ZURICH — Switzerland voted decisively to increase pension payments for the elderly in a referendum, as concern over living costs and support for a stronger social safety net trumped questions about how to afford it.
Provisional official results published by the government showed over 58% of voters backed the extra pension, a 13th monthly payment per year, with less than 42% against, a more emphatic victory than final polls had suggested.
The measure, which was promoted by the Swiss Trade Union Federation and left-of-center parties, also needed the backing of a majority of Switzerland’s 26 cantons to pass. Most supported it, with opposition strongest in lower-tax cantons.
“This step is really a huge milestone from a union perspective,” Lukas Golder of polling firm gfs.bern told SRF.
The government, business lobbies and parliament, which currently leans to the right, had rejected the proposal as financially unsound.
Swiss voters have in the past been cautious about backing measures viewed as risky for business.
The pension vote contrasts with referenda in recent decades in which Switzerland clearly rejected proposals that would have shortened the working week and given people more holidays.
Concern about the cost of living is widespread in the wealthy country. Zurich, Switzerland’s biggest conurbation, tied with Singapore as the world’s most expensive city in a study published in November by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Mery, a 65-year-old Zurich voter, said increased pension payments made sense. “I’m retired now and so obviously I would like a bit more,” she said, declining to give her full name. “It should allow me to give a little something to my grandchildren.”
It is not clear how the pension boost, which should take effect from 2026, will be funded. Opponents say it could spark tax hikes or spending cuts, and weigh on younger Swiss.
Switzerland’s minimum old age and survivors (AHV) pension is 1,225 Swiss francs ($1,393) a month, and the maximum 2,450 francs. For couples it is capped at 3,675 francs.
Swiss also voted on an initiative to raise the statutory retirement age, which was comfortably defeated.
Voters in Zurich also approved a local proposal to extend runways at the city’s airport, the busiest in Switzerland. — Reuters
ALGETE, Spain — Spanish shoemaker Victor Sanchez could not believe his luck when his company, Peris Costumes, was asked to make the footwear for an Amazon television series based on The Lord of the Rings.
“It very beautiful for me to make (the shoes) for Rings of Power as I’m a big fan of the saga,” said 32-year-old Mr. Sanchez, standing in Peris’ shoe factory, where he is manager. “It always makes you feel a little proud.”
The second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is due to premiere on the streaming platform this year.
At the factory, Mr. Sanchez pointed out other shoes his team has designed for the screen, including the boots worn by the actress who played Princess Diana on Netflix show The Crown.
Founded in 1856, Peris Costumes is one of the world’s biggest costume makers for the cinema, TV and theater, its creations even winning Oscars.
Its headquarters in the town of Algete, near Madrid, house six million garments, from medieval suits of armor to vintage sunglasses and hats of all shapes and sizes.
The company has facilities in 21 cities, from Mexico City to Paris, and it has worked with costume designers for Disney movies such as The Little Mermaid and HBO series House of the Dragon.
“We have tried to make Peris a truly international company … and this is exactly what we have achieved,” said chief executive officer Javier Toledo, adding that last year Peris worked on more than 1,000 productions.
Current projects have to be kept secret as Peris signs non-disclosure agreements with the production companies.
Although Peris strives to keep traditions alive, it also uses new technologies, such as a studio with 144 high-resolution cameras to generate 3D images of costumes.
“Technology is very important … but the work we do here is very, very artisanal,” said Peris’ international product manager, Maria Ortega, as seamstresses worked on costumes behind her. “That’s what costumers value.” — Reuters
THE power subsidiary of listed EEI Corp. has secured a deal with Dagupan Doctors Villaflor Memorial Hospital (DDVMH) in Pangasinan for a solar rooftop system.
EEI Power Corp. will build a 145.2-kilowatt peak solar photovoltaic rooftop system for DDVMH, the listed company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.
The solar rooftop system will have 264 units of 550-watt peak monocrystalline photovoltaic solar panels.
It is expected to yield an average annual energy output of 183,680 kilowatt-hours.
“Over its 25-year lifespan, the photovoltaic system is estimated to save DDVMH up to P20 million in electricity expenses,” EEI Power said.
“It is projected to curtail carbon emission by approximately 128 metric tons annually, equivalent to planting 2,150 trees,” it added.
