{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1", "user_comment": "This feed allows you to read the posts from this site in any feed reader that supports the JSON Feed format. To add this feed to your reader, copy the following URL -- https://www.bworldonline.com/weekender/feed/json/ -- and add it your reader.", "next_url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/weekender/feed/json/?paged=2", "home_page_url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/weekender/", "feed_url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/weekender/feed/json/", "language": "en-US", "title": "Weekender Archives - BusinessWorld Online", "description": "BusinessWorld: The most trusted source of Philippine business news and analysis", "items": [ { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=333225", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/spotlight/2020/12/30/333225/enabling-a-clean-and-sustainable-future/", "title": "Enabling a clean and sustainable future", "content_html": "
\n
\n
\n

Unilever makes sustainable living accessible through its new Clean Future program

\n

Unilever Philippines (ULP) joins many companies that are responding to the widespread call for a more sustainable future, grounded on bold climate action, through the global brand’s Clean Future initiative.

\n

Earlier in September, the Unilever announced it will replace 100% of the carbon derived from fossil fuels in its cleaning and laundry product formulations with renewable or recycled carbon. This significant move is set to transform the sustainability of global cleaning and laundry brands, including the global brand’s portfolio in the Philippines. This also serves as a critical step towards Unilever’s pledge of net zero emissions from its products by 2039.

\n

\"\"

\n

Unilever expects its Clean Future initiative alone to reduce the carbon footprint of its product formulations by up to 20%, more than twice lower than the 46% the company found across their lifecycle due to the chemicals used in its cleaning and laundry products.

\n

By deliberately transitioning away from fossil fuel-derived chemicals in product formulations, Unilever aims to innovate ways of reducing the carbon footprint of some of the world\u2019s biggest cleaning and laundry brands.

\n

Aside from its avowed commitment, Unilever is ring-fencing \u20ac1 billion (or over Php58 billion) for the Clean Future initiative to finance biotechnology research, CO2 (carbon dioxide) and waste utilization, and low carbon chemistry.

\n

\"\"

\n

The investment will be used to create biodegradable and water-efficient product formulations, halve the use of virgin plastic by 2025, and support the development of brand communications. Moreover, the investment is focused on creating affordable cleaning and laundry products that deliver superior cleaning results with a significantly lower environmental impact.

\n

Tanya Steele, chief executive of World Wildlife Fund in United Kingdom, expressed her support for Unilever’s efforts in reducing its dependence on fossil fuels, stressing that renewable resources reduce pressure on the world’s fragile ecosystems and help restore nature. “These significant commitments from Unilever, combined with strong sustainable sourcing, have real potential to make an important contribution as we transition to an economy that works with nature, not against it,\u201d Ms. Steele said in a statement.

\n

Unilever’s Clean Future initiative is guided by its \u2018Carbon Rainbow\u2019, a novel approach to diversify the carbon used in its product formulations. Through this approach, Unilever plans to replace non-renewable fossil sources of carbon (identified in the Carbon Rainbow as black carbon) using captured CO2 (purple carbon), plants and biological sources (green carbon), marine sources such as algae (blue carbon), and carbon recovered from waste materials (grey carbon).

\n

\"\"

\n

The sourcing of carbon under the Carbon Rainbow will be governed and informed by environmental impact assessments and work with Unilever\u2019s industry-leading sustainable sourcing programs to prevent unintended pressures on land use.

\n

\"\"

\n

Local efforts

\n

In the Philippines, ULP has been pushing Clean Future forward through various programs carried by its cleaning products, which have seen an unprecedented growing demand with the onset of the current health crisis.

\n

Echoing Unilever’s global initiative, Benjie Yap, chairman, and CEO of ULP, said that ULP continues to invest in strong partnerships and superior science as it continues to deliver products that are effective, affordable, and good for the planet. “While the 2030 Clean Future ambition is now starting to take shape, Unilever\u2019s homecare brands in the Philippines have made great strides in making sustainable living commonplace to Filipinos. With all these moving at speed, we can truly achieve a clean future,” Mr. Yap continued.

\n

Laundry detergent Surf, for instance, operates a flagship sachet collection program across the country with “MisisWalastik”. Multi-purpose home cleaner Domex, meanwhile, backs a partnership with the Department of Education for safe toilets in schools through its #TogetherWeAreUnstoppable initiative.

\n

\"\"

\n

Further fulfilling Clean Future’s main objective, ULP’s cleaning brands like Breeze, Domex, Comfort, Sunlight, and Surf have started to roll out new bottle packaging made of 100% recycled material.

\n

Unilever ensures, nonetheless, that products that reach consumers are made with ingredients and processed with the highest standards, as Sandeep Desai, ULP’s vice-president for supply chain, noted. “Our Clean Future program turbocharges Unilever\u2019s Supply Chain operations so that our products can be made from renewable or circular sources, using cutting-edge tech, and work better in a climate-challenged world,” Mr. Desai explained.

\n

The public, businesses, and partners can find out more about the Clean Future initiative by visiting www.unilever.com/brands/home-care/clean-future. Individuals or businesses with an idea for an innovation, solution, or opportunity to partner with Unilever to accelerate its Clean Future initiative can get in touch with Unilever through the company\u2019s Sustainability Partnerships and Open Innovation Submission Portal https://bit.ly/37Ljt0i

\n
[vc_raw_js]%3Cscript%3E%0A%0A%28function%28%29%7Btry%7Bvar%20e%3D%7Ba%3A%7B%7D%7D%3Be.a.f%3D%7Bt%3A%28new%20Date%29.getTime%28%29%2Cde%3AMath.floor%28Math.random%28%29%2AMath.pow%2810%2C12%29%29%2CzMoatAB_SNPT%3A%22true%22%7D%3Be.a.client%3D%22INCA_PH_HEADER1%22%3Be.a.b%3D%22incaphheader859746151938%22%3Be.a.g%3D%22px.moatads.com%22%3Bwindow%5B%22__MHS_P__%22%2Be.a.b%5D%3De.a.f%3Bwindow%5B%22__MHS_E__%22%2Be.a.b%5D%3Dfunction%28%29%7B%7D%3B%28function%28n%29%7Bfunction%20l%28f%29%7Bvar%20a%3Df%3Df.replace%28%22%3A%22%2C%22%22%29%3Btry%7Bfor%28var%20g%3D0%3B10%3Eg%26%26%28f%3DdecodeURIComponent%28f%29%2Ca%21%3Df%29%26%26%21f.match%28%2F%5Ehttp%28s%29%3F%5C%3A%2F%29%3Bg%2B%2B%29a%3Df%7Dcatch%28c%29%7B%7Dreturn%20f.replace%28%2F%28%5E%5Cs%2B%7C%5Cs%2B%24%29%2Fg%2C%22%22%29%7Dfunction%20e%28a%2Cc%2Cg%2Cb%29%7Breturn%20a%5Bc%5D%3D%3D%3Db%26%26%0A%0A0%3D%3D%3Dg%7C%7Ca%5Bg%5D%3D%3D%3Db%26%260%3D%3D%3Dc%7Dvar%20b%3Dn.a.f%3Bif%28%21location%7C%7C%21location.hostname%7C%7C%21location.pathname%29return%211%3Bvar%20h%3Ddocument.location.hostname.replace%28%2F%5Ewww%5C.%2F%2C%22%22%29%2Cq%3Dfunction%28%29%7Bfor%28var%20a%2Cc%3Ddocument.getElementsByTagName%28%22meta%22%29%2Cg%2Cb%3D0%2Cm%3Dc.length%3Bb%3Cm%3Bb%2B%2B%29if%28g%3Dc%5Bb%5D%2C%22og%3Atitle%22%3D%3D%3Dg.getAttribute%28%22property%22%29%29%7Ba%3Dg.getAttribute%28%22content%22%29%3Bbreak%7Da%7C%7C%28a%3Ddocument.title%7C%7C%22Untitled%22%29%3Breturn%20a%7D%28%29%3B%28function%28a%2Cc%2Cb%29%7Ba.l1%3Dc%3Ba.l2%3Db%3Ba.l3%3D%22__page__%22%3Ba.l4%3D%22-%22%7D%29%28b%2Ch%2Cq%29%3Bvar%20t%3D%28new%20Date%29.getTime%28%29.toString%2835%29%2Ch%3Dn.a.client%2Cq%3D%5Bl%28b.l1%29%2Cl%28b.l2%29%2C%0A%0Al%28b.l3%29%2Cl%28b.l4%29%5D.join%28%22%3A%22%29%2Cr%3D%22%22%2Ck%3D%2Fzct%5Ba-z0-9%5D%2B%2Fi%2Cd%3Bfor%28d%20in%20b%29b.hasOwnProperty%28d%29%26%26d.match%28k%29%26%26%28r%2B%3D%22%26%22%2Bd%2B%22%3D%22%2Bb%5Bd%5D%29%3Bd%3D%28d%3Ddocument.referrer.match%28%2F%5E%28%5B%5E%3A%5D%7B2%2C%7D%3A%5C%2F%5C%2F%5B%5E%5C%2F%5D%2A%29%2F%29%29%3Fd%5B1%5D%3Adocument.referrer%3Bvar%20p%3D%5B%22e%3D17%22%2C%22d%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28q%29%2C%22de%3D%22%2Bb.de%2C%22t%3D%22%2Bb.t%2C%22i%3D%22%2Bh%2C%22cm%3D1%22%2C%22gu%3D%22%2Bdocument.location.href%2CString%28%22j%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28d%29%2Br%29%2C%22mp%3D1%22%2C%22ac%3D1%22%2C%22pl%3D1%22%2C%22bq%3D10%22%2C%22vc%3D2%22%5D%2Ca%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fqc39w82c3prb-a.akamaihd.net%2F%22%2Bt%2B%22.gif%3F%22%2Cc%3Dfunction%28a%29%7Bfor%28var%20c%3D%22%22%2Cb%3D0%3Bb%3Ca.length%3Bb%2B%2B%29c%2B%3D%280%3D%3D%3Db%3F%22%22%3A%22%26%22%29%2Ba%5Bb%5D%3Breturn%20c%7D%28function%28a%29%7Bfor%28var%20c%3D%0A%0A0%3Bc%3Ca.length%3Bc%2B%2B%29%7Bvar%20b%3DMath.floor%28Math.random%28%29%2A%28a.length-c%29%2Bc%29%2Cm%3Da%5Bc%5D%2Cd%3De%28a%2Cc%2Cb%2Cp%5B1%5D%29%3Be%28a%2Cc%2Cb%2Cp%5B0%5D%29%7C%7Cd%3Fc--%3A%28a%5Bc%5D%3Da%5Bb%5D%2Ca%5Bb%5D%3Dm%29%7Dreturn%20a%7D%28p%29%29%2Ct%3Dn.a.g%2Ck%3Db.de%2Cb%3Db.t%2Ca%3Da%2Bc%2B%22%26cs%3D0%22%2Cc%3D%22https%3A%2F%2F%22%2Bt%2B%22%2Fpixel.gif%3Fe%3D17%26d%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28q%29%2B%22%26de%3D%22%2Bk%2B%22%26t%3D%22%2Bb%2B%22%26i%3D%22%2Bh%2B%22%26cm%3D1%26j%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28d%29%2Br%2B%22%26mp%3D0%26ac%3D1%26pl%3D1%26bq%3D10%26ad_type%3Dimg%26vc%3D2%26cs%3D0%22%2Cm%3D%22https%3A%2F%2F%22%2Bt%2B%22%2Fpixel.gif%3Fe%3D17%26d%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28q%29%2B%22%26de%3D%22%2Bk%2B%22%26t%3D%22%2Bb%2B%22%26i%3D%22%2Bh%2B%22%26cm%3D1%26j%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28d%29%2Br%2B%22%26ku%3D1%26ac%3D1%26pl%3D1%26bq%3D10%26ad_type%3Dimg%26vc%3D2%26cs%3D0%22%3B%0A%0A%28new%20Image%29.src%3Da%3B%28new%20Image%29.src%3Dc%3Bwindow%5B%22__MHS_E__%22%2Bn.a.b%5D%3Dfunction%28%29%7B%28new%20Image%29.src%3Dm%7D%7D%29%28e%29%3B%28function%28%29%7Bfunction%20e%28a%29%7Bk%26%26console.log%28%22%3E%3E%3EMOAT%20%2F%22%2Ba%29%7Dfunction%20l%28%29%7Btry%7Bvar%20a%3Dwindow.googletag%3Breturn%20a.apiReady%3Fa.pubads%28%29%3A%211%7Dcatch%28c%29%7Breturn%20e%28%22init%3A%22%2Bc%29%2C%211%7D%7Dfunction%20u%28a%29%7Bvar%20c%3Dl%28%29%2Cm%3Db%28a%29%3Bc%3Fm%28c%2Cwindow.googletag%29%3A%28window.googletag%3Dwindow.googletag%7C%7C%7B%7D%2Cwindow.googletag.cmd%3Dwindow.googletag.cmd%7C%7C%5B%5D%2Cwindow.googletag.cmd.push%28function%28%29%7Bvar%20a%3Dl%28%29%3Ba%26%26m%28a%2Cwindow.googletag%29%7D%29%29%7Dfunction%20b%28a%29%7Breturn%20function%28%29%7Btry%7Breturn%20a%26%26%0A%0Aa.apply%3Fa.apply%28null%2Carguments%29%3Aa%28%29%7Dcatch%28b%29%7Btry%7Bvar%20c%3Ddocument.referrer%7Dcatch%28d%29%7Bc%3D%22%22%7Dtry%7Bvar%20m%3D%22%2F%2Fpixel.moatads.com%2Fpixel.gif%3Fe%3D24%26d%3Ddata%253Adata%253Adata%253Adata%26i%3DMOATHEADERSNIPPET1%26vc%3D2%26ac%3D1%26k%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28void%200%29%2B%22%26j%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28c%29%2B%22%26cs%3D%22%2B%28new%20Date%29.getTime%28%29%3B%28new%20Image%29.src%3Dm%7Dcatch%28d%29%7B%7Dthrow%20b%3B%7D%7D%7Dfunction%20h%28a%29%7Bu%28function%28c%29%7Bvar%20b%3D%7B%7D%3Ba.c%3F%28c%3D%7B%7D.toString.call%28a.c%29%2Cc%3D%21c%7C%7C%22%5Bobject%20Array%5D%22%21%3D%3Dc%26%26%22%5Bobject%20Array%20Iterator%5D%22%21%3D%3Dc%3F%5Ba.c%5D%3Aa.c%29%3Ac%3Dc.getSlots%28%29%3Bb.slots%3Dc%3Bb.slots%26%26window%26%26window.setTimeout%3F%0A%0A%28c%3Da.timeout%2C%22number%22%3D%3D%3Dtypeof%20c%26%26%21isNaN%28c%29%7C%7C%28a.timeout%3D1E3%29%2Cb.fired%3D%211%2Cb.callback%3D%22function%22%3D%3D%3Dtypeof%20a.callback%3Fa.callback%3Avoid%200%2Cb.disableAdCall%3D%22boolean%22%3D%3D%3Dtypeof%20a.disableAdCall%3Fa.disableAdCall%3A%211%2Cb.timeoutId%3Dwindow.setTimeout%28q%28b%29%2Ca.timeout%29%2Cr.push%28b%29%29%3Ae%28%22init%3A%20No%20valid%20slots%20found%20or%20provided%2C%20exiting.%22%29%7D%29%7Dfunction%20q%28a%29%7Breturn%20function%28%29%7Bif%28d%29return%20d%28a%29%3Bt%28a%29%7D%7Dfunction%20t%28a%29%7Bu%28function%28c%2Cd%29%7Ba.fired%3D%210%3Bif%28a.disableAdCall%29e%28%22init%3A%20Ad%20call%20disabled%2C%20not%20making%20ad%20call.%22%29%3Belse%7Be%28%22init%3A%20Making%20ad%20Call.%22%29%3B%0A%0Afor%28var%20f%3D0%3Bf%3Ca.slots.length%3Bf%2B%2B%29%7Bvar%20l%3Dd%2Cg%3Dc%2Ch%3Da.slots%5Bf%5D%2Ck%3Dl.pubadsReady%26%26%21g.enableSingleRequest%28%29%3Bk%26%26l.display%28h%29%3B%28%21k%7C%7C%22function%22%3D%3D%3Dtypeof%20g.isInitialLoadDisabled%26%26g.isInitialLoadDisabled%28%29%29%26%26g.refresh%28%5Bh%5D%29%7D%7D%22function%22%3D%3D%3Dtypeof%20a.callback%26%26%28f%3Db%28a.callback%29%2Ce%28%22init%3A%20Firing%20callback.%22%29%2Cf%28%211%29%29%7D%29%7Dvar%20r%3D%5B%5D%2Ck%3D%211%2Cd%3Bif%28%21window.moatPrebidApi%7C%7C%22object%22%21%3D%3Dtypeof%20window.moatPrebidApi%29%7Bwindow.moatPrebidApi%3D%7B%7D%3Bvar%20p%3Dwindow.moatPrebidApi%3Bp.init%3Dfunction%28a%29%7Bh%28a%7C%7C%7B%7D%29%7D%3Bp.enableLogging%3Dfunction%28%29%7Breturn%20k%3D%210%7D%3Bp.disableLogging%3D%0A%0Afunction%28%29%7Bk%3D%211%3Breturn%210%7D%3Bp.__onScriptLoad%3Dfunction%28%29%7Breturn%7Bentries%3Ar%2CenableLogging%3Ak%2CsetTimeoutFn%3Afunction%28a%29%7Bd%7C%7C%22function%22%21%3D%3Dtypeof%20a%7C%7C%28d%3Da%29%7D%7D%7D%7D%7D%29%28%29%7Dcatch%28n%29%7B%28function%28e%29%7Btry%7Bvar%20n%3Ddocument.referrer%7Dcatch%28h%29%7Bn%3D%22%22%7Dtry%7Bvar%20b%3D%22%2F%2Fpixel.moatads.com%2Fpixel.gif%3Fe%3D24%26d%3Ddata%253Adata%253Adata%253Adata%26i%3DMOATHEADERSNIPPET1%26vc%3D2%26ac%3D1%26k%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28e%29%2B%22%26j%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28n%29%2B%22%26cs%3D%22%2B%28new%20Date%29.getTime%28%29%3B%28new%20Image%29.src%3Db%7Dcatch%28h%29%7B%7D%7D%29%28%29%7D%7D%29%28%29%3B%0A%0A%3C%2Fscript%3E%0A%0A%3Cscript%20type%3D%22text%2Fjavascript%22%20src%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fz.moatads.com%2Fincaphheader859746151938%2Fmoatheader.js%23zMoatAB_SNPT%3Dtrue%22%20onerror%3D%22window%5B%27__MHS_E__incaphheader859746151938%27%5D%28%29%22%3E%3C%2Fscript%3E[/vc_raw_js]
\n", "content_text": "Unilever makes sustainable living accessible through its new Clean Future program\nUnilever Philippines (ULP) joins many companies that are responding to the widespread call for a more sustainable future, grounded on bold climate action, through the global brand’s Clean Future initiative.\nEarlier in September, the Unilever announced it will replace 100% of the carbon derived from fossil fuels in its cleaning and laundry product formulations with renewable or recycled carbon. This significant move is set to transform the sustainability of global cleaning and laundry brands, including the global brand’s portfolio in the Philippines. This also serves as a critical step towards Unilever’s pledge of net zero emissions from its products by 2039.\n\nUnilever expects its Clean Future initiative alone to reduce the carbon footprint of its product formulations by up to 20%, more than twice lower than the 46% the company found across their lifecycle due to the chemicals used in its cleaning and laundry products.\nBy deliberately transitioning away from fossil fuel-derived chemicals in product formulations, Unilever aims to innovate ways of reducing the carbon footprint of some of the world\u2019s biggest cleaning and laundry brands.\nAside from its avowed commitment, Unilever is ring-fencing \u20ac1 billion (or over Php58 billion) for the Clean Future initiative to finance biotechnology research, CO2 (carbon dioxide) and waste utilization, and low carbon chemistry.\n\nThe investment will be used to create biodegradable and water-efficient product formulations, halve the use of virgin plastic by 2025, and support the development of brand communications. Moreover, the investment is focused on creating affordable cleaning and laundry products that deliver superior cleaning results with a significantly lower environmental impact.\nTanya Steele, chief executive of World Wildlife Fund in United Kingdom, expressed her support for Unilever’s efforts in reducing its dependence on fossil fuels, stressing that renewable resources reduce pressure on the world’s fragile ecosystems and help restore nature. “These significant commitments from Unilever, combined with strong sustainable sourcing, have real potential to make an important contribution as we transition to an economy that works with nature, not against it,\u201d Ms. Steele said in a statement.\nUnilever’s Clean Future initiative is guided by its \u2018Carbon Rainbow\u2019, a novel approach to diversify the carbon used in its product formulations. Through this approach, Unilever plans to replace non-renewable fossil sources of carbon (identified in the Carbon Rainbow as black carbon) using captured CO2 (purple carbon), plants and biological sources (green carbon), marine sources such as algae (blue carbon), and carbon recovered from waste materials (grey carbon).\n\nThe sourcing of carbon under the Carbon Rainbow will be governed and informed by environmental impact assessments and work with Unilever\u2019s industry-leading sustainable sourcing programs to prevent unintended pressures on land use.\n\nLocal efforts\nIn the Philippines, ULP has been pushing Clean Future forward through various programs carried by its cleaning products, which have seen an unprecedented growing demand with the onset of the current health crisis.\nEchoing Unilever’s global initiative, Benjie Yap, chairman, and CEO of ULP, said that ULP continues to invest in strong partnerships and superior science as it continues to deliver products that are effective, affordable, and good for the planet. “While the 2030 Clean Future ambition is now starting to take shape, Unilever\u2019s homecare brands in the Philippines have made great strides in making sustainable living commonplace to Filipinos. With all these moving at speed, we can truly achieve a clean future,” Mr. Yap continued.\nLaundry detergent Surf, for instance, operates a flagship sachet collection program across the country with “MisisWalastik”. Multi-purpose home cleaner Domex, meanwhile, backs a partnership with the Department of Education for safe toilets in schools through its #TogetherWeAreUnstoppable initiative.\n\nFurther fulfilling Clean Future’s main objective, ULP’s cleaning brands like Breeze, Domex, Comfort, Sunlight, and Surf have started to roll out new bottle packaging made of 100% recycled material.\nUnilever ensures, nonetheless, that products that reach consumers are made with ingredients and processed with the highest standards, as Sandeep Desai, ULP’s vice-president for supply chain, noted. “Our Clean Future program turbocharges Unilever\u2019s Supply Chain operations so that our products can be made from renewable or circular sources, using cutting-edge tech, and work better in a climate-challenged world,” Mr. Desai explained.\nThe public, businesses, and partners can find out more about the Clean Future initiative by visiting www.unilever.com/brands/home-care/clean-future. Individuals or businesses with an idea for an innovation, solution, or opportunity to partner with Unilever to accelerate its Clean Future initiative can get in touch with Unilever through the company\u2019s Sustainability Partnerships and Open Innovation Submission Portal https://bit.ly/37Ljt0i\n[vc_raw_js]%3Cscript%3E%0A%0A%28function%28%29%7Btry%7Bvar%20e%3D%7Ba%3A%7B%7D%7D%3Be.a.f%3D%7Bt%3A%28new%20Date%29.getTime%28%29%2Cde%3AMath.floor%28Math.random%28%29%2AMath.pow%2810%2C12%29%29%2CzMoatAB_SNPT%3A%22true%22%7D%3Be.a.client%3D%22INCA_PH_HEADER1%22%3Be.a.b%3D%22incaphheader859746151938%22%3Be.a.g%3D%22px.moatads.com%22%3Bwindow%5B%22__MHS_P__%22%2Be.a.b%5D%3De.a.f%3Bwindow%5B%22__MHS_E__%22%2Be.a.b%5D%3Dfunction%28%29%7B%7D%3B%28function%28n%29%7Bfunction%20l%28f%29%7Bvar%20a%3Df%3Df.replace%28%22%3A%22%2C%22%22%29%3Btry%7Bfor%28var%20g%3D0%3B10%3Eg%26%26%28f%3DdecodeURIComponent%28f%29%2Ca%21%3Df%29%26%26%21f.match%28%2F%5Ehttp%28s%29%3F%5C%3A%2F%29%3Bg%2B%2B%29a%3Df%7Dcatch%28c%29%7B%7Dreturn%20f.replace%28%2F%28%5E%5Cs%2B%7C%5Cs%2B%24%29%2Fg%2C%22%22%29%7Dfunction%20e%28a%2Cc%2Cg%2Cb%29%7Breturn%20a%5Bc%5D%3D%3D%3Db%26%26%0A%0A0%3D%3D%3Dg%7C%7Ca%5Bg%5D%3D%3D%3Db%26%260%3D%3D%3Dc%7Dvar%20b%3Dn.a.f%3Bif%28%21location%7C%7C%21location.hostname%7C%7C%21location.pathname%29return%211%3Bvar%20h%3Ddocument.location.hostname.replace%28%2F%5Ewww%5C.%2F%2C%22%22%29%2Cq%3Dfunction%28%29%7Bfor%28var%20a%2Cc%3Ddocument.getElementsByTagName%28%22meta%22%29%2Cg%2Cb%3D0%2Cm%3Dc.length%3Bb%3Cm%3Bb%2B%2B%29if%28g%3Dc%5Bb%5D%2C%22og%3Atitle%22%3D%3D%3Dg.getAttribute%28%22property%22%29%29%7Ba%3Dg.getAttribute%28%22content%22%29%3Bbreak%7Da%7C%7C%28a%3Ddocument.title%7C%7C%22Untitled%22%29%3Breturn%20a%7D%28%29%3B%28function%28a%2Cc%2Cb%29%7Ba.l1%3Dc%3Ba.l2%3Db%3Ba.l3%3D%22__page__%22%3Ba.l4%3D%22-%22%7D%29%28b%2Ch%2Cq%29%3Bvar%20t%3D%28new%20Date%29.getTime%28%29.toString%2835%29%2Ch%3Dn.a.client%2Cq%3D%5Bl%28b.l1%29%2Cl%28b.l2%29%2C%0A%0Al%28b.l3%29%2Cl%28b.l4%29%5D.join%28%22%3A%22%29%2Cr%3D%22%22%2Ck%3D%2Fzct%5Ba-z0-9%5D%2B%2Fi%2Cd%3Bfor%28d%20in%20b%29b.hasOwnProperty%28d%29%26%26d.match%28k%29%26%26%28r%2B%3D%22%26%22%2Bd%2B%22%3D%22%2Bb%5Bd%5D%29%3Bd%3D%28d%3Ddocument.referrer.match%28%2F%5E%28%5B%5E%3A%5D%7B2%2C%7D%3A%5C%2F%5C%2F%5B%5E%5C%2F%5D%2A%29%2F%29%29%3Fd%5B1%5D%3Adocument.referrer%3Bvar%20p%3D%5B%22e%3D17%22%2C%22d%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28q%29%2C%22de%3D%22%2Bb.de%2C%22t%3D%22%2Bb.t%2C%22i%3D%22%2Bh%2C%22cm%3D1%22%2C%22gu%3D%22%2Bdocument.location.href%2CString%28%22j%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28d%29%2Br%29%2C%22mp%3D1%22%2C%22ac%3D1%22%2C%22pl%3D1%22%2C%22bq%3D10%22%2C%22vc%3D2%22%5D%2Ca%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fqc39w82c3prb-a.akamaihd.net%2F%22%2Bt%2B%22.gif%3F%22%2Cc%3Dfunction%28a%29%7Bfor%28var%20c%3D%22%22%2Cb%3D0%3Bb%3Ca.length%3Bb%2B%2B%29c%2B%3D%280%3D%3D%3Db%3F%22%22%3A%22%26%22%29%2Ba%5Bb%5D%3Breturn%20c%7D%28function%28a%29%7Bfor%28var%20c%3D%0A%0A0%3Bc%3Ca.length%3Bc%2B%2B%29%7Bvar%20b%3DMath.floor%28Math.random%28%29%2A%28a.length-c%29%2Bc%29%2Cm%3Da%5Bc%5D%2Cd%3De%28a%2Cc%2Cb%2Cp%5B1%5D%29%3Be%28a%2Cc%2Cb%2Cp%5B0%5D%29%7C%7Cd%3Fc--%3A%28a%5Bc%5D%3Da%5Bb%5D%2Ca%5Bb%5D%3Dm%29%7Dreturn%20a%7D%28p%29%29%2Ct%3Dn.a.g%2Ck%3Db.de%2Cb%3Db.t%2Ca%3Da%2Bc%2B%22%26cs%3D0%22%2Cc%3D%22https%3A%2F%2F%22%2Bt%2B%22%2Fpixel.gif%3Fe%3D17%26d%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28q%29%2B%22%26de%3D%22%2Bk%2B%22%26t%3D%22%2Bb%2B%22%26i%3D%22%2Bh%2B%22%26cm%3D1%26j%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28d%29%2Br%2B%22%26mp%3D0%26ac%3D1%26pl%3D1%26bq%3D10%26ad_type%3Dimg%26vc%3D2%26cs%3D0%22%2Cm%3D%22https%3A%2F%2F%22%2Bt%2B%22%2Fpixel.gif%3Fe%3D17%26d%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28q%29%2B%22%26de%3D%22%2Bk%2B%22%26t%3D%22%2Bb%2B%22%26i%3D%22%2Bh%2B%22%26cm%3D1%26j%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28d%29%2Br%2B%22%26ku%3D1%26ac%3D1%26pl%3D1%26bq%3D10%26ad_type%3Dimg%26vc%3D2%26cs%3D0%22%3B%0A%0A%28new%20Image%29.src%3Da%3B%28new%20Image%29.src%3Dc%3Bwindow%5B%22__MHS_E__%22%2Bn.a.b%5D%3Dfunction%28%29%7B%28new%20Image%29.src%3Dm%7D%7D%29%28e%29%3B%28function%28%29%7Bfunction%20e%28a%29%7Bk%26%26console.log%28%22%3E%3E%3EMOAT%20%2F%22%2Ba%29%7Dfunction%20l%28%29%7Btry%7Bvar%20a%3Dwindow.googletag%3Breturn%20a.apiReady%3Fa.pubads%28%29%3A%211%7Dcatch%28c%29%7Breturn%20e%28%22init%3A%22%2Bc%29%2C%211%7D%7Dfunction%20u%28a%29%7Bvar%20c%3Dl%28%29%2Cm%3Db%28a%29%3Bc%3Fm%28c%2Cwindow.googletag%29%3A%28window.googletag%3Dwindow.googletag%7C%7C%7B%7D%2Cwindow.googletag.cmd%3Dwindow.googletag.cmd%7C%7C%5B%5D%2Cwindow.googletag.cmd.push%28function%28%29%7Bvar%20a%3Dl%28%29%3Ba%26%26m%28a%2Cwindow.googletag%29%7D%29%29%7Dfunction%20b%28a%29%7Breturn%20function%28%29%7Btry%7Breturn%20a%26%26%0A%0Aa.apply%3Fa.apply%28null%2Carguments%29%3Aa%28%29%7Dcatch%28b%29%7Btry%7Bvar%20c%3Ddocument.referrer%7Dcatch%28d%29%7Bc%3D%22%22%7Dtry%7Bvar%20m%3D%22%2F%2Fpixel.moatads.com%2Fpixel.gif%3Fe%3D24%26d%3Ddata%253Adata%253Adata%253Adata%26i%3DMOATHEADERSNIPPET1%26vc%3D2%26ac%3D1%26k%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28void%200%29%2B%22%26j%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28c%29%2B%22%26cs%3D%22%2B%28new%20Date%29.getTime%28%29%3B%28new%20Image%29.src%3Dm%7Dcatch%28d%29%7B%7Dthrow%20b%3B%7D%7D%7Dfunction%20h%28a%29%7Bu%28function%28c%29%7Bvar%20b%3D%7B%7D%3Ba.c%3F%28c%3D%7B%7D.toString.call%28a.c%29%2Cc%3D%21c%7C%7C%22%5Bobject%20Array%5D%22%21%3D%3Dc%26%26%22%5Bobject%20Array%20Iterator%5D%22%21%3D%3Dc%3F%5Ba.c%5D%3Aa.c%29%3Ac%3Dc.getSlots%28%29%3Bb.slots%3Dc%3Bb.slots%26%26window%26%26window.setTimeout%3F%0A%0A%28c%3Da.timeout%2C%22number%22%3D%3D%3Dtypeof%20c%26%26%21isNaN%28c%29%7C%7C%28a.timeout%3D1E3%29%2Cb.fired%3D%211%2Cb.callback%3D%22function%22%3D%3D%3Dtypeof%20a.callback%3Fa.callback%3Avoid%200%2Cb.disableAdCall%3D%22boolean%22%3D%3D%3Dtypeof%20a.disableAdCall%3Fa.disableAdCall%3A%211%2Cb.timeoutId%3Dwindow.setTimeout%28q%28b%29%2Ca.timeout%29%2Cr.push%28b%29%29%3Ae%28%22init%3A%20No%20valid%20slots%20found%20or%20provided%2C%20exiting.%22%29%7D%29%7Dfunction%20q%28a%29%7Breturn%20function%28%29%7Bif%28d%29return%20d%28a%29%3Bt%28a%29%7D%7Dfunction%20t%28a%29%7Bu%28function%28c%2Cd%29%7Ba.fired%3D%210%3Bif%28a.disableAdCall%29e%28%22init%3A%20Ad%20call%20disabled%2C%20not%20making%20ad%20call.%22%29%3Belse%7Be%28%22init%3A%20Making%20ad%20Call.%22%29%3B%0A%0Afor%28var%20f%3D0%3Bf%3Ca.slots.length%3Bf%2B%2B%29%7Bvar%20l%3Dd%2Cg%3Dc%2Ch%3Da.slots%5Bf%5D%2Ck%3Dl.pubadsReady%26%26%21g.enableSingleRequest%28%29%3Bk%26%26l.display%28h%29%3B%28%21k%7C%7C%22function%22%3D%3D%3Dtypeof%20g.isInitialLoadDisabled%26%26g.isInitialLoadDisabled%28%29%29%26%26g.refresh%28%5Bh%5D%29%7D%7D%22function%22%3D%3D%3Dtypeof%20a.callback%26%26%28f%3Db%28a.callback%29%2Ce%28%22init%3A%20Firing%20callback.%22%29%2Cf%28%211%29%29%7D%29%7Dvar%20r%3D%5B%5D%2Ck%3D%211%2Cd%3Bif%28%21window.moatPrebidApi%7C%7C%22object%22%21%3D%3Dtypeof%20window.moatPrebidApi%29%7Bwindow.moatPrebidApi%3D%7B%7D%3Bvar%20p%3Dwindow.moatPrebidApi%3Bp.init%3Dfunction%28a%29%7Bh%28a%7C%7C%7B%7D%29%7D%3Bp.enableLogging%3Dfunction%28%29%7Breturn%20k%3D%210%7D%3Bp.disableLogging%3D%0A%0Afunction%28%29%7Bk%3D%211%3Breturn%210%7D%3Bp.__onScriptLoad%3Dfunction%28%29%7Breturn%7Bentries%3Ar%2CenableLogging%3Ak%2CsetTimeoutFn%3Afunction%28a%29%7Bd%7C%7C%22function%22%21%3D%3Dtypeof%20a%7C%7C%28d%3Da%29%7D%7D%7D%7D%7D%29%28%29%7Dcatch%28n%29%7B%28function%28e%29%7Btry%7Bvar%20n%3Ddocument.referrer%7Dcatch%28h%29%7Bn%3D%22%22%7Dtry%7Bvar%20b%3D%22%2F%2Fpixel.moatads.com%2Fpixel.gif%3Fe%3D24%26d%3Ddata%253Adata%253Adata%253Adata%26i%3DMOATHEADERSNIPPET1%26vc%3D2%26ac%3D1%26k%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28e%29%2B%22%26j%3D%22%2BencodeURIComponent%28n%29%2B%22%26cs%3D%22%2B%28new%20Date%29.getTime%28%29%3B%28new%20Image%29.src%3Db%7Dcatch%28h%29%7B%7D%7D%29%28%29%7D%7D%29%28%29%3B%0A%0A%3C%2Fscript%3E%0A%0A%3Cscript%20type%3D%22text%2Fjavascript%22%20src%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fz.moatads.com%2Fincaphheader859746151938%2Fmoatheader.js%23zMoatAB_SNPT%3Dtrue%22%20onerror%3D%22window%5B%27__MHS_E__incaphheader859746151938%27%5D%28%29%22%3E%3C%2Fscript%3E[/vc_raw_js]", "date_published": "2020-12-30T08:30:48+08:00", "date_modified": "2020-12-30T08:30:48+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/blexticauldulack/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/bb9711778f8535a5c41d2e047686ad3e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/blexticauldulack/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/bb9711778f8535a5c41d2e047686ad3e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "clean energy", "Sustainability", "Unilever", "Unilever Philippines", "WWF", "Special Features", "Spotlight", "Weekender" ] }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=282285", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/spotlight/2020/03/06/282285/ovaltine-says-choose-health-and-happiness-over-winning/", "title": "Ovaltine says choose health and happiness over winning", "content_html": "

The \u201cBigay Na Bigay\u201d campaign of well-loved brand Ovaltinechallenges the norm. It emboldens parents to encourage and prepare kids to be willing to take on the journey of life and enjoy it, rather than pressuring them to always win. Millennial parents acknowledge that when asked, their wish for their children is for them to be healthy and happy. The fathers of this generation are found to be spending more time with their kids.

\n

The campaign highlights that for a parent and child, the effort and journey of parenting is more important than the end-goal. \u201cIt appeals to parents, whose worldviews have been shaped by their generation. They believe in focusing on empathy and that teaching it to their children helps the latter understand the world better.\u201d said Michael Fajardo,Country Managerof Ovaltine.

\n

\u201cWe at Ovaltine believe that the Millennial mom isn\u2019t necessarily raising her kid to be a full scholar, or a prodigy, or the next Olympian. The Millennial mom is raising her child to be willing to face life\u2019s challenges, obstacles, and yes, opportunities. She knows that the happiness and health of her child is her priority,\u201d JP Villa-Real, Ovaltine Brand Manager shared.

\n

The material features a young boy who is excited about an upcoming musical performance. His excitement is so obvious to people around him, making audience think that he probably has a lead role. In the end, it shows that attitude matters more than what we as a society was taught to hold important.

\n

Ovaltine All-in-One is a nutrient-fortified malt-chocolate drink that can be enjoyed hot or cold. It contains no artificial sweeteners and is high in 10 vitamins and minerals. 2 tablespoons of Ovaltine All-in-One meet\u00a012-44% percent of the recommended daily intake of 10 vitamins and minerals needed by the body,\u00a0which helps protect cells and contribute to the normal immune system function.

\n

\n", "content_text": "The \u201cBigay Na Bigay\u201d campaign of well-loved brand Ovaltinechallenges the norm. It emboldens parents to encourage and prepare kids to be willing to take on the journey of life and enjoy it, rather than pressuring them to always win. Millennial parents acknowledge that when asked, their wish for their children is for them to be healthy and happy. The fathers of this generation are found to be spending more time with their kids.\nThe campaign highlights that for a parent and child, the effort and journey of parenting is more important than the end-goal. \u201cIt appeals to parents, whose worldviews have been shaped by their generation. They believe in focusing on empathy and that teaching it to their children helps the latter understand the world better.\u201d said Michael Fajardo,Country Managerof Ovaltine.\n\u201cWe at Ovaltine believe that the Millennial mom isn\u2019t necessarily raising her kid to be a full scholar, or a prodigy, or the next Olympian. The Millennial mom is raising her child to be willing to face life\u2019s challenges, obstacles, and yes, opportunities. She knows that the happiness and health of her child is her priority,\u201d JP Villa-Real, Ovaltine Brand Manager shared.\nThe material features a young boy who is excited about an upcoming musical performance. His excitement is so obvious to people around him, making audience think that he probably has a lead role. In the end, it shows that attitude matters more than what we as a society was taught to hold important.\nOvaltine All-in-One is a nutrient-fortified malt-chocolate drink that can be enjoyed hot or cold. It contains no artificial sweeteners and is high in 10 vitamins and minerals. 2 tablespoons of Ovaltine All-in-One meet\u00a012-44% percent of the recommended daily intake of 10 vitamins and minerals needed by the body,\u00a0which helps protect cells and contribute to the normal immune system function.", "date_published": "2020-03-06T11:29:46+08:00", "date_modified": "2020-03-06T11:29:46+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/winseciontainkes/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4f59e7220a06ddfc425bfe818926e652?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/winseciontainkes/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4f59e7220a06ddfc425bfe818926e652?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Spotlight", "Weekender" ] }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=282279", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/spotlight/2020/03/06/282279/globe-offers-free-data-access-to-doh-phivolcs-ndrrmc-websites/", "title": "Globe offers free data access to DOH, PHIVOLCS, NDRRMC websites", "content_html": "

To provide its customers with reliable updates on COVID-19 and Taal volcano status, Globe Telecom is offering free data access to websites of the Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

\n

At present, there are numerous conflicting reports about the origin, effects, and reach of COVID-19 ranging from the absurd to the plausible.\u00a0 Likewise, there are varying information on the status of Taal volcano and the affected cities and barangays.\u00a0 The situation often leaves people confused and sometimes, in panic.

\n

This prompted Globe\u00a0 to act by making data access to the websites of DOH, PHIVOLCS and NDRRMC available for free to its mobile and prepaid home WiFi customers.

\n

\u201cAs a public service, we want to direct our customers to the proper sources of information about COVID-19 and Taal volcano status so that they won\u2019t be misled by fake news which may only cause unwarranted fear. Hopefully, this will encourage them to visit the right websites and not rely on data that may not have been validated or recognized as true,\u201d said Yoly Crisanto, Globe SVP for Corporate Communications.

\n

Globe Prepaid/TM customers may access the three websites even if they have no load.\u00a0 The websites, however,\u00a0 will load faster if there is an existing data plan or promo but this will not incur any deduction in mobile data allowance.\u00a0 Globe customers only need to turn on their smartphone\u2019s mobile data and ensure that they are connected to a Globe 4G or LTE network. The same applies to Globe\u2019s Home Prepaid WiFi.

\n

To access the sites for free, customers may type the following on any internet browser:\u00a0 PHIVOLCS – https://www.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/ ; DOH – https://www.doh.gov.ph/; and NDRRMC – http://www.ndrrmc.gov.ph/

\n", "content_text": "To provide its customers with reliable updates on COVID-19 and Taal volcano status, Globe Telecom is offering free data access to websites of the Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).\nAt present, there are numerous conflicting reports about the origin, effects, and reach of COVID-19 ranging from the absurd to the plausible.\u00a0 Likewise, there are varying information on the status of Taal volcano and the affected cities and barangays.\u00a0 The situation often leaves people confused and sometimes, in panic.\nThis prompted Globe\u00a0 to act by making data access to the websites of DOH, PHIVOLCS and NDRRMC available for free to its mobile and prepaid home WiFi customers.\n\u201cAs a public service, we want to direct our customers to the proper sources of information about COVID-19 and Taal volcano status so that they won\u2019t be misled by fake news which may only cause unwarranted fear. Hopefully, this will encourage them to visit the right websites and not rely on data that may not have been validated or recognized as true,\u201d said Yoly Crisanto, Globe SVP for Corporate Communications.\nGlobe Prepaid/TM customers may access the three websites even if they have no load.\u00a0 The websites, however,\u00a0 will load faster if there is an existing data plan or promo but this will not incur any deduction in mobile data allowance.\u00a0 Globe customers only need to turn on their smartphone\u2019s mobile data and ensure that they are connected to a Globe 4G or LTE network. The same applies to Globe\u2019s Home Prepaid WiFi.\nTo access the sites for free, customers may type the following on any internet browser:\u00a0 PHIVOLCS – https://www.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/ ; DOH – https://www.doh.gov.ph/; and NDRRMC – http://www.ndrrmc.gov.ph/", "date_published": "2020-03-06T11:25:06+08:00", "date_modified": "2020-03-06T11:25:06+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "bworld-covid", "Spotlight", "Weekender" ] }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=278967", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/video/2020/02/07/278967/panagbenga-2020-staying-in-bloom-2/", "title": "Panagbenga 2020: Staying in bloom", "content_html": "

\n

AS SUNFLOWERS, petunias, bonsai plants, and rose cacti decorate the public spaces in the city of Baguio at this time of the year when it holds the Panagbenga Festival, visitors learn that neither earthquakes nor viruses can keep a good city down.

\n", "content_text": "AS SUNFLOWERS, petunias, bonsai plants, and rose cacti decorate the public spaces in the city of Baguio at this time of the year when it holds the Panagbenga Festival, visitors learn that neither earthquakes nor viruses can keep a good city down.", "date_published": "2020-02-07T12:55:28+08:00", "date_modified": "2020-02-07T12:55:28+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/blexticauldulack/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/bb9711778f8535a5c41d2e047686ad3e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/blexticauldulack/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/bb9711778f8535a5c41d2e047686ad3e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Travel & Tourism", "Video", "Weekender" ] }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=275190", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/spotlight/2020/01/26/275190/olivia-burton-is-now-in-the-philippines-and-has-a-colorful-way-of-welcoming-2020/", "title": "Olivia Burton is now in the Philippines and has a colorful way of welcoming 2020", "content_html": "

British accessories brand Olivia Burton, together with Philippines\u2019 Retail Specialist Newtrends International Corporation, bring fashion and function to the islands of the Philippines introducing trendy and unique timepieces for women.

\n

Founded by best friends and former fashion buyers Lesa Bennett and Jemma Fennings, the brand is named after Bennett\u2019s great aunt whose vibrant energy and unique style served as great inspiration to the duo. Olivia Burton has been making waves in the fashion industry since the launch of its debut collection in 2012.

\n

Designed in London, the brand takes inspiration from fashion, vintage, and nature to create unique accessories that can be treasured forever. With nature being the brand\u2019s main theme, Olivia Burton is embarking on a new journey to become a more sustainable fashion brand. Innovation does not stop the established accessories brand for they now have vegan friendly styles featuring synthetic straps customers can choose from.

\n
\"\"
Bees, butterflies, bunnies and water color florals are some of the common elements that customers can expect from Olivia Burton\u2019s nature-inspired collections.
\n

Every piece has a Japanese quartz movement, which is carefully designed and produced in a limited quantity.\u00a0 Its watches are a great addition to complete one\u2019s style and wardrobe.

\n

The Rainbow Collection

\n

This year 2020, Olivia Burton is introducing a new set of timepieces that will surely and again capture the heart of everyone.

\n
\"\"
From left to right: Rainbow Rose Gold Mesh You Have My Heart Lucky Bee, Silver & Rose Gold Mesh Rainbow Bezel & Rose Gold Bracelet
\n

It\u2019s all about the sparkle with this little gem. A rose gold bracelet strap and classic white dial offset a bezel that glitters beyond your wildest dreams. The sustainably-sourced Swarovski crystals are echoed in the rainbow markers that spread a little joy across the bold 34mm Demi-dial. The perfect reminder to embrace those positive vibes.\"\"

\n

Meet our new Lucky Bee – the perfect treat or token of love this Valentine\u2019s Day. Freshly updated to celebrate our eighth birthday (lucky number eight) our beautiful 3D bee sits proudly in the centre of a bubblegum pink brush stroke heart and contrast silver hands. Swarovski crystal markers, a rose gold mesh strap and limited edition gift box make this a very special present.

