their classmate shoot
the teacher. She was critically
injured, which means that it was
likely a gruesome scene. These
students will all need extensive
counseling to understand and
deal with this trauma. For the
other students, teachers and par-
ents, this is also a traumatic expe-
rience, and many students may
no longer want to go to school.
What does this case sug-
gest for school safety in the
US broadly?
There were 302 shootings in
school property in 2022, more
than in any other year since
1970. Since 2017, the number of
shootings each year has signifi-
cantly increased. This pattern
matches the spiking rates of vio-
lent crime and gun crime across
the country. It is important to
remember that most shoot-
ings at schools are committed
by current or former students,
not outsiders breaking into the
building. Because of this, school
security plans need to include all
levels of schools and shootings
by all ages of students. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
tried to protect their students
from Russia’s forcible deporta-
tions of minors, a crime of geno-
cide under international law.
Courage has become synon-
ymous with global descriptions
of Ukrainian citizens enduring
war, and teachers exemplify this
everyday heroism. Still, Russia’s
targeting of Ukraine’s young-
est citizens unfortunately goes
much deeper than the physical
devastation of their schools,
kindergartens and nurseries. In
a survey of existing education-
al challenges, one brave parent
admitted, “I am really scared for
the future of our children.” ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
16 World News JANUARY 13, 2023 FRIDAY

Brazil: swift and robust response to the

insurrection highlights the strength of democracy
BY FELIPE TIRADO, King’s
College London
Philippine News Agency
Brazil’s state institutions, in-
cluding the recently installed gov-
ernment of Luiz Inácio “Lula” da
Silva, have reacted swiftly in the
wake of the riots in Brasilia last
weekend. Hundreds of rioters
have already been arrested and
the state governor of the federal
district has been suspended for his
sluggish and ineffective response.
Thousands of supporters of the
ousted right-wing former pres-
ident, Jair Bolsonaro, invaded
the the Plaza of the Three Pow-
ers – the heart of government in
the country’s capital – on Sunday
January 8. They swarmed into the
presidential Planalto palace as
well as the national congress and
federal supreme court buildings.
Policemen and journalists
covering the riot were injured
and weapons were stolen from
the presidential security office.
The bill for damage to public
buildings, works of art and co-
lonial-era furniture is likely to
run into millions of reals.
While shocking, the riot was
not unforeseen like the storming
of the US capitol in 2021. Academ-
ics, judges, journalists and poli-
ticians had all warned about its
possibility. Much of Bolsonaro’s
support base had not accepted the
result of last October’s election
and were openly discussing an
attempt to seize back power. The
US Capitol attack was repeatedly
held up as a cautionary tale.
The riots had varying degrees
of support from various sec-
tions of Brazil’s political right.
This included from business-
men, landowners, some of the
media and – in the most striking
difference to the US – members
of the armed forces and police.
Sections of the army appear
to have been complicit. For
months, anti-democratic groups
have been allowed to set up
camps around army barracks,
which, on some occasions, have
even defended the protesters
against the intervention of state
and municipal security forces.
The army should also have
been responsible for protect-
ing the presidential palace, but
were not deployed on Sunday
until the rioters had already in-
vaded the complex.
Similarly, the military police,
who are responsible for patrolling
assigned areas, also appear to have
been supportive of the rioters. Po-
lice officers were seen taking pic-
tures with rioters and there were
reports that the military police
even escorted some of them to the
Plaza of the Three Powers.
Some media organisations,
journalists and commentators
have been accused encouraged The National Congress of Brazil. (LOU GOLD/FLICKR, CC BY-NC 2.0)
of defending the anti-dem-
ocratic riot, notoriously the pressed outrage at the violence, cause the episode will strength-
right-wing Jovem Pan and some and members of the US con- en Lula’s legitimacy and allow
of its contributors. But most gress demanded the extradition him to use emergency mea-
journalists have been steadfast of Bolsonaro, who is currently sures to shore up his position.
in their support for democracy in Florida, to Brazil. Meanwhile State institutions were swift to
and the rule of law. Brazilian and international respond. The president issued a
Restoring order and de- commentators have argued decree mandating federal inter-
mocracy that this could be the beginning
Foreign governments ex- of the end of Bolsonarismo, be- ❱❱ PAGE 18 Brazil: swift and

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FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2023
Entertainment
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With
Somebody review – a fleeting glimpse
of queer black joy
BY HANNAH ROBBINS,
University of Nottingham
The Conversation
I Wanna Dance with Some-
body charts the life of global
superstar Whitney Houston in
an epic narrative of talent and
struggle. The film lays bare the
complexities of her rise and life
in the spotlight, including toxic
relationships with her parents,
substance use and her husband
Bobby Brown.
It also depicts Houston’s inti-
mate friendship – and romance
– with her early girlfriend, as-
sistant and creative director,
Robyn Crawford.
Although Houston’s relation-
ship with Crawford has been
public knowledge for some time,
biopics of queer musicians from
Cole Porter (Night and Day, 1946
and De-Lovely, 2004) to Freddie
Mercury (Bohemian Rhapsody,
2018) have dealt with their ro-
mantic and sexual histories with
caution, erasure and sometimes,
censorship.
First comes love
The film opens with Craw-
ford (Nafessa Williams) chat-
ting up Houston (Naomi Ack-
ie), after spotting her listening
to music in a square. Houston
is around 20 years old, still un-
signed and singing backup for
her mother, Cissy Houston, at
MMFF 2022 reaches P500-M gross sales
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The gross sales at
the recent Metro Manila Film
Festival (MMFF) has reached
its target of PHP500-million.
In a news release Monday,
Metropolitan Manila Devel-
opment Authority and MMFF
Sweetwater’s Club in New York.
They connect as they share
their love of basketball and mu-
sic and a montage reveals the
marital disagreements between
Houston’s parents, which led
her to move in with Crawford.
After she is signed to Arista
Records by Clive Davis (Stan-
ley Tucci) in April 1983, Hous-
ton wants to give Crawford an
all-access role in her profes-
sional life. Her father (who is
overseeing her business ar-
rangements) sets the condi-
tion that Houston must be seen
openly dating men.
John Houston (Clarke Pe-
ters) suspects that Houston and
Crawford’s relationship is not
platonic and was aware that gos-
sip magazines are beginning to
notice their closeness. He insists
it will harm her success if it were
even implied that Houston is ro-
mantically interested in women.
Shortly after, Houston re-
turns to home and tells Craw-
ford that she has slept with sing-
er Jermaine Jackson, leading to
their first big fight. Houston is
clear that she loves Crawford
but is also attracted to men and
craves the security she thinks a
male-female relationship (in-
cluding marriage and children)
will offer her.
Then comes marriage
Crawford is largely present
in I Wanna Dance With Some-
over-all chair Romando Artes
said the 2022 film festival is a
“certified box office hit”.
With the theme “Balik Saya,”
all the eight films were shown in
cinemas nationwide from Dec.
25, 2022 up to Jan. 7, 2023, and
now extended until Jan. 13, 2023.
Based on the gross sales re-
ceipts, Artes said the top four
body’s chronicling of Houston’s
life, as she manages the sing-
er’s day-to-day and helps her to
navigate the manipulation she
encounters. However, there is
fleeting tension as the women
each explore their own roman-
tic relationships.
Crawford is critical of Hous-
ton’s relationship with fellow
musician Bobby Brown, reluc-
tantly supporting her as the
singer insists that he is right
for her. However, unhappy with
Bobby’s controlling presence,
Crawford soon quits, leaving
Houston to fend for herself.
The initial joy we witness in
the early romance with Crawford
offers a glimpse of Houston as a
content and commanding per-
son who knows what she wants.
By contrast, the push and pull of
her relationships at the height of
her career show her floundering
as she negotiates the dynamics of
the people around her.
Kasi Lemmons’ direction
and Ackie’s performance pres-
ent Houston’s love for Craw-
ford and for Brown in equal
truth and frame their conflicts
through the right to the last
word in Houston’s ear. Howev-
er, because this film juggles so
many aspects of Houston’s life,
it probes little further into the
details of her ongoing relation-
ship with Crawford.
Instead, she is left in the
entries include Deleter, Family
Matters, Labyu with an Accent
and Partners in Crime.
“Rest assured that the MMFF
will exert all efforts by encourag-
ing our stakeholders, especially
the local entertainment indus-
try, to create quality films. I urge
each and every one of you to pa-
tronize Filipino films,” he said.
www.canadianinquirer.net
17
wings (quite literally in the fi- implied romantic (and sexual)
nal scene of the film), fighting connection.
for space against the narratives Crawford notices and is unre-
about drugs, fame, marriage, pentant. Yet, we glean no under-
abusive family and Houston’s standing of Houston’s feelings.
wish to be accepted and liked. Huston’s choice to keep
Didn’t we almost have it all Crawford with her, knowing
I Wanna Dance with Some- how she was received, is inter-
body depicts Whitney Hous- esting and messy. In fact, Craw-
ton’s bisexuality but never gives ford’s own autobiography, A
it proper life once she has de- Song for You (2019), chronicles
cided to exclusively date men.
Rather than showing Hous- ❱❱ PAGE 27 Whitney Houston: I
ton tease
out what
straight-passing
life might mean
for her and
slowly working
that out with
Crawford, the
film flattens
Houston’s reac-
tivity and pivots
their romance
to a romantic
friendship in
the cut of just
one scene.
Only Craw-
ford is shown
to feel strain or
whiplash. Later,
it is repeated-
ly implied that
the people who
disliked Craw-
ford objected to
her closeness to Whitney Houston’s mural at 45 William Street in Newark,
Houston and the New Jersey. (WALLY GOBETZ/FLICKR, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Meanwhile, Artes said the be guided accordingly,” he said.
MMDA would launch the Met- The Parade of Stars for the
ro Manila Summer Film Festi- MMFF Summer Edition will be
val in April, in partnership with held on April 1 and the Awards
Cinema Exhibitors Association Night on April 11.
of the Philippines. The Metro Manila Summer
“We will release the deadline Film Festival will run from
of submission of entries as ear- April 8 (Black Saturday) to April
ly as we can so that interested 18, in cinemas nationwide. ■
producers and filmmakers may
 18
Netflix’s The Pale Blue Eye uses
a fictional whodunnit to explore
the origins of Edgar Allan Poe
BY BRAN NICOL, University
of Surrey
The Conversation
Netflix’s The Pale Blue Eye is
an artist origin story with a dif-
ference.
The historical noir – set in
a beautifully rendered wintry
Hudson Highlands, New York –
imagines what might have hap-
pened if the young Edgar Allan
Poe (Harry Melling) had ingra-
tiated himself into the investi-
gation of the apparent suicide
of one of his fellow cadets at
West Point Military Academy.
The body is found hanging
from a tree by the banks of the
Hudson. Puzzlingly, the young
man’s feet appear to have been
on the ground, with his stiff
fingers clutching a fragment
of a note. His rib cage has been
surgically ripped open and the
heart removed.
Of course, this scene is not bi-
ographically accurate. But it is
suffused with the spirit of Poe.
The removed heart recalls
his masterful portrait in psy-
chopathy, The Tell-Tale Heart,
the story of a man so disturbed
by a lodging house mate’s pale
blue “vulture eye” that he kills
him and dismembers his body
so he can hide it under the
floorboards.
When the police arrive, he is
so convinced he can still hear the
dead man’s extracted heart beat-
Brazil: swift and..
❰❰ 16 vention in public se-
curity in Brasilia. The
number two in the jus-
tice ministry, Ricardo Cappelli,
has been given responsibility for
overseeing the state security.
Justice minister, Flávio Dino,
told a press conference that the
riot involved “acts of terror”. He
said the ministry would take nec-
essary measures to ensure the
maintenance of order in the cap-
ital and said Cappelli would be
given all assistance to ensure this.
