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pcinews_twt JUNE 23, 2023 www.canadianinquirer.net VOL. 8 NO. 545

RAINY SEASON

Another heavy downpour in Kamuning, Quezon City on Tuesday afternoon (June 20, 2023). State weather bureau PAGASA declared the onset of the rainy season on June 2 but the expected El
Niño by July or August will soon bring below-normal rainfall conditions and dry spells in some parts of the country.
JOAN BONDOC / PNA

19
Zubiri signs
Maharlika Fund, 2 Where was the Sun? Here’s why

other enrolled bills astronomers are more useful in

court cases than you’d think

BY WILNARD BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The recently ratified Ma-
harlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill is
now set to be transmitted to Malacañang
for signing into law by President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. after it was signed by
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on
Wednesday while still in a working visit
in Washington D.C.
The MIF bill, along with two other
enrolled measures -- the Estate Tax Am-
nesty Extension Act and the Act recog-
nizing Baler, Aurora, as the birthplace
of Philippine Surfing -- were signed by
Zubiri after it was personally brought by
❱❱ PAGE 4 Zubiri signs Maharlika
28
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Despite indictment, Trump retains
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Artificial intelligence can
support architects but lacks
PAGE 14
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2 JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY

www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2023
PBBM vows to strengthen AFP,
ensure welfare of soldiers
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Highlighting the
importance of the Armed Forc-
es of the Philippines (AFP) to the
country’s security and democracy,
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
on Monday vowed to strengthen
the organization and ensure the
well-being of its personnel.
“As your President and your
Commander-in-Chief, I stand
resolutely behind and with the
Armed Forces of the Philippines.
I will ensure that the strength of
the organization and the well-be-
ing of all its personnel are attend-
ed to,” Marcos said as he admin-
istered the oath of office to 40
newly promoted AFP generals
and flag officers in Malacañang.
The promoted AFP officials
are composed of 10 Major Gen-
PBBM to Filipinos: Get updated
on your Covid-19 vax
BY RUTH ABBEY GITA-
CARLOS
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. on Wednes-
day urged the Filipino people
to participate in the Depart-
ment of Health’s (DOH) inten-
sified coronavirus disease 2019
(Covid-19) vaccination program.
Marcos made the call during
the DOH’s launch of the bivalent
Covid-19 vaccines in a program
held at the Philippine Heart
Center (PHC) in Quezon City.
“Let this occasion serve as a
call to every Filipino to contin-
ue doing your part, get updated
on your Covid-19 vaccination,
to prevent the resurgence as a
means of honoring those who
sacrificed their lives during the
pandemic,” he said.
“I thus appeal to everyone,
especially those who have yet to
receive their primary series of
vaccinations to get vaccinated
against Covid-19. This is not for
your own good alone but also
erals/Rear Admirals and 14 Brig-
adier Generals/Commodores
of the Philippine Army; one
Lieutenant General, three Ma-
jor Generals/Rear Admirals and
four Brigadier Generals/Com-
modores of the Philippine Navy;
one Lieutenant General, two Ma-
jor Generals/Rear Admirals and
three Brigadier Generals/Com-
modores of the Philippine Air
Force; and, two Brigadier Gen-
erals/Commodores of the Tech-
nical and Administrative Service.
In his speech, Marcos said
the AFP is now in a new era and
is an organization that looks
outward while also building on
the gains that the country has
made internally.
He noted, however, that due
to the ever-changing dynamics
of geopolitics and the global se-
curity environment, more chal-
for the protection of your fami-
lies and the general public.”
Before the formal launch of
the bivalent vaccines, Marcos
also had a quick tour of the vac-
cination booth at the PHC.
Earlier this month, the Phil-
ippines received about 390,000
bivalent vaccine doses from
Lithuania.
The DOH has already distribut-
ed the first batch of donated biva-
lent vaccines to the department’s
regional centers nationwide.
Based on DOH guidelines,
healthcare workers and senior
citizens who received their sec-
ond booster shots at least four
to six months ago are eligible
for the first phase of the biva-
lent vaccine rollout.
Marcos thanked Lithuania for
its donation of bivalent Covid-19
vaccines to the Philippines.
“The Philippines conveys its
gratitude to the government of
the Republic of Lithuania for
the generosity and their dona-
tion of the country’s first batch
of bivalent vaccines,” he said.
“Rest assured that this govern-
lenges lie ahead.
With these circumstances,
the Commander-in-Chief said
the AFP must always emerge ef-
fective, formidable and respon-
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. administers the oath of office to newly
promoted generals and flag officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines on
Monday (June 19, 2023) at the Malacañang Ceremonial Hall. (REY BANIQUET/PNA)
ment under this administration
treasures that special relation-
ship and your act of generosity
today will certainly not go unno-
ticed or ever be forgotten.”
Marcos also thanked the
World Health Organization
(WHO) and the Covid-19 Vac-
cines Global Access (COVAX)
for its continuing assistance to
the Philippines.
‘Don’t be complacent’
The President noted that
while the WHO proclaimed
the end of Covid-19 as a public
health emergency, his adminis-
tration would not let its guard
down, considering that the dis-
ease continues to exist.
“Although the rest of the so-
ciety, the other sectors of our
society have tried to move on
and say the emergency is over,
certainly in a way we can say
that is the case. However, it is
not over completely, and that is
why we should not be compla-
cent,” he said.
Marcos said the government
would continue implementing
programs aimed at protecting
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
sive to ensure that the country’s
integrity and interests are de-
fended and preserved.
“Henceforth, your strategic
leadership will be the fulcrum
Filipinos who are part of the
vulnerable sector, including
people with co-morbidities and
senior citizens.
He said the Covid-19 risks “re-
main manageable,” with the use
of “science-based strategies and
a whole-of-society approach.”
“It cannot be denied that
vaccines have played an inte-
gral role in our fight against
Covid-19. And so that is why it
is important that I come to be
with you as we launch the bi-
valent vaccination campaign of
the DOH as we strive to finally
eradicate severe disease from
Covid-19,” Marcos said.
He likewise thanked the health
3
and the compass, so that the AFP
will move in the right direction,
guided by the Constitution and
the democratic principles that we
have all sworn to uphold,” he said.
Congratulating the new mil-
itary officers, Marcos said Fili-
pinos have high expectations of
them, stressing they will be tasked
to efficiently manage the organi-
zation and its assets, and maintain
its effectiveness and resilience.
He said they will lead and
mobilize the nation’s new gen-
eration of guardians and future
leaders, and instill in them the
virtues of discipline, valor and
patriotic public service.
“High-level security intelli-
gence and analysis will be expect-
ed to fully apprise the Command-
er-in-Chief and strategically
❱❱ PAGE 15 PBBM vows to
care workers, national govern-
ment agencies, and local gov-
ernment units for their contri-
butions to making the Covid-19
vaccination drive successful.
“I urge all of us to remain
relentless in our fight against
Covid-19 and all other infec-
tious diseases that threaten the
country,” he said.
“As long as we exhibit disci-
pline, observe cleanliness, and
practice cooperation, we will
overcome the residual chal-
lenges that still are posed by
Covid-19 and emerge stron-
ger than ever as members of a
healthy, resilient, and produc-
tive Philippine society.” ■
 4 Philippine News
Herbosa formally Joint efforts keep
assumes DOH post PH Tier 1 status in US
anti-trafficking report
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa waves the DOH flag during the flag-raising
ceremony at the agency’s office in Manila on Monday (June 19, 2023).
(DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (PHILIPPINES)/FACEBOOK)
BY MA. TERESA
MONTEMAYOR
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Newly appointed
Health Secretary Teodoro Her-
bosa has formally assumed his
post on Monday.
During Monday’s flag-raising
ceremony, Department of Health
(DOH) Undersecretary Ma. Ro-
sario Vergeire handed over to
Herbosa the agency’s banner.
The turnover rites coincided
with the DOH’s 125th anniversary.
Herbosa, in his speech, vowed
to continue the good gover-
nance and to process reforms
implemented by Vergeire.
He also underscored his
eight-point action agenda
to fully realize the Universal
Health Care Act -- good health
for all Filipinos; safe, quality
and caring services; technology
for quick healthcare services;
Zubiri signs Maharlika...
❰❰ 1 Senate Secretary Re-
nato Bantug to Wash-
ington D.C.
“The Maharlika bill is a priority
measure, and the Estate Tax Am-
nesty Extension is very time-sen-
sitive. Marami nang naghihintay
sa mga bills na ito (Many are wait-
ing for this bills). Fortunately the
enrolled copies were already pre-
pared by the time Secretary Ban-
tug was set to join us in Washing-
ton,” Zubiri said.
Zubiri said Bantug is part of
crisis preparedness; disease
prevention; emotional and
mental health; rights and wel-
fare of healthcare workers and
protection against pandemic.
Citing that the DOH’s ap-
proach was “very regulatory,”
Herbosa said he plans to im-
plement the eight-point action
agenda in a “humanistic” ap-
proach where the public’s wel-
fare is prioritized.
“I know they want it to be
regulatory to promote good
governance and prevent cor-
ruption. But I think we should
also not forget that there is a
human side in health,” he said.
“And the way we deliver and
govern should be humanistic,
makatao (humane).”
Moreover, Herbosa said his ad-
ministration would work on high-
er pay for healthcare workers.
“Better recognition and a
❱❱ PAGE 14 Herbosa formally assumes
the Senate contingent for the
working visit and was able to
bring along with him copies of
the enrolled measures which
were all signed by Zubiri in the
Philippine Embassy in Wash-
ington D.C.
“This was at no expense to the
Philippine government, kasi kasa-
ma naman talaga namin si Secre-
tary Bantug sa Senate delegation.
Isinabay na lang dalhin itong (be-
cause Secretary Bantug is really
with us in the Senate delegation.
BY PRIAM NEPOMUCENO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The top securi-
ty advisers of the Philippines,
United States and Japan dis-
cussed plans to further improve
“trilateral cooperation”.
The first meeting between
National Security Advisor
(NSA) Akiba Takeo of Japan,
NSA Jake Sullivan of the Unit-
ed States and NSA Eduardo Año
of the Philippines took place in
Tokyo on June 16.
“Recalling the security en-
vironment discussed in the
recent Japan-United States,
Japan-Philippines, and Unit-
ed States-Philippines sum-
mit meetings, the three NSAs
reaffirmed the importance of
deepening trilateral cooper-
ation among Japan, the Unit-
ed States and the Philippines,
which share fundamental val-
ues of freedom, democracy, and
respect for human rights, in or-
der to maintain and strengthen
a free and open international
order,” the National Security
Council (NSC) said in a state-
ment over the weekend.
In the meeting, Akiba and
Año welcomed Sullivan’s reaf-
firmation of the United States’
“ironclad alliance commit-
ments” to both Japan and the
Philippines.
“Recalling the security en-
vironment discussed in the
He just brought with him these)
enrolled bills,” he explained.
The signing was witnessed
by Philippine Ambassador to
the US Jose Manuel “Babe” Ro-
mualdez and Senator Francis
Tolentino who is also part of the
working visit.
Zubiri is currently in Washing-
ton D.C. to hold scheduled meet-
ings with members of the United
States Congress and US govern-
ment agencies. (With a report
from Leonel Abasola/PNA) ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
recent Japan-United States,
Japan-Philippines, and Unit-
ed States-Philippines summit
meetings, the three NSAs reaf-
firmed the importance of deep-
ening trilateral cooperation
among Japan, the United States
and the Philippines, which
share fundamental values of
freedom, democracy, and re-
spect for human rights, in order
to maintain and strengthen a
free and open international or-
der,” the NSC added.
The three officials also
stressed the importance of en-
hancing trilateral cooperation
and response capabilities based
on the Japan-United States alli-
ance and the Philippines-Unit-
ed States alliance in order to
maintain peace and stability in
the Indo-Pacific region.
“Also, they concurred that a
free and open maritime order,
characterized by freedom of
navigation, and a free, fair, and
equitable economic order are
essential in the Indo-Pacific,
especially given unilateral at-
tempts to change the status quo
by force or coercion,” it added.
All NSAs discussed a wide
range of regional security chal-
lenges, including with respect to
the South China Sea and the East
China Sea, as well as North Korea.
The three also reiterated the
importance of peace and stabil-
ity across the Taiwan Strait. All
three NSAs discussed oppor-
tunities to conduct combined
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri with Senator Francis Tolentino (SENATOR
MIGZ ZUBIRI/FACEBOOK)
JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY
maritime activities including
multilateral joint naval exercises
in Indo-Pacific waters in support
of freedom of navigation, and the
broader rules-based order.
“The three NSAs resolved to
advance trilateral defense co-
operation based on the recent
progress between the United
States and the Philippines such
as the four additional locations
identified pursuant to their En-
hanced Defense Cooperation
Agreement and between Japan
and the Philippines in discuss-
ing frameworks that will en-
hance and facilitate reciprocal
visits of defense and military
officials,” the NSC statement
stressed.
Also, the three NSAs stressed
the need to maintain a free and
open maritime order and this
was emphasized during the first
trilateral joint training among
the three countries’ Coast
Guards held earlier this month.
“The three NSAs reaffirmed
the importance of efforts to
promote Maritime Domain
Awareness by utilizing Japan’s
new ‘Official Security Assis-
tance’ cooperation framework,
the Quad’s Indo-Pacific Part-
nership for Maritime Domain
Awareness and other capacity
building measures,” it added.
Aside from this, all NSAs re-
solved to deepen trilateral co-
operation in the area of human-
❱❱ PAGE 14 Joint efforts keep
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2023 5