\n

Why count numbers when you can count crystals? Add a touch of luxe to your everyday look with this sparkling timepiece in super-versatile Rose Gold. Little Swarovski Crystal stones and baguettes stand in place of the markers, against a clean white dial. This treasure-worthy piece is equal parts classic and standout.

\n

Elevate the everyday with this sparkling style featuring Swarovski baguettes and tiny crystals, which replace the traditional markers in this luxe timepiece – made all the more impactful on a 38mm Big dial.

\n

Olivia Burton has expanded across the world with numerous stores in UK, USA, Canada, Germany, France, Netherlands, Ireland, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the Philippines. The brand has been well received in the market and its success does not go unnoticed. Olivia Burton was awarded as UK\u2019s Fashion Watch Branch of the Year for two consecutive years in 2016 and 2017.

\n

Olivia Burton watches are available in select Watch Republic Stores, Robinson\u2019s, Landmark and Rustan\u2019s Department Stores with more to open in 2020. Each unique timepiece ranges from P6,700 to P14,700.

\n

Olivia Burton keeps up with the latest fashion trends by releasing new collections within a period of eight weeks.

\n

 

\n

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:

\n

Spotlight is BusinessWorld\u2019s new sponsored section that allows advertisers to amplify their brand and connect with BusinessWorld\u2019s audience by enabling them to publish their stories directly on the BusinessWorld Web site. For more information, send an email to\u00a0online@bworldonline.com.

\n", "content_text": "British accessories brand Olivia Burton, together with Philippines\u2019 Retail Specialist Newtrends International Corporation, bring fashion and function to the islands of the Philippines introducing trendy and unique timepieces for women.\nFounded by best friends and former fashion buyers Lesa Bennett and Jemma Fennings, the brand is named after Bennett\u2019s great aunt whose vibrant energy and unique style served as great inspiration to the duo. Olivia Burton has been making waves in the fashion industry since the launch of its debut collection in 2012.\nDesigned in London, the brand takes inspiration from fashion, vintage, and nature to create unique accessories that can be treasured forever. With nature being the brand\u2019s main theme, Olivia Burton is embarking on a new journey to become a more sustainable fashion brand. Innovation does not stop the established accessories brand for they now have vegan friendly styles featuring synthetic straps customers can choose from.\nBees, butterflies, bunnies and water color florals are some of the common elements that customers can expect from Olivia Burton\u2019s nature-inspired collections.\nEvery piece has a Japanese quartz movement, which is carefully designed and produced in a limited quantity.\u00a0 Its watches are a great addition to complete one\u2019s style and wardrobe.\nThe Rainbow Collection\nThis year 2020, Olivia Burton is introducing a new set of timepieces that will surely and again capture the heart of everyone.\nFrom left to right: Rainbow Rose Gold Mesh You Have My Heart Lucky Bee, Silver & Rose Gold Mesh Rainbow Bezel & Rose Gold Bracelet\nIt\u2019s all about the sparkle with this little gem. A rose gold bracelet strap and classic white dial offset a bezel that glitters beyond your wildest dreams. The sustainably-sourced Swarovski crystals are echoed in the rainbow markers that spread a little joy across the bold 34mm Demi-dial. The perfect reminder to embrace those positive vibes.\nMeet our new Lucky Bee – the perfect treat or token of love this Valentine\u2019s Day. Freshly updated to celebrate our eighth birthday (lucky number eight) our beautiful 3D bee sits proudly in the centre of a bubblegum pink brush stroke heart and contrast silver hands. Swarovski crystal markers, a rose gold mesh strap and limited edition gift box make this a very special present.\nWhy count numbers when you can count crystals? Add a touch of luxe to your everyday look with this sparkling timepiece in super-versatile Rose Gold. Little Swarovski Crystal stones and baguettes stand in place of the markers, against a clean white dial. This treasure-worthy piece is equal parts classic and standout.\nElevate the everyday with this sparkling style featuring Swarovski baguettes and tiny crystals, which replace the traditional markers in this luxe timepiece – made all the more impactful on a 38mm Big dial.\nOlivia Burton has expanded across the world with numerous stores in UK, USA, Canada, Germany, France, Netherlands, Ireland, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the Philippines. The brand has been well received in the market and its success does not go unnoticed. Olivia Burton was awarded as UK\u2019s Fashion Watch Branch of the Year for two consecutive years in 2016 and 2017.\nOlivia Burton watches are available in select Watch Republic Stores, Robinson\u2019s, Landmark and Rustan\u2019s Department Stores with more to open in 2020. Each unique timepiece ranges from P6,700 to P14,700.\nOlivia Burton keeps up with the latest fashion trends by releasing new collections within a period of eight weeks.\n \nEDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\nSpotlight is BusinessWorld\u2019s new sponsored section that allows advertisers to amplify their brand and connect with BusinessWorld\u2019s audience by enabling them to publish their stories directly on the BusinessWorld Web site. For more information, send an email to\u00a0online@bworldonline.com.", "date_published": "2020-01-26T20:01:58+08:00", "date_modified": "2020-01-26T20:01:58+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Spotlight", "Weekender" ] }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=268200", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/spotlight/2019/12/07/268200/bdo-remit-advocates-financial-education/", "title": "BDO Remit advocates financial education", "content_html": "

Apart from annually doing the Pamaskong Handog to honor overseas Filipinos and their families, BDO Remit has another advocacy that espouses financial education zeroing on the value of saving and investing.

\n

Genie T. Gloria, senior vice president and head of remittance of BDO Unibank, said financial education is an invaluable gift to give the OF market and their beneficiaries because there will come a point where these workers abroad will return to their home country and choose to become entrepreneurs.

\n

“Raising their financial knowledge should start at the onset, meaning, we teach them what they can do with their hard-earned money by allocating a portion to savings and looking for investments which can serve their long-term goals,” said Gloria.

\n

BDO Remit visits universities to teach young adults, whose parents may be an OF, to take care of the money remitted to them. They also do financial education activities in various barangays to orient people particularly the unbanked the importance of being a part of the formal banking system.

\n

“Apart from these efforts, we also continue to participate in the pre-departure orientation seminars done by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, by helping the departing OFs to have a better financial behavior,” noted Gloria.

\n

Since starting the financial education advocacy in 2014, she said BDO Remit has noticed a significant improvement in the saving approach of the OFs as indicated by the growth in their monthly savings.

\n

“They are saving more now and they know their priorities and goals. For us, this improvement is a testament that this advocacy of ours is working well for them, added Gloria.

\n

BDO Remit currently has 2 million BDO Kabayan Savings account holders, a product it introduced in 2006 to encourage OFs and their beneficiaries to save and eventually allow them to qualify for other banking products such as loans, as their lives flourish.

\n

Celebrating the OFs and families

\n

Pamaskong Handog is BDO Remit’s way of giving back and recognizing OFs for their trust and loyalty as BDO Kabayan Savings account holders.

\n

“With many overseas Filipinos coming home during the holiday, we take the season as an opportunity to honor and pay tribute to their hard work and sacrifice to care for their families even if it means being away from them and taking on unique jobs in other countries,” said Gloria.

\n

Now on its 8th year, the Pamaskong Handog will be held separately in Cebu, Davao and Pampanga this month, with SM hosting the venues.

\n

“We are also grateful for our other partners Kultura, Miniso, Jollibee and Goldilocks, as well as WorldRemit, MoneyGram, Western Union and Small World for being one with us in supporting our overseas Filipinos and their families through Pamaskong Handog,” she added.

\n", "content_text": "Apart from annually doing the Pamaskong Handog to honor overseas Filipinos and their families, BDO Remit has another advocacy that espouses financial education zeroing on the value of saving and investing.\nGenie T. Gloria, senior vice president and head of remittance of BDO Unibank, said financial education is an invaluable gift to give the OF market and their beneficiaries because there will come a point where these workers abroad will return to their home country and choose to become entrepreneurs.\n“Raising their financial knowledge should start at the onset, meaning, we teach them what they can do with their hard-earned money by allocating a portion to savings and looking for investments which can serve their long-term goals,” said Gloria.\nBDO Remit visits universities to teach young adults, whose parents may be an OF, to take care of the money remitted to them. They also do financial education activities in various barangays to orient people particularly the unbanked the importance of being a part of the formal banking system.\n“Apart from these efforts, we also continue to participate in the pre-departure orientation seminars done by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, by helping the departing OFs to have a better financial behavior,” noted Gloria.\nSince starting the financial education advocacy in 2014, she said BDO Remit has noticed a significant improvement in the saving approach of the OFs as indicated by the growth in their monthly savings.\n“They are saving more now and they know their priorities and goals. For us, this improvement is a testament that this advocacy of ours is working well for them, added Gloria.\nBDO Remit currently has 2 million BDO Kabayan Savings account holders, a product it introduced in 2006 to encourage OFs and their beneficiaries to save and eventually allow them to qualify for other banking products such as loans, as their lives flourish.\nCelebrating the OFs and families\nPamaskong Handog is BDO Remit’s way of giving back and recognizing OFs for their trust and loyalty as BDO Kabayan Savings account holders.\n“With many overseas Filipinos coming home during the holiday, we take the season as an opportunity to honor and pay tribute to their hard work and sacrifice to care for their families even if it means being away from them and taking on unique jobs in other countries,” said Gloria.\nNow on its 8th year, the Pamaskong Handog will be held separately in Cebu, Davao and Pampanga this month, with SM hosting the venues.\n“We are also grateful for our other partners Kultura, Miniso, Jollibee and Goldilocks, as well as WorldRemit, MoneyGram, Western Union and Small World for being one with us in supporting our overseas Filipinos and their families through Pamaskong Handog,” she added.", "date_published": "2019-12-07T15:23:11+08:00", "date_modified": "2019-12-07T15:23:11+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Spotlight", "Weekender" ] }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=267752", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/spotlight/2019/12/04/267752/the-nutella-all-day-breakfast-truck-spreading-joyful-mornings-to-filipinos/", "title": "The Nutella All Day Breakfast Truck: spreading joyful mornings to Filipinos", "content_html": "

Nutella\u00ae, The Original Hazelnut Spread\u00ae, is going to new lengths to inspire as many Filipinos as possible to enjoy Nutella in new creative ways in the morning.

\n

The unique taste of Nutella \u2013 made from the highest quality ingredients is a perfect complement to bread.

\n

With the Christmas season rapidly approaching, there is exciting news for the Filipino food enthusiast. The globally popular hazelnut spread, Nutella, is bringing inspiration to the breakfast experience of Pinoys with The Nutella All Day Breakfast Truck.

\n

The All Day Breakfast Truck will introduce delicious ways to incorporate this delicious product with local foods. In Europe, Nutella is enjoyed with French croissants, in the U.S. and Australia it\u2019s spread on waffles and pancakes, and now it\u2019s arrived here in the Philippines! This will be the first stop in the food truck\u2019s Southeast Asian tour, and the good news is that our very own pandesal perfectly complements the taste of Nutella.

\n

\u201cOur mission is to inspire Filipino families to start their day happy with a bit of taste of Nutella\u201d. We see a lot of growth potential here in the Philippines, because of the growing breakfast culture among Filipinos. There\u2019s heightened enthusiasm and appreciation about the fusion of global and local flavors so we see an opportunity to become a part of it,\u201d comments Cheryl Que, Cluster Brand Head of Nutella.

\n

\u201cWe are happy to be present here in the Philippines and aim to become a part of the delightful Filipino All-Day breakfast culture. Our products are present and sold in more than 160 countries and most of them, like Nutella, have become part of the collective memory and lifestyles of many countries where they are truly loved and often considered as cultural icons\u201d adds Fabrizio Barbin, Ferrero Sales Manager.

\n

The Nutella All Day Breakfast Truck provides a unique experience to people from the moment they step into the space. Visitors get to choose from a variety of all-day breakfast menu items designed to take their taste experience to new and delicious heights.

\n

The whole family will enjoy putting together fun breakfast creations and can discover how Nutella can help make a breakfast into something exciting and memorable. Adding a little something new to traditional breads across the globe is a great way to reinvent breakfast and making meals tasty and exciting is what Nutella is all about.

\n

The best thing about the arrival of the Nutella All Day Breakfast Truck is the ability to take fun snapshots while enjoying the food. Snap a photo of the Nutella All Day Breakfast Truck or the food, upload it on your instagram, include the hashtag #nutellaPH and tag @NutellaSEA to be in with a chance of snagging some cool Nutella items.

\n

The Food truck will make its exclusive and limited appearance in Metro Manila at a series of different Bazaars, Valle Verde Christmas Bazaar at Valle Verde 1 on December 7-8 and Minkle Bazaar at The Grove on December 14-15. To follow the truck\u2019s journey and updates, follow Nutella on Instagram @NutellaSEA and like the Facebook page – http://www.nutella.com or NutellaPH.

\n

 

\n", "content_text": "Nutella\u00ae, The Original Hazelnut Spread\u00ae, is going to new lengths to inspire as many Filipinos as possible to enjoy Nutella in new creative ways in the morning.\nThe unique taste of Nutella \u2013 made from the highest quality ingredients is a perfect complement to bread.\nWith the Christmas season rapidly approaching, there is exciting news for the Filipino food enthusiast. The globally popular hazelnut spread, Nutella, is bringing inspiration to the breakfast experience of Pinoys with The Nutella All Day Breakfast Truck.\nThe All Day Breakfast Truck will introduce delicious ways to incorporate this delicious product with local foods. In Europe, Nutella is enjoyed with French croissants, in the U.S. and Australia it\u2019s spread on waffles and pancakes, and now it\u2019s arrived here in the Philippines! This will be the first stop in the food truck\u2019s Southeast Asian tour, and the good news is that our very own pandesal perfectly complements the taste of Nutella.\n\u201cOur mission is to inspire Filipino families to start their day happy with a bit of taste of Nutella\u201d. We see a lot of growth potential here in the Philippines, because of the growing breakfast culture among Filipinos. There\u2019s heightened enthusiasm and appreciation about the fusion of global and local flavors so we see an opportunity to become a part of it,\u201d comments Cheryl Que, Cluster Brand Head of Nutella.\n\u201cWe are happy to be present here in the Philippines and aim to become a part of the delightful Filipino All-Day breakfast culture. Our products are present and sold in more than 160 countries and most of them, like Nutella, have become part of the collective memory and lifestyles of many countries where they are truly loved and often considered as cultural icons\u201d adds Fabrizio Barbin, Ferrero Sales Manager.\nThe Nutella All Day Breakfast Truck provides a unique experience to people from the moment they step into the space. Visitors get to choose from a variety of all-day breakfast menu items designed to take their taste experience to new and delicious heights.\nThe whole family will enjoy putting together fun breakfast creations and can discover how Nutella can help make a breakfast into something exciting and memorable. Adding a little something new to traditional breads across the globe is a great way to reinvent breakfast and making meals tasty and exciting is what Nutella is all about.\nThe best thing about the arrival of the Nutella All Day Breakfast Truck is the ability to take fun snapshots while enjoying the food. Snap a photo of the Nutella All Day Breakfast Truck or the food, upload it on your instagram, include the hashtag #nutellaPH and tag @NutellaSEA to be in with a chance of snagging some cool Nutella items.\nThe Food truck will make its exclusive and limited appearance in Metro Manila at a series of different Bazaars, Valle Verde Christmas Bazaar at Valle Verde 1 on December 7-8 and Minkle Bazaar at The Grove on December 14-15. To follow the truck\u2019s journey and updates, follow Nutella on Instagram @NutellaSEA and like the Facebook page – http://www.nutella.com or NutellaPH.\n ", "date_published": "2019-12-04T16:36:22+08:00", "date_modified": "2019-12-04T16:36:22+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Spotlight", "Weekender" ] }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=257193", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/spotlight/2019/10/05/257193/sm-supermalls-celebrates-the-biggest-and-grandest-kids-day-nationwide/", "title": "SM Supermalls celebrates the biggest and grandest Kids\u2019 Day nationwide", "content_html": "

SM Supermalls kicks off Kids\u2019 Month!

\n

SM treated kiddie shoppers with fun and best-loved activities for the third year with the biggest and grandest #SMSuperKidsDay2019 celebration held last October 5 at SM Supermalls nationwide. A grand launch was held at SM Southmall featuring royalty-themed games, activities and entertainment!

\n

\"\"

\n

\u201cSM serves as a place for kids and their families to create great childhood memories. This October, we are bringing more fun playtime activities in our malls nationwide as we officially begin Kids\u2019 Month,\u201d said Jonjon San Agustin, SM Supermalls SVP for marketing.

\n

Fit for princes and princesses alike, SM Super Kids Day featured free fun and play kiddie activities with countless toys, arts and crafts activities, deals on kiddie meals and items! To unveil more surprises, shoppers also joined the SuperKids Royal Dash Augmented Reality Game by simply scanning the QR code posters located in select areas in the mall and Toy Kingdom branches!

\n

#SMSuperKidsDay2019 was be celebrated at SM BF Para\u00f1aque, SM Bicutan, SM Cherry Antipolo, SM Pasig, SM East Ortigas, SM Fairview, SM Las Pi\u00f1as, SM Mall of Asia, SM Manila, SM Marikina, SM Megamall, SM Muntinlupa, SM North Edsa, SM Novaliches, SM Sangandaan, SM Southmall, SM Sta. Mesa, SM Sucat, SM Angono, SM Bacoor, SM Baguio, SM Baliwag, SM Batangas, SM Cabanatuan, SM Calamba, SM Cherry Antipolo, SM Clark, SM Dagupan, SM Legazpi, SM Lemery, SM Lipa, SM Lucena, SM Marilao, SM Masinag, SM Megacenter Cabanatuan, SM Molino, SM Naga, SM Olongapo Downtown, SM Olongapo Central, SM Pampanga, SM Puerto Princesa, SM Pulilan, SM Rosales, SM Rosario, SM San Fernando, SM San Jose del Monte, SM San Mateo, SM San Pablo, SM Santa Rosa, SM Tarlac, SM Taytay, SM Telabastagan, SM Trece Martires, SM Tuguegarao, SM Urdaneta Central, SM Valenzuela, SM Bacolod, SM Cebu, SM Consolacion, SM Iloilo, SM Ormoc, SM Seaside City Cebu, SM Cagayan de Oro, SM CDO Downtown Premier, SM Davao, SM General Santos, and SM Lanang Premier.

\n

SM Super Kids Day is part of the month-long Kids\u2019 Month festivities of SM malls across the country. For the whole month of October, kids and their families can enjoy The SM Store\u2019s Babies and Kids Fest plus the Halloween offerings of Toy Kingdom and SM Markets. Completing Kids\u2019 Month are the annual nationwide celebration of United Nations Day (October 8 to 31) and Halloween (October 18 to 31).

\n

For more information, check out www.smsupermalls.com, or its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @smsupermalls.

\n", "content_text": "SM Supermalls kicks off Kids\u2019 Month!\nSM treated kiddie shoppers with fun and best-loved activities for the third year with the biggest and grandest #SMSuperKidsDay2019 celebration held last October 5 at SM Supermalls nationwide. A grand launch was held at SM Southmall featuring royalty-themed games, activities and entertainment!\n\n\u201cSM serves as a place for kids and their families to create great childhood memories. This October, we are bringing more fun playtime activities in our malls nationwide as we officially begin Kids\u2019 Month,\u201d said Jonjon San Agustin, SM Supermalls SVP for marketing.\nFit for princes and princesses alike, SM Super Kids Day featured free fun and play kiddie activities with countless toys, arts and crafts activities, deals on kiddie meals and items! To unveil more surprises, shoppers also joined the SuperKids Royal Dash Augmented Reality Game by simply scanning the QR code posters located in select areas in the mall and Toy Kingdom branches!\n#SMSuperKidsDay2019 was be celebrated at SM BF Para\u00f1aque, SM Bicutan, SM Cherry Antipolo, SM Pasig, SM East Ortigas, SM Fairview, SM Las Pi\u00f1as, SM Mall of Asia, SM Manila, SM Marikina, SM Megamall, SM Muntinlupa, SM North Edsa, SM Novaliches, SM Sangandaan, SM Southmall, SM Sta. Mesa, SM Sucat, SM Angono, SM Bacoor, SM Baguio, SM Baliwag, SM Batangas, SM Cabanatuan, SM Calamba, SM Cherry Antipolo, SM Clark, SM Dagupan, SM Legazpi, SM Lemery, SM Lipa, SM Lucena, SM Marilao, SM Masinag, SM Megacenter Cabanatuan, SM Molino, SM Naga, SM Olongapo Downtown, SM Olongapo Central, SM Pampanga, SM Puerto Princesa, SM Pulilan, SM Rosales, SM Rosario, SM San Fernando, SM San Jose del Monte, SM San Mateo, SM San Pablo, SM Santa Rosa, SM Tarlac, SM Taytay, SM Telabastagan, SM Trece Martires, SM Tuguegarao, SM Urdaneta Central, SM Valenzuela, SM Bacolod, SM Cebu, SM Consolacion, SM Iloilo, SM Ormoc, SM Seaside City Cebu, SM Cagayan de Oro, SM CDO Downtown Premier, SM Davao, SM General Santos, and SM Lanang Premier.\nSM Super Kids Day is part of the month-long Kids\u2019 Month festivities of SM malls across the country. For the whole month of October, kids and their families can enjoy The SM Store\u2019s Babies and Kids Fest plus the Halloween offerings of Toy Kingdom and SM Markets. Completing Kids\u2019 Month are the annual nationwide celebration of United Nations Day (October 8 to 31) and Halloween (October 18 to 31).\nFor more information, check out www.smsupermalls.com, or its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @smsupermalls.", "date_published": "2019-10-05T16:00:49+08:00", "date_modified": "2019-10-05T16:00:49+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Spotlight", "Weekender" ] }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=235243", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/spotlight/2019/06/07/235243/concocting-an-appreciation-of-wine-among-filipinos-q-and-a-with-novellino-founder-nonoy-quimbo/", "title": "Concocting an appreciation of wine among Filipinos: Q and A with Novellino Founder Nonoy Quimbo", "content_html": "

Novellino Wines celebrates its 20 years as a leading brand of wine in the Philippines that has formed an appreciation of wine among Filipinos. It all started with Nonoy Quimbo, Novellino’s founder, who envisioned a wine drinking culture in the country by introducing a wine that suits people’s taste, wallet, and appeal.

\n

As Novellino became a wine brand that Filipinos have grown to love, a 1.3-hectare state-of-the-art winery was built in Calamba, Laguna to address a growing demand for wine. Recently, Mr. Quimbo, together with his son and Novellino’s newly-appointed President Chris Quimbo, took members of the media to a tour inside Novellino’s plant equipped with the latest winemaking technology from Italy.

\n

BusinessWorld had an interview with Mr. Quimbo during Novellino’s celebration of its two decades of trailblazing the local wine industry.

\n
\"\"
Novellino Wines Founder and CEO Nonoy Quimbo
\n

BW: How do you describe Novellino’s journey to becoming one of the country’s most successful wine brands today?

\n

Mr. Quimbo: Our journey had its own struggles. First, there was the uncertainty of what might happen. Before, we wondered if the business will be fruitful. I consulted some friends; none of them told me it would work. But we took a leap of faith as we carried the vision of getting Filipinos to appreciate wine.

\n

Second, we had to cope with the demand. After we took that leap of faith, in the first two years, the Classico Rosso became profitable. The problem came in the following years: we lacked capacity. And that’s the point at which we built this plant.

\n

BW: What were the considerations in choosing Calamba, Laguna as the location for Novellino’s flagship plant?

\n

Mr. Quimbo: It was a matter of value proposition, of how the place can serve our needs. We compared this area with the other facilities we saw, and we saw that this is more appropriate for us.

\n

We also chose whether we should buy an existing facility and just put our equipment there or we should build the plant ourselves. We did a study, and it turned out that it’s better for us to build from scratch in a location that works well.

\n
\"\"
\u201cOur plant employs a sophisticated technology that is unparalleled in the country. We are even considered by foreign wineries as a thought leader in wine production, given the intricacies of producing sweet wine,\u201d Nonoy said
\n

BW: How is the maintenance of the facility being addressed?

\n

Mr. Quimbo: From an equipment standpoint, maintenance is a big challenge.

\n

In Italy or France, for example, when the equipment malfunctions one has just to call up the supplier for repair.

\n

In our case, however, we have to carry a big load of spare parts. And if what we’re looking for is not in our inventory, we have to import from the manufacturer, and so stop the plant from operating for the meantime.

\n

That’s the challenge from an equipment standpoint, because all our equipment is specific to winemaking, and we don’t have a specific winemaking industry in the Philippines.

\n

BW: Was there any upgrading of equipment recently?

\n

Mr. Quimbo: There was quite a bit of upgrading. The centrifuge filter is a new one. We bought this new technology once we heard about it.

\n

Since we bottle our wine cold, before, we had to let them dry before putting the label or the bottle will condense. But now, we put a machine that would bring the temperature from 0 to 25 degrees almost in a few minutes, since that is the temperature you need to put the label. As a result, we don’t have to dry the bottles anymore. The labeling is now uninterrupted.

\n

The packing also became faster through the automatic case packer. Before, these bottles were packed by hand. Now, they are automatically gathered into the box.

\n

BW: How do you make sure that the quality of Novellino Wines is guaranteed?

\n

Mr. Quimbo: Everything is quality controlled, from the purchase of raw materials all the way to the finished product.

\n

When the grape juice comes in, it undergoes quality control first before our laboratory personnel approve them for use.

\n

Since fermentation is a natural process, we look at it closely until it reaches the alcohol level where the process must be halted. All that has certain controls in order to make sure that everything falls within the specification.

\n

At the very end, we check the microbiological aspects of the product to make sure there are no yeast or molds that can cause health issues. After that, we even quarantine before release to ensure the wine is safe for consumption.

\n
\"\"
Built on a 1.3-hectare land, the winemaking plant is equipped with the latest Italian winemaking technology, which is responsible for the fermentation, centrifugation, clarification, filtration, chilling, bottling of quality Novellino wines
\n

BW: What are Novellino’s plans in the future to maintain its leadership in the market?

\n

Mr. Quimbo: We want to be consistent in everything we do. We’ve seen what works and what has not worked. While we continue to work on what we’ve seen has worked, we will continue to innovate.

\n

One of those innovations is the Wines on Tap, which appeals more to restaurants. We’re hardly in restaurants right now. So we think with this, we can enter that market in a more effective way.

\n

As the journey continues, whatever opportunities come along our way, and when we see developments in other markets as well that we can follow, we’ll follow.

\n

As my son Chris said, “A comfort zone is a danger zone”. Once you’re comfortable, that’s dangerous. We’re never comfortable. We’re always challenging ourselves on how we can improve.

\n

The award-winning Novellino Wines offers 15 unique wine products that specifically cater to the Filipino taste. Learn more about Novellino’s story and its offerings as well as its sophisticated winemaking process by visiting http://novellinowines.com.

\n
\"\"
Novellino Wines on Tap essentially brings the masterful art of wine tasting closer to Filipino consumers, as they now have a chance to try Novellino Wines without buying a whole bottle at a much affordable price.
\n", "content_text": "Novellino Wines celebrates its 20 years as a leading brand of wine in the Philippines that has formed an appreciation of wine among Filipinos. It all started with Nonoy Quimbo, Novellino’s founder, who envisioned a wine drinking culture in the country by introducing a wine that suits people’s taste, wallet, and appeal.\nAs Novellino became a wine brand that Filipinos have grown to love, a 1.3-hectare state-of-the-art winery was built in Calamba, Laguna to address a growing demand for wine. Recently, Mr. Quimbo, together with his son and Novellino’s newly-appointed President Chris Quimbo, took members of the media to a tour inside Novellino’s plant equipped with the latest winemaking technology from Italy.\nBusinessWorld had an interview with Mr. Quimbo during Novellino’s celebration of its two decades of trailblazing the local wine industry.\nNovellino Wines Founder and CEO Nonoy Quimbo\nBW: How do you describe Novellino’s journey to becoming one of the country’s most successful wine brands today?\nMr. Quimbo: Our journey had its own struggles. First, there was the uncertainty of what might happen. Before, we wondered if the business will be fruitful. I consulted some friends; none of them told me it would work. But we took a leap of faith as we carried the vision of getting Filipinos to appreciate wine.\nSecond, we had to cope with the demand. After we took that leap of faith, in the first two years, the Classico Rosso became profitable. The problem came in the following years: we lacked capacity. And that’s the point at which we built this plant.\nBW: What were the considerations in choosing Calamba, Laguna as the location for Novellino’s flagship plant?\nMr. Quimbo: It was a matter of value proposition, of how the place can serve our needs. We compared this area with the other facilities we saw, and we saw that this is more appropriate for us.\nWe also chose whether we should buy an existing facility and just put our equipment there or we should build the plant ourselves. We did a study, and it turned out that it’s better for us to build from scratch in a location that works well.\n\u201cOur plant employs a sophisticated technology that is unparalleled in the country. We are even considered by foreign wineries as a thought leader in wine production, given the intricacies of producing sweet wine,\u201d Nonoy said\nBW: How is the maintenance of the facility being addressed?\nMr. Quimbo: From an equipment standpoint, maintenance is a big challenge.\nIn Italy or France, for example, when the equipment malfunctions one has just to call up the supplier for repair.\nIn our case, however, we have to carry a big load of spare parts. And if what we’re looking for is not in our inventory, we have to import from the manufacturer, and so stop the plant from operating for the meantime.\nThat’s the challenge from an equipment standpoint, because all our equipment is specific to winemaking, and we don’t have a specific winemaking industry in the Philippines.\nBW: Was there any upgrading of equipment recently?\nMr. Quimbo: There was quite a bit of upgrading. The centrifuge filter is a new one. We bought this new technology once we heard about it.\nSince we bottle our wine cold, before, we had to let them dry before putting the label or the bottle will condense. But now, we put a machine that would bring the temperature from 0 to 25 degrees almost in a few minutes, since that is the temperature you need to put the label. As a result, we don’t have to dry the bottles anymore. The labeling is now uninterrupted.\nThe packing also became faster through the automatic case packer. Before, these bottles were packed by hand. Now, they are automatically gathered into the box.\nBW: How do you make sure that the quality of Novellino Wines is guaranteed?\nMr. Quimbo: Everything is quality controlled, from the purchase of raw materials all the way to the finished product.\nWhen the grape juice comes in, it undergoes quality control first before our laboratory personnel approve them for use.\nSince fermentation is a natural process, we look at it closely until it reaches the alcohol level where the process must be halted. All that has certain controls in order to make sure that everything falls within the specification.\nAt the very end, we check the microbiological aspects of the product to make sure there are no yeast or molds that can cause health issues. After that, we even quarantine before release to ensure the wine is safe for consumption.\nBuilt on a 1.3-hectare land, the winemaking plant is equipped with the latest Italian winemaking technology, which is responsible for the fermentation, centrifugation, clarification, filtration, chilling, bottling of quality Novellino wines\nBW: What are Novellino’s plans in the future to maintain its leadership in the market?\nMr. Quimbo: We want to be consistent in everything we do. We’ve seen what works and what has not worked. While we continue to work on what we’ve seen has worked, we will continue to innovate.\nOne of those innovations is the Wines on Tap, which appeals more to restaurants. We’re hardly in restaurants right now. So we think with this, we can enter that market in a more effective way.\nAs the journey continues, whatever opportunities come along our way, and when we see developments in other markets as well that we can follow, we’ll follow.\nAs my son Chris said, “A comfort zone is a danger zone”. Once you’re comfortable, that’s dangerous. We’re never comfortable. We’re always challenging ourselves on how we can improve.\nThe award-winning Novellino Wines offers 15 unique wine products that specifically cater to the Filipino taste. Learn more about Novellino’s story and its offerings as well as its sophisticated winemaking process by visiting http://novellinowines.com.\nNovellino Wines on Tap essentially brings the masterful art of wine tasting closer to Filipino consumers, as they now have a chance to try Novellino Wines without buying a whole bottle at a much affordable price.", "date_published": "2019-06-07T19:11:44+08:00", "date_modified": "2019-06-07T19:11:44+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Spotlight", "Weekender" ] }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=231688", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/spotlight/2019/05/20/231688/celebrate-a-mangamazing-weekend-at-the-cebu-mangoes-festival/", "title": "Celebrate a MANGAmazing weekend at the \u2018Cebu Mangoes Festival\u2019", "content_html": "

If there\u2019s one thing that will forever endear anyone who has visited Cebu\u2014aside from the warm, genuine smiles of the Cebuanos, of course\u2014it\u2019s got to be the abundance of sweet, juicy mangoes that makes the island a lot more inviting.

\n
\"\"
Hembler Mendoza, head of Lapu-Lapu City Tourism Office, Tefel Pesigan-Valentino, vice president for marketing, Megaworld Lifestyle Malls; and Noli D. Hernandez, president, Megaworld Cebu Properties Inc.
\n

A hands-down worldwide favorite, mangoes have easily become a proud trademark of Cebu, long before the recent mango craze caught on in various parts of the country. Such has been the inspiration behind the upcoming Cebu Mangoes Festival, a two-day festivity that celebrates the legacy and the success of mangoes as the top produce of the Queen City of the South.

\n

The event takes place at The Mactan Newtown in Lapu-Lapu City on May 25 and 26, 2019, and will be spearheaded by Megaworld Corporation, in partnership with the Lapu-Lapu City Tourism Office.

\n
\"\"
Kadaugan dancers perform the ‘Mango Dance’
\n

\u201cWe are very happy to get this celebration underway here in Lapu-Lapu City as we pay tribute to the mangoes of Cebu that the world has come to love. The Mactan Newtown is a very special township that plays host to more than 200 mango trees lined up along the main avenue, and it is the vision of our chairman Dr. Andrew L. Tan to showcase this vibrant aspect of the Cebu lifestyle. That is the reason why we find it fitting to celebrate Cebu mangoes here,\u201d says Noli D. Hernandez, president, Megaworld Cebu Properties, Inc.

\n

Tourists and visitors will literally have their hands full of everything and anything mangoes the moment the festival begins. Guests are invited to take part as the celebration kicks off with the Mango Street Dancing led by the Kadaugan Dancers on May 25, followed by the official start of the all-day mango picking activity along Newtown Boulevard inside The Mactan Newtown.

\n
\"\"
Kadaugan dancers perform the ‘Mango Dance’
\n

There\u2019s also the Mango Bazaar featuring the so-called \u201cmangopreneurs\u201d of Cebu that will showcase a wide variety of mango-related products. Those who will take part in the festival can also look forward to enjoying a dining feast at the 500-seater Mactan Alfresco.

\n

Also among the much-awaited activities that will form part of the festival is the unveiling of the world\u2019s biggest mango sago, which is eyed to become a historic first in the island.

\n

Both days will be capped off by the MANGAmazing Concert, which will feature live performances from Cebu\u2019s most sought after talent, as well as a grand fireworks display.

\n

\u201cThe Cebu Mangoes Festival is a one-of-a-kind celebration here at the Historic Resort City of Lapu-Lapu and this side of Cebu. Although the economic progress of the city has gone up by leaps and bounds, agriculture products like mangoes still thrive, and that proves how rich and diverse Cebu\u2019s economic sector really is,\u201d shares Hembler Mendoza, Lapu-Lapu City Tourism Head.

\n

The 30-hectare The Mactan Newtown of Megaworld is the country\u2019s first \u201cLive-Work-Play-Learn\u201d lifestyle township with its own beachfront located in Lapu-Lapu City, Mactan Island, Cebu. It is currently home to almost 10,000 BPO and office workers, as well as to Megaworld\u2019s first school in Visayas and Mindanao, the Lasallian-supervised Newtown School of Excellence. For more information, like the The Mactan Newtown on Facebook (facebook.com/MactanNewtown) or follow @mactannewtown_ on Instagram and Twitter.

\n", "content_text": "If there\u2019s one thing that will forever endear anyone who has visited Cebu\u2014aside from the warm, genuine smiles of the Cebuanos, of course\u2014it\u2019s got to be the abundance of sweet, juicy mangoes that makes the island a lot more inviting.\nHembler Mendoza, head of Lapu-Lapu City Tourism Office, Tefel Pesigan-Valentino, vice president for marketing, Megaworld Lifestyle Malls; and Noli D. Hernandez, president, Megaworld Cebu Properties Inc.\nA hands-down worldwide favorite, mangoes have easily become a proud trademark of Cebu, long before the recent mango craze caught on in various parts of the country. Such has been the inspiration behind the upcoming Cebu Mangoes Festival, a two-day festivity that celebrates the legacy and the success of mangoes as the top produce of the Queen City of the South.\nThe event takes place at The Mactan Newtown in Lapu-Lapu City on May 25 and 26, 2019, and will be spearheaded by Megaworld Corporation, in partnership with the Lapu-Lapu City Tourism Office.\nKadaugan dancers perform the ‘Mango Dance’\n\u201cWe are very happy to get this celebration underway here in Lapu-Lapu City as we pay tribute to the mangoes of Cebu that the world has come to love. The Mactan Newtown is a very special township that plays host to more than 200 mango trees lined up along the main avenue, and it is the vision of our chairman Dr. Andrew L. Tan to showcase this vibrant aspect of the Cebu lifestyle. That is the reason why we find it fitting to celebrate Cebu mangoes here,\u201d says Noli D. Hernandez, president, Megaworld Cebu Properties, Inc.\nTourists and visitors will literally have their hands full of everything and anything mangoes the moment the festival begins. Guests are invited to take part as the celebration kicks off with the Mango Street Dancing led by the Kadaugan Dancers on May 25, followed by the official start of the all-day mango picking activity along Newtown Boulevard inside The Mactan Newtown.\nKadaugan dancers perform the ‘Mango Dance’\nThere\u2019s also the Mango Bazaar featuring the so-called \u201cmangopreneurs\u201d of Cebu that will showcase a wide variety of mango-related products. Those who will take part in the festival can also look forward to enjoying a dining feast at the 500-seater Mactan Alfresco.\nAlso among the much-awaited activities that will form part of the festival is the unveiling of the world\u2019s biggest mango sago, which is eyed to become a historic first in the island.\nBoth days will be capped off by the MANGAmazing Concert, which will feature live performances from Cebu\u2019s most sought after talent, as well as a grand fireworks display.\n\u201cThe Cebu Mangoes Festival is a one-of-a-kind celebration here at the Historic Resort City of Lapu-Lapu and this side of Cebu. Although the economic progress of the city has gone up by leaps and bounds, agriculture products like mangoes still thrive, and that proves how rich and diverse Cebu\u2019s economic sector really is,\u201d shares Hembler Mendoza, Lapu-Lapu City Tourism Head.\nThe 30-hectare The Mactan Newtown of Megaworld is the country\u2019s first \u201cLive-Work-Play-Learn\u201d lifestyle township with its own beachfront located in Lapu-Lapu City, Mactan Island, Cebu. It is currently home to almost 10,000 BPO and office workers, as well as to Megaworld\u2019s first school in Visayas and Mindanao, the Lasallian-supervised Newtown School of Excellence. For more information, like the The Mactan Newtown on Facebook (facebook.com/MactanNewtown) or follow @mactannewtown_ on Instagram and Twitter.", "date_published": "2019-05-20T10:28:19+08:00", "date_modified": "2019-05-20T10:28:19+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/winseciontainkes/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4f59e7220a06ddfc425bfe818926e652?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/winseciontainkes/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4f59e7220a06ddfc425bfe818926e652?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Spotlight", "Weekender" ], "summary": "World\u2019s biggest \u2018mango sago,\u2019 a \u2018mangopreneurs\u2019 bazaar, and all-day mango picking activity highlight this festive weekend celebration at The Mactan Newtown" }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=228638", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/spotlight/2019/05/03/228638/breast-cancer-screening-increases-chances-of-survival-for-high-risk-women/", "title": "Breast cancer screening increases chances of survival for high-risk women", "content_html": "

\"\"Dr Lim SiewKuan is a general surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, Singapore where she specializes in breast surgery. She was in Manila recently to talkabout the rising incidence of breast cancer among Asian women.\u00a0 In the Philippines, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women.\u00a0 Majority of these cases are women diagnosed at the advanced stages of the disease where, despite the advances in treatment, survival is low.

\n

There is also an alarming increase in breast cancer patients aged below 50. Medical professionals like Dr. Lim have been advocating breast cancer screening for all women aged 30 and up because at its early stages, breast cancer is highly treatable.

\n

Here are the highlights of the interview with Dr Lim.

\n

Q: Is there a particular type of woman or class of women who are prone to breast cancer?

\n

Breast cancer risk is actually high across the female population. Among all the breast cancer patients, about 10 to 15 percent (of women) are with inherited genetic mutations, the most common of which is the BRCA gene.

\n

A famous actress, Angeline Jolie, has this gene. For women like her, having this gene mutation will increase their risk or chances of having breast cancer by up to 70 to 80 percent. Not only that, the chances of them having ovarian cancer are about 40 percent.

\n

Because this is a genetic mutation, it may be passed down to the future generations of a family. If an index patient is tested positive, we should then test the family members, because even the males in the family are prone to breast cancer and other types of cancer, like prostate cancer and other intra-abdominal cancers.

\n

We will then advise patients with this gene about the risk and the available disease prevention strategies, which includes surgery (removal of the breasts with immediate reconstruction) and hormonal therapy.

\n

Q: Men can also have breast cancer?

\n

Yes. Actually one to two percent of all breast cancers happen in males.

\n

Q: At what age should one have a test to determine the presence of the BRCA gene?

\n

We do not recommend testing before a person reaches the legal age (18 or 21 years old depending on the country), as he or she should have the right to decide whether to or when to undergo testing. We want them to know exactly what they will be going through and fully understand the implications of genetic testing. For this reason, a pre-testing genetic counselling session is required. Besides, the cancers do not occur early in life. For a woman who is BRCA positive, we start tight surveillance at age 25, so genetic testing is best done between age 21 to 25. The test is very easy to do \u2013 a blood test or a saliva test.

\n

\"\"

\n

Q: It is advisable for women to undergo screening for breast cancer at age 30?

\n

In Singapore, screening for breast cancer for normal women without any symptoms, is advised when they reach age 40. In some countries, they advise screening at age 50.

\n

However, because of many factors like unhealthy diet and changes in our lifestyle, we are seeing younger cases.\u00a0 So we advise ladies after age 18 to do breast self- examination. If they find a lump or any other symptom like nipple discharge at any age, they need to have breast cancer screening immediately.

\n

Q: Is surgery the best treatment for breast cancer?

\n

Surgery is the main form of treatment for breast cancer unless the patient for a valid reason cannot undergo surgery. We have to remove the cancer cells, and also frequently use additional therapy (hormonal therapy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy) to decrease the risk of recurrence.

\n

Q: Why do women hesitate to undergo breast cancer screening?

\n

I do know that many women are afraid to even go to a breast doctor or OB gynecologist. Cancer strikes fear in many women. We did a study of 1,000 women in Singapore about their perceptions of breast screening, and we asked why they do not go (for screening). Women in Singapore generally feel that if they do not have symptoms, they do not need breast screening. But the message we, in the medical community, want to get across, is breast screening is for all women, before symptoms are noted.

\n

We highly recommend women to undergo breast cancer screening when they reach the age of 40 because breast cancer is very curable at the early stages. The 5-year relative survival rate of a person with stage 1 cancer is at 100 percent. However, if a patient is diagnosed with stage 3 or stage 4 cancer, the survival rate is significantly lower.

\n

Q: Is there a correlation between breast implants and breast cancer?

\n

Breast implants do not cause breast cancer that is commonly found in women. Implants have been linked to a very rare cancer that occurs in the capsule around the implant.\u00a0 The cancer may develop several years (8-10 years) after the patient has the breast implant. The patient will initially feel breast swelling, tightening of the skin, and there may be a build-up of fluid around the implant.

\n

This type of lymphoma is treated by removing the whole implant and the capsule. If detected early, it can be treated easily. However, if it has spread to other areas, chemotherapy will be recommended.

\n

There are however, other problems (with implants) that may arise, and require further surgery in the future. For example, if the implant leaks or hardens with scar tissue, the body shape changes and the breasts are no longer symmetrical, or if the implant is displaced, we have to change or remove the implants. So we have to inform the patient of that.

\n

Nowadays, younger patients tend to choose to use their own (body) tissue for breast reconstruction. This is a longer, more complex procedure because it involves taking tissue from the back, the tummy, or thigh. These would require surgery that would take an extra 8-10 hours.

\n

We have to discuss all the pros and cons of each type of reconstruction with each patient. The decision for reconstruction is personal, and the final decision lies with the patient.

\n

Q: When can a woman have breast reconstruction?

\n

Most of the time, we do breast reconstruction immediately after mastectomy. If we plan a full breast reconstruction, we do not do the conventional mastectomy.

\n

We would do a skin-sparing mastectomy:\u00a0 we make a small incision, remove the underlying breast tissue while keeping the skin envelope (for the reconstructed breast). One of my patients describes it as \u2018taking the pillow out of the pillow case and putting another one back in\u2019. The best scenario is when the tumor is away from the nipple. In that case, we can actually keep the nipple and (the result) still looks very natural.

\n

However, we do not advise patients who are frail, who are diabetic or who are smokers to have breast reconstruction because of the long hours needed for the procedure.

\n

Q: For patients recovering from surgery, do you recommend any lifestyle changes?

\n

I advise them to keep to a healthy diet, with more fruits and vegetables. Take adequate rest. And because we have a lot of data showing how exercise can decrease the morbidity of the treatment and the side effects of chemotherapy and hormone therapy, we advise them to continue to exercise throughout the treatment.

\n

The treatment period is long, and patients may get depressed due to the physical and emotional stress they undergo. It is important to have a strong network of social support (family and friends) during this time. We also have a Breast Cancer Foundation with a hotline that patients can call for advice and trained volunteers, who are survivors themselves, are available to support them.

\n

Q: What are the factors behind the increasing incidence of women with breast cancer?

\n

Actually it is lifestyle changes. Singapore, for instance, has grown rapidly into a developed country over the last few decades and we have seen cases of breast cancer increase threefold. Interestingly, countries like the Philippines, China, India, have the same pattern. The rate of breast cancer in the cities is also much higher compared to the rural areas.

\n

There are now significant changes in how women make reproductive decisions. In cities, women have children later in their life, and they have fewer children. Also, they don\u2019t breastfeed for too long. Data shows that having a child before age 35, having more children or breastfeeding for more than a year, are factors that decrease the risk of having breast cancer.

\n

The increased use of external estrogen or oral contraceptive pills to delay pregnancy also increases women\u2019s risk of breast cancer occurrence.

\n

We now know that exercise and healthy (low-fat and high-fiber) diets minimize the chances of having breast cancer.

\n

Obesity is also a risk factor. After menopause, female hormones levels (which can cause cancer) are supposed to drop but the presence of fatty tissue keeps the hormonal levels higher than normal. This is why we see a higher breast cancer incidence among post-menopausal obese women.

\n

Q:\u00a0 As a female medical practitioner in Asia, have you ever felt at a disadvantage in your career?

\n

No, I have been quite fortunate in Singapore, and I did not experience any discrimination because of my gender. When I decided to specialize in breast surgery, being a female doctor became a significant advantage instead, because female patients are more comfortable with women surgeons. I also feel that being a woman myself, I can empathize more with the psycho-social needs of my female patients and their families.

\n

For more information about the Breast cancer and other condition, visit https://www.mountelizabeth.com.sg/healthplus

\n

Health Plus is an online health and wellness resource developed by Mount Elizabeth Hospitals, Singapore.