Supreme court judge Alexan-
dre de Moraes suspended the
governor of Brasilia for 90 days
on the grounds of “gross mis-
Entertainment
Christian Bale in 2019. (JOHN BAULD/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0)
ing that he is driven to confess.
A Poe-esque plot
Poe’s life lends itself to impres-
sionistic, counterfactual treat-
ment, because many of its details
– not least his death in 1849 when
he was found wearing another
man’s suit – remain mysterious.
Others acknowledged in The
Pale Blue Eye, such as his fond-
ness for drink, his liking for fe-
male company, his tendency to
make enemies, are factually accu-
rate but do not quite explain the
dark places where his signature
writing obsessions came from.
We know, for example, what
really happened when Poe was
at West Point in 1830. He did
not even last a year.
Unwilling to continue his mil-
itary career, he made sure he was
conduct” during the crisis. Mo-
raes is responsible for leading
the investigation into anti-dem-
ocratic acts. He also ordered the
dismantling of the pro-Bolsona-
ro camps and roadblocks within
24 hours. Moraes argued that:
Every single responsible per-
son will be held accountable for
acts that threaten democracy,
the rule of law and institutions,
including wilful connivance – by
action or omission.
Lula and the presidents of
congress and the supreme court
met early yesterday morning to
discuss further measures. After
the meeting, they published a
court-martialed by neglecting his
duty and disobeying orders then
ensured dismissal was the only
outcome by pleading not guilty.
Poe’s dishonourable time at
West Point could lend itself to a
more conventional biopic, but this
would have missed what writer
and director Scott Cooper is real-
ly interested in: “the themes that
ultimately influence this young
unformed writer to become the
writer that he became”.
The Pale Blue Eye’s themes
indeed crop up repeatedly in
Poe’s work: occult ritual and
cryptograms, the border be-
tween sanity and insanity, the
image of the beautiful dead
woman – which Poe notorious-
ly described as “the most poeti-
cal topic in the world”.
note condemning the acts and
stating that the three branches
of government are “united so
that institutional measures are
taken, according to the law”.
January 8 has, if nothing else,
highlighted the anti-democratic
nature of Bolsonarismo. But it is
possible to take a positive view
of the swift and robust nature
in which Brazil’s institutions
reacted to this direct attack on
Brazil’s constitutional order. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Bringing Poe to life
For the most part Netflix’s film
sticks carefully to this brief. It con-
centrates on developing the who-
dunit, favouring loose Poe-esque
tropes over overt clichés (though
at one point a raven inevitably ap-
pears, croaking ominously).
The specific image of a pale
blue eye is evoked by the se-
ductive Lea Marquis’s (Lucy
Boynton) eyes and the “pierc-
ing look” of detective Augustus
Landor (Christian Bale).
It can be seen, too, in cinema-
tographer Masanobu Takayan-
agi’s evocative palette, where
the pale blue cloaks of the West
Point cadets contrast with the
monochrome winter setting.
A drawn, bearded Bale is men-
acing as Landor, the bereaved
detective called in to make
sense of the case. Harry Mel-
ling – known to viewers as Dud-
ley Dursey of the Harry Potter
franchise – is uncannily brilliant
as Poe, as if the iconic brooding
photographs of the author have
been brought to life.
Standing on Poe’s shoulders
Both men are drawn together
by a liking for drink and books as
well the process Poe called “ra-
tiocination” – a combination of
scientific reasoning and intuition.
With Poe playing the sidekick
and Landor the enigmatic de-
tective, the men form one of the
core coordinates of modern de-
tective fiction, which can be dat-
ed back to Poe’s groundbreaking
Galvez named new.. Senate sees need..
❰❰ 6 public servant, we are
confident that he will
be able to effectively
lead the Department as we ful-
fill our mandates to the nation,”
DND spokesperson Arsenio
Andolong said in a statement.
Andolong, meanwhile, thanked
Faustino for his service as the
agency’s officer-in-charge.
“On behalf of the entire One
Defense Team, we express our
deepest gratitude to Senior Un-
dersecretary Jose C. Faustino,
Jr. for his service and leader-
ship. We wish him the best in
his endeavors in the next chap-
ter of his life,” he added. ■
JANUARY 13, 2023 FRIDAY
1840s trilogy of detective stories
featuring his Sherlock Holmes
prototype C. Auguste Dupin
(whose name Bale’s Augustus
Landor partially evokes).
As more murders ensue, the
mystery deepens. Solving it re-
quires probing the family circle
of senior Academy official Dr
Daniel Marquis (Toby Jones)
and uncovering the nefarious
goings on of the Academy.
This far fetched excursion
takes The Pale Blue Eye into a
brand of horror which jars with
the brooding modern noir con-
ventions it began with.
The acting, which is mainly
excellent, becomes hammy. This
is most stark in the performance
of Gillian Anderson, who unac-
countably plays the matriarchal
Julia Marquis as if Charles Dick-
ens’s Miss Havisham has wan-
dered into West Point.
Poe was hugely influential in the
evolution of both the modern hor-
ror story and the crime thriller. Yet
bringing them together in this way
tips The Pale Blue Eye into ludi-
crous, overlong melodrama.
Poe’s preoccupations were
undoubtedly excessive. But in
trying to capture so many of
them, The Pale Blue Eye itself
lapses into an excess which
proves too much for one origin
story to support. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
❰❰ 8 natural heritage to
cultural mapping,
saying many cultur-
al communities are located in
protected areas.
Among the measures tackled
were Senate Bills No. 622 by Le-
garda, No. 117 by Senator Nancy
Binay and No. 1094 by Senator
Bong Revilla that call for the in-
tegration of cultural mapping
and cultural heritage education
program in the National Cultural
Heritage Act; and Legarda’s No.
624 to establish an institute for
living traditions and No. 242 to
institutionalize cultural educa-
tion in schools. ■
FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2023
Restaurant Review:
Le Crocodile — A Delectable Trip
to Fine Cuisine Wonderland
BY MATTE LAUREL-ZALKO
This 2023, Maria in Vancou-
ver will start writing about her
favourite restaurants in Vancou-
ver. She will also write about the
many places you can visit and
the many exciting activities you
can do in Vancouver. Maria in
Vancouver will also write about
the real-life stories of inspira-
tional Filipina women who sur-
vived against all odds. To start
2023 on a delicious note, Maria
in Vancouver will share with you
her flavoursome culinary expe-
rience in one of, if not, the best
French cuisine you could ever
taste in Vancouver!
Le Crocodile in Burrard Street
is the quintessential Vancouver-
ite foodie’s perennial French
cuisine destination in Vancou-
ver. It is definitely one of the top
fixtures in the Vancouver fine
dining scene. The owner, Chef
Michel Jacob, is considered as
one of Vancouver’s strongest
pillars of fine French cuisine. In-
cidentally, Chef Michel named
his restaurant after the finest
restaurant he had ever dined at
in his hometown of Strasbourg,
the three-star Michelin restau-
rant Au Crocodile.
I remember with great gastro-
nomic fondness when I used to
dine at Le Crocodile during my
late teens and early ‘20s when
it used to be on Thurlow Street
off Robson. Our mom, who is
the original foodie of Vancouver,
would often take us for lunch
at Le Crocodile in the late ‘80s
and early ‘90s. Forty years later,
I find myself still drawn to Le
Crocodile and this time, I usu-
ally dine there with my husband
and my only son, William. Over
the years, we celebrated birth-
days, anniversaries and even
just our simple weekend date
nights at Le Crocodile.
This unassuming fine dining
place is like a second home to me
albeit it serves the most orgasmic
cuisine one could ever experi-
ence in this lifetime! I swear, ev-
ery time I go there, my husband
gets jealous! He doesn’t approve
each time I go “oooohhhh” and
“ahhhhh” after every course! Yes,
I make love to my food, but only
to the finest cuisine!
Dining at Le Crocodile is like
being Alice in Wonderland — the
minute you enter the restau-
rant, it’s like Alice falling down
the rabbit hole and taking you
on a most delectable journey to
the Fine Cuisine Wonderland.
Le Chef Cuisinier. Master
Chef Michel Jacob is an institu-
tion in Vancouver’s culinary cui-
sine. He is France’s most famous
import to Vancouver! He is one
of the main reasons Le Crocodile
has enjoyed longevity in such
a fickle-minded world — the
restaurant industry. He built Le
Crocodile from scratch in 1983
with the sole purpose of creating
long-lasting relationships with
its diners and elevating French
cuisine to a high standard. And
boy, he did it through forty years
of consistency in food, beverage
and service; he’s always focused,
disciplined, and strives for per-
fection on a daily basis. Chef Mi-
chel has immeasurable respect
for his peers and above all, for
himself.
He has trained the best chefs
in Vancouver: Executive Chef
Ned Bell, Executive Chef Rob
Feenie, and Executive Chef Da-
vid Hawksworth to name a few.
In fact, these highly acclaimed
chefs have described that train-
ing and learning from Chef Mi-
chel Jacob is akin to learning at
Harvard University. In addition
to his numerous culinary awards
and being a member of the B.C.
Restaurant Hall of Fame, Chef
Michel Jacob was named an offi-
cer in the Ordre du Mérite agri-
cole by the French government
in 2020 for showcasing the fin-
est Alsatian French cuisine us-
ing only the finest ingredients
from his home country.
The ambiance. This is what
makes Le Crocodile special. It’s
devoid of anything ostentatious
and extravagant. There are no
expensive chandeliers dangling
from the ceiling or modern over-
19
the-top decorations. Far from your dining experience right! in heavenly ecstasy! It was my
it. It’s so understated and yet, it The Appetizers. On my hus- turn to get jealous!
has that chic homeliness appeal band’s birthday dinner treat, For yours truly, I went for the
and romantic vibe. It’s where un- my husband chose his all-time more exotic warm appetizer, the
pretentious people go. You won’t favourite, the Beef Tenderloin Garlic Sautéed Frog Legs with
find any social climbers at Le Steak Tartare, specially made chive butter and tomato fon-
Crocodile. Instead, you’ll most to order and served with classic dant. Yum is an understatement!
likely bump into your parents’ garnishes. Le Crocodile serves It is actually an extremely com-
friends or business associates the best and the freshest steak mon delicacy in French cuisine.
and that’s what makes it different tartare! Chef Michel doesn’t cut I compared it to chicken wings,
and unique. The decor is remi- corners with his steak tartare — as their texture and structure
niscent of a chic Parisienne bis- he serves only the best beef ten- were quite similar. But what
tro — the kind that you will find derloin as it is the only best cut truly blew my mind was the way
at Le Marais on the 3rd and 4th of beef for tartare. It is the most Chef Michel flavoured this deli-
Arrondissements. Its’ ambiance tender cut of beef and contains cious delicacy with the combi-
is partly what attracts high-pro- just the right amount of fat for nation of chive butter melting in
file celebrities such as Holly- flavour. Chef Michel creates your mouth and the tomato fon-
wood stars, royalty, the beautiful the silkiest texture tartare in dant giving you that tangy yet
crowd, politicians, and Canada’s the whole of North America. balanced taste. The magical fla-
movers and shakers to dine here He prepares it as a traditional vour itself makes you forget that
because they’re left alone and not European-style Steak Tartare you’re feasting on frogs’ legs — if
gawked at by other diners. recipe made with good-qual- you find that kind of delicacy
The food. The cuisine is tradi- ity beef tenderloin, shallots, icky. However, for me, it is what
tional and classic French Alsatian capers, and raw egg yolk that I imagine would feel like if I sud-
food as the multi-award-winning helps to hold the chopped beef denly died and went to heaven!
