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Malditas fall short of sweep but advance to next round of qualifiers

THE Philippine women’s national football team did not get the sweep it was angling for in the opening round of the 2020 Olympic Football Asian Qualifiers but the Malditas are nonetheless advancing to the next phase of the competition after finishing second in their group.
Lost to Chinese Taipei, 5-0, on Tuesday at the Hisor Central Stadium in Tajikistan in their final game in Group A, the Malditas had to settle for second place with a 3-1 record.
It was enough though to advance to the second round of the qualifiers set for April next year where they hope to make further waves in the hopes of advancing to the Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Against Chinese Taipei, the Philippines tried hard to keep in step with its opponent and was successful for much of the opening half.
But when the Chinese-Taipei broke through in the 41st minute care of Lai Li Chin, it was simply unstoppable for the Philippine Malditas.
After that goal, a second came three minutes later from Lee Hsiu-chin.
Three more goals came in the second half – Yu Hsiu-chin (57’), Ms. Lee (65’) and Lin Hsin-hui (81’) – to complete the rout for Chinese-Taipei.
The loss halted what was an impressive run for the Malditas in round one of the qualifiers that had them beating Singapore, 9-0, host Tajikistan, 3-1, and Mongolia, 5-1.
The second place finish in the first round of the qualifiers was a continuation of the spirited showing of the women’s team of late, including that in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Jordan 2018 last April and the AFF Women’s Championship 2018 in Palembang in July.
In the second round, the Malditas and Chinese Taipei are joined by Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Myanmar, Nepal, Palestine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Barangay Ginebra lives to fight another day

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
DEFENDING champions Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings staved off elimination on Wednesday as they defeated the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok, 107-103, in Game Three of their best-of-five Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup finals series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Down 0-2 in the series entering the contest, the Kings dug very deep in Game Three to survive and extend the series.
They did so by bucking a rough second quarter and stepping up in the second half before hanging tough in the end to narrow their series deficit.
Barangay Ginebra held a slim one-point lead, 23-22, at the end of the first quarter after which Magnolia turned things around, outscoring the Kings, 36-19, in the second quarter, led by Marc Barroca, to hold a 58-42 lead at the halfway point of the contest.
In the third quarter, import Justin Brownlee and Scottie Thompson led a ferocious fight back by the Kings.
They came to within seven points, 66-59, midway into the frame and eventually seized the lead, 79-78, with three seconds to go.
But Mr. Barroca gave the lead back to the Hotshots, 81-79, with a buzzer-beating heave to finish the quarter.
The Kings got it going at the start of the fourth, racing to a 21-8 scoring lead to build an 11-point cushion, 100-89, after the first seven minutes.
Magnolia though would not let Barangay Ginebra pull away, answering with a 12-1 blitz in the next four minutes to tie the count at 101-all.
Import Romeo Travis scored with 53 seconds to go to push the Hotshots to the lead, 103-101.
Mr. Thompson got back with a deuce nine seconds later to tie the knot anew at 103-all.
A passing error by Paul Lee with 33 ticks left gave back the ball to Barangay Ginebra, which made full use of it with LA Tenorio scoring with 14 seconds remaining to make it 105-103 for the Kings.
Mr. Lee tried to win it for Magnolia with a triple with four seconds to go but it failed to connect, forcing them to foul Mr. Tenorio off a rebound.
Mr. Tenorio iced the game by coolly draining his freebies for the final score.
Barangay Ginebra was led by Mr. Brownlee with 46 points, 19 rebounds and five assists.
Mr. Thompson had 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Mr. Tenorio had 14 points.
Mr. Barroca was the high-point man for the Hotshots with 19 followed by Mr. Lee with 17 and Ian Sangalang 16.
Magnolia import Travis only had 12 points to go along with 10 boards.
Game Four of the series is set for Nov. 16 at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

Poverty data vs banking, mobile phones and Internet access

“Something terribly wrong with a program that grows ever larger even when prosperity for everyone else is increasing. We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.”

— Ronald Reagan,
40th US President

Among the economic phenomena that I am skeptical about is the continued high poverty incidence of the Philippines. I often go to provinces especially in rice farming villages and among the things I notice is that the poor hardly ride animals or bicycles anymore, they ride motorcycles, electric bikes, or buses and vans. Farmers hardly use cows and carabaos to till the farms, they use hand tractors or big tractors. The poor now communicate via e-mails and social media, not slow mails or smoke signal.
I suspect that there is some corruption in the design and measurement of poverty because there is big public money involved in high poverty: multi-billion pesos of continuing loans with WB-ADB; big budget yearly for welfare agencies like DSWD, DepEd, CHEd, DoH; big pork barrel (explicit and implicit) for legislators, national and local governments; big projects for consultants and academics; even big indirect funding for NGOs.
From ADB’s Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific (KI) 2018, here are some data on poverty (see Table 1).
Table1
See that the Philippines has higher poverty incidence than Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam, and nearly similar as India and Laos?
There are several possible proxies for poverty, like low access to formal credit markets like bank accounts, low access to modern telecoms and the web. From four selected factors, they belie the high poverty incidence data of the Philippines: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) people have lower access to formal credit markets, LTE mobile and Internet access. India and Indonesia have lower access to LTE network, mobile phones, Internet access, etc. (see Table 2).
Table2
Reagan was right. Any serious, honest and successful welfare, anti-poverty programs by government should result in a decline in the number of the poor and state-dependent, subsidy-seeking people.
What we often have are either dishonest, unsuccessful welfare and anti-poverty programs so that the current poverty incidence is similar to those three decades ago and will remain so two decades from now. Or the programs somehow were successful but implementers, lenders and consultants have invented new schemes so that revised definitions and measurements of poverty always lead to high poverty incidence.
So government invents new taxes and fees, or raise existing taxes and fees, to finance new programs and bureaucracies to “fight poverty” endlessly.
If there is more honesty in reducing poverty, the budget for welfarism, the number of bureaucracies and politicians, the rates of taxes and fees, should flatline and even decline through time. This is hardly happening.
Here is an old anecdote about poverty:

