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Sacramento Kings’ Zach Randolph pleads no-contest over pot case

LOS ANGELES — Sacramento Kings forward Zach Randolph was sentenced to community service on Wednesday in connection with an incident that saw him charged with marijuana possession.

With his no-contest plea, the 36-year-old Randolph had the charge against him reduced to delaying an officer.

The 36-year-old was arrested last month in a late-night disturbance at a housing estate in the gritty Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts.

He was originally charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana and resisting arrest.

Randolph was placed in a diversion program and must complete 150 hours of community service. He was ordered not to associate with any known narcotics sellers or users, according to Frank Mateljan with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.

If he completes the program, the case against him will be dismissed.

Randolph, a two-time NBA All-Star, signed a two-year contract with the Kings in July after playing eight years with the Memphis Grizzlies. — AFP

Storm and sun

Dense gray clouds block small plane’s descent to the island. Droplets spray and splatter on the windshield. On the runway, the breeze blows stronger and the wind sock spins in different directions. The storm approaches. Mixed news reports announce that the typhoon would pass over the neighboring islands.

Visibility is 10 feet. One holds on as the wheels thump and roll on the slippery runway. A safe landing.

Not too long ago, the pilot of a large plane had circled twice and attempted to land. It skidded past the front edge in a gentle but shaky dive. The plane’s nose got wrecked. Nobody was injured but it was a risky maneuver.

The skies are slate and charcoal. The sun remains obscure for days. The moon and stars are veiled. The wind howls over the little stone-washed houses with blue rooftops. The coconut trees shudder. The flailing branches of old trees are shorn of leaves. Along the beach, palm fronds are torn like ribbons.

The yellow birds and blue jays flee and seek shelter in the mystical banyan forest. The fireflies are invisible among the bushes.

The angry waves rush to shore and the tide rises quickly. The rains pour like a waterfall, splashing on the sea and pounding on the thatched roofs.

The morning clouds finally part as the pale sun reluctantly appears. The sea is calm like a mirror reflecting the blue sky.

One remembers another breathtaking beach of long ago.

The hiker took tentative steps on the craggy cliff. The heaving sea, azure blue with white caps tossed a banca and a sailboat. Powder puff clouds drifted across the sky.

After a storm, driftwood washed ashore. The high tide claimed the shells and swept over the stepping stones and pebbles. The shore has been reclaimed, in part, by the ocean. The magnetic pull caused by a tsunami in Asia.

This rustic beach has been the seaside refuge for many years.

Déjà vu. It seems nothing has changed yet everything is different. The changes are both external and internal.

The rolling waves crashed and splashed into millions of bubbles against the rocks. A seagull soared and dipped like a wayward kite.

A generation of fearless kids once scampered up and jumped from the cliff into the chilly cerulean water below. They swam into the grotto and played hide and seek in the cave. Their carefree laughter magnified into deafening echoes.

Those kids have their own children who claim the right to jump into the same spot. The adults now caution them about the rocks and the sudden swells.

Where did all their sense of playful adventure and fun go? Their mischievous streak has vanished as they grew up and grew older.

Perched on the side of the cliff, the pilgrim marveled as the Divine Hand took a giant brush and palette to paint the sky. The canvas was splattered with impressionistic dots and strong, energetic brushstrokes. A marvelous breathtaking work in progress.

The golden orb began its solemn descent into a hazy horizon. Streaks of copper and rust rippled on the water as the sky turned into shades of peach, orange, magenta, crimson and lavender.

The fresh salty air was heady — a cocktail of oxygen and the fragrance of wet grass and wild flowers. The heart feels a familiar sharp sting, a tight tug. The minutes ticked ever so slowly as the sun vanished while the full moon rose from behind. The phenomenon of a simultaneous spectacle of sunset and moonrise. It was a splendid synchronicity in nature.

Twilight turned the sky into a velvet backdrop. The evening star twinkled close to the moon. The planets and stars aligned into constellations.

The luminous moon ascended and bathed the scene with a silvery sheen. The radiance of reflection was gentle and soothing to the heart.

