THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the country will sign at least 10 business-to-business deals during the Philippine delegation’s visit to Japan in late May accompanying President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez told reporters on Thursday at Malacañang that the DTI has so far received two memoranda of understanding and eight letters of intent from major Japanese firms intending to expand their local operations.
“These are big Japanese companies that we cannot ignore. They want to express their support and confidence in the current administrations and they want to indicate their intent to invest more,” Mr. Lopez said.
The deals are in the electronics, manufacturing, data analytics, artificial intelligence, services, energy, transportation, and tourism sectors, he said.
The Departments of Energy and Transportation are also expected to sign agreements, he said.
Mr. Lopez said the DTI is still finalizing its list of Japanese proposals and cannot come up with an estimate of their monetary value. The signings will take place at the roundtable meeting and business forum it will hold when Mr. Duterte and his delegation meet with Japanese investors.
He said only that he expects to be the deals signed to be “substantial.”
The DTI is still open to receiving letters of intent and business deal proposals from Japanese companies until the end of this week.
Mr. Duterte is set to visit Japan from May 29 to 31 on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s invitation, his which will be his third visit since 2016.
The visit coincides with the ongoing general review of the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership agreement, with Manila seeking easier entry for its agricultural products into Japan.
“We can expect hopefully improved market access of Philippine products going to Japan,” Mr. Lopez added.
According to DTI data, two-way trade volume between the Philippines and Japan was $20.02 billion in 2018, with exports at $9.47 billion and imports at $10.5 billion.
Last year, Japan was the Philippines’ “second major trading partner (out of 221), third export market (out of 211), and third import supplier (out of 198),” the DTI added. — Janina C. Lim
THE SUPER consortium’s proposal to rehabilitate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is now with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the Department of Transportation (DoTr) said.
Transportation Undersecretary for Planning Ruben S. Reinoso, Jr. told BusinessWorld in a text message Thursday the proposal of the super consortium was finally turned over to NEDA on Wednesday, moving it one step closer to awarding.
Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said two weeks ago he wants the project to move towards awarding in 90 days.
The group is offering to rehabilitate and expand NAIA over a 15-year period at a project cost of P102 billion. This is expected to increase the capacity of the Manila gateway from the current 30.5 million annual passengers to 47 million in two years and to 65 million in four years.
Before it was turned over to NEDA, the DoTr gave the consortium an April 30 deadline to adjust its concession terms. The concession terms had been under negotiation since September, when the group was given original proponent status for its proposal.
Now that the concession terms are with NEDA, it will be evaluated by the NEDA Investment Coordination Committee. It must then seek the approval of the NEDA Board, which is chaired by President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
If it passes NEDA, the proposal will undergo a Swiss challenge, under which other companies may submit counter-proposals that the consortium has the option to match. The awarding of the project will go to the winner of the Swiss challenge.
The super consortium is comprised of seven of the country’s top conglomerates: Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc.; AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp.; Alliance Global Group, Inc.; Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp.; Filinvest Development Corp.; JG Summit Holdings, Inc.; and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.
The group initially said it wants to conduct the Swiss challenge for the project by mid-2019, and to start operating NAIA by year’s end. — Denise A. Valdez
ENERGY Development Corp. (EDC) said it signed an agreement to supply power from its geothermal plant to Hamlin Industrial Corp.’s facility in Cavite.
In a statement Thursday, it said garment exporter Hamlin’s Carmona facility will be sourcing energy from EDC’s Bacon-Manito geothermal project in the Bicol region, adding to the clean and renewable energy company’s growing list of retail supply contracts.
The contract with Hamlin, the local unit of NST Group, was signed on April 23 in Cavite.
“We believe geothermal power is a great fit for our business. It is a great complement to the biomass boiler we have on-site, which powers our air conditioning systems, among others, using waste materials generated from production,” said Lawrence Delos Santos, Hamlin president and director of NST Apparel, in a statement.
NST also has production facilities in Portugal and China.
Marvin Kenneth Bailon, EDC head of business development, marketing, and trading, said: “We are happy to support businesses like Hamlin. Geothermal, for us, is the holy grail of renewable energy. It is clean, and it is baseload, hence it is reliable and can run 24/7 without depending on the seasons.”
In April, EDC signed up Mondelez Philippines, Inc., a unit of global snack group Mondelez International, Inc.
