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YANCY LIM / PNA

19
DOJ welcomes surrender
of cops in 2020 slay of
Spanish national Maria in Vancouver:
Restaurant Review: Carlino
— Living La Dolce Vita
BY BENJAMIN PULTA sus Crispin Remulla said it is “a very
Philippine News Agency welcome development in this case. We
are now able to move forward and try the 23
case and deliver justice in a case that has
MANILA – The Department of Justice transcended borders.” `
NORAD’s value is on full
(DOJ) on Wednesday said the case of slain The three, Capt. Wise Vicente Panue-
Spanish businessman Diego Lafuente has los, Staff Sgt. Ronel Pazo, and Staff Sgt. display as flying objects shot
been revived following the surrender of Nido Boy Cortes were charged with the down over North America
three policemen implicated in murder death of Spanish national Diego Lafuen- The Super Bowl —
and planting of evidence charges. what we love but mostly
PAGE 12
❱❱ PAGE 3 DOJ welcomes hate about it
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2 FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2023
Marcos summons Chinese envoy over
‘military-grade laser’ incident
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Fer-
dinand R. Marcos Jr. met with
Chinese Ambassador to the
Philippines Huang Xilian in
Malacañang on Tuesday and dis-
cussed the reported harassment
made by a Chinese Coast Guard
(CCG) ship toward a Philippine
Coast Guard (PCG) vessel in the
Ayungin Shoal in the West Phil-
ippine Sea on Feb. 6.
In a press statement on Tues-
day, the Presidential Communi-
cations Office (PCO) said Mar-
cos raised his “serious concern”
over China’s dangerous activity.
“The President summoned
Chinese Ambassador Huang
Xilian this afternoon to express
his serious concern over the in-
creasing frequency and intensity
of actions by China against the
Philippine Coast Guard and our
Filipino fishermen in their ban-
cas, the latest of which was the
deployment of a military-grade
laser against our Coast Guard
BI to probe cases of ‘crypto
scam’ trafficking victims
BY FERDINAND PATINIO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Bureau of Im-
migration (BI) will look into the
records of the eight repatriated
Filipinos who were victimized
by cryptocurrency scammers.
In a statement Tuesday
night, Commissioner Norman
Tansingco said he has direct-
ed the BI’s Travel Control and
Enforcement to investigate the
case of these victims who ar-
rived in the country on Monday
night via a Scoot Airlines flight
from Singapore.
The group, composed of
four men and four women, flew
from Dubai to supposedly work
in Thailand but was later trans-
ported to Myanmar.
The men were recruited on-
line outside the Philippines.
vessels,” the PCO said.
In a separate statement, the
Chinese Embassy in Manila said
Marcos and Huang “exchanged
views on how to implement the
consensus reached by the two
heads of state, strengthen dia-
logue and communication, and
properly manage maritime dif-
ferences between China and the
Philippines.”
Defense officer-in-charge
Undersecretary Carlito Galvez
Jr., Foreign Affairs Secretary
Enrique Manalo, Solicitor Gen-
eral Menardo Guevarra and
Special Assistant to the Pres-
ident Anton Lagdameo were
also at the meeting.
Earlier in the day, the Philip-
pines, through the Department
of Foreign Affairs (DFA) filed
its eighth diplomatic protest
this year before the Chinese
Embassy in Manila, calling on
Beijing to “cease and desist”
its aggressive activities against
Philippine vessels.
The diplomatic note “con-
demned the shadowing, harass-
ment, dangerous maneuvers,
One of them left as a registered
OFW in Dubai in 2019, while
the other three left as tourists
in 2016, 2019, and 2021 to visit
immediate family members but
have not returned since.
On the other hand, two of the
female victims had previous
This is a
new form of
trafficking...
short-term travels, with one
even traveling with her husband.
The other two were able to depart
after having established personal ca-
pacity and local employment.
“This is a new form of traffick-
directing of military-grade laser,
and illegal radio challenges” by
CCG vessel 5205 against the
PCG vessel, BRP Malapascua.
The DFA asserted that the
CCG’s actions constituted a
threat to Philippine sovereignty
and security as a state, and are
infringements of its sovereign
rights and jurisdiction over its
exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
DFA spokesperson, Ma. Ter-
esita Daza, said the “acts of ag-
gression” are both “disturbing
and disappointing” as it closely
follows the January bilateral
summit between Marcos and
Chinese President Xi Jinping,
with the two leaders agreeing to
manage maritime differences
through diplomacy and dialogue.
During Marcos’ state visit to
China, he and Xi agreed to es-
tablish a “direct communica-
tions line” on concerns related
to the South China Sea in the
West Philippine Sea to prevent
any miscommunication be-
tween the two countries.
However, he said this hotline
should not stop them from filing
ing that targets young, urban pro-
fessionals who have the capacity
to travel abroad. These highly
educated professionals would not
even think that they would be vul-
nerable and be trafficked, as they
are merely exploring opportuni-
ties that they may have encoun-
tered online,” Tansingco said.
He reminded Filipinos both
in the Philippines and outside
the country to be cautious of
job offers online and ensure
that they obtain work legally.
Filipino recruits were re-
quired to develop relationships
with their targets via social me-
dia, and entice them to invest in
a pseudo-crypto account.
If they were unable to scam
enough people, they would be sub-
jected to physical punishments.
These networks reportedly
operate in Myanmar, Laos, and
Cambodia. ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
protests or sending notes verbales.
In another statement, Ned Price,
US State Department spokes-
person, said the “provocative and
unsafe” use of military-grade la-
ser light interfered with the Phil-
ippines’ lawful operations in and
around Ayungin Shoal.
On Monday, China Foreign
Ministry spokesperson Wang
Wenbin defended China’s ac-
tion, saying the PCG vessel “in-
truded” into the waters “with-
out Chinese permission.”
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (center) meets with Chinese Ambassador
Huang Xilian (left) on Tuesday, February 14. (PCO)
DOJ welcomes..
1 te, claiming Lafuente
❰❰
opened fire during an
anti-drug operation in
Siargao Island two years ago.
The three policemen were
turned over to the DOJ by Brig.
Gen. Romeo M. Caramat last
Feb. 9.
Remulla assured that they
(suspects) will get a fair examina-
tion of the cases against them.
The police officers claimed
Lafuente, a resident of the is-
land, is a key drug personality
in the area who shot it out with
law enforcers during a buy-bust
on Jan. 8, 2020.
A Para-Ordnance pistol .45
caliber and 8.33 grams of cocaine
were recovered from the area.
The National Bureau of In-
vestigation’s (NBI) evaluation
of the evidence and the Panel
of Prosecutors analysis of the
scene of the crime operations
(SOCO) report found there is
sufficient ground to charge re-
spondents under the Compre-
hensive Firearms and Ammu-
nition Regulation Act of 2013.
3
Ayungin Shoal is part of the
Kalayaan Island Group, which
is an integral part of the Phil-
ippines, as well as its EEZ and
continental shelf, and over
which the Philippines has sov-
ereignty, sovereign rights and
jurisdiction.
It is located about 105 nau-
tical miles off Palawan, Philip-
pines, well within the country’s
200-nautical-mile exclusive
economic zone. (With a report
from Joyce Rocamora/PNA) ■
It said the physical evidence
shows the placement of the
spent cartridge cases from the
service firearms of Panuelos
and Cortes and the cartridges
from the alleged firearm of La-
fuente were near each other.
Investigators said if indeed
there was a shootout, the place-
ment of the fired cartridge
cases should be on opposite
sides. Moreover, the investiga-
tion shows that after Lafuen-
te jumped over the perimeter
wall, he was shot by Cortes, as
evidenced by a 9mm fired car-
tridge. It was found underneath
the ground located near the
area where Lafuente was lying.
The cross matching examina-
tion revealed that the 9mm fired
cartridge matched with the gun
Cortes used.
Meanwhile, perjury charges
against the officers were dis-
missed because of the alleged in-
consistencies in their affidavits. ■
4 Philippine News
Senators back PBBM declaration
Cha-cha not priority
BY WILNARD BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Senators welcomed
on Tuesday President Ferdinand
R. Marcos Jr.’s pronouncement
that he does not see Charter
Change (Cha-cha) as a priority
even as several lawmakers push to
amend the Constitution.
Senate Majority leader Joel
Villanueva said there are laws
already in place to attract more
foreign investors and the Senate
itself is doing more work to im-
prove the country’s economy.
Villanueva said the senators
need to study the effects of
amendment to the Retail Trade
Liberalization Act, Foreign In-
vestments Act, and Public Ser-
vices Act to encourage more
foreign direct investments.
“Tuloy lang po tayo sa traba-
ho dito sa Senado at kasama po
dyan ang mga pagdinig sa (We
just continue the work here in
the Senate and this includes
hearings on) Committee on
Constitutional Amendments,”
he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Senator Grace
Poe said the pronouncement of
President Marcos will definite-
ly affect the consensus on the
need for charter change.
“Kung hindi susuporta ang
Pangulo, mas uunahin ng kongre-
so ang mga nasa priority list tulad
PBBM backs peaceful resolution on
Ukraine in call with Zelenskyy
BY AZER PARROCHA,
JOYCE ANN L. ROCAMORA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Fer-
dinand R. Marcos Jr. told
Ukrainian President Volody-
myr Zelenskyy in a phone call
on Monday that he supports
Ukraine’s effort to reach a
“peaceful resolution” to its on-
going conflict with Russia.
“I had the pleasure of talking to
Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy yesterday (Monday),”
Marcos said on his official Twit-
ng (If the President will not sup-
port, the Congress will deal with
priority list first like the) Internet
Transactions Act or CDC bill,”
Poe said in another statement.
Poe suggested that new laws
intended for foreign invest-
ments like amendments on the
Public Service Act, Retail Trade
Liberalization Act, and Foreign
Investments Act should also be
discussed by lawmakers in char-
ter change public consultations.
“Kung foreign investments
lang din ang usapin (If it is about
foreign investments), it might
not be relevant to go around the
public asking if they agree to term
extensions or other non-eco-
nomic provisions,” she said.
Also agreeing with President
Marcos, Senator Alan Peter
Cayetano said he will focus in-
stead on pursuing measures
pertinent to values, prices, jobs
and income.
Cayetano admitted that a lot
needs to be changed in the Con-
stitution but noted that some of
it are “very political.”
“Ngayon galing sa (Coming
from the) pandemic, additional
distraction talaga (really). Ma-
di-distract lang tayo (We will
just be distracted),” the law-
maker said.
Undeterred by the President’s
pronouncement, Senator Rob-
inhood Padilla urged Filipinos
to support his call for a Consti-
ter account on Tuesday morning
after the Ukrainian leader tweet-
ed about it the previous day.
He also expressed admira-
tion for the nationalism shown
by Ukrainians.
“I told him that we in the
Philippines are watching with
admiration, the bravery and the
nationalism that has been dis-
played by the Ukrainians during
this crisis and that we join in his
effort to reach a peaceful reso-
lution to the ongoing conflict in
his country. Mr. President, we
are with you in your search for
peace,” he added.
tutional Assembly that aims to
amend some of the Constitu-
tion’s economic provisions.
“Sana mga kababayan, itong
mga economic provision na ito
maisagawa natin dahil ito gina-
wa ng mga kapitbahay natin sa
Asya at sila masigabo na (Hope-
fully my countrymen, we can
work on these economic provi-
sions because our progressive
Asian neighbors have already
done these),” Padilla said in a
radio interview also on Tuesday.
Padilla clarified he harbors
no ill feelings toward Marcos.
“’Pag titingnan po natin
ang dati niyang interview
noong siya po ay mambabatas,
naniniwala siya noon na kail-
angan ng economic provisions
sa Saligang Batas. Kailangan
magbukas tayo sa foreign in-
vestment. Pero siyempre presi-
dente siya, wala na ‘yan sa man-
dato niya, tama lang po ‘yan
(The President, when he was a
lawmaker, believed in amend-
ing economic provisions in the
Constitution to bring in more
foreign investments. Now that
he is the President, this is not
his mandate anymore so there’s
nothing wrong with it),” he said.
Senate President Juan Mi-
guel Zubiri told reporters that
he sees no problem with what
Padilla is doing.
“Trabaho niya yan bilang (It
is his job as the) chairman of the
Zelenskyy, who has long been
seeking a phone conversation
with Marcos, was the first to
tweet about their call on Mon-
day night.
“Had the first phone call in the
history of bilateral relations with
President of the Philippines @
bongbongmarcos,” he said.
“Thanked him for supporting
sovereignty and territorial in-
tegrity of Ukraine. We discussed
further deepening of coopera-
tion, in particular on interna-
tional platforms,” he added.
Last month, Ukrainian
Charges D’Affaires of the Em-
www.canadianinquirer.net
(SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES/FACEBOOK)
Constitutional Amendments. Ha-
yaan natin siya sa trabaho niya.
Pero pagdating sa plenaryo, pag-
dating ng Rules Committee, pag-
bibigyan po natin ang priorities,
ang nakabinbin pang (Let him do
his job. But when it comes to the
plenary, in the Rules Committee,
we will prioritize the pending) 19
LEDAC [Legislative-Executive
Development Advisory Council]
priority measures,” Zubiri said.
Senator Imee Marcos said
changing the Consitution might
be a good idea but noted that it
is not timely given the country’s
current situation.
“Everybody has agreed
naman kasi na ‘yung (because
the) economic provisions kail-
angan palitan (needed to be
changed). Wala namang ibang
tututol. Ang problema pag bi-
nuksan mo yung Saligang Batas,
talagang kakalkalin lahat. Hin-
di maiiwasan ‘yun. Kaya’t (No
one will disagree, The problem
bassy of Ukraine in Malaysia
Denys Mykhailiuk said they
have been trying to have the
two leaders speak to each other
since Marcos assumed office in
June 2022 but failed to receive
a response.
Marcos later clarified that
he did not snub Zelenskyy’s re-
quest for a phone conversation
and has always been willing to
talk with him.
Mykhailiuk then apologized
to his Philippine counterparts
for the “misunderstanding.”
In November last year,
Marcos described the Rus-
FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY
is when you open the Consti-
tution, everything will be scru-
tinized. It can’t be avoided.
That’s why) given the state of
our economy and health threats
that face us today, ‘yung kapatid
ko matagal nang sinasabi talaga
na huwag muna yung consti-
tutional issues kasi mahabang
usapin yan. Baka cannot afford
tayo ngayon (my brother have
long been saying not to discuss
constitutional issues because
it will be a long discussion. We
could not afford it right now),”
Marcos told reporters.
In an interview after arriv-
ing from his Japan state visit,
President Marcos expressed
confidence that the country can
achieve its goals within the pres-
ent constitutional framework.
“There’s so many other things
that we need to do first, that we
can still do, we can achieve,” the
President said. (With a report
from Leonel Abasola/PNA) ■
sia-Ukraine war as “unaccept-
able” and reiterated his call for
both nations to end the conflict
diplomatically.
“...War is unacceptable and
we ask all parties involved,
there were several speeches
that I made, urging that peace
be brought back to Ukraine
and that the confrontation
be brought to the diplomatic
space,” he said.
Ukraine has been in conflict
with Russia since February 2022,
leading to the death of thousands
and driving millions of Ukraini-
ans to flee the country. ■
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2023 5

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6 Philippine News
Marcos open to PH-Japan VFA
that won’t raise SCS tensions
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Fer-
dinand R. Marcos Jr. is open
to the idea of a Visiting Forces
Agreement (VFA) with Japan if
it does not increase “tensions”
in the South China Sea.
“If kung talagang makakatu-
long (If it really helps), I don’t
see why we should not adopt
it…. If it is appropriate, if it
does not constitute danger of
increasing tensions, then that
might be useful for the Philip-
pines,” Marcos said in a media
interview onboard a plane en
route to Manila from Tokyo.
He said the Philippines must
be careful to avoid appearing
“provocative.”
“Imbis na pinapakalma natin
ang sitwasyon sa South China
Sea, ang ginagawa natin, mas
magiging mainit, ‘di ba (Instead
of calming down the situation
in the South China Sea, it might
become worse)? That would be
one,” he added.
Marcos likewise recognized
that the VFA may help protect
Philippine maritime territory
and Filipino fisherfolk.
“Ang iniisip ko lang, ‘yung
ating mga fishermen kailangang
Türkiye envoy thanks PH for assistance
to quake victims
BY JOSE CIELITO
REGANIT
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Türkiye’s Ambas-
sador to the Philippines Niyazi
Evren Akyol on Monday thanked
the Philippine government and
the Filipino people for sending
people and resources to aid his
country following a massive earth-
quake that left thousands of people
dead and reduced many homes
and infrastructure to rubble.
The envoy expressed his
country’s gratitude to the Fili-
pino people after Speaker Fer-
dinand Martin G. Romualdez
turned over USD100,000 in fi-
nancial assistance for Türkiye
maprotektahan, kailangang ma-
liwanag na tayo sa Pilipinas [ay]
talagang… we are patrolling our
waters and making sure that it
is well-recognized na ‘yan ang
talagang… maritime territory
talaga ng Pilipinas ‘yan (I’m just
thinking, ‘Our fishermen need
to be protected, it needs to be
clear that we in the Philippines
[are] really... we are patrolling
our waters and making sure
that it is well-recognized that
this is really... the Philippines’
maritime territory’),” he said.
Marcos earlier said the Phil-
ippines would review a pro-
posed trilateral defense and
security deal with two of its
closest allies -- the United
States and Japan.
“It is something that we cer-
tainly are going to be studying
upon my return to the Philip-
pines. I think just part of the
continuing process of strength-
ening our alliances because in
this rather confusing, and I dare
say dangerous situation, that
we have, I’m not talking only
about the South China Sea, I’m
not only talking about the In-
do-Pacific region but, of course,
there is a conflict still ongoing
in Ukraine and the rather dis-
turbing effects that it has all
around the world,” he said.
earthquake victims in simple
rites held at the Speaker’s Of-
fice at the Batasang Pambansa
Complex in Quezon City.
“You know in an event like
this, it’s very good to know you
have your friends on your side,”
said Ambassador Akyol.
Amid the disaster, Akyol said
the people of Türkiye is con-
soled by the fact that the inter-
national community has come
out really strong to help them,
with 99 countries offering as-
sistance to date.
“And we have on the ground al-
most 10,400 rescue workers, and
of course the Philippines is one of
the major contributors. On that
note I would like to express my
government’s and my personal
The Philippines, China and
several other littoral states have
overlapping claims in the SCS.
In a 2016 arbitral ruling, the
Hague-based Permanent Court
of Arbitration (PCA) ruled that
Beijing’s nine-dash line, a de-
marcation that covers almost
80 percent of the South China
Sea, is illegal. China repeatedly
ignored the PCA ruling.
RCEP push
Meanwhile, Marcos main-
tained his push for the rat-
ification of the Philippines’
participation in the Regional
Comprehensive Economic Part-
nership (RCEP), brushing off
criticism that it may affect the
country’s agricultural sector.
“I don’t see the logic in that.
Actually it will be the con-
trary because… right now kung
wala tayo sa RCEP, hindi na-
tin ma-access ang kanilang
mga markets. Iyong mga – lalo
na ‘yung mga supply chain na
available na ibinigay ngayon sa
ASEAN [Association of South-
east Asian Nations] (if we’re
not part of the RCEP, we won’t
have access to their markets, es-
pecially the supply chain being
offered to the ASEAN),” he said.
He said participating in the
RCEP would allow the country
to further strengthen its agri-
heartfelt gratitude to President
Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. for his
leadership, for his swift instruc-
tion for Philippine authorities to
get into action,” Akyol said.
He noted that within 48 hours
of the disaster, there was a Philip-
pine search and rescue and med-
ical team of 82 young Filipino
“heroes” in Türkiye, braving ex-
treme cold to provide assistance.
In addition, he said the Phil-
ippine Red Cross has also pro-
vided assistance to the earth-
quake victims.
The envoy also said he was ex-
tremely grateful for the gesture
of the House of Representatives,
led by Speaker Romualdez.
“The very fact that you
thought about this is enough for
www.canadianinquirer.net
cultural value chain.
“It opens more trade, more
trade. And lagi kong sinasabi ‘di ba
walang yumaman na bansa kung
hindi dahil sa trade at kailangan
(I always say isn’t there a coun-
try that gets rich if not because of
trade and) we have to involve our-
selves in that,” he added.
However, Marcos clarified
that he is not lobbying for RCEP
in Congress, but waiting for it to
be ratified.
“So we are leaving ourselves
out there, isolating ourselves
from the free trade zone that
ASEAN is. So sayang naman
‘yung opportunity (It would be
a wasted opportunity). That’s
why I think RCEP will be a good
Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (PCO)
us. And your generosity is most
heart-warming and touching in
this hour of need. The fact that you
thought about this, that you made
an organization to make this hap-
pen is much, much appreciated,
Speaker. Thank you,” Aykol said.
