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FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2024
House Committee of the Whole approves RBH7
BY FILANE MIKEE
CERVANTES, JOSE
CIELITO REGANIT
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The House of Rep-
resentatives, constituting itself
as the Committee of the Whole,
on Wednesday approved Res-
olution of Both Houses (RBH)
No. 7, which proposes amend-
ments to certain economic pro-
visions of the 1987 Constitution.
RBH7 was approved after
six days of committee delib-
erations comprising a variety
of resource persons and ex-
perts, including former Cabinet
members, former lawmakers,
academics, Filipino educators
and professionals based abroad,
former Supreme Court justices,
economists, and framers of the
1987 Constitution.
Deputy Majority Leader and
Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali
Gonzales II, who was designated
majority leader of the commit-
tee, moved to terminate the hear-
ings and pass the resolution.
Majority Leader and Zam-
boanga City Rep. Manuel Jose
Dalipe, who was presiding over
the hearing, declared the reso-
lution approved.
The committee approved its
report and affirmed its vote on
RBH No. 7.
During a news conference
earlier in the day, Gonzales said
the House is scheduled to start
plenary debates on the pro-
posed amendments on Monday.
“We will target second-read-
ing approval of RBH No. 7 next
Wednesday,” he said.
He said the House will stick to
its timeline of approving the pro-
posed economic Charter amend-
ments before Congress goes on its
Zubiri belittles leadership 'coup' rumors
BY WILNARD BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Senate President
Juan Miguel Zubiri dismissed
on Wednesday rumors about
efforts to replace him as Senate
president.
In a press briefing, Zubiri said
Holy Week break on March 23.
RBH No. 7 replicates RBH
No. 6, introduced by Senate
President Juan Miguel Zubiri
and Senators Loren Legarda
and Juan Edgardo Angara.
The proposed House and
Senate changes are on the grant
of legislative franchises to and
ownership (60-40) of public
utilities in Article Xll, owner-
ship of basic educational facil-
ities (60-40) in Article XlV and
ownership of advertising firms
(70-30) in Article XVl.
The suggested principal
amendments are the insertion
of the phrase, “unless otherwise
provided by law,” which would
empower Congress to lift or
relax present economic restric-
tions in the nation’s basic law,
and the addition of the qualifier
“basic” in Article XIV.
RBH No. 6 and RBH No. 7
also restate the provision of
the Constitution that Congress
may propose amendments
“upon a vote of three-fourths of
all its members.”
‘Imperative to review fun-
damental laws’
During the hearing of the
Committee of the Whole, For-
mer senator Gregorio Honasan
said it was time to amend the
Constitution.
“For our nation to continue its
journey toward rising among its
neighbors, it is imperative to re-
view the fundamental laws that
will drive and propel much-need-
ed economic growth,” Honasan
told lawmakers.
He noted that recalibrating
the restrictive provisions on
foreign ownership of public util-
ities, basic education, and on
the advertising industry, would
greatly help raise the country’s
gross domestic product.
17 senators signed a manifesto,
maintaining their support for
his leadership.
Those who signed were Sen-
ate President Pro Tempore
Loren Legarda, Senate Ma-
jority Leader Joel Villanueva,
Senators Sonny Angara, Nancy
Binay, Christopher Lawrence
Go, Ronald dela Rosa, Jo-
The former secretary of the
Department of Information
and Communications Technol-
ogy (DICT) said the Charter
should be amended to adapt
to the economic challenges
posed by evolving geopolitical
dynamics, rapid technological
advancements, and global trade
within digital economies.
Honasan said the three pro-
posed economic amendments,
together with economic policy
reforms through legislation,
“will propel the Philippines to be
on par with neighboring coun-
tries such as Singapore, Indone-
sia, Malaysia, and Thailand” in
attracting foreign investments.
“Kapag hindi tayo nagbago,
maiiwan tayo, at kapag nanatili
tayong sarado sa buong mun-
do, kawawa ang Pilipino (If we
don’t change, we will be left be-
hind, and if we remain closed
to the world, the Filipinos will
suffer),” Honasan said. “Huwag
po tayong matakot sa pagbaba-
go (We must not fear change).”
As a retired military officer,
he is well aware of the security
risks of allowing foreign invest-
ments in public utilities but
The Committee of the Whole House on Wednesday adopted Resolution of Both
Houses (RBH) No. 7 together with its committee report, through viva voce vote.
(PRESS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS BUREAU)
seph Victor Ejercito, Sherwin
Gatchalian, Lito Lapid, Grace
Poe, Francis Tolentino, Raffy
Tulfo, Mark Villar, Robinhood
Padilla, Jinggoy Estrada, and
Ramon Revilla Jr.
"I thank my fellow senators
- everyone who has already
signed the statement of support,
as well as those who have signi-
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
pointed out that those could
be addressed by the proposed
insertion of the phrase, “unless
otherwise provided by law,” in
the Charter’s economic provi-
sions, which would empower
Congress to impose conditions
on the entry of foreign capital.
“Puwedeng magbuo ng batas
na magtatakda kung ano ang
maaring gawin at hindi maaar-
ing gawin ng dayuhang mamu-
muhunan, kung saan ang hang-
ganan ng kanilang pribilehiyo
(Laws can be enacted that will
mandate what can and can’t
be done by foreign investors,
the limits of their privileges),”
Honasan said.
He said the ultimate goal of
changing the economic provi-
sions should be to help most
Filipinos get out of poverty.
Foreign equity limitations
Meanwhile, former Finance
Secretary Margarito Teves said
foreign equity limitations in
the Constitution “are a binding
constraint to investors” that
are not present in the basic laws
of other ASEAN countries like
Singapore and Malaysia.
“As of 2022, Vietnam, Ma-
fied to sign as well," Zubiri said.
He said the senators who
have intended to sign the man-
ifesto are Senators Pia Cayeta-
no, Alan Peter Cayetano, and
Francis Escudero who are cur-
rently out of the country.
"Ang suporta nilang lahat
ay marka ng isang matatag na
Senado na hindi natitinag ng
3
laysia, Indonesia, and Thailand
have already surpassed us in
terms of foreign direct invest-
ments,” he noted
He said the Philippines has to
adjust its “legal framework” to
make it comparable with its ASE-
AN neighbors so it can be compet-
itive in enticing foreign investors.
Teves also advocated open-
ing land ownership in rural
areas to foreigners, subject to
“data-driven” parameters Con-
gress may prescribe.
He pointed out that the es-
tablishment of foreign-owned
manufacturing plants in rural
communities would provide job
and livelihood opportunities to
people in those areas and would
lead to the economic develop-
ment of the regions, as rural
residents seeking jobs would no
longer have to migrate to Metro
Manila and other urban areas.
Like Honasan, Teves also
urged Filipinos not to be afraid
of foreign investors, stressing
that what is important is “who
can best serve Filipinos, regard-
less of their nationality.”
Department of Foreign Af-
fairs Undersecretary Jesus Do-
mingo, for his part, cited the
example of Singapore, which he
said gradually opened its econ-
omy to foreign investments be-
tween 1965 to the 1990s.
The city-state “is (now) one
of the most open economies in
the world,” he noted.
He also cited his own experi-
ence as the country’s ambassa-
dor to New Zealand.
Compared to his counter-
parts in other ASEAN nations,
he said he had difficulty con-
vincing foreign investors due
to the economic restrictions in
the Philippine Constitution. ■
anumang ingay at palaging nag-
kakaisa sa aming paglilingkod
para sa bayan (Their support
marks a strong Senate that can't
be shaken by any noise and al-
ways united in our service for
the country)," Zubiri said.
Rumors are that he could be
replaced by Legarda, Poe or
Estrada. ■
 4 Philippine News
Senate adopts PBBM's amnesty grant to rebels
BY WILNARD BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Senate ad-
opted on Monday the three con-
current resolutions favoring
President Ferdinand R. Marcos
Jr.’s grant of amnesty to vari-
ous rebel and insurgent groups
in the country, less than three
months after the signing of the
presidential proclamations.
Senator Jinggoy Estrada, who
sponsored the concurrence, said
it signifies the Filipino's support
to the comprehensive peace ef-
forts and the genuine commit-
ment of the government to at-
taining lasting peace.
"I am truly honored and priv-
ileged to sponsor these mea-
sures that will foster healing
and social cohesion, and will
provide the window to end in-
ternal armed conflict and rebel-
PH to file protest..
❰❰ 1 “We continue to
view with great alarm
these continuing dan-
gerous maneuvers and danger-
ous actions that are being done
against our seamen, our Coast
Guard. And this time, they dam-
aged the cargo ship and caused
some injury to some of our sea-
men,” Marcos said, responding
to media queries given to him
while in Melbourne, Australia.
“Once again, we will make our
objections known and hope that
we can continue to communi-
cate to find a way so that such
actions are no longer seen in the
West Philippine Sea," he added.
Marcos’ statement came,
following the dangerous ma-
neuvers and blocking by China
Coast Guard (CCG) and Chi-
nese Maritime Militia (CMM)
vessels targeting Philippine
vessels engaged in a resupply
and rotation mission to the
grounded BRP Sierra Madre at
Ayungin Shoal.
The President views China’s
provocative acts in the Philip-
pine waters “in the most seri-
ous way.”
However, he admitted that
China’s recent actions could
not prompt him to invoke the
Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT)
lion, which have already cost the
country a staggering amount of
lost economic opportunities
and the lives of countless Filipi-
nos," Estrada said.
"We thank the esteemed
members of this august cham-
ber under the leadership of
Senate President Juan Miguel
Zubiri, as well as our Minori-
ty Floor Leader Senator Koko
Pimentel, who happens to be
both proud and renowned sons
of the great Mindanao region,
for prioritizing our committee
reports and allowing this rep-
resentation to defend these
important measures amid the
very hectic legislative agenda,"
he added.
At least 2,000 former mem-
bers of the separatist group
Moro National Liberation
Front (MNLF), 1,200 from the
Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng
Manggagawa ng Pilipinas/Rev-
with the United States.
The Philippine Coast Guard’s
BRP Sindangan (MRRV-4407)
on Tuesday collided with CCG
vessel 21555 due to the latter’s
“dangerous maneuvers and
blocking,” causing minor struc-
tural damage to the Filipino ship.
Another CCG vessel also at-
tacked Unaizah May 4, one of
the two resupply boats char-
tered by the Armed Forces of the
Philippines, with water cannons
that destroyed its windshield
and injured four of its crew.
Marcos also reacted to the re-
ported presence of Chinese re-
search vessels in the Philippine
Rise (formerly known as Ben-
ham Rise), saying it is a clear
intrusion into the Philippine
maritime territory and it is “of
great concern.”
“However, there is a suspi-
cion that they are not only re-
search vessels so, again, this is
a bit of an escalation of the ten-
sion that is present in the West
Philippines Sea," he said.
International law
During his intervention at the
Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN)-Australia Spe-
cial Summit Leaders’ Retreat in
Melbourne, Marcos maintained
that the Philippine government
olutionary Proletarian Army/
Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPMP-
RPA-ABB), and 400 Moro Is-
lamic Liberation Front (MILF)
surrenderers are expected to
avail of the amnesty.
The amnesty is granted to
(SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES/FACEBOOK)
“will not yield an inch of [the
Philippines’] sovereignty,” add-
ing that it will continue to defend
the country’s rights based on in-
ternational law.
Marcos also called on the
ASEAN and other nations to
show toughness while remain-
ing committed to internation-
al law amid China’s aggressive
acts in the South China Sea that
infringe on the sovereign rights
of other nations in the region.
“It, therefore, behooves the
Philippines, ASEAN, and Aus-
tralia, and all like-minded states
to exercise the boldness and
sense of responsibility to remain
committed to the peaceful reso-
lution of disputes and to main-
tain respect for the rules-based
international order and multi-
lateralism, especially in the face
of deliberate efforts by others to
denigrate, deny and even violate
international law,” he added.
Marcos said it remains the
responsibility of each state to
promote and protect the rule of
international law “as much as
any other state facing wanton
military might.”
He stressed that “peace is both
a global public good and one of
humanity’s highest values that
no one state should put at risk,
www.canadianinquirer.net
rebels who have committed
crimes in pursuit of their polit-
ical beliefs.
These crimes include, but are
not limited to, rebellion or insur-
rection, sedition, illegal assem-
bly, direct and indirect assault,
for whatever gain or motive.”
The President also thanked
Australia and other nations for
promoting a rules-based inter-
national order grounded on in-
ternational law.
“It is the Philippines’ hope
that ASEAN continues to col-
lectively and constructively ad-
dress challenges together,” he
said.
“Let me be clear: We encour-
age our ASEAN neighbors to
frame conflicts not simply as
rivalry between major powers,
but as direct challenges to the
sovereignty of independent
states whose well-being, both
politically and economically,
are interdependent and inter-
twined,” Marcos added.
Rules-based order
Speaker Ferdinand Martin
G. Romualdez on Wednesday
hailed the President for focus-
ing the spotlight on the obser-
vance of rules-based order and
peaceful resolution of disputes
during the special summit.
“During the summit, Pres-
ident Marcos reaffirmed the
strategic alliance between the
Philippines and Australia, em-
phasizing the shared values and
mutual interests that bind our
nations together. This reaffir-
MARCH 8, 2024 FRIDAY
resistance and disobedience to
a person in authority, and illegal
possession of firearms, ammu-
nition, or explosives.
"It is important to note that
these crimes or offenses must
have been committed in fur-
therance of, incident to, or in
connection with the crimes
of rebellion or insurrection,
among others," Estrada said.
As provided under Section 4
of each presidential proclama-
tion, the amnesty shall extin-
guish any criminal liability of
former rebels for acts commit-
ted in pursuit of their political
beliefs and shall also restore civ-
il and political rights suspended
or lost by criminal conviction.
However, amnesty shall not
be granted to those who have
already been proscribed or
charged under the Human Se-
❱❱ PAGE 16 Senate adopts PBBM's
mation underscores the impor-
tance of fostering robust part-
nerships in the face of evolving
geopolitical challenges,” Ro-
mualdez said.
Romualdez likewise noted
that during the two-day state
visit of President Marcos to
Australia, three key agreements
between the two countries were
signed, including one on en-
hanced interoperability in the
maritime domain and maritime
environment.
“This agreement holds par-
amount importance, particu-
larly in the face of escalating
provocative actions by China in
the South China Sea. By solidi-
fying this pact, President Mar-
cos has underscored our na-
tion's unwavering commitment
to upholding maritime security
and safeguarding the interests
of all nations in the region,” Ro-
mualdez said.
“President Marcos can count
on the unwavering commitment
of the House of Representatives
in support of his initiatives to
preserve peace and stability in
the region and his courageous
stance in defense of our coun-
try’s territory and sovereignty,”
he added. (with a report from
Zaldy De Layola/PNA) ■
FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2024 5

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6 Philippine News
Senators share opposing views on civilian
semi-automatic gun ownership
BY WILNARD BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Senators weigh
in on the amended imple-
menting rules and regulations
(IRR) of Republic Act (RA) No.
10591 or the Comprehensive
Law in Firearms and Ammuni-
tions, allowing civilians to own
semi-automatic firearms.
Senator Imee Marcos ex-
pressed her concern that the
number of criminality, terror-
ism, arms smuggling and wide-
spread violence in the 2025
elections could rise because of
the new gun ownership policy.
"The PNP is shooting itself in
the foot and compromising law
enforcement efficiency and, above
all, public safety," Marcos said.
Free annual medical checkup for
all Filipinos pushed
BY JOSE CIELITO
REGANIT
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – A bill filed in
the House of Representatives
would entitle every Filipino to
a free annual medical checkup
and ensure access to preventive
healthcare.
All Filipino citizens, by vir-
tue of their membership in the
Philippine Health Insurance
Corporation (PhilHealth) as
mandated under the Universal
Health Care Law, “shall be en-
titled to the applicable benefits
under the Philippine Health
Insurance Program,” according
to House Bill (HB) 1785, or the
proposed Free Annual Medical
Checkup Act.
In a news release Tuesday,
bill co-author Bicol Saro Par-
ty-list Rep. Brian Raymund
Yamsuan said that despite the
implementation of the Uni-
Marcos said the law should
be reviewed and semi-automat-
ic firearms disallowed.
Earlier, Marcos filed a resolu-
tion calling for an inquiry into
the policy.
Civilians will now be allowed
to own semi-automatic rifles
such as a 7.62 rifle, following
some minor amendments to
the IRR.
Senate Deputy Minority
Leader Risa Hontiveros called
for the amendment of the law,
saying there is a need to make
the regulations stronger against
the proliferation of firearms.
"We must address the broken
provisions of the law, which cur-
rently enable certain persons to
own many high powered weap-
ons. We need to amend Sec.
9, Article III of Republic Act
versal Health Care Law and
other significant strides in the
Philippine health care system,
“many Filipinos still succumb
to diseases that are otherwise
preventable and treatable with
cost-effective interventions.”
The Philippine Statistics Au-
thority reported that as of Sep-
tember 2023, the leading cause
of death in the Philippines was
ischemic heart disease, fol-
lowed by neoplasms (cancer),
cerebrovascular diseases, dia-
betes mellitus, and pneumonia.
A separate report showed
that six out of 10 Filipinos die
without being medically at-
tended to.
HB 1785 states that the free
annual medical checkup shall
include cholesterol and blood
sugar tests. Laboratory and di-
agnostic tests shall also be ex-
panded subject to the availabil-
ity of funds.
Yamsuan said the bill ensures
that each Filipino shall have the
10591 - which allows so-called
‘gun collectors’ to amass more
than fifteen firearms without
much explicit restrictions - and
move in the direction of tighter,
not looser, gun control," Honti-
veros said in a statement.
Senate President Juan Mi-
guel Zubiri told reporters that
he is in favor of the revised IRR
as long as only responsible gun
owners would be allowed to use
semi-automatic firearms.
"I'll be hypocrite kung sasabi-
hin kong ayaw ko dahil meron
din akong (if I would say that I
don't like it because I also have
a) long-arm. As a gun owner, I
believe in responsible gun own-
ership," Zubiri said.
"Dapat lang pagsikapan nila
[Philippine National Police] ang
pagbusisi ng pagbibigay ng mga
chance to access free annual
medical checkup in any gov-
ernment hospital “to promote
their right to quality health care
services and prevent disease,
disability, and death.”
“In the long run, the invest-
ment in extending this free
checkup benefit would also lead
to the government spending
less in providing treatment for
life-threatening ailments such
as diabetes and heart disease, as
many Filipinos would have the
opportunity to be diagnosed
and treated early before their
conditions worsen,” he said.
Free mammograms test
for all PhilHealth female
members
Meanwhile, House Deputy
Majority Leader Erwin Tulfo
urged the Philippine Health In-
surance Corp. (PhilHealth) to
give its women members annu-
al free medical tests, including
mammograms and ultrasounds.
Tulfo made this call during
www.canadianinquirer.net
lisensya at pagbebenta ng mga
baril sa kanila (They should try
hard in scrutinizing applicants
of gun license and selling guns to
the joint hearing by the House
Committees on Ways and
Means, Senior Citizens, and
Special Committee on Persons
with Disabilities on the dis-
counts and benefits for seniors
and persons with disabilities
(PWDs) as the country cele-
brates Women’s Month.
“It was brought up [during
last hearings] the basic diag-
nostics, x-rays, ultrasound,
ECG and particularly mammo-
gram should be free courtesy of
PhilHealth particularly Wom-
en’s Month ngayon (now),” the
ACT-CIS Party-list representa-
tive said.
“Pwede po ba gawing libre na
ang mammogram para sa mga
kababaihan natin. I think nasa
top five po ng causes of death
ng Filipino women ang cancer
of the breast (Can’t we make
mammogram free for our wom-
en. I think breast cancer is in
the top five causes of death of
Filipino women),” he added.
MARCH 8, 2024 FRIDAY
them)," he added.
Zubiri said the guns should
not go to the hands of rebels
and other "internal threats." ■
Tulfo said he and Rep. Yed-
da Marie Romualdez of Tin-
gog Party-list agreed to push
for free medical examinations
among female members of Phil-
Health.
