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pcinews_twt AUGUST 4, 2023 www.canadianinquirer.net VOL. 8 NO. 551

MAJESTIC MT. APO

Joggers enjoy the view of Mt. Apo from the Davao City Coastal Road on Tuesday (Aug. 1, 2023). Known among Dabawenyos as Apo Sandawa, Mt. Apo is a dormant volcano with an elevation of
3,142.79 meters above sea level, the highest in the country.
ROBINSON NIÑAL JR. / PNA

24
House receives
proposed P5.768-T
2024 national budget
Rate hikes may have slowed inflation in the
US – but they have also heightened the risk
of financial crises for lower-income nations

BY JOSE CIELITO REGANIT

Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Department of Budget
and Management (DBM) on Wednesday
transmitted to the House of Represen-
tatives the proposed PHP5.768-trillion
2024 National Expenditure Program
(NEP), just nine days after President Fer-
dinand R. Marcos Jr. delivered his second
State of the Nation Address (SONA).
DBM Secretary Amenah Panganda-
man personally submitted the 2024 NEP
to Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romual-
dez next year’s proposed national budget
❱❱ PAGE 3 House receives proposed
28
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www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 2023
House receives proposed..
❰❰ 1 for the House’s “scru-
tiny, deliberation and
approval.”
The 2024 NEP, equivalent
to 21.7 percent of gross domes-
tic product (GDP,) is 9.5 per-
cent higher compared to the
PHP5.268 trillion 2023 budget.
Anchored on the theme,
“Agenda for Prosperity: Secur-
ing a Future-Proof and Sustain-
able Economy,” Pangandaman
said the proposed national
budget is framed based on the
8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda
and will continue to support the
goals of the Philippine Develop-
ment Plan 2023-2028 of secur-
ing a future proof and sustain-
able vibrant economy.
Along with the agenda for
prosperity, the proposed bud-
get aims to expedite the recov-
ery of the nation in a post-pan-
demic era, and transition the
country towards a promising
future of an inclusive and sus-
tainable economy wherein “no
Filipino is left behind.”
The Social Services sector
--composed of health, educa-
tion, culture and manpower
development, as well as social
security, welfare and employ-
ment among other social ser-
vices– will receive the largest
allocation of PHP2.183 trillion,
or 37.9 percent of the total pro-
posed national budget.
This represents an increase
of PHP178.7 billion, or 8.9 per-
cent, over the 2023 budget.
The Economic Services sector
–which covers communications,
roads and other transport; agri-
culture and agrarian reform, as
well as trade and industry-- will
account for PHP1.709 trillion
or 29.6 percent of the total pro-
posed budget.
Meanwhile, General Public
Services will receive PHP893.3
billion; Debt Burden at 699.2 bil-
lion; and Defense at 282.7 billion.
Food Security
In the quest for food security
and proper nutrition for Filipi-
no families, Pangandaman said
the 2024 NEP will continue to
support programs that boost
the local production of major
agricultural commodities in-
cluding rice with PHP30.87
billion, corn with PHP5.28 bil-
lion, and high-value crops with
PHP1.94 billion allocation.
To further enhance produc-
tivity and ensure the sustain-
able use and management of
soil resources, some PHP916
million will be provided for the
National Soil Health Program.
Higher investments will also
be provided for agricultural
support services such as irriga-
tion with PHP31.18 billion, the
construction and rehabilitation
of fish ports across the coun-
try with PHP4.94 billion, and
PHP17.27 billion for the con-
struction of 1,144.58 kilometers
of farm-to-market roads in key
production areas.
Transport and logistics costs
As highlighted by President
Marcos during his SONA, infra-
structure development is one of
the key drivers of the country’s
continuing economic growth.
Pangandaman said the 2024
NEP aims to sustain this mo-
mentum through the Build Bet-
ter More Program with PHP1.42
trillion, which is equivalent to
5.3 percent of GDP.
“This will prioritize physi-
cal connectivity infrastructure
such as road networks and rail-
way systems, which will cover
almost half or 43.5 percent of
the budget,” she said.
Specifically, this will support
major transport programs such
as the North-South Commuter
Railway System and the Metro
Manila Subway Project Phase I.
Significant budgetary sup-
port will also be provided for
social infrastructure develop-
ment which includes school
buildings with PHP40.59 bil-
lion; hospitals and health cen-
ters with PHP15.31 billion; as
well as water and power supply
systems with a combined allo-
cation of PHP9.01 billion.
Alongside power generation,
the Marcos administration will
also relentlessly pursue total
electrification through the Na-
tional Electrification Adminis-
tration’s (NEA) National Rural
Electrification Program with a
PHP2.3-billion allocation.
Education and skills devel-
opment
Alongside the strengthening
of the economy, the adminis-
tration will also invest heavily
in human capital development
through education, health and
social protection, Panganda-
man said.
The Department of Educa-
tion (DepEd) will get PHP758.6
billion; Commission on Higher
Education (CHED) with PHP31
billion; Technical Education
and Skills Development Au-
thority (TESDA) with PHP15.2
billion; and 116 state universi-
ties and colleges (SUCs) with
PHP105.6 billion.
The education budget will
support DepEd’s MATATAG
Agenda for Basic Education
through the provision of higher
allocations for textbooks and
other instructional materials
amounting to PHP12.04 bil-
lion; and PHP11.71 billion for
the School-Based Feeding Pro-
gram, among others.
Access to quality education
will also be at the forefront of
the government’s education
agenda through the Universal
Access to Quality Tertiary Ed-
ucation (UAQTE) with some
PHP51.12 billion, while the edu-
cation assistance and subsidies
will receive PHP41.05 billion.
Health
Applying the lessons from
the pandemic, the government
has refocused its health prior-
ities on ensuring reliable and
accessible quality public health
services for all, the Budget Sec-
retary said.
In view of this, the Health Fa-
cilities Enhancement Program
of the Department of Health
(DOH) will be provided with
PHP22.98 billion for the con-
struction, rehabilitation and
upgrading of health facilities,
rural health units and polyclin-
ics, as well as the purchase of
medical equipment and trans-
port vehicles.
The government will also
continue to expand access to
quality health services by sub-
sidizing the health premiums of
the vulnerable sector through
the National Health Insurance
Program (PhilHealth) with
PHP101.51 billion, and by cov-
ering the medical assistance of
1.31 million indigent and finan-
cially incapacitated patients
with PHP22.26 billion.
Social Protection
In support of the Social Pro-
tection Floor Framework of the
National Economic and Devel-
The House of Representatives will soon begin its crucial task of scrutinizing the
country’s national spending plan for 2024 as Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romual-
dez today received from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) led
by Secretary Amenah Pangandaman the National Expenditure Program (NEP)
for Fiscal Year 2024. (HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PHILIPPINES/FACEBOOK)
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
opment Authority (NEDA), a
higher allocation of PHP112.8
billion will be provided to as-
sist 4.4 million households un-
der the Department of Social
Welfare and Development’s
(DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang
Pilipino Program (4Ps).
The recently launched Food
STAMP or Philippine Food Stra-
tegic Transfer and Alternative
Measures Program will be sup-
ported next year with PHP1.89
billion to address the nutrition
needs of food-poor Filipinos.
Meanwhile, the allocation for
social pension for indigent se-
nior citizens has been doubled
to PHP49.81 billion to cover the
increased monthly allowance
from PHP500 to PHP1,000 for
more than 4 million indigent
senior citizens.
In support of President Mar-
cos’ flagship housing program,
the Pambansang Pabahay Para
sa Pilipino Program (4PH) will
be allotted PHP9 billion.
Sound fiscal management
and enhanced bureaucratic
efficiency
Pangandaman said the 2024
NEP also ensures sound fiscal
management through digita-
lization by adopting the Inte-
grated Financial Management
Information System or IFMIS
throughout the bureaucracy
following Executive Order No.
29, s. 2023.
To this end, some PHP2.92
billion will be allocated to im-
prove the information and
communication technologies
(ICT) systems of the Bureau of
Internal Revenue for the effi-
cient collection of revenues.
The DBM will also continue
to implement its Public Finan-
cial Management Program with
PHP387.5 million, which in-
cludes the Budget and Treasury
Management System.
3
Further, with the pronounce-
ment of the President during
his SONA that the government
must fully embrace digitaliza-
tion to provide better public
service delivery, the 2024 NEP
will allocate PHP38.75 billion
to support the government’s
ICT expenditures.
The Philippine Identification
System (PhilSys) will be at the
core of this digitally transformed
network of government services
which will continue to be sup-
ported with PHP1.61 billion.
Some PHP145.53 million
will also be allocated for the
strengthened implementation
of the Ease of Doing Business
and Efficient Government Ser-
vice Delivery Act to reduce bu-
reaucratic red tape.
Climate Change
Towards sustainability, a to-
tal of PHP543.45 billion has
been earmarked for climate
change mitigation and adapta-
tion. This is equivalent to 9.4
percent of the total proposed
budget, exceeding the country’s
commitment of 8.0 percent
share under the Philippine De-
velopment Plan.
The bulk of climate change
expenditures will be allocated
for water sufficiency projects
with PHP294.46 billion to ben-
efit communities all over the
country.
The Philippine Space Agen-
cy will also be provided with
PHP1.7 billion to better moni-
tor the country’s land and ma-
rine resources, as well as ter-
restrial ecosystems, to ensure
both agricultural productivity
and environmental integrity.
Of which, PHP1.2 billion will be
used for the Multispectral Unit
for Land Assessment (MULA)
Satellite Development’s second
year funding requirement.
Lasting peace
To achieve lasting peace and
progress in the Bangsamoro
Autonomous Region in Mus-
lim Mindanao (BARMM), the
government will continue to
provide financial assistance
for BARMM amounting to
PHP80.6 billion, which in-
cludes the Annual Block Grant
with PHP70.5 billion, and an-
other PHP1 billion will be set
aside for the Marawi Siege Vic-
tims Compensation Program.
Meanwhile, PHP5.3 billion
has also been appropriated for
the PAMANA or the PAyapa at
MAsaganang PamayaNAn Pro-
❱❱ PAGE 8 House receives proposed
4 Philippine News AUGUST 4, 2023 FRIDAY

House OKs on 2nd reading bill on anti-

foreign currency smuggling
BY FILANE MIKEE
CERVANTES
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The House of
Representatives has approved
on second reading a measure
penalizing bulk cash smuggling
to and from the Philippines to
clamp down on terrorist and
nefarious financing.
During the plenary ses-
sion on Tuesday, the chamber
passed through voice voting
House Bill 8200, or the pro-
posed Anti-Bulk Foreign Cur-
rency Smuggling Act.
House Committee on Ways
and Means chair Joey Salceda,
author of the measure, said pe-
nalizing the smuggling of cash in
bulk is one of the key measures
that the country could adopt
to shed doubts about it being a
“hub for money laundering.”
“It will also make global fi-
nancial institutions less risk-
averse when dealing with our
financial institutions, which
helps OFWs (overseas Filipino
workers) remit money easier
and cheaper,” Salceda said.
Foreign banks are hesitant to
transact with Filipinos and lo-
cal banks due to high penalties
for involvement in terrorist fi-
nancing, he said.
The hesitation affects the re-
mittances sent by OFWs to their
families, as well as investments
sent by investors to their part-
ners in the country, he noted.
“OFWs in Europe are already
having some trouble dealing
bank-to-bank as a result of our
being flagged in the grey list of
the Financial Action Task Force
– a global watchdog for terrorist
financing and money launder-
ing,” he said.
The proposal requires a writ-
ten or electronic declaration
under oath for the physical
cross-border transfer into and
out of the Philippines of for-
eign currency and other foreign
currency-denominated bearer
monetary instruments in ex-
cess of USD10,000 or equiva-
lent in other foreign currency.
The bill defines bulk foreign
currency smuggling as physical-
ly transporting or transferring
foreign currency or other mon-
etary instruments in an amount
that exceeds USD200,000 or
equivalent into and out of the
Philippines.
Bulk foreign currency smug-
gling could also constitute
evading the currency decla-
ration requirement through
concealment and transport of
or attempt to transport for-
eign currency and other mon-
etary instruments in excess of
USD10,000 or equivalent into
and out of the Philippines;
failure to declare the unac- House of Representatives (JOAN BONDOC/PNA)
companied foreign currency
to be transported or already a foreign currency or foreign laundering as defined in Repub-
received; fraudulent false dec- currency-denominated bearer lic Act 9160, or the Anti-Money
laration; breaking the amount monetary instrument. Laundering Act of 2001.
into varied sums to allow the Salceda explained that the A person who commits bulk
physical cross-border transfer bill would provide BOC the nec- foreign currency smuggling of-
of foreign currency. essary powers to temporarily fense shall be imprisoned for
Under the measure, the Bu- restrain the foreign currency or not less than seven years and
reau of Customs (BOC) would foreign currency-denominated not more than 14 years.
be authorized to obtain infor- bearer monetary instruments. There shall also be a civil for-
mation from a person found The bill proposes to crimi- feiture in favor of the Philip-
to have committed a false dec- nalize bulk cash smuggling as pines of assets related to cash
laration or non-declaration of a predicate offense to money smuggling. ■

OEC for balik-manggagawa 2 envoys to China

now free: DMW for trade, invest-
BY MARITA MOAJE
Philippine News Agency ments, tourism
Circular 02 that renamed OEC
to OFW Pass and lifted the fees
for its issuance.
kong (HK), Malaysia (MY), Qa-
tar, Oman, Taiwan, Japan, and
the United Kingdom (UK).

reappointed
MANILA – The Department
of Migrant Workers (DMW) an-
nounced on Tuesday that Over-
seas Employment Certificate
(OEC) for rehires, in all its form,
shall now be issued for free.
“Starting 29 July 2023, the is-
suance of all forms of Overseas
Employment Certificate (OEC)
for rehires or Balik-Manggagawa
(BM) shall be free of charge and
will not require issuance of an Of-
ficial Receipt,” the DMW said in a
post on its Facebook page.
The agency, in Memorandum
110 dated July 25, 2023, said the
free of charge issuance of OEC
to rehires is based on the im-
plementation of Department
In a separate Facebook post,
the DMW said pilot test runs both
for the OFW Pass and the agency’s
mobile app are on-going.
“Bagamat maida-download
na ang mobile app, ito ay hin-
di pa fully operational at du-
madaan pa rin sa mga pagbaba-
go at technical improvements
(While the mobile app may now
be downloaded, it is not yet ful-
ly operational and is still un-
dergoing changes and technical
improvements),” it said.
The DMW said aside from the
Philippines, the mobile app pilot
test run is also being implement-
ed in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
(KSA), United Arab Emirates
(UAE), Singapore (SG), Hong-
However, the DMW also ad-
vised those who wish to partici-
pate in the pilot test run to have
patience and to expect delays in
server response time due to the
high number of people access-
ing the digital platforms.
It also encouraged OFWs to
send their feedback and sug-
gestions during the pilot test
run phase.
Feedback and suggestions
may be sent to ofwpass@dmw.
gov.ph; the agency’s Face-
book page and FB Messenger:
https://www.facebook.com/
dmw.gov.ph; WhatsApp; and
Viber, call, and SMS to +63 908-
326-8344, +63 927-147-8186,
+63 920-517-1059. ■
BY RUTH ABBEY GITA-
CARLOS
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Fer-
dinand R. Marcos Jr. has reap-
pointed businessmen Benito
Techico and Maynard Ngu as
his special envoys to China for
trade, investments and tour-
ism, Malacañang announced
Wednesday.
Techico and Ngu’s reappoint-
ment was announced in a Face-
book post by the Presidential
Communications Office (PCO).
Techico and Ngu first as-
sumed the diplomatic post on
Feb. 21 and March 3 this year,
respectively.
As Marcos’ special envoys to
China, they are tasked to coordi-
nate with government officials,
business leaders and other im-
portant stakeholders to advance
the economic cooperation be-
tween the Philippines and China.
They are responsible for the
promotion of international
❱❱ PAGE 7 2 envoys to