The company’s manufacturing plant in Sucat, Parañaque City is now powered by 100% geothermal energy as supplied by EDC’s Bacon-Manito geothermal plant.
Mondelez Philippines makes and distributes Eden cheese, Cheez Whiz, Tang powdered beverages, Oreo cookies, Toblerone, and Cadbury milk chocolate.
Also in April, EDC signed a similar deal with Neltex Development Co., Inc., a manufacturer of plastic pipe solutions.
Neltex also tapped geothermal energy from Bacon-Manito for its production facility in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
EDC is one of the world’s largest geothermal producers and the country’s leading renewable energy company with an installed capacity of 1,471.8 megawatts. It is a subsidiary of listed First Gen Corp., the country’s largest clean energy company, with a portfolio that includes natural gas, geothermal, solar, wind, and hydro. — Victor V. Saulon
DOUBLEDRAGON Properties Corp. subsidiary CityMall Commercial Centers, Inc. has agreed to lease its mall rooftops to common tower provider ALT Global Solutions, Inc. which proposes to build a network of cellular wireless towers.
In a statement Thursday, DoubleDragon said the agreement will allow ALT Global to lease up to 50 rooftops of CityMalls to be used for the company’s venture into the telecommunications infrastructure business.
“DoubleDragon continues to find ways to further optimize its revenues such as tapping new rental revenue streams from leasing of roof space for solar, advertising spaces in its string of strategic properties around the country, and from rooftop space leasing for common telco towers,” it said.
ALT Global is among the common tower providers that signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in March, seeking to build telecommunications infrastructure for mobile network operators. The firm is working with India’s Ganges Internationale Pvd. Ltd. for the business venture.
DoubleDragon said its rooftops are also currently being leased to solar companies, noting CityMall community malls and CentralHub warehouses are booked for an equivalent of 100 megawatts of solar capacity by 2020. This solar deal is expected to generate P100 million for the company.
“DoubleDragon’s portfolio of completed leasable space is like a large fuel tank and its secured leases are the fuel inside the tank which will ensure the continuous flow of rental revenues into the Company. As DoubleDragon completes more leasable space, the tank becomes bigger and as the Company secures more lease contracts the volume of fuel inside the tank increases,” DoubleDragon Chairman Edgar J. Sia II was quoted as saying.
The company hopes to have a total of 1.2 million square meters (sq.m.) leasable space by 2020, consolidated from 700,000 sq.m. from 100 CityMalls; 300,000 sq.m. from DD Meridian Park and Jollibee Tower; 100,000 sq.m. from Hotel101 and Jinjiang Inn Philippines; and 100,000 sq.m. from various CentralHub sites across the country.
“We look forward to the opening of the (real estate investment trust) market in the Philippines as it will enable DoubleDragon to unlock the value of its string of prime properties as well as generate new capital that will further boost the Company’s balance sheet and enable it to grow its portfolio of leasable space,” Hannah Yulo, chief investment officer of DoubleDragon, said in the statement. — Denise A. Valdez
It’s really difficult to provide a brief coherent set of reflections on the essence of what happened in the recent elections. There’s an intuition that what just took place constitutes a watershed in Philippine history.
Time will tell. But the feeling that something profound occurred is palpable.
It’s just too short a time for now to put a pulse on what it is.
A thought that comes to mind is that it made us as a people conscious of what democracy really means.
“People” here being meant all people, not just the rich, the ilustrados, the mestizo de buena familias that used to dictate where the country goes.
Perhaps accidentally with Estrada’s election but deliberately with Duterte and now confirmed last week, the People are putting a stamp on who they want.
Hopefully, and this more significantly, the People could also start knowing what they want.
The thing is, for so long, the pretentious and the presumptuous laid the frameworks for how politics and democracy are to be. But the political or academic frameworks are just constructs. And, in this case, not reflective of reality.
Take for example the numbers that depict the voting demographics: Classes AB and C are supposed to constitute 6% of the voting population, with D and E 94%.
What media, the elite, academics then conclude is that our democracy is dysfunctional because of the disproportionate dominance of the “lower” classes.
But those part of D and E were only identified also by way of a construct, mostly based on income. It does not reflect the fact that around 70% of the population has a grade school education or that around 40% finished high school, and that the country has a nearly perfect literacy rate (and around 85% functional literacy rate).
