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Wesley’s miracle win

80th Tata Steel Masters
Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands
Jan. 12-28, 2018

Current Standings (9 out of 13 rounds)

1. Anish Giri NED 2752, 6.5/9

2-3. Magnus Carlsen NOR 2834, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE 2804, 6.0/9

4-5. Wesley So USA 2792, Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2787, 5.5/9

6-7. Viswanathan Anand IND 2767, Sergey Karjakin RUS 2753, 5.0/9

8. Peter Svidler RUS 2768, 4.5/9

9-10. Gawain Jones ENG 2640, Maxim Matlakov RUS 2718, 4.0/9

11-12. Wei Yi CHN 2743, Fabiano Caruana USA 2811, 3.5/9

13. Baskaran Adhiban IND 2655, 2.5/9

14. Hou Yifan CHN 2680, 1.5/9

Ave. Rating 2750 Category 20

Time Control: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves then 15 minutes play-to-finish with 30 seconds added to your clock after every move starting move 1.

Holland’s Anish Giri went into the solo lead after nine rounds in Wijk aan Zee by defeating Russia’s Maxim Matlakov from the Black side of some sort of Delayed Catalan. So far he looks in good shape as he remains undefeated and aside from beating the lone woman participant Hou Yifan has also scored the full point against heavyweights Mamedyarov (the early leader) and Vladimir Kramnik.

Wesley So could not keep pace and agreed to a draw with Peter Svidler. He is also undefeated and went through a rather crucial patch from rounds 4-6. In the 4th round Wesley was lost against Caruana but fought back and drew. In round 5 he beat Adhiban and in round 6 there was this miracle vs Wei Yi. Let me tell you about that.

I retired from chess in 1976 when I graduated from High School to become a working student in UST. There was no more time for chess, work was from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. after which I had to rush to the College of Commerce for classes from 5-9 p.m. After I passed the CPA board examinations my schedule became even more hectic as it was already time to earn a living.

Then in 1992 the Manila Olympiad happened. I couldn’t resist and left the office a bit earlier everyday to hop over to the PICC to watch the games. There was a bookstand there run by IM Malcolm Pein (he is one of the biggest chess organizers in the world now — the annual London Chess Classic being just one of his many projects) and he introduced me to Chessbase software and other books and publications. Once again I got hooked and devoured whatever literature I could.

There was this one player I couldn’t get enough of — GM Alexei Shirov was running roughshod over the chess establishment with games such as this.

Shirov, Alexei (2655) — Thorhallsson, Throstur (2425) [D45]
Reykjavik (5), 1992

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.g4!?

I hadn’t been following theory for many years already — the maneuver h2–h3 followed by g2–g4 I was familiar with, but playing g2–g4 right away? Wow.

7…0–0 8.g5 Nh5 9.Bd2 f5 10.gxf6 Nhxf6 11.Ng5 Qe8 12.0–0–0 h6 13.h4! Bb4

[13…hxg5 14.hxg5 Ne4 15.Nxe4 dxe4 16.Qxe4 Rf5 17.c5 followed by Bc4]

14.Bd3 Bxc3! 15.Bxc3 hxg5 16.hxg5 Ne4 17.Bxe4 dxe4 18.Qxe4 Rf5 19.Qh4 Qg6 20.Qh8+! Kf7 21.f4

The idea is to play Qd8 followed by Rh8.

21…Nf8 22.Qh4 Ke8 23.e4 Rf7 24.Rhe1! Kd8 25.d5! cxd5 26.cxd5 Bd7 27.f5! exf5 28.e5 f4 29.e6 Ba4 30.Rd2 Rf5 31.Qf2! f3 32.Re4 Rxg5 33.Rxa4 Rg1+ 34.Rd1 Rg2 35.Qh4+ Ke8 36.Re4 Rc8 37.d6 Rd8 38.Qe7# 1–0

An awe-inspiring performance!

In 1997 the first FIDE KO World Chess Championship was held in Groningen. I managed to get a copy of the tournament book and played through every single one of the games. This game I thought was one of the best of the event.

Krasenkow, Michal (2645) — Garcia, Gildardo (2480) [A17]
FIDE-Wch k.o. Groningen (2.1), 11.12.1997

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g4!?

Krasenkow’s biggest contribution to opening theory.

4…d5 5.g5 Ne4 6.Qa4+ Nc6 7.Nxe4 dxe4 8.Ne5 e3!

It is not immediately evident, but the idea of this move is to open up the long diagonal for Black’s light-squared bishop.

