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Ferry with 251 capsizes off Real, Quezon

A FERRY with 251 people on board capsized in rough seas off the Philippines on Thursday with reports of an unspecified number of casualties, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said.

The accident occurred off the town of Real in Quezon, about 70 kilometers east of Manila as the boat headed from the port towards the island of Polillo in rough weather, Commander Armand A. Balilo, PCG spokesperson told a news conference.

“We have heard (there were) casualties, but we’re still validating,” he said, adding that rescue helicopters and sea vessels were heading to the site.

“We believe the weather was a big factor” in the accident, he said, adding nearby boats had already rescued some of the 251 people on board the vessel, which he did not name.

He said the ferry left Real as the southern section of the archipelago braced for Tropical Storm Tembin (local name: Vinta), which is forecast to hit land early Friday.

However, Mr. Balilo said the vessel was allowed to sail as there were no storm warnings at or around Real or Polillo, east of the main island of Luzon.

The boat was authorized to carry 286 people, he added.

The government has advised Filipinos planning to return to their home provinces for Christmas to do so earlier than usual to avoid heavy weather forecast to hit ahead of the holidays.

The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands on the Pacific typhoon belt, is plagued by poor sea transport, with badly regulated boats and ships providing the backbone for the system prone to overcrowding and accidents.

The latest accident occurred 30 years to the day after another Philippine ferry, the Doña Paz, collided with an oil tanker, claiming more than 4,000 lives in the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster. — AFP

Lakers down Rockets

LOS ANGELES — Kyle Kuzma led the offensive charge as the Los Angeles Lakers snapped the red-hot Houston Rockets’ 14-game winning streak with a 122-116 upset victory on Wednesday.

Kuzma scored a NBA career-high 38 points as the Lakers dominated the Rockets early then held on through a mid-game Houston rally to claim the win and end their own three-game losing skid.

“I scored 30 in the summer league,” Kuzma said. “This is a better team but the same mentality. I’ve got the same mentality every time I step on the court, play my hardest and just be locked in.”

The loss spoiled a 51-point scoring performance by Rockets star James Harden, who also added nine assists.

The Rockets dropped to 25-5 on the season and also lost for the first time with guard Chris Paul in their lineup.

Paul departed early in the fourth quarter with a sore left leg and did not return after scoring eight points in 25 minutes.

The Lakers improved to 11-18 on the season with Kuzma scoring 24 of his 38 points in the first half on nine-of-nine shooting.

Los Angeles shot 47.1% overall and, after entering play dead last in the NBA in three-point percentage, nailed 15 of 35 attempts from beyond the arc to keep the Rockets in check.

The Lakers played without starters Brook Lopez (ankle) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (personal reasons).

Kuzma got plenty of offensive help as a half dozen Lakers finished in double-digit scoring, including reserve forward Corey Brewer who had a season-high 21 points.

Brewer was shipped by the Rockets to Los Angeles at the trading deadline last February.

Brewer sparked the decisive run with a nifty layup at the 7:04 mark of the fourth quarter to break a 100-100 tie.

The Lakers stretched that lead to 10 points before the Rockets could muster a reply that fell short.

Rookie guard Lonzo Ball added 16 points and nine rebounds while Larry Nance and Brandon Ingram scored 13 apiece for the Lakers. — AFP

Mindanao, Visayas brace for storm Vinta

AN EMERGENCY response preparedness meeting was held Wednesday evening, Dec. 20, with regional disaster risk reduction officials of Mindanao to prepare for tropical storm Vinta (international name: Tembin), which has intensified further as of 5 p.m. yesterday afternoon.

Romina M. Marasigan, spokesperson of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), in a live-streamed briefing yesterday morning from Quezon City, said response teams have been mobilized to prepare for preemptive evacuation in areas that are at high risk of floods and landslides.

Ms. Romina appealed to the public to be on alert and cooperate with evacuation protocols.

“Siguraduhin po na makiisa sa panawagan ng lokal na pamahalaan (Make sure that you cooperate in the call of your local governments),” she said.

