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Bouquets of dried flowers are sold from PHP95 to PHP1,500 at a mall in Davao City on Wednesday (Feb. 1, 2023). Less than two weeks before Valentine’s Day, the vendors said the prices of these
products would not increase even as the occasion is approaching.
More needs to be fixed,
clarified on Maharlika
bill: Escudero
BY WILNARD BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The proposed Maharlika In-
vestment Fund (MIF) has some “unclear”
provisions, including investment gains and
composition of its board of directors, in
both the House and Senate versions, Sena-
tor Francis Escudero said Wednesday.
Escudero on Wednesday sought clari-
fications from the government economic
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FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2023 Philippine News 3

PBBM signs EO on PH Dev’t Plan for 2023-2028

BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. has signed an
executive order (EO) approving
and adopting the Philippine De-
velopment Plan (PDP) for the
period 2023-2028, an economic
recovery roadmap that aims to
help the country achieve “eco-
nomic and social transforma-
tion” amid the impact of rising
inflation and Covid-19.
Under EO No. 14, signed by
Marcos on Jan. 27, the PDP is
the second medium-term plan
anchored on “AmBisyon Natin
2040,” seeking to “bring back
the country to a high-growth
trajectory and more important-
ly, enable economic and social
transformation for a prosperous,
inclusive and resilient society.”
AmBisyon Natin 2040 serves
as a guide for development
planning from 2016-2040 to
enable Filipinos to attain a
“matatag, maginhawa at pana-
tag na buhay (stable, comfort-
able and secure life).”
The PDP is also anchored on
Marcos’ 8-Point Socioeconom-
ic Agenda, which seeks to “rein-
vigorate job creation and accel-
erate poverty reduction while
addressing the issues brought
by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The National Economic
and Development Authority
(NEDA) Board, which is head-
ed by the President, approved
the PDP 2023-2028 on Dec.
16 last year following a series
of Cabinet-level and technical
inter-agency discussions and
stakeholder consultations.
“We approved the Philippine
Development Plan for 2023 to
2028 and this sets out the frame-
work of the development plan
for the Philippines and we have
included all of the priority areas.
This will facilitate the coordina-
tion and the alignment of all de-
partments and all agencies in gov-
ernment to a single plan so that
we are all working in the same di-
rection,” Marcos said in his mes-
sage announcing the approval of
the PDP on Dec. 16 last year.
EO No. 14 directs all nation-
al government agencies, gov-
ernment-owned or -controlled
corporations (GOCCs), gov-
ernment financial institutions procedures and must be includ- of the PDP 2023-2028.
(GFIs), other national govern- ed in the budget of concerned Socioeconomic Planning
ment offices and instrumental- departments, agencies and in- Secretary Arsenio Balisacan
ities, government corporate en- strumentalities of the national said the 9 percent goal by 2028
tities (GCEs), state universities government under the annual is achievable through the gov-
and colleges (SUCs) and local General Appropriations Act. ernment’s three-pronged ap-
government units (LGUs) to Earlier, members of the gov- proach, which involves bring-
adopt and disseminate the PDP ernment’s economic team ex- ing growth to a higher level,
2023-2028. pressed confidence that the enhancing the quality of growth
They are also directed to Marcos administration will through the creation of quality
align their budgetary and de- succeed in bringing down the jobs, and improving the social
partment/corporate programs poverty rate to 9 percent by protection system. ■
with the strategies and activi- 2028, which is among the goals
ties identified in the PDP 2023-
2028.
The formulation of the PDP
2023-2028 must be complet-
ed by the first quarter of 2023
and updated annually or when
deemed necessary by the
NEDA.
The Department of Budget
and Management must provide
the necessary budgetary sup-
port for the implementation,
monitoring, assessment and
implementation of the PDP
and Public Investment Pro-
gram (PIP) 2023-2028 while
appropriations for its contin-
ued implementation must be
prepared in accordance with
regular government budget Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (PCO)

PBBM eyes creation of P1-B housing subsidy

BY RUTH ABBEY GITA-
CARLOS
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday
bared that he is eyeing a PHP1
billion housing subsidy fund
for the recipients of the govern-
ment’s low-cost housing units.
Marcos made the pronounce-
ment during the groundbreaking
ceremony of the housing project
under the Pambansang Pabahay
Para sa Pilipino Housing (4PH)
Program and walkthrough of the
Batasan Development Renewal
Plan at the Batasan Tricycle Op-
erators and Drivers’ Association
(BaTODA) Terminal in Batasan
Hills, Quezon City.
He said he and Department
of Human Settlements and Ur-
ban Development (DHSUD)
Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar
are studying the creation of the
subsidy fund to help beneficia-
ries who could not afford the
monthly amortization of the
housing units.
“We are still left with a fact Marcos thanked the DH- ing interest support for 2023,” to become both commercial
that many of our beneficiaries SUD for leading the national Marcos said. “I now call on Con- and residential.
will still not be able to afford the government’s flagship housing gress for your support, including The plans include the use of the
monthly amortization of these program, as well as the Quezon housing interest support as part lot’s ground floor for the improved
units,” Marcos said, reiterating City local government for its of the regular appropriations for BaTODA terminal, the biggest
his vow to provide “decent and support and allocation of land the succeeding years.” Tricycle Operators and Drivers
affordable housing for every and financial resources for the He emphasized that the de- Association in the Philippines.
Filipino family.” housing project. velopment of sustainable hu- The BaTODA members will
“Pinag-aaralan namin ni Sec- He expressed hope that Con- man settlements would help his be among the priority benefi-
retary Acuzar ang administration re- ciaries of the project. Marcos
pagtatayo ng sub- alize its bid to build said the groundbreaking of the
sidy fund para dito “better, more resil- first phase of the Batasan De-
sa ating housing ient, and more equi- velopment Urban Renewal Plan
program. Siguro, table communities.” is “only the beginning of the
maglalagay tayo di- The Batasan De- one of the largest projects” un-
yan, ‘pag nakahanap The government is committed velopment Urban der the government’s flagship
tayo ng pera, mga Renewal Master housing program.
PHP1 billion to start
to secure the needed housing Plan, spearheaded “Slowly but surely, we will be
with para meron interest support for 2023, by the DHSUD, will able to achieve our greatest as-
tayong subsidy na see the completion pirations for the nation, includ-
ibibigay para sa ating of three main sites ing the dream for a decent and
magiging tenant at the Batasan Road affordable housing for every
(Secretary Acuzar Development, NGC- Filipino family,” he said.
and I are studying West Controlled “Those living here in the
the possibility of es- Economic Zone, and surrounding areas will have
tablishing a subsidy fund for our gress would heed his call to the Manotoc Property. complete access to markets, to
housing program. Perhaps, if we make the housing interest sup- The first phase of the Batasan schools, to hospitals and various
find a funding source, we will al- port as part of the regular appro- area’s redevelopment will in- means of making income so they
lot PHP1 billion to start with the priations for the coming years. clude the construction of two will prosper and get to see their
distribution of subsidies for our “The government is commit- 33-story buildings with a total goals and dreams come to life.” ■
future tenants),” he added. ted to secure the needed hous- of 2,160 housing units planned
www.canadianinquirer.net
4 Philippine News
Rex Gatchalian named
new DSWD chief
BY RUTH ABBEY GITA-
CARLOS
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. has designat-
ed Valenzuela 1st District Rep.
Rex Gatchalian as the new head
of the Department of Social Wel-
fare and Development (DSWD).
Marcos administered the
oath of office to Gatchalian as
DSWD secretary in a ceremo-
ny held at Malacañan Palace in
Manila on Tuesday, based on a
video shared by the Presidential
Communications Office (PCO).
Gatchalian’s oath taking co-
incided with the celebration of
the department’s 72nd found-
ing anniversary.
The DSWD was under the
supervision of officer-in-charge
Undersecretary Eduardo Punay
since December last year after
the ad interim appointment of
former Social Welfare Secretary
Erwin Tulfo was bypassed by the
Commission on Appointments.
Before his appointment to the
Cabinet post, Gatchalian served
as representative of the first dis-
trict of Valenzuela City in the
House of Representatives.
Bantag loses appeal to
bar DOJ prosecutors from
murder probe
BY BENJAMIN PULTA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Prosecutors
conducting the preliminary
investigation into the murder
case against cashiered Bureau
of Corrections (BuCor) direc-
tor general Gerald Bantag said
Tuesday they have denied a mo-
tion for reconsideration for the
Department of Justice (DOJ) to
back off and refer the case to the
Office of the Ombudsman.
Senior Assistant State Prose-
cutor Charlie Guhit confirmed
to the media that the prosecu-
tion panel has “issued an order
Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. with newly appointed DSWD Secretary Rex
Gatchalian (BONGBONG MARCOS/FACEBOOK)
He also worked as Valenzu-
ela City’s 26th mayor and con-
gressman under the 14th and
15th Congress.
He likewise served as pres-
ident of the Waterfront Hotel
and Casinos and was a board
member of several private firms.
Gatchalian graduated cum
laude from the George Wash-
ington University with a bache-
lor’s degree in political science,
with secondary fields of study
in marketing and psychology.
The PCO also noted that
Gatchalian gained prominence
for social protection and disas-
denying the motion for recon-
sideration filed by Bantag.”
Bantag and other respon-
dents, including persons de-
prived of liberty, have until Feb.
8 to formally dispute the charges
arising from the death of broad-
caster Percival “Ka Percy Lapid ”
Mabasa and inmate Jun Villam-
or in October last year.
Villamor was the supposed
middleman in the alleged mur-
der-for-hire contract.
Guhit said if the defense side
fails to file counter-affidavits, the
prosecution may opt to submit
the case for resolution “given the
limited period for the conduct of
preliminary investigation.“
ter response programs.
Malacañang acknowledged
Gatchalian’s excellent leader-
ship, giving Valenzuela City the
opportunity to grab three spots
in the Top 10 Outstanding Local
Governance Programs at the
2021 Galing Pook Awards.
In 2021, the Valenzuela City
government led by Gatchalian
was honored for its “Valenzuela
Live” program for digital earn-
ing, the “Tagalag Fishing Vil-
lage” project for livelihood and
eco-tourism, and the “Paspas
Permit” online business permit
application platform. ■
Rocky Balisong, Bantag’s
counsel, filed the appeal for
reconsideration following the
Jan. 17 order of the DOJ to turn
down the plea for inhibition.
“No room for inhibition can
be had in these cases,” the DOJ
said in rejecting the motion
filed by Bantag’s camp. “Appar-
ently, for the panel to inhibit
the entire DOJ is beyond its au-
thority because such action will
also include the proceedings
applicable to petitions for re-
view under the DOJ. Otherwise
stated, to rule on the inhibition
of the entire DOJ would be con-
trary to existing laws and rules
of procedure.” ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
ICC has no
jurisdiction to
investigate PH
officials: Enrile
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Chief Presiden-
tial Legal Counsel Juan Ponce
Enrile on Monday said the In-
ternational Criminal Court
(ICC) has no jurisdiction to
investigate the Philippines offi-
cials over its internal campaign
against illegal drugs.
Enrile made this remark after
the ICC recently announced its
decision to reopen its probe into
the deaths associated with the an-
ti-illegal drugs campaign waged by
former president Rodrigo Duterte.
“We will not allow any of our
officials to be investigated or tried
by the International Criminal
Court,” he told reporters on the
sidelines of the Philippine Devel-
opment Plan 2023-2028 Forum
at the Philippine International
Convention Center, Pasay City.
“I’m telling you as lawyer of
the President, I will not allow,
as far as I’m concerned, I will
not recognize the jurisdiction
of the ICC. They have no sover-
eign power over us,” he added.
Enrile, likewise, said ICC
investigators must ask permis-
sion to enter the country.
If he were to be followed,
Enrile even said he will “cause
their arrest.” Earlier, Solicitor
General Menardo Guevarra
said the Philippines intends to
appeal the resumption of the
ICC’s inquiry into the country’s
anti-illegal drugs campaign be-
fore the ICC Appeals Chamber.
(JUAN PONCE ENRILE/FACEBOOK)
FEBRUARY 3, 2023 FRIDAY
Department of Justice (DOJ)
Secretary Jesus Crispin Remul-
la reiterated the government’s
position that the ICC can right-
fully conduct proceedings only
in states without a functioning
government and justice system.
“We are doing what it takes
to fix the system. We have a
functional judicial system and I
don’t see where they can come
in unless they want to take over
our legal system and take over
our country. I don’t see that
happening,” Remulla said in a
press briefing last week.
He said the “unreasonable” de-
cision is not welcome in the Phil-
ippines and DOJ “will not stand
for any of these antics that tend to
question our sovereignty and our
status as a sovereign country.”
DOJ spokesperson Mico Cla-
vano, for his part, maintained
that the Philippines will carry
out its own investigation into the
deaths associated with Duterte’s
campaign against illegal drugs.
He said ICC prosecutor
Karim Khan must respect the
Philippines’ sovereignty and ju-
dicial systems.
“We want to express to ICC
and to the special prosecutor,
Mr. Khan, just to give us time to
conduct our own investigation,”
Clavano said during the Saturday
News Forum held at Dapo Restau-
rant and Bar in Quezon City.
On Jan. 27, Khan’s request to
continue its probe into “the Situa-
tion of the Republic of the Philip-
pines” was granted by the court’s
Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC). ■
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2023 5

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6 Philippine News
Azurin, Teodoro join body to check
PNP execs’ alleged drug links
BY CHRISTOPHER LLOYD
CALIWAN
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Department of
the Interior and Local Govern-
ment (DILG) Secretary Benja-
min Abalos Jr. announced on
Wednesday the names of three
more members of the five-man
committee that will
assess the courtesy
resignations submit-
ted by police generals
and colonels and their
possible involvement
in illegal drugs.
In a Palace briefing,
Abalos said the three
additional members
are Philippine National
Police (PNP) chief, Gen.
Rodolfo Azurin Jr., for-
mer defense secretary
Gilberto Teodoro and
retired police general
Isagani Nerez.
The three would join retired
police general and Baguio City
Mayor Benjamin Magalong and
another member who refused to
be named publicly, Abalos said.
“Mataas ang respeto natin sa
limang volunteer advisors na ito
na tumanggap ng napakahirap
na hamon at responsibilidad na
magsagawa ng imbestigasyon
upang patuloy na masugpo ang
iligal na droga sa bansa (We
have high respect for these five
volunteer advisors who accept-
ed the very difficult challenge
and responsibility of conduct-
ing investigations to continue
to suppress illegal drugs in the
country),” Abalos said.
Abalos said he expects the
body to conduct a fair an impar-
tial assessment “because they
are known to have credibility,
integrity and a good track re-
cord in their respective fields.
The advisory group will
screen the courtesy resigna-
tions of senior PNP officials
along with the National Police
Commission (Napolcom).
“I am definite that this advi-
sory group shall remain apo-
litical throughout the process
of screening and in the end pe-
nalize only those guilty and in-
volved in the illegal drugs trade.
... they are known to
have credibility, integrity
and a good track record
in their respective fields.
Rest assured that the govern-
ment is working continuous-
ly to gain renewed and better
trust in the Philippine National
Police of the public as our po-
lice remain committed to our
mandate to serve and protect,”
he added.
Magalong is a graduate of the
Philippine Military Academy
(PMA) and has served the po-
lice organization for 38 years.
He led the investigation on the
Mamasapano bloody encounter
between the Bangsamoro Is-
lamic Freedom Fighters(BIFF)
and policemen, which resulted
in the killing of 44 Special Ac-
tion Force troopers and Malay-
sian terrorist and bomb expert,
Zulkifli Bin Hir, one of the pri-
mary targets of the operation.
He also took part in the Sen-
ate investigation on “ninja cops”
or those policemen involved in
the recycling of illegal drugs be-
ing recovered in the conduct op-
erations by selling them back on
the streets in 2019.
Teodoro served as Defense
Secretary under the administra-
tion of former President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo. He finished
law at the University of the Phil-
ippines, topped the 1989 bar
exams and obtained a master’s
degree in law at Harvard Uni-
versity. He also served
as the representative of
the first district of Tar-
lac from 1998 to 2007.
Nerez is a member of
PMA Maharlika Class of
1984. He is also a lawyer
who served in various
capacities in the units of
the Philippine National
Police such as the Police
Anti-Crime Emergency
Response and the Direc-
torate for Integrated Po-
lice Operations, Eastern
Mindanao. He was also
part of the PNP Special Action
Force, Presidential Anti-Orga-
nized Crime Task Force, and the
PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group.
In August 2022, President
Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ap-
pointed Nerez as Undersecre-
tary for Police Affairs of the Of-
fice of the Presidential Adviser
on Military Affairs (OPAMA).
Abalos, meanwhile, said
the President did not accept
Azurin’s courtesy resignation.
“Ini-screen na siya at nag-us-
ap kami ng Presidente tungkol
dito (He has been screened and
the President and I have talk-
ed about it) and it is only but
proper since, obviously, hindi
tinanggap ang kaniyang resig-
nation (his resignation was not
accepted), he is needed there to
steer the committee. He’s in the
position to give recent intelli-
gence report,” said Abalos.
Out of the 955 police colo-
www.canadianinquirer.net
FEBRUARY 3, 2023 FRIDAY
nels and generals, Abalos said conduct an investigation on the
12 did not submit their courtesy police officials and will submit
resignation but only one is con- the names of those whose res-
sidered not compliant since five ignations are accepted to the
of them were already retired Napolcom for another round of
while six are retiring soon. verification before submitting
Abalos said the lone official their recommendation to the
cited “personal prerogative” President.
in refusing to comply with the He reiterated that moni-
measure. toring, investigation and case
However, he said this will not build-up against other police
spare the lone official from the personnel will continue amid
investigation for possible in- the intensified internal cleans-
volvement on illegal drugs. ing in the police organization.
“We fully respect his right, Azurin, meanwhile, said he
as I’ve told you before, we are is honored and grateful to the
not ordering or commanding President for appointing him to
anyone, it was just an appeal, I the body.
would like to repeat it’s an ap- “I know this is very challeng-
peal, no sanctions will be done, ing and daunting task, but I see
nothing at all, pero, but siyem- this as a recognition of the trust
pre aalamin namin bakit ano, and confidence by no less than
bakit ayaw nya, yun aalamin our President Ferdinand Mar-
talaga namin ng husto yun (of cos Jr. Maraming salamat po Mr.
course we will find out why, why President sa tiwalang ito (Thank
he doesn’t want, we will really you very much Mr. President for
look into it), but other than as your trust). This moment in the
I’ve told people time and again PNP’s transformation journey
and assured the police, no sanc- will surely carve a mark in the
tions,” Abalos said. nation’s history, and I am proud
In the next three months, to be part of it,” Azurin said in a
Abalos said the committee will statement. ■
RESIGNATION UPDATES. Department of the Interior and Local Government
Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. (left) and Philippine National Police chief, Gen.
Rodolfo Azurin Jr. (right), provide updates on the courtesy resignation of
third-level police officials during a briefing with the Malacañang Press Corps
on Wednesday (Feb. 1, 2023). (ALFRED FRIAS/PNA)
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2023
PH, Japan to ink 7 bilateral agreements
during Marcos’ visit
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippines
and Japan are expected to sign
seven key bilateral documents
or agreements and reaffirm
their strong relations during
President Ferdinand R. Marcos
Jr.’s five-day working visit to
Tokyo from Feb. 8 to 12.
Department of Foreign Af-
fairs (DFA) Assistant Secretary
for Asian and Pacific Affairs Neal
Imperial said the bilateral docu-
ments will cover cooperation
in infrastructure development,
defense, agriculture, and infor-
mation and communications
technology, which are included
in Marcos’ priority agenda.
“The official working visit is
expected to reaffirm the strong
and vibrant relations between
the two countries. It also seeks
to maximize the full potential of
the Philippines-Japan Strategic
Partnership in all its aspects
and facilitate closer defense, se-
curity, political, economic, and
people-to-people ties,” Imperi-
al said in a Palace press briefing.
Imperial said the Philippine
Department of Defense and
Japan’s Ministry of Defense
More needs to..
❰❰ 1 put up a corporation
which do not have au-
thorized capital stock.
Of all the people, the economic
managers should know that),”
Escudero said.
Escudero added that the com-
position of the MIF’s Board of
Directors must be based on the
contributions of each investor.
Under the proposal, the Land-
bank of the Philippines (LBP)
and the Development bank of
the Philippines (DBP) shall
contribute PHP50 billion and
PHP25 billion, respectively.
In both the House and Senate
versions, the MIC will be com-
posed of the Secretary of Fi-
nance, the Chief Executive Of-
ficer of the MIC, the Presidents
of the LBP and DBP, six regular
members representing con-
tributors to the fund, and five
independent directors from the
private, academe, business and
investment sectors.
are expecting the signing of an
umbrella terms of reference of
humanitarian assistance and
disaster relief (HADR) cooper-
ation with Japan.