Master Chef Michel hails from and other ingredients altogeth- It was so delicate, so tasty and so
Strasbourg, Alsace in France. er. The end result? Well, I’ve buttery. I kept ordering bread to
While we’ve been to Le Croco- never seen my husband close
dile numerous times, I’m going his eyes so many times as if he’s ❱❱ PAGE 21 Restaurant Review:
to base this review on our recent
visit to celebrate my husband’s
birthday last December 29, 2022.
Amuse-bouche. Le Crocodile
won’t be Le Crocodile without
the customary amuse-bouche.
For that special occasion, we
had the privilege of having the
goat cheese and chive tarts. This
amuse-bouche deserves its own
spotlight. It’s not your ordinary
tart for that matter. This goat
cheese and chive tart truly melts
in your mouth. It might be a small
bite, but it sure packs big and in-
teresting flavours — so definitely
ringing endorsements here! This
is how Chef Michel starts to cast
his spell on you. The combined
flavours of the cheese and chives
force you to give that first orgas-
mic “ohhhhh” for the night. To
make it a perfect start, my hus-
band paired it with a dry Martini
— James Bond’s Vesper Martini
— shaken, not stirred. Yours truly
paired it with Crémant D’Alsace
Rosé from France. Très merveil-
leux! You know it’s a truly fine
dining experience if they serve
you an amuse-bouche to start The interior of Le Crocodile (MATTE LAUREL-ZALKO)
20
‘Drowning for love’ – 5 ways to protect
your life while you’re trying to rescue
someone in trouble in the water
BY AMY PEDEN, UNSW
Sydney, ROB BRANDER,
UNSW Sydney
The Conversation
The news headlines show
summer is a deadly period for
drowning in Australia. Sadly, be-
tween December 1 and January 9,
35 people died due to drowning.
There are a range of reasons
why the season is one of height-
ened risk for water-related in-
cidents. Our research shows
drowning risk is twice as high
for children during school holi-
days and similarly increased for
adults on public holidays.
People may be more likely
to visit unfamiliar places and
waterways not patrolled by life-
guards. They may seek relief in
the water on hot days and con-
sume alcohol while swimming,
fishing or boating. Such risks
can, and do, lead to tragedy at
our beaches, rivers and pools.
Two recent summer trage-
dies have involved bystanders
who have drowned trying to
rescue someone from the surf.
On January 1, an off-duty police
officer drowned while rescuing
his son who was caught in a rip
current at a beach south of Na-
rooma, New South Wales.
Just a few days later, a man
drowned after trying to rescue
his daughter from a rip current
at Black Head Beach on the
NSW mid-north coast. A nearby
surfer was able to bring the girl
Lifestyle
ashore, but returned to assist her
father and found him unrespon-
sive. Both incidents involved rip
currents at unpatrolled beaches
and bystanders who drowned
trying to save a child.
Researchers have a name for
this tragic scenario: Aquatic
Victim Instead of Rescuer syn-
drome or “drowning for love”.
One chance, 5 ways to pro-
tect yourself
On average five people drown
while performing a bystander
rescue each year in Australia.
Our research shows most
people who rescue others will
perform only one rescue in
their lifetime. Their altruism
will most likely be directed
to family members including
young children. Men are more
likely to perform a rescue at a
coastal location, while women
are more likely to save a child
struggling in a swimming pool.
So what steps can you take to
reduce your risk of needing to per-
form a rescue in the first place? If
you do need to perform a rescue –
and most parents will want to do
anything necessary to save a child
– how do you do so safely?
Here are five evidence-based
tips to help you avoid danger
this summer:
1. Choose a patrolled beach
The guidance for beach safety
in Australia tells us to “swim be-
tween the red and yellow flags”.
Unfortunately, few beaches in
Australia outside of populated
areas are patrolled by lifeguards
(who are paid professionals) or
lifesavers (volunteers affiliated
with community clubs).
Our research also shows peo-
ple choose to swim at unpa-
trolled beaches because they are
closer to their holiday accommo-
dation or are less busy. Worry-
ingly, many of those we surveyed
at unpatrolled beaches were in-
frequent beachgoers with poor
rip current hazard identification
skills. Many did not observe safe-
ty signage, yet intended to enter
the water knowing no lifeguard
was present.
If you’re heading to the beach,
plan your trip. Consult resourc-
es such as BeachSafe or down-
load the app to find your nearest
patrolled beach. It’s worth the
extra 15 minute drive to find one.
2. Understand rips and
learn how to spot them
Rip currents, or rips, are
strong, narrow offshore flowing
www.canadianinquirer.net
currents that exist on many of
the world’s beaches.
They begin close to the shore-
line and flow offshore to the end
of the surf zone (where waves
are breaking) and various dis-
tances beyond. They are a global
phenomenon because they are
found on any beach with waves
breaking across a surf zone.
Rip currents can be notori-
ously difficult to spot and are of-
ten appealing to swimmers due
to the calm appearance of the
water. They are dangerous be-
cause they can sweep even the
strongest swimmer out to sea.
Learn how to spot a rip and,
if in doubt, swim between the
flags or speak to locals who
know the safest places to swim.
3. Stay calm and make a plan
In the heat of the moment, it
can be hard to think logically.
But it’s imperative to take a mo-
ment to assess the situation.
JANUARY 13, 2023 FRIDAY
There are a range of rescues
you can make without having to
enter the water. These include
talking to the person in trou-
ble, throwing them something
buoyant, wading or rowing to
them or reaching out.
If you do need to enter the
water, ensure someone else
calls for help.
4. Take a flotation device
with you
Our research shows those who
drown while performing a rescue
on the coast usually do not take a
flotation device with them.
When adrenaline wears off
and exhaustion kicks in, or if
you need to support the weight
of another person, having add-
ed buoyancy is vital. If you have
a traditional flotation device
such as a life jacket or boogie
or surfboard, that’s great. If
not, the humble esky or cooler,
a pool noodle or even an emp-
ty soft drink bottle can provide
some flotation assistance.
5. Learn how to perform CPR
Many people are alive today
after almost drowning due to
quick and effective cardiopul-
monary resuscitation (CPR).
First aid and CPR skills can as-
sist someone who has been res-
cued from the water while you
await emergency services.
While any attempt is better
than no attempt, hands-on-
ly CPR (chest compressions
without rescue breaths) is not
❱❱ PAGE 27 ‘Drowning for love’
FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2023
How to unlock your creativity – even if you
see yourself as a conventional thinker
BY LILY ZHU, Washington
State University
The Conversation
Do you think that creativity
is an innate gift? Think again.
Many people believe that cre-
ative thinking is difficult – that
the ability to come up with ideas
in novel and interesting ways
graces only some talented indi-
viduals and not most others.
The media often portrays
creatives as those with quirky
personalities and unique talent.
Researchers have also identified
numerous personality traits that
are associated with creativity,
such as openness to new experi-
ences, ideas and perspectives.
Together, they seem to paint
a dire picture for those who
consider themselves conven-
tional thinkers, as well as those
who do not work in creative
occupations – including roles
that are often considered tradi-
tional and noncreative, such as
accountants and data analysts.
Restaurant Review:..
❰❰ 19 finish off the sauce! We
paired our appetizers
and main courses with
Crémant de Bourgogne Bailly La
Pierre Brut. Absolutely divine.
Match made in heaven.
The Second Course. Second
courses or secondi are usually
confined to Italian fine dining.
But since we’re at Le Croco-
dile, we wanted to try as much
delicious food as we could. The
best thing at Le Crocodile is
that they’re always accommo-
dating to your requests. On my
husband’s birthday dinner, we
requested a pasta dish to share
as a second course. That night,
we were offered a thin artisanal
pasta cooked simply as aglio
e olio with two big prawns to
share. It was utterly delightful!
It was a perfect dish to have as
a break from the appetizers and
the forthcoming main courses.
The pasta was cooked al dente
with just the right amount of
olive oil and the freshest and
most succulent prawns. It was
so delicious and so yummy, my
husband wanted more!
The Entrée. For his main
course, my husband chose the
These beliefs miss a key part
of how creativity actually works
in your brain: Creative thinking
is actually something you en-
gage in every day, whether you
realize it or not.
Moreover, creativity is a skill
that can be strengthened. This
matters even for people who
don’t consider themselves cre-
ative or who aren’t in creative
fields.
In research that I recently pub-
lished with organization and man-
agement scholars Chris Bauman
and Maia Young, we found that
simply reinterpreting a frustrating
situation can enhance the creativi-
ty of conventional thinkers.
Using creative thinking to
cope with emotions
Creativity is often defined as
the generation of ideas or in-
sights that are novel and useful.
That is, creative thoughts are
original and unexpected, but
also feasible and useful.
Everyday examples of creativ-
ity are plentiful: combining left-
over food to make a tasty new
Grilled BC Salmon served with
Brunoise fingerling potato, fresh
thyme, and virgin sauce. His ver-
dict: it was the perfect balance
of buttery-rich salmon and that
smoky grill flavour. It definitely
had that distinctive and much
more pronounced and strong fish
flavour, just the way he wanted it!
My husband also greatly appre-
ciated the Moroccan-style cous-
cous that went with it. Coming
from the Middle East, he said it
brought fond childhood cuisine
memories from back home.
For moi, I opted for the tradi-
tional pan-seared dry-aged 16oz
Ribeye, butter based with béar-
naise sauce. I am a certified meat
lover. I love a great steak. Medi-
um rare please — the only way a
proper steak should be cooked.
My steak arrived as a warm, red
centre steak that oozes with
juicy, beef-forward flavour. It
was definitely soft and juicy on
the inside and firm on the out-
side. My perfect medium rare dry
aged 16oz steak came with two
kinds of French Pomme frites
(the skinny shoestring and the
classic), spinach salad and béar-
naise sauce on the side. It would
dish, coming up with a new way
to accomplish chores, mixing
old outfits to create a new look.
Another way you do this is
when you practice what’s called
“emotional reappraisal” – viewing
a situation through another lens
to change your feelings. There is
actually an element of creativity
to this: You’re breaking away from
your existing perspectives and as-
sumptions and coming up with a
new way of thinking.
Say you’re frustrated about a
parking ticket. To alleviate the
bad feelings, you can think of
the fine as a learning moment.
If you’re anxious about a pre-
sentation for work, you can cope
with the anxiety by framing it as
an opportunity to share ideas,
rather than as a high-stakes per-
formance that could result in
demotion if handled poorly.
And if you’re angry that some-
one seemed unnecessarily com-
bative in a conversation, you might
reevaluate the situation, coming to
view the behavior as unintentional
rather than malicious.
definitely be my last dish if I were
asked to have one. My husband
teased me and said at that partic-
ular moment, he reminded me of
Meg Ryan’s lead character, Sally
“in that scene” from the hit mov-
ie, “When Harry Met Sally”!
Cleansing the palate. Aside
from the customary amuse-
bouche, expect to have the cool-
ing sorbet palate cleanser after
the main course in a fine dining
French restaurant. Then, you’ll
know that you’re definitely in a
world-class fine dining French
restaurant. On that special night,
my husband and I were treated
to Chef Michel’s mouth-water-
ing pear sorbet. Needless to say,
it was light and refreshing, an
ideal follow-up to an out-of-this-
world main course.
Le Dessert. My husband
chose the most exquisite, rich,
creamy custard filling inside
the light, airy, crispy, perfectly
baked choux pastry shells, and
then drizzled with a luscious
chocolate sauce on top — Le
Crocodile’s famous chocolate
profiteroles. For me, I stuck
with Le Crocodile’s traditional
soufflé which came out perfect-
www.canadianinquirer.net
Lifestyle
Training your creative
muscles
To test the link between cre-
ative thinking and emotional
reappraisal, we surveyed 279
people. Those who ranked
higher on creativity tended to
reappraise emotional events
more often in their daily life.