In response, Romualdez said
the people of the Philippines will
continue to support the emergen-
cy and relief operations in Türkiye.
“The Filipino people has
benefitted so much from the
compassion of Turkish volun-
teers,” said the Speaker, as he
recalled the assistance sent by
Türkiye after super typhoon
Yolanda (Haiyan) struck Leyte
and many parts of Eastern Sa-
mar in November 2013.
“We will be here with you as
FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY
thing,” he said.
The Philippines is the only
nation in Southeast Asia that
has yet to ratify the RCEP.
RCEP is a free trade agree-
ment (FTA) between the 10
member states of the Associa-
tion of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) and its five FTA part-
ners: Australia, China, Japan,
New Zealand and the Republic
of Korea.
The Senate is currently deliber-
ating on RCEP, with hearings cur-
rently at the sub-committee level.
Senate President Juan Mi-
guel Zubiri earlier said the Sen-
ate aimed to ratify the RCEP
trade agreement within the first
quarter of the year. ■
Turkey was always with us in
Haiyan – Yolanda - and all the
other disasters,” Romuladez said.
Also present during the turn-
over ceremonies were Ako Bi-
col Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co,
Majority Leader Manuel Jose
“Mannix” M. Dalipe, Tingog
Party-list Rep. Yedda Marie K.
Romualdez, Ambassador’s wife
Inddri Puspitarasi, Pangasinan
Rep. Ma. Rachael Arenas, Mi-
nority Leader Marcelino Liba-
nan, and Zamboanga Del Norte
Rep. Glona Labadlabad.
The fund came from the
Speaker’s Disaster Relief
and Rehabilitation Initiative
launched during his 59th birth-
day celebration last November
14 to help disasters’ victims. ■
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2023
3 Japanese firms commit to invest in
Maharlika fund: Marcos
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. has bared
that three Japanese private
firms made substantial com-
mitments to the proposed Ma-
harlika Investment Fund (MIF).
“We have some commit-
ments but I don’t think it’s ap-
propriate for me to name who
they are. But they have – there
were already three commit-
ments, substantial amounts
that they are willing to invest
in the fund. So we can begin
there,” Marcos said in a media
interview en route to Manila
PH, Japan to boost PBBM thanks
cooperation on broadband Zelenskyy for safe
infra, cybersecurity passage of repa-
BY RAYMOND CARL DELA
CRUZ
Philippine News Agency
triated Pinoys: DFA
MANILA – The govern-
ments of the Philippines and
Japan have signed a memoran-
dum of cooperation (MOC) to
strengthen cooperation and de-
velopment in the field of infor-
mation and communications
technology (ICT), notably to
boost broadband infrastructure
and cybersecurity.
In a statement on Wednesday,
the Department of Information
and Communications Technol-
ogy (DICT) said the MOC, signed
between the DICT and Japan’s
Ministry of Internal Affairs and
Communications (MIC) on Feb.
9, would allow for cooperation
in the improvement of broad-
band infrastructure in the Phil-
ippines, the diversification of
5G suppliers and development
of the 5G network, and the de-
velopment of capacity-building
programs for cybersecurity.
“Further, the MOC will
strengthen the cooperation
of the two countries for the
smooth transition to Digital
from Japan.
Aside from private sector
commitments, he said there
were also pledges that came
from the Japanese government
financial institutions but did
not elaborate.
He earlier said the proposed
MIF would be reviewed by Con-
gress to make sure that its es-
tablishment would reap signifi-
cant benefits for the country.
Certified by Marcos as ur-
gent, House Bill (HB) 6608 or
the MIF Act was approved by
the House of Representatives on
Dec. 15, 2022, and was transmit-
ted to the Senate four days later.
It seeks the establishment of
an independent fund that will
Terrestrial Television Broad-
casting and for the utilization of
the Emergency Warning Broad-
casting System in the Philip-
pines,” the DICT said.
It would reinforce previous
areas of cooperation on digital
transformation, big data and arti-
ficial intelligence, the Internet of
things, and cultural relationships
through broadcasting content.
Through the MOC, the two
countries will work within five
years in the formulation of
joint ICT projects, exchanging
professionals, delegations, and
information on ICT policies,
technologies, and regulations.
be sourced from the investible
funds of select government fi-
nancial institutions (GFIs), con-
tributions of the national gov-
ernment, declared dividends of
the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,
and other funding sources.
The proposed MIF will be
used to invest on a strategic
and commercial basis in a man-
ner designed to promote fiscal
stability for economic devel-
opment and strengthen the
top-performing GFIs through
additional investment platforms
that will help attain the national
government’s priority plans.
It was introduced to the
world stage by the government
during Marcos’ attendance at
“To promote areas of cooper-
ation, liaison with other govern-
ment agencies, industrial, academ-
ic, and professional organizations
is also encouraged,” it said.
DICT Secretary Ivan John
Uy welcomed the signing of
the MOC and stronger ICT ties
with Japan.
“As a developing country, we
are sure to gain valuable insights
and support from Japan, espe-
cially in the field of ICT,” Uy said.
The signing of the MOC was
witnessed by President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. during his
five-day official working visit to
Japan from Feb. 8 to 12. ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
the World Economic Forum
(WEF) in Davos, Switzerland
last month.
More investments
Meanwhile, Marcos ex-
pressed confidence that more
investments will come to the
Philippines on top of the deals
signed during his successful
working visit to Tokyo.
“That’s why we keep on doing
this… the Japanese have been
very forward-looking, in a sense
na meron talaga silang mga
pinaplano (that they’re really
planning something) that are
very new, taking advantage [of ]
the new technologies,” he said.
He said he also looked forward
to bolstering partnerships with
BY JOYCE ANN L.
ROCAMORA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. has thanked
Ukrainian President Volody-
myr Zelenskyy for ensuring the
safe passage of Filipino repatri-
ates at the beginning of the Rus-
sia-Ukraine war, the Depart-
ment of Foreign Affairs (DFA)
said Wednesday.
In an official statement on
the two leaders’ Feb. 13 phone
conversation, the DFA said
Marcos reiterated that the Phil-
ippines would continue to sup-
port the “peaceful resolution of
the crisis in Ukraine.”
“President Marcos under-
scored the Philippines’ support
for previous UN resolutions reaf-
firming the sovereignty, territori-
al integrity and political indepen-
dence of Ukraine and other UN
member states,” the DFA said.
“The President also conveyed
his gratitude to President Zelen-
skyy for ensuring the safe pas-
7
Japan in terms of climate change
mitigation and adaptation, which
is a key part of his administra-
tion’s priority agenda.
Marcos said his working visit to
Tokyo was mission accomplished
given the “good results” obtained
by the Philippine delegation.
The five-day visit has so
far resulted in seven bilateral
agreements and 35 investment
deals amounting to USD13 bil-
lion or PHP 708.2 billion, es-
timated to generate around
24,000 jobs for Filipinos.
“All of the projects that were
on the pipeline, I think we were
able to finalize all of them.
That’s a good result I think from
this trip,” he added. ■
sage of Filipino nationals who
were repatriated from Ukraine
during the conflict,” it added.
Quoting Zelenskyy as say-
ing, the DFA said the Ukrainian
leader thanked Marcos for the
support and Manila’s “clear”
position on the conflict.
“The Ukrainian President
requested for continued Philip-
pine support in the United Na-
tions and other related fora. He
expressed hope for the future of
Philippines-Ukraine relations,
as Ukraine considers the Phil-
ippines a strategic partner in
the region,” it said.
The phone call was the first of
its kind between the two lead-
ers since Marcos assumed the
presidency in June last year.
Based on the latest DFA data,
a total of 451 distressed Filipi-
nos were assisted since the war
started, 397 of whom have been
repatriated to the Philippines
while 54 others were evacuated
to other countries.
There are about 380 Fili-
pinos staying in Ukraine as of
June 2022. ■
8 Philippine News
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Member
Civil Partnership Bill pushed anew
BY JOSE CIELITO REGANIT
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Davao del Norte 1st Dis-
trict Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez said Tues-
day he was pushing anew for the pas-
sage of the Civil Partnership Bill, which
allows both same-sex and opposite-sex
couples to enter into a civil partnership
and enjoy equal rights and protection
under the law.
“Yes, I refiled it. First time was in the
17th Congress, then 18th Congress, and I
am refiling it again in the 19th Congress.
I am a legislator. My job is to identify
problems and provide solutions to the
pain points of ordinary life that people
deal with. In this case, there is definitely
an absence of legal framework for those
who do not fit traditional marriages.
Let’s think about them too. Huwag lang
puro tayo (It should not be always about
us),” he said in a statement.
Alvarez was referring to House Bill
6782, which he filed on Jan. 16.
Previous versions of the Civil Partner-
ship Bill reached referral to the concerned
committee for deliberations. None moved
toward second and third readings.
Under the Family Code of the Phil-
ippines, only heterosexual couples can
enter into a marriage, thus excluding
members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender (LGBT) community
and their relationships.
Other issues that Civil Partnerships
House panel OKs bill revising
IP Code to fight online piracy
BY FILANE MIKEE CERVANTES
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – A measure proposing a
comprehensive reform of the Intellectu-
al Property (IP) Code of the Philippines
to provide more support for Filipino dig-
ital creatives hurdled committee level at
the House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives Com-
mittee on Trade and Industry approved
on Tuesday the bill providing for the re-
vised Intellectual Property Code of the
Philippines to ensure that scientists, in-
ventors, artists, and other gifted citizens
are encouraged to continue creating and
innovating products.
AAMBIS-OWA party-list Rep. Lex An-
thony Cris Colada, author of the bill, said
an effective and efficient intellectual prop-
erty system is vital to the development of
domestic, and creative industries.
Colada added that it would also facil-
www.canadianinquirer.net
seek to address are the lack of legal
rights, responsibilities, and protections
for non-traditional unions.
“Imagine, you build a life together,
and your partner isn’t even an heir by
default? Kapag mamatay sila, walang
makukuha ‘yung partner nila kahit sila
‘yung nagtulungan (If they die, their
partners would receive nothing despite
being the ones committed to the rela-
tionship). For medical emergencies re-
quiring life or death decisions, they’re
not even recognized as the partner, they
are excluded. Hindi sila papapasukin,
kasi hindi sila asawa (they are not al-
lowed to enter because they are not con-
sidered as spouses) or family. How can
that be right?” Alvarez said on the mat-
ter in pushing anew for the Civil Part-
itate the transfer of technology, attract
foreign investments, promote business
confidence, and ensure market access
for products.
“Anent to such State’s duty is to pro-
tect, secure, and promote the intellectu-
al property rights of the people, and to
recognize the vital role that an efficient
and balanced intellectual property sys-
tem plays in the economic, technologi-
cal, and sociocultural development of a
country,” he said.
He said the new and amended provi-
sions proposed in the bill are designed to
ensure a balance between the interests of
both the owners or holders and users of
the products protected by these rights.
“Innovation and creativity are im-
portant factors and drivers of economic
growth. By protecting their intellectual
property rights, it helps to ensure that
individuals who innovate and use their
creativity and skills are properly re-
warded and their rights over their cre-
FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY
nership Bill.
When asked about the importance of
the bill, Alvarez cited a quote he once
read as the best answer to the question.
“I read a quote before, from a movie,
and it described the need to have a wit-
ness to our lives, and we promise to care
about everything, the good, the bad, and
even the boring things, all of it, every
day. We say to our partner, your life will
not go unnoticed because I will notice
it, your life will not go un-witnessed be-
cause I will be your witness,” he said.
“We allow traditional relationships
to have that benefit, that opportunity,
but how about others who can’t get mar-
ried? Why should we deprive them of
❱❱ PAGE 12 Civil Partnership Bill
ations protected,” he said.
The proposal revises the way the Phil-
ippine bureaucracy accepts and process-
es applications for patents to make the
system more attuned to the digital age.
It also contains provisions to address
new media through which intellectu-
al property may be displayed legally or
otherwise.
The bill would expand the power of
regulators to address online violations
of IP rights.
It redefines “pirated goods” to include
content in electronic or digital form, al-
lows the Intellectual Property Office of
the Philippines (IPOPHL) to temporar-
ily or permanently block websites and
other platforms, broadens regulators’
powers to conduct intelligence gather-
ing and block sites in coordination with
other government agencies or interme-
diary service providers, and prescribes
penalties against IP rights violators of
up to PHP1 million. ■
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2023
Expanding immigration will not erase
racism in Canadian society
BY THEMRISE KHAN
Policy Options
Repairing our labour short-
ages through immigration
without addressing endemic
racism means migrants won’t
come to Canada or stay for long.
In its latest immigration plan,
the federal government says it
hopes to welcome almost 1.5
million new permanent resi-
dents between 2023 and 2025,
up from approximately one mil-
lion in the immigration targets
for 2020-22. The economic ben-
efits of increased immigration
aside, there remains a major el-
ephant in the room that Canada
is still not ready to address – rac-
ism and discrimination against
“visible minorities” – code for
non-white immigrants.
While recent surveys claim
that public opinion in Canada is
more in favour of immigration
than ever, recent practices sug-
gest otherwise. Examples include
heightened surveillance of select
immigrant populations, intense
scrutiny of some of their finan-
cial resources and discrimination
against migrant workers. There
have also been incidences of hate
crimes against members of im-
migrant groups. The government
must address the issue of racism
in immigration policy with a se-
ries of broad measures. Other-
wise, if left unaddressed, these
incidences have the potential to
work against Canada’s intentions
to continually increase immigra-
tion levels and grow its economy.
This is the key failing of the
government’s plans on im-
migration, past and present.
Although the latest plan does
discuss anti-racism measures
much more than previous ver-
sions, it is strictly in the con-
text of Immigration, Refugees
and Citizenship Canada’s own
organizational strategy. Unfor-
tunately, it does not address the
real issue – that racism is not
just organizational, it is endem-
ic in Canadian society.
Canada News
A national immigration plan
cannot succeed in the long term
if it does not acknowledge or
address racism and discrimina-
tion in society. This is import-
ant because eight out of the top
10 source countries for immi-
grants to Canada, accounting
for almost 70 per cent of annual
intake, are non-white countries
from the Global South.
This disconnect is becoming
blatantly obvious in many ways.
For instance, it is impossible to
view the increase in immigra-
tion numbers without looking
at the impact of regressive laws
and policies such as Bill 96 in
Quebec on new immigrants.
Racism affects not only our
social connections with immi-
grants, but also our economic de-
pendence on them. Canada’s ap-
proach to immigration has been
to view migrants as a source of la-
bour. That approach is bound to
create tensions in the long term.
Immigrants may help with
Canada’s labour shortages and
aging demographics. But if the
environment toward them is
socially hostile, the chances of
them gaining economic ground
decrease substantially. In that
case, Canada will no longer be
a desired destination for people
wanting to migrate. Or they will
leave because the living condi-
tions are toxic.
This hostility is on display
in how Canada refers to im-
migrants in an official capaci-
ty. Immigrants are numerical
“targets” to achieve in a given
timeframe. International stu-
dents are deemed the “ideal
immigrants,” a common racist
stereotype. Canada should not
attract students based on how
much labour or revenue they
can provide in the long term – or
because many students them-
selves use this as an opportuni-
ty to gain Canadian permanent
residency – but rather how ed-
ucation can enrich their futures.
Immigration levels are about
“breaking records,” as numbers
are increased based on labour
shortages rather than the capac-
ity to absorb new people from
different parts of the world.
Phrases used by the govern-
ment to justify rising numbers,
such as “filling labour shortag-
es, creating jobs, and driving
economic growth,” perpetu-
ate stereotypes of immigrants.
The term “visible minority,”
or the politically correct “ra-
cialized newcomers,” indicates
a continued “othering” of im-
migrants. Semantics hide the
racist notion that immigrants
are only as useful as their rev-
enue-generating skills. Every-
thing else is their own problem.
This approach to reducing
immigrants to labels and eco-
nomic tools completely ignores
the existence and reality of rac-
ism as a social and economic
hurdle for immigrants. Canada
sees new immigrants as a way to
fill labour shortages, but the sta-
tistics tell a different story. New
immigrants are far behind their
Canadian-born counterparts in
finding employment. Yet, the
push to increase immigration
levels to record highs contin-
ues without anyone talking to
employers about immigrants’
inability to find work. This may
only increase unemployment
rates amongst racialized groups.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Racism also applies to our pol-
icies toward refugees and asy-
lum seekers. Recent cases have
shown how authorities continue
to treat refugees from Afghani-
stan differently compared with
those from Ukraine. If Canada is
choosing to discriminate among
seriously at-risk populations
such as refugees fleeing war and
death based on – it can be as-
sumed – their race or religion,
this itself proves the point that
racism is more than just an orga-
nizational issue. It is endemic in
our society.
For instance, Canada’s recent
appointment of a representative
to combat the rise in Islamopho-
bia in this country reflects the fed-
eral government’s concern that
violence and racism toward ra-
cialized communities is becoming
normalized. But it ignores long-
standing racism against the origi-
nal inhabitants of this country.
Indigenous communities
continue to be oppressed, and
the arrival of immigrants, many
of them unaware of Canada’s
dark colonial past, only adds to
Indigenous communities’ dis-
trust of settlers.
Among racialized communi-
ties in Canada, Black and Asian
Canadians also continue to ex-
perience some of the highest
9
levels of discrimination.
If Canada truly wants its mil-
lions of new immigrants to be
able to contribute to the country,
it must address racism and dis-
crimination as broad societal is-
sues. We need a holistic policy ap-
proach, not one that is piecemeal.
To do this, the thinking around
immigration needs to evolve and
specifically address the following
in policy and practice:
First, there is a need to
change the language around
immigration to Canada. This
starts with changing how Ot-
tawa frames immigration and
immigrants as a labour supply
issue. Immigration is a human
right and not a numbers game.
It must work for both the mi-
grant and the host country.
Second, immigration is never
purely economic. Regular im-
migrants also attempt to escape
conflict, discrimination and po-
litical instability in their home
countries. This is important to
remember when assessing ad-
missibility and the potential
of each immigrant beyond just
their economic capabilities.
Third, anti-racism efforts
must be incorporated into the
philosophy of services provid-
❱❱ PAGE 23 Expanding immigration
10
Critical considerations for
the future of the public service
BY DANIEL J. CARON,
EVERT LINDQUIST,
ROBERT P. SHEPHERD
Policy Options
Let’s move away from sub-
jective and sporadic reform
efforts to a routine system that
generates institutional learning
based on ongoing evidence.
In a December 2022 column
in Policy Options, “Canada
needs a royal commission to fix
problems with the federal pub-
lic service,” Kathryn May con-
veyed Donald Savoie’s reluctant
call for a royal commission to
explore the state of the Canadi-
an public service and its future
direction. Many different rea-
sons were highlighted. The pub-
lic service is overloaded, relying
on slow and outdated process-
es. There has been rapid growth
after COVID and yet – despite
an arguably quick pivot to im-
plement government policies
– it has been slow to handle the
demand for essential services.
It also seems incapable of re-
sponding in a timely manner to
access-to-information requests
despite politicians’ trumpeting
of “open government.”
We could also add that there
are long-held concerns about top
public servants being too respon-
sive to the government of the day,
along with central agencies mi-
cro-managing and contributing
to the centralization of power
in the Prime Minister’s Office.
There have been concerns about
declining or insufficient skills or
resources, and over-reliance on
consultants and human resource
practices that have led to a risk-
averse culture.
These issues are concern-
ing and deserve attention, but
a royal commission would not
be a productive way to resolve
them. Instead, implementing a
review process that’s designed
correctly from the beginning is
important. That means striking
a balance between the political
side and the department lead-
ership, regional representatives
and public servants, aided by
some external perspective. Per-
haps most importantly, the first
phase needs to be taking stock
of the changes that have oc-
curred since the pandemic es-
Canada News
pecially, and understanding the
motivations for change while
assessing gaps in capabilities
and opportunities for reform.
Why the lack of enthusiasm
for a comprehensive review?
There have been more than
20 federal reviews and reform
efforts since 1867, each with
their own attributes. Phil Char-
ko and Stephen Van Dine have
identified several initiatives
since the 1980s. Recent initia-
tives such as Blueprint 2020
and Beyond2020, were not, in
fact, “blueprints,” but invita-
tions to “experiment” in a “bot-
tom-up” way, with no system-
atic reporting about how the
contours and capabilities of the
public service and its organiza-
tions were evolving.
Likewise, former prime min-
ister Stephen Harper’s embed-
ded strategic and operational
reviews (2010-15) were efforts
to reduce costs and rethink
specific lines of business inter-
nally, not efforts to reimagine
the overall management of the
public service. In short, there
has been neither stock-taking
nor a rethink of the direction of
the public service overall.
One could conclude that po-
litical and public service lead-
ers have been disinterested or
unaware of the need for reform,
but some former Privy Council
clerks (for example, Paul Tellier
and Michael Wernick) have been
among those issuing calls for re-
form – sometimes after they left
the public service. There are also
calls for reform coming from ac-
ademics or civil society that are
difficult to ignore.