9.fxe3 Qxg5 10.Nf3

[10.Nxc6? Bd7 11.Qxb4 Bxc6 unexpectedly White’s rook is trapped in the corner]

10…Qe7 11.a3 Bd6 12.d4 Bd7 13.Qc2

[13.c5 Ne5 14.Qc2 Nxf3+ 15.exf3 Qh4+ 16.Qf2 Qxf2+ 17.Kxf2 Be7 equal]

13…Qf6 14.b4 e5 15.d5! Bf5 16.Qa4!

[16.e4? Nd4 17.Nxd4 Qh4+ 18.Kd1 Bxe4 it is Black who is winning]

16…Be4 17.dxc6 b5 18.cxb5 Bxf3 19.exf3 e4 20.Ra2 exf3 21.Rf2 Rd8 22.Qc2 Be5 23.Bb2 0–0 24.Bxe5 Qxe5 25.Rxf3 Rd6 26.Bg2 Qxb5 27.Rf5 Qa6 28.Ra5 Qb6 29.Qc5 Qb8 30.0–0 1–0

A few years ago in “Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy” IM John Watson wrote that the single biggest change in opening and middle game strategy in the last two to three decades has been in the area of flank pawn advances. The two games above had a lot to do with that.

Which brings us to Wei Yi vs Wesley So from the 6th round of the ongoing Tata Steel Masters tournament in Wijk aan Zee.

Wei, Yi (2743) — So, Wesley (2792) [A06]
80th Tata Steel GpA Wijk aan Zee NED (6.4), 19.01.2018

1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.Bxc4 a6 6.b3 c5 7.Bb2 Nc6 8.Qc2 Be7 9.a3 b6 10.g4!

This move surprised Wesley. In a post-game interview Wesley said: “I forgot about this stuff. I thought that it is not dangerous since I did not castle. Actually, it is surprisingly strong as he gets a bind after g4–g5 followed by Nc3–e4.”

10…h6

Not 10…Nxg4? 11.Qe4 and one of the knights fall.

11.Rg1 b5 12.Be2 Bb7 13.g5 hxg5 14.Nxg5 Rh6

Guarding against Nxe6 and a queen check on g6.

15.Nce4 Nxe4 16.Nxe4 g6 17.Nxc5 Bxc5 18.Qxc5 Rxh2 19.a4!

After this Black’s position starts to collapse.

19…Qh4

There is no other way to generate counter chances.

20.Rf1 Rc8 21.Qb6 Nd8 22.axb5 Bg2 23.Ra4

Not 23.Rg1? Rh1 it is Black who wins.

23…Qh3

This was the position when I tuned in to the game as the chessbase Web site. I thought that after Ba3, bxa6 and Bb5+ Black’s king is caught in the crossfire of the two bishops. I got completely disheartened, and then the miracle came!

24.Ba3?

This is why I am not a GM. The text which seemed so strong to me is an inaccuracy. More to the point is 24.bxa6! Bxf1 25.Bxf1 Rh1 26.Qb5+ (covering the f1–bishop) 26…Nc6 27.a7 the rest is easy: 27…Rxf1+ 28.Qxf1 Qxf1+ 29.Kxf1 Ra8 30.Bd4 Kd7 31.Bc5 Kc7 32.d4 White’s two extra passed pawns on the queenside are too strong.

24…Rh1 25.bxa6 <D>

Position after 25.bxa6

Wei Yi is clearly winning but in bad time trouble. Wesley has to find some way to complicate matters.

25…Qh8!?

And he does. Black is still losing but he sufficiently confuses Wei Yi into making a mistake.

26.Rd4?

White should have blocked the long diagonal with 26.d4! followed by 26…Bxf1 27.Qb5+ Nc6 28.Bxf1 and Black’s position is resignable.

26…Bxf1 27.Qb5+ Nc6 28.Bxf1 Rxf1+! 29.Kxf1

Wei Yi must have thought he was still winning, or otherwise he would have played 29.Qxf1 Nxd4 30.exd4 Qxd4 31.Qb5+ and it is still a game.

29…Qh1+ 30.Ke2 Qh5+! 31.Qxh5 Nxd4+

CHECK.

32.exd4 gxh5

And now, much to Wei Yi’s dismay, because of Black’s passed h-pawn it is now the second player who is winning.

33.b4 Rb8 34.Kf3 Kd7 35.Kg3 Kc6 36.b5+ Rxb5 37.Bc5 Rb2 38.a7 Kb7 39.d5 exd5 40.Be3 Rb4 41.d4 Rb1 0–1

A marvelous turnaround. Let us hope that Wesley’s luck holds up till the end of the tournament.