In the mind’s eye, there are impression and images of awesome sunsets, the dramatic moonrises, starry evening skies with shooting stars on the windswept cliffs.

More than a decade ago, there was once a colorful home on another cliff. It had huge garden murals of the moods of the sea and sunsets. One day, the vibrant walls were suddenly defaced and covered. The colors vanished as the resident artist disappeared.

Creative energy is never lost. Art remains alive in the imagination and memory. Those divinely inspired paintings will be reborn in another medium, a new form.

After every storm, there is always a translucent rainbow. Life goes on.

Maria Victoria Rufino is an artist, writer and businesswoman. She is president and executive producer of Maverick Productions.

mavrufino@gmail.com

Talking about supplements, gut health, and fasting

By Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman
Reporter

AS others indulged in a sinful lunch of pasta, burgers, and macarons, Dr. Ted Achacoso ate two servings of salad instead. A double-certified doctor for anti-aging medicine and for nutritional medicine, he is a pioneer of the clinical practice of Health Optimization Medicine (HOMe) or the detection and correction of a person’s imbalances at the cellular level instead of at the organs. When one shares a table with the pioneer of HOMe, it instantly makes it almost shameful to even take a small bite of a red velvet-flavored macaron.

“Why do you have to eat that thing again?,” he asked my seatmate as she reached for a salted caramel-flavored macaron during an intimate roundtable with media on Sept. 7 on the topic of wellness.

Dr. Achacoso champions the idea of optimizing health rather than managing diseases. In other words, while a person is not sick, he or she should already work to preserve, maintain, and boost health (in other words, do not eat your dessert even if you have not yet developed diabetes).

But then again, he said, “just because you are not sick does not mean that you are well, it only means that you are not sick.”

Health, he said, is not only the absence of disease, but also “the maintenance of balance between catabolism (release of energy) and anabolism (building up and energy storage from catabolism).”

The clinical practice of HOMe finds its home at BioBalance, which Dr. Achacoso co-founded. From its first location at Soho Central, Ortigas, it has moved to a new location at EDSA Shangri-La mall a month ago.

At BioBalance, optimized health begins inside out with the prescription of personal medications because each person has a unique nutrient profile and gut health, which are the factors that affect prime health and life longevity. Beyond digestion, the digestive track is responsible for the other bodily functions. A “leaky gut,” said Dr. Achacoso, causes skin, sinus, and rheumatoid problems, constipation, anxiety, and hypothyroidism, among issues.

All of BioBalance’s health solutions are anchored on nutritional science, since it has been shown that many chronic symptoms and serious diseases are caused by nutrient deficiencies. Among the many nutrient deficiencies — especially among Filipinos who hate the sun — is the lack of Vitamin D. He said people should get their daily dose of Vitamin D from sunbathing for about 12 minutes between 10 in the morning to two in the afternoon, when the sun is at its peak.

Among BioBalance’s signature programs is “nutrient optimization,” which measures nutritional deficiencies in the body and provides a personalized nutritional prescription including vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and the removal of toxic elements, which also means that people who hate sunbathing can get their Vitamin D from supplements. Vitamin D or the sunshine vitamin, is important in maintaining strong bones and teeth, and heart health, among other things.

All the health programs are inclusive of laboratory tests, periodic checkups, natural supplements, biometric reports, and personalized plans.

Another package is the Gut C.A.R.E (care, restore, and enhance) program, which targets the gastrointestinal tract for better digestion and absorption of nutrients.

Its newest program is for weight loss and longevity, which has periodic fasting at its core. But why fast? Dr. Achacoso said it “leads to multiple physiological and metabolic health benefits like rejuvenation of cells.”

The three-month program results in weight and fat loss and improvement in blood sugar levels, inflammation, and lipid (fat) profile. To achieve this, the program has a “fasting-mimicking diet” (FMD) system that requires clients to fast for five days straight for three consecutive months.

