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pcinews_twt MARCH 24, 2023 www.canadianinquirer.net VOL. 8 NO. 532

RAMADAN MUBARAK

A Filipino Muslim kneels in prayer on Wednesday (March 22, 2023) at the Abubakar Masjid Mosque in Quezon City as Ramadan begins March 23. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to
dusk and take the time to reflect on their lives and their relationship with Allah.
ROBERT OSWALD P. ALFILER / PNA

Devolution order not
alternative to Charter
change: PBBM
BY FILANE MIKEE CERVANTES
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdinand
Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said the pre-
vious administration’s executive order
mandating the full devolution of ba-
sic services from the national govern-
ment agencies to the local government
units (LGUs) is not an alternative to the
12
Why the International Criminal
Court’s indictment of Putin
has symbolic importance
proposed Charter amendments being
pushed in Congress.
In a media interview after attending 26
the Philippine Army’s 126th founding
anniversary in Taguig City, Marcos said `
the Charter change efforts done by Con- Maria in Vancouver:
gress are directed at the economic provi- The Power of Pearls
sions of the Constitution, noting that the
initiative is different from former pres- Unemployment rate back
PAGE 18
down to 3.5%. It’s anyone’s
❱❱ PAGE 6 Devolution order not guess when things will turn

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2 MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 2023 Philippine News 3

PBBM: 4 new EDCA sites scattered in PH

BY FILANE MIKEE
CERVANTES
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. said Wednes-
day the four new additional En-
hanced Defense Cooperation
Agreement (EDCA) sites will
be located in the northern and
southern parts of the country,
and Palawan.
In a media interview after
attending the 126th Founding
Anniversary of the Philippine
Army in Taguig City, Marcos
said Filipino and American of-
ficials have already identified
and agreed on the new sites un-
der the EDCA and would soon
make a formal announcement.
“So, there are four extra sites
scattered around the Philippines.
There are some in the North,
there are some around Palawan,
there are some further South. So
Pres. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. (PCO PHOTO)
iba-iba talaga (They are really in
different areas),” he said.
He said the goal is to defend
the country’s eastern coast,
noting that the Philippines’
continental shelf on Luzon’s
eastern side was also put into
consideration.
When asked if he has reached
out to local government officials
who are opposed to having the
EDCA sites in their localities,
Marcos said he talked to those
officials and explained the im-
portance of the EDCA sites in
their jurisdictions.
“Yes, we explained to them
why it was important that we
have that and why it will actu-
ally be good for their province,”
he said. “And mukha namang
naintindihan nila (I think they
already understand) because
most of… those who had in-
terposed some objections are
really right now, naintindihan
naman nila (they understand)
and they come around to sup-
port the idea of an EDCA site in
their province.”
Marcos last month granted
US troops access to four more
Philippine military camps, on
top of the five existing locations
under the EDCA.
Finalized after eight rounds of
talks in August 2013, the EDCA,
which was signed in 2014, allows
US troops access to designated
Philippine military facilities,
and the right to build facilities
and preposition equipment, air-
craft, and vessels, but rules out
permanent basing.
Under the EDCA, the Phil-
ippine government is working
with the US to build the future
facilities in Cesar Basa Air Base
in Floridablanca, Pampanga;
Fort Magsaysay Military Reser-
vation in Nueva Ecija; Lumbia
Airfield in Cagayan de Oro City;
Antonio Bautista Air Base in
Puerto Princesa, Palawan; and
Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu.
The EDCA is a key pillar of
the US-Philippines alliance,
which supports combined
training, exercises, and interop-
erability between Filipino and
American forces.
Filipino and American troops
are also scheduled to hold their
largest-ever military exercise
next month.
The Pentagon announced that
the United States and the Philip-
pines have agreed to review the
full range of their maritime co-
operation in the 2 + 2 meeting in
Washington in April. ■

Marcos: No reorganization needed for

Mindoro oil spill response
BY FILANE MIKEE
CERVANTES
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday
said the Philippine Coast Guard
(PCG) will continue to take the
lead role in the government’s on-
going operation to contain the
oil spill in Oriental Mindoro, dis-
missing any reorganization ef-
forts to address the issue.
Marcos said there is no need
for a reorganization in the gov-
ernment coordination for the oil
spill response, noting that the
PCG is spearheading the clean-
up because it has the assets and
is also in charge of coordinating
the incoming foreign aid.
“The head of the task force
for the oil spill is the Coast
Guard. Admiral Abu heads it. So,
there’s no need. You see, there’s
no need to organize something
for everything,” Marcos said in
a media interview after attend-
ing the 126th Founding Anni-
versary of the Philippine Army
in Taguig City.
“The idea is to have the assets
in place so that ‘pag may mang-
yaring ganyan, may response na
tayo (if something like that hap-
pens, we are ready to respond).
We do not have to organize a
special group, a special commit-
tee, a special task force. They’re
ready already as it is,” he added.
The PCG, Marcos said, is co-
ordinating with the Japanese
experts who brought in special
equipment such as the remote-
ly-operated vehicle (ROV) and
oil spill boom, as well as the Unit-
ed States (US) aid and personnel.
He said the role of the De-
partment of Environment and
Natural Resources is to assess
the damage, identify the areas
that need to be cleaned up, and
monitor the affected areas.
In terms of support being ex-
tended to affected communities
whose livelihoods are impacted
by the oil spill, Marcos said the
Department of Social Welfare
and Development (DSWD) is
handling the provision of relief
assistance.
The national government,
through the DSWD has also insti-
tuted a cash-for-work program,
hiring residents in the area to do
an extensive cleanup drive in sev-
eral provinces affected by the spill.
“So we are even providing
food packs. We are provid-
ing not only cash-for-work,
pero mayroon pa rin tayong
mga pantulong para nga doon
sa mga mangingisda na hin-
di makapangisda ngayon (but
also assistance for the fisher-
folk who cannot fish at the mo-
ment),” Marcos said.
The DSWD is currently imple-
menting a 45-day cash-for-work
The Philippine Coast Guard is working double time to contain the oil spill off Nau-
jan waters in Oriental Mindoro caused by the overheating and eventual sinking of
MT Princess Empress on Feb. 28, 2023. (PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD/FACEBOOK)
www.canadianinquirer.net
program involving 7,198 families
(including off-site), which start-
ed last March 6 and extended
until May this year. It said the
beneficiaries could also avail of
Emergency Cash Transfer (ECT)
and family food packs (FFPs).
To date, the national task force
for oil spill management in Mim-
aropa and Western Visayas said
a total of PHP28.3 million worth
of humanitarian assistance was
provided to the affected families
by the national government, lo-
cal government units (LGUs),
non-governmental organiza-
tions (NGOs) and other partners.
Likewise, the Department
of Labor and Employment has
started the Tulong Panghanap-
buhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/
Displaced Workers (TUPAD)
Program in the three areas
of Caluya namely Sibolo, 152;
Semirara, 246 and Tinogboc, 66,
through a 30-day work program.
TUPAD is a community-based
package of assistance that pro-
vides emergency employment
for displaced workers, under-
employed and seasonal workers,
for a minimum of 10 days, but
not to exceed a maximum of 30
days, depending on the nature of
work to be performed.
As of Monday, the oil spill has
affected over 150,000 individu-
als or 32,000 families in Mima-
ropa and Western Visayas.
The MT Princess Empress
was carrying 800,000 liters of
industrial oil when the tank-
er sank near Naujan, Oriental
Mindoro on Feb. 28.
Marcos earlier said the gov-
ernment aims to finish the oil
spill cleanup in less than four
months. ■
4 Philippine News
Japanese remote sub finds sunken oil tanker
in Oriental Mindoro
BY MARITA MOAJE,
RAYMOND CARL DELA
CRUZ
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – A Japanese re-
motely operated vehicle (ROV)
located on Tuesday MT Princess
Empress that sank off the waters
of Oriental Mindoro on Feb. 28.
In a situation update, the
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)
said ROV Hakuyo, onboard
Japanese Dynamic Positioning
Vessel (DPV) Shin Nichi Maru
found the sunken tanker at 7.7
nautical miles from Balingawan
Point in Naujan town, Oriental
Mindoro province on Monday.
“Dito inilunsad ang ROV
HAKUYO na kayang sumisid
hanggang 2,000 metro (This
is where ROV Hakuyo was
launched, capable of diving up
to 2,000 meters),” the PCG said.
The services of DPV Shin
Nichi Maru and ROV Hakuyo
were hired by RDC Reield Ma-
rine Services (RDC) -- the own-
er of MT Princess Empress -- to
locate and assess the condition
of the sunken tanker.
In a press briefing, Oriental
Mindoro Governor Humerlito
House grants President power to suspend
PhilHealth premium hike
BY JOSE CIELITO
REGANIT
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The House of
Representatives on Tuesday ap-
proved on third and final read-
ing a bill giving the President the
power to suspend the scheduled
increase of premium payments
of “direct contributors” to the
Philippine Health Insurance
Corp. (PhilHealth) and adjust
the period of implementation
during national emergencies or
calamities, or when public inter-
est so requires.
Passed on the strength of 273
affirmative votes, three nega-
tive votes, and no abstentions,
Dolor also showed the initial
photos and videos taken by the
ROV of the sunken tanker ship
that was carrying 800,000 liters
of industrial oil and has caused
a spill in the regions of MIMA-
ROPA and Western Visayas.
“Sa wakas, natagpuan na ang
MT Princess Empress. Ang un-
ang sulyap sa lumubog na barko
gamit ang ROV lulan ng Japa-
nese vessel na sinalubong natin
kahapon at inihatid sa lugar na
pinangyarihan ng trahedya (Fi-
nally, the MT Princess Empress
has been found. The first image
of the sunken ship using the ROV
by the Japanese vessel that we
welcomed yesterday and brought
to the area where the incident
happened),” Dolor earlier posted
on his Facebook page.
With this development,
Dolor said the provincial gov-
ernment of Oriental Mindoro
will discuss with the PCG and
the Department of Environ-
ment and Natural Resources
(DENR), the insurance compa-
ny, and the ship owner Harbor
Star Shipping Services Inc.,
their next plan of action.
“Nakita natin ng personal
nung ibinababa yung ROV ka-
hapon, nais kong exclusive na
House Bill 6772 seeks to further
amend Section 10 of Republic
Act 11223, otherwise known as
the “Universal Health Care Act.”
Speaker Ferdinand Martin
G. Romualdez, the bill’s princi-
pal author, said the suspension
of the increase would result in
some savings for millions of
government and private sector
workers, professionals, self-em-
ployed, and other PhilHealth
contributors who are still recov-
ering from the pandemic.
He said under the measure,
daily wage earners and many
employees, who comprise the
majority of PhilHealth mem-
bers, would save at least PHP50
a month or PHP600 a year from
their health insurance premi-
ipakita sa inyo ang ilan sa mga
piling litrato na nakuha ng ROV
na maaaring maging basehan
ng Harbor Star at ng pamaha-
laang local at nasyonal sa pan-
gunguna ng Coast Guard at ng
DENR at ng pamahalaang pan-
lalawigan para finally makaga-
wa ng maliwanag na plano kung
paano aalisin itong langis sa
loob o kung ano ang kailangang
gawin para takpan ang mga
butas sa barko (I personally
saw how the ROV was brought
down into the waters yesterday,
I want to show you exclusively
some photos taken by the ROV
which may be used as basis by
the Harbor Star, the local and
national government through
the Coast Guard and the DENR
so we can finally have a clear ac-
tion plan on how to remove the
oil from the vessel or what to do
so we can cover the holes in the
ship),” Dolor said.
To date, Harbor Star -- con-
tracted by RDC to help in the
cleanup drive -- has hired a to-
tal of 147 workers in addition to
25 local volunteers, members of
the City Disaster Risk Reduc-
tion Management Office, local
fisherfolks, and 57 PCG person-
nel to conduct shoreline (land)
um payment if the adjustment
were suspended.
Those earning more will nat-
urally save more, he said.
Majority Leader Jose “Man-
nix” Dalipe, Senior Majority
Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep.
Ferdinand Alexander Marcos,
and Representatives Yedda Ma-
rie Romualdez and Jude Acidre
of party-list group Tingog
Sinirangan co-authored the bill.
The authors said President
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself
has supported calls to defer this
year’s increase in PhilHealth
premiums.
RA 11223 defines “direct con-
tributors” as “those who have
the capacity to pay premiums,
are gainfully employed, and are
www.canadianinquirer.net
SUNKEN SHIP. The sunken ship MT Princess Empress has been found in the
waters of Oriental Mindoro province through the remotely operated vehicle
(ROV) Hakuyo of Japan. (PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD/FACEBOOK)
cleanup operations.
The PCG has also dispatched
13 marine science technicians
to conduct testing of the disper-
sants used to check their effec-
tivity prior to application plus
10 personnel that compose the
offshore response team.
In offshore (sea) cleanup op-
erations, M/TUG Titan 1 and
M/TUG Lidagat of Malayan
Towage and Salvage Company
have applied a total of 24,620 li-
ters of oil spill dispersant since
March 1 at waters about 6.3
bound by an employer-employ-
ee relationship, or are self-earn-
ing, professional practitioners,
migrant workers, including
their qualified dependents, and
lifetime members.”
The term “indirect contrib-
utors” refers to “all others not
included as direct contributors,
as well as their qualified depen-
dents, whose premium shall be
subsidized by the national gov-
ernment, including those who
are subsidized as a result of spe-
cial laws.”
The law also states that con-
tributions will increase from 4
percent last year to 4.5 percent
this year, or from the minimum
monthly premium of PHP400
to PHP450. The rate will fur-
MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY
nautical miles from the shore-
line of Balingawan Point, Lucta
Point, and Buloc Bay.
In shoreline cleanup opera-
tions, the PCG and its partners
have collected 2,353 sacks,
weighing about 58,825 kilo-
grams, and 22 drums of oil-con-
taminated debris since March 1.
The contaminated debris
was collected in 12 affected ba-
rangays -- around 300 square
meters of mangroves and 16.8
kilometers of shoreline. ■
ther go up to 5 percent starting
next year.
Based on PhilHealth’s com-
putation for this year, they said
those earning PHP10,000 and
below would pay a premium of
PHP450, those with an income
of more than PHP10,000 up to
PHP89,999.99 would contrib-
ute PHP450 to PHP4,050, while
those making PHP90,000 or
more would chip in PHP4,050.
“While PhilHealth only aims
to fulfill and remain faithful to
its mandate, imposing a higher
premium on Filipinos in these
current conditions where most
of them are grappling with the
pandemic will definitely enforce
a new round of financial burden
to its members,” they said. ■
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 2023 5