A more generous interpreta-
tion is that political and public
service leaders are too focused
on immediate policy priorities
with few resources to call for
a wide-ranging assessment.
Or, like Savoie, they may expe-
rience the issues and see the
need for reform but have res-
ervations about the merits of
relying on a royal commission.
Indeed, they have not consid-
ered alternatives other than
centrally driven, closely held
senior-led approaches.
The fact is that the public ser-
vice is aware of its challenges.
Countless internal and external
reports have provided direction
FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY
for needed reforms and when
given political and financial sup-
port, they can be innovative and
accomplish a great deal (look to
Citizens First as an example).
Most issues and frustrations
are not new, but the call for sus-
tained action and continuous
reflection is more urgent than
ever. However, even if largely
self-managed by the public ser-
vice and its leaders, concerted
reform requires the interest
and support of prime ministers,
as well as responding to recom-
mendations in a timely way.
Why not a royal commission?
Royal commissions vary in
size and scope, are usually con-
vened outside government and
are given a mandate and budget.
Commissioners are appointed,
reflecting their scope, who then
refine and operationalize their
mandates and appoint staff,
commission research, receive
submissions, and hold hearings.
Sometimes public servants are
seconded to assist, and often
scholars and experts are asked
to provide advice and under-
take research. The entity works An understanding of how people in 2020 – a number that
apart from the public service programs and the public service is expected to increase to more
and can take on a life of its own. have evolved, an appraisal of re- than 400,000 by 2025. An over-
It is more of a topical treatment cent practices, new ideas about ly centralized approach is likely
than a cure. future directions and remov- to be met with resistance, if not
Moreover, though often quoted, ing barriers for transforma- outright rejection. The public
royal commissions seldom show tion is needed. Given the pace service is disparate, disaggre-
tangible results in actual public of change and the institutional gated and decentralized. The
service reforms or behavioural limitations, royal commissions, process must anticipate the dif-
change. They are excellent for blue-ribbon panels and task ferences in mandates, responsi-
spotting or tapping into talent, de- forces are unlikely to be accept- bilities, structures and cultures,
veloping new advisory networks, ed nor perceived as useful in- and at what level changes or re-
consolidating knowledge and ternally if they are regarded as forms are needed.
identifying new approaches and one-time initiatives. Likewise, 2. Engaging the diversity of
generating new ideas. a top-down internal approach public-service talent. Public ser-
However, given the chang- modeled on PS2000 (1989) or vants from various areas must
ing political environment and LaRelève (1997) will not gener- be engaged and must partici-
working in a social-media envi- ate the legitimacy and commit- pate. Different competencies
ronment, governments have not ment from public servants. will be needed to understand
been willing to convene royal What are some consider- change and reform efforts while
commissions. Instead, public in- ations for ongoing review? taking advantage of central ver-
quiries have been the preferred Several key elements are crit- sus regional perspectives.
approach – and only if there has ical for reviewing how the pub- 3. Tapping into external per-
been a serious failure or scandal lic service has evolved and what spectives. Practitioners leading
such as the Gomery Inquiry or needs to happen next. The design the initiative may need to heed
the Phoenix pay system. must acknowledge the realities various external perspectives.
Aside from the mechanics of of working in and around public For example, including the bene-
how to better deliver on its re- services, how change takes place ficiaries of programs and services
sponsibilities, what has not tak- and what is required to anchor it could help to understand the
en place since the 1960 Glassco over time. These include: changing nature of relationships
Commission is an analysis of 1. Institutional complexity. with vulnerable communities,
the organization and delivery The federal public service is ex- the shifting boundaries between
changes in public responsibil- tremely large, with more than 80 public and private, and the inter-
ities. This seems important in departments and agencies em-
the wake of the pandemic. ploying approximately 320,000 ❱❱ PAGE 12 Critical considerations
www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2023
A national inquiry is needed
to address abuse in Canadian sport
BY LAURA MISENER,
Western University, ANGELA
SCHNEIDER, Western
University
The Conversation
Sport in Canada is at a cross-
roads. The ongoing scandal
with Hockey Canada highlights
the need to take broader socie-
tal action to create a safer sport
culture. The crisis in sport is
rooted in issues of power and
control that remain unchecked.
There is also a lack of awareness
at the least, and neglect or com-
plicity at the worst.
In 2022, it came to light that
Hockey Canada used internal
funds to settle sexual assault
allegations. Criticism of how
Hockey Canada handled alle-
gations of abuse have prompted
an overhaul of the governing
body’s leadership, and high-
lighted the sport system’s fail-
ure to foster a safe culture.
This situation demonstrat-
ed some of the most insidious
aspects of abuse in sport. But
Hockey Canada is not alone in
the reckoning about ongoing
abuse cultures in sport.
Across Canadian sport there
are more stories surfacing
about abuse and maltreatment.
In the past few months alone,
hundreds of athletes have come
forward to publicly report is-
sues of physical, sexual and
psychological abuse, including
more than 500 current and re-
tired gymnasts.
Yet the government refuses
to launch a national inquiry.
Rather, it has referred the issue
to Parliament’s Status of Wom-
en Committee. The implication
is that abuse and maltreatment
are only a women’s issue.
There have been calls for an
independent inquiry into safe
sport from scholars, athletes,
the former Canadian Federal
Sport Minister and the Cana-
dian Centre for Ethics in Sport
(CCES).
A large majority of the cas-
es of abuse and maltreatment
are coming from the stories of
young women, yet the govern-
ment appears to be ignoring
those testimonials.
If we compare this situation
to past events in Canada, we see
some glaring differences deeply
rooted in the gender and racial
inequalities in this country.
The Dubin Inquiry
The 1989 Dubin Inquiry in-
volved a Canadian government
investigation into the use of
performance enhancing drugs
and banned practices. It was
launched after Canadian sprint-
er Ben Johnson, who had won
the 100m sprint final at the 1988
Seoul Olympic Games, was dis-
qualified for failing a drug test.
The Dubin Inquiry changed
the landscape of drug testing
in Canada and led to the devel-
opment of CCES. The events
that led to the Dubin Inqui-
ry involved far fewer athletes
in comparison to the current
scandals. Yet, they prompted a
Royal Commission of Inquiry.
What is notable is the indi-
vidual athlete at the heart of the
inquiry. The international and
national shame from the actions
of one Black man prompted the
federal government to launch a
national inquiry. By all accounts,
Johnson was villainized for his
doping, actions that were ram-
pant on the international athlet-
ics scene at the time.
When Johnson was winning,
he was hailed as a great Canadi-
an gold medalist, but when he
was disgraced by doping, he was
stripped of his Canadian identity.
Some felt that Johnson (and
Canada News 11
many other athletes) were used CEO, Ian Moss, about the or- able for its culture of abuse.
as pawns by the major players, ganizations handling of athlete While some have argued that
including the federal govern- complaints against a high level a restorative justice approach
ment. Someone needed to take male coach. Moss’s responses to is needed for culture change,
the blame for the “moral crisis their failure to investigate high- such an approach will not hold
in sport,” and no one was better light the organizations inability organizations and individuals
placed to do so than an athlete. to self-regulate and unwilling- accountable for their role in
Today’s moral crisis in sport ness to be accountable for the silencing victims and failing to
In Canadian sport’s current history of abuse in their sport. protect young athletes.
moral crisis, the majority of The recent McLaren report Initiating a national inqui-
the victims are young women was an attempt by Gymnastics ry will send a message to every
who have suffered in silence Canada to understand the sit- child, youth and elite athlete
for years. Abuse in sport can be uation in the sport. The report — particularly young women
perpetrated at all levels against offers detailed accounts of abuse — that they are worthy of pro-
anyone of any age. However, re- and maltreatment from those tection. Prevention is impera-
search has demonstrated that who remain in the gymnastics tive and athletes must no lon-
it is more prevalent for young community. But it failed to en- ger be forced into silence. The
women with male coaches in gage survivors forced out of the outcome of a national inquiry
positions of power. system and missed the mark on could set a benchmark for the
Coaching remains dominat- a trauma-informed approach. rest of the world, just as the Du-
ed by men. The Coaching As- It’s yet another example of bin Inquiry did with doping. ■
sociation of Canada reported failing to engage in a proper ath-
that only 34 per cent of coaches lete-centred, survivor-informed, This article is republished
are women while 66 per cent independent inquiry that would from The Conversation under a
are men. This means that most hold the organization account- Creative Commons license.
young girls are coached by men
in positions of power.
Global Athlete, an organi-
zation that campaigns for ath-
letes’ rights, has been helping to
mobilize thousands of athletes
across 15 sports to call on the
Canadian government to ad-
dress the crisis of abuse.
Government actions to date
have been to launch the House
of Common’s Standing Com-
mittee on the Status of Women
study into physical and emo-
tional abuse in sport, and to
create Canada’s first Office of
the Sport Integrity Commis-
sioner (OSIC).
Both approaches are a far cry
from an independent inquiry. Es-
sentially, the government is inves-
tigating itself and allowing sport
organizations to be self-regulat-
ing — clearly an approach that has
not been working.
Gymnastics Canada
In January 2023, MPs ques-
tioned Gymnastics Canada
www.canadianinquirer.net
 12
NORAD’s value is on full display as flying
objects shot down over North America
BY ANDREA CHARRON,
University of Manitoba
The Conversation
Four (and counting) air ob-
jects have violated North Amer-
ican airspace in less than a week.
It began with a Chinese
high-altitude surveillance bal-
loon flying over Alaska and
northwestern Canada.
The North American Aero-
space Defense Command
(NORAD) tracked the balloon
and the three other air objects.
None appeared to pose a mili-
tary threat to North America,
but they still caused concern
because they could both gather
intelligence and interfere with
civilian air traffic.
NORAD is binational. Cana-
dian and United States mili-
tary personnel are assigned to
NORAD to focus on the defence
of the North American conti-
nent, not just Canada or the U.S.
It’s a vital command that has
been overlooked and underval-
ued. It is, however, the first line
of defence for both states — as
many Americans and Canadi-
ans are now learning.
NORAD’s reason for being
NORAD has three missions:
1. It warns and tracks air objects
of concern (aerospace warning)
2. It can defeat (in other words,
Critical considerations..
❰❰ 10 connectedness of juris-
dictions and responsi-
bilities. Current efforts
to address public health reforms
is a good example.
4. Anticipating how reform
actually takes place. Few believe
that top-down reforms or “fixes”
will have much impact on be-
haviours. Change and innovation
stem from meeting governmen-
tal priorities as expressed by min-
isters through mandate letters or
other directives. These should
determine how departments and
agencies organize themselves if
accompanied with appropriate
financial and political support,
and related accountabilities.
5. Effective reform is ongo-
ing. This is about developing
an approach to reform that re-
quires introducing new oper-
Canada News
shoot down) these objects or
escort them out of national air-
space (aerospace control)
3. It tracks maritime vessels
approaching North America
that may be of concern (mari-
time warning)
What’s unique about NORAD
is that Canadian and American
interceptors, personnel and as-
sets work together seamlessly
in joint commands. For exam-
ple, Canadian personnel can be
in charge of American NORAD
personnel in Alaska while U.S.
jets assigned to NORAD may
operate in Canadian airspace.
NORAD personnel commu-
ational repertoires dependent
on data for evidence-based de-
cision-making. Instead of one-
time exercises, ongoing reviews
must be built into routines with
a learning focus that feeds de-
partmental plans.
6. The need for political atten-
tion, monitoring and reporting.
No approach will be effective if
efforts are not properly mon-
itored so that public servants
can visualize real-time shifts by
leaders and the implications for
their place in these changes.
In short, forward-looking
decisions must be undertaken
that balance the perspectives of
politicians and staffers, public
service leaders, regional bodies,
rank-and-file public servants,
and concerned and affected
citizens. The way forward is
nicate and co-ordinate with
each other across national
boundaries. This is all part of
the NORAD agreement.
It’s no accident that a state-
ment by U.S. Secretary of De-
fense Lloyd Austin specifically
noted Canada and NORAD’s
role in the dramatic shooting
down of the Chinese surveil-
lance balloon over the Atlantic
Ocean on Feb. 4.
NORAD Commander Gener-
al Glen VanHerck — a four-star
U.S. general — is based at Peter-
son Space Force Base in Colora-
do Springs, and can reach out to
both the American president and
to move away from subjective
and sporadic reform efforts to
a routine system that generates
institutional learning based on
ongoing evidence. This will take
significant commitment to cre-
ate but may generate the mo-
mentum needed that previous
reform efforts could not sus-
tain. For the present, however,
an initial analysis of changes
occurring, understanding mo-
tivations for change, assessing
gaps in capabilities, identifying
opportunities for reform and
future needs should be under-
taken – and be done quickly
with clear steps throughout. ■
This article first appeared
on Policy Options and is repub-
lished here under a Creative
Commons license.
www.canadianinquirer.net
the Canadian prime minister.
He’s equally responsible to
American and Canadian citizens.
If a flying object needs to be shot
down, the American president
approves any action in U.S. air-
space while the prime minister
approves it in Canadian airspace.
Sovereignty is respected.
However, both Canadian and
American personnel and assets
are involved.
This was evident in the case
of the air objects flying over the
Yukon and Lake Huron.
While they were shot down in
Canadian airspace with Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau’s per-
mission, American fighter jets
were in position to assist and
execute the commands.
Under NORAD provisions,
it doesn’t matter if it’s Cana-
dian or American jets used to
shoot down unidentified flying
objects over North America.
NORAD’s mission was achieved
with the appropriate national
command authority.
NORAD now on our radar
While NORAD certainly
needs modernizing — it requires
not only new radars, satellites
and interceptors, but also ways
to integrate information and in-
telligence from more partners
and allies — the events of the
past few days show it’s agile.
Those same events have also
Civil Partnership Bill..
❰❰ 8 the opportunity to be
a witness to, and being
witnessed in return,
by their special someone?”
Alvarez noted that the pro-
posed measure would strength-
en traditional marriages, despite
what critics of the bill are saying.
“Those who really want to get
married are those who will get
married. While those who don’t
want marriage, they need not force
fit themselves into a marriage.
They can opt for a Civil Partner-
ship instead,” he pointed out.
Nevertheless, he said he is
willing to defend the merits
of the proposed measure and
asked critics to have an open
mind so that “maybe we can
find a common ground.”
“This is my third term and
third attempt for the Civil Part-
FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY
reminded both Canadians and
Americans that North America
is vulnerable.
We don’t know the origins of
all of the flying objects — that
will be up to the FBI, RCMP
and intelligence agencies to
discern. If the air objects orig-
inated in foreign nations, next
steps will involve the U.S. State
Department and Global Affairs
Canada. If they’re domestic in
origin, it will be a matter for po-
lice and regulatory authorities.
Either way, the recent events
have provided North Americans
with a clear wake-up call. Cana-
da is not the “fire-proof house” it
once hoped it could be.
Neither is the U.S. immune
from potential threats just be-
cause of its military might.
NORAD celebrates its 65th
anniversary in May. The orga-
nization is clearly needed now
more than ever. But its biggest
challenge remains the lack of
understanding of its value and
importance.
If there’s any silver lining
to the events of the past few
weeks, perhaps it’s that North
Americans will now recognize
and appreciate the role NORAD
plays in keeping them safe. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
nership Bill. Who knows, it can
be strike three, or it can be third
time’s the charm. I’m not new
to this. Some battles you win,
some you don’t. But in either
case, there is truth to the say-
ing that politics is the art of the
possible. Let’s file this, get the
word out, and let us see what
happens,” he said.
But to those who wanted a
“fight,” the veteran lawmaker
said he is used to it and chal-
lenged critics to “bring it on.”
“You wouldn’t like it if outsid-
ers dictated and intervened into
your personal relationships, why
do you keep dictating and inter-
vening into the relationships of
others? How about mind your
own business? Live and let live,”
Alvarez said. ■
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2023
US denies Beijing’s claims of spy balloons
in Chinese airspace
ANADOLU
Philippine News Agency
WASHINGTON – The US de-
nied on Monday Beijing’s asser-
tions that Washington has been
flying spy balloons over Chinese
airspace, allegations made as the
US downed a fourth “unidenti-
fied object” over the weekend.
The US has not attributed
three of the objects to any coun-
try or purpose, but Washington
has publicly attributed the first
to China, saying the balloon was
a surveillance aircraft linked to
the Chinese military.
It was downed by an F-22
fighter jet off the coast of South
Carolina on Feb. 4. China has
Massive outages caused by Cyclone Gabrielle
strengthen the case for burying power lines
BY TIMOTHY WELCH,
University of Auckland
The Conversation
Another extreme weather
event has highlighted the weak
points in New Zealand’s critical
infrastructure. As Cyclone Ga-
brielle ripped across the North
Island, nearly 225,000 people
lost power.
The cause is relatively obvi-
ous: many houses and build-
ings are connected to the pow-
er grid by overground power
lines. Overhead wires, a com-
mon sight around many sub-
urbs, are highly vulnerable to
extreme weather events. When
the winds pick up, limbs and
trees fall, and power lines are
dragged down.
But one solution is equally
obvious: bury the power lines.
With the threat of more fre-
quent storms of increasing in-
World News
claimed the aircraft, but said it
was a weather balloon that blew
off course.
The Biden administration has
since said the balloon was part
of a sprawling fleet of Chinese
reconnaissance balloons used to
surveil more than 40 countries
across five continents.
Three other airborne objects
have been shot down in the in-
terim, including an unidenti-
fied object shot down Sunday
over Lake Huron.
China on Monday accused
Washington of flying 10 spy
balloons over Chinese airspace
since January 2022, saying it is
“very common” for the US to do
so in others’ sovereign airspace,
according to multiple reports.
tensity, the risk to households,
businesses and personal safety
demands this option be seri-
ously considered.
Power outages mean more
than just the inconvenience of
a dark house or a dead mobile
phone battery. Many things we
rely on, like fibre internet, home
WiFi or even our ability to make
emergency calls, depend on an
electrical connection.
Loss of power puts refrigera-
tors and freezers full of valuable
food at risk. And many people
rely on electricity for lifesaving
medical devices in their homes.
Battery backup only offers a
short-term solution. When the
power goes out, lives and liveli-
hoods are put in danger.
Costs and benefits
Perhaps the main argument
against burying power lines is
the cost. And it’s true, putting
thousands of kilometres of ca-
ble underground isn’t cheap.
The White House sharply
refuted the allegations, saying
“we’re not flying surveillance
balloons over China.”
National Security Council
spokesman John Kirby said the
balloons the US has identified
as being controlled by China
“have provided limited additive
capabilities to the PRC’s oth-
er intelligence platforms used
over the United States.”
“But in the future, if the PRC
continues to advance this tech-
nology, it certainly could be-
come more valuable to them,”
he said, referring to China by its
formal acronym.
Kirby attributed the discov-
ery of the three other anon-
ymous aircraft in part to in-
The fact is, reliable infrastruc-
ture is expensive.
However, while overhead pow-
er lines are cheaper to install in
the short term, they carry a high-
www.canadianinquirer.net
creased vigilance of US and
Canadian airspace following
the discovery of the balloon
that was shot down Feb. 4, say-
ing the countries have “been
more closely scrutinizing that
airspace, including enhancing
our radar capabilities.”
Washington and Ottawa op-
erate a joint military command
known as North American
Aerospace Defense Command
(NORAD).
The three unattributed air-
craft were flying at a lower alti-
tude than the balloon shot down
over US territorial waters, and
were “right on the border of”
altitudes used for commercial
air traffic, Kirby said.
The US is “laser focused” on
er maintenance cost and are less
reliable – especially in storms. If
the cost to households and busi-
nesses from a loss of power is
also considered, the economics
13
confirming the “nature and pur-
pose” of the three unidentified
objects that have been shot down
in recent days, including via on-
going efforts to collect their de-
bris, much of which is in remote
wintry locations, Kirby said.
The debris from the aircraft
shot down over Lake Huron is
now likely in “very deep” wa-
ters, he said.
No additional objects are cur-
rently being tracked, according
to the White House.
US President Joe Biden or-
dered the formation of an inter-
agency team on Monday to study
the balloons and unidentified
objects, and their policy impli-
cations for “detection, analysis
and disposition,” said Kirby. ■
of burying power lines become
much more palatable.
Another argument against
burying power lines is that in
areas prone to earthquakes, un-
derground lines are more vul-
nerable or more difficult to re-
pair. This was certainly the case
in the Canterbury earthquakes
a decade ago.
However, studies have shown
that better routing and rein-
forcement of underground
lines can mitigate that risk. Ma-
jor earthquakes are also far less
common than weather events
that damage overhead wires.
Earthquake-prone Japan
recently announced a plan to
bury 4,000km of powerlines by
2025. In shaky California, one
utility company plans to spend
US$10 billion burying power
lines to prevent fires.