During the hearing, Phil-
Health Regional Office National
Capital Region Vice President
Bernadette Lico said Tulfo’s
recommendation will be in-
cluded later once they have the
comprehensive allocation ben-
efit package.
Tulfo emphasized the impor-
tance of early detection of se-
vere ailment.
“Wag naman po na librehin
lang natin yung may cancer
na, dapat even before na mag-
kasakit po ng cancer pwede po
ba sagutin ng PhilHealth (Let’s
not have it free for those with
cancer only, PhilHealth should
give it for free even before they
get cancer),” Tulfo said. (with
a report from Zaldy De Layola/
PNA) ■
FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2024
Bill to boost PH capital markets
gets House final nod
BY FILANE MIKEE
CERVANTES
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – A measure seek-
ing to boost the capital markets
and the investment competi-
tiveness of the Philippines by
reducing taxes for stock trans-
actions has hurdled the final
reading at the House of Repre-
sentatives.
During Monday's plenary
session, the chamber approved
on the third reading House Bill
(HB) 9277 or the proposed Cap-
ital Markets Efficiency Promo-
tion Act, with 270 affirmative
votes, three negative votes, and
one abstention.
The measure seeks to amend
the Tax Code by reducing taxes
on stock transactions from 0.6
percent to just 0.1 percent of
stock value and the tax on div-
idends of foreign non-residents
from 25 percent to 10 percent.
The proposal also imposes a
debt transaction rate of 0.1 per-
cent, in parity with the reduced
rate for stock transactions.
PH, Korea eye higher level of engagement
as ties reach 75
BY JOYCE ANN L.
ROCAMORA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippine
and Korean governments are
eyeing an increased level of en-
gagement in new areas of coop-
eration as the two states mark
75 years of diplomatic relations
this year.
Formal diplomatic relations
between the Philippines and
South Korea were established on
March 3, 1949, when the country
became the fifth country to rec-
ognize the Republic of Korea.
This was cemented by the de-
ployment of the 7,420 Filipino
House Ways and Means Com-
mittee chair Joey Salceda, au-
thor of the measure, said the
Philippines currently imposes
the highest stock transaction
levies among all major econo-
mies in the Association of South-
east Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“The Philippine Stock Ex-
change has the fewest listed
companies of all ASEAN-6
economies, with just 275 list-
ed companies, with the second
lowest already being Singapore,
with some 640 listed compa-
nies. Since the stock transac-
tion tax was increased from 0.5
percent to 0.6 percent of trans-
action value, in 2019, the PSEi
has declined by 29.83 percent,"
Salceda said.
This has adverse effects on
the strength of the country’s
pension and health insurance
systems because the Social Se-
curity System (SSS) and the
Philippine Health Insurance
Corp. (PhilHealth) charters
have strict investment policies
that limit their equities expo-
sure almost exclusively to Phil-
ippine index stocks, he added.
soldiers who helped defend the
South throughout the Korean
War in the 1950s.
In a letter sent to the Korean
Foreign Ministry, Foreign Af-
fairs Secretary Enrique Manalo
commemorated the anniversa-
ry and emphasized the robust
bilateral relations between the
two states.
“I attribute the success of our
relations to our shared values
of freedom and democracy, our
common aspirations for region-
al peace, stability, and pros-
perity, and our commitment
to work closely in addressing
common challenges and oppor-
tunities,” he said.
In a separate congratulatory
"If stocks don’t move in val-
ue, these funds also stagnate,"
he said.
Salceda pointed out that aside
from the stock transaction tax,
the high rate of tax on dividends
received by foreign non-resi-
dent individuals also discourag-
es foreign investors from buy-
ing Philippine stocks, which, in
turn, prevents price discovery.
"As a result, Philippine stocks
stagnate in value. In fact, month-
ly transaction volume continues
to be lower than 2012 levels in
peso terms. In dollar terms, it
(HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PHILIPPINES/FACEBOOK)
letter, his counterpart Korean
Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul
said “the Philippines, the first
country among the ASEAN
Members with which the Re-
public of Korea established
diplomatic ties, holds a special
place in the hearts of the Kore-
an people.”
The Korean minister then
looked back at the 75 years of Phil-
ippine-Korea cooperation, which
have since expanded to trade, de-
velopment cooperation, and peo-
ple-to-people-exchanges.”
The Department of Foreign
Affairs said Tuesday both minis-
ters look forward to new areas of
cooperation through the eleva-
tion of the Philippine-Korea re-
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
matches 2007 levels," he said.
He said the proposed reform
would result in a revenue loss of
PHP9.825 billion but could in-
crease pension assets in the SSS
and Government Service Insur-
ance System (GSIS) alone by at
least PHP72.9 billion.
The bill also proposes a pro-
vision to reduce the tax on win-
nings above PHP10,000 award-
ed by the Philippine Charity
Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), as
well as lotto winnings, to 10
percent from the current
20 percent. Winnings below
lations to a strategic partnership.
On top of trade, defense, and
development, Manila and Seoul
are also closely working to in-
crease interactions on science
and technology, sustainable
fisheries, and smart agriculture.
In the Senate, Senator Sher-
win Gatchalian filed Senate
Resolution 946, recognizing the
amity and cooperation between
the two countries.
He also noted that South
Korea is among the largest de-
velopment partners of the Phil-
ippines with a contribution of
USD2.1 billion as of 2020.
A valued trade and invest-
ment partner of the Philippines,
South Korea ranked fourth
7
PHP10,000 will be exempt.
The Documentary Stamp Tax
(DST) on PCSO lottery tickets
and horse race bets will also be
reduced to 10 percent from the
current 20 percent.
Bill allowing ICT infra in
subdivisions, housing projects
The chamber also approved
HB 9870 or the proposed Hous-
ing Development Digital Con-
nectivity Act with 274 affirma-
tive votes, zero negative votes,
and no abstention.
To ensure digital connectiv-
ity in urban centers and popu-
lated areas of the country, the
measure requires all housing
projects, subdivisions, villages,
or residential properties to al-
locate an area within its desig-
nated open space for the estab-
lishment of ICT infrastructure
and related amenities.
It seeks to amend Presiden-
tial Decree (PD) 957, which
mandates the developer of a
subdivision to allocate open
space for parks, playgrounds,
and recreational use.
❱❱ PAGE 11 Bill to boost
in terms of bilateral trade at
USD15.45 billion, and sixth in
total approved investments at
USD90.62 million in 2022.
"We expect bilateral rela-
tions between the Philippines
and South Korea to deepen fur-
ther as the two countries pur-
sue mutually beneficial part-
nerships on areas of interest to
both parties, as well as cooper-
ation towards economic prog-
ress and development," he said.
Gatchalian was designat-
ed by Senate President Zubiri
as the chairperson of the Phil-
ippines-Korea Parliamentary
Friendship Association in the
Philippine Senate. (With a report
from Leonel Abasola/PNA) ■
8 Philippine News
Correspondent/Hosts
Arianne Grace Lacanilao
Matte Laurel
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Member
Hontiveros: DOJ's filing of cases vs.
Quiboloy a 'gift to every woman'
BY WILNARD BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Senate Deputy Minority
Leader Risa Hontiveros on Monday said
the move of the Department of Justice
(DOJ) to file qualified trafficking and
child abuse cases against Kingdom of
Jesus Christ (KJC) Leader Pastor Apollo
Quiboloy is "a gift to every woman" this
Women's Month.
"Isang napakalaking tagumpay ito
para sa bawat babaeng inalipusta at
sinamantala ni (This is a very huge suc-
cess for every woman who were insulted
and abused by) Apollo Quiboloy," Honti-
Downward trend on rice prices
expected amid peak harvest
BY STEPHANIE SEVILLANO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Consumers may expect a
downward trend in the price of rice amid
the peak-harvest season, according to
the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The DA issued the statement on Tues-
day following the reported rice inflation
which hit 23.7 percent in February, con-
tributing to the food inflation hike which
reached 4.8 percent.
During a Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon
briefing, Agriculture Assistant Secretary
Arnel de Mesa said the prices of rice slight-
ly dropped in the latter part of February.
"Noong huling bahagi ng February
hanggang ngayon ay nasa PHP49 to
PHP50 level na iyong prevailing pric-
es (In the latter part of February until
now, the prevailing prices [of rice] are at
PHP49 to PHP50),” he said.
In January, the average prevail-
ing price of rice was around PHP52
to PHP53 for well-milled and regu-
lar-milled rice.
”Inaasahan natin na lalo pa itong
bababa dahil ngayong March, nagsimula
na iyong harvest natin ng palay at mag-
pi-peak ito March-April (We are expect-
ing that the price will drop even more
this March, our palay harvest has start-
ed and it will reach its peak by March to
April)," De Mesa added.
Likewise, he said that the lowering of
the farmgate price will contribute to the
decline of retail price.
www.canadianinquirer.net
veros said in a statement.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin
Remulla said the cases against Quiboloy
will be filed by prosecutors in Pasig City
and Davao City.
"This is a welcome first step towards
the victim-survivors' cry for justice,
peace, and healing," Hontiveros added.
The lawmaker also thanked Remulla,
as well as all the witnesses who testified
against Quiboloy.
Hontiveros, being the chairperson of
the Committee on Women, Children,
Family Relations and Gender Equality,
recently launched an inquiry into the al-
leged injustices and abuses of Quiboloy.
The committee is set to open another
De Mesa, meanwhile, said that El Ni-
no's worst effect did not hit the produc-
tive stage of palay due to its timing.
"This is very small in terms of total rice
area. In terms of total rice production,
medyo minimal din about 0.11 percent
ng total harvest na inaasahan natin. So
hindi ganun kalaki iyong epekto (that's
somehow minimal about 0.11 percent of
the total harvest that we are expecting.
So the effect is not that huge)," he said.
The El Niño phenomenon has so far
caused PHP284.27 million worth of loss
in rice production, affecting at least 5,011
hectares of rice farms, according to the
DA-Disaster Risk Reduction and Man-
agement Office (DRRMO).
Modifying value chain
Undersecretary Asis Perez, mean-
while, said the DA is eyeing to modify the
Farmers apply fertilizer on hybrid rice planted a week ago in Barangay Sto. Tomas, Peñaranda, Nueva
Ecija on Monday (June 28, 2021). (OLIVER MARQUEZ/PNA)
MARCH 8, 2024 FRIDAY
round of inquiry on Tuesday.
Having not received any confirmation
yet from Quiboloy to attend the inquiry,
Hontiveros warned that she would cite
him in contempt and order his arrest.
"The Senate will continue with its
mandate to investigate, in aid of legisla-
tion, the decades-long abuses perpetrat-
ed by Quiboloy. We will ensure that these
inquiries will result in strengthened laws
for our women, our children, and the
most vulnerable among us," she said.
Hontiveros recently issued a subpoe-
na to force Quiboloy to attend the inqui-
ry and had repeatedly assured that the
panel would be fair on hearing the KJC
leader's side. ■
entire value chain.
He said this will cover soil and water
management, improving logistics, and
building post-harvest facilities.
"Kaya ito bibigyan natin ng pansin (We
need to focus on this). We have to expand
and make sure that our available resourc-
es, which is a lot, is properly managed,” he
said in a separate radio interview.
He said that out of 14 million hectares
of available natural assets, there are 3.1
million hectares of estimated land area
that can be irrigated.
Perez said they are looking to be more
stringent in implementing a regulation,
under the Price Act, to ensure stable
prices of commodities in the market.
"In case na mayroong sinasabing
❱❱ PAGE 13 Downward trend on
FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2024
Safeguarding Canadian democracy in
the age of growing digital disinformation
BY BESSMA MOMANI,
SHELLY GHAI-BAJAJ
Policy Options
A host of measures are need-
ed to educate the Canadian
public and improve the coun-
try’s ability to respond to infor-
mation threats.
The stakes over the next year
are higher than ever when it
comes to security and defence
challenges in the Canadian in-
formation ecosystem.
With monumental elections
on the horizon, numerous glob-
al risk reports have highlighted
mis/disinformation among the
top threats facing our intercon-
nected societies.
These threats are multiplied
by the shifting global arena and
rapid, constant technological
advancements. These include
growing multipolarity, securi-
ty and defence threats, and the
opening of armed conflicts across
the globe that test Canada’s mid-
dle power paradigm within a
strained rules-based world order.
Deliberate and coordinated
attacks on politicians and the fall-
out from bilateral diplomatic con-
flicts further demonstrate that
Canada is not immune to digital
disinformation operations.
Moreover, a recent report by
the Communication Security Es-
tablishment (CSE) offers a stark
warning: Canada can expect un-
precedented activity by foreign
actors in our cyber and infor-
mation space in the next federal
election cycle, especially with the
use of AI-generated content in-
cluding deepfake videos and other
sophisticated tools of deception.
To meet this challenge, Cana-
da must prioritize understand-
ing this complex and evolving
landscape and adopt a whole of
government approach.
In broad terms, mitigation
strategies must simultaneously
address short-term and immedi-
Canada News
ate defence, national security and
intelligence threats while simul-
taneously investing in societal
resiliency strategies to reinforce
democratic institutions and pro-
cesses over the longue durée.
The disinformation threats
we know
Digital disinformation is ex-
panding in two ways: the range
of actors and the nature of activ-
ities. This constant state of flux
and expansion means there are
existing threats, threats on the
horizon, and unknown threats.
Developing an understanding
of each is key to anticipating and
preparing for security challenges.
Familiar state actors like
Russia, China and Iran have the
motivation and the strategic
advantage of experience to dis-
rupt Western elections. They
have grown increasingly savvy
and elusive, working through
proxies and intermediaries to
make it difficult to trace tactics
back to the original source.
Elements used in these cam-
paigns come through content
farms in other states that can be
used to produce digital disinfor-
mation content while offering the
benefit of plausible deniability.
The nature of the disinforma-
tion ecosystem can transform ac-
tors with fewer resources and less
power into formidable threats.
Production and peddling of digital
disinformation are incentivized
by a low barrier to entry with a
high rate of return for those seek-
ing to incite disruption.
In other words, for these state
actors disinformation campaigns
represent a win-win strategy
with little to no cost, because
they don’t need to sway the out-
come of an election to success-
fully pollute liberal democratic
information environments. They
only need to sow doubt and di-
minish trust in the legitimacy
and efficacy of elections.
Liberal democracies like Can-
ada may therefore lend them-
selves as an easy target for for-
eign disinformation campaigns.
That being said, while foreign
interference during elections
has received much of the at-
tention in academic and poli-
cy research as well as in media
coverage, other disinformation
activities are also being pur-
sued by threat actors.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Foreign influence campaigns
and computational propaganda
often shape public opinion and
perceptions. Strategic distrac-
tion tries to prime individuals
to pay attention to certain is-
sues and ignore others in a bid
to provoke decision paralysis.
What requires more atten-
tion, however, is the slow drip
of polarizing and illiberal nar-
ratives exacerbating ideologi-
cal and partisan fault lines that
chips away at our social fabric,
fostering a trust deficit between
citizens and democracy.
A diversifying threat landscape
There are also indirect
ways in which disinformation
spreads within the Canadi-
an information environment.
We have long shared a unique,
often embedded connection
with the information space of
the United States. As the con-
voy experience demonstrates,
right-wing ideologies and nar-
ratives south of the border can
influence perceptions and mo-
bilization in Canada.
At the same time, Canada’s di-
asporic communities are also em-
bedded in multiple information
environments that include nar-
ratives and content circulating
in home countries. Places in the
Global South including Brazil, In-
dia, Nigeria, and the Philippines
have seen digital disinformation
used to influence domestic audi-
ences, especially during elections.
The digital platforms on
which disinformation spreads –
including Facebook, X and Tik-
Tok but also direct messaging
apps like Telegram, WeChat,
and WhatsApp – reach global
audiences at a scale and speed
previously unimaginable. Eth-
nocultural communities in
Canada are often doubly ex-
posed to disinformation ema-
nating from their home coun-
tries and from within Canada.
Encrypted messaging plat-
forms provide a high level of pri-
9
vacy and security to individual
users. But they present a differ-
ent set of challenges identifying
disinformation threats. There
is also the question of how in-
formation is perceived among
groups of users who share some
level of interpersonal commu-
nication, connection and trust.
AI on the new front line of
disinformation
The emerging use of genera-
tive AI to produce disinforma-
tion content quickly, cheaply,
and in abundance will have
potentially calamitous implica-
tions through platforms rang-
ing from simple text messages
to deepfakes.
In the Global South, AI will
allow states to engage in micro-
targeting, deliver disinforma-
tion content into different lan-
guages in multilingual contexts,
and wage more coordinated
propaganda campaigns.
For example, in Bangladesh,
the dominant Awami League
does not need to sway public
opinion only through autocrat-
ic rule. It can now deploy eas-
ily accessible and inexpensive
deepfake videos to discredit and
delegitimize the opposition.
In India, political parties
across the board have also
deployed generative AI in
state-level elections. India’s
2024 general elections may turn
out to be the world’s largest dem-
ocratic experiment with the use
of generative AI as a campaign-
ing strategy. And it is bound to
have spillover effects in increas-
ingly globally connected digital
information environments.
Domestic challenges on
the horizon
Canada needs to act quickly
to develop collective capacity to
meet and prevent the information
threats that are at the doorstep:
• Accelerate and deepen in-
vestment in multi-sector part-
❱❱ PAGE 16 Safeguarding Canadian
10
MAID and mental health: Does ending the
suffering of mental illness mean supporting
death or supporting better lives?
BY CHARMAINE C.
WILLIAMS, University of
Toronto
The Conversation
Recent headlines have high-
lighted debates among federal
parties over the proposal to ex-
tend Medical Assistance in Dy-
ing (MAID) to people suffering
solely with mental illness.
Proponents of expanding Bill
C-7 to mental illness claim that
delays to do so are based on stigma
and stereotypes promoting the be-
lief that a mental disorder renders
someone incapable of making a ra-
tional choice to die. Those that ad-
vocate for delaying an expansion
suggest that more work is needed
to ensure appropriate safeguards
are in place to distinguish requests
for MAID from illness-induced
suicidal ideation.
The recent announcement
that including mental illness in
MAID will be delayed until 2027
gives provincial and territorial
health-care systems more time
to prepare for implementation.
Putting access to MAID in
context
People living with long-term
mental illness should have the
option to consider MAID, like
others facing chronic, debilitat-
ing illnesses. However, access to
MAID is a small part of a larger
conversation we ought to be hav-
ing about how the health-care
system can provide supports
and services that empower peo-
ple with mental health disorders
to navigate the long journey of
mental illness with dignity and
resilience. Extending support to
the families that care for them
Canada News
should be considered key.
As the Centre for Addiction
and Mental Health (CAMH) re-
ports, mental illness is the lead-
ing cause of disability in Canada,
and wait lists for services are far
too long. For each person with a
debilitating mental illness, there
are family members — biologi-
cal, legal or chosen — doing their
best to provide support and care.
But who supports these families
as they navigate the challenges
of persistent mental illness?
Despite decades of research
demonstrating the importance
of family caregivers for support-
ing people with severe mental
illness, and the beneficial out-
comes for all family members
when families are supported,
vital support services have de-
clined throughout Canada. Fam-
ilies that are racialized, poor
or newcomers are getting even
less support in a depleted family
support service system.
Examples of evidence-based
family-focused supports that
would help include family psy-
choeducation, peer support,
and community-based, cultur-
ally-acceptable services that fo-
cus on whole families.
Supporting patients and
families
In addition to asking health-
care systems to prepare to end
the suffering of mental illness
by facilitating death, we should
be asking legislators and poli-
cymakers to build a health-care
system that supports better
lives for people with mental dis-
orders and their families.
Families manage mental ill-
ness out of sight of these leaders
and society at large; their suffer-
ing is seen as a personal matter
that is no one else’s business. But
the numbers tell us that ending
suffering from mental illness is
everyone’s business. It requires
networks of support for those
who have been diagnosed and
caregivers. Ignoring the families
that support individuals with
mental illness has ramifications
for everyone’s health.