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 6 Philippine News
1 out of 4 Filipino Comelec resets candidacy
Muslims pray Salah filing period for village,
5 times daily: SWS youth polls
BY FILANE MIKEE
CERVANTES
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – A national survey
conducted by the Social Weath-
er Stations (SWS) revealed that
one out of every four Filipino
Muslims pray the Salah five
times daily.
The results of the Dec. 10-14,
2022 survey found that only 26
percent of the Muslim respon-
dents said they pray the five dai-
ly obligatory prayers in Islam.
According to the SWS survey,
32 percent said they pray the
Salah a few times a day, 38 per-
cent said sometimes, 3 percent
said only during Ramadan, and
2 percent said the last time they
prayed was over a year ago.
On the attendance in reli-
Devolution order not..
❰❰ 1 ident Rodrigo Duter-
te’s devolution order
under Executive Or-
der (EO) 138, which gives more
responsibilities and autonomy
to LGUs.
“No. The Charter change
efforts are directed at the eco-
nomic provisions of the Con-
stitution, as far as I under-
stand. And so that’s what that is
about,” he said.
“And the reason given by the
proponents in the House and
those in the Senate is that they
need to be changed because these
conditions have changed. And for
us to take full advantage of the
new economy, we have to amend
the Constitution. So that’s not
the same thing,” he added.
Marcos said his administra-
tion will re-examine EO 138 in
line with the Supreme Court’s
Mandanas-Garcia ruling,
stressing that it’s very import-
ant to “get it right.”
He said lower class communi-
ties would be at a disadvantage if
functions are devolved to them
despite the extra internal revenue
allotment (IRA) as it is contrary to
the spirit of the high court ruling.
gious services, 71 percent of Fil-
ipino Muslims said they attend
religious services once a week
or more than once a week.
Only 9 percent said they attend
religious services two or more
times a month; 6 percent once
a month; 1 percent about two to
11 times a year; 7 percent once a
year; and 3 percent said they nev-
er attended religious services.
As for the mode of attend-
ing religious services, 96 per-
cent of Muslims personally go
to the place of worship in the
past three months; while only 3
percent did not attend any reli-
gious services.
The December 2022 survey
had 1,200 respondents aged 18
and above nationwide with a
sampling error margin of ± 2.8
percent. Around 6 percent of the
respondents were Muslims. ■
“The conclusion that we ar-
rived at is that hindi pwedeng
(it shouldn’t be) one size fits all.
Iba-iba kasi (Each case should
be treated differently),” he said.
Department of Budget and
Management (DBM) Secre-
tary Amenah Pangandaman
said President Marcos gave a
marching order to review the al-
location of responsibilities, pro-
Pres. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. (PCO PHOTO)
BY FERDINAND PATINIO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Commis-
sion on Elections (Comelec) on
Wednesday announced it has
rescheduled the period of
filing of Certificates of Can-
didacy (COCs) for the 2023
Barangay and Sangguniang
Kabataan Elections (BSKE)
over a month from its origi-
nal schedule.
“We reset the filing of
COCs for BSKE from July
3-7 to August 28 to Sept. 2,”
said Comelec chair George
Erwin Garcia in a message
to reporters.
He noted that the calls of
lawmakers to push back the fil-
ing period were among the rea-
sons why they decided to move
grams and projects of both the
Executive branch and the LGUs
to ensure the effective and effi-
cient delivery of public services.
“We were tasked by the
President to study the projects
and programs whose imple-
mentation will remain with
the national government da-
hil national government lang
ang may kayang gawin itong
www.canadianinquirer.net
the scheduled filing.
“Not only because of their
calls but because we wanted
all sectors be prepared from
the Philippine National Police,
Armed Forces of the Philippines
and our electoral board mem-
... we wanted
all sectors be
prepared...
bers,” the poll body chief said.
“Likewise, after reviewing
our process, we believe that we
mga proyekto na ito, at kung
ano namang mga proyekto ang
idi-devolve natin sa ating local
government units (because the
national government is the only
one that can implement them,
and which projects will be de-
volved to the local government
units),” she said.
Pangandaman said the gov-
ernment will also provide con-
tinuous capacity development
interventions for the full devo-
lution of certain functions and
services to the LGUs, which will
be done by the DBM, National
Economic and Development
Authority, Department of the
Interior and Local Government
and Department of Finance.
“Rest assured that the DBM
will provide support to capaci-
tate our LGUs, especially those
who are disadvantaged and lag-
ging,” Pangandaman said in a
Palace press briefing on Tuesday.
Citing EO 138, she said dis-
advantaged and lagging LGUs
will receive financial assistance
through the Growth Equity
Fund (GEF) to help them fully
implement their devolved func-
tions and services.
MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY
can decide nuisance and dq (dis-
qualification) cases expeditious-
ly before the election,” he added.
Asked if the calendar of activ-
ities for the Oct. 30 polls will be
affected by the change in sched-
ule, Garcia said, “No, it’s a man-
ual election so the names of
candidates are not printed.”
Senator Francis Tolen-
tino earlier urged the poll
body to move the filing pe-
riod from July to August.
On the other hand,
Parañaque City Represen-
tative Gus Tambunting ex-
pressed opposition to the
early setting of the COC fil-
ing period.
The poll body, in Resolu-
tion No. 10899, set the filing
on July 3 to 7 to have more time
to accept and resolve disqualifi-
cation and nuisance cases. ■
She also noted that the current
administration is proactively
listening to the inputs and con-
cerns raised by LGUs on the im-
plementation of full devolution.
Full devolution promotes
decentralization, as well as the
increase in just share in all na-
tional taxes and revenues for
LGUs as provided for in the
Mandanas-Garcia ruling.
It advocates the provision of
a more responsive and account-
able local government structure
instituted through a system
of decentralization whereby
LGUs shall be given more au-
tonomy in managing their re-
sources, under the premise that
LGUs are in a better position to
address the basic needs of their
constituents and can therefore
deliver better services.
The Supreme Court, in the
Mandanas Garcia case, ruled
that all collections of national
taxes, except those accruing to
special purpose funds and spe-
cial allotments for the utilization
and development of the national
wealth, should be included in the
computation of the base of the
just share of the LGUs. ■
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 2023
House goes into Lenten break;
23 of 31 PBBM priority bills OK’d
BY JOSE CIELITO
REGANIT
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The House of
Representatives has already
approved on the third and final
reading 23 of 31 bills listed by
the Legislative-Executive De-
velopment Advisory Council
(LEDAC) as priority under the
Marcos administration, Speak-
er Ferdinand Martin G. Ro-
mualdez on Wednesday.
This, as Congress takes a
Holy Week break from March
25 to May 8.
Romualdez said 31 LEDAC pri-
ority measures, collectively called
the Common Legislative Agenda
(CLA) of Malacañang, Senate and
the House of Representatives,
were drawn up from dozens of
legislative measures filed in Con-
gress since the start of the 19th
Congress in July last year.
The priority bills, he said, aim
to further stimulate economic
activities, create job opportu-
nities, reduce poverty and pro-
vide better health care services
for Filipinos.
Romualdez said out of the
23 measures approved by the
House, two had been signed
into law by President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. while the
remaining eight bills in the LE-
DAC priority list are under ad-
vanced stages of deliberation.
“We have done our share in
passing important pieces of leg-
islation that will help the coun-
try recover from the crippling
impact of the Covid-19 pandem-
ic and external shocks that ad-
versely affect the economy and
the nation,” he said. “That was
our commitment during the se-
ries of meetings at LEDAC. That
is our continuing commitment
to the Filipino people.”
The LEDAC’s priority mea-
sures were also among those
enumerated by Marcos in his
first State of the Nation Ad-
dress (SONA) in July last year,
Romualdez said.
“We have responded posi-
tively to the President’s call for
legislation that would hasten
the country’s recovery from the
pandemic, sustain our econom-
ic growth, and implement his
Agenda for Prosperity,” he said.
The two bills already signed
into law are the mobile phone
SIM (subscriber information
module) Registration Act and the
measure postponing the baran-
gay and Sangguniang Kabataan
elections to October this year.
Romualdez said the 20 LE-
DAC-endorsed bills approved on
third and final reading were al-
ready transmitted to the Senate.
These are: Magna Carta of
Seafarers; E-Governance Act
/ E-Government Act; Negros
Island Region; Virology Insti-
tute of the Philippines; Passive
Income and Financial Inter-
mediary Taxation (PIFITA)
Act; National Disease Preven-
tion Management Authority
or Center for Disease Control
and Prevention; Medical Re-
serve Corps; Philippine Pass-
port Act; Internet Transaction
Act /E-Commerce Law; and
Waste-to-Energy Bill.
Also included are the Free
Legal Assistance for Police and
Soldiers; Apprenticeship Act;
Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)
Law; Magna Carta of Baran-
gay Health Workers; Valuation
Reform; Eastern Visayas De-
velopment Authority; Leyte
Ecological Industrial Zone;
Government Financial Insti-
tutions Unified Initiatives to
Distressed Enterprises for Eco-
nomic Recovery; National Citi-
zens Service Training Program;
and Rightsizing the National
Government.
He said another LEDAC pri-
ority measure, the Agrarian Re-
form Debts Condonation Bill, is
now for bicameral conference
committee approval.
The remaining eight out of 31
priority bills remains pending in
the House. These are Regional
Specialty Hospitals (for second
reading approval); Enabling
Law for the Natural Gas Indus-
try (under technical working
group or TWG deliberation);
National Land Use Act (TWG);
Department of Water Resourc-
es and Services and Creation of
Water Regulatory Commission
(TWG); Electric Power Indus-
try Reform Act (for committee
deliberation); Budget Modern-
ization (for committee delibera-
tion); National Defense Act (for
committee deliberation); and
Unified System of Separation,
Retirement and Pension for
Uniformed Personnel (also for
committee deliberation).
Aside from the 31 measures
in the LEDAC list, Romualdez
said House committee chair-
persons and committee mem-
bers have identified 21 mea-
sures that they wanted to be
given priority.
“We are working double time
to pass the remaining eight
LEDAC measures and our own
priority bills. We are confident
of approving them on third and
final reading before the sine die
break,” Romualdez said.
The 21 House priority mea-
sures include 10 for LEDAC en-
dorsement, four of which -- the
Maharlika Investment Fund
bill, Ease of Paying Taxes Act,
LGU Income Classification and
Amendment to Universal Health
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
Care Act -- have been approved
on third and final reading.
The House priority list in-
cludes Resolution of Both Hous-
es (RBH) No. 6, which calls for
a constitutional convention to
amend “restrictive” economic
provisions of the Charter, which
would enable the country to at-
tract more foreign investments,
and its implementing measure,
HB 7352. Both have been ap-
proved on the third and final
reading on March 14.
Romualdez said two of the
more promising initiatives of
the House are the Maharlika
Investment Fund (MIF) pro-
posal, and the efforts to amend
the economic provisions of our
existing Constitution through a
constitutional convention.
The other House priorities
that have been approved on
third and final reading were the:
On-Site, In-City Near City Lo-
cal Government Resettlement
Program; Open Access in Data
Transmission; Online Registra-
tion of Voters; Amendments to
the Philippine Crop Insurance
Corporation Charter; and Man-
(HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PHILIPPINES/FACEBOOK)
7
datory Establishment of Evac-
uation Centers in Every City,
Province, Municipality/Per-
manent Evacuation Centers;
and Local Government Income
Classification.
The House is also scheduled to
ratify Wednesday the bicameral
conference committee report on
the AFP Fixed Term Law, which
is also a House priority.
The other priority measures of
the House are the Government
Procurement Act (TWG); the
Department of Resilience (com-
mittee level); and the Livestock
Development and Competitive-
ness Bill (committee level).
Several other measures - Re-
vitalizing Salt Industry; Phil-
ippine Ecosystem and Natural
Capital Accounting System;
Bureau of Immigration Mod-
ernization; National Employ-
ment Action Plan; Amendment
to the Anti-Agricultural Smug-
gling Act; and Infrastructure
Development Plan/Build Build
Build Program - are for LEDAC
inclusion and undergoing com-
mittee deliberations. ■
8 Philippine News
Correspondent/Hosts
Arianne Grace Lacanilao
Matte Laurel
Violeta Arevalo
Babes Newland
Graphic Design
Shanice Garcia
Ginno Alcantara
Arlnie Colleene Talain Singca
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Alan Yong
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Member
Bill allowing married women to
retain maiden name gets House nod
BY FILANE MIKEE CERVANTES,
JOSE CIELITO REGANIT
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Speaker Ferdinand Mar-
tin Romualdez on Tuesday said the final
reading approval of a measure allowing
married women to retain their maiden
surnames is a “relevant and timely” move
to prove the commitment of the House of
Representatives to promoting equality of
men and women before the law.
“It is not enough that our jurispru-
dence says that a married woman has
an option, but not a duty, to use the sur-
name of the husband. It is important
that we institutionalize that they can
decide to retain both their maiden name
and surname,” Romualdez said.
With an overwhelming 277 votes, the
chamber approved on the third reading
House Bill 4605, which seeks to amend
a portion of the country’s 72-year-old
New Civil Code (NCC).
The bill seeks to uphold the right of
married women to retain their maiden
surnames even after marriage and pro-
vide them with options in the surname
that they may use.
Under the current version of Article
370 of Title XIII, Book III of the Republic
Act No. 386, as amended, a married wom-
an has three options: use her maiden first
name and surname and add her husband’s
surname; use her maiden first name and
her husband’s surname; or use her hus-
band’s full name then prefix a word indi-
cating that she is his wife, such as “Mrs.”.
The proposed Article 370 under HB
4605 introduces a fourth option retaining
the maiden first name and surname, in oth-
er words, a married woman may choose not
to introduce any change to her name.
The bill is principally co-authored
Warmer days ahead as ‘amihan’
season ends
BY MA. CRISTINA ARAYATA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The country could expect
warmer days until May as the northeast
monsoon or “amihan” season ends, the
weather bureau said Tuesday.
In a statement, Philippine Atmospher-
ic, Geophysical and Astronomical Services
Administration (PAGASA) administrator
Vicente Malano said warmer tempera-
www.canadianinquirer.net
by Manila Representative Edward Vera
Maceda, Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas,
San Juan City Rep. Ysabel Zamora, Leyte
Rep. Juliet Marie Veloso-Tuazon, Negros
Occidental Rep. Juliet Ferrer, Eastern
Samar Rep. Maria Fe Abunda, Pampanga
Rep. Aurelio Gonzales, Leyte Rep. Loli-
ta Javier, Zamboanga City Rep. Mannix
Dalipe and ACT-CIS Rep. Jocelyn Tulfo.
Collateral-free loan bill
Meanwhile, the House also approved on
the third and final reading a measure seek-
ing to establish a sustainable and collat-
eral-free financing program for the coun-
try’s micro and small enterprises (MSEs).
Voting 278-0 with no abstentions,
lawmakers overwhelmingly approved
House Bill No. 7363, or the “Pondo sa
Pagbabago at Pag-Asenso Act,” which
aims to provide an affordable, accessible
and simple financing program for MSEs,
especially those in the poorest popula-
tions and underserved areas.
“We believe this measure will greatly
help our struggling MSEs still reeling
from the effects of the pandemic, who
often turn to unscrupulous loan sharks
who charged excessive interests for
loans,” Romualdez said.
tures are likely in the coming months.
Rainfall across the country will be in-
fluenced mostly by the easterlies and lo-
calized thunderstorms, he added.
“Recent analyses indicate a retreat
of the high pressure area over Sibe-
ria, which resulted in the weakening of
northeasterly winds and an increase in
the air temperature over most parts of
the country. Furthermore, the strength-
ening of the North Pacific High has led to
a gradual shift in the wind pattern from
MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY
“As MSEs employ millions of Filipi-
nos, they need to grow in numbers to
employ more workers. This measure
seeks to enhance the entrepreneurial
spirit of the Filipino by taking out two
of their worries, which are high-interest
rates on MSE loans and putting up col-
lateral for financing,” he added.
HB 7363 also seeks to provide a better
alternative to the informal lenders or the
so-called “5-6” money lending system
availed of by micro enterprises; bring
down the interest rate at which financial
services is made available to MSEs; and
boost development of entrepreneurship,
particularly in the MSE sector.
The measure mandates the creation
of the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asen-
so (P3) Fund, “which shall be lent out to
qualified MSEs under such terms and
conditions that will meet the purposes
of this Act.”
The P3 Fund shall be accessible
through the Small Business Corpora-
tion (SB Corp.) and accredited partner
financial institutions (PFIs) such as
rural banks, thrift banks, development
❱❱ PAGE 14 Bill allowing married
northeasterly to easterly. These signify
the end of the northeast monsoon (ami-
han) and the beginning of the warm and
dry season, which is expected to last un-
til May,” the statement read.
PAGASA urges the public to take precau-
tionary measures to minimize heat stress
and to optimize the daily use of water for
personal and domestic consumption.
In a public briefing, PAGASA assistant
❱❱ PAGE 15 Warmer days ahead
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 2023
Declining naturalizations signal larger
problems in Canada’s citizenship and
immigration system
BY JOHN CARLAW, Toronto
Metropolitan University
The Conversation
A recent press release from the
Institute for Canadian Citizen-
ship that cites Statistics Canada
data has highlighted concerns
over a 40 per cent reduction in
Canada’s “naturalization rate” —
the rate at which permanent res-
idents are becoming citizens.
The release, headlined New-
comers falling out of love
with Canadian citizenship
generated a number of oth-
er media headlines.
Concerns over how and
whether those living and
working in Canada are attain-
ing citizenship and important
rights — including to vote and
run for office — are of course
well placed. But love of coun-
try by immigrants is not the
primary problem.
Individual choices and
sentiments are a relevant
factor, but there are observ-
able structural explanations.
Beyond Canada’s control, not
all countries permit dual citi-
zenship. That includes major
source countries China and
India where many immigrants
to Canada are from. It is un-
derstandable that some perma-
nent residents prefer not to re-
nounce the citizenship of their
country of origin.
But within Canada’s control,
there are troubling shifts in
our overall citizenship and im-
migration model. Inequalities
connected to its colonial nature
have left growing numbers of
residents without citizenship
or even a pathway to it.
Annual immigration levels,
for example, only represent
those accepted as permanent
residents and obscure the num-
ber of those admitted to Canada
under less secure conditions.
Canada News
This has occurred thanks to
under-discussed but at times
controversial shifts from per-
manent to temporary or multi-
step migration.
These shifts can be obscured
by focusing primarily on the
naturalization process and the
sentiments some attach to it
rather than the larger settler
colonial landscape of migration
and immigration and its rela-
tionship to citizenship and be-
longing at each stage.
... love of country by
immigrants is not the
primary problem.
Unkept promises and un-
learned lessons
In recent years, Canada has
apologized for past discrimi-
natory immigration measures
and its treatment of Indigenous
Peoples. And there have been
recent symbolic advances rec-
ognizing First Nations, Inuit
and Métis communities and Ca-
nadians’ treaty responsibilities
in the citizenship oath.
However, social exclusions in
modern forms related to the proj-
ect of Canadian nation-building,
citizenship and belonging per-
sist. They are even intensifying
in important respects.
A recent report from the Yel-
lowhead Institute found that, de-
spite an expressed commitment
to fully implement the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission’s
94 Calls to Action, the Federal
government has only fulfilled 13,
with those providing symbolic
9
rather than structural remedies. become “permanently tempo- As economist Armine Yalni-
This example is indicative of rary” despite ongoing demands zyan recently noted, today for
why many Indigenous people for their labour. each person granted the secu-
— themselves denied the vote Today, Canada’s political insti- rity of permanent residence,
for much of Canada’s history — tutions are still disproportion- there are two migrant workers
understandably view Canadian ately composed of men of pri- or international students who
citizenship as, at best, a “kinder, marily European descent. And have uncertain or no access to
gentler form of colonialism.” they continue to set and enforce permanent status.
These realities also remind us problematic terms of citizenship This could prove an obsta-
that the terms and hierarchies of and societal membership. cle to attracting and retaining
citizenship and societal member- Today’s more difficult path- workers. When it comes to
ship in Canada shift over time. ways to citizenship citizenship and societal mem-
They are subject to social struggle. Today’s immigrants — who bership, it hinders inclusion by
And apologies and symbolic ad- mostly come from the Global creating an exploitable class of
vancements do not relegate South — face a system of com- workers who lack full political
mistreatment to the past. plex chutes and ladders when it and social rights.
Hierarchies of belong- comes to their status in Canada. In the face of these realities,
ing persist That system leads many mi- many migrants, students and
“White Canada” immi- grants to remain stuck in an im- workers are mobilizing to address
gration policies that fa- migration purgatory, far away these exclusions. This includes
voured European immi- from pathways to permanent protests in several cities demand-
grants and largely excluded residence, let alone citizenship. ing “status for all” to mark the In-
those from elsewhere were Even those often character- ternational Day for the Elimina-
in place until the 1960s. ized as the perfect immigrants tion of Racial Discrimination.
These entrenched insti- — international students who To return to the later stages of
tutional and demographic pay vast sums that subsidize the process of becoming Canadi-
dominance by white set- our post-secondary education an by adopting citizenship, under
tlers. Europeans immigrat- system — face limited and pre- the former Conservative govern-
ing to Canada in earlier carious pathways to permanent
periods had ready access to per- residence and citizenship. ❱❱ PAGE 15 Declining naturalizations
manent residence and eventu-
al citizenship, unlike many of
their contemporary racialized
counterparts.
Institutional racism contin-
ues to be felt in the country’s
immigration system and polit-
ical life as tiers of citizenship
and belonging continue to be
practiced in old and new forms.
Canada adopted official mul-
ticulturalism in 1971, yet two
years later it entrenched migrant
worker programs, primarily
for racialized workers from the
Global South. As with past exclu-
sions, these workers still have to
navigate programs and realities
that prevent or make it difficult
for them to access permanent
residence and citizenship.
This is particularly the case
for those working in what are
deemed to be “low skill” po-
sitions. Many such workers
www.canadianinquirer.net
10
The erosion of learning and Nova Scotia’s
lacklustre response
BY PAUL W. BENNETT
Policy Options
The pandemic is not entirely
to blame for the province’s latest
poor test scores. What is over-
due is an independent agency to
assess student progress.
The worst-kept education-
al secret is leaking out. Most
Canadian K-12 students in all
provinces suffered setbacks
during the pandemic. The lat-
est province to report on the
decline in student test scores
is Nova Scotia, widely consid-
ered a bellwether for national
trends. Right on forecast, that
province’s students performed
dismally on the latest 2021-22
battery of results. Alarming
student test score numbers in
reading, writing and mathemat-
ics generated considerable me-
dia attention, but it remains to
be seen whether they will light
a fire under the gatekeepers of
the provincial schoolhouse.
Nova Scotia’s Department
of Education and Early Child-
hood Development (DEECD)
provides a measure of trans-
parency but little accountabil-
ity. Without an independent
provincial student assessment
agency, such as Ontario’s EQAO
(Education Quality and Ac-
countability Office), the depart-
ment simply posts standard
template reports based upon
provincial test student scores.
Provincial aggregate data from
testing appears online without
any policy responses. Falling
literacy and math scores regu-
larly elicit no official comment.
The latest post-pandemic pro-
vincial results could not be sim-
ply ignored because they shook
public confidence in the system.
One in three Grade 3 students
(32 per cent) cannot read with
comprehension, and half of those
students cannot write properly.
It doesn’t get better by Grade 6
in reading or mathematics. As
well, two out of five students in
Grade 10 fail to meet acceptable
standards in mathematics. This
is not new, just worse because of
pandemic-related school shut-
downs, periodic interruptions
and absenteeism.
Signs of flagging student prog-
ress are everywhere in elemen-
Canada News
tary school classrooms. Students
are still guessing at words while
reading in the early grades. Most
elementary kids are rarely asked
to write more than a sentence or
two. Left on their own to master
mathematics, students’ skills
have eroded to an alarming de-
gree. Getting kids to turn off their
cellphones saps a lot of energy.
Confronting the hard data on
the downward spiral, N.S. Edu-
cation Minister Becky Druhan
was quick to blame the pan-
demic. Once the abysmal post-
COVID student test scores were
posted and the pandemic was
offered up as the explanation, a
reactive plan materialized out
of thin air two days later. Upon
close examination, the plan was
put together without any evi-
dence of deep analysis of long-
term trends. A proposed literacy
reform framework, delayed for
months, appeared as part of it.
Reading and writing skills
have been in steady decline for
a decade or more. Some 68 per
cent of Grade 3 students in 2021-
22 met minimum standards in
reading, down eight percent-
age points from 76 per cent in
2012-13. Student writing stan-
dards results in Grade 3 have
deteriorated significantly in all
aspects of writing proficiency
(ideas, from 88 per cent to 50
per cent; organization, from 80
per cent to 38 per cent; language
use, from 83 per cent to 43 per
cent; and conventions, from 71
per cent to 32 per cent). Two out
of three Grade 3s are familiar
with Snapchat but exhibit little
proficiency in grammar or spell-
ing, and most can barely write a
complete sentence.
Student proficiency by Grade
6 is critical because, as the 2022
World Bank report on pandem-
ic global learning loss claimed,
students unable to read by the
age of 10 are considered to be
living in “learning poverty.”
Until recently, that problem
seemed far removed from the
lives of Nova Scotian and Cana-
dian children.
Sixty per cent of the world’s
low-income and middle-in-
come countries are now clas-
sified as “learning poor” – put-
ting their children’s future in
jeopardy and their lives at risk.
In Canada, the World Bank es-
timates that from 4.3 per cent
to 8.3 per cent of 10-year-olds
in Canada qualify as “learning
poor.” It’s much higher in Nova
Scotia, where 29 per cent of our
10-year-olds (in Grade 6) lack
basic proficiency in reading.
Math standards tend to fly be-
low the radar in Nova Scotia, and
the Education Department is
culpable. Thirty per cent of stu-
dents in Grade 3 lack proficiency
in math skills, but it’s impossible
to track past trends. Shifting the
tests from Grade 3 to Grade 4 and
back again since 2011-12 deprived
us of comparable data. It’s not as
concealed in Grade 6 where stu-
dent scores have dropped from
73 per cent (2012-13) to 64 per
cent a year ago. One-third of
Grade 6 students fall below pro-
vincial math standards.
Buried in the latest batch of
published results are “disaggre-
gated” student test results for
two groups of students, those of
African heritage and Indigenous
ancestry. That reflects the de-
partment’s recent focus on sup-
porting students and improving
results among those in racialized
and marginalized communities.
While it’s been a major prior-
ity, the pandemic disruption has
wiped out previous gains. Grade
3 reading scores for African-No-
va Scotian students held firm
with 57 per cent meeting stan-
dards, although that’s 12 percent-
age points below the provincial
average score. Writing remains a
serious problem with fewer than
half of the cohort of 695 students
meeting expectations.
A similar sized cohort of
www.canadianinquirer.net
Mi’kmaw/Indigenous students
in Grade 3 suffered similar set-
backs during the pandemic. In
high school, African-Nova Sco-
tian and Indigenous students
at the Grade 10 level performed
far better in reading than in
mathematics, where both co-
horts of students have lost sig-
nificant ground in comparison
with their peers.
Druhan and her department
fumbled the ball during the
pandemic disruption. Can-
celling school for a total of 22
weeks between March 2020
and June 2021 put students and
teachers in a vulnerable posi-
tion. The “six pillars” frame-
work, which surfaced publicly
in the immediate aftermath of
the disastrous scores, was not
new. In fact, it was a delayed re-
sponse to the pivotal February
2022 Ontario Human Rights
Commission (OHRC) Right
to Read public inquiry report,
which rejected two pillars of
the Nova Scotia program – bal-
anced “levelled language litera-
cy” and reading recovery.
The province was very slow to
react to the OHRC report, even
though one of the two senior ac-
ademic advisors on the OHRC
report, Jamie Metsala, is based
at Mount Saint Vincent Univer-
sity in Halifax. Sweeping changes
involving putting more emphasis
on structured literacy and pho-
nics are not only well underway
in Ontario and Alberta but be-
ing implemented in elementary
schools in New Brunswick. Yet
Nova Scotia remains slow to act.
Conventional reading and
MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY
writing strategies, including
balanced or levelled literacy
and reading recovery remain in
place, despite being rejected by
Ontario and other provinces. In-
stead, the just-announced “new
plan” for early reading is little
more than a framework and, ac-
cording to Metsala, does not go
nearly far enough in embracing
structured literacy. In addition,
by keeping the “six pillars” un-
der wraps for months, it’s only
now being introduced to teach-
ers, delaying implementation
for another full year.
No provincial education de-
partment should be entrusted
with generating its own report
card on learning loss during the
pandemic. Ontario’s EQAO may
not be perfect but it’s better
than what exists elsewhere. In
the case of Nova Scotia, estab-
lishing a student progress as-
sessment agency is now critical.
Learning erosion has worsened
since January 2018, when Avis
Glaze originally recommended
creating such an agency.
Delaying the release of student
test data, resisting evidence-based
policymaking and minimizing the
pandemic’s impact may be the last
straw for Nova Scotia parents and
citizens. It’s time for more public
accountability and action plans
in genuinely responsive school
systems informed by the best ev-
idence gathered through student
assessment. ■
This article first appeared
on Policy Options and is repub-
lished here under a Creative
Commons license.
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 2023
Sex workers are left out in the cold by
Ottawa’s unjust conviction amendments
BY STEVEN MAYNARD,
Queen’s University, Ontario,
GARY KINSMAN, Laurentian
University, PATRIZIA
GENTILE, Carleton
University, TOM HOOPER,
York University, Canada
The Conversation
The federal government re-
cently announced its intention
to amend the Expungement of
Historically Unjust Convictions
Act to expand the list of offenc-
es Canadians can apply to have
struck from their criminal re-
cords. The list now includes
abortion-related offences and
indecent acts in a bawdy house.
We are a group of gay and
lesbian historians who study
the criminalization of queer
communities in Canada. While
we applaud changes that allow
women and abortion providers
to apply to have their records ex-
punged, we question the partial
and historically faulty way the
government has added bawdy-
house offences to the act.
Sex workers charged with
bawdy-house offences, for exam-
ple, remain excluded from access-
ing the expungement process.
In other words, if a bawdy-
house conviction was only about
indecency, people can now apply
to have their records expunged.
But if there are any allegations
of sex work related to their con-
victions, they cannot.
However, police often alleged
both indecency and sex work
were taking place inside the
bawdy houses.
And so in the government’s
view, bawdy-house laws may
now be historically unjust, but
only for some.
Flawed act, limited uptake
In 2018, the federal govern-
ment passed Bill C-66, which
established a process to ex-
punge the records for those
who had been convicted of his-
torically unjust offences. This
was part of Prime Minister Jus-
tin Trudeau’s apology to queer
people in Canada.
During debate on the bill,
we argued that it failed to fully
carry out the prime minister’s
apology because it included only
two offences — buggery/anal in-
tercourse and gross indecency,
a small fraction of the Criminal
Code provisions that have his-
torically targeted queer people.
It left out bawdy-house laws,
indecency, vagrancy and crimi-
nalization for HIV non-disclo-
sure. We also argued the appli-
cation process was too onerous.
Turns out, we were right. In
the first three years of the act, a
paltry nine expungements were
granted. This represents an ex-
ceedingly small number of those
who have been unjustly charged.
According to updated Parole
Board information recently
emailed to us, the Record Sus-
pension Division has received 70
applications for expungement,
with still only nine granted. Sixty
applications have been refused,
primarily because the convic-
tions were not on the list of eligi-
ble offences for expungement.
History of criminalization
The recent changes amend
Bill C-66 to broaden the range of
expungable offences by adding,
in addition to abortion, “inde-
cent acts” committed in bawdy
houses. This is possible because
the bawdy-house law was re-
pealed in June 2019, something
we argued for at the time.
Why, then, has it taken the
government so long to add this to
the list of expungable offences?
The government decision to
specifically exclude sex workers
from expungement ignores the
fact that in 2013, the Supreme
Court of Canada struck down
the bawdy house law in relation
to sex work. It’s also a serious
misunderstanding of how mar-
ginalized sexual and gender
communities have been crimi-
nalized and policed historically.
In 1917, the Criminal Code
definition of a bawdy house was
expanded to encompass not
just prostitution but also oth-
er “indecent acts.” This set the
stage for the police to use the
bawdy-house law to both pun-
ish sex workers and arrest men
caught up in bathhouse raids.
Despite the long historical
overlap in the policing of sex
workers and gay men, the gov-
ernment is making a distinction
between the indecency clause
of the bawdy-house law and the
parts of the law that pertained to
the exchange of sex for money.
As historians, we have a deep
appreciation for the historical
links in the policing and crimi-
nalizing of sex workers and gay
www.canadianinquirer.net
Canada News
men. This shared history in-
forms our criticism of the gov-
ernment’s attempt to single out
gay men as worthy of expunge-
ment while leaving sex workers
out in the cold.
New divisions, old problems
Because the arrest records of
men charged with indecent acts
in a bawdy house often include po-
lice allegations of sex work in their
records, their applications for ex-
pungement would be ineligible.
This sets up another divi-
sion between the deserving and
undeserving — between men
whose historically unjust con-
viction makes no reference to
sex work and those whose re-
cords do, accurately or not.
In addition, those wishing to
clear a record of “indecency”
must prove the indecent act
took place in a bawdy house.
However, the vast majority of
indecency convictions stem
from police entrapment of men
in public parks and washrooms.
Even though men take great
care to construct privacy for
themselves so as not to bother
11
others, none would qualify for
an expungement because the
indecency took place in “pub-
lic” and not in a bawdy house.
The government’s very nar-
row definition of indecency
fails to include most people
charged with this offence.
On top of these newly created
problems with the Expungement
Act, many obstacles in the exist-
ing process remain. For example,
people who were convicted but
received a discharge at sentencing
are not eligible for expungement,
despite the fact their records con-
tinue to hang over them.
What’s more, all the onerous
requirements of the expunge-
ment application, which place
the burden of proof on the ap-
plicant, also remain.
Justice for all
Back in 2018, the Senate
Committee on Human Rights
urged that as soon as the Ex-
pungement Act was passed,
the government should consult
with community members and
experts to review remaining
discriminatory historical laws.
The committee specified “pros-
titution-related offences.”
Five years later, the govern-
ment has still not consulted
with those who know this his-
tory best. Instead, it introduced
changes that are historically
unfounded, extremely limited
in scope and seek to divide sex-
ual and gender communities.
As historians of sexuality, we
argue that the historical record
supports sex workers’ organi-
zations and their demand that
the government include bawdy-
house convictions related to
prostitution in expungement
legislation. These convictions
disproportionately affect wom-
❱❱ PAGE 30 Sex workers are
12 MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY

