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pcinews_X SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 www.canadianinquirer.net VOL. 8 NO. 558

ELECTION PREPS

Commission on Elections personnel check the official manual ballots and other election paraphernalia for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), at the National Printing Of-
fice (NPO) in Quezon City on Thursday (Sept. 21, 2023). The NPO has produced 92,054,974 official ballots for the 2023 BSKE slated to be held on Oct. 30.
JOEY O. RAZON / PNA

Marcos certifies agri
economic sabotage
bill as urgent
BY RUTH ABBEY GITA-CARLOS
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Mar-
cos Jr. has certified as urgent a bill redefin-
ing and imposing stiffer penalties against
crimes of agricultural economic sabotage,
Malacañang announced Thursday.
In a statement, Communications
18
How did Taylor Swift get
so popular? She never goes
out of style
Secretary Cheloy Garafil confirmed
that Marcos on Wednesday certified as
urgent the approval of Senate Bill (SB) 28
2432, a measure that defines the crimes
of agricultural economic sabotage. `
Justin Trudeau’s India accusation
In a letter addressed to Senate Presi-
dent Juan Miguel Zubiri, Marcos stressed
complicates western efforts to rein
the need for the immediate enactment of in China
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2 SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY

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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
DFA backs OSG in exploring legal options
on WPS coral reef destruction
BY JOYCE ANN L.
ROCAMORA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Department
of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has
expressed its readiness to sup-
port the Office of the Solicitor
General (OSG) as it explores le-
gal options over the damage to
corals and seabed in Rozul Reef
and Escoda Shoal in the West
Philippine Sea (WPS).
Solicitor General Menardo
Guevarra earlier said the OSG
would evaluate the merits of ev-
ery legal option, including the
possible filing of a complaint for
damages before an internation-
al tribunal with proper juris-
diction, such as the Permanent
Court of Arbitration (PCA) at
The Hague.
Foreign Affairs spokesperson
Ma. Teresita Daza said the DFA
“stands ready to contribute to
Gov’t seeks P38.75B for digitalization
efforts in 2024
BY RUTH ABBEY GITA-
CARLOS
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Marcos ad-
ministration is eyeing an al-
location of PHP38.75 billion
for its digitalization efforts in
2024, the Department of Bud-
get and Management (DBM)
said Wednesday.
The proposed budget for the
digitalization of government
processes marks a 60.6 percent
increase from the PHP24.93
billion funding in 2023, DBM
Secretary Amenah Panganda-
man said, as she stressed the
need to boost public service.
“Technological advancement
has given rise to a growing dig-
ital economy which continues
to create new forms of work,
transforming the employment
landscape. Hence, investing in
the digitalization of the bureau-
cracy is crucial not only in en-
this effort and will be guided by
the OSG on these matters.”
In a statement sent to report-
ers late Thursday, Daza point-
ed out that the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the
Sea (UNCLOS), a treaty China
is a party to, “obliges states to
protect and preserve the ma-
rine environment.”
“As clarified by the 2016 Arbi-
tral Award on the South China
Sea, this obligation applies in all
maritime areas, both inside the
national jurisdiction of States
and beyond it,” she said.
“States entering the Philip-
pines’ EEZ and maritime zones
therefore are likewise obliged
to protect and preserve our ma-
rine environment.”
The Philippine Coast Guard
(PCG) has logged "extensive"
damage on the seabed of Rozul
Reef and Escoda Shoal, saying
its recent surveys showed that
the marine ecosystem in the
hancing its efficiency but also in
generating quality jobs for Fili-
pinos,” Pangandaman said.
She added that the said bulk
of the proposed budget would
be divided among 10 govern-
ment agencies.
These include the Department
of Education (PHP9.43 billion);
Department of Justice (PHP5.55
billion); Department of Infor-
mation and Communications
Technology (DICT) (PHP5.34
billion); Department of Finance
(PHP3.15 billion); Department
of the Interior and Local Gov-
ernment (PHP2.60 billion);
National Economic and Devel-
opment Authority (PHP2.08
billion); the Judiciary (PHP1.44
billion); Department of National
Defense (PHP1.12 billion); De-
partment of Environment and
Natural Resources (PHP913 mil-
lion) and Other Executive Offices
(PHP890 million).
The DBM chief said a total
of PHP990.631 million would
Philippines features “appeared
lifeless, with minimal to no
signs of life."
PCG spokesperson for the
West Philippine Sea, Com-
modore Jay Tarriela, said he
suspects that the “continued
swarming for an indiscriminate
DFA Spokesperson Ma. Teresita C. Daza (PHILIP ADRIAN FERNANDEZ/DFA-OPCD)
be allocated to the informa-
tion and communications
technology (ICT) Systems and
Infostructure Development,
Management, and Advisory
Program of the DICT.
It said the National Govern-
ment Data Center Infrastructure
(NGDCI) Program, which would
get PHP1.67 billion, aims to re-
duce government spending by
providing resources to govern-
ment agencies either through co-
location or cloud services.
She noted that the DICT’s
National Government Portal
(NGP) would also receive an al-
location of PHP302.86 million
to further streamline public
service by connecting all gov-
ernment departments to a sin-
gle website.
Another DICT program,
the National Broadband Plan
(NBP), will get a budget of
PHP1.50 billion to improve in-
ternet speed and allow afford-
ability across the country, the
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
illegal and destructive fishing
activities of the Chinese Mari-
time Militia in Rozul Reef and
Escoda Shoal may have direct-
ly caused the degradation and
destruction of the marine envi-
ronment in the WPS features.”
In a press conference on
DBM said.
A separate PHP2.5 billion will
fund the Free WiFi Connectivity
in Public Places and State Uni-
versities and Colleges Program,
with a target of 50 broadband
sites in 82 provinces.
Pangandaman said keeping
updated on technology and
maximizing its uses were in
Department of Budget and Management Secretary Amenah Pangandaman
(DEPARTMENT OF BUDGET AND MANAGEMENT/FACEBOOK)
3
Thursday, Chinese Foreign
Ministry spokesperson Mao
Ning labeled the reports as the
Philippines “creating a polit-
ical drama from fiction” and
demanded that the country re-
move the BRP Sierra Madre in
the Ayungin Shoal instead.
The Chinese government,
which continues to reject the
2016 Arbitral Ruling on the
South China Sea, also implied
that it would not participate in
any arbitration case.
The DFA will wait for the
complete assessment of rele-
vant government agencies on
the environmental damage in
Rozul Reef, Daza said.
The Philippines first brought
China before the PCA in 2013
and secured a historic win in
2016 after the tribunal firmly
rejected Beijing’s expansive
claims under its so-called nine-
dash line. ■
line with the Marcos adminis-
tration’s whole-of-government
approach to digitally connect
the entire bureaucracy.
The initiative, Pangandaman
said, would not only cut red
tape but would likewise gener-
ate employment in the expand-
ing digital economy. ■
 4 Philippine News
PH backs move to
interpret UNCLOS
for climate protection
BY JOYCE ANN L.
ROCAMORA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippine
government backed on Tuesday
a move urging a United Nations
court to provide an advisory
opinion to interpret the world’s
oceans treaty in the context of
curbing climate change.
The statement of support
was delivered before the Ham-
burg-based International Tribu-
nal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)
which has recently begun legal
proceedings for a closely watched
oceans climate justice case.
The case, brought by the
Commission of Small Island
States on Climate Change and
International Law (COSIS) last
December 2022, asks the UN
court to determine the specific
duties of states parties to the UN
on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
in preventing the pollution of
Marcos certifies agri..
❰❰ 1 SB 2432 “to promote
the productivity of the
agriculture sector, pro-
tect farmers and fisherfolk from
unscrupulous traders and im-
porters, and ensure reasonable
and affordable prices of agricul-
tural and fishery products for
consumers.”
This, as Marcos lamented that
the country is now beset by rising
prices and shortages in agricul-
tural products, “partly due to the
nefarious acts of smuggling. hoard-
ing, profiteering, and cartel.”
The proposed measure
against agricultural economic
sabotage is among the expand-
ed Common Legislative Agen-
da discussed during the third
Legislative-Executive Devel-
opment Advisory Council (LE-
DAC) meeting at Malacañan
Palace in Manila on Wednesday.
The bill is now pending in
the period of interpellations
in the Senate, while a Techni-
cal Working Group is current-
ly finalizing the version of the
the marine environment caused
by climate change through the
accumulation of anthropogenic
greenhouse gas emissions.
“As an archipelagic state
comprised mostly of small is-
lands, and one of the most vul-
nerable to and most affected by
climate change, the Philippines
stands in solidarity with COSIS
and all the small island states
that comprise it and outside of
its membership, and support
their initiative to request the
tribunal’s advisory opinion,”
said Philippine Permanent
Representative to the UN in
Geneva Carlos Sorreta in co-de-
livering Manila's statement.
“Fundamental to our position
is that while UNCLOS was not
designed as a mechanism for reg-
ulating climate change, its man-
date is broad enough to consider
the connection between climate
and the oceans,” he added.
Sorreta argued that the
40-year-old treaty must be in-
House of Representatives.
Garafil said the bill, which
would repeal Republic Act (RA)
10845 or the Anti-Agricultur-
al Smuggling Act of 2016, aims
to impose severe sanctions on
the nefarious acts of smuggling,
hoarding, profiteering, and car-
tel of agricultural and fishery
products.
She said the sanctions in-
clude a penalty of life imprison-
ment and a fine thrice the value
of the agricultural and fishery
products subject of the crime as
economic sabotage.
Under the bill, the acts of ag-
ricultural smuggling, hoarding,
profiteering and cartel as eco-
nomic sabotage are committed
when the value of each agricul-
tural and fishery product sub-
ject of the crime is at least PHP1
million, using the Daily Price
Index, under Section 19 of the
proposed law, computed at the
time the crime was committed.
The proposed measure also
creates an Anti-Agricultural
terpreted “in light of chang-
ing global circumstances and
changing laws”.
“It is, among others a strong,
innovative and comprehensive
global environmental treaty
governing over two-thirds of
the planet. It must be interpret-
ed and applied with subsequent
developments in international
law and policy in mind,” he said.
In the Philippines alone, Sor-
reta pointed out that coastal
erosion, the bleaching of cor-
al reefs, loss of seagrass have
severely affected the resourc-
es and livelihoods of Filipino
coastal communities.
Foreign Affairs Assistant Sec-
retary for Maritime and Ocean
Affairs Maria Angela Ponce add-
ed that by its nature, greenhouse
gas emissions qualify as “pollu-
tion of the marine environment”.
“[T]he science behind cli-
mate change and the effects of
❱❱ PAGE 19 PH backs move
Economic Sabotage Council
headed by the President or his
designated permanent repre-
sentative to ensure the proper
and effective implementation
of the proposed law.
The proposed council will
have the power to direct speedy
investigation and prosecution
of all violators, as well as freeze
the violators’ funds, properties,
bank deposits, placements, trust
Bureau of Customs officials inspect one of three warehouses in Bulacan on Aug.
24, 2023, where they found PHP505 million worth of suspected smuggled rice.
(BUREAU OF CUSTOMS PH/FACEBOOK)
www.canadianinquirer.net
90% of retailers
in NCR compliant
with rice price
cap: DA exec
BY FERDINAND PATINIO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – An official of the
Department of Agriculture (DA)
on Wednesday said at least 90 per-
cent of retailers in Metro Manila
are compliant with the rice price
ceiling set by the government.
“We are part of the team that
monitors prices in our markets
and here at NCR (National Cap-
ital Region), we are proud to
say that 90 percent or more are
able to comply with our price
cap that has been set,” DA-Bu-
reau of Plant Industry (BPI)
director Glenn Panganiban said
in a briefing over PTV's Bagong
Pilipinas Ngayon.
He said the BPI, together
with other agencies such as the
Department of Trade and In-
dustry (DTI), the DA and the
accounts, assets and records.
Citing SB 2432, Garafil not-
ed that any government officer
or employee found to be an ac-
complice in the commission of
the crime will “suffer the ad-
ditional penalties of perpetual
disqualification from holding
public office, exercising the
right to vote, from participating
in any public election, and for-
feiture of employment mone-
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY
Department of the Interior and
Local Government, are moni-
toring the prices of rice in Met-
ro Manila.
Panganiban said they would
recommend the lifting of the
price ceiling to the President
once the DA and DTI find that
the staple's prices are already
stable.
Under Executive Order 39
(EO), the price ceiling for reg-
ular and well milled rice is at
PHP41 and PHP45, respectively.
Panganiban also reported
that rice supply in the country
is sufficient.
“Our sufficiency is increasing
through the years. Our sufficien-
cy of local production is at 80 to
90 percent and we complement
that with our imports so I think,
what you are asking about is the
supply enough? Yes, we have
enough,” he added. ■
tary and financial benefits.”
“When the offender is a ju-
ridical person, criminal liability
shall be attached to all officers
who participated in the deci-
sion that led to the commission
of the crime, with a penalty of
perpetual absolute disqualifica-
tion to engage in any business
involving importation, trans-
portation, storage and ware-
housing, and domestic trade of
agricultural and fishery prod-
ucts,” she said.
“Government authorities
also have the right to confis-
cate the agricultural and fish-
ery products which are subject
of the prohibited acts and the
properties used in the commis-
sion of the crime of agricultural
economic sabotage such as, but
not limited to, vehicles, vessels,
aircraft, storage areas, ware-
houses, boxes, cases, trunks,
and other containers of whatev-
er character used as receptacle
of agricultural and fishery prod-
ucts,” Garafil added. ■
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 5

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6 Philippine News SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY

Congress ‘on track’ to pass all

20 priority bills of PBBM: Palace
BY RUTH ABBEY GITA- Marcos administration’s priori- approved on third and final
CARLOS ty bills are the proposed E-Gov- reading by the House are the
Philippine News Agency ernance Act; the proposed New BOT/PPP Bill, the proposed cre-
Philippine Passport Act; the ation of the Center for Disease
proposed National Govern- Prevention and Control; the
MANILA – Congress is “on ment Rightsizing Act; the pro- proposed Internet Transaction
track” to pass all 20 priority posed National Scamming Act; Act/ E-Commerce Law; the pro-
measures identified by Presi- the proposed National Citizens posed Mandatory Reserve Of-
dent Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Service Training Program Act; ficers’ Training Corps (ROTC)
before yearend, Malacañang and the proposed Military and and National Service Training
said on Wednesday. Uniformed Personnel (MUP) Program (NSTP); the proposed
The assurance came from both Pension System Act. New Philippine Passport Act;
leaders of the Senate and the “The Senate has finished the Waste-to-Energy Bill; the
House of Representatives after about half of the 20 priority leg-
proposed Magna Carta for Fil-
the third Legislative-Executive islations requested by the Pres- ipino Seafarers; the Valuable
Development Advisory Council ident for a December passage,” Reform bill; the bill creating the
(LEDAC) meeting at Malacañan Garafil said, citing the state- Medical Reserve Corps; and the President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (REY BANIQUET/PNA)
Palace in Manila, Communica- ment of Senate President Juan measure establishing the Virol-
tion Secretary Cheloy Garafil Miguel Zubiri after the LEDAC ogy Institute of the Philippines; crecy Law and the proposed President Marcos identified in
said in a statement. meeting. the proposed E-Governance Anti-Financial Accounts Scam- his latest State of the Nation Ad-
“Both houses of Congress are Acting on Marcos’ call for theAct; E-Government Act and the ming Law. dress (SONA), seven have been
on track for the December pas- quick passage of the legislative proposed National Government 2 remaining bills before approved by the House on third
sage of the 20 priority measures measures, Zubiri said the Sen- Rightsizing Act. October recess and final reading while two were
requested by President Ferdi- ate would pass all of them “as Also approved on third and Romualdez said the House of on the second reading stage.
nand R. Marcos Jr. including soon as possible.” final reading by House law- Representatives is on track to He said the eight remain-
the General Appropriations Bill Garafil said Speaker Martin makers are the bill providing pass two remaining priority bills ing measures are in still at the
(GAB),” Garafil said. Romualdez told Marcos that 18 free legal assistance for police “before the October recess.” committee level, six of which
Apart from the GAB, other out of the 20 priority bills haveand soldiers; the proposed Ap- “In sum, the House of Repre- are already in advanced stages
bills identified as priority mea- already been approved by the prenticeship Law; the proposed sentatives will meet its commit- and scheduled to be reported
sures are the proposed Nation- House of Representatives. creation of the Eastern Visayas ment to approve all 20 priority for plenary discussion and ap-
al Employment Action Development Authori- measures by the end of Septem- proval when Congress resumes
Plan; the proposed ty; the bill establishing ber, or three months ahead of session in November.
Automatic Income Negros Island Region; target,” he said in a statement The House had ratified the
Classification Act for the proposed Passive on Wednesday. bicameral conference com-
Local Government Income and Financial Romualdez said HB 8969, mittee report of the Automat-
Units (LGUs); the Pub- Intermediary Tax- or the Military and Uniformed ic Income Classification Act
lic-Private Partnership
Both houses of Congress ation Act (PIFITA); Personnel Pension System Act, for Local Government Units;
(PPP) bill introducing are on track for the the proposed Na- was approved on second reading and approved on third and fi-
amendments to the tional Land Use Act; during the plenary session Tues- nal reading the Excise Tax
Build-Operate-Trans-
December passage of the proposed Magna day and slated for approval on on Single-Use Plastics; Value
fer (BOT); and the pro- the 20 priority measures Carta for Barangay third and final reading next week. Added Tax on Digital Services;
posed Salt Develop- Health Workers; the He added the substitute bill Amendment of the Fisheries
ment Industry Act.
requested by President proposed Government consolidating all measures Code; Anti-Financial Account
Garafil said other Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr... Financial Institutions seeking amendments to the Scamming Act (AFASA); Ease
priority measures in- Unified Initiatives to Anti-Agricultural Smuggling of Paying Taxes; and The Phil-
clude the proposed Distressed Enterpris- Act was approved by the Com- ippine Immigration Act.
measure promoting es for Economic Re- mittee on Agriculture and Food On Tuesday, the House ap-
the ease of paying covery (GUIDE) law; early Wednesday, paving the proved on second reading the
taxes; the proposed the bill creating Leyte way for its scheduled approval Unified System for Separation,
Real Property Evaluation and Romualdez, she said, also Ecological Industrial Zone and in plenary by next week. Retirement and Pension of the
Assessment Reform Act; the bared Congress’ plan to ap- the proposed Enabling Law for Romualdez also reported Military and Uniformed Person-
proposed Magna Carta for Sea- prove on third and final reading the Natural Gas Industry. that the House started on Tues- nel (MUP); while the Rational-
farers; and the proposed An- all the priority measures “at The House also passed on day the plenary deliberations ization of Mining Fiscal Regime
ti-Agriculture Smuggling Act. the end of September or three third reading the bill promoting of the proposed PHP5.768 tril- is slated for approval on second
Other measures are the months in advance of the pre- ease of paying taxes; the pro- lion national budget for 2024 reading before the session break.
Waste-to-Energy bill; the mea- scribed deadline.” posed Philippine Ecosystem and or General Appropriations Bill The Committee on Agricul-
sure creating the National Approved bills Natural Capital Accounting Sys- (GAB), with the session lasting ture and Food has just approved
Disease Prevention Manage- Garafil said the bills ap- tem (PENCAS); the proposed over 12 hours. its committee report on the
ment Authority; the proposed proved both by the Senate and Comprehensive Infrastructure “The House commits to exert Amendments to the Anti-Agri-
amendments to the Banking the House on third and final Development Master Plan; the all efforts to continuously de- cultural Smuggling Act which
Act or the Fund Secrecy Law; reading include the proposed Philippine Immigration Bill; and liberate on the GAB to meet its will be reported to the plenary for
the bill creating the Medical Salt Development Industry Act; the proposed Amendment to the target passage on third and final its consideration and approval.
Reserve Corps; and the mea- the LGU Income Classification Universal Health Care Act. reading by next week, Wednes- For comments of the House
sure establishing the Virology bill; and the proposed National It also approved on third day, September 27, 2023,” he said. Committees on Appropriations
Institute of the Philippines. Employment Action Plan. reading the proposed Amend- Meanwhile, Romualdez re-
Completing the list of the On the other hand, the bills ment to the Bank Deposits Se- ported that of the 17 measures ❱❱ PAGE 17 Congress ‘on track’

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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 Philippine News 7