Inspired by the link between
emotional reappraisal and cre-
ly puffed and brown with the
fluffiest and softest centre! One
could only imagine that this is
probably what it would taste
like if one were to eat sweet and
delicious air! What can one say,
my husband and I chose the
best of both worlds!
Le Service Extraordinaire.
Forty years later, with some of
the original staff still here, my
husband is still buddies with Le
Crocodile’s original staff such
as the ever-charming Pierre! He
truly epitomises service with a
heart. Pierre is always consistent
with his top-notch service. He
knows his food and wine like the
back of his hand. He makes sure
that you have the best dining ex-
perience you could ever have in
your life and even escorts you
out of the restaurant after your
meal. Now, that’s a real special
touch that could only come from
someone who really loves what
he does and takes pride in what
he does. Pierre is extremely loy-
al to the Le Crocodile brand and
will surely go over and beyond to
provide you with such exempla-
ry service.
In fact, the whole team will
21
ative thinking, we wanted to see
whether we could use this insight
to develop ways to help people be
more creative. In other words,
could emotional reappraisal be
practiced by people in order to
train their creative muscles?
We ran two experiments
in which two new samples of
❱❱ PAGE 22 How to unlock
go over and beyond to serve you
from their hearts — the manag-
er, Sandy, and the receptionist,
Sofia, are absolutely fantastic!
They are friendly and accommo-
dating. The other long-time Le
Crocodile team member, Bryan,
will also give you exceptional
service if you happen to sit in
his area. My husband and I have
known this A-team for years!
Lastly, the (in)famous Le
Crocodile milk and dark choc-
olates. I only have one word for
this unique end-of-meal treat:
SINFUL! At Le Crocodile, they
really know how to pamper you
from start to finish. And this is
why we keep coming back for
more! To dearest Chef Michel
Jacob and the Le Crocodile fa-
mille, merci mille fois from our
hearts! C’est vraiment très bon.
Truly c’est délicieux!■
Matte Laurel-Zalko is a former
restaurateur and hotelier, a moth-
er, a wife, a health and wellness
aficionado, food and wine enthu-
siast, a dog-lover, and lifestyle col-
umnist exclusively for Philippine
Canadian Inquirer (PCI).
 22
Help! My kid won’t read
chapter books. What do I do?
BY HELEN HARPER,
University of New England,
BRONWYN PARKIN,
University of Adelaide,
PAULINE JONES, University
of Wollongong, SUSAN FEEZ,
University of New England
The Conversation
Many children start school
excited about learning to read.
And parents too! After many
years of reading and re-reading
(seemingly ad nauseam) favou-
rite picture books aloud, it’s
thrilling to see your child devel-
op their own reading skills.
But what if they seem to be
“stuck” on books that still use lots
of illustrations, such as graphic
novels, comics or picture books?
Many parents fret about
their child still not having fall-
en in love with chapter books.
You might mourn the fact they
still aren’t reading the books
you loved as a child – the Roald
Dahl classics, the Narnia books
or more recent releases such as
the Harry Potter series.
But the fact is, it’s counter-
productive to push your child
to read a whole chapter book
independently if they are not
ready. You might turn them off
reading altogether. Here’s what
to do instead.
Yes, chapter books are im-
portant. But don’t rush
Chapter books are an im-
portant step in learning to read.
They introduce increasingly
complex storylines, themes,
characters and settings.
They expand children’s vocab-
ulary (which is essential for devel-
oping reading comprehension).
How to unlock..
❰❰ 21 participants – 512 in
total – encountered
scenarios designed to
provoke an emotional response.
We tasked them with using one
of three approaches to manage
their emotions. We told some
participants to suppress their
emotional response, others to
think about something else to
distract themselves and the last
group to reappraise the situation
by looking at it through a differ-
ent lens. Some participants were
also given no instructions on
Lifestyle
Importantly, when texts
have no pictures, children must
rely on decoding (recognising
sound-letter relationships) to
make sense of the words.
This helps with developing
reading fluency (reading accu-
rately with expression at a pace
that allows for comprehension),
and developing reading stamina
(maintaining comprehension
over longer passages of text).
But the transition to chapter
books can be daunting for children.
It’s a big leap from picture books,
where so much meaning is carried
in the illustrations, to books where
readers rely solely on the print to
make sense of the text.
Your child may not be ready
to read entire chapter books in-
dependently. They may still not
have developed what researchers
call “automaticity” in their decod-
ing skills (reading words without
having to sound them out).
Automaticity frees up men-
tal space for paying attention to
meaning. In other words, if you
have to stop and sound words
out all the time, it’s hard to fol-
low the plot and can take the
fun out of reading.
Here are some ways you can
help your child develop the
skills they need to read and en-
joy chapter books.
Choose books that support
the transition
Many books are designed to
support young readers, with
short chapters featuring plenty
of images.
There are picture books for
older children, and don’t be
frightened of graphic novels.
As well as visual richness, they
often offer sophisticated sto-
how to manage their feelings.
In a seemingly unrelated task
that followed, we asked the par-
ticipants to come up with creative
ideas to solve a problem at work.
In the experiments, conven-
tional thinkers who tried reap-
praisal came up with ideas that
were more creative than other
conventional thinkers who used
suppression, distraction or re-
ceived no instructions at all.
Cultivating flexible thinking
Negative emotions are inevi-
table in work and life. Yet peo-
rylines and themes.
Visit your local library and
ask the children’s librarian for
suggestions.
Share the reading, make it
fun and keep the conversa-
tion going
Share the reading; you read
a page or a paragraph, and they
read a page or a paragraph, or
even just a sentence or two.
This makes reading less over-
whelming for kids, but still al-
lows them to practise.
Plan reading time so it doesn’t
compete with distractions such
as screen time or siblings.
Your child may even like to
help read a story to a younger
sibling or to grandparents via
Zoom.
Read alongside your child so
you can share ideas about the
story, author or series.
Talk with your child about
movies, video games, images,
art and comics. All of this talk
helps build vocabulary and
knowledge, which help them
tackle more challenging texts.
Respect their interests
and keep it positive
Let your child explore the
books they’re interested in.
Some children are not keen
on fiction, and prefer to read
about science or the world
around them. These kinds of
texts also help develop vocabu-
lary and complex language.
Remember, reading for plea-
sure is associated with overall
reading attainment and writing
ability. It’s a big part of becom-
ing a lifetime reader.
Yes, you can still suggest
books to your child. But don’t
get upset if they say no, and defi-
ple often hide their negative
feelings from others, or use dis-
traction to avoid thinking about
their frustrations.
Our findings have implica-
tions for how managers can
think about how to best leverage
the skills of their workers. Man-
agers commonly slot job can-
didates into creative and non-
creative jobs based on cues that
signal creative potential. Not
only are these cues shaky pre-
dictors of performance, but this
hiring practice may also limit
www.canadianinquirer.net
nitely don’t insult their tastes
by putting down their favourite
books and authors.
Whatever their response,
keep the conversation channels
open and help them feel confi-
dent about their own choices.
Check your own anxiety
levels and accept it takes time
Children can pick up on pa-
rental anxiety about academic
achievement.
Anxiety takes up mental
space and interferes with your
child’s work as they practise
more challenging reading.
Children may seem to master
their sounds and letters quickly,
but still need years of schooling
to develop the knowledge and
language they need for skilled
reading comprehension. They
also need time to get used to the
pages of full print and the small-
er font size in chapter books.
Accept that learning to read
Lots of kids still delight in books that rely heavily on visual aids, such as comics,
graphic novels and picture books.
managers’ access to employees
whose knowledge and experi-
ence can play major roles in gen-
erating creative outcomes.
The result is that the creative
potential of a significant part of
the workforce may be underuti-
lized. Our findings suggest that
supervisors can develop training
and interventions to cultivate
creativity in their employees –
even for those who might not
seem predisposed to creativity.
Our research also indicates
that people can practice flexible
JANUARY 13, 2023 FRIDAY
is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s
big work for a young person.
What if I’m still worried?
If you are really worried
about your child’s reading, talk
to their teacher and consider
if a sight or hearing test is war-
ranted (to check they can see
the letters and discriminate
language sounds).
If your child does have de-
coding difficulties, a systemat-
ic approach to learning about
sound-letter relationships, and
practice in reading accurately
and fluently is important.
In the end, though, your most
important role is to give time
and encouragement, to main-
tain an interest and enjoyment
in reading together and inde-
pendently. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
thinking every day when they
experience negative emotions.
Although people may not al-
ways have control over the ex-
ternal circumstances, they do
have the liberty to choose how
to cope with emotional situ-
ations – and they can do so in
ways that facilitate their pro-
ductivity and well-being. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2023
Familiarity with Cone to help
Brownlee in FIBA WCQ
BY IVAN STEWART
SALDAJENO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Justin Brownlee
will have to learn a different
basketball system once he suits
up for Gilas Pilipinas in the
February window of the FIBA
World Cup Qualifiers.
He, however, will not be alone
in adjusting to coach Chot Reyes’
dribble-drive offense as no less
than his coach at Ginebra, Tim
Cone, will be with him as well.
Chess IM Jem Garcia
off to a good start
BY JEAN MALANUM
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – International
Master Jan “Jem” Emmanuel
Garcia kicked off his campaign
this year with a title victory
at the Sir Herky Del Mundo
Memorial Open rapid chess
tournament held at the Open
Kitchen Foodhall in Rockwell
Business Center, Mandaluyong
City last Jan. 3.
The 27-year-old Garcia, who
serves as program head of the
Ateneo de Manila Universi-
ty chess team, registered 6.5
points to claim the gold medal
and PHP10,000 in cash in the
event participated by the coun-
try’s top leading players.
He defeated Woman National
Master Antonella Berthe Raca-
sa, Arena Grandmaster Joselito
Asi, Jerry Areque, IM Ricardo
de Guzman, IM Ronald Dableo
and National Master Mark Jay
Bacojo, and drew with Joseph
Lawrence Rivera.
IM Richilieu Salcedo III,
Dableo, Grandmaster Roge-
lio Antonio Jr., Bacojo and De
Guzman were tied for second
Sports
Cone and Jong Uichico have
been tapped to help Reyes coach
Gilas in the February window
and the FIBA World Cup itself
from Aug. 25-Sept. 10.
“Having coach Tim is a big
plus. He knows me inside and
out now, and he’s coaching me
since 2016,” Brownlee told the
Philippine News Agency in a re-
cent interview.
Brownlee, however, said he
also looks forward to being
coached by Reyes.
“He’s a great coach here in
the Philippines and interna-
to sixth places with identical
6.0 points. IM Daniel Quizon
was seventh followed by Rivera,
FIDE Master Jeth Romy Mora-
do and IM Barlo Nadera.
“I always try to give my best
in every tournament. Even
though there are Grandmasters
in the tournament, as one of the
top players of the country, I be-
lieve I can win any tournament
as long as I play well,” said Gar-
cia in an interview on Monday.
Born in Quezon City, Gar-
cia is the second among three
children of Florand, a lawyer,
(JEM GARCIA/FACEBOOK)
tionally as well, so I’m just look-
ing forward to trying to soak up
as much game and knowledge
as I can from both [coaches
Chot and Tim],” Brownlee said.
He also believes that the
Reyes-Cone tandem, which be-
gan in the late 80s when Cone
was coaching Alaska with Reyes
as an assistant, will benefit Gilas
in its bid for the FIBA World Cup.
“We got two head coaches in
one coaching staff. That’s a big
plus,” he said. “I’m blessed to be
coached by coaches... in the na-
tional team. With coach Chot,
and Elizabeth, an employee at
the Supreme Court. His father
taught him how to play chess at
the age of four.