Politician: Thank God for poverty, it provides my political platform.

Consultant: Thank God for poverty, my occupation is to study it.

ODA lender: Thank God for poverty, we endlessly lend money for it.

Poor: I feel so appreciated, thank God.

Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is the president of Minimal Government Thinkers.
minimalgovernment@gmail.com

Making the workplace safe(r)

In August 2018, Republic Act 11058, otherwise known as “An Act Strengthening Compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Standards and Providing Penalties for Violations Thereof,” was enacted. This law seeks to enforce stricter and wider coverage for compliance with safety rules in the workplace, and provides that “the State shall ensure a safe and healthful workplace for all working people by affording them full protection against all hazards in their work environment. It shall ensure that the provisions of the Labor Code of the Philippines, all domestic laws, and internationally recognized standards on occupational safety and health are being fully enforced and complied with by the employers, and it shall provide penalties for any violation thereof.” The Act makes it clear that employee safety is primarily the responsibility of the employer.
Unlike the previous Philippine Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Standards for work establishments, the new law specifies clear penalties for violations. For instance, a fine of P100,000 per day is imposed for an employer’s willful failure or refusal to comply with OSH standards until the violation is corrected. Worker competency certifications are also strictly enforced, particularly for those performing critical operations. Competency standards and assessment procedures will be established by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).
The essence of the Act is greater protection for worker’s rights to safety. Thus, the law provides workers with the right to refuse to work if, based on DoLE’s assessment, there is imminent danger that may result in illness, injury, or death. Also, workers are ensured of protection from any potential retaliation when they report workplace accidents, dangerous occurrences, and hazards to DoLE and other competent agencies.
Compared with the OSH Standards, the new law clearly encompasses all types of business and non-government entities. These include establishments under the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and all kinds of business enterprises — even micro and small enterprises. Thus, all types of nongovernment institutions are covered, such as academe, media, and NGOs. The new law also specifies the coverage areas for safety rules, which include, among others, emergency preparedness and response plan; waste management system; dust control and management; provision of workers’ welfare facilities; provision of safety signs; provision and use of personal protective equipment (PPE); and safety and health promotion, training, and education.
In light of the expanded coverage of the new safety law, governance mechanisms must be effective, responsive, and sustainable. The organization’s structure for accountability and responsibility is critical because the challenge lies in the implementation of the safety rules. Organizational members must discuss and set clear agreements on how implementation, monitoring, and evaluation should proceed. The atmosphere should be in the context of enhancing employer-employee relationships, not merely avoiding legal sanctions. Both parties should recognize that it might be difficult for them to clearly identify and anticipate all possible hazards that could occur in the workplace. As such, both management and employees must constantly be alert for potential hazards or sources of harm in the workplace.
hard hat office
The documentation of operational procedures is equally important. Using digital technology for information and communication systems on safety can contribute to efficient control systems. However, these technical mechanisms do not fully guarantee workplace safety. The workers’ attitudes toward risk are an important factor, such as their acceptance on what constitutes as imminent danger in the workplace. This psychosocial dimension spells the difference between workers’ “ignorance” about and “ignoring” certain hazards in the workplace.
Laying out the organizational structure for safety compliance should take into account the political dynamics among key persons. The bargaining for power or sharing of decision making among groups may not be straightforward as usually, several units (e.g., Administration Office, Security and Safety Office, Sustainability Office, Medical Unit, Corporate Social Responsibility Unit) are responsible for safety within the organization. In the emergency preparedness and response plan, for instance, which unit should lead the Incident Command Center?
To comply with the employee safety law, governance mechanisms must be done in good faith by both employer and the employees. Reasonable timeframes should be set. Motivating factors, such as recognition and rewards, should be in place. A grievance committee should also handle complaints and form acceptable solutions.
The new safety law hopefully will create and nurture a culture of resilience and preparedness in all types of establishments. After all, as can be seen in some workplace safety posters, “Safety rules are your best tools.”
 