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6 Philippine News
PBBM sees progress in PH-China
fishing right talks
BY RUTH ABBEY GITA-
CARLOS
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippines
and China are making progress
in their discussions about fish-
ing rights in the West Philippine
Sea (WPS), President Ferdinand
R. Marcos Jr. said on Tuesday.
“These things do not come
very quickly… But we are slow-
ly making progress because
the key to that is the improved
communication between the
Philippine government and the
Chinese government,” Marcos
said on the sidelines of the De-
partment of Agriculture’s 125th
founding anniversary celebra-
tion in Diliman, Quezon City.
“That is because we are con-
tinuing to talk to the Chinese
government, to [Chinese] Pres-
ident Xi [Jinping] in every way,”
he added.
Marcos issued the statement
when asked for an update on the
two countries’ discussion amid
Filipino fisherfolk’s concern over
the continued presence of the
Chinese Coast Guard in the WPS.
Recently, GMA Integrated
MIAC bares plans for NAIA;
says PH can be regional powerhouse
BY MA. CRISTINA
ARAYATA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Manila In-
ternational Airport Consortium
(MIAC) on Monday bared its
plans to rehabilitate the Ninoy
Aquino International Airport
(NAIA), adding that their unso-
licited proposal valued at PHP267
billion to rehabilitate and develop
the NAIA would help the country
reach its potential of becoming a
regional economic hub.
“The Philippines has a lot of
English talents. You have a high-
ly educated workforce, and a
strong government leadership.
News reported that a Chinese gray
(military) ship tailed BRP Francis-
co Dagohoy, a multi-mission ves-
sel of the Bureau of Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources (BFAR).
It happened about six nau-
tical miles southwest of Pag-
asa Island, which is within the
200-nautical mile of the Philip-
pines exclusive economic zone.
Marcos recalled that during
his bilateral meeting with Xi in
China in January this year, he
raised the issues about fishing
rights in the WPS.
He also cited the BFAR pro-
jection that local fisherfolk
would get more catch because
of the improved situation in the
fishing grounds in WPS.
He ensured the government
is ready to provide livelihood
assistance in case China impos-
es anew a seasonal fishing ban.
“Kapag may fishing ban, may
coordination na tayong ginaga-
wa sa kanila, para hindi na
lang bigla fishing ban na ngay-
on. Makapagplano naman (If
there is a fishing ban, there is a
coordination with them so we
will not be surprised. We could
make a plan),” Marcos said.
“Kapag sasabihin may fish-
We cannot allow it to be left be-
hind,” said Jim Yong Kim, Glob-
al Infrastructure Partners (GIP)
vice chair, in a press conference.
Aside from these, Kim said other
key enablers of any regional eco-
nomic hub are access to finan-
cial capital and a reliable trans-
port infrastructure.
GIP is a member of the MIAC,
along with six other conglomer-
ates -- Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc.,
AC Infrastructure Holdings Cor-
poration, Asia’s Emerging Drag-
on Corporation, Alliance Glob-
al-Infracorp Development, Inc.,
Filinvest Development Corpora-
tion, and JG Summit Infrastruc-
ture Holdings Corporation.
In making the airport a re-
ing ban in two months’ time,
planuhin na natin. Ano gagawin
ng mangingisda, so bigyan natin
sila ibang (If they say there will
be fishing ban in two months, let’s
have a plan for our fishermen and
provide them a) livelihood or oth-
er source of income,” he added.
At the opening session of the
7th Bilateral Consultations Mech-
anism on the South China Sea
in Manila on March 24, Foreign
Affairs Undersecretary Ma. The-
resa Lazaro emphasized existing
diplomatic channels, including a
communication line between the
two states’ foreign ministries.
Lazaro noted that Marcos
and Xi “agreed that maritime
issues should be addressed
through diplomacy and dia-
logue and never through coer-
cion and intimidation.”
Illegal, unreported, unreg-
ulated fishing
Meantime, Marcos ordered
the DA and BFAR to come up
with comprehensive study on the
rehabilitation and maintenance
of marine habitats to address
illegal, unreported and unregu-
lated fishing (IUUF), Communi-
cations Secretary Cheloy Garafil
said in a statement.
gional hub, Kim said they can-
not make a mistake of applying
a band-aid solution.
Representatives of MIAC
said their plans basically in-
volve introducing technology
and improving passenger pro-
cesses. They, however, did not
go into specifics.
GIP head of Transport Phil-
ip Iley commented that NAIA
has low technology and is slow
in passenger processing. The
MIAC will also construct addi-
tional taxiways to increase air-
craft movement.
According to Manila Interna-
tional Airport Authority officer in
charge Bryan Co, NAIA has mul-
tiple taxiways and has assigned
www.canadianinquirer.net
Garafil said the DA and
BFAR, in a June 13 meeting
with Marcos, were directed to
work closely with the Office of
the Executive Secretary to craft
the necessary issuances to im-
plement Fisheries Administra-
tive Order (FAO) 266, signed
in 2020 to require commercial
fishing vessels (CFVs) to install
vessel monitoring systems.
She said Marcos ordered the
two agencies to study the es-
tablishment of Strategic Agri-
culture and Fisheries Develop-
ment Zones to provide fishery
Pres. Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. (PCO)
41 to 42 movements per hour for
commercial operations for now.
MIAC’s first phase plan to be
implemented for two years in-
cludes increasing the airport’s
capacity, from the current 31
million passengers per annum
to 54 million by 2025. For the
second phase, the MIAC targets
62.5 million passengers per an-
num capacity by 2028. This can
be achieved by expanding and
developing the terminal floor
area, adding airfield facilities,
and improving transportation
across the four NAIA terminals.
Around 70 million passen-
gers per annum capacity is be-
ing eyed by 2048 or during the
plan’s third phase. Also in the
JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY
stakeholders with an area for
sustainable fishing and to re-
view the licenses of CFVs that
fail to comply with FAO 266.
Garafil said the DA and BFAR
were likewise directed to study
Republic Act 8550 or the Phil-
ippine Fisheries Code of 1998,
as amended by RA 10654, to
determine the provisions that
need to be amended.
“President Marcos, who is also
the concurrent DA Secretary, has
emphasized in a meeting on June
❱❱ PAGE 14 PBBM sees progress
pipeline are expansion and de-
velopment projects to further
expand the terminal space and
airfield capacity.
The MIAC has submitted an
unsolicited proposal to intro-
duce technological and struc-
tural changes to the NAIA
under a 25-year concession
agreement.
Asked for the implication to
the public if their proposal gets
approved, such as change in the
terminal fee, a MIAC member
said they will not charge higher
than what is in the market.
“Terminal fees will not be
higher than what’s in the mar-
❱❱ PAGE 15 MIAC bares plans
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2023
Tougher air passenger rights sought
amid flight cancellations
BY WILNARD BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Senators called
on Wednesday for a tougher
policy on air passengers rights
to address the cancellations
and delays in flights by local air-
lines besetting travelers.
The call was made during an
inquiry by the Senate Committee
on Tourism after receiving nu-
merous complaints against Cebu
Pacific’s overbooking, offloading
and other booking glitches.
Sen. Grace Poe said this
pressing public service issue
calls for urgent effective solu-
tions as it involves not only the
air passengers’ rights, but also
the overall impact on the coun-
try’s tourism and economy.
“Price and value are two dif-
ferent things. Dapat maayos ang
serbisyo kahit sa seat sale nabili
ang ticket (The service should be
good even if the ticket was bought
during a seat sale),” Poe said.
PBBM: PH soil ‘under threat,’ innovative
strategies needed
BY RUTH ABBEY GITA-
CARLOS
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. on Wednes-
day stressed the need to imple-
ment innovative measures to
address the “growing problem”
of degradation, acidification,
and pollution of Philippine soil.
“Needless to say, our soil is
under threat. And to continue
to neglect this vital agricultur-
al component will lead to even
worse crisis in the future,” Mar-
cos said during the first National
Soil Health Summit (NSHS) at
the Diamond Hotel in Manila.
While the Philippines is
“blessed with rich and fertile
lands,” Marcos added that the
country is facing “grave and ur-
gent” issues in providing quali-
While overbooking is a glob-
ally accepted practice, Poe said
“systematic delays and can-
cellations are not” noting that
complaints of cancellations
against Philippine Airlines have
also increased.
The lawmaker also noticed
the lack of crisis management
personnel from the airlines
who are supposed to handle
complaints.
“Dagdag pasakit din ang ma-
salimuot na rebooking at re-
fund process, at kawalan ng
rightful compensation. ‘Di rin
nakakatulong ang mahirap na
pakikipag-usap sa chat bots sa
halip na customer service repre-
sentatives at help desks tuwing
may aberya (Rebooking, refund
process, and lack of rightful
compensation are also addi-
tional burden. Talking to chat
bots instead of customer service
representatives and help desks
also makes it harder when these
issues occur),” Poe said.
Under the joint Department
ty and sufficient food.
Citing the data from the De-
partment of Environment and
Natural Resources, the Presi-
dent noted that around 75 per-
cent of the country’s total crop-
land is “vulnerable to erosion in
various degrees,” with agricul-
ture losing about 457 million
tons of soil annually.
Marcos added that the con-
version of lands for settlements
and the loss of about 47 hect-
ares of forest cover every year
contribute to soil degradation.
He also lamented that on top
of the 2.2 million hectares that
suffer from “insufficient levels
of soil fertility,” around 11 to 13
million hectares are “consid-
ered degraded.”
“Making matters worse is the
improper use of fertilizers and
pesticides that pollute and acid-
ify our soil,” Marcos said.
of Transportation – Depart-
ment of Trade and Industry
(DOTr-DTI) Administrative
Order No. 01, series of 2012 or
the Air Passenger Bill of Rights,
an air passenger has the right
to be provided with accurate
information before purchase,
Passengers at NAIA Terminal 3. (PCI)
The Chief Executive noted
that the holding of the first NSHS
is vital in enhancing programs re-
lated to soil health and promot-
ing the sustainable use of soul.
“With the discourse amongst
our leaders and the agricultural
sector’s brightest minds, I an-
ticipate that this summit will
spark more informed decisions
and much-needed innovations
in the coming years,” he said.
“We in government cannot
solve the issues affecting our soil
and the agriculture sector as a
whole on our own. As such, this
summit is an opportune time
for all of us here to collaborate,
to share our wisdom and expe-
rience to improve our soil and
boost our agricultural produc-
tivity, all the while promoting
sustainability and environmen-
tal protection,” Marcos added.
His administration has come
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
right to receive the full value of
the service purchased and right
to compensation.
It is also provided under the
order that “whenever a flight is
overbooked, the air carrier shall
announce that the flight is over-
booked and that it is looking for
up with a five-point priority
agenda on soil and water man-
agement to ensure the proper
use and management of soil
resources, address land degra-
dation, and improve crop pro-
ductivity and farmers’ income.
These include the imple-
mentation of the National Soil
Health Program; sustainable
land management; empower-
ment of the Bureau of Soils and
Water Management (BSWM);
the conduct of Soil and Land
Resources Mapping and Evalu-
ation Process; and exploration
of water security.
“These are all part of the col-
lective effort to mitigate the
effects of the El Niño phenom-
enon,” Marcos said.
The government is also com-
mitted to addressing the “sys-
temic and perennial ills” in the
agriculture sector, noting that it is
7
volunteers willing to give up
their seats in exchange for air
carrier compensation.”
Sen. Nancy Binay, who chairs
the panel, explained that the
government has to uphold
both convenience and service
by checking if the local airlines
observe the 5 percent allowable
overbooking set by the Civ-
il Aviation Board with proper
compensation to the affected
passengers.
“What has been highlighted
so far in this hearing is the lack
of customer handling. Our pas-
sengers, it seems, have nowhere
to turn for their grievances,”
Binay said.
“Dahil sa kawalan ng human
touch, lalong naaagrabyado ang
ating mga pasahero (Because of
the lack of human touch, pas-
sengers are further aggrieved),”
she added before suspending
the inquiry hoping that the
next discussions will result into
stronger policies for a smoother
air travel in the country. ■
focused on introducing new tech-
nologies and machinery to farm-
ers to give them access to “more
efficient practices”, he added.
He said major investments in
the agriculture industry from
local and foreign investors are
also welcome to provide farm-
ers with the capital and tools
they need to boost productivity.
Spearheaded by the Depart-
ment of Agriculture’s BSWM,
the first NSHS aims to imple-
ment a more systematic and
holistic approach to address
matters concerning soil health
in the country.
The summit seeks collabo-
ration and improved partner-
ships with various stakeholders
geared toward the implementa-
tion of soil health improvement
strategies and agricultural pro-
ductivity in the country. ■
8 Philippine News
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Member
CCC seeks strengthened policies
for climate-induced migration
BY RUTH ABBEY GITA-CARLOS
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Climate Change Com-
mission (CCC) on Tuesday pushed for
strengthened policies to address migra-
tion in Asian and Gulf nations, which
was driven by climate change.
During the dialogue session of the
Asia-Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC)
senior officials, CCC Commissioner
Rachel Anne Herrera underscored the
need for stronger regional cooperation
to find a solution to the pressing threat
of climate change and its profound im-
pact on human mobility.
“It’s not just about being forced to
evacuate or move during times of calam-
ities and distress; it’s also the element of
choice – it’s choosing to evacuate, choos-
ing to move, choosing to relocate, while
others choose to stay behind. It’s this el-
ement of choice that brings people from
danger to safety, from doubts to certain-
ty, from risk to resilience,” Herrera said.
“As climate change impacts continue to
significantly drive migration and forced
displacements, government policies and
programs must be able to respond to the
complex issues that surround or arise
from these movements – issues, such as
loss of livelihoods, armed conflict, gen-
der-based violence, lack of access to ap-
propriate health care services, and so on.”
She said a comprehensive approach is
needed to address the challenges faced
by displaced individuals, including em-
ployment, health care, and security.
Herrera also acknowledged the im-
portance of international support in in-
tegrating human mobility into national
climate policies and programs.
She likewise emphasized the crucial
role of local government units (LGUs) in
addressing climate risks and developing
local climate change action plans.
Herrera recommended the collabora-
tion on climate risk and loss and damage
assessments; enhancement of climate
targets and Nationally Determined Con-
tributions; formulation of science-based
National Adaptation Plans; and provid-
ing support for local governments’ risk-
based adaptation interventions.
She made the proposals to strengthen
the implementation of the Global Com-
pact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Mi-
gration for the Asia-GCC.
“For millions of people exposed to
climate hazards now and in the future, I
believe it is our obligation, as leaders in
our governments and as members of the
Asia-GCC, to open real opportunities
for them to choose and live a better life,”
Herrera said.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Prof. Saleemul Huq OBE, director of
the International Centre for Climate
Change and Development (ICCCAD),
backed Herrera’s statement, acknowl-
edging that migration is also a viable ad-
aptation strategy.
“Migration is not just a problem but
is actually a solution. We need to think
of helping migrants, provide support
for those who are forced to leave their
homes, and of course, address the under-
lying causes of climate change,” Huq said.
CCC vice chairperson and executive
director Robert Borje said the commis-
sion is committed to advancing climate
action and collaboration with stakehold-
ers by leveraging expertise and insights
on the complex relationship between
climate change and migration.
“Addressing issues related to migra-
tion and forced displacements directly
translates to saving lives, livelihoods,
and future of population and commu-
nities,” Borje said. “In the long run, this
intervention does not only address loss
and damage but likewise contribute to
the larger scope of climate change adap-
tation and mitigation.”
Climate hazards drive involuntary
global migration and displacement, with
weather-related extremes displacing
more than 20 million people annually
since 2008, according to the Intergov-
ernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The International Organization for Mi-
gration projects that up to 113 million peo-
ple could internally migrate by 2050 due
to water stress, crop failure, sea level rise,
and other slow-onset climate impacts.
The dialogue session serves as a plat-
form for labor migration officials from
Bahrain, Bangladesh, India, Indone-
sia, Kuwait, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, the
Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri
Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates
JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY
to discuss issues of common interest,
which affect labor mobility, including
climate change.
The dialogue was hosted by the De-
partment of Migrant Workers of the
Philippines, in cooperation with the De-
partment of Foreign Affairs of the Phil-
ippines and the City of Taguig.
The event has the support of the Unit-
ed Nations Network on Migration, the
International Organization for Migra-
tion, the International Labor Organiza-
tion, and the Office of the High Commis-
sioner for Human Rights.
Greenhouse gas emissions reduction
Meanwhile, the CCC led a commu-
nity-level greenhouse gas inventory
(GHGI) training in Nueva Ecija and Nue-
va Vizcaya, in partnership with First Gen
Corp., to support the LGUs’ initiatives to-
ward reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
LGU representatives from Pantaban-
gan, Ma. Aurora, and Carranglan in Nue-
va Ecija, and Alfonso Castañeda in Nueva
Vizcaya participated in the pre-orienta-
tion training, which aimed to equip LGUs
with the necessary knowledge and skills
for conducting community-level GHGI,
the CCC said in a separate statement.
Borje said the initiative is part of the
collaborative efforts of the CCC and
First Gen under the “Create for the Cli-
mate” program to support LGUs in First
Gen’s host communities in formulating
and updating their enhanced Local Cli-
mate Change Action Plans (eLCCAP).
The GHGI is one of the modules in-
cluded in the LCCAP.
“We are providing support for our
LGUs to identify and prioritize climate
actions that are appropriate and relevant
to their respective communities and con-
tribute to the country’s overall climate
❱❱ PAGE 15 CCC seeks strengthened
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2023
Court decision in youth climate lawsuit
against Ontario government ignites hope
BY NATHALIE CHALIFOUR,
L’Université d’Ottawa/
University of Ottawa, ERIN
DOBBELSTEYN, L’Université
d’Ottawa/University of
Ottawa, LYNDA COLLINS,
L’Université d’Ottawa/
University of Ottawa
The Conversation
In the midst of unprecedent-
ed spring wildfires and antici-
pation of more record-breaking
summer heatwaves, climate lit-
igation is on the rise in Canada.
Courts are being asked to de-
termine whether governments
are doing enough to safeguard
the health and lives of Canadi-
ans experiencing the impacts of
the climate crisis.
A group of seven youth sued
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s gov-
ernment in November 2019 for
replacing the province’s previous
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
reduction target with a signifi-
cantly weaker and unscientific
one. The Mathur v Ontario case
made history early this spring
when a judge ruled — for the first
time in Canada — that courts can
consider whether a government’s
response to climate change in-
fringes upon human rights.
Clearing this hurdle was a
significant victory for these
young Canadians. Three previ-
ous attempts by youth and In-
digenous groups to invoke the
Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms for climate harms
were struck down before ever
getting to trial.
Courts around the world are
increasingly holding govern-
ments accountable for violating
their citizens’ human rights by
not doing enough on climate
change. Last week, youth liti-
gants in Montana were testify-
ing in the first climate lawsuit in
the United States to reach trial.
Ontario’s severely defi-
cient climate target
Although the Ontario Supe-
rior Court of Justice did not
Canada News
ultimately find any breaches
of Charter rights, the Mathur
v Ontario decision is ground-
breaking in many ways, leaving
the youth claimants optimistic
about a successful appeal.
In addition to being the first
Canadian case of this kind to
proceed to a full hearing, the
court was unequivocal that On-
tario’s climate target falls “se-
verely short” of what the scien-
tific consensus says is necessary
to avoid catastrophic climate
change — GHG reductions of
45 per cent below 2010 levels by
2030 and net zero by 2050.
Justice Marie-Andrée Ver-
mette held that Ontario’s target
increases the risk of death and of
the physical and mental harms
faced by all Ontarians. She also
held that these harms will be
inflicted disproportionately on
children, youth and Indigenous
Peoples. To remedy this large
gap, she stated, Ontario would
have to increase its current tar-
get by a whopping 73 per cent.
Following in the footsteps of
the Supreme Court of Canada
and courts around the world,
Vermette recognized climate
change as a global problem that
requires collective action, both
internationally and domestically,
meaning every country, province
and territory has to do its part.
Relying on arguments and
expert evidence rooted in cli-
mate change denialism, Ontar-
io tried to shield itself from re-
sponsibility by pointing to the
province’s relatively small con-
tributions to global emissions.
Vermette rejected this line of
reasoning and Ontario’s bid for
a free pass, which would put the
planet on a fast-track to catastro-
phe if adopted by all jurisdictions.
Every single GHG emission —
including those from Ontario —
contributes to climate change and
the risks it poses to society.
How does law apply to cli-
mate change?
Despite these significant
findings, the court held Ontar-
io’s weak climate target did not
violate the right to life, security
of the person or equality under
Sections 7 and 15 of the Charter.
The dismissal turned on com-
plex aspects of constitutional law,
including unsettled questions
about whether the Charter im-
poses obligations on governments
to take positive steps to ensure
everyone enjoys the rights to life,
liberty and security of the person
enshrined in Section 7.
Although such freestanding
positive obligations have never
been recognized by Canadian
courts, the Supreme Court of
Canada held, two decades ago,
that this might one day occur in
“special circumstances.”
Vermette is the first Canadian
judge to note that the existential
threat of climate change likely
meets this threshold and could
justify ordering the government
to do more. However, she de-
clined to fully decide the issue, cit-
ing the lack of a defined legal test
for adjudicating “positive rights”
arguments. She stated that the ex-
isting law needs to be adapted in
novel cases such as this.
On appeal, the Ontario Court
of Appeal will have the oppor-
tunity to consider updating
the way Charter rights are in-
terpreted and applied amid a
threat that an American judge
described as akin to an asteroid
barrelling towards Earth.
Youth and climate change
We acted as co-counsel rep-
resenting Friends of the Earth
Canada as an intervener in
Mathur v Ontario. Friends of
the Earth Canada, a non-profit
organization that takes action
to confront polluters and hold
governments accountable for
their environmental promis-
es, will seek to intervene in the
appeal to argue that there is an
ecological constitutional bot-
tom line that must be respected
by governments.
Even though Canada’s Char-
ter is silent about the need
to protect the Earth’s critical
www.canadianinquirer.net
life-support systems — clean
air, water and a stable climate
— the rights to life, equality and
security of the person will be
meaningless on a dying planet
and therefore must be inter-
preted with reference to eco-
logical sustainability.
If permitted to intervene,
Friends of the Earth will also pro-
vide input about how the Char-
ter’s equality guarantee applies
in the context of climate change.
Vermette acknowledged that
youth will be disproportionate-
ly impacted. But she held that
climate change — not Ontario’s
target — is causing the harm.
This is at odds with her rea-
soning that every GHG emis-
sion counts towards increasing
the risk of harm to life and se-
curity of the person. It also im-
plies that no domestic climate
target could ever be discrimina-
tory, since there will always be
multiple emitters.
Other courts around the
world have highlighted the
problem of delaying action,
which requires youth and fu-
ture generations to make faster,
more radical emissions reduc-
tions down the road.
Germany’s highest constitu-
tional court, for example, re-
9
cently held that it was uncon-
stitutional for the government
to make decisions today that
lock in future harms and place
a disproportionate burden on
future generations.
The Ontario Court of Appeal
will have an opportunity in Mathur
v Ontario to reconsider how equal-
ity rights apply in the context of cli-
mate change, where the risks and
harms will fall disproportionately
on the shoulders of our children
and grandchildren.
A ray of hope
Youth climate litigants will
continue using all avenues — in-
cluding courts — to pressure gov-
ernments to address the grave,
unprecedented and irreversible
threats climate change poses to
people now and in the future.
As smoky air blankets much
of Canada and offers a mere
glimpse of what lies in store as
global temperatures continue
to rise, there is hope that in cas-
es like Mathur v Ontario, the
courts will refuse to be silent by-
standers while the climate crisis
erodes the ecological founda-
tions of life on this planet. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
10
New Brunswick’s LGBTQ+ safe
schools debate makes false opponents
of parents and teachers
BY ANDREA GARNER,
University of New Brunswick,
MELISSA DOCKRILL
GARRETT, University of New
Brunswick
The Conversation
Across Canada, we are wit-
nessing a surge of unrest sur-
rounding 2SLGBTQIA+ policy
changes and cultural shifts in
education, sparking heated
debates and rallies across the
country.
Ontario, Manitoba and Al-
berta have all recently made the
news regarding 2SLGBTQIA+
educational issues.
In New Brunswick, the pre-
mier and education minister
sparked backlash and con-
tentious debate after a recent
call to review policy that sets
minimum standards for es-
tablishing safe, welcoming, in-
clusive and affirming learning
environments for students,
families and allies who identify
as 2SLGBTQIA+ (Policy 713).
Recently announced changes
to the 2020 policy have sparked
a volatile debate reflecting po-
larizing arguments that make
false opponents out of parents
and teachers.
Students’ rights to choose
pronoun/name
Policy 713 had clearly set
guidelines related to support-
ive school environments, alli-
ances, self-identification and
“universal spaces,” referring to
all schools having at least one
universal washroom accessible
at all times.
Under the original policy,
school staff would consult with
a transgender or non-binary
student to determine their pre-
ferred first name and pronouns.
Only if a student under age 16
wished to change their name
for official record keeping (such
as on a report card), the student
was required to get parental
consent. The policy also said
that when contacting a parent
to discuss a students’ preferred
name, the principal must have
the student’s informed consent.
Changes to the policy say if
Canada News
students under 16 disagree to
get parental consent to change
the name used in school record
keeping, they would be referred
to a social worker or school psy-
chologist “to work with them
in the development of a plan to
speak with their parents if and
when they are ready to do so.”
However, CBC reported
that when asked whether the
changes mean teachers can use
a child’s preferred name or pro-
noun informally in the class-
room without parental consent,
Bill Hogan, New Brunswick’s
minister of education and early
childhood development, said,
“According to the policy, they
will use the name of the student
given at birth.”
Members and allies of the
2SLGBTQIA+ community ad-
vocate for Policy 713 remaining
as written. The Canadian Civil
Liberties Association said the
changes “violate the rights and
dignity” of LGBTQ youth. In a
statement, the New Brunswick
Association of School Psychol-
ogists said the new policy will
hurt students and that “misgen-
dering transgender and gender
diverse people increases risk of
self-harm, suicidal ideation and
other mental health concerns.”
Precedent across the country
People who support changes to
the policy express concerns about
parental rights and traditional
values. CBC reports that a con-
servative Christian group based
in British Columbia has encour-
aged supporters to lobby New
Brunswick MLAs because what
happens in the province could set
a precedent across the country.
While the public was assured
that stakeholders were being
consulted throughout the De-
partment of Education and Ear-
ly Childhood Development’s
review process, some students
and parents who were consult-
ed did not feel their voices were
truly being heard.
Polarized arguments
Recently, there have been out-
rageous allegations that schools
or teachers are “grooming” chil-
dren for gender transition, or
that schools are “keeping chil-
JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY
dren’s gender identity secret.” tities, discovering their inter- name or pronoun they prefer,
Teachers are caught in the ests and passions and exploring or insisting they see a counsel-
crossfire. Teachers aim to foster possibilities through academic lor or psychologist, could di-
students’ self-determination and social aspects of school life. minish trust between a student
(which requires meeting the However, for some this jour- and their teachers and families.
needs of being one’s authen- ney is harder than for others. This would isolate the student,
tic self in relationships with Supporting students’ self-ad- with neither families nor teach-
others, having autonomy and a vocacy ers as allies, potentially putting
sense of competence), self-ad- Outside of mandatory report- the student at greater risk.
vocacy and safe and inclusive ing, teachers make professional Reducing stigma
learning environments, but judgements grounded in a firm It is crucial to address the
now face being ordered to dis- framework of ethical practice, source of marginalization,
regard children’s voices. policy guidelines, knowledge which is discrimination.
It is important to under- of students and consultation We need to provide support
stand that parents/guardians when required. to children and youth on a case-
and families were not excluded If a student shares some- by-case basis. Education plays
by the original policy. The aim thing with a trusted person like a vital role in reducing stigma,
was to ensure “all members of a teacher and there is no cause dismantling prejudice and dis-
the school environment have for concern, teachers maintain crimination, promoting accep-
the right to self-identify and ex- neutrality and confidentiality. tance and nurturing a diverse
press themselves without fear Teachers strive to affirm (not and vibrant society.
of consequences…” encourage) what the student Schools must continue to be in-
Being positioned as the en- is telling them. Teachers offer clusive and foster cultures of eq-
emy of parents and children’s a non-judgemental space, and uity, acceptance and compassion
welfare, at the same time as support young people to self-ad- where each student is valued and
they are being ordered to re- vocate or co-advocate to build re- honoured for who they are. ■
frain from inclusive practic- lationships with adults and com-
es for specific groups, has in- munity members in their lives. This article is republished
creased the strain on already Refusing to honour a stu- from The Conversation under a
drained educators. dent’s request to be called by a Creative Commons license.
Duty of care
To speak of schools or teach-
ers keeping secrets is mislead-
ing. Teachers are mandatory re-
porters. They are legally bound
to keep the youth in their care
safe from neglect and abuse.
There are policies and proce-
dures for this in school boards
and in the Education Act.
Teachers also have a duty of
care for the safety, well-being
and education of all students
during school hours. Teachers
set the learning environment,
but students whether age four,
14 or 17 have agency in the way
they engage with the conditions
teachers establish.
An educator’s ability to
support students’ thriving is
grounded in the relationships
built with students, their fam-
ilies and their communities.
Collaboration and co-operative
planning with the child or young
person are essential, and involv-
ing their guardians and commu-
nity however possible, is ideal.
A team approach hopefully
results in young people posi-
tively constructing their iden-
www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2023 Canada News 11