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6 Philippine News
DENR cites need Comelec: Poll materials safe
to recycle huge from ‘Palacio’ building fire
volume of plastic
wastes daily
BY MARITA MOAJE
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippines is
currently generating about 160
million plastic sachets daily, ac-
cording to the Department of
Environment and Natural Re-
sources (DENR).
In a press briefing in Mala-
cañang on Wednesday, DENR
Secretary Maria Antonia Yu-
lo-Loyzaga said this is part of
the 61,000 metric tons of solid
wastes daily, of which some 24
percent are plastic wastes.
“We consume and utilize, ac-
tually, over 60 million plastic
sachet packets -- daily po iyon
-- and, of course, over 40 million
shopping bags and thin film bags.
So lahat po ng mga plastics iyon,
sinisikapan po natin (All of those
plastics, we strive hard) that they
will not reach our marine areas
and our coastal areas,” she said.
Loyzaga admits that many
things still need to be done in
terms of prevention of solid
waste so these plastics do not
end up in an open environment
and ultimately, in oceans.
She said that among those
that need to be prioritized in
solid waste management in-
clude the reprocessing and re-
purposing of plastic wastes.
Moreover, she said that many
of the plastic wastes could ac-
tually be transformed for eco-
nomic value.
“Iyong (The) economic value
calculated by the World Bank,
about 79 percent of the value of
these plastics is lost; they could
be repurposed to the Philippine
economy each year. And that
value associated with the 70
percent material value of the
plastics can generate, by calcu-
lation of the World Bank, about
USD790 to USD890 million per
year,” Loyzaga said.
“In order for us to generate that
economic value, we do need to
make some ways (on how) we col-
lect, recover and repurpose itong
mga plastic wastes na ito (these
plastic wastes),” she added.
In the Green Economy Pro-
gram of the Philippines (GEPP),
Loyzaga said the DENR is look-
ing at the environment policy in-
cluded in the Extended Producer
Responsibility (EPR) law, and
the role of the local government
units, the private sector, obliged
enterprises, and innovators and
entrepreneurs in terms of their
contributions on how these plas-
tic wastes may be repurposed.
On Monday, President Fer-
dinand R. Marcos Jr. signed an
agreement with EU Commis-
sion President Ursula von der
Leyen for the GEPP.
Under the agreement, the
EU promised a grant worth 60
million euros, which aims to
support the Philippines in ar-
eas such as circular economy,
renewable energy, and climate
change mitigation. ■
BY STEPHANIE
SEVILLANO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Commission
on Elections (Comelec) has as-
sured that no materials for
the upcoming Barangay and
Sangguniang Kabataan Elec-
tions (BSKE) were affected
following a minor fire inci-
dent at the Palacio del Gober-
nador (PDG) in Manila Mon-
day afternoon.
In a statement, Comelec
spokesperson John Rex Lau-
diangco said the fire razed the
office of the Bureau of the Trea-
sury on the sixth floor of PDG.
“No aspect of the BSKE
preparations, as well as
Comelec general administra-
tion activities and regular op-
erations, were affected by the
fire,” Laudiangco said.
Laudiangco also told report-
ers there was “no extensive”
damage reported after the Bu-
Gov’t tags Teveses, Maute
members as terrorists
BY BENJAMIN PULTA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Anti-Terror-
ism Council (ATC) on Tuesday
said it has designated suspend-
ed Negros Oriental 3rd District
Rep. Arnolfo Teves and mem-
bers of his alleged armed group
as terrorists, following their
implication in the March attack
on Negros Oriental Gov. Roel
Degamo.
Along with Teves, who was
identified as mastermind, also
named terrorists were his
brother and former governor
Henry Pryde Teves, Nigel Elec-
tona, Hanna Mae Sumero Oray
who the ATC said handles op-
erational funds, and Marvin
H. Miranda, who serves as the
group’s organizer and recruiter.
The Teves group has been im-
plicated in masterminding the
commando attack on the house
www.canadianinquirer.net
reau of Fire Protection’s (BFP)
initial inspection.
The poll body, however, im-
plemented a work suspension
for its offices in the building.
“To facilitate the BFP’s inves-
tigation and safety assessment at
The poll body,
however,
implemented
a work
suspension for
its offices in
the building.
the Bureau of the Treasury’s offic-
es on the 6th floor, all work at the
Comelec departments and offices
at the PDG was suspended by chair-
of Degamo last March 4, which
left nine dead, including the gov-
ernor, and 18 others injured.
Also named as terrorists
were Hafida Romato Maute and
Nahara Kharita Sitie Hamim,
both connected with the Maute
Group behind the five-month
siege of Marawi City in 2017.
Maute is the wife of Abu
Zacharia, the former emir of
the Islamic State - East Asia,
while Hamim is the wife of Abu
Mursid, the sub-leader and fi-
nance and logistics officer of the
organization.
The siege was part of the
group’s plan to declare the city
as a wilayat or Islamic State.
The siege ended on October
17, 2017 after the deaths of the
group’s leaders Omar Maute
and Isnilon Hapilon.
The ATC found probable
cause for violations of the ATA
(Anti Terrorism Act) for com-
mitting terrorism; planning,
AUGUST 4, 2023 FRIDAY
man George Erwin Garcia,” he said.
These include the operations
of the Office for Overseas Vot-
ing as it is located at the PDG’s
seventh floor.
The Comelec said its issuance of
certificates of overseas voters’ cer-
tificate will resume on Tuesday.
To date, the Comelec uses
parts of the ground and fifth
floors, as well as the seventh
and eighth floors for its vari-
ous operations.
The fire broke out at the
Cooperative Office of the Bu-
reau of the Treasury around
12:32 p.m. It was extinguished
immediately.
Following the fire out by
12:38 p.m., the BFP, along-
side safety teams of PDG and
Comelec and the Manila City
Engineering Division, initiat-
ed the inspection and investi-
gation in the area.
On the same day last year, a
fire incident happened on the
seventh floor of the PDG building
which reached a second alarm. ■
training, preparing and facilitat-
ing the commission of terrorism;
recruitment to and member-
ship in a terrorist organization;
and providing material support
to terrorist organizations or
groups organized for the pur-
pose of engaging in terrorism.
“The designation of the
Maute and Teves Groups as
terrorists serve as a strong sig-
nal that the government is pre-
pared to take decisive measures
against any individual or orga-
nization that poses a threat to
the safety and security of our
citizens,” the ATC said.
Meanwhile, Teves’ defense
counsels denounced the devel-
opment.
Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio
said the designation was “an ob-
sessive attempt to blame him
(Teves) for a crime at the expense
of his Constitutional rights.” ■
FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 2023
PBBM’s Build Better More program
gets P1.148T in 2024 NEP
BY JOSE CIELITO
REGANIT
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr.’s Build Better
More Program will get PHP1.418
trillion of the proposed
PHP5.768-trillion 2024 Nation-
al Expenditure Program (NEP)
that the Department of Budget
and Management (DBM) sub-
mitted to the House of Repre-
sentatives on Wednesday.
In his budget message sub-
mitted to Congress, Marcos said
the Build Better More Program
seeks to expand the country’s
“Golden Age of Infrastructure.”
The PHP1.418-trillion alloca-
tion for the program in the 2024
budget is equivalent to 5.3 per-
cent of the gross domestic prod-
uct (GDP), and includes the Pub-
lic Sector Infrastructure budget
of the Department of Transpor-
tation (DOTr) and the Depart-
ment of Public Works and High-
ways (DPWH) amounting to
PHP176.4 billion and PHP801.2
billion, respectively.
“The National Econom-
ic Development Authority
(NEDA) Board has approved
194 high-impact infrastructure
flagship projects ranging from
public transport, power, health,
information technology. Water
resources and agriculture, 123
of which were initiated in this
Administration,” Marcos said.
These include the Nort-
South Commuter Railway
System and the Metro Manila
Subway Project Phase I under
the rail Transport Program; the
Land Public Transportation
Program and the Aviation and
Maritime Infrastructure Pro-
grams of the DOTr.
Social infrastructure
“To ensure an inclusive eco-
nomic transformation, the
Build Better More Program also
focuses on social infrastruc-
2 envoys to..
❰❰ 4 trade and investment
between the two na-
tions.
The two reappointed officials
ture,” the President said.
A total of PHP40.6 billion has
been allotted for the construc-
tion or improvement of public
school buildings, including ef-
forts to make these disaster-re-
silient while PHP15.3 billion
has been allocated for the con-
struction, repair and/or im-
provement of public hospitals
and health centers nationwide.
In furtherance of peace and
economic development in the
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region
in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM),
PHP2.3 billion has been appropri-
ated for the PAMANA or the PAy-
apa at MAsaganang PamayaNAn
Program to be implemented by
the Office of the Presidential Ad-
viser on Peace, Reconciliation and
Unity (OPAPRU).
This includes the PHP5-bil-
lion allocation for social infra-
structure projects such as roads
and bridges (PHP4.2 billion),
water supply systems (PHP569
million), evacuation center
(PHP176 million), fish ports
(PHP35 million), and flood con-
trol (PHP10 million).
Roads and bridges
To complement the efforts of
the DOTr, the DPWH allocat-
ed PHP822.2 billion to build,
maintain and rehabilitate roads
and bridges nationwide.
A total of PHP148.1 billion
will fund the Network Devel-
opment Program, which will be
used to build 721.656 kilome-
ters of new roads, and widen or
improve 647.288 kilometers of
existing roads.
The DPWH’s Asset Preserva-
tion Program will also receive
PHP115.6 billion to implement
preventive maintenance of
1,186,398 kilometers of roads
and bridges.
The Bridge Program will re-
ceive PHP45.8 billion for the
construction of 15,208 lineal
meters of bridges, and mainte-
nance, retrofitting, repair, reha-
bilitation, as well as widening of
are also designated to initiate
discussions aimed at maximiz-
ing substantial trade and other
economic opportunities.
525 existing bridges.
Mass transport systems
“Transportation policy can
have significant and lasting
impacts on overall economic
growth,” Marcos noted.
“Hence, with the urgent need
to improve our country’s pub-
lic mass transport system and
reduce road congestion, we
have doubled the budget for the
DOTr from PHP106 billion in
the 2023 GAA (General Appro-
priations Act) to PHP214.3 bil-
lion for 2024,” he said.
Over 76.4 percent of the
DOTr budget, or PHP163.7 bil-
lion, will be allocated to the
Rail Transport program, which
seeks to improve the country’s
current railway systems and
build new ones.
The program includes the
development of the North-
South Commuter Railway
System (PHP76.3 billion); the
Metro Manila Subway Project
Phase I (PHP68.4 billion); LRT
Line I Cavite Extension Proj-
ect (PHP4.7 billion); Philippine
National Railways South Long
Haul Project (PHP3.1 billion);
and the MRT 3 Rehabilitation
Project (PHP2.9 billion).
Land public transportation
The Land Public Transpor-
tation Program, which aims to
improve and modernize public
transport in the country, will
receive PHP6.4 billion in 2024.
Projects to be funded under
the program include the Davao
Public Transport Moderniza-
tion Project (PHP1 billion);
EDSA Busway Project (PH909
million); Cebu Bus Rapid Tran-
sit Project (PHP700 million);
Active Transport Bike Share
System and Safe Pathway Pro-
gram in the Metropolitan Ar-
eas (PHP500 million); and
the EDSA Greenways Project
(PHP263 million).
Aviation infrastructure
The Aviation Program of the
DOTr, meanwhile, will receive
Prior to being appointed as
special envoy, Techico served
as chief executive officer (CEO)
and president of Philippine
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
PHP6.1 billion in 2024 with the
aim of modernizing and global-
izing the country’s airports.
A total of PHP1.3 billion will
be allocated to the new Com-
munications, Navigation and
Surveillance/Air Traffic Man-
agement (CNS/ATM) System
Development Project to im-
prove air traffic management in
airports nationwide.
The construction, rehabili-
tation and improvement of the
following airports have also
been given corresponding bud-
get allocations: Ninoy Aquino
International Airport (PHP1.6
billion); Kalibo Internation-
al Airport PHP581 million);
New Dumaguete Airport De-
velopment Project (PHP500
million); Laoag Internation-
al Airport (PHP500 million);
Tacloban Airport (PHP500
million); Busuanga Airport
(PHP405 million); New Zam-
boanga International Airport
(PHP300 million); New Manila
International Airport PHP200
million); Bukidnon Airport
(PHP120 million); and New Bo-
hol Airport Construction and
Sustainable Environment Proj-
ects (PHP97 million).
Maritime, Tourism and
Trade, Digital infrastructures
Meanwhile, the DOTr’s Mar-
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (ALFRED FRIAS/PNA)
Blue Cross Biotech Corp.
Ngu, on the other hand,
worked as CEO of Cosmic
Technologies Inc., the company
7
itime Infrastructure Program
will receive PHP988 million,
which will include PHP625 mil-
lion for the Maritime Safety En-
hancement Project.
Another PHP134 million will
go to the Maritime Safety Ca-
pability Improvement Project
Phase I to improve response ca-
pabilities in maritime incidents
and enhance the conduct of
maritime law enforcement and
security operations.
The Convergence and Special
Support Program of the DPWH
will get PHP26.6 billion for ac-
cess roads to tourist destina-
tions, airports, railway stations,
sea ports, trades, industries,
and economic zones that will be
built and improved in 2024.
The Build Better More Pro-
gram also includes projects for
digital infrastructure, such as
the National Government Data
Center Infrastructure with an
allocation of PHP1.7 billion;
and the National Government
Portal, with an allocated PHP
303 million.
“One of the keys to continu-
ing economic growth is infra-
structure development. So, we
will build better, and more,”
Marcos said, reiterating his
message during his second
State of the Nation Address. ■
behind local mobile phone firm
Cherry Mobile. ■
8 Philippine News
Correspondent/Hosts
Arianne Grace Lacanilao
Matte Laurel
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Member
Senate adopts resolution condemning
China’s harassment in WPS
BY WILNARD BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippine Senate fi-
nally adopted on Tuesday Senate Resolu-
tion No. (SRN) 718, taking into consider-
ation SRNs 659 and 707, which condemns
the continued harassment of Filipino
fishermen and the persistent incursions
in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) by the
Chinese Coast Guard and militia vessels.
Sponsored by Senate President Juan
Miguel Zubiri and Senate Deputy Mi-
nority Leader Risa Hontiveros, SRN
718 urges the Philippine government to
take appropriate action in asserting and
securing the country’s sovereign rights
over its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
and continental shelf.
The measure, which was co-authored
by all senators, also calls on China to stop
its illegal activities in accordance with the
United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2016 Ruling of
the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
“We came out with this strong con-
sensus yesterday (July 31) after discus-
sions with the West Philippine Sea Task
Force, together with the Armed Forces
Chief of Staff Gen. (Romeo Saturnino)
Brawner (Jr.), and DFA Secretary (En-
rique) Manalo. And actually, we never
watered down the resolutions that we
filed. We actually strengthened the first
resolutions that we initially filed with
Senator Risa,” Zubiri clarified.
“I think what happened here is that
we strengthened the position of the gov-
ernment. Now, we give them several op-
tions to choose on how to deal with our
neighbors in the north and the beauty of
this is with proper consensus and con-
House receives proposed..
❰❰ 3 gram for infrastructure devel-
opment in BARMM to be im-
plemented by the Office of the
Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconcil-
iation and Unity.
“In closing, let me remind everyone
that every peso of the PHP5.768 trillion
2024 national budget was optimized so
we can remain on track with our Agenda
for Prosperity,” Pangandaman said.
“It is the administration’s fervent
hope that this budget will continue to
lay the groundwork for future-proofing
the economy and making the country’s
growth inclusive and sustainable, not
just for the Filipinos of today, but also
for the future generations,” she added.
Speedy passage
For his part, Romualdez assured Pres-
www.canadianinquirer.net
sultation among our colleagues, we had
come out unanimous with this,” he add-
ed thanking his fellow senators.
Hontiveros, who initially filed SRN 659,
likewise expressed her gratitude to col-
leagues for supporting not only to make
the WPS issue a part of the national con-
versation, but for urging the Philippine
government take the necessary steps to
consolidate global support over the coun-
try’s historic 2016 Arbitral Award.
“Isang napakahalagang tagumpay ito
hindi lang ng Senado kundi ng buong Pil-
ipinas (This is a very important success
not only for the Senate but for the whole
Philippines). The Senate crossed party
lines to stand unified for our country,”
she added also thanking the Department
of Foreign Affairs and the National Task
Force on the West Philippine Sea for
helping senators improve the measure.
In a separate manifestation, Sen. Ronald
dela Rosa cited China which “aggressively
refuse and continuously refuse to recog-
Satellite Picture of the West Philippine Sea (SERG!O - FROM NASA WORLD WIND GLOBE, VERSION 1.4/
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, PUBLIC DOMAIN)
ident Marcos and the nation that the
House of Representatives would ap-
prove the proposed PHP5.768-trillion
2024 national budget before the Octo-
ber congressional break.
“Let me assure everyone that the
House of the People understands full well
the need to pass the national budget on
time. The national budget is crucial in
maintaining economic stability, sustain-
ing the country’s growth trajectory and
facilitating the seamless implementation
of government programs and projects. As
such, it demands the House’s utmost at-
tention and commitment,” he said.
Romualdez also assured that the
House would deliberate “in a very trans-
parent manner and get the widest con-
sensus” for the spending plan.
AUGUST 4, 2023 FRIDAY
nize our country’s sovereign rights and cal-
lously violates the 2016 Arbitral Ruling.”
“This representation is one with the
chamber in urging the Philippine Govern-
ment, through the Department of Foreign
Affairs, in pursuing more vigorous legal
remedies in securing the safety and integ-
rity of our territory,” Dela Rosa said.
The reported adoption of SRN 659 last
week was put on hold after Sen. Alan Peter
Cayetano, a former DFA chief, urged his
colleagues “to align the information they
have with the existing strategy of President
Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in the WPS issue.
Cayetano clarified that he did not pre-
vent colleagues from approving the mea-
sure but rather urged them to further dis-
cuss the issue with the President, who is
the Chief Diplomat of the country.
The body agreed to hold a closed door
caucus on Monday with concerned gov-
ernment agencies to “strengthen” the
measure before being adopted in the
Senate plenary. ■
“We will make sure that every centavo
of the national budget will be spent wise-
ly and contribute to our goal of reigniting
the fires of our economic forges,” he said.
“Sisiguruhin namin dito sa Kongreso
na lahat ng buwis na ibinayad ng ating
mamamayan ay maibabalik sa kanila
sa pamamagitan ng mga programa at
proyekto ng gobyerno. Bawat pisong
naidagdag sa kaban ng bayan, mapapa-
kinabangan ng taumbayan (We in Con-
gress will ensure that the taxes paid by
our people will return to them in the
form of government programs and proj-
ects. Every peso added to the nation’s
coffers will benefit the people),” Ro-
mualdez said. (with reports from Ruth
Abbey Gita-Carlos/PNA) ■
FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 2023
Québec’s cultural awareness training
makes flawed assumptions that do not
prioritize the safety of Indigenous people
BY MARIE-CLAUDE
TREMBLAY, Université Laval,
ALEX M. MCCOMBER,
McGill University, GEORGIA
LIMNIATIS, McGill
University
The Conversation
Québec’s Minister Responsi-
ble for Relations with the First
Nations and the Inuit, Ian La-
frenière, recently introduced
Bill 32, which aims to “establish
the cultural safety approach
within the health and social ser-
vices network.”
The intent of the bill is for
health and social service net-
works in Québec to adopt a cul-
tural safety approach towards
Indigenous people, taking into
account cultural and historical
realities.
In November 2020, in the af-
termath of the death of Joyce
Echaquan at the Centre hospi-
talier de Lanaudière in Joliette,
the Québec government intro-
duced 90-minute mandatory
Indigenous cultural awareness
training for all employees of the
province’s ministry of health
and social services.
The goal of this training was
to quickly sensitize health-care
personnel to Indigenous cultures
in order to improve the care pro-
vided for First Nations and Inuit
Peoples in the Québec health and
social services system.
It also aims to deconstruct
myths and prejudices regarding
Indigenous Peoples, to foster
effective intercultural commu-
nication and to allow employees
to better work with members of
Indigenous communities.
However, since the training
program was launched, Indig-
enous leaders and health pro-
fessionals have said it fails to
improve cultural safety and
poses safety risks to Indigenous
Canada News
Peoples.
Legislating individuals and
systems to shift behaviours
and attitudes is useless without
well-developed cultural safety
programs developed and deliv-
ered by Indigenous Peoples.
Cultural safety
In April, we organized a
round table on cultural safety
alongside Indigenous scholars,
patient partners and other com-
munity members in Montréal.
Participants at the round table
arrived to the same conclusions
and supported concerns that
the content of the mandatory
training is inadequate and con-
tains inaccuracies.
In addition, important re-
sults and calls to actions from
the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, the Viens Com-
mission Report, and the Na-
tional Inquiry into Missing and
Murdered Indigenous Women
and Girls are not mentioned
during the training. Glaringly
absent are also any references
to the concept of cultural safe-
ty, cultural humility, systemic
racism and Joyce’s Principle —
which “aims to guarantee to all
Indigenous people the right of
equitable access, without any
discrimination, to all social and
health services.”
In this article, we assert that
Québec’s training falls short of
its objectives because it is based
on three flawed assumptions
about the problem at hand.
1. Racism is an individual
problem.
The focus on mandatory
training as a solution to a sys-
temic issue misrepresents the
problem of racism as an individ-
ual problem of bias, attitudes
and knowledge. Discrimination
by health-care professionals
should not be viewed only as
individual acts, but as part of
broader patterns of institution-
al and systemic racism.
Researchers and scholars in
this field assert that racism in
health care needs to be under-
stood in the context of past and
current colonialism.
It is a fact that colonial poli-
cies of assimilation were based
on a racist ideology that presup-
posed inferiority of Indigenous
Peoples. These policies have
imprinted racist structures and
stereotypes across institutions.
For instance, when analyzing
the case of Echaquan, coroner
Géhane Kamel revealed her
mistreatment took place in an
environment that lacked cul-
turally appropriate resources,
was characterized by inequita-
ble practices and tolerated rac-
ist attitudes and comments.
Understanding the prob-
lem of racial discrimination
in health care means we must
frankly and openly discuss
contemporary colonialist and
racist realities. To address sys-
temic racism and its influence
on health, we need to go beyond
individual racial bias and ad-
dress structural power inequal-
ities. Systemic racism needs
systemic solutions, not individ-
ual ones.
www.canadianinquirer.net
2. Racism, bias and ste-
reotypes can be addressed
through cultural sensitivity
training.
The educational strategies
that underlie the awareness
training are insufficient to
countering racism and foster-
ing cultural safety. This is be-
cause the training program is
based on a cultural sensitivity
approach. However, numer-
ous studies suggest this kind of
training may reinforce negative
stereotypes of the concerned
groups.
Cultural sensitivity tends to
focus on having knowledge of a
patient’s culture and reducing
their experience of the health-
care system to a matter of over-
coming cultural differences.
Research shows that cultur-
al safety is a better way to foster
change. It compels us to examine
the power imbalances and racial
inequities underlying the health-
care system. Cultural safety
promotes an approach to foster
change that moves away from
simply learning about a culture.
Instead, it aims to help staff ex-
amine their own beliefs and how
these manifest in their interac-
tions with Indigenous patients.
9
Scholars propose a concep-
tion of cultural safety as a sys-
temic approach to health-care
transformation, one that goes
beyond individual training but
engages organizations and so-
ciety as a whole towards the
principles of cultural safety,
equity, social justice and decol-
onization. As such, comprehen-
sive Indigenous cultural safe-
ty training programs should
explicitly integrate notions of
power, privilege, colonialism
and racism.
3. Cultural safety can’t be
developed without involving
the concerned groups.
The lack of meaningful involve-
ment by Indigenous stakeholders
is a critical weakness of the aware-
ness training. However, cultural
safety privileges the autonomy
and self-determination of Indig-
enous Peoples in relation to their
health services, and as such, pro-
motes their empowerment.
The current awareness train-
ing does not significantly involve
Indigenous stakeholders. It re-
lies on few Indigenous perspec-
tives and voices compared to
non-Indigenous professors for
instance. This is contrary to the
very concept of cultural safety.
It also contradicts all the dec-
larations, protocols and princi-
ples established by Indigenous
groups in the last decades, which
are based on the rallying cry
“nothing about us without us.”
Cultural safety should be
guided by the people it concerns.
They are the only ones with the
lived experience to share on the
topic of safety and on the nature
of the desired care.
This approach to health-care
transformation recognizes In-
digenous expertise in design-
ing solutions relevant to their
needs. Cultural safety is aligned
❱❱ PAGE 13 Québec’s cultural
10
Canada’s bumpy ride toward
a national news strategy
BY HOWARD LAW, IVOR
SHAPIRO
Policy Options
Independent journalism
needs effective and principled
public investment in an envi-
ronment in which news report-
ing can thrive.
The path toward a consensus
strategy to bolster news jour-
nalism took a few new twists
in Canada’s smoke-filled early
weeks of summer 2023.
The federal Parliament
passed the Online News Act,
a.k.a. Bill C-18, and its chief tar-
gets, Meta and Google, prom-
ised news-throttling counter-
measures. Bell Media, owner
of the country’s biggest private
TV network, cut 340 jobs and
then asked the Canadian Radio
Television and Telecommuni-
cations Commission (CRTC)
for relief from all license condi-
tions for local news. Meanwhile,
the two biggest online jour-
nalism companies in Canada –
Postmedia and Nordstar – an-
nounced merger negotiations
(only three years after their
“swap and close” deal shuttered
44 local publications) and then
halted talks citing, amongst
other things, “regulatory and
financial uncertainty.”
Into this conflagration of re-
minders of Canadian journal-
ism’s sustainability crisis came
an ambitious proposal for a
national news strategy from re-
spected conservative voices Kon-
rad Von Finkenstein and Peter
Menzies, published June 7 by the
Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
Their highly readable paper,
engagingly entitled And Now,
The News – A national news
media policy for Canada, de-
serves careful consideration
as a refreshing alternative to
shouts across rhetorical can-
yons and nihilist trashing of
mainstream media.
While we don’t agree with all
of And Now’s conclusions and
recommendations, its founda-
tional principles are clear and
consistent with a rich history of
protecting Canadian news media
in which pivotal contributions
were made by the Yale Report
on broadcasting in January 2020
Canada News
and the Public Policy Forum’s
The Shattered Mirror in 2017.
The latter report, coupled with
collaborative lobbying by news
publishers, pushed the Liberal
government to shape several pol-
icy moves including major fund-
ing and tax initiatives plus the
aforementioned Bill C-18.
The objective: sustainable
journalism
Like its predecessors, the Von
Finkenstein-Menzies report fos-
ters a policy objective on which
there seems a growing consensus:
that the state should help to sus-
tain journalism. This objective
seems to rest on four principles.
First: news is essential to
democracy. Verifiably factu-
al information about matters
of public interest is not just
any item for sale in the market
square. Rather, responsibly re-
ported news is a “public good”
that has gained special impor-
tance as people find it increas-
ingly hard to distinguish broad-
ly reliable facts from widely
believed falsehoods due to in-
formation disorder.
Second: journalism worth
saving must include pluralis-
tic efforts to describe current
events from diverse points of
view. This characteristic of
what’s commonly meant by a
free press is threatened when
ownership is consolidated.
Third: news is most clearly
distinguished from propagan-
da when its producers display
journalistic autonomy, which
includes independence from
government influence.
And fourth: sound policy
should not aim to save each
and every news outlet as if all
are untouchable, but seeks to
sustain a news industry that re-
wards quality, innovation and
entrepreneurial success.
Agreeing on these principles
comes more easily, however,
than buying into the complete
set of And Now’s proposed pol-
icy tools, of which some echo or
fine-tune familiar ideas, some
suggest radical innovation, and
some need to be costed to as-
sess their feasibility.
Like all policy tools, these
rest on formative policy choic-
es—three in this case: (1) that
CBC should retain a pivotal role
in providing online news; (2)
that tax incentives and not sub-
sidies should bear the weight of
supporting quality journalism
and innovation; and (3) that Big
Tech should bear some of the
cost of producing news.
1) A pivotal role for CBC
Despite their conservative
perspective, Von Finkenstein
and Menzies land far from the
current “defund the CBC” de-
fault, instead positing an im-
portant public role for the pub-
lic broadcaster. In this view,
CBC should see itself less as a
competitor with other news or-
ganizations and more as a sem-
inal provider of news and infor-
mation for everyone.
Among the implications of
this policy choice: the CBC
should cease to sell advertis-
ing, ensure the broadest demo-
graphic and regional coverage
of basic daily news, and share
editorial output in a Creative
Commons available to all other
news outlets.
These ideas already enjoy
considerable support, and
while there’s lots to debate in
the authors’ other proposals
about the CBC, their view of the
CBC’s centrality to any Cana-
dian news strategy establishes
common ground for fruitful