She also stressed that aside from parts of Mindanao, several areas in Visayas are also expected to be affected by Vinta.

As of 4 p.m. Thursday, Vinta’s center was located about 200 kilometers east of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, and was expected to make landfall within the Caraga and Davao regions by evening or Friday morning, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

The weather bureau said the storm, with maximum sustained winds of 80 kilometers per hour (kph) and gustiness of up to 110 kph, is likely to either sustain its strength or intensify.

Vinta is forecast to sweep through the southern part of the Philippines until the weekend and exit by Monday, Dec. 25.

SEA TRAVEL
Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) canceled all trips in all ports in Surigao del Sur and the northern part of Davao Oriental, while the Cebu Port Authority put at least 17 trips on hold yesterday.

As of 12 noon Thursday, the PCG said there were 1,128 passengers stranded, 51 rolling cargoes, 12 vessels, and 7 motorized bancas. — Mindanao Bureau

Crop damage from ‘Urduja’ estimated at P700M

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said tropical storm Urduja (international name: Kai-tak) caused P701.76 million worth of crop damage in the Bicol provinces, Central and Eastern Visayas, and the Caraga region of northeastern Mindanao.

The DA said in a report that as of late Wednesday, lost agricultural production was 17,334 metric tons (MT), with damage to 36,896 hectares (has.), affecting 33,922 farmers.

Lost rice production was estimated at 5,395 MT worth P408.30 million, affecting 33,294 has. and 29,706 farmers.

The damage is equivalent to 11.4% of the standing crop in the regions which is estimated to yield 291,746 MT.

“The volume loss incurred has increased from yesterday’s 4,892 to 5,395 metric tons today. Most affected rice crops are at sowing, seedling, newly transplanted and vegetative stages, which majority were reported as totally damaged,” it said.

High-value crop damage in the regions was reckoned at 11,725 MT worth P280.01 million or 39.9% of the total, much of it vegetables in the harvestable stage in Eastern Visayas such as squash, okra, and eggplant. The damage was inflicted over 1,475 has.

Damage to corn, currently at the seedling to vegetative stages, was unchanged from the last report at 182 MT worth P7.92 million, affecting 2,110 has. and 1,578 farmers.

Damage to cassava, also in the seedling to vegetative stages, was 30 MT worth P2.203 million, affecting 17 has. and 25 farmers.

Livestock damage was concentrated in the Bicol provinces of Albay and Camarines Sur, estimated at P3.31 million or 2,489 animals. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato

Bank secrecy or transparency?

Banks are in the business of attracting deposits to lend these out at reasonable spreads to corporate clients looking to finance their business and to individuals wanting to achieve their aspirations of a nice car or a new home. Banks are able to generate these deposits through their good service and locations, among others, but most of all, because of trust that these deposits are safe in the banks. Safe, in that the money will be returned whole with some interest and that unauthorized people won’t know how much or even how little is in the bank account.

Republic Act (RA) 1405 or the Bank Secrecy Law was passed in 1955 to encourage people to deposit their money in banking institutions and to discourage private hoarding so that banks can give out in loans to assist in the economic development of the country.

The Foreign Currency Deposit Act (RA 6426) and the General Banking Act (RA 8791) also prohibit bank directors, officers, employees and agents to disclose any information on funds in the custody of bank to any unauthorized person. These are meant to protect legitimate deposits of bank clients.

All deposits with banks including investments in bonds issued by the government are considered absolutely confidential and may not be looked into, except:

• upon written consent of the depositor;

• in cases of impeachment;

• upon order of a competent court in case of bribery or dereliction of duty of public officials;

• where money deposited or invested is the subject matter of the litigation; and

• examination of a bank specifically authorized by the Monetary Board after being satisfied that there is a reasonable cause to believe that a bank fraud or irregularity is being committed and it is necessary to look into the deposit to establish such fraud.

In addition, there are many exceptions and other laws that effectively waives bank secrecy:

• The Ombudsman: for government officials under investigation;

• The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC): With court order — probable cause related to money laundering offenses; without court order — involving crime of kidnapping, drug trafficking, hijacking, and terrorism.