World News
Why the International Criminal Court’s
indictment of Putin has symbolic importance
BY JAMES HORNCASTLE, this case Russia and Putin — but fact that the ICC succeeded in dictments that did not threaten, Leaders in these countries are
Simon Fraser University also far beyond their borders. pressing charges during an on- or indeed advanced, its interests. significantly more vulnerable
The Conversation A week of symbolic actions going conflict speaks to the or- Relations have improved in to outside pressure than Putin.
There are two levels of sym- ganization’s desire to act. recent years. First under former Unlike Russia, most other states
bolism in the ICC’s decision. The ICC and the United president Barack Obama, and lack the nuclear and other stra-
The International Criminal The first is its immediate im- States then — after a four-year interlude tegic weapons needed to ignore
Court (ICC) has issued an arrest pact on Ukraine itself. The ICC, like most interna- — once again with President Joe outside pressure. Given the abil-
warrant for Russian President As both sides prepare for tional organizations, is only ef- Biden, the U.S. has been actively ity of the international commu-
Vladimir Putin. Ukraine and what most analysts believe fective if nations take it seriously. collaborating with the ICC. nity to apply pressure in these
its supporters had been calling will be intensive fighting in the Shortly after the war began, 39 While the U.S. has some res- instances, the ICC’s tough stance
for charges against Putin since spring, symbolic acts can influ- states pushed for the ICC to in- ervations about the ICC, spe- against Putin reeks of hypocrisy.
the outset of Russia’s February ence morale, both positively vestigate war crimes in Ukraine. cifically its stance on Israel, it Critics point to that hypocri-
2022 invasion of Ukraine. and negatively. The ICC’s deci- Almost all these states were does work with it when their sy as illustrating the weakness
Even so, the fact that the ICC sion will almost assuredly have allies of Ukraine and the United interests align. of the organization. Given the
— a permanent judi- States. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine need for the ICC to maintain the
cial body that inves- The American is certainly one instance, even support of powerful countries
tigates, prosecutes relationship with though the Pentagon has been like the United States, however,
and tries people the ICC has, at best, accused of failing to share intel- selectivity is and will remain a
accused of geno- been spotty. The U.S. ligence with the ICC. key feature of the organization.
cide, war crimes and is not a party to the The ICC, the United States Putin’s indictment will there-
crimes against hu- ... the charges are significantly Rome Statute, the and its supporters are unlikely to fore have minimal direct impact
manity — issued the less than what Ukraine and its founding document bring Putin to justice. The strate- on him, but it will offer some com-
charges at all comes of the ICC. The U.S. gic military capabilities of Rus- fort to Ukrainians as they contin-
as a surprise. supporters demanded. relationship with the sia’s armed forces make such a ue to fight against the Russians.
It should be not- ICC, furthermore, task a virtual impossibility. They It also signals that despite
ed, however, that got off to a rocky can, however, signal that such ac- Xi’s visit to Russia, the influ-
the charges are sig- start due to the de- tions have consequences — and ence of the U.S. and its allies in
nificantly less than sire of some groups that the world is watching. international relations remains
what Ukraine and to see the Americans Hypocrisy or reality? strong — even if it’s applied in a
its supporters demanded. Pu- a positive impact on the morale and the British for their actions There are other ongoing con- selective manner. ■
tin is not being charged for the of Ukraine and its supporters. during the invasion of Iraq. flicts in the world, including
crime of aggression, among oth- Coincidentally, the ICC’s Even during these periods, in Yemen and Nigeria, where This article is republished
ers. Instead, he’s facing charges decision came days after Chi- however, the American govern- crimes similar to Putin’s alleged from The Conversation under a
for the unlawful deportation na announced that Xi Jinping ment supported war crime in- crimes have taken place. Creative Commons license.
of children and other civilians would visit Russia for the first
from occupied Ukraine. time since the Russia-Ukraine
Almost immediately, two war began.
camps emerged in the after- Xi’s three-day visit is a major
math of the ICC’s decision. The victory for Russia, as it’s help-
first emphasizes the impor- ing dispel claims by the United
tance of the decision, and its States and its allies that Russia
potential significance in hold- is isolated. The ICC’s decision,
ing Putin accountable. in short, balances the ledger in
The second emphasizes that terms of symbolic acts. While
Putin will likely never face his the decision was reached inde-
day in court. pendently of Xi’s visit, its tim-
Both are simultaneously ing is critical.
correct yet wrong. Those who But ICC’s decision is symbol-
question the decision are cor- ic, however, beyond the Rus-
rect in that it is highly unlike- sia-Ukraine war.
ly that Putin will ever be tried Both academics and politicians
in court. They are, however, have questioned the ICC’s resolve
wrong in arguing there’s no val- and ability in recent years.
ue in this symbolic act. While it’s prosecuted sev-
Symbolic actions can have a eral war criminals in the past
profound effect on states. This is decade, the charges typically
true not only for the immediate occur a considerable time af-
state or individual affected — in ter the events in question. The President of Russia Vladimir Putin (KREMLIN.RU/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, CC BY 4.0)
www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 2023
‘It can be done. It must be done’:
IPCC delivers definitive report on
climate change, and where to now
BY FRANK JOTZO,
Australian National University,
MARK HOWDEN, Australian
National University
The Conversation
The world is in deep trou-
ble on climate change, but if
we really put our shoulder to
the wheel we can turn things
around. Loosely, that’s the es-
sence of today’s report by the
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC).
The IPCC is the world’s official
body for assessment of climate
change. The panel has just re-
leased its Synthesis Report, cap-
ping off seven years of in-depth
assessments on various topics.
The report draws out the key
insights from six previous reports,
written by hundreds of expert au-
thors. They spanned many thou-
sands of pages and were informed
by hundreds of thousands of com-
ments by governments and the
scientific community.
The synthesis report confirms
humans are unequivocally in-
creasing greenhouse gas emis-
sions to record levels. Global
temperatures are now 1.1℃ above
pre-industrial levels. They’re like-
ly to reach 1.5℃ above pre-indus-
trial levels in the early 2030s.
This warming has driven
widespread and rapid global
changes, including sea level rise
and climate extremes – result-
ing in widespread harm to lives,
livelihoods and natural systems.
It’s increasingly clear that
vulnerable people in develop-
ing countries – who have gener-
ally contributed little to green-
house gas emissions – are often
disproportionately affected by
climate change.
Intergenerational inequities
are also likely. A child born now
is likely to suffer, on average,
several times as many climate
extreme events in their lifetime
as their grandparents did.
The world is up the proverbial
creek - but we still have a paddle.
Climate change is worsening,
but we have the means to act.
So much at stake
Over the past week in In-
terlaken, Switzerland, several
hundred representatives from
most of the world’s governments
scrutinised the IPCC report’s
35-page summary. The scrutiny
happens sentence by sentence,
often word by word, and num-
ber by number. Sometimes it’s
subject to intense debate.
We were both involved in this
process. The role of the reports’
authors and IPCC bureau mem-
bers is to stay true to the under-
lying science and chart a way
between different governments’
preferences. It is a unique pro-
cess for scientific documents.
The approval process usually
goes right to the wire, in meet-
ings running through the night.
This Synthesis Report was no
exception. The scheduled time
for the meeting was extended
by two days and nights, wearing
down government representa-
tives and the IPCC teams.
The process reflects how much
is at stake. The IPCC’s assess-
ments are formally adopted by all
governments of the world. That in
turn reverberates in the private
sector – for example, in the deci-
sions of boards of major compa-
nies and investment funds.
The latest on greenhouse
gas emissions
The Synthesis Report con-
firms both emissions and at-
mospheric concentrations of
greenhouse gases are now at
record highs.
To keep warming within 2℃
above pre-industrial levels,
global greenhouse gas emis-
sions must decline by around
21% by 2030 and around 35%
by 2035. Keeping warming be-
low 1.5℃ requires even stron-
ger emissions reduction.
This is a very tall order in
light of emissions trajectories
to date. Annual global emis-
sions in 2019 were 12% higher
than in 2010, and 54% higher
than in 1990.
But success in reducing emis-
sions has been demonstrated.
The IPCC says existing policies,
laws, technologies and measures
the world over are already reduc-
ing emissions by several billion
tonnes of carbon dioxide and oth-
er greenhouse gases, compared to
what would otherwise be the case.
Most importantly, it’s clear
global emissions could be re-
duced deeply if existing policy
instruments were scaled up
and applied broadly. The report
shows large potential for emis-
sions-reduction options across
all parts of the world economy.
Many of these come at low
cost. And many bring side ben-
efits, such as reduced air pollu-
tion. If all technically available
options were used, global emis-
sions could be at least halved by
2030, at manageable costs.
As today’s report states, the
global economic benefit of lim-
iting warming to 2℃ exceeds
the costs of emissions reduc-
tion. That’s without even tak-
ing into account the avoided
damages of climate change or
the side benefits that sensible
action could generate.
We have the collective expe-
rience to turn the corner. As the
report spells out, a great many
regulatory and economic poli-
cy instruments have been used
successfully. And we know how
to design climate policies to
make sure they’re politically ac-
ceptable and do not disadvan-
tage the poorer parts of society.
The report also draws out the
importance of good institutions
for climate change governance
– such as laws and independent
bodies – and for all groups in soci-
ety to be meaningfully involved.
Adaptation falls short
Rapid action on climate
change is the economically
sensible thing to do. If we fail
to rein in emissions, adapting
to the damage it causes will be
more difficult and expensive in
future. What’s more, our exist-
ing adaptation options will be-
come less effective.
Every increment of warming
will intensify climate-related
hazards such as floods, droughts,
heatwaves, fires and cyclones.
Often, two or more hazards will
occur at the same time.
Unfortunately, overall global
adaptation has not kept up with
the pace and degree of increas-
ing impacts from climate change.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Canada News
Most responses have been frag-
mented, incremental and con-
fined to a specific sector of the
economy. And most are unequal-
ly distributed across regions and
vary in their effectiveness.
The barriers to more effective
adaptation responses are well-
known. Chief among them is a
widening gap between costs of
adaptation and allocated finance.
We can, and should, do a lot better.
As today’s IPCC report con-
firms, there are ways to make
adaptation more effective.
More investment in research
and development is needed.
So too is a focus on long-term
planning as well as inclusive,
equitable approaches that bring
together diverse knowledge.
Many adaptation options
bring significant side benefits.
Better home insulation, for in-
stance, can help us deal with ex-
treme weather as well as reduce
heating and cooling costs and re-
lated greenhouse gas emissions.
Moving people off flood-
prone areas and returning these
areas to more natural systems
can reduce flood risk, increase
biodiversity and store carbon
dioxide in plants and soil.
And climate adaptation pol-
icies that prioritise social jus-
tice, equity and a “just tran-
sition” can also help achieve
other global ambitions, such as
the United Nations Sustainable
13
Development Goals.
We can close the gap
On both climate change mit-
igation and adaptation, a mas-
sive gap remains between what’s
needed and what’s being done.
Countries’ current climate
commitments do not add up
to the shared ambition to keep
temperature rise to below 2℃.
And for many countries, current
trajectories of emissions would
also overshoot their targets.
What’s more, current total
investments in low-emissions
technology and systems is three
to six times lower than what
would be needed to keep tem-
peratures to 1.5℃ or 2℃, ac-
cording to modelling.
Likewise, on the whole not
nearly enough effort is being
made to understand, prepare and
implement measures to adapt
to climate changes. The gaps are
generally biggest in developing
countries, which can much less
afford to invest in climate change
action than rich parts of the world.
Developing countries are
calling for large-scale climate
finance to be provided by devel-
oped countries, and this is not
happening to anywhere near
the extent needed.
Predictably, issues of inter-
national equity and justice were
among the thorniest in the ap-
❱❱ PAGE 15 ‘It can be
 14
Why is Australia buying hundreds of missiles?
BY JAMES DWYER,
University of Tasmania
The Conversation
Flying under the radar of
last week’s AUKUS submarine
announcement was the revela-
tion that the United States had
agreed to sell Australia up to
220 Tomahawk cruise missiles.
This follows Australia’s pur-
chase in January of “high mo-
bility artillery rocket systems”,
known as HIMARS, which have
been used by Ukraine on the
battlefield in response to Rus-
sia’s invasion.
And in 2020, the US ap-
proved the sale of up to 200
long-range anti-shipping mis-
siles (LRASM) to Australia.
But what are these missiles,
and what purpose do they serve?
Do they contribute to an
evolving arms race within the
Indo-Pacific?
What are these missiles?
Tomahawks
Tomahawks are long range,
subsonic (that is, slower than
the speed of sound) cruise mis-
siles. They’re designed to strike
targets on land at long-range,
around 1,600km.
Newer Tomahawk variants,
such as those being purchased
by Australia, can also strike
moving targets at sea. These
missiles have been used in com-
bat over 2,300 times.
They will be deployed on
three Australian warships,
known as Hobart class destroy-
ers. These ships are primarily
designed to defend the navy
from aerial threats such as air-
craft and missiles, but adding
Tomahawks would allow them
to strike targets on land or sea.
What’s more, the Virginia
class nuclear-powered subma-
rines Australia is purchasing
from the US under the AUKUS
agreement are also capable of
launching Tomahawks. It’s safe
Bill allowing married..
❰❰ 8 banks, cooperative
banks, cooperatives,
non-stock savings and
loan associations, microfinance
non-government organiza-
tions, or lending companies.
“The SB Corp., the financing
arm of the Department of Trade
World News
to assume Australia’s future
AUKUS class nuclear-powered
submarines will also be able to
deploy Tomahawks.
This would provide Australia
with a potent deterrent. It would
mean Australia could conduct
long-range precision strikes
against potential adversaries, us-
ing a stealthy platform that would
be extremely difficult to detect.
LRASM
Australia’s purchase of long
range anti-shipping missiles
(LRASM) is intended to in-
crease the strike range of two
types of Australia’s fighter jets.
This would allow Australia to
accurately strike hostile ship-
ping at long range.
They will replace Australia’s
ageing Harpoon anti-shipping
missile. They have a range of
about 560km, which is approx-
imately four times greater than
the Harpoon.
This capability is highly de-
sirable given that, in the event
of a regional conflict, the great-
est threat to Australia is a block-
ade of its key trade routes.
HIMARS
Unlike the two missiles dis-
cussed above, high-mobility
artillery rocket systems (HI-
MARS) are artillery systems for
battlefield use. They use rock-
ets instead of shells.
The advantage of rocket artil-
lery such as HIMARS is threefold:
1. It can provide greater range
than “conventional” artillery,
which generally speaking max-
es out around 20-30km. It can
strike targets ranging from
70km-300km away from the
launch point, depending on the
munition used.
2. It’s precise, minimising
collateral damage.
3. It’s highly mobile. Troops
can quickly fire its munitions,
and then promptly relocate,
which decreases an opponent’s
ability to hit it with counterfire.
Why does Australia need
and Industry (DTI), shall be the
lead implementing agency for
the P3 Fund,” the measure reads.
The proposed bill provides the
SB Corp. shall handle the fund
delivery to MSEs through the fol-
lowing modes: Direct lending for
forty percent (40 percent) of the
them?
Australia has had a gap in
long-range strike capabilities,
arguably since it retired the
F-111 long range strike aircraft
in 2010.
The F-111 could fly up to
about 6,000km, but the aircraft
brought in to replace the F-111
have significantly lower rang-
es. The F/A-18F has a range of
2,700km, while the F-35A is
even worse off, with a range of
only 2,200km.
What’s more, these are the
ranges aircraft can fly in a
non-combat environment (for
example, cruising in a straight
line). Their range is far lower in
a combat scenario.
So the addition of long range,
precision strike missiles allow
these platforms to pack greater
punch at longer distances.
In particular, the Tomahawks
and LRASM allow aircraft and
warships to launch the missiles
further from potential danger.
This is particularly important
as countries such as China are
heavily investing in military
systems designed to prevent ac-
cess and freedom of operation
in contested waters such as the
South China Sea, a strategy re-
P3 Fund; and Lending through
accredited PFIs for sixty percent
(60 percent) of the P3 Fund.
“The SB Corp. shall prioritize
lending to underserved and un-
served areas and MSE segments
of the country, subject to the re-
view and approval of the Micro,
www.canadianinquirer.net
ferred to as Anti-Access/Area
Denial, or “A2AD”.
Crucially, these missiles
(within the broader context of
other defence procurements)
offer Australia two things.
Firstly, they provide an in-
creased deterrent in an increas-
ingly turbulent region.
If Australia can hold key tar-
gets under threat, then a poten-
tial adversary is less likely to
undertake a hostile action, or at
the very least think more care-
fully before doing so.
It also facilitates what’s
called “interoperability” with
key allies such as the US, so
Australian and US forces can
operate more easily in a joint
manner if need be.
Secondly, these platforms al-
low Australia to have our own
“A2AD” capabilities. While an
invasion of Australia is extraor-
dinarily unlikely, it’s possible an
adversary may try to block ship-
ping routes to prevent our peo-
ple and/or goods from free nav-
igation (a naval blockade). Or,
they may attempt to close stra-
tegic chokepoints and naviga-
tion routes to Australia’s north,
such as the Malacca Strait.
Having the ability to strike
Small, and Medium Enterprise
Development (MSMED) Coun-
cil,” it added.
The main features of the P3
Fund include low-interest rates
and no collateral requirements
for MSE loans.
“The effective interest rate to
MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY
targets at long range holds
those undertaking such actions
under threat, increasing the
difficulty in sustaining a block-
ade, or making it unappealing
to attempt to do so due to high
potential costs.
Of course, these systems also
come with significant costs. The
purchase of approximately 220
Tomahawks will cost A$1.3 bil-
lion, while 20 HIMARS launchers
and missiles attracts a bill of $558
million. About 200 LRASMs costs
a further $1.47 billion.
Contributing to an arms
race?
There is a question about
whether these purchases con-
tribute to a regional arms race.
There’s no doubt China is rapidly
building its military capabilities,
and this is making other coun-
tries in the region apprehensive
about the long-term purpose of
such an arms build-up.
Even if China held no hostile
intentions within the region,
it’s prudent for states such as
Australia to be able to defend
themselves and their interests,
just in case.
While many are decrying the
enormous outlay for submarine
procurement under AUKUS,
and others are criticising Aus-
tralia for being subservient to
US interests or “warmonger-
ing”, the reality is that all states
maintain offensive and defen-
sive capabilities just in case the
worst happens. In other words,
we hope for the best, but plan
for the worst.
Deterrence is a foundational
concept of international rela-
tions, and these purchases are
Australia maintaining its ability
to deter potential adversaries.
It’s not about warmongering,
but about being ready just in
case the worst occurs. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
be imposed on the loan availed
of by the P3 Fund beneficiaries
shall not exceed one percent per
month for direct lending, and
shall not exceed two and a half
percent per month for lending
through accredited PFIs,” the
measure said. ■
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 2023 15