My research exploring the
experiences of Ontario families
affected by mental illness has
shown there are gaps in the sys-
tem when it comes to family sup-
www.canadianinquirer.net
port. Conversations with fami-
lies reveal that, whether one is
a caregiver or someone who has
been diagnosed, those living with
mental illness often feel isolated,
alone and overwhelmed.
Family members who don’t
fall into the definition of “tra-
ditional family” often report
challenges throughout the care
process. Families that are part
of marginalized or lower-in-
come groups face additional
challenges to getting help and
support, often due to financial
barriers, language and cultural
barriers, or other social deter-
minants that correspond to in-
equities in access to health care.
The failure to build proper
supports and services that meet
the needs of families could
worsen an already growing
mental health crisis. If the fam-
ily is stressed, that stress will
impact everyone within it, care-
givers and people struggling
with a mental illness alike. This
is suffering that can last for de-
cades. The well-being of whole
families affected by mental ill-
ness must be recognized as an
issue of urgent concern.
Caring for people with
long-term mental illness
Education and training are
needed to ensure health pro-
fessionals have the information
they need to better support
families. At the same time, more
work must be done to promote
the general public’s understand-
ing of mental illness and reduce
stigma, so people don’t feel
ashamed about asking for help.
My work with the Family
Caregiving Project to develop
free online educational resourc-
MARCH 8, 2024 FRIDAY
es is a start. These resources help
health-care professionals, edu-
cators and community groups
better understand and discuss
the experiences of families strug-
gling with mental health issues.
But Canada’s families require
government support as well. We
need to ensure that our health-
care system provides necessary
services for families. Last year, we
called on the Ontario government
to fund targeted support for fam-
ilies living with serious and per-
sistent mental illnesses, collect-
ing nearly 1,500 signatures from
people who agree family support
needs to be a priority.
Living with a recurrent men-
tal illness and having hopes rise
and fall when treatments fail is
a source of profound suffering
for families all over Canada.
People diagnosed with mental
illness need to be part of the
dialogue surrounding MAID
eligibility because long-term
mental illness can be devastat-
ing. At the same time, we have
a health-care system that is fo-
cused on the short term of crisis
and hospitalization, with little
thought or investment for the
months and years over which
individuals and their families
must find ways to carry on.
We need to offer more than
assistance to death. We need to
offer adequate resources and
services that will get people
help when needed, and support
the mental health and well-be-
ing of all family members over
the long term. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2024
Pierre Poilievre’s proposed mandatory
minimum penalties will not reduce crime
BY BENJAMIN PERRIN,
University of British Columbia
The Conversation
In recent months, feder-
al Conservative leader Pierre
Poilievre has repeatedly voiced
support for discredited “tough
on crime” policies that will ul-
timately fail. In February alone,
Poilievre vowed to introduce
mandatory minimum penalties
(MMPs) for extortion and auto
theft offences.
Generally, criminal offenc-
es have a range of sentencing
options (e.g. release with con-
ditions, community service,
fines, restitution orders, parole,
“house arrest” or imprison-
ment) with a maximum penalty
set by the law. Judges then de-
termine a fit sentence that re-
flects the degree of responsibil-
ity of the offender and gravity of
what they actually did.
Instead, with MMPs, Parlia-
ment removes judicial discre-
tion for any sentencing option
other than imprisonment and
imposes a minimum term of
incarceration, regardless of the
facts of the case.
As a criminal law profes-
sor and advocate for victims
of crime, including a time ad-
vising former Conservative
Prime Minister Stephen Harp-
er, I used to be a proponent of
MMPs. But as I’ve learned more
about the unintended conse-
quences of MMPs and harsh-
ness of imprisonment in my
research, including interviews
with people who were incar-
cerated, I’ve become convinced
that MMPs are a grave policy
failure and cheap politics.
The evidence shows that
MMPs are ineffective at reduc-
ing crime, may actually increase
recidivism, are highly vulnera-
Bill to boost..
❰❰ 7 According to PD 957,
as amended by PD 1216,
for subdivision projects
spanning one hectare or more,
the owner or developer shall re-
serve 30 percent of the gross area
ble to being struck down by the
courts as unconstitutional, can
increase delays in an overbur-
dened system, and perpetuate
systemic racism.
Criminological research has
consistently found that harsher
sentences have “no effect on the
level of crime in society.” Alarm-
ingly, MMPs have also contrib-
uted to higher rates of incarcer-
ation of Indigenous people and
Black Canadians, exacerbating
already troubling trends.
In addition, research by
Statistics Canada found “no
evidence that MMPs have de-
terred crime; rather, some
studies suggest that MMPs can
result in overly harsh penalties
and disparities, that they in-
crease costs to the criminal jus-
tice system as a result of higher
levels of incarceration, and that
lengthier sentencing may actu-
ally increase recidivism.”
In other words, Poilievre’s
idea may actually backfire,
leading to more crime in the
long term.
Supreme Court strikes
down MMPs
Poilievre’s MMPs are not a
new idea. They’re an old, tired
idea, exposing a lack of under-
standing of evidence-based pol-
icies that will actually make us
all safer.
In 1987, there were just nine
MMPs on the books in Canada.
Since 1996, they have prolifer-
ated, with the number of MMPs
escalating significantly under
the Harper government. With
the adoption of the Safe Streets
and Communities Act in 2012,
the number of MMPs in the
Criminal Code approached 100.
The Supreme Court of Can-
ada continues to strike down
numerous Harper-era MMPs
and related tough-on-crime
measures for violating the Ca-
for open space.
Developers can also provide
an area for ICT infrastructure
from the net saleable lots out-
side the mandatory 30 percent
of the gross project area for
nadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms, including:
• In the 2015 case, R. v. Nur,
which concerned mandatory
minimum sentences for pos-
sessing a prohibited or restrict-
ed firearm, the court described
MMPs as “a blunt instrument.”
• In the 2016 case, R. v. Lloyd,
then Chief Justice Beverley
McLachlin made this damning
observation: “The reality is that
mandatory minimum sentenc-
es for offences that can be com-
mitted in many ways and under
many different circumstances
by a wide range of people are
constitutionally vulnerable be-
cause they will almost inevita-
bly catch situations where the
prescribed mandatory mini-
mum would require an uncon-
stitutional sentence.”
• In R. v. Ndhlovu, a 2022 case
concerning mandatory lifetime
registration in the national sex
offender registry, the court stat-
ed that “mandatory registration
of those offenders who are not at
an increased risk of reoffending
does not assist police.”
• In the 2023 case, R. v. Hills,
a four-year mandatory MMP
for discharging a firearm into
Pierre Poilievre (TAYMAZ VALLEY/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0)
open space to reserve the area
for parks, playgrounds, and rec-
reational use.
The ICT provider can obtain
the area for ICT infrastructure
and facilities through direct
www.canadianinquirer.net
Canada News
or at a home was repealed af-
ter the appeal was heard, but
the Court nevertheless ruled,
finding it unconstitutional. The
court’s majority opinion stated:
“it would shock the conscience
of Canadians to learn that an
offender can receive four years
of imprisonment for firing a
paintball gun at a home.”
However, in a companion
case in R. v. Hilbach, the Court
upheld mandatory minimum
sentences for robbery since
they were found to be “narrow-
ly defined and limited in scope.”
This case is an exception to the
clear trend over the last decade
of MMPs being struck down as
unconstitutional.
MMPs have also been struck
down in other cases, such as R. v.
Boudreault and R. v. Bissonnette.
MMPs increase delays in
justice system
Despite this raft of MMP
losses, Poilievre insists his “leg-
islation is Charter-proof and
constitutionally sound.” He’s
made similar claims before
about other constitutionally
suspect proposals.
If history is any judge, Poil-
ievre’s MMPs may not be worth
purchase based on the fair mar-
ket value of the land or through
a long-term lease.
All ICT infrastructure to be built
in an existing subdivision shall be
non-exclusive and shall be accessi-
11
the paper they’re printed on.
What’s worse, even if they do
pass constitutional muster,
they will only exacerbate the
existential challenges facing
the criminal justice system.
Former Justice Canada law-
yer David Daubney cautioned
in 2012 about the expansion of
MMPs at the time. His words
ring true today:
“The proliferation of manda-
tory minimum sentencing will
lead to fewer guilty pleas, signif-
icant processing delays, big in-
creases in the number of accused
persons awaiting trial in already
overcrowded provincial remand
facilities and just plain injustice
as discretion is moved from judg-
es to prosecutors. There will be
many more Charter challenges
and acquittals. Canadians will
be less safe.”
While MMPs are widely be-
lieved to be popular with more
conservative voters, there may
be cracks among voters on this
issue. A 2018 Justice Canada
study revealed 90 per cent of
Canadians believed that judg-
es should have the flexibility to
impose a sentence that is less
than the mandatory minimum.
Participants described jail as
an “inappropriate measure that
would likely ‘do more harm than
good’ and result in ‘better crim-
inals’, rather than successfully
integrating members of society.”
Politicians peddling flawed
criminal justice policies like
mandatory minimum penalties
need to have their ideas public-
ly called out and confronted. ■
Prof. Benjamin Perrin is the
author of Indictment: The Crim-
inal Justice System on Trial
(UTP, 2023)
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
ble for shared use by ICT providers.
The bill provides for compensa-
tion to the local government unit,
the homeowners' association, the
developer, or the private lot owner
for the use of such open space. ■
12
Does the royal family have a right
to privacy? What the law says
BY GEMMA HORTON,
University of Sheffield
The Conversation
From court cases to conspir-
acy theories, the royal family’s
right to privacy is, somewhat
ironically, nearly always in
the spotlight. The latest focus
is Kate Middleton, Princess
of Wales, whose whereabouts
have been the subject of online
speculation after it was an-
nounced she was undergoing
abdominal surgery and would
be away from public duties un-
til after Easter.
This comes just weeks after
King Charles revealed that he is
undergoing treatment for can-
cer, and a legal settlement be-
tween Prince Harry and Mirror
Group Newspapers over illegal
phone hacking.
Interest in the personal lives
of the royals and oth-
er celebrities is a con-
stant, driving news-
paper sales and online
clicks for decades. You
only needs to consider
the media frenzy that
followed Princess Di-
ana to see this, and its
potentially devastating
consequences.
From a legal perspec-
tive, the British courts
have ruled that every-
one – the royal family
included – is entitled to
a right to privacy. The
Human Rights Act in-
corporates into British
law the rights set out by
the European Conven-
tion on Human Rights.
This includes article 8,
which focuses on the right to
privacy.
In the years after the Hu-
man Rights Act came into force,
courts ruled on a string of cases
from celebrities claiming that
the press invaded their privacy.
World News
Courts had to balance article 8
of the convention against arti-
cle 10, the right to freedom of
expression.
Rulings repeatedly stated
that, despite being in and some-
times seeking the limelight,
celebrities should still be af-
forded a right to privacy. Some
disagree with this position,
such as prominent journalist
Piers Morgan, who has criti-
cised the Duke and Duchess of
Sussex asking for privacy when
they have also released a Net-
flix documentary, a broadcast
interview with Oprah Winfrey
and published a memoir.
But the courts have made
the position clear, as in the
case concerning Catherine Ze-
ta-Jones and Michael Douglas
after Hello! Magazine pub-
lished unauthorised photo-
graphs from their wedding. The
court stated that: “To hold that
From a legal
perspective,
the British
courts have
ruled that
everyone – the
royal family
included – is
entitled to a
right to privacy.
those who have sought any pub-
licity lose all protection would
be to repeal article 8’s applica-
tion to very many of those who
are likely to need it.”
There is no universal defi-
nition of privacy, but scholars
An official portrait following the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on 6th May. (THE ROYAL FAMILY/FACEBOOK)
have identified key concepts
encompassing what privacy can
entail. In my own research, I
have argued that the notion of
choice is one of these. Privacy
allows us to control the spread
of information about ourselves
and disclose information to
whom we want.
Privacy and the pub-
lic interest
There are exceptions
to these protections if the
person involved had no
reasonable expectation of
privacy, or if it was in the
public interest for this in-
formation to be revealed.
There is no solid, legal
definition of the “public
interest”, so this is decid-
ed on a case-by-case basis.
In the past, the public
interest defence has been
applied because a public
figure or official has act-
ed hypocritically and the
courts have stated there
is a right for a publisher to
set the record straight.
When it comes to med-
ical records and information
concerning health, case law
and journalistic editorial codes
of conduct are clear that this
information is afforded the ut-
most protection.
Model Naomi Campbell was
www.canadianinquirer.net
pictured leaving a Narcotics
Anonymous meeting and these
images were published by the
Daily Mirror. The court found
that there had been a public in-
terest in revealing the fact she
was attending these meetings,
as she had previously denied
substance abuse.
The House of Lords accept-
ed that there was a public in-
terest in the press “setting the
record straight”. Nonetheless,
the publication of additional,
confidential details, and the
photographs of her leaving the
meeting were a step too far.
The House of Lords highlighted
the importance of being able to
keep medical records and infor-
mation private.
Royal health
When it comes to the royals,
the history of publicity around
royal births, often posing with
the newborn royal baby outside
of the hospital, has set a prece-
dent for what the public can ex-
pect about the royals’ medical
information. When they choose
to go against this tradition, it
can frustrate both royal-watch-
ers and publishers.
King Charles made the choice
to openly speak about his en-
larged prostate to “assist public
understanding”. And, as Pros-
tate Cancer UK noted, this has
MARCH 8, 2024 FRIDAY
worked – they noted a 500%
increase in people visiting their
website. However, he has chosen
to not to divulge information
about his cancer diagnosis be-
yond the fact that he is receiving
treatment. This is his right.
While revealing further in-
formation might stop specu-
lation and rumours about his
health, it is not the king’s duty
to divulge private, medical
information. However, if his
health begins to impact his abil-
ity to act as monarch, the situa-
tion could change.
It might be that the press
finds more information about
his health without his knowl-
edge, but unless they have a
genuine public interest in pub-
lishing this information, priva-
cy should prevail.
You would no doubt want your
private medical information
kept secret, not shared around
your workplace and speculated
on unless it was absolutely nec-
essary. It is thanks to these laws
and court precedent that you
don’t have to worry about this.
The royal family, regardless of
their position, should expect the
same standard. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2024
After Super Tuesday, exhausted
Americans face 8 more months
of presidential campaigning
BY JARED MCDONALD,
University of Mary Washington
The Conversation
Now that Super Tuesday is
over and the Democratic and
Republican nominees are all
but officially chosen, as every-
one expected, voters can turn
the page to the general election.
But they’re not excited about it,
and they haven’t been for months.
A September 2023 Monmouth
University poll showed no more
than 40% of Americans said they
were “enthusiastic” for either
Biden or Trump to run again.
That same month, the Pew Re-
search Center found that 65% of
Americans were exhausted with
the current state of American
politics. In February 2024, The
New York Times said Democrats
in particular were burned out by
the seemingly endless avalanche
of political crises.
It is not surprising that a re-
match of the 2020 election is
failing to inspire excitement
in the American people. Yet, as
a political scientist who stud-
ies citizen engagement and the
public’s feelings toward the
candidates, I find these trends
disturbing. It’s not just polariza-
tion that’s driving voters’ mal-
aise – it’s something else, which
carries a stark warning for the
health of American democracy.
There is another divide in
politics
Most discussions of the cur-
rent state of the American elec-
torate have understandably fo-
cused on political polarization.
Democrats and Republicans
often express disdain for each
Downward trend on..
❰❰ 8 (there will be what
they call) abrupt in-
crease in the price,
which to our mind based on
certain parameters is unnatu-
ral, then [the] government can
intervene,” he said.
other, even when they don’t ac-
tually disagree on specific poli-
cies for the nation to pursue.
Some of this disdain is rooted
in identity. For example, people
who hold unfavorable attitudes
toward African Americans,
feminists and other groups as-
sociated with the Democrat-
ic Party tend to identify more
strongly with the Republican
Party. People with unfavorable
attitudes toward stereotypical-
ly Republican groups such as
evangelicals and gun owners
tend to be stronger Democrats.
From this perspective, Dem-
ocrats and Republicans are
pack animals motivated to
protect their group and their
group’s interests.
Often overlooked, however, is
how the vitriol of modern Amer-
ican politics fuels what political
scientists Yanna Krupnikov and
John Barry Ryan call “The Oth-
er Divide.” This is the divide be-
tween people who engage in pol-
itics and those who don’t.
In short, a significant number
of Americans don’t talk about
politics, whether because they
are not interested in politics or
are turned off by the negativity.
It’s a gradual trend dating back
to the 1980s and 1990s that has
continued for decades now.
This weakens the fabric of de-
mocracy, because the only voic-
es that are heard online and in
the media are from those who
are most willing to speak up.
They tend to be the most disso-
nant and extreme views.
The public discussion about
the country’s past, present and
future therefore leaves out a wide
range of people’s voices. What
Pork prices
As for pork prices, the DA
said that although the country
is recovering from the effects of
the African swine fever (ASF),
having vaccines would help ad-
dress price challenges.
they might say is hard to know,
specifically because they don’t
engage in political discussions.
Young voter disengagement
Especially troubling to me is
the political disillusionment ex-
pressed by young people, who are
the most likely group in the coun-
try to avoid identifying them-
selves as members of one party
or the other. People who identify
themselves as independents – es-
pecially if they don’t lean toward
one party or the other – are also
likely to lack interest in voting.
Having come of age during an
era of high polarization, younger
people are less likely to idealize
politics and the right to vote. In
prior research, my colleagues
and I found that younger people
worldwide were just as interest-
ed in politics as older citizens
but were less likely to view vot-
ing as a civic duty. Protesting or
joining an organization offers
social benefits to young people
– an opportunity to feel like they
are part of something bigger.
Voting, by contrast, is perceived
as a more solitary act.
In Metro Manila, the retail price
range of pork kasim (shoulder) is
set at PHP290/kg to PHP370/kg,
and PHP340/kg to PHP420/kg for
pork liempo (belly).
Earlier, consumers are rais-
ing complaints amid the surge
www.canadianinquirer.net
World News
If younger American voters
aren’t excited about the choices
on the ballot, they may be more
likely not to vote at all.
In a recent survey I conduct-
ed in collaboration with IG-
NITE National, an organization
seeking to bolster young wom-
en’s engagement in the political
process, we asked Gen Z Amer-
icans, adults born after 1996,
what drove their disillusion-
ment with American politics.
Consistently, Gen Z respon-
dents noted that the candidates
appearing on the ballot did not
look like them, contributing
to their feeling of detachment
from the political process.
Barack Obama’s race made
2008 a historic election. Hillary
Clinton’s gender made 2016 a
historic contest as well. By con-
trast, 2024 features the two old-
est white men to ever seek the
presidency, vying for second
terms in office.
Burnout’s effects on de-
mocracy
Americans have many de-
mands on their time. Between
in pork prices in Visayas and
Mindanao, reaching as high as
PHP400 per kilogram.
De Mesa expects a supply of vac-
cines against ASF by year-end or
early part of 2025.
"Iyong Unite d States of Amer-
13
work, family and other activi-
ties, many struggle to watch or
read the news, fact check what
they see on social media or en-
gage in productive political dis-
cussions. As a result, most of
the American public is largely
unaware of key aspects of im-
portant issues, and does not pay
attention to the parties’ stances
on those issues.
This lack of engagement is
dangerous for democracy. Vot-
ers who cannot evaluate the
merits of contrasting policy po-
sitions, or who cannot accurate-
ly assign blame and give credit
for the state of the American
economy, will ultimately fall
back on cheap cues such as par-
tisanship to make their choices.
Or they may abstain from
politics altogether.
The campaign season offers
an opportunity for voters who
may be open to persuasion to
engage in the political process
for a short period of time, be-
come sufficiently informed
and make their voices heard.
Though there are flaws in the
many processes of political
campaigning, media coverage
and community involvement,
the bottom line is simple: De-
liberative democracy requires
an American public that is will-
ing to deliberate.