DDVMH is a private tertiary hospital that sits across a two-hectare area in Dagupan City. It features 100 beds and over 150 medical consultants and paramedical staff. The hospital is a part of the Mount Grace Hospitals, Inc. network.
Aside from solar solutions, EEI Power offers various power-related products and services such as high, medium, and low voltage equipment, as well as preventive maintenance, upgrades, power quality analysis, among others.
On Thursday, EEI Corp. shares rose by 0.57% or three centavos to P5.28 apiece. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
THE DATA on carbon emissions in 2023 is only just in, but we can already predict where things will go this year.
Global greenhouse pollution hit a new record and increased 1.1% last year, the International Energy Agency reported last week. That was almost entirely a China story. Had the country held its carbon budget steady — or reduced it, in the manner of fellow high-income countries whose pollution is now at a 50-year low — then the world’s climate footprint would have shrunk by about 155 million metric tons, instead of growing by 410 million tons.
If you want to know how this year is shaping up, Beijing’s National People’s Congress (NPC) provided a sneak peek. Its 5% growth target announced on Tuesday doesn’t absolutely guarantee that global emissions will rise again in 2024. But it makes the path to avoiding that fate extraordinarily narrow.
That’s because a country’s greenhouse footprint can be boiled down to three factors: its economic growth, the energy intensity of that growth, and the carbon intensity of that energy. On all three, China performs dismally outside the norm — and the dirigiste policymaking typified by the NPC is the major culprit.
One way of looking at the nexus between pollution and economic growth is to ask how many tons of greenhouse gases it takes to produce a million dollars of economic output.1 Despite decades of gradual improvement, that figure is about 462 tons in China — close to double the 246 tons in the US and almost four times the 137 tons in the European Union.
Some of that is just a matter of development. Though China is on the brink of rich-country levels of gross domestic product per person, it was a low-income nation just over a generation ago. Climbing the development ladder — with all the steel mills, cement plants, factories, roads, cars, and airplanes it requires — consumes a lot of carbon. Even so, China’s figure is 60% more than the 284 tons in India, which is roughly the global average. It’s a clear outlier.
Put those numbers together with the GDP growth target, and we can already see that a pollution peak won’t come this year unless China’s economy gets far more efficient at turning carbon into growth.
Such a path seems unlikely. China doesn’t target its carbon intensity directly, but the closely related measure for energy intensity just got downgraded below what many analysts were expecting. After missing the government’s objective of a 2% improvement last year, the ambition for 2024 announced on Tuesday is just 2.5% — significantly weaker than the 4% tightening that ANZ Group Holdings Ltd. had predicted.
Some investors with memories of the 8.8% average GDP growth achieved since 1990 might regard on Tuesday’s 5% GDP goal as a letdown. In truth, though, the government will have to press hard on the accelerator to grow so fast. The World Bank and Asian Development Bank had both forecast 4.5% for this year, while the International Monetary Fund expects an average 4% in the five years through 2027. Michael Pettis, a professor of finance at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, argues the rate should be between 2% and 3%.
Those lower levels would be sufficient to bring China’s emissions to a peak, but it’s not going to happen at this year’s mandated pace of GDP growth. To achieve a decline, carbon efficiency would need to improve close to its fastest rate since President Xi Jinping came to power.
Such a downbeat picture might seem surprising when set against the fact that China installed about three-fifths of all wind power and roughly the same share of solar globally last year. The clean energy generated by that equipment is a formidable brake on the country’s emissions — but it’s not strong enough to overcome the pull of the GDP growth target, especially not when the manufacture of metals and glass for all that new clean technology is a major contributor to China’s growing carbon footprint.
The fundamental problem is one of economic structure. In most countries, especially relatively affluent ones like China, GDP growth precedes increased energy consumption.2 The government and central bank set the basic rules of supply and demand, economic activity responds organically, and energy consumption and a GDP number are the result.
China appears to do things in the opposite fashion: The NPC sets a GDP and energy consumption goal, and provincial officials shape activity to produce the desired outcome. Polluting heavy industry is easy to control, so it’s relied on as a tool of demand management in the same way that other countries rely on central bank interest rates.
Beijing’s most senior officials have set great store by their plans to make their country not just wealthy, but clean and sustainable — “building a Beautiful China” and encouraging “harmony between human and nature,” to quote official media’s characterization of Xi’s remarks at an internal conference last year.