 

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

GIZ, AXA developing microinsurance product for disasters

GERMANY’S international aid agency has partnered with an insurance company to develop a disaster microinsurance product which will be offered to small businesses.

The micro disaster risk insurance (MicroDRI) product is expected to cover 10,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by mid-2018, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), the DTI, and AXA unit Charter Ping An came together in a public-private partnership to offer the insurance product, which will be distributed by Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions.

Undersecretary Zenaida C. Maglaya said that the idea of providing MicroDRI came about after typhoon Yolanda in 2013 and was refined over the years to address affordability concerns.

“What we do now is increasing level of awareness and participation of MSMEs in business continuity plans. That’s the first thing [we considered],” she added.

“It was not difficult for us to convince them to prepare themselves. We had to find ways to really look into who we can have partnerships with to see what we can do to protect the MSMEs, especially the micro-enterprises.”

Ms. Maglaya said that only 30% of enterprises affected by the typhoon renewed their licenses.

In a study conducted by GIZ, 25% of MSMEs fail to reopen after being hit by a major calamity. Also, these businesses are estimated to lose between P250,000 to P10 million during disasters, making it harder for them to bounce back.

GIZ Philippines program director Antonis Malagardis said that MSMEs typically lose one-third of their financial capacity, which makes it hard to repay loans.

“With the MicroDRI product, our goal is to come up with a financially sustainable product that will provide the protection that these MSMEs need to ensure operation of their businesses,” he added.

Mr. Malagardis said insurance should be considered an investment instead of a cost.

The DTI will conduct financial literacy training to help MSMEs build resiliency against future calamities, through its Negosyo Centers.

The MicroDRI product will be developed by AXA using a grant from GIZ.

Cebuana Lhuillier vice-president and group head Jonathan D. Batangan said the company can tap its branch network and add more outlets which can serve as distribution platforms.

“We can reach the maximum number of MSMEs. In the next few years, we plan to add more partners including sari-sari stores [as part of the group’s] remittance business,” he added. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato

Renewable energy market would benefit Mindanao, says MinDA

THE PROPOSED trading platform for green energy would be favorable to Mindanao in the long term with several projects lined up tapping renewable power sources, according to an official of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA). “The renewable energy market will become a market of big renewable sources if all the projects are realized,” Assistant Secretary Romeo M. Montenegro, MinDA deputy executive director, said in an interview last week. Mr. Montenegro, also the technical head of the Mindanao Power Monitoring Committee (MPMC), said they are projecting that by 2030, Mindanao will have about 40% of its power sourced from renewable energy plants. The MPMC is monitoring the implementation of about 280 proposed projects with a combined output of about 3,400 megawatts. At present, about 70% of electricity supply in Mindanao comes from fossil-fuel plants with the operation of several new coal-fired facilities. In a consultation last week in Davao City, Energy Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella said they are looking at launching the renewable energy market in 2019 with the bigger wholesale electricity spot market expected to be in place nationwide this year. Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, supply from renewable energy sources must be the first to be dispatched in the market. — Carmelito Q. Francisco

Wolfgang Steakhouse opens 2nd PHL branch

STEAK LOVERS are in for a treat as the world-famous Wolfgang’s Steakhouse by Wolfgang Zwiener opens its second branch in the country at the ground floor of the newly renovated The Podium in the Ortigas Center, San Juan.

“When you open your second restaurant in a city, that means you’re doing well… We want to share the experience of [eating] great steak here in Manila and maybe in the future throughout the Philippines. This (the Philippines) is an extremely important market for us. It was the first one in Southeast Asia,” Wolfgang Steakhouse president and managing partner Peter Zwiener said at a media lunch on Jan. 16.

The Ortigas branch — which targets the working population of the city’s business district — seats 80 guests and offers dining on the main and mezzanine floors.

“Once we opened our restaurant in 2004 in New York, it’s very cosmopolitan. So, we get a lot of people eating at the restaurant. Many Filipinos came to the restaurant. So [you] could see that they appreciate great culinary cuisine and that they’re willing to try,” Mr. Zweiner said, adding that he met his local business partners Raymond Magdaluyo and actor Marvin Agustin who suggested they bring the restaurant to the Philippines.

The restaurant’s signature USDA Prime black Angus beef is dry-aged in an aging room with a controlled temperature for 28 days on average. Mr. Zwiener cited that a scientific study showed that 96% of the beef’s tenderness is achieved when dried for 28 days.