\n

To make an enquiry or appointment, contact our Central Patient Assistance Centre:
\n24-Hr Helpline: +65 6735 5000
\nEmail:\u00a0cpac@parkwaypantai.com
\nOnline appointment: http://www.mountelizabeth.com.sg

\n", "content_text": "Dr Lim SiewKuan is a general surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, Singapore where she specializes in breast surgery. She was in Manila recently to talkabout the rising incidence of breast cancer among Asian women.\u00a0 In the Philippines, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women.\u00a0 Majority of these cases are women diagnosed at the advanced stages of the disease where, despite the advances in treatment, survival is low.\nThere is also an alarming increase in breast cancer patients aged below 50. Medical professionals like Dr. Lim have been advocating breast cancer screening for all women aged 30 and up because at its early stages, breast cancer is highly treatable.\nHere are the highlights of the interview with Dr Lim.\nQ: Is there a particular type of woman or class of women who are prone to breast cancer?\nBreast cancer risk is actually high across the female population. Among all the breast cancer patients, about 10 to 15 percent (of women) are with inherited genetic mutations, the most common of which is the BRCA gene.\nA famous actress, Angeline Jolie, has this gene. For women like her, having this gene mutation will increase their risk or chances of having breast cancer by up to 70 to 80 percent. Not only that, the chances of them having ovarian cancer are about 40 percent.\nBecause this is a genetic mutation, it may be passed down to the future generations of a family. If an index patient is tested positive, we should then test the family members, because even the males in the family are prone to breast cancer and other types of cancer, like prostate cancer and other intra-abdominal cancers.\nWe will then advise patients with this gene about the risk and the available disease prevention strategies, which includes surgery (removal of the breasts with immediate reconstruction) and hormonal therapy.\nQ: Men can also have breast cancer?\nYes. Actually one to two percent of all breast cancers happen in males.\nQ: At what age should one have a test to determine the presence of the BRCA gene?\nWe do not recommend testing before a person reaches the legal age (18 or 21 years old depending on the country), as he or she should have the right to decide whether to or when to undergo testing. We want them to know exactly what they will be going through and fully understand the implications of genetic testing. For this reason, a pre-testing genetic counselling session is required. Besides, the cancers do not occur early in life. For a woman who is BRCA positive, we start tight surveillance at age 25, so genetic testing is best done between age 21 to 25. The test is very easy to do \u2013 a blood test or a saliva test.\n\nQ: It is advisable for women to undergo screening for breast cancer at age 30?\nIn Singapore, screening for breast cancer for normal women without any symptoms, is advised when they reach age 40. In some countries, they advise screening at age 50.\nHowever, because of many factors like unhealthy diet and changes in our lifestyle, we are seeing younger cases.\u00a0 So we advise ladies after age 18 to do breast self- examination. If they find a lump or any other symptom like nipple discharge at any age, they need to have breast cancer screening immediately.\nQ: Is surgery the best treatment for breast cancer?\nSurgery is the main form of treatment for breast cancer unless the patient for a valid reason cannot undergo surgery. We have to remove the cancer cells, and also frequently use additional therapy (hormonal therapy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy) to decrease the risk of recurrence.\nQ: Why do women hesitate to undergo breast cancer screening? \nI do know that many women are afraid to even go to a breast doctor or OB gynecologist. Cancer strikes fear in many women. We did a study of 1,000 women in Singapore about their perceptions of breast screening, and we asked why they do not go (for screening). Women in Singapore generally feel that if they do not have symptoms, they do not need breast screening. But the message we, in the medical community, want to get across, is breast screening is for all women, before symptoms are noted.\nWe highly recommend women to undergo breast cancer screening when they reach the age of 40 because breast cancer is very curable at the early stages. The 5-year relative survival rate of a person with stage 1 cancer is at 100 percent. However, if a patient is diagnosed with stage 3 or stage 4 cancer, the survival rate is significantly lower.\nQ: Is there a correlation between breast implants and breast cancer?\nBreast implants do not cause breast cancer that is commonly found in women. Implants have been linked to a very rare cancer that occurs in the capsule around the implant.\u00a0 The cancer may develop several years (8-10 years) after the patient has the breast implant. The patient will initially feel breast swelling, tightening of the skin, and there may be a build-up of fluid around the implant.\nThis type of lymphoma is treated by removing the whole implant and the capsule. If detected early, it can be treated easily. However, if it has spread to other areas, chemotherapy will be recommended.\nThere are however, other problems (with implants) that may arise, and require further surgery in the future. For example, if the implant leaks or hardens with scar tissue, the body shape changes and the breasts are no longer symmetrical, or if the implant is displaced, we have to change or remove the implants. So we have to inform the patient of that.\nNowadays, younger patients tend to choose to use their own (body) tissue for breast reconstruction. This is a longer, more complex procedure because it involves taking tissue from the back, the tummy, or thigh. These would require surgery that would take an extra 8-10 hours.\nWe have to discuss all the pros and cons of each type of reconstruction with each patient. The decision for reconstruction is personal, and the final decision lies with the patient.\nQ: When can a woman have breast reconstruction?\nMost of the time, we do breast reconstruction immediately after mastectomy. If we plan a full breast reconstruction, we do not do the conventional mastectomy.\nWe would do a skin-sparing mastectomy:\u00a0 we make a small incision, remove the underlying breast tissue while keeping the skin envelope (for the reconstructed breast). One of my patients describes it as \u2018taking the pillow out of the pillow case and putting another one back in\u2019. The best scenario is when the tumor is away from the nipple. In that case, we can actually keep the nipple and (the result) still looks very natural.\nHowever, we do not advise patients who are frail, who are diabetic or who are smokers to have breast reconstruction because of the long hours needed for the procedure.\nQ: For patients recovering from surgery, do you recommend any lifestyle changes?\nI advise them to keep to a healthy diet, with more fruits and vegetables. Take adequate rest. And because we have a lot of data showing how exercise can decrease the morbidity of the treatment and the side effects of chemotherapy and hormone therapy, we advise them to continue to exercise throughout the treatment.\nThe treatment period is long, and patients may get depressed due to the physical and emotional stress they undergo. It is important to have a strong network of social support (family and friends) during this time. We also have a Breast Cancer Foundation with a hotline that patients can call for advice and trained volunteers, who are survivors themselves, are available to support them.\nQ: What are the factors behind the increasing incidence of women with breast cancer?\nActually it is lifestyle changes. Singapore, for instance, has grown rapidly into a developed country over the last few decades and we have seen cases of breast cancer increase threefold. Interestingly, countries like the Philippines, China, India, have the same pattern. The rate of breast cancer in the cities is also much higher compared to the rural areas.\nThere are now significant changes in how women make reproductive decisions. In cities, women have children later in their life, and they have fewer children. Also, they don\u2019t breastfeed for too long. Data shows that having a child before age 35, having more children or breastfeeding for more than a year, are factors that decrease the risk of having breast cancer.\nThe increased use of external estrogen or oral contraceptive pills to delay pregnancy also increases women\u2019s risk of breast cancer occurrence.\nWe now know that exercise and healthy (low-fat and high-fiber) diets minimize the chances of having breast cancer.\nObesity is also a risk factor. After menopause, female hormones levels (which can cause cancer) are supposed to drop but the presence of fatty tissue keeps the hormonal levels higher than normal. This is why we see a higher breast cancer incidence among post-menopausal obese women.\nQ:\u00a0 As a female medical practitioner in Asia, have you ever felt at a disadvantage in your career?\nNo, I have been quite fortunate in Singapore, and I did not experience any discrimination because of my gender. When I decided to specialize in breast surgery, being a female doctor became a significant advantage instead, because female patients are more comfortable with women surgeons. I also feel that being a woman myself, I can empathize more with the psycho-social needs of my female patients and their families.\nFor more information about the Breast cancer and other condition, visit https://www.mountelizabeth.com.sg/healthplus\nHealth Plus is an online health and wellness resource developed by Mount Elizabeth Hospitals, Singapore.\nTo make an enquiry or appointment, contact our Central Patient Assistance Centre:\n24-Hr Helpline: +65 6735 5000\nEmail:\u00a0cpac@parkwaypantai.com\nOnline appointment: http://www.mountelizabeth.com.sg", "date_published": "2019-05-03T00:01:48+08:00", "date_modified": "2019-05-03T00:01:48+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/rgentribirthfurd/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/67e0d160ec455979f75e504cb026950a?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/rgentribirthfurd/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/67e0d160ec455979f75e504cb026950a?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Health", "Spotlight", "Weekender" ] }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=227979", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/weekender/focus/2019/04/29/227979/when-the-wind-blows-and-the-ground-shakes/", "title": "When the wind blows and the ground shakes", "content_html": "

\n
\n
[vc_custom_heading text=”When the wind blows and the ground shakes” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:60|text_align:left|color:%23ffffff|line_height:1″ use_theme_fonts=”yes”]
\n
\n
\n

FROM THE ARCHIVES: In light of the recent earthquakes that rocked the country in April 2019, BusinessWorld is republishing this story on the structural integrity of buildings. Written in the wake of typhoon Yolanda and the earthquake that shook Bohol and Cebu, the story first ran on November 29, 2013. \u2014 Ed.

\n

November 29, 2013
\nWEEKENDER
\nBy Joseph L. Garcia

\n

It looked like no stone, stick, or structure was left unturned in Tacloban in the wake of typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan). Just a month before Yolanda crossed the Visayas, a massive earthquake shook Bohol and Cebu, crumbling houses, heritage churches, even one of the famous Chocolate Hills.

\n

In the wake of the super typhoon and the massive earthquake, how can the Philippines\u2014cities in particular\u2014prepare for another double whammy? \u201cWe have to revise, review, and upgrade our building and structural codes,\u201d said Felino Palafox, Jr., Principal Architect, Founder, and managing partner of Palafox Associates, a Manila-based architectural firm cited in the Top 500 Architectural Firms in World Architecture Magazine.

\n

\u201cThe super typhoon Yolanda moved [at a rate of] 321 kph. The minimum requirement for wind speed [resistance] in that part of our country is only 250 kph. [Buildings there] were not designed for that type of typhoon,\u201d he said.

\n

Architect Michael de Castro, an Operations Manager and Senior Architect from Palafox Associates, agrees. \u201cThe building code is from the \u201970s, and it\u2019s antiquated. We need to revise it based on our technology and methods of construction.\u201d

\n

\u201cI have given the president a list of recommendations for Metro Manila and other urban areas,\u201d said Mr. Palafox.

\n

The list, sent to Malacanang in 2010, carries a message that communities have been developed with a lack of urban planning, architecture and engineering considerations, especially in light of the frequent disasters in the country, in addition to the global phenomenon of climate change. The list contains long-term solutions such as flood control measures, reforestation efforts, and pollution abatement measures, as well as immediate action targets such as the relocation of citizens to higher ground, and the creation of disaster prevention bases.

\n

The list from Palafox Associates also includes general recommendations in case of earthquakes, which emphasize the need for structural audits around the country. \u201cAll buildings in this country should have a structural audit, especially government buildings. When there are disasters, people tend to run to government buildings [for help],\u201d noted Mr. Palafox.

\n

ALL FALL DOWN
\nDespite optimism in the structural integrity of new and retrofitted Metro Manila buildings, old buildings that have not been retrofitted and those standing in problem areas stand little chance against, say, a massive earthquake.

\n

\u201cAn agency came out with a report that 30 to 40% of the buildings here will collapse in a strong earthquake, and about 2% of tall and high-rise buildings will collapse. You can see we\u2019re not really prepared,\u201d said Mr. De Castro.

\n

The study cited by Mr. de Castro is the Metropolitan Manila Earthquake Impact Reduction Study (MMEIRS), done by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in cooperation with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from August 2002 to March 2004.

\n

There are more grim aspects to the study. It says Metro Manila will be separated into four regions by the consequences of a massive earthquake. It predicts that fire damage and collapsing buildings will isolate the Western part of Metro Manila, while the road network of the eastern part of Metro Manila, which lies on the earthquake fault, could possibly break during such a disaster. \u201cIn a worst-case scenario, only half of the buildings will be prepared for a disaster,\u201d said Mr. De Castro.

\n
[vc_custom_heading text=”\u201cIn a worst-case scenario, only half of the buildings will be prepared for a disaster,\u201d said Mr. De Castro” font_container=”tag:h3|font_size:27|text_align:center|color:%23cb7a16|line_height:1″ use_theme_fonts=”yes” el_class=”quote_card”]
\n

BLOW THE HOUSE DOWN
\nSimilarly grim scenarios, this time about the effects of typhoons, were presented during a roundtable discussion organized by the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) last week called \u201cBuilding Resilient Housing for a Stronger PH.\u201d

\n

The panel of architects from the UAP\u2014Royal Pineda, Managing Partner of BudjiLayug+Royal Pineda Design Architects; Topy Vasquez, Chairman and CEO of T.I Vasquez Architects and Planners; Sonny Rosal, National President of the UAP; and William Coscolluela, Principal Architect of W.V
\nCoscolluela & Associates\u2014focused on Yolanda\u2019s devastation in Tacloban.

\n

Mr. Vasquez mused on what might have happened if typhoon Yolanda had hit Metro Manila. \u201cImagine if glass broke off from a high-rise building\u2026 its shards will travel at 300 kmph,\u201d he said.

\n

This opened a discussion on the type of materials used in Metro Manila buildings. According to Mr. Pineda, tempered glass, which breaks up into little beads instead of jagged pieces when it shatters, is a smart alternative to the glass used in buildings today.

\n

Some builders and developers have adopted concepts to make buildings more disaster-resistant. Retrofitting\u2014the process by which old buildings are reinforced with new materials to make them stronger\u2014is one adaptation. Some elements of the Metro Manila skyline have been retrofitted with steel, with flyover pillars as an example. \u201cThey have huge steel plates in the columns to give added support… so if the cement breaks, the steel plates will hold down the cement,\u201d said Palafox\u2019s Mr. De Castro.

\n

STILL STANDING
\nSome builders look to the past for inspiration in building disaster-resistant structures. Old churches come to mind, with their thick solid walls standing amidst the onslaughts of natural and man-made disasters.

\n

Of course, some churches, like the heritage sites that crumbled in the Bohol earthquake, have had time take its toll on them. More importantly, churches such as San Agustin in Intramuros, Manila, which remains standing after centuries of onslaughts, have undergone some retrofitting. \u201cYou can actually retrofit them with reinforcing bars to make them stronger,\u201d said Mr. Palafox. What may apply to churches may not apply to all buildings, and probably not in urban areas. \u201cChurches have thick walls, and if you will apply the concept [of thick walls] now, then you will waste a lot of space,\u201d noted Mr. De Castro.

\n

Other methods of retrofitting include using protective stickers for glass buildings. Mr. Pineda also discussed the possibility of installing storm shutters for private homes.

\n

Mr. Pineda, during the UAP roundtable discussion, also shared some thoughts about modern architecture looking into the past. \u201cLet\u2019s wake up, and let\u2019s say, let\u2019s be basic, and understand nature again… [We should] understand nature, and create a design that will work with nature,\u201d said Mr. Pineda.

\n

Mr. Rosal and Mr. Vasquez also extolled the virtues of simple designs that can withstand disasters. According to Mr. Rosal, some of the houses left intact in typhoon Yolanda\u2019s devastation had roofs with four sloping corners. This is in contrast to popular designs of high-pitched roofs with eaves and gables and two sloping corners.

\n

Mr. Pineda added that the four sloping corners of the roofs allowed wind to slide and flow freely. Mr. Vasquez said that for a house to be able to withstand typhoon-strength winds, it should have minimal wind resistance and wind drag. Mr. Vasquez also noted the importance of site selection in planning a building project. \u201cIf I know that one area is flood-prone, why would I build a difficult house with all these [technologies] and gadgets?\u201d

\n

CORRUPTION AND INACTION
\nAlthough the technology and materials to build stronger public infrastructure is accessible in the Philippines, funding has always been a problem.

\n

\u201cSuppose you build a public bridge. Up to 40% of the funds are lost to corruption. You need at least 60-70% of the funds to build it,\u201d said Palafox\u2019s Mr. De Castro. He says that for stakeholders in the projects to cut their losses, materials of lower grade and standard are used to finish the project.

\n

Furthermore, government inaction leads to buildings and homes being built in danger zones.

\n

\u201cThere are buildings on earthquake faults, such as the areas of Blue Ridge, Eastwood, and from Marikina down to C5… na supposedly, dapat hindi (which are not supposed to be there)… but our government is not really implementing its rules… developers are just stacking over the faultline,\u201d said Mr. De Castro.

\n

\u201cWe have to realize that we have to rethink and redesign on our own, and in ourselves. If we do not, nature herself would do it for us,\u201d said Mr. Edwin Barcia, the Vice-President of Documentation of T.I. Vasquez Architects & Planners Inc., in a closing statement at the roundtable discussion.

\n

\n", "content_text": "[vc_custom_heading text=”When the wind blows and the ground shakes” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:60|text_align:left|color:%23ffffff|line_height:1″ use_theme_fonts=”yes”]\n\n\nFROM THE ARCHIVES: In light of the recent earthquakes that rocked the country in April 2019, BusinessWorld is republishing this story on the structural integrity of buildings. Written in the wake of typhoon Yolanda and the earthquake that shook Bohol and Cebu, the story first ran on November 29, 2013. \u2014 Ed.\nNovember 29, 2013\nWEEKENDER\nBy Joseph L. Garcia\nIt looked like no stone, stick, or structure was left unturned in Tacloban in the wake of typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan). Just a month before Yolanda crossed the Visayas, a massive earthquake shook Bohol and Cebu, crumbling houses, heritage churches, even one of the famous Chocolate Hills.\nIn the wake of the super typhoon and the massive earthquake, how can the Philippines\u2014cities in particular\u2014prepare for another double whammy? \u201cWe have to revise, review, and upgrade our building and structural codes,\u201d said Felino Palafox, Jr., Principal Architect, Founder, and managing partner of Palafox Associates, a Manila-based architectural firm cited in the Top 500 Architectural Firms in World Architecture Magazine.\n\u201cThe super typhoon Yolanda moved [at a rate of] 321 kph. The minimum requirement for wind speed [resistance] in that part of our country is only 250 kph. [Buildings there] were not designed for that type of typhoon,\u201d he said.\nArchitect Michael de Castro, an Operations Manager and Senior Architect from Palafox Associates, agrees. \u201cThe building code is from the \u201970s, and it\u2019s antiquated. We need to revise it based on our technology and methods of construction.\u201d\n\u201cI have given the president a list of recommendations for Metro Manila and other urban areas,\u201d said Mr. Palafox.\nThe list, sent to Malacanang in 2010, carries a message that communities have been developed with a lack of urban planning, architecture and engineering considerations, especially in light of the frequent disasters in the country, in addition to the global phenomenon of climate change. The list contains long-term solutions such as flood control measures, reforestation efforts, and pollution abatement measures, as well as immediate action targets such as the relocation of citizens to higher ground, and the creation of disaster prevention bases.\nThe list from Palafox Associates also includes general recommendations in case of earthquakes, which emphasize the need for structural audits around the country. \u201cAll buildings in this country should have a structural audit, especially government buildings. When there are disasters, people tend to run to government buildings [for help],\u201d noted Mr. Palafox.\nALL FALL DOWN\nDespite optimism in the structural integrity of new and retrofitted Metro Manila buildings, old buildings that have not been retrofitted and those standing in problem areas stand little chance against, say, a massive earthquake.\n\u201cAn agency came out with a report that 30 to 40% of the buildings here will collapse in a strong earthquake, and about 2% of tall and high-rise buildings will collapse. You can see we\u2019re not really prepared,\u201d said Mr. De Castro.\nThe study cited by Mr. de Castro is the Metropolitan Manila Earthquake Impact Reduction Study (MMEIRS), done by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in cooperation with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from August 2002 to March 2004.\nThere are more grim aspects to the study. It says Metro Manila will be separated into four regions by the consequences of a massive earthquake. It predicts that fire damage and collapsing buildings will isolate the Western part of Metro Manila, while the road network of the eastern part of Metro Manila, which lies on the earthquake fault, could possibly break during such a disaster. \u201cIn a worst-case scenario, only half of the buildings will be prepared for a disaster,\u201d said Mr. De Castro.\n[vc_custom_heading text=”\u201cIn a worst-case scenario, only half of the buildings will be prepared for a disaster,\u201d said Mr. De Castro” font_container=”tag:h3|font_size:27|text_align:center|color:%23cb7a16|line_height:1″ use_theme_fonts=”yes” el_class=”quote_card”]\nBLOW THE HOUSE DOWN\nSimilarly grim scenarios, this time about the effects of typhoons, were presented during a roundtable discussion organized by the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) last week called \u201cBuilding Resilient Housing for a Stronger PH.\u201d\nThe panel of architects from the UAP\u2014Royal Pineda, Managing Partner of BudjiLayug+Royal Pineda Design Architects; Topy Vasquez, Chairman and CEO of T.I Vasquez Architects and Planners; Sonny Rosal, National President of the UAP; and William Coscolluela, Principal Architect of W.V\nCoscolluela & Associates\u2014focused on Yolanda\u2019s devastation in Tacloban.\nMr. Vasquez mused on what might have happened if typhoon Yolanda had hit Metro Manila. \u201cImagine if glass broke off from a high-rise building\u2026 its shards will travel at 300 kmph,\u201d he said.\nThis opened a discussion on the type of materials used in Metro Manila buildings. According to Mr. Pineda, tempered glass, which breaks up into little beads instead of jagged pieces when it shatters, is a smart alternative to the glass used in buildings today.\nSome builders and developers have adopted concepts to make buildings more disaster-resistant. Retrofitting\u2014the process by which old buildings are reinforced with new materials to make them stronger\u2014is one adaptation. Some elements of the Metro Manila skyline have been retrofitted with steel, with flyover pillars as an example. \u201cThey have huge steel plates in the columns to give added support… so if the cement breaks, the steel plates will hold down the cement,\u201d said Palafox\u2019s Mr. De Castro.\nSTILL STANDING\nSome builders look to the past for inspiration in building disaster-resistant structures. Old churches come to mind, with their thick solid walls standing amidst the onslaughts of natural and man-made disasters.\nOf course, some churches, like the heritage sites that crumbled in the Bohol earthquake, have had time take its toll on them. More importantly, churches such as San Agustin in Intramuros, Manila, which remains standing after centuries of onslaughts, have undergone some retrofitting. \u201cYou can actually retrofit them with reinforcing bars to make them stronger,\u201d said Mr. Palafox. What may apply to churches may not apply to all buildings, and probably not in urban areas. \u201cChurches have thick walls, and if you will apply the concept [of thick walls] now, then you will waste a lot of space,\u201d noted Mr. De Castro.\nOther methods of retrofitting include using protective stickers for glass buildings. Mr. Pineda also discussed the possibility of installing storm shutters for private homes.\nMr. Pineda, during the UAP roundtable discussion, also shared some thoughts about modern architecture looking into the past. \u201cLet\u2019s wake up, and let\u2019s say, let\u2019s be basic, and understand nature again… [We should] understand nature, and create a design that will work with nature,\u201d said Mr. Pineda.\nMr. Rosal and Mr. Vasquez also extolled the virtues of simple designs that can withstand disasters. According to Mr. Rosal, some of the houses left intact in typhoon Yolanda\u2019s devastation had roofs with four sloping corners. This is in contrast to popular designs of high-pitched roofs with eaves and gables and two sloping corners.\nMr. Pineda added that the four sloping corners of the roofs allowed wind to slide and flow freely. Mr. Vasquez said that for a house to be able to withstand typhoon-strength winds, it should have minimal wind resistance and wind drag. Mr. Vasquez also noted the importance of site selection in planning a building project. \u201cIf I know that one area is flood-prone, why would I build a difficult house with all these [technologies] and gadgets?\u201d\nCORRUPTION AND INACTION\nAlthough the technology and materials to build stronger public infrastructure is accessible in the Philippines, funding has always been a problem.\n\u201cSuppose you build a public bridge. Up to 40% of the funds are lost to corruption. You need at least 60-70% of the funds to build it,\u201d said Palafox\u2019s Mr. De Castro. He says that for stakeholders in the projects to cut their losses, materials of lower grade and standard are used to finish the project.\nFurthermore, government inaction leads to buildings and homes being built in danger zones.\n\u201cThere are buildings on earthquake faults, such as the areas of Blue Ridge, Eastwood, and from Marikina down to C5… na supposedly, dapat hindi (which are not supposed to be there)… but our government is not really implementing its rules… developers are just stacking over the faultline,\u201d said Mr. De Castro.\n\u201cWe have to realize that we have to rethink and redesign on our own, and in ourselves. If we do not, nature herself would do it for us,\u201d said Mr. Edwin Barcia, the Vice-President of Documentation of T.I. Vasquez Architects & Planners Inc., in a closing statement at the roundtable discussion.", "date_published": "2019-04-29T15:18:14+08:00", "date_modified": "2019-04-29T15:18:14+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/rgentribirthfurd/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/67e0d160ec455979f75e504cb026950a?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/rgentribirthfurd/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/67e0d160ec455979f75e504cb026950a?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Focus", "Weekender" ] }, { "id": "http://www.bworldonline.com/?p=187543", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/health/2019/03/25/187543/8-tips-to-keep-the-liver-in-good-shape/", "title": "8 tips to keep the liver in good shape", "content_html": "

\n
\n
\n

The human body is akin to a synergistic machine of connected systems and organs that rely on one other to function well. Its five vital organs \u2014 the brain, heart, kidneys, liver and lungs \u2014 must be given enough care to ensure that entire body works properly.
\nOf the said vital organs, one is largely misunderstood and overlooked \u2014 the liver. Individuals have very little understanding of what it does to help other body systems complete their jobs. As a matter of fact, a healthy liver controls production and excretion of cholesterol, helps in digestion and nutrient absorption and detoxifies the body from harmful intakes.[1]

\n
\n1.\u00a0 Observe a balanced and healthy diet. Eat more high-fiber foods, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, together with fish, white meat, beans and nuts, which are rich in proteins. Reduce the amount of carbohydrates and saturated fats in your diet to avoid fat deposits in the liver.[2]
\n
\n2.\u00a0 Exercise regularly. Following a consistent exercise regimen decreases stress on the liver and helps prevent obesity, which is a risk factor for liver disease. A couple of studies have shown that gradual weight loss, coupled with increased exercise, will reduce fat deposits in the liver.
\n\"\"
\n3.\u00a0 Limit alcohol consumption. Consuming excessive amounts of alcohol can cause damage to the liver cells. Drink in moderation as the liver can only process or break down a small amount of alcohol every hour.
\n\"\"
\n4.\u00a0 Take your medications. Strictly follow the doctor\u2019s prescribed treatment \u2014 from how to take it, when to take it, and to how much to take at a time. Don\u2019t take any medications without consulting a doctor, and never mix alcohol with other drugs and medications.[3]
\n\"\"
\n5.\u00a0 Avoid environmental pollutants. Stay away, as much as possible, from chemicals like insect sprays, paints, car fumes and other aerosol sprays. They contain toxins that can harm liver cells.[4] When using some of those items is unavoidable, wear a mask and make sure the room you\u2019re in is ventilated.[5]
\n\"\"
\n6.\u00a0 Consult a doctor. Visit the doctor immediately if symptoms relating to liver injury or damage, such as jaundice, dark urine, nausea and vomiting, were observed. Doctors are in the best position to assess and address your health concerns.
\n\"\"
\n7.\u00a0 Take a liver test. Nowadays, identifying if an individual is at risk from any liver disease is made easy. Diagnostic options, such as the SGPT (serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase) testing, have been developed to help establish liver enzyme levels in the blood, which may indicate the health of the liver.[6] It is also used to monitor the progression of liver diseases and determine if the treatment is working.[7]
\n
\n8.\u00a0 Use trusted liver nutritional support. Providing the liver with an essential nutritional support is also effective to protect and, once damaged, restore the liver\u2019s overall health. In this case, be careful with what you take and make sure that you purchase only trusted brands in the market, such as Essentiale\u00ae Forte P. Essentiale\u00ae Forte P is clinically-proven to protect and revitalize the liver.[8] It is the No. 1 Doctor-Recommended Liver Remedy brand in the Philippines and in the world.[9]\n
\n

\"\"
\nsanofi-aventis Philippines Inc.
\nUnits 2103 & 2105 One World Place, 32nd St. Bonifacio
\nGlobal City, Taguig City, 1634 Philippines
\nSAPH.PCH.18.08.0262a | Version 1.0 | Production Date 01Oct2018

\n\n
\n
\n
[vc_raw_js]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[/vc_raw_js]

\n", "content_text": "The human body is akin to a synergistic machine of connected systems and organs that rely on one other to function well. Its five vital organs \u2014 the brain, heart, kidneys, liver and lungs \u2014 must be given enough care to ensure that entire body works properly.\nOf the said vital organs, one is largely misunderstood and overlooked \u2014 the liver. Individuals have very little understanding of what it does to help other body systems complete their jobs. As a matter of fact, a healthy liver controls production and excretion of cholesterol, helps in digestion and nutrient absorption and detoxifies the body from harmful intakes.[1]\n\n1.\u00a0 Observe a balanced and healthy diet. Eat more high-fiber foods, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, together with fish, white meat, beans and nuts, which are rich in proteins. Reduce the amount of carbohydrates and saturated fats in your diet to avoid fat deposits in the liver.[2]\n\n2.\u00a0 Exercise regularly. Following a consistent exercise regimen decreases stress on the liver and helps prevent obesity, which is a risk factor for liver disease. A couple of studies have shown that gradual weight loss, coupled with increased exercise, will reduce fat deposits in the liver.\n\n3.\u00a0 Limit alcohol consumption. Consuming excessive amounts of alcohol can cause damage to the liver cells. Drink in moderation as the liver can only process or break down a small amount of alcohol every hour.\n\n4.\u00a0 Take your medications. Strictly follow the doctor\u2019s prescribed treatment \u2014 from how to take it, when to take it, and to how much to take at a time. Don\u2019t take any medications without consulting a doctor, and never mix alcohol with other drugs and medications.[3]\n\n5.\u00a0 Avoid environmental pollutants. Stay away, as much as possible, from chemicals like insect sprays, paints, car fumes and other aerosol sprays. They contain toxins that can harm liver cells.[4] When using some of those items is unavoidable, wear a mask and make sure the room you\u2019re in is ventilated.[5]\n\n6.\u00a0 Consult a doctor. Visit the doctor immediately if symptoms relating to liver injury or damage, such as jaundice, dark urine, nausea and vomiting, were observed. Doctors are in the best position to assess and address your health concerns.\n\n7.\u00a0 Take a liver test. Nowadays, identifying if an individual is at risk from any liver disease is made easy. Diagnostic options, such as the SGPT (serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase) testing, have been developed to help establish liver enzyme levels in the blood, which may indicate the health of the liver.[6] It is also used to monitor the progression of liver diseases and determine if the treatment is working.[7]\n\n8.\u00a0 Use trusted liver nutritional support. Providing the liver with an essential nutritional support is also effective to protect and, once damaged, restore the liver\u2019s overall health. In this case, be careful with what you take and make sure that you purchase only trusted brands in the market, such as Essentiale\u00ae Forte P. Essentiale\u00ae Forte P is clinically-proven to protect and revitalize the liver.[8] It is the No. 1 Doctor-Recommended Liver Remedy brand in the Philippines and in the world.[9]\n\n\nsanofi-aventis Philippines Inc.\nUnits 2103 & 2105 One World Place, 32nd St. Bonifacio\nGlobal City, Taguig City, 1634 Philippines\nSAPH.PCH.18.08.0262a | Version 1.0 | Production Date 01Oct2018\n[1] https://www.healthline.com/health/liver-cholesterol\n[2] https://www.liver.ca/your-liver/\n[3] Ibid.\n[4] https://liverfoundation.org/13-ways-to-a-healthy-liver/\n[5] https://www.liver.ca/your-liver/\n[6] https://www.medicinenet.com/liver_blood_tests/article.htm\n[7] https://www.healthline.com/health/alt#procedure\n[8] Gunderman K., Kuenker A., Kuntz E., Drozdik M., Pharmacological Reports, 2011\n[9] No. 1 based on PMDI\u00a0 2017 Data and Nicolas Hall YE Report 2017\n\n\n[vc_raw_js]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[/vc_raw_js]", "date_published": "2019-03-25T15:00:56+08:00", "date_modified": "2019-03-25T15:00:56+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/winseciontainkes/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4f59e7220a06ddfc425bfe818926e652?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/winseciontainkes/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4f59e7220a06ddfc425bfe818926e652?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Health", "Weekender Health", "Arts & Leisure", "Corporate", "Editors' Picks", "Featured", "Marketing", "Weekender" ] }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=216442", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/spotlight/2019/02/26/216442/what-women-should-know-about-cervical-cancer/", "title": "What women should know about cervical cancer", "content_html": "

After breast cancer, cervical cancer is the second highest cancer-related cause of death\u00a0 among Filipino women. Although considered a highly preventable disease, the high mortality rate is due to the fact that women are diagnosed at a late stage where treatment is expensive and in most parts outside of the metro, unavailable.
\nA study by the Philippine Cancer Society points to the strong link between\u00a0 the incidence of the human papillomavirus (HPV) among the Filipinas afflicted with cervical cancer. Other factors that seem to increase the likelihood of HPV infection and cervical cancer are early sexual contact, low socioeconomic status, high parity, smoking, use of oral contraception and risky sexual behaviors.
\n\"\"
\nIn the 2005 cancer registry, there was a marked increase in new cases of cervical cancer, and reported deaths. The high mortality rate was attributed to the fact that 75% of women were diagnosed at late stage. The Philippine General Hospital (PGH), the country’s government tertiary center, reported the highest number of new cervical cancer cases.
\nWe consulted gynecologic oncologist Dr. Chia Yin Nin practicing at Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore about this alarming finding and its implications on women\u2019s health.
\nWhat advice can you give women on how to protect themselves against cervical cancer?
\nIn the past, we would say that women with multiple sexual partners are high risk. But that has changed because normal women are now affected by cervical cancer. Now, we realize that, although HPV is sexually transmitted, it is not an STD. It can be acquired through personal contact like fondling, petting and sexual intercourse.\u00a0 Nowadays, all women who are active sexually can have cervical cancer.
\nYoung girls should get vaccinated before their sexual debut to protect against the HPV virus. The vaccine provides up to 95% coverage against cervical cancer. For older women who have started sexual activity, they can still have the vaccines \u2019till age 45, but I also advise screening: the PAP Smear or the HPV test kit.
\nUnless women go for tests, they will never know that they have signs of the virus. It takes years before the virus can develop into a cancer but this can progress very quickly depending on the strains of HPV virus they acquire e.g. type 16 and 18 are highly aggressive.
\nCancer can deprive a woman of her fertility.
\nOnce these pre-cancer changes are detected, they can be easily treated by burning away those abnormal cells to prevent any chances of progression into cancer. Pre-cancer treatment does not involve removal of the womb.
\nEarly screening not only saves your life, it saves your womb.
\nWhat are the symptoms to look for?
\nThe virus is so prevalent in the community, almost all women can have it. For about 20% of these women, the virus can develop into cancer. It is only when the cancer develops that you experience the signs like bleeding during intercourse, bleeding between menstrual periods or bleeding after menopause. The patient can also experience other symptoms like back pain, cough and swelling in the abdomen or limbs if the cancer has spread.
\nHow can women protect themselves against cervical cancer?
\nThere are 2 types of protection: primary and secondary. Vaccination is, by far, the best means of primary protection. Secondary protection to monitor the presence of pre-cancerous changes is done by PAP smear and/or the HPV test kit. The PAP smear is a test done by a General Practitioner or an OB Gynecologist to detect pre-cancer changes in the cervix.
\nAside from the PAP smear, there is the HPV test kit. It is a swab test similar to the PAP smear. The accuracy is so much better than the PAP SMEAR. It is so accurate that you can space out your screening to 3-5 years. For PAP smears it is recommended that you test once every year because it is quite prone to interpretation error.
\nI tell my patients that cervical cancer can happen to any of us. My cervical cancer patients are normal married women, not commercial sex workers. Regular women are complacent so they think they are healthy and don’t need to go for screening. Also, they are reluctant to ask their partners about their sexual history. I tell women that instead of doubting your spouse or partner, you empower yourself by protecting yourself so that you can stay healthy and live long as a mother to your children, as a wife to your husband and a person with a promising career.
\nWith many of today\u2019s women taking full control of their lives and careers, there is no excuse for making sure that their bodies are strong enough to cope with the demands of running a company and a home simultaneously.
\nFor more information about the gynecological disease and other condition, visit
\nhttps://www.gleneagles.com.sg/healthplus
\nHealth Plus is an online health and wellness resource developed by Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore. To make an enquiry or appointment, contact our Central Patient Assistance Centre: 24-Hr Helpline: +65 6735 5000; email cpac@parkwaypantai.com; online appointment: http://www.gleneagles.com.sg.

\n", "content_text": "After breast cancer, cervical cancer is the second highest cancer-related cause of death\u00a0 among Filipino women. Although considered a highly preventable disease, the high mortality rate is due to the fact that women are diagnosed at a late stage where treatment is expensive and in most parts outside of the metro, unavailable.\nA study by the Philippine Cancer Society points to the strong link between\u00a0 the incidence of the human papillomavirus (HPV) among the Filipinas afflicted with cervical cancer. Other factors that seem to increase the likelihood of HPV infection and cervical cancer are early sexual contact, low socioeconomic status, high parity, smoking, use of oral contraception and risky sexual behaviors.\n\nIn the 2005 cancer registry, there was a marked increase in new cases of cervical cancer, and reported deaths. The high mortality rate was attributed to the fact that 75% of women were diagnosed at late stage. The Philippine General Hospital (PGH), the country’s government tertiary center, reported the highest number of new cervical cancer cases.\nWe consulted gynecologic oncologist Dr. Chia Yin Nin practicing at Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore about this alarming finding and its implications on women\u2019s health.\nWhat advice can you give women on how to protect themselves against cervical cancer?\nIn the past, we would say that women with multiple sexual partners are high risk. But that has changed because normal women are now affected by cervical cancer. Now, we realize that, although HPV is sexually transmitted, it is not an STD. It can be acquired through personal contact like fondling, petting and sexual intercourse.\u00a0 Nowadays, all women who are active sexually can have cervical cancer.\nYoung girls should get vaccinated before their sexual debut to protect against the HPV virus. The vaccine provides up to 95% coverage against cervical cancer. For older women who have started sexual activity, they can still have the vaccines \u2019till age 45, but I also advise screening: the PAP Smear or the HPV test kit.\nUnless women go for tests, they will never know that they have signs of the virus. It takes years before the virus can develop into a cancer but this can progress very quickly depending on the strains of HPV virus they acquire e.g. type 16 and 18 are highly aggressive.\nCancer can deprive a woman of her fertility.\nOnce these pre-cancer changes are detected, they can be easily treated by burning away those abnormal cells to prevent any chances of progression into cancer. Pre-cancer treatment does not involve removal of the womb.\nEarly screening not only saves your life, it saves your womb.\nWhat are the symptoms to look for?\nThe virus is so prevalent in the community, almost all women can have it. For about 20% of these women, the virus can develop into cancer. It is only when the cancer develops that you experience the signs like bleeding during intercourse, bleeding between menstrual periods or bleeding after menopause. The patient can also experience other symptoms like back pain, cough and swelling in the abdomen or limbs if the cancer has spread.\nHow can women protect themselves against cervical cancer?\nThere are 2 types of protection: primary and secondary. Vaccination is, by far, the best means of primary protection. Secondary protection to monitor the presence of pre-cancerous changes is done by PAP smear and/or the HPV test kit. The PAP smear is a test done by a General Practitioner or an OB Gynecologist to detect pre-cancer changes in the cervix.\nAside from the PAP smear, there is the HPV test kit. It is a swab test similar to the PAP smear. The accuracy is so much better than the PAP SMEAR. It is so accurate that you can space out your screening to 3-5 years. For PAP smears it is recommended that you test once every year because it is quite prone to interpretation error.\nI tell my patients that cervical cancer can happen to any of us. My cervical cancer patients are normal married women, not commercial sex workers. Regular women are complacent so they think they are healthy and don’t need to go for screening. Also, they are reluctant to ask their partners about their sexual history. I tell women that instead of doubting your spouse or partner, you empower yourself by protecting yourself so that you can stay healthy and live long as a mother to your children, as a wife to your husband and a person with a promising career.\nWith many of today\u2019s women taking full control of their lives and careers, there is no excuse for making sure that their bodies are strong enough to cope with the demands of running a company and a home simultaneously.\nFor more information about the gynecological disease and other condition, visit\nhttps://www.gleneagles.com.sg/healthplus\nHealth Plus is an online health and wellness resource developed by Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore. To make an enquiry or appointment, contact our Central Patient Assistance Centre: 24-Hr Helpline: +65 6735 5000; email cpac@parkwaypantai.com; online appointment: http://www.gleneagles.com.sg.", "date_published": "2019-02-26T10:51:50+08:00", "date_modified": "2019-02-26T10:51:50+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/rgentribirthfurd/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/67e0d160ec455979f75e504cb026950a?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/rgentribirthfurd/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/67e0d160ec455979f75e504cb026950a?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Health", "Spotlight", "Weekender" ] }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=207354", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/weekender/focus/2019/01/04/207354/kidlat-tahimik-the-technocrat-and-his-duende/", "title": "Kidlat Tahimik: the technocrat and his duende", "content_html": "

By Menchu Aquino Sarmiento
\n
\nAt age 76, Kidlat Tahimik (aka Eric De Guia) is among the younger National Artists, and happens to be the only one alive for Cinema. Further, among this tiny elect group, he is the only Wharton MBA holder, with a c.v. which includes a stint as a researcher for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This was before he symbolically tore up his Wharton diploma (he didn\u2019t totally trash it though), and followed his bliss as an artist. Or as he has stated elsewhere, he let his duende come through. This duende is not the squeaky voiced gnome of lower Philippine mythology, but the inner demon or the spirit of genius which inspires and animates true artistry. See the Spanish writer Federico Garcia Lorca\u2019s \u201cTheory and Play of the Duende.\u201d As Kidlat Tahimik declared in his film Mababangong Bangungot (Perfumed Nightmare) which is essentially his artist\u2019s manifesto: \u201cWhen the typhoon blows off the cocoon, the butterfly embraces the sun.\u201d
\nDuring De Guia\u2019s transition to Kidlat Tahimik (K.T.) some 40 years ago, he grew his hair long, the better to style this into an Igorot bowl cut. He has since grown this out into silvery shaman tresses. During formal occasions, he dons the Ifugao bahag (loin cloth), effectively mooning other dignitaries. Since he is not an I.P. (indigenous person), he has been accused of cultural misappropriation and, even, of slumming it. Patrick Campos of the UP Film Institute believes though, that since De Guia has lived among the Ifugao for significant lengths of time in the last three decades, he has organically connected his work to his life. He also started the Sunflower Film Collective in his adopted Ifugao community. During the scant hours when there is electricity, they edit films on a Macbook.
\nAs K.T. the protagonist jeepney driver in his seminal film, Mababangong Bangungot, who dreams of crossing the bridge out of his pretend hometown Balian, Laguna, declares: \u201cI choose my vehicle; I choose my bridge.\u201d Crossing the bridge is a metaphor for the way to a better world. In the film, an American businessman becomes K.T.\u2019s way out: as an OFW, he drives around Paris in his Sarao jeepney, refilling the American\u2019s Chiclet vending machines.
\nWith his unique coiffure and vehicle, the cinematic K.T. wonders: \u201cWhy is everybody staring at me? I feel I am becoming smaller. I am Kidlat Tahimik. I am not as small as you think. Nothing can stop me from crossing my bridge.\u201d For sure, because by Philippine standards, De Guia is one of the big people, and alien to the social class who rides the jeep. His mother Virginia \u201cGene\u201d Oteyza De Guia was the only female mayor of Baguio City. Before she died, the De Guia family donated 95-hectares in Sto. Tomas, Apugan-Loakan to the Baguio LGU for its environmental management programs.
\nMababangong Bangungot won multiple awards in the Berlin Film Fest, around the time that Lino Brocka was making waves in Europe. A Brocka champion in France has refused to recognize De Guia\u2019s film as \u201cFilipino.\u201d Its tongue-in-cheek whimsicality, and light-hearted political commentary about the yawning gap between the secular First World with its \u201cfloors that walk for you\u201d (the airport walkalator) and \u201cdoors which open for you,\u201d and the charmingly backward and traditional Third World full of talking religious images, lively flagellants, unsanitary circumcision rites, ridiculous beauty pageants, and laughably ignorant science, are seen from the amused perspective of the educated, Westernized observer. The pioneering Philippine cinema archivist Agustin \u201cHammy\u201d Sotto saw elements of exoticization, e.g., villagers cradling an unlikely menagerie of farm animals on their laps as they crowd onto K.T.\u2019s jeep; a young woman and K.T. simultaneously and openly urinating on the ground, on either side of his jeep.
\nNonetheless within the tacit superiority of De Guia\u2019s point of view, there is a sweetness and sincere concern for these Third World curiosities. When he reflects that one less vendor in the traditional market, means one more parking space, one senses the conflict within the Wharton MBA who gave up the dogma of neoliberalism for the whispered lessons \u201con the quiet strength of bamboo,\u201d which the Yoda-like craftsman Kaya promised he would one day understand. K.T. realizes that Kaya\u2019s art is doomed to extinction, because \u201cone cannot build rocket ships from bamboo,\u201d and despite himself, building rocket ships is what K.T. wants to do. In Mababangong Bangungot, he is the president of the Wehrner Von Braun Fan Club. Towards the end, he resigns, declaring independence from those \u201cwho would build bridges to the stars.\u201d
\nHowever, in the 1982 follow-up Sinong Lumikha ng Yoyo? Sinong Lumikha ng Moon Buggy? (Who Invented the Yoyo? Who Invented the Moon Buggy?), K.T. shoots for the moon. He is the president of the Yodelberg Yoyo Society which aims to send a chicken to the moon for starters. That done, it would be on to bigger things: for K.T. to reach the dark side of the moon and there, play with his yoyo. Acknowledging the absurd grandiosity of this mission, its acronym is POMP, for Philippine Official Moon Project. Overall though, the film is a reflection on the creative process.
\nDe Guia has defined independent film-making as making films that only the filmmaker could make. Not surprisingly, his films are also unabashed home movies, often featuring his wife and children. His eldest son Kidlat Gottlieb Kalayaan, then four years old, is his sidekick in Sinong Lumikha ng Yoyo? Sinong Lumikha ng Moon Buggy?, which also has actual home movies of De Guia\u2019s parents. For his 10th birthday, his mother gave him silver ballet slippers and sparkly balletomane pantaloons. Her brother was the painter Victor Oteyza, and in 1939, she had appeared in the movie Nagkaisang Landas under the screen name Lydia Leynes. De Guia\u2019s father, Victor, an engineer, gave him a slide rule and a boxed model of a tower as his birthday gifts. He was also expected to become an engineer. When young Eric did not follow the tower model\u2019s assembly instructions, his father called him a dilettante, and urged him to always strive for exactitude.
\nDe Guia does not have a prepared script when making his films. National Commission for Culture and the Arts Cinema Committee Chair Teddy Co describes his style as more of a reflective essay, rather than a conventional, plot-driven narrative. De Guia has called it \u201cstraying on track.\u201d Sinong Lumikha ng Yoyo? Sinong Lumikha ng Moon Buggy? also has archival footage of the 1956 Philippine Soap Box Derby where 13-year-old Eric had entered \u201cPine Cone Fury.\u201d The body of his car bristled with pine cones. His engineer father told him a race car had to be aerodynamically smooth to overcome wind resistance. Young Eric lost the race but got a special trophy for the most original design. His father was not impressed and simply said that \u201cfriction was stronger than beauty.\u201d From such incidents of family drama, art and artists are made.