Denmark, Switzerland, Ger-
❱❱ PAGE 14 Massive outages
14
Violations vs. children in armed
conflicts ‘shockingly high’: UN
ANADOLU
Philippine News Agency
WASHINGTON – Violations
against children in armed con-
flicts “remain at a shockingly
high level,” the UN warned Mon-
day as the international commu-
nity seeks to curtail the tragedies.
Virginia Gamba, Secre-
tary-General Antonio Guterres’
special representative for chil-
dren and armed conflict, told the
Security Council that children
continue to face alarming levels of
violations, including abductions,
killing and maiming, recruitment
for use in armed conflicts, and the
WHO appeals for $43-M
to support quake response
in Syria, Türkiye
ANADOLU
Philippine News Agency
ANKARA – The World Health
Organization (WHO) launched
an appeal worth $43 million
to support the earthquake re-
sponse in Syria, and Türkiye,
WHO regional director for Eu-
rope, said Tuesday.
“I expect this to at least dou-
ble over the coming days, as we
get a better assessment of the
massive scale of this crisis and
the needs,” said Hans Kluge in a
press briefing related to urgent
health needs and response in
Türkiye following last week’s
earthquakes.
Kluge said that the money will
be used to “ensure access to the
most vulnerable and hard-to-
reach populations, provide trau-
ma care and post-trauma reha-
bilitation and provide essential
medicines and emergency kits
to fill urgent healthcare gaps.”
It will also be used to “deliver
vital mental and psychosocial
support to the affected popu-
lations and ensure continuity
of routine health services, es-
World News
denial of humanitarian access in
conflict zones.
The UN verified nearly
24,000 “grave violations” in
2021, and Gamba said those
numbers are likely to continue
apace as the world body evalu-
ates incidents from 2022.
“In the face of continuous
cycles of violence and conflict
that are only becoming more
intense, frequent, and complex,
we are increasingly aware that
understanding and identifying
the pre-existing risks and vul-
nerabilities to children will be
critical to protecting them, and
preventing violations of their
rights once a conflict occurs,”
pecially for women, children,
the elderly, and those with
non-communicable diseases,”
he added.
Kluge said WHO delivered
the largest deployment of
Emergency Medical Teams in
the WHO European Region in
its 75-year history, adding 12
emergency medical teams have
arrived in Türkiye so far and 10
others are on the way.
Kluge said, “Now is the time
for the international communi-
ty to show the same generosity
that Türkiye has shown to other
nations over the years,” adding
the country has been hosting 4.2
million refugees, the largest ref-
ugee population in the world.
“We are witnessing the worst
natural disaster in the WHO
European Region for a century.
We are still learning about its
magnitude. Its true cost is not
known yet,” he said.
“Recovering and healing will
take time and a phenomenal
effort. But I can assure you that
WHO will remain steadfast,
alongside the people of Tür-
kiye and Syria, for as long as it
takes,” he added.
she told the Council.
She emphasized that children
who lack education and future
prospects for their livelihoods,
and face poverty remain the most
vulnerable to forced military re-
cruitment by armed groups and
gender-based violence.
A note circulated by Malta,
which chairs the Security Coun-
cil for the month of February,
ahead of Monday’s meeting said
despite progress in combatting
violations against children,
they “continue to be committed
on an alarming scale.”
“Effective prevention of vi-
olence requires a strategic and
proactive approach at the com-
Kluge also thanked Turkish
Health Ministry and minister
Fahrettin Koca “for his leader-
ship and coordination with who
and the international commu-
nity 24/7.”
For his part, Batyr Berdyk-
lychev, WHO representative
in Türkiye, said that “severe
damage to water and sanitation
system is a concern, and it in-
creases the risk of waterborne
diseases and outbreaks of com-
municable diseases.”
WHO Türkiye office is work-
ing under the UN country team
mechanism with a number of
Turkish ministries, including
health, “because this disaster
requires a comprehensive re-
sponse, including water provi-
sion, protection, sanitation, food,
and shelter,” said Berdyklychev.
Berdyklychev said that dis-
placed people living in crowd-
ed community settings are also
more exposed to the risk of out-
breaks such as seasonal influ-
enza and COVID and the WHO
country office working in close
coordination with Turkish au-
thorities. ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
munity, national, subregional,
regional, and global levels that
address all the risks and stress-
es the factors that provide pro-
Massive outages..
❰❰ 13 many and the Nether-
lands have all buried
most of their power
lines. Unsurprisingly, they also
have the lowest “system av-
erage interruption duration
index” (SAIDI) values – a mea-
sure of the average duration of
power outages per customer.
All four countries have a SAIDI
value of less than 25, meaning the
average customer experienced
a power outage of fewer than 25
minutes. By comparison, Auck-
land’s electric distribution busi-
ness Vector has a SAIDI of 161.9;
Christchurch’s Orion scored 57.4;
while the country overall aver-
aged over 204 minutes per cus-
tomer for an outage.
Spend now, save later
There are other good safe-
ty reasons for burying power
lines, too. Even without trees
nearby, power lines can arc in
high winds, causing showers
of sparks to rain down and po-
tentially ignite fires. This hap-
pened in 2020 with the Lake
Ōhau Alpine Village fire that
burned 5,000 hectares and 65
structures and caused NZ$35
million in insurance losses.
Broken power lines carry
massive voltages, which can
maim or kill people. Falling
power poles crush people and
cars. Single-vehicle crashes
into power poles also frequent-
ly result in critical and fatal in-
juries, and large power outages.
Utility poles can obstruct
FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY
tection against the continuum
of violence, with a view to ef-
fectively protecting every con-
flict-affected child,” it said. ■
or narrow footpaths, making
paths less accessible, particu-
larly for people in wheelchairs.
Overhead wires are often cited
as an eyesore, and trimming
trees around power lines is both
ugly and damaging to the trees.
Right now, however, the most
pressing reason for burying
power lines is visible all around.
At this point, it’s not clear how
extensively cyclone Gabrielle
damaged the power lines, but
it will likely take days or weeks,
not hours, to restore power to
everyone.
In the coming weeks, work-
ers will fan out across the
North Island into precarious
locations, lifted high above the
ground in cherry pickers to
mend lines and restore power.
The work puts their own health
and safety at risk, and we could
eliminate this danger too with
underground power lines.
Clearly it isn’t a good option
for everywhere. High-powered
transmission lines that bridge
large spans in undeveloped ar-
eas are likely not viable econom-
ic candidates for under-ground-
ing. But the long-term benefits
of burying lines in cities and
towns far outweigh the upfront
costs. It should be given serious
consideration before the next
“storm of the century” hits. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2023
Senator Dianne Feinstein will retire in 2024,
bringing a groundbreaking career to a close
BY LINCOLN MITCHELL,
Columbia University
The Conversation
Democrat Dianne Feinstein,
the 89-year-old senior senator
from California, announced on
Feb. 14, 2023, that she will retire
from the Senate rather than run
for a sixth term when her current
term expires at the end of 2024.
This will bring an end to an
extraordinary political career,
one that began when Feinstein
won her first election only a few
months after Neil Armstrong
walked on the Moon.
In recent months, several
prominent California Dem-
ocratic politicians, including
Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and
Adam Schiff, still uncertain
about Feinstein’s plans, had
announced their interest in
running for her Senate seat.
Both Schiff and Porter formally
declared they were running re-
cently. With today’s announce-
ment, the race is on in earnest.
Some may remember what
happened the last time Feinstein
announced her retirement from
politics - on a day that changed
Dianne Feinstein and her home-
town of San Francisco forever.
On Nov. 27, 1978, Feinstein,
then the 45-year-old president
of the San Francisco Board
of Supervisors and two-time
failed mayoral candidate,
greeted reporters at City Hall
by telling them she would not
seek reelection to the Board of
Supervisors, San Francisco’s
equivalent to the city council.
This was understood to mean
she was leaving politics when her
term expired. The resignation of
one person from the 11-member
board earlier that month had
given Mayor George Moscone an
opportunity to put a progressive
on the board, tipping the balance
to 6-5 against Feinstein in her bid
to retain leadership.
Feinstein’s plan didn’t last
long. By the end of the day, she
was the mayor of San Francisco,
and had the dreadful responsi-
bility of telling the city that both
Moscone and Supervisor Harvey
Milk had been assassinated – by
a former member of the board.
“It is my duty to make this an-
nouncement,” she said, looking
straight into the camera, amid
audible gasps and screams, add-
ing, “The suspect is Supervisor
Dan White.”
Feinstein handled this tragic
announcement with poise – a
quality that would characterize
the nine years she went on to
spend as San Francisco’s first
female mayor and, later, as Cal-
ifornia’s first woman senator.
Feinstein has been in the
U.S. Senate for 30 years, and is
retiring in the face of concerns
about whether she is still men-
tally sharp enough to continue
in her current position.
This issue has been raised
not by Republicans seeking
to score political points, but
by Democratic colleagues and
congressional staff. There is
also a possibility that Feinstein
will not finish her current term,
which runs through 2024, be-
cause there may be increased
pressure for her to resign. This
would allow California Gov.
Gavin Newsom, who considers
Feinstein a mentor, to appoint
her successor.
Over the next months, that
pressure may increase and the
campaign to replace her will
grow more heated. But before
that happens, it is worth look-
ing back on Feinstein’s extraor-
dinary career and her place in
California, and more notably,
San Francisco, history.
Senator from San Francisco
Feinstein’s tenure in the Sen-
ate, which began in 1992, made
her a national figure. But San
Francisco was always her home,
even after three decades in
Washington.
“When you become mayor
because of an assassination and
the horrific events that cata-
pulted Feinstein into the may-
or’s office, you will be forever
linked to that city,” says Corey
Busch, Moscone’s press sec-
retary and an advisor on Fein-
stein’s campaign when she ran
for mayor in 1979.
Feinstein is not from the
San Francisco of hippies, new
tech wealth, radical politics or
LGBTQ activism. She was born
to an affluent Jewish family and
attended the Convent of the Sa-
cred Heart, the city’s elite Cath-
olic girls school. Feinstein’s
mother was emotionally dis-
tant, according to her biogra-
pher Jerry Roberts, but she was
Senator Dianne Feinstein (SENATE DEMOCRATS/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0)
close with her father, a prom-
inent doctor who encouraged
her ambition.
Feinstein won her first elec-
tion to the Board of Supervisors
in 1969 after serving several
years on the state women’s pa-
role board. She remained on the
board until that dreadful day in
November 1978.
As mayor, living primarily in
tony Pacific Heights and Presi-
dio Heights, Feinstein led the
city through a tumultuous time
of change. The period between
1978 and 1987 included Mayor
Moscone’s assassination, the hor-
rors of a mysterious plague – HIV/
AIDS – cutbacks in state and fed-
eral funding and a panoply of ur-
ban problems like crime, traffic,
homelessness and rising rents.
During that same period,
San Francisco went from being
a somewhat typical American
city to becoming a major po-
litically progressive hub. That
transformation left the city
deeply divided. Feinstein was
able to govern it by combining
social liberalism with strong
support for business, develop-
ment and real estate.
This kind of urban gover-
nance – later exemplified in
Michael Bloomberg’s 12-year
mayorship of New York City
– is pretty common now. But
Feinstein was one of the first
politicians to embrace it, and
her leadership from the center
frequently angered San Fran-
www.canadianinquirer.net
World News
ciscans who believed she was
not doing enough about AIDS,
or was too close to real estate
interests, or just wasn’t suffi-
ciently progressive.
“Feinstein was very support-
ive of gay people that she knew,”
Art Agnos, the mayor after Fein-
stein, told me, “but struggled to
relate to LGBTQ equality as an
abstract civil rights issue.”
In lefty San Francisco, “a lot
of people think that Dianne is
more suited as a moderate Re-
publican than as a Democrat,”
says Busch, Feinstein’s former
campaign advisor.
For me, as Feinstein’s teen-
age constituent, it was her
crackdown on the punk music
scene – which frequently in-
cluded allowing the police to
harass punks attending shows
at venues like the Mabuhay
Gardens, which was usually
called the Mab – that bothered
me. When I was 16, I climbed
the flagpole in front of her
stately and expensive house
to amuse my friends. There’s a
photo of this caper in my high
school yearbook.
Mayor Feinstein’s general-
ly conservative demeanor was
also a target of our teenage deri-
sion - and other people’s as well.
The legendary San Francisco
columnist Herb Caen occasion-
ally called her “Princess Di,” a
reference to Feinstein’s formal,
even imperious style.
Feinstein’s legacy
15
After leaving the San Fran-
cisco mayor’s office in 1987,
Feinstein ran for governor of
California in 1990. She lost to
Republican Pete Wilson, but in
1992 won a special election to
the U.S. Senate.
As senator, Feinstein’s mod-
eration sometimes frustrated
progressives in the Democratic
Party, as it had her hometown
constituents.
She voted for the war in Iraq
in 2002 and for George W.
Bush’s major tax-cutting legis-
lation in 2001. In 2020, she lit-
erally embraced the Republican
Sen. Lindsay Graham of South
Carolina at the conclusion of
Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme
Court confirmation hearings.
But Feinstein was well liked,
an electoral powerhouse and a
generally reliable Democratic
vote on major legislation long
before California took on its
current political shade of deep
blue. She supported the Afford-
able Care Act, voted against
Donald Trump’s tax bill in
2017 and opposed all three of
Trump’s Supreme Court nomi-
nees. She has also been a com-
mitted fighter for California’s
economic interests, from wine-
making to desert conservation.
In her last reelection to the
Senate, in 2018, the 85-year-old
Feinstein brushed off the kind
of progressive primary chal-
lenge that felled other moder-
ates in her party to win her fifth
full term in office.
Feinstein is a trailblazer
and one of the most successful
women in American political
history, but not one of its great-
est senators. Feinstein has nev-
er been connected to a singu-
lar important issue, as the late
Ted Kennedy was with health
care. Nor has she authored any
landmark legislation, as John
McCain and Russ Feingold did
with their namesake 2002 cam-
paign finance reform bill. Her
greatest legislative accomplish-
ment remains her work on the
assault weapons ban in 1994.
After almost 50 years in pub-
lic office, her leadership after
the City Hall killings remains
Feinstein’s finest moment in
politics – the one that made her
long career possible. For San
❱❱ PAGE 25 Senator Dianne Feinstein
16 World News FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY

Secondary crises after the Turkey-Syria

earthquakes are now the greatest threat to life
BY AARON OPDYKE,
University of Sydney
The Conversation
The death toll from the Tur-
key and Syria earthquakes has
continued to climb, with more
than 37,000 lives lost. This stag-
gering number is likely to grow
even higher over coming days
as the rubble is cleared. The di-
saster is now among the top five
most deadly earthquakes glob-
ally in the past two decades.
Much of the focus has cen-
tred on the immense loss of life
in the immediate aftermath of
the earthquakes. But many lives
will still be at risk in the months
to come. While hard to track, we
know from other cases that death
tolls rise because of a lack of ad-
equate medical care, clean water
and shelter following disasters.
These secondary crises can
have devastating impacts, as
past disasters around the world
have shown.
Toll can soar long after di-
saster strikes
In Puerto Rico after Hurri-
cane Maria in 2017, the immedi-
ate official count of 64 fatalities
was adjusted to nearly 3,000 in
the following six months. This
tragic increase was attributed
to deteriorating health condi-
tions driven by the loss of infra-
structure and basic services.
In northwest Syria, conflict
spanning more than a decade
has left infrastructure in tat-
ters. The World Bank estimated
in 2017 that more than a third
of Syria’s housing stock had
been damaged or destroyed in
the conflict.
In a sign of the precarious
state of buildings before the
earthquake, a five-storey build-
ing collapsed last month, killing
16 people. Many blast-damaged
buildings present an ongoing
risk now that the quake has fur-
ther destabilised them.
The earthquakes also come
against the backdrop of a chol-
era outbreak. The disease was
already affecting parts of Syria,
but had received little attention.
After the 2010 Haiti earth-
quake, a cholera outbreak
brought in by humanitarian
workers took almost a decade
to stamp out. There were more
than 820,000 cases and nearly
10,000 lives lost.
Last week’s earthquake has
also occurred amid freezing
winter conditions. Many dis-
placed families are out in the
cold after losing their homes.
Temperatures in Kahraman-
maraş – the epicentre of the
magnitude 7.8 earthquake – and
across quake-affected regions
are plunging to -5°C at night.
Erecting adequate shelter to
protect people from the cold
must be a central focus of the
evolving humanitarian response.
Syrians were already in
dire need
The situation in Syria was
already dire before the earth-
quake. In northwest Syria, 90%
of the 4.6 million people living
there already were relying on
humanitarian assistance to
meet their basic needs.
Humanitarian access to
northwest Syria remains com-
plicated. There has been only
a single aid border crossing, at
Bab al-Hawa, brokered by the
United Nations Security Coun-
cil. As a sign of the difficulties
accessing opposition-held ar-
eas of Syria, only two aid con-
veys had been able to cross from
Turkey in the past week.
UN aid chief Martin Grif-
fiths admitted shortcomings in
reaching those in need:
We have so far failed the peo-
ple in north-west Syria. They
rightly feel abandoned. Look-
ing for international help that
hasn’t arrived.
Over the weekend, the Unit-
ed States approved a 180-day
exemption on sanctions for di-
saster aid to Syria, paving the
road for alternative pathways
to reach opposition-held areas.
However, Syrian government
calls for all humanitarian assis-
tance to be delivered through
the government are fraught
with issues given its track re-
cord of diverting aid over the
past decade.
A long road to recovery
As rescue operations stretch
into the second week, communi-
ties are already looking toward
recovery. Turkish President Re-
cep Tayyip Erdoğan has promised
to rebuild areas hit by the earth-
quakes within a year. Syrian com-
munities face the added challenge
of rebuilding from conflict.
Lessons from similar disas-
ters teach us affected commu-
nities have just started on a
long road towards recovery and
rebuilding.
As the continued challenges
of humanitarian access make
clear, it is important for local
organisations working in north-
west Syria to be at the centre
❱❱ PAGE 21 Secondary crises

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www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2023
Entertainment
From Finding Love to Fighting Zombies —
Netflix Brings Korean Unscripted Shows
to the World
NETFLIX
Reality and variety shows are
among the most beloved enter-
tainment in Korea, and with
Netflix’s growing unscripted
lineup, we’re seeing global audi-
ences and K-Content fans dis-
cover these unique and wildly
innovative titles.
This year, Netflix will release
at least eight Korean unscripted
titles, double that of last year.
Our commitment to produc-
tion and creativity puts Netflix
at the forefront of sharing un-
scripted Korean shows with au-
diences around the world.
Today, we’re excited to pro-
vide a sneak peek into our grow-
ing unscripted slate. The lineup
includes a rich variety of themes
such as dating, physical endur-
ance, mind games and zombies,
‘Tan-ok ni Ilocano’ Film Festival
returns for 3rd year
BY LEILANIE ADRIANO
Philippine News Agency
LAOAG CITY – The third in-
stallation of the Tan-ok ni Iloca-
no Film Festival is back on the
big screen, showing at least six
short documentary films and
two narratives featuring the di-
verse culture, values, and tradi-
tions of the local community.
In his short speech before
the film screening at Robinsons
Movieworld Ilocos here, Gover-
nor Matthew Joseph Manotoc
reassured the local artists and
talents that the Ilocos Norte pro-
vincial government is poised to
revive the multimedia industry.
“As we know, culture and the
and members will be able to
enjoy a new unscripted show ei-
ther monthly or bimonthly.
New rules, new setting,
new ‘Inferno’
To start off, we’re bringing
back hot dating reality show
Single’s Inferno for a third sea-
son, with changes in rules and
location to further spice up the
romantic roulettes.
When we received the propos-
al for Single’s Inferno at the end
of 2020, there weren’t many dat-
ing programs in Korea. We set out
to close the gap locally and ended
up winning fans globally. The
first season became the first Ko-
rean unscripted show to debut on
the Global Top 10 Non-English
TV list. Following suit this year,
Season 2 featured in the Global
Top 10 for four weeks, and pulled
in even higher viewing hours.
One of the unique character-
arts are powerful instruments
in fostering not only pride in
our heritage but also unity in
the community. The provincial
government has incorporated
these tools in our leadership
in the province by developing
premier cultural events and ini-
tiating more movement with-
in the artistic industry,” said
Manotoc as he pledged support
to the creative sector.
For his part, provincial tour-
ism officer Aianree Raquel, in a
press conference on Saturday,
expressed hope that more film-
makers will be inspired to join
the local competition and show
their ingenuity to the world.
The selected entries are
shown for free at the Robin-
istics of our unscripted shows
is that, unlike TV broadcasters
that air an episode each week,
the production of our entire sea-
son is complete before the drop.
This enables us to deliver high-
er quality and provide localized
subtitles, as well as dubbing in
some countries, so that viewers
in over 190 countries can enjoy
the show at the same time.