“My first international tour-
nament was the Asean Age
Group Chess Championships in
Jakarta, Indonesia when I was
10 years old,” shared Garcia,
who finished grade school at
San Beda College.
In 2007, he won a gold med-
al and was named Outstanding
Rookie and Most Valuable Play-
❱❱ PAGE 26 Chess IM Jem
www.canadianinquirer.net
Basketball player Justin Brownlee (AVITO DALAN/PNA)
I’m very blessed to have some
great minds to be on the team.”
Brownlee is currently awaiting
the signature of President Fer-
Filipinas placed
in Pot 1 of Olympic
qualifier draw
BY IVAN STEWART
SALDAJENO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippine
women’s football team is on
track to cruising past the first
round of the Paris Olympic
qualifiers this April.
The Filipinas, ranked 53rd in
the world and 11th in Asia, have
been placed in Pot 1 of the up-
coming group draw on Thursday
at the Asian Football Confedera-
tion headquarters in Kuala Lum-
pur along with Vietnam, Chinese
Taipei, Thailand, Myanmar, Uz-
bekistan and India.
In Pot 2 are Iran, Jordan, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, Nepal, Kyrgyz-
stan and Mongolia while Pot 3
consists of Palestine, Singapore,
Turkmenistan, Bangladesh, Leb-
anon, Tajikistan and Timor Leste.
The last pot, Pot 4, consists
of Sri Lanka, Maldives, Paki-
stan, Bhutan and the unranked
squad Afghanistan.
With the FIFA Women’s
23
dinand R. Marcos Jr. or for the
legislative bill seeking his natu-
ralization to lapse into law so he
can be eligible to play for Gilas. ■
World Cup-bound Filipinas in
Pot 1, they are expected to top
the group they would end up in
in the first round of the Olym-
pic qualifiers from April 3-11.
The top team from each of the
seven first-round groups will join
outright second-round qualifiers
North Korea, Japan, Australia,
China, and South Korea in the
next phase of the Road to Paris.
The 12 second-round teams
will be divided into three
groups of four, and the top
team from each group plus the
best second placer will dispute
the two Olympic spots in two
home-and-away playoff series.
The team formerly known by
the moniker “Malditas” made it
to the second round of the To-
kyo Olympic qualifiers but failed
to make the Final 4 after bowing
to Chinese Taipei in their last
match in the said round.
The Filipinas would get back
at Chinese Taipei in the quarter-
finals of the AFC Women’s Asian
Cup to clinch their first appear-
ance in the FIFA WWC. ■
24
World in transition to new economic
order amid multiple crises
ANADOLU
Philippine News Agency
LONDON – The right word to
describe the current period of
multiple convergent crises sur-
rounding the global economy
is a “transition” and action by
central banks in tandem with
the resilience of labor markets
and the re-balancing of sup-
ply chains will be among the
factors deciding what kind of
economic order this transition
will result in, World Economic
Forum (WEF) Managing Direc-
tor Mirek Dusek told Anadolu
Agency in an interview.
Dusek’s remarks came ahead
of the WEF’s Annual Meeting
2023 which will take place from
Jan. 16-20 in Davos, Switzer-
land with the theme “Coopera-
tion in a Fragmented World.”
“The WEF’s Annual Meet-
ing 2023 in Davos will convene
against the backdrop of a chal-
lenging economic outlook, and
the program will reflect that
reality in focusing on the dual
imperatives of making the right
decisions for economies, com-
panies and communities to get
through these complex times
while simultaneously maintain-
ing the ability to make major in-
vestments in the future,” he said.
PH taps foreign fund sources for 2nd time
under Marcos admin
BY JOANN VILLANUEVA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippine
government on Monday an-
nounced its benchmark of-
fering for a multi-year United
States dollar-denominated Re-
public of the Philippine (ROP)
bond, the second under the ad-
Business
The global economy has been
under pressure due to multiple
crises involving food, energy
supply security, the cost of living,
high inflation and the climate.
Supply shortages in energy
markets have been reaching re-
cord levels for more than a year
globally, while Russia’s war on
Ukraine has deepened the prob-
lems in the supply and demand
balance, leading to further sky-
rocketing prices in energy mar-
kets, particularly for natural gas.
Dutch Title Transfer Facili-
ty (TTF) natural gas prices had
skyrocketed to €342 ($364) per
megawatt-hour as of Aug. 26,
2022, a dramatic rise from the
€30/MWh level a year earlier.
After sharp increases during
the last year, prices had fallen to
€69/MWh as of Jan. 6, thanks
to a milder winter and high
storage levels in Europe.
The price increases in food
and energy markets are the main
drivers of the decades-high in-
flation around the world.
According to Dusek, the mul-
tiple convergent crises with
interconnected causes are af-
fecting millions worldwide, es-
pecially those living in the most
vulnerable regions.
“Just as the causes of these
crises are interconnected, so
too are their solutions, and we
ministration of President Fer-
dinand Marcos Jr.
Data released to journalists
showed that proceeds of the
5.5-year, 10.5-year and 25-year
bonds, with the latter a part of
the government’s sustainable fi-
nancing framework, will be used
to help boost financing for the
various government programs
as well as refinance previously
must converge on identifying
and acting on measures that
will not only mitigate the risk of
such crises moving forward, but
even more important, enable us
to articulate and implement a
new growth, jobs and security
agenda for the future,” he said.
Focusing on sustainable
transition to address crises
Dusek said accelerating the
transition to clean energy, main-
streaming breakthrough tech-
nological innovations and in-
troducing effective diplomatic
mechanisms for a more compet-
itive world are among the action
areas that can help the world
emerge from this period of uncer-
tainty with increased resilience.
He described the current sit-
uation as a “transition.”
“Action by central banks in
tandem with the resilience of
labor markets and the nature of
supply chains’ reshuffling will be
among the factors deciding what
kind of economic order this
transition will result in,” Dusek
said, while calling for effective
government policies to recog-
nize the current conditions as
an opportunity to implement
“much-needed policy reform.”
“First and foremost, policy
should support the transition to
more sustainable energy sourc-
es with the aim of decoupling
issued sustainability bond.
Initial price guidance for the
bond maturing in June 2028 is
additional 155 basis points over
the same tenor US Treasury,
while pricing for the one matur-
ing in 2033 is 195 percent higher
than the same tenor Treasuries.
Initial pricing for the 25-year
bond is at around 5.950 per-
cent, the document showed.
www.canadianinquirer.net
economic growth from energy
consumption as well as reduc-
ing carbon emissions to address
climate change,” he said.
“In this regard, the recent deep
concern around energy insecuri-
ty stemming from economic and
geopolitical shocks should pro-
vide momentum to accelerate
movement towards a more sus-
tainable energy model.”
The crises are global in their
impact in an unprecedented way,
and policies should also be pur-
sued in as cooperative a manner
as possible among governments
worldwide, Dusek said.
“We have already seen central
banks worldwide working in tan-
dem to combat inflation, and wid-
er government policy to address
Joint lead managers and joint
bookrunners are BofA Securities,
Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs,
HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Standard
Chartered Bank and UBS.
This is the second time the
current administration tapped
the international capital mar-
ket to finance its programs after
it borrowed USD2 billion worth
of five-year, 10.5-year and 25-
JANUARY 13, 2023 FRIDAY
systemic global issues should also
maximize opportunities for coor-
dinated action,” he added.
Central banks have adopted a
policy of hiking rates in a bid to
tame surging inflation.
Dusek said that amid these
crises, the WEF’s mission of
fostering public-private coop-
eration has never been more
important or urgent, both to
navigate the present crises and
to drive tangible, system-posi-
tive change moving forward.
“Bringing together a wide
range of stakeholders is key
to forging understanding and
alignment, scaling innovation
and finding proactive solutions
to our common issues through
tangible action,” he added. ■
year dollar-denominated bond,
with the latter an environ-
mental, social and governance
(ESG) bond, in October 2022.
The government has set a
PHP2.207-trillion borrowing
program for this year, PHP1.654
trillion will be sourced from
domestic fund sources while
PHP553.5 billion is accounted
for by foreign borrowings. ■
FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2023
Tesla: what 2023 holds for the electric vehicle
company and why it might be time for Musk to go
BY PETER WELLS, Cardiff
University
The Conversation
If share price is anything to
go by, Tesla is in trouble. The
market capitalisation of the
electric vehicle (EV) company
has fallen by 73% from its re-
cord high in November 2021,
causing concern for investors.
On the face of it, there is
no crisis. The cars are still the
benchmark for performance.
The underlying technology and
the sophistication of the soft-
ware remain preeminent. The
supercharging network of fast
EV charging stations is the envy
of competitors. Its cutting-edge
assembly plant and gigafacto-
ries (for large-scale production
of EV batteries) supports peak
productivity.
Tesla’s direct-to-customer
sales model has also allowed for
rapid market penetration and
was resilient under pandemic
conditions. It continues to pro-
vide huge savings in fixed costs.
The Model 3 – which is assem-
bled in China, where costs are
low, and has been presented as
the brand’s first high-volume
EV – has been successful. Tes-
la’s new factory in Germany,
which makes its Model Y, was
producing 3,000 cars per week
by the end of 2022.
And after first reporting a
profit in 2020 – following years
of losses in a dash for growth
DOE names 9 Chinese firms with
$13.7-B investment pledges
BY KRIS CRISMUNDO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Department of En-
ergy (DOE) Secretary Raphael
Lotilla has named the nine Chi-
nese companies that committed
to invest some USD13.76 billion
in the Philippines following the
recent visit of President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. to China.
In a press conference Mon-
day, Lotilla said some of these
Chinese companies are already
– in the 12 months to Septem-
ber 2022 Tesla profits reached
US$11.19 billion (£9.8 billion).
This was more than double the
previous 12 months. So why the
concern?
Tesla’s position as market
leader is being threatened by
growing competition in EV
production just as rumours
have started to swirl that inves-
tors might be concerned about
Musk’s ability to successfully
lead both the car company and
Twitter. He bought the social
media platform last October
following fraught negotiations
with its board. He has since
suggested he will step down as
Twitter’s CEO But has yet to
announce a timeline for that.
Meanwhile, Tesla clearly needs
more attention than it is cur-
rently getting.
Traditional vehicle manu-
facturers and new entrants are
crowding into the EV market,
encouraged by government man-
dates on ending sales of petrol
and diesel cars. Tesla’s technology
edge is being eroded, putting pres-
sure on the premium positioning
of the brand. Tesla has been for-
tunate in that supply constraints,
especially in semiconductors,
have thus far reduced this pres-
sure. As those supply constraints
ease, however, the pressure on
Tesla will grow.
Tesla has also endured its
own setbacks. Musk has been
able to transition the company
to true mass production, but he
operating in the Philippines
and are eyeing for expansion,
while some are big names in
China’s energy sector.
He said the firms’ combined
investments of USD13.76 bil-
lion will be in renewable energy
(RE) development, energy stor-
age systems and off-grid power
supply systems.
“We are very pleased with the
enthusiasm we have received
from these Chinese companies
during our roundtable meeting.
They were upbeat with our policy
famously described the com-
pany’s new plants in Germany
and Texas as “gigantic money
furnaces”.
Musk has said he wants Tes-
la to produce 20 million vehi-
cles annually by 2030, but this
is enormously ambitious. The
car maker has recently experi-
enced production delays, supply
shortages, controversies over
its claims about the safety and
development of its self-driving
and Autopilot system, and ve-
hicle recalls relating to a soft-
ware issue affecting vehicle tail
lamps “in rare instances”. The
business has also suffered from
turbulent COVID-related con-
ditions in China – an important
parts supplier – and 2023 is like-
ly to continue to be challenging
for many in the global automo-
Elon Musk (STEVE JURVETSON/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0)
reforms and directions on RE, es-
pecially on the opening of 100 per-
cent foreign ownership on wind
and solar projects,” he added.