An exchange of notes with re-
gard to loan agreements on infra-
structure namely the North-South
Commuter Railway from Malolos,
Bulacan province to Tutuban in
Manila. Also expected to be signed
are the North-South Commuter
Railway Extension from Malolos
to Clark International Airport and
Tutuban to Calamba, Laguna. It
will involve around USD3 billion
worth of loans.
He said a proposed agreement
on cooperation in the field of in-
formation and communications
technology and a memorandum
of cooperation (MOC) on agri-
culture cooperation are also ex-
pected to be signed.
“Under PJEPA, we are al-
ready exporting a lot of agri-
cultural products to Japan.
Hopefully this visit will result
in more exports of agricultur-
al products to Japan especially
our bananas and hass avocado
which we hope will gain better
market access in the Japanese
market,” Imperial said.
Marcos’ schedule
He said Marcos will leave
“Hindi ba dapat ‘yung Board
of Directors limampung porsy-
ento galing sa Landbank? Da-
lawampung porsyento galing
sa DBP? Binigyan lang nila ng
tig-iisang representative ang
Landbank at DBP (Shouldn’t
Landbank be given 50 percent
[seat] in the Board of Directors?
20 percent from DBP? The only
gave them one representative
each),” Escudero said.
“Maganda mula’t mula, dahil
din unang beses nating ginaga-
wa ito, klaro na (It is better if it
should be clear from the start,
because we are just doing this
for the first time),” he added.
During the hearing, National
Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said
there would be regular members
representing the contributors.
“Each government financial
institution may increase its in-
vestment above the required
equity contribution and they
shall be entitled to prudential
Manila in the afternoon of Feb.
8 and will arrive in Tokyo in the
evening. His official activities
will begin on Feb. 9 with several
important meetings, including
one with Japanese Prime Min-
ister Kishida Fumio.
“It will be the second face-
to-face meeting between the
two heads of government in
less than five months after their
first meeting at the sidelines
of the United Nations General
Assembly in September of last
year,” he said.
The bilateral meeting will be
followed by a working dinner
hosted by Kishida.
“Both leaders will discuss a
broad range of bilateral and re-
gional issues to further strength-
en the two countries’ coopera-
tion in the 2nd decade of their
Strategic Partnership,” he added.
He added that Marcos and
the First Lady will be given an
Imperial audience with their
Majesties Emperor Naruhito
and Empress Masako at an un-
specified date and time.
He said there will also be
roundtable and business meet-
ings, business calls on the Pres-
ident and business seminar on
Feb. 9 and 10.
“The President will also wit-
and other regulatory reliefs
as may be determined by the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to
ensure their financial sound-
ness while contributing to the
overall objective of the Fund,”
De Leon said.
The measure also proposes
that the Philippine Amuse-
(CHIZ ESCUDERO/FACEBOOK)
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
ness the signing of several busi-
ness deals,” he said.
Marcos will be also meeting
with CEOs of Japanese ship-
ping companies and associa-
tions to advance partnerships
with Philippine stakeholders
in maritime education and wel-
fare programs for our seafarers
as part of commitment to en-
hance global competitiveness
of Filipino seafarers.
Before flying back to Manila
on Feb. 12, Marcos will be meet-
ing with more than a thousand
members of the Filipino com-
munity in Tokyo.
Marcos’ trip to Japan will be
his first visit there since assum-
ing office in June last year.
Imperial said the DFA con-
siders Marcos’ visit to Japan as
“consequential” since Japan is
the first country which the Phil-
ippines has forged a Strategic
Partnership and is among the
two strategic partners of the
Philippines aside from Vietnam.
He said Japan is also the only
country with which the Philip-
pines has a bilateral free trade
agreement, the Philippines-Ja-
pan Economic Partnership
Agreement.
In 2021, Japan was the Phil-
ippines’ second largest trading
ment and Gaming Corporation
and other government-owned
gaming operators contribute at
least 10 percent of their gross
gaming revenues.
Other sources of funding also
include royalties and special as-
sessments on natural resources
based on the fiscal regime to be
7
partner, its third largest ex-
port market, and its second top
source of imports.
Japan has also been the coun-
try’s biggest bilateral source
of active Official Development
Assistance, providing conces-
sional loans to finance import-
ant infrastructure and capac-
ity-building projects, social
safety net programs, education,
agriculture, and science and
technology support, and many
other high-income programs.
Marcos will be accompa-
nied by First Lady Liza Arane-
ta-Marcos, former President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Sen-
ate President Miguel Zubiri,
House Speaker Martin Romual-
dez, Secretary of Foreign Affairs
Enrique Manalo, Finance Sec-
retary Benjamin Diokno, Trade
and Industry Secretary Alfredo
Pascual, Energy Secretary Ra-
phael Lotilla, Tourism Secre-
tary Christina Frasco, Special
Assistant to the President An-
tonio Lagdameo Jr., Presiden-
tial Communications Office
Secretary Cheloy Garafil, Bases
Conversion and Development
Authority Board of Directors
Chairperson Delfin Lorenzana,
and other Cabinet secretaries
and undersecretaries. ■
implemented by the national
government proceeds from the
privatization of government as-
sets and public borrowings.
Senator Mark Villar, who
chairs the Committee on Banks,
said he filed Senate Bill No.
1670 to start the discussions on
the MIF after the House of Rep-
resentatives had approved their
version on Dec. 15, 2022.
“The Senate, being an inde-
pendent institution, will per-
form its duty and responsibility
to review and discuss measures
affecting national interest. We
will not rush. We will take our
time in order to arrive at the
best version possible for the
benefit of the Filipino people,”
Villar said.
Although he certified the
measure as urgent, President
Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. earlier
asked the Senate to scrutinize
the proposed MIF. ■
8 Philippine News
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Joanna Belle Deala
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Member
Schools’ mental health services,
oversight on drugs bills passed
BY JOSE CIELITO REGANIT
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Voting 272-0 with no ab-
stentions, the House of Representatives
on Tuesday passed on third and final
reading a proposed measure seeking to
strengthen the promotion and delivery
of mental health services in basic educa-
tion through the hiring and deployment
of mental health professionals.
House Bill 6574, or the proposed Basic
Education Mental Health and Well-Be-
ing Promotion Act, is a consolidation of
House Bills 929, 3691, 4162 and 4194 au-
thored by Reps. Roman Romulo (Pasig
City), Rex Gatchalian (Valenzuela City
1st District), Harris Christopher Ongch-
uan (Northern Samar 2nd District), and
Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro City
2nd Distruct), respectively.
The authors urged for the passage of
the measure to ease the severe shortage
of mental health professionals in the
basic education system, and properly
addressing the emotional, psychologi-
cal and mental health well-being of both
learners and teachers, especially in the
aftermath of the pandemic.
The measure also seeks to enhance
their classroom and learning prepared-
ness, including learners identified as
children in conflict with the law, students
at risk of dropping out, learner-victims of
Violence Against Women and Children,
and learners-victims of other related
forms of child abuse and criminal acts.
Under HB 6574, a Mental Health and
Well-being Office, under the administra-
Blacklisting system of erring
employers in Kuwait pushed
BY FILANE MIKEE CERVANTES
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The chairman of the
House of Representatives Committee
on Overseas Workers Affairs said Tues-
day the government could employ a
blacklisting system against abusive and
erring employers and recruitment agen-
cies to protect overseas Filipino workers
(OFWs) deployed to Kuwait.
During a Laging Handa public brief-
ing, Kabayan Party-list Rep. Ron Salo
said blacklisting Kuwaiti employers and
recruitment agencies with bad track re-
cords would be a preventive measure to
bar them from hiring OFWs.
www.canadianinquirer.net
tion and supervision of the Department
of Education (DepEd), shall be estab-
lished in every school division.
It also mandates the hiring and deploy-
ment of mental health professionals with-
in five years from the effectivity of said
law, such that each public elementary and
secondary school, vocational institution,
and offices in the central, regional, and
schools’ division governance levels of the
DepEd shall have mental health profes-
sionals or mental health service providers.
The Mental Health and Well-being Of-
fice at the school’s division level shall be
headed by a qualified Mental Health Pro-
fessional with the position of Guidance
Services Specialist V with Salary Grade 24.
To lure more mental health profes-
sionals in the basic education system,
HB 6574 also provides for the hiring of a
sufficient number of mental health pro-
(HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PHILIPPINES/FACEBOOK)
“Maraming mga bagay din na pinag-us-
apan kahapon, iyong binabanggit po na-
tin na proactive measures; kasama po
diyan, ang tinatawag nating blacklisting.
Kasi lumalabas na may 6,000 po na re-
ports nang pang-aabuso, etcetera, etcet-
era laban sa mga foreign employers doon
sa Kuwait ang ating mga manggagawang
Pilipino. Ang tanong: Doon sa 6,000 po na
complaints, eh kasama po kaya sila doon
sa na-blacklist na? (There were a lot of
things that were discussed yesterday re-
garding proactive measures. One of them
is what we call blacklisting. There are
about 6,000 reports of abuse, etc. from
our Filipino workers against foreign em-
ployers in Kuwait. The question is: out of
the 6,000 complaints, are they [abusive
FEBRUARY 3, 2023 FRIDAY
fessionals with salary grades not lower
than Salary Grade 16, including guid-
ance associates and psychometricians at
the entry level of Salary Grade 11.
The measure likewise allows public
schools to hire graduates with relevant
background in psychology or similar
fields, who may not yet qualify as mental
health professionals, to provide school-
based mental health services, provided
that they undergo training on capacity
building as determined by the DepEd.
Mental health professionals in the
DepEd shall enjoy the rights and priv-
ileges provided for in the Magna Car-
ta for Public Health Workers, Mental
Health Act and other pertinent laws.
The DepEd shall provide for sufficient
resources for mental health programs
❱❱ PAGE 14 Schools’ mental health
foreign employers] already included in
the blacklist?)” Salo said.
He also emphasized the need for re-
cruitment agencies to monitor the work-
ing conditions of OFWs after the killing of
Jullebee Ranara, the 35-year-old house-
hold worker whose burnt body was found
in a desert in Kuwait a week ago.
“And, may magandang pong binabang-
git din si Secretary Toots Ople, kung pos-
sible na magkaroon po tayo ng algorithm
na for example, in certain areas na very
prone doon sa pang-aabuso or certain
types of groups or certain sector, mataas
po iyong chance na maabuso, eh dapat
mas babantayan po ng recruitment
❱❱ PAGE 11 Blacklisting system of
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2023
The ripple effects of invoking draconian
laws must not be ignored
BY ABDUL NAKUA
Policy Options
Antiterrorism laws have
broadened the powers of gov-
ernment and its agencies. It’s
time to examine their necessity
and address their abuses.
After six weeks of public
hearings, the public inquiry
into the use of the Emergencies
Act came to a close on Nov. 26,
2022, after a marathon of 300
hours of testimony and 9,000
exhibits, and more than 70 wit-
nesses. Announced on April, 25,
2022, the Public Order Emer-
gency Commission, led by Jus-
tice Paul Rouleau, was mandat-
ed to examine and assess the
basis for the government’s de-
cision to declare a public order
emergency, and the appropri-
ateness and effectiveness of the
measures selected by the gov-
ernment to deal with the situa-
tion. The Emergencies Act was
designed to balance the main-
tenance of public order with the
protection of civil liberties.
Around the same time but
with much less fanfare and pub-
lic exposure, an obscure inquiry
was being conducted by the Sen-
ate’s Human Rights Committee,
chaired by Senator Salma Ataul-
lahjan, looking at systemic bi-
ases and Islamophobia. Despite
the obvious differences between
the two inquiries, there are
many threads that connect their
relevance for Canadians.
Both examine the extent of
damage that can result from
the use of government discre-
tion when applying draconian
laws such as the Emergencies
Act or antiterrorism laws. It is
puzzling, however, that antiter-
rorism laws have not attracted
attention or generated much
concern among Canadians de-
spite their intrusion into the
civil liberties space.
Since their introduction post
9/11, antiterrorism laws have
broadened the executive power
of the government with little or
Canada News
no oversight. They have intro-
duced permanent changes to
the Criminal Code, the Official
Secrets Act, the Privacy Act
and the Canada Evidence Act,
giving the government and its
agencies far-reaching powers
in the process. A new Crown
corporation, the Canadian Air
Transport Security Agency was
created in 2002. The Financial
Transactions Reports Analysis
Centre of Canada (FINTRAC)
was given antiterrorist finan-
cial tracking responsibilities.
Then in 2015, the Anti-Terror-
ism Act (Bill C-51) underwent a
major overhaul under the Harp-
er government resulting in a
massive expansion of state power
without oversight or safeguards.
More than 100 Canadian law
professors warned that this bill
was a “dangerous piece of legis-
lation.” There were fears that the
changes would erode democratic
checks and balances, weaken the
established guarantees of the
rule of law and infringe on civil
liberties. These fears will only
grow with the increased perva-
siveness of digital technology
and growing sensitivities around
privacy and surveillance.
But despite these fears and
many protestations, the an-
titerror laws have proven re-
markably resistant to amend-
ments or repeal. Various
governments of different polit-
ical persuasions lacked either
the will or the aptitude, or both,
to change course. The only pos-
itive amendment adopted a
more robust government over-
sight framework in 2019. The
National Security Intelligence
Review Agency was created to
review the activities of the Ca-
nadian Security Intelligence
Service and the Communica-
tions Security Establishment
as well as other national agen-
cies and departments like the
RCMP and the Canadian Bor-
der Services Agency.
More than 40 years ago, the
Commission of Inquiry Con-
cerning Certain Activities of
the Royal Canadian Mount-
ed Police (also known as the
McDonald Commission) con-
cluded that security and in-
telligence agencies in Canada
must be assessed on both the
effectiveness as well as the con-
formity with the requirements
of democracy. It declared that
a responsible government must
abide by the rule of law and
guarantee the freedom of legit-
imate political dissent. It made
clear that these principles must
not be compromised, whittled
down or balanced off for the
sake of convenience in applying
security measures.
Ironically, the government
may have compromised the Mc-
Donald Commission standard
in its pursuit of a risk-avoid-
ance counter-terrorism ap-
proach. Despite that, there was
no desire by the government
nor any sustained pressure by
the civic society to examine the
necessity of these laws, their ef-
fectiveness or the potential ar-
bitrariness in their application
despite the consequences for
individuals, organizations and
the country as a whole.
Such an independent exam-
ination and impartial assess-
ment of the antiterrorism laws
should be of the same, if not
higher, priority than that for
the Emergencies Act. This is
because, unlike the War Mea-
sures Act or the Emergencies
Act, the antiterrorism laws are
permanent rather than emer-
gency legislations.
Arbitrary arrests, no-fly lists,
security certificates, citizenship
revocations, delisting of chari-
table organizations, increasing
surveillance and deteriorating
personal privacy along with the
blurring of lines between lawful
dissent and illegal activities are
part of the legacy of those laws.
The impact is etched in the
memory of many Canadians
whose lives were altered due
to these laws. For instance, the
Iacobucci and O’Connor inqui-
ries provide an account of the
www.canadianinquirer.net
effect of inaccurate intelligence
sharing practices by Canadian
security agencies. Both inquiries
exposed the lack of civilian over-
sight on our national security.
Some people continue to live
in limbo under the system of
security certificates, which the
Supreme Court of Canada ruled
unconstitutional. Even when
updated to meet the constitu-
tionality test, the court found
this regime is more advanta-
geous for the state than crimi-
nal proceedings.
Canadian no-fly lists con-
tinue to interfere with mobil-
ity rights of many Canadians.
While the government has not
released the number of people
enlisted, the number could be
as high as 100,000 entries, ac-
cording to one estimate. How-
ever, more than 850 Canadians
have been assigned promise
codes to avoid no-fly list false
flags as of early 2022.
The effect of antiterrorism
laws goes beyond just individ-
uals. They are also responsible
for shrinking the public sphere
through overregulation and ar-
bitrary and disproportionate
targeting of charities. Canadian
Muslim charities now face tar-
geted audits from the Canada
Senator Salma Ataullahjan (SENATE OF CANADA - SÉNAT DU CANADA/FACEBOOK)
9
Revenue Agency (CRA), just as
environmental groups did.
Recently, the taxpayers’ om-
budsperson, François Boileau,
confirmed that the CRA was
obstructing his investigation
on the grounds of national se-
curity. The CRA’s director gen-
eral of the charities directorate,
Sharmila Khare, admitted at a
Senate committee hearing that
the framework used for these
audits was not established nor
created at the CRA. She further
asserted that “we [CRA] are
part of a whole-of-government
approach when it comes to na-
tional security.”
The denial of access to fi-
nancial services is also casting
a shadow of uncertainty over
the charitable sector. Debank-
ing (or de-risking) remains a
process that lacks transparen-
cy, precision and legal recourse
even though it can be triggered
by unproven or unsubstantiat-
ed allegations. FINTRAC has
shown no indication of address-
ing this problem. Meanwhile,
its Australian counterpart, the
Australian Transaction Reports
and Analysis Centre, completed
a consultation process to ad-
❱❱ PAGE 13 The ripple effects
10
What the Free Alberta Strategy
gets wrong about Canada’s banking system
BY ROBERT L. ASCAH,
University of Alberta
The Conversation
What is the Free Alberta
Strategy, the co-creation of two
lawyers and a Calgary political
scientist? And with a provin-
cial election on the horizon this
spring in Alberta, what will the
sovereignty strategy mean for
voters?
Bill 1, the Alberta Sov-
ereignty Within a United
Canada Act, is the cen-
trepiece of the Free Al-
berta Strategy. It was in-
troduced late last year by
Premier Danielle Smith
in another salvo in the on-
going constitutional bat-
tle between Alberta and
the federal government.
Let’s review the con-
cept’s origin and focus on
one of the least examined
components of the Free
Alberta Strategy — the
proposed Independent
Banking Act.
History
Alberta separatism in the 21st
century began to rear its head
when Ralph Klein was premier.
The so-called firewall letter, a
two-page missive to Klein, was
published in the National Post
in January 2001.
It was signed by future prime
minister Stephen Harper, then
the president of the National
Citizens Coalition, a well-fund-
ed conservative advocacy group,
and other signatories that in-
cluded University of Calgary
political scientists Ted Mor-
ton, Tom Flanagan and Rainer
Knopff, Andrew Crooks of the
Canadian Taxpayers Federation
and Ken Boessenkool, a former
policy adviser to Stockwell Day,
leader of the Canadian Alliance.
Many of the letter’s recom-
mendations would reappear al-
most identically in 2020, in the
Fair Deal Panel findings under
Premier Jason Kenney. It pro-
posed setting up a provincial
police force, withdrawing from
the Canada Pension Plan and
effectively expanding the man-
date of Alberta Revenue to col-
lect personal income taxes.
When Harper was elected
prime minister, western sepa-
Canada News
ratism died down. But the elec-
tion of Justin Trudeau’s Lib-
erals and Rachel Notley’s NDP
in 2015 seemed to fuel dissent
among some conservative ele-
ments in Alberta.
This resulted in the amal-
gamation of right-wing forces
with the establishment of the
Kenney-led United Conserva-
tive Party. Kenney easily won
the 2019 election because the
conservative vote wasn’t split.
A functioning
banking system is
critical to Alberta’s
economic well-being.
Buffalo declaration
In February 2020, the Buf-
falo declaration was released.
The 13-page letter argued that
Confederation isn’t working for
Alberta. It was signed by four
Alberta MPs, led by Michelle
Rempel Garner. It opened with
a list of alleged historical injus-
tices imposed on Alberta and its
sister province, Saskatchewan.
The alleged causes of the cri-
sis included the National Ener-
gy Program of 1980 to 1985 — a
“malicious” attack against Al-
berta’s resource sector, accord-
ing to the declaration.
Policy recommendations
included the recognition of Al-
berta as “a culturally distinct
region within Confederation,”
improved representation in Par-
liament and an acknowledge-
ment of the “devastation” of the
National Energy Program.
It also demanded changes to
the equalization program and
approval of the Teck Frontier
mining project.