Dr. Rachel Alvendia-Quero is an associate professorial lecturer at the Management and Organization Department, Ramon V. Del Rosario College of Business of De La Salle University, Manila. She teaches Human Resource Management with Organizational Behavior as well as Business Organization and Management. She has done research studies on the private sector’s role in disaster risk reduction and management.
rachel.quero@dlsu.edu.ph

Spies in your coffeemakers

About 10 years ago, a very good friend lent me a book by authors Kieron O’Hara and Nigel Shadbolt, both based in the United Kingdom. Titled The Spy in the Coffee Machine, I found the book to be a very interesting read. In fact, it came to memory just recently as I noted the news report on a proposed law to make mobile numbers “portable,” or that a person can maintain his cellular number for life.
I guess it goes without saying, that as a matter of course, for mobile portability to work, any and all mobile numbers in use must first be registered, whether post-paid or prepaid. Otherwise, portability will not work. And with registration comes a government or private database, whether electronic or otherwise, that captures a person’s personal information and other data. And there is no harm in that, right?
Reading this, the old book came to mind. The book, published by OneWorld in 2008, discussed the emergence of “hyper-surveillance,” as the authors noted that as more and more people increasingly used technology for work and leisure, all their electronic activity would actually “leave behind digital footprints that can be used to track our movements.” Of course, there is nothing wrong with digital footprints being tracked, right?
The “spy,” as they called it, was now in all our cars, telephones or mobile phones, and even coffee machines, through what they referred to as “tiny computers communicating wirelessly via the Internet [that] can serve as miniature witnesses, forming powerful networks whose emergent behavior can be very complex, intelligent, and invasive.”
The book posed the question: “How much of an infringement on privacy are they? Exposing the invasion of our privacy from CCTVs to blogs, The Spy in the Coffee Machine explores what — if anything — we can do to prevent it from disappearing forever in the digital age, and provides readers with a much-needed wake-up call to the benefits and dangers of this new technology.”
I consider the book, while dated, required reading for those interested in knowing more about surveillance. It used to be that the ability of an inanimate object, like a coffee machine, was limited to “following commands.” But, with the era of customization, we have actually allowed these inanimate things, through technology and artificial intelligence, to understand, learn, and even memorize or recall our peculiarities, desires, wants, preferences, attitudes, and behavior.
To discuss this further, consider that newer coffee machine can be set, after several use, to learn our preferences, and to automatically regulate the amount of coffee grounds and water, the temperature of the water, as well as time of brewing that we prefer. All that information, which relates to you personally, is stored in some chip within the machine, which allows the machine to call out information when necessary.
In this sense, that little “spy” in your machine — through mathematical algorithms — can already estimate or approximate what time you wake up and how long you sit for breakfast, and maybe even the time you depart your home for work. That is by using standards and averages, among other information. And if you are the type to have coffee at home daily, it also can detect the days when you are not at home.
Imagine if that particular information can be “accessed” from your machine by someone else, and the data available from the machine can establish a pattern of behavior. In the old days, intelligence operatives would have to regularly go through a subject’s garbage over a long period of time to gather “raw” intelligence, and the same data will have to go through intelligence “analysts” just to establish the subject’s patterns of behavior. In this case, perhaps accessing your coffee machine may be enough?
Back in the day, one needed to physically go to the bank to open an account. In turn, one is issued a passbook, and only through that passbook can people transact with the bank. In this sense, your data cannot be hacked, and your money cannot be moved or “stolen” electronically. And, physical money was in the bank vault. Nowadays, however, a bank doesn’t even need a physical branch to operate.
In pushing his Mobile Number Portability bill, which will allow one to keep his or her mobile number even if she or she switches to another network provider or changes subscription from postpaid to prepaid, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian noted, “With this law, there is freedom of movement.”
Frankly, I don’t see it that way, especially if mobile “portability” will result in mandatory mobile registration. That registration database — matching names with pictures and mobile numbers as well as other personal information — will just be another “digital footprint” that can be hacked, and the information possibly misused. In fact, given the widespread mobile use, mobile SIM registration may be an easy way to expediting the implementation and use of national ID system.
Couple this with the ability to track phones and their owners through GPS and cell sites, and match this with face-recognition software employed through public and private CCTV networks, then “Big Brother” is now more a reality than fiction. George Orwell must be laughing in his grave. He wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1949. That was almost 70 years ago. But his concerns about a totalitarian leader who watched and controlled people constantly is now a reality.
 
Marvin Tort is a former managing editor of BusinessWorld, and a former chairman of the Philippines Press Council.
matort@yahoo.com