Fresh spin on the familiar
Dating and survival reality TV
shows are well-loved formats
around the world, and we have
put our own inimitable stamp
on them. For a new take on
young love, Nineteen to Twenty
is a never-before-seen style of
reality show that will evoke ro-
mantic memories of your youth.
The extremely grueling Phys-
ical: 100 is currently #2 in our
Global Top 10 Non-English TV
series, and is featured in the Top
sons Place Ilocos Movieworld
on Feb. 11-12 and on Feb. 18-19,
from 9 a.m. until noon.
Previously, at least three
documentary films that were
produced during the first-ever
Tan-ok ni Ilocano Online Film
Festival of the Ilocos Norte gov-
ernment made it to various film
festivals here and abroad.
These include the “Panag-
wawagi” (Brotherhood) by
Gabb Gantala that bagged the
top prize a the Rad Fest Short
Film Competition 2021, a proj-
ect by Blackbox Studios found-
ed by Carlo Alvarez.
It was also nominated for
“Film of the Month” at the
Viddsee Shortee Award by a
Singapore-based video enter-
www.canadianinquirer.net
10 in 62 countries worldwide. We
are just two weeks from finding
out the winner. Following that,
we’ll have Siren: Survive the Is-
land, where teams of Korea’s fit-
test women with different back-
grounds (occupation) fight to
survive on an uninhabited island.
Because of our commitment
to preserve the creator’s vision,
we have had the opportunity to
work with some of Korea’s top
(NETFLIX)
tainment platform that rec-
ognizes and celebrates the
most-watched, shared, and
talked about Asian short film on
Viddsee every month.
Similarly, Kevin Jay Ayson’s
“Ang Mga Nawalang Pag-asa at
Panlasa” (The Lost Sense of Hope
and Taste) was awarded 2nd Best
Film and chosen as one of the 13
short feature finalists in the Cin-
emalaya Philippine Independent
Film Festival in 2021.
Meanwhile, Melver Ritz Go-
mez’s “Iyallatiw” (To Transfer)
was selected as an official entry
to the International Film Fes-
tival Manhattan (IFFM) and
screened at the Diwa Filipino
Film Showcase of Seattle in
Washington, USA. “Iyallatiw”
17
unscripted showrunners and
creatives. Jeong Jong-yeon,
who pioneered Korea’s survival
shows based on mind games, is
the mastermind behind our up-
coming series The Devil’s Plan.
And since Korea is famous
for our zombies, we decided to
take the genre to the next level
with Zombieverse, where con-
❱❱ PAGE 25 From Finding Love
was also chosen as part of the
Viddsee Juree Awards in 2021.
“Panagwawagi” portrays a
brotherhood that could with-
stand disparate and ageless cir-
cumstances and trying times.
“Ang Mga Nawalang Pag-asa
at Panlasa” narrates the battles
and struggles of Ilocano food en-
trepreneurs amid the pandemic,
while “Iyallatiw” portrays an al-
most dying oral tradition in the
town of Paoay, Ilocos Norte, and
how a “manglualo” (prayer lead-
er) will transfer the practice to
the younger generation.
In support of the local film-
makers, the Ilocos Norte gov-
ernment provided a seed grant
of PHP50,000 for each of the
entries. ■
18
Magic Mike’s Last Dance review:
a film about female desire that never
fully grasps ‘what women want’
BY KATY PILCHER, Aston
University
The Conversation
Warning: the following article
contains spoilers.
Magic Mike is back for one
last dance in the male strip-
per franchise’s third and fi-
nal instalment. After Mike’s
(Channing Tatum) furniture
business falls into hard times
post-COVID, he finds himself
working as a bartender.
At a charity fundraiser, he
meets Max (Salma Hayek
Pinault) – a wealthy socialite
who offers to pay him to accom-
pany her to London to put on a
stage show of male dancers at
her theatre.
Max says boldly: “I want ev-
ery woman who walks into this
theatre to feel that a woman
can have whatever she wants,
whenever she wants.”
The first two Magic Mike
films have already suggested
that this wish can be fulfilled
by male strip shows. In the first
film, Dallas (Matthew McCo-
naughey) tells The Kid (Alex
Pettyfer) that he is “fulfilling ev-
ery woman’s fantasy”. In Mag-
ic Mike XXL, Andre (Donald
Glover) and Ken (Matt Bomer)
were depicted as “healers” who
listened to women, unlike the
other men in their lives.
The notion that male danc-
Angelina Jolie appeals for donations
for quake-hit Türkiye, Syria
ANADOLU
Philippine News Agency
ISTANBUL – Angelina Jo-
lie appealed Saturday for do-
nations to Türkiye and Syria
following the devastating twin
earthquakes that killed thou-
sands earlier this week.
“My heart goes out to the
people of Syria and Turkey. It’s
hard to grasp the unimaginable
Entertainment
ers know exactly what women
want was also present in my
own research with male dancers
and women customers in strip
shows in the UK. Male dancers
frequently held one-dimensional
views about what women want-
ed, which reverted to sexist ideas
about women’s desire as “natu-
rally” sexually passive and some-
thing that needs to be elicited.
They often performed the
same routines each week, with
the same costuming and cho-
reography, which gave the im-
pression that there was a sin-
gular way to sexually entertain
women. As one dancer told me:
That’s what women want,
they wanna see a little bit of
nakedness but they’re also shy
and a little bit reserved and …
Magic Mike (@CHANNINGTATUM/INSTAGRAM)
pain so many families are suf-
fering at this time,” she wrote
on Instagram.
The Hollywood star said she
donated and hopes “others
consider giving too,” to allow
rescue teams to “continue their
lifesaving work.”
She shared images from
earthquake zones of both coun-
tries and a donation link.
The 7.7- and 7.6-magnitude
earthquakes, centered in Turk-
they don’t want it too full on.
Magic Mike’s Last Dance
seems to subscribe to this idea.
There is certainly less nudity
than in the previous films and
at times, it suggests that men
know what is best for women
better than they do themselves.
Mike even tells Max that it is
“chauvinistic” if she doesn’t
include a female lead in a show
about women’s empowerment.
Permission and empower-
ment?
While some of the women
customers that I interviewed
spoke of times where they were
forcibly grabbed and flung over
the shoulders of male strippers,
or where they had a dancer’s
genitalia “thrust” in their face,
Magic Mike’s Last Dance overt-
ish Kahramanmaras, affected
more than 13 million people
across 10 provinces, also in-
cluding Adana, Adiyaman, Di-
yarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay,
Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and
Sanliurfa.
Several countries in the re-
gion, including Syria and Leb-
anon, felt the strong tremors
that struck Türkiye in the space
of less than 10 hours. They also
posted thousands of deaths. ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
ly centres consent.
In this way, the film departs
from previous conventions in
both striptease films and real
male strip shows.
We see Mike teaching new
dancers how to obtain “permis-
sion” for a dance, through tak-
ing a woman’s hand and look-
ing deeply into her eyes. When
giving Max a striptease, Mike
asks her to give him a signal if
he takes her out of her comfort
zone – to which she replies: “I’ll
fucking slap you.”
The language of Last Dance
is of women’s empowerment.
Max speaks of the “ecsta-
sy” that women can feel, how
they can “transcend” into the
“promised land” of their de-
sires. When her show runs into
licensing issues which throw its
future into jeopardy, Max re-
flects: “The law is useless when
you’re dealing with entrenched
male power structures.”
She also critiques the way
Mike keeps women sat in a chair
during his dances and encour-
ages him to allow their interac-
tion to take up more space on
the stage. It’s clear that womens’
agency is becoming more cen-
tral to his show in the final per-
formance, when a microphone
descends from the ceiling for
a female MC. The metaphor is
clear – she is being given a voice
to articulate what she wants.
Last Dance also dabbles in
Angelina Jolie (GAGE SKIDMORE/FLICKR, CC BY-SA 2.0)
FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY
the taboo subject of older wom-
en’s sexual desires. This cen-
tring of diverse women’s bodies
contrasted with my research on
real male strip shows, where I
often witnessed women being
ridiculed by club hosts for their
appearance, including class-
based insults. One host com-
mented on a customer’s cloth-
ing: “It looks like you’ve got that
down Primark, love.”
The absence of women
customer’s voices
Given the progressive de-
pictions of consent and power
dynamics, it’s surprising that
none of the women customers
in Last Dance are consulted
about what they want.
In one scene, the MC show-
cases the “types” of men that
women can “have”, cutting to
shots of women enjoying the
show, but that is the end of the
audience engagement. We are
told this is a “zombie apocalypse
of repressed desire”, yet we
don’t hear from the “zombies”
themselves – those women who
allegedly need “waking up” from
a sexually repressed state.
My research highlighted that
interactions between women
are also a key element of watch-
ing a male strip show. Women
spoke of “bonding” but some-
times experienced “compet-
itive femininity”, where they
❱❱ PAGE 25 Magic Mike’s Last
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2023 19

Restaurant Review:
Carlino — Living La Dolce Vita
BY MATTE LAUREL-ZALKO tiful sisterhood tribe and their of green foliage dangling from Chef Omar is known for his jargon which means: “a combina-
hubbies), decided to pay a visit the conservatory ceiling. clean, genuine, and simple el- tion of onions, carrots, and celery
to this new restaurant on the Capo Cuoco (Chef de Cui- egance of Italian cooking. He that is fried gently in olive oil”).
At the impressionable age of block. Let us share with you all sine). Carlino’s Chef de Cuisine doesn’t smother his Italian These three cooking founda-
16, I went on a school field trip the delicious details, Iniziamo! Omar Hadi is definitely one of dishes with heavy sauces, tons tions make up the holy trinity in
to Tuscany with my schoolmates (Let’s begin!) Vancouver’s finest and top chefs of cheese, and/or lots of herbs simple Italian cooking — Chef
from Marymount Internation- Ambiente (Ambiance). As specializing in Italian cuisine. He and spices; instead, his Italian Omar certainly is a Grand Mas-
al School — a Catholic school soon as you enter the reception has an impressive wealth of expe- dishes are mostly light, made ter when it comes to combining
for girls from Kingston upon area, you will immediately feel as rience in the culinary world, hav- from scratch with only the fin- these three aromatic ingredi-
Thames in London, England. though you’re stepping into the ing started as a Commis Chef at est and freshest ingredients, ents. He uses these ingredients
One time, our group stopped by world of Federico Fellini’s famous the Grand Hyatt in Amman, Jor- which makes it both nutritious that are usually cooked in ei-
a local trattoria and pizzicheria. movie, “La Dolce Vita.” It is a lux- dan in 2001. He rose through the and healthy. While Chef Omar ther olive oil or butter to release
It was run and operated by an el- urious environment enveloped in ranks as Chef de Partie and even- may not be of Italian descent, their flavours when he creates
derly Italian couple who greeted romance, drama, intrigue, dark tually as a Sous Chef at the various his food definitely tastes, smells, sauces, stews, soups, and brais-
us with these words: “Buon cibo. and seductive ambiance promis- restaurant locations of the Four and feels more Italian than any es. Allow me to describe to
Buon vino. Buon amici,” which ing you a delicious, decadent, and Seasons Hotels and Resorts in Italian chef in Vancouver, or you his various creations from
literally translates to: “Good beautiful experience. England, Texas, and British Co- even Italy for that matter! aperitivi, to antipasti, to pasta
food. Good wine. Good friends.” The bar area has a sophisticat- lumbia from 2003 to 2014. Mov- Perhaps, it’s because Chef and dumpling, to secondi e con-
Ahh, everything that is needed ed aura and serves as the central ing onwards from 2014 to 2016, Omar nailed down the three torni, and to the dolce finale!
in life by a 16-year-old girl or a hub of the whole place; it is full Chef Omar worked as Restaurant important foundations of Ital- Aperitivi e Antipasti (Ap-
full-grown woman (ok, you can of action and buzz and is fully Chef at Market by Jean Georges ian cooking or the simple cor- petizers). For the first course,
add shoes, pearls, and boys/men stacked with sinful pleasures (which incidentally used to be the nerstones of Italian cuisine: we were served with Pane della
to the list, but not necessarily in and reeking of positive energy. original restaurant at the location Odori (translated as scents and Casa (similar to freshly baked
that order, mind you). Ever since The dining section opposite the where Carlino is now). a culinary jargon which means: sourdough bread) and marinat-
that visit, I’ve been living my life- bar gives off exciting and myste- Chef Omar became the Exec- “you season your dish with won- ed olives with a side of virgin ol-
style according to these Italian rious vibes; it’s definitely where utive Chef for Glowbal Restau- derfully scented vegetable and ive oil for dipping your bread in.
words of wisdom! I’d choose to be seated if I were rant Group in Vancouver from herbs such as celery, carrots, and But what tickled our taste buds
Italian food culture with its to meet someone for a hot date! 2017 to 2021, supervising and onions”); battuto (translated as was the utterly delicious Frico,
Mediterranean saporito (fla- The main dining area with its heading the kitchens of Glow- beaten down and a culinary jar- a traditional Italian dish origi-
vours) and amaro (delicious) black and white chequered floor bal and Black and Blue fine gon which means: “combining nating from Carnia, a region of
pastas, pizzas, carni, and anti- complements the dining furni- dining restaurants. Prior to be- mixed vegetables such as on- Friuli Venezia-Giulia. It consists
pasti is a way of lifestyle. Where- ture with the yellow dining sofa coming Carlino’s Chef de Cui- ions, celery, and carrots which of potatoes, Montasio cheese,
as French cuisine is known for its and rattan wicker chairs. The sine, he also spent a short stint are minced, chopped and beat- onions, olive oil, and salt, baked
Michelin star-worthy culinary lighting is subdued and enticing as Executive Chef for Pinnacle en with a knife or mezzaluna, or fried until golden and crisp.
delights, the Italian cibo (food) both during the daytime and International and Tutto Italian a rocking knife”), and soffritto
is centred on family, traditions, nighttime. There’s a nice touch restaurant in Yaletown. (translated as fried and a culinary ❱❱ PAGE 22 Restaurant Review:
and comfort culinary delights.
Fortunately for us — Vancouver-
ites — we needn’t travel to Italy
to indulge in authentic and tra-
ditional Italian cuisine. Tripad-
visor’s Travellers Choice 2023
“Best of the Best” awards puts
Vancouver just one place behind
New York and alongside the
world’s best food destinations,
Rome and Paris!
One Italian restaurant that’s
gaining recognition and rave re-
views from local Vancouverites
and from the esteemed Michelin
Guide is none other than Carli-
no. According to the Michelin
Guide: “It’s only fitting that
this verdant sanctuary should
be tucked away on a terrace of
the Shangri-La Hotel, offering
a sense of placid elegance… The
menu displays a typically Ital-
ian devotion to simplicity, cele-
brating seasonal produce from
local farms.” Thus, my husband
and I, together with our closest Yours truly with Sous Chef Christian Manalo and Chef de Cuisine Omar Hadi.
and dearest friends (my beau- (MATTE LAUREL-ZALKO) Carlino’s dining area. (MATTE LAUREL-ZALKO)
20
Love languages are hugely popular – but
there’s very little evidence they exist at all
BY GERY KARANTZAS,
Deakin University
The Conversation
Love languages – the concept
coined by Baptist pastor Gary
Chapman some 30 years ago
– has taken the relationships
world by storm. It’s often the
“go-to” topic on first dates, and
for those in relationships love
languages are said to provide
deep, meaningful and reliable
insights into how relationships
function. Putting love languag-
es into action is believed to in-
crease relationship happiness.
The concept clearly has ap-
peal. At last count, 20 million
copies have been sold world-
wide of Chapman’s 1992 book
The Five Love Languages: The
Secret to Love that Lasts. The
book has been translated into
49 languages.
There is only one catch.
There is little evidence to sup-
port the idea that love languag-
es are “a thing”, or that love lan-
guages do much of anything to
help improve relationships.
What are the love languages?
According to Chapman, there
are five love languages. Each of
these love languages is a way to
communicate your love to your
romantic partner.
In his role as a Baptist pas-
tor, Chapman had been coun-
selling couples for years. It
was through his observations
of couples that the idea of love
languages was born.
He believed love languages
were an intuitive and simple
Lifestyle
way to teach couples about how
to tune into each other’s ways of
expressing love. And so, he be-
gan running seminars for hus-
bands and wives, and the popu-
larity of his seminars grew.
The five love languages are:
(1) acts of service (doing
something that helps a partner,
such as running an errand)
(2) physical touch (demon-
strating physical affection, such as
giving your partner a hug or kiss)
(3) quality time (spending
time together and giving each
other undivided attention)
(4) gifts (giving your partner
a present that communicates
thoughtfulness, effort, and/or
expense)
(5) words of affirmation
(such as expressing your admi-
ration, or complimenting your
partner).
Chapman suggests that peo-
ple typically use all love lan-
guages, but that most people
tend to rely on one love lan-
guage most of the time. This is
referred to as a person’s prima-
ry love language.
According to Chapman, peo-
ple are more satisfied in their
relationships when both part-
ners match when it comes to
their primary love language.
However, people experience
less satisfaction in their rela-
tionships when both partners
do not share the same primary
love language.
Another important aspect of
the love languages concept is
that relationships are likely to
deliver the greatest satisfaction
when a person can understand
FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY
their partner’s love language, study in which researchers that used Chapman’s Love Lan-
and act in ways that “speaks to” coded the written responses guage Quiz, have found that cou-
their partner’s language. In es- of undergraduate students to ples with matching love languag-
sence, this idea is about tuning questions about how they ex- es were no more satisfied than
in to what a partner wants. press love, suggested there may couples who were mismatched.
This is an idea that has exist- be six love languages. However, However, a more recent
ed across many models and the- the researchers reported diffi- study found that partners with
ories about how relationships culty agreeing on how some of matching love languages ex-
function well. That is, respond- the students’ responses neatly perienced greater relationship
ing to a partner in a way that fitted into Chapman’s love lan- and sexual satisfaction than
meets their needs and wants guages, particularly in the cate- partners with mismatched love
makes a person feel under- gories of “words of affirmation” languages. This research also
stood, validated, and cared for. and “quality time”. found that men who reported
What does the evidence Next, let’s turn to research greater empathy and perspec-
tell us? testing a core premise of the tive-taking had a love language
Despite the popularity of the love language theory: that cou- that better matched the lan-
theory of love languages, only ples with matching love lan- guage of their partner.
a handful of studies have been guages experience greater sat- Finally, what does the re-
conducted and reported over isfaction than those who do not. search say about whether having
the past 30 years. Research is Evidence for this premise is a better understanding of your
largely inconclusive, although very mixed.
the balance sways more towards Three studies, including one ❱❱ PAGE 28 Love languages are
refuting rather than endorsing
the love languages concept.
Let’s start with how love lan-
guages are assessed. In popu-
lar culture, the Love Language
QuizTM is an online question-
naire that people can complete
to find out about their love lan-
guages. Despite millions of in-
dividuals having taken the quiz
(according to 5lovelanguages.
com), there are no published
findings as to the reliability and
validity of the measure.
Researchers have developed
their own version of the love
languages survey, but the find-
ings did not meet the statistical
thresholds to suggest the survey
adequately captured the five love
languages. Also, their findings did
not support the idea that there
are five love languages.
Furthermore, a qualitative
www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2023
Psychopaths: why they’ve thrived through
evolutionary history – and how that may change
BY JONATHAN R
GOODMAN, University of
Cambridge
The Conversation
When you start to notice
them, psychopaths seem to be
everywhere. This is especially
true of people in powerful plac-
es. By one estimate, as many as
20% of business leaders have
“clinically relevant levels” of
psychopathic tendencies – de-
spite the fact as little as 1% of the
general population are consid-
ered psychopaths. Psychopaths
are characterised by shallow
emotions, a lack of empathy, im-
morality, anti-social behaviour
and, importantly, deceptiveness.
From an evolutionary point
of view, psychopathy is puz-
zling. Given that psychopathic
traits are so negative, why do
they remain in successive gen-
erations? Psychopathy seems
to be, in the words of biologists,
“maladaptive”, or disadvanta-
geous. Assuming there’s a ge-
netic component to this family
of disorders, we’d expect it to
decrease over time.
But that’s not what we see —
and there’s evidence that the ten-
dencies are, at least in some con-
texts, an evolutionary benefit.
According to my own research,
the reason for this may be down
to the ability to fake desirable
qualities through deception.
The power of cheating
Trust and trustworthiness
are important elements in the
story of human social evolu-
tion. The most successful peo-
ple, evolutionarily speaking,
are the ones regarded as trust-
worthy or reliable.
Trust further encourages co-
operation, which has helped us
to develop tools, build cities and
spread across the world — even
to the most inhospitable envi-
ronments. No single other spe-
Secondary crises..