Warmer days ahead..

❰❰ 8 weather services chief
Chris Perez said the
El Niño phenomenon
was expected to begin by July.
Prior to El Niño, he said PA-
GASA projected near-normal to
above-normal rainfall over dif-
ferent parts of the country.
During this transition period
that coincided with the dry sea-
son, Perez said it was normal to
experience warm and humid
weather.
“But there are still chances
of rains due to thunderstorms,
most likely in the afternoon or
evening,” he said.
PAGASA is not ruling out the
possibility of at least one tropical
cyclone in the country between
March to May, Perez said.
Meanwhile, the Quezon Pro-
vincial Disaster Risk Reduc-
tion and Management Office
(PDRRMO), in a bulletin sent
to the Philippine News Agency
on Tuesday, advised the public
to be cautious against heat ex-
haustion and heat stroke this
summer season.
PDRRMO chief Dr. Melchor
Avenilla advised Quezon resi-
dents to drink more water and al-
ways bring sun shields, especial-
ly during the Holy Week, when
most events are held outdoors.
No storm is forecast in the
coming days, at least until Lent,
he added. (With report from Be-
linda Otordoz/PNA) ■

Declining naturalizations.. ‘It can be..

❰❰ 9 ment, citizenship be-
came harder to get and
easier to lose by design.
Unfortunately, amidst the
last decade’s battles between
more exclusionary Conserva-
tive and rhetorically warmer
Liberal visions of citizenship,
tougher and more expensive
procedures than previously ex-
isted remain under both.
The costs of applying for cit-
izenship increased significant-
ly under the Conservatives,
and have remained prohibitive
for many. The Trudeau gov-
ernment has made some posi-
tive reforms, such as reversing
changes that made it take lon-
ger to become a citizen. But it
has failed to follow through on
its election promises to elimi-
nate citizenship fees.
One recent study argues that
it is likely that fee hikes and
tougher, often expensive lan-
guage requirements negatively
impact a significant number of
applicants.
Even those who have man-
aged to obtain permanent
residency and fulfilled their
residency requirements face
further “boundaries related
to management flaws, classed
naturalization, and cultural
biases.” That means many, par-
ticularly refugee claimants and
family class immigrants, strug-
gle with the citizenship process.
For those who can reach the
end of the process, some find it
distasteful to continue to have
to declare an enforced oath to
a colonial figure, a reminder of
the structures and hierarchies
discussed in this article.
Given this context, the sig-
nificant decline in Canada’s
naturalization rate should be
less surprising, though no less
alarming as Canada continues
to foster and even intensify in-
equalities of societal member-
ship in its citizenship and im-
migration regime. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
❰❰ 13 proval of the Synthe-
sis Report. The final
version of the report
frames the issue not as an irre-
solvable conflict, but as the oppor-
tunity for “shifting development
pathways towards sustainability”.
The vision of most govern-
ments is for all the world to
attain high standards of liv-
ing, but to do so with “climate
neutral” technologies, systems
and patterns of consumption.
And systems must be built so
they’re robust to future climate
change, including the nasty sur-
prises that may come.
It must be done. It can be
done. By and large, we know how
to do it – and it makes economic
sense to do so. In this report, the
governments of the world have
acknowledged as much. ■
Frank Jotzo is a Lead Author
of the IPCC’s latest assessment
report on climate change miti-
gation and member of the core
writing team for the Synthesis
Report. Mark Howden is a Vice
Chair of the IPCC Working
Group on climate impacts and
adaptation and a Review Edi-
tor of the synthesis report. Both
were involved in the government
approval session for the IPCC
Synthesis Report.
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.