Why PHL elections are not competitive

By Benjamin R. Punongbayan
It may not be obvious to many; but elections in the Philippines are manifestly not competitive. A clear symbol of that condition is the apparent permanent existence of political dynasties, composing of 100 or so families in the Philippine political setting. It may be difficult to discern whether this permanence of political dynasties is the effect or the cause of improper election practices but, just the same, it may be worthwhile to highlight what I think are the two most significant election campaign practices that make our elections not competitive.
I define competitiveness in an election as the condition where opposing candidates contest their election to public office based on their respective merits that are observable from their personal qualifications and proven or potential abilities that the public office they seek requires. I would like to add similar things for the comparative ideology of their respective political parties but, unfortunately, political parties in the Philippines have become silent about their strong beliefs and, it follows, that they have not been engaged in the pursuit of any ideology. Moreover, the political party’s useful societal function of filtering the best candidate from its own cell to oppose a similar choice from the opposing political party has become extinct for a long time now. Philippine political parties are dead and now just serve as merely pieces of distinguishable clothing that are oftentimes replaced at a whim. And so, we need to deal solely with the candidates themselves.
An absolutely improper election practice is vote buying. In fact, this is a practice that is clearly identified as illegal in the Omnibus Election Code, and is punishable by imprisonment and disenfranchisement of both the vote buyer and the vote seller. Vote buying is a rampant practice in Philippine elections, especially in local area elections (as opposed to national elections) — those for local officials, including barangay officials, and congressmen.
In a particular geographical area, I was told that the current price ranges from P500 to P1,500 per vote. The price is generally higher at the mayor level as compared to governor or congressman level. It is higher for a voter in the opposite camp as opposed to a voter already identified with a candidate. The scope of buying is retail and not wholesale. This means that a candidate buyer buys the vote only for himself and the price does not cover support for his allies running for other positions. A vote seller may, therefore, get multiple vote buys equivalent to the number of positions to be voted upon on election day.
With vote buying being rampant all over the Philippines, it is a big wonder why the Comelec and the entire government machinery do not prosecute this evil practice. Is the neglect deliberate? Is it deliberate in the sense that the current officials want to keep the elected posts within themselves and their family members, and prevent others from getting in?
If the government wants to eradicate this practice or at least keep it to a bare minimum, I am sure that it can devise a way to catch some of the evildoers, both vote buyers and vote sellers, and at the very least, disenfranchise all of them to give a clear warning to others. I do not think it requires rocket science to develop an effective plan and process to catch these lawbreakers. But the Comelec and the entire government machinery never did and, apparently, will not do any such thing. This is indeed a big puzzle!
Clearly, the candidates spend quite a lot of money in buying votes to get elected to a position that provides a small salary. Even a mayoral candidate in a small town of 20,000 voters will need to spend at least P10 million to buy votes. It will be foolish to say that the elected candidate will not try to recoup his “investment.” This practice of vote buying inevitably leads to corruption and, in turn, corruption leads to another round of vote buying — a vicious cycle indeed.
The other significant improper election practice that I would like to cite is the deliberate effort made by some religious groups to influence the outcome of the elections. These religious groups include those that do not maintain physical churches of worship. These groups get their members to vote for their chosen candidates either by formally endorsing the selected candidates to their members or by inviting the chosen candidates to their public meetings.

elections
PHILIPPINE STAR/EDD GUMBAN

Many may say that it is within the rights of these religious groups to anoint election candidates. But I want to point out that these religious groups are different from other citizen groups. They are given a privilege by the state in the form of tax exemption — a privilege the effect of which is borne by all citizens and, therefore, they must not favor any specific candidate over another. Otherwise, they are abusing that privilege. Moreover, there is the doctrine in our Constitution about the separation of Church and State. I believe that this doctrine embraces a requirement that the Church must not interfere with the election process by supporting specific candidates over others.
Some politicians go to excess in trying to get the favor of these religious groups. Every now and then newspaper ads appear where these politicians express good wishes to a religious group or its leader on occasions for celebrations by the group. I find those ads too fawning and, as such, borders on being distasteful.
Of course, we cannot require these religious groups not to influence the elections. But if they want to, they must be stripped of the privilege of tax exemption. They cannot have it both ways. They have to choose one or the other. Accordingly, the government must pass a law to that effect and enforce it vigorously.
There is another reason why we need to impose such a law. There is a question of what consideration is given by the candidates to these religious groups in exchange for their support. It would be naive to say that there is no consideration at all taking place. I will leave that to your imagination. But whatever it is, it adds to the regime of unfairness in our society.
These are just two instances in a specific area of government activity where we are unable to provide a solution to maintaining an even playing field for all of our citizens. We do not have yet the competence to deal with these issues. This lack of competence is prevalent in many, many more areas of state governance, as are evident in the whole array of government institutions and bureaucracy.
The contemporary political philosopher Francis Fukuyama has stated that sustainable economic development is not possible without the presence of the condition of government competence. He made this conclusion on the basis of his observation of the political and economic development of many countries. It is a very convincing statement. On this basis, we need to focus urgently on improving competence in the whole range of state governance. But, sadly, our government, past and present, has instead been looking for scapegoats for its inability to improve the lives of Filipinos, especially those of the very large number of our suffering poor. Its current favorite lightning rod is the existing Constitution.
The Philippine government must accept and face frontally the real problems. Otherwise, its chosen solution is bound to fail. And as an additional consequence, the country loses valuable time as has happened repeatedly over the long past.
 
Benjamin R. Punongbayan is the founder of Punongbayan & Araullo, one of the Philippines’ leading auditing firms.
ben.buklod@yahoo.com

Players union FIFPro says survival of smaller clubs and leagues at risk

ZURICH — Global footballers’ union FIFPro has warned that the survival of smaller clubs and leagues is at risk, potentially affecting thousands of jobs, due to the increased concentration of wealth in the sport.
The union’s comments followed reports on the ‘Football Leaks’ documents obtained by German publication Der Spiegel and reviewed by Reuters in partnership with European Investigative Collaborations, a network of international media, earlier this month that plans for a Super League were back on the agenda.
Der Spiegel said a fresh plan had recently been drafted by Spanish company Key Capital Partners for Real Madrid which foresees 11 top European clubs creating a Super League in 2021.
Key Capital Partners has not commented on the report.
“It is important that the top clubs and competitions recognize they have a responsibility towards the entire industry,” FIFPro said in a statement on Tuesday.
“It is the collective responsibility of all stakeholders to protect the integrity and values of football.”
FIFPro said the current system, which gives all clubs the possibility to take part in European competition through sporting merit, needed to be maintained.
“The sustainability of the professional football pyramid needs to be safeguarded,” it said.
“The economic survival of smaller clubs and leagues is at risk and competitiveness within championships is vanishing. This affects millions of fans, thousands of jobs for players and raises serious questions about the viability of the industry.
“FIFPro supports a united football industry and the benefits of connected competitions.”
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said last week that any players involved in a breakaway league would be barred from playing for their national teams, including at the World Cup.
“We will… defend the ability of players to represent their country and their right to offer their services to any club,” said FIFPro.
“We are strongly opposed to the prospect of these freedoms being limited as a consequence of a fight between competition organizers.” — Reuters