It looks increasingly likely it will fall well short of those ambitions, as the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a climate think tank, argued last month. Beijing’s insistence that it’s focused on achieving results around climate, while other governments make do with meaningless talk, looks more hollow with each passing year. A nation that can’t rein in its addiction to carbon can’t be trusted as a climate leader.
1We’re adjusting the output numbers at purchasing-power parity and including all greenhouse gases at CO2-equivalent levels for this calculation.
2In economic jargon, you would say that growth is the “Granger-cause” of energy consumption, in reference to Clive Granger, who developed the statistical methods to disentangle cause from effect.
Digital transformation has enabled growth and development across industries globally. E-commerce platforms and online marketplaces have become essential in retail, digital features are added in banking and financing, and the workforce is going digital as well. Making all these possible is the internet, which has become more of a lifeline for both individuals and businesses at present. It is important, therefore, for internet service pro-viders (ISPs) to constantly deliver connectivity at reliable speeds and avoid as much interruption and outages as possible.
As of January 2024, according to global connectivity intelligence Ookla, the Philippines recorded an average fixed broadband upload speed of 93.05 megabits per second (Mbps) and a download speed of 93.31 Mbps in January 2024. This quite exceeds what online reference library DataReportal indicated (also citing data published by Ookla) as the expected internet speed of internet users in the Philippines at the start of 2024, which is 92.19 Mbps.
DataReportal added that Ookla’s data shows that fixed internet connection speeds in the Philippines increased by 10.71 Mbps, or by 13.1%, in the twelve months to the start of 2024.
However, the 2023 edition of the Worldwide Broadband Speed League by price comparison site Cable.co.uk ranked the Philippines 86th out of 220 countries and territories even as its average download speed improved by 11.76 Mbps to 43.36 Mbps. The said speed was found slower than the Asian average of 45.72 Mbps.
Ookla’s Speedtest Awards report for the Philippines show that among ISP, particularly in the fixed internet category, Converge ICT Solutions, Inc. (Converge) takes the lead for the third and fourth quarters of last year with a “Speed Score” of 123.18, followed by PLDT Home Fiber at 119.98, and Globe at 88.50.
To determine the fastest internet carriers, Ookla uses speed scores, which consider upload speeds (20% of the score) and download (80% of the score) speeds. These scores are calculated using a modified trimean, which combines speeds at the 10th percentile, 50th percentile (median), and 90th percentile. By prioritizing download and median speeds, Ookla aims to capture the daily user experience of these network providers.
Fixed networks, or fixed-line networks, is defined by Thomson Reuters as wired networks which are usually made of copper paired wires or fiber optic cables and are used for voice and data communications through which a user can make phone calls or connect to the internet.
During the last quarter of 2023, Converge solidified its position as the top fixed network in the country. With a speed score of 123.18, Converge achieved remarkable top download speed of 457.56 Mbps and top upload speed of 448.15 Mbps. It also scored trimean download and upload speeds of 123.36 Mbps and 122.46 Mbps, respectively.
Additionally, Converge was also awarded the best internet gaming experience, top-rated fixed network, and best video experience in the Philippines’ Speedtest Awards by Ookla.
According to Converge, which provides fiber optic speed internet services nationwide, its network spans 682,000 kilometers, making it the largest fiber network in the country with almost 7.9 million fiber ports, reaching two million residential subscribers in 2023.
Photo from unsplash / priscilladupreez
Meanwhile, PLDT’s Home Fiber delivered a Speed Score of 119.98, according to Ookla with top download and top upload speeds of 400.09 Mbps and 407.53 Mbps, respectively. Its trimean download speed is 120.28 Mbps, while its upload speed is 118.80 Mbps.
According to 2023 figures, PLDT’s fiber infrastructure has spanned over 1.1 million kilometers, while its total number of fiber ports rose to 6.15 million, covering over 18,000 barangays nationwide.
Another major telco player, Globe Telecom, Inc. (Globe) ranked third in Ookla’s Speedtest Awards rankings of top fixed networks, garnering a Speed Score if 88.50, with top download speed of 284.43 Mbps and top upload speed of 264.55 Mbps. Its trimean download and upload speeds are 89.40 Mbps and 84.91 Mbps, respectively.
Globe was also recently recognized for network reliability. A survey by intelligence firm Standard Insights Consumers’ Awards showed that Globe is a top choice, recognizing it as a leader in network reliability.