If Americans are too burned
out to engage enthusiastically
and provide feedback to political
leaders, then there is little hope
that any government could truly
reflect the will of the people. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
ica at bansang Vietnam ay mag-
sa-submit na ng application sa
FDA para sa bakuna rito sa ASF
(The US and Vietnam shall sub-
mit their applications to the Food
and Drug Administration for the
ASF vaccine),” De Mesa said. ■
14
Estimated 2.5 million people displaced by tornadoes,
wildfires and other disasters in 2023 tell a story of
recovery in America and who is vulnerable
BY TRICIA
WACHTENDORF, University
of Delaware, JAMES
KENDRA, University of
Delaware
The Conversation
People often think of disas-
ters as great equalizers. After
all, a hurricane, tornado or
wildfire doesn’t discriminate
against those in its path. But the
consequences for those impact-
ed are not “one-size-fits-all.”
That’s evident in the U.S.
Census Bureau’s newly released
results from its national house-
hold surveys showing who was
displaced by disasters in 2023.
Overall, the Census Bureau
estimates that nearly 2.5 mil-
lion Americans had to leave
their homes because of disas-
ters in 2023, whether for a short
period or much longer. Howev-
er, a closer look at demograph-
ics in the survey reveals much
more about disaster risk in
America and who is vulnerable.
It suggests, as researchers have
also found, that people with the
fewest resources, as well as those
who have disabilities or have been
marginalized, were more likely to
be displaced from their homes by
disasters than other people.
Decades of disaster research,
including from our team at the
University of Delaware’s Disaster
Research Center, make at least
two things crystal clear: First,
people’s social circumstances –
such as the resources available
to them, how much they can rely
on others for help, and challenges
they face in their daily life – can
lead them to experience disasters
World News
differently compared to others
affected by the same event. And
second, disasters exacerbate ex-
isting vulnerabilities.
This research also shows how
disaster recovery is a social pro-
cess. Recovery is not a “thing,”
but rather it is linked to how we
talk about recovery, make deci-
sions about recovery and prior-
itize some activities over others.
Lessons from past disasters
Sixty years ago, the recovery
period after the destructive
1964 Alaskan earthquake was
driven by a range of economic
and political interests, not sim-
ply technical factors or on need.
That kind of influence contin-
ues in disaster recovery today.
Even disaster buyout programs
can be based on economic con-
siderations that burden un-
der-resourced communities.
This recovery process is made
even more difficult because pol-
icymakers often underappreci-
ate the immense difficulties res-
idents face during recovery.
Following Hurricane Katrina,
sociologist Alexis Merdjanoff
found that property ownership
status affected psychological
distress and displacement, with
displaced renters showing higher
levels of emotional distress than
homeowners. Lack of autonomy
in decisions about how to repair
or rebuild can play a role, further
highlighting disparate experi-
ences during disaster recovery.
What the Census shows
about vulnerability
The 2023 census data consis-
tently showed that socially vul-
nerable groups reported being
displaced from their homes at
higher rates than other groups.
People over 65 had a high-
er rate of being displaced than
younger people. So did Hispan-
ic and Black Americans, peo-
ple with less than a high school
education and those with low
household incomes or who were
struggling with employment
compared to other groups. While
the Census Bureau describes
the data as experimental and
notes that some sample sizes are
small, the differences stand out
and are consistent with what re-
searchers have found.
Low-income and marginalized
communities are often in areas
at higher risk of flooding from
storms or may lack investment in
storm protection measures.
The morass of bureaucracy and
conflicting information can also
be a barrier to a swift recovery.
After Hurricane Sandy, people
in New Jersey complained about
complex paperwork and what
felt to them like ever-chang-
www.canadianinquirer.net
ing rules. They bemoaned their
housing recovery as, in research-
ers’ words, a “muddled, inconsis-
tent experience that lacked dis-
cernible rationale”.
Residents who don’t know
how to find information about
disaster recovery assistance or
can’t take time away from work
to accumulate the necessary
documents and meet with agen-
cy representatives can have a
harder time getting quick help
from federal and state agencies.
Disabilities also affect dis-
placement. Of those people
who were displaced for some
length of time in 2023, those
with significant difficulty hear-
ing, seeing or walking reported
being displaced at higher rates
than those without disabilities.
Prolonged loss of electricity or
water due to an ice storm, wild-
fire or grid overload during a heat
emergency can force those with
medical conditions to leave even
MARCH 8, 2024 FRIDAY
if their neighbors are able to stay.
That can also create chal-
lenges for their recovery. Dis-
placement can leave vulnerable
disaster survivors isolated from
their usual support systems and
health care providers. It can also
isolate those with limited mobil-
ity from disaster assistance.
Helping communities
build resilience
Crucial research efforts are
underway to better help people
who may be struggling the most
after disasters.
For example, our center was
part of an interdisciplinary team
that developed a framework to
predict community resilience
after disasters and help identify
investments that could be made
to bolster resilience. It outlines
ways to identify gaps in com-
munity functioning, like health
care and transportation, before
disaster strikes. And it helps de-
termine recovery strategies that
would have the most impact.
Shifts in weather and climate
and a mobile population mean
that people’s exposure to haz-
ards are constantly shifting and
often increasing. The Coast-
al Hazard, Equity, Economic
Prosperity, and Resilience Hub,
which our center is also part of,
is developing tools to help com-
munities best ensure resilience
and strong economic condi-
tions for all residents without
shortchanging the need to pri-
oritize equity and well-being.
We believe that when com-
munities experience disasters,
they should not have to choose
among thriving economically,
❱❱ PAGE 16 Estimated 2.5 million
FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2024
Plight of migrant laborers killed,
held hostage in Middle East exposes
Israel’s reliance on overseas workforce
BY JULIE WEISE, University
of Oregon, SHAHAR
SHOHAM, Humboldt
University of Berlin
The Conversation
An Indian laborer in Isra-
el was killed and several other
migrant workers injured on
March 4, 2024, in a missile at-
tack launched from Lebanon by
Hamas-aligned Hezbollah.
They are not the first migrant
workers in Israel to get caught up
in the monthslong fighting. Doz-
ens of other farmworkers, agri-
cultural apprentices and care-
givers from countries including
Thailand, Nepal, Tanzania, Cam-
bodia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka
and Moldova were murdered or
taken hostage during the Hamas
attack of Oct. 7.
The sizable number of
non-Israeli workers affected by
the current war has surprised
some onlookers while shining
a light on Israel’s reliance on
temporary migrant workers.
But as researchers who study
the proliferation of migrant
workers around the world, we
know how labor migration pro-
grams have transformed nearly
all societies, including Israel’s.
The long-running Israeli-Pal-
estinian conflict has shaped
Israel’s migrant worker histo-
ry – and has contributed to the
globalization of the workforce
in the Middle East.
A global story
The initial recruitment of
overseas workers to Israel,
which began as early as the
1970s, followed a post-World
War II trend that saw higher-in-
come countries – such as the
U.S., France and West Germany
– sign labor migration recruit-
ment agreements with poorer
nations. These poorer countries,
which at the time included Mex-
ico, Spain and Turkey, among
others, overcame an initial re-
luctance to lose part of their
populace and began to see em-
igration as a strategy for mod-
ernization. The idea was that
emigrants could learn modern
farming or industrial skills over-
seas, while sending money back
to boost development in their
home communities.
In the 1970s and 1980s, many
South and Southeast Asian coun-
tries began to promote the ex-
port of migrant workers as a key
piece of their economic devel-
opment strategies. At the same
time, receiving countries became
hooked on the idea of a flexible,
temporary labor force that would
not inflame anti-immigrant sen-
timent as much as more settled
migrants seemingly did.
Israel’s relationship with
Thai workers came initially by
way of the United States’ sup-
port for the 1979 peace agree-
ment between Israel and Egypt.
The U.S. government recruited
Thai workers who had once
worked on Vietnam War-era
U.S. military bases in north-
eastern Thailand to help build a
new air force base in Israel.
The arrival of the Thai mi-
grant workers, along with Por-
tuguese workers, prompted
public controversy among Is-
raeli lawmakers, trade union-
ists and the media about the
creation of a split labor market,
as research done by one of us
has shown. Meanwhile, others
worried that the workers’ pres-
ence cut against Zionist imper-
atives to guarantee a Jewish
majority.
Attempting to resolve these
contradictions, the Israeli
government started to exper-
iment with migration policies
designed for a new category of
workers – neither Jewish nor
Palestinian – who were intend-
ed to remain separate from Is-
raeli society.
A decade later, in a different
political moment, these policy
ideas would become concrete in
a new category of person in Is-
rael: the “foreign worker.”
Growing recruitment
The Israeli-Palestinian con-
flict drove the “foreign worker”
policy forward. Though Israel
was founded on the ideology of
“avoda ivrit,” or Hebrew labor,
Israel’s occupation of the West
Bank and Gaza since 1967 has
led to the recruitment of hun-
dreds of thousands of Palestin-
ian workers, who became an
attractive low-wage labor force.
They soon came to compose
7% of the workers in the Israeli
labor market as a whole, 24% of
workers in the agricultural sec-
tor and 60% in the construction
sector.
The non-citizen Palestinian
workers commuted daily from
the West Bank and Gaza, con-
trolled by a regime of permits
and regulations.
When the first Palestinian
uprising, or intifada, began in
1987, some members of the Is-
raeli public came to see such
workers as a security risk.
The 1993 Oslo Accords,
which sought to foment “sep-
aration” between Israelis and
Palestinians, further pushed Is-
rael to minimize the dependen-
cy on non-citizen Palestinian
workers.
To make up for the shortfall,
Israeli employers convinced the
government to vastly expand
the recruitment of temporary
workers to take their place. In
addition to Thailand, countries
including China, India, Nepal,
the Philippines, Romania and
Turkey spotted an opportunity
and allowed Israeli employers to
www.canadianinquirer.net
World News
recruit within their borders. By
2003, migrant workers made up
10% of the labor force in Israel.
Creating marginal workers
Migrant workers in Isra-
el, like their counterparts the
world over, have long since been
vulnerable to exploitation.
Many of their origin coun-
tries did not demand a commit-
ment to secure their citizens’
rights in the form of a bilateral
labor recruitment agreement.
And workers migrating via pri-
vate recruitment channels had
to pay thousands of dollars in
illegal “sign-up” fees, causing
them to begin their journeys
deep in debt.
Meanwhile, Israeli govern-
ment policies have attempted
to keep migrants outside of so-
ciety by confining them to spe-
cific industries, obligating them
to leave the country upon com-
pletion of their labor contract,
excluding them from the public
health system and prohibiting
them from marrying or engag-
ing in romantic relations while
in Israel.
And authorities have paid lit-
tle attention to labor standards,
leaving farmworkers, for exam-
ple, vulnerable to wage theft,
terrible housing and exposure
to pesticides without proper
protection.
15
Under pressure from the U.S.
government and Israeli civil so-
ciety, over the past decade Isra-
el began to sign bilateral agree-
ments with countries sending
migrants. These eliminated ex-
orbitant recruitment fees, even
if they failed to meaningfully
improve labor conditions.
Even so, the number of mi-
grant workers has grown slow-
ly but steadily. In 2022, a total
of 73,000 migrants in Israel
worked as caregivers, in addi-
tion to nearly 50,000 in the con-
struction and agriculture sec-
tors combined.
Yet these migrants did not
obviate the need to also have
Palestinian labor in the mix. By
Oct. 7, 2023, about 100,000 Pal-
estinian workers crossed the
border daily from Gaza and the
West Bank.
In harm’s way
Since Oct. 7, Israeli authori-
ties have ended those Palestin-
ians’ work permits and tried to
recruit thousands of new work-
ers to the fields and construc-
tion sites to make up for the
shortfall.
Malawi, a country that came
to depend on migrants’ eco-
nomic remittances decades
before Thailand did, has sent
700 farmworkers and promises
another 9,000 on the way – not-
withstanding criticism from
voices within the African na-
tion itself.
In India, which had long sent
caregivers to Israel, the govern-
ment of Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi ignored internal
criticism and sent Israel more
workers in the aftermath of the
Oct. 7 attack, including Pat Nib-
in Maxwell, the man killed in
the March 4 Hezbollah attack.
Workers like Maxwell are
now being sent to work near the
borders of Lebanon and Gaza,
laboring in agricultural com-
munities vulnerable to Hamas
and Hezbollah attacks that have
been depleted by the evacua-
tion of Israeli residents.
Though foreign governments
❱❱ PAGE 19 Plight of migrant
 16 World News MARCH 8, 2024 FRIDAY

Senate adopts PBBM's.. Safeguarding Canadian..

❰❰ 4 curity Act of 2007 and
the Anti-Terrorism
Act of 2020.
Additionally, it shall not cover
crimes such as kidnap for ran-
som, massacre, rape, terrorism,
crimes against chastity, crimes
committed for personal ends,
violation of the Comprehensive
Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002,
grave violations of the Geneva
Convention of 1949, genocide,
crimes against humanity, war
crimes, torture, enforced disap-
Estimated 2.5 million..
❰❰ 14 ensuring all residents
can recover and re-
ducing risk of future
threats. There must be a way to
account for all three.
Understanding that disasters
affect people in different ways is
only a first step toward ensuring
that the most vulnerable resi-
dents receive the support they
need. Involving community
members from disproportion-
ately vulnerable groups to iden-
pearances, and other gross vio-
lations of human rights.
Following the congressional
concurrence to the said presi-
dential proclamations, Estrada
said his Committee on Nation-
al Defense and Security, Peace,
Unification, and Reconciliation
and the Office of the Presiden-
tial Adviser on Peace, Recon-
ciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU)
will facilitate a briefing on the
status of peace agreements. ■
tify challenges is another. But
those, alone, are not enough.
If we as a society care about
those who contribute to our
communities, we must find the
political and organizational will
to act to reduce the challenges
reflected in the census and di-
saster research. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
❰❰ 9 nerships for knowl-
edge building and the
development of tech-
nological resources, tools and
capacity. This needs to begin
with a deeper understanding of
the diverse range of digital spac-
es in which Canadians are re-
ceiving and engaging with infor-
mation and disinformation, and
mitigation strategies that are
evidence-based while remaining
aligned with civil liberties and
individual rights.
• Leverage and invest in Ca-
nadian digital technological
capabilities to identify existing
disinformation threats while
providing tools to forecast
emergent threats.
• Establish partnerships
between key stakeholders in
academia, government, indus-
try and civil society to address
the full range of threats and
consider the inherent interdis-
ciplinary nature of the risks.
• Expand cross-border
co-operation and coordina-
tion. Doubling down on existing
coordinated efforts with interna-
tional allies in sharing informa-
tion and institutionalizing rapid
alert mechanisms, like the G7
Rapid Response Mechanism, can
help to expedite the identification
of disinformation campaigns.
Democratic allies should also
be mobilized around ways to
leverage AI to help detect disin-
formation and its spread along
with how to use open-source
intelligence and information to
identify potential threats on the
digital information landscape.
Building social capacity
These steps must be under-
taken alongside a longer-term
commitment to building social
capacity and resiliency among
individual Canadians.
This needs to start with ed-
ucation in primary school on
promoting critical thinking
and identifying disinforma-
tion, akin to work being done in
countries like Finland.
The long game to counter and
mitigate disinformation should
focus on resiliency building by le-
veraging some of Canada’s innate
strengths as a diverse and plural-
istic liberal democratic society.
This whole-of-society approach
stands to benefit by drawing on
the rich network of civil society
and grassroots organizations that
function as trusted intermediar-
ies between Canadians, especially
those belonging to marginalized
and underrepresented communi-
ties, and the government.
Many of these community and
civil society organizations are al-
ready doing critical work in their
community-based digital spaces of
pre-bunking, de-bunking, count-
er-messaging and correcting.
In a diverse and multilingual
setting like Canada, this also re-
quires investment in third-lan-
guage digital information re-
sources and tools that promote
accurate information and digi-
tal and media literacy.
Over the long-term, targeted
efforts rooted in preserving and
building trust while protecting
individual rights and civil lib-
erties can foster lively and pro-
ductive debate, the exchange
of information, and a space for
dissent necessary in a healthy
liberal democracy. ■
This article first appeared
on Policy Options and is repub-
lished here under a Creative
Commons license.

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www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2024
Entertainment
‘Physical:100 Season 2 - Underground’ Trailer
Sets Stage for Extreme Competition
Netflix
Packed with adrenaline, the
trailer for Physical: 100 Sea-
son 2 - Underground showcas-
es a level of competition that’s
fiercer than ever before. Set
to premiere on March 19, this
season takes the intensity up a
notch with tougher quests and
a diverse lineup of contenders,
all battling it out in the vast
expanse of a daunting under-
Seo In Guk, Francine Diaz World-class actors
grace Metro's moving cover join Arjo, John, and
ABS-CBN
Judy Ann in ABS-
“My Love” collaboration CBN's "The Bagman"
​​The story of their dreamy
South Korean singer-actor Seo In
Guk and Filipino young star Fran-
cine Diaz appear in Metro’s exclusive
moving cover as they drop their mu-
sic collaboration “My Love.”
In Metro.Style’s cover story
featuring the two artists, they
revealed details about how their
music project came to fruition,
even when it seemed unlikely to
happen at first.
Francine shared, “Hindi
ko masyado in-expect na ma-
pu-push through itong collab-
oration kasi sabi ko, hindi kaya
sobrang laking step for me? And
as an actress na acting lang tala-
ga ako, biglang papasok ng sing-
ing. But ’yun, ’yung sinabi nila sa
akin na tuloy and he really want-
ed to do it with me, of course, na-
gulat ako and hanggang ngayon,
I’m still on cloud nine.”
The song “My Love” was orig-
inally part of In Guk’s previously
released album. The Hallyu star
ground mine.
This ultimate survival game
brings together 100 contestants
from all walks of greatness, in-
cluding international gold med-
alists, UFC legends and martial
arts experts. They’re not just
competing for glory; they’re
pushing beyond their limits in a
series of grueling challenges that
make last season’s look tame.
The trailer highlights an epic
showdown of endurance and
strategy, featuring UFC legend
said, “This song is actually from
my previously released album.
It’s a solo song that features a rap
portion. This time, as I worked
with Francine, I had a great time
during the process of turning it
into a male-female duet song.”
Francine described the re-
imagined version as full of en-
ergy and love. “’Yung kanta na
ito, nakaka-happy siya. Naka-
ka-boost ng energy and may
love ka talagang mafi-feel ’pag
narining mo siya,” she said.
They also talked about their re-
cording experience in South Ko-
Seo In Guk and Francine Diaz share the story behind their dreamy collab "My
Love" in Metro's exclusive story. (ABS-CBN)
Kim Dong-hyun’s fierce resolve
and judo champion Lee Won-
hee’s awe-inspiring acrobatics.
Offering a glimpse into the in-
tense competitions and victo-
ries that lie ahead, it captures
the spirit of an ultimate surviv-
al game, presenting a thrilling
mix of quests that test physical
agility and mental resilience.
Expanding its scale dramati-
cally, the show now boasts chal-
lenges that span an area equiva-
lent to three soccer fields. With
rea last December where Fran-
cine brought a lot of good vibes
according to In Guk. “She always
met me, welcomed me with this
bright energy. That made me feel
really great,” he recalled.
Read more about In Guk and
Francine’s dreamy collaboration
in Metro’s latest cover story and
watch “Metro Talks with Seo In
Guk and Francine Diaz” on Met-
ro.Style YouTube channel. For
more exclusive articles, follow
@metrodotstyle on Facebook,
❱❱ PAGE 19 Seo In Guk, Francine'
www.canadianinquirer.net
even more daring quests and a
colossal set constructed using
over 150 meters of steel rails
for mine cart tracks and a stag-
gering 300 tons of sand — all
transported by 60 dump trucks
— Physical: 100 Season 2 - Un-
derground sets a new bench-
mark for extreme competition.
Find out who earns the ti-
tle of the ultimate physique on
Physical:100 Season 2 - Under-
ground, streaming March 19,
exclusively on Netflix.
ABS-CBN
ABS-CBN International
Productions wraps up first
Hollywood bootcamp for
Kapamilya creatives
ABS-CBN’s “The Bagman,”
the 2024 action-packed drama
series targeted for internation-
al release starring Arjo Atayde,
John Arcilla, and Judy Ann
Santos, is shaping up as one of
the most awaited offerings of
the company as several distin-
guished Filipino actors have
been tapped to join the cast.