Meanwhile, Kenney was
proving unable to control an-
ti-Ottawa sentiment in Al-
berta, and his handling of the
COVID-19 pandemic threat-
ened party unity. He ultimately
FEBRUARY 3, 2023 FRIDAY
lost a leadership vote in 2022 The idea of using a provin- quickly point out that ATB and
and resigned. cial banking system to thwart credit unions would be cut off
A year earlier, the Free Alber- federal agencies or federally from access to the payments sys-
ta Strategy was launched by for- regulated banks therefore is tem if the bill were to proceed.
mer Wildrose MLA Rob Ander- nothing new. Aberhart tried it, This would also mean that
son, libertarian Derek From and including by using provincial ATB or credit unions would not
Barry Cooper, a political scien- powers over property and civ- be able to access the lender-of-
tist at the University of Calgary. il rights, taxation and judicial last-resort services at the Bank
The strategy, with the Alber- procedures. These laws were of Canada. The lender of last
ta Sovereignty Act as its cen- ultimately overturned. resort can provide liquidity or
trepiece, was championed by When Alberta couldn’t fight cash resources to troubled fi-
Smith in her successful lead- the banks, it decided to join nancial institutions to stave off
ership campaign. Kenney and them. Alberta Treasury Branch- a run on the bank.
many of Smith’s leader- es — now ATB Financial — is the Without access to the pay-
ship opponents, mean- main surviving relic of Aber- ment systems and the central
time, were heavily criti- hart’s commitment to help Al- bank, ATB and credit unions
cal of the concept. bertans during the Depression. would fail to meet customer
Kenney and Travis Cut off from Payments needs for cash, payroll services
Toews, the Alberta fi- Canada or to close real estate or securi-
nance minister, expressed The Free Alberta Strategy’s ties transactions.
concerns about a flight of authors, however, are failing to The Free Alberta Strategy is in
capital from the province. recognize the impracticalities fact a road map for Alberta sov-
Alberta’s Indepen- of Alberta going ahead with its ereignty, touching on the most
dent Banking Act own banking system. essential compartment of sover-
Largely unnoticed in All banks — or quasi-banks eignty — banking and currency.
the Free Alberta Strate- like credit unions, ATB Finan- Canadian bankers and fi-
gy’s recommendations is cial and trust companies — par- nance ministers need to under-
the creation of a provin- ticipate in the neural network of stand that the inner workings
cial independent bank- the Canadian financial system of banking and central banking
ing system. known as Payments Canada. are well known to some Alberta
Given my experience All banking institutions trans- sovereigntists in positions of in-
as an executive with ATB Finan- fer value for their customers fluence — and that the constitu-
cial, the government’s wholly by dispensing cash and offering tion is only an obstacle if Alberta
owned full-service “bank,” I un- debit and credit card services. remains part of Canada. ■
derstand the difficulties of creat- In the unlikely event that
ing a private Alberta-regulated Smith introduced legislation This article is republished
financial system. to incorporate banks, Canada’s from The Conversation under a
A functioning banking sys- federal finance minister would Creative Commons license.
tem is critical to Alberta’s eco-
nomic well-being. Banking,
however, is under exclusive
federal jurisdiction, including
currency and the issuing of pa-
per money.
The Free Alberta Strategy,
however, purports to allow Al-
berta to incorporate and reg-
ulate banks, which is clearly
unconstitutional. There’s no
mention that this proposal is
beyond the powers of the pro-
vincial legislature.
Few Albertans probably re-
member the attempts of onetime
Alberta premier William Aber-
hart during the Great Depression
to tax and regulate banks in an
effort to forestall foreclosures
that were disrupting the lives of
thousands of Albertans.
These efforts failed due to the
courts siding with the federal
government, and by the federal
government’s use of the rarely
used powers of reservation or
disallowance. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (DAVE COURNOYER/FLICKR, CC BY-SA 2.0)
www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2023
Passengers need more than apologies from
airlines after holiday chaos
BY FRÉDÉRIC DIMANCHE,
Toronto Metropolitan
University, KELLEY A.
MCCLINCHEY, Wilfrid
Laurier University
The Conversation
A snowball effect initiated
in Vancouver created an ava-
lanche of travel chaos over the
holidays at a time when many
had overcome their fear of trav-
elling following the COVID-19
pandemic and thought it was
worth travelling again.
A heavy winter storm first af-
fected Canada’s second busiest
airport, the Vancouver Inter-
national Airport. Other storms
quickly spread across the coun-
try with a disastrous impact on
holiday travel. Many people
were stuck in planes, trains and
automobiles or were stranded
in airports.
This is a stale plot line, remi-
niscent of the summer of 2022
when thousands of flights were
disrupted, leaving customers
angry and earning Canada a bad
reputation. Toronto Pearson
Airport became the worst air-
port in the world for delays and
cancellations.
It’s easy to blame the weather
for the airline chaos, but deeper
problems caused this turmoil.
Weather can’t be the main
culprit
Canadians know the risks as-
sociated with winter travelling.
As smart consumers, they are
aware that weather can always
have an impact on travel. But
shouldn’t the transportation
sector across Canada be able to
effectively manage weather-re-
lated crises?
The chaos felt by Canadian
consumers cannot be blamed on
weather alone. After all, similar
signs were seen this past summer.
Most of the travel-related
Blacklisting system of..
❰❰ 8 agency at ng DMW
(Department of Mi-
grant Workers) natin
(Secretary Toots Ople made a
good suggestion. If it is possible
to create an algorithm wherein
for example, in certain areas,
groups, or sectors with high
trouble in the summer was
linked to a labour deficit that
had been well identified by the
sector and signalled earlier.
This shortage had been ongoing
long before 2020, but the pan-
demic exacerbated it.
Once travel resumed, the la-
bour crisis became more visible.
Government, airports and air-
lines should have planned with
more urgency, especially since
they had known about the gravi-
ty of the situation since 2018.
Following the summer cha-
os, Transport Minister Omar
Alghabra felt confident that the
trouble was behind us. The re-
cent winter catastrophe proved
otherwise.
Crew shortages
The airline chaos over the
holidays can be attributed to
three main problems: labour,
disruption management and
communication.
Labour remains a major con-
cern for airports and airlines. In
January, the CEO and president
of the Greater Toronto Airports
Authority acknowledged this,
saying: “Labour is still very weak
across the board of our partners.”
Canadian airlines have been
delaying and cancelling flights
for months due to crew short-
ages. These staffing issues were
magnified over the holiday
season with Canadian airlines’
performance being ranked as
among the worst in the world.
Sunwing left travellers strand-
ed in Mexico and cancelled
flights because of a lack of pilots
— a problem identified months
earlier that could have been dealt
with. Hiring foreign pilots would
have offset the pilot shortage, but
Sunwing’s pilot union opposes
the hiring of foreign workers.
Disruption management
The second issue is that the
disruption management sys-
tems used by airlines don’t ap-
rates or chance of abuse, the
recruitment agencies and the
DMW could closely monitor
these),” he said.
Salo said his panel would
schedule its own hearing on Ra-
nara’s death by next week.
Ranara’s burned body was
pear to be the most efficient.
Disruption management sys-
tems are used to “reassign re-
sources (like flights, aircraft and
crews) and redistribute pas-
sengers to restore the schedule
while minimizing costs.”
This inefficiency is expen-
sive, both in dollars and cus-
tomer satisfaction.
The chaos was caused, in
part, by the airlines’ inability to
adequately match the availabil-
ity and flow of aircraft, crew and
passengers. This is a complex
management problem that can
only be resolved with modern
technological tools.
Not having the right tools
can cripple airlines, as seen re-
cently with Southwest Airlines.
Some travel tech companies,
like Amadeus, propose disrup-
tion management solutions to
help airlines recover aircraft,
crew and passengers during
and after a crisis.
Communication and pas-
senger rights
The final and potentially
most frustrating problem for
consumers was the lack of com-
found in a desert in Kuwait last
week. The suspect, the 17-year-
old son of Ranara’s employers,
is now in the custody of Kuwaiti
authorities.
Ranara’s body was brought
home last Friday.
President Ferdinand R. Mar-
www.canadianinquirer.net
Canada News
munication from airlines. A key
aspect of crisis management is
communicating effectively and
ethically with consumers.
Travellers were left stranded
and powerless with little infor-
mation on possible solutions
from airlines. There are passen-
ger rights in Canada, but do Ca-
nadians know their rights? And
are these rights being respected
by governments and airlines?
According to the 2019 Air
Passenger Protection Regu-
lations, passengers must be
informed of their rights in a
timely, clear and accessible way.
Airlines must provide passen-
gers with information for flight
delays or cancellations, denial
of boarding, and lost or dam-
aged baggage.
As of September 2022, air-
lines “flying to, from and within
Canada must now issue a full
refund for flight cancellations
and delays if passengers can’t
be accommodated on a new
flight within 48 hours.”
However, airlines use loop-
holes, invoking “safety reasons”
to avoid paying fines and com-
cos Jr. said Monday Ranara’s
retirement and death benefits
have been turned over by the
Overseas Workers Welfare Ad-
ministration (OWWA) to her
family.
He said the OWWA has also
extended burial assistance and
11
pensation to travellers.
Clearly, current regulations
are not enough to protect trav-
ellers, and airlines are not fined
by the Canadian Transporta-
tion Agency for failing to pro-
vide compensation under the
legislation.
The Canadian government
seems to agree with this assess-
ment. On Jan. 24, Alghabra said
the government is planning to
overhaul the air passenger bill of
rights this coming spring. Chang-
es will include regulatory reform
and potentially new legislation.
Industry should be better
prepared
Canadians are used to hear-
ing “I’m sorry.” But after the
transportation crisis this past
holiday season, apologies from
some major airlines, airports
and government officials are
not enough. They’ve heard it
before. It’s time to protect pas-
sengers from travel companies.
The federal government, air-
ports and airlines have a joint
responsibility to improve oper-
ations, manage the labour gap
and address better customer
protection before another bliz-
zard can be used as an excuse.
Indeed, airlines are now ask-
ing to share responsibilities
with other stakeholders such as
airports, air controllers, security
and screening personnel, or the
Canada Border Services Agency.
The storm exposed a lack of
operational preparedness and
a failure to put in place effec-
tive disruption management
systems. Today, passengers
know that apologies from gov-
ernment, airports and airlines
are not acceptable answers for
major travel disruptions. We all
deserve better. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
support for her four children’s
educational needs.
Meanwhile, Marcos said the
government is also scheduling
bilateral meetings with the gov-
ernment of Kuwait to review its
bilateral labor agreement with
the Gulf state. ■
12
Ukraine war: attitudes to women
in the military are changing as
thousands serve on front lines
BY JENNIFER MATHERS,
Aberystwyth University,
ANNA KVIT, UCL
The Conversation
Thousands of women have
voluntarily joined Ukraine’s
armed forces since 2014, when
Russia’s occupation of Crimea
and territories in eastern
Ukraine began. Over the past
nine years, the number of wom-
en serving in the Ukrainian mil-
itary has more than doubled,
with another wave of women
joining after Russia’s full-scale
invasion in February 2022.
Women have served in
Ukraine’s armed forces since
the country declared its in-
dependence from the Soviet
Union in 1991, but were main-
ly in supporting roles until the
beginning of the war in 2014.
They started serving in combat
roles in 2016 and all military
roles were opened to women in
2022. However, many women
in non-combat roles, such as
medics, are exposed to the same
dangers and hardships as their
male and female colleagues
who fire the weapons.
According to Ukraine’s dep-
uty minister of defence, Hanna
Maliar, by the summer of 2022
more than 50,000 women were
employed by the armed forc-
es in some capacity, with ap-
proximately 38,000 serving in
uniform. Women are now with
units on the front lines.
Women in the armed forc-
es are being taken as prison-
ers-of-war by the Russians.
Ukrainian medic Yulia Paevs-
ka was imprisoned for three
months . “The treatment was
very hard, very rough … The
women and I were all exhaust-
ed,” she told Associated Press.
Patriarchal attitudes are
changing
Ukraine is a country with
World News
strong patriarchal traditions,
especially in the defence sector.
But Ukraine’s women soldiers
are increasingly being accept-
ed by Ukrainian society and the
country’s political leadership
during this war.
One indication of the recog-
nition of women’s presence in
the military and society’s rating
of their contributions was when
National Defenders’ Day was
renamed in 2021 as the Day of
Men and Women Defenders of
Ukraine.
And there are other indica-
tions. Images of servicewomen
are now regularly used by the
ministry of defence in its social
media posts. Ukraine’s women
soldiers are also often in the
news, talking about their mili-
tary experiences. There are also
approximately 8,000 women
officers as of October 2022, and
one of Ukraine’s deputy defence
ministers is a woman.
But the presence of women in
the Ukrainian armed forces has
not been without controversy.
Some analysts warn against as-
suming that the photographs
and videos in the news and on
social media showing women
on the front lines means that
they enjoy equality with the
men they serve beside.
Boots that don’t fit
Ukraine’s women soldiers
still have to overcome scepti-
cism from commanders and
fellow soldiers about their com-
mitment and abilities, obstacles
to promotion and career devel-
opment, as well as difficulties
with practical – and vitally im-
portant – matters such as get-
ting uniforms, body armour and
boots that fit.
Women are also more ex-
posed to sexual violence. Many
Ukrainian female combatants
mention in interviews with
journalists that they must avoid
captivity by any means and that
FEBRUARY 3, 2023 FRIDAY
they are ready to die rather than cessing public services for vet- In 2020 it introduced
being captured by the Russians. erans and in making the transi- Ukraine’s second national ac-
A major research project, tion back to civilian life. tion plan including measures to
Invisible Battalion, began in Will attitudes roll back? improve conditions for wom-
2015 and has shed light on the In the aftermath of war there en’s military service and sup-
conditions of military service is often social pressure on wom- port women veterans. The plan
for Ukrainian women. Led by a en to resume more traditional makes a commitment to provide
group of Ukrainian sociologists gender roles, namely to focus on “servicewomen with uniforms,
(including Anna Kvit, one of the motherhood and family. This is equipment, and body armour
authors of this article), it iden- precisely what happened to So- that would fit their anthropo-
tified legal barriers to women’s viet women who fought in the metric measures”, and to provide
employment in the defence second world war: they were women veterans and their family
and security sector, as well as the first to be demobilised and members with free legal advice.
obstacles to their access to mil- were even instructed not to talk The common experience of
itary education and training. about what they did in the war war brings an understanding
These regulations had prevent- in case they might embarrass of the scale and nature of the
ed women in the military from their husbands. contributions that Ukraine’s
occupying a range of technical However, just as public atti- women are making to protect
and leadership positions. tudes towards women in in the and defend their country. This
Not only have many of these military are changing quickly in shared understanding, rein-
formal obstacles now been re- Ukraine, so too are the country’s forced by everyday encounters
moved, but gender advisers and laws and government policies. with women veterans who are
audits have been introduced Ukraine’s commitment to- friends, neighbours and family,
to encourage a military cul- wards addressing women’s might mean these women’s ex-
ture that is more welcoming needs and rights is reflected periences will be valued in the
for women. In families where in the government’s strategic years to come. ■
both parents are serving in the documents for the next decade.
armed forces, parental leave For example, in 2022 Ukraine This article is republished
is no longer the exclusive pre- adopted the national strategy from The Conversation under a
serve of mothers. on equality of women and men, Creative Commons license.
Social attitudes towards covering the period up to 2030.
women soldiers have also im-
proved a great deal over the
past few years. For example, the
percentage of Ukrainians who
agreed that women in the mil-
itary should be granted equal
opportunities with men in-
creased dramatically from 53%
in 2018 to 80% in 2022.
Looking ahead to post-war
Ukrainian society, it is hard to
predict whether these more
positive public attitudes to-
wards women soldiers will
translate into greater accep-
tance of women in the relative-
ly new role of war veteran. A
follow-up study conducted for
the Invisible Battalion project
in 2017 revealed that women
veterans struggled to have their
status recognised by both gov-
ernment officials and civilians.
This meant difficulties in ac- Women in the Ukraine military (MINISTRY OF DEFENSE OF UKRAINE/FLICKR, CC BY-SA 2.0)
www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2023
UK slides in corruption perception index
after series of political scandals
BY DANIEL HOUGH,
University of Sussex
The Conversation
The UK has fallen down
Transparency International’s
corruption perceptions index
(CPI) after a year of high-pro-
file government scandals.
The CPI is not a measure of
corruption itself but a measure
of how much corruption is per-
ceived to exist across a coun-
try’s public sector. For the UK
government, already focusing
very much on the next general
election amid multiple scan-
dals, perception matters.
The UK scored 73 out of 100
in a measure that includes data
from the Economist Intelligence
Unit, various international risk
guides, the World Economic Fo-
rum and the World Justice Proj-
ect’s rule of law index. This has
meant it has dropped from 11th
place on a list of 180 countries
and territories to 18th.
The UK is now at its lowest
score since comparable data
became available in 2011. That
year, the UK scored 74 out of
100 and that was fresh off the
back of the most significant
expenses scandal of modern
times. The current low score
relates to a set of problems that
are both more profound and
more worrying.
The steady stream of inci-
The ripple effects..
❰❰ 9 dress the harm from
the debanking process
and its unintended
consequences.
Because of the extraordi-
nary powers the antiterrorism
laws afford governments, they
should be subjected to extraor-
dinary scrutiny. To date, this
scrutiny is almost non-existent.
There was no serious or coher-
ent assessment of these laws
to determine if they are nec-
essary and proportionate, nor
any attempt to examine their
effectiveness against terrorism.
Whether they contain appro-
priate safeguards against abuse
or are exercised in a way that
is evidence-based and propor-
tionate is still an open question.
dents suggesting a loss of in-
tegrity within successive Con-
servative administrations are
prima facie evidence of a prob-
lem. There is an ethics issue at
the heart of UK government and
that issue needs addressing. For-
mer party chairman Nadhim Za-
hawai’s recent fine for failing to
pay his taxes is an obvious case
in point. The case of Conserva-
tive peer Michelle Mone and the
profits her companies were able
to make from having access to
a “VIP lane” for providing PPE
equipment during the pandemic
is another. That’s not to mention
the whole range of ethics-relat-
ed scandals that hit when Boris
Johnson was prime minister.
As things stand, there is little
coming out of Downing Street
and the UK parliament to illus-
trate that this problem has been
clearly understood. On enter-
ing Number 10, Rishi Sunak
was quick to proclaim that he
wanted to bring integrity, pro-
fessionalism and accountabili-
ty back to public life. Yet he was
slow to act on Zahawi and his
appointment of Laurie Magnus
to be his less-than-indepen-
dent ethics officer has failed to
change the tone.
As my colleague Sam Power
has argued, many people fac-
tored in ethics indiscretions
when Boris Johnson was PM
– they don’t with Sunak. And
that makes the issue potential-
The 2019 New Zealand Roy-
al Commission of Inquiry into
the Terrorist Attack on Christ-
church Mosques might provide
a blueprint for such an under-
taking. This inquiry examined
the effectiveness of that coun-
try’s security agencies and its
antiterrorism laws in address-
ing security threats facing that
nation. Among its conclusions
was that there was an inappro-
priate concentration of coun-
terterrorism resources on the
threat of “Islamist extremist
terrorism.”
The report concluded this
was not based on an informed
assessment of the threats as-
sociated with other ideologies
and it did not come from a sys-
ly even more dangerous for the
current prime minister.
Global Britain
Away from the corridors of
Westminster, the UK’s friends
and allies are watching. They may
not say so in public, but many
are appalled at the behaviour of
some within and around govern-
ment. They recognise the prob-
lem in a way that those at the top
of UK government do not appear
to do. This will, over time and of-
ten in discreet, affect investment
decisions and the UK’s general
standing in the international
community.
And as well as countries that
are ostensibly close to the UK
tem-wide decision of risk anal-
ysis. It called for alternative
frameworks to address safety
and security challenges that
were anchored in inclusion and
social cohesion.
Justice Rouleau is expect-
ed to submit his report on the
Emergencies Act by early Feb-
ruary. The government is ex-
pected to table it in the House
of Commons and Senate of
Canada before February 20,
2023. It is worth remembering
that the deliberative measures
contained in the Emergencies
Act were an outcome from the
McDonald Commission to ad-
dress the inherent flaws of the
War Measures Act.
Worthy of note also is the fact
www.canadianinquirer.net
World News
and wish it well, hostile states
are happy to watch the UK
move away from core liberal
democratic principles. As long
as powerful UK actors play fast
and loose with the law and due
process – and fail to embrace
transparency, accountability
and integrity as good things in
and of themselves – then states
that don’t wish the UK so well
will feel emboldened to pursue
their own interests at the UK’s
expense. Russian money will
continue to find its way into
London and rogues the world
over feel emboldened in using
the UK’s financial services sec-
tor to get what they want.
that the War Measures Act was
invoked three times during the
20th century in Canada. Twice
to arrest and detain “enemy
aliens” during the First World
War and the Second World War,
and more recently during the
October Crisis in Quebec in
1970. Canadians look at these
episodes in our history with
some shame.