Chronic sexual misconduct in Canada’s

military is a national security threat
BY JASON WALKER, submitted letters to the court in
ment includes the “relentless
University Canada West support of Hamilton. pursuit of excellence” but that
The Conversation In a CBC interview, Kevin doesn’t seem to apply when it
Schamuhn said that when he comes to workplace violence.
confronted Dawe about it, Dawe This toxic culture is a long-
The Canadian Armed Forc- admitted wanting to influence standing problem. The Canadi-
es (CAF) has a serious problem Hamilton’s sentence because he an government set aside approx-
when it comes to sexual violence.believed Hamilton was a “good imately $800 million in 2019 to
According to a recent report, guy” who deserved leniency. resolve class-action sexual as-
the Canadian Special Opera- When news of Dawe’s actions sault lawsuits launched by serv-
tions Forces Command (CAN- came to light four years later,ing and retired military person-
SOFCOM), an elite branch of he was relieved of his command nel. In fact, more than a quarter
the Canadian Armed Forces, and placed on paid leave. of female members in the CAF
has exposed a troubling culture But not long after, Dawe have reported sexual assault.
of reticence and double stan- was quietly reinstated and ap- The CAF’s inability to exercise
dards when it comes to address- pointed to help lead the CAF effective leadership and main-
ing misconduct. response to sexual misconduct tain focus is a serious obstacle to
According to internal reviews reviews, further calling into bringing about lasting change. (CANADIAN ARMED FORCES/FACEBOOK)
conducted for senior leader- question the integrity of the Defence Minister Anita
ship, certain elite groups withinCAF complaint process and Anand has pledged to “take on” ers have the opportunity to The principle of “see some-
the command enjoy immunity, eroding trust within the ranks.bad behaviour, but it’s clear lead the way when it comes to thing, say something” must not
are shielded from accountabil- Untouchable soldiers that promise has yet to be ful- addressing issues of workplace lead to negative consequences
ity and are protected from the It’s clear from this case andfilled. In 2021, Prime Minister bullying, harassment and sexu- for the victim. CAF members are
consequences of serious issues others that CANSOFCOM Justin Trudeau stated that the al abuse in the organization. So asked to serve and sacrifice on
of misconduct. promotes a repressive culture “CAF just doesn’t get it” when why aren’t they? the battlefield, so why can’t they
Take for exam- it comes to sexual These issues constitute real be protected from each other?
ple the sexual as- misconduct in its and immediate threats to our na- Public health issue
sault conviction ranks, but he has tional security because they frac- Workplace violence is a public
of Maj. Jonathan since been mute ture trust and safety among those health issue. The consequences
Hamilton involv- on the subject. tasked with protecting Canada. of bullying, harassment and sex-
ing retired Logis- Speaking up against injustice Cultural im- These threats are coming from ualized violence at work have
tics Officer An- in the CAF can lead to harsh provements have within the ranks. The endemic serious impacts on the physical
nalise Schamuhn, yet to be achieved, CAF culture of victim blaming and mental health of victims.
the wife of retired repercussions, producing an even after Anand’s falls short of the basic principles Meaningful and effective in-
special forces environment of secrets, stagnation 2022 public apolo- of decency, honour and justice — tervention is a necessary step in
Maj. Kevin Scha- gy to a CAF mem- and it’s time for real action. combating these issues, but to
muhn, who both and continuing consequences. ber over abuse A multi-faceted strategy is do so effectively, change needs
had the courage in the ranks, the needed to include victim aid, pol- to start at the top.
to speak publicly transfer of sexual icy change, leadership responsi- Perhaps it’s time for Dr. The-
about their story. misconduct cases bility and education like the one resa Tam, Canada’s chief public
A judge found to civilian tribu- proposed by Marie Deschamps, health officer, to take on work-
Hamilton guilty nals and the cre- the former Supreme Court justice place violence. Tam is someone
on six criminal counts in 2017, whereby the offender is often ation of the CAF’s Sexual Mis- who was appointed to conduct who gets things done. During
including unlawfully entering supported while the victim is conduct Response Centre and one of the many reviews into sex- the COVID-19 pandemic, she
the Schamuhn residence and forgotten or blamed. Operation HONOUR that aims ual misconduct in the CAF. led Canada’s public health re-
sexually assaulting Annalise Speaking up against injustice to combat sexual misconduct. To eradicate sexual assault, sponse and ensured widespread
Schamuhn on two separate in the CAF can lead to harsh re- That initiative still appears to be the CAF must commit to trans- public health measures were
occasions. Prior to sentenc- percussions, producing an envi- struggling to execute its mission. formative leadership and em- put in place to save lives.
ing, Maj.-Gen. Peter Dawe, a ronment of secrets, stagnation End the silence phasize the dignity, respect and The mandate of the Public
deputy commander in Kevin and continuing consequences. It’s time to end the silence. equality of those who serve —
Schamuhn’s chain of command, CANSOFCOM’s mission state- Trudeau, Anand and CAF lead- not those who offend. ❱❱ PAGE 16 Chronic sexual