Besides the award-winning trio
of Arjo, John, and Judy Ann, “The
Bagman,” a premium spin-off of
the iWant digital series “Bagman,”
will also star Tirso Cruz III, Ryan
Eigenmann, Charlie Dizon, Gela
Atayde, Joem Bascon, Art Acuna,
17
Information
Title: Physical: 100 Season 2 -
Underground
Planned/Directed by: Jang
Ho-gi
Directed by: Lee Jong-il
Written by: Kang Suk-kyeong
Produced by: GALAXY Cor-
poration (Studio27)
Distributed by: Netflix
Release date: March 19, 2024
(Tue)
Official site: www.netflix.
com/Physical100 ■
Chai Fonacier, Sheila Valderrama,
Ana Abad Santos, Al Tantay, Nino
Muhlach, Jeffrey Santos, and
Ynez Veneracion.
Produced by ABS-CBN Inter-
national Productions, Dreams-
cape Entertainment, Rein En-
tertainment, and Nathan Studios
Inc., “The Bagman” will have
eight (8) one-hour episodes. The
series also started its principal
photography last February 25
and is now headed to this year’s
FILMART, Asia’s biggest film and
entertainment content market-
place, to actively seek co-produc-
tion partners and pre-sales from
March 11-14, 2024 in Hong Kong.
“ABS-CBN’s track record as
a storyteller and content cre-
ator is one of our key assets that
makes us a solid partner in in-
❱❱ PAGE 19 World-class actors
18
How can I stop overthinking everything?
A clinical psychologist offers solutions
BY KIRSTY ROSS, Massey
University
The Conversation
As a clinical psychologist, I
often have clients say they are
having trouble with thoughts
“on a loop” in their head, which
they find difficult to manage.
While rumination and over-
thinking are often considered
the same thing, they are slightly
different (though linked). Rumi-
nation is having thoughts on re-
peat in our minds. This can lead
to overthinking – analysing those
thoughts without finding solu-
tions or solving the problem.
It’s like a vinyl record playing
the same part of the song over
and over. With a record, this is
usually because of a scratch.
Why we overthink is a little
more complicated.
We’re on the lookout for
threats
Our brains are hardwired
to look for threats, to make a
plan to address those threats
and keep us safe. Those per-
ceived threats may be based
on past experiences, or may be
the “what ifs” we imagine could
happen in the future.
Our “what ifs” are usually
negative outcomes. These are
what we call “hot thoughts” –
they bring up a lot of emotion
(particularly sadness, worry or
anger), which means we can eas-
ily get stuck on those thoughts
and keep going over them.
However, because they are
about things that have either al-
ready happened or might hap-
pen in the future (but are not
happening now), we cannot fix
the problem, so we keep going
over the same thoughts.
Who overthinks?
Most people find themselves
in situations at one time or an-
other when they overthink.
Some people are more likely
to ruminate. People who have
Lifestyle
had prior challenges or experi-
enced trauma may have come
to expect threats and look for
them more than people who
have not had adversities.
Deep thinkers, people who
are prone to anxiety or low
mood, and those who are sen-
sitive or feel emotions deeply
are also more likely to ruminate
and overthink.
Also, when we are stressed,
our emotions tend to be stron-
ger and last longer, and our
thoughts can be less accurate,
which means we can get stuck
on thoughts more than we
would usually.
Being run down or physi-
cally unwell can also mean our
thoughts are harder to tackle
and manage.
Acknowledge your feelings
When thoughts go on repeat,
it is helpful to use both emo-
tion-focused and problem-fo-
cused strategies.
Being emotion-focused
means figuring out how we feel
about something and address-
ing those feelings. For example,
we might feel regret, anger or
sadness about something that
has happened, or worry about
something that might happen.
Acknowledging those emo-
tions, using self-care tech-
niques and accessing social
support to talk about and man-
age your feelings will be helpful.
The second part is being
problem-focused. Looking at
what you would do differently
(if the thoughts are about some-
thing from your past) and mak-
ing a plan for dealing with fu-
ture possibilities your thoughts
are raising.
But it is difficult to plan for all
eventualities, so this strategy
has limited usefulness.
What is more helpful is to
make a plan for one or two of
the more likely possibilities and
accept there may be things that
happen you haven’t thought of.
Think about why these
thoughts are showing up
Our feelings and experiences
are information; it is important
to ask what this information
is telling you and why these
thoughts are showing up now.
For example, university has
just started again. Parents of
high school leavers might be
lying awake at night (which is
when rumination and over-
thinking is common) worrying
about their young person.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Knowing how you would re-
spond to some more likely pos-
sibilities (such as they will need
money, they might be lonely or
homesick) might be helpful.
But overthinking is also a
sign of a new stage in both your
lives, and needing to accept less
control over your child’s choic-
es and lives, while wanting the
best for them. Recognising this
means you can also talk about
those feelings with others.
Let the thoughts go
A useful way to manage ru-
mination or overthinking is
“change, accept, and let go”.
Challenge and change as-
pects of your thoughts where
you can. For example, the
chance that your young person
will run out of money and have
no food and starve (overthink-
ing tends to lead to your brain
coming up with catastrophic
outcomes!) is not likely.
You could plan to check in
with your child regularly about
how they are coping financially
and encourage them to access
budgeting support from univer-
sity services.
Your thoughts are just ideas.
They are not necessarily true
or accurate, but when we over-
think and have them on repeat,
they can start to feel true be-
cause they become familiar.
Coming up with a more realistic
thought can help stop the loop
of the unhelpful thought.
Accepting your emotions
and finding ways to manage
those (good self-care, social
support, communication with
those close to you) will also be
helpful. As will accepting that
life inevitably involves a lack
of complete control over out-
comes and possibilities life may
throw at us. What we do have
control over is our reactions
and behaviours.
Remember, you have a 100%
success rate of getting through
challenges up until this point.
MARCH 8, 2024 FRIDAY
You might have wanted to do
things differently (and can plan
to do that) but nevertheless,
you coped and got through.
So, the last part is letting go
of the need to know exactly how
things will turn out, and believ-
ing in your ability (and some-
times others’) to cope.
What else can you do?
A stressed out and tired brain
will be more likely to overthink,
leading to more stress and cre-
ating a cycle that can affect your
wellbeing.
So it’s important to man-
age your stress levels by eating
and sleeping well, moving your
body, doing things you enjoy,
seeing people you care about,
and doing things that fuel your
soul and spirit.
Distraction – with pleasur-
able activities and people who
bring you joy – can also get your
thoughts off repeat.
If you do find overthinking is
affecting your life, and your lev-
els of anxiety are rising or your
mood is dropping (your sleep,
appetite and enjoyment of life
and people is being negatively
affected), it might be time to
talk to someone and get some
strategies to manage.
When things become too diffi-
cult to manage yourself (or with
the help of those close to you), a
therapist can provide tools that
have been proven to be helpful.
Some helpful tools to manage
worry and your thoughts can
also be found here.
When you find yourself over-
thinking, think about why you are
having “hot thoughts”, acknowl-
edge your feelings and do some
future-focused problem solving.
But also accept life can be unpre-
dictable and focus on having faith
in your ability to cope. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2024
Can witches fly? A historian unpacks
the medieval invention − and skepticism
− of the witch on a broomstick
BY MICHAEL D. BAILEY,
Iowa State University
The Conversation
The image of a witch flying on
a broomstick is iconic, but it is
not nearly as old as the idea of
witchcraft itself, which dates to
the earliest days of humankind.
Several theologians, church
inquisitors, secular magistrates
and other authorities first
wrote about such flight in the
early 1400s. The earliest known
visual depiction of flying witch-
es appears in a 1451 manuscript
copy of one such text, “Le cham-
pion des dames” (“The Defend-
er of Ladies”), by the French
poet Martin Le Franc.
Witchcraft accusations at this
time were increasingly focused
on women. The clothing of the
figures in Le Franc’s text depicts
them as coming from non-elite
ranks of medieval society. So do
the implements on which they
fly. Staffs and brooms were tools
for ordinary housework.
The notion that witches
could fly served to support the
World-class actors..
❰❰ 17 ternational co-produc-
tions, as seen in our
growing slate of global
titles. As a pioneer and leader in
globalizing Filipino content, we
are pleased to be offering The
Bagman at this year’s FILMART
as it further strengthens our po-
sition as advocating for Filipino
representation in today’s global
marketplace. With the phenom-
enal cast now complete, coupled
with the recent start of produc-
tion, we have no doubt The Bag-
man will be a hit among buyers
and co-prod companies in Hong
Kong,” ABS-CBN head of In-
ternational Productions Ruel S.
Bayani said.
In “The Bagman,” Arjo re-
prises his role as Benjo Malaya,
a neighborhood barber turned
governor’s henchman who is
now a convicted prisoner. When
idea that they gathered in large
groups called sabbaths. These
gatherings, in turn, heightened
the supposed threat witches
posed to Christian society.
Even after the idea of witch-
es flying on brooms was intro-
duced to European society, it
was not readily accepted. Many
who wrote about witchcraft at
this time, including Le Franc,
were quite skeptical about the
reality of flying witches.
As it turned out, however,
authorities could still perceive
a threat even if they believed
witches’ flight was imaginary.
The scope of skepticism
In my work as a scholar of me-
dieval European history, I have
researched texts describing
witchcraft in the early 1400s.
Some texts fully accepted the
idea that witches flew, often on
brooms or staffs. One described
witches traveling to sabbaths
on staffs anointed with a mag-
ical ointment and flying into
the mountains to gather ice to
cause hailstorms.
Other texts, however, were
not sure that such flight was
Benjo learns that his family has
gone missing, he is left with no
choice but to return to the crim-
inal underworld he once left be-
hind and take on a new mission
as a bagman for the sitting pres-
ident of the Philippines to stop
an impending civil war.
Meanwhile, as part of ABS-
CBN’s journey as a global sto-
rytelling company, ABS-CBN
International Productions also
wrapped up the first ABS-CBN
Hollywood Bootcamp wherein
select creatives from ABS-CBN
Films, TV Production, and In-
ternational Productions had
eight-week online industry mas-
terclasses that were facilitated by
Los Angeles-based Development
Executive for International Pro-
ductions, Lea Dizon, featuring
guest executives from Hollywood.
It was then followed by a five-
real. One noted that accused
witches claimed to fly from
mountaintop to mountaintop
on chairs, but it also hinted
that demons might have tricked
them into thinking they did.
Another text stated that ac-
cused witches who claimed to
fly were “deluded” by the devil.
Skepticism about flying
witches drew on an early
month hybrid Project Incuba-
tor wherein the creatives got
to work with Dizon to develop
their personal passion proj-
ects that culminated in a Pitch
Fest activity last February 22-
23, 2024. A total of 26 original
film and series projects were
pitched to ABS-CBN chairman
Mark Lopez, president and
CEO Carlo Katigbak, COO for
Broadcast Cory Vidanes, De-
velopment Executive for Inter-
national Productions Lea Di-
zon, International Productions
head Ruel Bayani, ABS-CBN
Films head Kriz Gazmen, head
of Digital Jamie Lopez, and
head of Transformation and In-
novation Mark Nepomuceno.
For other updates, follow @
ABSCBNPR on Facebook, X, Ins-
tagram, and TikTok or visit www.
abs-cbn.com/newsroom. ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
Lifestyle
10th-century church law about
women who claimed to ride at
night on “certain beasts” in the
train of the pagan goddess Di-
ana, whom Christian authori-
ties understood to be a demon
in disguise. The law declared
that such flight was not real,
and anyone who thought so had
been “seduced by illusions and
phantasms of demons.” It pre-
Plight of migrant..
❰❰ 15 are able to guaran-
tee their citizens few
protections in Israel,
thousands have queued up in
their home countries in search
of a contract.
Once in Israel, they join the
vast majority of migrant work-
ers who have elected to remain
in the country despite the Oct. 7
attack and its aftermath.
Like millions of migrant
workers the world over in
search of economic progress or
survival, they have calculated,
Seo In Guk, Francine..
❰❰ 17Twitter, Instagram,
and TikTok as well as
Metro Magazine @
metromagph on Instagram and
19
scribed no direct punishment
but mandated priests preach
against such “infidels.”
Skeptics of magical flight were
quite specific in their doubts. Le
Franc, for example, declared
that anyone who thought that
witches could fly lacked “com-
mon sense.” On the other hand,
he fully accepted that magicians,
who were generally male, could
conjure demons and that “magic
arts” had been practiced as far
back as ancient Persia.
The story, however, is not
so simple as male authorities
accepting the reality of magic
practiced by men but doubting
that women flew on brooms.
These same authorities were, in
general, taking other aspects of
witchcraft more seriously.
Imagining flight
Did women accused of witch-
craft really insist that they flew
on brooms?
Scholars have speculated
that the ointments often men-
tioned in accounts of such flight
might have functioned as hal-
❱❱ PAGE 24 Can witches fly?
for now, that earning higher
wages abroad is worth taking
significant personal risks.
While helping keep the Israe-
li economy running during war-
time, these migrant workers re-
main in the path of rockets – as
the death of Pat Nibin Maxwell
has illustrated. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
Twitter and @Metro.Magazine
on Facebook, or visit Metro.
Style. #MetroLovesSeoInGukx-
Francine ■
20
Plants are flowering earlier than ever –
here’s how they sense the seasons
BY PAUL ASHTON, Edge Hill
University
The Conversation
Hedgerows in mid-February
might have traditionally ap-
peared white with snow; this
year the white was the work of
blackthorn blossoms – a har-
binger of spring. Although a
welcome sign after a wet and
gloomy winter, the early flow-
ering brings unease for expe-
rienced season watchers. Has
this plant always flowered in
mid-February, I wondered, or is
something changing?
Fortunately, the science of
recording and understanding
seasonal events, phenology,
has a long history in Britain.
Robert Marsham, an 18th-cen-
tury naturalist, kept records of
the appearance of the flowers,
birds and insects in his Norfolk
village as far back as 1736. Mar-
sham’s descendants continued
the recording until 1958. The
Woodland Trust maintains the
tradition with Nature’s Calen-
dar, a scheme in which mem-
bers of the public are invited to
record various seasonal events.
Detailed analysis of almost
half a million plant records by
scientists in 2022 showed that
when all species were considered
together the average flowering
time in the UK had advanced by
a month over the last 40 years.
There was variation between
species. Hawthorn, the common
hedgerow plant, is generally
flowering 13 days earlier than it
did in the early 1980s while the
flowers of the horse chestnut tree
appear ten days earlier.
The climate has warmed
rapidly since the 1980s. By
flowering earlier, plants recog-
nise that winters are becoming
Lfiestyle
shorter and milder. They sense
the days getting warmer and al-
ter their spring development in
a manner akin to humans feel-
ing warmth on their skin and so
stepping out with fewer layers
of clothing. The precise mech-
anisms for detecting these cues
differ between plants and ani-
mals, but both are responding
to the climate as it changes.
Detecting light and heat
without eyes and skin
Plants detect the shortening
days of autumn with a pigment
called phytochrome that is
particularly sensitive to wave-
lengths in the red region of the
electromagnetic spectrum. The
longer autumn nights alter the
quality of this red light. While
this subtle shift escapes hu-
mans (our eyes are not sensitive
to this part of the spectrum) a
plant can detect this transition
and start to change.
Just as the autumn can en-
gineer a drop in the level of
the hormone serotonin in our
blood, a plant that has sensed
winter’s approach will increase
the production of a hormone
called abscisic acid. This has
multiple effects. In deciduous
trees, twigs stop growing and
develop tough winter buds ca-
pable of surviving frost and
snow and leaves fall off.
Growth in spring is deter-
mined by similar triggers of
light length and temperature,
but temperature typically has
www.canadianinquirer.net
the more significant role. If
plants only paid attention to
light, they’d run the risk of
starting growth when fatal
frosts are still a threat or of
missing good growing time in
mild early spring days. Tem-
perature detection determines
when spring flowers appear.
This is why global heating is ev-
ident in the earlier appearance
of these flowers.
It isn’t fully understood
how plants detect tempera-
ture. Some of it may be due to a
growth-stalling hormone in its
cells breaking down when the
air falls below a certain tem-
perature, which in turn allows
a growth hormone to increase.
While humans have nerves
in their skin to detect tempera-
ture, plants probably rely on
pigments, though the mech-
anism isn’t fully understood.
Heat is part of the same electro-
magnetic spectrum that phyto-
chrome is sensitive to, so pos-
sibly this pigment is involved.
Whatever mechanisms are re-
sponsible for initiating growth,
temperature also determines
how fast plants grow.
Flowers and pollinators
out of sync
Insect pollinators like bees
must synchronise their life cy-
cles so that they are on the wing
when the blossoms on which
they feed emerge. The timing of
their emergence from winter is
also determined by the effects
of temperature and day length
and mediated by hormones.
Evolution working on many
generations of pollinators has
generated a tight link between
the emergence of flowers and
that of their pollinators. If the
appearance of flowers and pol-
linators isn’t synchronised, the
insects have no nectar and the
MARCH 8, 2024 FRIDAY
plants aren’t fertilised.
A similar link exists between
the emergence of leaves and the
insect herbivores that graze on
them. The rapidity of climate
change and slight differences in
how the two groups respond risk
breaking this synchrony with se-
rious consequences for both sides.
A large study by German sci-
entists looking at when flowers
and their pollinators emerged
between 1980 and 2020 found a
complex picture. Both respond-
ed to climate change with ear-
lier flowering and appearances,
but the plants had made a great-
er shift.
There was variation between
insect groups, bees and butter-
flies had shifted in synchrony
with the plants, but this wasn’t
observed in hoverflies. There
was also variation between spe-
cies of these insects.
Even when plants and their
dependent insects change tim-
ings in synchrony, the next stage
of the food chain may not be so
flexible. Oak leaves are fed upon
by the oak moth caterpillar. This,
in turn, is the primary food of the
chicks of birds such as blue tits
and pied flycatchers link text.
Chicks have hatched at roughly
the same time, while oak leaves
and caterpillars have appeared
earlier and so far remain in syn-
chrony. But for how long?
Blackthorn blossoms remain
a welcome relief from winter
and a sign that spring is on its
way. But they are also a sign of
climate change: an unfolding
experiment on the timing and
synchrony of plants and ani-
mals – and the intricate food
chains that they are part of. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2024
The Benefits of Living
Positively for Women
BY MATTE LAUREL-ZALKO
Having a positive mindset
for everyone, especially for
women, is a total game chang-
er. Simply put, living positively
can lead us to living happier,
less stressful lives, a more sat-
isfying and fulfilling lives when
it comes to navigating our re-
lationships, work and personal
lifestyles. The month of March
is all about Women Empow-
erment and in this article, we
will tackle the different ways on
how we can be strong as women
and moreover, how we can best
live our lives positively.
To be honest, I’m the first to
admit that I have not always
been positive and strong in my
past life. I’ve had my fair share
of doubts, insecurities, and
weaknesses to the point that
I’ve suffered depression and
anxiety, especially as a single
working mom. Boy, it was real-
ly tough being a single working
mom raising your kid on your
own without any help from any-
one emotionally and financial-
ly. I am proud that I was able to
raise my only son on my own
financially and emotionally in
Vancouver for the last 20 years
before I found my partner. But,
it certainly wasn’t a walk in the
park as a single working mom; I
found myself in several difficult
situations throughout the years.
But, I never gave up on myself.
I worked hard and worked my
way up on my own for twenty
years while raising my only son.
I’m so grateful that I have a kind,
loving and responsible son who
never gave me any problems.
Let me tell you this firsthand:
It’s so easy to let ourselves wal-
low in self pity and misery when
things are tough — let’s be hon-
est with ourselves, it feels good
to feel sorry for ourselves and to
have others empathise with us.
But, you and I know that deep
down, it is important for us to
be able to pull ourselves togeth-
er and be able to overcome our
challenges so we feel better and
happier truly about ourselves
and that, yay, we were able to res-
cue ourselves out of our misery.
And yes eventually, I was able to
pull myself up and garner enough
strength to motivate myself and
get myself out of depression and
doubt — on my own. And you
can too. Allow me to share with
you some important lessons that
helped me overcome my chal-
lenges and how I learned to live
my life with positivity.