\n", "content_text": "By Menchu Aquino Sarmiento\n\nAt age 76, Kidlat Tahimik (aka Eric De Guia) is among the younger National Artists, and happens to be the only one alive for Cinema. Further, among this tiny elect group, he is the only Wharton MBA holder, with a c.v. which includes a stint as a researcher for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This was before he symbolically tore up his Wharton diploma (he didn\u2019t totally trash it though), and followed his bliss as an artist. Or as he has stated elsewhere, he let his duende come through. This duende is not the squeaky voiced gnome of lower Philippine mythology, but the inner demon or the spirit of genius which inspires and animates true artistry. See the Spanish writer Federico Garcia Lorca\u2019s \u201cTheory and Play of the Duende.\u201d As Kidlat Tahimik declared in his film Mababangong Bangungot (Perfumed Nightmare) which is essentially his artist\u2019s manifesto: \u201cWhen the typhoon blows off the cocoon, the butterfly embraces the sun.\u201d\nDuring De Guia\u2019s transition to Kidlat Tahimik (K.T.) some 40 years ago, he grew his hair long, the better to style this into an Igorot bowl cut. He has since grown this out into silvery shaman tresses. During formal occasions, he dons the Ifugao bahag (loin cloth), effectively mooning other dignitaries. Since he is not an I.P. (indigenous person), he has been accused of cultural misappropriation and, even, of slumming it. Patrick Campos of the UP Film Institute believes though, that since De Guia has lived among the Ifugao for significant lengths of time in the last three decades, he has organically connected his work to his life. He also started the Sunflower Film Collective in his adopted Ifugao community. During the scant hours when there is electricity, they edit films on a Macbook.\nAs K.T. the protagonist jeepney driver in his seminal film, Mababangong Bangungot, who dreams of crossing the bridge out of his pretend hometown Balian, Laguna, declares: \u201cI choose my vehicle; I choose my bridge.\u201d Crossing the bridge is a metaphor for the way to a better world. In the film, an American businessman becomes K.T.\u2019s way out: as an OFW, he drives around Paris in his Sarao jeepney, refilling the American\u2019s Chiclet vending machines.\nWith his unique coiffure and vehicle, the cinematic K.T. wonders: \u201cWhy is everybody staring at me? I feel I am becoming smaller. I am Kidlat Tahimik. I am not as small as you think. Nothing can stop me from crossing my bridge.\u201d For sure, because by Philippine standards, De Guia is one of the big people, and alien to the social class who rides the jeep. His mother Virginia \u201cGene\u201d Oteyza De Guia was the only female mayor of Baguio City. Before she died, the De Guia family donated 95-hectares in Sto. Tomas, Apugan-Loakan to the Baguio LGU for its environmental management programs.\nMababangong Bangungot won multiple awards in the Berlin Film Fest, around the time that Lino Brocka was making waves in Europe. A Brocka champion in France has refused to recognize De Guia\u2019s film as \u201cFilipino.\u201d Its tongue-in-cheek whimsicality, and light-hearted political commentary about the yawning gap between the secular First World with its \u201cfloors that walk for you\u201d (the airport walkalator) and \u201cdoors which open for you,\u201d and the charmingly backward and traditional Third World full of talking religious images, lively flagellants, unsanitary circumcision rites, ridiculous beauty pageants, and laughably ignorant science, are seen from the amused perspective of the educated, Westernized observer. The pioneering Philippine cinema archivist Agustin \u201cHammy\u201d Sotto saw elements of exoticization, e.g., villagers cradling an unlikely menagerie of farm animals on their laps as they crowd onto K.T.\u2019s jeep; a young woman and K.T. simultaneously and openly urinating on the ground, on either side of his jeep.\nNonetheless within the tacit superiority of De Guia\u2019s point of view, there is a sweetness and sincere concern for these Third World curiosities. When he reflects that one less vendor in the traditional market, means one more parking space, one senses the conflict within the Wharton MBA who gave up the dogma of neoliberalism for the whispered lessons \u201con the quiet strength of bamboo,\u201d which the Yoda-like craftsman Kaya promised he would one day understand. K.T. realizes that Kaya\u2019s art is doomed to extinction, because \u201cone cannot build rocket ships from bamboo,\u201d and despite himself, building rocket ships is what K.T. wants to do. In Mababangong Bangungot, he is the president of the Wehrner Von Braun Fan Club. Towards the end, he resigns, declaring independence from those \u201cwho would build bridges to the stars.\u201d\nHowever, in the 1982 follow-up Sinong Lumikha ng Yoyo? Sinong Lumikha ng Moon Buggy? (Who Invented the Yoyo? Who Invented the Moon Buggy?), K.T. shoots for the moon. He is the president of the Yodelberg Yoyo Society which aims to send a chicken to the moon for starters. That done, it would be on to bigger things: for K.T. to reach the dark side of the moon and there, play with his yoyo. Acknowledging the absurd grandiosity of this mission, its acronym is POMP, for Philippine Official Moon Project. Overall though, the film is a reflection on the creative process.\nDe Guia has defined independent film-making as making films that only the filmmaker could make. Not surprisingly, his films are also unabashed home movies, often featuring his wife and children. His eldest son Kidlat Gottlieb Kalayaan, then four years old, is his sidekick in Sinong Lumikha ng Yoyo? Sinong Lumikha ng Moon Buggy?, which also has actual home movies of De Guia\u2019s parents. For his 10th birthday, his mother gave him silver ballet slippers and sparkly balletomane pantaloons. Her brother was the painter Victor Oteyza, and in 1939, she had appeared in the movie Nagkaisang Landas under the screen name Lydia Leynes. De Guia\u2019s father, Victor, an engineer, gave him a slide rule and a boxed model of a tower as his birthday gifts. He was also expected to become an engineer. When young Eric did not follow the tower model\u2019s assembly instructions, his father called him a dilettante, and urged him to always strive for exactitude.\nDe Guia does not have a prepared script when making his films. National Commission for Culture and the Arts Cinema Committee Chair Teddy Co describes his style as more of a reflective essay, rather than a conventional, plot-driven narrative. De Guia has called it \u201cstraying on track.\u201d Sinong Lumikha ng Yoyo? Sinong Lumikha ng Moon Buggy? also has archival footage of the 1956 Philippine Soap Box Derby where 13-year-old Eric had entered \u201cPine Cone Fury.\u201d The body of his car bristled with pine cones. His engineer father told him a race car had to be aerodynamically smooth to overcome wind resistance. Young Eric lost the race but got a special trophy for the most original design. His father was not impressed and simply said that \u201cfriction was stronger than beauty.\u201d From such incidents of family drama, art and artists are made.", "date_published": "2019-01-04T00:31:16+08:00", "date_modified": "2019-01-04T00:31:16+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Featured", "Film", "Kidlat Tahimik", "Menchu Aquino Sarmiento", "national artist", "Focus", "Weekender" ], "summary": "At age 76, Kidlat Tahimik (aka Eric De Guia) is among the younger National Artists, and happens to be the only one alive for Cinema. Further, among this tiny elect group, he is the only Wharton MBA holder, with a c.v. which includes a stint as a researcher for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This was before he symbolically tore up his Wharton diploma (he didn\u2019t totally trash it though), and followed his bliss as an artist. Or as he has stated elsewhere, he let his duende come through. This duende is not the squeaky voiced gnome of lower Philippine mythology, but the inner demon or the spirit of genius which inspires and animates true artistry. See the Spanish writer Federico Garcia Lorca\u2019s \u201cTheory and Play of the Duende.\u201d As Kidlat Tahimik declared in his film Mababangong Bangungot (Perfumed Nightmare) which is essentially his artist\u2019s manifesto: \u201cWhen the typhoon blows off the cocoon, the butterfly embraces the sun.\u201d" }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=207355", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/weekender/focus/2019/01/04/207355/five-destinations-that-show-there-is-more-to-taiwan/", "title": "Five destinations that show there is more to Taiwan", "content_html": "

WITH Taiwan waiving visa requirements for Filipinos, it shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise that it ranked as the third top destination for travelers from the Philippines using the Agoda online booking platform.
\nFor most people traveling to Taiwan, a trip to Taipei — the political, economic, and cultural center is a must. But the island offers so much more — its diversity provides numerous attractions for nature lovers, cultural adventurers, foodies, and architecture buffs.
\nAgoda\u2019s booking numbers also reveal that other places in Taiwan are fast catching up to Taipei\u2019s popularity. Taichung, Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Nantou are steadily welcoming more visitors to take up the runner-up spots on the list of top five Taiwan destinations for Filipino travelers as they showcase the different sights, sounds, and tastes the country has to offer.

\n

\u2022 Taichung: Host of the World Flora Expo

\n

The Taichung World Flora Exposition is so big, it is actually three destinations in one. The expo, held from early November 2018 through April 24 this year, spreads across three areas, each featuring a different aspect of Taiwan\u2019s appeal. The Waipu site highlights Taiwan\u2019s role as an agricultural kingdom famed for its flowers, fruits, and other produce. The Houli site celebrates the relationship between people and nature, featuring Taichung\u2019s century-old equestrian facilities and Taiwan\u2019s national treasures on loan from the National Palace Museum. Meanwhile the Fengyuan site, set up along the banks of the Ruanpizai Creek, demonstrates the importance of waterfronts to urban living with Taiwan\u2019s longest riverbank floral corridor.

\n

\u2022 Kaohsiung: An architectural feast

\n

If architecture is your thing, head to Kaohsiung. City spaces in Kaohsiung are generally bigger, airier, and adorned with architectural gems. The Kaohsiung Main Public Library and the recently opened National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts are two such notable establishments, with the former featuring the world\u2019s largest suspended atrium, and the latter boasting the largest art venue in the world, as well as housing a 9,194-pipe organ — the largest in Asia.

\n

\u2022 Tainan: Foodies\u2019 paradise

\n

The city of Tainan is known as Taiwan\u2019s laidback-living and food capital. Visitors keep coming back for its street food and chic hotels. The list of what you can eat here can easily go over a hundred. But must tries are: fish noodles, shrimp rolls, rice tube pudding, and shaved ice.

\n

\u2022 Sun Moon Lake: Home to one of the world\u2019s most endangered languages

\n

For centuries, songs and poems were written about the beauty of Sun Moon Lake in Nantou, Taiwan\u2019s largest body of water. A cycle path circles the lake and offers quite picturesque way to get around it.
\nSun Moon Lake is also the home of the Thao tribe, Taiwan\u2019s smallest aboriginal group. Their native language (Thao) is one of the most endangered in the world with fewer than half a dozen living speakers only a few years ago.

\n

\u2022 Taitung: Stronghold of Taiwan\u2019s aboriginal cultures

\n

Indigenous tourism in Taiwan is different from aboriginal culture in many other countries — you don\u2019t generally need a permit to travel to these areas. A visit to Taitung lets you experience how these cultures live.
\nLocated on the Pacific-facing side of the island, Taitung is home to several aboriginal tribes, many of which have kept their traditions and their relationship to nature. Such cultural closeness to nature is exemplified in the polyphonic vocal music of the Bunun tribe\u2019s harvest prayer called \u201cPasibutbut.\u201d Sung by a group of Bunun men standing in a circle with no scores and no conductors, they reach harmony using mutual understanding gained through practice and personal bonds.
\nIt just so happens that Taitung holds a hot air balloon festival each summer — another plus for your Taiwan experience.

\n", "content_text": "WITH Taiwan waiving visa requirements for Filipinos, it shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise that it ranked as the third top destination for travelers from the Philippines using the Agoda online booking platform.\nFor most people traveling to Taiwan, a trip to Taipei — the political, economic, and cultural center is a must. But the island offers so much more — its diversity provides numerous attractions for nature lovers, cultural adventurers, foodies, and architecture buffs.\nAgoda\u2019s booking numbers also reveal that other places in Taiwan are fast catching up to Taipei\u2019s popularity. Taichung, Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Nantou are steadily welcoming more visitors to take up the runner-up spots on the list of top five Taiwan destinations for Filipino travelers as they showcase the different sights, sounds, and tastes the country has to offer.\n\u2022 Taichung: Host of the World Flora Expo\nThe Taichung World Flora Exposition is so big, it is actually three destinations in one. The expo, held from early November 2018 through April 24 this year, spreads across three areas, each featuring a different aspect of Taiwan\u2019s appeal. The Waipu site highlights Taiwan\u2019s role as an agricultural kingdom famed for its flowers, fruits, and other produce. The Houli site celebrates the relationship between people and nature, featuring Taichung\u2019s century-old equestrian facilities and Taiwan\u2019s national treasures on loan from the National Palace Museum. Meanwhile the Fengyuan site, set up along the banks of the Ruanpizai Creek, demonstrates the importance of waterfronts to urban living with Taiwan\u2019s longest riverbank floral corridor.\n\u2022 Kaohsiung: An architectural feast\nIf architecture is your thing, head to Kaohsiung. City spaces in Kaohsiung are generally bigger, airier, and adorned with architectural gems. The Kaohsiung Main Public Library and the recently opened National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts are two such notable establishments, with the former featuring the world\u2019s largest suspended atrium, and the latter boasting the largest art venue in the world, as well as housing a 9,194-pipe organ — the largest in Asia.\n\u2022 Tainan: Foodies\u2019 paradise\nThe city of Tainan is known as Taiwan\u2019s laidback-living and food capital. Visitors keep coming back for its street food and chic hotels. The list of what you can eat here can easily go over a hundred. But must tries are: fish noodles, shrimp rolls, rice tube pudding, and shaved ice.\n\u2022 Sun Moon Lake: Home to one of the world\u2019s most endangered languages\nFor centuries, songs and poems were written about the beauty of Sun Moon Lake in Nantou, Taiwan\u2019s largest body of water. A cycle path circles the lake and offers quite picturesque way to get around it.\nSun Moon Lake is also the home of the Thao tribe, Taiwan\u2019s smallest aboriginal group. Their native language (Thao) is one of the most endangered in the world with fewer than half a dozen living speakers only a few years ago.\n\u2022 Taitung: Stronghold of Taiwan\u2019s aboriginal cultures\nIndigenous tourism in Taiwan is different from aboriginal culture in many other countries — you don\u2019t generally need a permit to travel to these areas. A visit to Taitung lets you experience how these cultures live.\nLocated on the Pacific-facing side of the island, Taitung is home to several aboriginal tribes, many of which have kept their traditions and their relationship to nature. Such cultural closeness to nature is exemplified in the polyphonic vocal music of the Bunun tribe\u2019s harvest prayer called \u201cPasibutbut.\u201d Sung by a group of Bunun men standing in a circle with no scores and no conductors, they reach harmony using mutual understanding gained through practice and personal bonds.\nIt just so happens that Taitung holds a hot air balloon festival each summer — another plus for your Taiwan experience.", "date_published": "2019-01-04T00:30:17+08:00", "date_modified": "2019-01-04T00:30:17+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Taiwan", "Tourism", "Travel", "Focus", "Weekender" ], "summary": "WITH Taiwan waiving visa requirements for Filipinos, it shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise that it ranked as the third top destination for travelers from the Philippines using the Agoda online booking platform." }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=207288", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/staying-in/2019/01/04/207288/my-15-favorite-nonfiction-books-of-2018/", "title": "My 15 favorite nonfiction books of 2018", "content_html": "

By Stephen L. Carter
\nBloomberg Opinion
\nHERE are my nominees for the best nonfiction books of 2018. I haven\u2019t read everything published this year, but I read a great deal, and these are my 15 favorites. Each reflects serious thought, research and argument. Each made me look at things in a new way. The first 14 are listed in random order (no tyranny of the alphabet). At the end is my choice for best nonfiction book of the year.
\n\"nonfiction
\nRICHARD SENNETT: BUILDING AND DWELLING: ETHICS FOR THE CITY
\nSennett, who has been writing about cities for a good half century, has never been sharper. As the world grows more urban, he argues, we face a crisis: Cities are shaped by the designs of planners rather than by the actual lives, needs and beliefs of their inhabitants. People who live in cities should not only be free but feel free.
\n\"nonfiction
\nJOANNE B. FREEMAN: THE FIELD OF BLOOD: VIOLENCE IN CONGRESS AND THE ROAD TO THE CIVIL WAR
\nThink we\u2019re divided now? In 1854, one member pulled a gun on another… on the floor of the House of Representatives. Freeman\u2019s book is full of such vignettes. (Yes, the famous Sumner story is here). And our rhetoric pales next to the barbs exchanged in those days.
\n\"nonfiction
\nBRYAN CAPLAN: THE CASE AGAINST EDUCATION: WHY THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IS A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY
\nI\u2019m not sure he\u2019s right, especially about education being almost entirely for the purpose of signaling, but goodness does he make a strong case. Agree with him or not, you\u2019ll never look at the schools and colleges in quite the same way.
\n\"nonfiction
\nDAVID W. BLIGHT: FREDERICK DOUGLASS: PROPHET OF FREEDOM
\nAlready lauded as the definitive book on Douglass, this volume by our foremost expert on the great orator showcases Douglass\u2019s human foibles as well as his grand triumphs.
\n\"nonfiction
\nPAIGE WILLIAMS: THE DINOSAUR ARTIST: OBSESSION, BETRAYAL AND THE QUEST FOR EARTH\u2019S ULTIMATE TROPHY
\nLess a dinosaur story than a heist story — how did that illegal Tyrannosaurs skeleton wind up at an auction in New York? — with plenty of fascinating details about the way that the market for fossils has distorted the incentives in paleontology.
\n\"nonfiction
\nDAVID QUAMMEN: THE TANGLED TREE: A RADICAL NEW HISTORY OF LIFE
\nActually, more a history of the science that helps explain life. Never has molecular phylogenetics seemed so fascinating. And the discovery a few years ago of a new form of life is something I\u2019d overlooked. But what I find particularly fascinating about this widely acclaimed volume is Quammen\u2019s ability to show us, in lively prose, how terribly difficult science is: the false starts, the confirmation bias, the backbiting and jealousy, the lengthy detours that become expensive dead ends. And the personalities. (He\u2019s particularly good on the controversial genius Lynn Margulis).
\n\"nonfiction
\nTYLER COWEN: STUBBORN ATTACHMENTS: A VISION FOR A SOCIETY OF FREE, PROSPEROUS, AND RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUALS
\nThree cheers for long-termism! Pity that neither politics nor the psyche of (most) humans actually works that way. The writing, from my Bloomberg Opinion colleague, is at once amusing and relentless. A fun, provocative read.
\n\"nonfiction
\nJASON BRENNAN: WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS: THE ETHICS OF RESISTANCE TO STATE INJUSTICE
\nOne of our most provocative philosophers argues that if we can use force to stop others from hurting people unjustly, we can also use force to stop the government from hurting people unjustly.
\n\"nonfiction
\nJUAN WILLIAMS: \u2018WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE?\u2019 TRUMP\u2019S WAR ON CIVIL RIGHTS
\nI am not generally a fan of polemics, but Williams is an elegant writer, gathers evidence dispassionately, and stays far away from political correctness. He skewers everybody. You needn\u2019t agree with every word to find this a fine read.
\n\"nonfiction
\nSABINE HOSSENFELDER: LOST IN MATH: HOW BEAUTY LEADS PHYSICS ASTRAY
\nTurns out that mathematicians are doing great things, but the physicists not so much. Hossenfeld, a theoretical physicist and popular blogger on the subject, accuses her colleagues of being so in love with elegance that they don\u2019t worry as much as they should about whether they\u2019re right or wrong. (Parts of the book are tough sledding for the lay reader, but it\u2019s more than worth the effort).
\n\"nonfiction
\nCOLIN G. CALLOWAY: THE INDIAN WORLD OF GEORGE WASHINGTON: THE FIRST PRESIDENT, THE FIRST AMERICANS, AND THE BIRTH OF THE NATION
\nYou may never look at the Father of Our Country in quite the same way after reading this finalist for the National Book Award. It turns out that Washington was not terribly kind to those who were here first.
\n\"nonfiction
\nJEFFREY C. STEWART: THE NEW NEGRO: THE LIFE OF ALAIN LOCKE
\nA brilliant biography, winner of the National Book Award, of the man who largely fostered the flowering of black art and writing that became the Harlem Renaissance and laid the foundation for much of African-American intellectual thought over the ensuing century.
\n\"nonfiction
\nGREGG EASTERBROOK: IT\u2019S BETTER THAN IT LOOKS: REASONS FOR OPTIMISM IN AN AGE OF FEAR
\nSo maybe the world isn\u2019t going to pieces. Easterbook argues that if we study actual evidence, things are actually going well in the US and elsewhere in the world, economically, environmentally, demographically, and in most other ways. And most of what\u2019s not working, he says, we have the tools to fix.
\n\"nonfiction
\nPHILIP HAMBURGER: LIBERAL SUPPRESSION: SECTION 501(C)(3) AND THE TAXATION OF SPEECH
\nDon\u2019t be turned off by the provocative title. Hamburger asks a great question: Why exactly do we limit the political speech of charitable organizations? Answers it, too. The rule wasn\u2019t handed to us on stone tablets; it\u2019s always been politics, all the way down.
\nFinally, my choice for the best nonfiction book of 2018:
\n\"nonfiction
\nEARL SWIFT: CHESAPEAKE REQUIEM: A YEAR WITH THE WATERMEN OF VANISHING TANGIER ISLAND
\nI can\u2019t remember a book in recent years that taught me quite so much. Every page is vivid and rich. Tangier Island, Virginia, famous as a source of soft-shell crabs, is going under, literally — a victim of rising seas, relentless storms, and a changing economy. Swift spends plenty of time on the ground, and so is able to pierce the veils of myth and mysticism that have long surrounded the community of fewer than 500 stalwarts, whose political and religious lives are far more complex and nuanced than their stereotypes suggest. He doesn\u2019t agree with their beliefs, but his respect and affection for them are patent. A model for what serious reportage should be.
\nSo those are my picks for 2018. Happy reading.
\nMartin Gurri, The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium, would certainly have made the list, were it not a revised version of a book that was self-published in 2014 and then published formally in 2016.
\n 
\nStephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of law at Yale University and was a clerk to US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. His novels include The Emperor of Ocean Park, and his latest nonfiction book is Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America\u2019s Most Powerful Mobster.

\n", "content_text": "By Stephen L. Carter\nBloomberg Opinion\nHERE are my nominees for the best nonfiction books of 2018. I haven\u2019t read everything published this year, but I read a great deal, and these are my 15 favorites. Each reflects serious thought, research and argument. Each made me look at things in a new way. The first 14 are listed in random order (no tyranny of the alphabet). At the end is my choice for best nonfiction book of the year.\n\nRICHARD SENNETT: BUILDING AND DWELLING: ETHICS FOR THE CITY\nSennett, who has been writing about cities for a good half century, has never been sharper. As the world grows more urban, he argues, we face a crisis: Cities are shaped by the designs of planners rather than by the actual lives, needs and beliefs of their inhabitants. People who live in cities should not only be free but feel free.\n\nJOANNE B. FREEMAN: THE FIELD OF BLOOD: VIOLENCE IN CONGRESS AND THE ROAD TO THE CIVIL WAR\nThink we\u2019re divided now? In 1854, one member pulled a gun on another… on the floor of the House of Representatives. Freeman\u2019s book is full of such vignettes. (Yes, the famous Sumner story is here). And our rhetoric pales next to the barbs exchanged in those days.\n\nBRYAN CAPLAN: THE CASE AGAINST EDUCATION: WHY THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IS A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY\nI\u2019m not sure he\u2019s right, especially about education being almost entirely for the purpose of signaling, but goodness does he make a strong case. Agree with him or not, you\u2019ll never look at the schools and colleges in quite the same way.\n\nDAVID W. BLIGHT: FREDERICK DOUGLASS: PROPHET OF FREEDOM\nAlready lauded as the definitive book on Douglass, this volume by our foremost expert on the great orator showcases Douglass\u2019s human foibles as well as his grand triumphs.\n\nPAIGE WILLIAMS: THE DINOSAUR ARTIST: OBSESSION, BETRAYAL AND THE QUEST FOR EARTH\u2019S ULTIMATE TROPHY\nLess a dinosaur story than a heist story — how did that illegal Tyrannosaurs skeleton wind up at an auction in New York? — with plenty of fascinating details about the way that the market for fossils has distorted the incentives in paleontology.\n\nDAVID QUAMMEN: THE TANGLED TREE: A RADICAL NEW HISTORY OF LIFE\nActually, more a history of the science that helps explain life. Never has molecular phylogenetics seemed so fascinating. And the discovery a few years ago of a new form of life is something I\u2019d overlooked. But what I find particularly fascinating about this widely acclaimed volume is Quammen\u2019s ability to show us, in lively prose, how terribly difficult science is: the false starts, the confirmation bias, the backbiting and jealousy, the lengthy detours that become expensive dead ends. And the personalities. (He\u2019s particularly good on the controversial genius Lynn Margulis).\n\nTYLER COWEN: STUBBORN ATTACHMENTS: A VISION FOR A SOCIETY OF FREE, PROSPEROUS, AND RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUALS\nThree cheers for long-termism! Pity that neither politics nor the psyche of (most) humans actually works that way. The writing, from my Bloomberg Opinion colleague, is at once amusing and relentless. A fun, provocative read.\n\nJASON BRENNAN: WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS: THE ETHICS OF RESISTANCE TO STATE INJUSTICE\nOne of our most provocative philosophers argues that if we can use force to stop others from hurting people unjustly, we can also use force to stop the government from hurting people unjustly.\n\nJUAN WILLIAMS: \u2018WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE?\u2019 TRUMP\u2019S WAR ON CIVIL RIGHTS\nI am not generally a fan of polemics, but Williams is an elegant writer, gathers evidence dispassionately, and stays far away from political correctness. He skewers everybody. You needn\u2019t agree with every word to find this a fine read.\n\nSABINE HOSSENFELDER: LOST IN MATH: HOW BEAUTY LEADS PHYSICS ASTRAY\nTurns out that mathematicians are doing great things, but the physicists not so much. Hossenfeld, a theoretical physicist and popular blogger on the subject, accuses her colleagues of being so in love with elegance that they don\u2019t worry as much as they should about whether they\u2019re right or wrong. (Parts of the book are tough sledding for the lay reader, but it\u2019s more than worth the effort).\n\nCOLIN G. CALLOWAY: THE INDIAN WORLD OF GEORGE WASHINGTON: THE FIRST PRESIDENT, THE FIRST AMERICANS, AND THE BIRTH OF THE NATION\nYou may never look at the Father of Our Country in quite the same way after reading this finalist for the National Book Award. It turns out that Washington was not terribly kind to those who were here first.\n\nJEFFREY C. STEWART: THE NEW NEGRO: THE LIFE OF ALAIN LOCKE\nA brilliant biography, winner of the National Book Award, of the man who largely fostered the flowering of black art and writing that became the Harlem Renaissance and laid the foundation for much of African-American intellectual thought over the ensuing century.\n\nGREGG EASTERBROOK: IT\u2019S BETTER THAN IT LOOKS: REASONS FOR OPTIMISM IN AN AGE OF FEAR\nSo maybe the world isn\u2019t going to pieces. Easterbook argues that if we study actual evidence, things are actually going well in the US and elsewhere in the world, economically, environmentally, demographically, and in most other ways. And most of what\u2019s not working, he says, we have the tools to fix.\n\nPHILIP HAMBURGER: LIBERAL SUPPRESSION: SECTION 501(C)(3) AND THE TAXATION OF SPEECH\nDon\u2019t be turned off by the provocative title. Hamburger asks a great question: Why exactly do we limit the political speech of charitable organizations? Answers it, too. The rule wasn\u2019t handed to us on stone tablets; it\u2019s always been politics, all the way down.\nFinally, my choice for the best nonfiction book of 2018:\n\nEARL SWIFT: CHESAPEAKE REQUIEM: A YEAR WITH THE WATERMEN OF VANISHING TANGIER ISLAND\nI can\u2019t remember a book in recent years that taught me quite so much. Every page is vivid and rich. Tangier Island, Virginia, famous as a source of soft-shell crabs, is going under, literally — a victim of rising seas, relentless storms, and a changing economy. Swift spends plenty of time on the ground, and so is able to pierce the veils of myth and mysticism that have long surrounded the community of fewer than 500 stalwarts, whose political and religious lives are far more complex and nuanced than their stereotypes suggest. He doesn\u2019t agree with their beliefs, but his respect and affection for them are patent. A model for what serious reportage should be.\nSo those are my picks for 2018. Happy reading.\nMartin Gurri, The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium, would certainly have made the list, were it not a revised version of a book that was self-published in 2014 and then published formally in 2016.\n \nStephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of law at Yale University and was a clerk to US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. His novels include The Emperor of Ocean Park, and his latest nonfiction book is Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America\u2019s Most Powerful Mobster.", "date_published": "2019-01-04T00:02:23+08:00", "date_modified": "2019-01-04T00:02:23+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Book", "books", "Featured", "nonfiction", "Stephen L. Carter", "Staying In", "Weekender" ], "summary": "HERE are my nominees for the best nonfiction books of 2018. I haven\u2019t read everything published this year, but I read a great deal, and these are my 15 favorites. Each reflects serious thought, research and argument. Each made me look at things in a new way. The first 14 are listed in random order (no tyranny of the alphabet). At the end is my choice for best nonfiction book of the year." }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=207348", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/staying-in/2019/01/04/207348/a-heck-of-a-ride/", "title": "A heck of a ride", "content_html": "

By Alexander O. Cuaycong and Anthony L. Cuaycong
\nPART brawlers, part Japanese dramas, and part open-world experiences, Sega\u2019s Yakuza games have always been a ridiculous but compelling blend of action and adventure. While they initially seem like compilations of conflicted ideas from a fever dream, their interesting, over-the-top antics and enjoyable combat systems are truly anything. Their stories keep you invested, and their atmosphere, taken individually or collectively, is nothing short of engrossing. Yakuza Kiwami 2, a remake of 2006\u2019s Yakuza 2, follows pretty much the same formula. Featuring better graphics and sounds, enhanced gameplay, and new story elements, it does its best to keep the spirit of its source material while tacking on some of its own unique flair.
\nIn Yakuza Kiwami 2, you follow the story of Kiryu Kazama, a former gang enforcer who struggles to put the old ways behind him. After the assassination of one of the Yakuza leaders threatens to spark an all-out war in the streets, he is reluctantly deprived of his peaceful existence and forced to take matters into his own hands. He finds himself back in the life he had tried so hard to avoid, and through the use of his fists, his charisma, and the sheer stoic nature of his character, he moves to find the men responsible for the killing and prevent any further bloodshed.
\nThe main plot of Yakuza Kiwami 2 is solid, its serious tale of gang politics and violence complemented by its larger-than-life set pieces. Propelled by a great-looking and sounding foundation, the narrative elevates it and continually hooks you in. It can border on the absurd at times, but the way it flows seamlessly from one sequence to another is nothing short of sensational. And with new chapters added to fill in the blanks evident in the original, there\u2019s plenty of the story to experience — and all of it interesting, if not great. Kiryu is thrown into all sorts of trouble, and when violence greets him, he possesses the wherewithal to hold his own against his opponents.
\nTo be sure, combat is something Yakuza Kiwami 2 does very well. The battle mechanics aren\u2019t overly complicated, and, in fact, make for fluid action and reaction. They reward aggression, patience, and skill. And while they don\u2019t offer the stance-switching capacity of Kiryu in Yakuza Kiwami, the fast-flowing nature of fight sequences more than make up for the omission. He is able to dart, weave, and beat down his foes with his fists or any weapons he can lay his hands on, and Heat moves are just as flashy as ever. Earned by landing hits and dodging attacks, they entice you to engage in multiple sidequests.
\nFortunately, Yakuza Kiwami 2\u2019s nonlinear pursuits are anything but boring. Not always serious but invariably sure to entertain, they show that while the game\u2019s open world may not be as expansive as other titles, it is nonetheless filled to the brim with content. Activities are always on hand for those willing to do them, and even as they would definitely be out of place in any other gang-themed action brawler, they\u2019re right at home in the Yakuza series. What other game can have you singing in karaoke bars or playing golf, in the process giving that feeling of utter drollery, and yet keep you extremely engaged in its setting?
\nIn a nutshell, Yakuza Kiwami 2\u2019s ability to be comical and yet totally immersive is what makes it so engrossing. While the Yakuza series has never quite taken itself so seriously, the many antics Kiryu can perform in its latest release are just absurdly funny, but never too fantastic that it\u2019s next to unbelievable. It takes itself seriously, but knows when to lighten up and have a laugh, even at its own expense. It can keep you hooked with its main story and, at the same time, entertain you with its side quests. It offers a stylized charm that no other series has been able to mimic, presenting a juxtaposition of comedy and drama without the slightest hint of regret.
\nIn the final analysis, Yakuwa Kiwami 2 wonderfully treads the fine line between being weighty and being silly. It\u2019s a brilliant game from start to finish; you never run out of things to do while uncovering a deep storyline at your own pace. Parenthetically, its biggest flaw isn\u2019t that it does anything badly, but that it has to end at some point. Until then, it\u2019s a heck of a ride that both those new to the Yakuza series and longtime fans will definitely love. It\u2019s a high point that will make you look forward to more of the same.
\n\"Mutant
\nPOSTSCRIPT
\nMutant Year Zero: Road to Eden (PS4) — It takes a lot for developers to make games that prove more than what they seem and ultimately leave players with a lasting impression. While some titles don\u2019t try to be anything more than temporary diversions, others strive for more than just a fleeting experience. Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is significantly of the latter kind, with The Bearded Ladies striving to combine environment-prompted storytelling and turn-based mechanics to produce a gripping and enjoyable release inspired by — believe it or not — a series of pen-and-paper role-playing games.
\nMutant Year Zero: Road to Eden builds upon and brings its tabletop roots to life on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Personal Computer. Players are thrust into the action as part of a group of Stalkers, mutants tasked with retrieving supplies and resources to fuel the settlement of Ark\u2019s survival in a post-apocalyptic world. When one of the teams goes missing while on an expedition, they get to control a party of three characters in an effort to find Hammon, the chief operator of the city\u2019s systems, as well as look into the existence of the mythical land of Eden. Along the way, they are compelled to scavenge for supplies and weaponry, and fend off the many dangers that lurk beyond the safety of Ark\u2019s walls.
\nGraphics-wise, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden looks fair but doesn\u2019t push the limits of its technology. Nevertheless, it sets itself apart though its character and background designs. Vegetation and ruins are heavily contrasted with stylized cityscapes. Abandoned shacks and dark forests are par for the course, and constructed well enough to make them feel unique and interesting. Alongside a wide variety of mutants, both friendly and otherwise, they succeed in setting the proper tone for the narrative to move along.
\nParenthetically, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden\u2019s gameplay holds up well. Its combat mechanics are straightforward but engrossing, playing out similarly to Firaxis\u2019 XCOM releases, with characters being able to move and perform actions or dash to designated areas in turns. Pretty much standard fare as far as these games go? Perhaps. The Bearded Ladies makes its work stand out by adding a twist to exploration: Players are able to maneuver their squad in real time around the map, picking up much-needed supplies and even being able to ambush patrolling enemies and whittle them down one by one. It\u2019s a simple quirk, but it creates some interesting scenarios and gives players some leniency on how to neutralize threats. Do they go in guns blazing once they\u2019ve found some defendable areas? Do they lure enemies into manageable firing zones? Or do they move about the map and risk detection, but also get to take down stragglers to reduce the overall number of enemies?
\nThe extent of freedom offered players is what makes Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden so unique. Its interesting blend of gameplay elements framed within its grim and dark setting creates a captivating experience. That said, it has set rules, and is far from perfect as a result. The Random Number Goddess system, for instance, can lead to frustration, especially during times when a crucial shot can mean the difference between survival and death. It certainly doesn\u2019t help that some enemies are brutally unforgiving and can easily beat players down if not approached properly. The lack of a meaningful level progression for characters is also a hindrance; the skills earned during gameplay and the weapons and armor that can be scavenged and bought seem like minor upgrades rather than major overhauls and do very little to spice up the gameplay once a routine is established.
\nFor all the unpredictability of dicerolls in combat, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a straightforward story from beginning to end, focused more on its themes and less on its replay value. Nonetheless, it\u2019s absolutely fantastic at its best and leaves players wanting for more. The first playthrough is especially revealing, cementing its status as a solid addition to the PS4\u2019s extensive library of role-playing titles despite its flaws. (7.5/10)

\n
\n

\"Yakuza

\n

Video Game Review

\n

Yakuza Kiwami 2
\nPlayStation 4
\nTHE GOOD:

\n

\u2022 Outstanding production values

\n

\u2022 Compelling narrative

\n

\u2022 Fun, fast-paced combat mechanics that rewards skill and smart play

\n

\u2022 Plenty of side activities and minigames on offer

\n

THE BAD:

\n

\u2022 Comedic elements may seem overbearing

\n

\u2022 Sidequests flirt with redundancy

\n

\u2022 The \u201copen world\u201d can feel small at times

\n

RATING: 9/10

\n", "content_text": "By Alexander O. Cuaycong and Anthony L. Cuaycong\nPART brawlers, part Japanese dramas, and part open-world experiences, Sega\u2019s Yakuza games have always been a ridiculous but compelling blend of action and adventure. While they initially seem like compilations of conflicted ideas from a fever dream, their interesting, over-the-top antics and enjoyable combat systems are truly anything. Their stories keep you invested, and their atmosphere, taken individually or collectively, is nothing short of engrossing. Yakuza Kiwami 2, a remake of 2006\u2019s Yakuza 2, follows pretty much the same formula. Featuring better graphics and sounds, enhanced gameplay, and new story elements, it does its best to keep the spirit of its source material while tacking on some of its own unique flair.\nIn Yakuza Kiwami 2, you follow the story of Kiryu Kazama, a former gang enforcer who struggles to put the old ways behind him. After the assassination of one of the Yakuza leaders threatens to spark an all-out war in the streets, he is reluctantly deprived of his peaceful existence and forced to take matters into his own hands. He finds himself back in the life he had tried so hard to avoid, and through the use of his fists, his charisma, and the sheer stoic nature of his character, he moves to find the men responsible for the killing and prevent any further bloodshed.\nThe main plot of Yakuza Kiwami 2 is solid, its serious tale of gang politics and violence complemented by its larger-than-life set pieces. Propelled by a great-looking and sounding foundation, the narrative elevates it and continually hooks you in. It can border on the absurd at times, but the way it flows seamlessly from one sequence to another is nothing short of sensational. And with new chapters added to fill in the blanks evident in the original, there\u2019s plenty of the story to experience — and all of it interesting, if not great. Kiryu is thrown into all sorts of trouble, and when violence greets him, he possesses the wherewithal to hold his own against his opponents.\nTo be sure, combat is something Yakuza Kiwami 2 does very well. The battle mechanics aren\u2019t overly complicated, and, in fact, make for fluid action and reaction. They reward aggression, patience, and skill. And while they don\u2019t offer the stance-switching capacity of Kiryu in Yakuza Kiwami, the fast-flowing nature of fight sequences more than make up for the omission. He is able to dart, weave, and beat down his foes with his fists or any weapons he can lay his hands on, and Heat moves are just as flashy as ever. Earned by landing hits and dodging attacks, they entice you to engage in multiple sidequests.\nFortunately, Yakuza Kiwami 2\u2019s nonlinear pursuits are anything but boring. Not always serious but invariably sure to entertain, they show that while the game\u2019s open world may not be as expansive as other titles, it is nonetheless filled to the brim with content. Activities are always on hand for those willing to do them, and even as they would definitely be out of place in any other gang-themed action brawler, they\u2019re right at home in the Yakuza series. What other game can have you singing in karaoke bars or playing golf, in the process giving that feeling of utter drollery, and yet keep you extremely engaged in its setting?\nIn a nutshell, Yakuza Kiwami 2\u2019s ability to be comical and yet totally immersive is what makes it so engrossing. While the Yakuza series has never quite taken itself so seriously, the many antics Kiryu can perform in its latest release are just absurdly funny, but never too fantastic that it\u2019s next to unbelievable. It takes itself seriously, but knows when to lighten up and have a laugh, even at its own expense. It can keep you hooked with its main story and, at the same time, entertain you with its side quests. It offers a stylized charm that no other series has been able to mimic, presenting a juxtaposition of comedy and drama without the slightest hint of regret.\nIn the final analysis, Yakuwa Kiwami 2 wonderfully treads the fine line between being weighty and being silly. It\u2019s a brilliant game from start to finish; you never run out of things to do while uncovering a deep storyline at your own pace. Parenthetically, its biggest flaw isn\u2019t that it does anything badly, but that it has to end at some point. Until then, it\u2019s a heck of a ride that both those new to the Yakuza series and longtime fans will definitely love. It\u2019s a high point that will make you look forward to more of the same.\n\nPOSTSCRIPT\nMutant Year Zero: Road to Eden (PS4) — It takes a lot for developers to make games that prove more than what they seem and ultimately leave players with a lasting impression. While some titles don\u2019t try to be anything more than temporary diversions, others strive for more than just a fleeting experience. Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is significantly of the latter kind, with The Bearded Ladies striving to combine environment-prompted storytelling and turn-based mechanics to produce a gripping and enjoyable release inspired by — believe it or not — a series of pen-and-paper role-playing games.\nMutant Year Zero: Road to Eden builds upon and brings its tabletop roots to life on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Personal Computer. Players are thrust into the action as part of a group of Stalkers, mutants tasked with retrieving supplies and resources to fuel the settlement of Ark\u2019s survival in a post-apocalyptic world. When one of the teams goes missing while on an expedition, they get to control a party of three characters in an effort to find Hammon, the chief operator of the city\u2019s systems, as well as look into the existence of the mythical land of Eden. Along the way, they are compelled to scavenge for supplies and weaponry, and fend off the many dangers that lurk beyond the safety of Ark\u2019s walls.\nGraphics-wise, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden looks fair but doesn\u2019t push the limits of its technology. Nevertheless, it sets itself apart though its character and background designs. Vegetation and ruins are heavily contrasted with stylized cityscapes. Abandoned shacks and dark forests are par for the course, and constructed well enough to make them feel unique and interesting. Alongside a wide variety of mutants, both friendly and otherwise, they succeed in setting the proper tone for the narrative to move along.\nParenthetically, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden\u2019s gameplay holds up well. Its combat mechanics are straightforward but engrossing, playing out similarly to Firaxis\u2019 XCOM releases, with characters being able to move and perform actions or dash to designated areas in turns. Pretty much standard fare as far as these games go? Perhaps. The Bearded Ladies makes its work stand out by adding a twist to exploration: Players are able to maneuver their squad in real time around the map, picking up much-needed supplies and even being able to ambush patrolling enemies and whittle them down one by one. It\u2019s a simple quirk, but it creates some interesting scenarios and gives players some leniency on how to neutralize threats. Do they go in guns blazing once they\u2019ve found some defendable areas? Do they lure enemies into manageable firing zones? Or do they move about the map and risk detection, but also get to take down stragglers to reduce the overall number of enemies?\nThe extent of freedom offered players is what makes Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden so unique. Its interesting blend of gameplay elements framed within its grim and dark setting creates a captivating experience. That said, it has set rules, and is far from perfect as a result. The Random Number Goddess system, for instance, can lead to frustration, especially during times when a crucial shot can mean the difference between survival and death. It certainly doesn\u2019t help that some enemies are brutally unforgiving and can easily beat players down if not approached properly. The lack of a meaningful level progression for characters is also a hindrance; the skills earned during gameplay and the weapons and armor that can be scavenged and bought seem like minor upgrades rather than major overhauls and do very little to spice up the gameplay once a routine is established.\nFor all the unpredictability of dicerolls in combat, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a straightforward story from beginning to end, focused more on its themes and less on its replay value. Nonetheless, it\u2019s absolutely fantastic at its best and leaves players wanting for more. The first playthrough is especially revealing, cementing its status as a solid addition to the PS4\u2019s extensive library of role-playing titles despite its flaws. (7.5/10)\n\n\nVideo Game Review\nYakuza Kiwami 2\nPlayStation 4\nTHE GOOD:\n\u2022 Outstanding production values\n\u2022 Compelling narrative\n\u2022 Fun, fast-paced combat mechanics that rewards skill and smart play\n\u2022 Plenty of side activities and minigames on offer\nTHE BAD:\n\u2022 Comedic elements may seem overbearing\n\u2022 Sidequests flirt with redundancy\n\u2022 The \u201copen world\u201d can feel small at times\nRATING: 9/10", "date_published": "2019-01-04T00:01:59+08:00", "date_modified": "2019-01-04T00:01:59+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Alexander O. Cuaycong", "Anthony L. Cuaycong", "Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden", "Video Game", "Video Game Review", "Yakuza Kiwami 2", "Staying In", "Weekender" ], "summary": "PART brawlers, part Japanese dramas, and part open-world experiences, Sega\u2019s Yakuza games have always been a ridiculous but compelling blend of action and adventure. While they initially seem like compilations of conflicted ideas from a fever dream, their interesting, over-the-top antics and enjoyable combat systems are truly anything. Their stories keep you invested, and their atmosphere, taken individually or collectively, is nothing short of engrossing. Yakuza Kiwami 2, a remake of 2006\u2019s Yakuza 2, follows pretty much the same formula. Featuring better graphics and sounds, enhanced gameplay, and new story elements, it does its best to keep the spirit of its source material while tacking on some of its own unique flair." }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=206481", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/weekender/focus/2018/12/28/206481/oasis-in-the-desert/", "title": "Oasis in the desert", "content_html": "

Text and photos by Denise A. Valdez, Reporter
\n
\nIf you tell a fellow Filipino that you are flying to Abu Dhabi, the assumption is almost always that you are going to start working there. And you can\u2019t fault them because as you wait to board the plane for your Abu Dhabi trip, you\u2019d notice that you are surrounded by mothers on the phone, saying their last minute goodbyes to their children. \u201cMag-behave ka habang wala si mama, ha? I love you, anak [Behave while mom is away, okay? I love you],\u201d implying that they will be gone to work abroad for a long time.
\nStories about life in the Middle East are not unfamiliar to Filipinos since many, having heard of the job opportunities in the region, have gone there looking to earn good money to send back home. And along with the money come the stories.
\nBut now one can expect different sorts of stories, told by tourists instead of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), to start emerging as the capital of United Arab Emirates gets more aggressive in welcoming an era of mass tourism.
\nGoing to Abu Dhabi from the Philippines today, one sees scenes of contrasting emotions. At the airport there is the sobbing OFW on the phone and an overly excited family of five taking endless selfies as their journey of exploration starts.
\nGETTING THERE
\nAbu Dhabi\u2019s Department of Culture and Tourism has collaborated with airlines and hotels to make it easier for tourists to enter the emirate. Aside from the common option of having your travel agency arrange a visa for you, a Filipino may also tap any three-, four-, or five-star hotel where they\u2019ll be staying at to apply for visas on their behalf.
\nIf you book a flight with Etihad Airways, the airline may also arrange everything for you when you fill out a form on its website. It will then send you your printable visa through e-mail prior to your trip to save you the hassle of visiting the United Arab Emirates embassy in the Philippines.
\nIf you are flying on a budget, Etihad offers a non-refundable economy class return ticket at around $390 or around P20,000. But if you have money to spare, a classic business class returning ticket to Abu Dhabi costs almost $1,300, or around P68,000.
\nEtihad offers premium service in-flight for business class passengers, with a wide array of food choices and an even wider array of entertainment options in its media system. Accommodating cabin crew also make the trip feel less like a means to get to a vacation, but more like a staycation in itself.
\nThe flight to Abu Dhabi from Manila takes almost nine hours, but the view upon your arrival is relaxing enough to make you forget the hours lost in transit.
\n
\nDATES AND TOWERS
\nThe emirate is a vast space laced with eight-lane highways, cars moving fast past each other quietly no matter what time of day. Dates trees surround every piece of open land — unless they are construction sites, which is the case for many spots in the capital.
\nVisitors do have to contend with the country\u2019s dry heat — 34\u00b0F on an October afternoon — burning your skin as you walk under the sun. Then there is the high intensity air conditioning inside every closed building, blasting all the heat out of your body every time you enter one.
\nIn the central district of Abu Dhabi, buildings line the roads, each with unique features that the emirate proudly boasts of — an office (Capital Gate) which is the world\u2019s furthest leaning tower at 18\u00b0, a 23-storey circular building which is the headquarter of property development firm Aldar, and twin sun-responsive skyscrapers for a government office and bank (Al Bahar Towers).
\nThe multi-billion Yas Island, which opened in 2009, is one of Abu Dhabi\u2019s efforts to draw more tourists to the country. The island intends to be home to 20 hotels in the next few years. Seven are already up and running — the Yas Hotel Abu Dhabi, the Park Inn Radisson, Crowne Plaza, Centro Yas Island, Yas Island Rotana, Radisson Blue Hotel, and Staybridge Suites.
\nA three-day stay in one of the hotels, Centro Yas Island, would cost almost AED 1,080 or around P15,000 for a queen-sized bedroom that has a pool view. The package comes with a breakfast buffet offering different cuisines and several Emirati favorites.
\nAside from its hotels, Yas Island also houses other attractions such as Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, and the Yas Marina Circuit where the annual Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is held.
\nROLLER COASTERS AND THE LOUVRE
\nIf you are travelling with family or you are a thrill seeker, Ferrari World is a must-visit for its variety of rollercoasters and rides, one of which is the world\u2019s fastest rollercoaster with a speed of 240 kilometers per hour.
\nWarner Bros. World is a dream land for all kids and kids-at-heart who grew up watching Justice League, Looney Tunes, and other shows from Warner Bros. The indoor attraction has six sections of alternate filmic universes with themed halls, shops, rides, and food that are faithful to the fictional stories they replicate.
\nBeyond Yas Island are more sights, one of which is the newly opened Louvre Abu Dhabi, widely commended for its intricate building design topped with a 565-meter layered dome.
\n
\nThe fruit of a 2007 intergovernmental agreement between Abu Dhabi and France, the new museum first gave a taste of its beauty to visitors in November last year when it opened. Inside visitors can view its permanent collection and imported artworks sourced mostly from France.
\nIn the Louvre Abu Dhabi\u2019s collection is the world\u2019s most expensive painting — Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s Salvator Mundi, which sold for a whopping $450.3 million at auction last year. The painting of Jesus Christ holding a transparent rock crystal was supposed to go on display last September, but this has been postponed to an undetermined date.
\nFALCONS AND THE MOSQUE
\nWhile Abu Dhabi has places that appeal to Western standards of tourist attractions, it also doesn\u2019t fall short when it comes to reflecting its unique culture in plenty of its institutions and buildings.
\nOne of its unique travel destinations is the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital, a dedicated veterinary clinic for falcons, which now also welcomes other pets.
\nWhat dogs or chickens are to Filipinos falcons are to residents of Abu Dhabi, with almost every household owning a pet falcon. The Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital caters to around 11,000 falcons every year, and allows tourists to witness the treatment of these dearly loved winged pets.
\nAside from receiving regular grooming and checkups, falcons are also entitled to own a personal passport and may fly next to individuals on a plane. At the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital, visitors can learn know more about how the emirate cares for falcons, an interesting visit that allows one a different perspective.
\nNo trip to Abu Dhabi is complete without a visit to one of the world\u2019s largest mosques, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, which sits at the highest point of the emirate and visible from any point in the capital.
\nNamed after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who unified the seven emirates in 1971 and served as the first president of the United Arab Emirates, the Grand Mosque was born out of Zayed\u2019s personal vision for the place of worship.
\nThe building covers a 12 hectare area with a capacity of around 40,000 worshippers and visitors. It has a courtyard that can fit 31,000 people and a prayer room that can accommodate 7,800 worshipers at a time.
\n
\nThe prayer room is open to Muslim guests, which a Muslim companion said is a \u201cone-of-a-kind experience.\u201d
\nBut even if you do not practice Islam, the Grand Mosque in itself is a sight to behold. The walls of the building, made of a variety of marble and other stone, feature a design which was inspired by Zayed\u2019s goal of unifying the different architectural styles of countries where Islam is practiced.
\nThe dress code for visitors to the Grand Mosque are strict — all guests are required to come in clothes that cover the body to the feet. Women are also required to wear a shawl around the head to cover their hair. But if visitors come unprepared, clothes are available for rent at the entrance of the building.
\nDINING OPTIONS
\nAnd of course, as in any other country, experiencing Abu Dhabi entails tasting its food. A good place for a wide array of Emirati food options is Al Fanar Restaurant and Caf\u00e9, located along the Venetian Village at The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi. Not only does it offer authentic Emirati cuisine, but it also has an ambiance that mimics a desert experience.
\nIf you wish to try other varieties of Middle Eastern cuisine, Maison Beirut at the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr offers sumptuous Lebanese food at hefty servings, perfect for families and group dining occasions.
\nFor a more fancy dining experience, a Michelin-star restaurant from London, Hakkasan Restaurant, has a branch at the Emirates Palace, which offers some of the best takes on Chinese cuisine.
\nLeaving Abu Dhabi as a tourist may be nearly as difficult as leaving the Philippines is for OFWs. Besides being a place of beauty and elegance, it is a place filled with destinations that tell the stories of people who were able to achieve great things by putting in the hard work — whether you are telling the tale of Sheikh Zayed, of Abu Dhabi locals, or its multicultural pool of foreign workers including the many Filipinos you\u2019d overhear chatting in Tagalog during your stay.