www.canadianinquirer.net
12
Canada’s inaugural National Day Against Gun
Violence promotes prevention and healing
BY JACK L. ROZDILSKY,
York University, Canada
The Conversation
This month, the Canadian
federal government publicly
announced the first National
Day Against Gun Violence, to be
held annually on the first Friday
of June. Simultaneously, Ontar-
io was also the first province to
take action moving towards
recognition of a gun violence
awareness day. These decla-
rations represent a significant
step to mitigate the growing
risk of gun violence.
While gun violence prob-
lems in Canada are not as acute
as those in the United States,
Canada ranks as third among
high-income countries for rates
of firearm homicides. To reduce
gun violence risks, the inaugu-
ral National Day Against Gun
Violence promotes prevention,
intervention and healing.
Writing as a mass shooting
survivor from a 2022 incident
The National Housing Strategy won’t end
homelessness without supportive housing
BY ABE OUDSHOORN,
Western University
The Conversation
Thousands of people across
Canada experience homeless-
ness. Between 2020 and 2022
more than 32,000 people across
59 communities were homeless
on any given night. That rep-
resents a 12 per cent increase
from 2018.
Homelessness is only one
part of Canada’s housing cri-
sis but is a priority within the
federal government’s National
Housing Strategy, which is cur-
rently under review.
A host of factors play a role
in Canada’s housing and af-
fordability crisis. They include
migration, with newcomers
needing suitable places to live;
Canada News
in Vaughan, Ont., I have expe-
rienced situations where com-
munities are unequipped to
provide for the necessary trau-
ma support. The impacts of gun
violence are not only in the im-
mediate aftermath of the inci-
dent, but remain long after.
Gun violence survivors learn
to accommodate memories of
the violence in their lives. But
that comes at the cost of the
survivor’s psycho-social, medi-
cal and mental health.
Chicago origins
The origins of the first Friday
in June as U.S. Gun Violence
Awareness Day are related to
a specific shooting in Chicago.
Fifteen-year-old Hadiya Pend-
leton was shot and killed at
Harsh Park in the city’s South
Side, on Jan. 29, 2013. She was
one of at least 412 gun violence
deaths in Chicago that year.
Pendleton’s death gained
symbolic national attention, as
she had recently performed as
a majorette in Barack Obama’s
second inauguration celebra-
restrictive zoning laws, which
make building high density
housing difficult; and chang-
ing demographics, which mean
fewer people on average are liv-
ing in a single household.
At its heart, the crisis is about
the lack of sufficient housing, at
costs people can afford, in plac-
es where most people live.
While efforts are being made
nationally and locally to pro-
vide more housing, solutions
are required to help those most
deeply excluded from the hous-
ing market: people experienc-
ing homelessness.
Understanding housing
needs
Our ongoing research is
aiming to understand how per-
manent supportive housing
can help people experiencing
chronic homelessness, particu-
tion in Washington, D.C.
Given that this shooting oc-
curred less than one mile from
Obama’s Chicago home, the
presidential family took a spe-
cial interest in this tragedy.
That attention from the
highest levels of government,
along with grassroots anti-gun
actions in Chicago neighbour-
hoods, resulted in a social
movement to recognize the toll
of gun violence.
Canadian impact
The National Day Against
Gun Violence in Canada did not
derive from a particular shoot-
ing incident. Rather, it grew out
of the recognition that too many
Canadians are being impacted
by gun violence, and is related to
a combination of factors.
Long-standing concerns of
community-based organizations
and citizens catalyzed action.
Organizations ranging from
the Danforth Families for Safe
Communities to the Zero Gun
Violence Movement support this
nascent social movement.
larly those who require support
to maintain housing. People in
chronic homelessness are those
who have experienced at least
six months of homelessness in
the past year or who have recur-
rent experiences of homeless-
ness of at least 18 months over
the past three years.
While there is some new
affordable housing being de-
veloped through the National
Housing Strategy, this housing
tends to only support those
with less complex needs, such
as those who can afford units
at 70 or 80 per cent of average
market rents or are able to live
independently.
However, where we see rap-
id growth in homelessness is
among people on extremely low
social assistance incomes who
need some degree of medical or
www.canadianinquirer.net
Another contributing fac-
tor was the support from the
Toronto Raptors. Professional
sports franchises have often
acted as community leaders to
support communities in crisis.
As a part of their communi-
ty engagement portfolio, the
Raptors’ organization has been
working towards having a non-
political day of awareness for
gun violence since 2022.
Media coverage of the inau-
gural day reflected the reality
that any discussion regarding
the role of guns in Canadian so-
ciety is a political lightning rod.
Reports on the first National
Day Against Gun Violence also
mentioned the unconnected is-
sue of Conservative Party oppo-
sition to recent gun legislation
promoted by the Liberal Party.
Formal recognition
On June 1, Prime Minis-
ter Justin Trudeau visited the
Raptors’ practice facility to an-
nounce Canada’s first Nation-
al Day Against Gun Violence.
His announcement was back-
social support.
This means current afford-
able housing systems are failing
those with the highest needs
and our current system design
is actually deepening inequali-
ty. Those who are poorer, sicker
and more chronically homeless
are least likely to be able to find
JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY
stopped by a formal Federal
Government Proclamation.
In addition, Ontario was the
first province to take concurrent
action with a formal Day Against
Gun Violence. The day before,
MPP Chris Glover made a public
announcement on the steps of
the Ontario legislature, accom-
panied by a coalition of commu-
nity members concerned with
and impacted by gun violence.
Similarly, the symbolic an-
nouncement was backstopped
by Ontario Bill 119, a private
members bill in its first reading.
Disaster mitigation
Living with persistent gun
violence results in communi-
ty-level stress and trauma. The
increasing number of Canadi-
ans who are being directly and
indirectly impacted by gun vi-
olence is a disaster unfolding in
slow motion.
The inaugural National Day
Against Gun Violence in Canada
can be considered as a form of
❱❱ PAGE 19 Canada’s inaugural National
stable permanent housing.
Housing First is an approach
whereby people are supported
immediately with permanent
housing, rather than being re-
quired to first access treatment
for mental health or substance
❱❱ PAGE 16 The National Housing
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2023
As Ukraine takes the fight to Russians, signs
of unease in Moscow over war’s progress
BY PETER RUTLAND,
Wesleyan University
The Conversation
Whether or not the Ukraine
counteroffensive that began in
early June 2023 succeeds in dis-
lodging Russian troops from occu-
pied territory, there are growing
signs that the push has prompted
anxiety back in Moscow.
Such unease was, I believe,
detectable in Russian President
Vladimir Putin’s meeting on
June 13 with a group of influen-
tial military bloggers – people
who support the war but have
at times been critical of the way
it is being fought. The meeting
was unusual: In recent months,
Putin has avoided public state-
ments about the war and post-
poned his annual Russia Day
phone-in show scheduled for
June. He similarly canceled
both the June call-in in 2022 as
well as his annual news confer-
ence in December.
And the set-piece events he
has attended have been less than
convincing. At the June 13 meet-
ing with military bloggers and
war correspondents, Putin faced
some pointed questions. In an-
swering, he used the term “war” a
number of times – deviating from
his line that what is happening in
Ukraine is a “special operation”
– and conceded that Ukrainian
attacks across the border into
Russia had been damaging.
On the defensive?
The meeting was Putin’s first
public assessment of the con-
flict since Ukrainian forces took
the war into Russian territory,
with drone strikes on Moscow
on May 1 and again on May 30
and shelling and forays across
the border in the Belgorod re-
gion on May 22. The latter led
to the evacuation of tens of
thousands of Russian civilians.
These developments further
undermine Putin’s argument
that this is a “special military
World News
operation” and not a war, and
that life can continue as normal
for ordinary Russians.
At the same time, Putin is
facing a political challenge from
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the erst-
while chef-turned-mercenary
leader. Prigozhin heads the
Wagner Group, a private com-
pany that has recruited some
50,000 fighters for the Ukraine
war on behalf of Moscow. They
played a key role in the capture
of the Ukrainian city Bakhmut,
which fell on May 20 after a
224-day siege. After the fall
of Bakhmut, polling indicated
that Prigozhin broke into the
list of top 10 trusted officials as
seen by ordinary Russians for
the first time.
Prigozhin has been openly
critical of the way Russian Min-
ister of Defense Sergei Shoigu
and head of the General Staff
Valery Gerasimov are conduct-
ing the war. In May 2023, Prigo-
zhin organized a series of town
meetings across Russia laying
out his demands. In an attempt
to rein in Prigozhin, Shoigu or-
dered that all volunteer fighters
must sign a contract with the de-
fense ministry by July 1 – some-
thing Prigozhin refuses to do.
Prigozhin’s business empire
includes media outlets, the In-
ternet Research Agency that
the U.S. asserts interfered in
the 2016 U.S. presidential elec-
tions, a movie series and social
media channels that enable him
to reach tens of millions of Rus-
sians. It forms what reporter
Scott Johnson has dubbed the
“Wagnerverse.”
Facing questions
With the background of more
open criticism of a war that has
now blown back across the Rus-
sian border, Putin faced some
tough questions at the meeting
with war correspondents.
One asked why is it that pri-
vate military companies are not
legal in Russia. Putin merely said
that it is time to change the law.
13
Another asked why differ- there are few signs as yet that prominent nationalist lawmak-
ent regions are allowed to pay the military setbacks have er, noted that none of the initial
different bonuses to contract caused any decrease in popular goals of the “special operation”
soldiers from their area. In re- support for the war in Russia. have been realized and admit-
sponse, Putin could only offer Many Russians seem to believe ted that “Ukrainians hate us be-
that Russia is a federal system, that even if it was wrong to start cause we are killing them.”
and regions spend Zatulin said that
what they can af- at the Council on
ford. One blogger Foreign and Security
pointed out that the Policy meeting, one
border districts in- attendee suggested
side Russia are not These developments further dropping a nuclear
considered part of bomb on Rzeszow –
the “special military undermine Putin’s argument the transport hub in
operation,” which that this is a “special military southeastern Poland
means that soldiers through which most
fighting there do not operation” and not a war, of the West’s weapons
get combat pay. An- flow into Ukraine.
other asked about Indeed, Sergei Kara-
troop rotation and ganov, the head of the
when Russians will council, published an
know that the war article on June 14 in
has been won. Putin’s answers the war, it would be a mistake to which he argued for the demon-
were equivocal on both points. allow Russia to be defeated. strative use of a nuclear weapon
One participant asked Putin However, members of the to force the West to stop supply-
about the problem of “parquet Russian elite seem to share the ing arms to Ukraine.
generals,” a term used by Prigo- growing unease aired among In the 1990s, Karaganov was
zhin that refers to people sitting the bloggers. On May 20-21, seen as a liberal who supported
in comfortable offices far from the Russian officials and policy Russia’s integration with Eu-
front line. Putin agreed that some experts attended a meeting of rope. Now, he apparently be-
generals are not up to the job, but the influential Council on For- lieves that Russia’s inability to
he supported Shoigu’s order that eign and Security Policy think defeat Ukraine poses a serious
all volunteers should register with tank. Judging by reports from threat to its security. Moreover,
the defense ministry. people who attended, such as his talk of deploying nuclear
It wasn’t a full-on grilling, State Duma Deputy Konstantin weapons hints at an increasing
but neither was it a cozy chat. Zatulin, there was a clear sense view among Russian elites that
Desperate measures that the war is going badly.
Judging by opinion surveys, In a June 1 speech, Zatulin, a ❱❱ PAGE 18 As Ukraine takes
Russian President Vladimir Putin (KREMLIN.RU, CC BY 4.0)
www.canadianinquirer.net
 14
Despite indictment, Trump retains
huge lead in Republican primary polls
and narrowly leads Biden
BY ADRIAN BEAUMONT,
The University of Melbourne
The Conversation
On June 8, former United
States president Donald Trump
was indicted on federal charges
of mishandling classified docu-
ments. Despite the indictment,
he retains a huge lead in national
polling to determine the 2024 Re-
publican presidential candidate.
Both Democrats and Repub-
licans will select their presi-
dential candidates for the No-
vember 2024 general election
using a series of state by state
contests in early 2024. Polls of
early states will become more
important as we approach these
contests, but for now national
polls are the best guide we have.
In the FiveThirtyEight ag-
gregate of national Republican
primary polls, Trump currently
leads with 53.1%, with Florida
Governor Ron DeSantis far be-
hind on 21.2% and nobody else
over 6%. Trump’s lead has only
marginally declined from 53.5-
20.8 over DeSantis in my last
US politics article in late May.
If Trump is convicted at a tri-
al before the November 2024
election, he can still run for
president. This Politico article
said that a Socialist presiden-
tial candidate in 1920 ran from
behind bars and received 3% of
the popular vote.
Section 44 of the Australian
Constitution disqualifies any-
one under sentence or subject
Herbosa formally assumes..
❰❰ 4 clear upward career
mobility pathway of
local government and
health staff towards the DOH,”
he added.
Meanwhile, Vergeire has re-
quested to be transferred to an
office in the department that
oversees strategic operations.
“Not to head undersecretar-
ies but to become the strategic
office for [operations] para lang
World News
to be sentenced for a crime with
a prison sentence of one year
or longer from serving in fed-
eral parliament, but there’s no
US equivalent. If Trump were
elected president from prison,
he could pardon himself.
Biden’s ratings have not im-
proved since debt limit deal
In late May, President Joe
Biden agreed to a debt limit deal
with Republican House of Rep-
resentatives Speaker Kevin Mc-
Carthy, and the deal was passed
by both chambers of Congress
by June 1. I covered this for The
Poll Bludger.
Biden’s ratings in the FiveThir-
tyEight aggregate are currently
54.2% disapprove, 41.2% disap-
prove (net -12.9). In my May US
politics article before the debt
limit deal was struck, his net ap-
proval was -10.4.
While the US unemployment
rate has been under 4% since
December 2021, the US defi-
cit has increased in monthly
tracking since the 2022 fiscal
year; the US fiscal year ends in
September. Large deficits were
run in 2020 and 2021 owing to
COVID, but with this pandemic
resolved, voters may expect a
reduced deficit.
The failure of Biden’s ratings
to improve after the debt limit
deal suggests Republican rheto-
ric on the need for spending cuts
in the lead-up to the debt crisis
was effective, and that McCar-
thy could have pushed for deep-
er cuts than what occurred.
In my May US politics arti-
mas mapalakas natin ang ops ng
DOH at mas makita natin ano
pa ang kakulangan sa ground
(to strengthen the DOH ops
and to see what is lacking on the
ground),” she added.
She declined to provide a
self-assessment of her leader-
ship, saying the public knows that
“they have done their best to push
the objectives of the DOH and the
current administration. ■
cle, I said that Biden could face a
challenge to his assumed renom-
ination as the Democratic pres-
idential candidate if somebody
well-known were to enter. But this
hasn’t happened yet, and Biden is
far ahead of his only two declared
challengers: Robert F Kennedy Jr
and Marianne Williamson.
With Trump and Biden likely
to be the Republican and Demo-
cratic presidential candidates at
the November 2024 election, gen-
eral election polls between these
two candidates are relevant.
This recent FiveThirtyEight
article listed seven pollsters that
have released Trump vs Biden
polls since Trump’s indictment,
and compared to polls by the
same pollsters before the indict-
ment. In the average of these
seven polls, Trump led by 42.6-
41.4, compared to 42.9-42.3 be-
fore the indictment.
(DONALD J. TRUMP/FACEBOOK)
Joint efforts keep..
❰❰ 4 itarian assistance and
disaster relief drawing
on their military and
civilian HADR capabilities.
Also, the NSAs resolved to
make common efforts to pro-
mote economic security and
economic resilience.
They also affirmed their com-
mitment to addressing eco-
nomic coercion in coordination
with other partners.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Bad news for Trump regard-
ing the indictment (his nation-
al favourability ratings have
fallen) may be compensated by
Biden’s drop in approval rat-
ings. Neither is a young candi-
date. By the November 2024
election, Trump will be 78 and
Biden almost 82.
Boris Johnson resigns from
UK parliament
On June 9, former United
Kingdom PM Boris Johnson
resigned his seat in the House
of Commons after the privileg-
es committee recommended
a parliamentary suspension
above the ten days needed to
trigger a recall petition.
If at least 10% of registered
voters in a seat sign such a pe-
tition, a byelection is required.
Johnson knew he would be
forced to a byelection, so he re-
signed preemptively.
“The three NSAs decided to
convene additional trilateral ex-
changes in the coming months
among the National Security
Secretariat of Japan, the Nation-
al Security Council staff of the
United States, and the National
Security Council of the Philip-
pines, to further expand cooper-
ation and information-sharing,”
the NSC added. ■
JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY
As long as Rishi Sunak re-
mains PM and Conservative
leader, he can thwart any at-
tempt by Johnson to renomi-
nate as a Conservative candidate
at a byelection or general elec-
tion. As Sunak and Johnson are
rivals, it’s very unlikely that Su-
nak will allow Johnson to return
as a Conservative candidate.
The next UK general elec-
tion is due by late 2024. John-
son’s resignation has damaged
the Conservatives in the polls,
with Labour’s lead in UK na-
tional polls back out to about
20 points after slowly sliding to
about 15 points.
Right and far-right are do-
ing well in Europe
The governing centre-left
Socialists have called a Spanish
election for July 23, but polls
suggest the conservative People’s
Party and far-right Vox will win
a combined majority. If this oc-
curs, Spain will follow Italy last
year as the second major Euro-
pean country to fall to the right.
In Germany, the centre-left
Social Democrats formed a
governing coalition with the
Greens and pro-business Free
Democrats after the September
2021 election. Polls are show-
ing a surge for the conservative
Christian Democrats and far-
right Alternative for Germany.
The next German election is
due by October 2025. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
PBBM sees progress..
❰❰ 6 13 the need for the Phil-
ippines to comply with
its international com-
mitments, particularly to the
European Union on preventing
IUUF,” she said.
“He also highlighted the im-
portance of addressing the con-
cerns of fishery stakeholders by
using a science-based approach
in managing marine resources,”
Garafil added. ■
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2023
China and the US are talking again – so,
where does the relationship go from here?
BY DAVID S G GOODMAN,
University of Sydney
The Conversation
A potentially significant
meeting took place in Beijing
this week when Chinese Pres-
ident Xi Jinping met US Secre-
tary of State Antony Blinken.
Blinken’s visit to Beijing was
ostensibly to meet his Chinese
counterpart, Foreign Minister
Qin Gang. Qin had previously
been China’s ambassador to the
US until earlier this year and was
well-known in Washington dip-
lomatic circles. Blinken’s trip to
Beijing had been scheduled for
some time, and then postponed.
The meeting with Xi, howev-
er, was uncertain until shortly
before it happened.
Media coverage of the event
seems to reflect some of the inher-
ent uncertainties in the US-China
relationship, as well. Some photo-
graphs depict Blinken as slightly
concerned or ferocious, while
others appears to show Xi tower-
ing over Blinken.
Some images, however, show
more open, friendly gestures
between the two – perhaps sig-
nalling a genuine thawing of the
recent frosty relations between
the two superpowers.
How relations deteriorat-
ed this year
So, what does this meeting
mean in reality? In terms of sig-
nificance, its not the content of
the talks that matter so much as
what preceded them.
When Biden came into of-
fice in early 2021, it seemed to
herald a slight rapprochement
between the two governments.
Though there were still dis-
agreements over many issues,
CCC seeks strengthened..
❰❰ 8 change mitigation ef-
forts,” Borje said.
The LCCAP outlines
the LGUs’ vulnerabilities and
risks related to climate hazards,
along with the corresponding
adaptation and mitigation ac-
tions to be undertaken.
The CCC and First Gen have
expressed their commitment
the two leaders held a virtual
summit at the end of 2021.
Then, on the sidelines of the
G20 meeting in Bali in Novem-
ber 2022, Xi and Biden met
face to face and spoke at some
length. There was a general
feeling of mutual appreciation
in their respective positions on
global issues such as climate
change. It was not so much a
meeting of minds, but rather
an agreement to avoid the ca-
tastrophe of open conflict.
The leaders also agreed that
Blinken would visit Beijing in
the new year.
This atmosphere of gradually
improving relations came to a
halt in February, however, when
a Chinese high-altitude bal-
loon – dubbed a “spy balloon”
in the US – drifted across North
America and was eventually
shot down by the US Air Force.
Blinken’s visit was postponed,
and China criticised the US for
destroying the balloon, which it
claimed was a weather balloon.
While both sides eventually
emphasised the continued need
for dialogue, a standoff devel-
oped. The situation only wors-
ened when a US reconnaissance
flight in the South China Sea
was intercepted by a Chinese
fighter in late May.
Then, three weeks ago, west-
ern media reported that the
Chinese defence minister, Li
Shangfu, had snubbed the US
secretary of defence, Lloyd
Austin, by turning down the op-
portunity to meet at a security
conference in Singapore.
Given the several meetings be-
tween US presidential advisers
and their Chinese counterparts
that had taken place in May be-
fore the summit, the significance
to supporting LGUs in their
climate change adaptation and
mitigation efforts.
Collaborative initiatives
like the GHGI pre-orientation
training aim to enhance local
capacities and promote sus-
tainable development for a cli-
mate-resilient future. ■
US and China flags (NAN PALMERO/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0)
of Li and Austin not speaking in
Singapore may have been exag-
gerated. At worst, it could be con-
sidered a lost opportunity.
The Chinese government may
have wanted to ensure Blinken’s
rescheduled visit to Beijing
would go ahead this month, put-
ting more emphasis on these
high-level talks than the meet-
ing between defence officials.
‘Candid, substantive and
constructive’
While there were apparent-
ly no major breakthroughs in
Beijing, Blinken’s visit appears
to have succeeded in returning
relations between the two gov-
ernments to where they were in
November 2022.
The leaders seemed to rein-
PBBM vows to..
❰❰ 3 guide our planning and
all of our decision-mak-
ing,” he added.
Government officials present
during the oath-taking were
Executive Secretary Lucas Ber-
samin, Department of Nation-
al Defense (DND) Secretary
Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Special
Assistant to the President Sec-
www.canadianinquirer.net
World News
force the sentiments of that ear-
lier meeting in Bali, focusing on
mutual respect and the need to
avoid a drift to conflict. Among
other things, Xi told Blinken
that rivalry between great pow-
ers could not solve problems in
the United States or challenges
facing the world.
Neither party can shape the
other according to its own wishes,
let alone deprive the other of its
legitimate right to development.
The State Department,
meanwhile, characterised the
discussions as “candid, sub-
stantive and constructive”, em-
phasising
the importance of maintaining
open channels of communication
across the full range of issues to
retary Antonio Lagdameo and
Presidential Communications
Office Secretary Cheloy Velicar-
ia-Garafil.
Presidential Adviser on Mil-
itary and Police Affairs Sec-
retary Roman Felix was also
present during the oath-taking
ceremony along with AFP Chief
of Staff Gen. Andres Centino. ■
15
reduce the risk of miscalculation.
Both sides still have domestic
constituencies to appease and
without a doubt Washington’s may
prove less biddable than Beijing’s.
For example, from the Chi-
nese reports of the meeting
Beijing seems to be willing to
reopen discussions with Wash-
ington on climate change and
cooperation on transnational
crime of various sorts.
In return, China might well
expect some greater commit-
ment from the US to not inter-
fere in what Beijing considers
its domestic interests in Tai-
wan. As China-based com-
mentators have pointed out,
American electoral politics may
make that commitment diffi-
cult (though not impossible) for
Biden and Blinken to deliver.
The next step in placing
US-China relations on a more
even keel would be increased
interactions between the two
governments. While these have
been agreed for the near future
in foreign affairs, finance and
economic development, the
two sides have apparently not
agreed to resume talks between
their military leaders.
Biden and Xi are expected to
meet again face to face later this
year, perhaps at international
summits in India or San Francisco.
Biden is unlikely to visit China
himself, though, in the near fu-
ture. In what is increasingly be-
coming not just a bad-tempered
but an inherently divisive presi-
dential election campaign in the
US, that might prove a difficult
step for the incumbent to do. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
MIAC bares plans..
❰❰ 6 ket,” Aboitiz Infra-
Capital president, Co-
sette Anilao said.
Meanwhile, Alliance Glob-
al-InfraCorp. Development,
Inc. chair Kevin Tan said now is
the time to improve NAIA, as it
not only serves as the country’s
main gateway, but a transit port
to other regional hubs. ■
16 World News JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY

UN chief: The National Housing..

❰❰ 12 use disorders. How- organization that provides both provincial governments are not

World’s response
ever, Housing First affordable and supportive hous- forthcoming with funding.
programs, targeted ing throughout southwestern Indwell’s example shows that
to those with higher needs and Ontario. We wanted to under- if we want to address homeless-
more deeply marginalized, are stand how this organization was ness in Canada then we need to

to climate change vastly over-subscribed and

bogged down by waitlists.
Permanent supportive
creating permanent supportive
housing and the impacts this
might have on tenants.
change our systems. For exam-
ple, the current National Hous-
ing Strategy primarily supports

‘remains pitiful’ housing

ANADOLU
Philippine News Agency
TORONTO – The United
Nations (UN) chief cautioned
on Thursday that the global re-
sponse to climate change “re-
mains pitiful,” and emphasized
that the world is rapidly head-
ing towards a disaster.
“Current policies are taking
the world to a 2.8 degree tem-
perature rise by the end of the
century. That spells catastro-
phe. Yet the collective response
remains pitiful,” said Secre-
tary-General Antonio Guterres
at a press briefing.
Guterres said he is “very wor-
ried” about the world’s stance
on climate change, and that
countries are far off-track in
meeting climate promises and
commitments.
“I see a lack of ambition. A lack
of trust. A lack of support. A lack
of cooperation. And an abun-
dance of problems around clarity
and credibility,” he added.
He criticized the fact that the
human rights of climate activ-
ists are being trampled and the
vulnerable suffers the most.
“We are hurtling towards di-
saster, eyes wide open – with
far too many willing to bet it all
on wishful thinking, unproven
technologies and silver bullet
solutions,” said the UN chief.
❱❱ PAGE 19 UN chief: World’s
The concept of permanent
supportive housing is based
on the idea of affordable units
where on-site supports are
available — whether that’s sup-
port buying food and preparing
meals or support for health care
such as medication manage-
ment and mental health-care.
This is a promising model
that is backed by international
research. However, it’s one that
is hard to implement in Can-
ada. Most government hous-
ing programs do not provide
enough funding for these types
of initiatives. That means orga-
nizations who want to provide
support must struggle to find
funding some other way.
The first phase of our ongoing
research on permanent sup-
portive housing was conducted
over three years with Indwell, an
We found that having both
affordable housing and staff on-
site who could meet a variety
of needs proved transforma-
tional for the tenants. Tenants
had included people who spent
decades in homelessness or
many years in institutionalized
mental health-care. Through
permanent supportive housing
they had finally achieved hous-
ing stability. This positively
impacted both their health and
their sense of belonging.
We also learned how diffi-
cult this was for the organiza-
tion to fund and deliver. There
is simply no straight-forward
way for organizations provid-
ing this kind of housing to ac-
cess public funding. The federal
government funds capital ex-
penses but relies on provincial
governments to fund ongoing
costs like health care. However,
developing more rental units
at market rates and offers little
affordability. What it doesn’t
do well is provide genuinely af-
fordable housing that provides
support for those most at risk of
chronic homelessness.
Unless the government ad-
dresses this issue, Canada will
continue on its current path
and Canadians will continue to
experience homelessness. To
address chronic homelessness,
the federal government needs
to include funding for lon-
ger-term supportive housing in
its National Housing Strategy.
And provincial governments
must increase social assistance
rates to provide more income
towards housing. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.