Remember though that when
we choose to live our lives pos-
itively, it doesn’t mean that
we’re turning a blind eye to re-
ality or the downsides of life.
Choosing to live positively only
means that we prefer or choose
to approach our challenges and
difficulties with a more optimis-
tic attitude. We prefer to choose
the best outcomes rather than a
defeatist approach or attitude.
First of all, here are the fol-
lowing main benefits that we’ll
achieve when we choose to live
our lives positively:
1. We improve our coping
skills during stressful and diffi-
cult times.
2. We maintain better cardio-
vascular health.
3. We increase our resistance
to diseases and our lifespans.
4. We minimise our state of
depression.
5. We reduce our levels of
stress and anxiety.
6. We improve our physical
health and psychological well-
being.
7. We lower the risks of hav-
ing cancer, infections and other
illnesses.
Pray tell, how do we learn to
live positively? Fret not, here
are the seven major ways:
LIVE WITH GRATITUDE.
When we take time to be grate-
ful for everything in our lives, we
lower and reduce the risk of hav-
ing depression. Being thankful
increases our ability to be hap-
py. In turn, happiness creates
a positive energy in our lives.
Research has shown that living
with gratitude makes us more
optimistic in life and improves
our overall mood. You can culti-
vate the art of gratitude by start-
ing your day with appreciating
everything you have in life — be-
ing alive itself is something we
should be grateful for.
Throughout your day, find
things to be grateful for, no mat-
ter how small it may seem. Be
grateful for the people you have
in your life. Be grateful for hav-
ing a job. Be grateful that you’re
able to go to school. Be grate-
ful that you’re able to eat three
meals a day or even one meal
a day. Be grateful that you’re
healthy. Focus on the things you
already have or for the relation-
ships that you already have. Also,
make it a daily habit to write all
the things you’re thankful for in
your journal at the end of each
day. By doing so, this act reminds
you how blessed you are. Make it
a habit too to express your grat-
itude to others such as thanking
a colleague for helping you out
when you needed help. Thank
the barista who made your latte.
Thank the person who opened
the door for you.
SURROUND YOURSELF
WITH POSITIVE PEOPLE.
When we choose to surround
ourselves with positive and sup-
portive people, we acquire per-
sonal and professional growth.
Positive people have a profound
impact on our lives, particular-
ly on our mindset, our mood
and overall wellbeing. When
we surround ourselves with the
right people, it motivates us to
achieve our own goals and as-
pirations in life. The right peo-
ple will inspire us to be our best
version. When it comes to our
inner circle, it is vital that we
choose to have the achievers,
the hard workers, the dreamers,
and the positive thinkers.
Firstly, decide to surround
yourself with greatness. Choose
your inner circle wisely. You
must raise your standards in
order for you to have a positive
lifestyle. Learn to identify the
right people to have in your life.
Surround yourself with people
who are smarter than you. They
will influence you to improve
yourself and be more curious
about everything in your life.
Choose to be with hard workers
— their professional ethics will
inspire you to be the same. They
will inspire you to cultivate
great work habits. Your chosen
inner circle must be visionaries
and dreamers; they will encour-
age you to achieve your dreams
and goals in life. They will sup-
www.canadianinquirer.net
port your wildest dreams! Only
be with positive thinkers — their
positive mindset will rub off on
you and teach you to never give
up no matter how difficult ob-
stacles may be. Lastly, join a pro-
fessional group and get yourself
a mentor who can guide you on
how to attract positive and like-
minded individuals.
AVOID NEGATIVITY AND
NEGATIVE PEOPLE. I can’t
stress enough how important it
is to avoid anything negative in
your life. Avoid negative people
because they will only drag you
down. Negative people are ener-
gy draining. They will suck the
energy out of you. Avoid manipu-
lators because they will lie, cheat,
put you down and somehow they
will make it seem that it was all
your fault. For the longest time in
my life, I was surrounded by ma-
nipulators, toxic and gaslighters.
It’s crazy how toxic people can
manipulate others into thinking
that you’re a bad person.
A manipulative person can
be hard to detect because they
will put on a facade of being
kind, caring and helpful. But
then they will slowly try to gain
control over you by isolating
you from others. They will also
devalue you and gaslight you,
often making you feel guilty by
saying things like: “you’re so un-
grateful; if it weren’t for me, you
wouldn’t have anything!” Ma-
nipulation is when they blame
you for your reaction to their
disrespect but of course, they’ll
deny that they’ve disrespected
21
you, but think about this: you
wouldn’t just react over nothing;
you reacted because you felt dis-
respected in the first place.
Gaslighters often make you
feel stupid or incompetent and
they’ll even make you question
reality and your sanity. Gaslight-
ers are seasoned professionals
when it comes to making you feel
guilty about a situation when you
really didn’t do anything wrong
to begin with. Also, gaslighters
will tell you that you are making
a big deal out of nothing.
The best way to avoid nega-
tivity and negative people is to
totally cut ties. Life is too short
for you to be surrounded by too
much drama and energy drain-
ing relationships. Maintain your
emotional distance. You should
only surround yourself with
those who bring out the best
in you. If a certain person only
brings out the worst in you, then
run away from them. Put an end
to your relationship with toxic
people no matter what your re-
lationship is with them. Forgive
but don’t forget, let go and move
on with your life with the right
kind of people and relationships.
My mantra in life is this: I’m
good and kind to those who are
good and kind to me. I’m bad to
those who are bad to me.
ALWAYS CHOOSE TO BE
MINDFUL. There are so many
benefits when you choose to be
mindful at all times. For starters,
being mindful means experienc-
❱❱ PAGE 30 The Benefits of Living
22
LeBron James becomes first NBA
player to score 40,000 points
Xinhua
Philippine News Agency
BEIJING – LeBron James of
the Los Angeles Lakers became
the first player in NBA history
to reach 40,000 career points in
his side's 124-114 regular season
loss to the Denver Nuggets in
Los Angeles on Saturday.
James got his 40,000th point
Caitlin Clark’s historic scoring record shines
a spotlight on the history of the Association
for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women
BY DIANE WILLIAMS,
McDaniel College
The Conversation
When University of Iowa
women’s basketball star Caitlin
Clark drained a 3-pointer against
the University of Michigan on
Feb. 15, 2024, she secured the
NCAA women’s scoring record.
Announcers noted that Clark
had surpassed Kelsey Plum’s
3,527 points. But few added that
there was still one more Division
I women’s scoring title remaining.
That one belonged to guard
Lynette Woodard, who scored
3,649 points while playing for the
University of Kansas from 1978
to 1981. Her record was set before
the NCAA offered women’s cham-
pionships, when the Association
for Intercollegiate Athletics for
Women, or AIAW, was in charge.
When Clark surpassed Wood-
ard’s AIAW milestone on Feb.
28, 2024, in the fourth quarter
of a game against the University
of Minnesota, it opened up an-
Sports
through a driving layup with
10 minutes and 39 seconds left
in the second quarter, with
the fans celebrating the mile-
stone at Crypto.com Arena, the
39-year-old also becoming the
first player in NBA history to
pass 40,000 points, 10,000 re-
bounds and 10,000 assists.
The all-time NBA regular sea-
son scoring leader, who achieved
the mark by surpassing Kareem
other chance to revisit this bur-
ied piece of sport history.
The AIAW launched in 1972.
Within a decade it was bigger
than the NCAA, with nearly
1,000 member colleges and uni-
versities. It sponsored 19 sports
in three divisions, was the sole
organization for women’s in-
tercollegiate athletics and the
only one led by women. And the
NCAA destroyed it through what
SUNY Cortland sports manage-
ment professor Lindsey Darvin
described as a “hostile takeover.”
As a scholar of sport, gender
and American culture, I study
the AIAW as a key moment in
sports history that has been
buried, and I’m currently writ-
ing a book exploring its philos-
ophy, impact and legacy.
In any history of women’s
sports in the U.S., you’ll hear a
lot about Title IX, the federal
law dictating that female col-
lege athletes must receive equal
opportunities in sports.
But you’ll rarely hear about
the AIAW, a sporting body led
Abdul-Jabbar's 39,387 last Feb-
ruary, scored 26 points, grabbed
four rebounds and dished nine as-
sists on Saturday night, extending
his record to 40,017 points.
James is now in his 21st sea-
son and no other active players
are close to his scoring record.
Kevin Durant of the Phoenix
Suns, who sits ninth on the all-
time scoring table, is the closest
with 28,342 points. ■
by women that fundamentally
changed intercollegiate sports.
Its student-centered governance
model continues to resonate as
college athletes chip away at the
power of the NCAA, whether it’s
through the transfer portal or
name, image and likeness deals.
Designed for women, by
women
Throughout the early part of
the 20th century, female col-
lege students participated in
physical education classes fo-
cused on health and wellness.
There were few opportunities
for organized team sports.
By the 1960s, however,
women students demanded
school-sponsored intercolle-
giate teams and championships
like the men had.
Women professors of physical
education agreed.. But they had
watched the NCAA commercial
model of sport descend into ex-
ploitation and scandal under
what historians have called the
“cynical fiction” of amateurism.
As the NCAA remained exclu-
www.canadianinquirer.net
LeBron James (ERIK DROST/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0)
sively male, there was an oppor-
tunity to create something dif-
ferent for women’s athletics.
The AIAW emerged from that
momentum – an intercollegiate
athletic governance organiza-
tion designed for and by women,
dedicated to creating high-level
competition while maintaining
focus on the well-being and edu-
cation of student-athletes.
Under the AIAW, all teams
and athletes were supported
equally, not singled out for their
ability to generate revenue.
They had a right to due process,
an appeals system and student
representatives on local and
national committees. The orga-
nization ran on dues from mem-
ber schools and eventually some
advertising and media contracts.
Women’s athletic programs
were led by physical educators
turned coaches and administra-
tors. Some of the most famous
coaches in women’s basketball
got their start under the AIAW,
including C. Vivian Stringer, Pat
Summit and Tara VanDerveer,
MARCH 8, 2024 FRIDAY
who recently broke the all-time
record for college basketball wins.
In addition to Woodard, other
notable AIAW players include
Ann Meyers-Drysdale, Nancy
Lieberman and Lusia Harris,
who was recently the subject of
an Oscar-winning documentary.
Title IX backlash
There is no doubt that Title IX,
which was signed into law in 1972,
had a big influence on the growth
of women’s college sports, man-
dating that educational activities,
including athletics, should be the
same for men and women.
Congress passed Title IX just
before the AIAW’s first cham-
pionship season, and the law
spurred calls for more equitable
resources for women’s sports.
There was immediate back-
lash from male-dominated
sporting organizations, includ-
ing the NCAA, which saw the
addition of women’s sports as
a loss for men’s sports. Walter
Byers, then the NCAA’s exec-
❱❱ PAGE 30 Caitlin Clark’s historic
FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2024
10 reasons why Canadians
are still dissatisfied with the
economy, despite the upswing
BY ANUP SRIVASTAVA,
University of Calgary, FELIPE
BASTOS GURGEL SILVA,
University of Missouri-
Columbia, LUMINITA
ENACHE, University
of Calgary, MANUELA
DANTAS, California State
University, Northridge
The Conversation
The COVID-19 pandemic is
no longer a global emergency,
Canada’s GDP outperformed ex-
pectations in 2023, the economy
seems to be heading for soft land-
ing after a period of stagnation,
inflation is winding down and
unemployment has decreased to
5.7 per cent in January 2024 —
close to pre-pandemic levels.
Despite these positive eco-
nomic indicators, recent sur-
veys suggest Canadians are dis-
satisfied with the direction of
the economy. An overwhelming
84 per cent of Canadians be-
lieve the country is already in a
recession, with 73 per cent an-
ticipating one within the next
year. Young people, in particu-
lar, are fearful of the future.
This discrepancy prompts
the question: Why are Canadi-
ans’ sentiments so at odds with
economic indicators? As econo-
mists, we have identified sever-
al reasons that explain why this
gap exists.
1. Growing socio-economic
divide
Income and wealth inequality
are both growing at an alarming
rate in Canada. The wealthiest 20
per cent now account for more
than two-thirds of net worth,
compared to the 2.7 per cent held
by the bottom 40 per cent.
The top 20 per cent account-
ed for 40.3 per cent of net dis-
posable income in 2023, while
the bottom 20 per cent account-
Business
ed for just 6.1 per cent. The top
one per cent of earners, mean-
while, have grown even richer.
In contrast, the number of
people in the low-income cut-
off group keeps increasing. Net
saving for the lowest income
households decreased by 9.8 per
cent in the third quarter of 2023
compared to the previous year.
2. Debt servicing burdens
Since the onset of the pan-
demic, net savings have deteri-
orated for all except those with
the highest incomes, as renters
and lower-income families tend
to spend more than they make
on necessities.
Canada currently holds the
highest amount of household
debt as a percentage of dispos-
able income among all G7 coun-
tries. With the current high
interest rates, the burden of in-
terest payments for households
as a percentage of disposable
income recently reached its
highest level in 12 years.
3. Interest rates
The average disposable in-
come for the top 20 per cent
of Canadians is increasing at
the fastest rate of any income
group. This means those with fi-
nancial assets benefit from ris-
ing interest rates, while those at
the bottom suffer from the bur-
den of greater debt service.
4. Housing costs
Skyrocketing housing pric-
es have outpaced income and
mortgage rates have gone up
dramatically, resulting in the
lowest home affordability index
in the last 40 years. The dream
of home ownership seems more
distant than ever for many.
5. Impact of inflation
Although Canada’s inflation
rate shows signs of slowing, it still
remains fairly high. It reached
a 39-year high of 8.1 per cent
in June 2022, hitting those in
low-income groups the hardest.
6. Growing corporate con-
centration
Canada’s most concentrated
industries have become even
less competitive, and the num-
ber of highly concentrated in-
dustries is growing. Profit mar-
gins and markups of already
profitable firms is increasing.
This trend negatively im-
pacts consumers and broader
society by reducing industry
dynamism, resulting in fewer
choices and higher costs.
We are seeing this currently
play out in the grocery sector,
where a lack of competition has
resulted in higher food prices.
This is the same reason why
airplane tickets and cell phone
bills remain higher in Canada
than in comparable countries.
7. Mental health struggles
The proportion of people re-
porting very good or excellent
mental health decreased to 59
per cent in 2021 from 72.4 per
cent in 2015.
The prevalence of some
chronic conditions, includ-
ing high blood pressure, heart
disease and obesity, increased
from 2015 to 2021 as well.
Financial anxiety, pandem-
ic-related stress and other issues
are making Canadians feel angri-
er in general, which affects their
outlook on life and the economy.
8. Long COVID
While the impacts of the pan-
demic are slowing down, long
COVID is still a significant is-
sue for many. One in nine peo-
ple who contracted COVID-19
suffer from symptoms, includ-
ing brain fog, cognitive impair-
ment, fatigue and shortness of
breath, that affect their health
and well-being.
It is shortsighted to assume we
have all recovered equally from
the pandemic when some people
www.canadianinquirer.net
are still being affected by it.
9. Higher education fund-
ing cuts
College education has his-
torically served as “the great
equalizer” and an instrument
of intergenerational social mo-
bility, but in the face of declin-
ing government support for
post-secondary education, this
may no longer be the case.
The financial situation of
many colleges is increasingly
precarious, meaning post-sec-
ondary institutions could end
up raising tuition fees or rely
more on international students
to meet their budgets, both of
which affect domestic students.
Students from the lowest
economic stratum will increas-
ingly find it difficult to trade
the security of a job right out of
high school for the high cost of
a university or college degree.
This, in turn, will reduce their
chances to move up in the so-
cio-ecnomic ladder.
10. Youth struggles
Youth across North America
are more anxious about their
future, concerned about their
mental health and education-
al prospects and more disillu-
sioned by politicians than pre-
23
vious generations.
Despite being resilient and
pragmatic, Gen Z are pessi-
mistic about the world around
them and the future ahead.
They worry about their finan-
cial security, with high costs of
rent and groceries.
A 2023 survey from the
Globe and Mail found that
nearly three-quarters of Gen
Z disagreed that, as a genera-
tion, they would surpass their
parents. Fifty-six per cent feel
afraid, sad, anxious and pow-
erless about climate changes,
while 78 per cent reported that
climate anxiety is impacting
their mental health.
Navigating the disconnect
While more than 40 per cent
of Canadians hope for positive
outcomes in 2024 and the mac-
roeconomic indicators show
prosperity, there exist numer-
ous factors causing dissatisfac-
tion in large swathes of the pop-
ulation in Canada.
Managers, business leaders,
policymakers, government of-
ficials and economists should
all care deeply about this issue.
Over-relying on aggregate indi-
❱❱ PAGE 27 10 reasons why
 24
WTO conference ends in division and
stalemate – does the global trade
body have a viable future?
BY JANE KELSEY, University
of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata
Rau
The Conversation
The 13th World Trade Or-
ganization (WTO) ministerial
conference in Abu Dhabi has
failed to resolve any issues of
significance, raising the ines-
capable question of whether the
global trade body has a future.
The three-day meeting was
due to end on February 29. But
late into a fourth extra day, the
164 members were struggling to
even agree on a declaration, let
alone the big issues of agricul-
ture, fisheries and border taxes
on electronic commerce.
The closing ceremony was
sombre, and the ministerial
declaration bland, stripped of
the substantive content previ-
ously proposed. Outstanding
issues were kicked back to the
WTO base in Geneva for fur-
ther discussions, or for the next
ministerial conference in 2026.
Briefing journalists in the
closing hours, an EU spokes-
person noted how hard it would
be to pick up the pieces in Ge-
neva after they failed to create
momentum at the ministerial
conference. She predicted:
[Trade] will be more and more
characterised by power relations
than the rule of law, and that will
be a problem notably for smaller
countries and for developing
countries.
Restricted access
That imbalance is already ev-
ident, with power politics char-
acterising the conference from
the start.
There were accusations of
Can witches fly?..
❰❰ 19 lucinogens, producing
sensations of flying.
The most thorough
study of these accounts, how-
ever, finds that such referenc-
es rarely appear in voluntary
Business
unprecedented restrictions
on non-governmental organ-
isations (NGOs) registered to
participate in the conference.
These bodies are crucial to
bringing the WTO’s impacts on
farmers, fishers, workers and
other communities into the ne-
gotiation arena.
A number of NGOs have sub-
mitted formal complaints over
their treatment by conference
host the United Arab Emirates.
They say they were isolated
from delegations, banned from
distributing papers, and people
were arbitrarily detained for
handing out press releases.
Critical negotiations were con-
ducted through controversial
“green rooms”. These were where
the handpicked “double quad”
members – the US, UK, Europe-
an Union, Canada, China, India,
South Africa and Brazil – tried to
broker outcomes to present to the
rest for “transparency”.
Influence of power politics
These powerful countries
largely determined the out-
comes (or lack of them). The
US, historically the agenda-set-
ter at WTO ministerial confer-
ences, appeared largely disin-
terested in the proceedings,
with trade representative Kath-
erine Tai leaving early.
The final declaration says
nothing about restoring a
two-tier dispute body, which has
been paralysed since 2019 by the
refusal of successive US Repub-
lican and Democratic adminis-
trations to appoint new judges
to the WTO’s appellate body.
The EU failed to secure
progress on improvements to
the appeal process. Likely Re-
publican presidential nomi-
testimony. They come instead
from authorities recording, and
often reshaping, what accused
witches said.
In the end, allegations of flight
and dismissal of its reality may
nee Donald Trump has already
announced he would impose
massive WTO-illegal tariffs on
China if elected.
China, Japan, the US and EU
– all big subsidisers of distant
water fishing fleets – blocked
an outcome aiming to protect
global fish stocks, an issue al-
ready deferred from the last
ministerial meeting.
The six Pacific Island WTO
members lobbied tirelessly for
a freeze and eventual reduction
in subsidies. But the text was
diluted to the point that no deal
was better than a bad deal.