When on the FMD, you are required to eat a set meal of crackers, bars, soup, olives, and supplements, which adds up to just 750 to 1,100 calories, so pastas, burgers, and colorful macarons are obviously out of the picture, or the table.

Julius Baer chief sees Asia cornering a third of business

JULIUS BAER Group Ltd., Switzerland’s third-largest publicly traded private bank, sees Asia accounting for about a third of its business in the next five years as the firm adds staff to tap into rising affluence in the region.

The Zurich-based bank’s hiring spree from last year is paying off in a “very big way,” Chief Executive Officer Boris Collardi said Thursday in a Bloomberg Television interview in Singapore. Asia currently accounts for about 20% to 25% of its business, he said.

The firm is among European private banks that have sought to boost their Asian operations to profit from growing individual wealth. In an interview a year ago, Collardi said Asia may overtake Europe as Julius Baer’s biggest revenue-generating region in five years.

Asian inflows helped the bank  boost net new money in the first six months by 6% on an annualized basis, in what Collardi has described as the firm’s “best half-year ever.” In July, the 43-year-old CEO said Julius Baer will continue to recruit in Asia and may add more hubs there.The bank’s cost-income ratio is higher in Asia — in the high 70s — but this isn’t a problem because revenue is rising, Collardi said in Singapore.

“It’s not something that is bothering us because revenue momentum is the most important thing and Asia has had record revenues in the first half,” he said.

Asian Private Banker ranked Julius Baer as the fifth-largest private bank in Asia with $82.4 billion in assets under management and 380 relationship managers at the end of 2016. Regional competitors DBS Group Holdings Ltd. and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., which have expanded via acquisitions, are close behind in sixth and seventh, respectively, according to Asian Private Banker.

Julius Baer’s Asian AUM is on track to reach $100 billion by 2020, Collardi said Thursday in a separate interview with Bloomberg News. Organic growth is such that the firm doesn’t need to make acquisitions to achieve that target, he said, adding that he hired more than 100 bankers in the region last year.

The firm had hired Thomas Wu, a former chief financial officer at Chinese wealth manager Noah Holdings Ltd., to advise on corporate development and expansion plans, Collardi said. Wu, who starts Monday, will focus initially on China, he said.

“Asia is doing great,” Collardi said. “We don’t need acquisitions.” — Bloomberg

UN council calls for ‘immediate steps’ to end Myanmar violence

UNITED NATIONS — The UN Security Council on Wednesday broke its weeks-long silence on the crisis in Myanmar and called for an end to the violence as UN chief Antonio Guterres said the military campaign amounted to ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.

Following a closed-door meeting, the 15-member council including China, a supporter of Myanmar’s former ruling junta, expressed concern about excessive force during security operations in Rakhine state and called for “immediate steps” to end the violence.

It was the first time the council agreed on a united response to the crisis sparked by a military crackdown that followed attacks by Rohingya militants late last month.

Some 380,000 Rohingya have fled across the border into neighboring Bangladesh and there have been growing appeals for Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi to speak out in defense of the Rohingya.

Ms. Suu Kyi’s spokesman earlier said the Nobel laureate and long-time human rights champion would deliver an address next week on peace and reconciliation in Myanmar.

At a press conference in New York, Mr. Guterres called for a halt to the military campaign in Rakhine and said the mass displacement of Rohingya amounted to ethnic cleansing.

“I call on the Myanmar authorities to suspend military action, end the violence, uphold the rule of law and recognize the right of return of all those who had to leave the country,” the secretary general told a press conference.

Asked if he agreed the Rohingya population was being ethnically cleansed, he replied: “When one-third of the Rohingya population has got to flee the country, can you find a better word to describe it?”

CATASTROPHE IN RAKHINE
The 1.1-million strong Rohingya have suffered years of discrimination in Myanmar, where they are denied citizenship even though many have longstanding roots in the country.

Mr. Guterres said the Myanmar government should either grant the Rohingya nationality or legal status that would allow them to live a normal life.

Condemning the violence, the Security Council also called for humanitarian aid workers to be able to reach those in need in Rakhine state.