discussion of what comes next.
One contentious element
concerns how to fund the CBC’s
delivery of this pivotal role.
Menzies and Von Finkenstein
would lock in current levels
of federal funding, despite the
$420-million cost of lost adver-
tising revenue. This suggests
cannibalizing the non-news
side of CBC programming, or
replacing the $420 million with
public funds, either of which
would presuppose a much
deeper reassessment of the
CBC’s mandate.
2) Rerouting taxes
And Now’s next policy choice
for private news businesses is
to replace subsidies with tar-
geted tax incentives.
Rapidly phased out would
be the $30-million subsidy of
salaries paid to journalists em-
ployed by Qualified Canadian
Journalism Organizations, the
$85-million Aid to Publishers
program for community news-
www.canadianinquirer.net
papers and magazines that
includes an undersubscribed
$3-million digital innovation
fund, and the $20-million Lo-
cal Journalism Initiative that
sponsors 300 journalism in-
terns covering underserviced
communities. (Both the current
wage subsidy tax credit and
subscription tax credit were
budgeted for more money but
were either overestimated or
are undersubscribed.)
Instead, Menzies and Von
Finkenstein recommend boost-
ing the federal news subscrip-
tion income tax credit from 15
per cent deductibility (capped
at $75) to 100 per cent (un-
capped). The current program
costs the federal treasury $15
million annually. The purpose
is to stimulate improvements
in editorial quality that satis-
fied readers would deem worth
paying for, consistent with the
authors’ emphasis on incen-
tives rather than subsidies.
Tax deductions have a strong
policy appeal because they are
demand-driven, but their ben-
efit skews toward the wealthy:
tax credits won’t help low-in-
come Canadians pay for news.
Also, almost all community
newspapers are free distribu-
tion, so this tool is restricted to
paywalled news outlets. Never-
theless, reader tax credits could
increase digital-news subscrip-
tions and should be modelled
AUGUST 4, 2023 FRIDAY
by economists to test their po-
tential effectiveness.
Likewise, And Now’s proposed
accelerated capital cost depreci-
ation for investments in innova-
tive digital technology has poten-
tial and should be costed.
(The authors passed over a
much-discussed policy tool,
the application of existing tax
incentives in section 19.1 of the
Income Tax Act to drive adver-
tising towards Canadian media
outlets in the online environ-
ment. Four American states are
experimenting with advertising
subsidies or incentives.)
Overall, the authors are con-
fident of their existential bet
to entrust the future of news
by replacing subsidies with in-
centives that draw the desired
entrepreneurial response and
new revenues.
3) Billing Big Tech
Menzies and Von Finkenstein
have both opposed Bill C-18 as
a ‘shakedown’ of Big Tech, so
their third policy choice comes
as a surprise. Ottawa should in-
deed pursue Google and Meta
for contributions to the cost of
journalism, they suggest—but
not as negotiated fees paid to
companies. Rather, Big Tech’s
(dollar-unspecified) payments
should go to a federally legis-
lated Canada Journalism Fund.
This would be similar to cable
❱❱ PAGE 14 Canada’s bumpy ride
FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 2023
COVID-19 had hard lessons on the importance
of equity in population health research
BY MURIEL MAC-SEING,
ERICA DI RUGGIERO
Policy Options
Interviews with 35 global and
public health experts revealed
equity was set aside in the pan-
demic response, to the detri-
ment of disadvantaged people.
The global community – in-
cluding world leaders, national
governments such as Canada,
decision-makers and research-
ers – all failed to deliver on eq-
uity during the COVID-19 cri-
sis. More specifically, we were
not sufficiently accountable for
the negative impact it had on
vulnerable people.
To date worldwide, almost
seven million people have died,
with more than 760 million af-
fected since the pandemic be-
gan more than three years ago.
Yet, what did we actually
learn, and how did it affect pop-
ulation health research? This is
exactly what we sought to learn
by interviewing 35 global and
public health experts across dis-
ciplines, research centres and
research funders in Canada, as
well as international actors in-
cluding some from the World
Health Organization (WHO).
Some key conclusions in-
clude the need for:
• Improved training in uni-
versity public health schools;
• Reforms to the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research
Act to make equity an explicit
priority;
• Provision of adequate fund-
ing to achieve equity and ac-
countability goals.
All three of these actions are
vital to ensuring that fewer peo-
ple are further disadvantaged,
and stay alive and healthy,
during the response to the next
pandemic.
Designing policies around
the concept of equity is central
to improving population health.
The WHO defines health equity
as “the absence of unfair, avoid-
able or remediable differences
among groups of people.” Eq-
uity also underpins population
health research. It is at the
heart of the 2021-31 Strategic
Plan of the Canadian Institutes
of Health Research (CIHR), the
main health research funding
agency in Canada.
Equity was not a priority
Our results show that equi-
ty was not prioritized during
the first waves of COVID-19
in high-income countries, in-
cluding Canada. Instead, the
focus was on urgently contain-
ing the virus’ rapid spread and
addressing the high number of
COVID-19-related deaths.
The negative impact of the
pandemic was exacerbated for
people living and working in con-
ditions of vulnerability or mar-
ginalization, such as front-line
workers, seniors, women and
children, racialized people, In-
digenous communities, LGBTQ+
communities, homeless people
and people with disabilities.
Because of strict COVID-19
physical distancing measures
and the temporary halting of
home service delivery, chil-
dren with disabilities and their
parents lost access to essential
support that would have en-
abled these children to receive
adapted services and their par-
ents to pursue their livelihoods,
the researchers reported.
Racialized front-line workers
were also disproportionately
affected by being more exposed
to the virus through their occu-
pations in places such as long-
term care facilities and the ser-
vice sector. They also had fewer
opportunities to follow public
health measures, such as phys-
ical distancing, if they lived in
smaller lodging spaces.
Moreover, Canada did not
deliver on health equity global-
ly. Rather than promoting glob-
al vaccine solidarity, the federal
government decided not to sup-
port the patent waiver (TRIPS)
that would have promoted glob-
al vaccine equity in countries
that needed it most.
According to respondents to
our study, addressing equity and
providing clear funding consid-
erations for global and national
health governance processes
are crucial and should be done
systematically. This approach
will help prioritize population
health research, ensuring ac-
countable health outcomes,
both at home and globally. Eq-
uitable and accountable health
outcomes cannot be achieved
without adequate funding.
Respondents also reported
the urgency to investigate the
COVID-19 pandemic had neg-
ative consequences for other
research because it shifted fo-
cus away from ongoing work on
non-communicable diseases,
such as chronic diseases, mental
health or research on the health
of people in vulnerable situations.
Researchers, especially wom-
en, also mentioned being over-
booked due to a high volume
of COVID-19-related research
proposal writing and manage-
ment. They felt overwhelmed by
working from home, dealing with
household chores, and managing
home-based schooling for their
kids. These factors also affected
their mental health.
A few positive consequences
However, not all consequenc-
es of COVID-19 were negative.
Many respondents reported
that both the government and
the general public rediscov-
ered the importance of pop-
ulation and public health, in-
cluding studying the impact of
COVID-19 and how to respond
to it at a population level.
In this context, given the
different emerging challenges
generated by COVID-19 on so-
cial, health, economic and eq-
uity levels, researchers, funders
and decision-makers had to
work more collaboratively
across disciplines and sectors.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Canada News
COVID-19 “enabled much
more engagement between
social science perspectives,
epidemiological, clinical and
public health perspectives, and
mathematical modelling,” as
one study respondent noted.
Canadian experts also shared
that federal and provincial/ter-
ritorial levels were not operat-
ing with the same definitions
and criteria for the collection
of COVID-19 data, and their
respective databases did not
“speak” to one another.
Worse, the availability of
data was sub-optimal and did
not allow for real-time anal-
ysis to help understand what
was driving inequitable health
outcomes among marginalized
populations. Given that all data
are not readily available for
evidence-oriented leadership,
policy and programs, this could
further jeopardize accountable
health outcomes for different
population groups.
Reflecting on all these neg-
ative, positive and unintended
consequences of COVID-19 on
the research ecosystem, key
lessons have been learned.
Although the COVID-19 pan-
demic is relatively recent, we
have experienced several other
epidemics affecting our entire
planet, or parts of it, including
HIV, SARS, H1N1, avian flu and
Ebola. All these infectious dis-
eases are known to be linked to
an animal source of transmis-
11
sion (zoonotic). COVID-19 is also
thought to be a zoonotic disease.
Recommendations
Study respondents under-
scored the need to adopt a “One
Health” approach that promotes
an interdisciplinary and inter-
sectoral collaboration at the
interface of human, animal and
environmental health to address
current and future pandemics.
Another important lesson
is to conduct more systematic
health-equity impact assess-
ments of any global and nation-
al health decisions and process-
es to avoid inequities within
and across population groups
as occurred during COVID-19.
Finally, to redress the
COVID-19-related challeng-
es and inequities raised above,
study respondents shared ac-
tionable solutions and recom-
mendations for global and na-
tional health.
• For equity to be seriously con-
sidered from training and policy
to practice, university schools of
public (and global) health should
better train future generations of
global and public health leaders,
researchers, practitioners, policy-
makers and decision-makers on
what equity means, how it is mea-
sured and operationalized, and
what are its health impacts for all
population groups.
• The federal government
should review the Canadian In-
stitutes of Health Research Act
to explicitly address health equi-
ty beyond improving population
health. This amendment would
mean specific downstream
changes to clarify the pivotal role
of equity in improving the health
of all population groups consid-
ering their gender, age, disabili-
ty, wealth, education, geography
and other social identities.
• For the above two recom-
mendations to be effective, ad-
equate and sustainable fund-
ing is necessary for population
health research priorities to be
not only equity-oriented in in-
tent, content and outputs, but
also so that accountable health
outcomes occur across popu-
lation health research areas.
Study respondents stressed
that without adequate fund-
❱❱ PAGE 13 COVID-19 had hard
12
With yet another indictment, Donald Trump
takes us into ‘unprecedented’ territory once again
BY EMMA SHORTIS, RMIT
University
The Conversation
How many different ways are
there to say “unprecedented”?
Never before has a sitting or
former president of the United
States been indicted on federal
charges. Former and aspiring
President Donald J.
Trump has now been
indicted not once, but
three times: once for
alleged crimes commit-
ted before he assumed
office, once for alleged
crimes after he left the
White House and, as of
this morning, once for
crimes allegedly com-
mitted during his time
in office.
The latest charges
relate to Trump’s con-
certed efforts to over-
turn the legitimate
results of the 2020
presidential elec-
tion. They arose from
Special Counsel Jack
Smith’s investigation
into Trump’s role in the January
6 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
A grand jury found there was
enough evidence to bring for-
ward four federal charges, ar-
guing Trump engaged in “three
criminal conspiracies” in the
pursuit of “unlawful means of
discounting legitimate votes
and subverting the election
results”. The charges include:
conspiracy to defraud the Unit-
ed States; conspiracy to ob-
struct an official proceeding;
obstruction of and attempt to
obstruct an official proceeding;
and conspiracy against rights.
Trump is scheduled to ap-
pear before a federal court in
Washington, DC, on Thursday
afternoon (Friday morning
Australian time).
In a statement delivered
shortly after the indictment
World News
was revealed, Jack Smith said
the Department of Justice
would seek a “speedy trial” –
much as he did last time the for-
mer president was indicted.
But even if this case, along
with the others, does go to trial
with all possible speed, none of
this is likely to be resolved be-
fore the nomination process is
complete, and may well contin-
... Trump is following
his familiar playbook
– claiming this is all
part of an extended
conspiracy to keep
him out of office by
a “liberal elite”.
ue into the 2024 election.
Federal charges on the
campaign trail
Even in what we might un-
satisfactorily call a “normal”
US presidential election cycle,
nominees and results are no-
toriously difficult to predict.
Candidates rise and fall quickly
– presumed heirs to the nomi-
nation riding high early in the
cycle can fall into irrelevance
before the primaries even be-
gin. The unprecedented nature
of Trump’s second campaign
for the Republican nomination
blows all efforts to predict any
outcomes out of the water.
Right now, Trump is fol-
lowing his familiar playbook
– claiming this is all part of an
extended conspiracy to keep
him out of office by a “liberal
elite”. Leaning into a narrative
www.canadianinquirer.net
AUGUST 4, 2023 FRIDAY
of victimhood, Trump expertly already occurring at the state for more than 130 years”.
pushes the buttons of his base, level across the country – are all Taken together, all this
and high-profile members of aimed at consolidating and en- means the United States – and
the Republican Party race to trenching Trump’s power. the world – faces another un-
defend him, again. The Trump team is openly precedented election cycle.
Their narrative is consistent planning for a second term that In all likelihood, there will be
and practised: the “left”, appar- would catastrophically under- more indictments and multiple
ently convinced it cannot beat mine the institutions and pro- trials, even as the compounding
Trump in an election, is seeking cesses of American democracy. effects of global boiling reveal
to take him out of the running. At the most basic level, that is themselves, and maybe even as
Trump acolyte Senator J.D. what is at stake for the United we discover that we are not, in
Vance, for example, States with these charges and in fact, alone in the universe.
claimed President Joe this election cycle. There is no telling, really,
Biden would “rather As this most recent indictment how this polycrisis will play out
throw Donald Trump put it, processes like the peaceful as the United States faces its
in prison than face transition of power are “founda- most important elections in a
him at the ballot box”. tional to the United States dem- century.
Vance, a graduate ocratic process”. While Ameri- Unprecedented, indeed. ■
of Yale Law School, can democracy has always been
undoubtedly knows shaky and uneven, as the indict- This article is republished
none of that is true. He ment continues, it “had operated from The Conversation under a
would also likely know in a peaceful but orderly manner Creative Commons license.
that even if Trump
were to be thrown be-
hind bars, there are
no legal obstacles to
him facing Biden in an
election, or even serv-
ing as president from a
prison cell.
Trump and his sup-
porters insist on his
innocence. In a state-
ment released after the indict-
ment, his campaign insisted
Trump “has always followed
the law and the Constitution”.
Never mind that the former
president has stated, publicly
and clearly, that he would hap-
pily “terminate” the Constitu-
tion to suit his own ends.
Unsurprisingly, Trump sup-
porters are undeterred. Trump
remains, by a long way, the
front-runner for the Republi-
can nomination.
Stake are high for the en-
tire US
Unlike the first time around,
if he makes it into the White
House again, Trump will come
prepared. His team’s plans to
purge the federal bureaucracy,
centralise power and further un-
dermine democratic processes
– in concert with similar efforts Donald Trump (GAGE SKIDMORE/FLICKR, CC BY-SA 2.0)
FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 2023
Homelessness in England has reached record
levels – here’s why, and how to fix it
BY JO RICHARDSON, De
Montfort University
The Conversation
Record numbers of people are
living in temporary accommo-
dation in England, according to
the UK government’s latest re-
ported figures. Statistics on stat-
utory homelessness show that
in March 2023, 104,510 house-
holds – including over 131,000
children – were living in hotels,
hostels, B&Bs and the like.
These figures are the result of
multiple crises. There is an insuf-
ficient supply of available and af-
fordable housing in the UK, with
more than 1.2 million households
on social housing waiting lists in
England alone. At the same time,
there has been a sustained fall in
social housing homes being built
(39,562 in 2010 compared with
7,644 in 2022).
Government data also shows
that the private rented sector
has nearly doubled in size since
2020. It is now the second big-
gest tenure after owner occu-
pation. This means that what
happens in the private rented
sector is affecting proportional-
ly more and more of the popula-
tion – and hits younger people
particularly hard.
In March 2020, in a bid to
stop the spread of COVID, the
government funded interven-
tions to get people sleeping
rough off the streets. This pub-
lic health intervention, dubbed
the Everyone In campaign
prompted a drop of 37% in the
2020 homelessness figures and
a further 9% in 2021.
This confirms what my re-
search has long shown: with the
Québec’s cultural..
❰❰ 9 with principles that
promote empower-
ment and rely on val-
ues such as respect, equity and
reciprocity.
In addition to failing to ad-
dress the problems Indigenous
people face, the training risks
further marginalization and
continued discrimination, as
well as increased distrust of
government and institutions
necessary funding and political
support, local authorities and
social housing providers can
dramatically improve the lives
of people experiencing home-
lessness.
The English housing lottery
According to a recent analy-
sis by the BBC, competition in
the private rented sector has
left 20 people vying for each
tenancy. This represents a tri-
pling of demand since 2019.
In May 2023, prospective
tenants interviewed by the Eve-
ning Standard testified to the
extent to which demand has
outstripped supply in London.
They spoke about properties in
mouldy condition, others go-
ing for £150 or £200 above the
asking rental price, others still
with six-month break clauses.
They described how looking
for a place to rent – and facing
discrimination in the process
– was affecting their mental
health. As one man put it:
You feel powerless because
landlords know that if you don’t
take it, they’ll find someone
who’ll offer more.
The local housing allowance –
the rate used to calculate housing
benefit available to people – has
been frozen since 2020. As a re-
sult, the amount of state support
people are able to get does not
track market rates, which have
risen by 20% in that same period.
In July 2023, secretary of
state for levelling up, hous-
ing and communities, Michael
Gove, announced that his de-
partment would prioritise
“urban regeneration and new
inner-city renaissance” as a
means for getting more homes
built. This suggests Gove is
among Indigenous populations.
For these reasons, this train-
ing should be immediately dis-
continued. To create a more
equal health-care system, In-
digenous people, organizations
and health-care professionals
— Indigenous or not — must
have space to develop solutions
based on cultural knowledge,
lived experiences and their col-
lective expertise.
seeking to further tweak the
planning system by focusing on
investment urban areas.
Instead of widening potential
land use, Gove wants to regener-
ate cities. This will compound the
housing issues facing those living
in rural areas – tourism and the
second home boom is affecting
rural and coastal property mar-
kets, making housing even more
unaffordable for local people and
driving hidden homelessness –
homelessness not accounted for
in official statistics.
At the same time, Gove has
not addressed the need to boost
building for social rentals in or-
der to meet the needs of the mil-
lions of people on the waiting list.
Housing precarity among
young people
Where there is a lack of af-
fordable housing and a lack of
rental housing, there will be
more homelessness. With the
Everyone In campaign’s success
in 2021, the government demon-
strated that it had the means to
The authors of this piece
would like to acknowledge the
significant contributions made
to the article by the members of
the Indigenous patient partner
circles of the Unité de Soutien
SSA Québec. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
www.canadianinquirer.net
World News
actually tackle this problem.
However, in 2022, the num-
bers spiked again. Relative to the
2021 figures, there was a 26% in-
crease in people sleeping rough.
A House of Commons library
briefing in March 2023 high-
lighted that, if the government
wants to meet its stated target
of eradicating rough sleeping by
2024, research has long shown
what needs to be put in place –
a long-term strategy, thorough
cross-party working and long-
term funding. The briefing also
pointed out that the govern-
ment’s own figures suggest that
without such bold action, it will
miss its own target.
Youth homelessness is of par-
ticular concern. Data collated
by charities, including Home-
less Link and the New Horizon
Youth Centre, in 2022 showed
that 129,000 young people had
sought help with housing from
their local authority.
Much of this is hidden from
public gaze. These young people
COVID-19 had hard..
❰❰ 11 ing (in the form of
dedicated resourc-
es), health research-
ers will continue to struggle to
conduct projects that take into
account health equity and its
impact in the long run.
It is our collective duty to ad-
dress equity considerations in
both global health governance
and population health research
in Canada and beyond. Failing
13
often stay with friends for short
periods or live in precarious
conditions. Their vulnerability
is only heightened by societal
assumptions that they are “adult
enough” to manage on their own,
but not “grown-up enough” to
expect to have their own place.
These assumptions are made
clear in the fact that benefits
are capped at a “shared accom-
modation” rate unless there
are specific circumstances, for
example, proven experience of
domestic violence.
Those who no longer fall in
the 18-24 age bracket, but are
part of “generation rent”, have
already been campaigning on
the impact of inequality in
housing and the issues faced in
the private rented sector.
In 2022, I researched what
had worked in how the Every-
one In campaign was imple-
mented. I found that where local
authorities, social housing pro-
viders, healthcare, charities and
the private sector were funded
and supported, they could work
nimbly, effectively sharing in-
formation and collaborating to
achieve outcomes quickly.
At national level, however,
the single most vital ingredi-
ent is the political will to actu-
ally deliver properly affordable
housing. This requires the state
to provide sustained funding
and to have a long-term strate-
gic approach. Failing this, the
lessons learned since the start
of the pandemic, on the impor-
tance to society of a place to call
home, will be lost. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
to do so will lead to a repeat of
what the COVID-19 pandemic
revealed: that vulnerable and
marginalized populations face
greater risks requiring more ro-
bust research and measures to
ensure equitable protection. ■
This article first appeared
on Policy Options and is repub-
lished here under a Creative
Commons license.
 14
Nuclear war would be more devastating for
Earth’s climate than cold war predictions –
even with fewer weapons
BY MARK MASLIN, UCL
The Conversation
Christopher Nolan’s biopic
of J. Robert Oppenheimer has
revived morbid curiosity in the
destructive power of nuclear
weapons. There are now an esti-
mated 12,512 nuclear warheads.
A war in which even a frac-
tion of these bombs were deto-
nated would create blast waves
and fires capable of killing mil-
lions of people almost instantly.
The radiation-induced cancers
and genetic damage would af-
fect the remaining population
for generations.
But what sort of world would
remain amid the radioactive
fallout? For the last four de-
cades, scientists modelling the
Earth system have run comput-
er simulations to find out.
Using their knowledge of
chemistry and climate mod-
elling, atmospheric scientists
Paul Crutzen and John Birks
wrote a short paper in 1982
which suggested a nuclear war
Canada’s bumpy ride..
❰❰ 10 TV providers’ cheques
to the Canada Media
Fund for television
production (although the fed-
eral government contributes to
the CMF too).
As media policy scholar Tay-
lor Owen has pointed out, Goo-
gle itself suggested a journalism
fund instead of the Bill C-18
negotiated fees; Meta, howev-
er, is opposed to both. (At time
of writing, the negotiated out-
comes of C-18’s regulatory en-
forcement are far from clear.)
Whatever the merits of And
Now’s various proposals, they
would cumulatively reduce fi-
nancial aid to Canadian journal-
ism by unspecified millions be-
ginning with the proposed and
uncompensated loss of $420
million in CBC advertising rev-
enue. Add to that the uncertain
outcomes of replacing budget-
ed subsidies with behavioural
World News
would produce a smoke cloud
so massive that it would cause
what became known as a nucle-
ar winter. This, they claimed,
would devastate agriculture
and with it, civilisation.
A year later, scientists from
the US and Soviet Union con-
firmed first that cities and indus-
trial complexes hit by nuclear
weapons would indeed produce
much more smoke and dust than
burning the equivalent area of
forest. And second, this global
layer of smog would block out
sunlight, causing conditions at
Earth’s surface to become rapid-
ly colder, dryer and darker.
Climate modelling shows the
reduced sunlight would plunge
global temperatures by up to
10˚C for nearly a decade. These
freezing conditions, combined
with less sunlight for plants to
photosynthesise, would have
catastrophic consequences for
global food production and lead
to mass starvation worldwide.
Modern climate models are
much more sophisticated than
those used in the 1980s. And
incentives, and it becomes clear
that serious number-crunching
would be required to assess the
report’s potential impact on
policy directions.
The crisis of trust
Menzies and Von Finken-
stein strongly believe that state
subsidies contribute to the con-
tinuing downward trend in Ca-
nadians’ reported trust in jour-
nalism. But in North America,
at least, there is documented
loss of trust in all public insti-
tutions and authority figures.
Better and more independent
journalism will not necessari-
ly reverse the cynicism stoked
by post-truth populism, among
other skepticism-enhancing so-
cial factors.
But we don’t need to accept
reduced trust as immutable.
The decline or otherwise of
public trust in news media var-
ies significantly among coun-
while there are fewer nukes
in working order today, more
recent results from computer
simulations suggest that the
grim prophecy delivered by sci-
entists 40 years ago may actual-
ly have been an underestimate.
Clear and present danger
Environmental scientists led
by Alan Robock at Rutgers Uni-
versity in the US argued in a re-
cent paper that the the nuclear
tries, as do people’s readiness
to pay for digital news. Some ju-
risdictions legally require pub-
lishers to guarantee editorial
autonomy; some require mem-
bership of press councils and
provide robust funding for their
work. It does, therefore, seem
conceivable that sound policy
tools could enhance Canadi-
ans’ confidence in independent
journalism.
One possible measure: attend
vigorously to the governance of
any financial benefits to news
businesses, whether it’s the al-
location of existing subsidies
or the proposed Canada Jour-
nalism Fund and whether the
money comes from the public
purse or Big Tech. Few question
the independence of the school
trustees and community care
boards who spend government
money. The Canada Revenue
Agency, by contrast, makes de-
www.canadianinquirer.net
winter theory helped end the
proliferation of nuclear weap-
ons during the cold war. In 1986,
President Ronald Reagan and
General Secretary Mikhail Gor-
bachev took the first steps in
history to reduce the number of
nuclear weapons while citing the
predicted consequences of a nu-
clear winter for all life on Earth.
At the height of the arms race
in the mid-1980s there were
cisions in secret after receiv-
ing confidential advice from a
panel of appointed experts. It’s
hard to earn public confidence
in the absence of transparency.
Another helpful policy tool
would be to distinguish more
clearly than either federal
subsidy programs or Bill C-18
between news and opinion.
Opinion content is cheaply pro-
duced and in abundant supply
without need of government
help. It is news reporting by
professional journalists that is
expensive, targeted by continu-
ing job cuts, and that is most
clearly consistent with the
principled objective of sustain-
ing news. The task of drawing a
clear and cost-quantifiable line
between news reporting and
opinionating may be daunting
but shouldn’t be impossible.
Like it or not, the govern-
ments of healthy democracies
AUGUST 4, 2023 FRIDAY
over 65,000 nuclear weapons.
The reduction in the global nu-
clear arsenal to just over 12,000
(of which 4,000 are on opera-
tional standby) has ebbed the
threat of all-out nuclear war,
prompting some to question
whether the limited climate
models used in the 1980s had
understated the consequences
of a global nuclear war.
Newer and more sophisti-
cated climate models, the ones
used to model future climate
changes caused by the burning
of fossil fuels, suggest the oppo-
site is true.
With the largest possible nu-
clear exchange between the US
and Russia, new models suggest
the ocean would cool so pro-
foundly that the world would be
thrust into a “nuclear little ice
age” lasting thousands of years.
Of course, there are seven
other nuclear states: China,
France, India, Israel, North Ko-
rea, Pakistan and the UK. Sci-
entists have modelled that even
❱❱ PAGE 15 Nuclear war would
around the world have inter-
vened in media markets to
protect and foster quality jour-
nalism. Those countries rec-
ognize that a free press is not
honoured by being left alone
to thrive or die in pristine in-
dependence from all influenc-
es save market-based business
imperatives. Rather, the ben-
efits of independent journal-
ism are earned by effective and
principled public investment in
an environment in which news
reporting can thrive.
To this end, Canada’s jour-
ney to a fruitful policy strategy
for sustainable news media has
barely started. There will be
bumps aplenty on that road but
the trip’s not optional. ■
This article first appeared
on Policy Options and is repub-
lished here under a Creative
Commons license.
FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 2023 World News 15