The point is, rather than asking how can AB and C dominate D and E, perhaps the better question is why are AB and C so disconnected to D and E? Because in reality (and constitutionally), voters really should have no distinctions as to income or class.
This is important: we are all equal. We know this because the constitutional system from which we borrowed ours places great import on this equality.
The Gettysburg Address, which most scholars consider as one of four (the others being the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution) “foundational” US documents begins with this assertion: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
PHILIPPINE STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS
If one does the math of “four score and seven years ago”, then Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Gettysburg Address refers to the 1776 Declaration of Independence, which in turn declares: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Aside from acknowledging our natural law tradition, the foregoing is stirring stuff, coming as it does amidst a time when monarchies and aristocrats and differing social classes ruled.
Liberal progressives would quibble about women suffrage and slavery. Historians would have better answers. What is undeniable is that the principles were there and those same principles we adopted. The problem is we seem to keep wanting to set it aside.
It does the country no good when people denigrate the intelligence and integrity of other voters just because their candidates lost.
Or when inconsistency is touted as the norm: screaming that a mediocre non-achiever be president in 2010 but then demanding in 2019 that senators have great CV’s on top of a law degree (both incidentally not required under the Constitution).
And certainly the country is lessened whenever those who lost try to subvert the election results, disrespect the People’s will, and refuse to cooperate with everyone in making this a better country.
Doubtless, there will be more to say of the recent elections and its impact on our society.
For now, just one more thing: the election’s biggest loser, apart from the opposition Ocho Derecho slate, seems to be the Catholic Church in the Philippines.
Tragically, due to a few rogue moonlighting clergy, the Church got widely perceived during these elections as ditching its teachings on same-sex marriage, SOGI, divorce, and contraception just to support anti-Duterte candidates.
Well, practically all the candidates of the so-called “Catholic Vote” were beaten.
Which leads to this bitter irony: because the candidates which the Catholic Church was perceived as opposing all won, the Senate’s numbers now seem to be comfortably against same-sex marriage, SOGI, divorce, and contraception.
So, the Catholic Church is now in the unfortunate situation of having a more receptive Senate but with its credibility damaged considerably.
Goes to show that one should not move away from one’s competency and (more importantly) of practicing what you preach.
Jemy Gatdula is a Senior Fellow of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations and a Philippine Judicial Academy law lecturer for constitutional philosophy and jurisprudence.
UNLESS there was widespread cheating and fraud on May 13, the Philippine electorate has apparently elected to the Senate enough Duterte candidates for that body to be fully under administration control.
Former Duterte Special Assistant Christopher “Bong” Go, former Philippine National Police Chief Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, and Ferdinand Marcos’s daughter Imee Marcos — the voters have put them in the Upper House of Congress, among others in the regime roster despite the thousands of extrajudicial killings and the sustained assault over the last three years on free expression, press freedom, human rights, and the democratization process, and worse, the consequences for the future.
Among those consequences are the likely resumption and completion of the regime drive for the adoption of a new Constitution and the shift to a federal form of government to complete in law as well as deed the country’s descent to authoritarian rule.
On the agenda is the weakening of the Bill of Rights if not its total trashing, the removal of term limits to enable Mr. Duterte, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and their accomplices to stay in power indefinitely, and the strengthening of warlord power at the regional level once the country is divided into semi-autonomous states.
To fears that the Senate will lose its already precarious independence with the election of Duterte allies, reelectionist and former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel III said it won’t — but said a few days later that a Senate dominated by PDP-Laban members and their surrogates will make it easier for the “legislative agenda” of President Rodrigo Duterte to pass that body.
That was precisely the point, the reason why Mr. Duterte campaigned so urgently for his candidates, why he insulted, belittled, cursed and derided the opposition — and why, already denied access to the funds, facilities and other advantages of the incumbent, the opposition candidates were further handicapped by such decisions of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as its designating the Marcoses’ Nacionalista Party as the dominant minority party, and by certain government agencies’ campaigning against them.
Mr. Duterte also wanted reaffirmation of support for such policies of his as the drug “war” and the country’s rapid transformation into imperialist China’s semi-colony. But his primary focus was to complete his drive for executive power unchecked by the supposedly co-equal judicial and legislative branches of government. A triumphalist Mr. Duterte can now do whatever he wants on the argument that the May 13 election results were clear indications of public support for his policies and official acts.