❰❰ 16 of the response. The
Syrian Red Crescent,
Syrian Civil Defence
(White Helmets) and other lo-
cal organisations have played a
vital role during the past decade
of conflict and will no doubt do
so again in coming weeks and
cies has achieved this, making
human cooperation a wonder
of the natural world.
Yet once our cultural groups
became too large to know ev-
eryone individually, we need-
ed to find ways to ensure the
people we met were likely to be
cooperative. It’s easier to trust
a parent or sibling when hunt-
ing in the wild than to trust a
stranger — the stranger might
attack you or refuse to share
any meat with you.
To cooperate with a stranger
takes trust – they have to con-
vince you they’ll do no harm.
But they could, of course, cheat
by pretending to be trustworthy
and thereafter killing you or
stealing your meat.
Cheaters who pull this off
will be at an advantage: they’ll
have more food and probably
be thought of as good hunters
by other, unsuspecting people.
So cheating posed a problem for
non-cheaters.
Therefore it is thought that
cultural groups developed pow-
erful tools, such as punishment,
to dissuade cheating in coopera-
tive partnerships. Evolutionary
psychologists also argue that peo-
ple evolved what’s called a cheat-
er detection ability to tell when
someone is likely to be a cheater.
This put cheaters at a disadvan-
tage, especially in groups where
punishment was strict.
This approach relied on the
ability to trust others when it is
safe to do so. Some people argue
that trust is just a kind of cogni-
tive shortcut: rather than mak-
ing slow and deliberative deci-
sions about whether someone
is trustworthy, we look for a few
signals, probably subconscious-
ly, and decide.
We do this every day. When
we walk by a restaurant and
decide whether to stop in for
lunch, we choose whether to
trust that the people running it
months.
The recent earthquakes of-
fer an opportunity to break
through political barriers that
have stifled rebuilding in Syria.
However, the underlying vul-
nerability that compounded
this disaster will not be resolved
are selling what they advertise,
whether their business is hy-
gienic and whether the cost of
a meal is fair. Trust is a part of
daily life, at every level.
Yet this presents us with a
problem. As I suggest in my re-
search, the more complex soci-
ety is, the easier it is for people
to fake a proclivity for coopera-
tion — whether that’s charging
too much at a store or running
a multi-national social media
company ethically. And cheating
while avoiding punishment is,
evolutionarily speaking, still the
best strategy a person can have.
So, within this framework,
what could be better than being a
psychopath? It’s effective, to mis-
use a popular modern phrase, to
“fake it till you make it”. You gar-
ner trust from others only inso-
far as that trust is useful to you
and then betray trust when you
no longer need those people.
Viewed in this way, it’s sur-
prising there aren’t more
psychopaths. They occupy a
disproportionate number of
powerful positions. They don’t
quickly. It is deeply embedded
in social and political systems
in both Syria and Turkey.
What can you do to help?
It can be tempting to donate
goods, but consider giving cash
to support humanitarian ef-
forts, instead of sending physical
www.canadianinquirer.net
Lifestyle
tend to feel the burden of re-
morse when they misuse oth-
ers. They even appear to have
more relationships — suggest-
ing that they face no barriers
to successful reproduction, the
defining criterion of evolution-
ary success.
Why not more psychopaths?
There are a few convincing
theories about why these dis-
orders aren’t more common.
Clearly, if everyone were a psy-
chopath, we’d be betrayed con-
stantly and probably completely
lose our ability to trust others.
What’s more, psychopathy is
almost undoubtedly only partly
genetic and has a lot to do with
what’s called “human pheno-
typic plasticity” — the innate
ability for our genes to express
differently under different cir-
cumstances.
Some people think, for exam-
ple, that the callous and unemo-
tional traits associated with
psychopathy are consequences
of a difficult upbringing. Insofar
as very young children do not
receive care or love, they are
items. Cash allows humanitari-
an organisations to adapt to rap-
idly changing needs, while also
giving households flexibility to
decide on their own priorities.
The Syria Cross-Border Hu-
manitarian Fund is enabling
humanitarian partners, partic-
21
likely to turn off emotionally —
a kind of evolutionary fail-safe
to prevent catastrophic trauma.
That said, people from dif-
ferent countries don’t associate
the same traits with psychopa-
thy. For example, a cross-cul-
tural study showed that Iranian
participants did not, in contrast
to Americans, rate deceitful-
ness and superficiality as indic-
ative of psychopathy. But the
general idea is that while some
people have a genetic predispo-
sition to such traits, the tenden-
cies develop mainly in tragic
family circumstances.
People with a morbid fascina-
tion with psychopathy should
be aware that the object of their
interest often is a sad product
of the failures of society to sup-
port people.
The cultural context of psy-
chopathy may be a point of
hope, however. Psychopathy, at
least in part, is a set of charac-
teristics that allows people to
thrive — again, evolutionarily
speaking — even when faced
with terrible hardship. But we
can, as a society, try to redefine
what desirable qualities are.
Rather than focusing on be-
ing good or trustworthy only
because of how it can help you
get ahead, promoting these
qualities for their own sake
may help people with antisocial
tendencies to treat others well
without ulterior motives.
That’s probably a lesson we
can all learn — but in a world
where pathological fakers are
the ones who tend to be cele-
brated and successful, redefin-
ing success in terms of ethics
may be a way forward.
The amazing thing about
evolution is that we can ulti-
mately help shape it. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
ularly Syrian organisations on
the ground, to access some of
the hardest-to-reach areas af-
fected by this disaster. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
 22
Why does the Earth spin?
BY SILAS LAYCOCK, UMass
Lowell
The Conversation
Why does the Earth spin? Sara
H., age 5, New Paltz, New York
A globe was the first thing I
ever bought with my own mon-
ey. I was maybe 5 years old, and
I was really excited to take it
home. As I quickly discovered,
you can spin it in the direction
that the earth actually spins.
There’s an imaginary line
between the North Pole and
the South Pole. We call it the
rotation axis. For the Earth,
the rotation axis points toward
a bright star, Polaris, which is
visible on clear nights in the
Northern Hemisphere.
If you want to know which
Restaurant Review:..
❰❰ 19 Personally, I could eat
this all night and by the
way, it pairs perfect-
ly well with La Tordera Saomi
Prosecco. The appetizers were
served family style.
Next, we were treated to
Leaves & Herbs Salad, which
was a refreshing mix of local
greens, with lemon extra virgin
olive oil dressing. It was per-
fect after indulging in Frico, the
fried potatoes. We also shared
Prosciutto Duo with alpine
butter, gherkin, and spiced rye
crisp. The prosciutto was flavor-
ful, delicately sweet and salty —
a perfect balance of taste!
We were impressed with the
roasted scallops swimming in
parsley, garlic, butter & lemon
sauce. The sauce was the kind
of sauce that you wanted to dip
your bread in non-stop! We
paired these delectable antipasti
with Carlino’s signature cocktail
drink, the aptly called “La Dolce
Vita” — an enjoyable concoction
of gin, lemon juice, hibiscus-in-
fused limoncello, and prosecco.
Pasta and Dumpling course.
After the appetizers, we feast-
ed on three different kinds of
freshly made pasta. Chef Omar’s
Rigatoni with his house ragu pas-
ta sauce was so divine and is the
classic example of an excellent
soffritto — it has tender meat and
minced elements such as minced
carrot, celery, and pancetta.
Then, there’s the Bigoli Nero
(squid ink) pasta with clams in
white wine and butter sauce
Lifestyle
way to spin your globe, make
the goofy “thumbs-up” sign
with your right hand. Imagine
your thumb is the Earth’s rota-
tion axis, pointing to the North
Pole. Your fingers will natural-
ly curl around your hand, and
the direction those fingers are
pointing is the way Earth spins.
Every 24 hours, the Earth
makes a full rotation, spinning
west to east, which is why the
sun rises in the east and sets in
the west and the stars at night
appear to move across the sky.
To understand why this hap-
pens, let’s see what we can learn
from other bodies in space.
Everything spins
The Sun also spins. In fact, it
spins in the same direction the
Earth does.
Not only that, the Earth or-
which has a firm and slightly
chewy texture that has a bounce
to it when chewed. That’s the
texture of a great pasta! The
Bigoli is cooked perfectly Al
dente and the subtle combina-
tion of butter and white wine
sauce just makes you want to
have a second serving or even
a third! The sauce wasn’t over-
powering at all; it was light and
went well with the fresh clams.
The Cjarsons pasta with wild
greens, potato, and smoked ri-
cotta has unique and complex
flavours. Cjarsons are an an-
cient traditional filled pasta
from Friuli, particularly the Al-
pine region of Carnia. The pasta
itself is similar to ravioli and gn-
occhi but made from fresh pota-
toes. The sauce was delightfully
creamy and cheesy. Yum!
Secondi e Contorni (Main
Course). The main event was all
worth waiting for! We absolutely
loved the Whole Roast Holstein
Dairy Cow Striploin with grana
padano and balsamic gravy. The
Holstein beef features a rich mar-
bling that makes the meat fla-
vourful and tender. It tastes bet-
ter when served medium-rare, a
cooking method that allows it to
preserve its natural beef flavours.
The uniqueness of Holstein beef
is due to its high dairy content.
Chef Omar and his crew did not
disappoint with this dish — the
true flavour of the Striploin stood
out with its light gravy sauce.
The other main course was
the Branzino, a salt-baked whole
bits the Sun in the same direc-
tion, as do all the other planets
and more than a million aster-
oids and dwarf planets.
Most are spinning in the same
direction, too. Jupiter and Saturn
spin quite a bit faster than Earth,
taking only about 10 hours to
rotate. Saturn’s spin is a little bit
tilted, so we get to see changing
views of its rings over time.
There are two funky excep-
tions: Uranus appears to have
been tipped over on its side.
Nobody knows exactly how.
Maybe it collided with anoth-
er planet. Venus is also odd – it
spins backward. We don’t know
for sure whether it formed that
way or got knocked over. Most
scientists now think its spin has
been reversed over time by tid-
al forces involving the Sun and
Mediterranean sea bass which
was also cooked to perfection.
The light, flaky white flesh of
branzino has a delicate, slightly
sweet taste that lends itself well
to a variety of flavours. It was
cooked with the most simple and
basic ingredients: salt and lemon.
Our main courses came with
tasty side dishes such as the Ri-
sotto cooked with seasonal veg-
etables and herbs and Broccoli-
ni cooked in garlic and lemon.
Our main courses were paired
with either white or red wine.
The Domodimonti, Deja Vu,
Offida Passerina DOCG white
wine is silky and rich with good
persistence marked by the
well-ripened white fruit. The Il
Botolo Barbera D’Asti DOCG,
Piedmont red wine is of ruby red
colour with concentrated aro-
mas of dried herbs, tart red fruit,
and a hint of licorice. The palate
shows sour blackberry fruit, gar-
rigue and brandied cherries.
Dolci (Desserts). It really
is true that we always save the
best for last! For the finale, we
indulged in the heavenly classic
Tiramisu — a no-bake dessert
consisting of ladyfingers soaked
with rum and coffee, then lay-
ered with a whipped mixture
of eggs, sugar and the creamy,
sweet mascarpone cheese
sprinkled with lashings of co-
coa. It was so light and fluffy!
We also had the Lavender
Panna Cotta with berries, al-
mond crumbs, and meringue.
Its smooth texture, refined
www.canadianinquirer.net
Venus’ thick atmosphere.
All that leads astronomers
sweetness, and elegant way it is
plated make it a perfect treat at
the end of any meal.
Service par excellence.
Carlino won’t be Carlino with-
out its efficient, profession-
al, and accommodating team
— the heart of the restaurant!
From the moment I booked the
private dining room with one of
its assistant managers, Gabriela
Corvalan, to liaising with the
daytime manager, Veronika,
when we had to deal with some
changes regarding the plan-
ning of the dinner event; and
of course, being taken care of
by the night manager, Roberto
Ayala, on the night of the event
itself, and our waiter for the
evening, Jean-Philippe Sau-
vageau — the service is truly as-
tounding from the reservation
to the dinner! They all provided
excellent customer service that
is flawless, well-timed, easy,
personalized, and empathetic.
Gabriela was so competent,
knowledgeable, and patient with
me while helping me arrange
the dinner. Veronika was always
pleasant and amenable. Roberto
was proactive and skillful, and
he anticipated our every need.
Jean-Philippe was welcoming,
and easily one of the best wait-
ers in Vancouver! Jean-Philippe
communicated effectively with
the rest of his team regarding
our requests for the night. Mi-
chael Legge, the Sommelier and
Wine Director, was so insight-
ful and helpful when it came to
FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY
❱❱ PAGE 24 Why does the
suggesting wines and aperitifs
that would go well with our food.
Vancouver is such a small fish-
bowl because it turns out — Mi-
chael is the best friend of the son
of one of my sisterhood tribe!
Lastly, we were extremely
happy to discover that the Sous
Chef was a fellow Filipino Van-
couverite! Sous Chef Christian
Manalo, together with Chef de
Cuisine Omar Hadi, delivered
and executed such delicious,
authentic Friulian cuisine with
such aplomb. With Chef Chris-
tian’s talent and positive attitude,
without any doubt, he will surely
go places in the culinary world!
Carlino is definitely not your
average typical Italian fine din-
ing in Vancouver. Not at all. Far
from it. Carlino specialises and
takes great pride in showcasing
the best and finest Fruilian reci-
pes, which in itself is rich in Ital-
ian and European cuisine histo-
ry. Indeed, no wonder Carlino is
taking the culinary scene in Van-
couver by storm. Its unrivalled
and fresh food quality, combined
with exceptional service by its
team, makes it the new best Ital-
ian fine dining in Vancouver!
With Carlino, we will definitely
be living La Dolce Vita! ■
Matte Laurel-Zalko is a former
restaurateur and hotelier, a moth-
er, a wife, a health and wellness
aficionado, food and wine enthu-
siast, a dog-lover, and lifestyle col-
umnist exclusively for Philippine
Canadian Inquirer (PCI).
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2023
The Super Bowl — what we love
but mostly hate about it
BY DANIEL SAILOFSKY,
Middlesex University
The Conversation
This past weekend, millions
of North American (and world-
wide) eyeballs were glued to
their TVs, beer and chicken
wings in hand, to celebrate per-
haps the last truly bipartisan
“national holiday” that Ameri-
ca has left: the Super Bowl.
While the Super Bowl is osten-
sibly a football game for the NFL
championship, it is really a com-
bination of sporting event, con-
cert and advertising convention.
This year, Rihanna per-
formed at halftime in a
much-anticipated return to the
stage. And 30-second advertis-
ing spots sold for as much as $7
million apiece.
One investment manage-
ment group estimated the event
will bring $700 million to the
city of Phoenix, and an estimat-
ed $16 billion will be wagered
on the game.
And, oh yeah, the Kansas City
Chiefs beat the Philadelphia
Eagles 38-35 in what turned out
to be an entertaining game.
Professional sport is pri-
marily a business
While the league may like to
promote itself as simply men
playing sport for the love of the
game, their teammates, and the
city they have been drafted or
signed to play for, elite and pro-
fessional sport is first and fore-
most a business.
More specifically, it is a com-
modity spectacle where athletes
put their bodies and brains on
the line for our entertainment.
Expanding immigration..
❰❰ 9 ed to immigrants in-
cluding settlement
services, employment,
housing, education and health.
This will require different fed-
eral, provincial and territorial
departments to work in tandem
Sports
They are both workers and
product. Dollars and cents come
to the league through ticket
sales, TV licensing deals, mer-
chandise, advertisement and
anything else the league and its
organizations can possibly sell.
While we may know elite
sport is business, rarely do we
ask what the business and prof-
it-making mean for everyone
involved in the NFL business
ecosystem, from the work-
ers (players) to the capitalists
(managers and owners) to the
consumers (fans).
This is by design. The NFL,
like most businesses, does not
want its consumers to see how
their sausage is made, especial-
ly when it involves the amount
of violence, exploitation and
harm that exists in football.
Threat of brain injury
The most obvious of these
harms is the long-term injury
— specifically brain injury — to
players. There is continued ev-
idence of football’s relationship
with traumatic brain injury, de-
mentia, memory loss, depres-
sion and premature death.
A 2017 study published by
the Journal of the American
Medical Association, said 177
of 202 former football players
studied of all levels had Chron-
ic traumatic encephalopathy
(CTE), including 110 of the 111
NFL players studied.
In the latest research out of
Boston University, 345 of the
376 former NFL players studied
had (CTE).
Because CTE can only be diag-
nosed post-mortem, these stud-
ies contain samples of brains
that were donated by concerned
with each other, not in silos.
Last, any immigration plan
must also come with a strategy
that socially protects the rising
number of immigrants rather
than just economically compen-
sates them. Addressing racism
families, and therefore are more
likely to have CTE. Still, they
show rates of 92 per cent for the
NFL players studied.
In contrast, a 2018 Boston
University study looked at 164
donated brains of men and wom-
en: only one had CTE, and he was
a former college football player.
It is harrowing to imagine
how many players — not just in
the NFL, but in college and at
the high school level — are de-
veloping CTE, and suffering ir-
reparable and lifetime damage
to their brains and lives.
Football is not the only sport
where athletes are at risk of life-
long injury (rugby, ice hockey
and combat sports are other big
culprits), but many football play-
ers aren’t even able to earn any
money for their bodily sacrifice.
Labour exploitation
While the NFL and the college
football industry sell the dream
of scholarships and superstar-
dom, only 6.5 per cent of high
school students will even play
college football. And they do not
get paid for their labour. And
a miniscule 0.00075 per cent
(800-900 out of 1.1 million) will
play the game professionally.
If players do beat these lot-
tery-level odds and make it to
the NFL, football player careers
average about three to four
years. Many contracts are not
guaranteed, with teams able to
cut players and not pay them
the full amount of their salaries.
Add to this the exploitation
of a predominantly Black work-
force of unpaid players who sac-
rifice their bodies and brains to
fill the coffers of largely white
coaches and team owners.
and race relations must be im-
portant elements when design-
ing immigration policy in a coun-
try that calls itself multicultural.
Immigration cannot just be
about achieving targets and
numbers. It is not an assembly
www.canadianinquirer.net
State Farm Stadium during Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Arizona.
(GAGE SKIDMORE/FLICKR, CC BY-SA 3.0)
As scholars Nathan Kal-
man-Lamb, Derek Silva and Jo-
hanna Mellis put it in the Guard-
ian, “big-time college sport is
often about rich white people
using Black people for profit.”
The treatment of athletes as
mere commodities or invest-
ments, to be drafted and trad-
ed, used for value and profit ex-
traction and then thrown away,
permeates every layer of the NFL.
Super Bowl traditions
have a strong hold
There are other issues too:
this is not an exhaustive list of
the harms associated with foot-
ball and the NFL. These are just
some of the behind-the-scenes
facts and relationships that the
NFL does not want fans think-
ing about, least of all during the
Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl — as the cul-
mination of the NFL’s season
long coverage — is meant to
make sure we continue to ig-
nore these issues by providing
us with a spectacle to take our
line opportunity. Ultimately,
we are dealing with individu-
als and families who also have
hopes and expectations of Can-
ada. Undermining these expec-
tations through racial discrim-
ination is the last thing anyone
23
minds off the hard questions.
Karl Marx originally coined
religion as the “opiate of the
masses,” and sport scholars
have long adapted this passage
to sport, and specifically to me-
ga-events like the Super Bowl
or the Olympic Games.
Beyond distracting fans from
their own personal problems
and the unequal world they
inhabit, the goal of football’s
spectacle (from the league’s
perspective) is also to distract
fans from the very harms that
the sport itself produces.
Super Bowl traditions have a
strong hold, and the game is of-
ten something that brings fam-
ily and friends together. But at
the very least, keep in mind the
violence and harm that it takes
to get to this game, and remem-
ber that there are human beings
under those helmets. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
seeking to start a new life in a
new country needs. ■
This article first appeared
on Policy Options and is repub-
lished here under a Creative
Commons license.
24
Top seeds rule Cañiza Women’s Open tennis
BY JEAN MALANUM
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Top seed Alexa
Joy Milliam lived up to her bill-
ing and claimed victory in the
Rina Cañiza Women’s Open
Tennis Championships at the
Philippine Columbian Associ-
ation (PCA) outdoor courts in
Paco, Manila on Saturday.
The 17-year-old netter from
La Carlota City, Negros Occi-
dental province banked on a
steady baseline game to con-
quer unseeded Tennielle Madis
of M’lang town, North Cotabato
province, 6-3, 6-3.
“I did not expect to win. My
mindset is that, win or lose, as
long as I gave my 100 percent, I
am okay with the result,” said the
Kobe Bryant’s iconic
jersey sold for record
$5.8-M at auction
ANADOLU
Philippine News Agency
ISTANBUL – One of Kobe
Bryant’s iconic jerseys was sold
at a Sotheby’s auction for $5.8
million on Thursday, becoming
the most expensive memorabil-
ia of the late basketball star.