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16
Entertainment
Interactive cinema: how films could alter
plotlines in real time by responding
to viewers’ emotions
BY RICHARD RAMCHURN,
University of Nottingham
The Conversation
Most films offer exactly the
same viewing experience. You
sit down, the film starts, the
plot unfolds and you are follow
what’s happening on screen un-
til the story concludes. It’s a lin-
ear experience. My new film, Be-
fore We Disappear – about a pair
of climate activists who seek re-
venge on corporate perpetrators
of global warming – seeks to al-
ter that viewing experience.
What makes my film differ-
ent is that it adapts the story to
fit the viewer’s emotional re-
sponse. Through the use of a
computer camera and software,
the film effectively watches the
audience as they view footage
of climate disasters. Viewers are
implicitly asked to choose a side.
I chose to use this technology
to make a film about the climate
crisis to get people to really think
about what they are willing to
sacrifice for a survivable future.
Storytelling has always been
interactive: traditional oral
storytellers would interact and
respond to their listeners. For
almost a century, film directors
have been experimenting with
interactivity – the past decade
has seen an explosion of inter-
active content.
Streaming services give viewers
the opportunity to choose their
own adventure. However, letting
the viewer control the action has
long posed a challenge: it’s at odds
with narrative immersion, where
the viewer is drawn into the world
created by the story.
One of the most prominent
recent experiments in inter-
active film, Netflix’s Bander-
snatch, clearly illustrates this.
Here the action stops to ask the
user what to do next – breaking
the flow of the story and active-
ly involving the viewer. Solving
this issue of breaking the im-
mersive experience remains a
key question for artists explor-
ing interactive film.
The films I create and direct
take a different route, lever-
aging non-conscious control
to influence a film as the au-
dience watches. My previous
brain-controlled films, The
Moment (2018)and The Disad-
vantages of Time Travel (2014),
used brain computer interfac-
es (BCIs). These systems use
computers to analyse electrical
signals from the brain, allowing
people to effectively control a
device with their minds.
Using this data from the
brain, audiences create a
non-conscious edit of the film
in real time – reinforcing the
films’ respective stories of sci-
ence-fiction dystopia and a
wandering, daydreaming mind.
However, the BCI interface
requires specialised equip-
ment. For Before We Disappear,
I wanted to use a technology
more readily available to audi-
ences, that could allow films to
be shared over the internet.
Controlling the narrative
Before We Disappear uses
an ordinary computer camera
to read emotional cues and in-
struct the real-time edit of the
film. To make this work, we
needed a good understanding
of how people react to films.
We ran several studies explor-
ing the emotions filmmakers in-
tend to evoke and how viewers
visually present emotion when
watching. By using computer vi-
sion and machine learning tech-
niques from our partner BlueS-
keye AI, we analysed viewers’
facial emotions and reactions to
film clips and developed several
algorithms to leverage that data
to control a narrative.
MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY
While we observed that au- Analytica scandal how large or facial expression data should
diences tend not to extensive- amounts of personal informa- not be uploaded or analysed
ly emote when watching a film, tionwere collected from Facebook anywhere but on the player de-
BlueSkeye’s face and emotion and used for political advertising. vice. We plan to release the film
analysis tools are sensitive Our research aims to gener- as an interactive app, incorpo-
enough to pick up enough small ate conversation about how us- rating an awareness of poten-
variations and emotional cues to ers’ emotion data can be used tial abuse of the user’s data, and
adapt the film to viewer reactions. responsibly with informed safeguarding any personal data
The analysis software mea- consent, while allowing users on the device used to watch it.
sures facial muscle movement to control their own personal Adaptive films offer an alter-
along with the strength of emo- information. In our system, the native to traditional “choose-
tional arousal – essentially how data is analysed on the users’ de- your-own-adventure” storytell-
emotional a viewer feels in a vice, rather than, say, the cloud. ing. When the story can change
particular moment. The soft- Big business, big responsibility based on the audiences’ uncon-
ware also evaluates the positiv- Non-conscious interaction is scious responses rather than
ity or negativity of the emotion big business. Platforms such as intentional interaction, their
– something we call “valence”. TikTok and YouTube use anal- focus can be kept in the story.
We are experimenting with ysis of users’ past interactions This means they can enjoy a
various algorithms where this on the platforms to influence more personalised experience
arousal and valence data con- the new content they see there. of the film. Turns out the old
tributes to real-time edit de- Users are not always aware of traditions of storytelling may
cisions, which causes the sto- what personal information is still have much to teach us in
ry to reconfigure itself. The being created or stored, nor can the 21st century. ■
first scene acts as a baseline, they influence what algorithms
which the next scene is mea- will present to them next. This article is republished
sured against. Depending on It’s important to create a sys- from The Conversation under a
the response, the narrative tem where audiences’ data is Creative Commons license.
will become one of around 500 not stored. Video of the viewer
possible edits. In Before We
Disappear, I use a non-linear
narrative which offers the au-
dience different endings and
emotional journeys.
Emotional journey
I see interactive technology
as a way of expanding the film-
maker’s toolkit, to further tell a
story and allow the film to adapt
to an individual viewer, chal-
lenging and distributing the
power of the director.
However, emotional re-
sponses could be misused or
have unforeseen consequences.
It is not hard to imagine an on-
line system showing only con-
tent eliciting positive emotions
from the user. This could be
used to create an echo chamber
– where people only see content
that matches the preferences
they already have.
Or it could be used for propa-
ganda. We saw in the Cambridge
www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 2023
Should a Tragically Hip song have been
played at a Pierre Poilievre event?
BY ROBBIE MACKAY,
Queen’s University, Ontario,
LISA MACKLEM, Western
University
The Conversation
Paul Langlois, a guitarist for
Canada’s The Tragically Hip, was
more than unhappy when re-
cently alerted via Twitter that his
band’s music was heard at a Con-
servative campaign event with
Pierre Poilievre, and in a series of
tweets he resolved to stop it.
However, shortly after Lan-
glois’s tweet, the band issued
a statement clarifying that the
venue in question was licensed
by the Society of Composers,
Authors and Music Publishers
of Canada (SOCAN), a Canadian
performance rights organization.
The statement noted it
meant “the venue pays a fee to
ensure artists and musicians
are compensated appropriately
when music is played on site. As
such, specific permissions were
not required in this case.”
The statement also said:
“It is (and has always been) our
expectation that brands, political
parties or public figures wishing
to use our music for a campaign
first seek our approval.”
There is a distinction between
deliberate use of a song to support
a particular campaign agenda or
politician and incidental music in
BGYO marks 2nd anniversary with “Be Us”
album showcase at Skydome
ABS-CBN
Celebrating with ACEs this
May 12
BGYO members Gelo, Akira,
JL, Mikki, and Nate are getting
ready to set the stage on fire for
their upcoming fan con—the
“Be Us” second anniversary
album showcase happening at
SM City North Edsa Skydome
this May 12 (Friday).
The group’s sophomore al-
bum “Be Us” showed great suc-
cess as it has racked up over
the background at a social func-
tion hosted by a political party.
In this case, the song was be-
ing played in the background at
the venue.
Musicians, politics and pa-
tronage
While musicians’ complex re-
lationships with political agen-
das and authorities extend well
back in western history to classi-
cal heavy hitters, our contempo-
rary era of pop music reveals no
shortage of case studies.
When a Republican cam-
paign in the United States
used Twisted Sister’s “We’re
Not Gonna Take It,” in a tweet,
lead singer Dee Snider tweeted
back in protest “write your own
damn song” and said the party
The Tragically Hip performing on stage.
(DAVID BASTEDO VIA THE TRAGICALLY HIP/FLICKR, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
4.3 million streams, while its
tracks “Magnet” reached 1 mil-
lion streams and “Tumitigil
Ang Mundo” reached 1.5 mil-
lion streams on Spotify. It also
topped the iTunes’ album chart
in the Philippines, Hong Kong,
Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and
United Arab Emirates.
The “Be Us” second anniver-
sary album showcase tickets will
be available at SM Tickets priced
at P2,500 (VVIP), P2,000 (VIP),
and P1,000 (regular).
BGYO’s fans called ACEs are
in for another surprise because
missed the point of the lyrics.
In 2020, The Rolling Stones
were prepared to sue Donald
Trump to stop him using their
music at rallies.
R.E.M., M Pop and a variety
of other big names have also
spoken out against some polit-
ical uses of their music.
Most of these objections are di-
rected at conservative politicians.
Lorraine Segato, of Canada’s
Parachute Club, was a friend
offormer NDP Leader Jack Lay-
ton. Segato was happy to have
Layton use her band’s “Rise Up”
as an NDP campaign song, and
went as far as to sing it at Lay-
ton’s state funeral.
In 2015, Rob Baker, Paul
Langlois’s Tragically Hip band-
the “Be Us” album box set is
available for pre-order for only
P1,999. The album box set con-
tains a CD, lyric booklet, ran-
dom mini standee, photocard
set, pop grip, and ACEs pin.
The pre-order would also serve
as a ticket to a fan meet and
greet with BGYO. Meanwhile,
those who have pre-ordered
“The Light” last year can enjoy
a P200 discount voucher when
they purchase the “Be Us” al-
bum box set.
Recently, BGYO became a
trending topic after their leader
www.canadianinquirer.net
Entertainment
mate, publicly supported the
Liberal Party of Canada.
What are the legal consid-
erations?
Should artists have control
over their art once it’s “sold?”
Do they?
In law, the creator is always
the first owner, who can then
license a work, either exclusive-
ly or non-exclusively, usually to
a studio or a collective society
like SOCAN in Canada that col-
lects royalties for them.
This licensing is usually nec-
essary for distribution, and is
typically non-exclusive to a body
like SOCAN. A studio often gets
the exclusive monetary rights.
A good example of an artist
losing control of their catalogue
(and then moving to regain it
by re-recording songs) is Taylor
Swift. However, musicians still
maintain the right to protect
their reputation and their brand.
In Canada, that right is for-
mally recognized by the artist’s
“Moral Rights,” Sec. 14.1 of the
Copyright Act.
This section grants the au-
thor the “right to the integrity
of the work” and to have their
name associated with it.
In the U.S., copyright law only
includes moral rights for works
of visual art. While U.S. authors
of works other than visual art
are entitled to having their name
associated with the work (what’s
Gelo went viral after a fan post-
ed his 2x2 ID picture on Twit-
ter which earned him praise for
his stunning visuals, while the
group’s main dancer Nate caught
the attention of the K-pop group
BTS who liked his dance cover
of J-Hope and J. Cole’s “on the
street” on TikTok.
Dubbed as the “Aces of
P-Pop,” the group recently
spread fun and excitement at
Marquee Mall, Pampanga and
The District Imus, Cavite last
March 4 and 5 for their mall
tour. They will be gathering the
17
known as “attribution,”) they ar-
en’t given the right to control the
work’s distortion or mutilation.
In Canada, the moral rights
of the author can be waived, but
they cannot be assigned or li-
censed to another party. So, if an
author waived the rights in the
context of an exclusive license,
they might lose the right to con-
trol how their music is used.
Case: Eaton Centre geese
There is a clear precedent,
similar to the Tragically Hip in-
cident, in the Supreme Court of
Canada case Snow v the Eaton
Centre Ltd..
The Eaton Centre purchased
the sculpture installation of a
flock of Canada geese by sculp-
tor Michael Snow.
When the Eaton Centre want-
ed to put red bows on the geese
at Christmas, the artist objected
to the commercialization of the
work. Snow’s lawyer said the
artist’s naturalistic composition
had been made to look ridicu-
lous by the addition of ribbons
and suggested adding bows was
not unlike dangling earrings
from the Venus de Milo.
Social/ethical/financial
ramifications?
Whatever else might be done
about the unwanted use of their
music, many artists are eager to
distance themselves from par-
❱❱ PAGE 21 Should a Tragically
hearts of “ACEs” once again
this March 26 at Ayala Malls
Feliz, Pasig.
Be part of BGYO’s “Be Us” sec-
ond anniversary album show-
case on May 12 (Friday) at SM
City North Edsa Skydome. Stay
tuned with BGYO by following
@bgyo_ph on Facebook, Twit-
ter, Instagram, TikTok, and sub-
scribe to their official YouTube
channel, BGYO Official.
For updates, follow @abscb-
npr on Facebook, Twitter, Ins-
tagram, TikTok, or visit www.
abs-cbn.com/newsroom. ■
18
The Power of Pearls
BY MATTE LAUREL-ZALKO
ICYMI, International Wom-
en’s Day was celebrated around
the world on March 8. This
special celebration has been
observed since the early 1900’s
when female textile workers
from New York City protested
against unequal rights and un-
fair working conditions of wom-
en. Since ancient times, women
have always been strong and
powerful and it is rather inter-
esting to note that such women
have always worn and favoured
the oldest known gemstone,
and the only one created by a
living creature — PEARLS — as
their choice of jewellery.
In the earliest days, we had
the likes of Roman Goddess Ve-
nus emerging from an oyster
shell; Cleopatra and her endur-
ing pearl earring dipped in vine-
gar and dissolved as she proved
a point to Marc Anthony; we had
Catherine de Medici and her fa-
mous six ropes that consisted
of the largest pearls ever seen; a
Persian Princess from 420 BC,
had fragments of pearl jewellery
in her sarcophagus; Homer paid
an homage to Goddess Juno
and her sparkling pearl earrings
in his Iliad; Queen Elizabeth
I celebrated her military suc-
cess while adorned and covered
in pearls either as jewellery or
sewn into her gowns.
Fast forward to modern times,
the most influential and pow-
erful women such as Princess
Grace of Monaco have also been
known to favour pearls both on
and off screen and she even once
said that, “pearls are the queen
of gems and the gem of queens;”
Queen Elizabeth II have always
worn her iconic three-strand
pearls which she loved so much
— she had identical ones made;
Princess Diana wore her much
cherished Lover’s Knot pearl ti-
ara on hundreds of occasions,
which her daughter-in-law, the
Princess of Wales, Catherine has
duly inherited; other famous
Hollywood royalties who have
been photographed wearing
pearls were Audrey Hepburn and
Elizabeth Taylor (who almost lost
her famous 50.6 carat La Peregri-
na, the largest pear-shaped pearl
ever seen, which was eventually
found in her puppy’s mouth and
which by the way was, a gener-
ous gift from her then-husband,
Richard Burton); and then of
course, former US First Ladies
from Jackie Kennedy to Barbara
Bush and Michelle Obama have
also been photographed with
their signature pearls.
Pearls have long been associ-
ated with powerful and influen-
tial women. Yes, these extreme-
ly unique gemstones that are
valued for their shine and lustre
have long been a symbol for pow-
er, elegance, sophistication, and
wealth which is why it was worn
throughout history by the most
influential and high-born wom-
en. During the early years before
cultured pearls were created in
the late 1800’s, pearls were con-
sidered rarer than diamonds
and today, some of the world’s
most expensive pearls are even
rarer than gold because they
are notoriously more difficult to
harvest and produce. Pearls are
produced within the soft tissue
of a living shelled mollusk or
another animal, such as fossil
conulariids. Let’s find out what
makes pearls so beloved.
Benefits of wearing pearls.
For one thing, pearls are not lim-
ited to their aesthetic purpose.
Wearing pearls helps accentuate
the power of a woman. It helps
to overcome a tense mind, anx-
iety and depression. Pearls are
also associated with the range
of physical healing properties
and considered as beneficial for
lung-related diseases, consti-
pation, and heart problems. It
can also help cure insomnia and
control anger. Fortunately for
us, there are two types of pearls
we can all benefit from: Natural
pearls and Cultured pearls.
Natural Pearls vs. Cultured
Pearls. Both pearls are real
gemstones and only differ from
the way they are formed. Both
natural and cultured pearls are
formed when an irritant enters
the oyster or mollusk which
causes it to respond to the irri-
tant. The difference is that when
cultivating pearls, pearl farmers
purposely place the irritant in-
side the oyster. However, cul-
tured pearls are still considered
real pearls and an estimated
99% of the pearls found on the
market today are cultured. Nat-
ural pearls on the other hand are
considered more valuable and
rarer because they are created in
the depths of the ocean. It takes
more than 100,000 of these deep-
sea-living creatures to make just
one strand of pearls, hence their
value is not affordable for many.
Again, always remember
that cultured pearls are real
pearls and have many benefits
than natural pearls. Apart from
having lower costs compared to
natural pearls, cultured pearls
still share the same pearl qual-
ities as natural pearls. Pearl
farmers nurture and tend oys-
ters or mussels with utmost care
because obviously they want to
produce successful crops. Also,
because they are formed in
farms that are privately owned,
cultured pearls promote safety
both for the oyster and the cul-
tivators compared to natural
oysters and pearl divers which
cause death through drowning
and hypothermia. Oh, and just
an added fun fact — in 1893, the
Japanese founder of the famous
high-end Mikimoto pearls, Ko-
kichi Mikimoto, was the first in
the world to successfully culture
a pearl. Personally, one prefers
to concentrate on the various
benefits of cultured pearls so
let’s delve deeper into the differ-
ent varieties of cultured pearls.
5 Varieties of Cultured
Pearls. There are 5 main vari-
eties of cultured pearls: Fresh-
water, Akoya, Tahitian, Sea
of Cortez, and the White and
Golden South Sea pearls.
Freshwater Pearls. These
pearls are the less expensive va-
riety of cultured pearls compared
to Akoya, Tahitian, Sea of Cortez,
and the South Sea cultured pearls.
99.99% of freshwater pearls are
farmed in China’s man-made
aquaculture farms and fresh-
water lakes. They range in size
from 2.0-3.0mm up through 11.0-
12.0mm, with newly experiment-
ed variations that can reach the
size of 14.0mm to even 15.0mm!
The freshwater mussels produce
different natural colours such as
white, pink, lavender, and peach.
Common treatments used are
dyes such in the case of dyed black
Freshwater pearls or commonly
referred to as Peacock due to their
highly iridescent violet and blue-
green hues.
Freshwater pearl shape is usu-
ally as close to a true round shape
as possible, but free form and
www.canadianinquirer.net
Classic one-strand 12mm AAAAA quality white Akoya 18-inches in length
cultured pearl necklace from Tiffany’s Signature pearl collection.
(PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
symmetrical Baroque shapes are
also widely available. Price range
varies from as low as $20 to as
high as thousands. Of the five va-
rieties, freshwater pearls are the
most durable because they are
the only cultured pearl type that
is 100% solid crystalline nacre
and the thicker the nacre is, the
more durable the pearl is.
Akoya Pearls. These must-
have varieties of cultured pearls
are cultivated in China, Vietnam,
and Japan and are grown in the
Pinctada fucata martensii salt-
water oyster, a native to the cold-
er waters of the Pacific Ocean
surrounding Japan, southern
China and Vietnam. Of the three
countries, Japan is the acclaimed
leader in the production of Akoya
pearls producing only the best,
the finest and most consistent-
ly beautiful Akoya pearls. The
best Japanese Akoya pearls are
known as the Hanadama pearls,
which translates to “Flower
pearls.” Akoya pearls range in
size from 2.0-3.0mm up through
9.0-9.5mm, and very rarely, 9.5-
10.0mm. Its colours range from
white, golden, and silvery-blue.
The Akoya white pearls are the
classic white pearls that every
woman must have in her jewel-
lery collection. Prices range from
$75 to high thousands.
Tahitian Pearls. These pearls
are farmed in the saltwater la-
goons and tropical atolls of the
islands in French Polynesia; it is
grown in the Pinctada margari-
tifera saltwater pearl oyster (also
MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY
known as the “black lip” oyster).
Sizes can range from 8.0-9.0mm
up through 15.0-16.0mm, with the
average sizes ranging from 9.0-
10.0mm through 12.0-13.0mm.
Sizes over 15.0mm are RARE,
and extremely expensive! Tahi-
tian pearls are naturally black in
colour, typically in the shades of
darker Charcoal greys to pastel
Dove greys. However, the black
colours can have overtones such
as peacock colour, aubergine,
and dark green which appears to
shimmer over the main grey body
colours. Tahitian pearls don’t use
common treatments other than
buffing after harvest and gentle
washing. Prices range from $80
to high thousands depending on
jewellery style, quality of pearls
and size.
Sea of Cortez Pearls. These
pearls are the rarest cultured
pearls in the world. These pearls
are farmed on only a single pearl
farm operating out of the sea of
Cortez (also known as the Gulf
of California) in Guyamas, Mexi-
co. The Perlas del Mar de Cortez
pearl farm produces less than
4,000 cultured pearls each year.
These pearls are the only other
naturally-coloured “black” cul-
tured pearl type besides Tahi-
tians, except its colours are more
intense and have richer over-
tones; the Sea of Cortez pearl
oyster called Pteria penguin is
also known as the “rainbow lip
oyster” which produces various
colours such as green, aubergine,
blue-green, pistachio, rose, lime,
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 2023
and copper. Size ranges from 8.0-
9.0mm up through 11.0-12.0mm,
with larger pearls being EX-
TREMELY RARE. Price ranges
from $200 to hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars.
White and Golden South
Sea Pearls. These pearls are the
most luxurious and largest pearls
of the five varieties. Famously
known as the “Queen of Pearls”,
they are farmed in the Pinctada
maxima saltwater oyster, which
grows up to a foot in diameter at
maturity, therefore making it the
largest cultured pearl variety out
there. The Gold-lipped P. maxima
oyster which produces Golden
South Sea pearls is mostly farmed
in the Philippine Islands while
the Silver-lipped P. maxima oyster
produces the White South Sea
pearl, and is mainly farmed along
the Northern coast of Australia.
Sizes for both White and Gold-
en South Sea pearls range from
8.0-9.0mm up through 20.0mm,
with the average sizes ranging
from 9.0-10.0mm through 14.0-
15.0mm. Sizes over 15.0mm are
RARE, and very expensive.
The silver-lipped Pinctada
oyster produces the finest white
coloured pearls whereas the
gold-lipped Pinctada oyster pro-
duces the gorgeous palette of
natural Golden pearls. Moreover,
these South Sea pearls don’t have
any common treatments other
than gentle washing and buffing
after harvest. Cultured South Sea
pearls have the thickest nacre
layers of all saltwater cultured
pearl types which gives it the sat-
in lustre trademark. Prices range
from $200 to hundreds of thou-
sands and again, it depends on
the jewellery design, the size and
quality of the pearls.
Types of Pearl Jewellery. A
woman will neither be too young
nor too old to start her pearl col-
lection! I just started building
my pearl collection. I’m not into
diamonds, gold or silver jewel-
lery, but I’m so into pearls! My
love and obsession over pearls
started because I fell head over
heels in love with a thoughtful
present given by my other half
— a one-strand 12.0mm white
Akoya saltwater pearl necklace
from Tiffany & Co.’s Signature
pearl collection — which came
with an aquamarine gemstone
engagement ring. Because of
this truly special pearl necklace,
I’m slowly building my pearl
jewellery collection, buying a
few pieces at a time from various
reputable pearl dealers.
I decided to start collecting
because I wanted to leave some-
thing special and valuable to my
future granddaughters. In this
way, they’ll be keeping me close
to their hearts and ears even
when I’m long gone! While ev-
ery woman dreams of a Tahitian,
or a South Sea pearls, do bear in
mind that it is always more fi-
nancially practical to start your
collection with the basics or the
essential pearls so here are a few
types of pearl jewellery that you
can start with:
One-strand classic white
pearl necklace. You can start
your collection with a classic
white pearl one-strand necklace
that can range from 6-7mm in
size to the larger 12-14mm size.
I tend to favour the larger sizes
and another favourite of mine
is the Edison cultured pearls.
This type of cultured pearls is
the brainchild of brother and
sister Weijian Zhan and Weiyu
Zhan. Their family has over 40
years’ experience in pearl farm-
ing in China. Edison Pearls are
of high quality and high-grade
with perfect round shape. Their
sizes may vary but they can be-
come almost three-quarters of
an inch with such unique lustre
that can be easily comparable
with that of high-end saltwater
pearls such as South Sea pearls
or Tahitian pearls. However,
the good news is that Edison
pearls are also affordable! You
don’t need to break your bank
when starting your collection!
Double strand pearl neck-
lace. Perfect for any occasion,
double strand pearls add a touch
of elegance to any outfit. You can
even be more adventurous with
this type of jewellery — why
not choose either pink or black
pearls for your double strand?
These colours are a safe bet. The
only thing you have to remem-
Maria in Vancouver
ber about starting a pearl jew-
ellery collection, you can surely
collect different colours and siz-
es, but you must first pay atten-
tion to the quality of your pearls.
Three-strand pearl neck-
lace. Channel your inner Queen
Elizabeth II by opting for a three-
strand white pearl necklace. Her
Majesty loved this style so much
she actually owned three nearly
identical pearl necklaces that she
rotated freely when she was alive.
You definitely can’t go wrong with
this style. You can have it either
in choker style, which is around
14-16 inches in length or the more
popular Princess style, which is 18
inches in length. Yours truly had a
friend sourced a beautiful three-
strand princess style necklace
from the Philippines.
Baroque pearl necklaces.
Your pearl collection won’t be
complete if you don’t have ba-
roque pearls. These irregular and
non-spherical pearls are man-
tle-tissue nucleated instead of
bead nucleated. The best baroque
pearls come from the Philippines!
Stud pearl earrings. Again,
this is the essential and basic pearl
jewellery that any woman should
have! You can start with dainty
smaller size stud Pearl earrings
or you can indulge on larger 12-
14mm stud Pearl earrings! These
pearl essentials will hardly make a
dent on your purse strings!
Drop pearl earrings. Simple
and classic pearl drop earrings
are easy to style whichever way
you like. This style is definitely
a must-have!
Climber Pearl earrings. A
modern classic statement of
an earring! There’s no better
option for a distinct statement
than pearl climber studs.
Solitaire pearl ring. Your
collection won’t be complete
without the traditional solitaire
www.canadianinquirer.net
pearl ring. Again, always start
with a white pearl as this colour
represents purity, beauty, new
beginnings, and sincerity.
Different lengths of neck-
laces. When choosing your
pearl necklace, remember that
there are different lengths of
necklaces. Here are the differ-
ent lengths you can go for:
Choker length. This 14-16
inches in length style is one of
the most versatile in terms of
necklace length. This particular
length will fall just a bit above
most collar bones thus making
it suitable for every body type
as it is a “one style, fits them all”
type of necklace length.
Princess length. The Prin-
cess length is traditionally be-
tween 17-18 inches in length and
is slightly longer than the choker
length. It is appropriate for wom-
en of all ages and is especially
flattering on petite women.
Matinée length. The Matinée
length is between 23-24 inch-
es in length and falls lower than
the Princess length. It is usually
worn as a single piece jewellery
and goes well with a turtleneck
or a buttoned up shirt.
Opera length. At a maximum
of 36-inches in length, the Opera
is longer and falls in the middle
of a woman’s chest area. It is a
highly popular length for layered
as well as single strand jewellery
designs. This particular length is
ideal for plus size and women of
shorter stature as it gives the tor-
so a more elongated and slimmer
look at the same time.
Rope length. The Rope length
is traditionally between 50-51
inches in length and can even go
longer. This length when worn
once around the neck favours
the taller women while if this
length is worn as a wrapped style,
it complements most body types
19
and heights. This length can be
worn as a single layer, doubled
and even tripled layers of pearls.
How to choose your pearls.
Now that we’ve established the
different varieties, different
types of jewellery, colours and
sizes, here are a few important
factors when it comes to choos-
ing your pearls.
Luster. This literally makes
or breaks pearls as a gemstone.
Luster describes the way light re-
flects off the pearl surface (Sharp
and Highly Reflective or Soft and
Blurry). The sharper the Luster,
the more valuable the pearl.
Surface Quality. Choose
pearls with clean and smooth-
er surfaces. By doing so, these
pearls are more highly valued
than those with multiple inclu-
sions. Your reflection should be
seen clearly on the surface of a
cultured pearl. Any pearl that
looks too chalky or dull indi-
cates low quality.
Shape. Perfectly round
pearls are the rarest shape of all,
and the most valued. After that,
you can look for perfectly sym-
metrical semi-baroque shapes
like tear-drops and ovals, then
circled baroques and finally,
free form baroques which are
totally asymmetrical.
Overall grade. Below are
more details on pearl grading.
AAAAA: Sheer perfection! This
is the highest quality in pearls and
is expensive and exclusive.
AAA: Nearly flawless pearls
with a high lustre and a surface
that’s 95 percent free of defects.
It is the highest quality of non-
round shaped pearls.
AA: High lustre with a surface
that’s 75 percent free of defects.
A: Lower lustre and defects
on more than 25 percent of the
surface.
Nacre. Nacre is the sub-
stance from which pearls are
made of. Since nacre deter-
mines lustre, nacre quality is a
huge factor when determining
a pearl’s value. Pearls with thick
nacre have a better chance of
having a high-quality lustre.
The nacre quality must not
have a chalky appearance and
must be acceptable. Pearls that
are dull, chalky, or that blink
aren’t as attractive as those that
are solid and gleaming plus they
also won’t be as durable. Salt-
water and Freshwater pearls
are almost completely nacre
and will look beautiful and will
certainly last for many years.
❱❱ PAGE 22 The Power of Pearls
20
Satellites and space junk may make dark
night skies brighter, hindering astronomy
and hiding stars from our view
BY JESSICA HEIM,
University of Southern
Queensland
The Conversation
Since time immemorial, hu-
mans around the world have
gazed up in wonder at the night
sky. The starry night sky has not
only inspired countless works
of music, art and poetry, but has
also played an important role
in timekeeping, navigation and
agricultural practices in many
traditions.
For many cultures, the night
sky, with its stars, planets and
the Milky Way, is considered
just as important a part of the
natural environment as the for-
ests, lakes and mountains below.
Countless people around the
world gaze at the night sky: not
only amateur and profession-
al astronomers, but also casual
observers who enjoy looking up
at the stars to contemplate our
place in the cosmos.
However, the night sky is
changing. Not only is ground-
based light pollution increasing
rapidly, but growing numbers
of satellites and space debris in
orbit around Earth are also im-
pacting the night sky.
Earlier research showed that
satellites and space debris may
increase the overall brightness
of the night sky. In a new paper
in Nature Astronomy, my col-
leagues and I applied this knowl-
edge to predicting the perfor-
mance of a major astronomical
sky survey. We found this phe-
nomenon may make the survey
7.5% less efficient and US$21.8
million more expensive.
A brighter sky
As a cultural astronomer, I am
interested in the role of the night
sky in cultural traditions around
the world. In particular, I am in-
terested in how light pollution
Lifestyle
and increasing satellite numbers
affect different communities.
The number of satellites in
orbit is growing rapidly. Since
2019, the number of functional
satellites in orbit has more than
doubled to around 7,600. The in-
crease is mostly due to SpaceX
and other companies launching
large groups of satellites to pro-
vide high-speed internet com-
munications around the world.
By the end of this decade, we
estimate, there may be 100,000
satellites in orbit around the
Earth. Collisions that generate
space debris are more likely as
space fills with new satellites.
Other sources of debris include
the intentional destruction of
satellites in space warfare tests.
Increasing numbers of sat-
ellites and space debris reflect
ever more sunlight towards the
night side of Earth. This will
almost certainly change the ap-
pearance of the night sky and
make it harder for astronomers
to do research.
One way satellites impact
astronomy is by appearing as
moving points of light, which
show up as streaks across as-
tronomers’ images. Another is
by increasing diffuse night sky
brightness. This means all the
satellites that are too dim or
small to be seen individually, as
well as all the small bits of space
debris, still reflect sunlight, and
their collective effect is to make
the night sky appear less dark.
Hard times for astronomers
In our research, we present
the first published calculations of
the aggregate effects of satellites
and space debris in low-Earth
orbit on major ground-based as-
tronomy research facilities.
We looked at the effect on the
planned large-scale survey of
the night sky to be carried out
at the Vera Rubin Observatory
starting in 2024. We found that,
by 2030, reflected light from
objects in low-Earth orbit will
likely increase the diffuse back-
ground brightness for this sur-
vey by at least 7.5% compared to
an unpolluted sky.
This would diminish the effi-
ciency of this survey by 7.5% as
www.canadianinquirer.net
well. Over the ten-year lifetime
of the survey, we estimate this
would add some US$21.8 mil-
lion to the total project cost.
Brighter night skies mean
longer exposures through tele-
scopes are needed to see dis-
tant objects in the cosmos. This
will mean that for projects with
a fixed amount of observing
time, less science will be ac-
complished, and there will be
increased competition for tele-
scope access.
In addition, brighter night
skies will also reduce the detec-
tion limits of sky surveys, and
dimmer objects may not be de-
tected, resulting in missed re-
search opportunities.
Some astrophysical events
are rare and if researchers are
unable to view them when they
occur, there might not be an op-
portunity to easily see a given
event again during a survey’s
operational period. One exam-
ple of faint objects is near-Earth
objects – comets and asteroids
in orbits close to Earth. Brighter
night skies make it more likely
MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY
such potentially hazardous ob-
jects may remain undetected.
A dramatic and unprece-
dented tranformation
Increases in diffuse night sky
brightness will also change how
we see the night sky with the
unaided eye. As the human eye
cannot resolve individual small
objects as well as a telescope
can, an increase in satellites
and space debris will create an
even greater increase in the ap-
parent brightness of the night
sky. (When using a telescope or
binoculars, one would be able to
make out more of the dimmer
satellites individually.)
The projected increase in
night sky brightness will make
it increasingly difficult to see
fainter stars and the Milky Way,
both of which are important
in various cultural traditions.
Unlike “ground-based” light
pollution (which tends to be
the worst near large cities and
heavily populated areas), the
changes to the sky will be visible
from essentially everywhere on
Earth’s surface.
Our models give us a conser-
vative lower limit for a likely in-
crease in night sky brightness. If
numbers of satellites and space
debris continue to grow at the
expected rate, the impacts will
be even more pronounced.
As we note in our paper,
“we are witnessing a dramat-
ic, fundamental, and perhaps
semi-permanent transforma-
tion of the night sky without
historical precedent and with
limited oversight”. Such a
transformation will have pro-
found consequences for profes-
sional astronomy as well as for
anyone who wishes to view an
unpolluted night sky. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 2023
Is Wikipedia a good source?
2 college librarians explain when to use the
online encyclopedia – and when to avoid it
BY BRIDGET RETZLOFF,
University of Dayton, KATY
KELLY, University of Dayton
The Conversation
What comes to mind when
you think of Wikipedia?
Maybe you think of clicking
link after link to learn about a
topic, followed by another top-
ic and then another. Or maybe
you’ve heard a teacher or librar-
ian tell you that what you read
on Wikipedia isn’t reliable.
As research and instruction
librarians, we know people have
concerns about using Wikipedia
in academic work. And yet, in
interacting with undergraduate
and graduate students doing var-
ious kinds of research, we also
see how Wikipedia can be an im-
portant source for background
information, topic development
and locating further information.
What exactly is Wikipedia?
Wikipedia, which launched
in 2001 is a free online encyclo-
pedia run by the nonprofit Wi-
kimedia Foundation and writ-
ten collaboratively by its users.
There are 10 rules and five
pillars for contributing to the
site. The five pillars establish
Wikipedia as a free online ency-
clopedia, with articles that are
accurate and cite reliable sourc-
es, and editors – called Wikipe-
dians – who avoid bias and treat
one another with respect.
Policies and guidelines build
upon the five pillars by estab-
lishing best practices for writ-
ing and editing on Wikipedia.
Common issues that go against
the guidelines, for example, in-
clude paid editing and vandal-
Should a Tragically..
❰❰ 17 ticular political brands.
One might expect
these musicians could
benefit from media coverage of
these disputes or increased social
capital with politically like-mind-
ed fans or potential fans.
However, as both R.E.M. and
The Chicks discovered, many
ism, which refers to editing an
article in an intentionally mali-
cious, offensive or libelous way.
Here are what we see as the
main pros and cons to college
students using Wikipedia as a
source of information in their re-
search and assignments, though
anyone can consider these tips
when using Wikipedia.
Wikipedia’s strengths
1. Basic information on
virtually any topic
In addition to being free and
readily available, Wikipedia’s
standardized article layout and
hyperlinks to other articles enable
readers to quickly track down the
basics on their topic – the who,
what, when, where and why.
In our experience, many stu-
dents come to the library with
a chosen topic – for example,
voting rights during Recon-
struction – but little knowledge
about it. Before searching for
the scholarly articles and books
typically needed to complete
their assignment, students ben-
efit from knowing keywords
and concepts related to their
topic. This ensures they can try
a variety of words and phrases
in the catalog and databases as
part of their search strategy.
2. Notes and references en-
courage readers to go deeper
The “Wiki rabbit hole” is
a real browsing behavior of
endlessly hopping from topic
to topic, which is a testament
to the site’s easy navigation.
Students can find valuable in-
formation such as important
scholars on the topic by scroll-
ing to the “Notes” and “Refer-
ences” sections of the Wiki-
pedia page. Here they can find
listeners don’t appreciate mu-
sicians taking political stances.
Any legal action to challenge
music use costs musicians
money, even a cease-and-desist
letter from a lawyer. A musi-
cian just starting out wouldn’t
be able to afford it — but on the
other hand, a politician is more
out who authored the various
sources used in the article, as
well as the citation informa-
tion needed to locate additional
books and articles.
3. Students can be editors
Students can write content,
share information and prop-
erly cite scholarly sources on
Wikipedia by becoming an ed-
itor. Quick-acting editors can
become the first to add changes
to an article as events unfold.
Those of us with access to schol-
arly sources, both in print and
online through libraries, can
expand Wikipedia’s content by
sharing information that might
otherwise be behind a paywall.
Wikipedia edit-a-thons are
events at which people gather
to edit articles on topics of in-
terest or that might otherwise
be ignored. American universi-
ties have hosted edit-a-thons on
Black artists, women’s history
and diverse artists in Appalachia.
Some professors assign Wiki-
pedia editing as an alternative to
the traditional research paper.
This practice engages students
in digital literacy and teaches
them how societal knowledge is
constructed and shared.
Wikipedia’s drawbacks
1. Systemic and gender bias
The crowdsourced nature of
Wikipedia can lead to the exclu-
sion of some voices and topics.
Although anyone can edit, not
everyone does.
On the issue of gender bias,
Wikipedia acknowledges that
most contributors are male, few
biographies are about women,
and topics of interest to women
receive less coverage. This dy-
namic can be observed in other
likely to play a recognizable
song from a popular artist.
Record labels also generally
want to protect the brand of the
musician and might be willing
to help fund legal action.
Subject to distortion?
What does seem clear is that
politicians should seek an art-
www.canadianinquirer.net
Lifestyle
areas of underrepresentation,
especially race and ethnicity.
Nearly 90% of U.S. Wikipedia
editors identify as white, which
leads to missing topics, per-
spectives and sources.
2. Citation requirements
can exclude important sources
Wikipedia requires that in-
formation included in an arti-
cle was published by a reliable
source. While this is often an
important element to confirm
something is true or correct, it
can be limiting for topics that
have not received coverage in
newspapers or scholarly jour-
nals. For some topics, such as
Indigenous peoples of Canada,
an oral history may be an im-
portant source, but it could not
be cited in a Wikipedia article.
3. Not all cited sources are
open-access
Some sources may be behind
paywalls, and since citations
drive traffic and revenue, aca-
ist’s permission to use their mu-
sic in a campaign, and perhaps
the artist’s help in understand-
ing the message behind their
music to avoid both embarrass-
ment and bad media coverage.
In Canada, musicians can as-
sert their moral rights when their
work is subjected to a specific dis-
21
demic publishers have a vested
interest in their publications’
being cited, whether or not they
are freely available. However,
college students can use their
school’s library to get full text
access to the sources they dis-
cover in Wikipedia articles.
4. Articles change frequently
While timely updates are an
advantage of Wikipedia, the im-
permanence of articles can make
them difficult to rely on for infor-
mation. Students can keep track
of the date they find a piece of
information on Wikipedia as it
might not be the same when they
return. The “Talk” page of a Wiki-
pedia entry provides a discussion
of changes to the article, and the
Internet Archive Wayback Ma-
chine can be used to view previ-
ous versions. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
tortion that results in perceived
harm to their reputation.
But it’s unlikely they would
demand their work be taken off
of playlists. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
 22
Gen Z grew up in a world filled with ugly
fashion – no wonder they love their Crocs
BY EMILY BRAYSHAW,
University of Technology
Sydney
The Conversation
In 2017, Julia Hobbs of Brit-
ish Vogue declared Crocs “have
an unrivalled ability to repel
onlookers and induce sneers”.
But over the two decades since
the notoriously ugly shoes were
released, the clogs seem to be go-
ing from strength to strength.
No longer just the comfort-
able, easy-to-wear boat shoes they
were designed as, now they’re be-
ing worn by celebrities like Ariana
Grande, Justin Bieber, Whoopi
Goldberg and Drew Barrymore,
who has her own collection.
Bedazzled white Crocs are
being worn with wedding dress-
es, #crocs has more than 7.3 bil-
lion views on TikTok, and die-
hard fans can buy mini Crocs to
decorate their Crocs with.
Even supermodel Kendall Jen-
ner admitted on the Tonight Show