Aces, Bolts shoot for 2-1 semis series lead

WITH their best-of-five Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup semifinal series knotted at one game apiece, the Alaska Aces and Meralco Bolts shoot for the go-ahead when they collide anew for Game Three today at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
The Aces levelled the series with a 100-95 victory in Game Two on Tuesday, showing steadiness in play notwithstanding the determination of the Bolts in trying to get the win and keep their winning streak going.
Import Mike Harris led the Aces in the win with 37 points and 19 rebounds with Simon Enciso adding 23 points.
Chris Banchero had a near triple-double of 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
For Meralco it was import Allen Durham who showed the way with 24 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds,
Nico Salva had 20 points while Baser Amer finished with 14.
The Bolts came back late in the contest, narrowing their deficit to just one point, 96-95, with 14 seconds remaining but they could not complete the comeback as the Aces held tight and preserved the win.
“We got out of a hole and we’ve now got a best-of-three,” said a relieved Alaska coach Alex Compton, whose team did not get its game going as much as it wanted to in the series-opener.
“That’s basketball and they are a great team. We expect nothing less from them and we had to match up with them,” Mr. Harris, meanwhile, said of the near comeback of the Bolts in Game Two.
For Meralco, the loss halted its spectacular winning streak to seven games, an ascent that allowed them to book a place in the playoffs by way of the backdoor and bucked a twice-to-win handicap in the quarterfinals against the Phoenix Fuel Masters.
Meanwhile, the Bolts’ Amer was named PBA player of the week for the period of Nov. 5 to 11 as he played a key role in his team’s resurgence in the ongoing tournament.
The former San Beda star averaged 18 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.6 steals in said period.
In winning the award, Mr. Amer beat out teammate Chris Newsome, Magnolia’s Paul Lee, Barangay Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar and Alaska’s Vic Manuel. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Windup of Asian Para Games

There is a lot of action going on now. In Tagaytay we have the Asian Seniors Championship where IM Angelo Young (remember him?) won the Active (15 minutes + 10 seconds increment) and IM Chito Garma is closing in on the Standard (90 minutes + 30 second increment) Championship. In Khanty-Mansiysk the 2018 Women’s World Championship KO event is in full swing while in Kolkata there is the super-strong Tata Steel Rapid event where Wesley So, Vishy Anand, Lev Aronian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Sergey Karjakin and Hikaru Nakamura are testing the mettle of the local Indian players, and the Indians are doing quite well!
The main event, of course, is the World Championship match which started last Friday with Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana squaring off. For the first time in a long while it is the world’s no. 1 facing no. 2 (only 3 ELO points separate them!) for the title and so far the games are worthy of the event.
But please allow me to finish our coverage of the Asian Para Games. As you may recall the Philippine chess team had a historical performance and accounted for half of the entire gold medal haul of the country:
GOLD MEDALS

Standard, Individual P1 (physical disability), FM Sander Severino

Standard, Team P1, Sander Severino, Henry Lopez, Jasper Rom

Standard, Team B2/B3 (partially blind), Menandro Redor, Arman Subaste, Israel Peligro

Rapid, Individual P1, FM Sander Severino

Rapid, Team P1, Sander Severino, Henry Lopez, Jasper Rom

SILVER MEDALS

Standard, Individual B2/B3, Menandro Redor

Rapid, Individual P1, Henry Lopez

BRONZE MEDALS

Standard, Individual P1, Jasper Rom

Standard, Individual B2/B3, Arman Subaste

Rapid, Individual P1, Jasper Rom

Rapid, Individual B2/B3, Arman Subaste

Rapid, Team B2/B3, Arman Subaste, Menandro Redor, Israel Peligro

Rapid, Team B1 (totally blind), Francis Ching, Rodolfo Sarmiento, Cecilio Bilog

In silent salute of our heroes I will showcase to you some of their best games.