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www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2023
Entertainment
The Flash review: Michael Keaton’s Batman
is the real star of this DC multiverse mashup
BY RAYNA DENISON,
University of Bristol
The Conversation
Warning: the following article
contains spoilers.
The Flash is one of DC’s most
versatile superheroes. First pop-
ularised in the 1940s, the speed-
ster’s mantle has been worn by
multiple characters in the com-
ics – most famously Barry Allen
and Wally West, but also the fe-
male Flash, Chinese American
Avery Ho. These Flashes have
appeared not just in their own
comics, but across the DC com-
ics universe from Teen Titans to
the Justice League.
Director Andy Muschietti’s
new film, The Flash, is War-
ner-DC’s attempt to wrap up
DC Extended Universe of films
(DCEU) directed by Zac Snyder,
which started with Man of Steel
in 2013. At the same time, it is
launching James Gunn and Pe-
ter Safran’s new DC Universe of
film and TV as they take over as
the heads of DC Studios.
Muschietti’s plan is to smash
together – quite literally – previ-
ously unconnected film worlds
from Warner-DC’s long history
Pride PH Festival to stream on ABS-CBN,
iWantTFC, and MYX Facebook pages on June 24
ABS-CBN
Celebrate love this Pride Month
with this year’s Pride PH Festival
that can be streamed by view-
ers online on the Facebook pag-
es of ABS-CBN Entertainment,
iWantTFC, and MYX this June 24.
Apart from ABS-CBN’s dig-
ital platforms, the Pride PH
Festival can also be accessed
through various online and
of superhero film and television
adaptations, creating something
new from everything old.
Some may see these colliding
worlds as necessary to distract
from the slowly amassing flow of
accusations laid at the feet of The
Flash’s central star, Ezra Miller.
Indeed, Warner-DC has largely
used another actor to promote
The Flash: Michael Keaton.
Clever uses of stunt teams allow
Keaton, the now 71-year-old star of
Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) and
Batman Returns (1992), to return
to active duty as the dark knight in
The Flash after a 30-year absence.
Serving the fans
Time travel is central in
The Flash. Deft storytelling
uses spaghetti metaphors to
explain the complexities of
messing with timelines. Slip-
ping through the flow of time
using the “Speed Force” (which
grants him access to extrad-
imensional energy), Miller’s
Flash goes back in time.
He saves his mother’s life, but
causes a rippling impact along
a multiverse of timelines that
takes the Flash out of the DCEU
and drops him into the world of
Keaton’s Batman.
The result is by turns a bom-
streaming channels such as
Pride PH‘s Facebook page and
the Quezon City Government’s
official Facebook page.
Quezon City will once again
host Pride PH’s Pride Festival,
one of the broadest networks of
LGBTQIA+ individuals and orga-
nizations, while Pride PH is the
organizer of Quezon City’s Pride
Festival, with the theme “Love,
Laban: A Celebration of the Fight
for Love in All Forms and Ways.”
bastically nostalgic and wa-
tered-down variant on Burton’s
earlier blockbuster films. The
Flash relishes in nostalgically
recreating Burton’s Batcave,
augmenting its gothic-industri-
al aesthetic with CGI bats which
are more reminiscent of direc-
tor Christopher Nolan’s cycle
of Batman films. But, The Flash
also tamps down the gothic
flourishes that have made Bur-
ton a world-renowned director.
The Batcave is explored by
two versions of Barry Allen/
Flash, after an accident in the
time stream deposits the orig-
inal Allen into an alternate
world. After meeting himself,
Quezon City Mayor Joy Bel-
monte has expressed full sup-
port to Pride PH and its Pride
Festival happening on June 24
at the Quezon Memorial Circle.
“More than a celebration, the
Pride Festival is a call to end the
discrimination, hate, and prej-
udice among members of the
LGBTQIA+. We are holding this
activity not because this sector
is seeking special treatment.
Rather, what they long for is
www.canadianinquirer.net
the two travel to find Batman at
his home in Wayne Manor.
Discovering the Batcave, the
younger version of Allen gleefully
pulls a dustsheet off the Batmo-
bile prop from Burton’s 1989 film.
As he does so, he wistfully remem-
bers seeing the Batmobile on tele-
vision. Fan-serving moments like
these abound as The Flash reach-
es out to audiences who grew up
watching Burton’s Batman.
Muschietti makes great use
of these nostalgic cameos. Fans
of comics are also rewarded
with new twists on old favour-
ites, such as an aside to the Su-
perman-as-Soviet-superhero
comic Red Son(2003), when
simply a halt to the undeserved
ill treatment and denial of op-
portunities they continue to suf-
fer from,” said Mayor Belmonte.
The Pride Festival is a one
day event that celebrates the
LGBTQIA+ community through
three major activities - Pride Expo,
Pride March, and Pride Night.
“The pride marches are seen
as safe spaces that provide a ven-
ue to push for equality and inclu-
sivity. And while these festivities
17
Batman and the Flashes go to
rescue a Kryptonian held in
captivity by the Soviets.
Likewise, the film’s plot bor-
rows elements from the Flash-
point comics saga from the ear-
ly 2010s. Among other scenes,
these comics inspire one of the
film’s more gruesome sequences,
which shows the “original” Allen
performing Frankenstein-like
experiments on himself in an at-
tempt to regain his powers.
These allusions, twists and
borrowings culminate in a se-
quence of superhero cameos.
As the original Allen confronts
his limitations as a superhero,
Muschietti places the Flash’s
personal revelations against a
backdrop of colliding worlds
that contain what look like digi-
tally scrolling film reels.
These filmstrips contain past
DC superhero adaptations, re-
minding audiences of every in-
carnation of the DC universe’s
favourite characters, from George
Reeves’s 1950s television Super-
man to Christopher Reeve’s 1970s
and 80s Superman blockbusters.
Standing out among these
myriad superheroes – the true
❱❱ PAGE 24 The Flash review:
remain celebratory, Pride is still a
protest and should remain so. Not
until the LGBTQIA+ community
no longer needs to fight for their
human rights, their right to love,
and the freedom to be their true
authentic selves,” says Mela Habi-
jan, Miss Trans Global 2020 and
lead convener of Pride PH.
For updates, follow @abscbn-
pr on Facebook, Twitter, Insta-
gram, and TikTok, or visit www.
abs-cbn.com/newsroom. ■
 18
What’s a fair price to pay for music? In Australia,
musicians aren’t getting paid as much as overseas
artists for songs played on the radio
BY ROD DAVIES, Monash
University
The Conversation
The Australian recording in-
dustry recently announced a
campaign called Radio Fair Play.
The campaign argues “artists
and rights holders aren’t getting
paid fairly for songs played on
radio”, in reference to the license
fees radio stations pay for the use
of songs in their broadcasts.
In Australia, sound record-
ing license fees are collected by
the Phonographic Performance
Company of Australia (PPCA)
who distributes the revenue
as income to record labels and
artists. PPCA claims Australian
radio pays between just 10 and
27% of the commercial rates
paid elsewhere in the world and
artists here are being consider-
ably underpaid.
It seems like a simple argu-
ment - “pay artists fairly”. But
there are more factors at play
than just whether radio sta-
tions will pay higher fees.
For starters, standing in the
way is a 55-year-old Austra-
lian law that currently protects
commercial radio and the ABC
from paying more.
What are radio caps?
Formal recognition of eco-
nomic rights in sound record-
ings didn’t exist in Australia
until the introduction of the
Copyright Act in 1968. Prior to
this, only songwriters received
royalties when their music was
played on the radio.
Parliamentary negotiations
leading up to the Copyright Act
were dominated by the broad-
As Ukraine takes..
❰❰ 13 the country cannot
win by conventional
means alone. Indeed,
on June 16, Putin announced
that Russia has already started
transferring some tactical nu-
clear weapons to Belarus.
In the meantime, mercenary
leader Prigozhin remains a wild
Entertainment
casters and record companies,
and focused on two crucial
points of contention: who do
the broadcasters have to pay?
And how much do the broad-
casters have to pay?
The Labor opposition sup-
ported the legislation of sound
recording rights for all parties -
record labels, broadcasters and
performers. However, the gov-
erning coalition was dramatical-
ly split in its support. While the
Liberals were keen on the pro-
posal, the Country Party held se-
rious concerns that license fees
would severely impact regional
radio, a position that threatened
to dismantle the coalition.
In the end, the Copyright
Act 1968 included an economic
right for sound recordings, but
in order to keep the govern-
ment intact and appease the
broadcasters, limitations on li-
cense fees were also legislated.
“Radio Caps” place an upper
limit on annual license fees for
the use of sound recordings,
such as songs. Commercial sta-
tions are capped at no more
than 1% of their gross revenue,
while the ABC pays $0.005 (half
a cent) multiplied by the total
population of Australia.
PPCA argues these laws are
unfair, “unique to sound re-
cordings” and puts Australia in
a position that is “out of step”
with the rest of the world.
They have a point. The rate
for sound recordings is current-
ly set at 0.4%. In comparison,
songwriting royalty rates for
Australian commercial radio,
which have no such statutory
cap, are set at a much higher
rate of up to 3.76%.
card. Rarely in history have
mercenary generals been able
to seize political power. Perhaps
the most famous mercenary of
all time, Albrecht Von Wallen-
stein, successfully commanded
an army of 50,000 during the
Thirty Years’ War. He became so
powerful that his Hapsburg pay-
If the caps are scrapped, the
market could determine what
the music is worth and, effec-
tively, the size of the revenue
pool. Labels and artists expect
their share of the pool, which is
determined according to their
proportion of airplay, to receive
a significant boost.
Paying artists more for the
use of their music on radio is
a great concept, but the Radio
Fair Play campaign cannot re-
sult solely in “better deals” for
record companies and artists. It
must be fair for all musicians, as
well as the listeners, consumers
and communities who rely on
broadcast radio.
Is it as easy as removing
the caps?
PPCA have “fought for de-
cades” to remove these caps.
Their claims have been sup-
ported by a number of inde-
pendent reviews, and in 2006
the Australian government
masters had him assassinated.
In Russia’s tightly controlled
political landscape, there are no
precedents for a figure such as
Prigozhin. He seems to have few
allies among the military estab-
lishment or regional governors.
As such, it is hard to imagine a
scenario where he would be al-
www.canadianinquirer.net
announced the caps would be
abolished - but this has never
happened.
If PPCA want to be successful
this time around, they will need
to have broader support across
not only the music industry, but
the wider community as well.
This campaign must address
the potential effects of higher
license fees on regional radio,
such as redundancies and clo-
sures. The demise of local re-
gional print journalism has been
well documented, and radio is
one of few remaining media that
offers communities a local voice.
There are a number of solu-
tions that have already been
proposed for the struggling re-
gions, such as new media mo-
nopoly laws, government ad-
vertising subsidies, and startup
funding for new communica-
tions technologies.
But concrete plans to sup-
port these communities need
lowed, for example, to create his
own political party, still less run
for the presidency in 2024.
Yet he is clearly proving to be
a thorn in Putin’s side. And the
lack of progress toward victo-
ry over Ukraine is seemingly
making the Russian elite in-
creasingly nervous about how
JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY
to be designed and implement-
ed by industry and government
beforeregional media receive
another shattering blow in be-
ing forced to pay a higher pro-
portion of their revenue in mu-
sic licensing.
More than just an ‘artist’ issue
There is another issue for
performers that needs to be ad-
dressed as well. New laws that
aim to grow the royalty revenue
pool should also remunerate
musicians that are currently not
being supported by license fees.
While the Copyright Act 1968
offered no economic rights to
performers at large, there has
since been global advancements
in intellectual property rights
and equitable remuneration.
From the late 90s, session
musicians on sound recordings
have received a share of broad-
cast license fees all around the
world - except in Australia,
where session musicians get no
royalty payments at all.
This issue is absent from the
Radio Fair Play campaign. If the
recording industry believes fix-
ing one anomaly is important,
they should also support fair-
ness overall.
It will take a unified approach
and some bold reform to ensure
there is a whole-of-industry
solution that covers all of the
issues and equitably remuner-
ates all of the players. Australia
painted itself into a corner in
1968, and now there’s quite a lot
of renovating to do. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
to maintain social stability and
stave off political challenges
from nationalists who are argu-
ing for more aggressive prose-
cution of the war. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2023
Where was the Sun? Here’s why astronomers
are more useful in court cases than you’d think
BY BRAD E TUCKER,
Australian National University
The Conversation
Over the past eight years, I
have been asked to submit as-
tronomical evidence for court
cases all over Australia.
Normally when we think of
evidence in court, we think of
eyewitnesses, DNA or police
reports. Often, this evidence re-
quires an expert to explain it – to
be able to communicate the find-
ings and data to the members of
the court to make an informed
decision. These experts are typ-
ically in medicine, engineering,
psychology, or other fields.
Expert astronomers usually
are not what one pictures in court,
but that is exactly what I do.
The first time I was asked by
police to do it came as a bit of a
surprise. I had never thought
about applying astronomy to the
courtroom. Once the first group
knew I can do it, more and more
requests came in, from col-
leagues in the same police force
or division, or investigators hav-
ing seen my evidence elsewhere.
Now, I’m asked to submit ev-
idence for roughly 1–2 cases per
week. Usually this requires sub-
mitting a statement of evidence
to the court. But sometimes I
am asked to attend court and ex-
plain what the evidence means.
When I’m needed as an ex-
Canada’s inaugural National..
❰❰ 12 disaster mitigation. In
general, disaster miti-
gation includes a wide
variety of measures taken before
a disastrous event occurs. In this
case, mitigation will not elimi-
nate gun violence, but it can act
to reduce it, prevent it from oc-
curring, or help in better prepar-
ing for its aftermath.
In the coming years, Cana-
Lifestyle
pert in court, it tends to be for
matters of consequence. My ev-
idence is either critical to a part
of the case, or the case itself is
fairly major and all the details
are being checked and verified.
But what exactly am I provid-
ing evidence for?
Tracking the Sun and the
Moon
Most court evidence from an
astronomer involves calculat-
ing the positions and lighting
from an astronomical body –
the Sun or Moon. Luckily, the
tools we use to calculate the
positions of celestial bodies are
very accurate, and can be calcu-
lated hundreds to thousands of
years into the past or future.
An obvious example is when
someone claims the Sun was
in their eyes, causing a glare,
and they get into a car accident.
Someone needs to say where
the Sun was, its position, and
how it aligned with the street
and direction of travel. At cer-
tain times and in certain direc-
tions, the Sun may indeed hin-
der someone’s vision.
There is also the situation
where someone sees something,
but it happened around sunrise
or sunset. An expert is needed to
say what the lighting level was
– as there are very clear defini-
tions based on the Sun’s posi-
tion below the horizon, and how
much you can see. For instance,
what if the event occurred five
da’s National Day Against Gun
Violence will evolve and take
on its own meanings. It has the
potential to reduce risks associ-
ated with gun violence.
It remains as an open ques-
tion as to how Canadians will
treat this new day of awareness.
Will it become a day of remem-
brance for gun violence victims?
Or will it be a day where the
minutes after sunset? The light
level depends on the time of
year, the location and other fac-
tors. It is not a clear-cut case of
daytime versus nighttime.
The Moon can feature in court
evidence as well. Especially in
dark locations away from city
lights, an astronomer can provide
evidence on how much light the
Moon provided on a given night.
There are also historical cas-
es or times when people note
the view or phase of the Moon
as a way of defining when some-
thing happened. The full Moon
has a precise definition, but the
day before or after may appear
to look like a full Moon, despite
it not technically being full.
The limitations of expertise
Of course, like any part of sci-
ence, there are limits to what I
can say. If someone was looking
through a window – how re-
fractive was the window? Were
there clouds blocking the Moon
or Sun? It is up to other experts,
and other parts of the legal sys-
tem to sort out these factors.
Just like many fields, space
technology is changing, and
so too is its impact on law and
crime. Satellites are being used
more and more in cases to help
track things as they happen.
For example, the space technol-
ogy company Maxar operates
some of the highest-resolution
commercial satellites to image
Earth. For a small cost, people
growing contingent of gun vio-
lence survivors makes a call to
action for safer communities?
Or will it just be another oppor-
tunity for political posturing by
those who are either for or against
Canada’s gun legislation? ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
www.canadianinquirer.net
can task these satellites to look
at certain areas and/or times.
Lately, we have seen the im-
pact of satellites on Russia’s war
in Ukraine, and how they have
been instrumental in looking
at troop movements, and even
evidence of some of the alleged
war crimes.
Satellite images have been
used for a range of criminal
investigations, such as people
smuggling or illegal mines.
They are also being used in
Australia for criminal matters.
This is yet another situation
where an expert is needed to
explain the satellite imagery
and what it may mean, or even
help access it altogether.
Experts are vital
Working as an expert witness
UN chief: World’s..
❰❰ 16 Criticizing the
countries for under-
mining the climate
agenda, Guterres urged all na-
tions to “rebuild trust based on
climate justice” and “accelerate
the just transition to a green
economy”.
Limiting the rise in global tem-
perature to 1.5 degrees Celsius is
still possible, Guterres noted. ■
19
has given me hope, because I
see the extent to which the jus-
tice system will sometimes go
to get all the details right – like
taking into account the phase of
the Moon or the position of the
Sun. It is also the perfect exam-
ple of the importance of experts
in our society.
In science, we are actively en-
couraging people to go to sourc-
es of accurate and trustworthy
information, especially in an
era of rife misinformation.
Through experts, fields like
space and astronomy can im-
pact people’s lives directly –
even in the court room. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
Chronic sexual..
❰❰ 11 Health Agency of Can-
ada includes identifying
health risks to Cana-
dians — and workplace violence
falls squarely within this pur-
view as a threat to the health and
well-being of all Canadians. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
20
Can I put cortisone on my face? The right
advice on creams to fix irritated skin
BY YOUSUF MOHAMMED,
The University of Queensland,
KHADEEJEH AL-SMADI,
The University of Queensland
The Conversation
Topical corticosteroids, also
referred to as corticosteroids or
cortisone, are the go-to treat-
ment for many skin disorders
including eczema, dermatitis
and psoriasis. They can be found
in various forms such as creams,
ointments, and solutions.
These medications work
by entering the skin cells and
mimicking natural hormones,
blocking inflammation and
constricting blood vessels. Top-
ical corticosteroids come in
different strengths, from mild
(such as 0.5% Hydrocortisone,
available over the counter) to
very potent prescription for-
mulations.
But the way different people
react to topical steroids can
be unpredictable. While some
people might get significant re-
lief with short-term use, others
could need continuous care.
So, how should you use cor-
tisone creams and ointments?
And why is there conflicting ad-
vice about their long-term use?
‘Use sparingly’
Patients are currently rec-
ommended to use cortisone
formulations “sparingly” or
“thinly”. But this can increase
the risk they won’t work effec-
tively. Treatment failure can
add to “steroid phobia” and
stop people getting the medica-
tion they need.
Such warnings ignore the
fact many patients are pre-
scribed modest-strength topi-
cal steroids, which are safe and
effective when used properly.
Lifestyle
Adverse effects, such as when
the formulations damage or ir-
ritate skin, are not typical.
From the patient’s perspec-
tive, the current warnings lump
all steroids together regardless
of their potential for side effects.
Also, the advice tends to support
false concerns: that topical and
ingested (orally taken) cortico-
steroids carry the same dangers,
which they do not.
Mixed messages
Should you use a weaker for-
mulation for longer? Or hit the
problem hard with a stronger
concentration for less time?
At the moment, some treat-
ment recommendations – such as
for scalp psoriasis – say patients
should use a high-dose cortisone
formulation for four weeks and
increase frequency of use if it’s
not effective. If cortisone is ex-
tensively used, it is advised adults
and children should be examined
yearly for side effects.
Skin atrophy (or deteriora-
tion) is the most common side
effect of topical corticosteroids
and manifests as tiny degener-
ative alterations within a few
weeks. The patient’s age, body
site, cortisone potency and the
existence of any coverings, all
have an impact on the extent of
skin damage.
Reduced skin cell growth, de-
creased collagen development
and stimulation of tiny vessels
and capillaries in the skin are
the main features of such skin
atrophy. Thinner skin, more
moisture, higher temperatures,
and partial blockage make ar-
eas where skin folds on the
body (for example, the armpits,
between fingers, the groin) par-
ticularly vulnerable. These are
also often the sites of skin irri-
tation needing treatment.