PBBM still bullish on reducing

price of rice to P20/kg
BY RUTH ABBEY GITA-
CARLOS
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr. said Tuesday
he is optimistic that he would at-
tain his goal of bringing down the
price of rice to PHP20 per kg.
In a media interview on the
sidelines of the distribution of
confiscated sacks of imported
rice in Zamboanga City, Marcos
raised the likelihood of reducing
prices once the agriculture sec-
tor and the cost of production in
the country become stable.
“May chance lagi ‘yan (There
is always a chance),” the Presi-
dent said when asked by media
if the PHP20 per kg. of rice re-
mains feasible.
Marcos said several factors
happening outside the Philip-
pines are directly affecting the
prices of basic commodities,
prompting the government and
the market to adjust.
He said the government
could make the necessary ad-
justments in the prices of rice
once everything normalizes.
“Kapag talaga nagawa natin
ang cost of production, binaba
natin, ay bababa rin ang presyo
ng bigas. Bababa rin lahat. Bas-
ta’t mas mataas ang ani kahit na
pwede nating ipagpantay ang
presyo (If we reduce the cost
of production, the price of rice
would also decrease. Every-
thing will go down. We should
have a higher yield that could
match the price),” Marcos said.
“Pagka naging mas normal na
ang sitwasyon, malaking pag-asa
talaga natin na ibababa natin
ang presyo ng bigas (Once the
situation becomes more normal,
we really have high hopes that
we can reduce the price of rice).”
He assured that the govern-
ment is exhausting all remedies
to make the prices of rice af-
fordable for the Filipino people,
especially for those who find it
difficult to make ends meet.
Necessary measures are in
place to ensure a reasonable
buying price for farmers, he said,
noting that the National Food
Authority (NFA) Council has set
a new price range for the pur-
chase of palay (unhusked rice).
The NFA Council, chaired by
the President, approved Monday
the buying price range of PHP16
to PHP19 for wet palay and
PHP19 to PHP23 for dry palay.
Mitigation plan
Meanwhile, Marcos said his
administration would address
flooding by establishing multi-
use infrastructures and im- tures with “multiple functions.” “’Yung iba naman para maba-
proved weather forecasting to “Ang flood control ngayon na- wasan ang baha ay maglalagay
lessen its impact on communi- tin hindi na lang flood control. tayo ng tinatawag na impound-
ties and the agriculture sector. ‘Yung mga dam at saka ‘yung ing pools. In other words, ma-
He said concerned agencies, mga spillway para kunin ‘yung ghuhukay tayo, doon natin iii-
such as the Department of Sci- tubig. Ang bagong gawain natin pon ‘yung tubig. Maganda ‘yan
ence and Technology and the ngayon ay number one, gagawa dahil unang-una hindi nasas-
Philippine Atmospheric, Geo- tayo… meron tayong ilalagay na ayang ‘yung tubig, may iiwan
physical and Astronomical Ser- dam, meron ding pagkukuhanan doon sa atin. Tapos pagka me-
vices Administration, are work- ng tubig para sa mga magsasaka, dyo tuyo, pag hindi na umuulan,
ing together to control flooding. pang-irrigation, meron… may gamitin natin ‘yung tubig para
“‘Yun lamang at talagang ganoon (Our current flood con- pang-irrigation ulit, puwede
kailangan tingnan nang mabuti trol is no longer just flood con- pang lagyan ng isda (The other
kung ano ‘yun magiging weather, trol. The dams and the spillways way to control the flood is to put
kaya’t kasama rin diyan hindi la- would collect the water. Our what we call impounding pools.
mang sa flood control… nagbago new task now is number one, we In other words, we will dig up,
na hindi lang ‘yung paglagay ng will put a dam. There will also be that is where we will collect the
dike, hindi lang ‘yung paglagay water supply for the farmers, ir-
ng dam, kung hindi pati na ang rigation),” Marcos said. ❱❱ PAGE 19 PBBM still bullish
pagbantay nang mabuti sa pana-
hon (That is all, and it is really
necessary to look carefully at
what the weather will be like, so
that includes not only flood con-
trol... It is not just the placing of
the dike, it is not just the placing
of the dam, but also the close
monitoring of the weather),”
Marcos said.
Climate change is already
taking its toll on communities,
he said, adding that the chang-
ing weather patterns already
affect places that do not usually
experience flooding in the past.
He said the government must A buyer inspects the quality of rice at a retailer at Mega Q Mart in Quezon
build flood control infrastruc- City on Monday (Sept. 11, 2023). (JOAN BONDOC/PNA)

Use of nat’l ID database may resolve

SIM registration issues - DICT
BY WILNARD BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Department of
Information and Communica-
tions Technology (DICT) Sec-
retary Ivan John Uy on Tuesday
said tapping the National ID da-
tabase can be a solution to solve
that National ID as the basis,
we can improve the SIM card
registration. Binabangga po na-
tin ang (We are comparing the)
information on the SIM card
registration with the National
ID to validate," Uy told senators
during Senate Committee on Fi-
nance's subcommittee “K" hear-
ing of the DCT’s 2024 budget.
to provide DICT with a list of the
suspected "dubious" subscribers,
especially on pre-paid subscrip-
tions where uploaded pictures
are used on barangay IDs and Tax
Identification Numbers (TINs).
The DICT also recommended
the use of its recently-launched
electronic Know-Your-Cus-
tomer (eKYC) which features (PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY/FACEBOOK)