As crucial as his endorsement of his candidates was to the outcome of the Senate elections, it was still a largely disinformed and corrupted electorate that has once again placed the country in imminent danger.
To begin with, too many voters look at elections as nothing more than golden opportunities to sell their votes. Prior to Election Day, they allowed themselves to be herded like cattle to the rallies and meetings of the monied candidates, though not to be enlightened on the issues that confront this benighted land, but to applaud them for singing and dancing and to laugh at their tasteless jokes.
There are exceptions to these parodies of the exercise of the right to democratic choice. But relative to the vast millions they’re few and far between. If there were more informed and incorruptible voters the country would be governed by a Rizal, or at least by a Lee Kuan Yew or a Muhammad Mahathir, whose authoritarianism was at least partly offset by their competence and commitment to their people’s welfare.
Board of Election Inspectors and poll watchers start their day early as they prepare for the influx of voters at the Araullo High School in Manila on May 13. — PHILIPPINE STAR/MIGUEL DE GUZMAN
The behavior of the Philippine electorate is part of the culture of corruption, self-aggrandizement, indifference to the common good, ignorance and violence that has kept the Philippines at the tail end of development in Southeast Asia. It is among the reasons that have made democratization nearly impossible to achieve despite that process’ having began over a hundred years ago during the reform and revolutionary periods of Philippine history.
To a number of factors can we attribute the making of that culture. The country’s colonization first by Spain and then by the United States began and then cultivated it. Spanish colonialism made lawlessness a virtue by compelling the Indios to find creative ways to avoid forced labor, while the US colonial period made uncritical acceptance of oligarchic rule a civic duty.
After the “grant” of “independence” in 1946, the population was made to believe that democracy merely consisted of electing to office those candidates from the handful of urban and rural dynasties descended from the old principalia trained by the US in “self government” during its 46-year occupation of the Philippines.
Ruled and ruler share the same ideological assumptions, among them that of the virtue of keeping the supposedly democratic electoral and political system intact. The Catholic Church has been a willing collaborator in that enterprise, and so have the mass media and the educational system.
The Church in the Philippines has never gone beyond the vague instruction for the faithful to “vote wisely.” During the martial law period it actively opposed the Marcos dictatorship only when it realized that a critical mass had developed to overthrow it. In the current crisis of human rights and the rule of law, as an institution it has refused to endorse candidates for the Senate despite the threats, the insults to Catholicism, religion and God Himself Mr. Duterte has been unleashing at every opportunity. The separation of Church and State does not preclude its expressing its preferences as minority sects have done. But its prelates are apparently anticipating the not-so-remote possibility that the Duterte regime will last beyond 2022.
Meanwhile, not only have the error-filled textbooks of the corrupted educational system made false information resident in the brains of millions. It has also made conformity, mediocrity, obedience to authority and uncritical acceptance of the way things are rather than a lifelong commitment to learning and freedom the duties of citizenship.
The corporate media habitually lament the mass of voters’ ignorance of the issues without taking at least partial responsibility for it. Not only are some sectors of the press in deliberate complicity with the regime in misleading the citizenry and keeping it disinformed. The information disorder that afflicts millions is also a consequence of the media failure to provide the analysis and the critical, informed reporting so sorely needed in these desperate times.
Never has Dr. Jose P. Rizal’s observation on the need for an enlightened citizenry as a condition for the realization of true democracy been more cogent than today — and never has the power elite’s failure to provide it and its fostering mass ignorance instead been as apparent. Today as in the months before September 21, 1972, the country is once again at the threshold of another disaster from which it may never recover.
We have most of the voters to blame for it. They’re the millions who approve of mass killings, who’re indifferent to the violations of human rights, who despise intelligence and who’ve never read a book. They disparage democracy without knowing what it is and approve of tyranny because they can’t tell the difference. Miseducated and misled, it is they who, wallowing in their apathy, corruption and ignorance, elect every three years the same oligarchs and dynasts that made them what they are: the instruments of their own misery, and their own worst enemies.
Luis V. Teodoro is on Facebook and Twitter (@luisteodoro).