Rom, Jasper Belarmino (2230) — Kutwal, Shashikant Appaso (2301) [B23]
P1 MEN RAPID (7.3), 12.10.2018 [Jasper Rom]

In both the Standard and the Rapid Sections the Philippine Team had secured the gold medals with a round to spare. Henry Lopez got hot in the Rapid Section and was all set to take the silver — this is in addition to Sander Severino’s gold.
I wanted very much to complete the sweep of the section by garnering the bronze medal, however, standing in my way is IM Kutwal who is the 2017 World Chess Champion for the Disabled (not to say anything about him being the silver medalist in the previous year you can read all about his life story in <https://chessbase.in/news/im-shashikant-kutwal/> Nonetheless, I was determined to go for the historical sweep by Team Philippines.
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.f4 Nc6 4.Nf3 d5 5.Bb5 Nge7 6.exd5 exd5 7.Qe2 Qd6 8.Ne5
Here I usually play Bxc6 but for some reason I felt like another move on this day. 8.Ne5 has a hidden threat, by the way. If Black allows it I will play 9.Nxd5! Black cannot recapture with the knight because of discovered check along the e-file: 9…Nxd5 10.Nxc6+, so he has to take back with the queen. After 9…Qxd5 though there follow 10.Bc4 Qd6 11.Nxf7 Qf6 12.Nxh8 and Black’s position is a mess.
8…f6
The most logical move. Some Black players have played 8…Bd7 here hoping for 9.Nxd5 Nxd5 10.Nxc6+ Qe6 11.Ne5 Nxf4 where the game with now peter out into a drawish position: 12.Bxd7+ Qxd7 13.Nxd7+ Nxe2 14.Nxf8 Nd4 15.Kd1 Rxf8; However White does not need to go into that. After 8…Bd7 9.Bxc6 Bxc6 10.Nb5 Qb8 (10…Bxb5? is a mistake because of 11.Qxb5+ Nc6 12.Qxb7 White wins material; 10…Qd8 11.f5! f6? 12.Qh5+) 11.0–0 Black still has to find a way to untangle his pieces.
9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.Ba4 Kf7 11.d3 Qe6 12.Bd2 Qxe2+ 13.Nxe2 Bd7 14.0–0–0 h5 15.c4 Bg4
Black could have tried to lock-out my a4–bishop from the game with 15…d4, but then my knight will have full scope. I intended 16.Ng3 to go to e4, if Black counters with 16…f5 then simply 17.Ne2! followed by Ng1–f3 with the target squares e5 or g5, and my a4–bishop is not locked out either, after Rdf1 and Bd1 it will go to f3 with a nice diagonal for it to watch over.
16.Rde1 Rc8 17.Nc3 Be6 18.Bb3 d4?!
I don’t agree with the text, which gives White’s knight access to e4. By hook or by crook Black should strive to maintain his pawn on d5 with 18…Rd8.
19.Ne4 Nf5 20.Bd1 Bd6?
[20…g6 is correct]
21.g3?
I was so concentrated on cutting down Black’s chances for counterplay that I missed Bxh5+ and a subsequent g4.
21…Ke7 22.Bf3 Kd7 23.b3 Rcf8 24.Re2 Kc7? 25.Nxc5
This time White does not miss the opportunity.
25…Bxc4 26.Ba5+
The point. Now Black’s king is forced to go to c8 and his c6–pawn will fall.
26…Kc8 27.dxc4 Bxc5 28.Bxc6
And the worst thing about it is that the white’s bishops control d8 and e8 so Black’s rooks cannot centralize.
28…d3 29.Ree1 Nd4 30.Be4 Nc2 31.Rd1 Nb4 32.Bxb4
Making it more difficult. Simpler was a3.
32…Bxb4 33.Bxd3 Rd8 34.Kb2 a5 35.a3 Bc5 36.Bg6 h4 37.g4 h3 38.Bf7 Kc7 39.Rhe1 Bd6 40.f5 Bxh2 41.b4 Be5+ 42.Kb3 axb4 43.axb4 h2 44.Bd5 Rh3+
We were both low on time at this stage, which explains the inaccuracies by both sides. Black manages to fight back and almost equalize.
45.Ka4 Rb8
[45…Rg3! 46.Rh1 Rxg4 47.Kb5 Black will have recovered from his bad position]
46.c5 Rg3?
Admittedly the saving move here is hard to find. It is 46…Rd8!, threatening to take the bishop followed by queening his pawn. After 47.Rh1 Rc3 48.Rd2 I do not see a forced win for White anymore.
47.b5! Rxg4+ 48.Re4 Rg1 <D>
POSITION AFTER 48…RG1
A nerve-wracking position! However despite the fact that both of us had used up all our time and were playing purely on the incremental 10 seconds per move, I had already seen how to proceed.
49.b6+ Kd7 50.Ree1 Bd4
There is no more salvation. After 50…Rxe1 51.Rxe1 Bg3 52.Re2 Rh8 53.Bh1 Black’s pawn is blocked while White’s two queenside passed pawns are very mobile.
51.Kb5 Rg5 52.Bc6+ 1–0
It’s mate next move. With this win, I not only conquered the world champion but also got the bronze medal and made the historical sweep a reality. It was a very rare moment during the awarding ceremony, with all three Philippine flags hoisted. A victory to remember!