the issues being encountered in
the subscriber identity module
(SIM) card registration.
"If we're able to deploy the
National ID, it will make other
departments that issue these
medyo (somewhat) not very
reliable identifications to be
no longer relevant. Then with
He said the data, including
the biometrics, captured from
80 to 90 million Filipinos who
registered to the National ID
system can improve the vali-
dation process of the SIM card
registration system.
He also recommended for the
telecommunication companies
an identity verification feature
powered by eGov AI to eradi-
cate online fraud.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian,
who is curious about eKYC,
asked the DICT to submit fur-
ther details about eKYC and the
corresponding budget that it
needs for its utilization.
www.canadianinquirer.net
For 2024, the DICT proposed
a PHP9.856-billion budget,
divided into the Office of the
Secretary with PHP8.729 bil-
lion; Cybercrime Investigation
and Coordinating Center with
PHP325.766 million; Nation-
al Privacy Commission with
PHP337.578 million; and Na-
tional Telecommunications Of-
fice with PHP453.652 million.
However, the agency is re-
questing for an additional PHP5.6
billion to start new initiatives and
sustain the implementation of its
various programs. ■
8 Philippine News
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Member
NCSC welcomes proposal to hire
senior citizens
BY RUTH ABBEY GITA-CARLOS
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The National Commission
of Senior Citizens (NCSC) on Thursday
welcomed the filing of a bill mandating
the public and private sectors to hire se-
nior citizens.
In an interview with PTV’s Bagong
Pilipinas Ngayon program, NSCS chair-
person Franklin Quijano said the filing
of the proposed measure at the House
of Representatives is a “good move”
and a “very welcome development.”
“May mga nakikita lang kaming
dapat pang gawin ng ating pamahalaan.
Unang-una, sana po iyong makapag-
trabaho ay covered ng insurance, and
sometimes iyong mga civil service law,
GSIS at SSS law (We see other things
that our government should do. First of
all, I hope that those who can work are
covered by insurance, and sometimes
those civil service laws, GSIS [Govern-
ment Service Insurance System] and
SSS [Social Security System] law) tends
to limit the coverage of the insurance.
Baka puwedeng tingnan ito (We might
look into it),” Quijano said.
“But in the meantime, with the se-
nior citizens working, talagang natutu-
wa ang senior citizens diyan. May iilan
nang mga establishments na talagang
nagha-hire, nag-i-employ ng mga se-
nior citizens. Sana dumami ang estab-
lishments na nagha-hire ng mga senior
citizens (the senior citizens are really
happy with that. There are already a few
establishments that actually hire or em-
ploy senior citizens. I hope there will be
more establishments that hire senior
citizens),” he added.
On Aug. 24, ACT-CIS party-list Rep.
Erwin Tulfo, along with other lawmak-
Crime vs. tourist is ‘crime against
PH’ – DOT
BY JOYCE ANN L. ROCAMORA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Department of Tourism
(DOT) has expressed its disappointment
over the incident involving erring airport
personnel caught on camera swallowing
USD300 bills allegedly stolen from a Chi-
nese passenger departing Manila.
In a statement Thursday night, the DOT
www.canadianinquirer.net
ers, filed House Bill (HB) 8972 which
promotes the employment of senior citi-
zens in the country.
Under the bill, at least 1 percent of all
positions in government agencies, offic-
es or corporations shall be reserved for
qualified senior citizens.
HB 8972 also mandates private corpo-
rations with over 100 employees to re-
serve at least 1 percent of their positions
for qualified ones.
We’re actually
trying to
encourage
senior citizens
to be more
productive...
Private corporations with less than
100 employees are encouraged to hire
the elderly.
Citing a “lot of healthy and productive”
senior citizens who wish to get hired,
Quijano underscored the importance of
transferring their skills, experiences and
even wisdom to the next generation.
“We’re actually trying to encourage
senior citizens to be more productive
by encouraging enterprises to support
them and enterprises to be created. Of
course, employment is part of it and
natutuwa tayo dahil maraming senior
citizens ang naghahanap ng trabaho da-
hil gusto nilang magamit iyong oras nila
(we are happy because many senior cit-
izens are looking for a job and want to
spend their time working). They possess
said “any crime committed upon a tourist
is a crime against our country deserving of
punishment to the fullest extent of the law.”
The department said it “strongly sup-
ports” the directive of Transportation
Secretary Jaime Bautista to mete out the
maximum penalty on airport personnel
found guilty of what it described as a
“reprehensible act.”
It underscored that tourism provides
livelihood to millions of Filipinos and all
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY
the skill and the stability in the focused
work,” he said.
Quijano said the work schedule of
hired senior citizens should be “flexible”
considering that some of them prefer to
work for a certain number of hours.
Employers must also compensate the
senior citizens accordingly, he added.
In an effort to develop a “homegrown,
age-friendly approach” benefitting the
elderly, the NCSC would launch the Phil-
ippine Plan of Action for the Senior
Citizens and the guidelines for Philip-
pine Age-Friendly Local Governments,
Age-Friendly Cities, Municipalities
and Communities on Sept. 25.
“With these two initiatives, we hope
that the whole nation and the whole
government will put their movements
in cadence para matulungan hindi la-
mang ang senior citizens, hindi lamang
ang bata, hindi lamang iyong babae
kung hindi lahat ng age groups (to help
not just senior citizens, not just chil-
dren, not just women, but also all age
groups),” Quijano said.
The action plan and guidelines would
be launched ahead of the celebration of
the Elderly Filipino Week from Oct. 1 to 7.
Over 2.8 million senior citizens have
already registered at the NCSC’s online
registration system.
The NCSC’s aggressive online regis-
tration campaign is part of its effort to
build an updated, enhanced and reliable
database of all Filipino senior citizens
as it generates faster collection of data
than manual registration.
Quijano said the NSCS is targeting the
registration of around 1 million senior
citizens by December.
“The attention being given by govern-
ment and our nation to the senior citi-
zens has been on the highest level, never
been before enjoyed,” he added. ■
efforts are being exhausted to ensure the
country’s rebound from the pandemic,
knowing the significant contribution of
tourism to the Philippine economy.
The incident took place on Sept. 8 at the
Ninoy Aquino International Airport Ter-
minal 1, where a screening officer was seen
deliberately swallowing the paper bills.
The Office for Transportation Security
said two other screening personnel ap-
peared to be involved in the alleged theft. ■
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
Canada’s war crimes investigation may not
deter Russia, but it matters to Ukrainians
BY JAMIE LEVIN, St. Francis
Xavier University, KIRAN
BANERJEE, Dalhousie
University
The Conversation
In June 2022, United States
Attorney General Merrick Gar-
land travelled to Ukraine to call
for the prosecution of Russian
war crimes.
“The United States is send-
ing an unmistakable message”
to those who have committed
atrocities, he said. “There is no
place to hide.”
There’s only one problem:
American hands are tied when
it comes to the internation-
al prosecution of war crimes.
That’s because it opted out of
the International Criminal
Court (ICC) due to objections
over the court’s jurisdiction
that allows it, under certain
conditions, to pursue people
outside their own state borders.
Russia has also withdrawn
from the ICC. Ukraine isn’t a
member; it signed but didn’t
ratify the court’s statute.
That means it will fall to
third-country signatories to
the ICC like Canada to investi-
gate and prosecute Russian war
crimes in Ukraine.
Institutionalizing war
crimes
Around the First World War,
the great powers began codi-
fying the laws of war in several
conventions and treaties.
Building on centuries of law,
these agreements specified
when countries could go to war
and under what conditions,
spelled out the treatment of
both combatants and non-com-
batants and limited the use of
weapons and other practices
during warfare.
These fledgling agreements
did little to prevent the out-
break of another global conflict,
but they did provide the foun-
dation for the world’s first in-
ternational tribunals in Tokyo
Canada News
and Nuremberg following the
Second World War.
That marked a decisive mo-
ment for international law, rep-
resenting the first time national
leaders were held accountable
for war crimes on the world stage.
Under American steward-
ship, the immediate post-Sec-
ond World War period wit-
nessed a massive expansion of
international law.
New treaties were drafted
criminalizing genocide and
crimes against humanity. New
organizations like the United
Nations were born.
A liberal rules-based interna-
tional order began to emerge,
setting fundamental limits on
state sovereignty — particularly
in the conduct of war, and even
within national boundaries.
But this progress halted with
the start of the Cold War; the
standoff between the Soviet
Union and the U.S. put the pros-
ecution of war crimes on ice.
Few leaders were held ac-
countable for their crimes as
superpowers shielded them
from prosecution.
UN creates the ICC
Following the Soviet collapse,
and the emergence of the U.S. as
the sole remaining global super-
power, the UN Security Council
organized international tribu-
nals to address genocide, war
crimes and other atrocities com-
mitted during conflict.
These tribunals were situa-
tional, focused on conflicts in
Rwanda and the former Yugo-
slavia. The UN then used its re-
newed power to formalize them
in the Rome Statute, the found-
ing document of the ICC.
This was made possible by a
legal innovation: the creation of
a permanent international tribu-
nal that would enable signatories
to bring war criminals to justice.
Even third parties, with no
apparent interest, could inves-
tigate and refer war criminals
to the international body under
certain circumstances.
But in a dramatic about-face,
the George W. Bush administra-
tion withdrew the U.S. from the
ICC, fearing the court might com-
plicate its so-called war on terror.
Nevertheless, the ICC came
into existence in 2002, and
the court began issuing arrest
warrants and prosecuting war
criminals.
Without the U.S., however, its
activities remained restricted.
For the next decade, prosecu-
tions were limited to the Afri-
can continent, leading to alle-
gations of systemic bias.
There are still questions about
whether the ICC can hold war
criminals to account more broad-
ly — and they’ve only intensified
during the war in Ukraine.
Canada’s role
In March 2022, 39 countries,
including Canada, referred
the war in Ukraine to the ICC.
At the same time, the RCMP
launched an investigation into
alleged war crimes committed
by Russia in Ukraine.
This is the first real-time war
crimes investigation in Cana-
da’s history, and one of the first
globally.
The ICC has laid charges
against Russian President Vlad-
imir Putin, accusing him of hu-
man rights abuses in Ukraine.
These developments mark
a major change in Canada’s
appetite for investigating war
crimes. Before joining the ICC,
Canada had a checkered his-
tory of holding war criminals
accountable, even when they
arrived on its shores. Canada
was accused, for example, of
providing shelter to Nazi war
criminals and collaborators.
Canada’s probe into alleged
ongoing war crimes in Ukraine
suggests it now has the political
will to investigate these atroc-
ities even when they happen
outside of its borders.
Given Canada’s role in the
creation of the ICC, the coun-
try’s leadership on this front is
appropriate.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Efforts to hold Russia ac-
countable have also engaged a
keen and highly activist group:
Ukrainian Canadians.
As they welcome refugees
and lobby the government,
Ukrainian Canadians have
helped collect war crimes tes-
timonials that could one day be
used to prosecute Russia.
Newly arriving Ukrainians
to Canada are greeted by post-
ers and pamphlets printed in
English, French, Russian and
Ukrainian asking them to re-
port their recollections to the
RCMP while their memories
are still fresh.
Nonetheless, despite the un-
precedented steps Canada and
other states are taking to put
Russia on notice, it’s doubtful
they’ll ultimately result in any
concrete forms of Russian ac-
countability.
Creating a historical record
Although some of these mea-
sures have apparently made top
Russian officials more circum-
spect when travelling interna-
tionally, it’s highly unlikely al-
leged Russian war criminals will
end up before Canadian courts.
Globally, the impact also
seems limited. Russia remains
a nuclear power and UN Secu-
rity Council member, further
International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan (RAOUL SOMERS VIA
MINISTERIE VAN BUITENLANDSE ZAKEN/FLICKR, CC BY-SA 2.0)
9
underscoring the improbability
of future prosecutions.
However, the RCMP investi-
gation is important. It signals a
new path for Canada that pri-
oritizes international law and
corrects for past policy failures
that saw the country provide
safe harbour to war criminals.
For Ukrainian-Canadians,
the investigation validates their
experiences. Canada is helping
create a historical record. The
investigation will form one of
the pre-eminent repositories of
testimonials from recently ar-
rived refugees.
Canada has taken on the sacred
duty of creating and safeguarding
a dark moment in Ukrainian his-
tory — and this matters to the vic-
tims of Russia’s war.
As Alexandra Chyczij, presi-
dent of the Ukrainian Canadian
Congress, told us in an interview:
“What is important today is
that the massive evidence of the
myriad, systemic Russian crimes
against humanity, war crimes
and terrorism – committed under
the direction of the Russian polit-
ical leadership – be documented,
collected and preserved.” ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
10
Say no to a $15-billion slush fund
for the oil and gas industry
BY PATRICK DEROCHIE
Policy Options
PSP, a government pension
manager, must use the Canada
Growth Fund to support renew-
able energy, not carbon capture
and fossil fuel-derived hydrogen.
In its 2023 budget, the feder-
al government tapped the Pub-
lic Sector Pension Investment
Board (PSP Investments or
PSP) to manage the $15-billion
Canada Growth Fund (CGF).
But Canadians yearning for am-
bitious climate action and clean
economic growth have reason
to be concerned about PSP’s
track record when it comes to
net-zero investing.
The fossil fuel industry is
clearly eyeing the fund for even
more subsidies to finance dan-
gerous distractions such as car-
bon capture and storage (CCS)
and fossil fuel-derived hydrogen.
So, PSP must ensure that the
fund does not become a $15-bil-
lion slush fund for the oil and gas
industry and its unproven, un-
economical, unscalable, ineffec-
tive CCS and hydrogen fantasies.
Instead, it should support
the scale-up and deployment
of numerous well-established
climate solutions such as off-
shore wind, solar energy, elec-
tric-vehicle battery production,
sustainable agriculture, energy
efficiency and conservation.
The CGF should also help
lower risk of technologies with
high emissions-reduction po-
tential to attract additional pri-
vate-sector investments while
bringing social, environmental
and economic benefits to Cana-
dian communities.
For its existing pension port-
folio, PSP has yet to fully com-
mit to a Paris-aligned climate
plan – such as the Roadmap to a
Sustainable Financial System in
Canada, developed by three Ca-
nadian environmental organiza-
tions, or Integrity Matters: Net
Zero Commitments by Business-
es, Financial Institutions, Cities
and Regions from the United Na-
tions’ High-Level Expert Group.
Reducing risk
Leveraging the Canada
Growth Fund to reduce risk and
deploy credible climate solu-
tions that cut emissions and
Canada News
accelerate Canada’s net-zero
transition will require PSP to
fully commit to achieving sci-
ence-based climate goals. There
are many pitfalls to avoid.
PSP is a Crown corporation
that manages $243.7 billion in
pension assets on behalf of more
than 900,000 federal employees.
The federal government chose
PSP to manage the CGF because
it “requires an experienced,
professional, independent in-
vestment team” that “operates
at arm’s length from the govern-
ment” and “will be able to move
quickly and begin making invest-
ments to support the growth of
Canada’s clean economy.”
However, PSP has not yet
demonstrated the ambition
needed to protect pension-plan
members from climate-related
financial risks and align its port-
folio with a safe climate future.
PSP released its climate
strategy roadmap in April 2022.
It set interim targets to reduce
its portfolio’s emissions inten-
sity; it made significant recent
investments in profitable cli-
mate solutions such as renew-
able energy; and it developed a
green asset taxonomy to classify
its exposure to green, transition
and carbon-intensive assets.
But PSP is one of the only
pension funds among the Ma-
ple Eight – an internationally
recognized group of Canada’s
eight largest public pension
managers – yet to make a com-
mitment to aligning its portfolio
with net-zero emissions. Shift
Action’s 2022 analysis of PSP’s
climate strategy gave the federal
pension manager a “C” – a me-
diocre grade even for what Shift
Action calls Canada’s fossil fu-
el-entangled pension sector.
As of March 31, PSP held $833
million in shares of fossil-fuel
companies, investing the pen-
sions of federal employees in an
industry that is undermining
their retirement security. PSP
is also the co-owner of TriSum-
mit Utilities, whose subsidiar-
ies own and operate gas utilities
in Alberta, British Columbia,
Nova Scotia and Alaska (as well
as wind and hydroelectric as-
sets in B.C.).
Alarmingly, PSP refers to
natural gas as “low-carbon en-
ergy” even though a study has
found that potential leaks could
make it as emissions-intensive
as coal and must be rapidly
phased out, some organizations
say, to avoid dangerous climate
outcomes.
PSP actually increased its
portfolio’s exposure to what it
refers to as “carbon-intensive
assets” in “sensitive high-car-
bon sectors” in 2022, according
to an analysis by Shift Action,
while claiming that its invest-
ment strategy remains resilient
in a “failed net-zero scenario by
2050” that would see global tem-
peratures increase by 4.3 C com-
pared with pre-industrial levels
Considering the flooding,
wildfire and heat impacts that
Canadians are experiencing at
a 1.2 C temperature increase,
energy finance think tank Car-
bon Tracker says it’s absurd
that PSP thinks it can fulfil its
pension mandate in a “failed
net-zero scenario.”
PSP has also ignored or re-
fused numerous requests from
pension-plan members to dis-
close the full extent of its portfo-
lio’s exposure to high-risk fossil
fuels. This does not bode well for
the need for transparency from
the Canada Growth Fund.
The federal government
plans to exempt the CGF from a
section of the Financial Admin-
istration Act, which requires
Crown corporations to seek
cabinet approval for private
sector-led investment trans-
actions and other key moves.
PSP also has extra powers to
withhold documents from free-
dom-of-information requests.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Finance Canada says one of
the CGF’s strategic objectives is
accelerating the deployment of
“low-carbon hydrogen” and CCS.
Is the growth fund an oil
and gas slush fund?
Considering PSP’s spotty re-
cord on climate-aligned invest-
ing and public transparency,
some commenters say Canadi-
ans are right to be concerned
that CGF could become a
$15-billion slush fund for the oil
and gas industry, which would
serve only to slow Canada’s en-
ergy transition.
Canada should indeed de-risk
some investments in green hy-
drogen, but the CGF mandate
conflates green hydrogen with
fossil-derived hydrogen – the
preferred technology of the oil
and gas industry – even though
a report by Environmental De-
fence, an environmental advo-
cacy organization, says it faces
significant challenges in terms of
practicality, emissions and price.
Meanwhile, some commen-
tators says CCS for oil and gas is
one of the most expensive ways
to reduce carbon pollution, has
proven unable to reduce emis-
sions at scale, is used predom-
inantly to enhance oil produc-
tion, takes too long to build, and
could divert precious time, mon-
ey and resources to prolonging
the use of fossil fuels instead of
deploying proven emissions-re-
duction technologies.
Canada’s oil and gas industry
has made it clear that it is cer-
tainly hoping for more public
subsidies via the CGF.
Gas plant operator Capital
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY
Power recently called the CGF
a “positive development” and
“strategic highlight” for a CCS
project as it moves to build and
expand gas plants.
The Canadian Association
of Petroleum Producers says it
“will continue our work with
the federal government as it de-
velops the Canada Growth Fund
along with other initiatives on
CCS and clean technology to
create an environment that will
support the oil and natural gas
industry’s planned multi-bil-
lion-dollar investments into
lowering emissions.”
The Pathways Alliance of oil
sands companies are also an-
gling for a chunk of the CGF to
help finance their aspirational
CCS plans – even as Pathways
has indicated it can’t achieve
the federal government’s emis-
sions-reduction targets with-
out production cuts.
As of March 31, PSP held
nearly $100 million in shares of
Pathways Alliance companies.
The alliance is under investiga-
tion by Canada’s Competition
Bureau for alleged greenwash-
ing and false advertising.
A PSP director concurrently
serves on the board of Imperial
Oil – a Pathways company that’s
under investigation by Environ-
ment and Climate Change Can-
ada for leaking oil-sands tailings
into the Athabasca River and
failing for months to inform reg-
ulators and downstream Indige-
nous communities.
A group of Public Sector Pen-
sion Plan members recently
asked cabinet to remove this di-
rector from PSP’s board. They
say her interests, actions and
obligations as a director of an
oil company are inconsistent
with her fiduciary duty to invest
in ways that are in pension-plan
members’ best long-term inter-
ests and that protect the repu-
tation of PSP.
The CGF’s distinct public
mandate and PSP’s investments
in, and entanglements with, oil
companies underscore the need
for the CGF to be firewalled
from PSP’s pension investment
mandate.
PSP also has a record of
claiming to invest in decarbon-
❱❱ PAGE 15 Say no to
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
Justin Trudeau’s India accusation
complicates western efforts to rein in China
BY SAIRA BANO, Thompson
Rivers University
The Conversation
Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau’s allegation that the
Indian government was in-
volved in the assassination on
Canadian soil of Hardeep Singh
Nijjar, a Sikh independence ad-
vocate, will undoubtedly erode
Canadian-Indian relations at a
time when the West is trying to
appeal to India.
Trudeau has made inter-
national headlines with his
allegation in Parliament this
week that India had a hand in
the murder of Nijjar, who was
gunned down last June in the
parking lot of a gurdwara — a
Sikh place of worship — in the
Vancouver suburb of Surrey.
Both government and oppo-
sition parties have unanimous-
ly condemned India, saying the
allegations suggest an unac-
ceptable violation of Canadian
sovereignty.
Foreign Affairs Minister
Mélanie Joly has announced
the expulsion of Indian dip-
lomat Pavan Kumar Rai. The
federal government says Rai
led the Canadian branch of the
Research and Analysis Wing,
India’s foreign intelligence ser-
vice. Joly says she’ll raise the
issue with the G7 foreign minis-
ters in New York.
India, meantime, has denied
the allegation and expelled a Ca-
nadian diplomat in retaliation.
Tensions running high
Tensions between Canada
and India were apparent when
Trudeau recently visited New
Delhi for the G20 summit.
Indian Prime Minister Na-
rendra Modi had raised con-
cerns to Trudeau about Sikh
Khalistani protests in Canada.
The Sikh independence move-
ment is considered a threat to
Indian territorial sovereignty
and integrity.
Canada has the largest
Sikh diaspora outside Punjab,
and activists like Nijjar have
been staging demonstrations
to demand an independent
Khalistan state separate from
India. Trudeau defended these
demonstrations as freedom
of expression, assembly and
peaceful protest.
But Trudeau also made his
allegations about India’s in-
volvement in Nijjar’s death to
U.S. President Joe Biden, Brit-
ish Prime Minster Rishi Sunak
and French President Emman-
uel Macron at the G20.
This complicates efforts by
Canada and its allies to improve
relations with India in a strate-
gic attempt to counter-balance
what they view as an increasing
threat posed by China.
In response to China’s grow-
ing might, Canada unveiled its
Indo-Pacific strategy in 2022
that characterized China as a
“disruptive power” and under-
scored the Canadian commit-
ment to strengthening ties with
countries in the Indo-Pacific
region. That strategy has a par-
ticular focus on India.
Improving India-Canada
trade
Canada has also committed
to improving trade relations
with India by negotiating a
free-trade agreement.
There have been nine rounds
of negotiations, but those talks
stopped amid allegations about
India’s role in Nijjar’s death.
Canadian Trade Minister Mary
Ng cancelled her planned visit
to India in October.
Despite the importance
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (JUSTIN TRUDEAU/FACEBOOK)
countering China’s influence,
the Indian government’s au-
thoritative tendencies, human
rights violations and interfer-
ence in Canadian internal af-
fairs have created obstacles to
Ottawa’s efforts to improve the
India-Canada relationship.
It’s highly improbable that
Canada’s allies, including
the U.S., the U.K. and France,
will cut ties with India due to
Trudeau’s allegations. India is
simply too important for stra-
tegic and economic reasons.
India holds significant im-
portance when it comes to
countering China’s geopolitical
influence. Ottawa has previous-
ly indicated India was a “priori-
ty” market for Canada; in 2022,
India was Canada’s 10th largest
trading partner.
‘Democracy’ partnership
A strategic agreement be-
tween the U.S. and India is
primarily aimed at tempering
China’s growing influence and
has been called a partnership
between “the world’s oldest
democracy” and “the world’s
largest democracy” to highlight
www.canadianinquirer.net
Canada News
shared democratic values.
But the Modi government
has been harshly criticized for
democratic backsliding and au-
thoritarian tendencies, including
fostering Hindu extremism, vio-
lating minority and human rights
and cracking down on the media,
academia and civil society.
Nonetheless, Biden refrained
from criticizing Modi public-
ly when he visited the White
House in June despite being
pressured to raise human rights
issues with the Indian leader.
Seventy-five U.S. congres-
sional representatives wrote a
letter to Biden urging him to do
so. Half a dozen Democrats also
boycotted Modi’s speech to U.S.
Congress. But the Biden admin-
istration reportedly believes
expressing concerns about Mo-
di’s autocratic policies would
harm the relationship.
Holding India accountable
Indeed, Canada’s allies have
often turned a blind eye to Mo-
di’s misdeeds due to strategic
considerations.
But it’s now time for Cana-
da and its allies to assertively
11
hold India accountable for its
actions.
The strategic partnerships
formed between western na-
tions and India were origi-
nally founded on the premise
of shared democratic values.
As the world’s most populous
country, with the fifth largest
economy and second-largest
military, India is still an invalu-
able partner to the West.
But if India is diverging from
these apparent shared princi-
ples, it’s essential to maintain the
integrity of these partnerships by
ensuring that Indian officials re-
main committed to democratic
ideals and human rights.
Even if Canada’s allies won’t
publicly back Trudeau, the fed-
eral government should stay
committed to its core values
by ensuring India faces conse-
quences for its authoritarian
actions. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
12
Conservatives: this is not Canada
BY CELESTE TRIANON,
KIMBERLEY MANNING
Policy Options
"Protecting children’s
physical and mental health”
shouldn’t come at the cost of
their well-being, and even lives.
(Version française disponible ici)
At the recent Conservative
Party of Canada (CPC)’s conven-
tion, Pierre Poilievre sought to
focus on the cost of living, high-
lighting the economic needs of
Canadians across the country.
However, his party decided to
go down a different, much dark-
er path: disregarding science,
trampling on the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms,
and importing foreign conspira-
cy theories into the very fabric of
Canadian politics.
A motion to “protect chil-
dren’s physical and mental
health” was passed by 69 per
cent of Conservative delegates.
If this motion were adopted by
a Conservative government, it
could result in the outlawing of
gender-affirming care for trans
youth. Indeed, and despite the
pleas of physicians, supportive
parents, and trans people them-
selves, the party claiming to
defend the idea of ‘freedom’ in
Canada, is now trying to break
the privacy and trust behind
the doctor-patient relationship.
What is more, this motion posi-
International students are not to blame for
Canada’s housing crisis
BY YVONNE SU, York
University, Canada,
LILACH MAROM, Simon
Fraser University, SOMA
CHATTERJEE, York
University, Canada, TANIA
DAS GUPTA, York University,
Canada
The Conversation
At the start of the new aca-
demic school year, around 30
students at Canadore College in
North Bay, Ont. held a protest
to decry the lack of accommo-
dation provided to internation-
al students.
Canada News
tions the CPC at odds with main-
stream medical associations in
the U.S. and Canada, to impose
what is effectively a fringe view-
point on 2SLGBTQ+ people.
It doesn’t end there. A mo-
tion attempting to redefine a
woman as a ‘female person’, with
trans-exclusionary intent, was ad-
opted. A motion accusing diversi-
ty, equity, and inclusion training
as being ‘ideologically motivat-
ed’, and thus seeking to forbid it
within the public sector, was also
adopted. A motion seeking to ban
hiring practices designed to fur-
ther include marginalized popu-
lations in the workplace was also
overwhelmingly adopted. It is
clear that the CPC’s membership,
regardless of Pierre Poilievre’s
real intent, wants the party to fol-
low in the footsteps of the U.S. Re-
publican Party by targeting some
of the most underrepresented
and marginalized people in our
society.
It was not that long ago that
Canada became one the of the
first countries in the world to
legalize gay marriage. Since that
time, the federal government
and all provincial and territori-
al jurisdictions have expanded
human rights protections for
gender identity and/or gender
expression. Most recently, in
fall of 2021, the government of
Canada passed a ban on conver-
sion practices with unanimous
all-party support. And yet today,
The protesters were demand-
ing help from the college either
to provide affordable accom-
modations, relocation to other
campuses, online classes or a
refund of the tuition they’d paid.
About 25 international stu-
dents at Canadore College slept
in a tent on the side of a road
because they were unable to
find decent, affordable housing.
The college eventually met the
demands of these students, but
others in North Bay and across
Canada continue to struggle to
find decent and affordable plac-
es to live while they study.
In total, approximately 300
the capacity of trans people to
access health care and basic hu-
man rights protections is sud-
denly and terrifyingly in peril.
The CPC convention built
upon a summer of provincial
governments targeting trans
people. Most recently, New
Brunswick and Saskatchewan
introduced policies that restrict
the ability of trans students to
be recognized by their chosen
names and pronouns at school;
the governments of Manitoba
and Ontario may well follow
suit. Should Manitoba and On-
tario pass similar policies as
they are currently intended,
nearly half of trans Canadi-
an students with unaccepting
parents would be faced with a
(PIERRE POILIEVRE/FACEBOOK)
international students are
struggling to find accommoda-
tion at Canadore and Nipissing
University, also in North Bay.
Sadly, this situation is not
unique, and it comes at a time
when international students
are being scapegoated for caus-
ing Canada’s housing crisis,
stealing jobs and causing in-
equalities in education.
Students treated like com-
modities
In August, Housing, Infrastruc-
ture and Communities Minister
Sean Fraser said the government
was considering placing a cap on
international students to ease
www.canadianinquirer.net
disastrous choice: either have
their transness revealed against
their will to their parents by
their teachers, which could
cause life-threatening conse-
quences such as homelessness,
or live with the daily harm of
being misgendered, simply be-
cause the government said so.
A 2019 study of more than
1500 trans Canadian youth
showed that six per cent of trans
youth never or almost never feel
safe at home. The consequences
of this lack of safety are severe:
indeed, decades of research
shows that as many as 40 per
cent of trans and queer youth
end up on the streets or in care
settings. And yet, young people
with unsupportive parents are
pressure off the housing market.
Despite this blame game, the facts
show how reliant Canada is on in-
ternational students.
In 2023, Canadian post-sec-
ondary institutions are expect-
ed to welcome around 900,000
international students, com-
pared to about 240,000 inter-
national students in 2011. Uni-
versities and colleges have long
sought international students
as lucrative sources of revenue.
Higher education institutions
often charge international stu-
dents three to five times more
in tuition fees than Canadians.
Unsurprisingly, universities
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY
far more likely to experience
suicidal ideation and attempt
suicide, than those who do not.
Most Canadians today would
never agree to teachers reveal-
ing a student’s sexual orienta-
tion to their parents without
consent. So what’s so special
about gender? What justifies
granting parents an absolute,
property-like right over their
children’s gender identity, and
what justifies allowing the gov-
ernment to override the best
interests of mature minors, sup-
portive parents, and their doc-
tors to impose view in which,
“protecting children’s physical
and mental health” comes at the
cost of their well-being and even
lives, by denying them the very
scientifically-proven healthcare
they need?
In a 2013 survey, more than
90 per cent of Canadians agreed
that the Canadian Charter of
Rights and Freedoms is one of
the most important symbols
of Canadian identity. As such,
disregarding science, trampling
on the Charter, and actively at-
tacking the rights of minorities
— is undermining the very thing
that makes us Canadian.
Conservatives: this is not
Canada. ■
This article first appeared
on Policy Options and is repub-
lished here under a Creative
Commons license.
have voiced their opposition to
a cap that could threaten their
bottom line. Provinces and ter-
ritories have remained cool to
the idea while the Québec gov-
ernment has rejected it.
International students contrib-
ute more than $22.3 billion per
year to the Canadian economy and
are a major source of the work-
force and talent needed to replen-
ish Canada’s aging population.
Canada has presented itself
as a destination of choice for in-
ternational students for years.
Yet, while international stu-
❱❱ PAGE 17 International students
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
Stripping Russia’s veto power on the Security
Council is all but impossible. Perhaps we
should expect less from the UN instead
BY TAMSIN PHILLIPA
PAIGE, Deakin University
The Conversation
Ukrainian President Volo-
dymyr Zelensky has lambasted
the UN Security Council yet
again, saying in a speech this
week that as long as Russia has
veto power on the body, it will
remain powerless to do any-
thing to stop the war in Ukraine
– or any other conflict.
Ukrainian soldiers are doing
with their blood what the UN
Security Council should do by
its voting. […] Veto power in the
hands of the aggressor is what
has pushed the UN into deadlock.
Every time a member of the
five permanent members of
the UN Security Council – the
US, Russia, France, the UK and
China – engages in abhorrent
actions, we see a wave of voices
decrying the powerlessness and
failure of the UN to stop conflict
and atrocities.
Most recently, this has been
focused on the Russian war in
Ukraine. We also saw this criti-
cism in relation to the US- and
UK-led invasion of Iraq in the
early 2000s.
The central part of this criti-
cism is that the five permanent
members of the Security Coun-
cil (commonly referred to as the
“P5”) have a veto power, which
can prevent UN action when they
have engaged in wrongdoing.
The other 10 rotating members
of the Security Council do not.
This veto power is what has
prevented Russia from being
expelled from the UN, as Zel-
ensky has repeatedly called for,
because suspension or expul-
sion of a member from the UN
requires action from the Secu-
rity Council.
This criticism is entirely rea-
sonable – the P5 shouldn’t be
able to prevent the UN from act-
World News
ing against them. However, this
isn’t a failure of the UN itself, but
rather a design feature baked in
to the whole UN system.
And reform of the UN is func-
tionally impossible, which is
why we need to stop expecting
so much from the global body.
Some are more equal than
others
Article 2(1) of the UN Char-
ter says the UN is based on the
principle of sovereign equality.
This, in principle, should mean
all nations are equal under in-
ternational law.
In reality, even when just
considering the rest of the UN
Charter, it is clear this is not
the case. Yes, all nations in the
UN General Assembly have one
vote and all those votes have
equal weight, but this is some-
what insignificant because the
work of the General Assembly
isn’t legally binding.
The only UN body that has
the power to make binding in-
ternational law is the Security
Council. And this only happens
when it is acting under Chapter
VII of the UN Charter for the
maintenance of international
peace and security.
In order for a resolution to
pass in the Security Council,
it must have the support of at
least nine members – and, crit-
ically, no opposing vote from a
member of the P5. This is what
is meant by the P5 veto power.
When the UN Charter was
being drafted at the end of the
second world war, the allied
powers and France agreed to
enshrine themselves into the
document as the P5.
Notably, the group includ-
ed the “Republic of China”,
the government led by Chi-
ang Kai-shek in Taiwan, which
held the Security Council seat
until the General Assembly
expelled Taiwan and gave the
seat to the People’s Republic
of China in 1971. And when the
Soviet Union disbanded in the
early 1990s, Russia inherited
its seat on the Security Council
through the Alma-Ata Protocol.
The charter gave the P5
the ultimate responsibility
for maintaining international
peace and security, while also
functionally removing them
from scrutiny because they pos-
sess veto power.
This wasn’t a design oversight
or failure, it was an intention-
al decision. This is clearly seen
when you examine the word-
ing of Article 27(3). This arti-
cle requires a Security Council
member to refrain from voting
on a matter if they are party to
a dispute – but it does not apply
to resolutions invoking Chap-
ter VII (that is, a legally binding
resolution).
The fact the charter includes
a restriction on the veto but
only in relation to non-binding
resolutions demonstrates an
intention to place the P5 be-
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE/FLICKR, PUBLIC DOMAIN)
www.canadianinquirer.net
yond scrutiny.
So, what about veto reform?
If the existence of the veto
prevents any Security Coun-
cil action from being taken
against Russia for its invasion
of Ukraine (or against any oth-
er P5 state when they engage in
similar conduct), why don’t we
just reform it?
Well, this can’t be done be-
cause the drafters of the UN
Charter made reform incredi-
bly difficult. Namely, the P5 en-
sured they have a right to veto
any proposed reforms to the
UN structure by requiring all
charter amendments to be rati-
fied by each of them, in addition
to getting a two-thirds majority
in the General Assembly.
In essence, this means re-
forming the UN Charter is off
the table because the P5 would
be able to veto a reduction of
their veto power.
The only avenue left for re-
form is to dissolve the UN Char-
ter and reform the UN under a
13
new treaty that limits or abol-
ishes the power of the veto.
Given the state of global sol-
idarity is very different today
compared to the end of WWII
when the UN was established,
I’m loathe to test this approach.
A P5 that is restrained by the
Charter when it suits them is
less dangerous than a P5 that
opts out of international law
entirely, leaving them com-
pletely unrestrained in their
aggression.
Tempering our expectations
Yes, this means the UN is pow-
erless to address Russian ag-
gression in Ukraine, in the same
way it was powerless to address
US and UK aggression in Iraq.
And yes, this seems to go against
the initial purpose of the global
body, which was created to:
to save succeeding generations
from the scourge of war, which
twice in our lifetime has brought
untold sorrow to mankind.
The Security Council, too, was
given the mandate of maintaining
international peace and security
when it was created, as Zelensky
has repeatedly pointed out.
But in accepting that man-
date, the P5 ensured they
wouldn’t be subject to it. In cre-
ating the UN, they placed them-
selves above the law and above
the power of the UN specifically
so they could avoid scrutiny of
their actions. They also ensured
they could prevent any reform
of the UN to limit their power.
As a result, maybe it is time
we start treating the UN for
what it is – a diplomatic con-
gress aimed at making the
world a little better through en-
couraging cooperation. Rather
than what we hope it to be – a
world government capable of
effecting peace. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
14
Americans do talk about peace − just not the
same way people do in other countries
BY PETER DIXON, Columbia
University, AMY E LERMAN,
University of California,
Berkeley, FIORELLA VERA-
ADRIANZÉN, Santa Clara
University, NAOMI LEVY,
Santa Clara University
The Conversation
Americans don’t talk much
about peace. But it turns out
they care about it a lot – they
just don’t talk about it the way
people who have experienced
war or civil conflict do.
When public opinion polls in
the U.S. ask people about peace,
it’s either in the context of reli-
gion or world peace.
Instead of using the word
peace, Americans are more
likely to say that they care deep-
ly about safety and security and
issues like terrorism, crime, il-
legal drugs and immigration.
But they still care about the
same things people in places that
have faced war are focused on.
What is peace?
We are social scientists who
are part of a network of peace
and conflict researchers and
community-engaged scholars
at several universities. We and
our other colleagues have spent
a lot of time talking with differ-
ent communities that have ex-
perienced war, including in Co-
lombia, Afghanistan and Bosnia
and Herzegovina, about what
peace looks like to them.
Peace is hard to define. In
the dictionary, it’s equated with
tranquility or the absence of war.
We see it as broader. Peace is the
ability for people to live in har-
mony with themselves and with
each other. In practice, however,
that can mean many different
things to different people.
We know that people who
directly experience conflict
and violence tend to have very
broad, but also nuanced, defini-
tions of peace.
In Colombia, for example,
many communities told us they
felt at peace when they had the
infrastructure necessary to
supply basic needs, like clean
water, or when they could ac-
tively participate in regular so-
cial gatherings. In Bosnia, resi-
dents highlighted the ability to
use public spaces, including re-
World News
built ruins from the war, as well
as the presence of more day-to-
day amenities like streetlights
and parking.
But until a recent project in
Oakland, California, we weren’t
thinking about our work in Amer-
ica as also being about peace.
Since 2021, we’ve been work-
ing with six community orga-
nizations in Oakland to under-
stand how people define and
experience safety and well-be-
ing in their everyday lives. As
it turns out, these concepts
helped us get at how Americans,
who have not experienced war
like the people in other regions
we’ve worked with, might also
understand peace.
Re-imagining safety
Our research’s focus on safe-
ty was inspired by a number of
cities and towns, like Colum-
bus, Ohio, and Austin, Texas,
that have launched projects to
reform how public safety is con-
ceived of and protected follow-
ing the widespread Black Lives
Matter protests in 2020.
Oakland has undergone a
similar process of asking res-
idents to help their local gov-
ernment rethink what safety
means. And, like other cities,
Oakland residents have had an
intense debate over the police
department and how the gov-
ernment should reform its ap-
proach to crime.
We spoke to over 500 resi-
dents across parts of Oakland
that have been especially hard
hit by crime and violence and
who live in areas that have his-
torically been both overpoliced
and underserved with public
resources.
We asked questions like,
“What does safety or the lack
of safety look like here,” and
“What are some signs that the
community is doing well or not
doing well?”
These conversations covered
a lot of ground – ground that
was similar to other conver-
sations we’ve had about peace
with people who live in conflict
zones or countries with long
histories of war.
Some Oakland residents
spoke about how kids are de-
sensitized to gunshots and vio-
lence or are arrested or kicked
out of their homes. We heard
that these kids and teenagers
ultimately lose sight of how
their lives – and the lives of oth-
ers – have value.
High school students also
reflected on the prevalence of
guns, shootings and gangs in
their lives. As one told us, “I
want to go back” to a more inno-
cent time, when “I didn’t know
nothing about any of this.”
But just as we know
that violence and se-
curity are only two
aspects of people’s
understandings of
peace, the same is
true of safety. The po-
lice – and even crime
– are just two aspects
of how communities
think about safety in
their everyday lives.
They also think about
economic opportuni-
ties, public space and
social connections.
We heard about how,
when kids have basic
life skills and job skills
training, or have men-
tors and role models,
this can give them choices that
are alternatives to criminal activ-
ity and help them invest back in
their communities.
We heard about block parties
and town nights, which inspire
people of different races and
ethnicities to look out for each
other and build trust with their
neighbors. “By us, for us,” as one
resident put it.
From safety to peace
The United Nations marks
www.canadianinquirer.net
the annual International Day of
Peace on Sept. 21, 2023.
In general, the U.S. does not
widely recognize or celebrate
global holidays like these, in-
cluding International Women’s
Day or International Labor Day.
But, like peace, safety is
about far more than reducing
violence. It’s being able to trust
that police have communities’
Peace is hard to define.
In the dictionary, it’s
equated with tranquility
or the absence of war.
interests in mind and knowing
that residents will receive fair
treatment in the courts.
It’s also being able to breathe
clean air and access work and
educational opportunities. It’s
about being able to openly share
past trauma, feel loved and con-
nected, and so much more.
This all has important im-
plications for what Americans
want – and what they actually
get – from their local govern-
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY
ments. When policymakers
define safety as the absence
of violence and benchmark it
primarily against metrics like
crime statistics, they limit the
kinds of policies that cities and
their residents can look to.
Typically, the main policy re-
sponses in the U.S. to crime and
violence have centered on po-
licing and incarceration.
In contrast, our
conversations across
Oakland suggest that
communities are al-
ready using different
frameworks and lan-
guage to assess safety.
These in turn offer up
a more holistic set of
potential interven-
tions. What, we might
ask, would city leaders
focus on if they were
evaluating the suc-
cess of public safety
reforms by whether
children are playing
outside in the park, or
whether people know
the names of their
neighbors?
Building safety in the U.S.
is more akin to building peace
internationally than many
Americans may think. As we
celebrate world peace, we think
people should remember that
these conversations matter
here at home, too. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
How local police could help prevent another
January 6th-style insurrection
BY MATTHEW VALASIK,
University of Alabama,
SHANNON REID, University
of North Carolina – Charlotte
The Conversation
Some of the most prominent
members of the Proud Boys, a
far-right militant group that
functions more like a street
gang than a militia, have been
sentenced to long terms in fed-
eral prison for their roles in the
Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the
U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Experts declare that these
successful prosecutions by the
U.S. Justice Department will
not only discourage far-right
groups but also deter people
from joining them and engaging
in future criminal activity.
Group chairman Henry “En-
rique” Tarrio was sentenced to
22 years in federal prison after
being found guilty of seditious
conspiracy. Group leaders
Ethan Nordean, Joe Biggs and
Zachary Rehl were also found
guilty of seditious conspiracy
and sentenced to 18, 17 and 15
years, respectively. Dominic
Pezzola, a Proud Boys mem-
ber who breached the Capitol
building with a stolen police
riot shield, was found not guilty
of seditious conspiracy but was
convicted of a variety of fel-
onies, including assaulting a
police officer, robbing govern-
ment property and obstructing
an official proceeding – and
sentenced to 10 years in prison.
But despite the lengths of
those sentences, prosecutors had
asked U.S. District Judge Timo-
Say no to..
❰❰ 10 ization while indirect-
ly financing CCS. For
example, PSP contrib-
uted to the Brookfield Global
Transition Fund in 2021 – what
the company calls “the largest
fund focused on the global tran-
sition to a net-zero economy.”
While Brookfield allocated cap-
ital to renewable energy, waste
recycling and sustainable agri-
culture, the fund made separate
investments in CCS projects.
Similarly, PSP contributed
thy Kelly to impose even harsher
ones, claiming the offenses were
related to terrorism. Kelly, how-
ever, ruled that claims of terror-
ism overstate the conduct of the
Proud Boys sentenced.
That fits with our analysis of
the Proud Boys. As scholars who
study street gangs and far-right
groups, we see that the larger
law enforcement community
continues to focus – we believe
mistakenly – on the belief that,
like terrorist groups, white su-
premacists are coordinated in
ideology and intent. Evidence
shows that perception actual-
ly diverts local police agencies’
attention from identifying and
managing these groups.
Gangs are generally defined
as durable, street-oriented
groups whose own identity in-
cludes involvement in illegal
activity. We believe that if po-
lice had treated Proud Boys as
members of a street gang from
the group’s inception in 2016,
the events of Jan. 6, 2021, might
have been avoided, or at least
reduced in severity.
The trouble with fighting
domestic terrorism
The United States lacks explic-
it laws banning domestic terror-
ism, in part because they are con-
stitutionally controversial and
may target unintended groups.
That problem has arisen with
other criminal laws, such as the
Racketeer Influenced and Cor-
rupt Organizations Act, which
was designed to specifically target
organized crime groups, like the
Italian Mafia. The application of
RICO, however, has been adapt-
ed and used aggressively against
to the TPG Rise Climate Fund,
which seeks to “invest in the
entrepreneurs and business-
es building climate solutions
around the world.” The private
fund allocated US$300 million
to a controversial carbon-cap-
ture pipeline in Iowa.
The federal government and
some provincial governments
gave at least $5.8 billion com-
bined in subsidies to CCS proj-
ects between 2000 and 2020,
according to Environmental De-
Black, Latino and Indigenous
groups and political protestors.
Nevertheless, some have sug-
gested that passing laws defin-
ing and outlawing domestic ter-
rorism would be the best way to
deal with the threats posed by
the Proud Boys and other far-
right extremists.
But when Canada and New
Zealand designated the Proud
Boys as a terrorist organization,
that did not eliminate white su-
premacists from those countries.
It merely forced them to rebrand
themselves with a new name and
logo. Treating Proud Boys solely
as members of a terrorist orga-
nization does not actually stamp
out white supremacy groups.
Instead, this perception hurts
local law enforcement’s ability
to recognize local, disorganized,
far-right groups as street gangs
and not terrorist groups. Police
discretion is immense. Time
and again, police have been doc-
umented ignoring Proud Boys
fence. The federal 2023 budget
includes another $18.1 billion
in tax credits for CCS and $17.7
billion in tax credits for “clean”
hydrogen over the next 11 years.
A pension plan without a
climate plan
Despite record oil-industry
profits in 2022 and strong evi-
dence that oil sands companies
don’t need additional govern-
ment subsidies to deploy CCS,
Canada’s oil and gas industry is
asking for even more subsidies
www.canadianinquirer.net
World News
violence and intimidation. Fail-
ing to arrest members explicitly
observed in criminal infractions
has only encouraged future acts
of violence. Furthermore, local
law enforcement’s history of
failing to investigate and arrest
members of far-right groups
forces the federal government
to be solely responsible for pros-
ecuting them.
Once a gang, always a gang
From the very start, Proud
Boys founder Gavin McInnes
explicitly declared the group a
“gang.” Local police across the
U.S. actively investigate and
prosecute gangs, especially
those whose members are Black,
Latino and other people of color.
Proud Boys are predominant-
ly white men who also intimi-
date and threaten communities
around the U.S. with disorderly
conduct, public harassment and
more serious violence, including
battery, assault, murder, riot-
ing and hate crimes. This “caf-
for CCS via the CGF.
These companies are at the
same time working overtime
to weaken and delay key feder-
al policies to reduce emissions
from the oil and gas sector, the
Narwhal reports.
The CGF is an innovative
financing tool that can help at-
tract the private capital need-
ed to decarbonize Canada’s
economy. But PSP does not
have a credible climate plan
or a particularly encouraging
15
eteria-style” offending is quite
common among gang members
participating in a range of crimi-
nal activities.
But, perhaps because of the
Proud Boys’ claims to be just
a “western chauvinist” men’s
club, local law enforcement
agencies have tended not to
treat the Proud Boys and oth-
er far-right groups as street
gangs. Such increased scrutiny
by police of their criminal ac-
tivities would have produced a
much greater deterrent effect.
Instead, the lack of acknowl-
edging the Proud Boys’ violent
criminal behavior only embold-
ened them further.
In fact, police have either re-
mained idle or even consorted
with Proud Boys members at re-
cent protests, even giving them
high-fives, as observed in Colum-
bus, Ohio, at a demonstration
against the “Holi-drag” story time
event. This type of police engage-
ment is just one element of how
police ignore the threat of white
supremacy and its followers.
Broadening the concept of
gangs
Many Proud Boys fail to ex-
hibit remorse for their actions.
Pezzola declared “Trump won!”
as he exited the federal court-
room after his sentencing. Tar-
rio is now positioning himself
as a political prisoner to rally
support from the GOP.
This raises our concerns that
Proud Boys members will con-
tinue to be active and violent.
Research finds it is effective for
police to systematically monitor
❱❱ PAGE 17 How local police
record when it comes to cli-
mate-aligned investing.
Its mandate to manage the
CGF should raise red flags for
Canadians concerned about
their tax dollars being used to
prop up oil and gas production
that must be phased out to en-
sure a safe climate future. ■
This article first appeared
on Policy Options and is repub-
lished here under a Creative
Commons license.
16
Sunak should be wary of backtracking
on net zero – what history tells us about
flip-flopping on the environment
BY MARC HUDSON,
University of Sussex
The Conversation
Rishi Sunak has delivered a
speech in which he announced
delays to key net zero targets,
including postponing the ban on
the sale of new petrol and diesel
cars until 2035. It is a remark-
able event given that the UK
Conservative party has at least
paid lipservice to environmental
concerns for the last 50 years, at
times even outflanking Labour.
Several Conservative MPs
have expressed their frustra-
tion and disappointment with
the announcement. Chris
Skidmore, a Conservative MP
and former minister who pro-
duced a report on net zero for
Sunak this year, has gone on
record stating: “We will look
back on this moment as Sunak’s
slow-motion car crash.”
Those with their finger on the
pulse and the polls are already
commenting on whether Sunak’s
announcement will achieve the
desired results, at least at the bal-
lot box. Others will be looking at
this latest manifestation of anti
net zero populism.
And some will be pondering
whether this marks a “policy
reversal” for the UK Climate
Change Act, the 2008 law that
set a target to cut greenhouse gas
emissions 80% by 2050 and cre-
ated the government’s indepen-
dent advice-giving watchdog, the
Committee on Climate Change.
Given that the Conservatives
vehemently supported the cre-
ation of that Climate Change
Act, Sunak’s backtracking needs
explaining.
World News
Is it because he doesn’t care
about environmental issues? Is
he captive to the “net zero scru-
tiny group” of MPs that have
long loathed – and campaigned
against – green commitments?
Or is he harking back to histori-
cal instances in the US and Aus-
tralia where conservative par-
ties incited cultural conflicts,
often to their electoral advan-
tage? (There’s even a word for
that: “rage-farming”.)
Dropping green pledges
Despite conservative politi-
cians’ pledges for environmen-
tal protection, in office they’ve
usually displayed less of an ap-
petite for action.
While on the campaign trail
in 1988, George Bush Senior
said that those who were wor-
ried about the greenhouse ef-
fect (as climate change was
then known) were forgetting
about the “White House effect”.
The implication was that he
would use use the power of his
presidency to drive climate ac-
tion once elected.
But, when in office, Bush
dragged his heels both domes-
tically and internationally. He
only agreed to go to the June
1992 UN Conference on En-
vironment and Development
(also called the Earth Summit)
in Rio after all mention of tar-
gets and timetables for emis-
sions reductions for rich na-
tions were removed from the
treaty text.
In the final weeks of the 1992
presidential election campaign,
Bush also tried to paint his op-
ponents Bill Clinton and Al Gore
as green extremists over the is-
sue of protection for the spotted
owl in California. This effort ap-
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY
peared to have some impact on
the polls but was insufficient to
win him the election.
Eight years later, his son, who
was also on the campaign trail,
promised to regulate carbon
dioxide emissions from pow-
er plants. But once in office, he
pulled the US out of the Kyoto
Protocol – a target and timeta-
ble for emissions reductions by
rich nations.
There have also been mixed
signals from conservative par-
ties in Australia. In the 1990
federal election, the Liberals
outbid Labor with more ambi-
tious environmental targets.
However, it did not win them
the election and Liberals turned
on green issues soon after.
Perhaps the most successful
political example of attacking
green policies for electoral gain
are the awesome efforts of Aus-
tralian politician Tony Abbott.
As opposition leader between
late 2009 and 2013, he killed off (RISHI SUNAK/FACEBOOK)
the government’s planned cli-
mate pricing mechanism, which ed by his own party, and finally According to recent analysis,
indirectly brought down then lost his seat to an independent that cutting of the green crap
prime minister Kevin Rudd. who explicitly positioned her- has since added £2.5 billion
He then launched a ferocious self as pro-climate action. (US$3.1 billion) to the UK’s en-
assault against the successor It’s also more difficult for Su- ergy bills. And as Rachel Wolf,
policy and prime minister, Julia nak to ignite this sort of culture hardly a leftie (she co-wrote the
Gillard. Gillard’s carbon pricing war for a variety of reasons. One 2019 Conservative Party mani-
mechanism was the first thing is that Abbott was doing it from festo), notes, “Lots of the public
Abbott abolished when he took opposition, whereas Sunak will assume the reason the tar-
office in 2013. leads a party that has been in get has been watered down is
Sunak should be cautious power for 13 years. It’s hard to because the government is too
It’s possible that Rishi Sunak run against the elites when you incompetent to meet it.”
is taking heart from this. The are that elite. Perhaps the best historical
Conservatives have already Sunak might also be thinking analogy here is not to do with
copied the Australian Liberals’ that David Cameron, who fa- the environment at all. In the
“stop the boats” approach to mously “cut the green crap” in mid-1990s John Major’s UK
immigration. 2013, suffered no electoral con- government pushed ahead with
However, Sunak should be sequences. Cameron did, in fact, the privatisation of the railways.
cautious. Abbott was widely win the 2015 general election.
ridiculed and eventually reject- But it’s not 2015 any more. ❱❱ PAGE 20 Sunak should be
www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 17