• Presidential Commission on Good Government: for ill-gotten wealth

• Court of Appeals: for anti-terrorism cases

• Commission on Audit: authorized to examine deposits and investments in government banks

• Bureau of Internal Revenue: request for tax information of specific taxpayers made by foreign tax authority pursuant to tax treaty.

• Bank deposits of a public official, his spouse and unmarried children may be taken in consideration in the enforcement of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act;

• Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP): inquire and examine deposits during examinations to ensure bank compliance of AML laws.

• Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. and BSP: inquire and examine bank deposits and investments when there is finding of unsound and unsafe banking practices.

It is very important for banks to have a strong know your customer and enhanced due diligence processes to attract and onboard only the right set of customers with acceptable profiles.

Banks must continuously enhance monitoring tools to detect unusual transactions and have an effective compliance system. Banks should also work closely with regulators on the effective implementation of new and existing regulatory guidelines to minimize exposure to anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism risks.

It is truly a balancing act for Philippine banks to ensure bank secrecy is fully complied with and, at the same time, commit to full adherence to other laws and regulations. Philippine banks cooperate fully with government enforcement agencies, provided these investigations are deemed legal and in accordance with laws.

The Philippines is a member but not yet a signatory to the International Organization of Securities Commission (IOSCO) Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMOU) because of the Bank Secrecy Law. Securities & Exchange Commission Chair Tess Herbosa said SEC can actually look into deposits now but only by coursing it thru AMLC. SEC needs to have the power to look into bank deposits directly to have “teeth” to go after trading manipulators and insider traders.

There is a pending bill in Congress to relax the Bank Secrecy Law. According to Isabel Pastor, head of enforcement and cooperation and senior advisor for special projects at IOSCO, transparency will attract investors to the Philippines and protect securities and derivatives products from cross-border fraud risks.

The Philippines is one of the three countries that still have a bank secrecy law, with Lebanon and Switzerland being the other two. We want to be fully compliant with all laws and also be consistent with international best practice.

The Philippines is now investment-grade and we need to continue to have investment inflows. Where do we go from here? Being a signatory to the IOSCO MMOU is a step in the right direction.

Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2018!

Flor G. Tarriela is chairman of PNB and a director of FINEX. She was formerly undersecretary of Finance, the first Filipina vice president of Citibank N.A. and past president of BAIPHIL.

Lyrics, K-pop stars, Marawi, and a hurricane: Pinoy’s top Google searches of 2017

LUIS FONSI’s hit “Despacito” — arguably one of the biggest hits of the year — not only managed to dominate the airwaves but also the searches of Filipinos as its lyrics landed the top spot in the 2017 Google Year in Search’s Overall Top Trending Searches.

The annual list from the tech giant compiles and highlights the top trending searches in the Philippines.

“This year’s list shows how much Filipinos stay tuned on hit songs, international events, and television shows,” said a company press release.

The Reggaeton-pop song from the Puerto Rican singer featuring fellow Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee, was also the first song to ever hit four billion views on Youtube.

Aside from searching for the lyrics of “Despacito” Filipinos also searched for the lyrics of Bruno Mars’s “Versace on the Floor,” the third single off of the American singer-songwriter’s third studio album, 24K Magic.

“Versace on the Floor” lyrics occupied the second spot on this year’s Overall Top Trending Searches for 2017

Moving on from song lyrics, the overall list also showed how much love the country has for beauty pageants as Miss Universe 2017 is at third place while 65th Miss Universe bet Maxine Medina is at the top spot of the Trending Searches-Female Personalities list this year.

Miss Universe was also the Top Trending Event of 2017 followed by the FIBA Asia Cup.

Several other beauty queens also landed in the Female Personalities list including Mariel de Leon (who represented the Philippines in this year’s Miss International Pageant), Dayanara Torres (who won the Miss Universe pageant in 1993), and Rachel Peters (who represented the Philippines in this year’s Miss Universe pageant) occupied the eighth to tenth spots respectively.