Gov’t launches circular Nuclear war would..

14 a limited nuclear war awarded a Nobel Peace Prize

economy procedure under

❰❰
between between In- that same year for its work in
dia and Pakistan could highlighting the catastrophe
kill 130 million people and de- that would result from any use

recovery plan
BTA
Philippine News Agency
SOFIA, Bulgaria – The Min-
istry of Innovation and Growth
launched a circular economy
procedure under the Nation-
al Recovery and Resilience
Plan, the Ministry’s press of-
fice said here on Friday.
The measure has a bud-
get of BGN180 million.
Micro, small, medium and
large manufacturing enter-
prises may apply for funding
under it.
The procedure is aimed
at speeding up the transi-
tion of manufacturing busi-
nesses to a circular econo-
my through more efficient
use of resources and adoption
of climate-neutral methods and
technologies for the manufac-
ture and consumption of prod-
ucts, the Ministry said.
Companies may bid for
funding either separately or in
groupings.
The amount of grant aid
which a bidder may get varies
from BGN 70,000 for compa-
The measure
has a budget of
BGN180 million.
nies of all sizes to BGN 350,000
for micro businesses, BGN
550,000 for small businesses,
BGN 750,000 for medium busi-
nesses and BGN 1 million for
large enterprises.
Co-funding ranges from 20
percent to 50 percent, depend-
ing on the company’s category
and the place where the project
is implemented.
The money may be used
to buy machinery, installa-
tions, equipment or com-
puter software to limit en-
vironmental damage and
support investments in
minimizing waste and re-
ducing plastics use while
phasing in alternative ma-
terials, including materi-
als of biological origin, and
raising the standards of en-
vironment-friendliness.
Project proposals may
be submitted until 4:30 p.m. on
October 3 via eumis2020.gov-
ernment.bg. ■
prive a further 2.5 billion of
food for at least two years.
A nuclear war is unlikely to
remain limited, however. What
starts with one tactical nuclear
strike or a tit-for-tat exchange
between two countries could es-
calate to an all-out nuclear war
ending in utter destruction. A
global nuclear war including the
US, Europe and China could re-
sult in 360 million people dead
and condemn nearly 5.3 billion
people to starvation in the two
years following the exchange.
The threat remains
Scientific modelling allows
us to peer into the abyss of a
nuclear war without having to
experience it. Forty years of sci-
entific research into these pos-
sibilities encouraged the adop-
tion of a United Nations treaty
on the prohibition of nuclear
weapons in 2017 – ratified by
most countries but not the nine
nuclear powers.
The international campaign
to abolish nuclear weapons was
of nuclear weapons.
But the war in Ukraine has
brought old fears to the surface.
President Vladimir Putin of
Russia has threatened a limited
use of nuclear weapons as part of
the conflict, and a single launch
could escalate into a regional or
even global exchange that would
plunge billions of people into a
world so harrowing we can bare-
ly comprehend it.
Robock said that it is now
“even more urgent” for scien-
tists to study the consequences
of detonating nuclear weapons
and ensure as many people as
possible know about them. And,
ultimately, to work for the elim-
ination of these weapons. The
threat of nuclear war has not
gone away, and a nuclear ice age
which would doom much of life
on Earth for millennia is still a
possibility. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.