International students.. How local police..

❰❰ 12 dents are constructed
as ideal professional
migrants, they are
treated as a commodity to fund
Canada’s post-secondary insti-
tutions and tackle the labour
shortage.
Students blamed for the
government’s faults
Fraser also suggested that a
cap would help to resolve the
under-housing and victimiza-
tion of international students.
International students rent-
ing in Canada often experience
all kinds of abuse when trying
to find housing. This abuse in-
cludes price gouging, invasion
of privacy, sexual harassment,
assault, exploitation and illegal-
ly low living standards. Some
international students have also
died in house fires, overcrowded
houses or through suicide.
Yet, it is because of the ac-
tions of previous governments
that international students find
themselves in this position.
When provinces started to de-
regulate tuition fees for inter-
national students in the 1980s,
post-secondary institutions
found a new source of revenue
and an incentive to attract as
many as they could.
In addition, since the early
2000s the federal government
has created policies designed to
bring international students to
Canada. These include enabling
international students to work
in Canada during and after their
studies and eventually apply to
become permanent residents.
Canada’s leaders encouraged
international students to come
here. And Canada’s leaders are
now trying to blame them for a
crisis that is not their fault.
Easy targets
International students are
an easy target for scapegoating.
Many are temporary migrants
with little political or economic
power. The scapegoating of im-
migrants is based on the logic
that, by increasing demand for
housing, they are exacerbating
the housing crisis.
However, there is much
more at play than newcomer
demands on housing. Blam-
ing migrants and international
students draws attention away
from the role of developers,
municipal zoning laws and Ca-
nadian governments in perpet-
uating the housing crisis.
Due to their precarious legal
status in Canada, very few inter-
national students speak out, fear-
ing that doing so might hurt their
chances to remain in Canada.
Governments and post-sec-
ondary institutions that admit
international students have a
moral duty to them once they’re
in Canada. It is unacceptable
that students who are made to
pay exorbitant tuition fees are
ending up homeless and living
in tents, sexually assaulted or
even dead.
The demonization and xeno-
phobia have gone too far and the
scapegoating of international
students has to end. Interna-
tional students and immigrants
are not the cause of Canada’s
problems. If anything, it is their
money, talents and hard work
that Canada relies on.
The housing crisis is a serious
problem that requires serious
solutions, and politicians need to
stop playing the blame game. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
❰❰ 15 and target groups that
exhibit violent behav-
ior and that doing so
deters future acts of violence.
Sometimes, new laws can help.
In Alabama, for instance, a law
enacted in June expands the le-
gal definition of groups police
might be concerned about. In-
stead of using a specific term like
“street gang,” as most states do,
the Alabama law defines a “crim-
inal enterprise” as any group of
three or more people who engage
in a pattern of criminal activity.
Such an approach aids in remov-
ing the bias in law enforcement
that street gangs are composed
Congress ‘on track’..
❰❰ 6 and Ways and Means
are the Department
of Water Resources
and Services and Creation of
Water Regulatory Commission;
Motor Vehicle User’s Charge/
Road User’s Tax; Tatak-Pinoy
(Proudly Filipino) Act; and
Blue Economy Law.
Under Committee/Technical
Working Group (TWG) Meet-
ing are the New Government
only of urban youth.
We hope that police will
collect and share information
about far-right groups’ crimi-
nal acts with other agencies to
help identify people who are
active in various areas of a state
or even around the country. But
in the end, the evidence shows
that the Proud Boys, like any
street gang, remain primarily
localized groups that are best
dealt with by local police, not
federal agents. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
Procurement Law and Amend-
ment of the Cooperative Code;
while the New Government Au-
diting Code is undergoing com-
mittee deliberations.
“We are confident of meeting
our self-imposed target of hav-
ing all these measures approved
before we go on our Christmas
break,” Romualdez said. (with
reports from Jose Cielito Re-
ganit/PNA) ■