Kuala Lumpur — I just attended the “Asian think tanks dialogue on Innovation, Competitiveness and Development” in Kuala Lumpur sponsored by the Geneva Network (UK). The event, last Wednesday, was attended by mostly free market-oriented and independent think tank leaders with participants from China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines (me), Singapore, S. Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
The first presentation was “The Policy Ingredients for Innovation: Lessons From Abroad” by Nigel Cory, associate director for trade policy of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF, US). Nigel emphasized that intellectual property rights (IPRs) are essential for innovation because they (1) Create incentives for innovation and help repeat it in a virtuous cycle, (2) Induce knowledge spillovers that help others to innovate, (3) Attract investment and ensure companies can focus on innovating, (4) Promote the international diffusion of technology, innovation, and knowhow, and (5) Boost domestic levels of exports, R&D, and FDI.
The second paper was “The Role of IPR for Asian Development” by Philip Stevens, founder and director of Geneva Network. Philip showed a ranking of Asian economies, from the most to least innovative, in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2018 Report. I added the GII 2012 Report here to show changes in global ranking and scores of selected economies (see table).
Third paper was “IPR and Access to New Technologies” by Amir Ullah Khan, professor at Maulana Azad National University in India. Amir showed some glaring health data in India: 1 government doctor caters to 11,082 people, 1 government hospital bed to 1,908 people, and 80% of the population do not have significant health coverage.
Then he showed the negative impact of heavy government interventions like drug price control and patent-busting compulsory licensing: “With non-availability of cancer drugs, price controls have had a depleting effect on the efforts towards development of new antibiotics. Of the 18 largest pharma companies, 15 have stalled work in antibiotics due to economic, regulatory and scientific obstacles.”
Fourth and last paper was on “Emerging Policy Threats to Innovation” by Azrul Mohd Khalib, founder of the Galen Center for Health and Social Policy in Malaysia. Azrul discussed the IPR on health polices in four ASEAN countries. In Indonesia for instance, amendments to the Patent Law would require that the manufacture of patented products and use of patented processes should take place in the country. In Malaysia, there is concern on IP protection and enforcement because the government has either issued or threaten to issue compulsory licensing.
The Philippines has shown improvement in global ranking and score but it still belongs to the bottom half in ranking as shown in the above table. Now there is growing appreciation about the importance of innovation and IPR protection.
A BusinessWorld report, “IP protection applications rise 15% in 2018” (March 5, 2019) said, “IPOPHL said filings for patents, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, and copyright deposits in 2018 totaled 44,461, up 15% from a year earlier. Applications filed online totaled 10,346 last year, up 35%. This covers all IP types, except copyright deposits.”
While many Asian countries appreciate the value of innovation, there seems to be less appreciation on the value of IPR protection. As pointed out by Philip, among the weaknesses in Asian innovation are counterfeiting (3.3% of global trade in 2016, higher in Asia), online piracy, more difficult to secure and defend patents (compulsory licensing, restrictive patentability criteria like in Thailand, average of 16 years to gain a pharma patent).
There should be more understanding and appreciation by governments to promote and protect IPRs. Most physical property values now are predicated by non-physical property values, like shoes with “big check” logo and trademark are more expensive than lesser-branded logo.
Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is the president of Minimal Government Thinkers
“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
— Thomas Alva Edison, inventor
Talented and gifted individuals create splendid soulful works of art, literature, music, and dance. They discover mathematical formulae, genetic maps, various vaccines, technological marvels and cyber gadgets.
In a parallel sense, all of these are the concrete manifestations of profound mental and spiritual insights.
Great ideas have vastly improved the lives of millions of people and transformed the world.
In the past century and in this millennium, we have experienced and benefited from the revolutionary inventions and discoveries of brilliant minds. We have electricity, the polio vaccine, the X-ray, CAT scan, MRI and other machines, the automobile and the spaceship, the computer, the theory of relativity, robotic surgery, IVF (in vitro fertilization) and cloning, the mobile phone, to name a few.
We enjoy the immortal works from the past centuries — the sublime music of Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Tchaikovsky, the exquisite Renaissance artworks of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, the modern and surreal paintings of Picasso and Dali, the poetry and plays of Shakespeare, the philosophical writings of Aristotle, Socrates and Plato.
What do these creative individuals share? The insightful mind of a genius.
What makes a genius different from ordinary mortals? Is it true that a fine line separates genius and madness? Is eccentricity a characteristic of a genius?
One can only speculate or attempt to probe the highly creative mind. It is awesome to imagine the breadth of the gifted spirit. Just as it is impossible to measure infinity or plumb the depths of the ocean.