Wolfgang Steakhouse personally handpicked the dish lineup which includes USDA Prime Black Angus New York sirloin, rib eye, filet mignon, and its signature Porterhouse steak.

The restaurant’s Ortigas branch features a lunch menu which includes medallions of filet mignon aux pouvre, medallions of filet mignon with mushroom sauce, and the Taste of New York — a four-course meal with Caesar salad, USDA Prime dry-aged sirloin (400 gm), mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, and Wolfgang’s New York cheesecake.

A third branch is set to open at One Bonifacio High Street Stock Exchange Building in June.

For inquiries and reservations, call 505 6272, e-mail reservation.podium@wolfgangssteakhouse.ph, or through www.facebook.com/WolfgangsSteakhousePH/. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

Fintech company launches platform for MSMEs

By Krista A. M. Montealegre,
National Correspondent

FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY firm Posible.net formally launched its platform that aims to empower micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in an effort to establish the biggest community-based digital transactions network in the country.

Founded two years ago, Posible.net offers more than 300 digital services to over a million Filipino consumers through its network of over 1,600 retailers, generating close to P2 billion worth of transactions.

“Our end goal is to be present in all barangays — all 42,000 of them. For 2018, we just want to accelerate our deployment,” Posible.net President and CEO John Joseph Gabriel C. Puzon said in a briefing in Makati City on Tuesday.

Posible.net’s services include utility bills payment, select government fees, money services, micro-insurance, mobile loading, online gaming credits and ticketing. It is working on adding credit card and airline payments to its services.

Anchored on innovation and technology, the company came up with an affordable and user-friendly front-end system designed for community-based agent partners such as sari-sari stores, laundromats, bakeries and barber shops, Mr. Puzon said.

He added that the platform allows consumers to conveniently participate in the digital financial ecosystem, while service providers can establish touchpoints in the community at a fraction of the cost of establishing a traditional outlet.

Mr. Puzon believes Posible.net plays an important role in breaking barriers to financial inclusion and bring digital transactions closer to communities.

About 34% of towns and cities in the Philippines still do not have access to banks, but this goes down to 10% if non-banking institutions such as pawnshops will be factored in, Jenny A. Romero, bank officer at the BSP’s Inclusive Finance Advocacy Office, said in the same briefing.

“The BSP has been looking at digital means to fast-track and expand our financial reach,” Ms. Romero said.

“It is a good business model for someone who wants to start a business and for those with an existing one, it is a good way of enhancing what a small entrepreneur is earning,” Trade Undersecretary Zenaida C. Maglaya said.

Consumers can avail of the Posible.net business starter kit inclusive of an agnostic point-of-sale device for a one-time fee of P35,000, with an additional P15,000 as starting operating fund to process transactions.

Bank chief executives worried markets are complacent as in 2006

LONDON — Global finance executives warned of parallels between today’s soaring stock markets and the froth of the pre-crisis years as they said investors could be wrong-footed by central banks raising interest rates.

As the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting got underway in Davos, Switzerland, the leaders of Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc. and the Carlyle Group all fretted that the strongest global economy since 2011 was leaving financial markets complacent. Equities worldwide are already up more than $3 trillion this year.

“There is a numbness out there, there is an ambivalence out there that’s concerning,” Citigroup Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Corbat said on a Davos panel hosted by Bloomberg’s Tom Keene.

“When the next turn comes — and it will come — it’s likely to be more violent than it would otherwise be if we let some pressure off along the way.”

Jes Staley, the CEO of Barclays, said the upbeat environment reminded him of the eve of the last crisis a decade ago and that the combination of stocks at record highs and volatility near all-time lows wasn’t “sustainable” in the long term.

He too said trouble could occur if central banks such as the US Federal Reserve push up borrowing costs faster than investors anticipate.

Messrs. Corbat and Staley said financial-services companies had learned from the last crisis and were now more resilient and less complex. Still, they warned bankers to stay alert.

“I do feel it’s a little bit like 2006, when we were all talking whether we’ve solved the riddle of economic crises,” said Mr. Staley.

“We’ve got a monetary policy that’s still in the remnants of the depression era. We’ve got very little capacity in the capital markets to deal with a real move in interest rates.”

With interest rates around the globe close to record lows, companies have binged on cheap borrowing.

US corporations have a record amount of debt and leverage, with many as vulnerable to default as before the crisis, according to Standard & Poor’s.

The explosion in leveraged loans — which banks structure for already-indebted corporations and then sell on to investors — underscores this trend.