It is time for a similar com-
mission that examines the ne-
cessity of the antiterrorism
laws, and assesses their effec-
tiveness, and addresses their
abuses. The former chief justice
of the Supreme Court of Canada
Beverley McLachlin in a speech
she gave in New Zealand in
2005 spoke of the Justice Rand
13
Red flag
The CPI is, of course, far from
the only way to try to measure
corruption. It’s also important to
remember that the data on which
the CPI is based is criticised for a
range of reasons. For example,
giving a country a single score
between one and 100 can give
a sense of false accuracy. China
and Sao Tome & Principe both
score 45 in the latest data yet the
two countries are clearly facing
very different sets of corruption
challenges. Given that, what
exactly does 45 actually mean?
There are other issues, too.
But the CPI is good at pin-
pointing broader trends. The
detail can be unpacked, but the
bigger picture that’s painted is
worth taking seriously.
The UK’s drop in the CPI
should not be seen as a one-off
event. It is a warning signal to a
government that, for the sake of
the country’s future wellbeing,
it must do better.
The UK should not want to be
a nation that suddenly wakes up
to find that it’s in a new corrup-
tion reality that it spent too long
trying not to recognise. It’s not
too late to change that. But rec-
ognising the serious nature of the
problem is the first task – and this
data shows the task is pressing. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
principle that governments do
not and should not have “ab-
solute and untrammelled dis-
cretion.” Such a discretion may
violate the “norms of fairness”
that is the foundation of the
rule of law. The antiterrorism
laws are unlikely to meet this
standard upon any rigorous
cross-examination. The find-
ings and recommendations of
the Rouleau report could re-
invigorate the public concern
about government overreach
and galvanize support for such
an examination. ■
This article first appeared
on Policy Options and is repub-
lished here under a Creative
Commons license.
 14
After a decade of decline, Australia is back
on the rise in a global anti-corruption ranking
BY ADAM GRAYCAR,
University of Adelaide
The Conversation
Just months after Austra-
lia legislated to establish the
long-anticipated National An-
ti-Corruption Agency, our stand-
ing is back on the rise in Trans-
parency International’s annual
Global Corruption Perceptions
Index. This is a small but import-
ant turn-around following a de-
cade of steady decline.
Australia ranked 13th out of
180 countries in the index re-
leased today, up from a low of
18th last year. The index ranks
countries on their perceived
levels of public sector corrup-
tion – the higher the score, the
less perceived corruption.
Australia was ranked as high
as seventh in 2012. But since
then, the country has been
trending downward. From 2012
to 2021, Australia dropped 12
points on the index, more than
any OECD country apart from
Hungary, which also fell 12
points. The only countries to
have fallen by more are Syria,
Cyprus and Saint Lucia.
It’s no coincidence Austra-
lia’s big fall happened during
the Coalition’s near-decade-
long hold on the federal gov-
ernment, though local events
like the quagmire around for-
mer NSW Labor minister Eddie
Obeid also sent bad signals.
Turning the results around
isn’t a quick fix. But the fact
Australia has arrested the de-
cline and is headed back up the
list is significant, though not a
matter for complacency.
The biggest collapse this year
Schools’ mental health..
❰❰ 8 and projects designed
to maintain and ad-
dress the mental
health and well-being of learn-
ers and personnel.
Congressional oversight
panel on drugs
Citing the need to continu-
ously monitor and ensure the
proper implementation of the
Comprehensive Dangerous
Drug Act of 2002, the House
World News
was the UK, whose ranking fell
dramatically from 11th to 20th,
with a loss of 5 points. This
shows that resolve and actions
of government affect global
perceptions of corruption.
Where we’ve faltered
The Corruption Perceptions
Index isn’t a direct measure of
corruption, but a perceptions in-
dex. Using rigorous methodology,
the index assesses the perceptions
of business leaders and experts on
every country’s efforts to prevent
and control corruption, and then
scores and ranks them.
Ranking 13th out of 180 is pret-
ty good, but we have done better
and the public expects better.
This was evident in the last fed-
eral election, when integrity in
government became a focal point.
The Coalition had dragged its feet
on creating a federal anti-corrup-
tion body, a point that was heavi-
ly criticised by Labor, the Greens
and teal independents.
The Morrison government
eventually proposed legislation
for an anti-corruption commis-
also approved on third and fi-
nal reading a joint resolution
seeking to extend the life of the
Congressional Oversight Com-
mittee on Dangerous Drugs for
another 10 years.
House Joint Resolution
(HJR) No. 14, which was ap-
proved with an overwhelming
274 votes, mandates the exten-
sion of the life of the panel from
July 4, 2022 to July 4, 2032.
sion in the lead-up to the elec-
tion. But to many independent
observers, it looked more like
a protection racket for politi-
cians than an attempt to deal
with scandals involving politi-
cians and public money.
The independent Centre for
Public Integrity said the pro-
posed watchdog would have
lacked the power to investigate
the $100 million “sports rorts”
affair or the $660 million com-
muter car park scheme – just
two high-profile examples of
government ministers alleged-
ly using public money for polit-
ical gain in recent years.
How we’re getting back on
track
Although Australia isn’t a
high-corruption country, the pas-
sage last November of legislation
to establish a National Anti-Cor-
ruption Commission (NACC) is
an important first step.
The legislation sets a high bar
by defining corruption as con-
duct that adversely affects, or
could affect, the honest or im-
If enacted into law, this will
be the second time the life of
the oversight committee will be
extended. The first time was in
2012, or the year the Dangerous
Drug Act marked its 10th year
of implementation.
The Comprehensive Danger-
ous Drugs Act of 2002 that was
signed into law on June 7, 2002
and took effect on July 4, 2002.
“The House of Representa-
www.canadianinquirer.net
partial exercise or performance
of any public official’s power,
functions or duties. The NACC
will also have broad jurisdiction,
operate independently from
government, hold public hear-
ings, and make public findings.
However, it would be a mis-
take to assume the NACC will
be a magic bullet.
Politicians are always look-
ing for partisan advantage and
government agencies with tens
of thousands of employees will
always have somebody on the
make. This is why, in addition to
the establishment of a federal an-
ti-corruption body, it’s important
to focus on changing the culture
within government agencies too.
Australian government
agencies have robust integrity
processes, but when there are
breaches, the loss is often more
likely to be of trust and morale.
Services and governance suffer.
Eliminating corruption com-
pletely is not feasible, but mak-
ing it even rarer than it is now is
something we can achieve.
A way forward
Reporting recently on a na-
tional integrity research proj-
ect, a team led by government
integrity expert AJ Brown at
Griffith University proposes a
five-point blueprint for action.
Two of these steps are already
underway: a national integrity
plan and a strong federal integ-
rity commission.
The other themes focus on
the need to strengthen open,
trustworthy decision-making
in government; ensure we have
a fair and honest democracy;
and enhance protections for
public interest whistleblowing.
These involve much more
tives felt the need to extend the
life of our powers of oversight
as the implementation of the
law needs to be reviewed from
time to time,” Speaker Ferdi-
nand Martin Romualdez said.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Rob-
ert Ace Barbers, one of the
principal authors of HJR 14 and
chairman of the House Com-
mittee on Dangerous Drugs,
added that “addressing the
FEBRUARY 3, 2023 FRIDAY
than nailing somebody who
looks the other way for a few
dollars or manipulates a con-
tract for a bag full of cash.
Open, trustworthy deci-
sion-making involves better
parliamentary and ministerial
standards, and an overhaul of
the lobbying system. We need
our politicians to observe the
highest ethical standards, and if
they deal with special interests,
as they must, they need to make
that more transparent.
A fair and honest democracy,
meanwhile, requires desperate-
ly needed reform of our cam-
paign financing laws. We need
to ensure all campaign dona-
tions are reported in real time,
and with lowered thresholds.
We need to make sure that po-
litical donations are just that –
donations and not transactions.
And when things don’t look
right, public servants, employees
and journalists should be able to
call them out without fear of per-
secution or reprisals. The pub-
lic sector has fallen behind the
private sector in whistleblowing
protections, though there are
hopefully signs the government
will move ahead on reforms.
This bundle of proposals
shows that corruption is more
than receiving bribes or favour-
ing family and friends in obtain-
ing benefits or jobs. Australia
needs to take a more compre-
hensive approach to ensuring
government integrity, and when
it does, we’ll be on our way back
into the top ten in the global an-
ti-corruption rankings. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
drug problem in our country re-
quires our laws to be constantly
attuned to the changing times.
The Congressional Over-
sight Committee on Dangerous
Drugs is currently chaired by
Barbers in the House of Rep-
resentatives and Sen. Ronald
“Bato” Dela Rosa in the Senate.
It is composed of seven mem-
bers from each chamber. ■
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2023 World News 15

Covid-19 still public health emergency

of int’l concern: WHO
Anadolu
Philippine News Agency
GENEVA – The World
Health Organization (WHO)
head said Monday after listing
advice from an advisory body
that Covid-19 continues to con-
stitute a public health emer-
gency of international concern
(PHEIC).
“The WHO Director-General
concurs with the advice offered
by the Committee regarding
the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic
and determines that the event
continues to constitute a public
health emergency of interna-
tional concern,” said Tedros Ghe-
breyesus in a written statement.
After the International Health
Regulations Emergency Com-
mittee met over the weekend, the
WHO chief noted that this week
marks the third anniversary of
the determination of Covid-19 as
PHEIC in January 2020.
“While the world is in a bet-
ter position than it was during
the peak of the Omicron trans-
mission one year ago, more
than 170,000 Covid-19-relat-
ed deaths have been reported
globally within the last eight
weeks,” said Tedros.
“In addition, surveillance
and genetic sequencing have
declined globally, making it
more difficult to track known
variants and detect new ones.”
Health systems are current-
ly struggling with Covid-19 and
caring for patients with influ-
enza, respiratory syncytial vi-
rus, health workforce shortag-
es, and fatigued health workers,
said the WHO chief.
WHO has confirmed nearly
753 million Covid-19 cases and
almost 6.9 million deaths world-
wide related to the disease, since
the end of January 2022.
Vaccines, therapeutics, di-
agnostics remain critical
Vaccines, therapeutics, and
diagnostics have remained crit-
ical in preventing severe dis-
ease, saving lives, and taking the
pressure off health systems and
health workers globally.
“Yet, the Covid-19 response
remains hobbled in too many
countries unable to provide
these tools to the populations
most in need, older people and
health workers,” said Tedros.
He also said the WHO is urg-
(TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS/FACEBOOK)
ing countries to remain vigilant
and continue reporting surveil-
lance and genomic sequencing
data and that they recommend
appropriately targeted risk-
based public health and social
measures.
Where necessary, health au-
thorities should vaccinate pop-
ulations most at risk to mini-
mize severe disease and deaths,
They should conduct regular
risk communication, answering
population concerns and en-
gaging communities to improve
the understanding and imple-
mentation of countermeasures,
said Tedros.
He said the WHO committee
was informed that, globally, 13.1
billion doses of Covid-19 vac-
cines had been administered,
with 89% of health workers
and 81% of older adults (over
60 years) having completed the
primary series.
“Significant progress has also
been made in developing effec-
tive medical countermeasures,”
said Tedros.
These include global capaci-
ty for genomic sequencing and
genomic epidemiology, as well
as an understanding of how to
manage the infodemic in the
new informational ecosystem,
including social media plat-
forms. ■

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16
Entertainment
The Last of Us: HBO’s adaptation elevates
the video game’s themes of love and family
BY ADAM JERRETT,
University of Portsmouth,
PETER HOWELL, University
of Portsmouth
The Conversation
Warning: this article contains
spoilers.
From the widely panned Su-
per Mario Bros. movie (1993) to
Netflix’s Resident Evil (2022)
releasing to decidedly mixed
reviews, game adaptations have
historically been cursed on
both big and small screens.
HBO’s series based on the
hugely successful PlayStation
game The Last of Us, is the lat-
est entry into this genre. Early
indications from critics and
viewers suggest it has broken
the dreaded video game curse.
The series occupies a unique
position. In 2013, when the game
was released, post-apocalypses
were incredibly popular science
fiction worlds. In 2023, such
Hontiveros files resolution congratulating
Dolly de Leon for historic int’l award
nominations
Office of Senator Risa
Hontiveros
Senator Risa Hontiveros has
filed Proposed Senate Resolution
No. 453, congratulating Dolly de
Leon for being the first Filipino
actor to be nominated for the
Golden Globe Awards and the
British Film Academy Awards.
“Dolly’s nominations show
that Filipino stories, experienc-
es, and talent have a place in the
halls of prestigious award-giv-
ing bodies. What a joy to wit-
ness the world fall in love with
a Filipino actor. Nakakaproud
pandemics, as we’ve discovered,
hue closer to science fact.
The scene in which protago-
nists Joel and Ellie encounter a
mass grave has a distinctly differ-
ent impact when humanity has
so recently had to grapple with
such tragedies in the real world.
In the series, a child’s blanket
links this scene to a flashback of
mass evacuation in the wake of the
Cordyceps (the fungus that evolves
to infect humans) outbreak fore-
shadowing the series’ continuing
exploration of the values of family,
connection and community.
Love in the time of Cordyceps
The Last of Us game released
in 2013 among what critics
have called the “dadification” of
games – a period in which many
releases focused on paternal
protagonists.
This “dadification” was driven
partly by maturing technology
that allowed more complex sto-
ries to be told. Also, developers
who had grown up playing games
maging Pinoy,” Hontiveros said.
PSR No. 453 also highlighted
De Leon’s character, Abigail, in
the film “Triangle of Sadness.
The senator said Abigail is repre-
sentative of the diaspora of over-
seas Filipino workers (OFWs)
who work thankless jobs away
from their home and their family.
According to the Philippine
Statistics Authority, in 2021,
OFWs were estimated to be at
1.83 million, with female OFWs
making up the lion’s share of
this population at 1.10 million.
“Having Dolly, an actual Fil-
ipino, play a role that speaks to
the millions of OFWs around
were maturing and starting fami-
lies, including The Last of Us cre-
ative director Neil Druckmann.
The kinds of stories they
wanted to tell matured too, re-
sulting in games addressing
parent-child relationships,
including The Walking Dead
(2012) and God of War (2018).
The theme of parenthood is
prevalent in The Last of Us too.
the world, in a film with a glob-
al audience, is a big deal. She
masterfully showed the com-
plexities, the strength, and the
agency of being a woman and
a minority. Gamit ang kanyang
husay sa pag-arte, naipakita
niya ang hugis at lalim ng pag-
katao ng isang babaeng OFW,”
Hontiveros said.
The resolution stressed that
OFWs like Abigail and her Fil-
ipino colleagues on the luxury
yacht are essential to the Phil-
ippine economy, to the country,
and the communities they serve.
“Besides Dolly’s award-win-
ning performance as Abigail, I
www.canadianinquirer.net
While Joel and Ellie’s relation-
ship makes this clear, this theme
extends to other characters in-
cluding Joel’s brother Tommy,
an expectant father. HBO’s ad-
aptation takes this a step further
by also briefly exploring Ellie’s
connection to her mother.
The value of parenthood
in the game unfurls into the
show’s focus on family. Dialogue
(@DOLLYEDELEON/INSTAGRAM)
hope her international recog-
nition also sparks more conver-
sations about the conditions of
Filipino migrant workers, espe-
cially women. They deserve no
FEBRUARY 3, 2023 FRIDAY
throughout the series reflects
its importance: Joel reminding
Tommy of their familial bond,
a scientist who just wants to
be with their family, the dying
teenage bandit pleading to be
returned to his mother.
The value of family extends
to supporting characters who
are exclusive to, or expanded
upon in, the series. Brothers
Henry and Sam share a bond in
the series compared with the
game’s portrayal of a surrogate
parent-child relationship that
complements Joel and Ellie’s.
The series further extends
the game’s exploration of family
by having Henry and Sam’s sto-
ry intersect with new charac-
ter Kathleen. The leader of the
Kansas Quarantine Zone resis-
tance movement, Kathleen has
her own motivations surround-
ing her brother.
A gamechanging adaptation
❱❱ PAGE 20 The Last of Us:
less than safe and secure em-
ployment, adequate and pro-ac-
tive government support, and
our collective respect,” Honti-
veros concluded. ■
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2023
Older women are smashing it this awards
season – but ageism is far from over
BY PRAGYA AGARWAL,
Loughborough University
The Conversation
Older and middle-aged wom-
en are having their moment in
the sun, it seems. The recent
Golden Globes coverage was
filled with images of “older”
women on the red carpet. There
were some notable wins too.
Angela Bassett, Michelle
Yeoh and Jennifer Coolidge,
all in their 60s, won their re-
spective categories and in their
speeches addressed the signifi-
cance of receiving these awards
later in their careers. The re-
cently announced Oscar nomi-
nations also featured many old-
er women, with four of the five
nominations in the best actress
category taken by women over
40 – including Yeoh and Cate
Blanchett (53). Other catego-
ries also featured women over
60, like Jamie Lee Curtis (64)
and Bassett for actress in a sup-
porting role.
This has been heartening for
many. In the past female actors
have felt like there was an expi-
ry date on their careers and it’s
nice to now see women over 40
thriving in complex and excit-
ing leading roles.
I remain sceptical about this
ABS-CBN brings 3 top-grossing Filipino
films from Metro Manila Film Festival 2022
to international cinemas
ABS-CBN
The Philippine Metropolitan
Manila Development Authority
(MMDA) recently announced
the top four entries of the 2022
Metro Manila Film Festival
(MMFF) based on box office
receipts. Listed in alphabeti-
cal order are the films Deleter,
Family Matters, Labyu With An
Accent and Partners in Crime.
ABS-CBN, the leading global
Filipino media and entertainment
organization, with its commit-
becoming a long-term trend.
Ageism is very deeply embed-
ded in our society and it will not
go away with several women in
their 60s winning at the Golden
Globes or being nominated at
the Oscars.
After all, look carefully at the
media coverage around this and
you’ll notice that much of it is
rooted in ageism. There was
a slew of articles about older
women having a “sartorial mo-
ment” at the Golden Globes.
The underlying message here
was that “they looked great de-
ment to bringing the best Filipino
talent and entertainment to the
world, is screening internationally
three of the aforementioned top
films from MMFF 2022: Family
Matters, Labyu With An Accent
and Partners in Crime.
FAMILY MATTERS
Family Matters, starring vet-
eran actors Noel Trinidad and
Liza Lorena, is included unan-
imously by top movie critics
among the best Filipino movies
of 2022. No superstars, no love-
teams, no gimmicks, no con-
troversies. Just the powerful,
spite their age”.
No one was talking about
“older men” even though there
were many in their 40s and old-
er on the red carpet, and many
articles about best-dressed men
at the Golden Globes. Men do
not require this classifier. Their
ages were not typically men-
tioned in these articles. Wom-
en, on the other hand, are qual-
ified by their ages and judged
accordingly. Age is definitely
not just a number for them.
Ageism in our social and
cultural fabric
thoughtful writing of screen-
writer Mel Mendoza Del Ro-
sario, the sensitive and steady
direction of Nuel Naval, and
one of the most brilliant act-
ing ensembles in the history of
modern Filipino cinema. Del
Rosario and Nuval previously
collaborated for the award-win-
ning adaptation of Miracle in
Cell No. 7, a 2019 MMFF entry.
Family Matters is a heartfelt
drama that explores the com-
plexities of intergenerational
relationships of a Filipino fam-
ily. It starts with a health scare
www.canadianinquirer.net
Entertainment
Psychiatrist and gerontolo-
gist Dr Robert Butler coined the
term “ageism” in 1969.
Ageism or age bias affects men
and women differently. As I dis-
cussed at length in my book Sway:
Unravelling Unconscious Bias,
the research in bias has been slow
to address issues of age-related
bias and discrimination.
In a 2004 report by Age Con-
cern in the UK, one in three
people surveyed thought older
people are “incompetent and in-
capable”. Explicit discrimination
and bias are illegal but also in-
creasingly frowned upon. Yet im-
plicit biases against age persist.
Ageism is usually very sub-
tle but there is evidence across
a number of domains to show
how it works in subversive
ways. Much like racism and
sexism, it counts on separating
someone out for “difference”
and lazy stereotyping.
Yes, the representation
of women of all ages on our
screens and in books will go
some way towards countering
this narrative. And there are
organisations and filmmakers
who are now challenging age-
ism in films and media.
But it wasn’t long ago that
Maggie Gyllenhaal, in her late
30s, was told she was too old
to play a love interest opposite
from elderly parent Francisco
Florencio (Trinidad). As his wife
of 55 years and their children
try to deal with the issue, plans
and decisions have to be made,
with everyone having his or her
own assessment and motive on
how to best deal with the situa-
tion, most important of all, the
father himself. How to navigate
through and settle this madness
is at the heart of the story which
many families are able to relate
to. The excellent cast includes
Nonie Buencamino, Agot Isidro,
Mylene Dizon, James Blanco,
17
a 44-year old man, and Jamie
Denbo (43) was considered
not young enough to play the
wife of a 57-year-old actor and
mother to an 18-year-old.