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16
Entertainment
Taylor Swift didn’t just update the
lyrics for Better Than Revenge –
she updated her public image
BY RANI TESIRAM, The
University of Queensland
The Conversation
We’ve all been waiting pa-
tiently (and not so patiently) for
the latest in Taylor Swift’s “Tay-
lor’s Versions”. At first, these
seemed to be just re-recordings
so that the pop icon could own
her own music. But, as each al-
bum was released, small chang-
es to the narrative of the album
keep cropping up, leading to
growing anticipation over what
Swift is going to give us next and
how that might change the way
we’ve understood the album
and the artist’s narrative.
Swift is on a journey to re-
record all of the studio albums
released while contracted to
Big Machine Records. This
process is necessary because
her original 13-year contract
(signed when Swift was only
15) awarded all of the rights to
her masters to the record com-
pany and not her. After several
failed attempts to buy back her
rights, Swift made the deci-
sion to re-record, remaster and
re-release all ten studio albums
released under that contract.
To avoid legal challeng-
es from Big Machine the new
releases need to be different
enough to be considered new.
This comes both in the form
of the title change to include
“(Taylor’s Version)” and in
some instances subtle instru-
mental, vocal or lyrical changes.
On the new albums, you’ll
find a matured, updated sound
and songs “From The Vault”,
which are previously unre-
leased tracks similar to B-side
tracks sometimes released with
remastered albums.
One of the most controver-
sial updates that you’ll find in
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
is the lyric change in the song
Better Than Revenge (Taylor’s
Version). These changes are
seen as positive by many fans,
but unnecessary by others.
Remastering and updating
Remastering music offers
the opportunity to release an
album after it has been filtered
through updated technology.
Often this means being able
to eliminate artefacts in the
sound, or fix frequency or bal-
ancing issues.
In Speak Now (Taylor’s Ver-
sion) and many other remas-
tered albums, the changes in
sound and quality are subtle,
but they are there. For example,
the specific tone of the intro
slide guitar in Dear John (Tay-
lor’s Version) has a deeper and
fuller body to it than the origi-
nal. The mix itself sounds fuller,
still dreamy, but the mix is also
slightly louder and clearer.
Swift’s vocals also have an ex-
tra layer and body to their sound
in the newer version as well.
This makes her voice sound full-
er, but also highlights how her
voice is more mature now.
Better than revenge?
In addition to these new or-
chestrations and mixing of in-
struments, Swift has taken the
opportunity with her Taylor’s
Version recordings to update
the lyrics in Better Than Re-
venge (Taylor’s Version).
Swift alters the original, con-
troversial lyric “But she’s better
known for the things that she
does on the mattress” to “He
was a moth to the flame, she was
holding the matches”. The orig-
inal lyric was criticised for the
seemingly anti-feminist vibe
that underpins it.
This time around, Swift has
taken the opportunity to re-
write the narrative and shift
away from a more obvious crit-
icism of this character’s sex-
AUGUST 4, 2023 FRIDAY
ual activity and instead focus nied by a 14-minute short film/ how Swift is changing the nar-
on how she was alluring to the music video to further tell this rative she puts out there. Her
male character. new narrative. prologue, coupled with her doc-
While Swift did not publicly In this instance, Swift was tak- umentary and all of the other
announce this lyric change, it ing back some of the power she Taylor’s Versions released or
became a topic of conversation had lost in a relationship. But yet to come, demonstrate a sin-
surrounding the re-release. The now, with Speak Now (Taylor’s cerity and dedication to hones-
lengthy prologue Swift includes Version), Swift is trying to push ty and strength.
on the album does not even ex- forward a narrative of positivity By openly commenting on
plicitly address the change, but and feminism. In the prologue where she was when she wrote
alludes to the change. The lyric to the album, Swift states that the original Speak Now in the
change was confirmed by fans she used Speak Now to speak prologue to Taylor’s Version,
who examined the included sincerely about everything that Swift invites her audience to
lyrics when they received their had happened to her up to that see how she has grown and
physical copies of the new album. point in her life (2010) – all the stumbled through her own mis-
Swift’s lyrical change has been criticism for her music, doubts takes. The lyric change is only
mostly well received. However, about her abilities, and scandal one version of that. ■
Rolling Stone essayist Larisha with Kanye West.
Paul argued for the original lyric The lyric change in “Better This article is republished
to be left unchanged as a demon- Than Revenge (Taylor’s Ver- from The Conversation under a
stration of “Swift’s complicated sion)” is only one example of Creative Commons license.
journey through coming to an
understanding of intersectional
feminism”.
For some fans, this change is
welcome because it is a direct
recognition of that shifting at-
titude and, by extension, the
greater paradigm shift we’re
experiencing as a society that
is actively trying to move away
from “sexual bullying” and the
way it perpetrates misogyny.
Shifting the Narrative
Even something as simple
as changing the guitar tone in a
track or the way it is mixed can
greatly change the narrative put
forward or interpreted by the
listener. Remastered albums are
almost always a point of conten-
tion because the success of a re-
master is heavily dependent on
how well the artist pulls it off.
Swift has been using these
re-recordings as an opportunity
to update the narrative for her-
self. The first controversial shift
of narrative fans really latched
onto was the All Too Well (10
Minute Version) (Taylor’s Ver-
sion) which provided a new
perspective on one of Swift’s
relationships. It was accompa- Taylor Swift (EVA RINALDI/FLICKR, CC BY-SA 2.0)
www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 2023
‘Barbie’ is, at its core, a movie about the
messy contradictions of motherhood
BY AVIVA DOVE-VIEBAHN,
Arizona State University
The Conversation
Editor’s note: This article con-
tains plot spoilers for “Barbie.”
The wildly popular “Barbie”
movie has been touted for its
celebration – and critique – of
femininity.
As a mother and a media
scholar, I couldn’t help but see
“Barbie” through an even nar-
rower lens: as a film that, at
its core, is about mothers and
daughters.
The film’s plot centers on a
life-size doll, known as “Ste-
reotypical Barbie,” played by
Margot Robbie, who begins to
malfunction: Her feet go flat,
and she can’t stop thinking
about death. So she leaves her
perfect plastic life to embark
on a quest to restore the bound-
ary between the real world and
Barbieland. Along the way,
she learns that the real world
is nothing like her girl-pow-
er wonderland, where Barbies
hold all the positions of power
and influence and Kens are just
accessories.
But its thematic heart rests
in the film’s examination of the
tensions around being a mother
– a role often taken for granted,
even as the cultural fantasies of
motherhood clash with the ac-
tual sacrifices that moms make.
Motherhood as mere
drudgery?
I was immediately struck by
the movie’s funny but chilling ob-
servations about motherhood.
“Since the beginning of
time,” unseen narrator Helen
Mirren intones sardonically
in the film’s first line, “since
the first little girl ever existed,
there have been dolls.” (Cine-
philes will immediately recog-
nize this scene and its setting as
an homage to Stanley Kubrick’s
famous “dawn of man” opening
from “2001: A Space Odyssey.”)
Girls appear on screen, wear-
ing drab, antiquated dresses
and playing “house” with their
dolls in a primitive setting, ex-
pressionless and practically
drooping with boredom. The
problem with these dolls is that
girls “could only ever play at be-
ing mothers, which can be fun”
– Mirren pauses meaningfully –
“for a while.”
Then, she adds, her tone
turning cynical, “Ask your
mother.”
The appeal of motherhood,
Mirren seems to suggest, even-
tually morphs into unwanted
drudgery – a reality under-
scored moments later when the
girls meet their first Barbie, who
towers above them, larger than
life, inspiring them to smash
their mundane baby dolls.
Barbie – a doll of a young,
beautiful woman – compels kids
to leave the ennui of mother-
hood behind for the pink plastic
sparkle of Barbieland, where all
the Barbies live their best lives
forever, embodying feminine
perfection and possibility.
The framing of motherhood
as thankless and undesirable
echoes mid-20th-century fem-
inist critiques of child rearing
and housework. These roles not
only bound women to the home
but also forced them to perform
repetitive tasks that didn’t re-
flect their abilities and derailed
their ambitions.
In her 1949 book “The Sec-
ond Sex,” French philosopher
Simone de Beauvoir argued
that women, to empower them-
selves, needed to reject the
myth that motherhood repre-
sented the pinnacle of feminine
achievement. American writer
Betty Friedan would echo this
sentiment in her 1963 book
“The Feminine Mystique,”
railing against the image of the
“happy housewife heroine”
who finds fulfillment in being a
wife and mother.
It’s no coincidence that these
ideas overlapped with the in-
vention of Barbie in 1959. While
predating the women’s move-
ment of the 1960s and 1970s,
Barbie’s creator, Ruth Han-
dler, did design the toy to allow
girls to imagine their future
adult selves, rather than simply
play-acting as mothers using
baby dolls.
The value in ‘motherwork’
And yet, not only do many
women enjoy being mothers,
but motherhood also plays an
essential role in society and life.
In her 1976 book “Of Woman
Born,” feminist poet Adrienne
Rich draws a distinction between
the fulfilling relationship moth-
ers can have with their children
and the patriarchal institution of
motherhood, which keeps wom-
en under men’s control.
Sociologist Patricia Hill Col-
lins coined the term “mother-
work” in the mid-1990s to high-
light the experiences of women
of color and working-class moth-
ers, many of whom don’t have
the resources to pursue their
own ambitions over caring for
their families and communi-
ties. When you’re just trying to
navigate the day-to-day without
wealth or other forms of privi-
lege, options like hiring a nanny
or paying for graduate school ar-
en’t feasible or a priority.
For these mothers, the sur-
vival of their children is not a
given. Instead of tedium and
oppression, motherwork ac-
knowledges that mothering can
be a radically important labor
of love and a source of empow-
erment in its own right.
In “Barbie,” the moth-
er-daughter relationship be-
tween Gloria, played by America
Ferrera, and her daughter Sasha,
played by Ariana Greenblatt,
contains these contradictions.
After experiencing a vision
of the person whose sadness
seems to be the source of her
malfunctions, Stereotypical
Barbie initially assumes it’s
Sasha’s tween angst that’s dis-
turbed the perfection of Bar-
bieland and drawn her into the
real world. Instead, Barbie dis-
covers it’s Gloria’s loneliness –
and her nostalgia for a simpler
time when she played Barbies
with her daughter – that has
caused the rift between reality
and fantasy.
Sasha and Gloria’s adventure
with Barbie – first escaping the
Mattel executives who want to
lock Barbie in a box and then
journeying back to Barbieland
to rescue the other Barbies from
the Kens, who are trying to take
over – repairs the relationship
between mother and daughter.
Gloria remembers what it’s
like to find joy in motherhood,
and Sasha realizes that her
mother isn’t just a bland set of
values against which to rebel.
Gloria is a fully fledged person
with a rich inner life who, by her
own estimation, is sometimes
www.canadianinquirer.net
Entertainment
“weird and dark and crazy,”
which Sasha admires.
Sasha – and all the Barbies
– have something else to learn
from Gloria, too.
Stunned that even someone
as perfect as Barbie feels like
she’s not good enough, Glo-
ria delivers a poignant mono-
logue encapsulating, in Barbie’s
words, “the cognitive disso-
nance required to be a woman
under patriarchy.”
Gloria, as a mom struggling
to reconcile her deep love for
her child with the fear that she’s
constantly failing at mother-
hood, knows all too well how
this cognitive dissonance wears
women down.
Letting go
In her 2018 book “Mothers:
An Essay on Love and Cruelty,”
scholar Jacqueline Rose argues
that motherhood is tied to no-
tions of citizenship and nation
and, for this reason, can become
“the ultimate scapegoat for our
personal and political failings.”
The ending to “Barbie” re-
jects the notion that mothers
are to blame for their chil-
dren’s mistakes. Instead, the
film offers another perspective
through the character of Ruth
Handler, Mattel’s founder,
who’s played by Rhea Perlman.
Handler helps Barbie see what
awaits her if she chooses to be-
come human.
17
Symbolically letting go of her
creation and encouraging her to
forge her own path, Ruth tells
Barbie that she cannot control
her any more than she could con-
trol her own daughter, and that
mothers should pave the way for
their children, not hinder them.
“We mothers,” she explains,
“stand still so our daughters can
look back to see how far they’ve
come.”
This sentimental and self-ef-
facing message seems at odds
with the film’s nuanced por-
trayal of motherhood through
humor and critique.
But, throughout, “Barbie” in-
vites viewers to question even its
own structure, tenets and mes-
saging – and presents multiple
perspectives on motherhood.
Mothering is hard work and
sometimes may even be thank-
less labor. It may bore or dis-
appoint. It can be affirming or
heartbreaking or both. It in-
volves leading and following,
holding on and letting go.
Being a mother shouldn’t have
to be about sacrifice or about fit-
ting some impossible ideal. In-
stead, motherhood can highlight
the possibilities of living in – and
with – the contradictions. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
18
4 factors driving 2023’s extreme heat
and climate disasters
BY MICHAEL WYSESSION,
Arts & Sciences at Washington
University in St. Louis
The Conversation
Between the record-breaking
global heat and extreme down-
pours, it’s hard to ignore that
something unusual is going on
with the weather in 2023.
People have been quick to
blame climate change – and
they’re right, to a point: Hu-
man-caused global warming
does play the biggest role. A re-
cent study determined that the
weekslong heat wave in Texas
and Mexico that started in June
2023 would have been virtually
impossible without it.
However, the extremes this
year are sharper than anthro-
pogenic global warming alone
would be expected to cause. Hu-
man activities that release green-
house gas emissions into the at-
mosphere have been increasing
temperatures gradually, at an av-
erage of 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit
(0.1 Celsius) per decade.
Three additional natural fac-
tors are also helping drive up
global temperatures and fuel
disasters this year: El Niño, so-
lar fluctuations and a massive
underwater volcanic eruption.
Unfortunately, these factors
are combining in a way that is
exacerbating global warming.
Still worse, we can expect un-
usually high temperatures to
continue through at least 2025,
which means even more extreme
weather in the near future.
How El Niño is involved
El Niño is a climate phenome-
non that occurs every few years
when surface water in the trop-
ical Pacific reverses direction
and heats up. That warms the
atmosphere above, which influ-
ences temperatures and weath-
er patterns around the globe.
Essentially, the atmosphere
borrows heat out of the Pacif-
ic, and global temperatures in-
crease slightly. This happened
Lifestyle
in 2016, the time of the last
strong El Niño. Global tem-
peratures increased by about
0.25 F (0.14 C) on average,
making 2016 the warmest year
on record. A weak El Niño also
occurred in 2019-2020, con-
tributing to 2020 becoming the
world’s second-warmest year.
El Niño’s opposite, La Niña,
involves cooler-than-usual Pa-
cific currents flowing westward,
absorbing heat out of the atmo-
sphere, which cools the globe.
The world just came out of three
straight years of La Niña, mean-
ing we’re experiencing an even
greater temperature swing.
Based on increasing Pacif-
ic sea surface temperatures in
mid-2023, climate modeling
now suggests a 90% chance that
Earth is headed toward its first
strong El Niño since 2016.
Combined with the steady
human-induced warming,
Earth may soon again be break-
ing its annual temperature re-
cords. June 2023 was the hot-
test in modern record. July saw
global records for the hottest
days and a large number of re-
gional records, including an in-
comprehensible heat index of
152 F (67 C) in Iran.
Solar fluctuations
The Sun may seem to shine at
a constant rate, but it is a seeth-
ing, churning ball of plasma
whose radiating energy changes
over many different time scales.
The Sun is slowly heating up
and in half a billion years will
boil away Earth’s oceans. On
human time scales, however,
the Sun’s energy output varies
only slightly, about 1 part in
1,000, over a repeating 11-year
cycle. The peaks of this cycle
are too small for us to notice
at a daily level, but they affect
Earth’s climate systems.
Rapid convection within our
Sun both generates a strong mag-
netic field aligned with its spin
axis and causes this field to fully
flip and reverse every 11 years.
This is what causes the 11-year
cycle in emitted solar radiation.
Earth’s temperature increase
during a solar maximum, com-
pared with average solar out-
put, is only about 0.09 F (0.05
C), roughly a third of a large El
Niño. The opposite happens
during a solar minimum. How-
ever, unlike the variable and
unpredictable El Niño changes,
the 11-year solar cycle is com-
paratively regular, consistent
and predictable.
The last solar cycle hit its min-
imum in 2020, reducing the ef-
fect of the modest 2020 El Niño.
The current solar cycle has al-
ready surpassed the peak of the
relatively weak previous cycle
(which was in 2014) and will peak
in 2025, with the Sun’s energy
output increasing until then.
A massive volcanic eruption
Volcanic eruptions can also
significantly affect global cli-
mates. They usually do this by
lowering global temperatures
when erupted sulfate aerosols
shield and block a portion of in-
coming sunlight – but not always.
In an unusual twist, the larg-
est volcanic eruption of the
21st century so far, the 2022
eruption of Tonga’s Hunga Ton-
ga-Hunga Ha’apai is having a
warming and not cooling effect.
The eruption released an un-
usually small amount of cooling
sulfate aerosols but an enor-
mous amount of water vapor.
The molten magma exploded
underwater, vaporizing a huge
volume of ocean water that
erupted like a geyser high into
the atmosphere.
Water vapor is a powerful
greenhouse gas, and the erup-
tion may end up warming
Earth’s surface by about 0.06 F
(0.035 C), according to one esti-
mate. Unlike the cooling sulfate
aerosols, which are actually tiny
droplets of sulfuric acid that fall
out of the atmosphere within
one to two years, water vapor
is a gas that can stay in the at-
mosphere for many years. The
warming impact of the Tonga
www.canadianinquirer.net
volcano is expected to last for at
least five years.
Underlying it all: Global
warming
All of this comes on top of an-
thropogenic, or human-caused,
global warming.
Humans have raised global
average temperatures by about
2 F (1.1 C) since 1900 by releas-
ing large volumes of greenhouse
gases into the atmosphere.
For example, humans have in-
creased the amount of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere by
50%, primarily through com-
bustion of fossil fuels in vehicles
and power plants. The warming
from greenhouse gases is actu-
ally greater than 2 F (1.1 C), but
it has been masked by other hu-
man factors that have a cooling
effect, such as air pollution.
If human impacts were the
only factors, each successive year
would set a new record as the
hottest year ever, but that doesn’t
happen. The year 2016 was the
warmest so far, in large part be-
cause of the last large El Niño.
What does this mean for
the future?
The next couple of years
could be very rough.
If a strong El Niño develops
over the next year, combined with
the solar maximum and the ef-
fects of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga
AUGUST 4, 2023 FRIDAY
Ha’apai eruption, Earth’s tem-
peratures would likely soar to
uncharted highs. According to
climate modeling, this would like-
ly mean even more heat waves,
forest fires, flash floods and other
extreme weather events.
Both weather and climate
forecasts have become very re-
liable in recent years, benefit-
ing from vast amounts of data
from Earth-orbiting satellites
and enormous supercomputing
power for forecasting the flow
and interactions of heat and
water among the complex com-
ponents of the ocean, land and
atmosphere.
Unfortunately, climate mod-
eling shows that as temperatures
continue to increase, weather
events get more extreme.
There is now a greater than
50% chance that Earth’s global
temperature will reach 2.7 F (1.5
C) above pre-industrial era tem-
peratures by the year 2028, at
least temporarily, increasing the
risk of triggering climate tipping
points with even greater human
impacts. Because of the unfor-
tunate timing of several parts of
the climate system, it seems the
odds are not in our favor. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 2023
What happens if someone dies in space?
BY EMMANUEL
URQUIETA, Baylor College of
Medicine
The Conversation
What happens if someone
dies in space? – Guillermo,
Palm Beach, Florida
There’s no question that
sending human beings to space
is an extraordinarily difficult
and perilous proposition.
Since human space explora-
tion began just over 60 years ago,
20 people have died – 14 in the
NASA space shuttle tragedies of
1986 and 2003, three cosmonauts
during the 1971 Soyuz 11 mission,
and three astronauts in the Apollo
1 launch pad fire in 1967.
Given how complicated hu-
man spaceflight is, it’s actually
remarkable how few people have
lost their lives so far. But NASA
plans to send a crew to the Moon
in 2025 and astronauts to Mars
in the next decade. Commercial
spaceflight is becoming routine.
As space travel becomes more
common, so does the possibility
that someone might die along
the way.
It brings to mind a gloomy
but necessary question to ask:
If someone dies in space – what
happens to the body?
Death on the Moon and Mars
Why it’s bad to always suck your stomach in
BY ADAM TAYLOR,
Lancaster University
The Conversation
Our abdominal muscles are
among the hardest-working
muscles in the body. They are
involved in nearly every move
we make, keeping the body sta-
ble and balanced, protecting
our spine and even ensuring
our internal organs stay where
they’re supposed to.
But certain health conditions
and even unnecessarily tens-
ing the muscles during your
daily life can cause the abdom-
inal muscles to become imbal-
anced. Over time, this can lead
to a condition called “hour-
glass syndrome” – a detrimen-
tal change in the structure of
the abdominal wall, which may
As a space medical doctor
who works to find new ways to
keep astronauts healthy, I and
my team at the Translational
Research Institute for Space
Health want to make sure space
explorers are as healthy as they
can be for space missions.
Here is how death in space
would be handled today: If
someone died on a low-Earth-
orbit mission – such as aboard
the International Space Sta-
tion – the crew could return the
body to Earth in a capsule with-
in a matter of hours.
If it happened on the Moon,
cause a visible crease to form
in the mid-abdomen. Not only
that, but this change can also
have a knock-on effect on the
internal organs and other parts
of the body if left untreated.
There are four main causes of
hourglass syndrome. All of them
result in an imbalance in the func-
tion of the abdominal muscles.
The first is due to certain con-
genital conditions (such as gas-
troschisis or omphacele) which
cause the abdominal muscles to
develop incorrectly, leading to
muscle imbalances.
Poor posture is another
cause. This leads the spine to
move away from its normal,
s-shaped curvature, resulting
in detrimental changes in the
tension and function of the ab-
dominal muscles, leading to im-
balances. Pain in the abdomen
the crew could return home
with the body in just a few days.
NASA already has detailed pro-
tocols in place for such events.
Because of that quick return,
it’s likely that preservation of
the body would not be NASA’s
major concern; instead, the No.
1 priority would be making sure
the remaining crew returns
safely to Earth.
Things would be different if
an astronaut died during the
300 million-mile trip to Mars.
In that scenario, the crew
probably wouldn’t be able to turn
around and go back. Instead, the
(whether from stomach, liver or
gallbladder problems) can also
cause a person of voluntarily
or involuntarily contract their
abdominal muscles in order to
reduce or avoid pain.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Lifestyle
body would likely return to Earth
along with the crew at the end of
the mission, which would be a
couple of years later.
In the meantime, the crew
would presumably preserve
the body in a separate chamber
or specialized body bag. The
steady temperature and hu-
midity inside the space vehicle
would theoretically help pre-
serve the body.
But all those scenarios would
apply only if someone died in a
pressurized environment, like a
space station or a spacecraft.
What would happen if some-
one stepped outside into space
without the protection of a
spacesuit?
The astronaut would die al-
most instantly. The loss of pres-
sure and the exposure to the
vacuum of space would make
it impossible for the astronaut
to breathe, and blood and other
body fluids would boil.
What would happen if an astro-
naut stepped out onto the Moon
or Mars without a spacesuit?
The Moon has nearly no at-
mosphere – a very tiny amount.
Mars has a very thin atmo-
sphere, and almost no oxygen.
So the result would be about the
same as exposure to open space:
suffocation and boiling blood.
What about burial?
But another surprising cause
of hourglass syndrome may be
body image issues, which are
an increasing issue. People who
may feel insecure in their body
or who want a flat stomach may
19
Suppose the astronaut died
after landing, while on the sur-
face of Mars.
Cremation isn’t desirable; it
requires too much energy that
the surviving crew needs for
other purposes. And burial isn’t
a good idea, either. Bacteria and
other organisms from the body
could contaminate the Mar-
tian surface. Instead, the crew
would likely preserve the body
in a specialized body bag until it
could be returned to Earth.
There are still many un-
knowns about how explorers
would deal with a death. It’s not
just the question of what to do
with the body. Helping the crew
deal with the loss, and helping
the grieving families back on
Earth, are just as important
as handling the remains of the
person who died. But to truly
colonize other worlds – wheth-
er the Moon, Mars or a planet
outside our solar system – this
grim scenario will require plan-
ning and protocols. ■
Curious Kids is a series for
children of all ages. If you have
a question you’d like an expert
to answer, send it to curiouskid-
sus@theconversation.com.
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
suck their stomach muscles to
achieve this look.
Muscle imbalance
When we suck our stomach
in it causes our rectus abdom-
inis (commonly referred to
as our “six-pack” muscles) to
contract. But since we tend to
store more fat tissue in our low-
er abdomen, the muscles at the
top of the stomach tend to be
more active. This creates a fold
or crease in the abdomen over a
long period, with the belly but-
ton being pulled upwards.
Regardless of the cause –
whether voluntary or involun-
tary – sucking the stomach in
places greater pressure on the
lower back and neck. This is be-
cause they now have to compen-
sate for changes in core stability.
❱❱ PAGE 23 Why it’s bad
20
Life in My 50’s
BY MATTE LAUREL-ZALKO
I’d like to raise a toast to
myself for doing another trip
around the sun! This year, I
turn 55. If you asked me thirty
years ago if I’d reach this age, I
would laugh out loud and an-
swer “nay” considering how
reckless I was in my youth. In
my late teens, I was your quint-
essential rebel without a cause.
When I look back on my trou-
bled years, I am surprised and
grateful to have come out of it
alive and above all, learned and
wiser thirty six years later.
I’ve been so fortunate to have
experienced what it’s like to
wear many different hats, ca-
reer-wise. In my early 20’s, I
went back to school and sought
a diploma in Hospitality and
Restaurant Management course
from Compu College in Vancou-
ver. In my mid-20’s, I started
my career in the hotel industry
from the bottom: My first job
was at the Spices Restaurant of
The Peninsula Manila in 1993.
I was a young Commis waitress
eager to put into practice what I
learned from college.
At The Peninsula Manila, I
was blessed to be a part of a lux-
ury five-star hotel whose mis-
sion is to deliver the best per-
sonalized guest experience that
is innovative, efficient, engag-
ing and elegant combined with
warm Filipino hospitality. The
Peninsula Manila staff were all
highly trained by the best in the
hospitality industry. Outside
work, I lived a fun life with my
friends and colleagues at The
Pen and we also did volunteer
work for various charities.
After a year, I was promoted
as a Restaurant Receptionist
also at Spices Restaurant. In
1995, I was promoted again, but
this time, as a Captain Waitress
at the Peninsula Manila’s Niel-
sen’s Coffee Shop (now known
as Escolta). My mid-to-late 20’s
was about working hard and
partying hard. My only respon-
sibility was to myself! However,
I was no longer a rebel. Instead,
I’ve shifted from a fractious soul
to a hardworking hotelier by my
mid twenties. Still, I knew how
to have fun — good, clean fun!
At the Peninsula Manila, I felt
I belonged and was accepted
wholeheartedly for who I am.
I’ve made long lasting friend-
ships from the people I worked
with at The Pen!
In 1998 at the age of 30, my life
changed for good — I was mar-
ried briefly and from this short
marriage, I became a mom. I
was no longer partying hard. I
focused on raising my son and
worked towards another career
promotion. In 2000, my mar-
riage ended. My personal life
took a downturn but my profes-
sional life was thriving. In 2000,
I was promoted to Corporate
Receptionist under the Food
and Beverage Department at the
Corporate Office of The Penin-
sula Manila. Two years later in
2002, I was promoted again and
became the Food and Beverage
Division Secretary. My thirteen
years at The Peninsula Manila
was where I thrived and grew
as an independent young career
woman who transitioned to a
confident single working mom.
However by 2006, I wanted
more for my son and for myself.
I decided to take on a job as the
Executive Assistant to the Own-
er of a chain of four-star hotels
in Dubai. It was a brief taste of
more changes to come in our
lives as mother and son. I was
only in Dubai for three months
when I decided to execute my
long-term plan for my son and
myself. While waiting for my
son’s Canadian citizenship doc-
uments, I worked for 8 months
as the Executive Assistant for
the Director of Food and Bever-
age of Sofitel Philippine Plaza.
That was brief but also incred-
ibly fulfilling career-wise.
In July 2007, my son and I
moved to Vancouver for good.
In my 40’s in Vancouver, I was
busy raising my son on my own
and juggling professional ca-
reer growth at the same time.
When we moved to Vancouver,
I decided to change industries.
Instead of working in the hos-
pitality industry, I decided to
work for a biotech company in
their legal department manag-
ing patents and contracts for
the company. I stayed with the
same company for four years
and I was paid handsomely
therefore I was able to provide
a good life for my son.
In 2012, I changed from the
pharmaceutical industry to the
AUGUST 4, 2023 FRIDAY
financial industry: I assisted the
President and owner of a leading
financial media company that
serves financial institutions,
media publishers, public com-
panies and brand advertisers. In
2013, I moved on from the finan-
cial industry to the construction
industry to assist the owner of
one of the leading construction
companies in Vancouver.
In 2014, I changed indus-
tries again from construction to
non-profit. I assisted the lady
CEO of BC’s leading non-profit
agency to steward the growth
and development of amateur
sport in the province. By 2015,
I’m back in the hotel industry
assisting the Managing Director
of Rosewood Hotel Georgia. In
2016, I switched from the hotel
industry to the venture capital
and private equity industry as-
sisting four different managing
directors all at the same time!
By having experienced what
it’s like to wear many different
hats from the age of 23 to 49
years old, these varied job ex-
periences gave me diverse skill In my mid-30’s as a single working mother. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
sets. Moreover, by changing
industries in Vancouver, I’ve during our Friday buffets. Also, Herbs and Spices Cafe days! In
broadened my work experi- we were able to successfully life, you should only take with
ences. By changing industries, introduce the popular Chick- you the happy memories and
I’ve become more resilient and en Adobo Ube Pandesal to the I can’t stress enough the im-
therefore making my transfer- Vancouver culinary scene. portance of learning from your
able and technical skills the cor- I learned so much from man- mistakes and being genuine-
nerstones of my career growth. aging our family’s restaurant for ly apologetic about these and
I challenged myself by learning two years and from the mistakes above all, moving onwards away
new skills each time I changed I made while running the restau- from the negative experiences.
industries. I did not change jobs; rant. I discovered what it’s like to As soon as we closed our fam-
I changed industries. There lies run a small business. I now fully ily restaurant in 2019, I decided
the huge difference. By doing so, understand that in order to be to work with my boyfriend, Ron
I was able to adapt to difficult successful in the food industry Zalko at his successful fitness
situations and understand com- business: it’s important to have club — a business that he built
plex concepts in life. The best a great location. You need to be on his own over the last 43 years!
part was having the wonderful visible to foot traffic. The restau- Ron is known as Vancouver’s
opportunities to have assist- rant industry is a hit and miss Fitness Guru and he is quite fa-
ed different successful leaders — most importantly, you need mous and well known especially
from varying industries. From to have the business acumen of during the 80’s. Ron is a pioneer
these leaders, I was able to learn the likes of Chef Michel Jacob, in the fitness industry and start-
and take on their habits and ap- Chef David Hawksworth and the ed the fitness revolution in Van-
plied these to myself. legendary Umberto Menghi of couver in the late 1970’s. He was
In 2017 at the age of 49, I Giardino which unfortunately I the first Canadian to complete
stopped working for others don’t have! the Hawaiian Ironman World
and instead, opened a small I will forever be grateful to Championships in Kona in 1981
cafe/ Filipino restaurant in my Mom for believing in me and also raced again in 1982.
Downtown Vancouver with my and for giving me the opportu- Ron is also the founder, vision-
family. I managed our family nity to work alongside her in ary, and architect of Ironman
owned Filipino restaurant for our family restaurant. My Mom Canada, an annual event for 30
two years. Whilst it was not suc- is a kind, generous, classy and years in Penticton.
cessful financially, still, I’d like gracious lady. Despite some Over the years, Ron has
to think that it became success- difficulties and professional dif- trained many celebrities at
ful in some ways because it was ferences, I will forever cherish his club including Lady Gaga,
well received by the community in my heart the fun moments I Faye Dunaway, Diane Carol,
and we did have long lineups had with my Mom during our Donny Osmond, Seal, Triple H,
www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 2023
Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson,
Jessica Biel, Ryan Reynolds,
Hugh Jackman, Micheal Clark
Duncan, Alannis Morissette,
Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried,
Bif Naked, and Eric McCormick
to name just a few.
In 2019 when I decided to
work with Ron, he became my
mentor and I learned so much
about the fitness industry from
him. Through Ron’s guidance
and training, I learned the art
of selling fitness membership.
Because of Ron, I discovered (at
the age of 51) that I have a strong
passion for sales! Even during
the pandemic, we did extreme-
ly well in terms of membership
sales. On my own, I was able to
generate a revenue of half a mil-
lion dollars between the middle
of 2020 and the middle of 2021
— a great feat considering it was
during Covid and the gym in-
dustry was badly hit by the pan-
demic restrictions imposed by
the government!
Ron and I started dating in the
fall of 2018 — we met on a blind
date which was arranged by our
mutual friend who later on be-
came Ron’s best man in our wed-
ding. Ron and I started living to-
Exchanging vows with “The Last One” at age 54 during our wedding on July 25,
2022. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
gether in 2019. After three years
of living together, Ron proposed
to me on May 25, 2022 and we
got married on July 25, 2022! I
chose Ron as my lifetime part-
ner because of the way he truly
loves me and the way he treats
me — like a Queen. As husband
and wife, we’re not only commit-
ted to each other personally, we
are also committed to each other
professionally. We work together
six days a week running the daily
operations of our fitness club.
It’s not all sunny days; it’s
also full of challenges. With the
highs, come the lows as well —
that’s life for you. We have lots
of competitors and there are
still many people out there who
are hesitant to come back to
working out at a gym because of
the pandemic. But my husband
and I don’t see these roadblocks
as an undefeatable obstacle or
adversity. On the contrary, we
embrace these challenges and
view them as stepping stones
and be inspired to build an even
more successful business. My
husband is such a positive mo-
tivating force in my life. I’ve
learned so much from him in a
span of five years. Every day, I
Maria in Vancouver
learn something new from him.
We love and genuinely enjoy
being together 24/7! He’s my
husband, my lover, my mentor
and my best friend rolled into
one complete package. In Ron,
I found my equal!
Aside from having a colour-
ful career, I’m also a mother to
my only son, William. In fact,
I’m a mother first and foremost.
The best job I have ever had is
that of a mother. It’s the most
fulfilling job I’ve ever had. It’s
been tough and challenging as
a single working mom, but for
the most part, it is extremely
rewarding. My son is the only
real family I have. My son and
I are extremely close and as we
both grew older, the dynamic
of our relationship has evolved
through the years. We are each
other’s confidants now. We
have an open communication
and now that he’s older, he’s
more free to share things with
me. I’m so proud of what he’s
achieved on his own. He’s a sen-
sible young man and above all,
I’m proud of his kindness. He’s
also resilient and a determined
young man. Of course, he’s not
perfect and he has his share of
ups and downs but he bounc-
es back from his mistakes and
learns from them. He’s not a
quitter. I always knew that he’s
a better kid than I ever was.
Thus, here is my life story’s
arc so far: My late teens were
my wild, dangerous and bad
rebellious years. My 20’s was
about starting my career, chas-
ing dreams and changing my life
around for the better. My 30’s
and 40’s were all about raising a
son on my own and juggling ca-
reer growth in different indus-
tries. Life in my 50’s is now all
about contentment and walking
the path towards redemption. It
is about spending quality time
with my son, my husband and
a few trusted and well-chosen
friends. It’s about choosing who I
allow to be in my life. I have a few
chosen friends who have become
my family. I have a small group of
girlfriends whom I call my Sister-
hood Tribe — we are not sisters
by blood, but sisters by heart. We
talk about our careers, our love
lives, our children, movies we’ve
seen, books we’ve read, fashion
trends, places we’ve travelled to,
and restaurants we’ve been to.