Citigroup and Barclays are among the banks to have profited from the boom. The two firms arranged a combined $168 billion of US leveraged loans in 2017 and €12.5 billion  ($15.4 billion) across the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Anne Richards, chief executive of M&G Investments, is also concerned about the potential for higher interest rates.

“If interest rates go up meaningfully over the next 12 months, there will be a bunch of people who have borrowed money who will not be able to pay it back,” she said.

“Those people are out there, and the markets are not, in aggregate, pricing that.”

Harvard University professor Kenneth Rogoff, who co-wrote the definitive history of the financial crisis, said there was already the potential for a rebound in inflation-adjusted interest rates given US inflation will likely grow by two percent or more this year.

“If interest rates go up even modestly, halfway to their normal level, you will see a collapse in the stock market,” he said.

“I don’t know how everything from art and bitcoin to stock prices will react as interest rates go up.”

Higher rates will also affect the $5 trillion burden of dollar-denominated debt held by emerging-market companies, the panelists said.

Among other risks, they cited mounting government debt in China and elsewhere, rising protectionism and the potential for geopolitical shocks.

“The biggest concern I have is that most people think there’s no problem of a likely recession this year or early next year,” said Carlyle’s David Rubenstein, who co-founded the private-equity firm more than 30 years ago.

“Generally, when people are happy and confident, something wrong happens.” — Bloomberg

Fish sauce makes Vietnam billionaire’s fortune

FOR VIETNAMESE consumer tycoon Nguyen Dang Quang, placing his fish sauce and other “must-have” condiments in the kitchen shelves of just about every home in the country has helped make him a billionaire.

Shares of Masan Group, which produces the sauce made from fermented fish that’s widely used in Vietnamese cuisine, have more than doubled in the past six months, compared with the 37% gain in Vietnam’s benchmark VN Index. That lifted the net worth of Quang, the company’s chairman and founder, to $1.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

“Masan serves consumers with ‘must-have’ ones like fish sauce, instant noodles, to ‘nice-to-have’ items like chili sauce, rice soup or sausage,” said David Anjoubault, general manager at Kantar Worldpanel Vietnam, a research firm that estimates about 95 percent of households in the country uses at least one Masan consumer product. “Local food manufacturers like Masan have a good and deep understanding of shoppers’ needs and behaviors in the country where localization is a vital success factor.”

Quang controls the Ho Chi Minh City-based company through Masan Corp., a closely held entity, as well as its wholly owned subsidiary Sunflower Construction Co., according to company filings with the Ministry of Planning and Investment. Quang and his wife have a 49% stake in the holding company, the filings show.

Quang’s cofounder, Ho Hung Anh, who’s Masan Group’s vice-chairman, owned 47.6% of the holding company as of September 2015, according to the latest available filings. Anh “contributed to the early stages of Masan Group’s development,” the company Web site said. His net worth isn’t calculated because his current stake can’t be verified.

Masan Group, which makes other food products including instant noodles and animal feed, declined to comment on the two founders’ net worth.

Masan Group’s shares surged as it recovered from a setback last year following a plunge in pork prices, which it referred to as “the most severe pig price crisis” in history. Pork prices fell after China stopped imports from Vietnam in 2016. The drop in demand for pork drove the group’s consolidated revenue 9% lower to 27.5 trillion dong in the first nine months of 2017, according to the company’s presentation.

“Pork prices have rebounded as China resumed the imports of Vietnamese pigs, raising expectations for better performance from Masan Group this year,” said Vu Xuan Tho, a senior analyst at Korea Investment & Securities in Seoul.

Quang started his business in the 1990s after years of studying in Russia, where he has an MBA from the Plekhanov Russian Economic University. He also received a doctorate in technical sciences from the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, according to Masan Group’s Web site.

The billionaire saw an opportunity as Russia was going through a period of economic transition at the time, and started selling instant noodles to Vietnamese living in the country. He eventually built a factory to produce 30 million packages a month, and expanded to soy, fish and chili sauces, according to Masan’s Web site. Following the success in Russia, he returned to Vietnam in 2001 and shifted the business focus back on his home market.

Kantar Worldpanel, which tracks shoppers’ behavior, ranked Masan Consumer among Vietnam’s top three food brand owners last year, along with Unilever NV and Vietnam Dairy Products or Vinamilk.

Masan Group is best-known for its fish sauce under brands including Chin-Su and Nam Ngu. Other than meat and packaged food, Masan Group also owns more than a third of Vietnam Technological & Commercial Joint-Stock Bank, commonly known as Techcombank, through an equity stake and convertible bonds, according to its presentation.

The possible listing of the bank has also contributed to the jump in Masan Group’s shares, Tho from Korea Investment & Securities said.