Age bias affects women
more than men
Gender plays a huge role in
how those going through the
ageing process are perceived.
Women face more barriers as
they grow older compared to
men, a double whammy of sex-
ism and ageism (also racism
for women of colour). This is
the “George Clooney effect”, or
what economists call the “at-
tractiveness penalty”.
While older women are
called “hags”, men are still
virile and called “silver foxes”
as they grow older. Grey hair
gives men like Clooney, Tom
Jones and Colin Firth an air of
sophistication and distinction.
By contrast, a 2021 study found
that women with grey hair were
considered less competent.
It’s not only hair. The inter-
net erupted when 50-year-old
ex-model Helena Christensen
stepped out in a lacy bustier.
Former Vogue editor Alexandra
Shulman wrote of the model,
“something you wore at 30 will
never look the same on you 20
❱❱ PAGE 19 Older women are
Nikki Valdez, JC Santos, Ina Fe-
leo and Anna Luna.
LABYU WITH AN ACCENT
It’s not easy to bring to-
gether superstar Coco Martin,
fresh from the record-breaking
seven-year run of ABS-CBN’s
primetime teleserye, FPJ’s Ang
Probinsiyano, and Jodi Sta. Ma-
ria, also fresh from her historic
best actress award milestone at
the 2022 Asian Academy Cre-
ative Awards, the first Filipina
to do so, for her role in The Bro-
❱❱ PAGE 27 ABS-CBN brings 3
18
A hymn to the stars: what happens when
science puts the universe into music
BY YAËL NAZÉ, Université de
Liège
The Conversation
A little over six months ago,
NASA’s James Webb Space
Telescope (JWST) delivered its
first photographs, dazzling the
world as it revealed the cosmos
in glorious technicolour. The
first picture transmitted in July
showed a galaxy cluster locat-
ed in the Southern hemisphere
sky, 5.12 billion light years from
Earth. In the words of US pres-
ident Joe Biden, it represented
“the deepest and sharpest in-
frared image of the distant uni-
verse” taken by humanity so far.
But NASA didn’t content it-
self with unveiling these first
JWST images visually. Tapping
into the long love story between
music and astronomy, scien-
tists mapped out the colours to
different pitches of sound.
Music and astronomy: an an-
cient love story
Music and space might not
seem like natural partners – af-
ter all, no air means no sound.
But to our forebears, the links
were obvious. In Ancient
Greece, thinkers such as Aris-
totle believed the Earth lay at
the centre of the universe. This
didn’t make it an unchanging
ideal, however: to the ancients,
terrestrial phenomena were
ever-changing, a reflection of
our planet’s imperfection. The
sky, by contrast, was seen as
immutable and eternal, and so
worthy of emulation.
Lifestyle
A few of the stars moved with
respect to others – so-called
“planets” in the etymological
sense (for planet means “wan-
dering star”). The ancients
knew of seven of them: Mer-
cury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and
Saturn, plus the Sun and the
Moon. That number would go
on to inform the composition of
the days of the week as well as of
the musical scale.
Indeed, to the Ancient
Greeks, each planet hung on a
sphere, which, in turn, revolved
around the Earth. Given that
movement emitted sound here
– such as when two objects
rubbed against one another or
when feet hit the ground – it
made sense that the moving
spheres in the cosmos should
also produce sounds. Contrary
to those heard on Earth, these
were thought to be perfect,
prompting the Ancients to use
the stars as a template for ter-
restrial music. This is why in
the Middle Ages astronomy and
music were grouped together
in the quadrivium, which also
included arithmetic and geom-
etry, and lay the foundations of
the liberal arts education.
Plotting the stars on the mu-
sical scale
But how to weave togeth-
er notes and planets? This is
admittedly the trickiest part.
Some scientists have linked a
sound’s pitch to a planet’s dis-
tance, others with its speed.
To add more intricacy to the
compositions, at the time per-
ceptions differed in the relative
positions of the planets in the
solar system.
The German astronomer Jo-
hannes Kepler (1571-1630) was
one of the scientists to most
notably draw on this Ancient
Greek concept of “music of the
spheres” (also known as musi-
ca universalis) to map out the
planetary system.
Kepler’s findings would cata-
pult us into the modern cosmos:
he determined that not only
was the Sun not at the centre of
the solar system – as Nicolaus
Copernicus had proposed in the
previous century – but also that
the planets revolved around it
in an elliptical rather than cir-
cular motion. As a result, dis-
tance and speed changed in the
course of the orbit. It became
impossible to associate a single
www.canadianinquirer.net
note with a single planet, driv-
ing him to the conclusion that
planets sung melodies.
Of course, all this had to re-
main harmonious: for a planet
to produce a melody, the high-
est sound had to chime well
with the lowest. Eventually,
Kepler abandoned his tunes to
concentrate on spelling out his
third law on planetary motion
in 1619.
While we have long left the
idea of planetary spheres be-
hind, the “music of the spheres”
left its mark – even today, songs
and albums continue to bear
its name, including Coldplay’s
latest opus. The relationship
between astronomy and music
went on to develop further, with
music inspired by astronomical
concepts, objects or people, or
FEBRUARY 3, 2023 FRIDAY
alternatively drawing on real
astronomical data.
Kepler’s heirs
Rather than mapping the
planetary systems, Kepler’s
heirs are now mapping the sky
with sounds, following a few
chosen rules. Intense light in an
image translates into intense
volume: a brighter object pro-
duce a louder sound. In turn, a
sound’s duration corresponds
to the object’s appearance:
short for a star (which is basi-
cally a spot in an image), long
for a nebulous cloud.
For the pitch, it could direct-
ly reflect the light frequency
(higher pitch if higher frequen-
cy) or be a spatial coding (the
higher the object is in the im-
age, the higher the pitch). In
that case, the image of a neb-
ular “mountain” will produce
a sonorous rise and fall. In a
picture of the centre of our Gal-
axy released for Chandra space
telescope, both methods are
combined: spatial coding with
different light frequencies rep-
resented by different instru-
ments (bells for X-rays, strings
for visible light and a piano for
infrared).
In 1606, the French philos-
opher Blaise Pascal wrote that
“the eternal silence of these in-
finite spaces” terrified him. For
modern day scientists, howev-
er, they’re a playground of light
and especially of music. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2023
It might be scary but making phone calls
can be good for young people’s wellbeing
BY ANDREA WIGFIELD,
Sheffield Hallam University,
ANTONIA YPSILANTI,
Sheffield Hallam University,
CARON CARTER, Sheffield
Hallam University, JAN
GURUNG, Sheffield Hallam
University
The Conversation
Some people might remem-
ber the days of coming back
from school eager to call a
friend, sometimes sitting for
hours talking about anything
and everything. However, today
most young people rarely call
each other. The very idea of call-
ing someone or receiving a call
seems to cause anxiety in many.
When Alexander Graham
Bell invented the telephone
in 1876 it’s doubtful that he
imagined how its usage would
change over time. What start-
ed out as a wired medium for a
voice conversation is now wire-
less and mobile, used to trans-
mit written messages, photo-
graphs and access the internet.
To some extent the changing
use of the telephone is positive
for young people, as phones al-
low them to communicate with
people worldwide more easily
and quickly than before.
Despite, how “connected” we
are and how easy it might be to
communicate, mental ill-health,
including anxiety and depres-
sion, is on the increase among
young adults. They were also one
of the groups who felt most lone-
ly as a result of the pandemic.
Would this outcome have been
different had they used their
phones for live calls? It might
Older women are..
❰❰ 17 years later. Clothes
don’t lie” and called
her “tacky”. There
are stereotypes as to how older
women should act and behave.
A study from the University
of Southern California of the
films nominated for best pic-
ture between 2014 and 2016
showed that only 11.8% of the
actors were 60 or older, but sig-
nificantly 78% of the films had
no older women in leading or
supporting roles.
have. Particularly given that that
a live phone conversation can
make us feel good and give us a
sense of fulfilment, which con-
tinues after we’ve hung up.
Meaningful phone calls
Arguably it’s the quality not
quantity of phone calls which
is important, and those which
support meaningful relation-
ships with significant others and
friends can improve wellbeing.
Social neuroscientist, John
Cacioppo’s loneliness theory
suggests that when people feel
lonely, they become more mo-
tivated to meaningfully con-
nect with others as a remedy
against the negative emotions,
thoughts and feelings associat-
ed with loneliness.
In 2018, the BBC carried out
the world’s largest loneliness
study and found that 40% of 16
to 24-year-olds reported feeling
lonely. This might seem like an
alarming finding, but Cacioppo’s
theory suggests that there may
be a window of opportunity to
alleviate loneliness and keep it at
bay before it becomes harmful.
This is where live phone calls
can help. Calling someone you
feel close to and engaging in a
meaningful conversation over
the phone can alleviate loneli-
ness and help young people re-
connect with others. Although
phone calls are not a panacea
for loneliness, they can have
beneficial effects.
Having dialogue in real time
also helps us clarify things by
creating an opportunity to ask
questions and listen, along with
sharing knowledge and ideas in
a mutual space. The benefits of
this reciprocity and being present
In 2016, an exhaustive study
on film dialogue from screen-
plays of over 2,000 films across
genres found that the percent-
age of dialogue available to
women decreased significantly
with age compared to men. Men
over 40 had more roles and spo-
ken dialogue (55 million words
for the 42–65 age group) com-
pared to women in the same age
group (11 million words).
Women have more cosmetic
treatments targeted at them.
with another can help with prob-
lem solving and reduces misun-
derstandings, which can be inter-
preted as social rejection).
Many of us have had the ex-
perience of getting the tone or
intention of a text confused,
which has sent us into a bit
of tailspin. It’s harder to con-
fuse what someone means on
a phone call. And if you do, its
easy to ask for clarification.
Change your habits, make
a call
As well as helping with loneli-
ness, phone calls with a friend or
relative can help regulate our ner-
vous system and create feelings of
belonging in ways which are lost
when we don’t use our voices.
When we make calls, we pick
up cues through the rhythm of
the voice, the way it rises and
falls, which can help us feel safe,
build trust and create warm and
cosy feelings that can support
the nervous system.
Trust is enhanced through
positive conversation as our
We see social media ads for
shrink-wrapping our necks
and many brands of anti-wrin-
kle creams lining shop shelves.
There’s no way to escape this
fear and anxiety of being “past
it” and not being considered
relevant.
We are often complicit in our
own marginalisation too as we
grow older through the implicit
bias we harbour about old age.
In fact, language matters too
even when we think we are try-
Lifestyle
body chemistry changes, cre-
ating oxytocin (the love hor-
mone) and a drop in cortisol
(the primary stress hormone).
The effect of a voice’s rhythm
goes beyond the content of
what’s said. According to Amer-
ican Psychologist Albert Meh-
rabian when a person is com-
municating at an emotional
level, such as on a phone call,
38% of the communication is
credited to the effects of vocal
quality and 7% to the content of
what is being said.
Now we know the wellbeing
value of making a phone call,
here are some tips that might
help you get started.
1. Decide if you prefer a
voice call or a video call
With video calls it can be
great to see a friend or family
member in their own environ-
ment. This may help you to feel
more socially connected and it
may be easier to see facial ex-
pressions and laughter.
2. Will it be a surprise call
ing to counter some of these bi-
ases. When someone says “you
are only as old as you feel” or
the phrase “young at heart” or
that they “don’t feel old” they
are displaying some of these
implicit biases and fears associ-
ated with ageing.
Ageism is a reality. And it af-
fects women much more than
men, due to the intersection of
gender and age.
The only way to address this
is through a collective commit-
19
or planned?
You and your friend might
like the element of surprise
that comes from an impromptu
call. However, if someone does
not answer or cannot talk bear
in mind that it’s just not the
right time for them. They may
be busy with family, shopping
or eating dinner. If you want to
avoid this, send a text asking the
friend or family member if they
are free to talk and if not set up a
mutually convenient time later.
3. What to talk about?
You may love to talk and have
lots of spontaneous ideas while
on the phone. Or you may pre-
fer in advance of the call to jot
down a few ideas of what you
would like to talk about. This
will ensure you don’t forget
things you want to say or avoid
moments where you might be
thinking about what to say.
4. Taking the focus away
from the talk
If you want the focus to be
less on the talk, but still make
a social connection why not
try something like a video call
while simultaneously playing
a video game with a friend or
watching something. The talk
will then be governed by the
game or show and take away
any pressure you might feel
about what to talk about.
5. Start with simple things
If this all sounds too daunt-
ing, then start with simple
things. Make shorter calls or in-
teract with someone in friendly
way on a business call. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
ment and action and acknowl-
edgement of externalised and
internalised forms of ageism.
And media has to take a huge
responsibility for how it per-
petuates and reinforces ageism
in our society through words
and images. Until then age will
not just be a number. Especially
for women. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
 20
Young people are drinking less – here’s an
alternative to try on your next night out
BY ALEXANDRA KVIAT,
University of Leicester
The Conversation
A new leisure trend is provid-
ing an alternative to pubs and
bars for young people whose
alcohol consumption has been
declining for years.
Competitive socialising takes
the centuries-old idea of mixing
food with games (think medie-
val banquets) and amplifies it.
Options range from reinvent-
ed versions of bowling, board
games, darts, ping pong, shuffle-
board, table football, mini golf,
cricket, to axe-throwing, escape
rooms and virtual reality bars.
The common denominator is
fun, immersive social experi-
ences served with high quality
food and drinks in eye-catch-
ing, Instagrammable interiors.
According to market research
analysts from Mintel UK, a
quarter of people surveyed
about their leisure activities in
autumn 2022 said they recently
played a social entertainment
game. And analysts predict that
competitive socialising will re-
main popular despite ongoing
economic uncertainty.
Millennials and Generation Z
are driving the trend. Not only
are they drinking less, they are
spending less on commodities
and more on experiences.
Competitive socialising ven-
ues have the potential to fill emp-
ty stores and drive footfall back
to the high street. My soon-to-be-
The Last of Us:..
❰❰ 16 While family is a core
concern of the show,
the theme of connec-
tion is also explored. This can be
seen in its many “found” families.
Joel and smuggling partner Tess’
relationship gets more screen
time than in the game, as does
the short-lived Joel-Tess-and-
Ellie family dynamic.
This extends to the series’ oth-
er couplings, from episode-length
explorations of Joel’s friends and
existing game characters Bill and
Frank, to Ellie’s relationship with
school friend Riley, to Firefly
leader Marlene’s connection to
Anna – a best friend with a pivot-
al story role.
Lifestyle
published study of the UK’s social
board gaming scene revealed just
how much this sector contrib-
utes to local communities.
Unique leisure experienc-
es do not just create personal
memories, they are also the
social currency of digital cap-
italism. Research has shown
that being able to impress oth-
ers with our nights out, holiday
trips and festival visits is just as
important as the actual quality
of these activities.
After months of COVID-19
lockdowns, being offline is the
new luxury. The thirst for multi-
sensory fun and in-person social
interaction makes competitive
socialising increasingly appeal-
ing not only to young profes-
sionals but also to families and
corporate clients looking for
fresh team-building ideas.
Even the Cordyceps is not
immune to the rhetoric of con-
nection. The spores by which
the fungus spreads in the game
have been changed to fungal
tendrils in the show. These ten-
drils connect all the Infected –
the series’ version of zombies.
Step on a tendril in one place
and you’ll wake a dozen Infect-
ed in another. The fungal spores
in the game are an impersonal,
environmental hazard. The se-
ries’ tendrils instead actively
seek out new victims and in one
unsettling scene, defile a funda-
mental act of human connec-
tion and love to achieve this.
What it means to be human
Reviving local business
scenes
Between June 2021 and Sep-
tember 2022, I visited 24 social
board gaming venues in six re-
gions of England and interviewed
50 people who own, organise and
attend them. I was initially trying
to find out what draws people
to analogue games in a digital
age and why they choose to play
them outside the home.
The most popular answers
were getting away from the
screen, having a tactile experi-
ence and being able to socialise
without drinking too much. For
those who moved towns during
the pandemic, visiting a board
game social became the easi-
est and safest way to find new
friends. Many people said that
board games “add structure to
socialising”, which is especial-
in a world ravaged by a pandem-
ic is also explored. The politics
of peaceful communities is ex-
amined, from the militaristic
Quarantine Zone where Joel first
meets Ellie, to Tommy’s settle-
ment – jokingly but truthfully de-
rided as “communism” by Joel.
More important, perhaps, is
the exploration of hostile com-
munities that game players would
typically shoot their way through.
Kathleen’s control of the Kan-
sas resistance group is given a
two-episode arc that ends with
Joel and Ellie burying Henry and
Sam – a humanising end to their
story the game did not afford.
The notion of burial as a hu-
www.canadianinquirer.net
ly important for neurodiverse
people and those dealing with
post-pandemic social anxiety.
But as I dug deeper, I realised
that social board gaming does
even more than that – it also
supports local independent
business scenes.
Most board game cafes part-
ner with local bakeries, coffee
roasters and other food sup-
pliers. Some businesses, like
Dice Board Game Lounge in
Portsmouth or Dice Saloon in
Brighton, contribute to urban
regeneration by breathing new
life into underused buildings.
As the UK’s pubs were closing
down at alarming rates in 2022,
I saw publicans trying to attract
customers by reaching out to lo-
cal game enthusiasts. Some avid
hobbyists host pub game nights
in their free time, others have
launched small event compa-
nies, running socials in indepen-
dent venues. Mintel’s recent UK
pub market report says 20% of
their Gen Z respondents “don’t
visit pubs often or at all” – but
competitive socialising can be
the hook that will drag them in.
The cost of socialising
In a world where leisure time
and budgets are constantly
shrinking, mixing dining with
memorable entertainment of-
fers good value for money. But
2023 will bring economic chal-
lenges for everyone, and com-
petitive socialising venues and
their patrons are no exception.
Mintel analysts suggest that
while nights out are likely to be-
man ritual is unearthed again
a few episodes later when a girl
asks in-game antagonist David,
the leader of a group at Silver
Lakes Resort, if her father can
be buried – a request he denies.
The episode explores David
and his group, humanising them
more than in the game. This fur-
ther humanisation then stands
in stark contrast to a reveal that
poses the ultimate question of
where the tipping point is be-
tween human and monster.
These values are framed in
relation to the show’s ultimate
theme: love. Joel loved Sarah.
Bill loved Frank. Kathleen loved
her brother. David’s communi-
FEBRUARY 3, 2023 FRIDAY
come less frequent, they also be-
come more of a special occasion,
which means consumers will pri-
oritise quality over quantity. And
as Nick Frow, the owner of a cock-
tails and crazy golf experience in
London, put it: “Throughout any
period, especially those that re-
quire some distraction, people
need bread and circuses.”
But smaller-scale, more com-
munity-oriented businesses
based in less affluent areas are
not as optimistic. The fall in con-
sumer confidence is part of the
problem. And because leisure
operators use a lot of energy for
lighting, cooking, heating and
cooling, they are particularly ex-
posed to uplifts in energy prices.
If you want to support your lo-
cal competitive socialising venue
this winter, pay them a visit or
follow them on social media. But
there is a cheaper way to stay on
top of this trend. Perhaps throw-
ing an axe in your backyard isn’t
the best idea, but you can always
organise a game night at home.
There probably won’t be any
neon lights, banging beats or
a selfie wall, but home parties
create a sense of community
and relaxation like no other en-
vironment. Invite a few friends,
cook together, chip in for a take-
away or do potluck. Pick some
titles from this list or play party
games that require nothing but
pen and paper – and have fun. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
ty loved him. This love, derived
from the personal relationships
found and strengthened amid
chaos, breeds hope not only for
the world portrayed in the show
but also for our own.
A repeated motif in the series
is the motto of the resistance
group, the Fireflies: “When
you’re lost in the darkness, look
for the light.” In a world all too
familiar with pandemics in
2023, this masterful adaptation
of The Last of Us is something
bright indeed. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2023
Djokovic crushes PH to host Women’s 3x3
Tsitsipas to win International Invitational
10th Australian on Feb. 4-5
Open title
Novak Djokovic (MIRSASHA/FLICKR, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Anadolu
Philippine News Agency
ISTANBUL – Novak Djokov-
ic defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas
in straight sets to clinch a re-
cord-extending 10th Australian
Open title on Sunday.
The Serbian powered his way
to a 6-3, 7-6, 7-6 victory at the
Rod Laver Arena in just under
three hours to equal Rafael Na-
dal men’s record of 22 Grand
Slam crowns.
Djokovic’s latest success in
Melbourne also catapults him
from No. 5 to No. 1 in the ATP
rankings.