We don’t talk behind each other’s
backs, instead, we got each oth-
er’s backs!
In my 50’s, I’m living a
contented life, I’m living my
www.canadianinquirer.net
dreams and my best life. I’m at a
stage in life where I am truly en-
joying what I do for a living. I’m
passionate about membership
sales and encouraging people
to live healthier lifestyles. I’m
also passionate about writing
for a newspaper on the side. I’m
grateful that I am able to have a
platform where I can share my
voice. I’m happy with the rela-
tionships I have with my son,
my husband and a few close
friends. I live a quiet and peace-
ful lifestyle. I live a healthier
and happier lifestyle.
I’ve embraced ageing joyfully
in my 50’s by practising the fol-
lowing ways when it comes to
embracing ageing:
Avoiding toxic people and
cutting off toxic relation-
ships. In my 50’s, I’ve finally
chosen to avoid people who
don’t add anything to my life.
I avoid people who I’m in con-
flict with. Life is too short to
surround yourself with people
who are stressful to be with. I’ve
stopped communicating with
people I fight with. I’ve elimi-
nated toxicity from my life even
if it means cutting ties perma-
nently. I’ve apologised for my
mistakes and I’ve also learned
to forgive at the same time, but
it’s also important for me to live
my life drama-free. By doing
this, I found real freedom and
happiness.
In my 50’s, I opt to live my
life stress-free by only choosing
the people I want to surround
myself with: people who are de-
void of insecurities and jealou-
sy; people with whom I’m like
minded and people who accept
me for who I truly am with-
out judgement. I don’t want to
surround myself with people
who create drama and who are
control freaks. People who bad-
mouth you to others are highly
insecure people. They talk bad
about you, put you down, and
make fun of you because they’re
so unhappy with themselves
and the lives they live.
Practising self-acceptance
on a daily basis. I’m taking my
power back as a mother, as a
wife, and as a business woman
by making daily choices in life
that are authentic to me. For
instance, it’s my choice to still
colour my hair and avoid going
grey — not because I’m afraid of
ageing — but because I love the
way I look with my preferred
hair colour. I choose to age
naturally without Botox, fillers
and facelifts. Recently, I made
21
a powerful choice of getting rid
of my breast implants (which
I’ve had since 18). I decided that
at the age of 55, it’s about time
I accept my natural breasts
just the way they are! Much to
my surprise, they’re naturally
perky and I’m not flat chested
after all and didn’t really need
implants to begin with!
I decided to get rid of my
breast implants for two vital
reasons: my doctor discovered
through mammogram and MRI
that my implants have ruptured
and it is best for my health to
get a breast explant as soon as I
can. Secondly, at 55, I prefer to
grow old as naturally as I can. At
55, I finally accepted my flaws
and imperfections and have be-
come truly comfortable in my
natural skin. For me, this is the
heart of ageing happily: by sim-
ply accepting that we are older
and by not clinging to our youth
and our past. At this age, I have
nothing to hide anymore. I’ve
become more open, more trans-
parent and more true to myself
which is quite liberating!
Living a healthier life-
style. Ever since I met my hus-
band, I’ve started living a much
healthier lifestyle. I workout
three times a week. We do a lot
of walking. We eat healthier. We
don’t eat rice and we avoid carbs
as much as possible. We eat a lot
of vegetables, fruits and drink
lots of water. My husband does
not drink alcohol but I, on the
other hand, love to drink wine
and bubbly occasionally. How-
ever, I don’t smoke. I stopped
smoking a year after we moved
to Vancouver and when I cut off
ties with people who smoke. The
filthiest habit you could ever
have is smoking cigarettes. It’s
bad for your skin and hair (peo-
ple who have smoked for years
tend to have bad leathery skin).
The foul stench of cigarettes
sticks to your body, hair and
clothing. And ladies beware: my
male friends have confessed that
they don’t like kissing women
who smoke cigarettes because
it’s similar to French kissing
an ashtray! I know, I’m guilty
of smoker-shaming but hey, to
quote the great Oscar Wilde,
“the truth is rarely pure and nev-
er simple.”
I also get my blood work done
every year. I have my urine and
stool checked every year. I go
and have my Pap smear done
every year. I have my mammo-
❱❱ PAGE 26 Life in My 50’s
22
Women’s World Cup: The epidemic of
ACL tears in female soccer players
is about more than just biology
BY JACKIE WHITTAKER,
University of British Columbia,
CHRISTINA LE, University
of Alberta, LINDA TRUONG,
University of British Columbia
The Conversation
Over 25 of the world’s top fe-
male soccer players are missing
the 2023 FIFA Women’s World
Cup because of ACL tears, in-
cluding Canada’s Janine Beckie.
Female athletes are two to
eight times more likely to tear
their anterior cruciate ligament
(ACL) compared to males, and
their odds of returning to sport
within five years are 25 per cent
lower. If we trust the research,
we should brace ourselves for
two to three ACL tears during
the World Cup itself.
Greater awareness of the
ACL epidemic in women’s soc-
cer is shedding light on gender
disparities in sport and high-
lighting the need for immediate
action to create a more equita-
ble playing field.
Dreaded aftermath of the
ACL tear
The ACL is a thick band of
connective tissue found in the
middle of the knee joint. It
FIBA World Cup to reintroduce PH to the world - DOT
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippines
will wear its “puso” (heart) on
its proverbial sleeve as it hosts
the FIBA Basketball World Cup
2023 with the backing of the na-
tional government, through the
Department of Tourism (DOT).
The DOT will give fans rea-
sons to love the Philippines by
Sports
plays a vital role in controlling
knee joint motion and telling
the brain about knee position.
ACL tears typically happen
with movements that involve
pivoting and quick changes of di-
rection like pressing or tackling.
People usually feel or hear a pop
when they tear their ACL and ex-
perience significant joint swell-
ing within a couple of hours.
For athletes, the treatment
of an ACL tear involves physi-
cal therapy, exercise or surgery,
where the ACL is reconstructed
using a piece of tendon harvest-
ed from the quadricep or ham-
string muscles. Under ideal con-
ditions, recovery from an ACL
tear takes nine to 12 months.
Unfortunately, 30 per cent of
female athletes who tear their
ACL do not return to sport, and
even if they do, 15 per cent expe-
rience a re-tear. Even after treat-
ment and returning to sport,
people that tear their ACL are six
times more likely to develop ear-
ly onset osteoarthritis, a degen-
erative joint disease character-
ized by pain and loss of function.
Greater risk for female
athletes
While past research has fo-
cused on differences in anato-
marrying world-class basket-
ball with world-class experienc-
es in 15 destinations through
travel packages available from
Aug. 1 to Sept. 30.
“We see the FIBA Basketball
World Cup 2023 as an oppor-
tunity to, first and foremost,
re-introduce the Philippines to
the world on the strength of its
natural assets, award-winning
destinations, and cities on the
my, biomechanics and monthly
hormonal cycles, these biologi-
cal factors do not paint a com-
plete picture of why female ath-
letes tear their ACL more than
their male counterparts.
The environments in which
female athletes learn and play
sport also contribute to the
risk. The gender stereotypes
that permeate sport often un-
dervalue females’ athletic abil-
ities, which can lead to fewer
and inferior opportunities and
resources. For example, at the
2021 NCAA March Madness,
male athletes had access to a
full gym, while female athletes
rise,” DOT Secretary Christina
Frasco said at the official launch
of the Philippine tour packages
for international and local bas-
ketball fans at the DOT Office in
Makati City on July 25.
“This is also the time for Fil-
ipinos to come together to sup-
port the Philippine team, as well
as a chance for citizens of the
world to remember their sense
of nationhood,” she added.
www.canadianinquirer.net
were provided with a few light
dumbbells and yoga mats.
Girls and women with mus-
cular and bulky body types are
seen by some as unattractive,
which can also impact access
and enthusiasm for weight
training. This gender stereo-
typing is a problem because
weight training is important for
preventing ACL tears.
The rapid professionaliza-
tion of women’s soccer has also
led to higher physical demands
on female players and an in-
creased risk of injury. Howev-
er, the sporting environment
hasn’t kept up, lacking resourc-
While the action gets going
in the world meet to be played
at Philippine Arena in Bula-
can, Smart Araneta Coliseum
in Quezon City and SM Mall of
Asia Arena in Pasay, tourism ex-
periences to Bacolod, Batangas,
Bohol, Boracay, Cavite, Cebu,
Davao, Ilocos Norte and Sur, Il-
oilo, La Union, Manila, Palawan,
Pampanga, and Tagaytay prom-
ise to give a taste of colorful and
AUGUST 4, 2023 FRIDAY
es, facilities and coaching tai-
lored to meet the needs of fe-
male athletes.
Shorter, condensed seasons
with match congestion combined
with limited strength training
programs — and in some cases
limited access to skilled coach-
es and medical teams — further
contributes to the ACL problem.
Addressing the epidemic
Solving this problem re-
quires every member of the soc-
cer community. To begin with,
investing more resources and
expertise into women’s soccer
is crucial. This means a nation-
al professional league, pay and
resource equity, investment in
long-term welfare and prior-
itizing training opportunities
for female coaches, trainers and
medical staff.
There is also an urgent need to
fund research focused on female
health, injury prevention and
long-term health. This research
should be conducted collabora-
tively with players, coaches and
sport federations so that every-
one has an invested interest in
acting on the findings.
We know that injury preven-
❱❱ PAGE 25 Women’s World Cup:
wonderful Filipino culture.
Several travel packages to go
“from courtside to paradise”
are already available at discov-
erphilippines.travel with credit
cards, GCash, Maya, and Grab-
Pay as payment options.
This is much in line with
both the FIBA Local Organiz-
ing Committee and DOT’s aim
❱❱ PAGE 27 FIBA World Cup
FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 2023
PBBM to DepEd: Harness student athletes’
talents, sportsmanship
BY WILNARD BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Fer-
dinand R. Marcos Jr. on Mon-
day urged the Department of
Education (DepEd) to contin-
ue harnessing the country’s
student-athletes’ talents and
sportsmanship to succeed not
only in their chosen sports and
academic work but in their
journey of life.
“I urge the Department of
Education to keep harnessing
the talents and sportsmanship
of our student-athletes. Con-
tinue to leverage your reach
and resources to provide them
with the support, training and
opportunities that they thrive
on and on which they will suc-
ceed,” Marcos said in his speech
during the formal opening
ceremony of the 2023 Palar-
ong Pambansa at the Marikina
Sports Center in Marikina City.
Marcos assured the govern-
ment remains steadfast in de-
veloping the “prowess of young
Filipino athletes and in cham-
pioning their well-being.”
“We have faith that you will
emerge victorious – not only
victorious against the challeng-
es in the playing field, in your
academic work, but also in the
journey of life,” he said.
Marcos said greater school
participation in sports com-
petitions will motivate stu-
Why it’s bad..
❰❰ 19 The compression of
the abdomen also re-
duces the amount of
space available for the abdomi-
nal organs to reside. If you con-
sider the abdomen like a tube of
toothpaste, squeezing it in the
middle creates pressure at the
top and bottom. The pressure
at the top affects breathing by
making the diaphragm (the ma-
jor muscle involved in drawing
air in) unable to pull down as far.
The pressure at the bottom
places greater force on the pelvic
floor muscles as the abdominal
cavity reduces in volume when
the abdomen is sucked in. Along-
dent-athletes not bring the bea-
con for the country but will also
build their character and disci-
pline as Filipinos.
“With consistent and dili-
gent efforts, I am confident that
they will eventually bring glory
to our nation not only in the
field of sports, but also in other
endeavors that they will choose
to pursue,” he said.
Marcos lauded the stu-
dent-athletes, coaches and train-
ers for their dedication to sports
which he described as “both in-
spiring and remarkable.”
“As you take part in your cho-
sen sport, remember you are
already champions. And now,
you represent your respective
schools and localities. Compete
with excellence, fairness, and
integrity,” Marcos told the stu-
dent-athletes.
“I am certain that many of
our participants here one day,
will be watching in internation-
al competitions as we have be-
come a force in terms of inter-
national sports,” he added.
The President was accom-
panied on stage by Vice Pres-
ident and DepEd Secretary
Sara Duterte, Philippine Sports
Commission Commissioner
Matthew Gaston, Special Assis-
tant to the President Secretary
Anton Lagdameo and Marikina
Mayor Marcy Teodoro.
After three years of hiatus
due to the Covid-19 pandemic,
the Palarong Pambansa finally
side this, there are increased
forces placed on the joints of the
spine and pelvis because the ab-
dominal muscles are less able to
absorb impact when tensed.
Although there’s limited re-
search looking at the effect of
hourglass syndrome itself on
breathing capacity, research on
abdominal strapping (where
the whole abdomen or only part
of it is strapped to aid recovery
from a muscle injury or after
surgery), shows a 34% decrease
in the amount of air that’s ex-
haled and a 27%-40% reduction
in total lung capacity. It’s uncer-
tain if this leads to long-term
returned with a theme “Batang
Malakas, Bansang Matatag” (A
Strong Youth, A Stable Nation).
It started on July 29 and will
end on Aug. 5.
No extension of Palaro
Meanwhile, the DepEd said it
has no plan to extend the 2023
Palarong Pambansa despite the
bad weather due to Typhoon
Falcon and enhanced south-
west monsoon or habagat.
In a media interview, DepEd
Assistant Secretary for Opera-
tions and Palarong Pambansa
2023 Secretary General, Francis
Cesar Bringas, said only the out-
door games will be affected by
PALARONG PAMBANSA OPENS. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. delivers
his speech at the opening ceremony of the 2023 Palarong Pambansa, the
country’s largest youth sporting event involving elementary and high school
student-athletes, at the Marikina Sports Center in Marikina City on Monday
(July 31, 2023). Marcos urged the Department of Education to keep harness-
ing the talents and sportsmanship of student-athletes. (JOEY O. RAZON/PNA)
changes in breathing capacity.
But in the short term, this may
it harder to exercise – and you
may also feel fatigued earlier
due to reduced oxygen coming
into the bloodstream.
Sucking in the abdomen can
place strain on the pelvic floor,
which will affect the function
of the bladder, uterus and rec-
tum, potentially causing urine
or faecal matter to leak, as well
as uterine prolapse. For people
who already have issues with
pelvic floor dysfunction (such
as urinary or faecal inconti-
nence), sucking in the stomach
may worsen them.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Sports
schedule adjustments, depend-
ing on the weather condition.
“For indoor sports, I don’t
think there’s going to be any ex-
tension in the number of days.
But for the outdoor events, we
will be looking at adjustments
in schedules based on the rules
of these specific games. There’s
going to be an alternative
schedule for that,” Bringas said.
“We will not be extending
that long because an extension
of more than one day would be
costly for the city as well as the
delegations,” he added.
Bringas said the city govern-
ment deployed medical teams
Fortunately, hourglass syn-
drome is reversible. Treat-
ing the muscular imbal-
ance through exercises that
strengthen all of the core mus-
cles will help. Exercises such
as planks or bridges are just a
couple of examples. Similarly,
activities such as yoga or pilates
are also likely to be beneficial in
relaxing the muscles.
Hourglass syndrome is prob-
ably something that will devel-
op over a long period – weeks
of consistently sucking in the
stomach. So occasionally suck-
ing the stomach muscles in is
not likely to cause problems.
23
in the strategic areas, including
the billeting quarters and play-
ing venues to ensure the health
and safety of the delegations
throughout the event.
He also said the city govern-
ment will also shoulder the
hospitalization of the delegates
should injuries and accidents
may happen during the games.
Around 7,200 best athletes,
coaches, assistant coaches and
trainers from the country’s
17 regions participated in this
year’s Palarong Pambansa.
“But in total, our delegation
is a little over 11,000 and that in-
cludes all the committees of the
different delegations,” he added.
PBBM’s support to DepEd
Bringas thanked Marcos for
his commitment to continue
supporting the DepEd’s educa-
tion programs under Vice Pres-
ident Duterte who is advocating
education reforms “through uni-
ty and shared education goals.”
“You know it’s very import-
ant that we always get the affir-
mation of the President when
it comes to the different pro-
grams of the Department of Ed-
ucation,” he said.
“This has got to show that
it takes a Vice President and a
President to lead the direction
for the Department of Educa-
tion for the improvement not
only for the academic skills of
learners, but their holistic de-
velopment–and that includes
sports,” Bringas added. ■
There are also many ways
you can avoid it. If you have
unexplained or prolonged ab-
dominal pain, it’s worth seek-
ing medical advice – not only
to prevent muscle imbalances
but also to treat the root cause
of the pain. If you tend to suck
your stomach in to improve
your appearance, exercises that
strengthen the muscles and
back will be useful for helping
maintain good posture and flat-
ten the abdomen. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
24
Rate hikes may have slowed inflation in the
US – but they have also heightened the risk
of financial crises for lower-income nations
BY CRISTINA BODEA,
Michigan State University
The Conversation
The campaign to fight U.S. in-
flation by upping interest rates
has been going on for a year and
a half – and its impacts are be-
ing felt around the world.
On July 26, 2023, the Feder-
al Reserve announced another
quarter-point hike. That means
U.S. rates have now gone up
5.25 percentage points over the
past 18 months. While inflation
is now coming down in the U.S.,
the aggressive monetary policy
may also be having significant
longer-term impact on coun-
tries across the world, especial-
ly in developing countries. And
that isn’t good.
I study how economic phe-
nomena such as banking crises,
periods of high inflation and
soaring rates affect countries
around the world and believe
this prolonged period of higher
U.S. interest rates has increased
the risk of economic and social
instability, especially in low-
er-income nations.
Ripples around the world
Monetary policy decisions
in the U.S., such as raising in-
terest rates, have a ripple effect
in low-income countries – not
least because of the central role
of the dollar in the global econ-
omy. Many emerging economies
rely on the dollar for trade, and
most borrow in the U.S. dollar
– all at rates influenced by the
Federal Reserve. And when U.S.
interest rates go up, many coun-
tries – and especially developing
ones – tend to follow suit.
This is largely out of concern
for currency depreciation. Rais-
ing U.S. interest rates has the
effect of making American gov-
ernment and corporate bonds
look more attractive to inves-
Business
tors. The result is footloose for-
eign capital flows out of emerg-
ing markets that are deemed
riskier. This pushes down the
currencies of those nations and
prompts governments in low-
er-income nations to scramble
to mirror U.S. Federal Reserve
policy. The problem is, many
of these countries already have
high interest rates, and further
hikes limit how much govern-
ments can lend to expand their
own economies – heightening
the risk of recession.
Then there is the impact that
raising rates in the U.S. has had
on countries with large debts.
When rates were lower, a lot
of lower-income nations took
on high levels of international
debt to offset the financial im-
pact of the COVID-19 pandem-
ic and then later the effect of
higher prices caused by war in
Ukraine. But the rising cost of
borrowing makes it more diffi-
cult for governments to cover
repayments that are coming
due now. This condition, called
“debt distress,” is affecting an
increasing number of countries.
Writing in May 2023, when he
was still president of the World
Bank, David Malpass estimated
that some 60% of lower-income
countries are in or high risk of
entering debt distress.
More broadly, any attempt to
slow down growth to lower in-
flation in the U.S. – which is the
intended aim of raising interest
rates – will have a knock-on ef-
fect on the economies of small-
er nations. As borrowing costs
in the U.S. increase, businesses
and consumers will find them-
selves with less cheap money
for all goods – domestic or in-
ternational. Meanwhile, any
fears that the Fed has pulled
on the brakes too quickly and is
risking recession will suppress
consumer spending further.
The risk of spillover
This isn’t just theory – histo-
ry has shown that in practice it
is true.
When then-Fed Chair Paul
Volcker fought domestic infla-
tion in the late 1970s and early
1980s, he did so with aggressive
interest rate hikes that pushed
up the cost of borrowing around
the world. It contributed to debt
crises for 16 Latin American
countries and led to what became
known in the region as the “lost
decade” – a period of economic
stagnation and soaring poverty.
The current rate increas-
es are not of the same order as
those of the early 1980s, when
rates rose to nearly 20%. But
rates are high enough to prompt
fears among economists. The
World Bank’s most recent Glob-
al Economic Prospects report
included a whole section on
the spillover from U.S. interest
rates to developing nations. It
noted: “The rapid rise in inter-
www.canadianinquirer.net
est rates in the United States
poses a significant challenge to
[emerging markets and devel-
oping economies],” adding that
the result was “higher likeli-
hood” of financial crises among
vulnerable economies.
Widening the wealth gap
Research I conducted with
others suggests that the kind of
financial crises hinted at by the
World Bank – currency depre-
ciation and debt distress – can
rip the social fabric of develop-
ing countries by increasing pov-
erty and income inequality.
Income inequality is at an
all-time high – both within in-
dividual countries and between
the richer and developing coun-
tries. The 2022 World Inequali-
ty Report notes that, currently,
the richest 10% of individuals
globally take home 52% of all
global income, while the poor-
est half of the global population
receives a mere 8.5%. And such
a wealth gap is deeply corro-
AUGUST 4, 2023 FRIDAY
sive for societies: Inequality of
income and wealth has been
shown to both harm democracy
and reduce popular support for
democratic institutions. It has
also been linked to political vi-
olence and corruption.
Financial crises – such as
the kind that higher interest
rates in the U.S. may spark – in-
crease the chance of economic
slowdowns or even recessions.
Worryingly, the World Bank has
warned that developing nations
face a “multi-year period of
slow growth” that will only in-
crease rates of poverty. And his-
tory has shown that the impact
of such economic conditions
fall hardest on lower-skilled
low-income people.
These effects are compound-
ed by government policies, such
as cuts in spending and govern-
ment services, which, again,
disproportionately hit the less
well-off. And if a country is
struggling to pay back sover-
eign debt as a result of higher
global interest rates, then it also
has less cash to help its poorest
citizens.
So in a very real sense, a pe-
riod of higher interest rates in
the U.S. can have a detrimental
effect on the economic, political
and social well-being of devel-
oping nations.
There is a caveat, howev-
er. With inflation in the U.S.
slowing, further interest rate
increases may be limited. It
could be the case that regard-
less of whether Fed policy has
threaded the needle of slowing
the U.S. economy but not by too
much, it has nonetheless sown
the seeds of more potentially
severe economic – and social –
woes in poorer nations. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 2023
The shift from owning to renting goods is
ushering in a new era of consumerism
BY SEUNG HWAN (MARK)
LEE, Toronto Metropolitan
University, OMAR H. FARES,
Toronto Metropolitan
University
The Conversation
Today’s consumer landscape
is witnessing a pivotal shift away
from traditional ownership to-
wards an access-based model.
Rather than outright owning
goods and services, people prefer
to simply have access to them.
Access-based consumption
means engaging in transac-
tions where ownership doesn’t
change hands. Instead of own-
ing physical copies of DVDs or
CDs, for example, people sub-
scribe to streaming services.
Consumers are able to access a
wide range of products without
the burden that comes with tra-
ditional ownership.
This approach is closely as-
sociated with the sharing econ-
omy, which encourages col-
laborative consumption. This
involves sharing, swapping and
renting resources, eliminating
the need for personal owner-
ship of these goods.
The term “sharing economy”
came into use after the 2007 fi-
nancial crisis as people sought
alternative ways to access
goods and services, but started
gaining more widespread usage
in 2010 and 2011.
The sharing economy is grow-
ing exponentially. It’s projected
to reach a market volume of $335
billion by 2025. This indicates
that the way we consume goods
and services has — and continues
to — evolve significantly.
A response to global chal-
lenges
At a time filled with economic
instability driven by a wealth of
factors, including the long-last-
Women’s World Cup:..
❰❰ 22 tion warm-up pro-
grams can reduce the
number of ACL tears
and despite flashy misleading
headlines there is no evidence
that contraceptives decrease the
risk. Every single female ath-
ing effects of COVID-19 and the
war in Ukraine, consumers con-
tinue to shift their consump-
tion habits to align with these
economic shocks.
The access-based and shar-
ing economy has emerged as
a powerful response to these
global challenges, offering a
flexible, cost-effective and
more sustainable alternative to
the long-standing paradigm of
ownership.
The rise of access-based con-
sumption doesn’t appear to be a
passing phase. Rather, it appears
to be an enduring form of con-
sumption that is emerging in var-
ious industries, including trans-
portation, fashion and toys.
Navigating the current eco-
nomic landscape requires a
solid grasp of these evolving
paradigms. The rise of the ac-
cess-based and sharing econ-
omy is more than a trend to-
wards cost saving; it’s about
constructing a sturdier, sus-
tainable consumption model.
What is driving the shift
The growth of access-based
consumption is driven by two
main things. First, access-based
lete who plays soccer, from the
grassroots to professional levels,
needs this knowledge so they
can make informed decisions.
To foster lasting change and
promote the health and success
of female soccer players, we
consumption is predicated on
the affordability, value and con-
venience it offers to consumers.
Participation in car-sharing
services, such as Zipcar and
Turo, are primarily driven by
these factors.
Secondly, access-based con-
sumption provides environ-
mental and social benefits by
encouraging consumers to
share and increasing the usage
of a particular good.
In the fashion industry, rental
services allow consumers to en-
joy a variety of choices and gain
access to luxury goods they may
not otherwise be able to pur-
chase. These services are also
beneficial for those experienc-
ing body changes, like pregnant
women, as clothing can be shared
to reduce careless disposal.
Access-based consumption
means there is a time-related
aspect to the transaction, either
in the form of duration of access
or usage. Even so, this doesn’t
stop consumers from develop-
ing a sense of perceived owner-
ship over a good or service.
For example, consumers may
develop a sense of pride, attach-
must confront the gender in-
equities that have long persist-
ed in the sport. By showcasing
the talents of female athletes in
media, we can challenge gender
stereotypes, demonstrate that
female athletes are not lesser
www.canadianinquirer.net
Business
ment and responsibility towards
a shared community garden.
They may gain social value from
participating in this experience.
This social component also
extends to peer-to-peer ac-
commodation services, like
Airbnb. One study found that
the primary reasons American
travellers used such a service
included sustainability and
connecting with community.
Interestingly, while service
providers tout intrinsic mo-
tivations, such as promoting
sustainability and building a
community, users often have
extrinsic factors such as afford-
ability and convenience on top
of their minds.
What does this mean for
businesses?
Businesses need to reimag-
ine traditional profit strategies,
resource utilization, societal
impacts and community rela-
tionships to better adapt to this
shift in the economic paradigm.
Rethink profit: In an ac-
cess-based economy, business-
es need to shift their profit
strategies from selling products
to facilitating access. This calls
for innovative approaches to
monetizing services, such as
tiered subscriptions, dynam-
ic pricing or pay-per-use ap-
proaches, creating multiple
revenue streams while fulfilling
diverse consumer needs.
Maximizing technological
resources: The role of tech-
nology is central in orchestrat-
ing transactions, maintain-
ing inventory and ensuring a
seamless user experience. In
an access-based environment,
businesses must harness tech
advancements like AI, data
analytics and the Internet of
Things to streamline opera-
tions. Investing in digital infra-
structure is critical to success
than their male counterparts
and create more opportunities
for growth.
Only through collective effort
and a commitment to address-
ing all the root causes of ACL in-
juries in female athletes can we
25
in the access-based economy.
Beyond revenue: Profit isn’t
the sole aim anymore. The ac-
cess-based economy focuses on
sustainable practices and soci-
etal impact. Businesses can po-
sition themselves as conscious
brands by promoting resource
optimization and contributing
to societal and communal wel-
fare. This shift towards corpo-
rate social responsibility not
only elevates a brand’s image,
but also resonates with the
growing consumer demand for
ethical consumption.
The power of trust: Trust
is one of the cornerstones of
the access-based economy.
Consumers need the assurance
of safety, quality and reliabili-
ty before partaking in sharing
transactions. Businesses can
foster trust by implementing
transparent practices, rigorous
quality checks and responsive
customer service.
The future of consumerism
While ownership does offer
consumers unique benefits, in-
cluding enhanced autonomy
and a stronger sense of con-
sumer identity, it’s clear we are
shifting away from this model.
As consumers and business-
es navigate and adapt to this
new landscape, we are not just
witnessing a change in how we
consume, but in how we per-
ceive value, community and our
roles within it.
This dynamic shift towards
an access-based model, fuelled
by intrinsic and extrinsic moti-
vations, is driven by the idea of a
shared future built on access to
goods and services, improved ef-
ficiency and collective value. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
build a future where all athletes
have an equal chance to excel in
the beautiful game. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
 26
EU-PH free trade deal formal talks eyed in 2024
BY KRIS CRISMUNDO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – As European
Commission President Ursula
von der Leyen confirmed the
European Union’s (EU) interest
to recommence free trade agree-
ment (FTA) negotiations with
the Philippines during her visit
to the Philippines from July 31
to Aug. 1, the country’s top trade
official targets to relaunch the
formal negotiations next year.
During von der Leyen’s event
with the European Chamber of
Commerce of the Philippines
(ECCP) and the Makati Busi-
ness Club (MBC) in Makati City
Monday, Department of Trade
and Industry (DTI) Secretary
Alfredo Pascual told reporters
they target to restart the scop-
ing discussion by September
and finish it within the year.
“It will start with a scoping
discussion that will start some-
time in September, and the
target is to complete it before
Life in My 50’s..
❰❰ 21 gram checked every
year. I have my teeth
cleaned and checked
every 6 months. I have my eyes
checked every other year. Now-
adays, I avoid sweets — well,
with the exception of indulging
once in a while on Lee’s deli-
cious and decadent donuts! At
55, I currently weigh 119 lbs.
Living healthier also means
being mentally and emotion-
ally healthier. You can achieve
these by (again) avoiding toxic
relationships and doing healthy
activities such as going for
hikes, doing yoga, Pilates and
meditating. It is also important
to get at least 7-8 hours sleep.
I also avoid the sun like a
plague — I’m addicted to mois-
turizers. For me, sunbathing is
akin to putting yourself inside
an oven and damaging your skin
and health in the process. I get
why some women do it — as an
Asian woman myself, some of
us have always held this belief
that white men will choose us
over other women if our skin
is darker. What a stupid and
archaic belief! Know that as a
woman, your worth is much
Business
the end of the year so that the
formal negotiation of the FTA
could follow suit hopefully by
the start of the new calendar
year 2024,” Pascual said.
Earlier, Pascual said the DTI
aims for a timely conclusion
of the FTA with the EU, as the
country is expected to gradu-
ate from the EU’s Generalised
Scheme of Preferences Plus
(GSP+). The Philippines is seen
to become an upper-middle in-
come country by 2025.
“The moment we achieve
being an upper middle-income
country, you have three years
to stay with the GSP+. And it’s
also possible that we are enjoy-
ing the benefits of the GSP+ and
also having the FTA on the oth-
er hand,” he said.
“What we want to happen is
all the preferential treatment
that we are getting under the
GSP+ will be carried over to
the FTA so that there will be a
greater permanence of the pref-
erential treatment that we are
getting now. So that’s the mini-
more than your skin and looks.
Living a purposeful life-
style. At 55, I finally discovered
my purpose in life. I live a pur-
poseful lifestyle by being a moth-
er, a wife, a business woman, and
being creative in my life. I’ve
always been creative. I love oil
painting, I love sketching, taking
photographs, and nowadays I get
creative through writing. I feel
so blessed and grateful that I’m
a mother, a wife, I’m actually en-
joying what I do for a living, and
on top of these, I get to indulge
my passion for writing.
The true definition of a pur-
poseful life is: to live each day
with meaning and intent rather
than waiting for a purpose to re-
veal itself. For sure, life is full of
distractions and these can take
you away from your true self but
when you choose to face these
barriers head on and never give
up on achieving your dream life-
style, then you are living your
life purposefully. When you
choose to live in alignment with
your core set of values — you are
living purposefully.
Be a joyspotter and a
grateful human! Seek joy and
mum that we’d ask for,” the DTI
chief added.
Under the GSP+, over 6,274
products of the Philippines are
treated with zero tariffs.
Meanwhile, Pascual said the
EU is interested in lowering the
tariff for automotive vehicles
to compete with those coming
from neighboring countries.
EU-Philippines FTA negoti-
GUESTBOOK SIGNING. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. looks on as Eu-
ropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signs the guestbook at
Malacañang Palace on Monday (July 31, 2023). (REY BANIQUET/PNA)
happiness even in littlest ways.
Find joy in buying yourself
flowers. Find joy in your own
company: learn to dine in a fine
dining restaurant on your own.
Find happiness in doing your
daily errands. Be grateful that
you’re alive and ageing! Grow-
ing old is a gift denied to many
so be grateful that you reached
this stage. Be grateful that
you’re still working and earning
a living even at your old age: it
means you’re healthy and capa-
ble of still working! Or be hap-
py that you’re retired and do-
ing nothing. There is absolute
joy in doing nothing! Be happy
while you’re still alive.
Just recently after my breast
explant and capsulectomy
surgery, I hugged my doctor
when I woke up from surgery!
I told my doctor: “Thank you
so much for keeping me alive!”
Right after my surgery, I was so
grateful and blessed to wake up
next to my loyal husband who
stayed with me throughout my
surgery. After my surgery, the
first thing I did was to call my
son and tell him I love him! My
son was sure happy to know his
www.canadianinquirer.net
ations have been on hiatus for
the past six years, with the last
formal negotiations conducted
in Brussels in Belgium in 2016
and Cebu in 2017.
Amid the changes in the glob-
al economic agenda, recom-
mencing a scoping discussion,
or the “terms of reference” for
the negotiations, will be neces-
sary before relaunching the for-
mom is still around to bug him
on a daily basis! I’m truly grate-
ful that after my surgery, the re-
sult of my pathology and biopsy
report was benign and there
was no risk of breast cancer.
Never stop learning. The
key to embracing ageing is to
keep your mind active and en-
gaged. Try to learn new skills.
Learn a new language. Learn a
new recipe. Learn about a new
country. Learn the newest tech
gadgets. Learn how to be in Tik-
Tok. Learn to engage in the new
world the younger generation is
creating. Don’t be afraid to learn
something new each day. Learn
to adapt and be relevant by re-
maining curious at all times. By
learning constantly, you inad-
vertently become youthful and
keep your joie de vivre!
You do you! Apart from self
acceptance, for me, the true
definition of conscious ageing
is defining your own path — you
do you! You don’t need any-
one else’s approval and accep-
tance. You don’t feel the need
to kowtow or succumb to what
people think you should be or
what your life should be. At this
AUGUST 4, 2023 FRIDAY
mal FTA talks.
“We are very happy because
I’ve spent time following this
up with my trip to Brussels in
October last year and in July
this year. I am glad that finally,
it came to terms that they will
relaunch it,” the DTI chief said.
Pascual added the interest
of the EU to resume FTA talks
with the Philippines signals
that the EU recognizes the
Marcos administration’s efforts
to address issues and concerns
on human rights.
“Under the leadership of
President (Ferdinand R.) Mar-
cos Jr., the DTI, along with our
inter-agency negotiating team,
will closely work with counter-
parts from the European Com-
mission to ensure the success
of the scoping exercise this
year. We look forward to the re-
sults of this exercise in support
of our mutual objective to offi-
cially resume the PH-EU FTA
negotiations at the most oppor-
tune time,” he said in a separate
statement. ■
stage, you should be living your
life already according to your
own beliefs, rules, and desires.
At this age, you and your life-
style are not dictated by society.
At this age, you have become
your own pioneer!
In my 50’s, I’ve realized that
growing older is not about age-
ing gracefully, it’s about age-
ing joyfully and gratefully! In
my 50’s, I’m living a fulfilling
life! In my 50’s, I’m writing and
creating my own life story: an
empowered single mother who
rescued herself and faced her
own battles with eyes and heart
wide open. In my 50’s, I eventu-
ally chose my lifetime partner
who is my equal (not a Prince
Charming; my life is not a fairy-
tale story!) and continues to live
my life happily and meaningful-
ly according to my own terms. ■
Matte Laurel-Zalko is a former
restaurateur and hotelier, a moth-
er, a wife, a health and wellness
aficionado, food and wine enthu-
siast, a dog-lover, and lifestyle col-
umnist exclusively for Philippine
Canadian Inquirer (PCI).
FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 2023 27