These Chinese companies
that pledged to invest in the
country include China Energy
International Group Co. Ltd
(Energy China), China Pow-
er International Development
(CPID) Ltd., SPIC Guangxi
Electric Power Co., Ltd (a sub-
sidiary and a secondary unit of
State Power Investment Corpo-
ration Limited or SPIC), China
www.canadianinquirer.net
Business
tive industry as the world’s ma-
jor economies slow down.
What might help Tesla now is
to be managed more like a tra-
ditional car company.
Back to basics
Production needs to be in-
creased rapidly to meet Musk’s
delivery promises, but without
compromise on quality. The
challenge thereafter will be to
expand the brand to smaller
vehicle types than the Model 3,
while retaining the cachet that
allows for premium pricing.
With nearly 100,000 employ-
ees worldwide, Tesla will also
need to be more cost conscious.
This is especially true as mate-
rial and component input pric-
es are rising rapidly.
Tesla also needs to do more
to capture value from cars that
Machinery Engineering Corpo-
ration (CMEC), China General
Nuclear Power Group (CGN),
China Huadian Engineering Co.,
Ltd. (CHEC), China Tianying,
Inc. (CNTY), Dajin Heavy In-
dustry Co., Ltd (DHI), and Min-
gyang Smart Energy Group, Ltd.
Energy China has been oper-
ating throughout the country
for more than two decades. In
North Luzon in particular, its
operation involves power gen-
eration, substation, transmis-
sion, cell site and fiber-to-home
25
are already in use. The compa-
ny is notable for owning much
of the inbound supply chain
for its batteries and their ma-
terials, but it has been slow to
identify earning opportunities
from the entire life cycle of its
cars. Competitors including
VW Group and Renault in Eu-
rope and NIO in China are pio-
neering new “whole life cycle”
business models that capture
value for manufacturers from
the sale, use, second use, and
eventual recycling of vehicles.
This makes Tesla’s “sales only”
approach look dated.
Investor sentiment is ob-
viously key when it comes to
Tesla’s declining share price,
however. The company could
manage this by being more cau-
tious when announcing fore-
casts for production, sales, new
models and technology break-
throughs to avoid surprising or
disappointing investors.
With this in mind, it’s not
surprising that, for investors,
the biggest issue to be resolved
at Tesla may be Musk’s role.
There are two questions in-
volved: is Musk sufficiently en-
gaged in the future of Tesla and
can Tesla continue to prosper
from association with Musk?
In Tesla’s latest tranche of
stock sales in December 2022,
Musk reduced his share of the
business to 13.4%, although
he remains the largest single
❱❱ PAGE 27 Tesla: what 2023
and data center projects.
SPIC, which has the largest
installed capacity of wind pow-
er in Guangxi, is involved in the
230-kV substation engineering,
procurement and construction
(EPC) project in Navotas, the
500-kV substation EPC project
in Pagbilao, the Taguig-Baras
500 kV overhead transmission
line EPC, and the Abuyog 230-
kV substation EPC project.
China’s Mingyang is a world
❱❱ PAGE 29 DOE names 9
 26
What killer robots mean for the future of war
BY JONATHAN ERSKINE,
University of Bristol,
MIRANDA MOWBRAY,
University of Bristol
The Conversation
You might have heard of killer
robots, slaughterbots or termi-
nators – officially called lethal
autonomous weapons (LAWs)
– from films and books. And the
idea of super-intelligent weapons
running rampant is still science
fiction. But as AI weapons be-
come increasingly sophisticated,
public concern is growing over
fears about lack of accountability
and the risk of technical failure.
Already we have seen how
so-called neutral AI have made
sexist algorithms and inept
content moderation systems,
largely because their creators
did not understand the tech-
nology. But in war, these kinds
of misunderstandings could kill
civilians or wreck negotiations.
For example, a target rec-
ognition algorithm could be
trained to identify tanks from
satellite imagery. But what if
all of the images used to train
the system featured soldiers in
formation around the tank? It
might mistake a civilian vehi-
cle passing through a military
blockade for a target.
Why do we need autono-
mous weapons?
Civilians in many countries
(such as Vietnam, Afghanistan
and Yemen) have suffered be-
cause of the way global super-
powers build and use increasingly
advanced weapons. Many people
would argue they have done more
harm than good, most recently
pointing to the Russian invasion
of Ukraine early in 2022.
In the other camp are people
Chess IM Jem..
❰❰ 23 er while playing for the
Ateneo high school
team in the UAAP.
Garcia became a member of
the national pool in 2010 and
the following year, he earned
the IM title at the Asian Zon-
al 3.3 Chess Championships
Technology
who say a country must be able
to defend itself, which means
keeping up with other nations’
military technology. AI can
already outsmart humans at
chess and poker. It outperforms
humans in the real world too.
For example Microsoft claims
its speech recognition software
has an error rate of 1% com-
pared to the human error rate
of around 6%. So it is hardly
surprising that armies are slow-
ly handing algorithms the reins.
But how do we avoid adding kill-
er robots to the long list of things
we wish we had never invented?
First of all: know thy enemy.
What are Lethal Autono-
mous Weapons (LAWs)?
The US Department of De-
fence defines an autonomous
weapon system as: “A weapon
system that, once activated, can
select and engage targets with-
out further intervention by a
human operator.”
Many combat systems already
fit this criteria. The computers
on drones and modern missiles
have algorithms that can detect
targets and fire at them with far
more precision than a human
operator. Israel’s Iron Dome is
one of several active defence
systems that can engage targets
without human supervision.
While designed for missile de-
fence, the Iron Dome could kill
people by accident. But the risk is
seen as acceptable in internation-
al politics because the Iron Dome
generally has a reliable history of
protecting civilian lives.
There are AI enabled weap-
ons designed to attack people
too, from robot sentries to loi-
tering kamikaze drones used
in the Ukraine war. LAWs are
already here. So, if we want to
influence the use of LAWs, we
where he scored six out of nine
points for a fifth-place finish.
He has competed in the Olym-
piad (2018), Asian Champion-
ships (2011, 2013, 2017, 2018 and
2019), Asian Indoor and Mar-
tial Arts Games (2017) and SEA
Games (2019 and 2022).
need to understand the history
of modern weapons.
The rules of war
International agreements,
such as the Geneva conventions
establish conduct for the treat-
ment of prisoners of war and
civilians during conflict. They
are one of the few tools we have
to control how wars are fought.
Unfortunately, the use of chem-
ical weapons by the US in Viet-
nam, and by Russia in Afghani-
stan, are proof these measures
aren’t always successful.
Worse is when key players re-
fuse to sign up. The Internation-
al Campaign to Ban Landmines
(ICBL) has been lobbying poli-
ticians since 1992 to ban mines
and cluster munitions (which
randomly scatter small bombs
over a wide area). In 1997 the
Ottawa treaty included a ban of
these weapons, which 122 coun-
tries signed. But the US, China
and Russia didn’t buy in.
Landmines have injured and
killed at least 5,000 soldiers and
civilians per year since 2015 and
as many as 9,440 people in 2017.
Iron Dome Battery in Ashkelon, Israel. (ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES/FLICKR, CC BY-NC 2.0)
Garcia bagged the rapid team
silver medal and the blitz team
bronze medal with IM Paulo
Bersamina at the AIMAG in
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. In
the 2019 Manila SEA Games, he
won the individual gold medal
in online chess and in Vietnam,
www.canadianinquirer.net
The Landmine and Cluster Mu-
nition Monitor 2022 report said:
Casualties…have been disturb-
ingly high for the past seven years,
following more than a decade of
historic reductions. The year 2021
was no exception. This trend is
largely the result of increased con-
flict and contamination by impro-
vised mines observed since 2015.
Civilians represented most of the
victims recorded, half of whom
were children.
Despite the best efforts of the
ICBL, there is evidence both
Russia and Ukraine (a member
of the Ottawa treaty) are using
landmines during the Russian
invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine
has also relied on drones to
guide artillery strikes, or more
recently for “kamikaze attacks”
on Russian infrastructure.
Our future
But what about more ad-
vanced AI enabled weapons?
The Campaign to Stop Killer
Robots lists nine key problems
with LAWs, focusing on the lack
of accountability, and the in-
herent dehumanisation of kill-
he took the blitz team bronze
medal with IM Daniel Quizon.
“My dream is to become a
Grandmaster,” said Garcia, who
admires Norwegian GM Mag-
nus Carlsen and Russian GM
Garry Kasparov.
“I also want to win the Na-
JANUARY 13, 2023 FRIDAY
ing that comes with it.
While this criticism is valid,
a full ban of LAWs is unrealistic
for two reasons. First, much like
mines, pandora’s box has already
been opened. Also the lines be-
tween autonomous weapons,
LAWs and killer robots are so
blurred it’s difficult to distin-
guish between them. Military
leaders would always be able to
find a loophole in the wording
of a ban and sneak killer robots
into service as defensive autono-
mous weapons. They might even
do so unknowingly.
We will almost certainly see
more AI enabled weapons in
the future. But this doesn’t
mean we have to look the other
way. More specific and nuanced
prohibitions would help keep
our politicians, data scientists
and engineers accountable.
For example, by banning:
• black box AI: systems where
the user has no information
about the algorithm beyond in-
puts and outputs
• unreliable AI: systems that
have been poorly tested (such
as in the military blockade ex-
ample mentioned previously).
And you don’t have to be an
expert in AI to have a view on
LAWs. Stay aware of new mil-
itary AI developments. When
you read or hear about AI being
used in combat, ask yourself: is
it justified? Is it preserving ci-
vilian life? If not, engage with
the communities that are work-
ing to control these systems.
Together, we stand a chance at
preventing AI from doing more
harm than good. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
tional Championships,” added
Garcia, who was able to balance
sports and studies after earning
a Bachelor of Science in Man-
agement Information Systems
with specialization in Enter-
prise Systems degree at Ateneo
in 2016. ■
FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2023
What if your colleague is a bot?
Harnessing the benefits of workplace
automation without alienating staff
BY LENA WAIZENEGGER,
Auckland University of
Technology, ANGSANA A.
TECHATASSANASOONTORN,
Auckland University of
Technology
The Conversation
The need for businesses to
adapt to the workplace de-
mands of the COVID-19 pan-
demic has accelerated the
adoption of digital technolo-
gies, with clear implications for
jobs and workers.
But just how much employ-
ees worry about the threat of
automation – and how real
those fears are – can have impli-
cations for workplaces beyond
the technological change itself.
Our new research examined
how employees feel about the
introduction of “robotic process
automation” (RPA) to the work-
place. We also looked at how the
willingness to embrace these
new technologies influenced
employees’ assessment of the
software bots and their work.
RPA refers to software that
interacts with different applica-
tions, such as a payroll system
or a website, in the same way a
human would.
Software robots – the so-
called worker bees of RPA – can
conduct mundane, repetitive
and rule-based tasks such as
transferring, entering and ex-
tracting data, accounting rec-
onciliation, and automated
email query processing. And
Tesla: what 2023..
❰❰ 25 shareholder. Some
observers linked this
sale to the need to fi-
nance other business interests,
notably Twitter.
The risk is that Musk be-
comes more of a liability than
an asset to the business. While
also running Twitter, Musk may
not be able to give Tesla the at-
tention it needs as it grows,
and as its competition becomes
more intense. But Musk’s mav-
erick personality, and especial-
ly the management style he’s
displayed while running Twit-
they can do it at a fraction of the
cost of employing real people.
The 24/7 worker
Unsurprisingly, organisa-
tions have embraced RPA for its
cost and productivity benefits,
but it’s not without its challeng-
es. As RPA interacts with vari-
ous applications, for example,
it can “break” when one of the
underlying systems is upgraded
and the user interface changes.