with Jimmy Fallon that she is not
ashamed of her comfy Crocs.
But the most common place
you’re likely to see Crocs today
is on the feet of Generation Z.
They grew up with ugly fashion,
and are now making it their own.
A brief history
Crocs’ ancestors are the clog:
a cheap, comfortable, light-
weight, practical wooden shoe
The Power of Pearls..
❰❰ 19 Where to source
your pearls from.
Depending on your
budget and type of pearls you’re
going for, here are a few recom-
mendations where you can buy
your pearls from:
Affordable range: I highly
recommend buying your pearls
from Mejuri in Canada which
you can purchase either in per-
son or online. I personally vouch
for Mejuri because their expert
jewellers only use the highest
quality materials from precious
metals—from recycled gold and
18k gold vermeil, to respon-
sibly sourced diamonds and
AAA-grade gemstones such as
pearls. You can also travel to the
Lifestyle
popular in medieval Europe
and Scandinavia.
Traditional wooden clogs
were easy to clean, non-slip,
protected the wearer’s feet and
kept them warm and dry.
The oldest surviving pair
found in Holland date to 1230.
Crocs premiered their shoe at
the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show in
2002. Made from a tough form of
injection-moulded ethylene-vi-
nyl acetate (EVA) foam, which
moulds to the wearer’s foot, all
200 pairs at the show sold out.
Crocs were easy to clean, non-
slip, could easily be pulled on and
off, and would not suffer from
continued exposure to water.
But they weren’t popular in
all corners. Time magazine in-
cluded Crocs in their 2010 list
of the 50 worst inventions.
And from the outset, even
Crocs’ cofounders considered
them ugly.
Ugly fashion
The 21st century’s love of
deliberately ugly fashion can
be traced to 1996, with Miuc-
cia Prada launching her “Bad
Taste” collection.
The early 2000s gave us ugly
comfort dressing in the form of
the bright, velour Juicy Couture
tracksuit. Britney Spears and Jus-
tin Timberlake’s iconic match-
ing double denim moment at the
2001 American Music Awards
embodied the era’s ugliness.
Philippines and visit multiple
reputable stalls at Greenhills to
source for your pearls. They also
sell high grade pearls without
breaking your bank. For online
shopping, I highly recommend
Kultura from the Philippines.
Mid-range: Check out on-
line pearls sellers such as Pearls
Only or The Pearl Source as
they offer high grade pearls. Both
international companies are the
largest importers of Freshwater,
Akoya, Tahitian and South Sea
pearls worldwide. Both inter-
national companies create all
jewellery pieces in house and
ensure that every order adheres
to the highest standards of pearl
quality available anywhere.
Generation Z grew up in
this ugly fashion world. Many
rocked their first brightly co-
loured pair of Crocs as toddlers.
This generation also learned
to express themselves online,
where Internet Ugly – a delib-
erately grotesque, anti-authori-
tarian and amateurish aesthetic
– is a key look of memes.
Memes celebrate ugliness
as a relatable, authentic foil
against the slickly perfect im-
ages generated by filters, Hol-
lywood and self-serious corpo-
rate design. Memes evolve, but
the images, templates and looks
High-end: For high-end
pearls, you definitely must go
with Mikimoto pearls, Tiffa-
ny’s, Yoko London pearls, and
in the Philippines, definitely go
for Jewelmer — it’s the real deal
when it comes to sourcing pearls!
One last thing and perhaps
the most important thing you
have to know while building
your pearl collections: its
authenticity. To determine
whether pearls are fake or real,
the first step you can take is to
touch them and feel the tem-
perature. Real pearls are cold
to touch for the first couple of
seconds before warming up
against your skin. Next, look for
tiny irregularities. In a strand of
www.canadianinquirer.net
of memes stays similar and
the ugly aesthetic continues to
spread and be enjoyed.
Crocs are, in a sense, wear-
able memes for Gen Z.
Like memes, Crocs have
changed and returned through
nostalgic affectation.
In the two decades since
their launch, Crocs have con-
stantly reinvented themselves.
There have been new colours
and collaborations with popu-
lar brands, including computer
games and high fashion houses
like Liberty of London.
Each generation rediscovers
cultured pearls, you can always
see tiny differences between
them, even when they are well
matched and top quality.
If the pearls are completely
identical and perfect in terms
of size, colour, shape, and sur-
face characteristics, they are
most likely fake. A quick tried
and tested way to determine
if your pearls are real or fake
is by rubbing the pearls lightly
against each other or on your
front teeth, they will feel a little
gritty. Fake or imitation pearls,
however, usually feel smooth or
glassy. The best thing is to buy
pearls from reputable stores
as your pearls will come with
an authentication certificate.
MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY
the objects of its youth and repli-
cates these objects in new ways.
The resulting objects – in this
case, Crocs – are passed around
and either made uglier or beau-
tified in the eye of the beholder.
Every pair of Crocs can be cus-
tomised with “Jibbitz”, a small
ornament that fits into the holes
throughout the shoe to beautify
Crocs for their owner.
In the United Kingdom,
Crocs paired with fast-fash-
ion retailer Primark and high-
street bakery Greggs to create
ugly, fur-lined, black £9 Crocs
with Greggs’ logo.
At the other end of the bud-
get, you can buy Balenciaga’s
lime green Crocs with a black
sole and black stiletto heel.
Crocs and the pandemic
Ugliness lets viewers laugh
and release tensions in situations
where they are helpless to act.
Adrian Holloway, Crocs’ gen-
eral manager, told Vogue:
In times of stress and uncer-
tainty, consumers seem to want
comfort […] Everything was
so heavy and scary, it felt good
to treat yourself to something
cheerful and inexpensive, but
also practical and comfortable.
The COVID pandemic left
Gen Z unable to participate in
important social rites of pas-
sage like graduations, milestone
❱❱ PAGE 28 Gen Z grew
I’d rather not wear any jewellery
than wear a fake one!
Now ladies, what are you wait-
ing for? Start your pearl collec-
tion! I will leave you with this
quote by Coco Chanel, “A woman
needs ropes and ropes of pearls.”
Pearls are always appropriate at
any occasion and truly indispens-
able in every woman’s wardrobe.
Pearls are today’s Comeback
Queen in the jewellery world.■
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 MARCH 24, 2023
LA Tenorio reveals battle with colon cancer
BY IVAN STEWART
SALDAJENO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Lewis Alfred “LA”
Tenorio revealed on Tuesday
that he has been diagnosed with
Stage 3 colon cancer.
The Ginebra point guard
admitted that his battle with
cancer is the real reason why
he had to sit out the rest of the
PBA Governors’ Cup after the
league’s “Iron Man” streak
that lasted for 744 games since
he turned pro, apologizing to
everyone for keeping his real
health situation a secret.
“I would like to issue a state-
ment about my health status by
firstly apologizing to my team-
mates, some coaches, the PBA,
the fans, the media and even
Japan donates P7M
worth of gymnastics
equipment to PH
BY JEAN MALANUM
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Gymnas-
tics Association of the Philip-
pines (GAP) on Friday received
roughly PHP7 million worth of
gymnastics equipment donated
by the Japanese government
through its Grant Assistance
for Cultural Grassroots Project.
Japan’s Ambassador to the
Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhi-
ko and GAP President Cynthia
Carrion led the ribbon-cutting
ceremony for the top-of-the-line
equipment that were installed
inside the GAP Training Cen-
ter at the Rizal Memorial Sports
Complex in Malate, Manila.
Also present were Japan
Embassy First Secretary Hito-
Sports
(L.A. TENORIO/FACEBOOK)
some friends. As most of you are
aware I have been nursing a mi-
nor injury since the Finals last
January. I used that as the rea-
son for my sudden absence. My
sincerest apologies to all. With
my profession in sports tied in
mi Akihiko, former Philippine
president Gloria Macapagal Ar-
royo, House Committee chair
on Youth and Sports Rep. Faus-
tino Michael Dy III, Philip-
pine Sports Commission (PSC)
Commissioner Walter Torres,
MVP Sports Foundation execu-
tive director Jude Michael Tur-
cuato, world champion Carlos
Edriel Yulo and Japanese coach
Munehiro Kugimiya.
“We would like to thank the
Japanese government’s gener-
ous help in setting up this fa-
cility for our aspiring gymnasts
who can now train and devel-
op their skills and talent using
quality equipment that we did
not have before,” said Carrion,
who signed the grant assistance
at the Japanese ambassador’s
official residence in Forbes
health and entertainment, it
will be very difficult to keep the
real reason a secret any longer
and will only lead to unneces-
sary gossips, fake news and mis-
interpretations. I was recently
diagnosed with Stage 3 colon
Park, Makati last year.
Among the apparatus installed
were the men’s parallel bars,
women’s balance beam, vault and
soft mats, which have all passed
the FIG standards, and made
by Senoh Sporting Equipment
Company, a leading Japan sports
equipment manufacturer.
“We are grateful to Ambas-
sador Koshikawa for helping
us in securing the grant so that
we can further discover and
nurture top gymnasts like Car-
los Yulo, a GAP protege since
he was seven years old and has
emerged as a two-time world
champion,” Carrion said.
“Our youthful athletes now
have an environment where
they can train properly with
❱❱ PAGE 30 Japan donates P7M
www.canadianinquirer.net
cancer. The initial testing three
weeks ago led me to instantly
miss practices and games,” Ten-
orio said in a statement.
The “minor injury” pertains
to an apparent groin injury he
suffered during the Gin Kings’
Commissioner’s Cup Finals bat-
tle against the Bay Area Dragons.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone lat-
er said when Tenorio decided to
take a break from playing that
he aggravated it, defining it as
sports hernia, only for the point
guard to finally come clean.
Tenorio, however, said he has
already gone surgery and is now
about to start getting further
treatment.
“I have completed my sur-
gery last week and will soon
undergo treatment for the next
few months,” he added.
The 38-year-old playmaker,
EJ Obiena is PH
sportswriters’ top
athlete for February
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – EJ Obiena lived
up to his lofty billing as one of
the world’s finest pole vaulters
as the prized Filipino athlete
made a lot of heads turn anew
during his torrid European in-
door campaign in February.
In such a short span, Obiena,
27, bagged two gold, a silver and
bronze medals while touring
Poland, Germany, Sweden and
France, making him the undis-
puted choice by the Philippine
Sportswriters Association as
the month’s top performer.
The Italy-based Obiena
kicked off February by finishing
third overall behind first-placer
Armand Duplantis and silver
medalist KC Lightfoot of the
23
though, reiterated that he is
still not calling it a career, and
he hopes that he can still make
a return to the PBA very soon.
“I have given not only 17 full
years to the PBA, but have ded-
icated my whole life to basket-
ball. I have committed my body
and health for the love of the
game. It has been my passion
and love,” he said.
“Sadly, there are things be-
yond one’s control. But with my
faith, I am lifting everything to
God now and I believe there is a
higher purpose as I go through
this part of my life. I am not yet
retiring from the game I love, and
with the help of the best doctors
in the Philippines and Singapore,
I believe I can touch a basketball
once more and return stronger,”
Tenorio further said. “I will see
everyone very, very soon.” ■
United States, in the Mondo
Classic in Sweden.
A couple of days later, it was
Obiena’s time to lord it over
as he topped the Orlen Cup in
Lodz, Poland, with a 5.77 me-
ters effort, further boosting his
stock as one of the country’s
best athletes.
His second gold also took
place on Polish soil when Obi-
ena did 5.87 to rule the Orlen
Copernicus Cup.
Obiena would then run into
Duplantis in the ISTAF Indoor
in Berlin where he wound up sec-
ond to the US-born Swede world
outdoor and indoor record hold-
er and Olympic champion.
Obiena, third-placer during
last year’s world champion-
❱❱ PAGE 30 EJ Obiena is
24
Interest rates: why the Federal Reserve and
Bank of England should still raise them (a bit)
BY NIKOLAOS
PAPANIKOLAOU, Newcastle
University
The Conversation
What will the Federal Re-
serve and Bank of England do
with benchmark interest rates
in the wake of the banking cri-
sis? Traditionally, controlling
inflation has been the prime
mandate of central banks.
With annual inflation hitting
double digits in the past year,
many central banks have been
hiking interest rates to try and
bring it under control. The Eu-
ropean Central Bank (ECB)
raised its main rate from 2.5% to
3% on March 17, and all eyes are
on the Fed and Bank of England
(BoE) to see if they do likewise.
The Fed is due to announce its
decision on March 22, while the
BoE takes its turn on March 23.
The trouble is that the cal-
culus has changed over the
past couple of weeks, as several
banks have been pulled under by
PH financial sector unscathed by
US banking crisis: analysts
BY MIGUEL GIL
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Private sector
economists and markets analysts
on Friday agreed that the Phil-
ippine financial sector has been
relatively unscathed by the series
of bank collapses in the United
States, which has sent ripples
across bourses worldwide.
The reactions came after
three American banks with
heavy exposures to the technol-
ogy and cryptocurrency sectors
failed one after another in a span
of less than a week this month.
Business
the strains caused by high rates.
Most recently, Credit Suisse has
been hastily taken over by fel-
low Swiss bank UBS, while bank
stocks are still tumbling around
the world as investors fear there
will be other casualties. So what
do the central banks do next?
Bank strain
To raise or not to raise: that’s
the Shakespearean dilemma
facing the Fed and BoE. Infla-
tion is still running way above
their 2% target level, but the
banking turmoil is growing.
The choice is to turn a blind eye
to the turmoil and stay focused
on price stability, or hold off
and focus on helping to stabilise
the financial system, even at the
risk of inflation staying hot.
When Silicon Valley Bank
(SVB) became the first casualty
in this crisis several weeks ago, it
was essentially because the val-
ue of its portfolio of bonds and
other debt had been hit hard by
rising interest rates. It started
having cashflow problems and
was left with no choice but to
In an interview, Roberto
Galang, dean at Ateneo’s John
Gokongwei School of Man-
agement, said the Philippine
economy appears stable at the
moment and is therefore less
susceptible to being swept away
by the US banking contagion.
He also pointed out that the
quick response of the US Fed-
eral Reserve, Federal Deposit
Insurance Corp., and Treasury
Department on the bank fail-
ures contributed greatly to lo-
calizing the problem.
“We still have to wait and see,
but Filipino depositors do not
seem to be so jittery, and it has
sell some of its portfolio at a loss,
which caused a bank run.
In the aftermath, the Fed an-
nounced an emergency lending
facility designed to shore up con-
fidence in the US banking system.
It enabled banks to borrow funds
from the Fed against their bonds
at face value, to ensure they had
enough cash to operate – imply-
Chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell
(FEDERAL RESERVE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, PUBLIC DOMAIN)
been a while since any sort of
bank run has taken place in the
Philippines,” Galang added.
For his part, former BPI As-
set Management chief econ-
omist Carlos Ylagan said that
while the local financial and
capital markets “had a knee-
jerk reaction” over the US bank
failures earlier this week, in-
vestor confidence in the Phil-
ippines seems to have bounced
back quickly.
He called the consecutive col-
lapse of Silvergate Bank, Silicon
Valley Bank, and Signature Bank
an “isolated incident,” adding
that the three lending institu-
www.canadianinquirer.net
ing that they wouldn’t have to sell
long-term government bonds at
a loss, like SVB.
Cash-strapped banks in the
US borrowed a total of US$300
billion (£246 billion) from the
Fed in the first week after this li-
quidity lifeline was launched. In
Europe, Credit Suisse borrowed
US$54 billion under a similar li-
tions were not major players in
the broader financial sector.
“As long as no additional banks
collapse there (the US), the local
financial community should not
be concerned,” Ylagan said.
Meanwhile, Jeng Calma, head
of operations at A&A Securities,
pointed out that the two-day de-
cline of local shares was “just a
sympathy reaction to the bear-
ishness at Dow Jones.”
She explained that there is no
real reason for concern because
the Philippine financial sector
has practically no exposure to
the failed American banks.
However, it was noted that
MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY
quidity facility provided by Swit-
zerland’s central bank, the Swiss
National Bank (SNB) – though
ultimately, this was not enough
to avoid a takeover.
Taken together, it seems like
a new form of quantitative eas-
ing has begun – this is the system
of emergency liquidity creation
used to prop up the global banking
system for the past two decades.
Meanwhile, the central bank
interventions have continued:
the SNB offered a US$100 bil-
lion liquidity line to UBS to help
it take on Credit Suisse’s opera-
tions. Then the Fed announced
that it would be making US
dollars available each day to
the BoE, ECB, SNB and central
banks of Canada and Japan.
These so-called daily swap
lines, which replace the existing
weekly ones, aim to ensure that
everyone can get access to the
dollars they need to help pre-
vent further liquidity problems.
The US dollar is the world re-
❱❱ PAGE 28 Interest rates: why
the contagion seems to have
spread beyond US borders after
Zurich-headquartered Credit
Suisse also admitted that it was
in crisis and sought rescue from
the Swiss central bank.
Calma said the recovery of lo-
cal stocks during Friday’s trad-
ing proves that the early-week
decline in the market was sim-
ply due to “psychological ef-
fects” arising from America’s
current banking woes.
The composite index was up
more than 1 percent at the close
of the week’s trading. ■
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 2023
Four ways to protect your small business
from a banking crisis
BY MONOMITA NANDY,
Brunel University London,
SUMAN LODH, Kingston
University
The Conversation
The banking sector is cur-
rently experiencing great
strain, which has resulted in
several bank bailouts – most re-
cently UBS’ deal to buy its Swiss
competitor Credit Suisse fol-
lowing a collapse in confidence
in the latter. HSBC’s acquisition
of the UK arm of the collapsed
Silicon Valley Bank the previous
week brought great relief for its
depositors, many of which were
small tech start-ups.
SVB’s UK clients were lucky
that the government facilitat-
ed the rescue deal so quickly –
it was announced the Monday
after SVB collapsed in the US
– but they still endured several
days of worry and uncertainty
beforehand. And with financial
markets now responding to
continued concerns about the
banking sector, particularly in
Europe, it doesn’t look like all
banks – or their clients – are out
of the woods yet.
At a time like this, many small
businesses will be thinking about
their finances and how to make
them more secure so they don’t
New check format implementation
deferred to May 2024
BY JOANN VILLANUEVA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The implemen-
tation of the issuance of a new
check format and specifications
has been postponed to May 1,
2024 instead of May 2, 2023.
In its operating memoran-
dum (OM) issued on Jan. 25,
the Philippine Clearing House
Corporation (PCHC) said the
change in the implementation
date was based on the recom-
mendation by the Clearing
Officers Club, Inc. and was ap-
face the same fate if there are
similar situations in the future.
Here are four ways to shore up
your small business banking in
preparation for uncertain times:
1. Split up your accounts
As a small business, you may
not have the means to diversify
the range of products or ser-
vices you offer right now, but
you can diversify your banking
portfolio. This means, rather
than tying up your business
needs with one bank, keeping
some money and loans with a
couple of different institutions.
Speaking of which, when
opening an account with a new
bank, get the full picture of its
strengths and weaknesses. This
means checking for any signifi-
proved by the PCHC Board.
“This deferment in imple-
mentation is effected with a
view to allowing more time for
bank clients to exhaust remain-
ing checks or base stocks of
printed checks in their posses-
sion,” the memorandum said.
Citing the memorandum
issued on Feb. 11, 2019, the lat-
est memorandum said the new
standards will adopt the month,
date and year format on the is-
sue date of the check.
It said the date format guide
is indicated below the date line,
the individual box is provided
cant recent changes in its assets
or its sources of finance, which
will tell you if its business is con-
centrated in any one industry.
Similarly, don’t just open an
account with the bank that your
industry peers use. SVB’s col-
lapse has been partly blamed on
its concentration in the tech sec-
tor. Although this means a bank
can develop specialist expertise
and understanding, it can also
leave it exposed if it’s main sec-
tor experiences a downturn.
2. Be careful when banking
beyond borders
The ease of online communi-
cations and payments these days
means even small businesses
can expand overseas. But when
operating in a different country
for each character of the issue
date, the peso sign is moved out
of the box vis-à-vis the amount
in figures and there should be
boxed white spaces for writing
the date of issue, the amount in
figures and the signature of is-
suer/drawer.
These changes, it said, aim
to “set a standard or uniform
format of writing the date on
checks in order to avoid mis-
interpretation of date of issue”
and to “enhance check process-
ing capabilities by providing
banks better optical character
recognition features that are
www.canadianinquirer.net
Business
you should consider the cultur-
al values of a country because
research shows this can affect a
bank’s attitude to taking risk.
For example, in some coun-
tries, banks are allowed to op-
erate with less easy to access
money on hand in case of a prob-
lem, but governments are more
reluctant to bail out failures,
meaning your money will dis-
appear if your bank fails. Before
you choose a bank beyond your
borders, collect information
about its operational behaviour
to gauge how much risk it likes
to take. You can find this in pub-
lished financial statements, me-
dia articles and by speaking to
others in the industry.
3. Consider a range of bor-
rowing options
You might have an excellent
business idea but without hard
assets, it can be difficult to get
a bank loan. There are plenty
of other options such as R&D
grants from local or national
governments.
You could also look for inves-
tors, which is called raising eq-
uity. It essentially brings more
money into your business. This
can help lower your leverage
ratio, which means you have to
give over less of your profits to a
lender and can reinvest money
in your business instead.
needed for an automated check
verification system.”
The memorandum said
checks that still have the old
format “with date of issue writ-
ten in alphanumeric are accept-
able for clearing provided they
are dated April 30, 2024 or ear-
lier and they are presented for
deposit prior to the 180th day
from issue date.”
“The issue date in alphanu-
meric on old format checks may
be written in any sequence,
i.e. Month-Day-Year or Day-
Month-Year or Year-Month-
Day,” it said.
25
In other words, consider ex-
ploring ways to hold less debt,
even when you are a growing
business. There is no standard
debt to equity ratio, it depends on
the business. Some people think
that less debt indicates that the
business is not growing, others
believe less debt makes the busi-
ness stronger because it has more
cash on hand for daily operations,
rather than relying on credit.
Many small firms, particu-
larly in the tech sector, look to
venture capital firms for fund-
ing. A shorter-term source of
money, they usually buy a stake
in a start-up idea and then exit
as the company grows and be-
comes more valuable.
Venture capitalists charge
management fees, which are
higher for businesses seen as a
risky bet. You also typically pay
them a share of the profits. And
as with any business deal, check
credentials such as funding,
other business relationships
and investments before signing.
4. Set up an emergency fund
Try to maintain one third of
your typical monthly expens-
es as an emergency fund – but
even if you can’t manage that,
set something aside. And don’t
forget to top up the emergency
❱❱ PAGE 26 Four ways to
However, the memorandum
said “alphanumeric Month-
Day-Year sequence is prefer-
able for consistency with the
MM-DD-YYYY sequence pre-
scribed for issue date in numer-
ic format.”
“Notwithstanding the defer-
ment, nonetheless, the date of
issue on checks that are in the
‘new format’ (i.e., with boxed
spaces) has to be written now in
numeric format and strictly in
the MM-DD-YYYY or MM/DD/
YYYY sequence,” it added. ■
 26
Unemployment rate back down to 3.5%.
It’s anyone’s guess when things will turn
BY JEFF BORLAND, The
University of Melbourne
The Conversation
The latest labour force data
from the Australian Bureau of
Statistics shows employment in
February increasing by 64,600,
and the (seasonally adjusted)
unemployment rate declining
from 3.7% to 3.5%.
It’s confirmation that it’s still
too early to declare that the la-
bour market has reached a turn-
ing point, after which we can ex-
pect the rate of unemployment
will rise for some time.
Employment growth has been
slowing over the past year, but
ups and downs from month to
month make it difficult to work
out how fast that is happening.
Meanwhile, the rate of unem-
ployment is stubbornly resisting
moving too far from 3.5%.
Predictions have been hard
Making any predictions for
the labour market since mid-
2022 has been more difficult
than usual.
In the first six months of 2022,
employment grew by 56,600 per
month, while the rate of unem-
ployment fell from 4.2% to 3.5%.
Four ways to..
❰❰ 25 fund if do have to dip
in.
Also, think about
where to keep your emergency
fund. Popular places include
high yield savings or money
market accounts because they
are easily accessible, especially
when you need cash in hand.
But remember to check the pol-
icy for how quickly you can con-
vert any holdings to cash. And
keep the relevant paperwork
updated and in a safe place that
you can access quickly.
Although you have the ul-
timate responsibility for your
own small business finances, the
regulator still plays an import-
ant role in supporting and pro-
tecting the financial system and
those within it. The UK Trea-
sury recently published a report
on its Future Regulatory Frame-
work Review. This aims to iden-
Business
But for the next three months,
average employment growth
was only 11,700, and the unem-
ployment rate ticked up slightly.
It looked like, maybe, the end of
the expansion.
But no. In the months to Oc-
tober and November, employ-
ment growth was back to 47,700
a month, and the jobless rate
moved down.
December and January
brought decreases in employ-
ment. But it’s always difficult
to draw predictions from these
months. This year’s January
numbers also came with an
asterisk from the Australian
Bureau of Statistics: a much
larger number of persons than
usual were classified as waiting
to start work, raising the pros-
pect of a healthy boost in em-
ployment in February, which is
what has happened.
So if a labour market slow-
down is underway, it is gradual
and slow, rather than the “fall-
ing off a cliff” variety. For that
reason, it’s likely to take a while
longer to know exactly where
we are heading.
But more young people are
in jobs
Not everything about the la-
tify any changes the government
and regulators believe are need-
ed post-Brexit to ensure the UK
remains competitive.
Such rules should protect the
sector from problems, such as
the current banking sector is-
sues in the US and now Europe,
while also ensuring start-ups
and small and medium sized
businesses still have access to a
strong financial services market.
The HSBC deal to rescue
SVB’s UK arm was a reassuring
short-term arrangement from
the UK government, but the
long-term objective should be
be to ensure the UK’s regulato-
ry framework protects other-
wise healthy firms – of all sizes
– from failing during a crisis. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
bour market is unpredictable,
however. On the contrary, most
of the changes we’ve seen since
mid-2021, once the Australian
labour market started recov-
erng from the initial impact of
COVID-19, are exactly what we
would have expected.
When the labour market is
growing strongly, we expect
this will benefit most of the
groups who usually face the
biggest difficulties getting into
work: those with lower skill
levels, who live in regions with
less employment opportuni-
ties, and young people. This is
DTI sets up 111 OTOP
stores to boost MSMEs
BY KRIS CRISMUNDO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Department
of Trade and Industry (DTI)
said it has opened a total of 111
One Town, One Product (OTOP)
stores nationwide as of Tuesday.
The DTI told reporters in a
message that 22 of these stores
were established from January
2022 to February this year.
“These were established in
partnership with external part-
ners such as Alagang Ayala and
CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority
of the Philippines) who provid-
ed rent-free spaces for some
OTOP hubs,” it said.
www.canadianinquirer.net
indeed what has happened.
The likelihood of those with-
out a post-school qualification
being employed has increased
2 percentage points between
2019 and 2022, double the
1-point increase for those with
a Bachelor’s degree or above.
In the 25% of regions with the
lowest rates of employment, the
proportion with jobs in 2022
was 2.2 percentage points high-
er than 2019. That increase was
about three times more than
in the 25% of regions with the
highest employment rates.
Since immediately before the
OTOP is a priority stimulus
program of the DTI for micro,
small and medium enterprises
(MSMEs) in different regions
in the country.
This aims to promote prod-
ucts and services unique to the
culture, community resources
and competitive advantage of a
locality. Products and services
offered in OTOP hubs are those
that localities are best known for.
On Monday, the Senate ap-
proved Senate Bill No. 1594, or
the OTOP Philippines Act of
2023, which institutionalizes
providing of package assistance
for MSMEs with viable prod-
ucts for OTOP hubs.
The upper house also ap-
MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY
onset of COVID, the proportion
of people aged less than 25 in
employment has grown by 6.3
percentage points, compared
with a 1.9 percentage point in-
crease for those aged 25 to 64
years.
And educational enrol-
ments have fallen
For the young, there has been
another consequence of the
strong labour market that we’ve
learned to expect: more in jobs
means fewer studying. Between
February 2021 and December
2022 the proportion of those aged
15-24 in full-time tertiary educa-
tion fell from 24.3% to 21.6%.
A similar withdrawal was
observed in the late 2000s,
during the mining boom, in the
states of Western Australia and
Queensland.
It’s having this past experi-
ence to draw on that, of course,
makes it easier to see patterns
in the impact of recovery, than
to know where the rate of un-
employment is about to head in
coming months. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
proved the bill in the third and
final reading to support and pro-
mote inclusive growth in rural
communities by bringing them
closer to the mainstream market,
helping them innovate and pro-
moting Philippine products both
in the local and foreign markets.
In this year’s General Appro-
priations Act (GAA), the DTI
has an allocation of PHP97.07
million for the OTOP Next
Generation, or OTOP Next Gen,
with highest share of the budget
to regions of Eastern Visayas
(PHP14.13 million), National
Capital Region (PHP13.71 mil-
lion), Cordillera Administra-
❱❱ PAGE 29 DTI sets up
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 2023
Google and Microsoft are bringing AI to
Word, Excel, Gmail and more. It could boost
productivity for us – and cybercriminals
BY MOHIUDDIN AHMED,
Edith Cowan University, PAUL
HASKELL-DOWLAND, Edith
Cowan University
The Conversation
Google and Microsoft are on
a mission to remove the drudg-
ery from computing, by bring-
ing next-generation AI tools as
add-ons to existing services.
On March 16, Microsoft an-
nounced an AI-powered sys-
tem called Copilot will soon be
introduced to its 365 suite apps
including Word, Excel, Power-
Point, Outlook and Teams.
The news came about two
days after Google published a
blog explaining its plans to em-
bed AI into its Workspace apps
such as Docs, Sheets, Slides,
Meet and Chat.
Collectively, millions of peo-
ple use these apps each day.
Bolstering them with AI could
provide a major productivity
boost – as long as security isn’t
an afterthought.
The advent of generative AI
Until recently AI was main-
ly used for categorisation and
identification tasks, such as rec-
ognising a number plate using a
traffic camera.
Generative AI allows users to
create new content, by applying
deep-learning algorithms to big
data. ChatGPT and DALL-E,
among others, have already tak-
en the world by storm.
Now, Microsoft and Google
have found a more concrete
way to bring generative AI into
our offices and classrooms.
Like other generative AI
tools, Copilot and Workspace
AI are built on large language
models (LLM) trained on mas-
sive amounts of data. Through
this training, the systems have
“learned” many rules and pat-
terns that can be applied to new
content and contexts.
Technology
Microsoft’s Copilot is being
trialled with just 20 customers,
with details about availability
and pricing to be released “in
the coming months”.
Copilot will be integrated
across apps to help expedite
tedious or repetitive tasks. For
example, it will:
• help users write, edit and
summarise Word documents
• turn ideas or summaries into
full PowerPoint presentations
• identify data trends in Excel
and quickly create visualisations
• “synthesise and manage”
your Outlook inbox
• provide real-time summa-
ries of Teams meetings
• bring together data from
across documents, presenta-
tions, email, calendar, notes and
contacts to help write emails
and summarise chats.
Assuming it executes these
tasks effectively, Copilot will be a
massive upgrade from Microsoft’s
original Office Assistant, Clippy.
Google’s Workspace AI will
offer similar capabilities for
paying subscribers.
What’s under the hood?
Microsoft described Copilot as a
sophisticated processing and or-
chestration engine working behind
the scenes to combine the power of
LLMs, including GPT-4 […].
We don’t know specifical-
ly which data GPT-4 itself was
trained on, just that it was a lot of
data taken from the internet and
licensed, according to OpenAI.
Google’s Workspace AI is built
on PaLM (Pathways Language
Model), which was trained on a
combination of books, Wikipe-
dia articles, news articles, source
codes, filtered webpages, and so-
cial media conversations.
Both systems are integrated
into existing cloud infrastruc-
ture. This means all the data
they are applied to will already
be online and stored in compa-
ny servers.
The tools will need full access
to the relevant content in order to
provide contextualised responses.
For instance, Copilot can’t distil a
16-page Word document into one
page of bullet points without first
analysing the text.
This raises the question: will
users’ information be used to
train the underlying models?
In relation to this point, Mic-
rosoft has said:
Copilot’s large language mod-
els are not trained on customer
content or on individual prompts.
Google has said:
[…] private data is kept private,
and not used in the broader foun-
dation model training corpus.
These statements suggest the
16-page document itself won’t
be used to train the algorithms.
Rather, Copilot and Workspace AI
will process the data in real-time.
Given the rush to develop
such AI tools, there may be
temptation to train such tools
on “real” customer-specif-
ic data in the future. For now,
however, it seems this is being
explicitly excluded.
Usability concerns
As many people noted fol-
lowing ChatGPT’s release,
text-based generative AI tools
www.canadianinquirer.net
are prone to algorithmic bias.
These concerns will extend to
the new tools from Google and
Microsoft.
The outputs of generative AI
tools can be riddled with inac-
curacies and prejudice. Micro-
soft’s own Bing chatbot, which
also runs on GPT-4, came under
fire earlier this year for making
outrageous claims.
Bias occurs when large vol-
umes of data are processed
without appropriate selection
or understanding of the train-
ing data, and without proper
oversight of training processes.
For example, much of the
content online is written in En-
glish – which is likely the main
language spoken by the (mostly
white and male) people devel-
oping AI tools. This underlying
bias can influence the writing
style and language constructs
understood by, and subse-
quently replicated by, AI-driv-
en systems.
For now, it’s hard to say ex-
actly how issues of bias might
present in Copilot or Work-
space AI. As one example, the
systems may simply not work as
effectively for people in non-En-
glish-speaking countries, or
27
with diverse styles of English.
Security concerns
One major vulnerability in
Microsoft’s and Google’s AI
tools is they could make it much
easier for cybercriminals to
bleed victims dry.
Whereas before a crimi-
nal may have needed to trawl
through hundreds of files or
emails to find specific data, they
can now use AI-assisted fea-
tures to quickly collate and ex-
tract what they need.
Also, since there’s so far no in-
dication of offline versions being
made available, anyone wanting
to use these systems will have
to upload the relevant content
online. Data uploaded online are
at greater risk of being breached
than data stored only on your
computer or phone.
Finally, from a privacy per-
spective, it’s not particularly in-
spiring to see yet more avenues
through which the biggest cor-
porations in the world can col-
lect and synthesise our data. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
 28
Taoist rituals via video call and Tarot
readings over WeChat: China’s spiritual
market is going digital
BY HAOYANG ZHAi, The
University of Melbourne
The Conversation
Since its inception in 1921,
the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) has officially promoted
an atheist and materialist ideol-
ogy. But belief systems in China
are making a comeback – and
this comeback is largely hap-
pening online.
From traditional Taoist ritu-
als conducted via video call to
Western-influenced practices
like online tarot reading, the
digital spiritual market is grow-
ing and new online cultures are
emerging.
China has a diverse spiritual
landscape with five officially rec-
ognised religions including Tao-
ism, Buddhism and Islam, as well
as various folk belief systems.
Spiritual practices have
evolved with political, social
and cultural changes through-
out China’s history. The origins
of Chinese spirituality can be
found in a variety of sources
like ancestor worship, Heav-
enly worship, and traditional
philosophies, shaped by the na-
tion’s multi-ethnic nature and
cultural integration.
Now, China’s spiritual land-
scape is undergoing a transfor-
mation in the digital age.
Diversity and evolution
Identifying this increasing
spiritual trend through official
Interest rates: why..
❰❰ 24 serve currency, mean-
ing that it is the middle
man in most transac-
tions involving foreign curren-
cies, so it’s absolutely vital for
the global financial system. The
new set-up will continue at least
until the end of April.
What to expect on rates
Before all this banking tur-
moil, the Fed and BoE were wide-
ly expected to raise their bench-
mark rates by half a percentage
point. Now, many traders think it
will either only be 0.25 percent-
Technology
government data is challenging.
Many Chinese people practice
spirituality without officially
identifying with a religion or be-
lief system. This is because most
Chinese have learned practical
ways of religion, without neces-
sarily being taught these as part
of a specific set of beliefs.
One common practice is
burning incense money, be-
lieved to provide financial assis-
tance to spirits in the afterlife.
The growing popularity of
online fortune-telling applica-
tions such as Cece, and spiritu-
al influencers on social media,
such as the astrologist Uncle
Tongtao with millions of fol-
lowers, provide a glimpse into
the diverse and vibrant spiritu-
al landscape in modern China.
Online spiritual practice is
associated with youth culture,
and the shift towards digital
spaces is largely due to the
growth of social media in China.
Before social media, online
religions were limited to static
websites with little interaction.
Now, social media platforms al-
low users to connect and engage
with others who share similar
spiritual interests and beliefs.
This has also enabled practi-
tioners to reach a wider audience.
New practices
Currently, China’s online
spirituality market comprises
both old and new, indigenous
and foreign practices.
Online spiritual services like
age points or no rise at all.
A pause in hiking rates will
likely make investors worry that
banks are in serious trouble. On
the other hand, a more aggres-
sive 0.5 percentage points rise
could be more than many banks
can handle right now. Not only
would it further damage the val-
ue of their bond portfolios, it will
push up their cost of borrowing
to finance their operations.
In my view, the central banks
should continue their efforts to
squeeze out high inflation, but
Taoist talismans and virtual ritu-
als are making more money than
traditional temple practices.
As part of my PhD research,
Taoist Luosong* told me how
300 rituals were performed for
people in the temple during
Zhongyuan Jie (Hungry Ghost
Festival). During the same time
frame, they received more than
2,700 orders on WeChat.
In the past, Taoists would
perform lengthy rituals in tem-
ple that required worshippers
to kneel and bow.
Today, Taoists can offer their
services more conveniently by
sharing recordings or perform-
ing rituals via video call.
Tarot divination is popular
among young people. Yanzi*,
a Buddhist and tarot reader,
provides advice and guidance
online for people’s emotions,
career and education.
they also have to respond to the
elevated stress among banks.
That points to a 0.25 percentage
points rise. At the same time,
central banks should contin-
ue making additional liquidity
available to the global banking
system for as long as necessary
to avoid bank runs, until confi-
dence is restored. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Yanzi explained her ser-
vice process to me. Texting on
WeChat, Yanzi asks her clients
what questions they would like
to ask. She then texts back a pic-
ture of the tarot spread with an
interpretation and report.
The online divination mar-
ket in China has created new
and unique businesses such as
“fortune-telling outsourcing”.
Some social media fortunetell-
ers secretly outsource divina-
tion work to religious personnel
in traditional institutions such
as Taoist temples via agents.
Luosong introduced this
business to me and showed me
his chat with an agent who for-
warded birth time and other in-
formation of the seeker to him
for a financial fortune reading.
Regulation and self-cen-
sorship
Despite the rising popularity of
Gen Z grew..
❰❰ 22 birthdays, weddings
and funerals.
Global lockdowns also
left people feeling a strange blend of
shock, boredom and irritation.
Like laughing at ugly memes,
laughing at cute, ugly Crocs helped
release feelings of powerlessness.
Here to stay
Popular predictions of
post-pandemic fashions sug-
gest there are two options:
we will continue to dress for
comfort, or we will embrace
eye-catching colours and pat-
MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY
spirituality in China, practitioners
of both officially recognised and
folk belief systems face strict cen-
sorship and moderation.
The Chinese government tight-
ly controls online content related
to religion and spirituality. Web-
sites and applications that display
such content must clearly label it
as “entertainment only”.
Online platforms have to ac-
tively monitor and remove any
material deemed to be in vio-
lation of government laws and
regulations.
As a result, some spiritual
practitioners self-censor their
discussions around sensitive
topics to avoid being flagged.
This could mean replacing
sensitive keywords in text con-
tent and using heavy filters in
video content. They also avoid
posting on specific days such
as March 15, a day for cracking
down on fraudulent practices.
Such measures are taken to pre-
vent their services or products
being labelled as fraudulent or
in violation of the law.
While there is a tension be-
tween the diversified spiritual
practices and mainstream ide-
ology in China, the flourishing
spiritual market continues to
highlight the ongoing evolution
of China’s spiritual landscape in
the digital era. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
terns and strange silhouettes.
The popularity of Crocs
among Gen Z suggests a third
option: a combination of the
comfortable with the crazy.
Worn today, these shoes sig-
nal the wearer’s capacity for ca-
sualness, irony, rebellion, and a
desire to forge their own fashion
rules in an Internet Ugly world.
Crocs are here to stay. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 2023 29