Improving internet services
Moving forward, the aforementioned ISPs aim to expand and develop more high-quality network solutions and services in the country.
Converge, for its part, aims to boost the digital landscape and global connectivity in the Philippines through investments. Such investments are expected to significantly enhance the country’s internet capacity, bandwidth, and network diversity.
Among these investments is the first trans-Pacific cable called the Bifrost Cable System, which connects Southeast Asia to the west coast of North America, and the SEA-H2X Submarine Cable System, that directly connect the Philippines to Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as Hong Kong to Singapore.
“As a company dedicated to digital transformation and providing world-class internet services, Converge reaffirms its commitment to serving the unserved and underserved, constantly expanding its fiber broadband backbone, and offering the fastest, most innovative, reliable, and value-for-money products and services,” Converge said in a statement.
PLDT is looking to expand its Gigabit Fiber plan to Cebu and Davao this year. With the growing digital landscape, customers will demand faster and more reliable internet connections, resulting in PLDT’s fiber plan becoming more mainstream in the years ahead.
“Gigabit Fiber… is a little bit more expensive than the average. That’s true. Like all new technologies and all the changes, it starts off in a certain segment. It is something that will start off in the premium segment, but we are looking forward to it over time, actually making its way to becoming a very mainstream product,” PLDT Senior Vice-President and Head of Consumer Business Jeremiah M. de la Cruz said.
Globe said it will further expand its broadband business, as it continues to ride a wave of remarkable growth in broadband revenues from the previous year. Its fiber broadband revenues increased by 18%, thanks to the rising demand for internet access in the country.
“We’re seeing an encouraging uptrend in our fiber broadband business, and our commitment to delivering exceptional service is stronger than ever,” Globe Telecom Vice-President and Head for Brand Management, Broadband Business Raymond Policarpio said in a media release.
“Our focus is not just on expanding our reach but also on acquiring quality subscribers who value longevity and reliability,” Mr. Policarpio said.
“This unlimited prepaid fiber service offers cost-effective options for superior connectivity, ensuring that high-speed internet is within everyone’s reach,” Globe added. — Angela Kiara S. Brillantes
About 25% of the Philippine workforce is employed in agriculture, yet it contributed less than 10% to GDP in 2022. Agriculture’s share in GDP is on a declining trend, from 9.7% in 2018 to 8.9% by 2022. How sad that the average age of a farmer is more than 60 years old, farmers’ children don’t go into farming anymore due to hard work and little pay.
But there are pockets of success in farming such as the MASIFAGCA Pangkabuhayan, Inc., a calamansi-producing farmer group from Nueva Ecija. Calamansi is a small citrus fruit native to the Philippines, with many uses (food, juice, cleaning agent and even as a mosquito repellant) and health benefits (boosts immune system, lowers cholesterol and stimulates growth).
It all started when calamansi farmers from Nueva Ecija became members of TSPI and its Palayan Program (TPP) in 2016. TSPI is a Christian microfinance nongovernment organization. TSPI offered access to farmer loans, microinsurance and social services and eventually connected the farmer group to Jollibee Food Corp., one of Asia’s largest fast-food companies. TSPI entered into a partnership with Jollibee Group Foundation to help small farmers through its farmer entrepreneurship program become agri-enterpreneurs, with MASIFAGCA its pilot project, enrolled as a fresh vegetable supplier.
How does it work? The Jollibee foundation teaches farmers proper production techniques and technical skills through training programs, seminars and by getting them to visit other farms. TSPI provides loans and teaches them the value of paying these on time. TSPI’sSambayanihan “Usapang Paglago” also influenced farmers to look up to God during trying times.
MASIFAGCA experienced different challenges including pre- and post-production management, marketing and natural calamities. Members struggled to sort and pack calamansi in their first delivery of 262 kilos of the produce in 2018 as part of its test marketing. The first delivery is usually a reason to celebrate, but it caused conflicts, leading some members to leave the group.Fortunately, the group persevered and progressed in learning and improving their processes.
In 2019, a major setback occurred. Ants were found in delivered calamansi packs. The farmers thought some ants in food packs were acceptable, but were shocked when the deliveries were rejected, resulting in more than P100,000 in losses. They later tried to improve and strictly comply with Jollibee’s standards.