RPA is also a double-edged
sword for employees. On the one
hand, with mundane and repet-
itive tasks outsourced to soft-
ware robots, workers can focus
on more complex tasks that re-
quire “soft” skills, empathy and
decision-making capabilities.
On the other, some feel
threatened by the software ro-
bots because they are generally
more productive, make fewer
ter, could potentially damage
the Tesla brand and unnerve
Tesla employees and investors.
Indeed, the characteristics
that have made Musk such a
successful disrupter may not
be so appropriate for a matur-
ing and institutionalised mul-
tinational. Musk and Tesla have
long seemed synonymous. It
seems that the time may have
come for that to end. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
errors and don’t cost as much as
human employees.
Employees can also end up
having to do additional tasks,
picking up the work that used
to be completed by the staff re-
placed by RPA. Paradoxically,
fewer human employees can lead
to an increased workload rather
than the expected decrease.
Similarly, as employees shift
from a mix of mundane and com-
plex tasks to mainly complex
ones, the variety in their work is
reduced. This can lead to feeling
alienated at work, or a sense they
lack control over their role.
Fear and enthusiasm
These various perspectives
on automation were clear in our
research. We interviewed em-
ployees and automation team
members at a financial institu-
tion in New Zealand about their
Whitney Houston: I..
❰❰ 17 many disagreements
and negotiations that
they went through so
that Houston could keep her
close, but not too close.
The ambitious scope of I
Wanna Dance with Some-
body gives Whitney Houston
a much-deserved place in the
cinematic biopic pantheon of
great artists. It is also direct and
careful in representing her love
for, and with, Robyn Crawford.
But in its commitment to sur-
veying Houston’s life, the film
omits the evolution of Houston’s
www.canadianinquirer.net
Technology
perceptions and responses to
RPA and software robots.
We found that reactions to
RPA are influenced by what em-
ployees imagined would be the
consequences of software robots
on their jobs. In turn, this influ-
enced their collaboration with the
automation team, their attitude
towards change in their tasks and
work processes, and ultimately
their interactions with software
robots – including how they
judged the bots’ performance.
Perceptions and responses
to RPA can be categorised by
employees’ views of software
robots as either burdens and
threats, tools, teammates or in-
novative enablers.
Those who considered soft-
ware robots as a burden and
threat before they were intro-
duced tended to have a negative
view of their experience with
RPA. They were concerned
about job security, had nega-
tive reactions to having greater
responsibility added to their
workload, and were dissatisfied
with the robots’ performance.
Lessons for employees and
employers
At the opposite end of the
spectrum, those who viewed
software robots as enablers of in-
novation saw the opportunities
of RPA and the benefits of using
robots to improve work quality.
Some eagerly accepted the
robots as team members, even
giving them human names and
joking that the bot was taking a
sick day when it stopped work-
boundaries with Crawford and
how her decision to mask her sex-
uality factored into her other cre-
ative and professional choices.
While we are offered a
glimpse of queer black joy sel-
dom found in similar films in
this genre, the queerphobia
that demanded Houston focus
solely on dating men is given a
larger voice. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
27
ing. This group also appreciat-
ed the reduction in their own
workloads through RPA.
Little surprise, then, that
employees who view software
robots as innovative enablers
or teammates tended to collab-
orate closely with the automa-
tion team to find the best way
to integrate robots and improve
their performance.
In the middle ground, em-
ployees who viewed software
robots as tools tended to be ac-
cepting, but remained sceptical
about changes to their work-
loads and robot performance.
They were reluctant to offer full
cooperation with the automa-
tion team to configure robots’
tasks that would have conse-
quences for their own roles.
Some level of automation is
inevitable for businesses. To har-
ness the benefits of RPA without
alienating staff, organisations
should communicate clearly and
often, debunking the myths of ro-
bots and their capabilities early
to avoid unnecessary misunder-
standings by employees.
Employers should take the
time to understand how differ-
ent employees feel about the
introduction of automation ini-
tiatives. And they should con-
sider incorporating employees’
ideas to increase the overall
benefits of automation. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
‘Drowning for love’..
❰❰ 20 recommended in a
drowning situation,
given the importance
of oxygen to the drowning vic-
tim. Consider enrolling in a
CPR and first-aid course.
It’s already been a heartbreak-
ing summer for too many fami-
lies. Heeding these tips may just
save a life and ensure you and
your loved ones enjoy time at the
beach, river or pool safely. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
28
More than 100,000 tourists will head to
Antarctica this summer. Should we worry
about damage to the ice and its ecosystems?
BY ELIZABETH LEANE,
University of Tasmania,
ANNE HARDY, University
of Tasmania, CAN SENG
OOI, University of Tasmania,
CAROLYN PHILPOTT,
University of Tasmania,
HANNE E.F. NIELSEN,
University of Tasmania,
KATIE MARX, University of
Tasmania
The Conversation
As the summer sun finally ar-
rives for people in the Southern
Hemisphere, more than 100,000
tourists will head for the ice.
Travelling on one of more than
50 cruise ships, they will brave
the two-day trip across the noto-
riously rough Drake Passage be-
low Patagonia, destined for the
polar continent of Antarctica.
During the COVID summer of
2020-21, just 15 tourists on two
yachts visited Antarctica. But now,
tourism is back – and bigger than
Sagada resumes ‘Etag’ festival
to boost tourist arrivals
BY LIZA AGOOT
Philippine News Agency
BAGUIO CITY –The munici-
pality of Sagada will again hold
the Etag festival in February af-
ter a two-year hiatus as an add-
ed attraction for tourists.
“After its two-year recession,
the annual Sagada Etag Festival
is set to be celebrated in full blast
from February 2 to 5. We will also
be launching the Sagada tourism
tagline aside from the institu-
tional activities we used to have,”
Mayor Felicito Dula said in a
phone interview on Thursday.
Dula said tourism plays an
Travel
ever. This season’s visitor numbers
are up more than 40% over the
largest pre-pandemic year.
So are all those tourists going
to damage what is often consid-
ered the last untouched wilder-
ness on the planet? Yes and no.
The industry is well run. Tour-
ists often return with a new
appreciation for wild places.
They spend a surprisingly short
amount of time actually on the
continent or its islands.
But as tourism grows, so will
environmental impacts such as
black carbon from cruise ship
funnels. Tourists can carry in mi-
crobes, seed and other invasive
species on their boots and clothes
– a problem that will only worsen
as ice melt creates new patches of
bare earth. And cruise ships are
hardly emissions misers.
How did Antarctic tourism
go mainstream?
In the 1950s, the first tour-
ists hitched rides on Chilean
and Argentinian naval ves-
important factor in their town’s
economy, with most of the res-
idents engaged in the tourism
industry.
Town officials earlier said
about 70 percent of establish-
ments in Sagada’s central busi-
ness district are engaged in tour-
ism, with around 1,300 residents
working as tour guides and 300
inns and restaurants operating.
Around 100 souvenir shops
are also employing locals.
Dula said the municipality is
likely to earn an annual average
revenue of PHP10 million from
tourism once arrivals pick up.
“We have fully opened our bor-
ders without any requirement
sels heading south to resupply
research bases on the South
Shetland Islands. From the late
1960s, dedicated icebreaker ex-
pedition ships were venturing
even further south. In the early
1990s, as ex-Soviet icebreakers
became available, the indus-
and we will have it (Etag festival)
again this year for tourists to look
forward to,” he added.
“Etag” is the Igorot’s tradi-
tional way to preserve the meat
of a wild pig ready for the next
rainy season.
Sagada’s etag is black due to
the smoking process observed
by the locals. A common way
of cooking is with the charred
chicken for the traditional “pin-
ikpikan” aside from that flavored
with soy sauce topped with onion
bulb slices and onion leeks.
This year’s festival carries
the theme “napigsa ay Kultura
ya pammati, wed-weday I-Ga-
bay ya isikan di umili” means
www.canadianinquirer.net
try began to expand – about a
dozen companies offered trips
at that time. By the turn of this
century, the ice continent was
receiving more than 10,000 an-
nual visitors: Antarctic tourism
had gone mainstream.
What does it look like today?
“Strong culture and faith is the
foundation and progress of the
community.”
It will again feature the etag
as a delicacy in its agro-gastro
fair and will include a civic pa-
rade and celebrations connect-
ed to the feast of the purifica-
tion of the blessed virgin Mary
and the presentation of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
A cultural day will also be held
featuring traditional games and
other cultural activities.
Dula also said a different
Sagada will be presented with
the opening of the “Southern
Sagada nature treat, tour and
adventure” allowing tourists to
JANUARY 13, 2023 FRIDAY
Most Antarctic tourists travel
on small “expedition-style” ves-
sels, usually heading for the rela-
tively accessible Antarctic Penin-
sula. Once there, they can take a
zodiac boat ride for a closer look
at wildlife and icebergs or shore
excursions to visit penguin or
seal colonies. Visitors can kayak,
paddle-board and take the polar
plunge – a necessarily brief dip
into subzero waters.
For most tourists, accommo-
dation, food and other services
are provided aboard ship. Over
a third of all visitors never stand
on the continent.
Those who do set foot on
Antarctica normally make brief
visits, rather than taking over-
night stays.
For more intrepid tourists,
a few operators offer overland
journeys into the continent’s in-
terior, making use of temporary
seasonal camp sites. There are
❱❱ PAGE 30 More than 100,000
destinations that used to be ex-
clusive to the community.
Southern Sagada has the Obwa
Canyon waterfalls, Takkong tra-
ditional burial grounds, Balan-
gagan cave, and the Pinumdeng
skyline sunrise, among others.
Dula said with their town’s
closure to non-residents during
the pandemic, the natural beau-
ty of the attractions that they
are famous for has also been re-
juvenated.
“We are recovering slowly and
we hope that the festival will fur-
ther increase the tourist arrivals
of our town so that the losses in-
curred by the residents will also
be recouped,” he added. ■
FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2023
Basmati rice: the new authenticity rules aiming
to remove sub-standard varieties from the market
BY KATHERINE STEELE,
Bangor University
The Conversation
Basmati is the most popular
speciality rice in the UK, adding
extra flavour and subtlety to ev-
erything from curries to pilafs to
kedgerees. Nearly three-quar-
ters of the world’s basmati is
produced in India, and the UK
buys 3% of it – plus substantial
amounts from the second-larg-
est producer, Pakistan.
All has not been well with this
delicious staple, however. A huge
number of newly cultivated vari-
eties have been permitted in the
UK and EU since 2017, and some
have turned out to be sub-stan-
dard, lacking the unique pop-
corn-like fragrance that helps to
make this rice so sought after.
New rules are being intro-
duced at the beginning of 2023
that aim to take these lesser va-
rieties of basmati off the market.
So will this solve the problem?
Basmati and the code of
practice
Basmati rice has been culti-
vated for thousands of years in
the fertile alluvial plains between
the Indus and Ganges rivers. To
qualify as basmati, grains must
meet certain standards related to
things like fragrance, grain length
and width, as well as cooked tex-
ture. They must also have a mid-
range level of amylose, a part of
the starch in rice.
DOE names 9..
❰❰ 25 leader in providing
renewable energy
solution. It is also the
world’s sixth largest manufac-
turer of wind turbine genera-
tors with a cumulative installa-
tion of 45 gigawatt. Mingyang’s
technology is vital for the Phil-
ippines as the government tar-
gets more offshore wind power
projects in the future.
Other Chinese companies
that expressed investment
commitments to the Philip-
Food
Fraudsters nevertheless be-
came notorious for cutting
basmati with lesser rice grains,
drawn by the fact that it is up to
50% more expensive per kilo.
Several decades ago, it wasn’t un-
common for imported basmati to
be more than 50% impure.