3 ways to unlock the power of food
to promote heart health
BY SHANNAN M. GRANT,
Mount Saint Vincent
University, ANDREA J.
GLENN, Harvard University,
DAYNA LEE-BAGGLEY,
Dalhousie University
The Conversation
Your diet — the foods and
drinks you eat, not short-term
restrictive programs — can im-
pact your heart disease risk.
Evidence-based approaches to
eating are used by dietitians and
physicians to prevent and treat
cardiovascular (heart) disease.
National Nutrition Month,
with its 2023 theme of Unlock
the Potential of Food, is an ideal
opportunity to learn more about
these approaches and adopt
more heart-friendly behaviours.
The Canadian Cardiovascular
Society (CCS) Clinical Practice
Guidelines recommend three
main dietary patterns for lower-
ing heart disease risk: the Med-
iterranean Diet, Dietary Ap-
proaches to Stop Hypertension
(DASH) and the Portfolio Diet.
1. The Mediterranean Diet
is rich in colourful vegetables
and fruits, whole grains, legumes,
nuts, olive oil and seafood. Re-
search studies have shown that
this diet reduces risk of having
a heart attack or stroke, even if
you already have heart disease,
and provides several other health
benefits. Dietitians of Canada has
created a resource that summa-
rizes the details of this approach
to eating.
2. The DASH Diet focuses
on eating plenty of vegetables,
fruit, low-fat dairy, whole grains
and nuts, while limiting red and
processed meats, foods with
Food
added sugar, and sodium. Orig-
inally developed to treat high
blood pressure, this diet can
also lower low-density lipopro-
tein cholesterol (LDL-C — the
unhealthy type of cholester-
ol) and provides several other
health benefits. Heart & Stroke
has several resources on this
approach to eating.
3. The Portfolio Diet was
originally developed in Canada
to treat high cholesterol. It em-
phasises plant proteins (for ex-
ample, soy and other legumes);
nuts; viscous (or “sticky”) fibre
sources such as oats, barley
and psyllium; plant sterols; and
healthy oils like olive oil, canola
oil and avocado. Many research
studies have shown that this diet
can lower LDL-C, and provides
several other health benefits.
Research shows that even small
additions of Portfolio Diet heart-
healthy foods can make a differ-
ence; the more you consume
of these recommended foods,
the greater your reductions in
LDL-C and heart disease risk.
The Canadian Cardiovascular
Society has an infographic on
how to follow the Portfolio Diet.
A common theme among
these three approaches to eat-
ing is that they are all consid-
ered plant-based, and small
changes can make a difference
in your overall heart disease
risk. “Plant based” does not
necessarily mean you have to
be 100 per cent vegan or veg-
etarian to get their benefits.
Plant-based diets can range
from entirely vegan to diets
that include small to moderate
amounts of animal products.
Knowledge of healthy eat-
ing approaches is key, but be-
haviours unlock the power of with a registered dietitian to sub- will help with sustained change.
food. Below are three strategies stitute healthier choices for your For example, choose to cook
to use to apply the potential of current foods and drinks. Avoid one meal that incorporates a
food to promote heart health. setting goals that may make you vegetable with a close friend or
They show that by combining the focus MORE on the foods you’re family member, so you can share
power of nutrition and psycholo- trying to avoid (for example, the experience and spend time
gy, you can improve your chances “stop eating sugar”). together. This example may be
of making long-term changes. Instead, the substitution ap- rooted in the following values:
You don’t need to do this proach can include things like kindness, relational values, cul-
alone. We recommend request- choosing lower-sodium soup or tural values, empathy, courage.
ing a referral from your physi- purchasing pre-cut vegetables Unlock the power of food
cian (this helps with getting the with the aim of reducing your Research shows a key to
appointment covered by your starch portion at meals by half. changing diet is focusing on
insurance) to work with a regis- Canada’s Food Guide, Diabetes changing eating habits and food
tered dietitian and/or psychol- Canada and Heart & Strokerec- behaviours, one at a time. The
ogist (behaviourist) to co-cre- ommend that half your plate be support of a nutrition profes-
ate your own ways to unlock the vegetables. sional, such as a registered di-
potential of food. 3. Set value-based goals etitian and/or a psychologist,
3 ways to unlock the power Connect your goal to some- can help you make informed
of food thing that deeply matters to choices and plans, tailored to
1. Master and conquer the you. While long-term outcomes your unique needs, situation,
90 per cent goal (such as heart disease) may preferences, traditions, abili-
Pick a goal you’re 90 per cent be the impetus for change, re- ties and capacity. ■
sure you can succeed at, while search shows that things that
creating a plan to meet larger matter to us right now motivate This article is republished
and harder goals in the future. us most. Picking personal and from The Conversation under a
This approach will help you meaningful reasons for change Creative Commons license.
build confidence in your skills
and give you valuable informa-
tion about what does and does
not work for you.
Research shows starting with
90 per cent goals makes it more
likely we meet future goals. A 90
per cent goal could be swapping
out animal protein for plant pro-
tein — such as tofu or beans — at
lunch on Mondays (Meatless
Mondays). Another example:
use a meal delivery service that
provides measured ingredients
with plant-based recipes on
Monday, Wednesday and Friday,
so you can get some new ideas
about how to incorporate more
plants into your meals.
2. Why eliminate and restrict,
when you can substitute?
Pick a “do instead” goal or work