\n", "content_text": "Text and photos by Denise A. Valdez, Reporter\n\nIf you tell a fellow Filipino that you are flying to Abu Dhabi, the assumption is almost always that you are going to start working there. And you can\u2019t fault them because as you wait to board the plane for your Abu Dhabi trip, you\u2019d notice that you are surrounded by mothers on the phone, saying their last minute goodbyes to their children. \u201cMag-behave ka habang wala si mama, ha? I love you, anak [Behave while mom is away, okay? I love you],\u201d implying that they will be gone to work abroad for a long time.\nStories about life in the Middle East are not unfamiliar to Filipinos since many, having heard of the job opportunities in the region, have gone there looking to earn good money to send back home. And along with the money come the stories.\nBut now one can expect different sorts of stories, told by tourists instead of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), to start emerging as the capital of United Arab Emirates gets more aggressive in welcoming an era of mass tourism.\nGoing to Abu Dhabi from the Philippines today, one sees scenes of contrasting emotions. At the airport there is the sobbing OFW on the phone and an overly excited family of five taking endless selfies as their journey of exploration starts.\nGETTING THERE\nAbu Dhabi\u2019s Department of Culture and Tourism has collaborated with airlines and hotels to make it easier for tourists to enter the emirate. Aside from the common option of having your travel agency arrange a visa for you, a Filipino may also tap any three-, four-, or five-star hotel where they\u2019ll be staying at to apply for visas on their behalf.\nIf you book a flight with Etihad Airways, the airline may also arrange everything for you when you fill out a form on its website. It will then send you your printable visa through e-mail prior to your trip to save you the hassle of visiting the United Arab Emirates embassy in the Philippines.\nIf you are flying on a budget, Etihad offers a non-refundable economy class return ticket at around $390 or around P20,000. But if you have money to spare, a classic business class returning ticket to Abu Dhabi costs almost $1,300, or around P68,000.\nEtihad offers premium service in-flight for business class passengers, with a wide array of food choices and an even wider array of entertainment options in its media system. Accommodating cabin crew also make the trip feel less like a means to get to a vacation, but more like a staycation in itself.\nThe flight to Abu Dhabi from Manila takes almost nine hours, but the view upon your arrival is relaxing enough to make you forget the hours lost in transit.\n\nDATES AND TOWERS\nThe emirate is a vast space laced with eight-lane highways, cars moving fast past each other quietly no matter what time of day. Dates trees surround every piece of open land — unless they are construction sites, which is the case for many spots in the capital.\nVisitors do have to contend with the country\u2019s dry heat — 34\u00b0F on an October afternoon — burning your skin as you walk under the sun. Then there is the high intensity air conditioning inside every closed building, blasting all the heat out of your body every time you enter one.\nIn the central district of Abu Dhabi, buildings line the roads, each with unique features that the emirate proudly boasts of — an office (Capital Gate) which is the world\u2019s furthest leaning tower at 18\u00b0, a 23-storey circular building which is the headquarter of property development firm Aldar, and twin sun-responsive skyscrapers for a government office and bank (Al Bahar Towers).\nThe multi-billion Yas Island, which opened in 2009, is one of Abu Dhabi\u2019s efforts to draw more tourists to the country. The island intends to be home to 20 hotels in the next few years. Seven are already up and running — the Yas Hotel Abu Dhabi, the Park Inn Radisson, Crowne Plaza, Centro Yas Island, Yas Island Rotana, Radisson Blue Hotel, and Staybridge Suites.\nA three-day stay in one of the hotels, Centro Yas Island, would cost almost AED 1,080 or around P15,000 for a queen-sized bedroom that has a pool view. The package comes with a breakfast buffet offering different cuisines and several Emirati favorites.\nAside from its hotels, Yas Island also houses other attractions such as Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, and the Yas Marina Circuit where the annual Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is held.\nROLLER COASTERS AND THE LOUVRE\nIf you are travelling with family or you are a thrill seeker, Ferrari World is a must-visit for its variety of rollercoasters and rides, one of which is the world\u2019s fastest rollercoaster with a speed of 240 kilometers per hour.\nWarner Bros. World is a dream land for all kids and kids-at-heart who grew up watching Justice League, Looney Tunes, and other shows from Warner Bros. The indoor attraction has six sections of alternate filmic universes with themed halls, shops, rides, and food that are faithful to the fictional stories they replicate.\nBeyond Yas Island are more sights, one of which is the newly opened Louvre Abu Dhabi, widely commended for its intricate building design topped with a 565-meter layered dome.\n\nThe fruit of a 2007 intergovernmental agreement between Abu Dhabi and France, the new museum first gave a taste of its beauty to visitors in November last year when it opened. Inside visitors can view its permanent collection and imported artworks sourced mostly from France.\nIn the Louvre Abu Dhabi\u2019s collection is the world\u2019s most expensive painting — Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s Salvator Mundi, which sold for a whopping $450.3 million at auction last year. The painting of Jesus Christ holding a transparent rock crystal was supposed to go on display last September, but this has been postponed to an undetermined date.\nFALCONS AND THE MOSQUE\nWhile Abu Dhabi has places that appeal to Western standards of tourist attractions, it also doesn\u2019t fall short when it comes to reflecting its unique culture in plenty of its institutions and buildings.\nOne of its unique travel destinations is the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital, a dedicated veterinary clinic for falcons, which now also welcomes other pets.\nWhat dogs or chickens are to Filipinos falcons are to residents of Abu Dhabi, with almost every household owning a pet falcon. The Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital caters to around 11,000 falcons every year, and allows tourists to witness the treatment of these dearly loved winged pets.\nAside from receiving regular grooming and checkups, falcons are also entitled to own a personal passport and may fly next to individuals on a plane. At the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital, visitors can learn know more about how the emirate cares for falcons, an interesting visit that allows one a different perspective.\nNo trip to Abu Dhabi is complete without a visit to one of the world\u2019s largest mosques, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, which sits at the highest point of the emirate and visible from any point in the capital.\nNamed after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who unified the seven emirates in 1971 and served as the first president of the United Arab Emirates, the Grand Mosque was born out of Zayed\u2019s personal vision for the place of worship.\nThe building covers a 12 hectare area with a capacity of around 40,000 worshippers and visitors. It has a courtyard that can fit 31,000 people and a prayer room that can accommodate 7,800 worshipers at a time.\n\nThe prayer room is open to Muslim guests, which a Muslim companion said is a \u201cone-of-a-kind experience.\u201d\nBut even if you do not practice Islam, the Grand Mosque in itself is a sight to behold. The walls of the building, made of a variety of marble and other stone, feature a design which was inspired by Zayed\u2019s goal of unifying the different architectural styles of countries where Islam is practiced.\nThe dress code for visitors to the Grand Mosque are strict — all guests are required to come in clothes that cover the body to the feet. Women are also required to wear a shawl around the head to cover their hair. But if visitors come unprepared, clothes are available for rent at the entrance of the building.\nDINING OPTIONS\nAnd of course, as in any other country, experiencing Abu Dhabi entails tasting its food. A good place for a wide array of Emirati food options is Al Fanar Restaurant and Caf\u00e9, located along the Venetian Village at The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi. Not only does it offer authentic Emirati cuisine, but it also has an ambiance that mimics a desert experience.\nIf you wish to try other varieties of Middle Eastern cuisine, Maison Beirut at the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr offers sumptuous Lebanese food at hefty servings, perfect for families and group dining occasions.\nFor a more fancy dining experience, a Michelin-star restaurant from London, Hakkasan Restaurant, has a branch at the Emirates Palace, which offers some of the best takes on Chinese cuisine.\nLeaving Abu Dhabi as a tourist may be nearly as difficult as leaving the Philippines is for OFWs. Besides being a place of beauty and elegance, it is a place filled with destinations that tell the stories of people who were able to achieve great things by putting in the hard work — whether you are telling the tale of Sheikh Zayed, of Abu Dhabi locals, or its multicultural pool of foreign workers including the many Filipinos you\u2019d overhear chatting in Tagalog during your stay.", "date_published": "2018-12-28T00:30:42+08:00", "date_modified": "2018-12-28T00:30:42+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Abu Dhabi", "Denise A. Valdez", "Featured", "Tourism", "United Arab Emirates", "Focus", "Weekender" ], "summary": "If you tell a fellow Filipino that you are flying to Abu Dhabi, the assumption is almost always that you are going to start working there. And you can\u2019t fault them because as you wait to board the plane for your Abu Dhabi trip, you\u2019d notice that you are surrounded by mothers on the phone, saying their last minute goodbyes to their children. \u201cMag-behave ka habang wala si mama, ha? I love you, anak [Behave while mom is away, okay? I love you],\u201d implying that they will be gone to work abroad for a long time." }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=206486", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/staying-in/2018/12/28/206486/and-the-rest-is/", "title": "And the rest is\u2026", "content_html": "

By Noel Vera
\nVideo Review
\nSilence
\nDirected by Martin Scorsese
\n(WARNING: story and ending discussed in explicit detail)
\nTHE FILM BEGINS with the sound of cicadas rhythmically whirring over a black background. The sound cuts out, the film title (simple white letters) flashes on-screen. Cut to a vision of hell: a guard shrouded in steam stands beside a wood shelf containing severed heads. We are at the volcanic springs of Unzen, near Nagasaki, where friars are strung up on crosses and longhandled ladles with holes sprinkle boiling hot water on them, delicately poaching their skin. (Today of course the springs are a popular vacation resort).
\nWelcome to Martin Scorsese’s idea of heaven: his 30-years-in-the-making version of Shusaku Endo’s Silence, completed at last and screened to near-universal acclaim (and near-empty theaters) in 2016.
\nIt’s an admittedly hard sell: a 161-minute film full of religious discussions, horrific torture, and interminable passages free of dialogue. Two Jesuit priests Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garupe (Adam Driver) are reluctantly sent to Japan to seek out their teacher Ferreira (Liam Neeson), who has reportedly apostatized \u2014 “reluctantly” because Christianity has been outlawed with priests and followers (as shown in the prologue) either being excruciated or executed. Ferreira is found, eventually, but…
\nMuch of the film is intense and, as has been noted, one-note \u2014 intentionally so, I believe. Rodrigues and Garupe are spiritual freaks in this modern world of compromise and relativism; Scorsese (and Endo before him) presumably realized we need to be persuaded of the idea that spirituality and love of Christ matters at all before we care about what they’re giving up. Roughly half of the novel is narrated through Rodrigues’ own words, letters sent to friends back in Portugal; more than two hours of Scorsese’s film sees Japan through Rodrigues’ eyes, filtering sights, sounds, textures, smells, taste through his own overwhelmed senses.
\nIt’s a wondrous land, Scorsese’s Japan (actually the island state of Taiwan, which has a long complicated relationship with the former country), beautiful and terrifying and often both at the same time. The two priests are deposited at a beach and we see them at a cave, its twin openings like the inside of a skull whose eyehole they are about to enter. In perhaps one of the film’s most horrific sequences, three men are tied to crucifixes (again that wooden Christian symbol, not coincidentally a classic instrument of torture for the Romans and the Japanese) staked near the shore; Scorsese first shows us huge waves crashing on rock, all thunder and saltwater hiss \u2014 we watch as a wall of slate blue fills the screen, rolls across, swallows the three men alive. Later Rodrigues wanders through Goto Island, and the massive unspeaking stones surrounded by luxuriant greenery stand almost as a rebuke to this man tormenting himself with obscure obsessions: What is the matter with him? Why doesn’t he just recant, save himself and others all the pain, enjoy this gorgeous scenery?
\nBecause it’s what he is? From the moment he lands Rodrigues encounters the kakure kirishitan (the modern term for a member of the underground Japanese Catholic Church during the Edo period), and however appalling the tortures devised for them, their near-superhuman endurance is if anything even more awe-inspiring. Mochiki (cyberpunk filmmaker Shinya Tuskamoto) hangs on his cross blinking and struggling to draw breath between waves, his skin cooking gradually from the relentless flagellation of brine; later we see a sudden beheading, the hapless kirishitan’s friends and family shrieking \u2014 but not recanting. Rodrigues is almost shamed into stepping up: who is he to presume to teach these people anything about faith?
\nA crucial teacher for Rodrigues, though he never realizes it till much later, is Kichijiro (Yosuke Kubozuka) \u2014 the Judas figure in the story, somewhat inspired by the mestizo in Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory (arguably the spiritual ancestor of Endo’s novel). Kichijiro shows Rodrigues one way to redemption: total humility, absolute self-abasement, no pride or self-dignity whatsoever. The figure is Endo’s creation but I can’t help but think Scorsese had Roberto Rossellini’s Flowers of St. Francis in mind: a holy fool who debases himself time and time again, holds no illusions, yet does not totally submit to despair \u2014 he’ll alternately beg for forgiveness and betray his benefactor with dizzying speed, one act after another.
\nAn equally crucial guide to the spiritual “swamp” (as the character puts it) that is Japan: Ferreira himself, renamed Sawano Chuan. He’s a closer figure to Rodrigues, having both taught the priest in the past and now acting as doppelganger, commenting on the prisoner’s experience, pointing out a carving he made on a cell and telling Rodrigues what he was thinking at that moment (“I heard the cries of suffering in this same cell”).
\nNote that Rodrigues once captured isn’t really touched \u2014 Oh he’s shoved around and shaken up a bit, but compared to what he sees what he actually experiences is almost nothing. Rodrigues’ odyssey in the first half of the film has a random happenstance shape; after his arrest it feels like an amusement park ride of horrors, orchestrated with exquisite subtlety by Nagasaki magistrate Inoue (comic actor Issey Ogata) \u2014 moments of serenity alternating with moments of violence (inflicted strictly on others), the protagonist constantly being prodded with pointed questions. No, physically torturing Rodrigues would defeat Inoue’s purpose: he needs the priest comfortable (relatively speaking) and thinking clearly when he finally gives in. Masahiro Shinoda’s 1971 adaptation of Endo is an interesting alternative take, a critical look at the arrogance of European authority figures presuming to know what’s best for alien Japan (Endo reportedly hated the earlier film’s far less ambiguous ending), but in my book Shinoda made a misstep when he had his Rodrigo actually hung over a pit \u2014 it stacked the deck in Inoue’s favor, suggested that perhaps the magistrate wasn’t all that confident about his cause, and needed to literally massage his victim for proper results.
\nThe moment also reminds me (of all things) of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. He knows what he wants to do is wrong, he’s been taught all his life that it’s wrong, but it’s his beloved friend \u2014 Jim \u2014 whose life is at stake. He searches up and down in and out the thickets of his head and \u2014 yes \u2014 he’ll do it; he’ll commit a grievous crime and go to hell. Catholics are known for the paradoxical nature of their faith and sometimes I suspect we glory in them; the mental exercise helps a little in dealing with the equally paradoxical conundrums of life and failure, a kind of vaccine, if you like, against the absolutism of despair.
\nScorsese (with help from his frequent collaborator Jay Cocks) elaborates on the aftermath, Rodrigues’ (once more shapeless) odyssey, this time through the consequences of his recantation. Scorsese is accused of treating the ex-priest with kid gloves but seeing Ferreira’s constantly downcast eyes and Rodrigues’ own clamped-down demeanor you wonder: he spends the rest of his life carefully guarded, carefully watching his every word and gesture; one is reminded of Winston Smith sitting in a caf\u00e9 at the end of 1984, defeated, depressed. Is this perhaps Inoue’s most diabolical torment, to show a man that he can totally submit to another’s will to the point that when he’s granted leeway, a moment of freedom \u2014 Kichijori for the umpteenth time asking for forgiveness \u2014 he hesitates? You think of Wladyslaw Szpilman in Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, wandering through the ruins of Warsaw, his situation more existential than spiritual, surviving yet wondering what is the point of his survival. Rodrigues hears Kichijiro’s confession, a priest once again \u2014 but does his act of ministry mean anything after years of denial and working for the enemy?
\nLikewise when Rodrigues dies and is cremated the camera glides into the coffin and into the ex-priest’s cupped hands to find a tiny cross \u2014 is this the hidden inner kernel of the man, his unspoken refusal to give up? Or is that little cross pointless in the face of all he’s done before \u2014 maybe something planted there posthumously (as is suggested) by his Japanese wife? What is the significance of a man who works for one cause half his life, works against it in the latter half, goes to his death with maybe one contradictory little symbol hidden away in his palm? Is Scorsese (like Shinoda) betraying the beautiful ambiguity of Endo’s text or perhaps extending it to an excruciating length?
\nThe answer of course is… but Scorsese takes his cue from his god and leaves us with the sound of cicadas, whirring rhythmically away to a blank black screen.

\n", "content_text": "By Noel Vera\nVideo Review\nSilence\nDirected by Martin Scorsese\n(WARNING: story and ending discussed in explicit detail)\nTHE FILM BEGINS with the sound of cicadas rhythmically whirring over a black background. The sound cuts out, the film title (simple white letters) flashes on-screen. Cut to a vision of hell: a guard shrouded in steam stands beside a wood shelf containing severed heads. We are at the volcanic springs of Unzen, near Nagasaki, where friars are strung up on crosses and longhandled ladles with holes sprinkle boiling hot water on them, delicately poaching their skin. (Today of course the springs are a popular vacation resort).\nWelcome to Martin Scorsese’s idea of heaven: his 30-years-in-the-making version of Shusaku Endo’s Silence, completed at last and screened to near-universal acclaim (and near-empty theaters) in 2016.\nIt’s an admittedly hard sell: a 161-minute film full of religious discussions, horrific torture, and interminable passages free of dialogue. Two Jesuit priests Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garupe (Adam Driver) are reluctantly sent to Japan to seek out their teacher Ferreira (Liam Neeson), who has reportedly apostatized \u2014 “reluctantly” because Christianity has been outlawed with priests and followers (as shown in the prologue) either being excruciated or executed. Ferreira is found, eventually, but…\nMuch of the film is intense and, as has been noted, one-note \u2014 intentionally so, I believe. Rodrigues and Garupe are spiritual freaks in this modern world of compromise and relativism; Scorsese (and Endo before him) presumably realized we need to be persuaded of the idea that spirituality and love of Christ matters at all before we care about what they’re giving up. Roughly half of the novel is narrated through Rodrigues’ own words, letters sent to friends back in Portugal; more than two hours of Scorsese’s film sees Japan through Rodrigues’ eyes, filtering sights, sounds, textures, smells, taste through his own overwhelmed senses.\nIt’s a wondrous land, Scorsese’s Japan (actually the island state of Taiwan, which has a long complicated relationship with the former country), beautiful and terrifying and often both at the same time. The two priests are deposited at a beach and we see them at a cave, its twin openings like the inside of a skull whose eyehole they are about to enter. In perhaps one of the film’s most horrific sequences, three men are tied to crucifixes (again that wooden Christian symbol, not coincidentally a classic instrument of torture for the Romans and the Japanese) staked near the shore; Scorsese first shows us huge waves crashing on rock, all thunder and saltwater hiss \u2014 we watch as a wall of slate blue fills the screen, rolls across, swallows the three men alive. Later Rodrigues wanders through Goto Island, and the massive unspeaking stones surrounded by luxuriant greenery stand almost as a rebuke to this man tormenting himself with obscure obsessions: What is the matter with him? Why doesn’t he just recant, save himself and others all the pain, enjoy this gorgeous scenery?\nBecause it’s what he is? From the moment he lands Rodrigues encounters the kakure kirishitan (the modern term for a member of the underground Japanese Catholic Church during the Edo period), and however appalling the tortures devised for them, their near-superhuman endurance is if anything even more awe-inspiring. Mochiki (cyberpunk filmmaker Shinya Tuskamoto) hangs on his cross blinking and struggling to draw breath between waves, his skin cooking gradually from the relentless flagellation of brine; later we see a sudden beheading, the hapless kirishitan’s friends and family shrieking \u2014 but not recanting. Rodrigues is almost shamed into stepping up: who is he to presume to teach these people anything about faith?\nA crucial teacher for Rodrigues, though he never realizes it till much later, is Kichijiro (Yosuke Kubozuka) \u2014 the Judas figure in the story, somewhat inspired by the mestizo in Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory (arguably the spiritual ancestor of Endo’s novel). Kichijiro shows Rodrigues one way to redemption: total humility, absolute self-abasement, no pride or self-dignity whatsoever. The figure is Endo’s creation but I can’t help but think Scorsese had Roberto Rossellini’s Flowers of St. Francis in mind: a holy fool who debases himself time and time again, holds no illusions, yet does not totally submit to despair \u2014 he’ll alternately beg for forgiveness and betray his benefactor with dizzying speed, one act after another.\nAn equally crucial guide to the spiritual “swamp” (as the character puts it) that is Japan: Ferreira himself, renamed Sawano Chuan. He’s a closer figure to Rodrigues, having both taught the priest in the past and now acting as doppelganger, commenting on the prisoner’s experience, pointing out a carving he made on a cell and telling Rodrigues what he was thinking at that moment (“I heard the cries of suffering in this same cell”).\nNote that Rodrigues once captured isn’t really touched \u2014 Oh he’s shoved around and shaken up a bit, but compared to what he sees what he actually experiences is almost nothing. Rodrigues’ odyssey in the first half of the film has a random happenstance shape; after his arrest it feels like an amusement park ride of horrors, orchestrated with exquisite subtlety by Nagasaki magistrate Inoue (comic actor Issey Ogata) \u2014 moments of serenity alternating with moments of violence (inflicted strictly on others), the protagonist constantly being prodded with pointed questions. No, physically torturing Rodrigues would defeat Inoue’s purpose: he needs the priest comfortable (relatively speaking) and thinking clearly when he finally gives in. Masahiro Shinoda’s 1971 adaptation of Endo is an interesting alternative take, a critical look at the arrogance of European authority figures presuming to know what’s best for alien Japan (Endo reportedly hated the earlier film’s far less ambiguous ending), but in my book Shinoda made a misstep when he had his Rodrigo actually hung over a pit \u2014 it stacked the deck in Inoue’s favor, suggested that perhaps the magistrate wasn’t all that confident about his cause, and needed to literally massage his victim for proper results.\nThe moment also reminds me (of all things) of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. He knows what he wants to do is wrong, he’s been taught all his life that it’s wrong, but it’s his beloved friend \u2014 Jim \u2014 whose life is at stake. He searches up and down in and out the thickets of his head and \u2014 yes \u2014 he’ll do it; he’ll commit a grievous crime and go to hell. Catholics are known for the paradoxical nature of their faith and sometimes I suspect we glory in them; the mental exercise helps a little in dealing with the equally paradoxical conundrums of life and failure, a kind of vaccine, if you like, against the absolutism of despair.\nScorsese (with help from his frequent collaborator Jay Cocks) elaborates on the aftermath, Rodrigues’ (once more shapeless) odyssey, this time through the consequences of his recantation. Scorsese is accused of treating the ex-priest with kid gloves but seeing Ferreira’s constantly downcast eyes and Rodrigues’ own clamped-down demeanor you wonder: he spends the rest of his life carefully guarded, carefully watching his every word and gesture; one is reminded of Winston Smith sitting in a caf\u00e9 at the end of 1984, defeated, depressed. Is this perhaps Inoue’s most diabolical torment, to show a man that he can totally submit to another’s will to the point that when he’s granted leeway, a moment of freedom \u2014 Kichijori for the umpteenth time asking for forgiveness \u2014 he hesitates? You think of Wladyslaw Szpilman in Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, wandering through the ruins of Warsaw, his situation more existential than spiritual, surviving yet wondering what is the point of his survival. Rodrigues hears Kichijiro’s confession, a priest once again \u2014 but does his act of ministry mean anything after years of denial and working for the enemy?\nLikewise when Rodrigues dies and is cremated the camera glides into the coffin and into the ex-priest’s cupped hands to find a tiny cross \u2014 is this the hidden inner kernel of the man, his unspoken refusal to give up? Or is that little cross pointless in the face of all he’s done before \u2014 maybe something planted there posthumously (as is suggested) by his Japanese wife? What is the significance of a man who works for one cause half his life, works against it in the latter half, goes to his death with maybe one contradictory little symbol hidden away in his palm? Is Scorsese (like Shinoda) betraying the beautiful ambiguity of Endo’s text or perhaps extending it to an excruciating length?\nThe answer of course is… but Scorsese takes his cue from his god and leaves us with the sound of cicadas, whirring rhythmically away to a blank black screen.", "date_published": "2018-12-28T00:02:44+08:00", "date_modified": "2018-12-28T00:02:44+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Features", "Martin Scorsese", "Noel Vera", "silence", "video review", "Staying In", "Weekender" ], "summary": "THE FILM BEGINS with the sound of cicadas rhythmically whirring over a black background. The sound cuts out, the film title (simple white letters) flashes on-screen. Cut to a vision of hell: a guard shrouded in steam stands beside a wood shelf containing severed heads. We are at the volcanic springs of Unzen, near Nagasaki, where friars are strung up on crosses and longhandled ladles with holes sprinkle boiling hot water on them, delicately poaching their skin. (Today of course the springs are a popular vacation resort).\n" }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=206485", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/staying-in/2018/12/28/206485/a-treasure-trove/", "title": "A treasure trove", "content_html": "

By Anthony L. Cuaycong
\nIT\u2019S NO COINCIDENCE that the birth and growth of Shin Nihon Kikaku (SNK) as a video-game developing, publishing, and manufacturing company coincided with the industry\u2019s rise in popularity. The transition to the 1980s saw the proliferation of gaming arcades and the inevitable releases of home-console versions of popular titles, and it was determined not just to take advantage of the boom, but to ensure its sustainability through constant innovation. Soon enough, it became a major player in the coin-operated business, and it astutely leveraged its experience to penetrate the expanding home market.
\nNeedless to say, SNK struck gold with intellectual-property behemoths The King of Fighters and Metal Slug, and it rightly sought to dip into the well as often as it could. Sequels would follow, with the franchises figuring prominently in its Neo Geo and other hardware, and, over time, ported over to modern consoles. Meanwhile, precursors in which the company honed its skills flirted with the possibility of fading into oblivion. Thankfully, Nippon Ichi Software and Digital Eclipse saw fit to embark on a passion project that aimed to both preserve the arcade classics and update them for contemporary gamers to enjoy.
\n\"\"The result is nothing short of remarkable. SNK 40th Anniversary Collection is presented with pride, and the labor of love is evident not just in the choice and number of titles included in the anthology, but in the manner they were restored and offered via emulation. Beginning with 13 upon release last October and adding 11 more earlier this month, it is certainly representative of the Japanese video game hardware and software company\u2019s first decade of existence. NIS America and Digital Eclipse\u2019s intent is evident: pay homage to its growth years by offering longtime fans an group of games that reflected its predilection to push the envelope.
\nTo argue that SNK 40th Anniversary Collection isn\u2019t slipshod would be to understate the obvious. In fact, the compilation is well thought out; to cover all bases, it presents not just the English and Japanese versions of its offerings, but the home-console and arcade iterations as well. There are brawlers, with Street Smart and P.O.W. headlining the list. There are shooters, among them Alpha Mission and The Ikari Warriors Trilogy. There are side-scrolling actioners, Psycho Soldier and Athena included. And there are groundbreakers like Crystalis and Prehistoric Isle. All have been painstakingly restored and lined up to be enjoyed the way they were originally meant.
\nWhenever practicable, SNK 40th Anniversary Collection enhances its look and interface for the Nintendo Switch. When run in docked mode, it offers several screen options at 1080p resolution, allowing for upscaled video in 4:3 or widescreen formats. And it\u2019s even better on the go, with tabletop settings providing for a vertical orientation that best presents the arcade versions of games. Parenthetically, the sounds have been preserved; gamers will get to experience the same auditory cues as those of their counterparts in the \u201980s. Meanwhile, button mapping is outstanding; controls, even for twin-stick options, are intuitive.
\nTrue, SNK 40th Anniversary Collection breaks no new ground. Then again, its objective isn\u2019t to remake the original releases or update them for current consumption, the welcome introduction of play-through, quick-save and rewind functions notwithstanding. On the contrary, it seeks to show in pristine form the 24 titles on its list. And even as the gameplay hasn\u2019t aged well for some, there can be no discounting its worth and, concomitantly, its capacity to inform and entertain. In this regard, the Museum mode \u2014 which provides an extensive history of SNK \u2014 is a decided boon.
\nAll told, SNK 40th Anniversary Collection is a veritable treasure trove that shines the spotlight on the company\u2019s pioneering efforts. Certainly, Digital Eclipse\u2019s extensive experience in putting together restored work with painstaking precision shows; from Vanguard to Beast Busters to Ozma Wars, it rewards NIS America\u2019s trust with output that both protects history and makes it appealing to contemporary gamers. It\u2019s a definite steal at $40.

\n", "content_text": "By Anthony L. Cuaycong\nIT\u2019S NO COINCIDENCE that the birth and growth of Shin Nihon Kikaku (SNK) as a video-game developing, publishing, and manufacturing company coincided with the industry\u2019s rise in popularity. The transition to the 1980s saw the proliferation of gaming arcades and the inevitable releases of home-console versions of popular titles, and it was determined not just to take advantage of the boom, but to ensure its sustainability through constant innovation. Soon enough, it became a major player in the coin-operated business, and it astutely leveraged its experience to penetrate the expanding home market.\nNeedless to say, SNK struck gold with intellectual-property behemoths The King of Fighters and Metal Slug, and it rightly sought to dip into the well as often as it could. Sequels would follow, with the franchises figuring prominently in its Neo Geo and other hardware, and, over time, ported over to modern consoles. Meanwhile, precursors in which the company honed its skills flirted with the possibility of fading into oblivion. Thankfully, Nippon Ichi Software and Digital Eclipse saw fit to embark on a passion project that aimed to both preserve the arcade classics and update them for contemporary gamers to enjoy.\nThe result is nothing short of remarkable. SNK 40th Anniversary Collection is presented with pride, and the labor of love is evident not just in the choice and number of titles included in the anthology, but in the manner they were restored and offered via emulation. Beginning with 13 upon release last October and adding 11 more earlier this month, it is certainly representative of the Japanese video game hardware and software company\u2019s first decade of existence. NIS America and Digital Eclipse\u2019s intent is evident: pay homage to its growth years by offering longtime fans an group of games that reflected its predilection to push the envelope.\nTo argue that SNK 40th Anniversary Collection isn\u2019t slipshod would be to understate the obvious. In fact, the compilation is well thought out; to cover all bases, it presents not just the English and Japanese versions of its offerings, but the home-console and arcade iterations as well. There are brawlers, with Street Smart and P.O.W. headlining the list. There are shooters, among them Alpha Mission and The Ikari Warriors Trilogy. There are side-scrolling actioners, Psycho Soldier and Athena included. And there are groundbreakers like Crystalis and Prehistoric Isle. All have been painstakingly restored and lined up to be enjoyed the way they were originally meant.\nWhenever practicable, SNK 40th Anniversary Collection enhances its look and interface for the Nintendo Switch. When run in docked mode, it offers several screen options at 1080p resolution, allowing for upscaled video in 4:3 or widescreen formats. And it\u2019s even better on the go, with tabletop settings providing for a vertical orientation that best presents the arcade versions of games. Parenthetically, the sounds have been preserved; gamers will get to experience the same auditory cues as those of their counterparts in the \u201980s. Meanwhile, button mapping is outstanding; controls, even for twin-stick options, are intuitive.\nTrue, SNK 40th Anniversary Collection breaks no new ground. Then again, its objective isn\u2019t to remake the original releases or update them for current consumption, the welcome introduction of play-through, quick-save and rewind functions notwithstanding. On the contrary, it seeks to show in pristine form the 24 titles on its list. And even as the gameplay hasn\u2019t aged well for some, there can be no discounting its worth and, concomitantly, its capacity to inform and entertain. In this regard, the Museum mode \u2014 which provides an extensive history of SNK \u2014 is a decided boon.\nAll told, SNK 40th Anniversary Collection is a veritable treasure trove that shines the spotlight on the company\u2019s pioneering efforts. Certainly, Digital Eclipse\u2019s extensive experience in putting together restored work with painstaking precision shows; from Vanguard to Beast Busters to Ozma Wars, it rewards NIS America\u2019s trust with output that both protects history and makes it appealing to contemporary gamers. It\u2019s a definite steal at $40.", "date_published": "2018-12-28T00:01:42+08:00", "date_modified": "2018-12-28T00:01:42+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Anthony L. Cuaycong", "SNK 40th Anniversary Collection", "Video Game Review", "Staying In", "Weekender" ], "summary": "IT’S NO COINCIDENCE that the birth and growth of Shin Nihon Kikaku (SNK) as a video-game developing, publishing, and manufacturing company coincided with the industry’s rise in popularity. The transition to the 1980s saw the proliferation of gaming arcades and the inevitable releases of home-console versions of popular titles, and it was determined not just to take advantage of the boom, but to ensure its sustainability through constant innovation. Soon enough, it became a major player in the coin-operated business, and it astutely leveraged its experience to penetrate the expanding home market.\n" }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=205770", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/weekender/focus/2018/12/21/205770/vaccination-is-it-safe/", "title": "Vaccination: Is it safe?", "content_html": "

By Michelle Anne P. Soliman, Reporter
\nIn April 2016, over a million public school students in the National Capital Region (NCR), Central Luzon, and Calabarzon lined up to take part in the immunization program of the first dengue vaccine. It was recommended that the three doses of the vaccine be administered at six-month intervals. It was more than a year into the program, in November 2017, when Sanofi Pasteur issued a warning that immunized people who had not previously been infected with one of the four known varieties of dengue may experience a more severe version of the disease.
\nThe controversy surrounding the immunization program triggered fears of vaccination in general. According to the WIN/Gallup International Vaccine and Confidence Index, vaccine confidence among Filipinos dropped to 32% in 2018 from 93% in 2015.
\nIn recent media reports, Department of Health (DoH) Undersecretary Eric Domingo was quoted as saying that Dengvaxia, the dengue vaccine, will probably not be getting a certificate of product registration (CPR) after the lapse of its one-year suspension. \u201cThe one year suspension of the Dengvaxia CPR is not yet lifted and I don\u2019t see it being lifted anytime soon. Dengvaxia will not likely be making a comeback,\u201d he said.
\n\"\"THE IMPORTANCE OF VACCINATION
\nSmallpox, an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus, was believed to have originated in India or Egypt over 3,000 years ago. In 1798, English physician and scientist Edward Jenner demonstrated that inoculation with the vaccinia virus which caused cowpox could protect humans from the more virulent smallpox. In 1967, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a global immunization campaign to eradicate smallpox. The campaign worked. The last naturally occurring case of the disease was in Somalia in 1977.
\n\u201cVaccination has been one of the powerful achievements of modern public health apart from using antibiotics that help to control infections. It is really key that we do everything and that vaccination [be] provided to everybody who will need and can benefit from [it],\u201d Dr. Gundo Weiler, World Health Organization (WHO) representative to the Philippines, said at a forum on vaccination on Dec. 3 at the Crowne Plaza in Ortigas.
\nAccording to the \u201c10 Facts of Immunization\u201d published on the WHO official website, 2 to 3 million deaths annually are prevented by immunization.
\nDr. Weiler noted that vaccine coverage from birth to 12 months is crucial for protection from and prevention of diseases. Annually, the Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS) prepares a childhood immunization guide for the vaccines against diseases ranging from tuberculosis to German measles to be administered at recommended periods.
\nVaccines prevent the spread of diseases and minimize the severity of illnesses.
\n\u201cFrom a public health point of view, we are also interested to see how epidemics spread in communities. If only a few people are vaccinated in a community, the virus or disease will still continue to spread. But if we get to a critical mass of people being immunized [in the community], then we can break the chain of transmission,\u201d Dr. Weiler said.
\nIn her presentation, Dr. Anna Lisa Ong-Lim, president of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines (PIDSP) defined vaccines are substances containing inactivated or weakened micro-organisms [which are] \u201cintroduced into the body to train the immune system to defend itself quickly.\u201d
\nWhen a person is vaccinated, Dr. Lim further explained, one does not just catch the disease but also avoids the complications that come with it.
\nIS IT EFFECTIVE?
\nThis year, WHO reported that there had been 17,296 measles cases in the Philippines between January to November, a huge increase compared to the 3,706 cases recorded during the same period in 2017.
\n\u201cEven if people refuse to call it an outbreak, it\u2019s an outbreak,\u201d Dr. Lim said, adding that the Philippines had progressed in the elimination of measles cases in 2014. However, \u201cthe loss of vaccine confidence has not helped.\u201d
\n\u201cMeasles are an indicator of the strength of the immunization program. If you have good measles coverage, you know that you were able to bring a child through to their entire vaccination series successfully. Because in the current program, when you talk about a fully immunized child, this is a child who has received all the doses of vaccines up until measles which is the last dose [given] between nine to 12 months [of age],\u201d she explained.
\nParents understand the necessity of vaccines since these protect the child from disease. \u201cIt\u2019s not some abstract disease that they have never seen [and] that they have difficulty comprehending. But for people to avoid being protected for a disease that they know can kill, you know there\u2019s a problem,\u201d Dr. Lim said.
\nKNOWING THE RISK-BENEFIT RATIO
\nDr. Lim noted that vaccines are effective and safe, however, certain health problems are at times associated with vaccinations. For the benefit of public health, vaccines are administered despite the possibility of adverse reactions, an unintended effect caused by the vaccine.
\n\u201cIf a vaccine is benefiting 99% of the children you are giving it to, will you be using it or not? But we cannot say [that] for every vaccine that it is 100% effective and safe. That is a fact of it,\u201d said Dr. Achyut Shrestha, medical officer at WHO Philippines.
\n\u201cIf you accept those benefits, it comes with a risk. In a public health perspective, you have to take a risk to benefit the larger population,\u201d he said.
\nPhysicians play a role in ensuring safe vaccination by conducting screenings.
\n\u201cWe ask questions with regards to the patient,\u201d said Dr. Salvacion Gatchalian, president of the Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS), adding that this consultation includes asking whether the patient has had previous vaccine reactions, allergies, or currently has a fever.
\nContinued safety monitoring of a new vaccine is also advised since the number of subjects in clinical trials is limited. \u201cEven after the licensure of the vaccine, there must be continued surveillance to look at adverse reactions that may not have been identified during the clinical trials,\u201d she noted.
\nDr. Gatchalian said that safe vaccination entail that a person is prevented from \u201cthe danger of getting the disease and complications associated with it.\u201d
\nFor parents who remain in doubt about vaccination, Dr. Gatchalian said, \u201cTo do nothing is a greater risk than vaccinating.\u201d

\n", "content_text": "By Michelle Anne P. Soliman, Reporter\nIn April 2016, over a million public school students in the National Capital Region (NCR), Central Luzon, and Calabarzon lined up to take part in the immunization program of the first dengue vaccine. It was recommended that the three doses of the vaccine be administered at six-month intervals. It was more than a year into the program, in November 2017, when Sanofi Pasteur issued a warning that immunized people who had not previously been infected with one of the four known varieties of dengue may experience a more severe version of the disease.\nThe controversy surrounding the immunization program triggered fears of vaccination in general. According to the WIN/Gallup International Vaccine and Confidence Index, vaccine confidence among Filipinos dropped to 32% in 2018 from 93% in 2015.\nIn recent media reports, Department of Health (DoH) Undersecretary Eric Domingo was quoted as saying that Dengvaxia, the dengue vaccine, will probably not be getting a certificate of product registration (CPR) after the lapse of its one-year suspension. \u201cThe one year suspension of the Dengvaxia CPR is not yet lifted and I don\u2019t see it being lifted anytime soon. Dengvaxia will not likely be making a comeback,\u201d he said.\nTHE IMPORTANCE OF VACCINATION\nSmallpox, an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus, was believed to have originated in India or Egypt over 3,000 years ago. In 1798, English physician and scientist Edward Jenner demonstrated that inoculation with the vaccinia virus which caused cowpox could protect humans from the more virulent smallpox. In 1967, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a global immunization campaign to eradicate smallpox. The campaign worked. The last naturally occurring case of the disease was in Somalia in 1977.\n\u201cVaccination has been one of the powerful achievements of modern public health apart from using antibiotics that help to control infections. It is really key that we do everything and that vaccination [be] provided to everybody who will need and can benefit from [it],\u201d Dr. Gundo Weiler, World Health Organization (WHO) representative to the Philippines, said at a forum on vaccination on Dec. 3 at the Crowne Plaza in Ortigas.\nAccording to the \u201c10 Facts of Immunization\u201d published on the WHO official website, 2 to 3 million deaths annually are prevented by immunization.\nDr. Weiler noted that vaccine coverage from birth to 12 months is crucial for protection from and prevention of diseases. Annually, the Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS) prepares a childhood immunization guide for the vaccines against diseases ranging from tuberculosis to German measles to be administered at recommended periods.\nVaccines prevent the spread of diseases and minimize the severity of illnesses.\n\u201cFrom a public health point of view, we are also interested to see how epidemics spread in communities. If only a few people are vaccinated in a community, the virus or disease will still continue to spread. But if we get to a critical mass of people being immunized [in the community], then we can break the chain of transmission,\u201d Dr. Weiler said.\nIn her presentation, Dr. Anna Lisa Ong-Lim, president of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines (PIDSP) defined vaccines are substances containing inactivated or weakened micro-organisms [which are] \u201cintroduced into the body to train the immune system to defend itself quickly.\u201d\nWhen a person is vaccinated, Dr. Lim further explained, one does not just catch the disease but also avoids the complications that come with it.\nIS IT EFFECTIVE?\nThis year, WHO reported that there had been 17,296 measles cases in the Philippines between January to November, a huge increase compared to the 3,706 cases recorded during the same period in 2017.\n\u201cEven if people refuse to call it an outbreak, it\u2019s an outbreak,\u201d Dr. Lim said, adding that the Philippines had progressed in the elimination of measles cases in 2014. However, \u201cthe loss of vaccine confidence has not helped.\u201d\n\u201cMeasles are an indicator of the strength of the immunization program. If you have good measles coverage, you know that you were able to bring a child through to their entire vaccination series successfully. Because in the current program, when you talk about a fully immunized child, this is a child who has received all the doses of vaccines up until measles which is the last dose [given] between nine to 12 months [of age],\u201d she explained.\nParents understand the necessity of vaccines since these protect the child from disease. \u201cIt\u2019s not some abstract disease that they have never seen [and] that they have difficulty comprehending. But for people to avoid being protected for a disease that they know can kill, you know there\u2019s a problem,\u201d Dr. Lim said.\nKNOWING THE RISK-BENEFIT RATIO\nDr. Lim noted that vaccines are effective and safe, however, certain health problems are at times associated with vaccinations. For the benefit of public health, vaccines are administered despite the possibility of adverse reactions, an unintended effect caused by the vaccine.\n\u201cIf a vaccine is benefiting 99% of the children you are giving it to, will you be using it or not? But we cannot say [that] for every vaccine that it is 100% effective and safe. That is a fact of it,\u201d said Dr. Achyut Shrestha, medical officer at WHO Philippines.\n\u201cIf you accept those benefits, it comes with a risk. In a public health perspective, you have to take a risk to benefit the larger population,\u201d he said.\nPhysicians play a role in ensuring safe vaccination by conducting screenings.\n\u201cWe ask questions with regards to the patient,\u201d said Dr. Salvacion Gatchalian, president of the Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS), adding that this consultation includes asking whether the patient has had previous vaccine reactions, allergies, or currently has a fever.\nContinued safety monitoring of a new vaccine is also advised since the number of subjects in clinical trials is limited. \u201cEven after the licensure of the vaccine, there must be continued surveillance to look at adverse reactions that may not have been identified during the clinical trials,\u201d she noted.\nDr. Gatchalian said that safe vaccination entail that a person is prevented from \u201cthe danger of getting the disease and complications associated with it.\u201d\nFor parents who remain in doubt about vaccination, Dr. Gatchalian said, \u201cTo do nothing is a greater risk than vaccinating.\u201d", "date_published": "2018-12-21T00:12:15+08:00", "date_modified": "2018-12-21T00:12:15+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Features", "health", "Michelle Anne P. Soliman", "Vaccination", "WHO", "Focus", "Weekender" ], "summary": "In April 2016, over a million public school students in the National Capital Region (NCR), Central Luzon, and Calabarzon lined up to take part in the immunization program of the first dengue vaccine. It was recommended that the three doses of the vaccine be administered at six-month intervals. It was more than a year into the program, in November 2017, when Sanofi Pasteur issued a warning that immunized people who had not previously been infected with one of the four known varieties of dengue may experience a more severe version of the disease.\n" }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=205769", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/weekender/focus/2018/12/21/205769/something-fishy/", "title": "Something fishy", "content_html": "


\nHOME to rare underwater species, Mabini, Batangas was the location of the 6th Anilao Underwater Shootout, mounted by the Department of Tourism (DoT).
\nThe event brought together more than 220 divers and underwater photographers from all over Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America to showcase Anilao\u2019s rich biodiversity and to promote the area as a world-class diving destination for all kinds of divers.
\nIn the Open Class, Macro/Supermacro category, winners were Yun Na Thing from Indonesia, who bagged first place, with a photo of a wide-eyed fish, its vibrant orange color standing stark against the blurry background. In second place were China\u2019s Cai Heng, and in third was Henley Spiers of the UK and France.
\nIn the Open-Marine Behavior category, Dennis Corpuz from the Philippines took home the top prize for his photo of a shrimp struggling in the grip of a cephalopod\u2019s tentacles. Brook Peterson from the US came in second, and Cai Heng from China came in third.
\nThe Philippines\u2019 Bebot Esteban bagged first prize in the Nudibranch category with her shot of a pastel-colored nudibranch. Taking the next two spots were Hong Kong\u2019s Lai Kam Moon and Malaysia\u2019s Mohan Thanabalan in second and third place respectively.
\nIn the Fish Portrait category, Peri Paleracio of the Philippines bagged first place for his photo of a vibrant red fish with glowing eyes lurking in the shadows. PJ Aristorenas from the Philippines and Marco Steiner from Austria came in second and third.
\nFor the Compact Class, the Macro/Supermacro category, the winners were Ericson Yee from the Philippines in first place, Narumon Pimsirinath of Thailand in second place, and Philippines\u2019 Ex Liao in third place.
\nFor the Marine Behavior category, Maria Nerissa Fajardo of the Philippines won first place for her photo of a translucent cephalopod against pitch black waters. Jayson Apostol from the Philippines took second place, and Korea\u2019s Gyoungmi Lee settled for third.
\nIn the Compact-Nudibranch category, first place went to the Philippines\u2019 Marc Stephen De Leon for his beautiful close-up shot of a glowing nudibranch \u201cdancing\u201d in the darkness. China\u2019s Haojie Lin took second place, while Ronald Dalawampo came in third.
\nIn the Fish Portrait category, Regie Casia image of a fish opening its eyes and mouth wide open earned him first place. The two other winners were Sudong Lim from the US in second place, and Indonesia\u2019s Ajiex Dharma in third.
\nSpecial prizes were given to Ria Crucero of the Philippines in the Special Beginners category, and China\u2019s Cai Songda in the Blackwater/Bonfire category.
\nThe Philippines took both DoT-PAL Photographers of the Year titles with Dennis Corpuz for his Open-Marine Behavior entry, and Regie Casia for his Compact-Fish Portrait photo.
\nThe international event has been organized by the tourism department since 2013, in line with the identification of diving as a priority tourism product in the National Tourism Development Plan.
\nThis year\u2019s panel of judges was made up of published French naturalist photographer and marine biologist Laurent Ballesta; award-winning Belgian underwater and wildlife photographer Ellen Cuylaerts; macro photography expert and 2015 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Indra Swari; renowned Singapore-based underwater photographer William Tan; and Underwater360 founder and Asia Dive Expo\u2019s official organizer John Thet.