And in stark contrast to the glitz and glamor of beauty pageants, Filipinos also searched for “Lucia Joaquin,” an Internet ghost story that became popular earlier this year about a ghostly stalker. It sits on the fourth spot of the overall list.

Meanwhile, the hallyu wave is still going strong in the country as evidenced by the presence of several Korean stars and shows on several list: Love in the Moonlight’s Park Bo Gum, Children of Empire boy group member Park Hyung Sik, and Train to Busan and Goblin’s Gong Yoo occupied the second to the fourth spots at the Top Trending Searches-Male Personalities.

Of the female Korean stars, Kim Tae Hee is at the fourth spot of the Female Personalities list followed by Weightlifting Fairy’s Lee Sung Kyung at sixth and K-pop group BLACKPINK at seventh.

Other Korean stars making the list are Weightlifting Fairy’s Nam Joo Hyuk and God of War’s Kim Joo Hyuk at ninth and tenth place, respectively.

But the top spot on the said list went to Xander Ford — formerly known as Marlou Arizala — who was first known as a Hasht5 member. He dominated the searches after revealing his new face after receiving a series of cosmetic procedures and treatments.

Korean shows similarly landed several spots in the country’s top TV show searches: Goblin is third, Legend of the Blue Sea is fourth, Love in the Moonlight is fifth, Weightlifting Fairy is seventh, While You Were Sleeping is eighth, and Scarlet Heart is tenth.

Despite Filipinos’ seeming obsession with pop culture and entertainment, Google Philippines pointed out that they “also stayed vigilant on national issues,” as President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s State of the Nation Address was the top Trending News of the year, followed by Marawi City, relating to the military operations against the Maute-ISIS group, and the martial law declared in the island of Mindanao.

Martial law in Mindanao is at tenth place on the Trending News list.

Hurricane Irma, the strongest hurricane observed in the Atlantic since 2005, was at the third spot of the News list. In comparison, the hurricane which devastated Florida and Puerto Rico, among others, was the global Top Trending Search for the year.

“In a way, the Year in Search offers us a glimpse of what we liked as a people, what issues affected us, what sparked our interest, and everything in between that appealed to our emotions the past year,” said Google Philippines head of communications and public affairs Gail Tan, said in the release. — ZBC

OVERALL TOP TRENDING SEARCHES FOR 2017
IN THE PHILIPPINES
1. “Despacito” lyrics
2. “Versace on the Floor” lyrics
3. Miss Universe 2017
4. Lucia Joaquin
5. Xander Ford
6. The Voice Teens
7. 13 Reasons Why
8. “Baby Shark”
9. “Perfect” lyrics
10. FIBA Asia Cup

TOP NEWS SEARCHES FOR 2017 IN THE PHILIPPINES
1. SONA
2, Marawi City
3. Hurricane Irma
4. Bird flu
5. Kian delos Santos
6. Covfefe
7. Maute Group
8. Las Vegas Shooting
9. Manchester
10. Martial law in Mindanao

TOP SEARCHES FOR MALE PERSONALITIES
1. Xander Ford
2. Park Bo Gum
3. Park Hyung Sik
4. Gong Yoo
5. Linkin Park
6. Rowan Atkinson
7. Gilas Pilipinas
8. Jake Zyrus
9. Nam Joo Hyuk
10. Kim Joo Hyuk

TOP SEARCHES FOR FEMALE PERSONALITIES
1. Maxine Medina
2. Gal Gadot
3, Kylie Padilla
4. Kim Tae Hee
5. Maureen Wroblewitz
6. Lee Sung Kyung
7. BLACKPINK
8. Mariel de Leon
9. Dayanara Torres
10. Rachel Peters

TOP SEARCHES FOR EVENTS
1. Miss Universe 2017
2. FIBA Asia Cup
3. Pacquiao vs. Horn Fight
4. NBA Playoffs
5. Mother’s Day
6. Mayweather vs. McGregor Fight
7. ASEAN Summit
8. Chinese New Year
9. Miss Universe 2016
10. Wimbledon