The artist Vincent Van Gogh is one genius on the edge. He had a consuming passion about life and interpreted it in a style different from the Impressionist Claude Monet. His angst and immense talent overflowed into shimmering sunflowers, moving landscapes and hypnotic starry nights.
Ironically, his paintings were not appreciated during his lifetime. He plunged into despair as he heard excruciatingly painful sounds within his head. (It was middle ear syndrome, and possible bipolar disorder that were not medically treatable at that time.) In a dark state of what he believed to be madness, he cut off his ear and later ended his suffering with a bullet. It was a monumental tragic loss.
Many decades later, his powerful masterpieces command staggering, record-breaking bids and sales at auctions. They are now enshrined in prestigious museums and private collections of the world. The genius was posthumously recognized and acclaimed. In June, the museum Lumiere will send his popular high-tech exhibition of moving lights and colors to Asia.
Genius spans the spectrum from the sublime to the malevolent. In diverse ways it has been good and bad for mankind.
History has seen spiritual leaders and men of peace such as Gandhi and egocentric maniacs who began world wars and systematic ethnic persecution and genocide.
Nuclear energy has been utilized as an alternative to fossil fuel and to vanquish enemy troops. Viruses and bacteria are used for life-saving vaccines and as ingredients of the diabolical biological weapons of mass destruction.
“Eureka” the grand insight does not come easily — not even for the genius.
Journals of scientists, artists and inventors reveal the arduous work, painstaking research, sleepless nights, the feverish desperation, frustration, sheer determination that go into an important creative project.
The emotional and commitment involved may surpass the material value or financial gain of the product. But the psychic income and level of fulfillment are beyond quantification.
Perhaps it is true that a tinge of madness is a spark for the creative mind to conceive a spectacular idea. It takes superhuman patience to wait and persist – despite the odds. Others may not readily understand the quixotic pursuit of a genius-dreamer. Who can comprehend the workings of a complex, superior mind?
Who else would imagine inventing an aircraft that defies gravity? The mythical Icarus once attempted to fly like a bird with his wax-sealed man-made wings. His impractical whimsical invention melted in the sun.
The visionary Leonardo da Vinci designed the prototype of the first aircraft several centuries before the Wright brothers flew in an airplane. He personified the genius, the true Renaissance man — the scientist-artist-historian-inventor who was known for his famous works Mona Lisa in the Louvre of Paris and Last Supper in Santa Maria Della Grazie in Milan. He designed and built an architectural maquette of a city complete with bridges and towers and he designed and made a hand pistol. Centuries later, millions of people are still fascinated by his enduring legacy.
“It takes chaos in the soul to give birth to a dancing star,” German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche once wrote in his Thus Spake Zarathustra.
In the local scene, genius may not be visible and tangible — outside the hallowed halls of the academe, the studios and laboratories. Instead, one finds some complex sculptures and published articles embellished with high-sounding words and impressive, incomprehensible statistics. To understand the pretentious makes one feel inadequate and intimidated.
The creators could have made their works basic and concise.
To summarize, the American musician Charles Mingus, one of the leading composers in jazz, interpreted and illustrated “genius” in one sentence: “Everyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.”
Maria Victoria Rufino is an artist, writer and businesswoman. She is president and executive producer of Maverick Productions.
THOSE who enter contests are usually confident of winning, even if only by a stroke of luck. Getting ready with a victory speech (let’s take it one game at a time) may be considered bad luck. But do candidates even mull over the possibility (sometimes a big one) of losing and what to say in a concession speech?
Political contests like the recently held one make defeat a public spectacle, covered by media. And, anyway there are always more losers than winners. So, what is the right etiquette for losing?
A gracious concession speech, best made in front of supporters, is proper. It should contain the following: gracious thanks to the believers for the sacrifices made (including being with the defeated candidate on this occasion, rather than switching to the victor on the other side — that will come a day later), a remembrance of the public service already rendered, an expression of appreciation for the opportunity to offer one’s talent to the people (who unceremoniously rejected it) and the occasion to have met so many people from all walks of life and understood their needs.
A concession speech must be brief, no more than three minutes. People are rushing out to go elsewhere.
Meeting the media with humility and humor is admirable. If asked how losing feels at this time, it is good to paraphrase Adlai Stevenson, the epitome of the gracious loser (because he lost more than once) — Too pained to laugh, and too old to cry.