\n", "content_text": "HOME to rare underwater species, Mabini, Batangas was the location of the 6th Anilao Underwater Shootout, mounted by the Department of Tourism (DoT).\nThe event brought together more than 220 divers and underwater photographers from all over Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America to showcase Anilao\u2019s rich biodiversity and to promote the area as a world-class diving destination for all kinds of divers.\nIn the Open Class, Macro/Supermacro category, winners were Yun Na Thing from Indonesia, who bagged first place, with a photo of a wide-eyed fish, its vibrant orange color standing stark against the blurry background. In second place were China\u2019s Cai Heng, and in third was Henley Spiers of the UK and France.\nIn the Open-Marine Behavior category, Dennis Corpuz from the Philippines took home the top prize for his photo of a shrimp struggling in the grip of a cephalopod\u2019s tentacles. Brook Peterson from the US came in second, and Cai Heng from China came in third.\nThe Philippines\u2019 Bebot Esteban bagged first prize in the Nudibranch category with her shot of a pastel-colored nudibranch. Taking the next two spots were Hong Kong\u2019s Lai Kam Moon and Malaysia\u2019s Mohan Thanabalan in second and third place respectively.\nIn the Fish Portrait category, Peri Paleracio of the Philippines bagged first place for his photo of a vibrant red fish with glowing eyes lurking in the shadows. PJ Aristorenas from the Philippines and Marco Steiner from Austria came in second and third.\nFor the Compact Class, the Macro/Supermacro category, the winners were Ericson Yee from the Philippines in first place, Narumon Pimsirinath of Thailand in second place, and Philippines\u2019 Ex Liao in third place.\nFor the Marine Behavior category, Maria Nerissa Fajardo of the Philippines won first place for her photo of a translucent cephalopod against pitch black waters. Jayson Apostol from the Philippines took second place, and Korea\u2019s Gyoungmi Lee settled for third.\nIn the Compact-Nudibranch category, first place went to the Philippines\u2019 Marc Stephen De Leon for his beautiful close-up shot of a glowing nudibranch \u201cdancing\u201d in the darkness. China\u2019s Haojie Lin took second place, while Ronald Dalawampo came in third.\nIn the Fish Portrait category, Regie Casia image of a fish opening its eyes and mouth wide open earned him first place. The two other winners were Sudong Lim from the US in second place, and Indonesia\u2019s Ajiex Dharma in third.\nSpecial prizes were given to Ria Crucero of the Philippines in the Special Beginners category, and China\u2019s Cai Songda in the Blackwater/Bonfire category.\nThe Philippines took both DoT-PAL Photographers of the Year titles with Dennis Corpuz for his Open-Marine Behavior entry, and Regie Casia for his Compact-Fish Portrait photo.\nThe international event has been organized by the tourism department since 2013, in line with the identification of diving as a priority tourism product in the National Tourism Development Plan.\nThis year\u2019s panel of judges was made up of published French naturalist photographer and marine biologist Laurent Ballesta; award-winning Belgian underwater and wildlife photographer Ellen Cuylaerts; macro photography expert and 2015 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Indra Swari; renowned Singapore-based underwater photographer William Tan; and Underwater360 founder and Asia Dive Expo\u2019s official organizer John Thet.", "date_published": "2018-12-21T00:11:09+08:00", "date_modified": "2018-12-21T00:11:09+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Anilao", "contest", "photography", "underwater", "Focus", "Weekender" ], "summary": "HOME to rare underwater species, Mabini, Batangas was the location of the 6th Anilao Underwater Shootout, mounted by the Department of Tourism (DoT).\n" }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=205779", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/staying-in/2018/12/21/205779/domesticated-helper/", "title": "Domesticated helper", "content_html": "

By Noel Vera
\nVideo Review
\nRoma
\nDirected by Alfonso Cuaron
\nALFONSO CUARON’s Roma is, yes, one of the most beautiful-looking films of the year, a blend of artfully lit footage digitally stitched together to appear a seamless whole.
\nBased on the director’s memories of Mexico in the 1970s and of his own nanny Liboria Rodriguez, the film tells the story of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a domestic helper living with an upper-middle class family in the relatively affluent district of Colonia Roma, in Mexico City. The opening image reflects this focus: a lingering gaze on floor tiles as soapy water washes across the gleaming surface, and a plane slides across the reflected sky.
\nCuaron leisurely establishes mood and character, using no audible soundtrack beyond what is playing on radio or TV or \u2014 on occasion \u2014 the movie screen; the relative silence, scored mainly to the clatter of plates, the hiss of scrub brushes, the light cacophony of adult and children’s voices quarreling for attention, emphasizes the serenity of the neighborhood compared to the rest of the city.
\nThere are tensions, familial, societal, political. At one point Cleo’s employer Sofia (Marina De Tavira) reprimands her for failing to clean the dogshit off the family carport \u2014 the long tiled hallway we saw in the film’s opening; at another Sofia sharply addresses Cleo who stands gaping “Don’t you have anything to do?” Sofia has just been on the phone, in tears: apparently her husband Dr. Antonio (Fernando Grediaga) has left her for another woman.
\nCleo has her own problems: she’s seeing the young Fermin (Jorge Antonio Guerrero), and has missed her period. Cleo visits Fermin as he practices kendo in some kind of training camp, dozens of young men swinging bamboo poles. “Is it for the Olympics?” she asks. “Something like that,” Fermin vaguely answers; he runs to board one out of several trucks and buses waiting to drive the youths away.
\nThe film’s themes gradually reveal themselves: the resiliency of women, the fickleness of men, the way class boundaries are permeable and impervious \u2014 impervious in that Cleo is obviously bound by her lack of education and economic options, permeable in that she is able to win the affections and touch the sensibilities of the children she serves. In the background we see and hear student activism simmering unhappily under President Luis Echeverria’s regime \u2014 Cuaron keeps the politics at arm’s length but can we realistically expect more from a story told through a domestic’s eyes? Cleo is open but not particularly curious; she has no particular interest in the affairs of the larger world. It’s the immediate world that captures her attention \u2014 how the sky looks while lying on a rooftop with one of her young charges; how pulque tastes when sneaking a glass behind her employer’s back.
\nTurns out Cleo never gets to sip that pulque; she’s jostled and her glass shatters. Turns out politics does intrude, spectacularly \u2014 when shopping for a cradle with Sofia’s mother Teresa (Veronica Garcia), Cleo is caught in the middle of a student riot turned bloody, the Corpus Christi Massacre. The outside world intrudes on Cleo’s closed-in world and she can only respond according to her limited means and knowledge.
\nCuaron hasn’t shaped the narrative into a neat structure which, of course, is one of the most difficult structures to achieve: life seems to meander along till a crisis happens \u2014 Dr. Antonio’s departure, a forest fire, an earthquake, a riot \u2014 and Cleo’s wide eyes take it all in. The camera mimics Cuaron’s approach, taking a variety of shots then assembling and patting them gently together to create a seamless whole (a 380 degree pan inside the house for example took 45 camera positions digitally combined) \u2014 if the film looks stunning, that’s partly because Cuaron has taken his raw material and fussed over every aspect till he got exactly what he wanted.
\nCuaron’s achievement reflects both ways, presenting what’s possible using CGI in a realistic (as opposed to fantasy or science fiction) setting, at the same time underlining the scale of challenges facing past cinematographers, who didn’t have CGI and often had to create their effects on-camera in real time.
\nIf the story is a magpie collection of memories and the visual style a magpie collection of footage, so are the references (skip this paragraph if you plan to see the picture!) \u2014 the name Cleo for one is presumably a nod to Agnes Varda’s Cleo from 5 to 7 (Cuaron has also taken a page from Varda’s use of location, nonprofessional actors, realism). The Ford Galaxie Dr. Antonio drives is an allusion to Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville, where the vehicle was Lemmy Caution’s spacecraft of choice and the basis of one of this film’s funnier running gags: when we first see the doctor he’s painstakingly lining up the car to enter the narrow garage (Wide phallic symbol entering tight space \u2014 Freudian much?); later Sofia takes the Galaxie’s wheel and heedlessly rams it home (Wife taking anal revenge?). When Cleo gives birth Cuaron basically takes the same shot Dreyer used in Ordet \u2014 Cleo seen from the side, writhing in pain \u2014 and adopts a different approach: where Dreyer keeps the woman’s nether regions out of sight and only gives us the horrific sound of shears snipping the baby apart, Cuaron gives us the dead child’s corpse, cradled in one hand like a limp mannequin. I can’t help preferring Dreyer’s version (the sound of those unseen shears linger in memory) but there’s a quiet poignancy to Cuaron’s version, plus Aparicio’s artless performance goes a long way in selling that scene.
\nDoes the film work? Does giving us a panorama of ’70s Mexico glimpsed indirectly through the eyes of a largely passive witness work? It depends I think on one’s feelings on this particular subgenre \u2014 I think Bertolucci succeeded in The Last Emperor, where the sight of Pu Yi buffeted by the forces of history had its special pathos. Bertolucci benefited greatly from Vittorio Storaro’s gorgeous colors; Cuaron’s black-and-white digital photography (he shot his own film) serves a similar function, presenting a personal little story set against an epic background with spectacularly understated beautifully designed style. One of the better films of the year, in my book.
\nRoma can be seen on Netflix.

\n", "content_text": "By Noel Vera\nVideo Review\nRoma\nDirected by Alfonso Cuaron\nALFONSO CUARON’s Roma is, yes, one of the most beautiful-looking films of the year, a blend of artfully lit footage digitally stitched together to appear a seamless whole.\nBased on the director’s memories of Mexico in the 1970s and of his own nanny Liboria Rodriguez, the film tells the story of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a domestic helper living with an upper-middle class family in the relatively affluent district of Colonia Roma, in Mexico City. The opening image reflects this focus: a lingering gaze on floor tiles as soapy water washes across the gleaming surface, and a plane slides across the reflected sky.\nCuaron leisurely establishes mood and character, using no audible soundtrack beyond what is playing on radio or TV or \u2014 on occasion \u2014 the movie screen; the relative silence, scored mainly to the clatter of plates, the hiss of scrub brushes, the light cacophony of adult and children’s voices quarreling for attention, emphasizes the serenity of the neighborhood compared to the rest of the city.\nThere are tensions, familial, societal, political. At one point Cleo’s employer Sofia (Marina De Tavira) reprimands her for failing to clean the dogshit off the family carport \u2014 the long tiled hallway we saw in the film’s opening; at another Sofia sharply addresses Cleo who stands gaping “Don’t you have anything to do?” Sofia has just been on the phone, in tears: apparently her husband Dr. Antonio (Fernando Grediaga) has left her for another woman.\nCleo has her own problems: she’s seeing the young Fermin (Jorge Antonio Guerrero), and has missed her period. Cleo visits Fermin as he practices kendo in some kind of training camp, dozens of young men swinging bamboo poles. “Is it for the Olympics?” she asks. “Something like that,” Fermin vaguely answers; he runs to board one out of several trucks and buses waiting to drive the youths away.\nThe film’s themes gradually reveal themselves: the resiliency of women, the fickleness of men, the way class boundaries are permeable and impervious \u2014 impervious in that Cleo is obviously bound by her lack of education and economic options, permeable in that she is able to win the affections and touch the sensibilities of the children she serves. In the background we see and hear student activism simmering unhappily under President Luis Echeverria’s regime \u2014 Cuaron keeps the politics at arm’s length but can we realistically expect more from a story told through a domestic’s eyes? Cleo is open but not particularly curious; she has no particular interest in the affairs of the larger world. It’s the immediate world that captures her attention \u2014 how the sky looks while lying on a rooftop with one of her young charges; how pulque tastes when sneaking a glass behind her employer’s back.\nTurns out Cleo never gets to sip that pulque; she’s jostled and her glass shatters. Turns out politics does intrude, spectacularly \u2014 when shopping for a cradle with Sofia’s mother Teresa (Veronica Garcia), Cleo is caught in the middle of a student riot turned bloody, the Corpus Christi Massacre. The outside world intrudes on Cleo’s closed-in world and she can only respond according to her limited means and knowledge.\nCuaron hasn’t shaped the narrative into a neat structure which, of course, is one of the most difficult structures to achieve: life seems to meander along till a crisis happens \u2014 Dr. Antonio’s departure, a forest fire, an earthquake, a riot \u2014 and Cleo’s wide eyes take it all in. The camera mimics Cuaron’s approach, taking a variety of shots then assembling and patting them gently together to create a seamless whole (a 380 degree pan inside the house for example took 45 camera positions digitally combined) \u2014 if the film looks stunning, that’s partly because Cuaron has taken his raw material and fussed over every aspect till he got exactly what he wanted.\nCuaron’s achievement reflects both ways, presenting what’s possible using CGI in a realistic (as opposed to fantasy or science fiction) setting, at the same time underlining the scale of challenges facing past cinematographers, who didn’t have CGI and often had to create their effects on-camera in real time.\nIf the story is a magpie collection of memories and the visual style a magpie collection of footage, so are the references (skip this paragraph if you plan to see the picture!) \u2014 the name Cleo for one is presumably a nod to Agnes Varda’s Cleo from 5 to 7 (Cuaron has also taken a page from Varda’s use of location, nonprofessional actors, realism). The Ford Galaxie Dr. Antonio drives is an allusion to Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville, where the vehicle was Lemmy Caution’s spacecraft of choice and the basis of one of this film’s funnier running gags: when we first see the doctor he’s painstakingly lining up the car to enter the narrow garage (Wide phallic symbol entering tight space \u2014 Freudian much?); later Sofia takes the Galaxie’s wheel and heedlessly rams it home (Wife taking anal revenge?). When Cleo gives birth Cuaron basically takes the same shot Dreyer used in Ordet \u2014 Cleo seen from the side, writhing in pain \u2014 and adopts a different approach: where Dreyer keeps the woman’s nether regions out of sight and only gives us the horrific sound of shears snipping the baby apart, Cuaron gives us the dead child’s corpse, cradled in one hand like a limp mannequin. I can’t help preferring Dreyer’s version (the sound of those unseen shears linger in memory) but there’s a quiet poignancy to Cuaron’s version, plus Aparicio’s artless performance goes a long way in selling that scene.\nDoes the film work? Does giving us a panorama of ’70s Mexico glimpsed indirectly through the eyes of a largely passive witness work? It depends I think on one’s feelings on this particular subgenre \u2014 I think Bertolucci succeeded in The Last Emperor, where the sight of Pu Yi buffeted by the forces of history had its special pathos. Bertolucci benefited greatly from Vittorio Storaro’s gorgeous colors; Cuaron’s black-and-white digital photography (he shot his own film) serves a similar function, presenting a personal little story set against an epic background with spectacularly understated beautifully designed style. One of the better films of the year, in my book.\nRoma can be seen on Netflix.", "date_published": "2018-12-21T00:02:24+08:00", "date_modified": "2018-12-21T00:02:24+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Features", "Movie", "Netflix", "Noel Vera", "Roma", "video review", "Staying In", "Weekender" ], "summary": "ALFONSO CUARON’s Roma is, yes, one of the most beautiful-looking films of the year, a blend of artfully lit footage digitally stitched together to appear a seamless whole.\n" }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=205780", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/staying-in/2018/12/21/205780/episode-2-cannot-come-soon-enough/", "title": "Episode 2 cannot come soon enough", "content_html": "


\nBy Anthony L. Cuaycong
\nIT\u2019s a testament to the critical and commercial success of Life is Strange that Dontnod Entertainment had already begun work on a sequel even as its final episode was just being released. When the French developer confirmed the piece of news in January 2016, sales had already reached the three-million mark and physical copies were already making their way to store shelves. Episodic adventure games weren\u2019t new to the industry, and yet it managed to present a choice-driven, coming-of-age narrative that transcended the genre. And, understandably, it wanted to build on its singular achievement.
\nParenthetically, it was no surprise to find Dontnod leaning on the same group that produced Life is Strange for the next title in the series. Directors Michel Koch and Raoul Barbet were again tapped to lead the effort, backstopped by writers Christian Divine and Jean-Luc Cano, voice director Phil Bache, producer Luc Baghadoust, and composer Jonathan Morali. From the outset, however, it made clear its intent to come up with an altogether new story for the sequel, featuring new characters, new locations, new milieus, and, yes, new dilemmas.
\n\"\"The result, released two and three-quarters years later, is nothing short of remarkable. Considering that only the first episode has been made available, it may well be premature to say Life is Strange 2 is better and more polished. Yet, if Roads is any indication, it\u2019s well on its way to earning its status as a superior sibling. It certainly runs and thrives with concepts and frameworks established by such disparate wordsmiths as John Steinbeck and Jon Krakauer, showing the good and bad sides of the United States while its protagonists travel across the country.
\nLife is Strange 2 has players in control of Mexican-American high-school teen Sean Diaz. With nine-year-old brother Daniel, he goes on the run from the authorities following an unfortunate development that disrupts their otherwise uneventful lives in suburban Seattle. En route to Mexico with no money and armed only with supplies from the backpack they\u2019re carrying, they experience bigotry and racism, politics and violence (and not always of the physical kind), and a hint of the supernatural. The circumstances they find themselves in inform their relationship, with the elder sibling\u2019s choices \u2014 even the seemingly small ones \u2014 firming up the younger\u2019s moral code and affecting the direction of the narrative.
\nAs with the original, Life is Strange 2 compels players to make hard decisions, and how they act determines the course of the game. And because nothing is presented in black and white, there is no right or wrong choice. Then again, there are consequences, and the gravity of the effects are certain to be felt moving forward. Sean is faced with having to protect Daniel by the means at his disposal, but at the same time needs to weigh the demands of expediency with their long-term repercussions on an impressionable companion.
\nIn terms of actual length of play, the first episode of Life is Strange 2 is short; Roads won\u2019t take players five hours to finish. Then again, the sure-footed manner with which Dontnod lays it out may well have them playing it anew, or, at the very least, appreciating their experience. Often, the turns in the story will give them pause and make them wonder if things would have been the same had they done something else or gone another way earlier. And if they\u2019re left to their thoughts in the end, looking back wistfully and ahead impatiently, it\u2019s because the game succeeded in moving them.
\nCertainly, much of Life is Strange 2\u2019s capacity to immerse players in its world can be traced to Dontnod\u2019s painstaking care in making visual and aural cues as realistic as possible. Settings are extremely detailed, and the smoothness of the character animations complement the excellent voice acting. The soundtrack is spot-on, with background music and ambient noise appropriately enhancing the mood at the moment. That said, the taut script and dialogue add the most weight; taking in the plot as it unfolds, players simply cannot help but be caught up in Sean and Daniel\u2019s travails, and, in so doing, reflect on their own.
\nIf there\u2019s any negative to Life is Strange 2, it\u2019s that the second segment cannot come soon enough. Even as Roads possesses high review and replay value, its very excellence figures to make waiting for Episode 2 seem interminable. The original appears to have already been surpassed, with the best yet to come.
\nPOSTSCRIPT:
\nShadow of the Tomb Raider (PlayStation 4) \u2014 It\u2019s surprising to think that Lara Croft, one of the most iconic videogame badasses ever, could have almost been relegated to the dustbins of history. While Eidos Interactive\u2019s Tomb Raider in 1996 catapulted her to stardom, her subsequent appearances were met with mixed reception. After a decade and a half of ups and downs that included a change in developers, the series suffered from waning public interest, and she was effectively put on hiatus.
\n
\nThankfully, Square Enix\u2019s 2013 reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise \u2014 via the release of, well, Tomb Raider \u2014 was a success, and its 2015 sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider, was met with similar praise. Critics hailed their stories, dramatic set pieces, and stunning mix of action, adventure, and exploration. And Shadow of the Tomb Raider, last month\u2019s followup on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Personal Computer platforms, looks to provide much of the same.
\nShadow of the Tomb Raider finds Croft exploring ancient ruins and vast jungles in Mesoamerica and South America, all in an effort to recover an important artifact stolen by Trinity, a shadowy paramilitary organization bent on triggering a new world order. Amidst the backdrop of apocalyptic disasters, Lara navigates through tombs, avoids deadly traps, hunts animals, and crafts outfits and upgrades for her equipment. Along the way, she relies on her guns, trusty knife, climbing axe, and bow to solve the various environmental puzzles and overcome the many obstacles that bar her path.
\nAs you might expect from a Square Enix game, Shadow of the Tomb Raider looks absolutely gorgeous. Stunning visuals interlaced with amazing, lifelike cutscenes is Square Enix\u2019s forte, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider does not disappoint in this aspect. While some texture pop-ins may occur from time to time, the overall visual fidelity is stunning, and there\u2019s never any point where the game appears ugly.
\nEverything in Shadow of the Tomb Raider \u2014 from Lara herself to the enemies she faces to the environments she traverses \u2014 just looks great. The forested areas are brightly lit, vibrant with life and color, while the tombs and crypts are dark and musty with age and dust. Even the odd open-area hubs are forgivable in their appearance; filled with friendly non-playable characters, these are where she accepts side quests from and explores around in for secrets and supplies at leisure.
\nYes. Open-area hubs. While a vast majority of Shadow of the Tomb Raider\u2019s gameplay should be familiar to series regulars, the appearance of merchants and introduction of side quests make exploration more appealing. Items found in tombs are no longer just collectibles, but actually add to Lara\u2019s ever-growing inventory of toys to play with. As a result, progression seems fluid and natural. Gold, found in the unlikeliest of places, can be used to purchase guns, ammunition, and extra upgrades. Things like leather and wood can be used to upgrade her bow or repair outfits that give passive boosts to her performance. Exploring optional tombs gives the player better rewards as well, be they in the form of money, items, or experience for skill points. All in all, they serve as wonderful incentives to keep moving forward and search for hidden items and pathways seemingly just out of reach.
\nPlayers will quickly move from area to area, hunting, fighting, and swimming their way through the story with little difficulty. Exploration is key in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and long segments of the campaign have Lara trudging through the forest, alone in the wilderness with nothing but the animals around her for company. Combat sections are placed now and then, though these sequences occur less frequently compared to previous titles, and most of the fighting is purely optional as stealth kills are still available.
\nThe tomb-raiding part of Tomb Raider is still ever present, relying on players\u2019 wits to avoid traps and fast reactions to maneuver through scripted sequences that result in instant death. These are fun, though, sadly, most are locked behind story progression, requiring tools that can be accessed only later in the game. Thankfully, fast travel between areas does exist, making back-tracking an ultimately forgivable annoyance.
\nAll of these things blend together wonderfully in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It delivers pretty much everything it has set out to do. It\u2019s a very polished but safe title, playing very well and very smoothly, and content to present what the series has already done so before. Efforts to make itself stand out are evident in its progression system and its pacing, but, all told, it provides exactly what it is expected to.
\nFans who love the Tomb Raider series will no doubt find themselves spending hours upon hours in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. With a keener focus on exploration and survival, it hits the right notes, and well. (8.5/10)

\n", "content_text": "By Anthony L. Cuaycong\nIT\u2019s a testament to the critical and commercial success of Life is Strange that Dontnod Entertainment had already begun work on a sequel even as its final episode was just being released. When the French developer confirmed the piece of news in January 2016, sales had already reached the three-million mark and physical copies were already making their way to store shelves. Episodic adventure games weren\u2019t new to the industry, and yet it managed to present a choice-driven, coming-of-age narrative that transcended the genre. And, understandably, it wanted to build on its singular achievement.\nParenthetically, it was no surprise to find Dontnod leaning on the same group that produced Life is Strange for the next title in the series. Directors Michel Koch and Raoul Barbet were again tapped to lead the effort, backstopped by writers Christian Divine and Jean-Luc Cano, voice director Phil Bache, producer Luc Baghadoust, and composer Jonathan Morali. From the outset, however, it made clear its intent to come up with an altogether new story for the sequel, featuring new characters, new locations, new milieus, and, yes, new dilemmas.\nThe result, released two and three-quarters years later, is nothing short of remarkable. Considering that only the first episode has been made available, it may well be premature to say Life is Strange 2 is better and more polished. Yet, if Roads is any indication, it\u2019s well on its way to earning its status as a superior sibling. It certainly runs and thrives with concepts and frameworks established by such disparate wordsmiths as John Steinbeck and Jon Krakauer, showing the good and bad sides of the United States while its protagonists travel across the country.\nLife is Strange 2 has players in control of Mexican-American high-school teen Sean Diaz. With nine-year-old brother Daniel, he goes on the run from the authorities following an unfortunate development that disrupts their otherwise uneventful lives in suburban Seattle. En route to Mexico with no money and armed only with supplies from the backpack they\u2019re carrying, they experience bigotry and racism, politics and violence (and not always of the physical kind), and a hint of the supernatural. The circumstances they find themselves in inform their relationship, with the elder sibling\u2019s choices \u2014 even the seemingly small ones \u2014 firming up the younger\u2019s moral code and affecting the direction of the narrative.\nAs with the original, Life is Strange 2 compels players to make hard decisions, and how they act determines the course of the game. And because nothing is presented in black and white, there is no right or wrong choice. Then again, there are consequences, and the gravity of the effects are certain to be felt moving forward. Sean is faced with having to protect Daniel by the means at his disposal, but at the same time needs to weigh the demands of expediency with their long-term repercussions on an impressionable companion.\nIn terms of actual length of play, the first episode of Life is Strange 2 is short; Roads won\u2019t take players five hours to finish. Then again, the sure-footed manner with which Dontnod lays it out may well have them playing it anew, or, at the very least, appreciating their experience. Often, the turns in the story will give them pause and make them wonder if things would have been the same had they done something else or gone another way earlier. And if they\u2019re left to their thoughts in the end, looking back wistfully and ahead impatiently, it\u2019s because the game succeeded in moving them.\nCertainly, much of Life is Strange 2\u2019s capacity to immerse players in its world can be traced to Dontnod\u2019s painstaking care in making visual and aural cues as realistic as possible. Settings are extremely detailed, and the smoothness of the character animations complement the excellent voice acting. The soundtrack is spot-on, with background music and ambient noise appropriately enhancing the mood at the moment. That said, the taut script and dialogue add the most weight; taking in the plot as it unfolds, players simply cannot help but be caught up in Sean and Daniel\u2019s travails, and, in so doing, reflect on their own.\nIf there\u2019s any negative to Life is Strange 2, it\u2019s that the second segment cannot come soon enough. Even as Roads possesses high review and replay value, its very excellence figures to make waiting for Episode 2 seem interminable. The original appears to have already been surpassed, with the best yet to come.\nPOSTSCRIPT:\nShadow of the Tomb Raider (PlayStation 4) \u2014 It\u2019s surprising to think that Lara Croft, one of the most iconic videogame badasses ever, could have almost been relegated to the dustbins of history. While Eidos Interactive\u2019s Tomb Raider in 1996 catapulted her to stardom, her subsequent appearances were met with mixed reception. After a decade and a half of ups and downs that included a change in developers, the series suffered from waning public interest, and she was effectively put on hiatus.\n\nThankfully, Square Enix\u2019s 2013 reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise \u2014 via the release of, well, Tomb Raider \u2014 was a success, and its 2015 sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider, was met with similar praise. Critics hailed their stories, dramatic set pieces, and stunning mix of action, adventure, and exploration. And Shadow of the Tomb Raider, last month\u2019s followup on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Personal Computer platforms, looks to provide much of the same.\nShadow of the Tomb Raider finds Croft exploring ancient ruins and vast jungles in Mesoamerica and South America, all in an effort to recover an important artifact stolen by Trinity, a shadowy paramilitary organization bent on triggering a new world order. Amidst the backdrop of apocalyptic disasters, Lara navigates through tombs, avoids deadly traps, hunts animals, and crafts outfits and upgrades for her equipment. Along the way, she relies on her guns, trusty knife, climbing axe, and bow to solve the various environmental puzzles and overcome the many obstacles that bar her path.\nAs you might expect from a Square Enix game, Shadow of the Tomb Raider looks absolutely gorgeous. Stunning visuals interlaced with amazing, lifelike cutscenes is Square Enix\u2019s forte, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider does not disappoint in this aspect. While some texture pop-ins may occur from time to time, the overall visual fidelity is stunning, and there\u2019s never any point where the game appears ugly.\nEverything in Shadow of the Tomb Raider \u2014 from Lara herself to the enemies she faces to the environments she traverses \u2014 just looks great. The forested areas are brightly lit, vibrant with life and color, while the tombs and crypts are dark and musty with age and dust. Even the odd open-area hubs are forgivable in their appearance; filled with friendly non-playable characters, these are where she accepts side quests from and explores around in for secrets and supplies at leisure.\nYes. Open-area hubs. While a vast majority of Shadow of the Tomb Raider\u2019s gameplay should be familiar to series regulars, the appearance of merchants and introduction of side quests make exploration more appealing. Items found in tombs are no longer just collectibles, but actually add to Lara\u2019s ever-growing inventory of toys to play with. As a result, progression seems fluid and natural. Gold, found in the unlikeliest of places, can be used to purchase guns, ammunition, and extra upgrades. Things like leather and wood can be used to upgrade her bow or repair outfits that give passive boosts to her performance. Exploring optional tombs gives the player better rewards as well, be they in the form of money, items, or experience for skill points. All in all, they serve as wonderful incentives to keep moving forward and search for hidden items and pathways seemingly just out of reach.\nPlayers will quickly move from area to area, hunting, fighting, and swimming their way through the story with little difficulty. Exploration is key in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and long segments of the campaign have Lara trudging through the forest, alone in the wilderness with nothing but the animals around her for company. Combat sections are placed now and then, though these sequences occur less frequently compared to previous titles, and most of the fighting is purely optional as stealth kills are still available.\nThe tomb-raiding part of Tomb Raider is still ever present, relying on players\u2019 wits to avoid traps and fast reactions to maneuver through scripted sequences that result in instant death. These are fun, though, sadly, most are locked behind story progression, requiring tools that can be accessed only later in the game. Thankfully, fast travel between areas does exist, making back-tracking an ultimately forgivable annoyance.\nAll of these things blend together wonderfully in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It delivers pretty much everything it has set out to do. It\u2019s a very polished but safe title, playing very well and very smoothly, and content to present what the series has already done so before. Efforts to make itself stand out are evident in its progression system and its pacing, but, all told, it provides exactly what it is expected to.\nFans who love the Tomb Raider series will no doubt find themselves spending hours upon hours in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. With a keener focus on exploration and survival, it hits the right notes, and well. (8.5/10)", "date_published": "2018-12-21T00:01:25+08:00", "date_modified": "2018-12-21T00:01:25+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Anthony L. Cuaycong", "Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 - Roads", "Video Game", "Video Game Review", "Staying In", "Weekender" ], "summary": "IT’s a testament to the critical and commercial success of Life is Strange that Dontnod Entertainment had already begun work on a sequel even as its final episode was just being released. When the French developer confirmed the piece of news in January 2016, sales had already reached the three-million mark and physical copies were already making their way to store shelves. Episodic adventure games weren’t new to the industry, and yet it managed to present a choice-driven, coming-of-age narrative that transcended the genre. And, understandably, it wanted to build on its singular achievement.\n" }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=204457", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/weekender/focus/2018/12/14/204457/the-fall-and-rise-of-philippine-music/", "title": "The fall and rise of Philippine music", "content_html": "


\nBy Bjorn Biel M. Beltran, Special Features Writer
\nAT THE University of the Philippines Fair early this year, April Hernandez had the lucky role of opening for the popular band IV of Spades. Under the stage name \u201cTheSunManager,\u201d she has just around 3,000 monthly listeners on Spotify while IV of Spades has a following of over a million.
\nSo Ms. Hernandez played her set with the knowledge that most of her regular listeners did not show up to support her. She even understood when many in the audience started cheering in the middle of her performance when they saw IV of Spades\u2019 roadies setting up the band\u2019s equipment behind her.
\n\u201cWho am I compared to IV of Spades?\u201d she said in an interview, smiling. \u201cIt\u2019s like that. I\u2019m used to it.\u201d
\nWhat she was not ready for was her manager pointing to someone in the audience during her performance. Amid the sea of IV of Spades banners and placards, a girl was holding up a sheet of paper with a message.
\nIt read, \u201cHi TheSunManager. Your music saved my life.\u201d
\nMs. Hernandez created the indie-folk persona of TheSunManager while studying at the College of Fine Arts in UP Diliman. As TheSunManager, she released a self-titled EP in 2014, and released her debut full-length album, entitled Worth, in early February of 2017. Currently, she works as an industrial designer for a business run by her aunt, a job that allows her the time and freedom to pursue what she calls her \u201cother job.\u201d
\nShe is one of the legions of independent musicians carving their own niches in the Philippines\u2019 music scene, an industry that has been seeing a resurgence in recent years amid the opportunities brought about by online streaming services like Spotify and YouTube.
\nOnline streaming services, which mostly operate on a subscription-based business model, have both revolutionized the way consumers listen to music, and how artists produce it. Rather than having to buy individual albums or singles from any particular artist, consumers need only pay a recurring fee for access to a library of millions of songs made by artists from all over the world, which they can then listen to any time and anywhere as long as they have a data connection.
\nThe benefits for the artists are twofold. The open nature of such services has given small-time musicians like Ms. Hernandez a platform on which to release their music and draw an audience, while those with larger fanbases get paid by the listeners who would have otherwise resorted to pirating their content.
\nIn fact, streaming has become the biggest contributor to the growth of the recorded music market. According to data released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in April, streaming is the industry\u2019s single largest revenue source, the main driver of its recorded growth in 2017.
\nThe global recorded music market grew by 8.1% to a total of $17.3 billion last year, its third consecutive year of growth since IFPI began tracking the market in 1997.
\n\u201cStreaming remains the main driver of recovering revenues and, for the first time, has become the single largest revenue source with 176 million users of paid streaming services contributing to year-on-year streaming growth of 41.1%,\u201d IFPI\u2019s Global Music Report 2018 said.
\n\u201cStreaming now accounts for 38.4% of total recorded music revenue and its growth has more than offset a 5.4% decline in physical revenue and a 20.5% decline in download revenue.\u201d
\nWhat\u2019s more, grouped collectively with all digital formats, total digital income last year accounted for more than half of all revenue (54%), the first time in the industry\u2019s history.
\nWhich is a welcome development, as far as music is concerned.
\nHistorically, the advent of digital technology has spelled nothing but catastrophe for the global recording industry, at least in terms of revenues.
\nTHE PIRATES
\nAround the turn of the millennium, the global recording industry took a huge hit with the arrival of peer-to-peer file sharing. The Napster and LimeWire networks together were used by several millions of people who were stealing music and redistributing it for free all over the world.
\nHow many dollars were lost to such piracy is still largely unknown, but many accounts figure it in the billions. Total revenues for CDs, vinyl, cassettes, and digital downloads in the United States in the 21st century reportedly dropped to $9 billion in 2008 from a height of $14.6 billion in 1999.
\nIFPI data indicated that despite 2017 being the industry\u2019s third consecutive year of growth, it followed 15 years of significant revenue decline. The revenues in 2017, despite the uplift, were still only 68.4% of the market\u2019s peak in 1999.
\nBefore peer-to-peer file sharing, cassette tapes and compact discs (CDs) opened the door to music piracy around the world. Emerging as an effective, convenient, and portable way of listening to music in the 1970s and the 1980s, the cassette tape also had the useful feature of being recordable, allowing individuals to copy music onto the tape directly from the radio. Recordable CDs, which exploded as a popular method of electronic data storage in the 1990s, made copying music even easier.
\nIn a smaller market like the Philippines, this was perhaps even more pronounced. Marivic A. Benedicto, chair of the Philippine Association of the Record Industry, said in an interview that music recording certification around the late 2000s had to change because CD sales could not support the previous model any longer.
\n\u201cGold and platinum records used to signify 15,000 and 30,000 units sold, but no one was reaching gold anymore,\u201d she told BusinessWorld.
\n\u201cWe decided to lower the threshold. From what was 15,000 and 30,000, it became 10,000 and 20,000. Then two years later, we had to lower it again to 7.5 thousand and 15,000. That\u2019s where it is at now.\u201d
\nIt is in this climate that Spotify finally came into the country in 2014 under a partnership with Globe Telecom. The online streaming platform, Ms. Benedicto said, offered fixed global rates in exchange for the license to distribute over 90% of the Philippine record industry\u2019s repertoire.
\nMusic labels, publishers, and composer groups welcomed the proposal with open arms, in the knowledge that there was no better alternative for their salvation. Major record labels like Warner Music Group were ditching physical sales altogether to make way for a new era of music. Everything that the industry knew at this point had changed. Streaming \u2014 digital music in general \u2014 had become the future.
\nUBIQUITOUS
\nLast October, IFPI released its Music Consumer Insight Report 2018, which examined the ways in which music consumers aged 16-64 engaged with recorded music across 20 of the world\u2019s largest music markets. Unsurprisingly, it found that 86% of consumers listen to music through on-demand streaming, with the youth being the most engaged. More than half (57%) of streamers aged 16 to 24 years old admitted to using a paid audio streaming service.
\n\u201cStreaming is virtually ubiquitous,\u201d the report concluded.
\nOn average, each of the respondents listened to music 17.8 hours per week, with the car being the most popular listening location. Music consumers especially enjoyed listening to local music genres, with 66% of consumers in Japan listening to J-pop, 69% of consumers in France listening to Vari\u00e9t\u00e9 Fran\u00e7aise, and, in Brazil, 55% listening to M\u00fasica popular brasileira.
\nWhile specific data on the Philippines was not included, that the recent resurgence of popular \u201coriginal Pinoy music\u201d (OPM) is in part due to the advent of digital music platforms had already become a worn-out talking point.
\n\u201cAccessibility-wise, [Spotify] became an advantage,\u201d Ms. Hernandez said. \u201cIt was kind of difficult at first, because not everyone had Spotify yet. But it slowly became the standard for listening to music. It\u2019s just easy.
\nJust have an account and then you can listen to so many types of music. As musicians, that\u2019s what we tap into, as the most accessible platform.\u201d
\nIn addition to Spotify, websites like Bandcamp and Soundcloud have ignited a spark that set the careers of grass roots musicians ablaze.
\n\u201cOnline streaming platforms like Spotify and Soundcloud democratized music consumption. It made it easier for local artists to be heard and to compete globally,\u201d Dinah Remolacio, executive director of the PhilPop Foundation, the organization responsible for the annual Philippine Popular Music Festival, said in an e-mail.
\n\u201cThere is a resurgence of OPM. The local music industry is teeming with excellent millennial bands and a new breed of songwriters. As proof, PhilPop receives thousands of entries every year. There are also hyperactivity of music scene in VisMin (Visayas-Mindanao) areas, with the advent of [the] Bisaya Music Festival, VisPop and Mindanao Music Festival.\u201d
\nMs. Hernandez said artists like her could simply make use of independent digital music distribution services like DistroKid to publish their discography on platforms like Spotify, Amazon, and iTunes. Such services are slowly supplanting conventional record labels in the role as the mediators between the musicians and the digital platforms. For a set fee, DistroKid and other similar services ensure independent artists get published on their platforms of choice and collect any royalties they earn in their place.
\nTheSunManager came into her own in this way. Songs were recorded, the albums uploaded and distributed, the websites built, all with minimal outside help.
\n\u201cI have my own home studio, because it\u2019s now cheaper to build your own as opposed to before when you had to book a studio,\u201d Ms. Hernandez said. \u201cIt used to cost tens of thousands of pesos to record an album, and how much of that will see returns? It wasn\u2019t a sound investment. Now, I can just buy a recording interface for about 15 to 20,000 [pesos], and I can make a number of albums out of it.\u201d
\nShe\u2019s in great company. Artists like Reese Lansangan, Autotelic, Ben&Ben, and even phenomena like the FlipTop Battle League \u2014 the first and largest professional rap battle conference in the country \u2014 have found massive success in independently reaching an audience through digital platforms.
\nEven a band as big as IV of Spades shares the sentiment. \u201cHaving the access to music production can help local artists to create music on their own. For us, digital technology is not an enemy, but rather a change when it comes to creating a generation movement,\u201d the band said in an e-mail.
\n\u201cOnline streaming has helped starting artists to share their music to a wider audience. It has also helped the listeners to have a wider repertoire when it comes to listening to music. This streaming era would be one of the trademarks of our generation\u2019s music.\u201d
\n\u201cThey don\u2019t even need record labels now. That\u2019s something we have to struggle with all the time,\u201d PARI\u2019s Ms. Benedicto admitted. \u201cAre we giving enough premium that artists will still come to us? That\u2019s the dilemma of the record industry.\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s so easy to self-publish today. [Artists] don\u2019t need record labels, they don\u2019t need a corporate structure to propagate their music.\u201d
\nBREAKING DOWN BARRIERS
\nDigital technology, much like the radio and television before it, has broken down the barriers of communication, allowing culture to transcend local borders and connect people together. Worldwide, independent music has seen an unprecedented consumption boom as more people get exposed to music that was once unavailable to them.
\nThe Merlin Network, which represents the rights of the independent label sector in 53 countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Chile, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, North America, the UK, and Europe, found that 42% of independent labels received more than half their digital revenue from consumption outside their home territory. By comparison, only 17% stated this was the case for physical sales of CDs or vinyl. Audio streaming accounts for the bulk of digital revenue for two-thirds of Merlin members.
\nCharles Caldas, CEO of Merlin, said in a statement: \u201cMerlin\u2019s independent record label members already occupy a unique position on streaming services, with their repertoire consistently over-indexing on subscription tiers compared to free ad-supported ones. Users of these services deeply engage with Merlin members\u2019 music and are willing to pay for it.
\n\u201cWe now have irrefutable evidence that the new dynamics of streaming are opening up previously inaccessible territories to independent music, with a phenomenal consumption surge in Latin America and across Asia. What feels particularly exciting is that we\u2019re only at the start of this growth trajectory \u2014 and with potential of relatively untapped markets, including China, Russia and Africa, still to be realized.\u201d
\nThe question now is this: With so much growth in the music industry, is music now a viable way to earn a living?
\nOne would think that the prevalence of music in the age of content creation will cultivate a heightened appreciation for the medium and its makers. Surely with the incredible reach of platforms like Spotify, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and even crowdfunding websites like Patreon, Kickstarter, or Indiegogo, digital technology has in some way improved how artists make money from their art?
\nIn reality, as with most things, it\u2019s a bit more complicated than it appears.
\n\u201cThis is a complicated question because it somehow implies that there was and is money to be made in the first place,\u201d Monika E. Schoop, a post-doctoral researcher in the Musicology department at Cologne University, Germany, said in an e-mail.
\nMs. Schoop has spent most of the decade researching about the Philippines\u2019 independent music scene and how digital technology is shaping it. Her book, Independent Music and Digital Technology in the Philippines, explores \u201cthe diverse and innovative music production, distribution, promotion and financing strategies that have become constitutive of the independent music scene in 21st century Manila\u201d through extensive fieldwork online and offline.
\nWhat she found was that the machinations that allowed for the explosive growth of independent labels have created the issues that pushed the decline of the major recording industry (i.e. labels like Warner, EMI, Sony BMG, and MCA which suffered major losses due to CD-R piracy in the early 2000s and later on through file sharing). Piracy remains a key of these concerns.
\n\u201cDigital technology has provided the means for the rise of independent music and for the decline of the major recording industry alike,\u201d Ms. Schoop said. \u201cYou could say that it\u2019s two sides of the same coin. While it has facilitated access to music production and distribution for many, who previously had no or limited access, it has also provided new tools for music piracy. Piracy had of course already been around before (especially with regard to cassettes) but it has been taken to a new level though CD-Rs, file sharing and unauthorized downloads.\u201d
\nData from IFPI\u2019s Music Consumer Insight Report 2018 found that still more than one-third (38%) of consumers obtain music through infringing methods \u2014 with stream ripping the dominant method (32% of consumers). While this was not to the extent it was more than a decade ago, the effect was the birth of a codependent relationship between major record companies and the digital platforms that mitigated such piracy. Nearly half (47%) of all time spent listening to on-demand music is through a single platform: YouTube.
\nMs. Benedicto admitted that the biggest revenue generators for PARI members are YouTube and Spotify. In the case of YouTube, major record labels have the nifty feature of having their intellectual property protected by content ID algorithms that allow them to monetize user-generated content that use their music.
\nSophisticated algorithms, however, do little to bridle the immense power these platforms have over the global music industry. Ultimately, what record labels stand to earn from the distribution of music through these platforms completely depends on how much the platforms decide to pay them for it, regardless of how much was actually earned from its use, a legal conundrum that IFPI calls \u201cthe value gap.\u201d
\nTo quote IFPI\u2019s Global Music Report 2018, the value gap is \u201cthe mismatch between the value created by some digital platforms from their use of music and what they pay to those creating and investing in it.\u201d
\nWhen Google released its \u201cHow Google Fights Piracy\u201d report in November, a 25-page document that detailed the internet behemoth\u2019s anti-piracy principles, Frances Moore, chief executive of IFPI, had this to say: \u201cWe welcome Google\u2019s recognition that it and Google\u2019s YouTube need to operate responsibly and properly value creators and their work. However, the figures in Google\u2019s anti-piracy paper don\u2019t match our own.
\n\u201cIt is difficult to get any clarity on Google\u2019s claims as it doesn\u2019t explain its methodology, but IFPI data shows that revenue returning to the record industry through video streaming services (including but not limited to YouTube) with 1.3 billion users amounted to US$856 million in 2017 \u2014 less than half of Google\u2019s claim and less than US $1 per user per year.\u201d
\nMs. Moore said that in contrast, audio subscription services (both paid and ad-supported) with a much smaller user base of 272 million users compensated creators some $5.6 billion \u2014 a little more than $20 per user per year.
\n\u201cThis is the reality of the \u2018value gap\u2019 \u2014 in which user-upload platforms, such as YouTube, exploit music for profit without returning fair compensation to music creators,\u201d she concluded.
\nSpotify\u2019s record is far from clean as well. Many reports have already detailed the criticisms lobbed at the music streaming giant regarding artist compensation, with singer Taylor Swift being one of the company\u2019s most prominent critics.
\nThis is not mentioning that existing power structures and inequalities are being inadvertently reinforced by such Western-centric platforms.
\n\u201cResearch has shown that this is, e.g. the case for SoundCloud \u2014 artists from London and New York are more likely to \u2018be found\u2019 than artists from South East Asia. There is reason to be skeptical of the promise that digital technology leads to a real democratization of the music business,\u201d Ms. Schoop said.
\nSHOW ME THE MONEY
\nFor independent musicians, revenues from streaming are virtually non-existent.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t say that I super love Spotify. How much do we actually get each stream per song?\u201d Ms. Hernandez said.
\nShe admitted that unless they reach the heights of popularity currently enjoyed by the likes of IV of Spades or Ben&Ben, new artists do not have any guarantees that they can support themselves through their music, even with music distribution as free as it is now.
\nPart of the problem is inherent in the nature of globalization. As local shops and brands have to contend with added competition from foreign brands in exchange for the ability to bring their own wares to foreign markets, so do local artists have to compete for the spotlight on a global stage.
\nSome take this as a challenge. IV of Spades believes such platforms \u201cchallenged local artists to be more competent when it comes to raising the quality of creating music, especially in recording and production.\u201d
\nFor others, it remains a matter of opportunity and hard work.
\n\u201cEven if your music is great or your branding is great, there\u2019s always going to be factors of luck. I don\u2019t mean to sound like a cynic but sometimes only right timing and hard work is the perfect combination. Even if you\u2019re super hardworking, if your timing is off in terms of what the market trend is right now, you\u2019re not going to leave a mark,\u201d Ms. Hernandez said.
\n\u201cThis is the age of disruption. The digital platforms made everything more accessible and readily available. But disruption is a double-edged sword. With millions of artists trying to break through, and endless content supply that is readily available to the public, artists must be brilliant and creative enough to set himself apart from the rest of the herd,\u201d Ms. Remolacio added.
\nThe number of Filipino artists who can make a living making music in the country is so small that, in all her time spent doing fieldwork in the Philippines, Ms. Schoop mostly encountered musicians who, like Ms. Hernandez, had to have day jobs to make ends meet.
\n\u201cMore generally (not limited to the Philippine context) selling music as a product has become less lucrative and less important; the live sector has become more important. This also includes the sale of merch [merchandise] at shows,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cI do not have access to figures here but… from the experience of friends who run labels or are musicians platforms like Spotify are more about exposure that about actually making money.\u201d
\nMs. Benedicto agreed. There is still a healthy number of people keeping the live sector afloat, bolstered by the sales of merchandise like zines, freebies, stickers, posters, and downloadable codes.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s like that if you\u2019re indie. The recording doesn\u2019t make you the money. It\u2019s the bookings,\u201d she said, adding that many fans today are happy to pay to see and support their idols live.
\nIn an ideal world, Ms. Benedicto noted, music and the arts are meant to be free. As methods of self-expression, she said they are truly meant to be shared and appreciated by everyone. Copyright, along with the institutions and industries that have risen around it, are legal fixes only put in place to protect artists from exploitation. Sophisticated as such institutions have become, especially in the wake of the digital revolution, music as its core hasn\u2019t changed.
\n\u201cMusic is about connecting to people,\u201d she said.
\nCONNECTION
\nDigital technology then is not a panacea for the ills that for so long have plagued the industry. But it has changed what music can become for artists and listeners alike, closing a gap between art and audience that before was unfathomable.
\nWith so much music available nowadays, one would think that achieving a genuine connection with a song is more a product of serendipity than artistry. However, never has it been easier to find and personally connect with music than in the era of Big Data, where algorithms like Spotify\u2019s Discover Weekly tailor-fits a different, specific playlist of songs for each user every week, and YouTube\u2019s Suggested Videos sidebar which accounts for roughly 75% to 80% of the Philippine record industry\u2019s views.
\nWhile the exposure does not necessarily translate into adequate monetary compensation, for many it\u2019s simply enough to be heard.
\n\u201cThe fans are the people who give reason for artists to continue,\u201d IV of Spades said.
\n\u201c[Independent artists] are not people-pleasers in a way. They don\u2019t sing to make money and they don\u2019t sing to please a lot of people. Most sing to please themselves and express themselves,\u201d Ms. Benedicto said.
\nMs. Schoop added, \u201cI am still fascinated by the endurance of many artists. They often work long hours during the day, some have family responsibilities, and still play shows late at night \u2014 often putting up with the insane traffic to get to the venues. I really have lots of respect for that.\u201d
\nAlgorithm-based as it is, the relationship formed between artist and audience is no less genuine. Ms. Hernandez recalled that night at the UP Fair as one of the highlights of her music career.
\n\u201cAs much as there are many practical struggles, for me it\u2019s still those little moments why I do what I do. That\u2019s the goal,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cFor me, I don\u2019t find pleasure in just playing or making music. I think the reason why I really enjoy music is the connection it creates with people. That I can make a song and then this total stranger can hear it and she might feel that this person knows me or that they\u2019re not so alone.\u201d
\n\u201cThat sort of became what I want to do in life: to connect with people, help people out. Music is just one way for me to do that,\u201d she added.
\nMoving forward, it is unclear whether the issue-laden YouTube and Spotify model of consuming music will be the conclusive way for artists to receive their due. With technological progress speeding up each passing year, it\u2019s difficult to tell whether the recent recovery of the music industry is a sign of things to come, or simply a hopeful rally before its continued decline. What is clear is that for as long as intimate connections like that can be found, and for as long as humanity\u2019s ceaseless need to create art endures, the industry has yet more music to play.