Masan Group drew a $250-million investment from KKR & Co. last year, with $150 million going into its meat-producing business, Masan Nutri-Science. That’s the third round of investments in Masan Group from the New York buyout firm, which began in 2011 with a $159-million investment in what was then Vietnam’s biggest private-equity deal.

Quang adds to the two Vietnamese billionaires on international wealth rankings — real estate developer Vingroup’s Pham Nhat Vuong and Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Co.’s Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, who’s Southeast Asia’s first self-made woman billionaire. — Bloomberg

Kentucky school shooting leaves two students dead

WASHINGTON — A teenage boy opened fire with a handgun at a Kentucky high school early Tuesday, killing two fellow students and wounding more than a dozen people in the latest mass shooting to hit the United States. The unnamed 15-year-old student, now in custody, is alleged to have carried out the attack at Marshall County High School in Benton, a small town in western Kentucky. Two students of the same age died of gunshot wounds, while 13 other people were shot and five suffered other injuries during the shooting, Kentucky State Police said, adding that those hurt ranged in age from 14 to 18 years old. Students ran from the scene after hearing shots, local media reported, and the school was placed on lockdown as the incident unfolded. They were later bused to a neighboring school where parents could retrieve them, the Marshall County Tribune-Courier newspaper said. Fourteen of those hurt were male and six were female. Four of them are still in hospital — three in “critical but stable” condition and one in “stable” condition, according to police. The suspected shooter was apprehended in a “non-violent” manner, and will be charged with both two counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin said. One of the students died at the scene and the other after being taken to a hospital. The shooter struck just as the school day was starting. — AFP

Facebook will ‘do better’ to stem abuse — Sandberg

FACEBOOK, INC. promised “to do better” to boost privacy, stem the spread of hate speech and clamp down on the abuse of the social network to influence votes, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told a Brussels audience, including a European Union (EU) commissioner.

“We know that tech companies need to do better and that we at Facebook need to do better. We have a lot to improve,” Ms. Sandberg said. “We have not done enough to stop abuse of our technology.”

Facebook and other Internet platforms are facing a wave of legislation across Europe that may force them to do more to stop terrorist content appearing and spreading online. New privacy rules come into force across the EU in May that could levy heavy fines on companies that don’t comply. Regulators are also looking at how some online platforms may have been misused to unfairly swing votes, such as the British poll to leave the EU.

Facebook wants “to help people take control of their data” and will put users’ privacy settings in one place to make it easier to manage, Ms. Sandberg said. The company will also try to explain to users how advertising works. The company is investing in artificial intelligence and in hiring up to 20,000 people by the end of the year to identify and remove harmful content, including hate speech and material that promotes terrorism, she said.

‘EYE CATCHING’
“We remove a lot of content but we can always do better in enforcing policies,” Ms. Sandberg said. Facebook is “never going to be able to stop” fake news entirely but will go after fake accounts and disrupt an ad model that rewards clicks on eye-catching content, she said.

Germany has now begun enforcing Europe’s toughest law aimed at reining in hate speech and fake news on social media, threatening to fine the likes of Facebook, Inc., Twitter, Inc., and Alphabet, Inc.’s YouTube as much as 50 million euros ($61 million) if they refuse to delete illegal posts.

The comments from Ms. Sandberg on Europe’s leadership clash with the thoughts of other Facebook executives. Speaking at the DLD conference in Munich on Sunday, Elliot Schrage, the company’s vice- president of public policy, said Germany’s new law goes too far.

‘BAD IDEA’
“The law places the responsibility for us to be judge and jury and enforcer, determining what is legally required or not, on the private sector, on us as a platform,” he said. “And I think that’s a bad idea.”

Facebook is trying “to move much faster to address concerns,” including European politicians’ call for Internet firms to pay tax in the country where the revenue is made, said Ms. Sandberg. “We heard the debate in Europe around tax and we are voluntarily changing” and will pay tax locally on revenue where it’s earned.

Germany’s new coalition government named Facebook as one Internet firm that should pay “fair taxation” as it called for companies to stop trying to play different EU states off against each other. — Bloomberg

Acting in favor of the people

Finally, after 19 months, the Supreme Court has lifted its temporary restraining order (TRO) on the release of about 700,000 motor vehicle license plates that were previously the subject of a suit filed by two congressmen. By dismissing the suit, car and bike owners — at least 700,000 of them — can hope to receive their new plates within the year.