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www.canadianinquirer.net
18
Entertainment
How did Taylor Swift get so popular?
She never goes out of style
BY KATE PATTISON, RMIT
University
The Conversation
Last week, USA Today/Gan-
nett posted a job ad for a Taylor
Swift reporter, seeking an expe-
rienced journalist and content
creator to “capture the music and
cultural impact of Taylor Swift”.
It’s not the first time Swift has
been the focus of professional
and academic work. In 2022,
New York University’s Clive Da-
vis Institute announced a course
focused on Swift, taught by Roll-
ing Stone’s Brittany Spanos.
They also gave Swift an honor-
ary doctorate in fine arts, as “one
of the most prolific and celebrat-
ed artists of her generation”.
Other universities around the
world followed with their own
dedicated courses, including
“The Psychology of Taylor Swift”,
“The Taylor Swift Songbook” and
“Literature: Taylor’s Version”.
While musicians and celeb-
rities have been the subject of
our fascinations for decades, it’s
not often they receive such in-
dividualised attention. Swift’s
impressive career can be stud-
ied from multiple perspectives,
including marketing, fandom,
business and songwriting, to
name a few.
So why Taylor Swift?
From a music perspective,
Swift has broken a lot of re-
cords. Last month, she became
the first female artist in Spoti-
fy history to reach 100 million
monthly listeners.
Swift has achieved 12 number
one albums on Billboard, the
most by a woman artist, over-
taking Barbra Streisand earlier
this year.
She’s the first and only woman
solo artist to win the Album Of
The Year Grammy three times,
for Fearless (2009), 1989 (2015)
and Folklore (2020) – each in
a different musical genre. It’s a
credit to Swift’s masterful song-
writing, and demonstrates her
ability to adapt her craft for dif-
ferent audiences.
There is an expectation for fe-
male artists to constantly re-in-
vent themselves, something
Swift reflected on in her Netflix
documentary Miss Americana:
The female artists I know of
have to remake themselves like
20 times more than the male art-
ists, or you’re out of a job.
Over the course of her ca-
reer, Swift has evolved from an
award-winning country music
singer to one of the biggest pop
stars in the world. Each of her
ten original studio albums has
a distinct theme and aesthetic,
which have been celebrated on
Swift’s juggernaut Eras Tour.
The tour, which has just
wrapped up its first US leg, is set
to be the highest-grossing of all
time, boosting local travel and
tourism revenue along the way.
A recent report estimates the
tour could help add a monumen-
tal US$5 billion (A$7.8 billion) to
the worldwide economy.
‘All I do is try, try, try’
But to measure Swift’s im-
pact by her music alone would
be limiting.
Swift has been instrumental
in changing the business game
for musicians. She’s taken on
record labels and streaming
services, advocating for better
deals for artists.
In 2015, Apple Music changed
its payment policies after Swift
wrote an open letter campaign-
ing for better compensation.
Most notably, she took a stand
against her former record la-
bel, Big Machine Records, after
it wouldn’t give her an oppor-
tunity to buy back her original
master recordings. Her back
catalogue was eventually sold to
music executive Scooter Braun,
kicking off a very public feud.
While she’s not the first art-
ist to go after her masters, she’s
generated an enormous amount
of attention to an issue that’s of-
ten overlooked. Of course, Swift
is in a position of privilege – she
can take risks many other art-
ists can’t afford to. But with this
power she’s driving conversa-
tions around contracts and the
value of music, paving the way
for emerging artists.
In an effort to regain control
of her earlier work, Swift an-
nounced she would be re-re-
cording her first six albums.
Each re-recorded album has in-
cluded additional vault tracks,
previously unreleased songs
left off the original recordings.
These releases have each been
accompanied by a robust pro-
motional campaign, including
new merchandise and multiple,
limited-edition versions of each
record for fans to collect.
The release of Speak Now
(Taylor’s Version) marked the
halfway point of this process,
which has paid off big time. Fear-
less (Taylor’s Version), Red (Tay-
lor’s Version) and Speak Now
(Taylor’s Version) have all per-
formed better than the originals.
This is largely due to the un-
wavering support from her fans,
known as “Swifties”. They’ve
embraced the new recordings,
shaming anyone who plays the
original “stolen” versions.
Taylor Swift (EVA RINALDI/FLICKR, CC BY-SA 2.0)
www.canadianinquirer.net
The power of Swifties
Swift’s loyal fandom are
known for their high levels of
participation and creativity.
Fans have spent an extensive
amount of time hand-making
outfits for concerts, and discuss-
ing elaborate theories online.
Swift has a reputation for leav-
ing clues, known as Easter eggs, in
her lyrics, music videos, social me-
dia posts and interviews. There
are fan accounts dedicated to an-
alysing these Easter eggs, study-
ing specific number patterns and
phrases to uncover hints for what
Swift might do next.
Swift and Taylor Nation, a
branch of her management
team, encourage these be-
haviours by rewarding fans for
their participation.
For the upcoming release of
1989 (Taylor’s Version), Swift
has unveiled a series of puzzles
on Google, which fans must
solve together in order to re-
veal the names of the upcoming
vault tracks.
Swifties collectively solved
the 33 million (yes, that’s mil-
lion) puzzles in less than 24
hours. The games played a dual
role - not only did Swift an-
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY
nounce the vault track titles,
but she’s reclaimed her Google
searches in the process.
Swift’s fandom crosses gen-
erations. She’s a quintessen-
tial millennial, and many fans
have grown up with Swift over
the past two decades. Some
have even started to bring their
children along to the concerts,
posting videos of them set to
the bridge to Long Live.
She’s also found a younger
audience on TikTok, a platform
predominantly used by Gen Z.
Affectionately dubbed “Swift-
Tok” by fans (and now Swift
herself ), users post videos to
engage with other Swifties and
participate in the community.
Swift’s songs are often used
in popular trends. The release
of Midnights last year had many
dancing to Bejeweled and Kar-
ma, but Swift’s older catalogue
has also gotten a good run. A
remix of Love Story went viral
in 2020, which helped a new
generation discover her older
music. Most recently, her song
August has been used for run-
ning on the beach and spinning
around with your pets.
She’s also closely aligned
with young adult shows like
The Summer I Turned Pretty,
which has featured 13 of her
songs throughout the show’s
first two seasons. Swift’s music
is so central to the story that au-
thor Jenny Han nearly dedicat-
ed the second book to her.
Swift continues to dominate
the cultural conversation through
her music, business decisions and
legions of devoted fans.
Right now, Swift’s popular-
ity is at an all time high, and it
could be easy to dismiss this
hype as a passing trend. But if
these first 17 years are anything
to go by, Swift’s proven she’s in
it for the long haul, and worthy
of our time. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
KathNiel and DonBelle's
hit romance series now
air abroad
ABS-CBN
Featuring '2 Good 2 Be
True' in Vietnam and 'He's
Into Her' in Africa
ABS-CBN continues to make
Filipino content available globally
as it brings to of of its most-talked
about romantic series, top-billed
by sought-after Kapamilya love-
teams KathNiel and DonBelle,
with "2 Good 2 Be True" and "He's
Into Her," now airing in Vietnam
and Africa, respectively.
Following its successful run
in 2022, the hit rom-com series
"2 Good 2 Be True," starring the
reel-to-real pairing of Daniel
Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo,
now makes its way to Vietnam,
dubbed in its local language,
through the pay TV channel ON-
CINE, airing weeknights at 8 PM.
Before its Vietnamese tele-
cast, the primetime serye first
made its strides locally by con-
sistently trending on social me-
dia and becoming the first Fili-
pino series to stream episodes
72-hours in advance on Netflix
Philippines—continuously top-
ping the streaming platform's
most-watched TV shows list.
Pia Wurtzbach launches
"Queen of the Universe" novel
ABS-CBN
Now an international author
Actress-beauty queen-ad-
vocate Pia Wurtzbach Jauncey
officially launched her book
“Queen of the Universe" at the
Manila International Book Fair
held at the SMX Convention
Center in Pasay City.
The novel is drawn from
the Miss Universe 2015’s re-
al-life experiences as a beauty
queen and beyond, set against
the rich backdrop of Manila's
glittering urban life. It centers
on a fictional character named
Both lead stars were also rec-
ognized at the prestigious Seoul
International Drama Awards
2023 (SDA) in the Outstand-
ing Asian Artist category, with
Kathryn receiving the award.
Meanwhile, another romance
hit from ABS-CBN, "He's Into
Her," is being raved by African
audiences as it currently airs
in 41 Sub-Saharan countries,
including Nigeria, Ivory Coast,
and Mozambique through the
StarTimes channel.
First streamed locally via
Kapamilya streaming platform
iWantTFC, the show was top-
billed by breakout stars Donny
Pangilinan and 2022 SDA Out-
ABS-CBN continues to deliver world-class Filipino content globally, bringing two of its hit
romance series—KathNiel’s primetime hit “2 Good 2 Be True” in Vietnam via ONCINE, and
DonBelle’s iWantTFC series “He’s Into Her” in 41 African countries on StarTimes (ABS-CBN)
Cleo who has to face unexpect-
ed twists and turns and endure
challenges to her identity and
integrity amidst the dizzying
world of beauty pageants.
“Cleo is loosely based on my
life story but as you go through
the chapters you will see that
she goes through her own jour-
ney so it’s not me. Medyo mag-
kaiba kami ng path na pupun-
tahan. I’ll leave that up to you
guys to discover when you read
the book,” Pia said.
"Queen of the Universe" is
one of a handful of books by a
Filipino author to launch inter-
nationally. Aside from the Phil-
standing Asian Artist winner
Belle Mariano.
Prior to its African broad-
cast, the digital series made
its mark as the most-watched
show on iWantTFC, topping
Twitter's trending charts, and
spawning sold-out concerts lo-
cally. The show also joins other
ABS-CBN titles to have aired
on StarTimes, including La
Luna Sangre," "La Vida Lena,"
and the long-running action se-
ries "FPJ's Ang Probinsyano,"
among many others.
These recent feats further
ABS-CBN's testament as the
❱❱ PAGE 25 KathNiel and DonBelle's
ippines, the book is now in Sin-
gapore and will be available in
the US, Australia, Canada, UAE,
and the UK later this year. Its
e-book version will be available
worldwide starting November 7.
“Queen of the Universe” is
published by Tuttle Publish-
ing, one of the oldest American
publishers in operation and
the world’s largest publisher of
books about Asia.
For this project, Pia is rep-
resented by her literary agent
ABS-CBN Books, best known
as the publisher of titles from
bestselling authors such as
Senator Miriam Defensor-San-
www.canadianinquirer.net
Entertainment
PBBM still bullish..
7 water. That is good be-
❰❰
cause first, the water
will not go to waste
as something will be left there
for us. Then when it is a bit dry,
when it stops raining, let us use
the water for irrigation again
and we can also put fish).”
Marcos earlier created the
Water Resources Management
Office (WRMO) tasked to draw
up a comprehensive plan to
PH backs move..
❰❰ 4 greenhouse gas emis-
sions on the marine
environment is unas-
sailable,” she said, reiterating
ocean warming, ocean acidifi-
cation, and sea-level rise as ex-
amples.
In a July 2023 piece published
in The Conversation, Ellyscia
Harrould-Kolieb and Margaret
Young of the University of Mel-
bourne explained that advisory
opinions are not legally binding
but they provide guidance to
states and international organi-
zations about the interpretation
of international law.
In their oral and written
statements, the European
Union and New Zealand cited
the 2016 Arbitral Ruling on the
South China Sea and suggested
adopting its general interpreta-
tion of a state’s obligation under
UNCLOS.
China, meanwhile, argued that
tiago, Charo Santos-Concio,
Vice Ganda, Alex Gonzaga, and
Binibining Mia. “Queen of the
Aside from the Philippines, the book is now in Singapore and will be available
in the US, Australia, Canada, UAE, and the UK later this year. (ABS-CBN)
19
prevent flooding in Metro Ma-
nila and coastal communities.
The WRMO, under the De-
partment of Environment and
Natural Resources, will also
address the country’s water
and sanitation sector, climate
change impact, lack of water
infrastructure, increasing wa-
ter demand due to population
and economic growth, as well as
regulation issues. ■
ITLOS lacks jurisdiction to issue
the requested opinion and point-
ed out that there are other inter-
national laws -- the UN Frame-
work Convention on Climate
Change, Kyoto Protocol, and
Paris Agreement -- that are ap-
propriate in dealing with climate
change and its adverse effects.
Manila, on the other hand,
believes ITLOS has “advisory
jurisdiction” given that COSIS
is empowered to request the
UN court advisory opinions "on
any legal question within the
scope" of UNCLOS.
“The Philippines does not see
any compelling reason for the
Tribunal to refuse its advisory
jurisdiction. Rather, what ex-
ists are compelling reasons for
the Tribunal to exercise its ju-
risdiction and carry on with its
advisory competence,” Assis-
tant Solicitor General Gilbert
Medrano said. ■
Universe” is ABS-CBN Books’
first international deal. ■
 20
What happens if you need
to pee while you’re asleep?
BY JENNIFER AHN,
University of Washington
The Conversation
What happens if you have
to go to the bathroom in your
sleep? – Calleigh H., age 11,
Oklahoma
As you drink water during the
day, your body turns extra liquid
it doesn’t need into pee. Your
bladder stores the urine and
eventually alerts you when it’s
time to take a trip to the toilet.
But what about at night? How
does your body know not to pee
while you’re asleep?
Just because you’re snoozing
doesn’t mean your body is total-
ly offline – continuous process-
es like breathing, digestion and,
yes, making pee, still happen
while you’re asleep. Your blad-
der and your brain work togeth-
er to know what to do with that
big glass of water you drank be-
fore bed.
Using the bathroom every
day is routine for many people,
so it’s something you might not
pay much attention to. But as
a pediatric urologist, under-
standing how the brain and
bladder work together – and
sometimes miscommunicate –
is an important part of my job.
The bladder and the brain
The bladder has two main
jobs: to safely store urine and
to empty it out. While it seems
simple, these two tasks take a
lot of complex coordination of
muscles and nerves – that’s the
brain’s job.
For babies and young kids,
the bladder has reflexes, mean-
Sunak should be..
❰❰ 16 Opposition leader,
Tony Blair, could have
stopped the privatisa-
tions in their tracks by prom-
ising to reverse it as soon as his
party came to power. It would
Lifestyle
ing it automatically knows
when to squeeze the muscles to
empty the urine. Since babies
can’t control this conscious-
ly, they typically wear diapers.
But as kids grow, the bladder
muscles and nerves also grow,
which gives a youngster more
control over their bladder.
During toilet training, which
usually happens by the age of 3
or 4 in the U.S., kids learn how
to use the toilet voluntarily.
This means that they can feel
when the bladder is getting full
and their brain can receive and
understand that signal. The
brain can then tell the bladder
to “hold it” until they’ve made it
to the toilet and it’s safe to pee.
What happens in sleep mode?
Most children first learn how
to use the toilet during the day.
Using the bathroom overnight
can be more difficult because
the sleeping brain doesn’t re-
ceive signals in the same way as
when awake.
While awake, if there’s a loud
noise or a bright light, the body
senses it and reacts. But during
sleep, the body may not hear
that noise or see that light be-
cause the brain is in sleep mode.
Imagine sleeping through an
overnight thunderstorm that
you didn’t realize happened un-
til you hear people talking about
it in the morning. Your brain
didn’t process the loud noises
because it was focusing on sleep.
The same thing can happen
with bladder signals. The blad-
der fills with urine 24 hours a
day, even while you’re snooz-
ing, and it sends signals to the
brain when it’s full. In order to
have destroyed investor appe-
tite in the process. But for elec-
toral (or ideological) reasons, he
chose to ignore the debate.
The Labour leader, Keir
Starmer, is presented with a
help you get enough sleep, your
brain will tell your bladder to
hold it until morning.
Sometimes, if you really need
to go, your brain will tell your
body to wake up so you can go
empty your full bladder. While
it’s normal to wake up to pee
sometimes – especially if you
drank a big cup of hot chocolate
right before bed – most older
kids can usually sleep through
the night without needing to
use the toilet.
When the brain and bladder
are working together well, your
bladder gradually fills up over-
night and hangs on til morn-
ing when you stumble into the
bathroom to empty it.
Nighttime accidents
But there are many ways the
communication between the
brain and the bladder can break
down. For one, the brain may
not get the bladder’s message
that it’s time to go. Even if the
brain gets the message, it may
not be able to tell the bladder
to hold on. Or, when the blad-
der can’t wait, the brain might
not tell your body to wake up. If
the signals and messages aren’t
sent, or are received incorrect-
ly, the bladder will go into reflex
mode – it squeezes to empty it-
self of pee, even though you’re
fast asleep in bed.
Wetting the bed at night,
which doctors call nocturnal
enuresis, is more common than
you might think. About 15%
of kids between ages 5 and 7
wet the bed sometimes. Even
some teenagers experience it.
It’s more common in boys, and
often there’s a family history,
similar choice: to take a stand
or remain silent. Anyone who
has had the pleasure of Britain’s
highly efficient and affordable
railway system over the past de-
cades will have a view on what
www.canadianinquirer.net
meaning parents or relatives
may have dealt with nighttime
accidents too.
There are a few reasons why
nighttime wetting happens.
Since kids’ brains are growing
and developing, nighttime com-
munication between the brain
and bladder can take longer.
Some bodies make more pee
at night, making it more likely
the bladder will get full during
sleep. Some people have small-
er bladders that fill up fast.
Sometimes having difficul-
ties with sleep or being a deep
sleeper can make it harder to
wake up at night if you really
need to pee.
Most kids who wet the bed
at night outgrow it as their
brains and bodies continue to
develop. At that point, they can
sleep through the night without
needing to pee, or their bodies
are able to wake up at night to
use the bathroom when they
need to.
If wetting the bed is an issue,
there are some things that can
Starmer should do.
The one thing we can be sure
of is that globally, emissions
will continue to climb, and that
the rising air temperature and
melting sea ice records we saw
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY
help, like drinking less liquid in
the evening or using the bath-
room right before you go to bed.
These precautions make it less
likely that the bladder will be
too full during sleep. There are
also bedwetting alarms that can
help train the body to wake up
when the bladder needs to be
emptied. If there are concerns
about nighttime accidents, or
if accidents start happening in
older children, I recommend
consulting a doctor. ■
Hello, curious kids! Do you
have a question you’d like an
expert to answer? Ask an adult
to send your question to Curi-
ousKidsUS@theconversation.
com. Please tell us your name,
age and the city where you live.
And since curiosity has no age
limit – adults, let us know what
you’re wondering, too. We won’t
be able to answer every question,
but we will do our best.
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
created this year will be broken
again very soon. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
Polycystic ovary syndrome and gut health:
what you need to know
BY GOITSEONE THAMAE,
University of Cambridge
The Conversation
Polycystic ovary syndrome
(PCOS) affects around 8% to 13%
of women during their repro-
ductive years. Symptoms include
irregular menstrual cycles, acne,
excessive facial hair growth, voice
changes, ovarian cysts and chal-
lenges in conception. It can also
increase your risk of developing
Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Despite its prevalence, a sig-
nificant number – up to 70%
– of PCOS cases worldwide go
undiagnosed. This is in part
because there isn’t one specific
test for diagnosis.
The cause of PCOS remains
unclear – it’s a complex condi-
tion influenced by both genes
and environmental factors. But
what we do know is that it can
take a huge emotional toll on
women, particularly in relation
to body image and fertility.
In recent years, scientists
Curious Kids: what came first,
the chicken or the egg?
BY ELLEN K. MATHER,
Flinders University
The Conversation
What came first, the chick-
en or the egg? — Grace, age
12, Melbourne
Hi Grace!
Thanks for this great ques-
tion. It’s an age-old dilem-
ma that has left many people
scratching their heads.
From an evolutionary per-
spective, both answers could be
considered true! It all depends on
how you interpret the question.
The case for the egg
When the first vertebrates
– that is, the first animals with
backbones – came out of the
sea to live on land, they faced a
challenge.
Their eggs, similar to those of
modern fish, were covered only
in a thin layer called a mem-
have started looking at PCOS
and the gut microbiome of suf-
ferers to see if there’s a link.
These studies have found that
the gut microbiome in wom-
en with PCOS is different from
those without the condition.
Women tend to have more
diverse gut microbiomes, com-
pared to men. But females with
PCOS have fewer types of bac-
teria in their stool and that mix
of bacteria is different com-
pared to women without PCOS.
Lower diversity of gut bacteria
is linked to higher testosterone
levels and excess hair growth.
It’s also connected to problems
like abnormal cholesterol levels
and being overweight – as well
as insulin resistance, which is
when cells in your muscles, fat
and liver don’t respond well to
insulin and can’t easily take up
glucose from your blood. All of
which are seen with PCOS.
Gut health and PCOS
Many things can affect the
types of microbes living in our
gut – what we eat, sex hor-
brane. The eggs would quickly
dry up and die when exposed to
air. Some animals such as am-
phibians (the group that includes
frogs and axolotls) solved this
problem by simply laying their
eggs in water – but this limited
how far inland they could travel.
It was the early reptiles that
evolved a key solution to this
problem: an egg with a protec-
tive outer shell. The first egg
shells would have been soft and
leathery like the eggs of a snake
or a sea turtle. Hard-shelled
eggs, such as those of birds, like-
ly appeared much later.
Some of the oldest known
hard-shelled eggs appear in the
fossil record during the Early
Jurassic period, roughly 195
million years ago. Dinosaurs
laid these eggs, although rep-
tiles such as crocodiles were
also producing hard-shelled
eggs during the Jurassic.
mones, our sleep quality, where
we live and our weight. But
while the gut microbiome was
once viewed primarily as a di-
gestion aid, it’s now acknowl-
edged as an intricate player in
our overall health.
Research has found that
women with PCOS are more
likely to have unhealthy dietary
habits compared to women
without PCOS. Women with
PCOS are also more likely to be
overweight or obese.
One recent theory as to the
role that gut microbiome plays
with PCOS is that an unhealthy
diet can upset the balance of bac-
teria in our gut. This is known as
gut dysbiosis. The theory sug-
gests that this imbalance might
make the lining of the gut per-
meable allowing harmful sub-
stances from certain bacteria to
leak into the bloodstream – also
known as leaky gut.
This, in turn, can trigger the
immune system and mess with
how insulin works, leading to
high insulin levels, more male
As we know now, it was a line
of dinosaurs that eventually
gave rise to the many species
of birds we see today, including
the chicken.
Chickens belong to an order
of birds known as the Galli-
formes, which includes other
ground-dwelling birds such as
turkeys, pheasants, peafowl and
quails.
Specifically, chickens are
part of a galliform genus called
Gallus, which is thought to
have started changing into its
modern species between 6 mil-
lion and 4 million years ago
in South-East Asia. Domestic
chickens only began appear-
ing some time within the past
10,000 years.
This means hard-shelled eggs
like the ones chickens lay are
older than chickens themselves
by almost 200 million years. So
problem solved, right?
www.canadianinquirer.net
Lifestyle
hormones being made in the
ovaries and problems with how
the ovaries make eggs.
New research has found that
there seems to be a link between
PCOS and some of the chemi-
cals made when good bacteria
in the gut digest fibre from food.
These chemicals influence the
metabolic and hormonal as-
pects of PCOS and when their
production is increased through
fibre intake, it seems to improve
PCOS symptoms.
A 2021 study also discovered
that specific types of bile acids
– which play a role in fat di-
gestion – are present in larger
amounts in people with PCOS.
In those with PCOS, two types
of bile acids are much higher.
One of those acids, deoxycholic
acid, is linked to how the body
stores fat and insulin levels be-
fore and after meals and is also
affected by testosterone.
So it may be that altered bile
acid in people with PCOS neg-
atively affects the gut bacteria.
And that these changes weaken
Well, it’s a matter of perspective.
The case for the chicken
If we interpret the ques-
tion as referring specifically to
chicken eggs – and not all eggs –
the answer is very different.
Unlike most species of ani-
mals, the modern chicken didn’t
evolve naturally through evo-
lution. Rather, it’s the result of
domestication: a process where
humans selectively breed ani-
mals to create individuals that
are more tame and have more
desirable traits.
21
the gut walls, contributing to a
leaky gut – which then worsens
PCOS-related symptoms. But
it’s also important to note that
the relationship between bile
acids, insulin and hormones like
testosterone is complex and can
vary from person to person.
Gut help
Probiotics, which introduce
beneficial microorganisms to
the gut, have been shown to be
helpful in restoring microbial
equilibrium. A 2019 publication
found that when women with
PCOS took a specific probiotic
called bifidobacterium lactis
V9, it led to an improvement in
gut health.
A study that’s currently un-
derway is looking at whether
probiotics or metformin (a di-
abetic medication used in the
treatment of PCOS) can lower
the levels of a hormone called
free testosterone, which is often
high in PCOS. The researchers
are also checking other things
❱❱ PAGE 26 Polycystic ovary syndrome
The most famous example
is the domestication of wolves
into dogs by humans. Wolves
and dogs have almost entirely
the same DNA, but are very dif-
ferent in how they look and be-
have. Dogs came from wolves,
and so scientists consider dogs
to be a subspecies of wolf.
Similarly, chickens came
from a species called the red
junglefowl, which is found
across Southern and South-
❱❱ PAGE 22 Curious Kids: what
 22
Keeping your cool in a warming world:
8 steps to help manage eco-anxiety
BY KAREN MAGRUDER,
University of Texas at
Arlington
The Conversation
In a world facing environmen-
tal challenges unprecedented in
human history, it’s no surprise
that eco-anxiety – a pervasive
worry about the current and fu-
ture state of our planet – has be-
come an increasingly prevalent
mental health issue.
As people witness the devas-
tating impacts of climate change,
deforestation and loss of biodi-
versity, it’s only natural to feel
overwhelmed and disheartened.
I happen to live in Phoenix, Ar-
izona, a “heat apocalypse” city
with dwindling water supplies, so
I have some skin in the game.
But amid doom-and-gloom
predictions, there is hope. As
a therapist and clinical so-
cial work professor, I have
seen firsthand how paralyzing
eco-anxiety can be, and I’m
dedicated to finding solutions.
Here are a few evidence-based
tips to tackle your climate woes.
What is eco-anxiety?
Eco-anxiety is a broad term
that encompasses dread about
environmental issues like pol-
lution and disposal of toxic
waste, as well as climate-specif-
ic fears, such as increasing rates
of extreme weather events and
sea-level rise.
Common symptoms of
eco-anxiety include worry
about future generations, trou-
ble sleeping or concentrating,
feelings of frustration and a
sense of helplessness. These
feelings can range from mild
and fleeting concerns to deep
despair, panic attacks and ob-
sessive-compulsive behaviors.
Sound like you or someone
you know? There are a num-
ber of tools that can help peo-
Curious Kids: what..
❰❰ 21 East Asia. Research-
ers think red jungle-
fowl were first drawn
to humans thousands of years
ago, when people started farm-
ing rice and other cereal grains.
This closeness then allowed
Lifestyle
ple cope with these feelings,
summed up with the acronym
UPSTREAM.
Understanding and self-com-
passion
Be kind to yourself and know
that you are not alone in these
feelings.
Caring about the world you
live in does not make you a “cra-
zy” alarmist. In fact, growing
numbers of people across the
globe feel the same way, with
two-thirds of Americans re-
porting being at least somewhat
worried about climate change
in recent polls.
It makes sense that people
would feel nervous when basic
needs like safety and shelter are
threatened. Give yourself grace,
because beating yourself up for
these very valid feelings will
only make you feel worse.
Participate in the solution
It can be hard to feel em-
powered when environmental
harms are taking a toll on your
mental health, but the escalat-
ing global crisis still demands
urgent attention. Instead of
burying your head in the sand,
use that mental discomfort as a
catalyst for action.
Individual efforts to reduce
your carbon footprint matter.
Joining larger movements has
the potential for even move
significant impacts, as well as
the potential to buffer anxiety,
research shows. Volunteer your
own unique passions, talents
and skills to advocate for sys-
temic changes that will benefit
the planet and humanity.
When you feel anxious, use
that energy as fuel for the fight.
Harnessing eco-anxiety in this
way can reduce your sense of
powerlessness.
Self-talk
The weight of the climate
crisis is heavy enough as it is –
don’t let your brain make you
domestication to take place.
Over many generations the de-
scendants of these tamed birds
became their own subspecies.
Technically, the first chicken
would have hatched from the
egg of a selectively bred jun-
feel even worse.
When it comes to thinking
about climate change, a real-
istic mindset puts us in a “just
right” psychological Goldilocks
zone. Don’t numb your psychic
wounds, but also don’t over-cat-
astrophize.
As a therapist, I often help
clients identify and reframe un-
helpful thinking patterns. For
example, while it is true that
there are many environmental
problems to grapple with, there
is also positive news, so don’t
discount it. Recognize and cele-
brate victories big and small.
Trauma: Process it so you
can heal
The climate crisis has been
conceptualized as a collective
trauma, and many individuals
are struggling with eco-grief
from climate impacts that have
already happened. Processing
past trauma from events like
weather disasters is a crucial
step in enhancing your ability
to cope with new experiences.
Even people who have not yet
experienced significant climate
impacts directly may have signs
of pre-traumatic stress, a clinical
term for the distress experienced
in anticipation of a high-stress
glefowl. It was only when this
chicken matured and started
reproducing that the first true
chicken eggs were laid.
So which answer is the bet-
ter one?
That’s completely up to you to
www.canadianinquirer.net
situation. A licensed mental
health professional can help you
process these emotions.
Reduce isolation
It’s no secret that having a
strong social support network
is a key ingredient for happi-
ness. Surrounding yourself with
compassionate, like-minded
friends is also key to sustained
efforts in doing your part to
make a difference.
Consider joining or starting
a Climate Cafe or similar group
to talk about climate concerns.
Visit a 10-step climate grief
meeting. Join a local environ-
mental organization. Or simply
call up a friend when you need a
listening ear.
Ecotherapy
Get outdoors and enjoy nature.
Go for a quiet walk in the
woods and observe nature all
around you – it’s a Japanese
practice for relaxation known
as forest bathing. Spend time
gardening. Exercise outdoors
or otherwise spend time out-
doors in a place that is relaxing
and restorative for you.
Acts of self-care
Self-care is paramount when
it comes to managing the emo-
tional toll of eco-anxiety.
decide. As is the case with many
dilemmas, the whole point of the
question is to make you think –
not necessarily to come up with
the perfect answer.
In this case, evolutionary
biology allows us to make an
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY
Engaging in self-care practic-
es, such as getting adequate sleep,
eating healthy and having fun,
helps us maintain a sense of bal-
ance in the face of overwhelming
environmental concerns.
Remember what they teach
you on airplanes – you should
always put on your own oxy-
gen mask before helping other
passengers. Likewise, when we
come from a place of wellness, we
are better equipped to handle the
stresses of eco-anxiety and make
a difference in this area.
Mindfulness
Because eco-grief is focused
on the past and eco-anxiety is
future-oriented, reconnect-
ing to the present moment is a
powerful way to combat both.
By cultivating mindfulness
– a nonjudgmental awareness
of the present moment – peo-
ple can become more attuned
to their thoughts, feelings and
bodily sensations in response
to eco-anxiety triggers. This
heightened self-awareness
helps people to acknowledge
worries without becoming con-
sumed by them.
Mindfulness practices, such as
meditation and deep breathing,
provide a calming and grounding
effect, helping to reduce stress
and alleviate feelings of help-
lessness. Moreover, mindfulness
fosters a deeper connection to
nature and an appreciation for
the present moment, which can
counteract the sense of despair
associated with future environ-
mental uncertainties.
In the face of eco-anxiety,
these strategies can build resil-
ience, reminding everyone that
they have the power to shape a
more sustainable and hopeful
future. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
argument for both sides – and
that is one of the wonderful
things about science. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
Stephen Holt top pick in 2023 PBA Draft
BY IVAN STEWART
SALDAJENO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Stephen Holt
headlines the Philippine Bas-
ketball Association (PBA) rook-
ie draft as Terrafirma Dyip se-
lected him first overall in the
draft proceedings on Sunday
at the Market! Market! Activity
Center in Taguig City.
As anticipated, the Dyip went
for the best player available
and drafted the former Na-
tional Basketball Association
G League veteran and former
player of Saint Mary's College
of California as their top pick.
However, the rest of the first
round was full of surprises.
Blackwater began rocking the
Duplantis breaks own
pole vault record, Obiena
settles for silver
Philippine News Agency
EUGENE – Ethiopia's Gudaf
Tsegay and Sweden's Armand
Duplantis both shattered world
records, clinching the women's
5,000m and men's pole vault
titles, respectively, at the Dia-
mond League Final on Sunday.
World and Olympic champi-
on Duplantis cleared 6.23m on
his first try, surpassing his pre-
vious best of 6.22m set in Feb-
ruary this year. This achieve-
ment marks the seventh time
he has broken the world record
and the second time outdoors.
"The limit is very high, and I
hope that I can continue to jump
well and keep jumping higher
than I did today, but for now, I'm
not really thinking about anything
except enjoying this moment and
enjoying what I just did," Duplan-
tis said after the match.
Sports
mock drafts by taking Christian
David second overall, while Rain
Or Shine took Luis Villegas and
Keith Datu with its back-to-back
first-round selections.
NorthPort picked Zav Luce-
ro fifth overall, while Phoenix
drafted Ken Tuffin, the PBA
Draft Combine's three-point
king, sixth overall.
NLEX then pulled off a huge
surprise of its own by taking
Richie Rodger seventh overall,
while Meralco selected Bran-
don Bates eighth overall.
Schonny Winston, whom
many mock drafts projected
to be selected second overall,
fell to the ninth pick with Con-
verge, which pulled off a major
surprise of its own by taking BJ
Andrade, who was not a pro-
jected first-rounder in most
Earlier at the World Champi-
onships in Budapest, Duplantis
had missed the 6.23m mark in
the final but still secured his
world champion title for a sec-
ond year in a row at 6.10m.