TOP SEARCHES FOR MOVIES
1. Beauty and the Beast
2. Wonder Woman
3. Justice League
4. Fast and Furious 8
5. Fifty Shades Darker
6. Logan
7. It
8. Moana
9. 100 Tula Para Kay Stella
10. Kita Kita

TOP SEARCHES FOR TV SHOWS
1. The Voice Teens
2. 13 Reasons Why
3. Goblin
4. The Legend of the Blue Sea
5. Love in the Moonlight
6. Encantadia
7. Weightlifting Fairy
8. While You Were Sleeping
9. Game of Thrones
10. Scarlet Heart

TOP SEARCHES FOR SONGS AND LYRICS
1. “Despacito”
2. “Versace on the Floor”
3. “Baby Shark”
4. “Perfect”
5. “Shape of You”
6. “Titibo-tibo”
7. “Say You Won’t Let Go”
8. “Too Good at Goodbyes”
9. “Beauty and the Beast”
10. “How Far I’ll Go”

TOP SEARCHES FOR APPS
1. Slitherio
2. Messenger
3. Sarahah

(For other Year in Searches, visit http://google.com.ph/2017.)

Duterte: No more junkets beginning next year

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte said on Thursday, Dec. 21, he will put an end to junkets starting Jan. 1.

“January 1, wala akong pakialam kung (I do not care), if it’s personal reason, namatay ka ng tito mo, mother, o ’yung isang asawa mo namatay doon (whether a family member died)…I will fire about 49 policemen and 3 superintendents,” Mr. Duterte said in his speech at the commissioning of BRP Lapu-Lapu and BRP Francisco Dagohoy at Sasa Wharf in Davao City.

“Dito sa akin (For me), no travel now. I’ll cut it except (for) the diplomats, ’yung mga (the) ambassadors,” he added.

Mr. Duterte said it’s “time to stop” the extravagant travels of government officials, and vowed to show to the Filipino people that their “money is spent properly.”

“You just find it easy to go back and forth every month. Sinu-swerte kayo (How lucky you are),” Mr. Duterte also said, adding, “So let us be very clear on this: we are all friends,…but when it comes to the government interest, medyo kalimutan mo na muna (Let’s leave out that friendship).”

Mr. Duterte also noted that he had fired a number of government officials who used to work and campaign for him over corruption.

“Bibigyan mo naman trabaho, wala pang isang buwan, dalawang buwan, nandun na sa corruption. That’s the irony of it all,” he said. (You give them work, not one month or two months have passed and there’s corruption. That’s the irony of it all.) — Arjay L. Balinbin

NLEX Road Warriors head coach Yeng Guiao seen as ‘ideal’ PBA commissioner

WHILE names are increasing day by day as to who will become the possible next PBA commissioner, there’s one man who is tipped as more than qualified to assume the leadership of Asia’s pioneering professional basketball league had it not been for his involvement in a PBA team. Yeng Guiao, former commissioner of the now defunct Philippine Basketball League (PBL) is being pushed by several people to succeed the controversial Chito Narvasa as chief of the PBA.

But there’s a hitch — Mr. Guiao is currently coaching in the PBA, handling the NLEX Road Warriors, whom he led to victory Wednesday night.

Mr. Guiao felt flattered that people within the basketball community were pushing him to become the next PBA commissioner, but the fiery mentor has no plans of leaving coaching for a higher calling at this time.

“If I’m not coaching today, I would have given it much thought considering the situation the league is facing now,” Mr. Guiao told BusinessWorld. “But I love coaching and I still enjoying myself being a coach. I wouldn’t trade this for PBA commissionership.”

The strong clamor came on the heels of Mr. Narvasa’s resignation, which forced the board to name an immediate officer-in-charge to oversee the day-to-day operation of the league.

Willie Marcial, director for communications of the PBA, was delegated as OIC for 30 days, which means the league should bring in somebody on board in a hurry.

With the league facing a clear and present danger, names like sportscaster Charlie Cuna and former PBA coaches Joel Banal and Bo Perasol came out as likely successor of Mr. Narvasa, but the guy considered as the one that has the respect of all 12 teams in the league is Mr. Guiao.