A public congratulation to the winner (He won’t have time to chat to a loser, anyway) and an offer, no matter how insincere, to help without asking for any concession or position in return is seen as a class act — I will be here to serve the people as a private citizen.
So seldom is such etiquette for losing followed.
More often, the loser is embittered at the process that put him in the dark side of the room away from the lights of the television cameras in another part of the building — with the winner. He will hint that he will find another way of getting the prize denied him — this is a fight for principles. He will sulk and avoid any function where he is likely to bump into imagined tormentors.
A protest march, a prayer rally, or nowadays just as effective as a platform for whining, filing a case or an invitation for a congressional investigation, or a combination of these are means to give vent to the frustrations of the loser.
We see the bad-loser behavior too often to even be surprised by it. Still, the media fascination with the loser, who has fewer microphones thrust on his face, requires some grace and the attempt to revive the lost art of losing.
Chasing the prize required so much energy and monetary, as well as emotional, investment. Scruples were thrown away, stated beliefs junked as inconvenient, those formerly held in contempt sought for alliances, loyalties and friendships abandoned — all for a chance to win.
All losers share the burden of humiliation. Seldom does the loser grant or even allude to the superior ability and execution of the winner — he deserved to win.
Still, it is refreshing to note so many more concession tweets and mini-speeches in this last contest. The defeated mayor of Manila even invoked the truism of “vox populi, vox dei”, rendered in the vernacular. Will wonders never cease?
Companies losing their market dominance seldom concede with the admission of having an inferior product. They are upbeat. Competition will continue to be robust. Marketing is about choice and letting the consumer decide on the service that works for him. Can the promise of a new product or technology be far behind?
The art of losing has seldom been perfected. Why should it be? The focus of attention on the winner makes the loser a sideshow undeserving of courtesy. After all, one does not want to be good at giving concession speeches.
All the effort and practice go into trying to compete fiercely, and winning, and then preparing a nice victory speech — I reach out my hand to all those who lost in this contest. Better luck next time.
Maybe, it’s best for the loser to just leave the stage and quietly fade into the sunset…until the next contest.
AN EVENTFUL UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament boils down to one last game this weekend as the Ateneo Lady Eagles and University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses make a final go at being crowned University Athletic Association of the Philippines champions in their do-or-die Game Three match.
Set for Saturday, May 18, at 3:30 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena, the rubber match was forced after league-leading Ateneo staved off elimination with a four-set victory over UST, 26-24, 14-25, 25-21 and 25-15, in Game Two on Wednesday.
The Lady Eagles played better in the collective last time around than the series opener to keep their championship aspirations alive, with contributions coming from more sources.
Maddie Madayag led the way for Ateneo in the season-salvaging victory with 17 points followed by captain Bea De Leon with 13.
Kat Tolentino had 11 points with Ponggay Gaston and Jules Samonte finishing with nine and seven points, respectively.
Libero Dani Ravena also came off the bench to provide needed energy and hustle from which Ateneo took cue from as added motor.
“We just believed in one another and not let our hard work go to waste,” said De Leon, who is in her final year of playing in the UAAP, of the kind of mindset they had in Game Two.
Over at UST, the Tigresses remain bullish of their chances in completing a sensational season with a title in Game Three, this despite facing the prospect of playing with a not 100% fit Eya Laure, who injured her left ankle in the previous game.
Early in the third frame in Game Two and the game tied at a set apiece, rookie of the year Laure rolled her ankle after landing on the foot of Ateneo’s Tolentino.
She was then taken to the dugout to have her ankle iced and re-taped and managed to return.
But obviously she was feeling the effects of the injury and was not as effective as she wanted to be.
Graduating captain Sisi Rondina tried her best to tow her team with a game-high 22 points but it proved to be not enough.
Despite the injury, Laure still finished in double figures with 10 points with fellow rookie Ysa Jimenez adding nine points.
The Ateneo Lady Eagles are going for their third UAAP title and first since Season 77 while the Tigresses are looking to win their 17th crown and first since Season 72.
LOS ANGELES — Brook Lopez scored a playoff-career-best 29 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks used a fourth-quarter surge to defeat the visiting Toronto Raptors 108-100 Wednesday night in the opening game of the Eastern Conference finals.
Giannis Antetokounmpo added 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Bucks, who host Game 2 on Friday.