\n", "content_text": "By Bjorn Biel M. Beltran, Special Features Writer\nAT THE University of the Philippines Fair early this year, April Hernandez had the lucky role of opening for the popular band IV of Spades. Under the stage name \u201cTheSunManager,\u201d she has just around 3,000 monthly listeners on Spotify while IV of Spades has a following of over a million.\nSo Ms. Hernandez played her set with the knowledge that most of her regular listeners did not show up to support her. She even understood when many in the audience started cheering in the middle of her performance when they saw IV of Spades\u2019 roadies setting up the band\u2019s equipment behind her.\n\u201cWho am I compared to IV of Spades?\u201d she said in an interview, smiling. \u201cIt\u2019s like that. I\u2019m used to it.\u201d\nWhat she was not ready for was her manager pointing to someone in the audience during her performance. Amid the sea of IV of Spades banners and placards, a girl was holding up a sheet of paper with a message.\nIt read, \u201cHi TheSunManager. Your music saved my life.\u201d\nMs. Hernandez created the indie-folk persona of TheSunManager while studying at the College of Fine Arts in UP Diliman. As TheSunManager, she released a self-titled EP in 2014, and released her debut full-length album, entitled Worth, in early February of 2017. Currently, she works as an industrial designer for a business run by her aunt, a job that allows her the time and freedom to pursue what she calls her \u201cother job.\u201d\nShe is one of the legions of independent musicians carving their own niches in the Philippines\u2019 music scene, an industry that has been seeing a resurgence in recent years amid the opportunities brought about by online streaming services like Spotify and YouTube.\nOnline streaming services, which mostly operate on a subscription-based business model, have both revolutionized the way consumers listen to music, and how artists produce it. Rather than having to buy individual albums or singles from any particular artist, consumers need only pay a recurring fee for access to a library of millions of songs made by artists from all over the world, which they can then listen to any time and anywhere as long as they have a data connection.\nThe benefits for the artists are twofold. The open nature of such services has given small-time musicians like Ms. Hernandez a platform on which to release their music and draw an audience, while those with larger fanbases get paid by the listeners who would have otherwise resorted to pirating their content.\nIn fact, streaming has become the biggest contributor to the growth of the recorded music market. According to data released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in April, streaming is the industry\u2019s single largest revenue source, the main driver of its recorded growth in 2017.\nThe global recorded music market grew by 8.1% to a total of $17.3 billion last year, its third consecutive year of growth since IFPI began tracking the market in 1997.\n\u201cStreaming remains the main driver of recovering revenues and, for the first time, has become the single largest revenue source with 176 million users of paid streaming services contributing to year-on-year streaming growth of 41.1%,\u201d IFPI\u2019s Global Music Report 2018 said.\n\u201cStreaming now accounts for 38.4% of total recorded music revenue and its growth has more than offset a 5.4% decline in physical revenue and a 20.5% decline in download revenue.\u201d\nWhat\u2019s more, grouped collectively with all digital formats, total digital income last year accounted for more than half of all revenue (54%), the first time in the industry\u2019s history.\nWhich is a welcome development, as far as music is concerned.\nHistorically, the advent of digital technology has spelled nothing but catastrophe for the global recording industry, at least in terms of revenues.\nTHE PIRATES \nAround the turn of the millennium, the global recording industry took a huge hit with the arrival of peer-to-peer file sharing. The Napster and LimeWire networks together were used by several millions of people who were stealing music and redistributing it for free all over the world.\nHow many dollars were lost to such piracy is still largely unknown, but many accounts figure it in the billions. Total revenues for CDs, vinyl, cassettes, and digital downloads in the United States in the 21st century reportedly dropped to $9 billion in 2008 from a height of $14.6 billion in 1999.\nIFPI data indicated that despite 2017 being the industry\u2019s third consecutive year of growth, it followed 15 years of significant revenue decline. The revenues in 2017, despite the uplift, were still only 68.4% of the market\u2019s peak in 1999.\nBefore peer-to-peer file sharing, cassette tapes and compact discs (CDs) opened the door to music piracy around the world. Emerging as an effective, convenient, and portable way of listening to music in the 1970s and the 1980s, the cassette tape also had the useful feature of being recordable, allowing individuals to copy music onto the tape directly from the radio. Recordable CDs, which exploded as a popular method of electronic data storage in the 1990s, made copying music even easier.\nIn a smaller market like the Philippines, this was perhaps even more pronounced. Marivic A. Benedicto, chair of the Philippine Association of the Record Industry, said in an interview that music recording certification around the late 2000s had to change because CD sales could not support the previous model any longer.\n\u201cGold and platinum records used to signify 15,000 and 30,000 units sold, but no one was reaching gold anymore,\u201d she told BusinessWorld.\n\u201cWe decided to lower the threshold. From what was 15,000 and 30,000, it became 10,000 and 20,000. Then two years later, we had to lower it again to 7.5 thousand and 15,000. That\u2019s where it is at now.\u201d\nIt is in this climate that Spotify finally came into the country in 2014 under a partnership with Globe Telecom. The online streaming platform, Ms. Benedicto said, offered fixed global rates in exchange for the license to distribute over 90% of the Philippine record industry\u2019s repertoire.\nMusic labels, publishers, and composer groups welcomed the proposal with open arms, in the knowledge that there was no better alternative for their salvation. Major record labels like Warner Music Group were ditching physical sales altogether to make way for a new era of music. Everything that the industry knew at this point had changed. Streaming \u2014 digital music in general \u2014 had become the future.\nUBIQUITOUS\nLast October, IFPI released its Music Consumer Insight Report 2018, which examined the ways in which music consumers aged 16-64 engaged with recorded music across 20 of the world\u2019s largest music markets. Unsurprisingly, it found that 86% of consumers listen to music through on-demand streaming, with the youth being the most engaged. More than half (57%) of streamers aged 16 to 24 years old admitted to using a paid audio streaming service.\n\u201cStreaming is virtually ubiquitous,\u201d the report concluded.\nOn average, each of the respondents listened to music 17.8 hours per week, with the car being the most popular listening location. Music consumers especially enjoyed listening to local music genres, with 66% of consumers in Japan listening to J-pop, 69% of consumers in France listening to Vari\u00e9t\u00e9 Fran\u00e7aise, and, in Brazil, 55% listening to M\u00fasica popular brasileira.\nWhile specific data on the Philippines was not included, that the recent resurgence of popular \u201coriginal Pinoy music\u201d (OPM) is in part due to the advent of digital music platforms had already become a worn-out talking point.\n\u201cAccessibility-wise, [Spotify] became an advantage,\u201d Ms. Hernandez said. \u201cIt was kind of difficult at first, because not everyone had Spotify yet. But it slowly became the standard for listening to music. It\u2019s just easy.\nJust have an account and then you can listen to so many types of music. As musicians, that\u2019s what we tap into, as the most accessible platform.\u201d\nIn addition to Spotify, websites like Bandcamp and Soundcloud have ignited a spark that set the careers of grass roots musicians ablaze.\n\u201cOnline streaming platforms like Spotify and Soundcloud democratized music consumption. It made it easier for local artists to be heard and to compete globally,\u201d Dinah Remolacio, executive director of the PhilPop Foundation, the organization responsible for the annual Philippine Popular Music Festival, said in an e-mail.\n\u201cThere is a resurgence of OPM. The local music industry is teeming with excellent millennial bands and a new breed of songwriters. As proof, PhilPop receives thousands of entries every year. There are also hyperactivity of music scene in VisMin (Visayas-Mindanao) areas, with the advent of [the] Bisaya Music Festival, VisPop and Mindanao Music Festival.\u201d\nMs. Hernandez said artists like her could simply make use of independent digital music distribution services like DistroKid to publish their discography on platforms like Spotify, Amazon, and iTunes. Such services are slowly supplanting conventional record labels in the role as the mediators between the musicians and the digital platforms. For a set fee, DistroKid and other similar services ensure independent artists get published on their platforms of choice and collect any royalties they earn in their place.\nTheSunManager came into her own in this way. Songs were recorded, the albums uploaded and distributed, the websites built, all with minimal outside help.\n\u201cI have my own home studio, because it\u2019s now cheaper to build your own as opposed to before when you had to book a studio,\u201d Ms. Hernandez said. \u201cIt used to cost tens of thousands of pesos to record an album, and how much of that will see returns? It wasn\u2019t a sound investment. Now, I can just buy a recording interface for about 15 to 20,000 [pesos], and I can make a number of albums out of it.\u201d\nShe\u2019s in great company. Artists like Reese Lansangan, Autotelic, Ben&Ben, and even phenomena like the FlipTop Battle League \u2014 the first and largest professional rap battle conference in the country \u2014 have found massive success in independently reaching an audience through digital platforms.\nEven a band as big as IV of Spades shares the sentiment. \u201cHaving the access to music production can help local artists to create music on their own. For us, digital technology is not an enemy, but rather a change when it comes to creating a generation movement,\u201d the band said in an e-mail.\n\u201cOnline streaming has helped starting artists to share their music to a wider audience. It has also helped the listeners to have a wider repertoire when it comes to listening to music. This streaming era would be one of the trademarks of our generation\u2019s music.\u201d\n\u201cThey don\u2019t even need record labels now. That\u2019s something we have to struggle with all the time,\u201d PARI\u2019s Ms. Benedicto admitted. \u201cAre we giving enough premium that artists will still come to us? That\u2019s the dilemma of the record industry.\u201d\n\u201cIt\u2019s so easy to self-publish today. [Artists] don\u2019t need record labels, they don\u2019t need a corporate structure to propagate their music.\u201d\nBREAKING DOWN BARRIERS\nDigital technology, much like the radio and television before it, has broken down the barriers of communication, allowing culture to transcend local borders and connect people together. Worldwide, independent music has seen an unprecedented consumption boom as more people get exposed to music that was once unavailable to them.\nThe Merlin Network, which represents the rights of the independent label sector in 53 countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Chile, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, North America, the UK, and Europe, found that 42% of independent labels received more than half their digital revenue from consumption outside their home territory. By comparison, only 17% stated this was the case for physical sales of CDs or vinyl. Audio streaming accounts for the bulk of digital revenue for two-thirds of Merlin members.\nCharles Caldas, CEO of Merlin, said in a statement: \u201cMerlin\u2019s independent record label members already occupy a unique position on streaming services, with their repertoire consistently over-indexing on subscription tiers compared to free ad-supported ones. Users of these services deeply engage with Merlin members\u2019 music and are willing to pay for it.\n\u201cWe now have irrefutable evidence that the new dynamics of streaming are opening up previously inaccessible territories to independent music, with a phenomenal consumption surge in Latin America and across Asia. What feels particularly exciting is that we\u2019re only at the start of this growth trajectory \u2014 and with potential of relatively untapped markets, including China, Russia and Africa, still to be realized.\u201d\nThe question now is this: With so much growth in the music industry, is music now a viable way to earn a living?\nOne would think that the prevalence of music in the age of content creation will cultivate a heightened appreciation for the medium and its makers. Surely with the incredible reach of platforms like Spotify, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and even crowdfunding websites like Patreon, Kickstarter, or Indiegogo, digital technology has in some way improved how artists make money from their art?\nIn reality, as with most things, it\u2019s a bit more complicated than it appears.\n\u201cThis is a complicated question because it somehow implies that there was and is money to be made in the first place,\u201d Monika E. Schoop, a post-doctoral researcher in the Musicology department at Cologne University, Germany, said in an e-mail.\nMs. Schoop has spent most of the decade researching about the Philippines\u2019 independent music scene and how digital technology is shaping it. Her book, Independent Music and Digital Technology in the Philippines, explores \u201cthe diverse and innovative music production, distribution, promotion and financing strategies that have become constitutive of the independent music scene in 21st century Manila\u201d through extensive fieldwork online and offline.\nWhat she found was that the machinations that allowed for the explosive growth of independent labels have created the issues that pushed the decline of the major recording industry (i.e. labels like Warner, EMI, Sony BMG, and MCA which suffered major losses due to CD-R piracy in the early 2000s and later on through file sharing). Piracy remains a key of these concerns.\n\u201cDigital technology has provided the means for the rise of independent music and for the decline of the major recording industry alike,\u201d Ms. Schoop said. \u201cYou could say that it\u2019s two sides of the same coin. While it has facilitated access to music production and distribution for many, who previously had no or limited access, it has also provided new tools for music piracy. Piracy had of course already been around before (especially with regard to cassettes) but it has been taken to a new level though CD-Rs, file sharing and unauthorized downloads.\u201d\nData from IFPI\u2019s Music Consumer Insight Report 2018 found that still more than one-third (38%) of consumers obtain music through infringing methods \u2014 with stream ripping the dominant method (32% of consumers). While this was not to the extent it was more than a decade ago, the effect was the birth of a codependent relationship between major record companies and the digital platforms that mitigated such piracy. Nearly half (47%) of all time spent listening to on-demand music is through a single platform: YouTube.\nMs. Benedicto admitted that the biggest revenue generators for PARI members are YouTube and Spotify. In the case of YouTube, major record labels have the nifty feature of having their intellectual property protected by content ID algorithms that allow them to monetize user-generated content that use their music.\nSophisticated algorithms, however, do little to bridle the immense power these platforms have over the global music industry. Ultimately, what record labels stand to earn from the distribution of music through these platforms completely depends on how much the platforms decide to pay them for it, regardless of how much was actually earned from its use, a legal conundrum that IFPI calls \u201cthe value gap.\u201d\nTo quote IFPI\u2019s Global Music Report 2018, the value gap is \u201cthe mismatch between the value created by some digital platforms from their use of music and what they pay to those creating and investing in it.\u201d\nWhen Google released its \u201cHow Google Fights Piracy\u201d report in November, a 25-page document that detailed the internet behemoth\u2019s anti-piracy principles, Frances Moore, chief executive of IFPI, had this to say: \u201cWe welcome Google\u2019s recognition that it and Google\u2019s YouTube need to operate responsibly and properly value creators and their work. However, the figures in Google\u2019s anti-piracy paper don\u2019t match our own.\n\u201cIt is difficult to get any clarity on Google\u2019s claims as it doesn\u2019t explain its methodology, but IFPI data shows that revenue returning to the record industry through video streaming services (including but not limited to YouTube) with 1.3 billion users amounted to US$856 million in 2017 \u2014 less than half of Google\u2019s claim and less than US $1 per user per year.\u201d\nMs. Moore said that in contrast, audio subscription services (both paid and ad-supported) with a much smaller user base of 272 million users compensated creators some $5.6 billion \u2014 a little more than $20 per user per year.\n\u201cThis is the reality of the \u2018value gap\u2019 \u2014 in which user-upload platforms, such as YouTube, exploit music for profit without returning fair compensation to music creators,\u201d she concluded.\nSpotify\u2019s record is far from clean as well. Many reports have already detailed the criticisms lobbed at the music streaming giant regarding artist compensation, with singer Taylor Swift being one of the company\u2019s most prominent critics.\nThis is not mentioning that existing power structures and inequalities are being inadvertently reinforced by such Western-centric platforms.\n\u201cResearch has shown that this is, e.g. the case for SoundCloud \u2014 artists from London and New York are more likely to \u2018be found\u2019 than artists from South East Asia. There is reason to be skeptical of the promise that digital technology leads to a real democratization of the music business,\u201d Ms. Schoop said.\nSHOW ME THE MONEY \nFor independent musicians, revenues from streaming are virtually non-existent.\n\u201cI can\u2019t say that I super love Spotify. How much do we actually get each stream per song?\u201d Ms. Hernandez said.\nShe admitted that unless they reach the heights of popularity currently enjoyed by the likes of IV of Spades or Ben&Ben, new artists do not have any guarantees that they can support themselves through their music, even with music distribution as free as it is now.\nPart of the problem is inherent in the nature of globalization. As local shops and brands have to contend with added competition from foreign brands in exchange for the ability to bring their own wares to foreign markets, so do local artists have to compete for the spotlight on a global stage.\nSome take this as a challenge. IV of Spades believes such platforms \u201cchallenged local artists to be more competent when it comes to raising the quality of creating music, especially in recording and production.\u201d\nFor others, it remains a matter of opportunity and hard work.\n\u201cEven if your music is great or your branding is great, there\u2019s always going to be factors of luck. I don\u2019t mean to sound like a cynic but sometimes only right timing and hard work is the perfect combination. Even if you\u2019re super hardworking, if your timing is off in terms of what the market trend is right now, you\u2019re not going to leave a mark,\u201d Ms. Hernandez said.\n\u201cThis is the age of disruption. The digital platforms made everything more accessible and readily available. But disruption is a double-edged sword. With millions of artists trying to break through, and endless content supply that is readily available to the public, artists must be brilliant and creative enough to set himself apart from the rest of the herd,\u201d Ms. Remolacio added.\nThe number of Filipino artists who can make a living making music in the country is so small that, in all her time spent doing fieldwork in the Philippines, Ms. Schoop mostly encountered musicians who, like Ms. Hernandez, had to have day jobs to make ends meet.\n\u201cMore generally (not limited to the Philippine context) selling music as a product has become less lucrative and less important; the live sector has become more important. This also includes the sale of merch [merchandise] at shows,\u201d she said.\n\u201cI do not have access to figures here but… from the experience of friends who run labels or are musicians platforms like Spotify are more about exposure that about actually making money.\u201d\nMs. Benedicto agreed. There is still a healthy number of people keeping the live sector afloat, bolstered by the sales of merchandise like zines, freebies, stickers, posters, and downloadable codes.\n\u201cIt\u2019s like that if you\u2019re indie. The recording doesn\u2019t make you the money. It\u2019s the bookings,\u201d she said, adding that many fans today are happy to pay to see and support their idols live.\nIn an ideal world, Ms. Benedicto noted, music and the arts are meant to be free. As methods of self-expression, she said they are truly meant to be shared and appreciated by everyone. Copyright, along with the institutions and industries that have risen around it, are legal fixes only put in place to protect artists from exploitation. Sophisticated as such institutions have become, especially in the wake of the digital revolution, music as its core hasn\u2019t changed.\n\u201cMusic is about connecting to people,\u201d she said.\nCONNECTION\nDigital technology then is not a panacea for the ills that for so long have plagued the industry. But it has changed what music can become for artists and listeners alike, closing a gap between art and audience that before was unfathomable.\nWith so much music available nowadays, one would think that achieving a genuine connection with a song is more a product of serendipity than artistry. However, never has it been easier to find and personally connect with music than in the era of Big Data, where algorithms like Spotify\u2019s Discover Weekly tailor-fits a different, specific playlist of songs for each user every week, and YouTube\u2019s Suggested Videos sidebar which accounts for roughly 75% to 80% of the Philippine record industry\u2019s views.\nWhile the exposure does not necessarily translate into adequate monetary compensation, for many it\u2019s simply enough to be heard.\n\u201cThe fans are the people who give reason for artists to continue,\u201d IV of Spades said.\n\u201c[Independent artists] are not people-pleasers in a way. They don\u2019t sing to make money and they don\u2019t sing to please a lot of people. Most sing to please themselves and express themselves,\u201d Ms. Benedicto said.\nMs. Schoop added, \u201cI am still fascinated by the endurance of many artists. They often work long hours during the day, some have family responsibilities, and still play shows late at night \u2014 often putting up with the insane traffic to get to the venues. I really have lots of respect for that.\u201d\nAlgorithm-based as it is, the relationship formed between artist and audience is no less genuine. Ms. Hernandez recalled that night at the UP Fair as one of the highlights of her music career.\n\u201cAs much as there are many practical struggles, for me it\u2019s still those little moments why I do what I do. That\u2019s the goal,\u201d she said.\n\u201cFor me, I don\u2019t find pleasure in just playing or making music. I think the reason why I really enjoy music is the connection it creates with people. That I can make a song and then this total stranger can hear it and she might feel that this person knows me or that they\u2019re not so alone.\u201d\n\u201cThat sort of became what I want to do in life: to connect with people, help people out. Music is just one way for me to do that,\u201d she added.\nMoving forward, it is unclear whether the issue-laden YouTube and Spotify model of consuming music will be the conclusive way for artists to receive their due. With technological progress speeding up each passing year, it\u2019s difficult to tell whether the recent recovery of the music industry is a sign of things to come, or simply a hopeful rally before its continued decline. What is clear is that for as long as intimate connections like that can be found, and for as long as humanity\u2019s ceaseless need to create art endures, the industry has yet more music to play.", "date_published": "2018-12-14T00:31:35+08:00", "date_modified": "2018-12-14T00:31:35+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Bjorn Biel M. Beltran", "Features", "IV of Spades", "Music", "OPM", "TheSunManager", "Focus" ], "summary": "AT THE University of the Philippines Fair early this year, April Hernandez had the lucky role of opening for the popular band IV of Spades. Under the stage name “TheSunManager,” she has just around 3,000 monthly listeners on Spotify while IV of Spades has a following of over a million.\n" }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=204626", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/staying-in/2018/12/14/204626/klandestine/", "title": "Klandestine", "content_html": "

By Noel Vera
\nVideo Review
\nBlacKkKlansman
\nDirected by Spike Lee
\nSO GET this — Ron Stallworth becomes the first black police officer in a large largely white town (the \u201cJackie Robinson of the Colorado Springs police force\u201d as his superior puts it). He is consigned to the records room, requests a transfer to undercover; sees a recruitment ad for the KKK, dials the number, gets an unexpected voice at the other end, improvises a racist rant, is invited to join the group.
\nSounds like one of the more outrageous skits dreamed up for the short-lived but memorable TV show In Living Color — but it\u2019s a true story, based on Stallworth\u2019s autobiographical account Black Klansman.
\nSpike Lee\u2019s BlacKkKlansman (2018) isn\u2019t subtle but it\u2019s damned entertaining. Stallworth (played by Denzel\u2019s son John David Washington) can\u2019t go to the meeting himself (of course) so he sends Detective Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver playing a heavily fictionalized character) in his place.
\nThe film runs with this highly unlikely premise, and part of the fun of the picture is watching Stallworth and Zimmerman constantly being caught off-balance by the challenges and opportunities thrown their way, having to think fast on their feet in response. At one point one of the Klansmen suspects Zimmerman of being Jewish and wants to apply a lie-detector test at gunpoint; at another Stallworth finds himself on the phone with the Klan\u2019s Grand Wizard, David Duke (a hilariously bland Topher Grace) and they develop a surprisingly (Chillingly?) warm rapport.
\nDriver plays Zimmerman as an unselfconscious lump who, thanks to the Klan\u2019s virulent anti-Semitism, develops some awareness of his racial identity. Grace\u2019s Duke is by turns hilarious and frightening: hilarious in his obtuse racism, frightening in that his vanilla, almost wholesome, charm is what may have helped sell the Klan as an increasingly acceptable presence in 1970s America — a perhaps an even more acceptable presence in America today. In their scenes together Duke suggests a loneliness, a desire for contact that seems almost likable — Lee even feels he has to apply the brakes a little, have Stallworth motion his colleagues around him so they can have a collective laugh. It\u2019s a tribute to Grace\u2019s sly subversively vulnerable performance that you almost feel sorry for the man.
\nAlmost. Lee blurs the lines a bit but at one point or the other makes it thoroughly blaringly clear where he stands on the issues, arguably the film\u2019s main weaknesses. His Klan folk are mostly dense; paranoid but easy to outmaneuver; and unthinking in the way they mouth racist rants — Grace\u2019s Duke is arguably an exception, though even he has his moments of fecklessness.
\nLee begins the film with Alec Baldwin playing a fictitious professor clumsily speaking Klan talking points, forgetting his lines, asking for cues from an unseen assistant; big contrast to Stokely Carmichael (a.k.a. Kwame Ture) whose speaking engagement Ron is assigned to attend — Lee turns up the visual rhetoric during his speech, photographing Ture (Corey Hawkins) from various dramatic angles, confronting him with a sea of faces shining with admiration. Ron is understandably impressed, and feels doubt about his mission of infiltration.
\nThat would be the film\u2019s other main flaw: Boots Riley, director of the year\u2019s other most outrageous comedy Sorry to Bother You, tweets an indictment of Ron Stallworth, claiming his role in monitoring black activist groups was more extensive and more malignant than what is shown on-screen.
\nRiley goes on to make other claims, some of which seem a little extreme, but his basic point is valid: history does suggest that the police and the FBI had an antagonistic even violent relationship with these groups (There\u2019s no direct evidence linking Stallworth, but records were reportedly destroyed). Lee does go a long way to softening this period of Stallworth\u2019s career — showing him voicing doubts, showing him form a relationship with a fictitious black activist girlfriend named Patrice (Laura Harrier) who further troubles his mind on the issue.
\nLee eventually responded in an interview \u201cLook at my films: they\u2019ve been very critical of the police, but on the other hand I\u2019m never going to say all police are corrupt, that all police hate people of color. I\u2019m not going to say that. I mean, we need police.\u201d
\nIf the film has scenes that soft-pedal and fabricate — and Lee is hardly the first filmmaker to do so in a biopic — it also has scenes of considerable power. At one point, the Klan screens Birth of a Nation, D.W. Griffith\u2019s monumental potboiler that helped revive the movement; Lee takes a page from Griffith\u2019s own playbook and intercuts the screening with one Jerome Turner (Harry Belafonte) telling the true story of Jesse Washington, who was lynched in Waco, Texas. Lee later fast-forwards to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which ended with the death of Heather Heyer.
\nThis, I submit, is Lee\u2019s strongest point: if the racists portrayed in this picture are so easy to outwit then why Trump\u2019s ascendancy? What led us to the Unite the Right rally, and why did that driver feel he had to ram his car into a crowd of people? Lee doesn\u2019t provide answers — but he\u2019s always been a provocateur, always willing to prod us to at least try and respond.
\nBlacKkKlansman is available on Youtube, Vudu, Amazon, and Google Play.

\n", "content_text": "By Noel Vera\nVideo Review\nBlacKkKlansman\nDirected by Spike Lee\nSO GET this — Ron Stallworth becomes the first black police officer in a large largely white town (the \u201cJackie Robinson of the Colorado Springs police force\u201d as his superior puts it). He is consigned to the records room, requests a transfer to undercover; sees a recruitment ad for the KKK, dials the number, gets an unexpected voice at the other end, improvises a racist rant, is invited to join the group.\nSounds like one of the more outrageous skits dreamed up for the short-lived but memorable TV show In Living Color — but it\u2019s a true story, based on Stallworth\u2019s autobiographical account Black Klansman.\nSpike Lee\u2019s BlacKkKlansman (2018) isn\u2019t subtle but it\u2019s damned entertaining. Stallworth (played by Denzel\u2019s son John David Washington) can\u2019t go to the meeting himself (of course) so he sends Detective Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver playing a heavily fictionalized character) in his place.\nThe film runs with this highly unlikely premise, and part of the fun of the picture is watching Stallworth and Zimmerman constantly being caught off-balance by the challenges and opportunities thrown their way, having to think fast on their feet in response. At one point one of the Klansmen suspects Zimmerman of being Jewish and wants to apply a lie-detector test at gunpoint; at another Stallworth finds himself on the phone with the Klan\u2019s Grand Wizard, David Duke (a hilariously bland Topher Grace) and they develop a surprisingly (Chillingly?) warm rapport.\nDriver plays Zimmerman as an unselfconscious lump who, thanks to the Klan\u2019s virulent anti-Semitism, develops some awareness of his racial identity. Grace\u2019s Duke is by turns hilarious and frightening: hilarious in his obtuse racism, frightening in that his vanilla, almost wholesome, charm is what may have helped sell the Klan as an increasingly acceptable presence in 1970s America — a perhaps an even more acceptable presence in America today. In their scenes together Duke suggests a loneliness, a desire for contact that seems almost likable — Lee even feels he has to apply the brakes a little, have Stallworth motion his colleagues around him so they can have a collective laugh. It\u2019s a tribute to Grace\u2019s sly subversively vulnerable performance that you almost feel sorry for the man.\nAlmost. Lee blurs the lines a bit but at one point or the other makes it thoroughly blaringly clear where he stands on the issues, arguably the film\u2019s main weaknesses. His Klan folk are mostly dense; paranoid but easy to outmaneuver; and unthinking in the way they mouth racist rants — Grace\u2019s Duke is arguably an exception, though even he has his moments of fecklessness.\nLee begins the film with Alec Baldwin playing a fictitious professor clumsily speaking Klan talking points, forgetting his lines, asking for cues from an unseen assistant; big contrast to Stokely Carmichael (a.k.a. Kwame Ture) whose speaking engagement Ron is assigned to attend — Lee turns up the visual rhetoric during his speech, photographing Ture (Corey Hawkins) from various dramatic angles, confronting him with a sea of faces shining with admiration. Ron is understandably impressed, and feels doubt about his mission of infiltration.\nThat would be the film\u2019s other main flaw: Boots Riley, director of the year\u2019s other most outrageous comedy Sorry to Bother You, tweets an indictment of Ron Stallworth, claiming his role in monitoring black activist groups was more extensive and more malignant than what is shown on-screen.\nRiley goes on to make other claims, some of which seem a little extreme, but his basic point is valid: history does suggest that the police and the FBI had an antagonistic even violent relationship with these groups (There\u2019s no direct evidence linking Stallworth, but records were reportedly destroyed). Lee does go a long way to softening this period of Stallworth\u2019s career — showing him voicing doubts, showing him form a relationship with a fictitious black activist girlfriend named Patrice (Laura Harrier) who further troubles his mind on the issue.\nLee eventually responded in an interview \u201cLook at my films: they\u2019ve been very critical of the police, but on the other hand I\u2019m never going to say all police are corrupt, that all police hate people of color. I\u2019m not going to say that. I mean, we need police.\u201d\nIf the film has scenes that soft-pedal and fabricate — and Lee is hardly the first filmmaker to do so in a biopic — it also has scenes of considerable power. At one point, the Klan screens Birth of a Nation, D.W. Griffith\u2019s monumental potboiler that helped revive the movement; Lee takes a page from Griffith\u2019s own playbook and intercuts the screening with one Jerome Turner (Harry Belafonte) telling the true story of Jesse Washington, who was lynched in Waco, Texas. Lee later fast-forwards to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which ended with the death of Heather Heyer.\nThis, I submit, is Lee\u2019s strongest point: if the racists portrayed in this picture are so easy to outwit then why Trump\u2019s ascendancy? What led us to the Unite the Right rally, and why did that driver feel he had to ram his car into a crowd of people? Lee doesn\u2019t provide answers — but he\u2019s always been a provocateur, always willing to prod us to at least try and respond.\nBlacKkKlansman is available on Youtube, Vudu, Amazon, and Google Play.", "date_published": "2018-12-14T00:02:49+08:00", "date_modified": "2018-12-14T00:02:49+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "BlacKkKlansman", "Movie", "Noel Vera", "video review", "Staying In", "Weekender" ], "summary": "SO GET this -- Ron Stallworth becomes the first black police officer in a large largely white town (the \u201cJackie Robinson of the Colorado Springs police force\u201d as his superior puts it). He is consigned to the records room, requests a transfer to undercover; sees a recruitment ad for the KKK, dials the number, gets an unexpected voice at the other end, improvises a racist rant, is invited to join the group." }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=204627", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/staying-in/2018/12/14/204627/outstanding-addition-to-survival-horror-games/", "title": "Outstanding addition to survival horror games", "content_html": "

By Anthony L. Cuaycong
\n\"\"
\nNIPPON Ichi Software (NIS) has been known to push the envelope in terms of offerings for popular genres, so it\u2019s no surprise to find Yomawari: The Long Night Collection eschewing the usual survival horror mechanics. The intent is clear: to rattle gamers and get them out of their comfort zones using hitherto unfamiliar techniques. Visually, for instance, the chibi-style characters don\u2019t seem to fit in a setting designed to elicit fear and trepidation. And the fact that proceedings are perused from an isometric vantage point serves only to highlight the incongruity.
\nYet, it\u2019s clear from the outset that NIS succeeds in making what looks to be one square peg fit in the invariably round hole. Literally two and a half minutes are all it takes for gamers to become immersed in Yomawari: Night Alone, the first of the two titles that comprise the compilation. An unnamed girl takes her dog out for a walk in the woods. A pebble throw later, her pet is hit by a truck and then disappears, with a track of blood the lone evidence of the development. Her agitation leads her older sister to look for it, only to be lost as well. Her ensuing search for them propels the adventure, which involves evading monsters and spirits across suburbia armed with just a flashlight and a hopefully sustainable supply of wit to complete the ultimate objective.
\nThe same premise and approach are taken by Yomawari: Midnight Shadows, albeit via two alternately controllable characters in search of a friend. Wandering in dimly lit streets heightens the feeling of dread, with gamers alerted to the presence of monsters by the sound of a heart pounding faster. As the threats come closer, the beats increase accordingly; absent any other audio inputs, they ramp up the anticipation. And because there are no means of fighting back, the scares are magnified.
\nSignificantly, Yomawari: The Long Night Collection doesn\u2019t cheat in this regard. Long on suspense, it keeps cheap thrills to a bare minimum. It places a premium on stealth, quick reaction, and, yes, flight for the lead characters to stay alive. Proper management of the stamina bar, which depletes quickly with frenzied activity, is thereby crucial. As careful as gamers may negotiate their way around town, however, death figures to be inevitable; it\u2019s part and parcel of a learning curve that enables them to do better while coming from the last save point.
\nFrom the outside looking in, Yomawari: The Long Night Collection\u2019s preferential option for subtlety comes across as a big risk. The norm for horror releases involves bombast: violent jump cuts, audio-visual cues aimed at eliciting startling reactions, larger-than-life depictions of relentless enemies, even Rambo-like payback. In stark contrast, Yomawari: Night Alone and Yomawari: Midnight Shadows deliberately go for the opposite. They initially calm gamers with cute graphics, then build up tension and sustain the suspense with hints of peril. They show just what the flashlight shines on, emit close to nothing save for ambient noise and a beating heart, highlight the reward of safety as temporal, and mete the penalty of mortality in an instant.
\nSo, no, there are no out-and-out action sequences in Yomawari: The Long Night Collection. There are no rocket launchers to collect or elaborate traps to concoct. The setting is, on surface, idyllic, and the narrative unfolds at a pace that leans towards the purposive and is never forced. Still, at no time are gamers assured; rather, they stay on their toes throughout, uneasy about what comes next and apprehensive of the consequences. Nonetheless, both Yomawari: Night Alone and Yomawari: Midnight Shadows manage to shock and awe. Because the hazard is hinted at and because death results from a touch, every step is replete with anxiety.
\nConcomitantly, Yomawari: The Long Night Collection benefits from the simplicity of its interface. Movements and interactions with surroundings are intuitive, further encouraging exploration. And the gains are abundant; even as puzzles are few and far between, hidden gems abound for completists. If nothing else, they underscore the importance of experimentation, critical to moving forward given the uniqueness and variety of antagonists.
\nAll told, Yomawari: The Long Night Collection is an outstanding addition to the survival horror category of games. It shuns the status quo and winds up fulfilling its purpose precisely because it defies expectations. Depending on mood and intent, gamers can be entrenched in its twin storylines for 15 to 30 hours, a stunning feat for a release that relies more on ambience than action to feature its value proposition. It\u2019s unapologetic in what it sets out to do, and unfailing in its intent to flourish. Which, in the final analysis, is exactly why it does. Highly recommended.
\n\"Assassin\u2019s
\nPOSTSCRIPT:
\nAssassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey (PlayStation 4) — Ubisoft\u2019s Assassins\u2019s Creed is, without a doubt, one of its most profitable video game franchises to date. What started off back in 2007 as an unknown title in the stealth/exploration genre has grown into a well-loved and influential series. And, as with all things, wisdom accompanies age; the franchise has seen fit to evolve with each new release, adding in newer and better features and, in the process, highlighting parts that hitherto made it enjoyable. Meanwhile, core aspects, including exploration and freeform design, have remained unchanged even with tweaks to approach and presentation.
\nAs the latest entry in the series, Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey features an independent storyline set in Greece during the Peloponnesian War. Players control either Alexios or Kassandra, mercenaries from the island of Cephalonia who find themselves slowly entangled in a conspiracy of lies and deceit. Embroiled in a war spanning the country\u2019s entirety while challenged by a mysterious cult out to end their lives and those of their loved ones, they become compelled to use whatever means necessary to survive. In so doing, they craft, forge, and upgrade weapons, learn new skills, and travel across lands on foot or by sea, all while seeking to unite their family and expose and overcome the cult\u2019s designs.
\nAt heart, Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey is all about the journey, and it shows through the slow ramp-up of its story. Starting off on a small, secluded island, the chosen protagonist sets sail away from its shores and discovers a rich and bountiful land waiting to be discovered. Various landmarks, cities, and tombs dot the new world, offering a wide variety of rewards and often exuding a Tomb Raider-esque vibe during exploration. The main characters are able to climb, and cling to, practically every surface, making movement a breeze, not a chore. A new undiscovered point of interest is always another place to discover, another dungeon to explore, and another city to mark on the map.
\nNaturally, threats abound, and the main protagonists are more than prepared to take their measure. Armed with the Spear of Leonidas and combined with their natural agility, they are able to take down opponents through either stealth or combat. The former is brutally effective, often leading to situations where most opponents are put down with one strike. With later skills giving access to things such chain kills, poison attacks, and stuns, it becomes a vital tool when faced with multiple opponents.
\nThat said, direct combat is no less effective in Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey. With a wide variety of weapons — from swords to daggers to tridents — on hand, and with the main characters boasting of unique skills and move sets and skills, players won\u2019t be hard-pressed to fall back on blades if need be. Then, too, they can rely on their bow to gain a significant edge, engaging foes in long range and picking them off or even pulling out of sight to reengage under superior terms.
\nParenthetically, it\u2019s the wealth of options on offer that makes Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey stand out. It doesn\u2019t hold players\u2019 hands; rather, it engages them right from the get-go. There\u2019s a tutorial for their bearings to be set; after that, however, they\u2019re left to fend for themselves, free to drive the narrative as they please and at their pace. Keen on tackling side quest after side quest? No problem. Partial to furthering the plot as quickly as possible? Sure. Amid the myriad options are such worthy diversions as ship combat, gear crafting, mercenary hunting, and conquest battles.
\nTrue, Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey can be repetitive and feel recycled. For all its abundance of charm, a few options carry less potential to keep players engaged. For instance, hardly any side quests have actual impact on the main story, and while attempts have been made to make the players\u2019 choices while on one more relevant, the design does tend to fall flat on its face in the grand scheme of things. The emphasis on quantity comes at the expense of quality, likewise evident in the grinding required to advance. Even as it specifies reasonable triggers for leveling up early on, it becomes progressively difficult to the point of being unfair; at some point, clearing entire areas of side objectives becomes necessary to gain the experience required for advancement.
\nNonetheless, Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey manages to acquit itself well en route to underscoring its status as the best game in the series to date, with much to offer to old and new fans alike. With its revamped combat system and fun exploration mechanics, it figures to have legs, slated to last far longer than other titles in the series did. (8.5/10)