Rain or Shine team owner Raymond Yu and San Miguel Beer team manager Gee Abanilla shared to BusinessWorld Mr. Guiao’s great qualities that would make him a great PBA commissioner.

“I think Yeng Guiao is the ideal commissioner of the PBA,” Mr. Yu said in a telephone interview. “He’s been a commissioner before (PBL). He can govern because he’s been a long-time politician and he knows the ins and outs of the PBA. At this point in time, what the PBA needs is somebody who’s not been away from the PBA.”

Mr. Abanilla could only agree with Mr. Yu’s observation.

“Yes, I think so,” Mr. Abanilla said when asked if Mr. Guiao would have been an ideal commissioner. “He has handled the PBL then, outstandingly and I don’t see any reason why he can’t duplicate that in the PBA. He has a great mind, compassion, vision and love for the game.”

But Mr. Abanilla, a former assistant coach of Mr. Guiao, would rather see his old mentor in the sidelines where he is performing at his best as the conflict would likely put a period on the clamor unless the MVP Group the ultimate sacrifice of releasing the six-time champion coach and allow the latter to become commissioner.

“Unfortunately, we don’t want to take away a great coach in the PBA, do we?”

For Mr. Guiao, the next PBA commissioner should have the trust and confidence of all the 12 teams in the league.

“You have the MVP Group, you have the San Miguel Group and you have the Independent Group. The next commissioner should have the trust and confidence of all these groups. It’s an advantage for someone who is being groomed as the next commissioner to be someone who’s not been away from the league for quite some time, but not necessarily a must,” added Mr. Guiao. — Rey Joble

Star’s suicide highlights dark side of the K-pop dream

SEOUL — Known for its ultra-competitive, pressure-cooker society, South Korea has one of the world’s highest suicide rates. And this week the even higher stresses in the country’s lucrative showbiz industry took their toll on a K-pop superstar.

Kim Jong-Hyun, a 27-year-old lead singer of the hugely popular boy band SHINee, took his own life in a Seoul hotel room on Monday, with his death sending shockwaves through fans around the world.

The five-member SHINee was at the forefront of the “Korean Wave” that has seen South Korean pop culture sweep Asia by storm in the past decade and lap at shores even further afield. The band has found fame and fortune with multiple chart-topping albums and sold-out concerts at home and abroad since their debut in 2008.

But a grittier reality lies beneath the glitz and glamor of the K-pop scene — cutthroat competition, a lack of privacy, online bullying, and relentless public pressure to maintain a wholesome image at all times and at any cost.

Many stars like Kim are picked up by agencies at a young age, usually in their early or mid teens, their lives then taken over by gruelling singing and dancing training, with the ever-present risk of falling foul of a cut-throat screening process.

Holidays are rare and privacy an unaffordable luxury as many live with other band mates in dorm-like apartments provided by their agents, who dictate everything from music styles and diet regimen to mobile phone use — and normally impose dating bans.

Many struggle with a constant lack of sleep and privacy.

Kim Se-Jeong, a popular K-pop singer, confessed of once sleeping a total of one hour for four days. “I had to perform on stage, appear in TV shows, and shoot ad commercials all at the same time,” she told a television interviewer earlier this year.

Kang Daniel, of the popular boy band Wanna One, admitted that his biggest wish was “having just one day of rest.”

“For months ahead of my debut, I usually woke up four or five in the morning… practiced until two or three in the morning the following day,” Kang said in a television interview aired in August.

He was “grateful” to get a chance at fame, he added — but the gruelling schedule eventually affected his health and the 21-year-old canceled all public appearances earlier this month.

SMILEY HAPPY FACE
Many K-pop stars face tremendous pressure to look and behave perfectly in an industry powered by so-called “fandoms” — groups of well-organized admirers who spend enormous amounts of time and money to help their favored stars climb up the charts and attack their perceived rivals.

In return, the stars are expected to tread carefully in an industry where today’s most-fervent fans can be tomorrow’s most vicious critics if their idols fail to meet their expectations — or “betray” them.