Through the pain, TSPI supported and prayed with the farmers. Policies and processes were strengthened. The farmers got a certification for good agriculture practices (GAP), continued marketing with Jollibee and were linked with other institutional buyers.
Then the coronavirus pandemic happened in early 2020. TSPI coordinated with Jollibee to accept MASIFAGCA deliveries to meet demand in Metro Manila. Monthly deliveries went up from an average of 5 tons of calamansi to about 8 tons, harvested from 300 trees per member, with a monthly average gross income of P600,000. At the height of the pandemic and against all odds, past due obligations with TSPI were fully paid.
MASIFAGCA has gone a long way from being farmers to being agripreneurs and even an award-winning group. It was a Bronze Awardee at the Jollibee Global Supplier Summit in 2021 and a Model GAP-certified calamansi farmer group. We hope to see the MASIFAGCA model replicated all over the country, not just with calamansi but with other produce. As consumers, let’s buy local and support our farmers.
What are the valuable lessons that made MASIFAGCA rise above the challenges?
Good governance and leadership to stand up for the group. A nurturing leadership with good governance best practices helped to attain unity among members and stay focused on the ultimate goal — to produce quality calamansi.
Determination and persistence. Each struggle and rejection became steppingstones. The “ant incident” was a “fail forward” lesson. Despite the challenges, they pressed on and didn’t give up.
Innovation and continuous education. The farmers were open to continuous education, whether formal or experiential. By attending seminars and visiting farms to gain confidence and share best practices, they developed good habits and discipline. TSPI has introduced digitalization, and they are trained to use an in-house mobile application platform.
The strong partnership and collaboration with Jollibee Foundation in teaching technical skills, while loans and transformational support from TSPI contributed to their success.
Happy Women’s Month! Congratulations to the women leaders in this success story: Jollibee Foundation President Gisela Tionson, TSPI Executive Director Alice Cordero, TPP Business Manager Lorena Mandanas, MASIFAGCA President Emelita Macaso and Vice President Imee Patingo. Mabuhay!
The views expressed herein are her own and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of her office as well as FINEX.
Flor G. Tarriela is a former PNB chairman and now serves as a board adviser. A former Finance undersecretary, she is a lead independent director at Nickel Asia Corp., a director at LTG, Inc. and FINEX. A gardener and an environmentalist, she founded Flor’s Garden in Antipolo.
I was a job applicant for the post of human resources (HR) manager in a medium-sized company. After some pleasantries and harmless questions, the chief executive officer (CEO) asked: “What’s the most important part of the recruitment process?” I blurted out an uncertain answer — “the interview portion.” How would you answer that question? — Green Nomad.
The best answer is to determine, first and foremost, if there are compelling reasons why a certain job vacancy must be filled. Vetting the request for personnel is an important part of the recruitment process. No doubt about it. The HR manager must be there to challenge every bid to hire additional workers.
This can be done via interventions like promoting from within, multi-skilling, intra- or inter-department transfer, and equipping people with additional skills, among others. Doing more with fewer workers is the key to labor productivity.
The HR manager must not be a yes-person agreeing to all requisitions for additional manpower after the CEO clears it. It should be the other way around. All requests to fill a vacancy or create a new post must pass through HR before it goes to the CEO for approval.
Understanding this is more critical than knowing the ins and outs of the recruitment process. The HR manager must serve as gatekeeper to counter the tendency of department heads to build their empires, under the impression that having more workers makes them valuable or even indispensable to the organization.
RATIONALE A job vacancy can only happen for two reasons. One, when an employee resigns, retires, dies or is dismissed. And two, when a new post is created or added as a result of expansion or restructuring resulting in the transfer of some employees to departments where they are best needed.
When a vacancy occurs due to one of these two events, the following questions must be asked by the HR manager: Why do we need a replacement? Can the tasks be distributed to the incumbents? If the job is not sensitive, can it be done by contractors? Can we hire temps to fill the gaps while we wait to stabilize your operations?
These are tricky questions. Many times, it can be a source of friction between HR and department heads. To avoid this, HR must formulate a clear-cut policy on how to proceed in hiring additional manpower. Of course, there are many alternatives to hiring regular workers or even temps. They include student-trainees who can be assigned to work on boring, but important tasks like encoding. You can even challenge these students to think of a better way of doing things.
This is also beneficial to those students who must perform at least 300 to 400 hours as on-the-job trainees. What’s important when hiring student-trainees is to pay them a reasonable allowance for their transport and meal expenses.