The EU, UK, Switzerland and
other pharmaceutical producers
had already blocked consensus
on lifting patents for COVID-19
therapeutics and diagnostics,
sought by 65 developing coun-
tries. A deal brokered in 2021 on
COVID vaccines is so complex
no country has used it.
Domestic and global agendas
India’s equally uncompro-
have sprung entirely from the
minds of legal and religious au-
thorities who codified and con-
demned the idea of witchcraft.
Their skepticism hardly mat-
tered. Courts could execute
www.canadianinquirer.net
mising positions also reflected
domestic priorities. The 2013
Bali ministerial conference
promised developing countries
a permanent solution to pre-
vent legal challenges to India’s
subsidised stockpiling of food
for anti-hunger programmes.
A permanent solution was
a red line for India, which fac-
es an election next month and
mass protests from farmers
concerned at losing subsidies.
Agricultural exporters, in-
cluding New Zealand, tabled
counter-demands to broaden
the agriculture negotiations.
The public stockpiling issue re-
mains a stalemate, without any
real prospect of a breakthrough.
India and South Africa formal-
ly objected to the adoption of an
unmandated plurilateral agree-
ment on investment facilitation.
The concerns were less with
the agreement itself and more
with the precedent it would cre-
ate for sub-groups of members
convicted witches regardless
of whether they believed they
could fly.
Although witch-hunting
ended – at least in Europe and
North America – in the 18th
MARCH 8, 2024 FRIDAY
to bypass the WTO’s rule book.
This would allow powerful
states to advance their favoured
issues while developing coun-
try priorities languish.
Crisis and transformation
The face-saver for the confer-
ence was the temporary extension
of a highly contested moratorium
on the right to levy customs duties
at the border on transmissions of
digitised content.
Securing that extension (or
preferably a permanent ban on
e-commerce customs duties)
on behalf of Big Tech was the
main US goal for the confer-
ence. Developing countries op-
posed its renewal, so they could
impose tariffs both for revenue
and to support their own digital
industrialisation.
The moratorium will now
expire in March 2026, so the
battle will resume at the next
ministerial conference sched-
uled to be held in Cameroon
that year.
But there is every likelihood
the current paralysis at the
WTO will continue, and the
power politics will intensify.
As the previously quoted EU
spokesperson also mused:
Perhaps the WTO needed a
good crisis, and perhaps this will
lead to a realisation that we can-
not continue like this.
Ideally, that would result in a
fundamentally different interna-
tional institution – one that pro-
vides real solutions to the 21st
century challenges on which the
WTO is unable to deliver. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
century, the image of witches
flying on brooms endures. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2024
Is the United States overestimating
China’s power?
BY DAN MURPHY, Harvard
Kennedy School
The Conversation
Which country is the great-
est threat to the United States?
The answer, according to a large
proportion of Americans, is
clear: China.
Half of all Americans re-
sponding to a mid-2023 survey
from the Pew Research Center
cited China as the biggest risk
to the U.S., with Russia trailing
in second with 17%. Other sur-
veys, such as from the Chicago
Council on Global Affairs, show
similar findings.
Senior figures in recent U.S.
administrations appear to
agree with this assessment. In
2020, John Ratcliffe, director
of national intelligence un-
der President Donald Trump,
wrote that Beijing “intends to
dominate the U.S. and the rest
of the planet economically, mil-
itarily and technologically.”
The White House’s current
National Defense Strategy is not
so alarmist, referring to China as
the U.S.’s “pacing challenge” – a
reference that, in the words of
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Aus-
tin, apparently means China has
“the intent to reshape the inter-
national order and, increasingly,
the power to do so.”
As someone who has fol-
lowed China for over a quarter
century, I believe that many
observers have overestimated
the country’s apparent power.
Recent challenges to China’s
economy have led some people
to reevaluate just how power-
ful China is. But hurdles to the
growth of Chinese power ex-
tend far beyond the economic
sector – and failing to acknowl-
edge this reality may distort
how policymakers and the pub-
lic view the shift of geopolitical
gravity in what was once called
“the Chinese century.”
In overestimating China’s
comprehensive power, the U.S.
risks misallocating resources and
attention, directing them toward
a threat that is not as imminent
as one might otherwise assume.
Let me be clear: I’m not sug-
gesting that China is weak or
about to collapse. Nor am I
making an argument about Chi-
na’s intentions. But rather, it is
time to right-size the American
understanding of the country’s
comprehensive power. This
process includes acknowledg-
ing both China’s tremendous
accomplishments and its sig-
nificant challenges. Doing so is,
I believe, mission critical as the
United States and China seek to
put a floor underneath a badly
damaged bilateral relationship.
Headline numbers
Why have so many people
misjudged China’s power?
One key reason for this mis-
conception is that from a dis-
tance, China does indeed appear
to be an unstoppable jugger-
naut. The high-level numbers
bedazzle observers: Beijing
commands the world’s largest
or second-largest economy de-
pending on the type of measure-
ment; it has a rapidly growing
military budget and sky-high
numbers of graduates in engi-
neering and math; and oversees
huge infrastructure projects –
laying down nearly 20,000 miles
of high-speed rail tracks in less
than a dozen years and building
bridges at record pace.
But these eye-catching met-
rics don’t tell a complete story.
Look under the hood and you’ll
see that China faces a raft of in-
tractable difficulties.
The Chinese economy, which
until recently was thought of
as unstoppable, is beginning to
falter due to deflation, a grow-
ing debt-to-gross domestic
product ratio and the impact of
a real estate crisis.
China’s other challenges
And it isn’t only China’s
economy that has been overes-
timated.
While Beijing has put in con-
siderable effort building its soft
power and sending its leader-
ship around the world, China
enjoys fewer friends than one
might expect, even with its will-
ing trade partners. North Korea,
Pakistan, Cambodia and Russia
may count China as an import-
ant ally, but these relationships
are not, I would argue, nearly as
strong as those enjoyed by the
United States globally. Even in
the Asia-Pacific region there is
a strong argument to say Wash-
ington enjoys greater sway,
considering the especially close
ties with allies Japan, South Ko-
rea and Australia.
Even though Chinese citi-
zens report broad support for
the Communist Party, Beijing’s
capricious COVID-19 policies
paired with an unwillingness to
use foreign-made vaccines have
dented perceptions of govern-
ment effectiveness.
Further, China’s population
is aging and unbalanced. In
2016, the country of 1.4 billion
saw about 18 million births; in
2023, that number dropped to
about 9 million. This alarm-
ing fall is not only in line with
trends toward a shrinking
working-age population, but
also perhaps indicative of pes-
simism among Chinese citizens
about the country’s future.
And at times, the actions of
the Chinese government read
like an implicit admission that
the domestic situation is not all
that rosy. For example, I take
it as a sign of concern over sys-
temic risk that China detained
a million or more people, as
has happened with the Muslim
minority in Xinjiang province.
Similarly, China’s policing of its
internet suggests concerns over
collective action by its citizens.
The sweeping anti-corruption
campaign Beijing has embarked
on, purges of the country’s mil-
itary and the disappearance of
leading business figures all hint
at a government seeking to man-
www.canadianinquirer.net
Business
age significant risk.
I hear many stories from con-
tacts in China about people with
money or influence hedging
their bets by establishing a foot-
hold outside the country. This
aligns with research that has
shown that in recent years, on
average as much money leaves
China via “irregular means” as
for foreign direct investment.
A three-dimensional view
The perception of China’s
inexorable rise is cultivated by
the governing Communist Par-
ty, which obsessively seeks to
manufacture and control narra-
tives in state media and beyond
that show it as all-knowing,
farsighted and strategic. And
perhaps this argument finds a
receptive audience in segments
of the United States concerned
about its own decline.
It would help explain why a re-
cent Chicago Council on Global
Affairs survey found that about
a third of American respondents
see the Chinese and American
economies as equal and another
third see the Chinese economy
as stronger. In reality, per capita
GDP in the United States is six
times that of China.
Of course, there is plenty of
danger in predicting China’s
collapse. Undoubtedly, the
country has seen huge accom-
plishments since the People’s
Republic of China’s founding in
1949: Hundreds of millions of
people brought out of poverty,
extraordinary economic devel-
25
opment and impressive GDP
growth over several decades,
and growing diplomatic clout.
These successes are especially
noteworthy given that the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China is less
than 75 years old and was in
utter turmoil during the disas-
trous Cultural Revolution from
1966 to 1976, when intellectuals
were sent to the countryside,
schools stopped functioning
and chaos reigned. In many
cases, China’s successes merit
emulation and include import-
ant lessons for developing and
developed countries alike.
China may well be the “pac-
ing challenge” that many in the
U.S. believe. But it also faces
significant internal challenges
that often go under-recognized
in evaluating the country’s
comprehensive power.
And as the United States and
China seek to steady a rocky re-
lationship, it is imperative that
the American public and Wash-
ington policymakers see China
as fully three-dimensional – not
some flat caricature that fits the
needs of the moment. Other-
wise, there is a risk of fanning
the flames of xenophobia and
neglecting opportunities for
partnership that would benefit
the United States. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
26
Your face for sale: anyone can legally
gather and market your facial data
without explicit consent
BY MARGARITA
VLADIMIROVA, Deakin
University
The Conversation
The morning started with a
message from a friend: “I used
your photos to train my local ver-
sion of Midjourney. I hope you
don’t mind”, followed up with
generated pictures of me wear-
ing a flirty steampunk costume.
I did in fact mind. I felt vio-
lated. Wouldn’t you? I bet Tay-
lor Swift did when deepfakes of
her hit the internet. But is the
legal status of my face different
from the face of a celebrity?
Your facial information is a
unique form of personal sensi-
tive information. It can iden-
tify you. Intense profiling and
mass government surveillance
receives much attention. But
businesses and individuals are
also using tools that collect,
store and modify facial infor-
mation, and we’re facing an
unexpected wave of photos and
videos generated with artificial
intelligence (AI) tools.
The development of legal
regulation for these uses is lag-
ging. At what levels and in what
ways should our facial informa-
tion be protected?
Is implied consent enough?
The Australian Privacy Act
considers biometric informa-
tion (which would include your
face) to be a part of our personal
sensitive information. Howev-
er, the act doesn’t define bio-
metric information.
Despite its drawbacks, the act
is currently the main legislation
in Australia aimed at facial in-
formation protection. It states
biometric information cannot
be collected without a person’s
consent.
But the law doesn’t specify
Technology
whether it should be express or
implied consent. Express con-
sent is given explicitly, either
orally or in writing. Implied con-
sent means consent may reason-
ably be inferred from the individ-
ual’s actions in a given context.
For example, if you walk into a
store that has a sign “facial recog-
nition camera on the premises”,
your consent is implied.
But using implied consent
opens our facial data up to po-
tential exploitation. Bunnings,
Kmart and Woolworths have all
used easy-to-miss signage that
facial recognition or camera
technology is used in their stores.
Valuable and unprotected
Our facial information has
become so valuable, data com-
panies such as Clearview AI
and PimEye are mercilessly
hunting it down on the internet
without our consent.
These companies put togeth-
er databases for sale, used not
only by the police in various
countries, including Australia,
but also by private companies.
Even if you deleted all your
facial data from the internet,
you could easily be captured in
public and appear in some da-
tabase anyway. Being in some-
one’s TikTok video without
your consent is a prime exam-
ple – in Australia this is legal.
Furthermore, we’re also now
contending with generative AI
programs such as Midjourney,
DALL-E 3, Stable Diffusion and
others. Not only the collection,
but the modification of our fa-
cial information can be easily
performed by anyone.
Our faces are unique to us,
they’re part of what we perceive
as ourselves. But they don’t
have special legal status or spe-
cial legal protection.
The only action you can take
to protect your facial informa-
MARCH 8, 2024 FRIDAY
tion from aggressive collection sions about a higher level of that the definition of consent
by a store or private entity is protection for our facial infor- required for biometric infor-
to complain to the office of the mation in general. However, mation collection should be
Australian Information Com- the government’s recent re- amended to specify it must be
missioner, which may or may sponse to the Attorney-Gener- voluntary, informed, current,
not result in an investigation. al’s Privacy Act review has some specific and unambiguous.
The same applies to deep- promising provisions. As facial information is in-
fakes. The Australian Compe- The government has agreed creasingly exploited, we’re all
tition and Consumer Commis- further consideration should be waiting to see whether these dis-
sion will consider only activity given to enhanced risk assess- cussions do become law – hope-
that applies to trade and com- ment requirements in the con- fully sooner rather than later. ■
merce, for example if a deepfake text of facial recognition technol-
is used for false advertising. ogy and other uses of biometric Correction: we have amended
And the Privacy Act doesn’t information. This work should a sentence to clarify Woolworths
protect us from other people’s be coordinated with the govern- use camera technology but not
actions. I didn’t consent to have ment’s ongoing work on Digital necessarily facial recognition
someone train an AI with my ID and the National Strategy for technology.
facial information and produce Identity Resilience. This article is republished
made-up images. But there is As for consent, the govern- from The Conversation under a
no oversight on such use of gen- ment has agreed in principle Creative Commons license.
erative AI tools, either.
There are currently no laws
that prevent other people from
collecting or modifying your fa-
cial information.
Catching up the law
We need a range of regu-
lations on the collection and
modification of facial informa-
tion. We also need a stricter
status of facial information it-
self. Thankfully, some develop-
ments in this area are looking
promising.
Experts at the University of
Technology Sydney have pro-
posed a comprehensive legal
framework for regulating the
use of facial recognition tech-
nology under Australian law.
It contains proposals for
regulating the first stage of
non-consensual activity: the
collection of personal informa-
tion. That may help in the de-
velopment of new laws.
Regarding photo modification
using AI, we’ll have to wait for an-
nouncements from the newly es-
tablished government AI expert
group working to develop “safe
and responsible AI practices”.
There are no specific discus-
www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2024
Demand for computer chips fuelled by AI
could reshape global politics and security
BY KIRK CHANG, University
of East London, ALINA
VADUVA, University of East
London
The Conversation
A global race to build power-
ful computer chips that are es-
sential for the next generation
of artificial intelligence (AI)
tools could have a major impact
on global politics and security.
The US is currently leading the
race in the design of these chips,
also known as semiconductors.
But most of the manufacturing is
carried out in Taiwan. The debate
has been fuelled by the call by
Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT’s
developer OpenAI, for a US$5
trillion to US$7 trillion (£3.9 tril-
lion to £5.5 trillion) global invest-
ment to produce more powerful
chips for the next generation of
AI platforms.
The amount of money Altman
called for is more than the chip
industry has spent in total since
it began. Whatever the facts
about those numbers, overall
projections for the AI market
are mind blowing. The data an-
alytics company GlobalData
forecasts that the market will be
worth US$909 billion by 2030.
Unsurprisingly, over the past
two years, the US, China, Japan
and several European coun-
tries have increased their bud-
get allocations and put in place
measures to secure or maintain
a share of the chip industry for
themselves. China is catching
up fast and is subsidising chips,
including next-generation ones
for AI, by hundreds of billions
over the next decade to build a
manufacturing supply chain.
Subsidies seem to be the pre-
ferred strategy for Germany
too. The UK government has
announced its plans to invest
10 reasons why..
❰❰ 23 cators — like macro-
economic prosperity —
while making strategic,
investment, hiring and financing
decisions could lead to unexpect-
ed outcomes and challenges.
£100 million to support regu-
lators and universities in ad-
dressing challenges around ar-
tificial intelligence.
The economic historian Chris
Miller, the author of the book
Chip War, has talked about how
powerful chips have become a
“strategic commodity” on the
global geopolitical stage.
Despite the efforts by several
countries to invest in the future
of chips, there is currently a
shortage of the types currently
needed for AI systems. Miller
recently explained that 90% of
the chips used to train, or im-
prove, AI systems are produced
by just one company.
That company is the Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing
Company (TSMC). Taiwan’s
dominance in the chip manu-
facturing industry is notable
because the island is also the fo-
cus for tensions between China
and the US.
Taiwan has, for the most
part, been independent since
the middle of the 20th centu-
ry. However, Beijing believes
it should be reunited with the
rest of China and US legislation
requires Washington to help
defend Taiwan if it is invaded.
What would happen to the chip
industry under such a scenario
is unclear, but it is obviously a
focus for global concern.
The disruption of supply
chains in chip manufacturing
have the potential to bring en-
tire industries to a halt. Access
to the raw materials, such as
rare earth metals, used in com-
puter chips has also proven to
be an important bottleneck. For
example, China controls 60% of
the production of gallium metal
and 80% of the global produc-
tion of germanium. These are
both critical raw products used
in chip manufacturing.
For example, a real estate
company might decide to invest
in a large, low-end housing proj-
ect based on economic numbers.
While the initial logic may seem
sound — if the economy is doing
And there are other, less-
er known bottlenecks. A pro-
cess called extreme ultraviolet
(EUV) lithography is vital for
the ability to continue making
computer chips smaller and
smaller – and therefore more
powerful. A single company in
the Netherlands, ASML, is the
only manufacturer of EUV sys-
tems for chip production.
However, chip factories are
increasingly being built outside
Asia again – something that has
the potential to reduce over-re-
liance on a few supply chains.
Plants in the US are being subsi-
dised to the tune of US$43 billion
and in Europe, US$53 billion.
For example, the Taiwanese
semiconductor manufactur-
er TSMC is planning to build
a multibillion dollar facility in
Arizona. When it opens, that
well, that there should be a huge
demand for housing — issues
might arise if the target popula-
tion is financially strained and
unable to afford the housing.
A comprehensive under-
www.canadianinquirer.net
Technology
factory will not be producing
the most advanced chips that
it’s possible to currently make,
many of which are still pro-
duced by Taiwan.
Moving chip production out-
side Taiwan could reduce the risk
to global supplies in the event
that manufacturing were some-
how disrupted. But this process
could take years to have a mean-
ingful impact. It’s perhaps not
surprising that, for the first time,
this year’s Munich Security Con-
ference created a chapter devot-
ed to technology as a global secu-
rity issue, with discussion of the
role of computer chips.
Wider issues
Of course, the demand for
chips to fuel AI’s growth is not
the only way that artificial in-
telligence will make major im-
pact on geopolitics and global
standing of the mindset, risk
preferences and motivating
factors of key customers, stake-
holders, investors, employees
and voters is essential for mak-
ing well-informed decisions that
27
security. The growth of disin-
formation and misinformation
online has transformed politics
in recent years by inflating prej-
udices on both sides of debates.
We have seen it during the
Brexit campaign, during US
presidential elections and,
more recently, during the con-
flict in Gaza. AI could be the
ultimate amplifier of disin-
formation. Take, for example,
deepfakes – AI-manipulated
videos, audio or images of pub-
lic figures. These could easily
fool people into thinking a ma-
jor political candidate had said
something they didn’t.
As a sign of this technolo-
gy’s growing importance, at the
2024 Munich Security Con-
ference, 20 of the world’s larg-
est tech companies launched
something called the “Tech Ac-
cord”. In it, they pledged to co-
operate to create tools to spot,
label and debunk deepfakes.
But should such important
issues be left to tech companies
to police? Mechanisms such as
the EU’s Digital Service Act, the
UK’s Online Safety Bill as well
as frameworks to regulate AI it-
self should help. But it remains
to be seen what impact they can
have on the issue.
The issues raised by the chip
industry and the growing de-
mand driven by AI’s growth are
just one way that AI is driving
change on the global stage. But
it remains a vitally important
one. National leaders and au-
thorities must not underesti-
mate the influence of AI. Its po-
tential to redefine geopolitics
and global security could ex-
ceed our ability to both predict
and plan for the changes. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
benefit all parties involved. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
28
Escapes Amongst the Sands: Booking.com
Shares Top Desert Stays to Immerse Travelers
in the World of the Upcoming Sci-fi Sequel
BOOKING.COM
The highly anticipated sequel
to the epic sci-fi desert movie of
2021 hit movie screens world-
wide on March 1. The fantasy
fiction picks up where it left off,
showcasing a mix of power, re-
venge and love as the characters
battle in a desert planet to pre-
vent a terrible future. The second
installation was filmed in the des-
ert lands surrounding Abu Dhabi
and Jordan, both renowned for
their undulating sand dunes.