But China blocked a proposal from Egypt to add language on ensuring the right of return to the Rohingya sheltering in Bangladesh, diplomats said.

Still, British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft stressed that it was the first time in nine years that the Security Council was able to agree on a common stance on Myanmar.

“We were united in our concern about the situation” after hearing from UN officials who briefed the council on “the catastrophe that is befalling Rakhine state and the Rohingya there,” said Mr. Rycroft.

Rights groups had urged the council to meet in open session and send a clear message to Myanmar that the world is watching.

“Today was a baby step forward, and it’s admittedly rare that the Council finds a way to agree on Burma, but it’s far less than what’s needed in the face of the unfolding tragedy,” said Akshaya Kumar, Human Rights Watch’s deputy UN director.

In the northern area of Rakhine, 176 out of 471 Rohingya villages now stand empty after “the whole village fled,” government spokesman Zaw Htay said in Yangon, adding others were partly deserted or intact.

SUU KYI STAYS AWAY FROM UN
Ms. Suu Kyi, who will deliver a nationwide address on September 19, has been condemned for a lack of moral leadership and compassion in the face of a crisis that has shocked the international community.

The Myanmar leader’s spokesman said she will not attend next week’s annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations, where the plight of the Rohingya will be in the spotlight.

On the sidelines of the General Assembly, Turkey is planning a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference on Myanmar and Britain a ministerial-level meeting.

Bangladesh is struggling to provide relief for exhausted and hungry refugees — some 60% of whom are children — while nearly 30,000 ethnic Rakhine Buddhists as well as Hindus have also been displaced inside Myanmar.

Nine thousand more Rohingya refugees poured into Bangladesh on Wednesday, the UN said, as authorities worked to build a new camp for tens of thousands of arrivals who have no shelter.

Ms. Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s first civilian leader in decades, has no control over the powerful military, which ran the country for 50 years. A free election was finally held in 2015.

There is also scant sympathy among Myanmar’s Buddhist majority for the Rohingya, who are branded “Bengalis” — shorthand for illegal immigrants.

Rohingya refugees have told chilling accounts of soldiers firing on civilians and razing entire villages in the north of Rakhine with the help of Buddhist mobs.

The army denies the allegations.

Ahead of the council meeting, 12 Nobel laureates signed an open letter urging the UN body to “intervene immediately by using all available means” to end the “crimes against humanity” unfolding in Rakhine.

Ms. Suu Kyi made her debut before the UN assembly last September, winning warm applause for a speech in which she vowed to find a solution to long-running ethnic and religious hatred in Rakhine. — AFP

Low rent gold

By Noel Vera

Movie Review
Logan Lucky
Directed by Steven Soderbergh

LATE IN Logan Lucky, a news announcer dubbed the racetrack robbers the “Ocean 7-11” and I can’t think of a better term to describe the picture: basically a Steven Soderbergh-directed heist movie with a large cast and an intricately plotted, carefully executed plan, only with thick West Virginia accents and less resources (at one point bleach pens, fake salt, and gummy bears are tossed together in a plastic bag to make an IED).

Or you can call this a smarter more overtly comic Hell or High Water — both films featuring a pair of brothers involved in criminal activities, both carrying the subtext of blue-collar resentment against The Powers that Be. David McKenzie was smart enough to direct that resentment against a ready target, the banks that caused the economic crisis in the first place (to be fair they deserve that resentment) but the script he used (by Sicario’s Taylor Sheridan) tended to stack the deck by making one of the brothers (Chris Pine) sympathetic and adorable.

Soderbergh wants to go that way — nearly all his characters are adorable — but has a problem: who plays the bad guy? Not NASCAR (or to be more specific the Charlotte Motor Speedway) — they’re allowing Soderbergh rare access to their facilities. A few satiric barbs are fired in the direction of prison guards and administrators, not to mention the FBI — but they mainly function as slow-witted obstacles the gang needs to evade or dance past. Soderbergh (or rather his scriptwriter Rebecca Blunt who — rumor has it — is fictitious) has to manufacture one in the guise of Max Chilblain (Seth McFarlane sporting an English accent) as the owner of a power-drink company (his surname is the term for a skin condition). Unpleasant touch of xenophobia there — but that’s all right (I suppose); Max is more of a jerk than a real villain.