Tsitsipas, 24, heaped praise
on Djokovic for his incredible
career, saying: “He’s the great-
est that’s ever held a tennis
racket.”
Djokovic thanked his young
Greek challenger “for being so
kind and respectful.”
“I would say that this is the
biggest victory in my life con-
sidering the circumstances,”
the Serbian said, a reference to
his expulsion from last year’s
Sports
Australian Open for refusing to
get a Covid-19 vaccine shot.
Along with the glory and a tri-
umphant return back to the top
of tennis, Djokovic will leave
Australia with USD2.1 million
in prize money.
In the women’s final, Aryna
Sabalenka came back from a set
down to beat Elena Rybakina in
a thrilling final match and won
her first Grand Slam singles title.
Kazakhstan’s Rybakina won
the first set 6-4 and looked on
course to add to her Wimble-
don title.
The 24-year-old Sabalenka
fought back in the second set, fir-
ing 21 winners to take it 6-3 and
force the game into a decider.
A gripping finale unfolded at
Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena
as Sabalenka went up 5-3 after
breaking Rybakina’s serve in
the seventh game.
Rybakina took the next game
but the fifth seed Sabalenka held
her nerve to clinch the set 6-4.
Sabalenka was competing
under a neutral flag because of
Belarus’ support for Russia’s
war on Ukraine. ■
BY JEAN MALANUM
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – All is set for the
staging of the Philippine Wom-
en’s 3x3 International Invita-
tional on Feb. 4-5 at the Robin-
sons Magnolia in Quezon City.
Twelve teams from five coun-
tries are vying for the USD3,000 in
cash top prize in the tournament
billed as “Manila Hustle 3x3” and
presented by Uratex and SMART.
The second and third runners-up
will receive USD2,000 and
USD1,000, respectively.
Janine Pontejos, a member of
the 2019 SEA Games champion
Filipina teen finishes 3rd
in Indonesia chess tourney
BY JEAN MALANUM
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Woman National
Master Antonella Berthe “Tonelle”
Racasa finished third in the BKD
Fide Rated International Open
Chess Tournament Under 21 at the
Gunadarma University Karawaci in
Tangerang-Indonesia on Sunday.
Racasa finished the nine-
round Swiss system event with
6.0 points, creating a five-way
tie for first place. But after the
tiebreaks were applied, she
ranked third behind locals An-
gkouw Isaura Petra Maria and
Lasama Ivana Maria Treopolsa.
Indonesians Carissa Vioren
and Nabila Aulia Putri finished
fourth and fifth, respectively.
“I am happy, considering this
is my first international tourna-
ment after two years,” said the
15-year-old Racasa in an online
interview on Monday.
She defeated Tedisyah Arya
www.canadianinquirer.net
team, will spearhead the Lady
Macbeth Riots, one of six local
squads joining the event. The
others are Uratex Dream Phil-
ippines, Uratex Tibay Philip-
pines, Discovery Perlas, Angelis
Resort and Army Altama.
Also participating are Owls.
Exe Kujukuri and Zoos Tokyo
(Japan), 1Eyehansol and G2L2
(Korea), Jumpshot (Singapore)
and Shoot It Dragon (Thailand).
Uratex Managing Director
Peachy Medina said the tour-
nament “aims to deliver a high-
ly-quality event featuring elite
women basketball. In the pro-
cess, we hope to hype up the
growing sport of women’s 3x3
Muhammad, Revalina Trianasta-
sya, Davin Belmiro Azfar, Martogi
Imanuel and Maulana Ezra Fa-
letehan. Her matches against Kev-
in Theofilus Andreas and Hanun
Nafisah ended in draw. She also had
two losses coming from Nathanael
Dieudonne B Simanihuruk and
Rizky Akbar Muhammad.
Last December, she won the sil-
ver medal in the blitz category at
the Batang Pinoy National Cham-
pionships held in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.
“I am looking forward to
compete in more tournaments
this year,” said Racasa, a stu-
Antonella Berthe “Tonelle” Racasa (ROBERTO MEMORY MAN RACASA/FACEBOOK)
21
basketball in the world, uplifting
all its passionate players, coach-
es, and fans, while delivering a
great fan and player experience.”
Slam dunk and shootout con-
tests will also be held to spice
up the tournament with volley-
ball icon Alyssa Valdez and bas-
ketball star JayJay Helterbrand
to serve as judges.
The formal launching of the
event at the Summit Hotel in
Greenhills, San Juan City on
Thursday was attended Medi-
na, SMART First Vice President
and Head of Sports Jude Turcu-
ato and Samahang Basketball
ng Pilipinas secretary general
Sonny Barrios. ■
dent from Victory Christian In-
ternational School.
She is planning to join the
World School Chess Champi-
onships set on April 13-23 in
Rhodes, Greece and the World
Youth Championships on Nov.
12-25 in Montesilvano, Italy.
Meanwhile, the top three win-
ners in the boys’ division were all
Indonesians. Syafiuddin Raden
and top seed Dziththauly Ra-
madhan had identical 8.0 points
but Raden prevailed with a su-
perior tiebreak. Stevanky settled
for third place with 7.5 points. ■
22
Power Slap League: a brutal ‘sport’ that may
leave contestants with brain damage
BY NIKOS EVANGELOU,
University of Nottingham
The Conversation
Ultimate Fighting Champi-
onship (UFC) president Dana
White has created a new brutal
sport: Power Slap League. In
this “sport”, contestants (men
and women) slap each other as
hard as they can in the head. A
winner is decided by judges af-
ter three rounds.
This latest violent sport, li-
censed by the Nevada State
Athletic Commission, focus-
es on slapping the head, with
defence expressly forbidden.
Competitors are not allowed to
move in ways that might blunt
the force of the oncoming slap,
such as by raising their shoul-
der, tucking their chin or rolling
with the slap. They have to have
their hands behind their back
while being slapped.
Video footage shows some
contestants twitching on the
ground after being slapped
unconscious. And one female
fighter crashed into the podium
after being severely concussed.
Filipino pole
vaulter Obiena
strikes gold in
France
BY IVAN STEWART
SALDAJENO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Filipino pole
vaulter EJ Obiena bagged his
first indoor gold for 2023 after
ruling the Perche En Or event
early Sunday (Philippine Time)
in Roubaix, France.
Obiena beat China’s Yao Jie
for the top prize after clearing
5.82 meters on his first try. Obi-
ena tried but failed to clear 5.9.
Yao who settled for silver has
set his new personal best when
Sports
Power Slap is the latest sport
to be added to the growing list of
violent contests, including wres-
tling, boxing and cage fighting.
The arguments against violent
sports are well-rehearsed, yet
clearly ignored by people who
promote these contests.
Concussions caused by blows
to the head or violent shaking of
the head, in the short term lead
to headaches, loss of memory,
brain fog and confusion. But the
Dana White (ANDRIUS PETRUCENIA/FLICKR, CC BY-SA 2.0)
he cleared 5.75 meters.
Obiena could see Yao again in
Kazakhstan as the world num-
ber three is set to compete there
for the Asian Indoor Athletics
Championships next month.
Meanwhile, host country
France assured itself of a podi-
um finish as three Frenchmen
--Ethan Cormont, Robin EMig
and Mathieu Collet-- all cleared
a maximum of 5.65 meters and
tied for the third spot.
After the countback was
made, Cormont bagged the
bronze medal. ■
long-term effects can be more
important.
We should not assume that
participants in Power Slap are
unharmed if they do not sustain
obvious signs of concussion.
Repetitive head trauma in ama-
teur boxing causes injury to the
nerve cells that can be detected
by measuring the leaking of the
brain neurofilaments into the
cerebrospinal fluid, even when
boxers pass cognitive tests. Sim-
FIFA fines 4 Uruguay
players over incidents
after World Cup exit
Anadolu
The Conversation
ANKARA – Four Uruguayan
national football team players
were suspended Friday and
fined for incidents after the
team was eliminated in the
group stage at the 2022 FIFA
World Cup in December.
FIFA said its Disciplinary
Committee decided to sanction
defenders Jose Maria Gimenez
and Diego Godin, goalkeeper
Fernando Muslera and forward
Edinson Cavani for misconduct
and behavior after the match
against Ghana.
Uruguay beat Ghana 2-0 in
a Group H match on Dec. 2,
www.canadianinquirer.net
ilar low-level brain damage is
likely to occur in power slapping,
where the unprotected head is
the sole target of the blow.
These repeated mild head in-
juries could cumulatively lead to
an increased risk of chronic brain
injury diseases and possibly neu-
rodegeneration and dementia.
As we have seen in boxing, most
of the injuries sustained will be-
come apparent long after the
athletes have retired.
Only a matter of time
Extreme violent sports can
also have extreme outcomes
beyond the loss of cognitive
function. A punch or a slap does
not have to be exceptionally
powerful to kill somebody. A
hit that is delivered quickly and
at a particular angle can cause
torsional forces to the neck and
head, injuring the arteries that
supply blood to the brain.
There are many examples of
one-punch deaths documented
through the courts. Most neu-
rologists and neurosurgeons, in-
cluding myself, have dealt with
the splitting of the neck arteries
(dissection) caused by trauma,
and in most cases, the inflicted
however, it was not enough for
the South American nation to
qualify for the Round of 16 in
Qatar. After the match, several
Uruguayan players were frus-
trated and lost control while ar-
guing with the referee because
of controversial decisions made
during the match.
FIFA said Gimenez and Mus-
lera were given four-match sus-
pensions and each fined 20,000
Swiss francs (USD21,700).
The committee banned Go-
din and Cavani for one match
each. Godin and Cavani were
ordered to pay a fine of 15,000
Swiss francs.
The suspensions will be car-
ried out during Uruguay’s next
official matches.
FEBRUARY 3, 2023 FRIDAY
trauma was not excessive. Ev-
idence suggests some victims
have weaker arteries, others
were just unlucky in terms of the
direction or rotation of the force
applied to their neck and head.
While it may be rare, repli-
cating the conditions for such
an event is madness. While risk-
ing serious brain injury is unac-
ceptable, it is only a matter of
time before the game will result
in a one-slap death. It will take
only a moment, but it will ruin
many people’s lives. Is it really
worth it for a measly purse of
£3,200 per bout if you win?
In response to criticism
about safety at the first Pow-
er Slap event at the Columbus
Convention Center on March 5
2022, Dana White has replied:
“The commission is working
on it. Everyone is in a learning
process right now. They have
learned a lot since the March
event and u will see that as the
show goes on.” ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
Uruguayan football body will
also suffer a “partial stadium
closure (the stands behind the
goals) at its next FIFA ‘A’ inter-
national match as host associ-
ation,” and was also hit with a
fine of 50,000 Swiss francs.
Uruguay players hounded the
referee in the Ghana match once
the final whistle was blown.
Cavani punched the VAR
monitor as he lefts the pitch.
Uruguay finished their group
in the third spot with four
points. Ghana had three. Both
were eliminated from the tour-
nament. Portugal and South
Korea were the two best teams
in the group and moved on to
the last 16. ■
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2023 23

Business
US debt default could trigger dollar’s
collapse – and severely erode America’s
political and economic might
BY MICHAEL HUMPHRIES, of account. Currently, more affect a company’s profitability. pression. dollar – something that would
Touro University than half of world trade – from Since international trade is No other country today could change long-standing policy.
The Conversation oil and gold to cars and smart- generally denominated in dol- unilaterally impose this level of Severe consequences
phones – is in U.S. dollars, with lars, U.S. businesses can buy economic pain on another coun- Beyond the impact on the
the euro accounting for around and sell in their own currency, try. And all an American presi- dollar and the economic and
It’s a case of déjà vu all over 30% and all other currencies something their foreign com- dent currently needs is a pen. political clout of the U.S., a de-
again on the debt ceiling debate. making up the balance. petitors cannot do as easily. As Rivals rewarded fault would be profoundly felt
Republicans, who regained As a result of this dominance, simple as this sounds, it gives Another consequence of in many other ways and by
control of the House of Repre- the U.S. is the only country on American companies a tremen- the dollar’s collapse would be countless people.
sentatives in November 2022, the planet that can pay its for- dous competitive advantage. enhancing the position of the In the U.S., tens of millions of
are threatening to not allow an eign debt in its own currency. If Republicans push the U.S. U.S.‘s top rival for global influ- Americans and thousands of com-
increase in the debt limit unless This gives both the U.S. govern- into default, the dollar would like- ence: China. panies that depend on govern-
they get unspecified spending ment and American companies ly lose its position as the interna- While the euro would likely ment support could suffer, and
cuts in return. In so tional unit of account, replace the dollar as the world’s the economy would most likely
doing, they risk push- forcing the government primary unit of account, the sink into recession – or worse, giv-
ing the U.S. govern- and companies to pay Chinese yuan would move into en the U.S. is already expected to
ment into default. their international bills second place. soon suffer a downturn. In addi-
Brinkmanship over ... the U.S. is the only in another currency. If the yuan were to become tion, retirees could see the worth
the debt ceiling has be- Loss of political an a significant internation- of their pensions dwindle.
come a regular ritual – country on the planet power too al unit of account, this would The truth is, we really don’t
it happened under the that can pay its foreign Since most foreign enhance China’s international know what will happen or how
Clinton administra- trade is denominated position both economically and bad it will get. The scale of the
tion in 1995, then again debt in its own currency. in the dollar, trade must politically. As it is, China has damage caused by a U.S. default
with Barack Obama as go through an Ameri- been working with the other is hard to calculate in advance
president in 2011, and can bank at some point. BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia because it has never happened
more recently in 2021. This is one important and India – to accept the yuan before.
As an economist, I way dollar dominance as a unit of account. With the But there’s one thing we can
know that defaulting gives the U.S. tremen- other three already resentful be certain of. If Republicans
on the national debt would have tremendous leeway in interna- dous political power, especially of U.S. economic and political take their threat of default too
real-life consequences. Even the tional trade and finance. to punish economic rivals and dominance, a U.S. default would far, the U.S. and Americans will
threat of pushing the U.S. into No matter how much debt the unfriendly governments. support that effort. suffer tremendously. ■
default has an economic impact. U.S. government owes foreign For example, when former They may not be alone: Re-
In August 2021, the mere pros- investors, it can simply print President Donald Trump im- cently, Saudi Arabia suggested it This article is republished
pect of a potential default led to the money needed to pay them posed economic sanctions on was open to trading some of its from The Conversation under a
an unprecedented downgrade back – although for economic Iran, he denied the country ac- oil in currencies other than the Creative Commons license.
of the the nation’s credit rat- reasons, it may not be wise to do cess to American banks and to
ing, hurting America’s financial so. Other countries must buy ei- the dollar. He also imposed sec-
prestige as well as countless in- ther the dollar or the euro to pay ondary sanctions, which means
dividuals, including retirees. their foreign debt. And the only that non-American companies
And that was caused by the way for them to do so is to either trading with Iran were also
mere specter of default. An ac- to export more than they import sanctioned. Given a choice of ac-
tual default would be far more or borrow more dollars or euros cess to the dollar or trading with
damaging. on the international market. Iran, most of the world econo-
Dollar’s collapse The U.S. is free from such con- mies chose access to the dollar
Possibly the most serious straints and can run up large trade and complied with the sanc-
consequence would be the col- deficits – that is, import more tions. As a result, Iran entered a
lapse of the U.S. dollar and its than it exports – for decades with- deep recession, and its currency
replacement as global trade’s out the same consequences. plummeted about 30%.
“unit of account.” That essen- For American companies, the President Joe Biden did
tially means that it is widely dominance of the dollar means something similar against Rus-
used in global finance and trade. they aren’t as subject to the ex- sia in response to its invasion
Day to day, most Americans change rate risk as are their for- of Ukraine. Limiting Russia’s
are likely unaware of the eco- eign competitors. Exchange rate access to the dollar has helped
nomic and political power that risk refers to how changes in the push the country into a reces-
goes with being the world’s unit relative value of currencies may sion that’s bordering on a de-
www.canadianinquirer.net
24
Bill seeking to boost enterprise
productivity gets House nod
BY JOSE CIELITO
REGANIT
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The House of
Representatives on Monday
approved on second reading a
bill seeking to encourage high-
er levels of productivity in all
industries to enable enterprises
to compete globally.
Approved by a simple viva voce
vote, House Bill No. 6683, or the
“Enterprise Productivity Act”
also seeks to promote gainful
employment, improve working
conditions, maintain industrial
peace and harmony and promote
the principle of partnership and
shared responsibility between
labor and management by recog-
Hontiveros to DTI:
Protect BPO industry
amid rise of AI
Office of Senator Risa
Hontiveros
Senator Risa Hontiveros on
Tuesday urged the Department
of Trade and Industry (DTI)
to put safeguards in place for
Business Process Outsourcing
(BPO) workers who may be af-
fected by the rise of Artificial
Intelligence (AI) chatbots.
According to US-based tech-
nology research firm Gartner,
call centers could save up to
$80 billion if humans are re-
placed by AI by 2026. The glob-
al tech giants are experiencing
an upheaval, in part because of
the surprising acceleration and
commercial attractiveness of
AI deployments.
“Is the BPO industry in trou-
ble too? Does Sec. Pascual,
being at the helm of the DTI,
have a plan for when more com-
panies invest in AI instead of
workers? Malaki ang magiging
epekto nito sa ating BPO indus-
try, sa ating ekonomiya, kaya
dapat ngayon pa lang handa na
ang ahensya sa posibilidad na
ito,” Hontiveros said.
Business
nizing the right of labor to its just
share in the fruits of production
and the right of business enter-
prises to reasonable returns on
investments and for growth and
expansion.
Baguio City Representative
Mark Go, one of the principal
authors of the measure, said
the proposal seeks to affirm and
further fortify the intentions of
Republic Act No. 6971, other-
wise known as the “Productivity
Incentives Act of 1990”, by pro-
moting inclusive and sustainable
work productivity programs.
“As a policy of the State, the
preservation of balance in the
workplace is necessary to recog-
nize both the rights of the work-
ers and their employers: the for-
mer, to their right to a fair and
The Philippine BPO industry
earns around $30 billion yearly
— the same as OFWs. The sen-
ator stressed that BPO earnings
are one of the three legs, along-
side tourism and OFW incomes,
on which the sustainability of
the country’s import intensive
growth stands.
“If this industry gets into
trouble, then dollars become
scarce, they become more ex-
pensive, and the peso devalues.
A pathway to entry into the
middle class will also disap-
just share of labor; and the lat-
ter, to their right to reasonable
returns of investment vital for
growth and expansion,” he said.
“This proposed measure seeks
to reinforce labor productivity by
providing incentives to both labor
and management for undertaking
productivity improvement pro-
grams and fairly sharing the gains
therefrom,” he added.
The other main authors of the
measure are Albay 2nd District
Rep. Joey Salceda and 1-Pacman
Partylist Rep. Michael Romero.
If enacted into law, HB 6683
mandates the establishment of
a Productivity Incentives Com-
mittee (PIC) and the adoption of
the Productivity Incentive Pro-
gram in business enterprises.
Under the bill, the Productiv-
pear,” Hontiveros said.
The senator also said that
while preparing for the future
of AI in the country, the DTI
should simultaneously have a
stronger campaign to protect
the industry and its workers.
“The IT-BPO industry seems to
know what it needs to survive
and thrive in the time of Chat
GPT and, at the conceptual lev-
el at least, I think Secretary Pas-
cual does too,” says the Senator.
❱❱ PAGE 26 Hontiveros to DTI:
www.canadianinquirer.net
ity Incentives Committee shall
be established in a business en-
terprise that employs 10 or more
workers which shall be composed
of representatives from both
management and labor, whether
or not such labor representatives
belong to a legitimate labor orga-
nization or association, to formu-
late and implement productivity
incentives programs and to settle
issues arising from the interpre-
tation or implementation of the
program.
Meanwhile, the Productiv-
ity Incentives Program shall
be based on the implemented
productivity improvement pro-
gram, and without prejudice to
any company policy, program,
contract, or collective bargain-
ing agreement which provides
Global economic
growth seen to
slow to 1.9% in
2023: UN report
Anadolu
Philippine News Agency
UNITED NATIONS – Global
economic growth is projected
to decline from an estimated 3
percent in 2022 to 1.9 percent in
2023, marking one of the lowest
growth rates in recent decades,
according to a United Nations
report released Wednesday.
The World Economic Situa-
tion and Prospects report said
a series of severe and mutually
reinforcing shocks in 2022, in-
cluding the war in Ukraine and
the effects of the coronavirus
pandemic, will weigh heavily on
the world’s economy in 2023.
Persistently high inflation av-
eraged about 9 percent in 2022,
according to the report and glob-
al growth is forecast to moderate-
ly pick up to 2.7 percent in 2024.