Malcolm Brogdon added 15 points off the bench for the Bucks, Nikola Mirotic scored 13 points, and Khris Middleton had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Kawhi Leonard led the Raptors with 31 points and nine rebounds, Kyle Lowry had 30 points, Pascal Siakam scored 15 points, and Marc Gasol had six points and 12 rebounds.
The Bucks, who trailed by as many as 13 points in the first quarter, scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to lead by one.
They took a three-point lead on Middleton’s 3-pointer with 7:50 remaining and were up by five on Brogdon’s running dunk with 6:33 to go.
The Raptors tied the game at 98 on Lowry’s 3-pointer with 4:02 to play. Leonard’s two free throws put Toronto ahead by two with 3:31 left.
The Bucks took a one-point lead on Middleton’s steal and Lopez’s dunk, and they led by four after a 3-pointer by Lopez with 1:55 left.
Eric Bledsoe made two free throws to bump the lead to six with 42 seconds to play, and Middleton’s two free throws made the advantage eight points.
The Raptors used a 16-0 run to take a 34-23 lead after one quarter.
Toronto had a 12-point lead during the second quarter before the Bucks battled back and pulled to within three on a Middleton step-back 17-footer that completed an 11-2 run.
Leonard capped the first-half scoring with a dunk, and Toronto led 59-51.
The Bucks opened the third quarter on an 8-2 run, drawing within two.
After the Bucks cut the margin to one, the Raptors went on a 9-0 surge capped by two free throws from Leonard with 6:33 left in the third.
The Bucks cut the deficit to four on a Lopez layup with 2:07 left in the quarter.
Siakam ended the third period with a 3-pointer, giving Toronto an 83-76 lead. The Bucks were 0-for-11 on 3-point attempts in the quarter, and they wound up 11 of 44 from long range. The Raptors sank 15 of their 42 3-point tries. — Reuters
NOT THAT they needed further proof of their winning legacy in the All-Filipino conference of the Philippine Basketball Association but the San Miguel Beermen did exactly that after claiming a fifth straight Philippine Cup title on Wednesday night.
Already the winningest team in Asia’s first play-for-pay league and the franchise with the most All-Filipino titles entering the just-concluded tournament, the Beermen added another cap under their feather with PBA title number 26 and Philippine Cup crown number nine after outlasting the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok in their best-of-seven finals series that went the full route.
But the latest conquest did not come easy for San Miguel, which had to dig deep all series long and, in particular, in Game Seven two days ago where they had their struggles in the opening half and barely survived in the end.
Trailed by as much as 17 points at one point in the game, the Beermen turned to good old grit and determination to fight their way back for the hard-earned 72-71 victory that afforded them to hoist another championship trophy.
Veteran Alex Cabagnot led San Miguel with 18 points, a big chunk of which coming in the second half where they made their way back.
Reigning league most valuable player June Mar Fajardo had his struggles but still wound up with huge numbers of 18 points and 31 rebounds.
Arwind Santos, the lone bright spot for the Beermen in the early goings of Game Seven, also had 17 points to go along with 11 boards.
Winning their fifth straight All-Filipino title, the significance of it is not lost to the San Miguel players, underscoring that it is a product of a collective effort on their part.
“Definitely it’s a legacy win which is a result of a lot of hard work, dedication and patience by the entire team. It was a tough series with Magnolia but we did it,” said Marcio Lassister, who is with the team for all of the five straight Philippine Cup titles.
For Messrs. Cabagnot and Fajardo, it was in not giving up that they were able to stretch their stranglehold on the All-Filipino title, something they are very proud of.
“It was extremely difficult. We went back-and forth and Magnolia put up a tough fight. Our camaraderie did it for us. We won it collectively as a group. We are just thankful,” said Mr. Cabagnot, named player of the game in the sudden death.
“Credit to my teammates for not giving up. Even if we were down we never lost hope and kept fighting,” Mr. Fajardo, for his part, said.
Incidentally, for averaging 22.9 points, 19.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks for the entire seven games, Mr. Fajardo was adjudged finals MVP.
Meanwhile, the PBA will have a short turnaround as it is set to begin the midseason tournament Commissioner’s Cup on Sunday, May 19.
An import-laden conference, the tournament will kick off with the Blackwater Elite taking on the Meralco Bolts in the 4:30 p.m. game while the Alaska Aces play the Columbian Dyip at 6:45 p.m. Venue is the Mall of Asia Arena. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