Lopez, Henry Roger (2101) — Kutwal, Shashikant Appaso (2301) [E94]
P1 MEN RAPID (1.2), 10.10.2018

Henry Lopez finished 4th in the Standard time control tournament, but his experience as an Arena Grandmaster in the FIDE online chess server served him in good stead in the faster time control and he quite deservedly took the silver medal in Rapids with only one loss — to Sander Severino. Here he takes his turn at beating the 2017 world champion for the disabled.
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 0–0 6.Be2 Na6 7.0–0 e5 8.Be3 Ng4 9.Bg5 Qe8 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.h3 f6
GM Boris Avrukh has written a theoretical about this position in Chessbase Magazine. He notes that previously 11…h6 12.Bd2 Nf6 13.Be3 Qe7 was once the main line of this variation but today 11…f6 is Black’s last word of this line. He adds that the main priority for White is to develop his play on the queenside, while Black will try to seize the initiative on the kingside. This variation gained priority only since the year 2002 even though this line was first introduced as early as 1998 by the Spanish grandmaster Comas Fabrego.
12.Bc1 Nh6 13.Rb1 c6
Comas Fabrego, who GM Avrukh says he regards as the biggest expert in this line, prefers to bring his a6–knight back into the game with 13…Nc5 14.b4 Ne6 15.c5 Nf7 16.Re1 f5 17.Bc4 f4 Black is doing fine. Cheparinov,I (2444)-Comas Fabrego,L (2510) Andorra 2001 1/2 29.
14.b4 Kh8 15.b5 Nc7 16.Qd6 Ne6 17.Rd1 Nf7 18.Qa3 f5 19.bxc6 bxc6 20.Be3 f4 21.Bc5 Nxc5 22.Qxc5 Bf6 23.Nh2 h5 24.Qa5 Qe7 25.c5 Be6 26.Rb2 Rfd8 27.Rdb1 Rd7 28.Ba6 Qd8 29.Qa4 Rc7 30.Nf3 Bc8 31.Rb8 Rxb8 32.Rxb8 Ng5 33.Nxg5 Bxg5 34.Qa5
Threatening Qxc7, Qxc7, Rxc8+
34…Kg7 35.Bxc8 Kh6 36.Rb7 Rxc8 37.Qxa7 Bh4?
[37…Qg8 and there is no immediate win for White]
38.Rh7+ Kg5 39.Qg7
Threatening Qxe5 checkmate.
39…Bxf2+
[39…Qe8 40.Ne2 followed by g2–g3]
40.Kxf2 Qd4+ 41.Kf1 Re8
[41…Qxc3 42.Qe7#]
42.h4+ Kxh4 43.Qxg6 Qd3+ 44.Ne2 1–0
Black cannot stop …Rxh5 mate.
Than you guys, for reminding Asia that the Filipinos can still play chess.
 
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
bobby@cpamd.net

Infighting

Even from the outside looking in, this much is clear: The Warriors‘ decision to suspend Green was all about Kevin Durant’s impending free agency. Sure, the sight of two All-Stars bickering in front of 19,068 fans at the Staples Center and on live broadcast made for terrible optics, especially for the defending champions. And, sure, the subsequent loss and spillover of the dispute to the locker room compounded the situation and enabled the bad blood to fester. On the other hand, it was nothing they hadn’t already seen from two strong personalities. The only difference was the timing.
Indeed, the Warriors had to send all and sundry — and Durant most of all — the message that they have his back, and that they would do all they can to protect him, even at the expense of another vital cog. Considering that the tiff was borne of a botched play, a simple mea culpa from Green would have sufficed for everybody to move on. Instead, the latter dug in, and, when cornered by teammates after the setback, went so far as to throw verbal jabs that included the word “bit-h.”
As shocking as Green’s outbursts may have sounded to casual observers, however, they were not out of the ordinary for the Warriors. Living on the edge and taking every perceived slight personally are the very reasons he has thrived and exceeded himself on the court. Which was why his employers and teammates hitherto tolerated, and perhaps even encouraged, the perpetuation of his sources of motivation. Those around him realize that all the good comes with all the bad, and act accordingly.
Parenthetically, Green’s latest walk of the fine line could well have been excused as with all the others before it. That the Warriors acted the way they did speaks volumes of their intentions. Nine months from now, Durant will exercise his right to opt out of his contract and welcome the line of suitors on his doorstep, and, this early, they’re already telling him that they plan to be in front and at the top of his mind. And if there are casualties en route, so be it.
No doubt, Durant appreciates the effort. Meanwhile, Green sees the writing on the wall. He, too, will become a free agent some time in the future, and while the Warriors will presumably also want to retain him, they will be guided by his place in the pecking order. He has long known he’s not first; now, as he’s seething through a one-game ban that will cost him a cool six figures in salary, he has to come to terms with the fact that he’s far behind.
True, the season remains the Warriors’ to lose. They’re simply too stacked not to retain the Larry O’Brien Trophy when the battlesmoke clears, the infighting notwithstanding. Then again, they’re after much more than the 2018-19 title. They’re bent on going down as the best of the best of all time, and only with Durant in the fold can they meet their objective. That’s certainly what they’re signifying, and how. And he appreciates it. The question moving forward is how much Green doesn’t.
 
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.