After all, the plates have already been paid for. I recall having paid for my own plates during registration renewal in 2015. Mind you, this was not for a brand-new car but for an old one. But, the new front and back plates were never delivered. Much like how car owners like me paid for RFIDs years ago during registration renewal, but the project was stopped midway.

It is a fact that payments were made by car owners, but no RFIDs were delivered. And payments were never returned nor credited back to car owners during future registration renewals. As far as I am concerned, that was about P350 that went to the Land Transportation Office (LTO), or to the government, properly receipted, but I never got anything for my money.

At least now, I can still hope to get my new plates.

In a news report in Philippine Star, SC spokesman Theodore Te was quoted as saying the court has dismissed the suit filed by congressmen Jonathan dela Cruz of Abakada party-list and Gustavo Tambunting of Parañaque City that questioned the legality of the Bureau of Customs’ donation of the plates to LTO.

Customs had previously seized the plates after their importer failed to pay the taxes and duties on them. Yes, the plates were actually made abroad by LTO’s supplier, and had to be imported into the country for release to car owners. But, the government and its supplier didn’t provide for duties and taxes on the imported plates, resulting in their seizure.

But, instead of just releasing the plates to the people after they were seized, two congressmen questioned the “donation” of the plates by Customs to LTO as illegal, because of a notice of disallowance issued by the Commission on Audit on the LTO’s payment for the imported plates to the supplier. In short, until the audit issue is resolved, the plates could not be released.

In lifting the TRO, the SC reportedly declared as legal the Customs donation, noting that the appropriation of the budget for the plates, and the use of this appropriation or the budget for their payment, were unconstitutional.

As early as 2015, the court already ruled as legal the LTO’s purchase from a supplier new license plates for both old and new vehicles registered.

Admittedly, releasing 700,000 plates is a small win considering that the present backlog of undelivered license plates is reportedly over six million. But, as I had noted in a column in June 2016, all that motorists want is to get the plates that they had paid for with hard-earned money. In my case, I didn’t want new plates, but the government said I should get them and made me pay for them in 2015.

A year had passed after payment and I didn’t get my plates. A lot of other motorists have been waiting longer than I have. Sadly, with the SC TRO in June 2016, which was because of the suit filed by two lawmakers, we all had to wait another 19 months until a decision was rendered finally against withholding the release of the plates.

I can understand that the SC had to stop LTO from releasing any plates already produced “effective immediately and until further orders,” so as not to prejudice the rights and interest of the government in the case. But, at the end of the day, what was instead prejudiced was the interest of the public.

As I had noted previously, what was affected ultimately were the rights and interest of the very people who have paid for these car and bike plates — indirectly through taxes that were disbursed from the budget to pay the plate manufacturer, and directly through additional charges imposed by LTO on motorists who were made to buy replacement plates for old cars.

Recall that these license plates, all made abroad, were seized by Customs after their importer failed to pay around P40-million in taxes and duties. After about a year, instead of auctioning the seized items as required by law, Customs opted to donate them to LTO so that they may be finally released to motorists. But, with the SC order, the release and distribution were stopped.

Two lawmakers reportedly argued that the car plates seized by Customs for unpaid taxes and duties could not be just turned over to LTO because of the notice of disallowance from the Commission on Audit regarding advance payments to the supplier. Then, there was the main allegation that the plate supply project was auctioned in 2013 without sufficient appropriation.

But, the fact remains that the plates have already been manufactured, and had been gathering dust in storage since 2015. And motorists have already paid for these plates through sums collected from them by LTO three years ago. At this point, with the TRO lifted, one can only hope the plates are still intact and still suitable for use, and can be distributed immediately.

If the advance payments by LTO be ruled illegal, then compel the plate maker to reimburse the government for advances to it. LTO should initiate a suit to claim. In the same manner, if the plate maker feels aggrieved, then it can initiate suit against government to claim payment. Then, that would be the end of it.

Moreover, if LTO people are at fault for giving due advantage to the plate supplier, then charge them with graft. If they were incompetent, then penalize them in ways possible. And, if the plate maker is also at fault, then charge it as well. And then, sue to collect from them money owed to the government.

It benefits no one, not even the government, to keep the plates longer in storage. I still believe the SC TRO was unnecessary, but that is water under the bridge. Moving forward, LTO and Customs should act quickly. Don’t further penalize motorists for the incompetence and inefficiency of the people who put together and approved that plate supply contract. Release the plates already and give them to their owners.