To get around this problem,
the UK Rice Association intro-
duced a code of practice in 2005.
Also followed across the EU,
the code specified that basmati
could be no more than 7% im-
pure, as well as introducing a list
of 15 permitted varieties: nine
traditional ones that could be
imported duty free and a further
six that were modern cultivars.
We at Bangor University devised
the system of DNA fingerprint-
ing that is used to enforce the
code and has sometimes led to
prosecutions for infringements.
The system worked well until
2017, when the code was updat-
ed to add 25 new modern culti-
vars. This followed an explosion
in new breeding in the 2000s
and 2010s to address the prob-
lem that traditional basmati
varieties are tall, low-yielding
plants which fall over if they
are fed with too much fertilis-
er. Breeders overcame this by
using crossing and selection to
add the so-called “green rev-
olution” semi-dwarfing gene,
which is also bred into most
other modern rice varieties.
India and Pakistan had suc-
cessfully persuaded the UK and
pines, which will also be im-
portant players in the offshore
wind sector, are CGN and DHI.
CGN is China’s pioneer in
offshore wind development
and largest single offshore wind
power capacity. Globally, it has
total capacity of 35,000 MW for
wind power and 10,000 MW for
solar.
CGN is also China’s first nu-
clear power producer and the
third biggest nuclear power
producer in the world.
EU that these 25 new varieties
were as high in quality as the
existing 16, but several years
later we were able to show that
this wasn’t entirely right.
By developing alternative
DNA markers for fingerprinting,
we showed that six of the new va-
rieties – five from India and one
from Pakistan – had not been
properly bred for fragrance.
Some did not even contain the
version of the BADH2 gene that
makes basmati fragrance possi-
ble in the first place. Although
India and Pakistan have rig-
orous systems for testing rice
quality, they don’t necessarily do
the gene testing that would have
picked up the problem.
The future
The Rice Association has re-
sponded to this discovery by
publishing a new code of prac-
tice that removes the six vari-
eties from the permitted list.
Coming into force on January 1,
the code also adds five new va-
rieties that do pass muster. As a
result, consumers should once
again be able to buy basmati
rice in the knowledge that it is
of the highest possible quality.
But this isn’t the end of the
story. For one thing, the 7% im-
purity rule remains. I have long
argued that the Rice Associa-
tion should adopt the same 1%
rule that applies in many prod-
ucts – non-GM foods, for exam-
ple. There’s no real reason for
the basmati exception, and it is
Listed firm DHI, on the other
hand, is currently constructing
a 300-MW wind power project.
CMEC is part of the world’s
top 500 companies, while CNTY
belongs to Fortune China 500.
CPID and CHEC are both look-
ing into establishing local entities
to invest in renewable energy
projects in the Philippines.
“I have now instructed our
Renewable Energy Manage-
ment Bureau (REMB) and In-
vestment Promotions Office
www.canadianinquirer.net
also arguably easier to enforce a
1% rule because of the way that
DNA testing works.
Secondly, rice breeding is not
standing still. Breeders have
started focusing on making
crosses to allow basmati vari-
eties to inherit genes that will
mean they need less fertiliser,
resist disease so they need fewer
or no pesticides, and even with-
stand drier growing conditions
or salt-contaminated soils.
These varieties aren’t quite
ready to hit the market but are
urgently needed to increase the
sustainability of rice produc-
tion. But if such varieties are to
be sold labelled “basmati”, they
too will have to be monitored
to ensure they meet the same
Basmati rice (MARCO VERCH PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0)
(IPO) to start communicating
with them and provide the full
support to hasten this particular
cooperation between the Philip-
pines and China,” Lotilla added.
During the state visit of
Marcos to China last week, the
DOE chief met with leaders of
various Chinese energy firms
where he presented investment
opportunities in the country’s
renewable energy sector.
He also highlighted that the
Marcos administration is roll-
29
high standards that consum-
ers expect. The same goes for
varieties created by gene edit-
ing, which have not yet started
emerging but probably will do
over the next couple of decades.
If we don’t maintain today’s
standards, it may harm the
industry – and crucially the
farmers who work so hard to
produce this beautiful rice in
the first place. It’s an interest-
ing case study in how cutting
edge technology and the right
regulation can ensure that an
ancient industry remains fit for
purpose in the 21st century. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
ing out reforms to attract in-
vestments in renewable energy.
The Philippines targets re-
newable energy to have 35 per-
cent share to the energy mix by
2030 and 50 percent by 2040.
This means the country would
need 52,000 MW of renewable
energy by 2040.
Apart from these renewable
energy targets, there is also
a potential of 178,000 MW of
offshore wind potential in the
country. ■
 30
No, you shouldn’t wash raw chicken before
cooking it. So why do people still do it?
BY ENZO PALOMBO,
Swinburne University of
Technology
The Conversation
Food safety authorities and
regulators around the world
recommend you don’t wash raw
poultry before cooking.
That’s because washing
chicken can splash dangerous
bacteria around the kitchen. It’s
best just to thoroughly cook the
chicken without washing it, so
it is safe to eat.
Despite this, chicken-wash-
ing remains common. A survey
by Australia’s Food Safety Infor-
mation Council showed almost
half of Australian home cooks
washed whole chickens before
cooking. Dutch research found
25% of consumers washed their
chicken often or almost always.
So why do people do it –
and what does the research
say about the risks of chick-
en-washing?
Chicken meat and germs
Incorrect cooking tempera-
tures and cross-contamination
between different foods are two
of the most important factors
More than 100,000..
❰❰ 28 no permanent hotels,
and Antarctic Treaty
nations recently ad-
opted a resolution against per-
manent tourist facilities.
As tourists come in increas-
ing numbers, some operators
have moved to offer ever more
adventurous options such as
mountaineering, heli-skiing,
underwater trips in submers-
ibles and scuba diving.
Is Antarctic tourism sus-
tainable?
As Antarctic tourism booms,
some advocacy organisations have
warned the impact may be unsus-
tainable. For instance, the Antarc-
tic and Southern Ocean Coalition
argues cruise tourism could put
increased pressure on an environ-
ment already under significant
strain from climate change.
In areas visited most by tour-
ists, the snow has a higher con-
centration of black carbon from
ship exhaust, which soaks up
more heat and leads to snow
melt. Ship traffic also risks car-
Food
linked to foodborne illness.
This is particularly relevant
to poultry meat. Two leading
causes of foodborne illness are
the bacteria Campylobacter
and Salmonella, which are com-
monly found on raw poultry.
In Australia, reported cases
of Campylobacter and Salmo-
nella have almost doubled over
the last two decades.
Of the estimated 220,000
cases of Campylobacter infec-
tion each year, 50,000 can be
attributed either directly or in-
rying hitchhiking invasive spe-
cies into the Southern Ocean’s
vulnerable marine ecosystems.
That’s to say nothing of green-
house gas emissions. Because
of the continent’s remoteness,
tourists visiting Antarctica have a
higher per capita carbon footprint
than other cruise-ship travellers.
Of course, these impacts
aren’t limited to tourism. Sci-
entific expeditions come with
similar environmental costs
– and while there are far fewer
of them, scientists and support
personnel spend far more time
on the continent.
Antarctic tourism isn’t go-
ing away – so we have to plan
for the future
Are sustainable cruises an
oxymoron? Many believe so.
Through its sheer size, the
cruise industry has created mass
tourism in new places and over-
tourism in others, generating
unacceptable levels of crowding,
disrupting the lives of residents,
repurposing local cultures for
directly to chicken meat.
Chicken-washing myths,
busted
One analysis of consum-
er responses to an education
campaign about the dangers of
washing raw poultry shed light
on why many people still wash
raw chicken before cooking.
Some believe there is a need
to wash faeces and other mat-
ter off the chicken meat. In fact,
modern processing techniques
mean chicken carcasses do not
need additional cleaning.
“exotic” performances, damag-
ing the environment and adding
to emissions from fossil fuels.
In Antarctica, crowding, envi-
ronmental impact and emissions
are the most pressing issues.
While 100,000 tourists a year is
tiny by global tourism standards
– Paris had almost 20 million in
2019 – visits are concentrated in
highly sensitive ecological areas
for only a few months per year.
There are no residents to disturb
(other than local wildlife), but by
the same token, there’s no host
community to protest if visitor
numbers get too high.
Even so, strong protections
are in place. In accordance with
the Antarctic Treaty System –
the set of international agree-
ments signed by countries with
an Antarctic presence or an in-
terest – tourism operators based
in those nations have to apply
for permits and follow stringent
environmental regulations.
To avoid introducing new
species, tourists have to follow
www.canadianinquirer.net
Others believe washing with
a slightly acidic solution (such
as vinegar or lemon juice) will
kill bacteria.
On the contrary, research has
shown washing raw poultry in
lemon juice or vinegar does not
remove bacteria and can increase
the cross-contamination risk.
Washing chicken splashes
bacteria around
One of the more compelling
arguments why washing raw
poultry under a running tap
is a risky activity comes from
recent research on water drop-
lets ejected from the surface of
washed chicken.
The study clearly showed
bacteria can be transferred
from the surface of the chicken
to surrounding surfaces via wa-
ter droplets.
Using high-speed imaging, the
researchers found a higher tap
height can increase splashing.
Chicken meat is often soft
and the water flow can create a
divot in the surface. This leads
to splashing that would not oc-
cur on a curved, hard surface.
The researchers placed large
agar plates next to the chicken
surfaces to capture any water
rules such as disinfecting their
boots and vacuuming their
pockets before setting foot on
the ice, and keeping a set dis-
tance from wildlife.
Almost all Antarctic cruise
owners belong to the Interna-
tional Association of Antarctica
Tour Operators, the peak body
that manages Antarctic tourism.
For the first time this year, op-
erators have to report their overall
fuel consumption as part of IAA-
TO’s efforts to make the industry
more climate-friendly. Some oper-
ators are now using hybrid vessels
that can run partly on electric pro-
pulsion for short periods, reducing
carbon dioxide emissions.
Returning from the ice:
the ambassador effect
Famed travel writer Pico Iyer
recently wrote of his experience
in the deep south of the world. The
visit, he said, “awakens you to the
environmental concerns of the
world … you go home with import-
ant questions for your conscience
as well as radiant memories”.
JANUARY 13, 2023 FRIDAY
droplets. This allowed them to
grow the bacteria that were trans-
ferred with the splashed water.
They found the level of bac-
terial transmission increased
with greater tap height and wa-
ter flow rate.
Aerated water (which is what
you get when the tap is run-
ning very hard) also increased
splashing and bacterial trans-
mission.
What if I still really want
to wash my chicken meat?
While washing raw poultry is
not recommended, it appears
some home cooks are reluctant
to let go of this old habit.
If you insist on washing
chicken meat, consider doing
so in a sink of water rather than
under a running tap.
Use a paper towel to mop up
any liquids, dispose of the towel
and clean up afterwards.
This will help reduce the
risk of cross-contamination
and keep the kitchen safe. And
please wash your hands after
handling raw meat! ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
Iyer isn’t alone. This re-
sponse is widespread, known
in the industry as Antarctic am-
bassadorship. As you’d expect,
this is strongly promoted by
tourism operators as a positive.
Is it real? That’s contentious.
Studies on links between polar
travel and pro-environmental
behaviour have yielded mixed
results. We are working with two
operators to examine the Antarc-
tic tourist experience and consid-
er what factors might feed into a
long-lasting ambassador effect.
If you’re one of the tourists
going to Antarctica this sum-
mer, enjoy the experience – but
go with care. Be aware that no
trip south comes without en-
vironmental cost and use this
knowledge to make clear-eyed
decisions about your activities
both in Antarctica and once
you’re safely back home. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
 JANUARY 13, 2020
JULY 17, 2023 cx328
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