Drug use or drunken driving are seen as career-breakers, while behavior that causes a “stir” — anything from a social media gaffe to a failure to smile ceaselessly at public appearances — could be criticized for years.

Many are constantly chased by paparazzi and camera-touting fans who share or sell every single detail and images of the stars’ daily lives online for public scrutiny.

“These ‘idols’ virtually live in a fishbowl and are pressed to put on a smiley, happy face while behaving nicely 24/7,” said cultural commentator Kim Seong-Soo, adding the strain could “cripple them emotionally.”

Such challenges are common among celebrities around the world, he told AFP, but are amplified in the hyper-wired South, which has some of the world’s fastest Internet speeds and highest smartphone usage, and a society where pressure to conform is high.

Taboos about mental illness dissuade many from seeking medical help, including public figures, he added.

WINNER TAKES ALL
Kim’s death is unusual for a K-pop musician at the height of his popularity, but is the latest in a long list of showbiz suicides.

In 2010, Park Yong-Ha, a top actor who had huge followings at home and in Japan and China, hanged himself, and former actor Kim Sung-Min, whose career was ruined by a jail term for drug abuse, did the same last year.

In the most shocking series of suicides, actress Choi Jin-Sil — a household name — hanged herself in 2008, her actions blamed on online bullying.

Her brother, also an actor, killed himself two years later, and her ex-husband, former baseball star Cho Sung-Min, followed suit in 2013.

Actress Park Jin-Hee interviewed hundreds of actors and actresses for her master’s thesis in 2009 and said that 40% had considered suicide at least once due to a lack of privacy, online bullying or unstable incomes.

But celebrity suicides are only a microcosm of South Korea’s wider social problems, including cutthroat competition in areas from education to workplaces and a lack of safety nets, said commentator Kim, calling depression an “inevitable outcome” of living under such strain.

“Our country has an extreme form of winner-take-all system where those who fail can hardly make a comeback, or even survive.” — AFP

‘Tennis saved me during illness’ — returning Bartoli

PARIS — Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli said on Wednesday that she first considered making a professional comeback while suffering from a mystery illness last year.

The Frenchwoman was forced to pull out of an exhibition event at Wimbledon last year because of the virus, which medical experts said was so rare they had no name for it.

But on Tuesday Bartoli announced that she would return to the WTA Tour in 2018, aiming to be ready for the Miami Open in March, after recovering from the illness despite losing 20 kg. of weight in a matter of months.

“If what happened to me in 2016 hadn’t happened, I don’t think I would have had that strong feeling of wanting to come back to the court,” the 33-year-old said.

“The start of this all came on the most difficult day of my life, when Wimbledon decided not to allow me to play the legends’ matches because they thought I could have a heart attack and die on the court.

“From then on, I swore that if one day I was healthy again, I wanted to try to relive what I had been lucky enough to live three years before when I won the tournament.

“What saved me at that time was tennis, by hanging onto the great moments that I lived on court — that’s what kept me alive.”

Bartoli’s finest moment came when she beat German Sabine Lisicki to win the 2013 Wimbledon title, but she hasn’t played since after retiring due to a shoulder injury.

The former world number seven, who was also beaten by Venus Williams in the 2007 Wimbledon final, is confident that setting a return date for March isn’t too optimistic.

“Mid-March seems realistic with the amount of training to be done,” she said.

“The day I play my first match will be a huge victory after what I’ve been through, and what I do on the court is just a bonus.

“In terms of tennis, I’m at about 80-90% of my level from Wimbledon 2013 and physically I’m missing about 40% of that level, which at the same time is and isn’t a lot of work.” — AFP

Keeping up with the copycats

By Lim Wei Shi, Christopher Tang and Sarah Gao Yini

ACCORDING to the International Chamber of Commerce, the total value of counterfeit and pirated goods is estimated to rise to $2.81 trillion by 2022. While this number may appear staggering, less obvious but equally if not more important is its bearing on the wider social landscape. The same report estimates that hidden costs including the displacement of legitimate economic activity, loss in foreign direct investment, fiscal losses, and costs of crime will amount to $1.87 trillion.