The previous record for a
Bryant collectible was held by
a worn and autographed jersey
from his 1996-1997 season that
was sold in 2021 for $3.7 million.
The 5-time NBA champion
had worn his new record-set-
ting jersey in 25 games during
the 2007-2008 season.
One of the most memora-
ble shots of Bryant’s only MVP
season was marked on April 23,
2008 in a playoff game against
the Denver Nuggets.
After Bryant made a criti-
cal 3-point shot, the NBA star
pumping his chest and scream-
ing while wearing the jersey
has become an iconic image in
popular culture -- featured in
posters, magazines, paintings,
murals and even tattoos.
“From the United States, to
Canada, Italy, Sudan, the Unit-
Sports
5-foot-7 Milliam after winning
her first Open title and pocketing
the P50,000 champion’s purse.
“She (Madis) played well, but
today, I played better.” said Mil-
liam, who avenged her 3-6, 3-6
setback to her victim at an U-18
tournament in Iloilo last year.
An 11th grader at AMA Com-
puter College in Bacolod City,
Milliam won four U-18 titles last
year but lost in the 2022 PCA
Open semifinal to national play-
er Marian Capadocia, 2-6, 2-6.
In 2019, Milliam and team-
mates Jenaila Rose Prulla and
Alexandra Eala won the World
Junior Tennis Championships
Asia-Oceania Final Qualifying
tournament in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
While Milliam sailed smooth-
ly to the final, Madis had to
ed Arab Emirates, India, France,
Spain, China, the Philippines,
Malaysia and Australia, this jer-
sey is featured in countless mu-
rals depicting Kobe Bryant,” So-
theby’s said in a statement.
The US-based auction house
said over 15 murals are depicting
Bryant in that jersey across the
state of California alone -- home
to his NBA team, the Los Angeles
Lakers, where he spent the en-
tirety of his 20-year NBA career.
Sotheby’s previously esti-
mated that the 18-time NBA
All-Star’s jersey would sell for
around $5 million to $7 million.
hurdle second seed Alexei Xira
Santos (6-3, 6-3), Maria Hannah
Divinagracia (6-0, 6-2), 2015 and
2017 Palarong Pambansa gold
medalist Rachel Patricia Velez,
7-6 (2), 4-0 (ret.) and No. 14
Nichole De la Rita (6-2, 6-2).
“I am glad to be in the final of my
first Open. Even if I lost, I am still
happy because I learned a lot from
the experience,” said the 15-year-
old Madis, who is being trained by
national coach Tom Falcis.
Madis had a successful cam-
paign in Malaysia last Decem-
ber, bagging the singles and
doubles titles at the 37th RGB
Penang Open Age Group Tennis
Championships and the Perlis
leg of the Milo International
Junior Tennis Championships.
Meanwhile, top seeds Shaira
Hope Rivera and Allyssa Mae
Bryant’s jersey has become the
second most valuable jersey at an
auction after Michael Jordan’s
1998 ‘Last Dance’ jersey was sold
last September for $10.1 million,
which he wore in the first game
of the 1998 NBA Finals, where he
earned his sixth championship at
the end of the series.
After Bryant tragically
passed away in a helicopter
crash in early 2020 at the age
of 41, Jordan in tears said at his
memorial service: “Kobe left
nothing in the tank. He left it all
on the floor...When Kobe Bry-
ant died, a piece of me died.” ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
Bornia defeated Maria Divina-
gracia and Joanna Tao Yee Tan,
6-0, 6-4, to win the doubles title.
It was the second title for the pair
after the 2022 PCA Open. They will
share the P50,000 top prize.
TOP FINISHERS. Alexa Joy Milliam (third from left) rules the singles event of the Rina
Cañiza Women’s Open Tennis Championships at the Philippine Columbian Associa-
tion outdoor courts in Paco, Manila on Saturday (Feb. 11, 2023). (JEAN MALANUM/PNA)
Why does the..
22 like me to wonder: Is
❰❰
there something about
how the solar system
formed that kind of “baked in”
that direction of spin?
Birth of a star
For more clues, we can look
at a young star, one that is just
forming its system of planets.
A famous one is called Beta
Pictoris. It is surrounded by a
thin disk of dust, gas and little
bits called planetesimals; they
range in size from a grain of
sand to rocks maybe up to the
size of a mountain. Astrono-
mers are pretty sure the disk
formed from material left over
when the star was born.
Every star is born from a
cloud of gas and dust that moves
through space surrounded by
other similar clouds. The force
of gravity causes these clouds to
tug on one another as they pass,
which makes them slowly rotate.
Even when one of these clouds
collapses to form a star, it con-
tinues to rotate. The star forms,
spinning at the center of a flat
pancake of rotating gas and dust
called a protoplanetary disk. All
of it – the star, the gas, the dust –
is spinning in the same direction.
Astronomers think that our
solar system looked a lot like
Beta Pictoris in its early years.
We think that inside the disk,
the gas and dust can stick together
in a process called accretion. As a
baby planet starts to grow, it gets
heavier, and its gravity attracts
FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY
“We’re happy we were able to
pull through,” said the 23-year-
old Bornia, a member of five-
time University Athletic Associa-
tion of the Philippines champion
National University. ■
more and more little pieces.
When the baby planet gets
massive enough, the force of
gravity begins crushing it, mak-
ing it denser. Because of that,
like an ice skater drawing in her
arms to spin, the planet spins
faster. Rising pressure in the
core causes the core to melt.
Denser materials sink toward
the core, and lighter materials
float to the planet’s surface. We
end up with a planet with an
iron core surrounded by rock,
and maybe on the outer parts
stuff like water and ice.
That’s what we see in our so-
lar system.
What if Earth didn’t spin?
Earth’s spin is important for
life. It causes day and night. It’s
also important for ocean tides.
Without the daily ebb and flow
of water, it’s possible life would
never have emerged from the
sea onto land.
So, astronomers believe
Earth spins because the entire
solar system was already rotat-
ing when Earth formed – but
there are still a lot of questions
about how planets’ spins change
over time, and how spin affects
the evolution of life. With more
than 5,000 planets now known
beyond the solar system, future
scientists are going to be busy
exploring. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2023
The decision to ditch the UK’s Department
for International Trade is testament
to the failure of Brexit
BY TONY HERON, University
of York, GABRIEL SILES-
BRÜGGE, University of
Warwick
The Conversation
The move to merge the UK
government’s departments of
trade and business has been
likened by one journalist to
rearranging the deckchairs on
a sinking ship. But it is in fact
a significant moment in the
country’s foreign and econom-
ic policy – and a tacit acknowl-
edgement that attempts to seize
Brexit “opportunities” through
trade have been a failure.
For as a result of the changes,
the Department for Interna-
tional Trade no longer exists.
Set up less than a month after
the 2016 referendum, it was cre-
ated by former prime minister
Theresa May as a way of demon-
strating sovereignty through in-
dependence from the EU.
Yet its first task was urgently
securing the “rollover” of free
trade deals that the UK had al-
ready enjoyed as an EU member.
When Liz Truss took over the
department in 2019, she proved
herself to be a skilled political
operator as she travelled the
world doing exactly this.
Burnishing her pro-Brex-
it credentials (despite having
voted to remain in the EU), she
presented these rollover agree-
Magic Mike’s Last..
❰❰ 18 vied for the attention
of dancers. Women
also spoke of wanting
“one-on-one” encounters:
It’s just not private enough, if
you fancy a man and you think
he likes you … there’s … no-
where you can be alone.
For a film that claims to cen-
tre women’s experiences of the
strip show, we see little about
Business
ments as clear benefits of Brexit.
This sleight of hand was aped by
other ministers, including the
recent suggestion that the gov-
ernment has managed to secure
£800 billion in “new free trade
deals” with over 70 countries.
That claim led to a rare repri-
mand from the head of the UK’s
statistics watchdog, which said
the £800 billion figure was “mis-
leading”. The important point is
that in the vast majority of cases,
the free trade agreements were
not new deals, but continuations
of existing agreements. They did
nothing more than maintain the
how women’s interactions with
male dancers – and with each
other – might play out. Despite
claiming to centre what women
want, Magic Mike’s Last Dance
leaves little space to explore
women’s own desires. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
pre-Brexit status quo.
The sole exceptions to this
were deals with Australia and
New Zealand, two small, eco-
nomically open but geograph-
ically distant economies with
historical connections to the UK.
But even here the balance did not
necessarily tilt in the UK’s favour.
The free trade agreement
with Australia in particular, gave
Australian agriculture unprec-
edented levels of access to the
UK market. It has since been
described as “not actually a very
good deal for the UK” by the very
politician who was in charge
From Finding Love..
❰❰ 17 testants are fighting
for survival as Seoul
comes under a zombie
attack. To make the set more re-
alistic, we involved the art team
from All of Us Are Dead while
the zombies were trained by the
choreographers of Kingdom.
We’ll also be launching our first
unscripted mid-form show. With a
short running time of half an hour,
www.canadianinquirer.net
of UK farming at the time the
agreement was negotiated.
Meanwhile, the prospect of
concluding a trade deal with the
US (presented as the biggest
prize of all) is, our research sug-
gests, all but dead. There was
already little progress under
the Trump administration in
2020, in the face of differences
over issues like food standards.
And the Biden administration
has little interest in new trade
agreements at all, let alone one
with a government it sees as
acting irresponsibly over the
Northern Ireland protocol.
Elsewhere, the UK’s plans to
join the Comprehensive and Pro-
gressive Trans-Pacific Partner-
ship free-trade agreement with
the likes of Japan, Canada and
Chile, as well as further trade ne-
gotiations with India, will not be
completed anytime soon.
Trading places
Most of the problems plagu-
ing UK trade policy since Brexit
arguably stem from the absence
of a coherent strategy built
around policy. There needs to
be greater thought given to how
trade and industrial policy can
actually be used to improve ex-
port performance, rather than
treating the signing of new trade
deals as the ultimate goal. The
stark reality is that, since Brexit,
the UK’s level of exports to both
EU and non-EU countries has
been poor and falling short of all
as well as an incredibly short pro-
duction time of three months, we
will be able to present timely and
relevant topics to our members.
We’re committed to creating
must-watch entertainment for
a variety of audiences in Korea
and around the world, and we’re
thrilled to see our growing line-
up of unscripted titles find new
fans everywhere. ■
25
of its major competitors.
A more sensible approach to
trade would begin by mitigat-
ing the damage already done by
Brexit. A simple first step would
be to realign UK and EU safety
standards for agrifood and plant
products, reducing considerably
the bureaucracy that has ren-
dered the Northern Ireland pro-
tocol almost inoperable.
There also has to be a recogni-
tion that globally there has been
a shift away from negotiating
big trade agreements of the kind
the UK government has been so
fond of. The EU and the US, for
instance, are putting more em-
phasis in their trade strategies
on making use of existing agree-
ments to achieve particular ob-
jectives around workers’ rights
and protecting the environment.
In the UK, the task for the
next government will be to act
similarly, see the bigger pic-
ture, and abandon the practice
of trade policy as an exercise in
post-Brexit optics. It needs to
work out how trade policy can
instead be used to make a mean-
ingful contribution to some of
the most urgent social and en-
vironmental challenges facing
the UK, like net zero, greener in-
dustries and an altogether more
balanced economy. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
Senator Dianne Feinstein..
❰❰ 15 Franciscans of a cer-
tain age, she will for-
ever be known as the
woman who stepped in at one
extraordinary and tragic mo-
ment and helped us believe our
city would survive. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
26
What are stock buybacks?
A finance professor explains why
President Biden wants to raise the tax
on this controversial use of corporate capital
BY D. BRIAN BLANK,
Mississippi State University
The Conversation
Companies have been buying
back their own stock at record
levels – something President
Joe Biden doesn’t care for. In
his state of the union address,
Biden said “corporations ought
to do the right thing” and invest
more of their profits in produc-
ing more goods and less in stock
buybacks. To encourage them to
do so, he proposed quadrupling
the new tax on buybacks to 4%.
But what are stock buybacks,
and why do some people con-
sider them to be a bad thing?
We tapped D. Brian Blank, who
studies company financial de-
cision-making at Mississippi
State University, to fill us in.
1. What are stock buybacks?
Before we can answer that
question, first we need to un-
derstand the basics of how
stock works.
Stock represents an ownership
interest in a company, such that
stockholders have a stake in the
business. Companies use stock as
AboitizPower signs energy MOU
during PBBM’s Tokyo visit
BY KRIS CRISMUNDO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Fer-
dinand R. Marcos Jr. has wit-
nessed the signing of memoran-
dum of understanding (MOU)
on clean technology between
Aboitiz Power Corp. and Ja-
pan’s largest power generation
firm, JERA Co., Inc., during his
official visit in Japan.
In a disclosure to the Philip-
pine Stock Exchange, Aboitiz-
Power said its chairperson Sa-
bin Aboitiz and JERA president
Business
one way to raise capital by selling
their shares to investors, usually
in an initial public offering.
Most stockholders, however,
obtain stock by buying it on a
secondary market, like the New
York Stock Exchange. In this
case, one person chooses to sell
their ownership in the company,
while another person buys it.
As partial owners, sharehold-
ers see the value of their stock
rise when the company does well.
One way investors can bene-
fit from holding the stock is that
some corporations pay dividends,
which are payments made direct-
ly to shareholders. Another way
that stockholders can benefit is
by selling the stock for more than
they paid for it. Together, this cre-
ates a return on investment.
And this brings us to share
buybacks – and why investors
like them.
2. Why do companies buy
back their own stock?
When companies have extra
capital, they might go into the
secondary market and buy back
stock from investors. This is
often referred to as a stock re-
purchase or buyback program.
Satoshi Onoda signed an MOU
to explore ‘greener fuel’, which
involves the use of ammonia and
hydrogen in power generation.
Through the MOU, Aboitiz-
Power and JERA will undertake
feasibility assessment on am-
monia co-fired power genera-
tion and the development of the
ammonia and hydrogen value
chains in the country.
The use of alternative fuels
supports the government’s ini-
tiatives toward reducing car-
bon footprint to mitigate the
impacts of climate change.
“By joining forces in the pur-
Companies that are older and
less focused on rapid growth
tend to do them more often.
Companies do this for a variety
of reasons, such as because they
think their shares are underval-
ued and want to signal optimism
to Wall Street, or because they
simply want another way to dis-
tribute profits to shareholders – a
key goal of any company – other
than through dividends.
Shareholders like buybacks
because companies often pay
a premium over market price.
And when companies buy their
own stock, this removes it from
the market, which has the effect
of lifting share prices as supply
goes down, benefiting existing
stockholders.
It’s estimated that Ameri-
can companies bought back a
record US$1 trillion of their
own stock in 2022. And Apple
is the biggest user of buybacks,
having alone spent $557 billion
over the past decade repurchas-
ing its own shares.
3. Why do Biden and oth-
ers dislike buybacks?
Critics like Biden contend that
share buybacks represent short-
suit of greener fuels, our two
companies are not only advanc-
ing the cause of sustainability,
but also paving the way for a
cleaner and more vibrant fu-
ture. Ammonia offers a compel-
ling solution for decarbonizing
the power sector and by look-
ing into it, we are taking a step
towards developing the infra-
structure needed to support the
ammonia and hydrogen value
chains,” Aboitiz said.
AboitizPower said applying
the greener fuel technology to
the existing coal-fired power
plants will result in a reduction
www.canadianinquirer.net
term thinking that doesn’t actu-
ally create any real value. They
argue instead that companies
should use more of their profits
to invest in more productive ac-
tivities like business operations,
innovation or employees.
Returning money that a com-
pany makes to stockholders
does mean less capital is avail-
able for other investments. In
his speech, Biden specifically
called out “Big Oil” companies
for using the record profits
they’ve earned from high ener-
gy prices to buy back their stock
rather than investing in new
wells to increase supply – and
help reduce gas prices.
But the decision whether to
invest to increase domestic pro-
duction is a complicated one.
For example, the reason com-
panies aren’t investing in new
wells right now is not simply
because they are buying back
stock. The reason has more to
do with how oil companies, and
their shareholders, don’t think
it is profitable to invest in more
supply for a whole host of rea-
sons, including the global push
for greener energy by both poli-
of carbon dioxide emission by
up to 50 percent.
“Through this collaboration,
we will support Aboitiz’s power
decarbonization efforts while
also considering additional
opportunities for advancing
technology development in the
Philippines. This MOU allows
JERA to leverage its experience
and capabilities to support both
AboitizPower and the Philip-
pines to reach their emissions
targets,” Onoda said.
In 2021, JERA bought 25.01
percent in AboitizPower from
Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. at
FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY
cymakers and consumers, which
is bound to reduce demand for
fossil fuels in the future.
It’s also worth noting that
while share repurchases are be-
coming increasingly common
and controversial, they remain
very similar to dividends, which
don’t prompt the same con-
cerns among politicians.
4. Would increasing the tax
result in fewer buybacks?
The 1% tax on buybacks is ac-
tually brand new.
Congress passed the tax in
2022 as part of the Inflation
Reduction Act. It took effect at
the beginning of 2023 and only
affects buyback programs of $1
million or more.
Usually when an activity is
taxed, it happens less frequently.
So, I expect the tax to nudge com-
panies to spend less on buybacks
and more elsewhere. While poli-
ticians intend more of the money
to be used to invest in their pro-
ductive capacity, companies may
simply spend more on paying
shareholders dividends.
Since the tax is new, it’s hard
❱❱ PAGE 29 What are stock
USD1.463 billion, and another
1.99 percent from Aboitiz fam-
ily’s privately held firm Aboitiz
& Company.
During his meeting with Jap-
anese firms Thursday, Marcos
underscored the importance of
AboitizPower-JERA partner-
ship in the development of the
country’s power sector.
“Of course, the investment
is important, but the transfer
of technology is also extremely
important and that will give the
Philippines a self-sufficiency,
which we have been missing,”
he said. ■
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2023
Our neurodata can reveal our most
private selves. As brain implants become
common, how will it be protected?
BY CHRISTINA MAHER,
University of Sydney
The Conversation
“Hello world!”
On December 2021, these
were the first words tweeted by
a paralysed man using only his
thoughts and a brain-computer
interface (BCI) implanted by
the company Synchron.
For millions living with paral-
ysis, epilepsy and neuromuscular
conditions, BCIs offer restored
movement and, more recently,
thought-to-text capabilities.
So far, few invasive (implant-
ed) versions of the technology
have been commercialised. But
a number of companies are de-
termined to change this.
Synchron is joined by Elon
Musk’s Neuralink, which has
documented a monkey playing
the computer game Pong using
its BCI – as well as the newer
Precision Neuroscience, which
recently raised US$41 million
towards building a reversible im-
plant thinner than a human hair.
Eventually, BCIs will allow
people to carry out a range of
tasks using their thoughts. But
is this terrific, or terrifying?
How do BCIs work?
BCIs can be non-invasive
(wearable) or invasive (im-
planted). Electrical activity is
the most commonly captured
“neurodata”, with invasive
BCIs providing better signal
quality than non-invasive ones.
The functionality of most
BCIs can be summarised as
passive, active and reactive. All
BCIs use signal processing to fil-
ter brain signals. After process-
ing, active and reactive BCIs can
return outputs in response to a
user’s voluntary brain activity.
Signals from specific brain
regions are considered a combi-
nation of many tiny signals from
multiple regions. So BCIs use pat-
tern recognition algorithms to de-
Technology
cipher a signal’s potential origins
and link it to an intentional event,
such as a task or thought.
One of the first implanted
BCIs treated drug-resistant sei-
zures in some of the 50 million
people with epilepsy. And on-
going clinical trials signal a new
era for neurologically and phys-
ically impaired people.
Outside the clinical realm,
however, neurodata exist in a
largely unregulated space.
An unknown middleman
In human interaction,
thoughts are interpreted by the
person experiencing and com-
municating them, and separate-
ly by the person receiving the
communication. In this sense,
allowing algorithms to interpret
our thoughts could be likened to
another entity “speaking” for us.
This could raise issues in a
future where thought-to-text is
widespread. For example, a BCI
may generate the output “I’m
good”, when the user intend-
ed it to be “I’m great”. These
are similar, but they aren’t the
same. It’s easy enough for an
able-bodied person to physical-
ly correct the mistake – but for
people who can only communi-
cate through BCIs, there’s a risk
of being misinterpreted.
Moreover, implanted BCIs
can provide rich access to all
brain signals; there is no option
to pick and choose which sig-
nals are shared.
Brain data are arguably our
most private data because of what
can be inferred regarding our
identity and mental state. Yet pri-
vate BCI companies may not need
to inform users about what data
are used to train algorithms, or
how the data are linked to inter-
pretations that lead to outputs.
In Australia, strict data
storage rules require that all
BCI-related patient data are
stored on secure servers in a
de-identified form, which helps
protect patient privacy. But
27
requirements outside of a re- bias. In the future, bias may be which legislation should cap-
search context are unclear. introduced into BCI technol- ture neurorights: data protec-
What’s at risk if neurodata ogies in a number of ways, in- tion law, health law, consumer
aren’t protected? cluding through: law, or criminal law?