Low rent gold

The heist itself is as elaborate and carefully planned as you might wish for, with the added element that, unlike Danny Ocean’s crew, none of these people (except maybe Daniel Craig’s hilariously bleach-blonde Joe Bang, veteran safecracker, and his dim brothers) are experienced criminals, most of them attempting this kind of activity for the first time… adds the spice of uncertainty and suspense to proceedings. There’s also the aforementioned lack of resources (another bomb Bang designs consists of jars of chemicals and a list of precise instructions his brothers barely manage to carry out).

A thing of beauty possessed of the eccentric charm typical of any Rube Goldberg device. Soderbergh with the help of Peter Andrews and Mary Ann Bernard (habitual Soderbergh pseudonyms) shoot and edit said thing with practiced precision; the broad accents and sweaty slapstick help keep the proceedings from becoming too precise — need to relax a little to have any real fun.

Not the first time this suggestion has been made but maybe Soderbergh should stick to genre entertainments. His artier efforts lack energy and likeability; his adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris for example is so solemn as to be soporific, and unlike Tarkovsky’s version — which wasn’t exactly a barrel of laughs — lacks the visual poetry to sufficiently hold one’s interest. This though is like Goldilock’s porridge: not too hot, not too cold, the formulation and execution done exactly right.

MTRCB Rating: PG

ARMM youth agency brings play about the Bangsamoro to Manila

THEATER
Mas Mabigat Ang Liwanag Sa Kalungkitan
Presented by the UP Repertory Company and Ang Teatro ng Timog Silangang Asya
Sept. 15-17
Teatro Marikina, corner of Shoe Ave. and V. Gomez St., Barangay Sta. Elena, Marikina City

HOW DOES the conflict in the Bangsamoro shape the country’s history, and how does it affect the lives of the youth?

These are pressing questions given current conditions, and Rogelio Braga’s play, Mas Mabigat Ang Liwanag Sa Kalungkitan, seeks to help Filipinos figure out the answers for themselves, while helping them navigate the Bangsamoro’s history and their struggle for self-determination.

Liwanag revolves around Bangsamoro youth whose lives have been touched by conflict in different ways — some find love in unexpected places, some leave home in search of a better future, while some join revolutionary groups to carry on their people’s struggle.

The play, which was once staged in a limited run back in 2015, is now being brought back to the stage with the help of the Office on Bangsamoro Youth Affairs (OBYA). Members of the UP Repertory Company and Ang Teatro ng Timog Silangang Asya (ATISA) will breathe new life to Braga’s work, guided by the vision of award-winning actor and director Manuel Mesina III.

OBYA’s executive director, Amir Mawallil, says that mounting the play once again and making it available to a bigger audience has been a long time coming.

“We really believe in this story, because this is our story. It is about our own lives and struggle, and Ogie (Braga) tells it as it is. There is no agenda here other than the truth,” Mr. Mawallil said.

And Mr. Mawallil’s trust is far from misplaced. Mr. Braga has spent years doing research on the Bangsamoro and writing about what he has learned in the process. His voice has found an audience among those who seek honest and uncompromising storytelling when it comes to a narrative that is often oversimplified and misrepresented in Philippine discourse.

There will be an 8 p.m. show on Sept. 15, and 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. performances on Sept. 16 and 17. For ticket inquiries, text or call Michelle Timaan at 0916-398-1149.

Star Wars: Episode IX delayed after J.J. Abrams takes over

LOS ANGELES – Walt Disney Co. delayed the release of the ninth installment of the Star Wars saga to Dec. 20, 2019 after announcing on Tuesday the return of filmmaker J.J. Abrams to the franchise to write and direct the movie.

Disney pushed back Star Wars: Episode IX from its initial May 2019 release date after Abrams replaced filmmaker Colin Trevorrow, who parted ways with Disney last week citing differing creative visions with the studio.