With over half (57%)* of travel-
ers wanting to embrace ‘main
character energy’ in 2024, where
better to immerse in the world of
this sci-fi sequel than in the des-
ert? With that in mind, Booking.
com, one of the world’s leading
digital travel companies, reveals
some of some of the best desert
stays that will transport guests
into another dimension.
Al Wathba, a Luxury Collec-
tion Desert Resort & Spa – Abu
Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Surrounded by an endless
sea of rolling dunes, this five-
star resort is located deep with-
in the Al Wathba desert, near
where the blockbuster and
sequel were filmed. The tradi-
tional-style earthen buildings
feature Islamic-style rugs and
twinkling lanterns, and villas
boast a sunbathing gazebo and
plunge pool. Soothing water
features dotted around take
the edge off the scorching heat,
and the spa boasts salt rooms,
a traditional Turkish hammam
and an extraordinary snow cave
along with rituals and remedies
inspired by local ingredients.
Guests can enjoy a cocktail
at the hotel’s rooftop bar best
paired with a magnificent fiery
desert sunset, or head to one
of the restaurants serving both
Travel
traditional and international
cuisine. A wide variety of des-
ert activities are available from
the resort, including four-wheel
adventures, or the magnificent
Al Wathba Wetlands, home to
thousands of flamingos, and is
just a short drive away. For those
keen to zip across the Arabi-
an sand dunes, a Premium Red
Dunes Safari with BBQ is packed
with dune bashing and sand-
boarding, before a spectacular
authentic belly dancing show.
Wadi Rum Secrets Camp –
Wadi Rum, Jordan
Situated at the western edge of
the Arabian desert, it's no won-
der the jagged rock formations of
Wadi Rum were a prime filming
spot for the sci-fi sequel. Known
as the Valley of the Moon, this
UNESCO World Heritage val-
ley cut into sandstone and gran-
ite in southern Jordan stands
among waves of shimmering
sand dunes. Travelers can bed
down at the Wadi Rum Secrets
Camp which offers a once-in-a-
lifetime experience to immerse
in this otherworldly landscape,
and a standout spot for sleeping
under the stars. This traditional
campsite is packed with facilities
to improve the comfort and joy of
the experience, from tents that
boast terraces facing the moun-
tains to barbecue facilities and a
relaxing communal garden. Cab-
in-style tents are positioned on
the sand and feature soft bedding
and thick blankets to keep guests
warm at night, while welcoming
local Bedouin guides will help
arrange activities from sand surf-
ing to camel riding. If guests want
to get to know the desert better, a
4-Hour Jeep Tour - Wadi Rum
Desert Highlights is the perfect
excursion to immerse in the
sand-dune surroundings, from
incredible panoramic views at
the highest dune to the magnifi-
cent red rock Khazali gorge.
Planeta Atacama Lodge –
San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Experience a magical setting
at the Planeta Atacama Lodge
in northeast Chile, situated in
the middle of the Atacama des-
ert, known as the driest place
on Earth. As remote as it gets in
www.canadianinquirer.net
Chile, this lodge is located on a
plot of 10 acres (four hectares)
at the foot of a forest of carob
trees and an ideal spot to relax
after exploring the wonders of
the desert and its rolling sand
dunes. Each lodge features na-
tive and rustic interiors with
comfortable furnishings and
a private bathroom, and the
tranquil garden is adorned with
hammocks. Guests can wake up
to views of the Licancabur volca-
no, and go to bed under some of
the brightest stars in the world.
It’s just a short walk from the
lodge into the historic town of
San Pedro de Atacama, set on an
arid plateau in the Andes moun-
tains with dramatic landscape
featuring salt flats, volcanoes,
geysers and hot springs – and
visitors will spot plenty of graz-
ing lambs and llamas. The sci-fi
hit may not have been filmed in
the Atacama desert, but aValley
of the Moon in Atacama excur-
sion through the Los Flamencos
National Reserve will transport
travelers to an otherworldly
landscape populated with in-
MARCH 8, 2024 FRIDAY
credible undulating sand dunes
and old Chilean salt mines.
Anantara Sahara-Tozeur Re-
sort & Villas – Tozeur, Tunisia
Nestled amongst the mystical
dunes of the Sahara desert, the
five-star Anantara Sahara-Toze-
ur Resort invites travelers to a
remote sanctuary built in the
sand on the edge of the vast
Chott el Jerid salt lake. This des-
ert-chic resort offers villas dot-
ted amidst swaying palms and
hibiscus, three swimming pools,
a bar and a library. Tradition-
al charm and modern comfort
blend, with meticulously de-
signed suites adorned with brass
lamps, organic pottery and local
paintings. Guests can wake up to
desert sunrises, enjoy poolside
bliss or a hammam at the shaded
spa and dine under the stars in
Berber style. Just a short drive
away from the center of Tozeur,
a beautiful oasis town peppered
with pomegranate trees and ba-
nana groves, where guests can
immerse themselves in the rich
culture of Tunisia through cu-
rated experiences which the ho-
tel offers with local guides, such
as visits to the ancient medinas,
or star-gazing under the vast
desert sky. For more action, a
Tamerza, Chebika, Mides Can-
yons and Star Wars Locations
Day Tour will take visitors to
these oases to discover water-
falls and rivulets in a landscape
of mountains, and the real-life
filming locations behind this in-
tergalactic epic.
Home2 Suites By Hilton
Alamogordo White Sands –
Alamogordo, New Mexico,
United States
Fans of the sci-fi sequel will be
extremely satisfied with this stay,
which is located near the ethere-
al dunes of the Tularosa Basin in
❱❱ PAGE 30 Escapes Amongst the
FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2024
The Atlantic diet: how it compares
to its Mediterranean counterpart –
and what benefits it might have
BY TAIBAT (TAI) IBITOYE,
University of Hertfordshire
The Conversation
The Mediterranean diet has
long been seen as one of the
most beneficial diets out there.
It’s been associated with many
health benefits, including lower
risk of cardiovascular disease
and other chronic diseases (in-
cluding cancer), better sleep
and even good gut health.
But a recent study suggests
that a slightly modified version
of this diet – named the “Atlan-
tic diet” – may also be beneficial
for your health.
The Atlantic diet draws in-
spiration from the traditional
eating habits of people living
in northwestern Spain and
Portugal. Like the Mediterra-
nean diet, it’s characterised by
eating local, fresh and mini-
mally processed seasonal foods
– such as vegetables, fruits,
fish, wholegrain, nuts, beans
and olive oil. But unlike the
Mediterranean diet, the Atlan-
tic diet also includes moder-
ate amounts of meat and pork
products, as well as starchy veg-
etables such as potatoes.
According to this latest study,
the Atlantic diet may reduce the
risk of metabolic syndrome. This
is the combination of high blood
pressure, high blood fat levels,
obesity and high blood sugar – all
of which can lead to heart dis-
ease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.
The researchers conducted
what’s known as a secondary
analysis. This meant they an-
alysed data from a previous
study on the Atlantic diet, the
GALIAT Atlantic Diet study, in
order to better understand its
effects. This was a six-month
randomised clinical trial, which
included more than 500 partic-
Food
ipants who were grouped to-
gether by family.
As part of the GALIAT trial,
families were placed into two
groups. One group followed the
Atlantic diet. They were also
taught about the diet and given
cooking classes to help adhere to
it. The second group, who acted
as the control group, followed
their usual diet and lifestyle.
The study lasted for six
months. At the beginning of
the study and after six months,
researchers collected infor-
mation on participants’ food
intake using a three-day food
diary, as well as their physical
activity levels, any medications
they took and other variables
such as weight if they smoked.
In the initial GALIAT diet
study, the researchers found
that the Atlantic diet group lost
weight – whereas those in the
control group gained weight.
The Atlantic diet group also saw
improvements in their levels of
one type of cholesterol – though
other types of cholesterol still
remained the same. There were
also no changes in their blood
pressure and blood sugar.
In the recent secondary anal-
ysis of this study, the researchers
found that overall, participants
who had followed the Atlantic
diet had significantly lower risk
of developing metabolic syn-
drome compared to the control
group. They also found that fol-
lowing the Atlantic diet lowered
risk of obesity, improved waist
circumference and levels of cho-
lesterol (specifically high-densi-
ty lipoprotein).
But though the Atlantic diet
had an overall effect on lower-
ing risk of metabolic syndrome,
it wasn’t shown to have much
effect on specific aspects of
metabolic syndrome. Specifi-
cally, the researchers did not
29
see any benefit from the Atlan- latest study on portion sizes or tic diet group were also provided
tic diet on blood pressure, blood what quantity of certain foods with the food they needed in or-
sugar and blood fat levels. participants consumed in order der to stick with their diet. But in
Overall, the study shows that to reduce their risk of metabolic a real world setting, not every-
consuming the Atlantic diet syndrome. one can regularly access or af-
may be helpful for managing Another thing worth men- ford the kinds of foods the Atlan-
weight – which may in turn tioning is that the GALIAT tic diet consists of. This makes it
lower risk of some long-term study gained a lot of media difficult to know whether the
chronic conditions (such as car- attention at the time. This findings will still stand outside
diovascular disease). may have influenced the par- of a controlled environment.
Balanced diet ticpants’ eating and lifestyle At the end of the day, the
This is not the first time the habits as a result, making them ideal diet to follow for improv-
effects of the Atlantic diet have adhere more strictly to it – ing metabolic health is one
been researched. making it appear the diet had that includes a wide range of
Previous studies have shown a greater affect than it actually foods from each of the main
that the Atlantic diet is associ- might in reality. food groups: fruits and vege-
ated with lower levels of inflam- And, even though partici- tables, starchy carbohydrates
mation, blood fat levels and pants in both groups had sim- (opting for wholegrain alterna-
blood pressure among adults ilar characteristics at the start tives where possible), protein,
living in Spain. Another study of the study (such as how phys- dairy or dairy alternatives and
also found that Spanish people ically active they were on aver- healthy fats that you find acces-
who paired the Atlantic diet age, or if they smoked), the re- sible, affordable, enjoyable, as
with regular physical activity searchers were unable to adjust well as nourishing. ■
had a lower risk of cardiovas- their findings to fully account
cular disease, lower cholesterol for all the factors that might in- This article is republished
and lower rates of obesity. fluence a person’s risk of devel- from The Conversation under a
But while research does oping metabolic syndrome. Creative Commons license.
show some potential benefits The participants in the Atlan-
in adhering to the Atlantic diet,
these results may not hold true
for everyone.
First, most studies on the
Atlantic diet – including this
latest one – only included par-
ticipants of Spanish or white
European descent. This means
we don’t know whether the At-
lantic diet will be equally bene-
ficial for ethnic groups who are
at greater risk of metabolic syn-
drome – such as people of south
Asian, Black African and Carib-
bean descent.
It’s well established that reg-
ularly consuming fruits, vege-
tables, wholegrains, nuts and
fish provides a wide range of
essential vitamins, minerals,
fibre and antioxidants that are
vital for good health. While the
Atlantic diet is said to contain
plenty of these foods, there’s
no clear information from this
www.canadianinquirer.net
 30
Escapes Amongst the..
❰❰ 28 New Mexico. Nestled
amongst the dramatic
landscape of the Chi-
huahuan desert, this hotel offers
guests the ultimate in comfort
with each thoughtfully designed
suite complete with modern
amenities and stylish furnish-
ings. From the moment guests
step into the lobby of this inviting
Booking.comTravel Proud prop-
erty, the warmth of hospitality
from staff provides a home-away-
from-home feel. Guests can take
advantage of a host of amenities
including a well-equipped fit-
ness center, a refreshing outdoor
pool and a sun terrace. For those
traveling with furry companions,
pet-friendly accommodation is
available too. Conveniently lo-
cated, it’s just ashort drive from
the New Mexico Museum of
Space History and the magnifi-
cent White Sands National Mon-
ument, the largest gypsum dune
field in the world covering 275 sq
miles (442 sq km) and surround-
ed by the Sacramento moun-
tains. It’s highly recommended
that travelers time a visit to these
dunes with sunrise or sunset
when the bright white sea of sand
The Benefits of Living..
❰❰ 21 ing greater social and
self awareness which
can help significantly
in regulating your emotions and
moods. Being mindful helps re-
duce your stress and anxiety. Be-
ing mindful allows you to have
both self control and self disci-
pline. Being mindful also gives
you better objectivity and equa-
nimity. Mindfulness also helps
you with mental clarity and im-
proved concentration.
Practising mindfulness be-
gins with observing your breath-
ing. Try to put aside a time
during your day to focus on your
breathing exercises. This will
help you gain calmness amidst
the noise that surrounds you.
Next, during your days off, go
for long leisurely walks around
nature. This is a great stress buf-
fer. Make sure you avoid doing
too many things all at the same
time. Try to keep a daily journal
and take time to write things
that you’ve observed on a dai-
ly basis in your life. Be intent
in cultivating your awareness
of your environment, your self
and your relationships. Be more
is at its most magical. ■
*Travel Predictions 2024 re-
search commissioned by Book-
ing.com and conducted among
a sample of adults who plan to
travel for business or leisure in
the next 12-24 months. In total,
27,730 respondents across 33
countries and territories were
polled (including 1008 from Ar-
gentina, 1012 from Australia,
505 from Austria, 1001 from
Belgium, 1002 from Brazil, 1009
from Canada, 1009 from China,
1002 from Colombia, 508 from
Croatia, 504 from Denmark, 1011
from France, 1011 from Germany,
1016 from Hong Kong, 1004 from
India, 510 from Ireland, 504 from
Israel, 1014 from Italy, 1004 from
Japan, 1009 from Mexico, 1014
from The Netherlands, 1015 from
New Zealand, 500 from Portu-
gal, 502 from Singapore, 1010
from South Korea, 1009 from
Spain, 502 from Sweden, 507
from Switzerland, 504 from Tai-
wan, 1003 from Thailand, 502
from the UAE, 1007 from the UK,
1005 from the US and 1007 from
Vietnam). Respondents complet-
ed an online survey in July 2023.
attentive towards the present
moment, to your thoughts and
feelings. Being mindful is culti-
vating the right attitude: being
kind, non-judgmental, and stay-
ing curious about life in general.
ENCOURAGE YOURSELF
WITH POSITIVE TALKS.
When you change your shift
from negative thoughts to pos-
itive thoughts, this change in
shift boosts your overall health
and wellbeing. Having a daily
positive self-talk motivates and
encourages you to always put
things into right perspective
and always choosing to look on
the brighter side of things. In-
stead of telling yourself “it’s too
difficult!”, say to yourself, “it
sounds challenging but I’ve got
this!” Instead of telling your-
self, “I can’t do it!”, say: “I will
give this my best shot!” Instead
of saying, “my life is awful “, say:
“I am fortunate, my life could
be worse.” Instead of telling
yourself: “I will fail. I have al-
ways been this way”, say these
words: “I want to succeed and
I’m open to changes.”
Develop these positive self-
Caitlin Clark’s historic..
❰❰ 22 utive director, said,
“The possible doom of
college sports is near.”
One college football official
told reporter Sally Jenkins that
women’s sports advocates were
trying “to tear the shirts off our
backs.”
Despite the fearmongering,
college sports continued to
thrive. Nonetheless, over the
past 50 years, even though near-
ly all schools have been out of
athletic compliance with Title
IX, none has lost federal fund-
ing for violations. As Title IX
scholar Sarah Fields has written,
“Without punitive damages, the
law is limited: it is toothless.”
All along, change has come
not from the law’s mere exis-
tence but from students filing
complaints and lawsuits, and
the determination of adminis-
trators to use the law to carve
out and protect athletic oppor-
tunities for women. During the
1970s, those administrators
were almost all in the AIAW.
The NCAA elbows its way in
By the late 1970s, the U.S. De-
partment of Health, Education,
and Welfare had laid out clearer
talks for 14 straight days and it
eventually becomes a great hab-
it and attitude to have in order to
live your life more positively!
TAKE CARE OF YOUR-
SELF PHYSICALLY AND
EMOTIONALLY. Self-care and
personal care are vital to living
well and improve our physical
and mental health. When we en-
gage with a self-care routine on a
daily basis, we eliminate anxiety
and depression; we reduce our
daily stress and improve our en-
ergy and concentration. Taking
care of ourselves means taking
care of our happiness!
We must take time to nourish
and nurture ourselves on a daily
basis by eating healthy, getting
enough sleep, practising good
hygiene habits, going for regu-
lar medical checkups, relaxing,
avoiding stress triggers, and ex-
ercising. Indulge in cultivating
your creative outlets such as
playing a musical instrument,
drawing, painting, writing,
dancing and or singing! Watch
your favourite show or read a
good book. Go on mini vacations
from time to time or if you’re
www.canadianinquirer.net
standards for athletic compli-
ance with Title IX.
While the NCAA and AIAW
were not subject to the law, their
member institutions were, and
the two organizations’ efforts to
collaborate failed. Instead, the
NCAA, which had long fought
Title IX’s application in ath-
letics, changed course and set
its sights on taking control of
women’s sports.
The NCAA offered women’s
championships in all three di-
visions for the first time during
the 1981-82 school year. Lever-
aging all of its presumed legit-
imacy and financial resources,
the 75-year-old men’s athletic
organization offered all-expens-
es-paid women’s championships
on the same weekends as the un-
paid AIAW championships.
The strategy worked. The
AIAW lost significant members
and ceased operations in mid-
1982, despite the fact that women
athletes, coaches and adminis-
trators preferred its educational
model and leadership structure.
The NCAA made vague prom-
ises to support women’s athlet-
ics but refused to give women
like me that finds it hard to go on
a vacation because you have to
take care of your own business,
go out on romantic dinner dates
during weekends. Take time to
do things you enjoy!
LEARN TO LAUGH AT
YOURSELF AND IN LIFE
GENERALLY. Lastly, have a
great laugh every day! As we all
know by now, laughter releas-
es our feel-good hormones or
endorphins. Laughter brings
down our heart rate and blood
pressure. Laughter can help
stimulate our vital organs such
as heart, lungs, and muscles.
Don’t take life seriously and
moreover, don’t take yourself
so seriously. Having a sense of
humour helps us cope better
with stressful situations.
When we learn to laugh at
ourselves, we actually learn to
accept our mistakes in life much
better. Did you know that if you
have a sense of humour, it actu-
ally means that you are highly
intelligent! Having a great sense
of humour also attracts the right
people around us and helps us
connect better with different
MARCH 8, 2024 FRIDAY
more than token representation
on its governance boards. Wom-
en student-athletes were, for the
first time, led by a male-domi-
nated governance organization.
To this day, institutional sexism
remains entrenched in the NCAA.
Women hold only 41.3% of
head coaching positions for
women’s teams and 23.9% of
athletic director positions – roles
that were largely held by women
under the AIAW. A recent gen-
der equity review found that the
organization under-resourced
nearly all of its women’s cham-
pionships, a result of gender bias
and its focus on making money.
The NCAA and its corporate
partners would like you to believe
that their organization is the be-
all and end-all of college sports.
But the story of the AIAW
– created by and for women,
rejecting the crass commercial-
ism of the NCAA and empower-
ing student-athletes to speak up
– offers ideas for a more equita-
ble future for college sports. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
people. Personally, I prefer a
self-deprecating sense of hu-
mour, it’s so Canadian! Laughter
is such a powerful medicine: it
strengthens our immune sys-
tems, helps diminish our pain,
and protects us from the damag-
ing effects of stress in our daily
lives. Having a sense of humour
lightens our burdens, gives us
hope, and keeps us grounded.
Now that we’ve discovered
the seven major ways on how
we can live positively, I will
leave you with this quote by
Deep Roy, “Inspiration comes
from within yourself. One
has to be positive. When
you’re positive, good things
happen.” Train your mind to
see the good in every situation.
Know that if you can stay posi-
tive in a negative situation, you
end up always winning! ■
Matte Laurel-Zalko is a former
restaurateur and hotelier, a moth-
er, a wife, a health and wellness
aficionado, food and wine enthu-
siast, a dog-lover, and lifestyle col-
umnist exclusively for Philippine
Canadian Inquirer (PCI).
 MARCH 8, 2020
JULY 17, 2024 cx328
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