‘’The near-term economic
outlook remains highly uncer-
tain, however, as myriad eco-
nomic, financial, geopolitical and
FEBRUARY 3, 2023 FRIDAY
higher productivity incentives.
Tax incentives shall be grant-
ed to business enterprises that
adopt the Productivity Incen-
tives Program with a special
deduction from gross income
equivalent to 50 percent of the
total productivity incentives
given to employees under the
program, and to business enter-
prises that provide training and
special studies to employees
pursuant to the program pre-
pared by the committee.
The measure, likewise, man-
dates that issues and grievances
that may arise from the inter-
pretation or implementation
of the Productivity Incentives
Program be resolved within 15
days from the receipt of a for-
mal complaint. ■
environmental risks persist,’’ the
report said. ‘’The current global
economic slowdown cuts across
both developed and developing
countries, with many facing risks
of recession in 2023.’’
The US’ gross domestic prod-
uct (GDP) is projected to expand
just 0.4 percent in 2023 and many
European countries are project-
ed to experience a mild recession,
with elevated energy costs, high
inflation, and tighter financial con-
ditions depressing household con-
sumption and investment, it said.
The European Union is
forecast to grow 0.2 percent in
2023, down from an estimated
3.3 percent in 2022.
The Russian economy shrank
less than initially expected in
2022, with GDP declining about
3.5 percent.
Economic growth in China
is projected to moderately im-
prove in 2023 to 4.8 percent,
likely remaining well below the
pre-pandemic rate of 6 percent
to 6.5 percent, it said. ■
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2023
AI is helping us search for intelligent alien
life – and we’ve found 8 strange new signals
BY DANNY C PRICE, Curtin
University
The Conversation
Some 540 million years ago,
diverse life forms suddenly be-
gan to emerge from the muddy
ocean floors of planet Earth. This
period is known as the Cambrian
Explosion, and these aquatic crit-
ters are our ancient ancestors.
All complex life on Earth
evolved from these underwa-
ter creatures. Scientists believe
all it took was an ever-so-slight
increase in ocean oxygen levels
above a certain threshold.
We may now be in the midst
of a Cambrian Explosion for
artificial intelligence (AI). In
the past few years, a burst of
incredibly capable AI programs
like Midjourney, DALL-E 2 and
ChatGPT have showcased the
rapid progress we’ve made in
machine learning.
AI is now used in virtually
all areas of science to help re-
searchers with routine classi-
fication tasks. It’s also helping
our team of radio astronomers
broaden the search for extra-
terrestrial life, and results so far
have been promising.
Discovering alien signals
with AI
As scientists searching for
evidence of intelligent life be-
yond Earth, we have built an AI
system that beats classical algo-
rithms in signal detection tasks.
Our AI was trained to search
through data from radio tele-
scopes for signals that couldn’t
be generated by natural astro-
Technology
physical processes.
When we fed our AI a previ-
ously studied dataset, it discov-
ered eight signals of interest the
classic algorithm missed. To be
clear, these signals are probably
not from extraterrestrial intel-
ligence, and are more likely rare
cases of radio interference.
Nonetheless, our findings
– published today in Nature
Astronomy – highlight how AI
techniques are sure to play a
continued role in the search for
extraterrestrial intelligence.
Not so intelligent
AI algorithms do not “under-
stand” or “think”. They do excel
at pattern recognition, and have
proven exceedingly useful for
tasks such as classification – but
they don’t have the ability to prob-
lem solve. They only do the specif-
ic tasks they were trained to do.
So although the idea of an AI
detecting extraterrestrial in-
telligence sounds like the plot
of an exciting science fiction
novel, both terms are flawed:
AI programs are not intelligent,
and searches for extraterrestri-
al intelligence can’t find direct
evidence of intelligence.
Instead, radio astronomers
look for radio “technosigna-
tures”. These hypothesised
signals would indicate the
presence of technology and, by
proxy, the existence of a society
with the capability to harness
technology for communication.
For our research, we created
an algorithm that uses AI meth-
ods to classify signals as being
either radio interference, or a
genuine technosignature candi-
date. And our algorithm is per-
forming better than we’d hoped.
What our AI algorithm does
Technosignature searches
have been likened to looking for
a needle in a cosmic haystack.
Radio telescopes produce huge
volumes of data, and in it are
huge amounts of interference
from sources such as phones,
www.canadianinquirer.net
WiFi and satellites.
Search algorithms need to be
able to sift out real technosigna-
tures from “false positives”, and
do so quickly. Our AI classifier
delivers on these requirements.
It was devised by Peter Ma, a
University of Toronto student
and the lead author on our paper.
To create a set of training data,
Peter inserted simulated signals
into real data, and then used this
dataset to train an AI algorithm
called an autoencoder. As the
autoencoder processed the data,
it “learned” to identify salient
features in the data.
In a second step, these fea-
tures were fed to an algorithm
called a random forest classifi-
er. This classifier creates deci-
sion trees to decide if a signal is
noteworthy, or just radio inter-
ference – essentially separating
the technosignature “needles”
from the haystack.
After training our AI algorithm,
we fed it more than 150 terabytes
25
of data (480 observing hours)
from the Green Bank Telescope in
West Virginia. It identified 20,515
signals of interest, which we then
had to manually inspect. Of these,
eight signals had the character-
istics of technosignatures, and
couldn’t be attributed to radio in-
terference.
Eight signals, no re-detections
To try and verify these signals,
we went back to the telescope
to re-observe all eight signals of
interest. Unfortunately, we were
not able to re-detect any of them
in our follow-up observations.
We’ve been in similar situa-
tions before. In 2020 we detect-
ed a signal that turned out to be
pernicious radio interference.
While we will monitor these
eight new candidates, the most
likely explanation is they were
unusual manifestations of radio
interference: not aliens.
Sadly the issue of radio inter-
ference isn’t going anywhere.
But we will be better equipped
to deal with it as new technolo-
gies emerge.
Narrowing the search
Our team recently deployed
a powerful signal processor
on the MeerKAT telescope in
South Africa. MeerKAT uses a
technique called interferome-
try to combine its 64 dishes to
act as a single telescope. This
technique is better able to pin-
point where in the sky a signal
comes from, which will dras-
tically reduce false positives
from radio interference.
If astronomers do manage
❱❱ PAGE 30 AI is helping
 26
What happens to our data when we
no longer use a social media network
or publishing platform?
BY KATIE MACKINNON,
University of Toronto
The Conversation
The internet plays a central
role in our lives. I — and many
others my age — grew up along-
side the development of social
media and content platforms.
My peers and I built personal
websites on GeoCities, blogged
on LiveJournal, made friends on
MySpace and hung out on Nex-
opia. Many of these earlier plat-
forms and social spaces occupy
large parts of youth memories.
For that reason, the web has be-
come a complex entanglement
of attachment and connection.
My doctoral research
looks at how we have become
“databound” — attached to
the data we have produced
throughout our lives in ways we
both can and cannot control.
What happens to our data
when we abandon a platform?
What should become of it?
Would you want a say?
Massive amounts of per-
sonal data
We produce data every day as
part of our work, communica-
tion, banking, housing, trans-
portation and social life. We are
often unaware — and therefore
unable to refuse — how much
data we produce, and we sel-
dom have a say in how it’s used,
stored or deployed.
This lack of control negative-
ly impacts us, and the effects
are disproportionate across the
different intersections of race,
gender and class. Information
about our identities can be used
in algorithms and by others to
oppress, discriminate, harass,
Hontiveros to DTI:..
❰❰ 24 “I know that Secre-
tary Pascual is aware
of the bright prospects
and novel risks faced by the IT-
BPO industry: I agree with him
when he says that current sys-
tems of learning are not yet ag-
ile enough for our industries to
stay ahead of the AI curve. He
Technology
dox and otherwise harm us.
Personal data privacy is often
thought of along the lines of cor-
porate breaches, medical record
hacks and credit card theft.
My research into youth partici-
pation and data production on the
popular platforms that character-
ized the late 1990s to 2000s — like
GeoCities, Nexopia, LiveJournal
and MySpace — shows that this
time period is an era of data priva-
cy that is not often considered in
our contemporary context.
The data is often personal and
created within specific contexts
of social and digital participa-
tion. Examples include dia-
ry-style blogs, creative writing,
selfies and participating in fan-
dom. This user-generated con-
tent, unless actions are taken to
carefully delete them, can have a
long life: the internet is forever.
Decisions about what should
happen to our digital traces
should be influenced by the
people who made them. Their
use impacts our privacy, auton-
omy and anonymity, and is ulti-
mately a question of power.
Typically, when a website or
platform “dies,” or “sunsets,”
decisions about data are made
by employees of the company
on an ad-hoc basis.
Controlling data
Proprietary data — that
which is produced on a platform
and held by the company — is at
the discretion of the company,
not the people who produced
it. More often, options that a
platform provides to users to
determine their privacy or de-
letion do not remove all digital
traces from the internal data-
base. While some data is delet-
ed on a regular basis (like Yahoo
must make sure that industry is
able to directly and quickly in-
fluence the offerings of schools.
Maybe work places themselves
should now be the schools, or
should at least be supported in
defining a continuing education
pathway for workers. In that
way, workers will always know
email), other data can remain
online for a very long time.
Sometimes, this data is col-
lected by the Internet Archive,
an online digital library. Once
archived, it becomes part of our
collective cultural heritage. But
there is no consensus or stan-
dards for how this data should
be treated.
Users should be invited to
consider how they would want
their platform data to be col-
lected, stored, preserved, de-
ployed or destroyed, and in
which contexts. What should
become of our data?
In my research, I inter-
viewed users about their opin-
ions on archiving and deletion.
Responses varied drastically:
while some were disappoint-
ed when they discovered their
blogs from the 2000s had van-
ished, others were horrified at
their continued existence.
These varying opinions often
fell along differences in context
what sets of skills will enable
them to work alongside these
intelligent machines, instead of
being replaced by them.”
The Senator believes that a
corner has been turned in the
local IT-BPO industry’s “battle
for talent.” But she warns that
“the DTI and the DICT will also
www.canadianinquirer.net
of production such as: the origi-
nal size of their perceived audi-
ence, the sensitivity of the ma-
terial, and whether the content
comprised photographs or text,
used vague or explicit language,
or contained links to identifi-
able information like a current
Facebook profile.
Privacy protections
It is often debated by research-
ers whether user-generated con-
tent should be used for research,
and under what conditions.
In Canada, the Tri-Council
Policy Statement guidelines for
ethical research assert that pub-
licly accessible information has
no reasonable expectations of
privacy. However, there are in-
terpretations that include social
media specific requirements for
ethical use. Still, public and pri-
vate distinctions are not easily
made within digital contexts.
The European Union’s Gen-
eral Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR) has helped shift the
have to ensure sustained im-
provements in connectivity so
that the work-anywhere model
that is now central for talent re-
tention will remain technically
feasible even as clients’ service
standards continue to rise.”
“Maraming kumpanya ang
nagtatayo ng call center sa Pili-
FEBRUARY 3, 2023 FRIDAY
standards with which personal
data is treated by corporations
and beyond, expanding rights
to consider restrictions to ac-
cess, amend, delete and move
personal data.
Articles 17 and 19 of the GDPR
on the right to erasure (the right
to be forgotten) are a significant
move toward individual digital
privacy rights. Those in the EU
have legal standing to remove
their digital traces, should it
contribute towards personal in-
jury, harm or provide inaccurate
information.
The right to online safety
However, many have argued
that a focus on individual pri-
vacy through informed consent
is not well placed in digital con-
texts where privacy is often col-
lectively experienced. Informed
consent models also perpetuate
expectations that individuals
can maintain boundaries around
their data and should be able to
anticipate future uses of it.
Suggesting that platform us-
ers can “take charge” of their
digital lives places the impetus
on them to constantly self-sur-
veil and limit their digital traces.
Most data production is out of a
user’s control, simply because of
the metadata generated by mov-
ing through online space.
If the web is to be a space of
learning, play, exploration and
connection, then constantly
mitigating future risk by antic-
ipating how and when personal
information may be used active-
ly works against those goals. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
pinas dahil mismo sa kakayanan
at abilidad ng Pilipinong mang-
gagawa. The DTI should con-
stantly highlight the particular
care and attention that Filipino
workers offer, a kind of service
and human connection that no
chatbot can ever provide,” Hon-
tiveros concluded. ■
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2023
Ilocos Norte celebrates life,
culture in festival-filled February
BY LEILANIE ADRIANO
Philippine News Agency
LAOAG CITY – The month of
February will be extra special for
residents and visitors in Ilocos
Norte province as they will en-
joy merrymaking activities with
three separate holidays, includ-
ing in this provincial capital and
neighboring Sarrat town.
Malacañang has declared
special non-working days in the
entire province in celebration
of its 205th founding anniver-
sary on Feb. 2; in Laoag City
for the Pamulinawen Festival
on Feb. 10; and in Sarrat for the
Binakol Festival on Feb. 28.
Authorities have prepared a
traffic plan to ensure smooth
traffic in downtown Laoag
during the month-long activities
3 cruise ships to bring in
over 1K tourists in
E. Visayas in 2023
BY SARWELL MENIANO
Philippine News Agency
TACLOBAN CITY – At least
three cruise ships bringing in over
1,000 foreign guests and crew
members would make a stop in
picturesque islands in Eastern
Visayas this year, the Department
of Tourism (DOT) regional office
here announced Thursday.
The first to arrive is a ship
owned by Silver Cruises with
382 guests and 295 crew mem-
bers. It will make a port of call on
Kalanggaman Island on Feb. 10.
“The cruise company re-
quested to transform the set-
ting of the island into a festival
place. Everything is being paid
for by the cruise company. They
Travel
of the Pamulinawen Festival.
Traffic rerouting signages
for the civic-military parade on
Feb. 1 were installed and traffic
advisories have been posted,
according to the city govern-
ment’s official Facebook page.
Based on the public advisory,
only light vehicles will be al-
lowed to pass through the city
proper during the civic-mili-
tary parade, grand parade and
street dance competitions.
Northbound vehicles, includ-
ing buses, truck and other long
vehicles, can take the Laoag by-
pass road.
The Pamulinawen Festival
celebrates the feast day of Saint
William the Hermit, the patron
saint of adopted children, and
has grown into a more spectac-
ular celebration of the culture
and heritage of the city.
just pick a specific site to do this
production,” said DOT Eastern
Visayas regional director Kari-
na Rosa Tiopes in an interview.
Swan Hellenic Cruises will
bring 152 tourists and 120 crew
to Limasawa Island in Southern
Leyte on May 2. The same ship
will also make a stop at Capul Is-
land in Northern Samar on May 5.
The third cruise ship owned
by Cora Adventurer will be in
Eastern Visayas from Nov. 1 to
13. Its 120 guests and 48 crew
will visit Biri and Capul Islands
in Northern Samar, Maripipi
and Sambawan Islands in Bili-
ran; Babatngon, Tacloban City,
Cuatro Islas, and Kalanggaman
Island in Leyte; and Padre Bur-
gos in Southern Leyte province.
“Of all the places in the country,
Meanwhile, Tan-ok ni Ilo-
kano (Greatness of the Ilocano)
Festival of Festivals on Feb. 24,
Ilocos Norte’s most anticipated
cultural dance showdown, will
be one of the highlights of the
foundation anniversary.
The event will showcase
the greatness of the Ilocanos
through unique festival dances
from 21 municipalities and the
cities of Laoag and Batac while
gathering thousands of cultural
performers and spectators at the
newly refurbished Ferdinand E.
Marcos sports stadium here.
Provincial tourism officer
Ianree Raquel said Saturday
they are expecting more vis-
itors this year as the Tan-ok
month is the province’s biggest
attempt yet to raise the bar in
cultural performances, boost-
ing the Ilocano’s sense of pride,
they choose half of their cruise
tours in the region. This is a good
indication that we really have
something here,” Tiopes added.
The coming of cruise ships is a re-
sult of promotion by tour operators
in the country, the official added.
The visit of cruise tourism in
Eastern Visayas will spark the
interest of local tourists to visit
these destinations.
“So, it actually ignites domes-
tic tourism as well. It gives in-
terest among domestic tourists,
it creates a positive impact at
the local level,” she added.
Cruise tourism in Eastern Vi-
sayas started in 2013 with one
cruise ship that made a stop in
Kalanggaman Island, the prime
tourist destination in Leyte
province. ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
unity, and greatness.
“The biggest pressure is on
the contingents who are now
busy preparing for the event,”
Raquel said in an interview.
The event also gives an op-
portunity to informal workers
Pamulinawen Festival of Laoag City, Champion at the Tan-ok ni
Ilocano: The Festival of Festivals held on December 6, 2013 in
Laoag City, Ilocos Norte (ILOCOS NORTE/FLICKR, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
ABS-CBN brings 3..
17 ken Marriage Vow. But
❰❰
Labyu With An Accent
succeeded in doing so.
Martin himself was credited
for the story, screenplay by Pat-
rick R. Valencia, with Martin
also co-directing with Malu Se-
villa. The you-and-me-against-
the-world story brings together
Tricia (Sta. Maria), a business-
woman in the U.S. who returns
to the Philippines after being
cheated on by her fiancé and
business partner, and Gabo, a
club entertainer who offers the
“Ultimate Jowa Experience”,
with jowa meaning lover. Tri-
cia avails of Gabo’s service and
hatches a plan to keep her dom-
ineering father from taking her
ex-fiancé back to the family
business. But growing feelings
of love between Tricia and Gabo
come to fore and start compli-
cating the arrangement.
PARTNERS IN CRIME
Vice Ganda was back in
MMFF 2022 for Partners in
Crime, this time with internet
sensation Ivana Alawi, under
27
such as event organizers, pro-
duction staff, make-up artists,
and designers, among others, to
earn extra income.
Sarrat’s Binakol Festival, now
on its 11th year, highlights the
town’s loom weaving industry. ■
the direction of award-winning
director Cathy Garcia-Molina
and with the screenplay of En-
rico C. Santos.
This film is quite a riotous
doozy of a comedy as the cast
went for the laughs with no holds
barred. It’s funny seeing the cast
throw caution to the wind to give
the audience a good guffaw.
Jack (Vice Ganda) and Rose
(Alawi) –- yes, Titanic much? –
used to be very close friends. They
went their separate ways as the
romantic feelings of Rose for the
gay Jack went unreciprocated.
Five years later, Jack is a
superstar host of a TV show.
One day, the voice of the over-
worked Jack gave out, and lo
and behold, the network boss
tapped the new social media
queen Rose to rescue the show.
And as one would expect, all
hell breaks loose between the
friends-turned-rivals then
turned partners after a mystery
crime transpires that could im-
plicate both of them. ■
28
Booking.com Reveals the
Most Welcoming Cities on Earth for 2023
BOOKING.COM
With a renewed sense of travel
optimism on the horizon, almost
half (46%) of people around the
world believe that 2023 is the
year to throw themselves into
new travel experiences. And the
good news is that despite the un-
predictable microenvironment,
the world is still full of amazing
hospitality, friendly hosts and a
wealth of undiscovered destina-
tions to provide people with in-
credible and memorable travel
experiences. To make it easier for
everyone to experience the range
of welcoming stays on offer in
each destination, Booking.com is
unveiling the 10 Most Welcoming
Cities on Earth for 2023** along-
side its suggestions for things to
do and places to stay that have
all been awarded for consistently
providing outstanding hospital-
ity, as evidenced by more than
240 million verified reviews from
Booking.com travelers.
Polignano a Mare, Italy
Situated on Italy’s south-
ern Adriatic coast, in the Pug-
lia region, Polignano a Mare is
a picturesque town perched on
a limestone cliff above the crys-
tal clear waters of the Adriatic,
known for its beautiful beaches
and white colored houses. This
southern Italian destination is
perfect for cliff diving, and in
recent years has even hosted an
edition of the world’s famous cliff
diving event, where cliff divers
execute incredible acrobatics
from heights of more than 65 feet
(20 meters). Another iconic site
from Polignano a Mare is Grotta
Palazzese, a restaurant set in the
sea cave, which has been includ-
ed in many social media feeds
globally. But the most famous ex-
port of Polignano a Mare is Ital-
ian legend Domenico Modugno,
who wrote and sang numerous
classic songs, of which the catchy
song ‘Volare’ is the most interna-
tionally known.
Where to stay: Vico Blu is a
centrally located guest house
where guests can easily explore
the beautiful town of Polignano
a Mare by foot, or can rent a car
to explore more of Puglia’s high-
lights, including Alberobello
which is a nearby town famous
for its ‘trulli’, the whitewashed
stone huts with conical roofs
Travel
and iconic for the Puglia region.
Hualien City, Taiwan
There are plenty of reasons
to visit Hualien City, situated
on the East Coast of Taiwan.