EJ Obiena of the Philippines
became the first male pole
vaulter to secure a silver after
clearing 6.00m at the World
Championships.
The two rivals faced off again
in Eugene. After Obiena missed
three attempts at 6.02m, Du-
plantis raised the bar to 6.23m.
"I think the format of the Dia-
mond League final is super nice
for me to go out and attempt a
world record," Duplantis said.
"It's a lot shorter competition and
I think that it's a lot easier to be
fresh at that world-record height."
Duplantis leads the Diamond
League men’s pole vault stand-
ings with 16 points, while Obie-
na placed second with 13.
mock drafts, 10th overall.
The Batang Pier made another
surprise by drafting Cade Flores
11th overall, and the Dyip closed
the first round by taking TJ Miller.
Ricci Rivero, a projected
first-round pick in many mock
drafts, fell to the second round
with the Fuel Masters taking
him 17th overall.
Surprisingly falling down
way later into the draft was Fran
Yu, who NorthPort chose with
the 40th overall pick, the fifth
pick of the fourth round, as his
fellow former Letran Knights
Bryan Santos (14th overall pick
by Converge), Louie Sangalang
(22nd overall pick by Terra-
firma), Brent Paraiso (29th
overall pick by NorthPort) and
Tommy Olivario (36th overall
by Terrafirma) were selected
World 10,000m champion
Tsegay obliterated the women's
5,000m record, finishing in 14
minutes and 00.21 seconds.
"My focus today is the world
record," the 26-year-old said,
adding that she was happy
about shattering the record af-
ter missing the title in Budapest
due to leg injuries.
In other events, Shericka
Jackson of Jamaica defended
her women's 200m title, clock-
ing in at 21.57 seconds, just a
day after winning the 100m in
10.70 seconds.
Olympic champion Andre
De Grasse of Canada complet-
ed the men's 200m in a sea-
son-best 19.76 seconds.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh of
Ukraine clinched victory in
the women's high jump with a
world-leading mark of 2.03m.
❱❱ PAGE 28 Duplantis breaks own
www.canadianinquirer.net
ahead of him.
The Batang Pier later draft-
ed John Amores with their
fifth-round selection, while Kyt
Jimenez fell to the ninth round
with the San Miguel Beermen
taking him 76th overall.
NorthPort closed the draft
proceedings by drafting Regie
PBA ROOKIE DRAFT. The Philippine Basketball Association Rookie Draft at Market!
Market! Activity Center in Taguig City on Sunday (Sept. 17, 2023). Terrafirma Dyip made
6-foot-4 Filipino-American Stephen Holt, 31, the top pick overall. (AVITO C. DALAN/PNA)
Gilas makes late
changes ahead of
Asian Games
BY IVAN STEWART
SALDAJENO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – With exactly one
week left before its campaign
in the Asian Games starts, Gilas
Pilipinas made late changes to
its lineup after concerns arose
about the player recruitment
and even the injury to Roger
Ray "RR" Pogoy.
In a press conference at the
Philippine Basketball Associa-
tion office in Quezon City Tues-
day, national team coach Tim
Cone announced that CJ Perez,
Kevin Alas, Chris Ross and Arvin
Tolentino have been called up to
replace Calvin Abueva, Jason
Perkins, Terrence Romeo and
Mo Tautuaa pending a final ap-
peal from the Philippine Olym-
pic Committee (POC).
Abueva and Perkins were not
23
Basibas with its 11th-round pick.
In total, 79 out of 124 aspi-
rants were formally drafted on
Sunday night.
Notable players who were
not chosen include Ryan Coste-
lo, King Destacamento, Jaymar
Gimpayan, Shane Menina, Irven
Palencia and Jimboy Pasturan. ■
listed at all in two pools relayed
by the Samahang Basketbol ng
Pilipinas to the POC for consid-
eration in the entry by name.
However, Romeo and Tau-
tuaa were excluded from the
second pool which became the
final basis of the players that
should make Gilas' "Final 12"
for the Hangzhou Games.
Even Stanley Pringle, the des-
ignated reserve player, was not
in the 37-man second pool list.
Cone said they found out
about the shortened pool only
last week.
"What happened later was
that five days ago, we were told
that there is another list that
was submitted," he said.
With the problems arising,
Cone decided to take in Perez,
Alas, Ross and Tolentino, but
he clarified that they would still
❱❱ PAGE 28 Gilas makes late
24
The Federal Reserve held off hiking interest
rates – it may still be too early to start
popping the corks
BY D. BRIAN BLANK,
Mississippi State University
The Conversation
Federal Reserve officials held
interest rates steady at their
monthly policy meeting on Sept.
20, 2023 — only the second time
they have done so since embark-
ing on a rate-raising campaign a
year and a half ago. But it is what
they hinted at rather than what
they did that caught many econ-
omists’ attention: Fed officials
indicated that they don’t expect
rates to end 2023 higher than
they did in June – when they last
issued their projections.
Since the hiking cycle began,
observers have worried about
whether increased rates could
push the U.S. economy into
a downturn. Some have even
speculated that a recession had
already begun. However, the
economy has been more resilient
than many expected, and now
ADB expects PH economy
to grow by 5.7% in 2023
BY ANNA LEAH GONZALES
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Manila-based
Asian Development Bank
(ADB) on Wednesday slashed
its 2023 Philippine economic
growth projection from 6 per-
cent to 5.7 percent due to infla-
tion and global headwinds.
In its Asian Development
Outlook (ADO) September
2023 update, the multilater-
al lender, however, kept its 6.2
percent 2024 gross domestic
product (GDP) forecast for
Business
many economists are wondering
whether the seemingly impossi-
ble soft landing – that is, a slow-
down that avoids crashing the
economy – has become a reality.
As a finance professor, I think
it’s premature to start celebrat-
ing. Inflation is still almost dou-
ble the Federal Reserve’s target
of 2%, and is expected to come
in at around 4% for Septem-
ber. What’s more, the economy
is still growing quite fast, with
consensus forecasts showing
gross domestic product will rise
by nearly 3% this quarter. Some
early data suggests that could
be a low estimate.
What’s next for interest
rates?
Fed-watchers are parsing ev-
ery word from the central bank
to determine whether another
hike is coming this year or next,
or if the cycle is truly over. To un-
derstand that decision, it helps
to consider the bigger picture.
While the U.S. economy has
the economy, same as the pro-
jection last April, after citing
household consumption and
public spending on infrastruc-
ture and social services.
“The Philippines’ growth
story remains strong despite
an expected moderation in
2023. Public investment and
private spending fueled by low
unemployment rate, sustained
increase in remittances from
Filipinos overseas, and buoyant
services including tourism will
support growth,” ADB Philip-
pines Country Director Pavit
Ramachandran said in a report.
certainly avoided a downturn
for longer than many expect-
ed, the inflation battle is a long
way from finished. In fact, this
wouldn’t be the first time the
economy looked like it would
avoid a soft landing. For the
next several months, the econ-
omy is not likely to implode
without a major spark.
Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell
(FEDERALRESERVE/FLICKR, PUBLIC DOMAIN)
“The government’s large in-
frastructure projects should
further stimulate consumption,
boost jobs, and spur more in-
vestment,” he added.
ADB said the government
is expected to maintain infra-
structure spending at around 5
percent of domestic output.
Higher tourism-related re-
ceipts, sustained remittances,
and strong service exports, par-
ticularly from business process
outsourcing, will also help lift the
current account and offset weak
merchandise exports, it said.
ADB added that downside
www.canadianinquirer.net
However, inflation may not
continue to fall as quickly in the
coming year, which means the
Fed may still raise rates more
than some expect. If rising oil
prices continue to boost trans-
portation costs, other goods
could also get more expensive,
which may mean higher inter-
est rates for longer.
Asian Development Bank in the Philippines
(EUGENE ALVIN VILLAR (SEAV)/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, CC BY-SA 4.0)
risks to growth are expected to
come from global headwinds
such as geopolitical tensions
and a sharper-than-expected
slowdown in major advanced
economies.
ADB said domestic output
slid for the third consecutive
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY
Is this really the end?
Though Federal Reserve
Chair Jerome Powell seemed
to indicate that the committee
is approaching the end of the
hiking cycle, only 10% of econ-
omists expect that it is over at
this point – not that economists’
track record of forecasting rates
is great either. This is largely be-
cause Powell has been clear that
the Fed is basing its decisions on
economic data, which have been
strong so far and hopefully will
continue in that direction.
So while everyone is watch-
ing the Fed this week, they
should also keep an eye on
broader economic conditions.
With luck, the reported data
will continue to be strong
enough to avoid a downturn,
but not so strong that inflation
picks back up. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
quarter in April to June 2023
to 4.3 percent, from 6.4 percent
in the previous quarter and
7.5 percent in the same period
last year, dampened by elevat-
ed inflation and interest rates,
❱❱ PAGE 29 ADB expects PH
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
EV sales growth points to oil demand
peaking by 2030 − so why is the oil
industry doubling down on production?
BY ROBERT BRECHA,
University of Dayton
The Conversation
Electric vehicle sales are
growing faster than expected
around the world, and, sales of
gas- and diesel-powered vehi-
cles have been falling. Yet, the
U.S. government still forecasts
an increasing demand for oil,
and the oil industry is doubling
down on production plans.
Why is that, and what hap-
pens if the U.S. projections for
growing oil demand are wrong?
I study sustainability and
global energy system transfor-
mations. Let’s take a closer look
at the changes underway.
EVs’ giant leap forward
On Sept. 12, 2023, Fatih Birol,
director of the International
Energy Agency, an intergovern-
mental organization that advis-
es the world’s major economies,
drew global attention when he
wrote in the Financial Times
that the IEA is now projecting
a global peak in demand for oil,
gas and coal by 2030.
The new date was a signifi-
cant leap forward in time com-
pared with previous estimates
that the peak would not be until
the 2030s for oil and even later
for gas. It also stood out because
the IEA has typically been quite
conservative in modeling chang-
es to the global energy system.
Birol pointed to changes
in energy policies and a fast-
er-than-expected rise in clean
technologies – including elec-
tric vehicles – along with Eu-
rope’s shift away from fossil fu-
els amid Russia’s war in Ukraine
as the primary reasons. He
wrote that the IEA’s upcoming
World Energy Outlook “shows
the world is on the cusp of a his-
toric turning point.”
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The United Nations also re-
leased its “global stocktake”
report in early September, as-
sessing the world’s progress to-
ward meeting the Paris climate
agreement goals of limiting
global warming to 1.5 degrees
Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahren-
heit) compared with preindus-
trial temperatures. The report
found serious gaps in efforts to
reduce greenhouse gas emis-
sions to net-zero by soon after
mid-century. However, it not-
ed two bright spots: The world
is more or less on track in the
growth in solar photovoltaics
for renewable energy – and in
the growth of electric vehicles.
The dynamics of EV expan-
sion are important because each
vehicle that uses electricity in-
stead of gasoline or diesel fuel
will depress demand for oil. Even
though demand for petroleum
products in other sectors, like
aviation and petrochemicals, is
still increasing, the IEA expects
a decline in road transportation’s
50% share of oil consumption to
drive an overall peak in demand
within a few years.
EVs are now on pace to dom-
inate global car sales by 2030,
with fast growth in China in par-
ticular, according to analysts at
the Rocky Mountain Institute.
If countries continue to upgrade
their electricity and charging in-
frastructure, “the endgame for
one quarter of global oil demand
will be in sight,” they wrote in a
new report. As electric trucks
become more common, oil de-
mand will likely drop even fast-
er, the analysts wrote.
Global sales of light-duty ve-
hicles already show a decrease in
internal combustion – gasoline
and diesel – vehicle sales, mainly
due to increasing EV sales, but
also due to an overall decline in
vehicle sales that started even
50,000 hours of content world-
wide. Living up to this recogni-
tion, ABS-CBN International
Distribution commits to adding
before the pandemic.
So, why is the US project-
ing oil demand growth?
Based on the data, it appears
that global oil demand will peak
relatively soon. Yet, major oil
companies say they plan to in-
crease their production, and the
U.S. Energy Information Ad-
ministration still projects that
global demand for oil and fossil
fuels will continue to grow.
Vehicles do last longer today
than they did a couple of decades
ago, and they are also larger, slow-
ing down efficiency gains. But the
Energy Information Adminis-
tration appears to be lowballing
projections for EV growth.
The Biden administration,
which pushed through large
U.S. tax incentives for EV pur-
chases, has taken steps to clear
the way for increasing some oil
and natural gas exploration.
And large government subsi-
dies continue flowing to fossil
fuel industries in many coun-
tries. These contradictions un-
dermine the goals of the Paris
Agreement and could lead to
costly stranded assets.
What do these trends
mean for the oil industry?
It’s fair to assume that large
industries should have a good
to its lineup of high-caliber pro-
grams and movies—with artists,
genres, and storylines that ap-
peal to various cultures.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Business
handle on future developments
expected to affect their fields.
But they often have a com-
peting priority to ensure that
short-term gains are preserved.
Electric utilities are an exam-
ple. Most didn’t feel threatened
by renewable electricity until
penetration expanded quickly
in their territories. In response,
some have lobbied to hold off
further progress and invented
spurious reasons to favor fossil
fuels over renewables.
Of course, some companies
have changed their business
models to embrace the renew-
able energy transition, but these
seem to still be in a minority.
Large corporations such as
BP and TotalEnergies invest in
renewables, but these invest-
ments are often offset by equal-
ly large investments in new fos-
sil fuel exploration.
Both Shell and BP recently
backpedaled on their previous
climate commitments in spite of
tacit admissions that increasing
oil production is inconsistent
with climate change mitigation.
Exxon’s CEO said in June 2023
that his company aimed to dou-
ble its U.S. shale oil production
over the next five years.
What is happening in the fos-
Visit its website http://inter-
nationalsales.abs-cbn.com for
more details on ABS-CBN In-
ternational Distribution.
25
sil fuel industry seems to be an
example of the so-called “green
paradox,” in which it is ratio-
nal, from a profit-maximization
point of view, to extract these
resources as quickly as possible
when faced with the threat of
future decreased market value.
That is, if a company can
see that in the future its prod-
uct will make less money or be
threatened by environmental
policies, it would be likely to
sell as much as possible now.
As part of that process, it may
be very willing to encourage
the building of fossil fuel infra-
structure that clearly won’t be
viable a decade or two in the fu-
ture, creating what are known
as stranded assets.
In the long run, countries
encouraged to borrow to make
these investments may be stuck
with the bill, in addition to the
global climate change impacts
that will result.
Extractive industries have
known about climate change
for decades. But rather than
transform themselves into
broad-based energy companies,
most have doubled down on oil,
coal and natural gas. More than
two dozen U.S. cities, counties
and states are now suing fossil
fuel companies over the harms
caused by climate change and
accusing them of misleading the
public, with California filing the
latest lawsuit on Sept. 15, 2023.
The question is whether
these companies will be able to
successfully adapt to a renew-
able energy world, or whether
they will follow the path of U.S.
coal companies and not recog-
nize their own decline until it is
too late. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
For updates, follow @abscb-
npr on Facebook, X, Instagram,
and TikTok, or visit www.abs-
cbn.com/newsroom. ■
 26
South Africa’s smallholder vegetable
farmers aren’t getting the finance they
need: this is what it should look like
BY KARISSA MOOTHOO
PADAYACHIE, University of
Johannesburg
The Conversation
Fresh efforts are being made
to increase the share of black
ownership in South Africa’s
agricultural sector. This fol-
lows decades of missteps and
badly designed interventions
that have failed to significantly
change the ownership patterns
in the sector.
The latest plan – known as
the agriculture and agro-pro-
cessing master plan – aims to
provide, among others, com-
prehensive farmer assistance,
development finance, agricul-
tural research and develop-
ment and extension services.
It also aims to increase the
share of black ownership and the
contribution of small-scale pro-
ducers in the country by 2030.
The master plan has been
signed by government and
representatives from various
businesses and civil society
organisations within the ag-
ricultural sector. It is the first
multi-stakeholder strategic
plan in the country. Its aim is to
promote transformation in ag-
riculture and agro-processing
sectors affected by apartheid.
However, farming is a capital
and resource intensive business,
which requires access to suffi-
cient finance. In a recent study
we looked at the funding chal-
lenges facing smallholder farm-
ers in the vegetables value chain.
A smallholder farmer is some-
one engaged in agricultural ac-
tivities on a small scale, general-
ly farming less than 10 hectares
of land, selling part of their crop
and farming for subsistence.
Polycystic ovary syndrome..
❰❰ 21 related to PCOS, like
metabolism as well as
looking at gut bacteria
to see if that changes too.
Other things that have been
shown to be good for gut health
Business
The study provides valuable
insights that could help inform
the implementation of the mas-
terplan. For example, one of the
main findings is that there is an
urgent need for government
to provide “patient” finance
– such as longer repayment
periods – to allow farmers to
build capabilities, accumulate
returns and be profitable. The
current problem with govern-
ment funding is that it’s limited
in both scale and scope and pro-
vided on a piecemeal basis.
This is not to suggest that
there is no financing available for
farmers. What’s in contention is
whether what’s available helps
farmers enter, expand and grow.
How financing is offered
affects who gets to farm
Farming needs substantial
investment in on-farm infra-
structure and equipment. This
includes fencing, farming tools,
tractors, boreholes and pumps,
irrigation systems, shade nets
and greenhouse tunnels.
Research by the Centre for
Competition, Regulation and
Economic Development found
that it can cost a farmer be-
tween R2.5 million and R3
million (around US$159,000)
to install an irrigation system
and greenhouse tunnels on a
5-hectare farm. These are sub-
stantial investments for small-
holder farmers.
Short repayment periods
mean that farmers are required
to pay back their loans some-
times before they have even be-
come profitable.
The issue of financing is par-
ticularly concerning given that
smallholder farmers are self-fi-
nanced or have limited access
to debt finance.
As one farmer put it:
more broadly are eating health-
ily, getting enough good quality
sleep, limiting or avoiding al-
cohol and exercise. Indeed re-
cent research shows that a keto
diet – which involves eating low
The problem why farmers are
collapsing and exiting the vege-
table farming business is because
farmers get a loan to start farming
and they make losses in the first
years which means that they can’t
re-pay the loan, so they start sell-
ing farm assets to repay the loan.
This is counterproductive. If
a farm goes under, all the fund-
ing and non-financial support
previously provided to get the
enterprise started is lost.
Patient funding is the an-
swer. Patient financing in agri-
culture is financing and support
that’s made on a longer-term
basis and that recognises the
extended time frames and risks
associated with agricultural cy-
cles and the time it takes for the
farmer to become profitable.
The lack of patient financing
also stands in the way of farm-
ers being able to access reliable
and consistent markets, such as
supermarkets. Supermarkets
have stringent requirements
which often entail farmers
needing to invest further in
their farms. The investment
required can be in the form of
carb high-fat foods – may also
help to reduce testosterone lev-
els in women with PCOS. ■
This article is part of Wom-
en’s Health Matters, a series
www.canadianinquirer.net
infrastructure such as pack-
houses, pack sheds, cold rooms,
proper financial statements,
and refrigerated trucks to de-
liver to the stores.
Government support does
not cover weather and climate
change related risks. These are
increasingly affecting small-
holder farmers who still prac-
tise open field farming.
Many farmers also com-
plained of complicated appli-
cation forms and bureaucratic
application processes to obtain
finance. Often small farmers
don’t have all the requirements
stipulated on the forms, such as
bookkeeping. This limits their
chances of getting access to fi-
nance. There is also a lack of as-
sistance from the department
on how applicants can fill out
the forms when they encounter
difficulties.
As one farmer suggested:
The challenge with government
support is that it comes and helps
in piecemeal and they don’t go all
the way. Also, government does
not come to visit the farm to check
and evaluate or monitor progress.
about the health and wellbeing
of women and girls around the
world. From menopause to mis-
carriage, pleasure to pain the
articles in this series will delve
into the full spectrum of women’s
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY
What needs to done
Government needs to pro-
vide patient finance to allow
farmers to build capabilities,
accumulate returns and be
profitable.
This will safeguard the par-
ticipation of smallholder farm-
ers by allowing them to access
more reliable and consistent
markets. It will also benefit
consumers through better qual-
ity produce and avoid potential
food shortages in the wake of
high inflation and the energy
crisis in South Africa.
Having the agriculture and
agro-processing master plan in
place is helpful. But it needs to
be put into practice properly. If
smallholder farmers are its fo-
cus, then more emphasis needs
to be placed on providing them
with access to finance, to equip
them with the tools to achieve
better production. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
health issues to provide valuable
information, insights and re-
sources for women of all ages.
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
In future, we’ll see fewer generic AI chatbots
like ChatGPT and more specialised ones that
are tailored to our needs
BY STUART MILLS,
University of Leeds
The Conversation
AI technology is developing
rapidly. ChatGPT has become
the fastest-growing online
service in history. Google and
Microsoft are integrating gen-
erative AI into their products.
And world leaders are excitedly
embracing AI as a tool for eco-
nomic growth.
As we move beyond ChatGPT
and Bard, we’re likely to see AI
chatbots become less generic and
more specialised. AIs are limited
by the data it’s exposed to in or-
der to make them better at what
they do – in this case mimicking
human speech and providing us-
ers with useful answers.
Training often casts the net
wide, with AI systems absorb-
ing thousands of books and web
pages. But a more select, fo-
cused set of training data could
make AI chatbots even more
useful for people working in
particular industries or living
in certain areas.
The value of data
An important factor in this
evolution will be the growing
costs of amassing training data
for advanced large language
models (LLMs), the type of AI
that powers ChatGPT. Com-
panies know data is valuable:
Meta and Google make billions
from selling adverts targeted
with user data. But the value of
data is now changing. Meta and
Google sell data “insights”; they
invest in analytics to transform
many data points into predic-
tions about users.
Data is valuable to OpenAI –
the developer of ChatGPT – in a
subtly different way. Imagine a
tweet: “The cat sat on the mat.”
This tweet is not valuable for
targeted advertisers. It says little
about a user or their interests.
Technology
Maybe, at a push, it could suggest
interest in cat food and Dr Suess.
But for OpenAI, which is build-
ing LLMs to produce human-like
language, this tweet is valuable
as an example of how human
language works. A single tweet
cannot teach an AI to construct
sentences, but billions of tweets,
blogposts, Wikipedia entries, and
so on, certainly can. For instance,
the advanced LLM GPT-4 was
probably built using data scraped
from X (formerly Twitter), Red-
dit, Wikipedia and beyond.
The AI revolution is chang-
ing the business model for da-
ta-rich organisations. Compa-
nies like Meta and Google have
been investing in AI research
and development for several
years as they try to exploit their
data resources.
Organisations like X and Red-
dit have begun to charge third
parties for API access, the system
used to scrape data from these
websites. Data scraping costs
companies like X money, as they
must spend more on computing
power to fulfil data queries.
Moving forward, as organisa-
tions like OpenAI look to build
more powerful versions of its
GPT LLM, they will face great-
er costs for getting hold of data.
One solution to this problem
might be synthetic data.
Going synthetic
Synthetic data is created
from scratch by AI systems to
train more advanced AI sys-
tems – so that they improve.
They are designed to perform
the same task as real training
data but are generated by AI.
It’s a new idea, but it faces
many problems. Good synthet-
ic data needs to be different
enough from the original data
it’s based on in order to tell the
model something new, while
similar enough to tell it some-
thing accurate. This can be
difficult to achieve. Where syn-
thetic data is just convincing
copies of real-world data, the
resulting AI models may strug-
gle with creativity, entrench-
ing existing biases.
Another problem is the
“Hapsburg AI” problem. This
suggests that training AI on
synthetic data will cause a
decline in the effectiveness
of these systems – hence the
analogy using the infamous in-
breeding of the Hapsburg royal
family. Some studies suggest
this is already happening with
systems like ChatGPT.
One reason ChatGPT is so
www.canadianinquirer.net
good is because it uses rein-
forcement learning with human
feedback (RLHF), where people
rate its outputs in terms of accu-
racy. If synthetic data generat-
ed by an AI has inaccuracies, AI
models trained on this data will
themselves be inaccurate. So
the demand for human feedback
to correct these inaccuracies is
likely to increase.
However, while most people
would be able to say whether a
sentence is grammatically ac-
curate, fewer would be able to
comment on its factual accu-
racy – especially when the out-
put is technical or specialised.
Inaccurate outputs on special-
ist topics are less likely to be
caught by RLHF. If synthetic
data means there are more in-
accuracies to catch, the quality
of general-purpose LLMs may
stall or decline even as these
models “learn” more.
Little language models
These problems help explain
some emerging trends in AI.
Google engineers have revealed
that there is little preventing
third parties from recreating
LLMs like GPT-3 or Google’s
LaMDA AI. Many organisations
could build their own internal
AI systems, using their own
27
specialised data, for their own
objectives. These will probably
be more valuable for these or-
ganisations than ChatGPT in
the long run.
Recently, the Japanese gov-
ernment noted that develop-
ing a Japan-centric version of
ChatGPT is potentially worth-
while to their AI strategy, as
ChatGPT is not sufficiently rep-
resentative of Japan. The soft-
ware company SAP has recently
launched its AI “roadmap” to of-
fer AI development capabilities
to professional organisations.
This will make it easier for com-
panies to build their own, be-
spoke versions of ChatGPT.
Consultancies such as McK-
insey and KPMG are explor-
ing the training of AI models
for “specific purposes”. Guides
on how to create private, per-
sonal versions of ChatGPT can
be readily found online. Open
source systems, such as GP-
T4All, already exist.
As development challenges
– coupled with potential regu-
latory hurdles – mount for ge-
neric LLMs, it is possible that
the future of AI will be many
specific little – rather than large
– language models. Little lan-
guage models might struggle
if they are trained on less data
than systems such as GPT-4.
But they might also have an
advantage in terms of RLHF, as
little language models are likely
to be developed for specific pur-
poses. Employees who have ex-
pert knowledge of their organ-
isation and its objectives may
provide much more valuable
feedback to such AI systems,
compared with generic feed-
back for a generic AI system.
This may overcome the disad-
vantages of less data. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
 28
Why do I get so much spam and unwanted
email in my inbox? And how can I get rid of it?
BY KAYLEEN
MANWARING, UNSW
Sydney
The Conversation
Spam might not have brought
an end to the internet or email,
as some dire predictions in the
early 2000s claimed it could –
but it’s still a massive pain.
Despite all the spam being re-
moved by spam-filtering tech-
nologies, most people still receive
spam every day. How do these
messages end up flooding our
inboxes? And are there any legal
consequences for the senders?
What is spam?
The Organisation for Eco-
nomic Co-operation and Devel-
opment (OECD) noted in 2004
“there does not appear to be
a widely agreed and workable
definition for spam” across ju-
risdictions – and this remains
true today.
That said, “spam” generally
refers to unsolicited electronic
messages. These are often sent
in bulk and frequently advertise
goods or services. It also includes
scamming and phishing messag-
es, according to the OECD.
Most people think of spam in
the form of emails or SMS mes-
sages. However, what we now
call spam actually predates the
internet. In 1854, a spam tele-
gram was sent to British pol-
iticians advertising the open-
ing hours of dentists who sold
tooth-whitening powder.
The first spam email came
more than 100 years later. It
was reportedly sent to 600 peo-
ple on May 3 1978 through AR-
PAnet – a precursor to the mod-
ern internet.
As for how much spam is out
there, the figures vary, possibly
due to the various definitions
of “spam”. One source reports
the average number of spam
emails sent daily in 2022 was
Duplantis breaks own.. Gilas makes late..
❰❰ 23 Jamaican Hansle
Parchment triumphed
in the men's 110m hur-
dles, setting a world-leading time
of 12.93 seconds. (with reports
from Anadolu/Xinhua) ■
Technology
about 122.33 billion (which
would mean more than half of
all emails were spam). As for
text messages, another source
reports a daily average of 1.6
billion spam texts.
Where do spammers get
my details?
Each time you enter your
email address or phone number
into an e-commerce website, you
may be handing it to spammers.
But sometimes you may even
receive spam from entities you
don’t recognise. That’s because
businesses will often transfer
customers’ contact information
to related companies, or sell
their data to third parties such
as data brokers.
Australia’s Privacy Act 1988
somewhat limits the transfer of
personal information to third
parties. However, these laws are
weak – and weakly enforced.
Some entities also use “ad-
dress-harvesting” software to
search the internet for elec-
tronic addresses that are cap-
tured in a database. The collec-
tor then uses these addresses
directly, or sells them to others
looking to send spam.
Many jurisdictions (includ-
ing Australia) prohibit these
harvesting activities, but they
are still common.
Is spamming against the law?
Australia has had legislation
regulating spam messaging
since 2003. But the Spam Act
surprisingly does not define the
word “spam”. It tackles spam by
prohibiting the sending of un-
solicited commercial electronic
messages containing offers, ads
or other promotions of goods,
services or land.
However, if the receiver con-
sented to these types of mes-
sages, the prohibition does not
apply. When you buy goods or
services from a company, you
will often see a request to click
on a “yes” button to receive
❰❰ 23 await the final appeal
made by the POC.
POC president
Bambol Tolentino personally
went to Hangzhou earlier in the
day to lobby for the inclusion of
marketing promotions. Doing
so means you have consented.
On the other hand, if your
phone or inbox are hit by com-
mercial messages you haven’t
agreed to receive, that is a breach
of the Spam Act by the sender.
If you originally signed up to
receive the messages, but then
unsubscribed and the messages
kept coming after five business
days, that is also illegal. Senders
must also include a functioning
unsubscribe facility in every
commercial message they send.
Spammers can be penalised
for breaches of the Spam Act.
In the past few months alone,
Commonwealth Bank, Door-
Dash and mycar Tyre & Auto
were fined more than A$6 mil-
lion in total for breaches.
However, most spam comes
from outside Australia where
the laws aren’t the same. In the
United States spam is legal un-
der the CAN-SPAM Act until
you opt out. Unsurprisingly,
the US tops the list of countries
where the most spam originates.
Although spam sent to Aus-
tralia from overseas can still
breach the Spam Act – and the
Australian Communications
and Media Authority (ACMA)
Abueva, Perkins, Romeo, Tau-
tuaa and other national athletes
from football, golf, gymnastics
and fencing to the final entry-
by-name lineup of the Philip-
pine team.
www.canadianinquirer.net
co-operates with overseas reg-
ulators – overseas enforcement
actions are difficult and expen-
sive, especially if the spammer
has disguised their true identity
and location.
It’s worth noting that messag-
es from political parties, regis-
tered charities and government
bodies aren’t prohibited – nor
are messages from education-
al institutions to students and
former students. So while you
might consider these messag-
es as “spam”, they can legally
be sent freely without consent.
Factual messages (without mar-
keting content) from business-
es are also legal as long as they
include accurate sender details
and contact information.
Moreover, the Spam Act gen-
erally only covers spam sent via
email, SMS/MMS or instant
messaging services, such as
WhatsApp. Voice calls and fax-
es aren’t covered (although you
can use the Do Not Call Register
to block some commercial calls).
Staying safe from spam
(and cyberattacks)
Spam isn’t only annoying, it
can also be dangerous. Spam
messages can contain indecent
images, scams and phishing
Cone said Gilas will know the
result of the appeal either by
Wednesday or Thursday.
Meanwhile, Lassiter will re-
place Pogoy, who was not feel-
ing well after his stint with Gi-
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY
attempts. Some have malware
(malicious software) designed
to break into computer net-
works and cause harm, such as
by stealing data or money, or
shutting down systems.
The Australian Cyber Secu-
rity Centre and ACMA provide
useful tips for reducing the
spam you get and your risk of
being hit by cyberattacks. They
suggest to:
1. use a spam filter and block
spammers – email and telecom-
munications providers often
supply useful tools as part of
their services
2. unsubscribe from any
emails you no longer want to
receive – even if you originally
agreed to receive them
3. remove as much of your
contact details from websites
as you can and always restrict
the sharing of your personal in-
formation (such as name, birth
date, email address and mobile
number) when you can – be-
ware of pre-ticked boxes ask-
ing for your consent to receive
marketing emails
4. install cybersecurity up-
dates for your devices and soft-
ware as you get them
5. always think twice about
opening emails or clicking on
links, especially for messages
promising rewards or asking
for personal information – if
it looks too good to be true, it
probably is
6. use multi-factor authenti-
cation to access online services
so even if a scam compromises
your login details, it will still
be difficult for hackers to break
into your accounts
7. report spam to your email
and telecommunications pro-
viders, and to ACMA. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
las in the FIBA World Cup.
Pringle could have easily tak-
en the place of Pogoy but he is
not in the Gilas pool list. ■
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 29