Skin thinning
Topical steroids cause the skin
to reabsorb a type of connective
tissue building block, called mu-
copolysaccharide ground ma-
terial. Repeated use in the same
spot on the body results in alter-
www.canadianinquirer.net
ations to the skin’s connective
tissue and epidermal thinning.
That can result in lax, trans-
lucent, wrinkled skin as well as
striae (stretch marks), fragility,
hypo-pigmentation (fading)
and the prominence of underly-
ing veins.
More research is needed to
help specialists choose the best
corticosteroids for a given con-
dition. High-potency cortisone
formulations, long-term use
and sun exposure have been im-
plicated in chronic fragile skin
syndrome, which is increas-
ingly common and features the
symptoms outlined above.
However, if best practice
guidelines are followed, these
side effects can be reduced by
using lowering the potency of
corticosteroids and stopping
treatment when the patient has
fully recovered.
Corticosteroids should only
be used for a maximum of three
months. For some conditions,
such as vitiligo, they need to
be used for longer periods, so
regularly taking several weeks’
break is advised.
The good news is that once
topical corticosteroids are
stopped, short-term atrophy
from treatment can be re-
versed, although skin normali-
sation may take months.
Can you use it safely on
your face?
Due to the substantial risk
of steroid-induced skin deteri-
oration, the guidelines recom-
mend against using potent and
very potent corticosteroids on
the face, flexures (parts of the
body that bend, such as elbows)
or genitalia. So, mild to moder-
ate-potency corticosteroids are
the main treatment option.
Using strong cortisone
JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY
creams or ointments on the
face can lead to steroid depen-
dence. Patients who are depen-
dent on steroids and have acne,
rosacea, perioral dermatitis or
telangiectasia (widened blood
vessels on the skin) continue
to use the drug because they
worry stopping the drug could
worsen their condition.
Topical steroids on the face
can cause symptoms sometimes
referred to as “red face syn-
drome”, dermatitis rosaceaform-
is steroidica or steroid addiction.
And stopping steroid use on the
face after an extended period
can have considerable rebound
effects including erythema (red-
ness), burning and scaling.
The bottom line
When used correctly, cor-
tisone creams, ointments and
lotions can be safe and effective.
Clear instructions could
include estimating dosage in
“fingertip units”, with a chart
showing the number of units
needed for various body parts,
such as one unit to treat skin on
an adult’s hand but seven units
to treat skin on their back.
To avoid skin damage, corti-
costeroids should only be used
on skin affected by a skin dis-
ease. Better education and in-
formation is needed to reflect
the minimal risks from topical
corticosteroids that are low to
moderate strength and how im-
portant it is to use enough med-
ication to treat a condition.
Finally, treatment should be
customised based on the per-
son’s symptoms, the body parts
affected and how long treat-
ment might be required. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2023
Why is the sky dark at night?
The 200-year history of a question that
transformed our understanding of the Universe
BY JONATHAN BITEAU,
Université Paris-Saclay,
ALBERTO DOMÍNGUEZ,
Universidad Complutense
de Madrid, DAVID VALLS-
GABAUD, Observatoire
de Paris, HERVÉ DOLE,
Université Paris-Saclay, JOSÉ
FONSECA, Universidade
do Porto, JUAN GARCIA-
BELLIDO, Universidad
Autónoma de Madrid, SIMON
DRIVER, The University of
Western Australia
The Conversation
As dawn rose over the German
city of Bremen on May 7 1823,
Heinrich Olbers put the finish-
ing touches to an article that left
his name in history. After the
deaths of his wife and daughter,
Dr Olbers had recently given up
his work as an opthalmologist to
devote himself to his nocturnal
passions: the stars, the Moon,
meteorites and comets.
Like many of his peers, Ol-
bers trained himself in astron-
omy. He gained a solid reputa-
tion in the academic world and
spent long nights observing the
sky from the observatory on the
second floor of his house.
On that morning, Olbers had
come to a strange conclusion:
based on all that was known
about the Universe at that time,
the night sky should not have
been dark. In fact, the entire
heavens should have been glow-
ing as brightly as the Sun.
Olbers was not the first to
note this paradox. But his name
is the one we attach to it today.
The enigma of the night sky’s
darkness has echoed down
the centuries from Olbers and
the poet Edgar Allan Poe to
20th-century astronomers and
space probes today.
Finite light in an infinite
Universe
Like many of his contemporar-
ies, Olbers followed Isaac Newton
and René Descartes in believing
the Universe was infinite.
If the Universe were finite and
static, the force of gravity should
draw all the stars together at a
central point. But if the Universe
stretched on forever, gravitation-
al forces would on average be bal-
anced in all directions.
But Olbers realised this model
of the cosmos was inconsistent
with observations. In a limitless
Universe filled with an infinite
number of stars, wherever we
look at night our gaze should
land on the surface of a star, in
much the same way as every line
of sight in a forest ends at a tree.
This is the problem Olbers
raised in his paper of May 7
1823: the cosmological model of
the time suggested every point
in the sky should be as bright
as the surface of the Sun. There
should be no night.
Olbers proposed a solution: the
light from more distant stars was
absorbed by dust or other mate-
rial floating in space. The English
astronomer John Herschel later
pointed out this couldn’t be right,
because anything absorbing that
much light would eventually heat
up enough to glow.
When Olbers died on March
2 1840, at the age of 81, the rid-
dle we know today as Olber’s
paradox was unsolved.
A poet’s intuition
Eight years later, on the oth-
er side of the Atlantic Ocean,
poet and writer Edgar Allan
Poe thought he had found an
answer. On February 3 1848, he
gave a public lecture about his
ideas to 60 people at the New
York Society Library.
Veering between metaphysics
and science, Poe argued the cos-
mos had emerged from a single
state of matter (“Oneness”) that
fragmented and dispersed under
the action of a repulsive force.
This meant the Universe was
a finite sphere of matter. If the
finite universe is populated by
a sufficiently small number of
stars, then we won’t see one in
every direction we look. The
night can be dark again.
Even if we assume the Uni-
verse is infinite, if it began at
some point in the past then the
time taken by light to reach
us would limit the size of the
amount of the Universe we can
see. This travel time would create
a horizon beyond which distant
stars would remain inaccessible.
Poe’s audience at the New
York Society Library did not
give him the rapturous recep-
tion he had hoped for. Later the
same year, he published his the-
ories in the prose poem Eureka,
which was little circulated.
The following year, on Octo-
ber 7 1849, Poe died at the age
of 40. It would be more than a
century before scientists con-
firmed his intuitions about the
enigma of the dark night sky.
Two and a half facts
In the first half of the 20th
century many new theories of
the cosmos were developed,
spurred on by Einstein’s theory
of general relativity, which ex-
plained gravity, space and time
in new ways. In the second half
of the century, these cosmolog-
ical theories began to be tested
with observations.
In 1963, British astronomer
Peter Scheuer argued that cos-
mology was based on only “two
and a half facts”:
• fact 1: the night sky is dark,
which had been known for
some time
• fact 2: galaxies are moving
away from each other, as shown
by Hubble’s observations pub-
lished in 1929
• fact 2.5: the content of the
Universe is probably evolving
as cosmic time unfolds.
A crowded field of galaxies is interspersed with bright 8-pointed stars on a
dark background. (ESA/WEBB, NASA AND CSA, A. MARTEL, NASA’S JAMES WEBB
SPACE TELESCOPE/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0)
www.canadianinquirer.net
Lifestyle
Strong controversies on the in-
terpretation of facts 2 and 2.5 ag-
itated the scientific community
in the 1950s and 1960s. Was the
Universe essentially stationary,
or had it begun in an enormous
explosion – a Big Bang? Support-
ers of both sides conceded, how-
ever, they needed to explain the
darkness of the night sky.
The lifetime of stars
British cosmologist Edward
Harrison resolved the conflict
in 1964. He showed that the
main factor determining the
brightness of the night sky is ac-
tually the finite age of the stars.
The number of stars in the ob-
servable Universe is extremely
large, but it is finite. This limited
number, each burning for a lim-
ited time, spread over a gigantic
volume, lets darkness manifest
itself between the stars.
Harrison later realised this
solution had already been pro-
posed not only by Edgar Allan
Poe, but by British physicist
Lord Kelvin in 1901.
Observations in the 1980s
confirmed the resolution pro-
posed by Poe, Kelvin and Harri-
son. Olber’s paradox had finally
been put to rest.
Fossil light
Or perhaps not quite. Viewed
from a different angle, there is
another resolution to the para-
dox: the night sky is not actually
21
so dark after all.
After the discovery of the ex-
pansion of the Universe in the
late 1920s, scientists realised
the Universe could have started
off extremely compact, dense
and hot. This is the “hot Big
Bang” model we have today.
One core prediction of this
model is the existence of “fos-
sil light” released in the cosmic
dawn. This fossil light should be
observable today – but not with
the naked eye, as the expanding
Universe would have shifted it
to longer wavelengths.
This radiation – the cosmic
microwave background – was
detected in 1964. Now mea-
sured with exquisite accuracy,
the cosmic background radia-
tion is the most common light
in the Universe.
We now know the cosmos is
also illuminated by a second,
much fainter background light,
produced by galaxies as they form
and evolve. This light is referred
to as the cosmic ultraviolet, opti-
cal and infrared background.
So we can also answer Olber’s
paradox by saying the sky is
not dark, but faintly glimmers
with the dim relic radiation of
all that has been over the finite
lifetime of the Universe.
New answers, new questions
In 2023, Olber’s paradox has
evolved into a rich field of re-
search. In our own work, we
carry out ever-more precise
measurements of the bright-
ness of the night sky, and simu-
late the stars of the cosmos with
supercomputers. We can now
determine the number of stars
in the sky with great accuracy.
Nevertheless, puzzles re-
main. Last year the New Hori-
zons space probe, out beyond
the orbit of Pluto and away
from the dust of the inner Solar
System, found the sky is twice
as bright as we expected it to be.
And so the question of the
darkness of the sky lives on,
crossing ages and cultures. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
22
Professional men’s rugby has major financial
issues which need to be tackled
BY CHRISTINA
PHILIPPOU, University
of Portsmouth, KIERAN
MAGUIRE, University of
Liverpool
The Conversation
The rugby club London Irish
was founded back in 1898. Al-
most 100 years later, it became
a fully professional club, just
in time to join the inaugural
season of the Premiership, En-
gland’s top tier of rugby union.
But now, after 25 years in
the Premiership, London Irish
has been kicked out for being
unable to provide the sport’s
governing body with “financial
assurances”. Essentially, it had
too much debt and was unable
to pay its own staff and players.
London Irish is not alone in
its loss of Premiership status.
Two other clubs, Wasps and
Worcester Warriors have al-
ready gone into administration
and been expelled this season.
Three teams being booted out
of the top tier in less than a year
signifies a major problem in En-
glish rugby. So are other clubs at
risk? And is professional rugby
union even economically viable?
Certainly the current financ-
es of the Premiership teams
do not inspire confidence. Ac-
cording to the latest available
Michael Jordan to sell majority share
of Charlotte Hornets
ANADOLU
Philippine News Agency
ISTANBUL – Michael Jordan
is set to sell the majority share of
the Charlotte Hornets, the NBA
confirmed on Friday, a move
that will end his 13-year run
Sports
accounts, all of the 13 clubs that
started the 2022-23 season
made a loss last year.
Eight of them had negative eq-
uity, meaning that they were tech-
nically insolvent and being subsi-
dised by their owners. Worcester
and London Irish were among
that group, while Wasps had
healthy equity (club value), but a
relatively high level of debt.
Their woes are just the latest
in rugby union’s long history of
financial problems. And while
there have been efforts to bring
stability to the sport’s financ-
es, such as controlling costs
through salary caps, clearly the
problem has not been solved.
There was also a lucrative
sounding partnership between
the Premiership and a private
equity firm in 2019 which gave
clubs a cash injection of more
than £200 million in exchange
for a 27% share of the organisa-
tion. But this money provided
a one-off short-term boost to
club finances, and financial in-
stability remains.
Turnover
All rugby clubs have three
main sources of income: ticket
sales on match days, sponsor-
ship and broadcasting. Match
day income is the most import-
ant – but it varies from match to
match, with 16,400 the highest
average weekend attendance
overseeing the basketball team.
In a statement, NBA said that
Jordan has reached an agreement
to sell the majority share of the
Charlotte Hornets to a group led
by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall.
“Plotkin, who acquired a
minority stake in the Hornets
in 2019, has been an alternate
this past season.
The sponsorship income can
also vary and depends on inter-
est from fans. Sponsors also like
stability, so clubs being at risk of
collapse affects their arrange-
ments, because cancelled fix-
tures (when an opposition team
has gone into administration
for example) and uncertainty
about viability of the league as a
whole makes investing risky.
On the broadcasting side of
things, rugby union was compar-
atively late to professionalise.
Other sports such as football and
golf had already locked them-
selves in the main broadcasters’
sporting calendar when rug-
by came to the table in the late
1990s. As a result, rugby’s broad-
governor on the NBA Board of
Governors since 2019 and is the
founder and chief investment
officer of Tallwoods Capital
LLC,” the statement said.
“Schnall is co-president of
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC,
where he has worked for 27 years,
and has been a significant minori-
www.canadianinquirer.net
cast revenue is fairly low (£40
million a year for rugby’s Pre-
miership compared to £1.6 bil-
lion for Premier League football).
Another vital issue that rugby
faces is a lack of integration with-
in the sport itself. For example,
English club football has an inter-
national break to allow players to
turn out for their national teams
at various points in the year.
Premiership rugby, on the
other hand, continues during
events like the hugely popular
Six Nations tournament, which
diminishes club squads and
viewer numbers. This affects all
three types of revenue.
Where Premiership rugby
does have an advantage over
other team sports is the com-
ty owner of the Atlanta Hawks and
an alternate governor on the NBA
Board of Governors since 2015.
Schnall is in the process of sell-
ing his investment in the Hawks,
which is expected to be completed
in the next several weeks.”
Jordan is largely considered
to be the greatest player in the
JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY
petitive balance, which means
results are rarely predictable.
This is good for broadcasters,
as it makes it more exciting and
appealing for viewers.
But next season will not be very
exciting for the loyal fans of Lon-
don Irish, Wasps and Worcester
Warriors. After the last two went
into administration in 2022, the
UK government launched a par-
liamentary enquiry to address
concerns around the sport. Inde-
pendent advisers have now been
appointed to work on the stabil-
ity of rugby.
This is not the first time the UK
government have got involved in
sport. In football, the proposed
introduction of an independent
regulator was a reaction to the
the fragile state of club finances.
When we looked in detail into
the financial sustainability of
football clubs in 2022, we found
similar problems to the ones be-
ing seen in rugby.
Put simply, to achieve eco-
nomic viability and improve
revenue from all three income
streams, rugby union needs to
evolve in a way which encour-
ages growth and attract more
interest. New audiences are vi-
tal, such as those seen recently
in women’s international rugby.
Targeting younger audiences
❱❱ PAGE 28 Professional men’s rugby
history of the game, winning six
NBA titles in 1991, 1992, 1993,
1996, 1997, and 1998 during his
career with the Bulls.
He was also a six-time NBA
Finals MVP (most valuable play-
er) and 14-time NBA All-Star.
The 60-year-old legend re-
tired from basketball in 2003. ■
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2023
PH all set to host
men’s Volleyball
Nations League
next month
BY JEAN MALANUM
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – All is set for the
Philippine hosting of the 2023
men’s Volleyball Nations League
(VNL) third leg next month.
World’s No. 1 Poland, No. 2
Brazil, No. 4 Italy, No. 7 Japan,
No. 9 Slovenia, No. 12 Nether-
lands, No. 17 Canada and No. 25
China are featured in the July 4
to 9 competition which will be
held at the SM Mall of Asia Are-
na in Pasay City.
The match between Olym-
pics triple-gold winner Brazil
and four-time world champion
Italy at 3 p.m. will kick off the
event organized by the Philip-
pine National Volleyball Feder-
ation (PNVF) headed by Ramon
“Tats” Suzara.
Japan, currently leading the
eliminations with four wins,
and three-time Asian Games
champion China will meet in
the main game at 7 p.m.
“Everyone’s looking forward
to the VNL with excitement.
For the first time, we will be
using a different color of court
flooring,” said Suraza during
the event’s official launching at
the Diamond Hotel on Monday.
Also present at the press
conference were Senior Depu-
ty Executive Secretary Hubert
Guevara, Philippine Sports
Commission (PSC) Chairman
Richard Bachmann, Pasay City
Mayor Imelda Calixto-Rubia-
no, SM Mall of Asia Arena Gen-
eral Manager, Senior Vice Pres-
ident and Business Unit Head
Arnel Gonzales and Diamond
Hotel Rooms Division Manager
George Reynoso.
Guevara confirmed the at-
tendance of First Lady Liza
Araneta Marcos as special guest
of honor during the opening
ceremony where she will make
the ceremonial serve.
Bachmann, on the other
hand, assured that the Ninoy
Aquino Stadium and the Rizal
Memorial Coliseum, both in-
side the Rizal Memorial Sports
Complex, will be ready as prac-
tice venues.
China will be the first team to
arrive on June 26 followed by
the Netherlands (June 29), Po-
land and Japan (June 30) and
Italy (July 1), and Canada, Slo-
venia and Brazil (July 2).
“We are honored to be the
host of the VNL. This is a great
opportunity for us to have a
world-class competition. We
wish all teams the best. More
power to the FIVB,” Calix-
to-Rubiano said.
The Philippines successfully
staged two legs of the VNL --
one men and one women -- at
the Smart Araneta Coliseum in
Quezon City last year.
Meanwhile, the Japan na-
tional team will have a Fan’s
Day at 5:30 p.m. on July 5.
The Philippine team will also
have friendly matches against
the Netherlands and China. ■
The secret of Novak
Djokovic’s record-breaking
tennis success is his mental
resilience – expert explains
BY SAHEN GUPTA,
University of Portsmouth
The Conversation
It comes as no surprise to
anyone who follows tennis that
Novak Djokovic won his 23rd
Grand Slam at the French Open
this month, making him the most
successful men’s tennis player
in history. The Serbian player is
consistently hard to beat, even
when he is playing poorly. But
what is it that sets him apart?
There are a few answers.
Djokovic has superb technical
skills and has been called the best
“returner” in the sport’s history.
He has worked on his diet and fit-
ness to ensure he is consistently
in optimal health. And his tacti-
cal understanding and execution
of tennis are second to none.
What remains? The control-
ler of all these three elements:
the mental side. In the past 20
years, Djokovic is perhaps the
tennis player who has most
openly spoken about and advo-
cated for mental training – and
resilience has been a key focus.
Djokovic has dedicated a
significant amount of time and
planning to his mental training
and has worked with experts
Novak Djokovic (KARLNORLING/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0)
www.canadianinquirer.net
Sports
to incorporate mindfulness.
Talking of this in his 2013 cook-
book, Serve to Win, Djokovic
said: “I do it for about 15 min-
utes and it is as important to me
as my physical training.”
Mindfulness is a mental skill
that allows people to experi-
ence their conscious thoughts
and emotions with the goal of
changing their focus of aware-
ness. For example, if the player
misses a serve, the brain will
probably catastrophise: You
missed a serve. You will double
fault, and then they will break
your serve. In tennis, where ev-
ery point is a win or a loss, this
triggers self-doubt.
Mindfulness allows players
to be conscious of this and avoid
a negative response. Djokovic
goes on to say:
I’ve done so much mindfulness
that my brain functions better
now automatically … I used to
freeze up whenever I made a mis-
take. Now when I blow a serve
or shank a backhand, I still get
those flashes of self-doubt, but I
know how to handle them.
Why resilience is so im-
portant
Even Djokovic makes mis-
takes. Resilience is not about
error-free performance. That is
23
impossible in elite sports. Resil-
ience is the ability to adapt after
adversity. In elite sports, this
adversity may be small (such
as losing a set in a match) or big
(such as a major injury).
Resilience is something ath-
letes develop over time, putting
effort in to building mental and
social skills that act as a shield
against the negative effects of
adversity and failure.
Athletes engage in this pro-
cess through a learning cycle
based on their experiences. The
psychological skills of emotion-
al control are important for
developing resilience. This in-
cludes focusing on the process,
not the outcome and challenge
appraisal, which enables the
athlete to look at areas of ac-
tion they can take to improve
their performance, rather than
dwelling on threats of failure.
When faced with adversity,
the athlete does the best they
can. Whatever the outcome, they
then reflect on how these psy-
chological skills played out and
resilient athletes start repeating
what worked for them more.
Djokovic developed his resil-
ience by regularly competing