Besides Taiwan’s most beauti-
ful National Park, Taroko, at its
doorstep where travelers can
explore incredible nature, tem-
ples and waterfalls, the city itself
has much more to offer. The city
has a laid back atmosphere, with
many beautiful parks like Mei-
lunshan to wander around and
relax, and a perfect destination
where travelers can taste some
of Taiwan’s greatest delicacies at
buzzing night markets, includ-
ing Dongdaemun Night Market.
Where to stay: For a perfect
stay in Hualien City, Before Sun-
rise Seaview B&B is a stunning
bed & breakfast situated near the
beach, with spacious rooms and
modern decor, and as the name
of the property already suggests,
offers great sea views. Guests can
either spend their days relaxing
at the beach or renting a bike to
explore Hualien City.
San Sebastián, Spain
Situated in Spain’s Basque
Country and surrounded by gold-
en beaches, San Sebastián is a
perfect seaside destination to visit
for foodie travelers. With plenty
of restaurants and bars scattered
throughout the city, travelers can
enjoy fresh oysters and a glass txa-
koli – a light sparkling white wine
produced in the Basque country,
fine dine in one of the many Mi-
chelin-starred restaurants, or
eat Pintxos (Basque tapas) with
fresh local ingredients all day
long in one of the many cozy bars
or during a Pintxos Tasting and
Spanish Wines Experience.
Where to stay: Hotel Boutique
Villa Favorita is a beautiful bou-
tique hotel situated in the center
of San Sebastián, offering stun-
ning panoramic views over La
Concha beach. This Booking.
com Travel Sustainable property
is centrally located from some of
the city’s historic sights, including
the Cathédrale du Bon Pasteur de
Saint-Sébastien (San Sebastián’s
most important cathedral), and
the beach and many restaurants
are easy to reach by foot.
Dresden, Germany
As the capital city of the Ger-
man state of Saxony and its sec-
ond most populous city, after
Leipzig, Dresden has a lot to offer
for those travelers who want to
learn more about culture and his-
tory. After a devastating history,
in which the city was destroyed
during the Second World War,
much of the city has luckily been
rebuilt and restored, maintain-
ing and bringing back the histor-
ic, baroque architecture. It’s not
surprising that Dresden is often
called ‘Florence of the North’, as
it has a similar look and feel as
Florence, Italy. Travelers can ex-
plore the old town, the part of the
city that was mainly destructed,
during a Historic Walking Tour
and explore the Old Town’s most
famous sights, including the
Frauenkirche, a soaring domed
church that was rebuilt after the
bombing, the Augustus Bridge,
and the Renaissance palace.
Where to stay: Just outside
the city center of Dresden, trav-
elers can stay at the spacious
Strohhutmanufaktur, a Book-
ing.com Travel Sustainable
apartment with modern decor
and cozy vibe. Guests can easily
reach the city center, with pub-
lic transport options just around
the corner, or for those who pre-
fer to be a bit more active, rent a
bike to explore city cycling.
Klaipėda, Lithuania
Lithuania’s most historical city
Klaipėda is a port city where the
Baltic Sea meets the Danė River,
and an incredible destination to
visit for any type of traveler. The
city offers plenty of culture and
great architecture to explore.
The old town has a German look
and feel, with German-style
wood-framed buildings situat-
ed in the cobblestoned streets,
whereas the modern city sprawls
Polignano a Mare, Italy (DANIEL ENCHEV/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0)
www.canadianinquirer.net
into an industrial forest of cranes
and shipyards. For travelers who
like to explore nature, Klaipėda
is a gateway to one of Europe’s
best-kept secrets – the Curonian
Spit. This narrow sand dune pen-
insula of 100-kilometers long,
separating the Curonian Lagoon
from the Baltic Sea, is an UN-
ESCO Heritage site and offers
spectacular scenery, charming
villages, and various attractions.
Travelers can explore this hid-
den gem during a Full-day Tour
of the Curonian Spit National
Park, and have a chance to see
the country’s wildlife and visit
the UNESCO-listed Dead Dunes.
Where to stay: Situated in the
center of Klaipėda, near the Danė
River and surrounded by plenty of
restaurants, TILTŲ NAMAI Self
Check-in Apartments is a modern
stay for travelers to explore the
city. With its central location, it’s
also easy to take the ferry for a day
trip to Curonian Spit.
York, United Kingdom
Travelers can transport them-
selves back to medieval England
when traveling to York, situated
in the Northeast part of the UK.
This city was founded by the
Ancient Romans, and has been
preserved by city walls. York has
a great selection of things to do
for any traveler, from historical,
picturesque buildings to quirky
tea shops, a visit to York won’t
bore anyone. The heart of York’s
historic core is The Shambles,
a 14th-century cobbled street
known for its timber-framed
houses with the cozy cafes, sweet
shops and boutiques The sev-
enth-century cathedral of York
Minster is the city’s architectural
FEBRUARY 3, 2023 FRIDAY
crown jewel, with its Gothic-style
facade towering above every-
thing else in the city. For travel-
ers who would like to experience
the spookier aspects of the city, a
Ghost Bus Tour will show some
of York’s most famous landmarks
while learning about a more
creepy side of their history.
Where to stay: Situated on a
quiet one-way street that over-
looks Bootham Park and has
views of York Minster cathe-
dral, and just a few minutes walk
away from York’s historic cen-
ter, the beautiful Victorian guest
house Bronte Guest House, is a
perfect stay for guests to explore
the ancient city.
Ushuaia, Argentina
Ushuaia is known as ‘El Fin del
Mundo’ (The End of the World)
and the most southern city in the
world, famous for being the gate-
way to Antarctica. The city is a
perfect destination for outdoor fa-
natics, as it is situated in Tierra del
Fuego province, home to one of
Argentina’s most famous nation-
al parks, known for its dramatic
landscape of snowy mountains,
glaciers, tundra and wind-sculpt-
ed trees. Travelers can hike their
way through the region and expe-
rience some of the world’s incred-
ible views, or choose to explore
the region by water by taking a
boat tour and potentially even
spot penguin colonies.
Where to stay: After a full day
of hiking, Hosteria y Restauran-
te America is a perfect place to
relax and stay for travelers ex-
ploring the Tierra del Fuego re-
gion. This cozy inn is situated in
❱❱ PAGE 30 Booking.com Reveals the
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2023
Nope, coffee won’t give you extra energy.
It’ll just borrow a bit that you’ll pay for later
BY EMMA BECKETT,
University of Newcastle
The Conversation
Many of us want (or should I
say need?) our morning coffee
to give us our “get up and go”.
Altogether, the people of the
world drink more than two bil-
lion cups of coffee each day.
You might think coffee gives
you the energy to get through
the morning or the day – but
coffee might not be giving you
as much as you think.
The main stimulant in coffee
is the caffeine. And the main
way caffeine works is by chang-
ing the way the cells in our
brain interact with a compound
called adenosine.
Getting busy, getting tired
Adenosine is part of the system
that regulates our sleep and wake
cycle and part of why high levels
of activity lead to tiredness. As we
go about our days and do things,
levels of adenosine risebecause it
is released as a by-product as en-
ergy is used in our cells.
Eventually adenosine binds
to its receptor (parts of cells
that receive signals) which tells
Magnesium: what you need to know about
this important micronutrient
BY HAZEL FLIGHT, Edge
Hill University
The Conversation
There’s been a lot of chat on
social media over the past few
months about the importance of
magnesium supplements. Many
suggest that symptoms such as
trouble sleeping, tense mus-
cles and low energy are all signs
you’re deficient and should be
taking a magnesium supplement.
As it turns out, many of us
Food
the cells to slow down, making
us feel drowsy and sleepy. This
is why you feel tired after a big
day of activity. While we are
sleeping, energy use drops low-
ering adenosine levels as it gets
shuffled back into other forms.
You wake up in the morning
feeling refreshed. Well, if you
get enough sleep that is.
If you are still feeling drowsy
when you wake up caffeine can
help, for a while. It works by
binding to the adenosine recep-
tor, which it can do because it is
probably are somewhat deficient
in magnesium. According to re-
search, most aren’t consuming
the recommended amount of
magnesium to support our body’s
needs. It’s also estimated that in
developed countries, between
10-30% of the population has a
slight magnesium deficiency.
Magnesium is one of the many
micronutirents the body re-
quires to remain healthy. It’s es-
sential for helping more than 300
enzymes carry out numerous
chemical processes in the body,
a similar shape. But it is not so
similar that it triggers the drowsy
slow-down signal like adenosine
does. Instead it just fills the spots
and stops the adenosine from
binding there. This is what staves
off the drowsy feeling.
No free ride
But there is a catch. While it
feels energising, this little caf-
feine intervention is more a loan
of the awake feeling, rather than
a creation of any new energy.
This is because the caffeine
won’t bind forever, and the ad-
including those that produce
proteins, support strong bones,
control blood sugar and blood
pressure and maintain healthy
muscles and nerves. Magnesium
also acts as an electrical conduc-
tor that helps the heart beat and
contracts muscles.
Considering how important
magnesium is for the body, if you
aren’t getting enough it can even-
tually lead to a range of health
problems. But even though most
of us are probably somewhat
deficient in magnesium, that
www.canadianinquirer.net
enosine that it blocks doesn’t
go away. So eventually the caf-
feine breaks down, lets go of the
receptors and all that adenos-
ine that has been waiting and
building up latches on and the
drowsy feeling comes back –
sometimes all at once.
So, the debt you owe the caf-
feine always eventually needs
to be repaid, and the only real
way to repay it is to sleep.
Timing is everything
How much free adenosine
is in your system, that hasn’t
attached to receptors yet, and
how drowsy you are as a conse-
quence will impact how much
the caffeine you drink wakes
you up. So, the coffee you drink
later in the day, when you have
more drowsy signals your sys-
tem may feel more powerful.
If it’s too late in the day, caf-
feine can make it hard to fall
asleep at bedtime. The “half
life” of caffeine (how long it
takes to break down half of it)
is about five hours). That said,
we all metabolise caffeine dif-
ferently, so for some of us the
effects wear off more quickly.
Regular coffee drinkers might
feel less of a caffeine “punch”,
doesn’t mean you need to reach
for supplements to make sure
you’re getting enough. In fact,
with the right planning, most of
us can get all the magnesium we
need from the foods we eat.
Signs of a deficiency
Most people with a magne-
sium deficiency are undiag-
nosedbecause magnesium levels
in the blood don’t accurately
reflect how much magnesium
is actually stored in our cells.
Not to mention that signs your
magnesium levels are low only
29
with tolerance to the stimulant
building up over time.
Caffeine can also raise levels
of cortisol, a stress hormone that
can make you feel more alert.
This might mean caffeine feels
more effective later in the morn-
ing, because you already have a
natural rise in cortisol when you
wake up. The impact of a coffee
right out of bed might not seem
as powerful for this reason.
If your caffeinated beverage
of choice is also a sugary one,
this can exacerbate the peak
and crash feeling. Because
while sugar does create actu-
al energy in the body, the free
sugars in your drink can cause a
spike in blood sugar, which can
then make you feel tired when
you the dip comes afterwards.
While there is no proven
harm of drinking coffee on an
empty stomach, coffee with or
after a meal might hit you more
slowly. This is because the food
might slow down the rate at
which the caffeine is absorbed.
What about a strong tea or
fizzy cola?
Coffee, of course, isn’t the
❱❱ PAGE 30 Nope, coffee won’t
become obvious by the time you
have a deficiency. Symptoms in-
cludeweakness, loss of appetite,
fatigue, nausea and vomiting.
But the symptoms you have and
their severity will depend on just
how low your magnesium levels
are. Left unchecked, a magne-
sium deficiency is associated
with an increased risk of certain
chronic illnesses, including car-
diovascular disease, osteoporo-
sis, type 2 diabetes, migraine and
❱❱ PAGE 30 Magnesium: what you
 30
Booking.com Reveals the..
❰❰ 28 walking distance from
Ushuaia’s city center,
where travelers can
visit multiple museums and
restaurants serving regional
dishes and taste incredible Ar-
gentinian wines.
Porto De Galinhas, Brazil
Beautiful beaches with
light-colored sands and crystal
clear water can be found in Porto
De Galinhas, one of Brazil’s best
beach destinations to experience
the authentic Brazilian beach cul-
ture. It’s a perfect destination for
travelers who want to relax and
spend some quality time with their
family. Porto De Galinhas is also
home to natural tidal pools – pock-
ets of turquoise water surrounded
by coral reefs where tropical fish
congregate at low tide. One of the
best ways to witness this phenom-
enon is by taking a ‘jangada’ – a
single-sail fishing boat – for some
offshore snorkeling. With plenty
of lively restaurants and bars sit-
uated in the town, with ‘churras-
carias’ (barbecues) and a fantastic
seafood selection, this destination
can also be considered a foodies
paradise.
Nope, coffee won’t..
❰❰ 29 only caffeinated bev-
erage that can loan
you some energy.
The caffeine in tea, energy
drinks and other beverages still
impacts the body in the same
way. But, since the ingredients
mostly come from plants, each
caffeinated beverage has its own
profile of additional compounds
which can have their own stim-
Magnesium: what you..
❰❰ 29 Alzheimer’s disease.
While anyone can
develop a magne-
sium deficiency, certain groups
are more at risk than others
– including children and ad-
olescents, older people and
post-menopausal women.
Conditions such as coeli-
ac disease and inflammatory
bowel syndrome, which make it
difficult for the body to absorb
nutrients, may make you more
prone to magnesium deficiency
– even with a healthy diet. Peo-
ple with type 2 diabetes and al-
coholics are also more likely to
have low magnesium levels.
Furthermore, the vast ma-
jority of people in developed
countries are at risk of a magne-
Where to stay: Just a few steps
away from Porto De Galinhas
beach and the center of Porto De
Galinhas town, Solar Porto Rico is
a great place to stay when enjoy-
ing a beach break with the family.
With its central location, guests
can easily explore attractions by
foot or taste traditional Brazil-
ian cuisine at one of the nearby
restaurants while enjoying the
views of the turquoise waters.
Mexico City, Mexico
Steeped in history and culture,
Mexico City is a perfect destina-
tion to explore in Mexico. Travel-
ers will find a wealth of attractions
in its eclectic neighborhoods –
from museums and ancient ruins
to sprawling parks and art galler-
ies. The capital of Mexico is also
home to several UNESCO World
Heritage Sites, including the city’s
historic center, which can be ex-
plored during a Historic Down-
town Walking Tour. Travelers also
have plenty of options to taste tra-
ditional Mexican cuisine, such as
tacos and quesadillas paired with
drinks like mezcal and tequila, as
the city has a great selection of
‘cantinas’ (local bars), street food
ulant effect, or can interact with
caffeine to change its impacts.
Caffeine can be useful, but it
isn’t magic. To create energy and
re-energise our bodies we need
enough food, water and sleep. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
sium deficiency due to chronic
illnesses, certain prescription
drugs (such as diuretics and
antibiotics, which deplete mag-
nesium levels), declining mag-
nesium contents in crops and
diets high in processed foods.
You can get enough in your
diet
Given the many problems that
can happen due to low magnesium
levels, it’s important to make sure
you’re getting enough in your diet.
The recommended amount
of magnesium a person should
aim to consume daily will de-
pend on their age and health.
But in general, men aged 19-51
should get between 400-420mg
daily, while women should aim
for 310-320mg.
stalls and high-end restaurants.
And for those travelers who want
to explore more culture outside
the city, a day trip to the archaeo-
logical complex of Teotihuacán or
the World Heritage Site of Xochi-
milco are highly recommended.
Where to stay: Stay at H21
Hospedaje Boutique for a pleas-
ant stay in Mexico City. This con-
temporary Mexican guest house
is located in the old town of Coyo-
acan, known for its cobblestone
streets and colonial architecture.
Guests can easily explore the area
by foot, with art galleries, and col-
orful artisan markets nearby.
Gold Coast, Australia
Sun, surf and sea, this is what
the Gold Coast is all about. With
its iconic white sanded beaches
and luxury hotels, this surfers
paradise south of Brisbane is a
perfect destination for travel-
ers to visit for pleasure and re-
laxation. Besides the incredible
beaches, Gold Coast is known as
Australia’s theme park capital,
with a variety of theme parks
throughout the city, making this
destination the ultimate play-
ground for every traveler of any
AI is helping..
❰❰ 25 to detect a techno-
signature that can’t
be explained away as
interference, it would strongly
suggest humans aren’t the sole
creators of technology within
the Galaxy. This would be one
of the most profound discover-
ies imaginable.
At the same time, if we detect
nothing, that doesn’t necessari-
Although fruit and vegetables
now contain less magnesium
than they did 50 years ago – and
processing removes around 80%
of this mineral from foods, it’s
still possible to get all the mag-
nesium you need in your diet if
you plan carefully. Foods such
as nuts, seeds, whole grains,
beans, green leafy vegetables
(such as kale or broccoli), milk,
yoghurt and fortified foods all
contain plenty of magnesium.
One ounce of almonds alone
contains 20% of the daily mag-
nesium requirements of adults.
While most of us will be able
to get all the magnesium we need
from the foods we eat, certain
groups (such as older adults) and
those with certain health con-
www.canadianinquirer.net
age. Perfect for the 61%* of trav-
elers planning travel that allows
adults to live like kids again.
For the more outdoor travelers,
a variety of national parks, in-
cluding Nerang National Park
and Lamington National Park,
are situated in the surrounding
area, where travelers can hike
and mountain bike, or spot some
incredible wildlife.
Where to stay: Meriton Suites
Southport offers picturesque,
panoramic views of Gold Coasts’
surf beaches and the marina.
Guests can enjoy a day of relaxing
and tanning at the nearby beach,
or walk to one of the many restau-
rants in the surrounding area. The
city theme parks are easy to reach
when renting a car, including Sea
World and Movie World, both just
a short drive away. ■
*Travel Predictions 2023 re-
search commissioned by Booking.
com and conducted among a sam-
ple of adults who plan to travel
for business or leisure in the next
12-24 months. In total 24,179 re-
spondents across 32 countries and
territories were polled (including
ly mean we’re the only techno-
logically-capable “intelligent”
species around. A non-detec-
tion could also mean we hav-
en’t looked for the right type of
signals, or our telescopes aren’t
yet sensitive enough to detect
faint transmissions from dis-
tant exoplanets.
We may need to cross a sen-
sitivity threshold before a Cam-
ditions may need to take a mag-
nesium supplement. But it’s im-
portant to speak with your doctor
before starting supplements.
While magnesium supple-
ments are safe in their suggested
dosages, it’s important to only
take the recommended amount.
Taking too much can cause cer-
tain side-effects, including diar-
rhoea, low mood, low blood pres-
sure. It’s also vital that those with
kidney disease do not take them
unless they have been prescribed.
Magnesium can also alter the
effectiveness of several medica-
tions, including some common
antibiotics, diuretics and heart
medications, alongside over-
the-counter antacids and laxa-
tives. This is why it’s important
FEBRUARY 3, 2023 FRIDAY
1014 from Argentina, 1006 from
Australia, 505 from Austria, 504
from Belgium, 1009 from Brazil,
503 from Canada, 1009 from Chi-
na, 1010 from Colombia, 505 from
Croatia, 505 from Denmark, 1010
from France, 1001 from Germany,
500 from Hong Kong, 1005 from
India, 504 from Ireland, 504 from
Israel, 1008 from Italy, 1003 from
Japan, 504 from Mexico, 502 from
The Netherlands, 1007 from New
Zealand, 1009 from Portugal, 507
from Singapore, 1008 from South
Korea, 1001 from Spain, 505 from
Sweden, 508 from Switzerland,
500 from Taiwan, 504 from Thai-
land, 1006 from the UK, 1009 from
the US and 504 from Vietnam).
Respondents completed an online
survey in August 2022.
**Destinations were sorted by
the total share of Traveller Re-
view Award 2023 recipients when
compared to the total amount of
eligible properties in that city (ac-
commodation only). Destinations
also had to have an above-average
amount of winners to be included
on this list (500 award recipients
or higher for cities) and were cu-
rated for geographic spread.
brian Explosion of discoveries
can be made. Alternatively, if
we really are alone, we should
reflect on the unique beauty and
fragility of life here on Earth. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
to consult a doctor before start-
ing magnesium supplements.
Magnesium supplements
aren’t a quick fix. While they
may be necessary at times, they
won’t address the root causes of
your deficiency, such as certain
health conditions that may be
contributing to low levels. This
is why it’s important to focus on
maintaining a healthy lifestyle,
which includes exercise, good
sleep and eating a balanced
diet. Not to mention that vita-
mins and minerals are better
absorbed by the body when
they come from whole foods.■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
 FEBRUARY 3, 2020
JULY 17, 2023 cx328
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