\n
\n

\"Yomawari:

\n

Video Game Review

\n

Yomawari: The Long Night Collection
\nNintendo Switch
\nTHE GOOD:

\n

\u2022 Simple but engrossing storyline

\n

\u2022 Understated art and sound designs

\n

\u2022 Intuitive interface

\n

\u2022 Consistent in scope and intent

\n

\u2022 Encourages exploration

\n

\u2022 Definitive payoffs

\n

THE BAD:

\n

\u2022 One-step-back, two-steps-forward approach frustrates on occasion

\n

\u2022 Instantaneous death

\n

RATING: 9/10

\n", "content_text": "By Anthony L. Cuaycong\n\nNIPPON Ichi Software (NIS) has been known to push the envelope in terms of offerings for popular genres, so it\u2019s no surprise to find Yomawari: The Long Night Collection eschewing the usual survival horror mechanics. The intent is clear: to rattle gamers and get them out of their comfort zones using hitherto unfamiliar techniques. Visually, for instance, the chibi-style characters don\u2019t seem to fit in a setting designed to elicit fear and trepidation. And the fact that proceedings are perused from an isometric vantage point serves only to highlight the incongruity.\nYet, it\u2019s clear from the outset that NIS succeeds in making what looks to be one square peg fit in the invariably round hole. Literally two and a half minutes are all it takes for gamers to become immersed in Yomawari: Night Alone, the first of the two titles that comprise the compilation. An unnamed girl takes her dog out for a walk in the woods. A pebble throw later, her pet is hit by a truck and then disappears, with a track of blood the lone evidence of the development. Her agitation leads her older sister to look for it, only to be lost as well. Her ensuing search for them propels the adventure, which involves evading monsters and spirits across suburbia armed with just a flashlight and a hopefully sustainable supply of wit to complete the ultimate objective.\nThe same premise and approach are taken by Yomawari: Midnight Shadows, albeit via two alternately controllable characters in search of a friend. Wandering in dimly lit streets heightens the feeling of dread, with gamers alerted to the presence of monsters by the sound of a heart pounding faster. As the threats come closer, the beats increase accordingly; absent any other audio inputs, they ramp up the anticipation. And because there are no means of fighting back, the scares are magnified.\nSignificantly, Yomawari: The Long Night Collection doesn\u2019t cheat in this regard. Long on suspense, it keeps cheap thrills to a bare minimum. It places a premium on stealth, quick reaction, and, yes, flight for the lead characters to stay alive. Proper management of the stamina bar, which depletes quickly with frenzied activity, is thereby crucial. As careful as gamers may negotiate their way around town, however, death figures to be inevitable; it\u2019s part and parcel of a learning curve that enables them to do better while coming from the last save point.\nFrom the outside looking in, Yomawari: The Long Night Collection\u2019s preferential option for subtlety comes across as a big risk. The norm for horror releases involves bombast: violent jump cuts, audio-visual cues aimed at eliciting startling reactions, larger-than-life depictions of relentless enemies, even Rambo-like payback. In stark contrast, Yomawari: Night Alone and Yomawari: Midnight Shadows deliberately go for the opposite. They initially calm gamers with cute graphics, then build up tension and sustain the suspense with hints of peril. They show just what the flashlight shines on, emit close to nothing save for ambient noise and a beating heart, highlight the reward of safety as temporal, and mete the penalty of mortality in an instant.\nSo, no, there are no out-and-out action sequences in Yomawari: The Long Night Collection. There are no rocket launchers to collect or elaborate traps to concoct. The setting is, on surface, idyllic, and the narrative unfolds at a pace that leans towards the purposive and is never forced. Still, at no time are gamers assured; rather, they stay on their toes throughout, uneasy about what comes next and apprehensive of the consequences. Nonetheless, both Yomawari: Night Alone and Yomawari: Midnight Shadows manage to shock and awe. Because the hazard is hinted at and because death results from a touch, every step is replete with anxiety.\nConcomitantly, Yomawari: The Long Night Collection benefits from the simplicity of its interface. Movements and interactions with surroundings are intuitive, further encouraging exploration. And the gains are abundant; even as puzzles are few and far between, hidden gems abound for completists. If nothing else, they underscore the importance of experimentation, critical to moving forward given the uniqueness and variety of antagonists.\nAll told, Yomawari: The Long Night Collection is an outstanding addition to the survival horror category of games. It shuns the status quo and winds up fulfilling its purpose precisely because it defies expectations. Depending on mood and intent, gamers can be entrenched in its twin storylines for 15 to 30 hours, a stunning feat for a release that relies more on ambience than action to feature its value proposition. It\u2019s unapologetic in what it sets out to do, and unfailing in its intent to flourish. Which, in the final analysis, is exactly why it does. Highly recommended.\n\nPOSTSCRIPT:\nAssassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey (PlayStation 4) — Ubisoft\u2019s Assassins\u2019s Creed is, without a doubt, one of its most profitable video game franchises to date. What started off back in 2007 as an unknown title in the stealth/exploration genre has grown into a well-loved and influential series. And, as with all things, wisdom accompanies age; the franchise has seen fit to evolve with each new release, adding in newer and better features and, in the process, highlighting parts that hitherto made it enjoyable. Meanwhile, core aspects, including exploration and freeform design, have remained unchanged even with tweaks to approach and presentation.\nAs the latest entry in the series, Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey features an independent storyline set in Greece during the Peloponnesian War. Players control either Alexios or Kassandra, mercenaries from the island of Cephalonia who find themselves slowly entangled in a conspiracy of lies and deceit. Embroiled in a war spanning the country\u2019s entirety while challenged by a mysterious cult out to end their lives and those of their loved ones, they become compelled to use whatever means necessary to survive. In so doing, they craft, forge, and upgrade weapons, learn new skills, and travel across lands on foot or by sea, all while seeking to unite their family and expose and overcome the cult\u2019s designs.\nAt heart, Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey is all about the journey, and it shows through the slow ramp-up of its story. Starting off on a small, secluded island, the chosen protagonist sets sail away from its shores and discovers a rich and bountiful land waiting to be discovered. Various landmarks, cities, and tombs dot the new world, offering a wide variety of rewards and often exuding a Tomb Raider-esque vibe during exploration. The main characters are able to climb, and cling to, practically every surface, making movement a breeze, not a chore. A new undiscovered point of interest is always another place to discover, another dungeon to explore, and another city to mark on the map.\nNaturally, threats abound, and the main protagonists are more than prepared to take their measure. Armed with the Spear of Leonidas and combined with their natural agility, they are able to take down opponents through either stealth or combat. The former is brutally effective, often leading to situations where most opponents are put down with one strike. With later skills giving access to things such chain kills, poison attacks, and stuns, it becomes a vital tool when faced with multiple opponents.\nThat said, direct combat is no less effective in Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey. With a wide variety of weapons — from swords to daggers to tridents — on hand, and with the main characters boasting of unique skills and move sets and skills, players won\u2019t be hard-pressed to fall back on blades if need be. Then, too, they can rely on their bow to gain a significant edge, engaging foes in long range and picking them off or even pulling out of sight to reengage under superior terms.\nParenthetically, it\u2019s the wealth of options on offer that makes Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey stand out. It doesn\u2019t hold players\u2019 hands; rather, it engages them right from the get-go. There\u2019s a tutorial for their bearings to be set; after that, however, they\u2019re left to fend for themselves, free to drive the narrative as they please and at their pace. Keen on tackling side quest after side quest? No problem. Partial to furthering the plot as quickly as possible? Sure. Amid the myriad options are such worthy diversions as ship combat, gear crafting, mercenary hunting, and conquest battles.\nTrue, Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey can be repetitive and feel recycled. For all its abundance of charm, a few options carry less potential to keep players engaged. For instance, hardly any side quests have actual impact on the main story, and while attempts have been made to make the players\u2019 choices while on one more relevant, the design does tend to fall flat on its face in the grand scheme of things. The emphasis on quantity comes at the expense of quality, likewise evident in the grinding required to advance. Even as it specifies reasonable triggers for leveling up early on, it becomes progressively difficult to the point of being unfair; at some point, clearing entire areas of side objectives becomes necessary to gain the experience required for advancement.\nNonetheless, Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey manages to acquit itself well en route to underscoring its status as the best game in the series to date, with much to offer to old and new fans alike. With its revamped combat system and fun exploration mechanics, it figures to have legs, slated to last far longer than other titles in the series did. (8.5/10)\n\n\nVideo Game Review\nYomawari: The Long Night Collection\nNintendo Switch\nTHE GOOD:\n\u2022 Simple but engrossing storyline\n\u2022 Understated art and sound designs\n\u2022 Intuitive interface\n\u2022 Consistent in scope and intent\n\u2022 Encourages exploration\n\u2022 Definitive payoffs\nTHE BAD:\n\u2022 One-step-back, two-steps-forward approach frustrates on occasion\n\u2022 Instantaneous death\nRATING: 9/10", "date_published": "2018-12-14T00:01:06+08:00", "date_modified": "2018-12-14T00:01:06+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Anthony L. Cuaycong", "Assassin\u2019s Creed Odyssey", "Video Game", "Video Game Review", "Yomawari: The Long Night Collection", "Staying In", "Weekender" ] }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=203128", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/weekender/focus/2018/12/07/203128/a-taste-of-creativity/", "title": "A Taste of Creativity", "content_html": "

By Emicon Mendenilla and Nina Tesoro-Poblador
\n
\nWhat in the world is this nebulous construct called creativity, anyway? The mere mention of the buzzword can make even the most erudite tongue-tied. Vastly cited Italian behavioural scientist Paolo Legrenzi describes creativity as a justification of artistry. In his 2013 publication, Creativity and Innovation, he cites architect Vittorio Gregotti: \u201cEvery work of architecture seems to be justified by the term creativity, which by now is used to define every aesthetic act (diffused aesthetics has overwhelmed us) with which designers, advertisers, stylists, architects and many other professions justify their \u2018artistry.\u2019\u201d
\nPatis Tesoro discovered early in her career that this God-given gift is apparently scarce in the local design industry. In fact, her late husband Tito Tesoro was hesitant to reprint her 1994 book, The Art of Philippine Embellishment, as they noticed her designs were being knocked off by more and more businesses. By early 2000, countless imitations filled retail establishments across the metro. Such blatant reproduction made Ms. Tesoro wonder how creativity can be accurately defined, and hence, nurtured. But if genuinely artistic creativity inspires replication, said Mr. Legrenzi, then truly beautiful creations are destined for imitation.
\nAs Ms. Tesoro pondered over how budding artists can honestly create and not merely imitate, she decided to stage \u201cPatikim ni Patis: Product Testing in a Garden Setting\u201d on Oct. 27, at her workshop and residence in San Pablo, Laguna. Her main intention was to initiate a practical discourse on creativity by inviting both experienced and budding artist-entrepreneurs to subject themselves to constructive feedback from the marketplace, which would fuel idea-generation while refining their products and recreating themselves.
\nIn an attempt to deepen the understanding of creativity and its process, Mr. Legrenzi mentioned psychologist Philip Johnson-Laird\u2019s theory on creativity which posed four principles, namely: novelty or new idea; non-determinism; constraints; and the use of collected elements that trigger or feed the creative process (Paolo Legrenzi, Creativity and Innovation, 2013).
\nThese four principles are complemented by some of the categories of creativity discussed by Claribel Bartolome in her article: \u201cFilipino Conceptualizations of Creativity\u201d (Philippine Studies, vol. 39, no. 2, 1991, pp. 212-220). We used concepts from both scholars as a rough guide for our examination of creativity, in light of the works of the \u201cPatikim\u201d artists.
\nCREATIVITY AS NOVELTY OR NEW IDEA
\nAs one of the most common characteristics of creativity, the novelty that comes with a creation or the freshness of an idea, is a basic requirement. A product may be deemed truly creative if it presents a certain level of newness, something that has never been done before.
\nGerman-Filipina textile artist Annatha Lilo Gutierrez, exhibited her ethereal balabals (shawls) alongside Buddhist goddess-themed estampitas (holy cards) and tapises (over skirts) at \u201cPatikim.\u201d Known for her masterful use of silk dyes applied to textile, traditional materials such as jusi, pi\u00f1a, habotai silk, or liniwan shifu serve as the canvas for hand-painted religious icons and inspirational images to create wearable art. Of the process she says: \u201cIt is labor intensive, involving crochet, quilting, and beading. Beads and semi-precious stones are hand-sewn on my paintings. Quilting sets the artwork evenly and firmly on the fabric.\u201d
\n
\nApart from inventiveness and originality, creativity as aesthetics is mentioned by Ms. Bartolome. Here, the aesthetic value of the creative product is stressed, apart from its functionality. Among gifted young designer Clarisse Provido\u2019s new line of accessories launched at \u201cPatikim\u201d was the Hiyas Bag. The hard case clutch was formed in the shape of the native giant clam, covered in a combination of handwoven materials: nito, raffia, and abaca, then finished with a brass buckle and button. \u201cThis purse gives the right amount of elegance to more formal tropical gatherings,\u201d Ms. Provido suggested.
\nFREEDOM, NON-DETERMINISM, AND MINDFULNESS
\nCreativity as a non-deterministic activity considers the freedom of choice artists exercise in their process, such that it is not limited to conforming to previously set rules or requirements. Mr. Legrenzi mentioned a 35-mm film featuring Pablo Picasso drawing on a spotless wall, which exposed his candid approach to deciding what to do next as he finished his work.
\nIn this manner, Ms. Bartolome cites the element of fluency as integral to creativity. She said, \u201cCreativity is the ease with which one can generate ideas and translate such ideas into forms easily understood and appreciated by others.\u201d At \u201cPatikim,\u201d Escolta habitu\u00e9s Bianca Holganza of Alaala Sala, Daniela Calumba, and Celine Mallari of Rumpus Studios, demonstrated fluency in their merchandise.
\nAlaala Sala is a creator of handmade and vintage mementos such as pounded brass cuffs, while Daniela Calumba produces vegan beauty products, beeswax wraps, and ethical jewelry. Rumpus Studios\u2019 ultra chic Celine Mallari was particularly proud of her linen robes, which were ingeniously fashioned to use a single continuous piece of fabric. The soft jackets featured raglan sleeves and came in deep blue, white, and khaki.
\nPicasso spontaneously imagined on his feet and drew aimlessly. He exemplified mindful art therapy, where one is in the present moment and can simply let go of judgment, fear, or deterministic processes. Mindfulness-centered therapies and art activities, therefore support freedom and non-determinism in Johnson-Laird\u2019s theory of creativity.
\nJoyz Dinsay of Nine Lives PH, a one-year-old brand of charming fabric statement earrings, revealed that she found solace in her craft while dealing with her father\u2019s sudden illness and her own ruminations. Recently, she had what she called her \u201cProject Runway moment\u201d while preparing for \u201cPatikim.\u201d The adrenaline surged when, a mere week before the affair, Ms. Tesoro gave her retasos (cloth scraps), which the Baguio-born artist was tasked to incorporate into her pieces. Ms. Dinsay recounted how Ms. Tesoro\u2019s straightforward comments were key in conceiving more elaborate pieces which eventually sold well at the event.
\nMindfulness can also be attributed to the work of blossoming author and surreal impressionist painter Bianca Young Co. At \u201cPatikim,\u201d she read a powerful poem on mental health awareness called \u201cThe Necklace,\u201d from her self-published book: The Shitstorms and Rainbows of Naivety. The collection of writings not only presented a confrontation with life\u2019s uncertainties, but also provided a warm embrace of its imperfections. So moved by her poetry, \u201cPatikim\u201d subsequently became an impromptu book signing for Ms. Co and her first wave of readers.
\n
\nCONSTRAINTS AS STEPPING STONES
\nAt \u201cPatikim,\u201d negative comments were welcomed — encouraged even — as they are necessary stepping stones crucial to the creative process, and is thus congruent with another principle of Johnson-Laird\u2019s theory.
\nMs. Tesoro and her crew are themselves continuously open to constructive criticism. In fact, \u201cPatikim\u201d was also a dry run for them, as they simulated the reopening of the Patis Tito Garden Caf\u00e9 in February 2019. She strongly encouraged guests to give the creators, vendors, and her team the feedback they needed to improve. As she emphasized during the event\u2019s afternoon program, \u201cthis is a learning process for everyone.\u201d
\nConstraints are also the roadblocks or challenges entrepreneurs encounter along the way. Ms. Bartolome mentions the element of flexibility in creativity as necessary because \u201cnew ideas, approaches or products are seen as answers to problems where existing or stereotyped approaches no longer work or have become less efficient.\u201d
\nA duo of former corporate professionals, Valerie Fischer and Skeeter Turgut recently conceived Pinas Sadya: a marketing service innovation that curates and aggregates \u201cpurposeful joy-giving Filipino products.\u201d The business idea was actualized after Ms. Fischer recounted her exciting but harrowing adventures in sourcing local products for her upcoming wedding such as getting lost trying to find the workshop of a supplier, which made her wish that there was a one-stop-shop for all her Filipiniana lifestyle needs. The online store is set to launch in early 2019.
\nTRIGGERING THE CREATIVE PROCESS
\nMs. Tesoro, one of Philippine fashion\u2019s top designers, admitted that she is not free from the pitfalls of creative blocks. Whenever it hits her, she turns to gardening, watching TV, or any activity that will take her mind off her works-in-progress. When asked if she merely waits for the spark to reappear in order to create again, she then suggested the benefits of a more proactive approach: research.
\nThe proactivity of research is aligned with the principle of Johnson-Laird\u2019s theory in that it is necessary to use collected elements that trigger or feed the creative process. For \u201cPatikim,\u201d Ms. Tesoro\u2019s main artwork was her latest architectural feat, At\u2019s Place: A Creative Retreat, named after artist-photographer At Maculangan, who originally built the weekend getaway for his family and friends to enjoy.
\nMs. Bartolome included elaboration as a category of creativity which involves \u201cmaking new formulations out of existing ones through improvisation, and the ability to modify a prototype model.\u201d Ms. Tesoro built on Mr. Maculangan\u2019s original structure by extending the living space, and then adding accents that exude her unique style: such as the endemic flora and fauna trompe l\u2019oeil painted on the ceilings, posts, and staircase. Surrounded by a garden with a wide variety of flowers, edible plants, and trees, it is a place for mindful activities, while receiving the psychological benefits of being one with nature. In this way Ms. Tesoro practiced creativity as synthesis, by building on the work of a colleague, so that their inadvertent collaboration became a testament to their friendship.
\n
\nNEWNESS AND INNOVATION VS REPLICATION
\nMr. Legrenzi stated that \u201ccreativity inspires replication.\u201d Therefore, it can motivate others to either seriously challenge themselves and indeed make something totally new, or to simply adapt elements into their own outputs in the hopes of earning the same recognition. Ms. Bartolome, however, stressed that at its core, a creative work is inventive and original. If patterns and adornments have been employed in exactly the same manner, it is safe to consider it a replica, and even void of creative talent. If it has been translated to the creator\u2019s unique vision and interpreted in her own style, thus giving birth to an original piece, then it is a product of true creativity. Ms. Bartolome maintains that, \u201cNewness is novelty out of the ordinary; a change from the regular way of doing things, renovation, rejuvenation or regeneration.\u201d
\nZarah Juan, celebrated contemporary Filipiniana designer known for her signature creations such as a funky jeepney-shaped wicker bag, was most impressed by how the budding entrepreneurs presented such clear visions of their burgeoning brands. \u201cTheir high level of confidence shows a deep commitment and passion for their craft.\u201d Ms. Juan is a champion of indigenous artisans as she has successfully helped various communities become centers of sustainable livelihood. She was joined at \u201cPatikim\u201d by some of the founders of the Arte Fino pop up bazaar, which happens at least once a year, and features up-to-date homegrown items.
\nMs. Bartolome also mentions \u201ctangible manifestations of creativity as having a functional purpose aside from aesthetic satisfaction,\u201d which should benefit the common good. Just like how indigo natural dye artisan Yana Ofrasio zealously communicated her mission to generate appreciation and respect for malatayum (the endemic source of the coveted deep blue hue) to the \u201cPatikim\u201d audience. \u201cCreativity is piecing together what you love to do and what you\u2019re good at, then using that to help people care and see good in the world again,\u201d Ms. Ofrasio declared.
\nBREWING THE SPARK
\n\u201cYou don\u2019t wait for the spark. You work towards that spark,\u201d Ms. Tesoro exclaimed, when asked how she manifests original ideas. In a similar manner, Ms. Provido accepts that the spark is sometimes elusive, which helps in overcoming a creative hump. \u201cCreativity and inspiration are never passive, they are constantly in motion,\u201d she said. Creative block occurs when artists, designers, and writers complain of being drained of fresh ideas, or being devoid of inspiration to produce something new, may it be a painting, a product, or a story.
\nMr. Legrenzi may have a solution for overcoming blocks when he tried to address a yet broader question, can we actually learn to be truly creative? Though he admitted that \u201cno one will ever be able to provide us with an algorithm for creativity or innovation,\u201d he suggested self examination as a first step in getting one\u2019s creative juices flowing. By reassessing if the block is concrete or abstract, the solutions become within reach.
\nIf a block is manifested in the real world — a need for a better workplace, for instance — the problem can be logically addressed (i.e. renting a co-working space). The complication arises when it is abstract or exists only in the mind of the creator or of others. In this case, Mr. Legrenzi names empathy, social creativity, and emotional intelligence, as helpful in overcoming constraints.
\nNURTURING CREATIVES
\nDriven with a vision to inspire and hone creativity, inaugurating At\u2019s Place for \u201cPatikim\u201d was a big first step for Patis Tesoro\u2019s team, as they move closer to launching a series of mentorship programs in February 2019, called SINULID or Space for Innovative Universal Lifestyle and Indigenous Design. SINULID workshops aim to provide an experience of convalescence through creativity. The modules are currently being fully defined but generally, SINULID will carry on what \u201cPatikim\u201d started — gathering thriving artisans in a creative retreat and immersing them in activities that will further hone their craft.
\nThe \u201cPatikim ni Patis\u201d experience can also be considered an act of coming home. Creatives and enthusiasts congregated in an unassuming and fresh environment where they were free to express their passion for the homegrown and the handmade. There was respect, appreciation, and love for Filipiniana arts and crafts. Just like a nurturing home.

\n", "content_text": "By Emicon Mendenilla and Nina Tesoro-Poblador\n\nWhat in the world is this nebulous construct called creativity, anyway? The mere mention of the buzzword can make even the most erudite tongue-tied. Vastly cited Italian behavioural scientist Paolo Legrenzi describes creativity as a justification of artistry. In his 2013 publication, Creativity and Innovation, he cites architect Vittorio Gregotti: \u201cEvery work of architecture seems to be justified by the term creativity, which by now is used to define every aesthetic act (diffused aesthetics has overwhelmed us) with which designers, advertisers, stylists, architects and many other professions justify their \u2018artistry.\u2019\u201d\nPatis Tesoro discovered early in her career that this God-given gift is apparently scarce in the local design industry. In fact, her late husband Tito Tesoro was hesitant to reprint her 1994 book, The Art of Philippine Embellishment, as they noticed her designs were being knocked off by more and more businesses. By early 2000, countless imitations filled retail establishments across the metro. Such blatant reproduction made Ms. Tesoro wonder how creativity can be accurately defined, and hence, nurtured. But if genuinely artistic creativity inspires replication, said Mr. Legrenzi, then truly beautiful creations are destined for imitation.\nAs Ms. Tesoro pondered over how budding artists can honestly create and not merely imitate, she decided to stage \u201cPatikim ni Patis: Product Testing in a Garden Setting\u201d on Oct. 27, at her workshop and residence in San Pablo, Laguna. Her main intention was to initiate a practical discourse on creativity by inviting both experienced and budding artist-entrepreneurs to subject themselves to constructive feedback from the marketplace, which would fuel idea-generation while refining their products and recreating themselves.\nIn an attempt to deepen the understanding of creativity and its process, Mr. Legrenzi mentioned psychologist Philip Johnson-Laird\u2019s theory on creativity which posed four principles, namely: novelty or new idea; non-determinism; constraints; and the use of collected elements that trigger or feed the creative process (Paolo Legrenzi, Creativity and Innovation, 2013).\nThese four principles are complemented by some of the categories of creativity discussed by Claribel Bartolome in her article: \u201cFilipino Conceptualizations of Creativity\u201d (Philippine Studies, vol. 39, no. 2, 1991, pp. 212-220). We used concepts from both scholars as a rough guide for our examination of creativity, in light of the works of the \u201cPatikim\u201d artists.\nCREATIVITY AS NOVELTY OR NEW IDEA\nAs one of the most common characteristics of creativity, the novelty that comes with a creation or the freshness of an idea, is a basic requirement. A product may be deemed truly creative if it presents a certain level of newness, something that has never been done before.\nGerman-Filipina textile artist Annatha Lilo Gutierrez, exhibited her ethereal balabals (shawls) alongside Buddhist goddess-themed estampitas (holy cards) and tapises (over skirts) at \u201cPatikim.\u201d Known for her masterful use of silk dyes applied to textile, traditional materials such as jusi, pi\u00f1a, habotai silk, or liniwan shifu serve as the canvas for hand-painted religious icons and inspirational images to create wearable art. Of the process she says: \u201cIt is labor intensive, involving crochet, quilting, and beading. Beads and semi-precious stones are hand-sewn on my paintings. Quilting sets the artwork evenly and firmly on the fabric.\u201d\n\nApart from inventiveness and originality, creativity as aesthetics is mentioned by Ms. Bartolome. Here, the aesthetic value of the creative product is stressed, apart from its functionality. Among gifted young designer Clarisse Provido\u2019s new line of accessories launched at \u201cPatikim\u201d was the Hiyas Bag. The hard case clutch was formed in the shape of the native giant clam, covered in a combination of handwoven materials: nito, raffia, and abaca, then finished with a brass buckle and button. \u201cThis purse gives the right amount of elegance to more formal tropical gatherings,\u201d Ms. Provido suggested.\nFREEDOM, NON-DETERMINISM, AND MINDFULNESS\nCreativity as a non-deterministic activity considers the freedom of choice artists exercise in their process, such that it is not limited to conforming to previously set rules or requirements. Mr. Legrenzi mentioned a 35-mm film featuring Pablo Picasso drawing on a spotless wall, which exposed his candid approach to deciding what to do next as he finished his work.\nIn this manner, Ms. Bartolome cites the element of fluency as integral to creativity. She said, \u201cCreativity is the ease with which one can generate ideas and translate such ideas into forms easily understood and appreciated by others.\u201d At \u201cPatikim,\u201d Escolta habitu\u00e9s Bianca Holganza of Alaala Sala, Daniela Calumba, and Celine Mallari of Rumpus Studios, demonstrated fluency in their merchandise.\nAlaala Sala is a creator of handmade and vintage mementos such as pounded brass cuffs, while Daniela Calumba produces vegan beauty products, beeswax wraps, and ethical jewelry. Rumpus Studios\u2019 ultra chic Celine Mallari was particularly proud of her linen robes, which were ingeniously fashioned to use a single continuous piece of fabric. The soft jackets featured raglan sleeves and came in deep blue, white, and khaki.\nPicasso spontaneously imagined on his feet and drew aimlessly. He exemplified mindful art therapy, where one is in the present moment and can simply let go of judgment, fear, or deterministic processes. Mindfulness-centered therapies and art activities, therefore support freedom and non-determinism in Johnson-Laird\u2019s theory of creativity.\nJoyz Dinsay of Nine Lives PH, a one-year-old brand of charming fabric statement earrings, revealed that she found solace in her craft while dealing with her father\u2019s sudden illness and her own ruminations. Recently, she had what she called her \u201cProject Runway moment\u201d while preparing for \u201cPatikim.\u201d The adrenaline surged when, a mere week before the affair, Ms. Tesoro gave her retasos (cloth scraps), which the Baguio-born artist was tasked to incorporate into her pieces. Ms. Dinsay recounted how Ms. Tesoro\u2019s straightforward comments were key in conceiving more elaborate pieces which eventually sold well at the event.\nMindfulness can also be attributed to the work of blossoming author and surreal impressionist painter Bianca Young Co. At \u201cPatikim,\u201d she read a powerful poem on mental health awareness called \u201cThe Necklace,\u201d from her self-published book: The Shitstorms and Rainbows of Naivety. The collection of writings not only presented a confrontation with life\u2019s uncertainties, but also provided a warm embrace of its imperfections. So moved by her poetry, \u201cPatikim\u201d subsequently became an impromptu book signing for Ms. Co and her first wave of readers.\n\nCONSTRAINTS AS STEPPING STONES\nAt \u201cPatikim,\u201d negative comments were welcomed — encouraged even — as they are necessary stepping stones crucial to the creative process, and is thus congruent with another principle of Johnson-Laird\u2019s theory.\nMs. Tesoro and her crew are themselves continuously open to constructive criticism. In fact, \u201cPatikim\u201d was also a dry run for them, as they simulated the reopening of the Patis Tito Garden Caf\u00e9 in February 2019. She strongly encouraged guests to give the creators, vendors, and her team the feedback they needed to improve. As she emphasized during the event\u2019s afternoon program, \u201cthis is a learning process for everyone.\u201d\nConstraints are also the roadblocks or challenges entrepreneurs encounter along the way. Ms. Bartolome mentions the element of flexibility in creativity as necessary because \u201cnew ideas, approaches or products are seen as answers to problems where existing or stereotyped approaches no longer work or have become less efficient.\u201d\nA duo of former corporate professionals, Valerie Fischer and Skeeter Turgut recently conceived Pinas Sadya: a marketing service innovation that curates and aggregates \u201cpurposeful joy-giving Filipino products.\u201d The business idea was actualized after Ms. Fischer recounted her exciting but harrowing adventures in sourcing local products for her upcoming wedding such as getting lost trying to find the workshop of a supplier, which made her wish that there was a one-stop-shop for all her Filipiniana lifestyle needs. The online store is set to launch in early 2019.\nTRIGGERING THE CREATIVE PROCESS\nMs. Tesoro, one of Philippine fashion\u2019s top designers, admitted that she is not free from the pitfalls of creative blocks. Whenever it hits her, she turns to gardening, watching TV, or any activity that will take her mind off her works-in-progress. When asked if she merely waits for the spark to reappear in order to create again, she then suggested the benefits of a more proactive approach: research.\nThe proactivity of research is aligned with the principle of Johnson-Laird\u2019s theory in that it is necessary to use collected elements that trigger or feed the creative process. For \u201cPatikim,\u201d Ms. Tesoro\u2019s main artwork was her latest architectural feat, At\u2019s Place: A Creative Retreat, named after artist-photographer At Maculangan, who originally built the weekend getaway for his family and friends to enjoy.\nMs. Bartolome included elaboration as a category of creativity which involves \u201cmaking new formulations out of existing ones through improvisation, and the ability to modify a prototype model.\u201d Ms. Tesoro built on Mr. Maculangan\u2019s original structure by extending the living space, and then adding accents that exude her unique style: such as the endemic flora and fauna trompe l\u2019oeil painted on the ceilings, posts, and staircase. Surrounded by a garden with a wide variety of flowers, edible plants, and trees, it is a place for mindful activities, while receiving the psychological benefits of being one with nature. In this way Ms. Tesoro practiced creativity as synthesis, by building on the work of a colleague, so that their inadvertent collaboration became a testament to their friendship.\n\nNEWNESS AND INNOVATION VS REPLICATION\nMr. Legrenzi stated that \u201ccreativity inspires replication.\u201d Therefore, it can motivate others to either seriously challenge themselves and indeed make something totally new, or to simply adapt elements into their own outputs in the hopes of earning the same recognition. Ms. Bartolome, however, stressed that at its core, a creative work is inventive and original. If patterns and adornments have been employed in exactly the same manner, it is safe to consider it a replica, and even void of creative talent. If it has been translated to the creator\u2019s unique vision and interpreted in her own style, thus giving birth to an original piece, then it is a product of true creativity. Ms. Bartolome maintains that, \u201cNewness is novelty out of the ordinary; a change from the regular way of doing things, renovation, rejuvenation or regeneration.\u201d\nZarah Juan, celebrated contemporary Filipiniana designer known for her signature creations such as a funky jeepney-shaped wicker bag, was most impressed by how the budding entrepreneurs presented such clear visions of their burgeoning brands. \u201cTheir high level of confidence shows a deep commitment and passion for their craft.\u201d Ms. Juan is a champion of indigenous artisans as she has successfully helped various communities become centers of sustainable livelihood. She was joined at \u201cPatikim\u201d by some of the founders of the Arte Fino pop up bazaar, which happens at least once a year, and features up-to-date homegrown items.\nMs. Bartolome also mentions \u201ctangible manifestations of creativity as having a functional purpose aside from aesthetic satisfaction,\u201d which should benefit the common good. Just like how indigo natural dye artisan Yana Ofrasio zealously communicated her mission to generate appreciation and respect for malatayum (the endemic source of the coveted deep blue hue) to the \u201cPatikim\u201d audience. \u201cCreativity is piecing together what you love to do and what you\u2019re good at, then using that to help people care and see good in the world again,\u201d Ms. Ofrasio declared.\nBREWING THE SPARK\n\u201cYou don\u2019t wait for the spark. You work towards that spark,\u201d Ms. Tesoro exclaimed, when asked how she manifests original ideas. In a similar manner, Ms. Provido accepts that the spark is sometimes elusive, which helps in overcoming a creative hump. \u201cCreativity and inspiration are never passive, they are constantly in motion,\u201d she said. Creative block occurs when artists, designers, and writers complain of being drained of fresh ideas, or being devoid of inspiration to produce something new, may it be a painting, a product, or a story.\nMr. Legrenzi may have a solution for overcoming blocks when he tried to address a yet broader question, can we actually learn to be truly creative? Though he admitted that \u201cno one will ever be able to provide us with an algorithm for creativity or innovation,\u201d he suggested self examination as a first step in getting one\u2019s creative juices flowing. By reassessing if the block is concrete or abstract, the solutions become within reach.\nIf a block is manifested in the real world — a need for a better workplace, for instance — the problem can be logically addressed (i.e. renting a co-working space). The complication arises when it is abstract or exists only in the mind of the creator or of others. In this case, Mr. Legrenzi names empathy, social creativity, and emotional intelligence, as helpful in overcoming constraints.\nNURTURING CREATIVES\nDriven with a vision to inspire and hone creativity, inaugurating At\u2019s Place for \u201cPatikim\u201d was a big first step for Patis Tesoro\u2019s team, as they move closer to launching a series of mentorship programs in February 2019, called SINULID or Space for Innovative Universal Lifestyle and Indigenous Design. SINULID workshops aim to provide an experience of convalescence through creativity. The modules are currently being fully defined but generally, SINULID will carry on what \u201cPatikim\u201d started — gathering thriving artisans in a creative retreat and immersing them in activities that will further hone their craft.\nThe \u201cPatikim ni Patis\u201d experience can also be considered an act of coming home. Creatives and enthusiasts congregated in an unassuming and fresh environment where they were free to express their passion for the homegrown and the handmade. There was respect, appreciation, and love for Filipiniana arts and crafts. Just like a nurturing home.", "date_published": "2018-12-07T00:30:40+08:00", "date_modified": "2018-12-07T00:30:40+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "creativity", "Emicon Mendenilla", "fashion", "Featured", "nina tesoro-poblador", "Patis Tesoro", "Focus", "Weekender" ], "summary": "What in the world is this nebulous construct called creativity, anyway? The mere mention of the buzzword can make even the most erudite tongue-tied. Vastly cited Italian behavioural scientist Paolo Legrenzi describes creativity as a justification of artistry. In his 2013 publication, Creativity and Innovation, he cites architect Vittorio Gregotti: \u201cEvery work of architecture seems to be justified by the term creativity, which by now is used to define every aesthetic act (diffused aesthetics has overwhelmed us) with which designers, advertisers, stylists, architects and many other professions justify their \u2018artistry.\u2019\u201d" }, { "id": "https://www.bworldonline.com/?p=203134", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/staying-in/2018/12/07/203134/two-women-2/", "title": "Two women", "content_html": "


\nBy Noel Vera
\nVideo Review
\nTatlong Taong
\nWalang Diyos
\n(Three Years Without God)
\nDirected by Mario O\u2019Hara
\nLAST October my mother died.
\nWhich to the world at large may not mean much. But it was with her in mind that I saw the digitally restored version of Mario O\u2019Hara\u2019s Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos (Three Years Without God, 1976), recently released on iTunes.
\n(Warning! Story details and plot twists are explicitly discussed)
\nNot an inappropriate choice. I was in a dark mood and the film \u2014 well the opening narration says it all: three years so awful the people felt abandoned by God. The film opens with the start of World War 2: Rosario (Nora Aunor) is engaged to Crispin (Bembol Roco), who leaves her to fight the Japanese. Japanese officer Masugi (Christopher de Leon) rapes Rosario, leaving her pregnant with two unhappy alternatives: to resist Masugi\u2019s offer of marriage and starve with the rest of her fellow Filipinos, or accept the offer and be called a Japanese sympathizer (or worse).
\nFollowing Rosario\u2019s story I realized: Rosario at some level is my mother. Not that my mother experienced war and its horrors or that she was ever caught in an indelicate position between two suitors but this: the world was convinced that it was right and she was wrong. And no matter what she did or how much she tried to change things, the world remained convinced that it was right and that she was still wrong.
\nMy mother\u2019s sin was to marry into a wealthy family. Oh she worked hard to be accepted; she went back to school and studied veterinary medicine (she already had a business administration degree) to help in the family\u2019s farming operations. She bore two children \u2014 me and my twin brother \u2014 which ideally should have delighted all involved. But, the nature of my family being what it is (And who am I to judge when something acts according to its nature?), there was always tension. My mother, being strongwilled, never gave up trying \u2014 first, to be brought into their good graces; later, to be free of their hold and influence.
\nRosario never did anything by halves. When she\u2019s set against something \u2014 against Masugi\u2019s proposal to make her a Japanese officer\u2019s (a lieutenant from the look of his insignia) wife \u2014 she\u2019s feet-planted-firmly-in-the-ground against it, despite repeated pleading from Masugi (who says he wants to do right by her) and from her mother. When my mother once left my father after an especially bitter fight, she took me along (I was \u2014 what \u2014 seven or eight years old?) and fled to the provinces. Only me? What about my father? What about my brother, from whom I\u2019d never been separated? But she was furious, and would not be contradicted.
\nRosario relents; so eventually did my mother. While capable of change, it\u2019s not easy for these women; O\u2019Hara measures the depth of that change from the tip of Rosario\u2019s arms, sitting atop a high bridge, to the rocky bottom of a chasm below. I measured my mother\u2019s anger by the miles she drove me away from home. When Rosario changed course, she stuck to that course for the rest of the war; when my mother came back to my father, she stayed with him for the rest of her life \u2014 bore him four more girls in fact, all of which I suspect are more emotionally mature than I can ever be.
\nAnd the world still would not forgive either women, would not let them forget they were outsiders, would not let them forget they were wrong. Did I say my mother never experienced war? She was in constant battle. Arguably the most desperate, most exhausting conflicts are fought not between nations or peoples but within a nation or people \u2014 or, if you like, within a family.
\nIt cost my mother dearly, I think; part of that cost is the suppression of affection between us. If I want to drive myself crazy I try untangle that complex knot of feelings festering in my head: why did it happen and who is to blame? Sometimes I assign all fault to myself, sometimes to no one. Sometimes I look hard on myself and see the disappointment I must have been to her. Sometimes I theorize (Fantasize?) that in her need to finally be rid of my father\u2019s family altogether and live life with her husband and children as she sees fit, everything else fell away in her eyes, including (though she may not have intended it) myself. Sometimes I think my mother\u2019s private war was so exhausting, so full of despair, I had to get away from her to survive myself.
\nHow bad did things get? When I heard news of her death (I hadn\u2019t seen her in 15 years) not a tear. I was stone inside.
\nI watch Rosario as the war wound down to its end and I see how the world narrows around her, how a Japanese officer\u2019s wife \u2014 his whore, as many folks call her \u2014 is forced to run in smaller and smaller circles, seeking escape. She can\u2019t afford to be nice; when the city is bombed and her housemaid goes into hysterics she slaps the young girl, drags her away. The world is falling apart and her focus is sharpened into a microscopic point: the need to keep her family safe. The need to stay by her husband\u2019s side.
\nI thought of my mother in the months after her third stroke, her world narrowed down to a single bed, paralyzed, unable to speak, barely able to see and touch and hear. And still for all I know loyal to her husband, still fighting that war inside her head.
\nThe world, after its great depression, its simmering wars, its escalating nationalist and political and racial tensions, seems to have less and less use for art, for the way art refracts life, the way it unsettles us and startles us into seeing that life in a new way. I don\u2019t know; I disagree. I take a stand with my mother against the world and assert \u2014 never mind if I\u2019m wrong \u2014 that while life has primary importance, art still has lasting value. I have many reasons for being fond of this film, and have found a new one: in its profound empathy for its characters, good or evil right or wrong, it has brought my mother back to me.

\n", "content_text": "By Noel Vera\nVideo Review\nTatlong Taong\nWalang Diyos\n(Three Years Without God)\nDirected by Mario O\u2019Hara\nLAST October my mother died.\nWhich to the world at large may not mean much. But it was with her in mind that I saw the digitally restored version of Mario O\u2019Hara\u2019s Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos (Three Years Without God, 1976), recently released on iTunes.\n(Warning! Story details and plot twists are explicitly discussed)\nNot an inappropriate choice. I was in a dark mood and the film \u2014 well the opening narration says it all: three years so awful the people felt abandoned by God. The film opens with the start of World War 2: Rosario (Nora Aunor) is engaged to Crispin (Bembol Roco), who leaves her to fight the Japanese. Japanese officer Masugi (Christopher de Leon) rapes Rosario, leaving her pregnant with two unhappy alternatives: to resist Masugi\u2019s offer of marriage and starve with the rest of her fellow Filipinos, or accept the offer and be called a Japanese sympathizer (or worse).\nFollowing Rosario\u2019s story I realized: Rosario at some level is my mother. Not that my mother experienced war and its horrors or that she was ever caught in an indelicate position between two suitors but this: the world was convinced that it was right and she was wrong. And no matter what she did or how much she tried to change things, the world remained convinced that it was right and that she was still wrong.\nMy mother\u2019s sin was to marry into a wealthy family. Oh she worked hard to be accepted; she went back to school and studied veterinary medicine (she already had a business administration degree) to help in the family\u2019s farming operations. She bore two children \u2014 me and my twin brother \u2014 which ideally should have delighted all involved. But, the nature of my family being what it is (And who am I to judge when something acts according to its nature?), there was always tension. My mother, being strongwilled, never gave up trying \u2014 first, to be brought into their good graces; later, to be free of their hold and influence.\nRosario never did anything by halves. When she\u2019s set against something \u2014 against Masugi\u2019s proposal to make her a Japanese officer\u2019s (a lieutenant from the look of his insignia) wife \u2014 she\u2019s feet-planted-firmly-in-the-ground against it, despite repeated pleading from Masugi (who says he wants to do right by her) and from her mother. When my mother once left my father after an especially bitter fight, she took me along (I was \u2014 what \u2014 seven or eight years old?) and fled to the provinces. Only me? What about my father? What about my brother, from whom I\u2019d never been separated? But she was furious, and would not be contradicted.\nRosario relents; so eventually did my mother. While capable of change, it\u2019s not easy for these women; O\u2019Hara measures the depth of that change from the tip of Rosario\u2019s arms, sitting atop a high bridge, to the rocky bottom of a chasm below. I measured my mother\u2019s anger by the miles she drove me away from home. When Rosario changed course, she stuck to that course for the rest of the war; when my mother came back to my father, she stayed with him for the rest of her life \u2014 bore him four more girls in fact, all of which I suspect are more emotionally mature than I can ever be.\nAnd the world still would not forgive either women, would not let them forget they were outsiders, would not let them forget they were wrong. Did I say my mother never experienced war? She was in constant battle. Arguably the most desperate, most exhausting conflicts are fought not between nations or peoples but within a nation or people \u2014 or, if you like, within a family.\nIt cost my mother dearly, I think; part of that cost is the suppression of affection between us. If I want to drive myself crazy I try untangle that complex knot of feelings festering in my head: why did it happen and who is to blame? Sometimes I assign all fault to myself, sometimes to no one. Sometimes I look hard on myself and see the disappointment I must have been to her. Sometimes I theorize (Fantasize?) that in her need to finally be rid of my father\u2019s family altogether and live life with her husband and children as she sees fit, everything else fell away in her eyes, including (though she may not have intended it) myself. Sometimes I think my mother\u2019s private war was so exhausting, so full of despair, I had to get away from her to survive myself.\nHow bad did things get? When I heard news of her death (I hadn\u2019t seen her in 15 years) not a tear. I was stone inside.\nI watch Rosario as the war wound down to its end and I see how the world narrows around her, how a Japanese officer\u2019s wife \u2014 his whore, as many folks call her \u2014 is forced to run in smaller and smaller circles, seeking escape. She can\u2019t afford to be nice; when the city is bombed and her housemaid goes into hysterics she slaps the young girl, drags her away. The world is falling apart and her focus is sharpened into a microscopic point: the need to keep her family safe. The need to stay by her husband\u2019s side.\nI thought of my mother in the months after her third stroke, her world narrowed down to a single bed, paralyzed, unable to speak, barely able to see and touch and hear. And still for all I know loyal to her husband, still fighting that war inside her head.\nThe world, after its great depression, its simmering wars, its escalating nationalist and political and racial tensions, seems to have less and less use for art, for the way art refracts life, the way it unsettles us and startles us into seeing that life in a new way. I don\u2019t know; I disagree. I take a stand with my mother against the world and assert \u2014 never mind if I\u2019m wrong \u2014 that while life has primary importance, art still has lasting value. I have many reasons for being fond of this film, and have found a new one: in its profound empathy for its characters, good or evil right or wrong, it has brought my mother back to me.", "date_published": "2018-12-07T00:02:10+08:00", "date_modified": "2018-12-07T00:02:10+08:00", "authors": [ { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "BusinessWorld", "url": "https://www.bworldonline.com/author/cedadiantityclea/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/eda8ffc51ac7ec8b231b61b4c6a0d14e?s=512&d=mm&r=g" }, "tags": [ "Features", "Movie", "Noel Vera", "Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos", "video review", "Staying In", "Weekender" ], "summary": "LAST October my mother died.\n" } ] }