against three great champions
of tennis: Roger Federer, Rafa-
el Nadal and Andy Murray. He
reflected (for both his successes
and failures) on what worked
mentally, physically and tacti-
cally and then developed him-
self further. He still uses mind-
fulness. In his book, Djokovic
states how he accepts his
thoughts “as they come … they
do bounce around like crazy, but
they’re supposed to, your job is
to let them come and go”.
The main element of Djokov-
ic’s resilience learning process
has been his openness to adapt.
He has spoken publicly about
how he now understands and
treats his physical preparation
differently. On a mental level, he
has accepted that he cannot play
every tournament and his mo-
❱❱ PAGE 27 The secret of Novak
 24
Know thyself, know thy finances:
which of the 5 money personalities are you?
BY AYESHA SCOTT,
Auckland University of
Technology, AARON
GILBERT, Auckland
University of Technology
The Conversation
When it comes to money, are
you a big spender or a fearful
saver? Do you give away all your
money or ignore financial de-
mands until they become urgent?
After decades of focus on fi-
nancial literacy, it has become
clear there is more to how we
manage our money than ac-
cess to information. Now new
research has identified five dis-
tinct money personalities that
drive how we spend.
Commissioned by Te Ara
Ahunga Ora (Retirement Com-
mission) for their free, indepen-
dent personal finance site Sorted,
our study included an extensive
review of the research on person-
ality traits, values and attitudes.
We then created an online survey,
completed by nearly 500 New
Zealanders, exploring how people
engaged with their money.
The research findings form
the backbone of a new online
money personality quiz de-
signed to help people under-
stand their money personality
and inform their financial deci-
sions and behaviour.
With New Zealand officially
in a recession, it has never been
more important to understand
money management. Despite
our best intentions, we often
struggle to make “good” financial
decisions consistently – includ-
ing saving enough, using debt
The Flash review:..
❰❰ 17 star of The Flash,
despite its title – is
Keaton’s Batman. It
is Keaton’s narrative arc and
catchphrases (“You wanna get
nuts? Let’s get nuts.”) that echo
down the timelines of War-
Business
wisely, and staying on top of in-
surance policies and KiwiSaver.
Doing better with our money
According to Te Ara Ahunga
Ora, New Zealanders are good
with the basics of financial ca-
pability – budgeting and keep-
ing track of money. But we score
lower than comparable countries
like Canada, Norway, Australia
and Ireland on more advanced
financial capabilities like long-
term savings. We also lack confi-
dence when it comes to our cash.
There is a growing body of
evidence that personality traits,
money values and attitudes each
play a crucial part in either aid-
ing or hindering us making those
“smart” financial decisions.
Attitudes towards saving, the
degree to which we value mate-
rial possessions, and how com-
fortable we are with risk, will
all affect the financial decisions
we make – and, as a result, our
financial wellbeing.
The 5 money personalities
We identified five distinct
money personalities, each with
their own strengths and weak-
nesses: the enterpriser, social-
ite, minimalist, contemporary
and realist.
An enterpriser is a finan-
cially confident, future-ori-
entated planner who enjoys
looking after their finances
and is proud of being money
savvy. Their strengths include
self-control, financial knowl-
edge and making their money
work for them.
An enterpriser is unlikely to
make impulsive or emotional
purchases. However, their as-
pirational approach – viewing
ner-DC history and leave a last-
ing impact.
The film is even structured to
give Keaton’s performance greater
resonance. Early portions of some-
times silly superhero humour give
way in the film’s second half, where
money as a priority and a sym-
bol of success – may pair badly
with materialism, causing them
to spend money to gain status
rather than for value or utili-
ty. Enterprisers benefit from
learning about investing and
planning for the future.
The minimalist is frugal, confi-
dent with their saving ability, and
on top of their financial situation.
Minimalists value a simpler life,
scoring low on materialism and
are not prone to impulsive or
emotional purchases.
Their weakness is not always
making their money work as
hard for them as it could, as
they are less likely to take finan-
cial risks – even where there is a
potential for higher investment
returns. Low-cost, passive in-
vestment strategies may appeal
to minimalists.
A socialite is a joyful risk
taker, outgoing, and confident
with their money handling. A
generous extrovert, they are
more likely to be materialistic
than other personality types
and tend to live for today rather
Keaton’s razor-edged, comedic yet
gothic darkness allows the film to
gather emotional depth.
In mining Warner-DC’s iconic
film and television history, The
Flash is able to smash togeth-
er a pantheon of screen super-
www.canadianinquirer.net
than plan for tomorrow.
Their high tolerance for risk
suggests some socialites may
take on unwise levels of finan-
cial risk. Those in this group
who are also impulsive or prone
to emotional purchases may
find themselves overspending
or vulnerable to over-extending
themselves with consumer debt.
Socialites may like to explore
active investment strategies and
riskier investment classes, how-
ever. Taking calculated risks and
building financial resilience is
an important focus for them.
A contemporary doesn’t
enjoy managing their money
and they lack confidence when
it comes to financial matters.
They are likely to say they’re a
spender despite being less ma-
terialistic than others; living for
today, they tend to engage in
impulsive emotional spending
and are generous to a fault.
For contemporaries, the focus
is increasing financial resilience
by paying down debt and building
an emergency savings fund, en-
abling them to share their wealth
heroes. As it works to reset the
core Warner-DC universe, The
Flash’s colliding worlds remind
audiences of why they love su-
perheroes such as Batman and
Superman in the first place. In
doing so, it shifts away from the
JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY
with others without affecting
their own financial well-being.
Working on their money mindset
and general financial knowledge
may allow them to build confi-
dence and savings, then take a
passive or “set and forget” ap-
proach to their financial life.
A realist is future-focused,
very conservative with risk, and
values money highly. But they
are not confident with their
money handling, despite paying
close attention to their finan-
cial situation.
The most introverted person-
ality type, a more aspirational
realist may be materialistic but
is unlikely to make impulsive
or emotional purchases a hab-
it. This suggests building con-
fidence and encouragement to
take appropriate investment
risks is important. Given they
do not like making money de-
cisions, automation of bill pay-
ments and savings may appeal.
Know thy money self
Each money personality offers
different challenges when it comes
to making financial decisions.
Taking Sorted’s money per-
sonality quiz is fun, but it’s also
a useful financial decision you
can make right now.
It’s not just about the label.
Knowing your money person-
ality can help you understand
your strengths and weaknesses
when it comes to financial deci-
sion making, giving you tools to
improve your financial resilien-
cy and security. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
grim tone of the old DC Extend-
ed Universe, injecting hope (and
humour) into the new one. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2023
Department stores survived the pandemic
by being adaptable and innovative
BY RUIFENG WANG,
University of Maryland,
MARTIN DRESNER,
University of Maryland,
XIAODAN PAN, Concordia
University
The Conversation
The retail industry has experi-
enced major upheavals over the
past few years due to the rise of
online retailing and the decline
of shopping malls. One retail sec-
tor that has been hit especially
hard is department stores.
Iconic Canadian brands,
such as Eaton’s, Simpsons and
Woodward’s, have disappeared.
American retail brands, includ-
ing Nordstrom and Target, have
entered the Canadian market
and then withdrawn.
Only a few department store
retailers, like The Bay, still have
a tenuous grip on the Canadian
retail market. Similar upheav-
als have occurred in the United
States, with many regional de-
partment store brands disap-
pearing over the past 30 years.
The challenges faced by re-
tailers were made even worse
by the COVID-19 pandem-
ic. Retailers and department
stores struggled to stay afloat
during lockdowns. To survive
the tough retail environment,
they needed to be both resilient
and innovative.
With this in mind, we gath-
ered sales data from 17 depart-
ment store chains in the U.S.
to investigate what strategies
these stores used during the
pandemic.
Manila startup ecosystem grows to $3.5-B
BY KRIS CRISMUNDO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Manila has grown
its startup ecosystem to USD3.5
billion, according to the 2023
Global Startup Ecosystem Re-
port (GSER).
The value of the startup eco-
system rose 85 percent from the
USD2.1 billion reported in the
Curbside pickup
The first strategy was the
use of curbside pickup. This al-
lowed customers to shop safely
and conveniently by ordering
online and collecting their pur-
chases outside physical stores.
Although this strategy was
used prior to the pandemic, it
significantly increased during
lockdowns.
In addition, another similar
strategy — buying online and
picking an item up in-store —
was widely used prior to the
pandemic, but the additional
safety of parking lot deliveries
made curbside pickup a wel-
come option for shoppers.
This strategy did more than
just uphold operations during
the pandemic — it also under-
scored the importance of pri-
oritizing customers and their
safety in the face of adversity.
Product return windows
The second strategy was ex-
tended product return windows.
By giving customers more time
to return products, department
stores prioritized customer sat-
isfaction and encouraged them
to make future purchases.
Giving customers more time
to return an item — sometimes
even up to a year — gave cus-
tomers more time to test out
items and return the ones they
didn’t want.
Like curbside pickup, longer
product return windows were
also used prior to the pandem-
ic, but health and safety restric-
tions accelerated its use.
Virtual try-on technology
A third approach — the use
2022 GSER, the Department of
Trade and Industry (DTI) said
in a statement Friday.
“To witness Manila gaining
traction as an innovation hub is
incredibly rewarding. This un-
derscores the Philippines’ trans-
formation from an active player
to a formidable leader in the
ASEAN region - an achievement
we share with the dynamic Phil-
ippine startup ecosystem,” DTI
of virtual try-on technology —
helped retailers survive lock-
downs and could also prove to
be valuable in the long run.
This technology allowed cus-
tomers to “try on” items virtu-
ally before committing to a pur-
chase, either online or in-store.
Customers were able to try on
products from their homes, like
clothing or jewellery, using their
camera-equipped devices, reduc-
ing the need for physical store
visits and dressing room usage.
Our research found that the
impact of try-on technologies
on department store sales was
highest when COVID-19 re-
strictions were low.
The closure of physical stores
and safety concerns greatly ac-
celerated the adoption and use
of this technology. It not only
boosted sales for apparel items,
but also unlocked opportuni-
ties for a wider range of product
Secretary Alfredo Pascual said.
Launched in Amsterdam on
June 15, the report has given
Manila various commendations
such as top 25 Global Ecosys-
tem; top 10 Asian Ecosystem in
Affordable Talent; top 20 Asian
Ecosystem in Funding; and top
30 in Asia in terms of Ecosys-
tem for Bang for Buck, Ecosys-
tem in Talent and Experience,
and Ecosystem in Performance.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Business
offerings, like apps that let you
virtually test out furniture or
makeup at home.
The convenience that try-on
technology provides to consum-
ers extends beyond the pandem-
ic. Retailers that invested in this
technology during lockdowns
will continue to benefit from it
long into the future.
Adaptation is key for survival
Department stores that
adapted were the most success-
ful in navigating the challenges
posed by the pandemic. This
highlights the importance of
having dynamic capabilities —
strategies that enable retailers
to adapt to rapidly changing en-
vironments.
By being adaptable and re-
sponsive to change, retailers
were able to restructure their
operations, enhance efficiency
and reduce business risks. The
retailers that not only survived
The GSER also highlighted
Manila’s financial technology,
electronic commerce, and gam-
ing sectors amid the number of
pool of talents, activities in these
sectors, and public and private
collaboration and other stake-
holders in enhancing the envi-
ronment for Filipino startups.
“Our impressive leap in the
GSER 2023 Report is a testa-
ment of our sustained commit-
25
but innovated during the cri-
sis were in the best position to
thrive once it ended.
These department stores
were able to retain customer
trust and loyalty by offering
alternative shopping options
and flexible return policies.
This demonstrates the impor-
tance of prioritizing customers
and being prepared to adapt to
evolving consumer behaviours.
The future of retail
The narrative of department
stores during the pandemic was
one of adaptability and the pursuit
of innovation. The lessons gath-
ered during the pandemic will con-
tinue to shape department store
strategies and guide their transfor-
mation in the future.
By leveraging their unique
strengths — such as having a
wide range of products, a brand
history and customer relation-
ships — department stores can
re-imagine their role in the re-
tail ecosystem and reignite con-
sumer interest.
As the retail landscape con-
tinues to evolve, department
stores have the opportunity to
reclaim their relevance by cap-
italizing on their strengths and
staying attuned to emerging
consumer trends.
The journey ahead may be
challenging, but with strategic
foresight and a commitment to
innovation, department stores
could still thrive in this new era
of retail. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
ment to fostering a dynamic
startup ecosystem. We have put
in place mechanisms for con-
tinued growth, from stream-
lined government processes to
strategic investment support
mechanisms,” Pascual said.
DTI Undersecretary for
Competitiveness and Innova-
tion Group Rafaelita Aldaba
❱❱ PAGE 28 Manila startup
26
1 in 5 Australian workers have non-
compete clauses, making it harder
to get better paid jobs: new survey
BY DAN ANDREWS,
Australian National University
The Conversation
To many of us, “non-compete
clauses” are for other people – TV
presenters and chief executives;
the sort of people who, if they
left their employer for a com-
petitor, would take with them
inside knowledge and so must be
stopped by a legal agreement, at
least for a period of time.
Our concerning finding,
reached as Australia’s compe-
tition minister Andrew Leigh
asks the Australian Competi-
tion and Consumer Commis-
sion and Treasury for advice
on the extent of non-compete
clauses in Australia, is that they
may be even more widespread
here than in the United States.
In the US, researchers from
the Bureau of Labor Statistics
have found an extraordinary
18% of workers are subject to
non-compete clauses of some
kind. They even apply where
you might think they would not:
to 9% of care workers, and 12%
Economist sees higher tourism sector growth in 2023
BY ANNA LEAH GONZALES
Philippine News Agency
MANILA - The share of tour-
ism to the country’s gross domes-
tic product (GDP) could reach as
high as eight percent this year
due to the further reopening of
the Philippine economy, an econ-
omist said on Friday.
In an interview with the Phil-
ippine News Agency (PNA),
Rizal Commercial Banking
Corporation chief economist
Michael Ricafort said the share
of tourism to the GDP could
grow to 7 to 8 percent, from
more than 6 percent in 2022,
given the continued recovery
and growth in foreign and local
tourism due to the easing of re-
strictions since early 2022.
Business
of US construction workers.
In Australia, in the first sur-
vey on non-compete claus-
es conducted using the same
methodology as the US survey,
we’ve found 22%.
22% may be an under-esti-
mate
As with the US survey, be-
cause some workers might not
know whether they are subject
to non-complete clauses, we re-
stricted our questions to those
who had changed jobs in the
past 12 months.
The job leavers were asked
whether, as far as they knew,
they were “not allowed to join or
start a business in competition
with” their former employer.
Restricting the survey to job
leavers means that, if anything,
our finding that 22% of the work-
force is subject to non-compete
clauses might be an understate-
ment. Workers tightly bound by
non-compete clauses might find
it hard to change jobs.
Adding in those workers re-
stricted in other ways – not
able to poach former clients or
co-workers (non-solicitation
“Tourism’s contribution
to the economy continued to
increase as the economy re-
opened towards greater nor-
malcy, with no more large lock-
downs since 2022 that eased
restrictions on the movement
of tourists around the coun-
try as increased vaccination
doses effectively reduced new
COVID-19 cases,” Ricafort said.
Data from the Philippine Sta-
tistics Authority (PSA) showed
that in 2022, the share of Tour-
ism Direct Gross Value Add-
ed (TDGVA) to the Philippine
economy, as measured by the
GDP, is estimated at 6.2 percent.
The TDGVA amounted to
PHP1.38 trillion last year,
higher by 36.9 percent from
PHP1.00 trillion in 2021.
Ricafort said the govern-
clauses) and not able to share
their former employer’s confi-
dential information (non-dis-
closure clauses) – we found half
of all Australian workers are
subject to some sort of restraint.
Childcare workers, yoga
instructors
As part of the research I and
Bjorn Jarvis conducted for the
e61 Institute, we asked legal prac-
titioners to tell us how the use of
ment’s policy to keep the econ-
omy as open as possible and the
optional wearing of face masks
further boosted both local
and foreign tourism activities
around the country.
He added that China, which
is one of the biggest sources of
tourists for the country, also
eased restrictions last Decem-
ber 2022, thereby allowing
more foreign tourists from the
said country to come to the
Philippines.
“For the coming months,
tourism, both local and foreign,
could still contribute more as a
bright spot for the local econ-
omy, as a source of additional
jobs and other business oppor-
tunities in various tourist desti-
nations around the country, es-
pecially outside Metro Manila,
www.canadianinquirer.net
restraints had changed over time.
They told us non-compete
clauses had become more com-
mon and were now the default
option in many employment
contracts, applying to out-
ward-facing junior roles in in-
dustries such as childcare and
yoga instruction, in addition
to more senior roles in law, fi-
nance and business services.
Our survey suggests they ap-
also positively contributing to
business and other economic
activities in nearby areas of ma-
jor tourist destinations,” said
Ricafort.
Ricafort however cited the im-
JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY
ply to 27% of trade union mem-
bers, 43% of gig workers, and
26% of community and person-
al service workers.
Once, non-complete claus-
es were put in place to protect
legitimate business interests,
such as trade secrets and client
relationships.
But these days it seems they
are increasingly also being used
to stifle job mobility. While good
for employers, as they face less
wage pressure, it is bad for work-
ers and Australia’s productivity.
Workers who switch jobs get
8% more pay on average (and
better mental health), yet the
probability that the average
Australian worker switches
jobs has fallen from 12.8% in
the mid-1990s to 9.5% in 2022.
And the benefits of being able
to switch extend to workers
who choose not to. The more
they are able to switch, the
greater their bargaining power.
The benefits also extend to the
economy more broadly, as the real-
location of workers from less-pro-
❱❱ PAGE 28 1 in 5 Australian
portance of further investing in
adequate infrastructure such as
airports, seaports, toll roads, mass
transport systems, among others
to support a higher number of for-
eign and local tourists. ■
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2023
Moveit hack: attack on BBC and BA offers
glimpse into the future of cybercrime
BY DANNY STEED, Cranfield
University, ROBERT BLACK,
Cranfield University
The Conversation
British Airways (BA), the
BBC, Ofcom and Boots were
among a number of organisa-
tions that were reportedly vic-
tims of a major recent cyber-at-
tack, resulting in the breach of
numerous staff details.
The stolen data is said to in-
clude staff names, staff ID num-
bers and national insurance
numbers (although, important-
ly, not banking details). But,
other than for those personally
affected, the real issue is what
this attack reveals about the
evolution of cybercrime.
More cybercriminals are real-
ising that if they can compromise
a trusted supplier, this will lead
to the compromise of that organ-
isation’s customers. The hackers
can then steal the data and po-
tentially hold both individuals
and companies to ransom.
So far, this has proven a more
difficult way to make a lot of
money. But it’s arguably only a
matter of time.
The recent attack was against
a piece of software called Move-
it, which is used to transfer
computer files from one lo-
cation to another. It involved
what’s called a “zero-day ex-
ploit”, a piece of computer code
that takes advantage of a previ-
ously unknown vulnerability.
This allowed hackers to com-
promise Zellis, a trusted sup-
The secret of Novak..
❰❰ 23 tivation has changed
slightly.
Djokovic’s motiva-
tion has adapted to target grand
slams and prepare for them.
This is achievement motiva-
tion. In sport psychology, this
refers to how people are mo-
Technology
plier of services to BA, the BBC,
Boots and others. Zellis con-
firmed a “small number” of cus-
tomers had been affected, add-
ing that it had disconnected the
server using Moveit as soon as
it became aware of the incident.
Since Zellis is the main payroll
service provider to these organi-
sations, it is easy to trace how this
incident started. Responsibili-
ty for the attack was claimed by
the Russia-linked “cl0p” group,
which has since issued an ulti-
matum to the affected organisa-
tions – asking for money unless
they want the stolen data to be
released on the dark web.
Future of cybercrime
Unlike many previous types
of attack, particularly those that
have employed ransomware,