 

Marvin A. Tort is a former managing editor of BusinessWorld, and a former chairman of the Philippines Press Council.

matort@yahoo.com

Democrats withdraw offer to fund Trump’s border wall

WASHINGTON — Democrats said on Tuesday they had withdrawn an offer to fund US President Donald Trump’s border wall, as tough negotiations over the future of young illegal immigrants known as “Dreamers” resumed in the Senate. A day after the end of a government shutdown linked to wrangling over immigration, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he pulled the offer because of what he said was Trump’s failure to follow through on the outlines of an agreement the two men discussed on Friday. “So we’re going to have to start on a new basis and the wall offer is off the table,” Schumer told reporters. An aide said the offer was withdrawn on Sunday. Trump said on Twitter late on Tuesday night: “Cryin’ Chuck Schumer fully understands, especially after his humiliating defeat, that if there is no Wall, there is no DACA. We must have safety and security, together with a strong Military, for our great people!” The Congressional Hispanic Caucus expressed fears on Tuesday that Republicans in the House of Representatives would pursue a harsh immigration bill written by Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte. The House measure would allow Dreamers to renew their legal status for three years, instead of putting them on a pathway to citizenship, and would call for hiring 10,000 more agents at US borders while shutting down some visa programs and taking other steps to find people who are in the country illegally. With Democrats and many Republicans arguing there are more effective border enforcement tools than a wall, the proposal has become a major sticking point in immigration negotiations, which in turn have complicated talks about funding federal agencies. — Reuters

US sci-fi legend Ursula K. Le Guin, 88

NEW YORK — Ursula K. Le Guin, the award-winning US science fiction and fantasy author, and avowed feminist whose books have sold millions worldwide, has died, her family announced Tuesday. She was 88.

Le Guin is best remembered for global best-selling Earthsea series, translated into many languages and adapted for the screen, in which an apprentice sorcerer fights against the powers of evil, decades before Harry Potter did the same.

In a career that spanned decades, she published more than 20 novels, wrote children’s books, dozens of short stories, volumes of poetry and collections of essays.,

Tributes quickly poured in, with American horror writer Stephen King mourning her as “one of the greats,” after Le Guin’s family announced her death on Monday. “Not just a science fiction writer; a literary icon. Godspeed into the galaxy,” tweeted King.

She was born in October 1929 in Berkeley, California, the daughter of anthropologist Alfred Kroeber, an expert on Native Americans, and Theodora Kroeber, who wrote Ishi in Two Worlds an acclaimed biography of about “the last wild Indian” in North America.

From childhood, she steeped herself in anthropology, mingling with her parents’ guests — fellow academics and visitors from around the world, including Native American friends, spending the summers at a ranch her father had bought in Napa Valley.

Educated at Radcliffe College, Massachusetts, and New York’s Columbia University, Le Guin was a Fulbright Fellow in 1953, traveling to Paris, where she married her husband, the historian Charles Le Guin before the couple returned to the United States.

They settled in Portland, Oregon where they raised three children and Le Guin embarked on her prolific literary career.

“I didn’t want to be a writer and lead the writer’s life and be glamorous and go to New York. I just wanted to do my job writing, and to do it really well,” she told The Paris Review in an interview from her family home in 2013.

‘AIMS OF ART’
Le Guin published her first novel, Rocannon’s World, in 1966 but found breakthrough success with the publication in 1969 of The Left Hand of Darkness, which won a litany of prizes and became a great science fiction classic.

The novel, the beginning of the Hainish Cycle which contains six other titles, broke with the sclerotic patterns of science fiction’s golden age.

The planet on which The Left Hand of Darkness is based is little different from the Earth, except for its glacial climate, but the beings who populate it are radically different: they have only one sex and assume in turn masculine and feminine roles.

In the book she posed questions on sexual identity, and questions what social rules, culture, and inner life such a world could exude.

“Where I can get prickly and combative is if I’m just called a sci-fi writer. I’m not. I’m a novelist and poet,” she told The Paris Review.

“Don’t shove me into your damn pigeonhole, where I don’t fit, because I’m all over. My tentacles are coming out of the pigeonhole in all directions.”

In her stories of galactic societies, Le Guin — who was profoundly influenced by Taoism and Buddhism — sought to prove there is no total and permanent solution, either in theology, politics, or human science past or future.

“I draw on the social sciences a great deal,” she told The Paris Review. “Particularly from anthropology. When I create another planet, another world, with a society on it, I try to hint at the complexity of the society I’m creating.”

Awarded the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at the 2014 National Book Awards, she urged publishers and writers to put less emphasis on profit.

“The profit motive is often in conflict with the aims of art,” she said. “I have had a long career and a good one, in good company. Now here at the end of it, I really don’t want to watch American literature get sold down the river.” — AFP

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