Giving AI direct control over anything is a
bad idea – here’s how it could do us real harm
BY GUILLAUME THIERRY,
Bangor University
The Conversation
The release of the advanced
chatbot ChatGPT in 2022 got ev-
eryone talking about artificial in-
telligence (AI). Its sophisticated
capabilities amplified concerns
about AI becoming so advanced
that soon we would not be able
to control it. This even led some
experts and industry leaders to
warn that the technology could
lead to human extinction.
Other commentators,
though, were not convinced.
Noam Chomsky, a professor of
linguistics, dismissed ChatGPT
as “hi-tech plagiarism”.
For years, I was relaxed about
the prospect of AI’s impact on
human existence and our envi-
ronment. That’s because I always
thought of it as a guide or adviser
to humans. But the prospect of
AIs taking decisions – exerting
executive control – is another
matter. And it’s one that is now
being seriously entertained.
One of the key reasons we
shouldn’t let AI have executive
power is that it entirely lacks
emotion, which is crucial for
decision-making. Without emo-
tion, empathy and a moral com-
pass, you have created the per-
fect psychopath. The resulting
system may be highly intelligent,
but it will lack the human emo-
tional core that enables it to mea-
sure the potentially devastating
emotional consequences of an
otherwise rational decision.
When AI takes executive
control
Importantly, we shouldn’t
only think of AI as an existen-
Technology
tial threat if we were to put it
in charge of nuclear arsenals.
There is essentially no limit to
the number of positions of con-
trol from which it could exert
unimaginable damage.
Consider, for example, how
AI can already identify and or-
ganise the information required
to build your own conservatory.
Current iterations of the tech-
nology can guide you effectively
through each step of the build
and prevent many beginner’s
mistakes. But in future, an AI
might act as project manager
and coordinate the build by se-
lecting contractors and paying
them directly from your budget.
AI is already being used in
pretty much all domains of infor-
mation processing and data anal-
ysis – from modelling weather
patterns to controlling driverless
vehicles to helping with medi-
cal diagnoses. But this is where
problems start – when we let AI
systems take the critical step up
from the role of adviser to that of
executive manager.
Instead of just suggesting
remedies to a company’s ac-
counts, what if an AI was given
direct control, with the ability
to implement procedures for
recovering debts, make bank
transfers, and maximise profits
– with no limits on how to do
this. Or imagine an AI system
not only providing a diagnosis
based on X-rays, but being given
the power to directly prescribe
treatments or medication.
You might start feeling uneasy
about such scenarios – I certain-
ly would. The reason might be
your intuition that these ma-
chines do not really have “souls”.
They are just programs designed
to digest huge amounts of infor- gradually at first, pushing con- middle of winter, or air-condi-
mation in order to simplify com- trols just past a tipping point tioning systems at the peak of
plex data into much simpler pat- so that no human notices the summer heat?
terns, allowing humans to make crops are condemned. Under In short, an AI system does
decisions with more confidence. certain scenarios, this could not have to be put in charge of
They do not – and cannot – have quickly lead to famine. nuclear weapons to represent a
emotions, which are intimately Alternatively, how about shut- serious threat to humanity. But
linked to biological senses and ting down air traffic control glob- while we’re on this topic, if an AI
instincts. ally, or simply crashing all planes system was powerful and intelli-
Emotions and morals flying at any one time? Some gent enough, it could find a way
Emotional intelligence is the 22,000 planes are normally in of faking an attack on a country
ability to manage our emotions the air simultaneously, which with nuclear weapons, triggering
to overcome stress, empathise, adds up to a potential death toll a human-initiated retaliation.
and communicate effectively. of several million people. Could AI kill large numbers of
This arguably matters more in If you think that we are far humans? The answer has to be
the context of decision-mak- from being in that situation, yes, in theory. But this depends
ing than intelligence alone, be- think again. AIs already drive in large part on humans decid-
cause the best decision is not cars and fly military aircraft, ing to give it executive control.
always the most rational one. autonomously. I can’t really think of anything
It’s likely that intelligence, Alternatively, how about more terrifying than an AI that
the ability to reason and op- shutting down access to bank can make decisions and has the
erate logically, can be embed- accounts across vast regions power to implement them. ■
ded into AI-powered systems of the world, triggering civ-
so they can make rational de- il unrest everywhere at once? This article is republished
cisions. But imagine asking a Or shutting off computer-con- from The Conversation under a
powerful AI with executive ca- trolled heating systems in the Creative Commons license.
pabilities to resolve the climate
crisis. The first thing it might be
inspired to do is drastically re-
duce the human population.
This deduction does not need
much explaining. We humans
are, almost by definition, the
source of pollution in every pos-
sible form. Axe humanity and cli-
mate change would be resolved.
It’s not the choice that human
decision-makers would come to,
one hopes, but an AI would find
its own solutions – impenetrable
and unencumbered by a human
aversion to causing harm. And
if it had executive power, there
might not be anything to stop it
from proceeding.
Sabotage scenarios
How about sabotaging sen-
sors and monitors controlling
food farms? This might happen