Abrams launched Disney’s reboot of the Star Wars franchise with 2015’s box-office hit The Force Awakens, which reunited original 1977 stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill and introduced a new generation of characters. The film made more than $2 billion at the global box office.

“With The Force Awakens, J.J. delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy,” Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement.

Episode IX faced creative challenges after the sudden death of Fisher, who plays the franchise’s Princess Leia, last year. Her character, now called General Leia Organa, has a central role in the upcoming December film Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the eighth installment in the saga written and directed by Rian Johnson.

Episode IX was the second Star Wars project to lose a director this year. Disney said in June that filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller had left the upcoming Han Solo Star Wars spin-off movie due to creative differences. They were replaced by Hollywood veteran Ron Howard, the Oscar-winning director of A Beautiful Mind.

Star Wars: Episode IX is part of Disney’s expanding slate of Star Wars films that continue George Lucas’ Skywalker saga as well as introducing standalone spin-off films set within the galaxy far, far away. – Reuters

UNAHCO says sales not affected by bird flu

UNIVET NUTRITION and Animal Healthcare Company, Inc. (UNAHCO), manufacturer and distributor of animal health and nutrition brands, said the avian influenza outbreak last month had no adverse impact on sales.

“Di sya bumagsak,” UNAHCO Poultry Business Unit Chief Fe Marie Alejandre-Colico said on Thursday when asked on bird flu’s impact on poultry feeds sales.

She added that the firm’s Central Luzon operations are minimal.

UNAHCO President and Chief Operating Officer Ricardo C. Alba also noted poultry feeds make up a small share of the firm’s total feeds business.

“But rather than veering away from situation, talagang we were there,” Ms. Alejandre-Colico added.

The official said UNAHCO extended credit to affected farmers who use the firm’s feeds brand Sarimanok.

UNAHCO is the animal health and nutrition subsidiary of United Laboratories, Inc., the leading pharmaceutical company in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia.

UNAHCO manufacturers, markets, and distributes veterinary and feed products for swine, poultry, gamewfowl, ducks, quail, pigeons and dogs. — Janina C. Lim

Cityland tops off condominium project

CITYLAND Development Corp. has topped off the Pines Peak Tower II in Mandaluyong City last week, moving closer to the delivery of the property to its residents.

In a press release issued Thursday, the listed real estate firm said it conducted the topping off ceremony for the medium-sized condominium last Sept. 8.

Pines Peak Tower II is located along Union Corner Pines Street, Mandaluyong City. The 27-storey tower is strategically found near commercial centers like Shangri-La Mall, Robinson’s Place Pioneer, and SM Megamall. The property also provides easy access to transport, as it is a block away from EDSA, Shaw Boulevard, and Metro Rail Transit’s Boni Station.

The company targets families looking for affordable homes for the project, which have studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units.

The tower offers amenities such as a swimming pool, fitness gym, multi-purpose function room with movable playset, a viewing deck as well as round the clock security.

Earnings of Cityland attributable to the parent fell by 12% to P127 million for the second quarter of 2017, following revenues of P443 million for the period.

Shares in Cityland were unchanged at P1.57 each at the close of the stock exchange on Thursday. — Arra B. Francia

DA purges garlic importers’ list amid cartel investigation

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has suspended the accreditation of 50 more garlic importers amid allegations of cartel-like behavior raised by a Senate investigation.

“I have issued a suspension order for another 50 based on the listing of the Department of Justice (DoJ) as a result of the investigation conducted by Senator (Cynthia A.) Villar. I have signed the suspension order,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol told reporters in Quezon City when asked for updates on the garlic cartel investigation.

“We have to ban them pending the results of the DoJ investigation and the filing of the cases. When they are exonerated, then we will also lift the ban,” said Mr. Piñol. 

The DA ordered last July the suspension of the accreditation of 43 importers for failing to ship 70,100 metric tons of garlic they were expected to import, contributing to a rise in domestic prices.