DTI sets up..

❰❰ 26 tive Region (PHP6.26
million), Caraga
(PHP6.55 million) and
Calabarzon (PHP5.69 million).
OTOP Next Gen is one of the
two components of the DTI’s
program, supporting the supply
side of the program.
The DTI said OTOP Next
Gen provides package of as-
sistance to capacitate MSMEs
which include product develop-
ment initiatives, training, refer-
ral and other initiatives to help
them improve their products in
www.canadianinquirer.net
terms of design, quality and vol-
ume, among others.
The other component is the
OTOP.PH (Philippines Hub),
which supports the supply side
of the program. This includes
providing physical and online
channels and market access
platforms for OTOP products. ■
30 MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY

China reopens to Filipino tourists,
resumes visa issuances
BY JOYCE ANN L.
ROCAMORA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – China has officially
reopened to foreign tourists, in-
cluding Filipinos, as it resumed
accepting applications for all
types of visas, the Chinese Em-
bassy in Manila said Saturday.
“The long wait is over as China
finally resumes issuing all types
of visas for foreigners, includ-
ing the tourism visa, port visa,
and multiple visa-exemption
policies starting from March 15,
2023,” Chinese Ambassador to
the Philippines Huang Xilian
said in a Facebook post.
Huang said applicants may
apply for visas online through
https://cova.mfa.gov.cn.
Interested travelers, he said,
may also consult with the Chi-
Travel
nese Embassy in Manila and
its consulates in Cebu, Laoag,
and Davao for detailed require-
ments and procedures.
Meanwhile, China will resume
the visa-exemption policy for
Hainan, visa-exemption cruise
policy for Shanghai, visa-exemp-
tion policy for foreigners to visit
Guangdong from Hong Kong and
Macau, and visa-exemption poli-
cy for ASEAN tour groups to Gui-
lin and Guangxi.
China fully reopened to lei-
sure travelers three years after
the coronavirus disease 2019
(Covid-19) pandemic struck
and triggered the country to
impose one of the world’s most
severe lockdowns.
Last month, it also allowed
outbound group travel for Chi-
nese citizens to more than a doz-
en countries, including the Phil-
ippines, reviving hopes for the
pandemic-hit tourism sector.
Philippine Ambassador to Chi-
na Jaime FlorCruz said most of
the visa applicants are students,
tourists, and business travelers.
“(P)ara sa amin, malaking
pressure, kasi kulang pa kami
sa tauhan na magpo-process
ng visa. Pero, ginagawa namin
ang makakaya na bilisan ang
proseso (For us, there’s added
pressure because we’re short on
personnel who will process the
visas but we’re doing our best
to speed up the process),” he
said in a recent interview with
the China Radio Internation-
al-China Media Group.
“Of course, ayaw naming
makalusot iyong mga hindi ma-
gagandang may pakay sa atin.
Pero, basta’t lehitimo, pinapabi- tentions to enter the country. But Before the pandemic, China
lisan namin ang pag-approve ng so long as the reason for the visit was the country’s second-largest
visa (Of course we’re thorough, as is legitimate, we strive to fast- source of visitors, accounting for
we don’t want those with bad in- track the approval of the visa).” 1.7 million travelers in 2019. ■

Sex workers are..

Camiguin launches ❰❰ 11 en of colour, Indig-
enous women and
people, sex workers, trans and
non-binary people — who have

‘Isle be There’ tourism transgender people.

And so, in 2023, we once
again call upon the federal gov-
been convicted of historical of-
fences for consensual sex. ■

campaign ernment to provide meaning-

ful access to criminal record
expungement for all — queer
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.

BY NEF LUCZON digitalization, to have ‘Smart waste management, docking

Philippine News Agency
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY
– The Camiguin provincial
government rolled out Friday
its “Isle be There” rebranding
theme to welcome tourists with
a fresh start from the coronavi-
rus disease 2019 pandemic.
Gov. Xavier Jesus Romual-
do said the new tourism slogan
is part of the provincial gov-
ernment’s transformation and
development plans, with com-
munities and establishments
cooperating for its success.
“We are also going for the
Tourism’ where tourists can en-
joy the island (with ease),” Ro-
mualdo said during the opening
program.
With the use of technology,
the governor said visitors can
be given ample service and se-
curity throughout their stay in
the island province.
Since January, the governor
said the province has received
800,000 tourists and expects to
reach a million by 2025.
Romualdo also bared the
PHP250-million worth Man-
tigue Island Tourism Plan,
which aims to improve the fa-
cilities for water and power,
and mooring, guest services and
amenities, safety and security
and emergency response.
Another highlight of Ca-
miguin’s tourism campaign is
the lowering of restrictions on
tourists who have not availed of
Covid-19 vaccines.
Under the new directives,
unvaccinated tourists can visit
the island provided that they
present a negative Covid-19 test
taken in the last two days from a
Department of Health-accred-
ited clinic or testing center.
Unvaccinated minors aged
11 and below are no longer re-
quested for test results. ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
EJ Obiena is..
❰❰ 23 ships in Eugene, Ore-
gon, is revving up for a
gold medal when Paris
hosts the 2024 Olympics.
The PSA’s monthly citation
of top performing Filipino ath-
Japan donates P7M..
❰❰ 23 equipment that was
used by elite gymnasts
during the big sports
events. Hopefully, their linger-
ing aura will rub off on our bud-
ding gymnasts,” she said.
letes is being backed by San Mi-
guel Corporation, Philippine
Sports Commission, MILO,
Philippine Olympic Committee
and the Philippine Amusement
and Gaming Corporation. ■
The GAP president also as-
sured that the world-class equip-
ment will be well-maintained to
ensure that many young gym-
nasts will be able to use them for
a long time. ■
 MARCH 24, 2020
JULY 17, 2023 cx328
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 32 MARCH 24, 2023 FRIDAY

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