Why you should embrace PWDs in the workplace

“You’re hired.” These are powerful words. In the case of persons with disabilities (PWDs), they’re powerful enough to change lives.
My life was forever changed the first time I said those words to a PWD worker applying to work at our family business. For the last two years, I’ve been working as the head of Human Resources for PWDs, particularly for the deaf and hard of hearing—a role I take very personally.
It’s always an emotional moment when they find out they’ve been hired. The look on their faces, it’s like they’ve won a million bucks. It’s not about the money. It’s about acceptance. I know because I was born deaf. And I’ve spent my life fighting to be accepted.
Always on the outskirts, these men and women have spent years, if not all their lives, sitting in the dark, alone with their doubts. They work like there’s no tomorrow, because for all they know, there may not actually be one. As a person with a disability, you get used to being locked out of opportunities. Not many workplaces are welcoming towards us. Given a chance to prove what they’re capable of, these men and women often outperform everyone around them.
Growing up, I always wanted to build something for myself. I fought through therapy, through school. Graduating was a huge victory for me. But then the real challenge began: Getting a job.
PWD workers know this all too well, and many of them are incredible workers for it. Those who find themselves in a position to open doors for them, you might want to keep an open mind.
Experience is expected in the workplace. You gain that experience by learning from small tasks to build skill sets that ready you for greater responsibilities. No group of people are as observant and innovative as PWDs, constantly studying the world around them in order to better understand it.
And when things get rough, you need workers that know what it’s like to persist in the dark. To confront challenges, think outside of the box, and get things done. That’s the kind of perseverance PWDs bring to the table. If you can manage to look beyond their disabilities, they’re not too different from the rest of your workforce. It so happens that some can’t hear, some can’t see, and some can’t move around as easily. But they find ways to thrive and shine.
Ironically, even abled people can be disabled by choice. Some don’t hear, some don’t see, and some don’t move when things go awry. The difference is, we overcome.
Of course, it’s not always easy working with PWDs. Like with any collaborative effort between groups, it takes a lot of communication. And communication means compromise. If your employee is deaf, be open to learn sign language. Know that they make the same effort reading your lips and writing on a notepad. Working with a PWD is a fantastic opportunity to learn how to be more observant, more protective, more patient. Characteristics that make one not only a great worker, but a great person.
PWD workers aren’t liabilities. Give them a chance and, with a little adjustment, a little sensitivity and creativity, you’ll see just how productive your company can become. These workers don’t only do things better, they do them differently, and that’s an asset you’ll never find anywhere else. Give them your support, and encourage them to be proud of being who they are as people, beyond their disability.
The divide between PWDs and the rest of society is wide and runs deep, and made worse by the societal and environmental barriers we have created. But we can remake these barriers into something more inclusive, something better.
Seemingly simple things like a lack of communication, a lack of empathy, a lack of understanding or the willingness to. These have resulted in a cycle of silent struggle—of settling for less than what we deserve. It’s high time we break that silence. So here I am, a person with a disability, reaching out.
The talent and the work ethic are there. You just need to recognize it.

Cristina Guanzon is a tech entrepreneur and young professional advocating for the inclusion of PWDs in the workplace.

PSE index climbs on MSCI, oil tax hike suspension

LOCAL SHARES rose Wednesday amid the country’s increase in the MSCI Index’s review as well as the temporary oil tax hike suspension next year.
The local bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) went up 1.15% or 79.25 points to 6,923.08 yesterday. The broader all-shares index also rose 0.73% or 31.11 points to 4,242.24.
“The PSEi’s positive closing today may have been due to the marginal increase in weight of PH in MSCI Emerging markets index as well as Metrobank’s increase in weight in the said index too,” Timson Securities, Inc. trader Jervin S. de Celis said in a mobile message on Wednesday.
The trader also noted Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.’s third-quarter performance. The bank posted P5.7 billion in net earnings in the July-September period, 55% higher than the P3.7 billion last year. Shares in the bank rose 3.4% or P2.20 to finish at P67 apiece.
“Investors may also be cheering on the news about the temporary suspension of oil tax next year which can possibly help in taming the local inflation,” Mr. De Celis added.
However, Papa Securities Corp. trader Gabriel Jose F. Perez pointed out that net foreign selling continued “to be a significant overhang.”
Net foreign selling totaled P831.56 million yesterday, albeit down from Tuesday’s P1.26-billion net outflow.
“With the index looking like it’s finding ground in the area of its support level near its previous lows, we look forward once again to how US markets perform [Wednesday night] for an indication on [Thursday]’s movement,” Mr. Perez said in an e-mail yesterday
The Papa Securities trader also noted that investors will be watching the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ review on Thursday afternoon.
Most counters finished yesterday with gains save for the mining and oil sector which slid 0.64% or 58.77 points to close at 9,014.31.
Meanwhile, financials jumped 1.6% or 24.75 points to 1,569.63; holding firms climbed 1.46% or 98.45 points to 6,835.48; industrials edged up 1.01% or 105.88 points to 10,503.55; services rose 0.37% or 5.12 points to 1,376.67; and property gained 0.33% or 11.31 points to 3,368.27.
Advancers trumped losers, 105 to 75, while 56 issues were unchanged.
Value turnover totaled P7.05 billion as 1.03 billion shares switched hands, down from Tuesday’s P8.17 billion.
Philippine and Indonesian stock markets gained on Wednesday as investors picked up beaten-down stocks, though concerns over slowing global growth continued to dent sentiment in the region.
Indonesian shares climbed 1%, driven by gains in materials and consumer staple stocks.
Meanwhile, Singapore stocks were poised for a fourth straight session of declines, sliding up to 0.6%. Malaysian shares were also set to extend losses.
Thai shares traded lower, dragged by a rout in the energy sector, while Vietnam stocks edged 0.3% higher, boosted by real estate and consumer staple stocks. — JCL with Reuters

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