Zero alcohol doesn’t mean zero risk –
how marketing and blurred lines
can be drinking triggers
BY SHALINI ARUNOGIRI,
Monash University,
ANTHONY HEW, Monash
University
The Conversation
The availability and sales of
“zero-alcohol” products have
soared in recent years. In Aus-
tralia, these are products con-
taining less than 0.5% alcohol
by volume, designed to mimic
the flavour, appearance and
packaging of alcoholic drinks.
The market for these prod-
ucts is projected to continue
growing at a faster rate than al-
coholic beverages.
This boom has been driven by
production improvements that
mean non-alcoholic products
taste similar to their alcoholic
inspirations. There have also
been generational trends to-
wards being more mindful of the
amount of alcohol consumed.
Zero-alcohol products do not
cause the physical harms asso-
ciated with alcohol. But they
are not without risk and may
not be as healthy as they seem.
Our new research explains why.
A lack of regulation
A World Health Organiza-
tion report released earlier this
year highlighted the limitations
in evidence for the benefits of
no- and low-alcohol beverages
(which the WHO calls “NoLos”)
and the overall lack of policy
and regulation in the industry.
The absence of oversight may
mean potential harms associat-
Food
ed with zero-alcohol products
go unrecognised.
Although replacing alcohol
drinks with zero-alcohol prod-
ucts might be used as part of an
effort to cut down on drinking,
there is a lack of rigorous re-
search to support this. And the
approach may not be suitable
for everyone.
A review of ten studies
found people with an alcohol
use disorder (including addic-
tion to alcohol, problematic or
heavy drinking), experience
increased cravings for alcohol
when they consume zero-alco-
hol products. They also display
physiological responses similar
to those that occur when drink-
ing alcohol such as increased
heart rate and sweating.
It’s not just about the alcohol
The substitution of alcohol
for zero-alcohol products does
not address social, environ-
mental and cultural factors.
These often influence drinking
behaviour. This is particular-
ly relevant in Australia where
drinking alcohol is normalised
and encouraged.
For young people, zero-al-
cohol products could serve as a
gateway for drinking and send
a message underage drinking is
acceptable. This sets up the po-
tential for early alcohol initiation
and risky drinking practices.
Zero-alcohol products are
manufactured and packaged to
look just like existing alcohol
products. Many carry the same
company branding as the alco-
holic version, which blurs the
lines between the two offerings.
‘Alibi marketing’
In Australia, zero-alcohol
drinks are subject to food rather
than liquor licensing legislation.
This means there are less re-
strictions to where and how they
are displayed and marketed.
Such products are found on
supermarket shelves and in
convenience stores and adver-
tised in a way that appears to
promote the consumption of
alcohol in risky and illegal situ-
ations, such as drinking before
driving. This may lead to con-
fusing messages that present
drinking as harmless fun.
This is a form of “alibi mar-
keting”. This form of market-
ing uses features synonymous
with a brand – things like label
colours, bottle shape or font
design – while not advertising zero-alcohol products results in for young people
the product itself. The alcohol increased intention and odds of • if you want to stop or cut
industry can use this strategy to purchasing and consuming al- back on drinking alcohol, don’t
extend the promotion of their cohol drinks. Further research substitute products that mimic
brand to populations and places is needed to understand po- the taste or appearance of alco-
where alcohol advertising may tential harms exposure to and holic drinks. Go for soft drinks,
be restricted. For instance, the drinking zero-alcohol products fruit juices or sparkling water
reverse approach was recently may have on vulnerable popula- • report advertisements and
used by a company to market an tions. This includes those with marketing for zero-alcohol
alcoholic version of soft drink, a history of alcohol addiction products that are inappropriate
highlighting the risk of this ap- and children. or could cause harm by lodging
proach for minors. 4 tips to minimise risks now a complaint via Ad Standards
This is amongst broader con- There are some actions you • join the community push
cerns this form of marketing can take and considerations to for zero-alcohol products to be
increases brand familiarity and keep in mind when it comes to subjected to the same regula-
awareness of alcohol products zero-alcohol drinks: tions as alcoholic products. ■
among those who are underage • be aware zero-alcohol prod-
now but may drink in the future. ucts may act as a drinking trig- This article is republished
Studies have found exposure ger or cue for those with expe- from The Conversation under a
to marketing and advertising of rience of alcohol addiction and Creative Commons license.