A similar sentiment was expressed by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It felt that the ill effects of counterfeit products threaten not only the well-being of Filipinos but also cause layoffs, impact expansion of businesses, and discourage entry of more foreign investments.

Several Asian countries are culprits of the counterfeiting industry. A report released by Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed China and Hong Kong leading the pack, making up over 80% of counterfeit seizures. Even Alibaba, the biggest online retailer, has been reported to sell counterfeit products.

In the Philippines, P13.33 billion of counterfeit goods were seized in 2014, a figure that has declined in recent years in part because of unrelenting enforcement campaigns that have curbed counterfeiting.

Companies spanning from Puma to Pandora and Prada have also stepped up measures to outdo counterfeiters. Pandora, the Danish jewelry company, has a brand protection team that has taken down a look-alike Web site selling imitations from China twice in the past. However, once a site has been shut down, it often pops up on another Internet service provider.

Hence, companies such as MAC, the American cosmetics company, offers counterfeit education on its Web site in the Philippines on where to find genuine MAC products and how Filipinos can report counterfeits.

But copycats are popular because they confer consumers the social status associated with luxury goods without the high price.

In our study on counterfeits at the National University of Singapore Business School, we had three observations as to why copycats are more likely to successfully enter the marketplace.

First, fakes are usually of high resemblance but low quality. Low-end, ill-equipped factories that produce imitation goods are mindful that by producing better quality copycats, they run the risk of encroaching on the profits of genuine brands. If they maintain a lower quality, the impact on genuine brands is low and genuine brands “tolerate” their presence. Such factories also avoid attracting the type of attention that results in calls for enforcement of anti-counterfeit measures.

Second, regardless of actual entry of a copycat, the potential threat is sufficient to force luxury brands to lower the prices of their genuine goods.

Football club Liverpool cut the cost of its latest shirt from $87 to $30, in an attempt to convince Chinese consumers to buy its official merchandise. While the low-cost shirt may look similar to the official jersey, it is redesigned with simpler materials and is not made by the club’s official sponsor, New Balance.

Even luxury brands have adjusted their prices to contend with the counterfeit markets. While it did not offer a cheaper version of its most sought-after bag, Chanel in 2015 aligned global pricing across Asia and Europe to regain control of its brand image. Other luxury houses such as Prada, Cartier, and Burberry also followed suit.

Despite the discount, it may be challenging for brands to compete with the fake that looks similar but costs much less. Liverpool’s price cut faces potential backlash from UK fans who are already unhappy with the high price they have to pay.

There’s also the consideration of the impact of counterfeits on consumers’ social status. While counterfeits do not measure up to the real thing, consumers still buy them as it offers the opportunity to gain a higher “social status,” as long as they are not discovered. In the event that they are found out, they may be humiliated or shunned by their peers.

The ubiquitous counterfeit market has luxury brands to rethink its strategy for Asia.

As a response to market demands, brands have either resorted to creating a genuine copycat, if you will, of its product and/or lowered the cost by more than half to break into the Asian market.

Whether such a strategy will be successful remains to be seen. However, based on experience, these low-cost counterfeit-producing factories are innovative enough to keep genuine brands on their toes as they continue to reinvent their business model to stay ahead of the business and the law.

This vicious cycle is likely to continue unless there is stronger law enforcement to crack down on counterfeits. The Philippines appears to have made some headway here. Even now, many firms in developing Asian countries are able to produce and sell imitation products because of efficient supply networks, inconsistent law enforcement, and large underserved markets.

 

Lim Wei Shi is Associate Professor of Marketing at the National University of Singapore Business School where Sarah Gao Yini is a PhD student in Analytics and Operations. Christopher Tang is University Distinguished Professor and Edward Carter Professor of Business Administration at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Against Trump

MUSLIM demonstrators hold a placard with a picture of US President Donald Trump during a protest near the Israeli Embassy in Manila on Dec. 21, against Mr. Trump’s recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. US President Donald Trump’s decision on Dec. 6 to recognize Jerusalem broke with international consensus, triggering protests across the Muslim world and drawing strong condemnation.

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