BCIs are unlikely to launch • the selection of homoge- In a world first, Chile passed a
us into a dystopian world – in neous training data neurorights law in 2021 to pro-
part due to current computa- • a lack of diversity among tect mental privacy, by explic-
tional constraints. After all, clinical trial participants (espe- itly classifying mental data and
there’s a leap between a BCI cially in control groups) brain activity as a human right
sending a short text and inter- • a lack of diversity in the to be legally protected. Though
preting one’s entire stream of teams that design the algo- a step in the right direction, it
consciousness. rithms and software. remains unclear how such a law
That said, making this leap If BCIs are to cater to diverse would be enforced.
largely comes down to how well users, then diversity will need One US-based patient group
we can train algorithms, which to be factored into every stage is taking matters into its own
requires more data and comput- of development. hands. The BCI Pioneers is an
ing power. The rise of quantum How can we protect neuro- advocate group ensuring the
computing – whenever that may data? conversation around neuroeth-
be – could provide these addi- The vision for “neurorights” ics is patient-led.
tional computational resources. is an evolving space. The ethical Other efforts include the
Cathy O’Neil’s 2016 book, challenges lie in the balance be- Neurorights Foundation, and
Weapons of Math Destruction, tween choosing what is best for the proposal of a “technocratic
highlights how algorithms that individuals and what is best for oath” modelled on the Hippo-
measure complex concepts society at large. cratic oath taken by medical
such as human qualities could For instance, should individ- doctors. An International Or-
let predatory entities make im- uals in the military be equipped ganisation for Standardisation
portant decisions for the most with neuroenhancing devices committee for BCI standards is
vulnerable people. so they can better serve their also under way. ■
Here are some hypothetical country and protect themselves
worst-case scenarios. on the front lines, or would This article is republished
1. Third-party companies that compromise their individ- from The Conversation under a
might buy neurodata from BCI ual identity and privacy? And Creative Commons license.
companies and use it to make
decisions, such as whether
someone is granted a loan or ac-
cess to health care.
2. Courts might be allowed to
order neuromonitoring of in-
dividuals with the potential to
commit crimes, based on their
previous history or socio-de-
mographic environment.
3. BCIs specialised for “neu-
roenhancement” could be
made a condition of employ-
ment, such as in the military.
This would blur the boundaries
between human reasoning and
algorithmic influence.
4. As with all industries where
data privacy is critical, there is a
genuine risk of neurodata hack-
ing, where cybercriminals ac-
cess and exploit brain data.
Then there are subtler exam-
ples, including the potential for
www.canadianinquirer.net
 28
Google’s search business doesn’t
have to be killed by AI chatbots –
here’s the ugly workaround
BY HAMZA MUDASSIR,
Cambridge Judge Business
School, KAMAL A MUNIR,
Cambridge Judge Business
School
The Conversation
Google’s parent company Al-
phabet has lost a hefty US$100
billion (£83 billion) or nearly a
tenth of its market value after its
new AI chatbot, Bard, botched
an answer to a query on an ad
promoting its launch. It claimed
that the James Webb space tele-
scope took the first pictures of
planets outside the Earth’s solar
system when in fact it was the
European Southern Observato-
ry’s Very Large Telescope.
At the same time, Microsoft
saw its shares rise 3% on an-
nouncing that it would be in-
tegrating ChatGPT into Bing,
Office and Teams. Microsoft is a
significant shareholder in Ope-
nAI, maker of this much-her-
alded AI chatbot.
Many are asking if we are wit-
nessing Google’s Kodak moment,
in reference to the American
camera giant’s famous demise at
the hands of digital photography.
That could be overstating it, but
we certainly think there is some
merit to investors’ concerns for
Google’s future as a search en-
gine company.
How disruption happens
Bard making a mistake is not
a problem in itself. ChatGPT is
known to give wrong answers
to queries with unsettling confi-
dence. The big market reaction
against Alphabet was more be-
cause the launch debacle broke
the proverbial camel’s back. If
Google can’t even run a convinc-
ing launch ad about its new tech-
nology, went the thinking, can it
really defend its search business?
In our experience, firms don’t
usually get disrupted because
they lack the technology or the
Love languages are..
❰❰ 20 partner’s love language
is linked to higher rela-
tionship satisfaction?
Only two studies have investi-
Technology
resources. More commonly it’s
either because they lack imag-
ination or struggle to re-invent
themselves – often out of fear
that developing a new busi-
ness will harm an existing one
(known as cannibalisation).
Lack of imagination is mostly
the problem with longstanding
incumbents. Kodak, for example,
couldn’t imagine a world without
photographic film and hard prints
and paid a heavy price. Equally,
hotel groups were complete-
ly caught on the hop by Airbnb.
They had little response except to
lobby government authorities en
masse against the service.
On the other hand, Google has
been at the forefront of develop-
ing the technology behind AIs
like ChatGPT. Known as large
language models or LLMs, they
essentially work by assembling
arrays of very powerful comput-
ers and “training” them on huge
quantities of information from
the internet and elsewhere.
Google’s research scientists
wrote the breakthrough paper
in 2017 in this area called “At-
tention is all you need”. Goo-
gle incorporated LLMs into
the likes of Google Translate to
much success, though never into
its mainstream search business.
It seems likely that it fears can-
nibalisation and the difficulty of
reinventing its search business.
Unfortunately, the status quo
doesn’t look viable either.
Google utterly dominates
search, with 84% of global traf-
fic, garnering 70% of its reve-
nues from this and related mar-
kets. Having created a business
on such a scale, it effectively has
a monopoly (outside certain
countries like China that do
things their own way).
The problem is that AI chat-
bots like ChatGPT circumvent
the need for a search engine
by giving precise and, in most
cases, correct and creative an-
gated this question. Both found
that knowing your partner’s pri-
mary love language did predict
relationship satisfaction in the
swers to complex human que-
ries. ChatGPT has become the
fastest adopted consumer app
of all time, with more than 100
million users since November.
And besides Bard, various other
companies, including Chinese
search giant Baidu, are well
advanced in developing LLMs
of their own. If there’s a better
way to find out what’s on the
internet, why bother Googling
anything anymore?
Making money from AI
chatbots
For now, the business mod-
el for AI chatbots is unclear.
Search is free for end users
thanks to advertisers paying on
the other end for customer traf-
fic they receive from valuable
search terms. It is a predictable
high-margin business.
AI chatbots on the other hand
are tricky. Would ads need to be
inserted in responses to con-
vince users to click on certain
advertiser websites? Would
that appear to be inauthentic
and cause fallout? How many
ads would be too many?
There’s no telling to what
extent this would cannibalise
Google’s search business, which
must make it terrifying for the
management. Again, consider
Kodak. It bought photo-shar-
ing platform Ofoto in 2001 and
could have developed it into a
social media platform. Instead,
it tried to protect its business
by encouraging users to print
more pictures rather than shar-
ing them with others.
This is how successful com-
panies’ core capabilities end
up becoming their core rigidi-
ties. Microsoft doesn’t have this
problem precisely because it
has never managed to compete
with Google successfully since
launching Bing in 2009. It only
earns about 6% of its revenues
from search, so has far less to
lose from disruption in the
present or into the future.
So, as you can see, not only is
there very little research investi-
gating love languages, but the re-
www.canadianinquirer.net
sector. It has already been giv-
ing investors a sense of how it
will incorporate ChatGPT into
Bing’s ad model.
The incumbent problem
Google’s innovation has al-
ready been atrophying in recent
years. It has shut down promis-
ing businesses, such as gaming
platform Stadia and automated
reservations tool Duplex on the
Web. Elsewhere it has been late,
playing catch-up to Amazon’s
Echo smart speakers with Goo-
gle Home.
Management missteps are
partly to blame, but so are impa-
tient requirements on making
a return. The stock market has
rewarded Google’s laser-sharp
focus on revenue growth and
profitability, incentivising the
management to be less patient
with their investments. Kodak’s
market valuation was the highest
in its history in 1996 before the
global shift to the internet ush-
ered in a remarkable collapse.
Perhaps we will say the same
about Alphabet/Google in 2021.
Alphabet/Google share price
In our experience, companies
would much rather have com-
petitors kill their golden goose
search to date doesn’t strengthen
belief in the powerful properties
of love languages. ■
FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY
than do it themselves. This is
the trap Google must avoid. The
only option is to start cannibal-
ising its search business.
Google could copy Microsoft’s
approach with Bing and intro-
duce Bard results as just one of
the responses to search queries.
This might lower its ad sales as
there is no real bidding for a bot’s
answer and no clicks that can
take searchers to monetisable
partner sites. But launch this in
beta, making it only accessible
to those who pre-register, and
you at least contain the impact.
Learn from the experience, test
different monetisation mod-
els and scale only when you see
what works best.
Above all, Google cannot con-
tinue to thrive or even survive
by thinking like an incumbent.
It needs to re-invent itself. This
means leaving something on
the table, not trying to carry
everything it possesses into the
future. The sooner it realises
this, the higher the likelihood it
will survive. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2023
PH holds great Swim race to promote
potential to attract Antique town as
Japanese tourists: ecotourism destination
travel org
BY JOYCE ANN L.
ROCAMORA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Japanese stake-
holders are bullish on Philippine
tourism prospects, especially with
a wide range of travel offerings.
Takahashi Hiroyuki, chair-
person of the Japanese Asso-
ciation of Travel Agents, said
during a stakeholders’ meeting
with President Ferdinand R.
Marcos Jr. and Tourism Sec-
retary Christina Frasco, that
the Philippines would attract a
large number of Japanese vis-
itors as leisure travel between
Tokyo and Manila resumes.
“The Philippines is very appeal-
ing for Japanese people with its
hospitality and cheerfulness. Fur-
thermore, the Philippines [has] a
mild climate all year, making it a
popular destination for younger
people to relax at beach resorts
like in Cebu and Boracay Island.
And for retirees, [for] an extend-
ed period of time,” he was quoted
as saying by the Department of
Tourism (DOT) on Friday.
“Many Japanese companies
have also established operations
in the region. We anticipate fur-
ther growth as a business travel
destination,” he added.
Masao Okuyama of Marine
Creative, organizer of one of
Travel
Asia’s largest diving events. the
Marine Diving Fair, said divers
are eager to visit the Philip-
pines, which is home to a num-
ber of award-winning dive sites,
like those in Cebu, Batangas
and Palawan provinces.
“The Japanese love the Phil-
ippine ocean. There are so
many reasons for it. As border
restriction relaxes, many divers
are excited to visit the Philip-
pines again. We would like to
send out more information so
that more divers will visit the
Philippines,” Masao said.
Frasco said Manila would exert
efforts to make travel for Japanese
nationals as seamless as possible.
Representatives from the
ASEAN-Japan Centre, Associ-
ation for English Studies in the
Philippines, Japan Association of
Overseas Studies, Japan Nation-
al Tourism Organization, Japan
Philippine Tourism Council and
MICE Japan Magazine attended
the meeting held on Feb. 9.
Airlines including Air Asia,
ANA Air, Cebu Pacific, Japan
Airlines, Jetstar-Japan and
Philippine Airlines took part in
the high-level meet.
Japan has consistently been
the Philippines’ fourth-biggest
tourism source market prior to
the pandemic.
In 2019, the country recorded
682,788 tourists from Japan. ■
BY ANNABEL CONSUELO
PETINGLAY
Philippine News Agency
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVIS-
TA, Antique – The municipal-
ity of Culasi in this province
will hold a swimming competi-
tion on the white sand beach of
Malalison to boost its image as
an ecotourism destination.
The three-kilometer indi-
vidual swim race was suspend-
ed in 2021 and 2022 due to the
pandemic but will resume on
March 4 and will be introduc-
ing a new category for the par-
ticipants, according to Alma
Sandig, Culasi Municipal Envi-
ronment and Natural Resourc-
es officer, on Monday.
Sandig said they will intro-
duce a local category or an ex-
clusive swim for the town resi-
dents this year.
Since the start of the race in
2012, participants were clus-
tered under an open category.
This year, both the local and
open categories will cover a dis-
tance of three kilometers, start-
ing from the island Barangay of
Malalison to the town proper.
“Malalison is three kilome-
ters away from the town proper
and since we had been conduct-
ing swimming competition,
What are stock..
❰❰ 26 to evaluate its actual
impact. Companies
reportedly accelerat-
ed their repurchase programs
in 2022 to avoid paying the tax.
But early data from 2023 sug-
gest the 1% tax isn’t significantly
deterring buybacks. Companies
announced $132 billion in buy-
backs in January, three times as
much as a year earlier and the
most for the month on record.
Biden’s proposal to boost the
tax to 4% may alter corporate
www.canadianinquirer.net
Malalison Island (KHEON05 - OWN WORK/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, CC BY-SA 4.0)
there are a lot of tourists who
come to visit the white sand
beach,” Sandig said.
Sandig said those who want to
join the swimming competition
can register online or with the
local government unit (LGU).
“Cash and medals are being
prepared for the open and ex-
clusive categories,” she said.
For the open category, first
prize will be PHP10,000 cash,
the second prize winner will get
PHP7,000, and PHP5,000 for
the third placer.
Further, PHP7,500 will go to
the first placer, PHP5,000 for sec-
ond, and PHP3,000 for the third
runner up in the local category.
The swim meet is also a strat-
egy to promote proper waste
management at the beach, San-
dig said, as a material recovery
behavior more. But again, it may
just lead to greater dividend pay-
ments, not the other types of in-
vestments he and others hope for.
In addition, given that Re-
publicans control the House,
and Democrats have only a nar-
row majority in the Senate, this
proposal has little chance of be-
coming law anytime soon.
The reasons why large corpo-
rations make the decisions they
do about where to allocate capi-
tal – whether to build a factory,
29
facility (MRF) has been installed
in the area to complement the
frequent conduct of informa-
tion and education campaigns to
train island residents on proper
waste disposal to maintain the
cleanliness of Malalison.
“The coastal water of Malali-
son is also safe for skin contact,”
she assured, as they conduct
frequent monitoring of the co-
liform count in the coastal wa-
ters to make sure that it is safe
for swimmers.
Culasi is the first LGU in An-
tique in 2016 to prohibit single-use
plastics among the vendors in their
public market for dry goods.
The residents are instead en-
couraged to use paper bags or
other indigenous containers to
reduce the waste that they gen-
erate. ■
hire more workers or buy back
stock – are complicated and,
in my view, never taken light-
ly. These decisions have many
facets and implications, and are
not necessarily bad. I believe
this is something worth remem-
bering the next time you hear
politicians saying “corporations
should do the right thing.” ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
30
Can beetroot really improve
athletic performance?
BY EVANGELINE
MANTZIORIS, University of
South Australia
The Conversation
Beetroot is gaining popular-
ity as a performance-enhancer
for athletes and those wanting
to gain a competitive advantage
in running and cycling.
Some people juice beetroot,
some eat it, others mix up a
drink from the powdered form.
But will it make a noticeable
difference on how quickly we
run a race or cycle up a hill?
Small benefits for some
A large systematic review in
2020 included 80 clinical tri-
als, in which the included stud-
ies had participants randomly
assigned to consume beetroot
juice or not. It found consum-
ing beetroot juice provided per-
formance benefits for athletes.
In sports where every second
or centimetre counts, this can
be a significant improvement.
In a 16.1 kilometre cycling time
trial the gains linked to beet-
root consumption were equiva-
lent to 48 seconds.
But when the authors analysed
subgroups within these studies
they found beetroot juice wasn’t
effective for women or elite ath-
letes – though this could be be-
Tim Hortons launches new Chipotle Steak
Loaded Wraps and Loaded Bowls
TIM HORTONS
Tim Hortons is beefing up its
lunch and dinner offerings with
the launch of a new flavour for
its popular Loaded Wraps and
Loaded Bowls: Chipotle Steak.
“We had an enthusiastic re-
sponse from Tims guests after
we launched our Cilantro Lime
Food
cause there were too few study
participants in these groups to
draw conclusions.Another large
systematic review in 2021 of 73
studies that looked at endurance
athletes (who run, swim or cycle
long distances) found similar
results. Supplementation with
beetroot (and other vegetables
rich in nitrate) improved their
time to exhaustion by an average
of 25.3 seconds and the distance
travelled by 163 metres.
This improvement was seen
in recreational athletes, but
not in elite athletes or seden-
tary people. This analysis didn’t
look specifically at women.
What is it about beetroot?
Beetroots are rich in nitrate
and anthocyanins. Both provide
health benefits but it’s primari-
ly the nitrates that give the per-
formance benefits.
Once ingested, the nitrate
is converted in the mouth by
the local bacteria into nitrite.
In the acidic conditions of the
stomach, the nitrite is then con-
verted to nitric oxide, which is
absorbed into the bloodstream.
Nitric oxide dilates blood
vessels, which delivers oxygen
more quickly to the muscles, so
energy can be burned to fuel the
exercising muscles.
The result is that less energy
is used for performance, which
and Habanero Chicken Load-
ed Wraps and Loaded Bowls
last year which had us working
right away on our next delicious
Loaded option,” says Chef Tal-
lis Voakes, Director of Culinary
Innovation at Tim Hortons.
“Our new Chipotle Steak
Loaded Wraps and Loaded
Bowls have the perfect combi-
nation of shredded seasoned
means it takes longer to tire.
How can I use beetroot juice?
The Australian Institute of
Sport (AIS) has assessed beet-
root and classified it as a Group A
supplement. This means there is
strong scientific evidence for use
in specific situations in sport.
The AIS advises beetroot sup-
plementation can be beneficial
for exercise, training and com-
petitive events that lasts 4–30
minutes and in team sports with
intermittent exercise.
For performance benefits,
the AIS advises the beetroot
product (be it juice, powder
or food) should have between
350–600mg of inorganic ni-
trate in it. Check the label.
There are several concentrated
juices available on the market.
Beetroot contains about
250mg per 100g of nitrate, so
you need to consume at least
200g of baked beetroot to get
the same effect.
To give the nitrates time to be
converted to nitric oxide and ab-
sorbed into your bloodstream,
you need to consume the prod-
uct 2–3 hours before training or
competition. You may get added
benefits drinking beetroot juice
for several days leading up to
training or competition.
However, don’t use antibac-
terial products like mouth-
steak, tasty grains, crispy on-
ions, lettuce, diced cucumbers
and tomatoes, topped with our
chipotle sauce. This is my new
favourite lunch and dinner op-
tion at Tims and I can’t wait for
guests to try them.”
Tim Hortons introduced
Loaded Wraps and Loaded
Bowls last June as part of its
work on developing new deli-
www.canadianinquirer.net
washes, chewing gums or lol-
lies. These will kill the bacteria
in your mouth needed to con-
vert the nitrate to nitrite.
Are there any downsides?
Your urine will turn red, and
this will make it difficult to de-
termine if you are dehydrated.
Your poo may also turn red.
Some people may experi-
ence an upset stomach when
consuming beetroot juice. So
try drinking it while training to
determine if you have any prob-
lems. You don’t want to find this
out on competition day.
What about nitrate from
the rest of your diet?
While it’s difficult to con-
sume enough nitrate to boost
your athletic performance di-
rectly from vegetables before
an event, consuming five serves
of vegetables a day will help
keep the nitric oxide levels ele-
vated in your blood.
Vegetables higher in nitrate
include celery, rocket, spinach,
cious and craveable lunch and
dinner options that offer great
value for money. The Loaded
Wraps and Loaded Bowls were
launched after extensive market
research, many iterations of rec-
ipe development, and successful
test markets that received in-
credible guest feedback.
“Our new Loaded Wraps and
Loaded Bowls make for a hearty
FEBRUARY 17, 2023 FRIDAY
endive, leek, parsley, kohlrabi,
Chinese cabbage and celeri-
ac. There isn’t clear evidence
about the effect of cooking and
storage on nitrate levels, so it’s
probably best to eat them in the
way you enjoy the most.
However, it’s best to avoid
cured meats with added nitrate.
The additive is used to stop the
growth of bacteria and adds fla-
vour and colour, but the result-
ing sodium nitrite can increase
the risk of cancer.
While beetroot may give you a
small performance boost, don’t
forget to tailor the rest of your
training as well. Ensure you have
enough carbohydrates and pro-
tein, and that you drink enough
water. You may need to consult
an exercise scientist and an ac-
credited practising sports dieti-
tian to get the best outcome. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
lunch with big, craveable flavours
you’ll look forward to having again
and again, or a quick and easy din-
ner option to bring home for the
whole family,” says Voakes.
Chipotle Steak Loaded Wraps
and Loaded Bowls are now avail-
able at Tim Hortons restaurants
across Canada and can be or-
dered for delivery through the
Tim Hortons app. ■
 FEBRUARY 17, 2020
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