ADB expects PH..

❰❰ 24 among others.
The government’s
growth target for the
year is a range between 6-7
percent.
Forecasts for inflation, mean-
while, are maintained at an av-
erage of 6.2 percent for 2023
and 4 percent for 2024.
ADB said possible severe
weather disturbances, includ-
ing the El Niño dry weather
phenomenon, pressures from
elevated global commodity
prices, and second round ef-
fects from higher transport
fares and minimum wage hikes
could slow down the easing of
www.canadianinquirer.net
headline inflation.
As of end-August this year,
the rate of price increases aver-
aged at 6.6 percent, higher than
the government’s 2-4 percent
target band.
The August 2023 level accel-
erated to 5.3 percent from the
previous month’s 4.7 percent,
ending its six-month slide due
to upticks in food prices caused
by weather disturbances. ■
30
Antique, Misamis Oriental,
N. Mindanao eyed as go-to dive sites
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Department
of Tourism (DOT) is preparing
Antique, Northern Mindanao
and Misamis Oriental as the
next go-to diving sites to sus-
tain the Philippines’ standing
as the leading dive destination
in the region.
Tourism Secretary Chris-
tina Garcia-Frasco made the
announcement during the 1st
Philippine Tourism Dive Dia-
logue held at Fili Hotel in Cebu
City on Sept. 14 and 15.
Discussions centered on ma-
rine environmental protection
and conservation; dive niche
products: free diving, scuba
diving, black water (deep sea)
diving, and underwater pho-
tography; domestic and inter-
national marketing campaign;
safety, standards and accred-
itation of tourism-related en-
terprises for scuba diving; and
investment opportunities.
The DOT, Frasco said, will
push for the development of
less known but equally beau-
tiful diving sites to expand the
dive tourism portfolio in the
country, eventually spurring
economic growth and provide
livelihood opportunities for lo-
cal residents.
Frasco revealed that through
its infrastructure arm, the
Tourism Infrastructure and
Enterprise Zone Authority
(TIEZA), procurement of hy-
perbaric chambers have started
to ensure the safety of divers to
further strengthen the dive in-
dustry in the country.
“While we continue to sup-
port our already well-known
destinations, we want to be able
to develop new destinations by
ensuring that we have the prop-
er infrastructure, government
support and regulation,” Frasco
said in her keynote address.
She explained that DOT
wants to make sure that divers
are safe, whether they are begin-
Travel
ners, amateurs or professionals
thus, the purchase of additional
decompression chambers.
"I'm very pleased to in-
form you that procurement is
now underway for delivery by
2024 for additional hyperbaric
chambers for the following ar-
eas: Dumaguete, Boracay, Puer-
to Galera and Daanbantayan,"
Frasco said.
TIEZA has provided hyper-
baric chambers in dive sites
across the country to ensure
that scuba divers will have ac-
cess to affordable treatment for
decompression sickness by re-
moving excess nitrogen in the
body through recompression.
The four operational hyper-
baric chambers can be found in
Mabini, Batangas; Panglao, Bo-
hol; Mandaue, Cebu; and Puer-
to Princesa, Palawan.
Emerging markets
Another goal of the DOT-led
dive dialogue was to capture
new tourist markets, specifical-
ly for diving.
“The focus of the Depart-
ment of Tourism is to target
various markets, whether that
be families, solo travelers, luxe
travelers, barkadas (groups of
friends) and the like. And we
have very specific programs
that are targeted to various
niche markets specifically for
dive. We have dive enthusiasts
from all over the world and
many jurisdictions including
North Asia, as well as Europe,
to whom dive has been a very
strong product for the Philip-
pines,” she said.
The DOT will open up to new
markets, especially in Europe
and the Middle East, in collab-
oration with the Department
of Transportation (DOTr) by
mounting more flights.
Frasco said collaboration and
coordination with concerned
government agencies such as
the Departments of the Interior
and Local Government (DILG),
Transportation and Environ-
ment and Natural Resources
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 FRIDAY
(DENR) are important to pre- 17.5 percent of the country’s en- on the other hand, will expand
pare the necessary infrastruc- tire tourism receipts last year. its presence along Philippine
ture, policies and guidelines. Asked why Cebu was cho- waters through its ongoing
She underscored the impor- sen the site for the first dive modernization program to bol-
tance of the two-day conver- dialogue, Frasco said Central ster maritime safety and secu-
gence of relevant national and Visayas is the country's pre- rity, environmental protection,
local government agencies as mier dive tourist destination, search and rescue capability,
well as the Department’s part- as it is home to a multitude of and law enforcement.
ners from the private sector world-class dive spots and is the "Generally, the principle of
to sustain the successes of the most-visited destination among Blue Economy will guide this
country’s dive tourism industry overnight regional travelers. Department’s maritime sec-
and in fulfillment of the direc- DOTr Undersecretary Elmer tor in implementing priority
tive of President Ferdinand R. Francisco Sarmiento said the projects that will capitalize on
Marcos Jr. for the Philippines dive dialogue enabled govern- the archipelagic features of
to attain a tourism industry that ment agencies and even the our country. This also includes
is “inclusive, where the benefits private sector to collaborate in continuous development and
of tourism are felt far and wide promoting the Philippines as a upgrades of seaports to pro-
across the countryside.” world-class tourist destination. mote connectivity between is-
The Philippines was award- "The DOTr conveys its full lands and make even the most
ed for the fifth straight year in a support for this initiative and remote areas accessible and
row as Asia’s Leading Dive Des- commits to contributing in the welcoming to stakeholders and
tination at the prestigious World achievement of this goal, espe- of course, tourists from all over
Travel Awards (WTA) 2023. cially with the presence of our the world," he said.
Frasco said DOT is now near- maritime agencies," he said in DILG Assistant Secretary
ly 80 percent of its projected his speech. Lilian de Leon said they will be
targets in terms of tourism re- Sarmiento assured the Mari- a partner in further advancing
ceipts for the end of the year. time Industry Authority will im- the sustainability of marine
In 2022, the dive indus- plement policies to ensure the wildlife tourism spots.
try contributed an estimated safety of vessels, particularly the The DILG has collaborated
PHP37 billion in tourist re- regulation of boats used for div- with the DOT, Department of
ceipts from international dive ing and other water activities. Agriculture, and DENR on the
visitors, which constituted over The Philippine Coast Guard, rules and regulations govern-
ing the conduct of marine wild-
life tourism interactions in the
Philippines.
"In consideration of the bio-
logical diversity of the Philip-
pines and increasing domestic
and international tourism, the
government saw the necessity
of enhancing dive tourism and
wildlife interaction by provid-
ing a proper responsive regula-
tory framework that will ensure
sustainability and prevent com-
promising the safety of commu-
nities, tour operators, and tour-
ists," de Leon said.
She added through the
DILG’s supervisory function,
"we continue to monitor, over-
DIVING TOURISM. Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco, who served as see, and provide guidance to
the keynote speaker during the opening ceremonies of the first-ever Philippine our local government units in
Tourism Dive Dialogue held at the Fili Hotel at Nustar in Cebu City on Thurs- managing and patrolling tour-
day (Sept. 14, 2023), cites the country’s fifth consecutive year of winning the ism activities and development
Asia’s Leading Dive Destination Award at the prestigious World Travel Awards. in marine wildlife interaction
The event in Cebu featured panel discussions that aim to gather insights from sites to ensure the enforcement
stakeholders and experts in the dive tourism industry. (YANCY LIM/PNA) of all rules and regulations." ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
 SEPTEMBER 22, 2020
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