in this case the criminal group
launched a mass attack and
tivated to work towards their
highest performance level be-
cause they thrive off the satis-
faction of the difficulty in the
process. They are not afraid of
failure but rather are accepting
of it in the course of achieving
goals.
waited for individual organisa-
tions to fall prey, then sought to
exploit each one in turn.
This suggests these cyber-
criminals have learned from
previous supply-chain attacks,
and are experimenting with
making the strategy commer-
cially viable. In supply-chain
attacks, cybercriminals target
one organisation by attacking
an external provider they use.
Groups such as cl0p appear
to have watched and learned,
especially from the SolarWinds
attack of late 2020, where the
system for “patching” – doing
quick repairs of – a near-ubiq-
uitous software tool was com-
promised.
This software was widely
used across the US government
and industry, leading to tens of
thousands of SolarWinds cli-
This has added to Djokovic’s
resilience because it has al-
lowed him to accept everything
that has come his way, be it the
injuries, the ban from tourna-
ments for being unvaccinated,
the toughest of competitions, or
even emotional outbursts.
www.canadianinquirer.net
ents falling victim, including the
Department of Defense, Nasa,
TimeWarner and AT&T. At-
tributed to Russia’s military in-
telligence agency the GRU, Solar-
Winds was seen as being mainly
motivated by state espionage.
And in the case of Moveit, the
cl0p group appears to have tak-
en the logic of supply-chain at-
tacks – which proved so effective
against SolarWinds – and wield-
ed it against corporate targets.
Evolutionary step
This was arguably always
going to be an evolutionary
step for cybercriminals. First,
sophisticated state-sponsored
hackers verify an innovative
method of attacking computers,
as in the case of SolarWinds.
Later, criminal copycats such
as cl0p apply the same strategy,
avoiding the pain of inventing
new methods.
The ultimatum issued by
cl0p is also revealing about the
behaviour and motivation of cy-
bercriminals. It is a strange piv-
ot from traditional ransomware
campaigns, where the victims’
payment details were stolen.
In the case of Moveit, it is in-
structive that cl0p has issued a
public ultimatum, telling victim
organisations to get in touch un-
less they want their data to be
released into the wild – allowing
its exploitation by scammers,
fraudsters and other criminals.
Effectively, cl0p is relying
on a panic tactic to get organ-
isations to take responsibility
for the stolen data and protect
their staff’s identities, by volun-
So, what does Djokovic him-
self attribute his remarkable
success to? Speaking to ESPN,
the player explained: “I stopped
thinking too much about what
could happen and relied on my
physical and mental strength to
play the right shots at the right
27
teering themselves to the crim-
inals for negotiation – presum-
ably on the topic of payment.
This reveals a clear lack of re-
source – outside the technical
“attack teams” – on the part of
cl0p to fully exploit its apparent
success in compromising Moveit.
This is a potential flaw in
the behaviour of such criminal
groups. It shows that a move
from ransomware-driven cam-
paigns to supply-chain attacks
is more difficult to monetise.
The final step in maximising
the return from the attack, by
making all the victims pay, is
clearly harder than with simple
ransomware, where the focus is
on one target organisation and
one route to the pay-out from
the crime.
In short, cybercriminal
groups have copied the sup-
ply-chain attack strategy and
are now experimenting with it.
But they are struggling to fully
exploit and monetise the suc-
cesses they have with it.
Where ransomware has been
the campaign of choice for more
than half a decade, we should,
however, be concerned that the
Moveit attack signals a change
of strategy. Supply-chain attacks
are effective, and the criminals
are now working to refine their
methods in order to fully exploit
them. As such, it’s very likely
that these attacks will only be-
come more widespread. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
time.” And play the right shots
at the right time, he has done.
What an incredible achieve-
ment in the history of tennis. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
 28
Artificial intelligence can support
architects but lacks empathy and ethics
BY FARZAM SEPANTA,
Carleton University
The Conversation
Artificial intelligence (AI)
has revolutionized many differ-
ent industries in recent years.
It gained a lot of attention and
popularity with the launch of
ChatGPT, a tool capable of writ-
ing poems, solving equations
and producing articles on dif-
ferent topics.
With the fast-paced imple-
mentation of AI in different
fields, will it take the place of
architects and architecture
schools soon? To answer this
question, we need to under-
stand the capabilities of AI and
the role of architects and archi-
tecture schools.
Architectural education
While the topics and research
surrounding AI are rapidly
evolving, AI lacks certain qual-
ities and characteristics that
architects gain by completing
architecture school. At its core,
architects learn how to use dif-
ferent skills to combine techni-
cal knowledge, arts, esthetics,
emotions and other attributes.
Architecture schools train
their students so that they can
respond to certain design prob-
lems with solutions based on
their personal experiences, de-
sign styles and other factors.
Creativity and innovative
solutions are a result of com-
1 in 5 Australian..
❰❰ 26 ductive to more-pro-
ductive firms boosts
aggregate productivity.
The US is considering ban-
ning non-compete clauses
In January, the US Federal
Trade Commission proposed
a ban on non-compete clauses,
which it said could increase wag-
es by US$300 billion per year.
The US Senate is currently
debating a workforce mobility
bill that would enshrine the ban
in law.
In Australia, non-compete
clauses are only enforceable if
they can be shown to reason-
ably protect a legitimate busi-
Technology
bining different skill sets, per-
sonal experiences and technical
knowledge that future architects
develop in architecture schools.
The same process exists when
it comes to AI. AI is trained on
different datasets to come up
with solutions. In some cases,
like ChatGPT, it uses this data-
set to generate new and innova-
tive solutions.
But AI is limited by its data-
sets, especially when there isn’t
enough data, or gathering it is
too resource-intensive. This is
the main difference between
humans and AI comes. Humans
can draw on their experiences,
skills and other attributes to
come up with innovative solu-
tions without being limited to
specific datasets.
Improved efficiency
AI has different capabilities
that can significantly help many
different industries, including ar-
chitecture and construction. For
instance, AI can help architects
with architectural programming
and creating layouts in buildings.
It can provide renders and other
types of visualizations.
In general, AI can make many
different processes, such as
schematic design and renders,
more efficient. Architects can
develop customized platforms
based on their guiding princi-
ples, visions, design styles and
other values.
However, assistive tools that
result in a final product might
ness interest.
But in practice they exert a
chilling effect. Around 40% of US
workers are estimated to have
turned down job offers from
competitors due to non-com-
pete clauses, even though they
have worked in states where
they are unenforceable.
In addition to taking advice
about the impacts of non-com-
pete clauses in Australia, An-
drew Leigh is also investigating
no-poach clauses.
His own research has found
they are widespread within fran-
chise operations including Mc-
Donalds, Bakers Delight and
interrupt the learning process at
schools. Students are supposed
to learn skills by exploring dif-
ferent design solutions, ideas
and philosophies. But architec-
ture students might not fully
engage with learning if they use
assistive tools that conceal or
eliminate the process.
Therefore, architecture
schools should carefully study
how AI can be integrated with
their syllabi to improve the
learning process for architec-
ture students.
Absence of true empathy
Beyond architecture schools,
understanding the importance
of the shared values, heritage
and cultural qualities of a com-
munity, or even a person, is es-
sential for architects in coming
Dominos. This means that, for ex-
ample, no McDonalds store is able
to offer more pay to get a worker
to move from another McDonalds
store, leaving the workers them-
selves none the wiser.
Leigh’s findings and ours sug-
gest Australia’s labour markets
are more restricted than gener-
ally realised, with many of the re-
strictions imposed by employers.
Sweeping them away would
be one of the easiest ways to
boost productivity. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
www.canadianinquirer.net
up with design solutions.
While AI is capable of analyz-
ing such information, it cannot
truly empathize with and un-
derstand these different con-
siderations.
At the same time, decisions
made by architects carry re-
sponsibilities and liabilities.
Students learn about sustain-
ability issues, long-term impacts
of designs, ecological footprints
and other similar topics.
Although AI can be provided
with decision-making capa-
bilities, it cannot replace ar-
chitects’ roles in ethical deci-
sion-making process.
In addition, architecture in-
volves collaborations among
different stakeholders, from
clients to interior designers,
Manila startup..
❰❰ 25 also underscored the
government’s support
to improve the coun-
try’s human capital which plays
a critical role in Manila’s tech
innovation success.
“We continue to invest in
and inspire our young Filipino
talent. Our strategy fosters sci-
entific and technological inno-
vation, while the Skills Frame-
work ensures they are equipped
with competencies that are
in demand. We firmly believe
that our people are our primary
competitive advantage in this
era of industrial transforma-
tion,” Aldaba said. ■
JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY
civil engineers and other ex-
perts. Although AI can engage
in dialogue, it lacks the ability
to engage in dynamic interac-
tions and truly understand the
intentions and experiences of
different stakeholders.
Human indispensability
AI is still in its early stages
and may certainly improve sig-
nificantly in the coming years.
However, at the moment, it
seems unlikely to replace the
indispensable role of architec-
ture schools and architects be-
cause it cannot fully grasp cul-
tural values and heritage.
In addition, AI cannot draw on
personal experiences, emotions
and perceptions of different con-
cepts and designs. In its current
state, AI cannot engage in mean-
ingful collaborations where it
can truly understand the need of
different stakeholders. Further-
more, the ethical issues, respon-
sibilities and liabilities involved
need to be addressed before pro-
gressing to more advanced stages
that can give AI more freedom in
the design process.
Although AI can significant-
ly improve the efficiency of the
design process and improve the
learning experience, it’s too early
to consider it — even as a semi-in-
dependent entity — during the
architectural design process. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
Professional men’s rugby..
❰❰ 22 through social me-
dia would help too, as
would working to shed
rugby’s image as an elitist sport.
For now though, participation
in grassroots rugby is falling –
which is bad news, as research
shows that people who play a
sport are more likely to watch it.
If that trend continues, the
business side of rugby will
struggle – and more clubs with
proud histories will be end up
paying the ultimate penalty. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY JUNE 23, 2023
PH nominated anew in prestigious
World Travel Awards
BY JOYCE ANN L.
ROCAMORA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippines
has been nominated for multi-
ple categories in the 2023 World
Travel Awards Asia category.
The country is vying for the
following nominations, the vot-
ing period of which would close
on July 23, 2023:
• Asia’s Leading Island Desti-
nation
• Asia’s Leading Beach Desti-
nation
• Asia’s Leading Dive Desti-
nation
• Intramuros as Asia’s Lead-
Palawan aims for
post-pandemic revival
of tourism sector
BY IZZA REYNOSO
Philippine News Agency
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY,
Palawan – Stakeholders of the
local tourism and hospitality
industry on Sunday said efforts
are underway to make the prov-
ince an even more attractive
destination for travelers and
adventure-seekers.
Rey Felix Rafols, president of
the Palawan Tourism Council
(PTC), said the ongoing Tourism
Travel Fair here was organized
as a one-stop-shop for tourists
seeking information, diverse
destinations, and informed
choices about their travel plans
with the assistance of knowl-
edgeable professionals.
The three-day travel fair
opened at Robinsons Place Pal-
Travel
ing Tourist Attraction
• Cebu as Asia’s Leading
Wedding Destination; and
• The Department of Tourism
as Asia’s Leading Tourist Board.
In a statement Friday, the De-
partment of Tourism (DOT) said
the multiple nominations reaf-
firm the global importance of the
Philippines in tourism and travel.
“The Philippines’ nomi-
nations in the World Travel
Awards Asia are a testament to
the hard work of the men and
women of the tourism industry
in the public and private sector
across our many communities in
the country, and an affirmation
of the Marcos administration’s
thrust towards tourism trans-
awan here on Saturday and will
run until Monday.
With the theme “Experience
a Renewed Palawan: Celebrat-
ing People, Festival, Places,
Food, and Culture,” it is one of
formation,” Tourism Secretary
Christina Garcia Frasco said.
She also encouraged both
local and foreign tourists who
have been to, and have plans of
visiting the Philippines to vote
for the country.
“I encourage our fellow Fili-
pinos and friends from all over
the world to vote for the Philip-
pines,” she said.
The prestigious award body
had been acknowledging Fili-
pino destinations since its first
nomination in 2013 until pres-
ent, besting tourism giants in
the Caribbean, the Americas,
and Europe.
The country was WTA’s
World’s Leading Dive Destina-
several events attached to the
month-long Baragatan Festival.
The Baragatan (conver-
gence or meeting) showcases
❱❱ PAGE 30 Palawan aims for
www.canadianinquirer.net
tion for four consecutive years
and is currently the World’s
Leading Beach Destination.
Boracay expects
over 2M tourist
arrivals this year
BY PERLA LENA
Philippine News Agency
ILOILO CITY – Boracay Is-
land has already hit the 1-mil-
lion mark in tourist arrivals in
the first semester of 2023 and is
optimistic that it can exceed the
1.8 million target for this year.
“We meet the one million
mark and we are not expecting
that much because the target
was 1.8 million. If this will be the
trend, we will exceed two mil-
lion at the end of the year,” said
Mayor Frolibar Bautista in an
interview on Sunday at the side-
lines of the Central Philippines
Tourism Expo held in Iloilo City.
Data showed that from Janu-
ary to June 17, the island record-
ed 1,040,847 arrivals consist-
ing of 199,098 foreign visitors;
29
The casting of votes can be
done through https://www.
worldtravelawards.com/vote. ■
816,426 local tourists and 25,323
overseas Filipino workers.
For the same period last year,
around 850,047 guests visited
the island.
Bautista attributed the high
arrivals to their hosting of
meetings, incentives, confer-
ences and exhibits (MICE).
He said that from the 20 per-
cent share of foreign tourists, they
expect it to increase to 30 percent
once visitors from South Korea and
China start coming in next month.
Malay chief tourism opera-
tions officer Felix G. delos San-
tos Jr. said that most of their
pre-pandemic guests were from
the international market.
But with only one direct flight
coming in from China and Ko-
rea, their record showed higher
❱❱ PAGE 30 Boracay expects over
 30
How do spices get their flavor?
BY BERONDA L.
MONTGOMERY, Grinnell
College
The Conversation
How do spices get their flavor?
– Liam, age 6, San Francisco
I love savory and spicy foods.
Lasagna laden with basil and
oregano. Beautifully golden cur-
ries infused with turmeric, or
rice flavored with saffron. I can’t
pass up a cinnamon-dusted
snickerdoodle cookie. And some
of my favorite childhood mem-
ories center on my mom’s nut-
meg-infused sweet potato pie.
These ingredients come from
many different plants and dis-
tinct plant parts, including
leaves, seeds, bark and plant
oils. Their flavors are created by
accumulated phytochemicals
– substances the plants make.
“Phyto” comes from the Latin
word for plant.
Plants produce chemicals for
different purposes. In my recent
book, “Lessons from Plants,” I
explore how plants use some of
those compounds to communi-
cate with one another.
Many of the chemicals that
make up spice flavors can play
Boracay expects over.. Palawan aims for..
❰❰ 29 domestic guests.
Most of their for-
eign guests are Kore-
ans, Chinese, Americans and
those from countries in Europe,
Delos Santos said.
He said that in terms of arriv-
als, their tourism industry is now
80 percent recovered and the re-
sumption of direct international
flights is one factor to achieve the
100 percent recovery rate.
Delos Santos said currently,
they have 376 operational ac-
commodation establishments,
which is lower than the 398 be-
fore the pandemic.
Bautista said they have not im-
posed new protocols for guests
visiting the island and even wear-
ing of face mask is optional. ■
Food
important roles, such as pro-
tecting the plant against pests
or pathogens. Known as second-
ary compounds, they can also
help plants adapt to changes in
the world around them. And, as
spices, they communicate pow-
erfully to our taste buds.
Common kitchen herbs like
basil and oregano come from
leafy plants. Essential aromat-
ic oils that accumulate in the
plants’ leaves produce their
flavors. For basil, those oils are
called eugenol and linalool;
oregano gets its flavors from
carvacrol and thymol. Oils from
both of these herbs have me-
dicinal uses against infections,
pain and swelling.
Other common spices, such
as pepper and red chili, come
from the berries or fruits of
plants. Black pepper is made
by grinding the small berries,
known as peppercorns, from
the plant Piper nigrum. Red
pepper comes from ground-up
dried chiles – small, hot-tasting
fruits that grow on low bushes.
Turmeric spice comes from
another plant part – the rhi-
zomes, or underground stems,
of the flowering plant Curcuma
longa. Rhizomes often are con-
❰❰ 29 the cultural groups of
the province through
trade shows, exhibi-
tions, float parade and street
dancing, among others.
Rafols said the travel fair al-
lows businesses in the tourism
and hospitality sector to show-
case their products and services
to potential customers.
“Its purpose is to commemo-
rate tourism, encompassing not
only the overall magnificence
of Palawan and its unspoiled
beaches but also the indomi-
table spirit of the Palaweños,
which has consistently been re-
garded as one of our most valu-
able strengths,” he said in an
interview.
Rafols said that despite the
fused with roots, but they are
more like stems that grow side-
ways underground and help the
plant spread. A relative of gin-
ger, another rhizome-derived
spice, turmeric is beautifully
orange and is used in a range
of cooking that includes my be-
loved curries.
Saffron is from the red-col-
ored, threadlike stigmas of the
plant Crocus sativus. The stig-
ma is one component of the
female part of a flower. Saffron
is one of the most expensive
spices, because harvesting stig-
mas is very labor-intensive –
challenges arising from the
pandemic, Palawan “continues
to be resilient, looking forward,
and embracing.”
He underscored the impor-
tance of prioritizing the ad-
vancement of food tourism and
heritage tours by the provincial
government as a crucial step in
sustaining the rejuvenation of
Palawan’s tourism industry.
“There’s room for improve-
ment in food and offering cultur-
al heritage tourism, and hopeful-
ly, with the help of our tourism
officials in the provincial govern-
ment, we can do it,” he added.
Provincial Board member
Roseller Pineda highlighted
during the opening of the travel
fair the need for Palawan, or the
www.canadianinquirer.net
it’s typically done by hand with
tweezers. Saffron is high in an-
tioxidants and has been used as
a medicine, dye and perfume.
Cinnamon, which cooks use
in all kinds of baked goods, is
derived from yet another plant
part: the inner bark of tree spe-
cies from the genus Cinnamo-
mum. The phytochemical that
gives cinnamon its distinctive
smell and its rich woody flavor
is the aromatic compound cin-
namaldehyde.
Rich in antioxidants, cinna-
mon may help control blood
pressure and reduce inflamma-
Philippines as a whole, to have
no off-season for tourism since
it is a tropical country without a
winter season.
Pineda shared his idea of
promoting tourism during the
off-season by providing incen-
tive travel that would encour-
age local travelers to fill gaps
during the wet season, during
the second half of the year.
“During the off-season, we
must encourage local travel-
ers, both Palaweños and all
Filipinos. The provincial gov-
ernment, city government, and
every local government unit
in Palawan can offer incentive
travel,” he said.
Pineda said one strategy is
for government or even private
JUNE 23, 2023 FRIDAY
tion. It also has natural antifun-
gal and antimicrobial proper-
ties that may serve to protect
the trees that produce it.
The dried nutmeg that my
mom used in her legendary pie
comes from grinding the seed of
the tropical evergreen tree fam-
ily Myristica fragrans. The same
plant produces another spice,
called mace, which is often used
to flavor baked custards and to
spice sausages or other meat.
Plants can teach us all kinds of
meaningful lessons. One of their
powerful truths is that variety
is literally the spice of life. I’m
thankful for their tasty chemical
defenses every time I cook. ■
Hello, curious kids! Do you
have a question you’d like an
expert to answer? Ask an adult
to send your question to Curi-
ousKidsUS@theconversation.
com. Please tell us your name,
age and the city where you live.
And since curiosity has no age
limit – adults, let us know what
you’re wondering, too. We won’t
be able to answer every question,
but we will do our best.
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
corporations to offer travel in-
centives to their workers once
they become top performers.
“If we can do that in Pala-
wan and, little by little, with the
help of the DOT (Department
of Tourism), we can lobby or
appeal to the governors’ league
to implement it nationwide
and provide incentive travel to
top-performing workers. The
beneficiary of that would be
Palawan because we are known
as a prime tourist destination,”
he added. ■
 JUNE 23, 2020
JULY 17, 2023 cx328
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