FIBA World Cup..

❰❰ 22 of sharing the Philip-
pines’ love for basket-
ball and life with the
whole world.
“We see these efforts are
not only for love of sport, but
we also see the value of their
contribution to tourism,” DOT
Undersecretary and organizing
committee chair Elaine Bathan
said. “This is aligned with the
direction of DOT to introduce
www.canadianinquirer.net
the Philippines as a sports World Cup 2023 games are avail-
hub and venue for many other able at ticketnet.com.ph for Smart
sports and sporting events.” Araneta Coliseum and smtickets.
Tickets to the FIBA Basketball com for SM Mall of Asia Arena. ■
28
Twitter’s rebrand to X shifts the focus to
Musk’s ‘everything app’ plans but here’s
why he might have moved too early
BY JAMIE MARSDEN,
University of Leeds
The Conversation
A succession of upheavals
have characterised Elon Musk’s
leadership of Twitter since he
acquired the social media plat-
form in November 2022 – from
his U-turns on the acquisition,
to firings and rehirings and a
significant drop in advertis-
ing revenue. But his latest
move is the most significant:
abandoning the globally rec-
ognised Twitter brand and
renaming the platform X.
Such drastic changes are
usually accompanied by
presentations delving into
rebrand reasoning from
company execs desperate
to show how the new image
aligns with organisational
strategy and company vision.
But in keeping with Twit-
ter’s disruptive nature of
late, no in-depth explana-
tion for the X rebrand was
given to company outsiders,
although Musk invited us-
ers to submit a logo design.
In a widely reported-on in-
ternal memo, chief execu-
tive Linda Yaccarino invited
staff to “build X” with her and
Musk, without giving details as
to how and why.
From a brand identity per-
spective, the choice of the X
symbol was unsurprising. Musk
has used the letter for his engi-
neering company SpaceX, tech
startup xAI and now X Corp (he
already made the legal change
from Twitter Inc. to X Corp in
March 2023).
As a symbol, the character
is distinctive and expresses a
sense of mystery. Its general use
as a stand-in for pretty much
anything also aligns with Musk’s
plans for an “everything app”
that offers much more than a
way to communicate. But mar-
keting research and the spotty
history of major rebrands in-
dicates Musk will need to do a
lot more than change Twitter’s
name and a logo to ensure that X
really does become “everything”
Technology
to its users.
Corporate makeovers
Companies typically change
brands in response to struc-
tural, strategic and function-
al drivers. A structural reason
might be a change in owner-
ship, with a new logo signalling
a new direction. Strategic rea-
sons frequently include either
a perception issue – negative
associations – or to signal a
Its general use as a
stand-in for pretty
much anything
also aligns with
Musk’s plans for an
“everything app”
that offers much
more than a way to
communicate.
shift in activities, or reflect a
change in consumer preferenc-
es. A functional reason could be
optimising logo appearance on
new platforms such as mobile
apps, or to emphasise a brand’s
continued relevance.
Structural and strategic
drivers often reflect a more
significant change in the logo’s
expression. Early brand logos,
for example, frequently express
core activities – think Brit-
ish Telecom’s piper logo. Tech
brands such as Netflix (which
included a film reel in its early
logo designs) have also followed
this format.
This makes it easier for peo-
ple to understand what the
company does, which is espe-
cially important in an organisa-
tion’s early years.
Indeed, the Twitter brand
identity immediately captured
the nature of the platform: the
AUGUST 4, 2023 FRIDAY
idea of chirping out short bursts On the other hand, in the lat- process. This is often a critical
of thought as part of a public ex- ter part of the 20th century, US feature of successful corporate
change. This is evident in the company Philip Morris wanted rebranding.
bird logo, but also the name – to move away from a strong as- But of course, one of the big-
the suggestion of speed in the sociation with tobacco brands gest risks of changing a brand
distinctive consonant blend- built up over decades of selling identity from one that has global
ing of “t” and “w” in the brand cigarettes including Marlboro, recognition, recall and aware-
name and in the user’s ability to Chesterfield and Parliament. In ness, is that users may not like
“tweet” a short message. the 1970s it started to acquire the change. By removing the
Being known for a specific food and beverage companies Twitter brand there is an imme-
activity, however, can become including Kraft Inc., before re- diate loss of brand equity – the
a weakness. As brands evolve, branding to Altria in 2003 (it positive associations consum-
a company’s range of ac- then spun off its Kraft Food ers have with the brand – which
tivities can expand and the subsidiary in 2007). At the time could ultimately encourage peo-
brand message no longer of the rebrand, this showed the ple to move to other platforms.
captures the scope of its ac- company was becoming more Musk and the rest of X’s lead-
tivities. “diversified”. Importantly, the ership may hope that the recent
In Twitter’s case, the core action preceded the message. publicity, as well as the estab-
activity currently remains By shifting to X.com without lished behaviour of using the app,
unchanged, but the rebrand much explanation, Twitter could might reduce some of the impact.
aligns with Musk’s inten- risk following in the footsteps of But the importance of involving
tion to make the platform BP rather than Altria. It’s not stakeholders in the process will
more than a communica- clear if Twitter’s users will stick need to extend beyond asking for
tion app. He has often dis- with the platform long term help with a new logo design. Con-
cussed idea of creating an without knowing the underlying vincing users to remain loyal will
“everything app” – like Ten- reasoning and how it will serve require X to provide a more con-
cent’s popular WeChat app their loyalty – particularly with venient and engaging future ex-
in China, which provides newer alternatives available perience on the platform, what-
communications (similar such as Meta’s Threads. ever that may be. ■
to WhatsApp) and payment On the other hand, by crowd-
functionality. sourcing X’s logo design (on This article is republished
WeChat, which has more Twitter, of course), Musk in- from The Conversation under a
than 1.3 billion monthly ac- cluded users in the rebranding Creative Commons license.
tive users, proves there is
scope for combining com-
munications (like Twit-
ter) and online financial trans-
actions (like a Paypal) into a
promising future proposition:
“the global town square for ev-
erything”. In other words, a
platform that is so central to
authorisation, communica-
tions and transactions that it
becomes a single arena for all
kinds of exchanges.
Too soon to signal a new di-
rection?
But it could be premature
to signal an aspiration that is
currently inaccurate. Back in
2000, energy giant BP (former-
ly British Petroleum) rebrand-
ed to express a vision of cleaner
energy-related activities. First,
it shifted to the abbreviation
BP and then it claimed that the
initials BP stood for “Beyond
Petroleum”. But BP’s claim was
perceived as misleading by the
public because the message pre-
ceded the activity by decades.
www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 2023
2023 Philippine travel mart set in September
BY JOYCE ANN L.
ROCAMORA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA — The 2023 Phil-
ippine Travel Mart (PTM), one
of the biggest travel fairs in the
country, is scheduled to take
place from Sept. 1 to 3 at the SMX
Convention Center in Pasay City.
In a press launch on Thursday,
Philippine Tour Operators Asso-
ciation (PHILTOA) President Fe
Abling-Yu said this year’s travel
fair would focus on promoting
popular and emerging tourist
PBBM opens new nat’l museum in Cebu City
BY JOHN REY SAAVEDRA
Philippine News Agency
CEBU CITY – President Fer-
dinand R. Marcos Jr. encouraged
Friday foreign and local tourists
to visit the new museum in this
first city in the Philippines to
learn not only Cebu’s vast cul-
tural and artistic assets, but also
the country’s rich history.
Marcos led the cutting of
the ribbon and unveiling of
the marker at the National
Museum of the Philippines
(NMP)-Cebu, along with First
Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos,
Department of Tourism Sec-
retary Christina Garcia-Fras-
co, NMP chair Andoni Aboitiz,
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and
Mayor Michael Rama.
The President said opening a
new museum in this capital city
is aligned with his administra-
tion’s national agenda to pro-
mote tourism and nurture the
Filipinos’ national identity.
“It is my thrust not only for
the Queen City of the South and
the whole province of Cebu but
for the entire country, as open-
ing of this museum brings to the
fore our rich national culture
and artistic treasures,” Marcos
said in his speech shortly after
Travel
destinations in the country.
The event will gather about
300 exhibitors from the 17 re-
gions of the Philippines, in-
cluding hotels, resorts, travel
agencies, tour operators, and
tourism offices.
As tourism slowly rebounds
and months of lockdowns in-
crease demand for travel, PHIL-
TOA is optimistic that foot
traffic for PTM will surpass last
year’s around 60,000 visitors.
“This much awaited event
will showcase the richness and
diversity of our country’s des-
tinations, experiences and cul-
the ribbon-cutting and marker
unveiling.
He cited the NMP for work-
ing hard to make the opening of
the Cebu Museum, which will
also be known as the Central
Visayas Regional Museum, lo-
cated at the old customs house
around the Plaza Indepen-
dencia here, despite setbacks
brought by the coronavirus dis-
ease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic
and Typhoon Odette.
“We are finally here today
opening its doors to the public.
The inauguration is a true testa-
ment that we can pursue a unit-
ed approach to any task,” Marcos
said, citing the national govern-
ment’s shared commitment and
dedication to establishing a na-
tional museum in Cebu.
The President highlighted
the importance of the museums
not only for individuals study-
ing artifacts and academicians
but to all Filipinos, saying that
“every young country such as
the Philippines has to find its
identity.”
“And we need to answer that
question… what does it mean to
be a Filipino. And this is an illus-
tration precisely of the cultural
heritage that we all share. And
what is a culture, that is a shared
view of our lives, a shared view of
tures,” Abling-Yu said.
“It will serve as a platform to
travel enthusiasts and industry
professionals to connect, ex-
plore new opportunities and re-
kindle the spirit of wanderlust
that unites us well,” she added.
Tourism Promotions Board
(TPB) Chief Operating Officer
Maria Margarita Nograles, in
the same event, recognized the
role of events such as PTM in
boosting economic growth.
“The PTM has unlocked
the potential of our globally
acclaimed and emerging des-
tinations, providing greater
our people, a shared view of our
country,” he said.
“And that is why it is import-
ant that we have (to) celebrate
these historical artifacts that
shine a very, very strong light
about where Filipinos came
from, what we have done since,
and what is the trend, where we
headed at. The past has many
lessons and the past that also
provides a view by which we can
say I am like you, I am like you,
I am like you, I am like you. I am
a Filipino. And that is why today
is so important,” Marcos said.
REPOSITORY OF HISTORY. The National Museum of the Philippines - Central
Visayas at the Plaza Independencia in Cebu City, Cebu province will begin
accepting visitors on Aug. 1, 2023, initially from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays to
Sundays. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos
graced the museum’s inauguration on Friday (July 28). (REY BANIQUET/PNA)
www.canadianinquirer.net
investment and business op-
portunities for our tourism
The museum has five galler-
ies highlighting Cebu’s unique
geological features and public-
ly unfamiliar plant and animal
species endemic to the place,
significant archaeological finds
about the Cebuanos and Filipi-
nos’ history and prehistory, and
sustained ethnographic tradi-
tions inculcated in maritime
history and industry.
Gallery 4 is a special part
of the inaugural exhibitions,
bringing the collection of the
Philippine Center in New York
to Cebu to share the artworks
29
❱❱ PAGE 30 2023 Philippine travel
of leading Filipino artists in the
early 1970s.
Former First Lady Imelda
Marcos requested the acquisi-
tion and curation of the collec-
tion of the Philippine Center in
New York, thus bringing 120 art-
works from Manila to New York.
Meanwhile, Gallery 5 features
selections of Martino ‘Tinong’
Abellana’s works, recognized as
the “Dean of Cebuano Painters,”
such as his creative rendering
of sketches, portraits, abstract
paintings and landscapes.
Originally established as the
Cebu Customs House in 1910 to
facilitate trade between Cebu
Island and other neighboring
communities, the facility was
converted into the Malacañan sa
Sugbo in 2004 to bring the presi-
dency closer to the Visayas.
In October 2013, it was af-
fected by a 7.1-magnitude earth-
quake and had to be closed.
During the administration
of former President Rodrigo R.
Duterte, the facility was con-
verted into a museum to be
managed by the NMP.
The building was restored
and adaptively converted to
museum purposes through
funding support from the Tour-
ism Infrastructure and Enter-
prise Zone Authority. ■
 30
A drink each day or just on the weekends?
Here’s why alcohol-free days are important
BY MEGAN LEE, Bond
University, EMILY
ROBERTS, Bond University
The Conversation
In recent years, drinkers
have become more aware of
the health dangers of drinking
alcohol, from disease to risky
behaviour and poorer wellbe-
ing. Events like the just-fin-
ished Dry July, Febfast and
Hello Sunday Morning – when
people voluntarily abstain from
alcohol for periods of time – are
growing in popularity and raise
awareness about the risks in-
volved in overindulgence.
Many people extend these al-
cohol-free periods throughout
the year by incorporating alco-
hol-free days into their weekly
routines, while still enjoying a
drink on the weekends.
But does drinking the same
amount spread over the week ver-
sus just on the weekends, make
any difference health-wise?
How much is too much?
Australian alcohol guidelines
and the World Health Orga-
nization state there is no safe
level of alcohol use. For adults
who do drink, the guidelines
recommend a maximum of four
drinks in one sitting or ten in a
week. (A zero-alcohol approach
is recommended for under-18s
and during pregnancy.)
For some, this may not sound
like much at all. One in four
Australians exceed the recom-
mendation of no more than
four drinks in one session with
men more likely to do so than
women. This amount can re-
sult in alcohol poisoning, dam-
age to brain cells and a higher
2023 Philippine travel..
❰❰ 29 stakeholders,” she
said.
“The TPB is fully
committed to innovating and
Food
likelihood of engaging in risky
behaviours leading to violence,
accidents and unprotected sex.
But what about a wine
each night?
Even abiding by the Aus-
tralian alcohol guidelines and
drinking in moderation – one
or two drinks each day over the
week – can be risky. Possible
health outcomes of moderated
drinking include increased risk
of cancer, liver and heart dis-
ease, alcohol use disorder, and
an increase in the symptoms of
anxiety and depression.
Everyone processes alcohol
at a different rate depending
on age, gender, body shape and
size. However, for most people,
alcohol can still be detected in
the blood 12 hours after con-
sumption. When the body is
constantly processing the tox-
ins in alcohol, it can lead to a
chronic state of inflammation
which is linked to physical and
mental health risks.
There are several biological
mechanisms associated with al-
cohol’s impact on the brain. Al-
cohol destroys the fine balance
of the bacteria in the gut micro-
biome, which has been linked to
brain health.
Alcohol consumption dis-
rupts the function of the
amygdala – a part of the brain
important for processing and
regulating emotion, including
our fear response. When this
is impaired we are less likely
to pay attention to our fears
and more likely to engage in
risk-taking behaviour.
Areas involved in language
production and comprehen-
sion are also affected by alcohol,
with too much leading to slurred
expanding our tourism port-
folio, making traveling more
exciting, inclusive and sustain-
able for both locals and tourists
speech and the inability to com-
prehend communication from
others. When drinking dulls
frontal lobe brain function, it can
can lead to changes in personali-
ty for some people. Blackouts can
occur from the influence of alco-
hol on the hippocampus.
So, no drinking then?
While sobriety may be the
answer for optimal health, de-
priving ourselves of the things
we enjoy can also lead to nega-
tive mental health and a higher
likelihood we will binge in the
future. This is why alcohol-free
days are becoming so popular,
to balance health risks while
also giving us the chance to en-
alike,” she added.
The PTM, PHILTOA said,
is trying to entice Filipinos to
discover “hidden gems” such as
www.canadianinquirer.net
joy social activities.
Including alcohol-free days
in your routine can give the
body a chance to rehydrate,
detoxify and repair itself from
the toxic properties of alco-
hol. Detoxification can lead to
improved liver function and
sleep quality, less water reten-
tion and easier weight control,
clearer thinking, improved
memory, more energy, clearer
skin, a strengthened immune
system and decrease symptoms
of anxiety and depression.
Alcohol-free days can also
create a domino effect by en-
couraging other healthy be-
haviours like eating more fruits
the Zamboanga Peninsula and
the provinces of Quirino, South
Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan
Kudarat, Sarangani and Gener-
AUGUST 4, 2023 FRIDAY
and vegetables, drinking more
water, improved sleep patterns
and getting up early to exercise.
6 tips for better drinking balance
If you’re looking to incorpo-
rate more alcohol-free days into
your routine you could try to
1. set realistic goals. Clarify
how many and what days will
be your alcohol-free days, mark
them on a calendar and set re-
minders on your phone
2. plan alcohol-free activities
and find alcohol alternatives. List
all the activities you like that do
not include drinking and plan to
do these at the times of the day
you would normally drink
3. make alcohol “invisible”.
Keeping beer out of the fridge
and wine and spirits in closed
cupboards keeps them from the
forefront of your mind
4. seek support and encour-
agement from your partner
and/or family
5. incorporate stress manage-
ment techniques like medita-
tion and mindfulness. Observe
how you feel on alcohol-free
days and note positive chang-
es in your physical and mental
wellbeing
6. reflect on your progress.
Acknowledge and celebrate
each alcohol-free day. Allow
yourself non-alcoholic rewards
for achieving your goals.
Finally, it’s important to
know everyone slips up now
and then. Practice self-forgive-
ness if you do have a drink on
a planned alcohol-free day and
don’t give up. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
al Santos City.
PTM will be held with sup-
port from the Department of
Tourism and the TPB. ■
 AUGUST 4, 2020
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