These importers allegedly brought in only 19,000 metric tons of garlic within the six months to June, the DA said.

In November, the DA revoked all sanitary and phytosanitary permits for the shipment of agricultural products in the process of validating its list of accredited importers, with the aim of weeding out “fictitious” entities.

Some 93% of domestic demand for garlic is met by imports from China and India. — Janina C. Lim

Packed with tourists, Ibiza struggles to house locals

IBIZA TOWN, Spain – Gabriel Alberto Andrade has lived in a van for a year, unable to pay for a home in Spain’s Ibiza where rental prices have shot up as mass tourism takes its toll on locals.

Known as much as a wild-party island as a place of tranquility with coves of turquoise blue water, Ibiza has increased in popularity over the years.

But behind the sea, sun, dancing, and yachts lurk a serious problem of tourism overcrowding that is preventing many locals from finding affordable accommodation.

“It’s not easy living in a van but rental prices are crazy, you just can’t pay them,” says Mr. Andrade, a 47-year-old Argentine who has lived in this part of the Balearic Islands since 2000, but was forced to move out of his home when he separated from his wife.

In his metallic blue van, he sleeps on a sofa-bed and makes meals on a small gas cooker. On the roof, solar panels provide him with electricity.

Just under a decade ago, he says he could rent a country house for just €400 ($470) a month. Now for that price, he would be reduced to sharing a room.

The number of tourists visiting Ibiza, a small island of just 142,000 inhabitants, has almost doubled from 1.7 million in 2010 to three million in 2016, according to the regional statistics institute.

This mirrors a similar trend in the rest of Spain, the world’s third tourism destination which close to 76 million people visited in 2016, although there are fears last month’s terror attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils may dampen their enthusiasm.

In Ibiza, high demand for accommodation prompted the appearance of scores of tourist rentals, most of them without a permit, provoking a rise in real-estate prices and making it hard to find a room for less than €600.

The citizens’ Platform of those Affected by Rental Prices in Ibiza has detailed the existence of countless abusive offers – €500 a month to live on a balcony, €300 for a mattress not including the bathroom, or €2,100 for a small caravan.

TROUBLE ATTRACTING WORKERS
With a salary of just €1,400 as a truck driver and vendor, Mr. Andrade chose to buy his van for €3,000.

Four caravans are parked next to his van in a wasteland, its occupants opting for a nomadic lifestyle due to high rental prices.

The situation gets even worse in high season, when the number of people on the island triples and temporary workers are needed in the tourism industry and other sectors, such as health services.

Such is the difficulty to find affordable housing that the Can Misses Hospital in Ibiza, the main one on the island, has rehabilitated an unused floor to provide accommodation for temporary workers.

Javier Segura, a 30-year-old microbiologist, arrived in June and was forced to stay there after an unsuccessful search for a flat.

“Some of the offers were rip-offs and others were really pricey… over €2,000 to €3,000,” he says.

“And the offers with accessible prices, between €1,000 and €2,000, were all taken.”

In an ironic twist, the tourism sector itself is finding it hard to find much-needed temporary workers if it doesn’t offer accommodation with the contract.

Years ago “in May, I would receive 10 to 12 CVs every day to come work in the summer, now just one or two come,” says Joan Riera, owner of the Can Alfredo rice restaurant in Ibiza Town, who has since opted to hire local personnel only.

REDUCING TOURISM
“We have perverted the system,” deplores Lucas Prats, president of an organization that promotes tourism.

Before there were “buildings dedicated to residential homes and those in tourism zones. Now everything is for tourism.”

As such, the regional parliament of the Balearic Islands has passed a law banning the use of apartments for tourists without a permit.

It also limits to just over 623,000 the number of visitors who can stay in hotels or legal rental accommodation in one go, and plans to reduce that figure to around 500,000.

The aim is to stop locals from turning against tourism, an important activity for an island that was once poor and relied solely on fishing and agriculture before turning into an attraction for visitors in the 1960s.

“In Ibiza there are no exceptions, we all live off tourism,” says Prats. – AFP

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