Another option is an apprenticeship program. Beneficiaries must complete at least three months of training in highly technical, vocational jobs. And they must be paid no less than 75% of the applicable minimum wage.
DRAWBACKS Many HR managers and other managers don’t realize the disadvantages of hiring people from outside the company. In fact, they may simply ignore the risks in the hope that any problems can be cured in due time. On top of my list of such disadvantages are the following:
One, it’s costly to hire people from outside. The expenses include job ads if you want your announcement to reach as many people as possible. Other costs include onboarding and training programs.
Two, outsiders may not fit in. Many of them may take some time to acclimatize to the culture and values, the better to achieve teamwork in the workplace. In some cases, this means staying beyond the work hours (read: work without pay), as practiced by some Japanese companies.
Three, the risks of the outsider’s failure. Many times, the new worker can turn out to be less effective than what was promised in the curriculum vitae and job interviews. This happens when your interviews are unproductive.
Last, incumbents may sabotage the work of outsiders. Demoralized employees who do not get promoted may refuse to cooperate with the new workers.
I benefited from internal promotions during my corporate years. This explains my bias against external candidates. If there’s no choice, the only recourse is to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of hiring external candidates. At times, hiring from outside might be unavoidable.
Bring Rey Elbo’s leadership program called “Superior Supervision Subordinate” to your management team. Contact him on Facebook, Linked, X (Twitter) or e-mail elbonomics@gmail.com or via https://reyelbo.com
PROPERTY TECHNOLOGY company PropertyGuru has introduced a new category, the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) developer, in its 12th edition of property awards in the Philippines, aimed at recognizing developers’ commitment to sustainability.
“A lot of developers are coming forward, sustainability is a priority,” PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards and Events’ General Manager Jules Kay said during a media launch.
“We’ve worked with a couple of ESG partners…, and they want to set new criteria and to split ESG into more measurable chunks,” he added.
The ESG developer category offers four awards: sustainable design, sustainable construction, energy efficiency, and social impact.
The other categories include developer awards, publisher’s choice award, best of the best awards, and design awards.
TAJARA Leisure & Hospitality Group, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Cyndy Tan Jarabata said that the awarding body encompasses developers from Visayas and Mindanao.
The 12th PropertyGuru Philippines Property Awards is now open for entries from eligible developers and projects, as well as nominations from the public.
The submission of entries will close on June 14. Site inspections will be scheduled from July 1 to Aug. 9, while final judging will take place on Aug. 12.
The gala dinner will be held on Sept. 6, 2024, at the Shangri-La The Fort, Manila, and will also be livestreamed on their official social media accounts.
The panel of judges is chaired by Ms. Jarabata, Vice-Chairman Jaime A. Cura of RGV Group of Companies, and President & CEO Carlo Cordaro of Atelier A. ESCA, Inc. CEO Jean Jacquelyn De Castro and Vitamin B, Inc. Founder & CEO Michelle Barretto also join as judges.
Main award winners may qualify to compete for regional honors at the 19th PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards Grand Final in December 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Robinsons Land Corp. won the best developer award in the previous PropertyGuru Philippines Awards. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante
RYAN GOSLING and Margot Robbie in a scene from Barbie. — IMDB
LOS ANGELES — Actor Simu Liu, who played one of the Kens in the Oscar-nominated Barbie movie, experienced a revelation when he first read the script and its commentary about the harm inflicted by patriarchy.
“We all like to think that we’re different, that we’re progressive,” Liu said in an interview with Reuters. “And then we read a scene that calls us out so fully and utterly, that I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m part of the problem.’”
The Barbie movie, which will compete for best picture and other honors at Sunday’s Oscars, generated a chart-topping $1.4 billion at global box offices in 2023. Co-written by married couple Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, it also changed some attitudes about men and women.
The film moves between Barbie Land, run by President Barbie and other female dolls, and the Real World — a patriarchy ruled by men who provide few opportunities to women.
Liu pointed to scenes in which the Kens try to impress the Barbies by playing Matchbox Twenty song “Push” on guitar while the women stare into their eyes. “I’ll play guitar at you,” Ryan Gosling’s Ken says to Margot Robbie’s Barbie.
“My mind instantly flashed to 19-year-old me in college,” Liu said of the scene. “Yeah, that’s definitely me.”
The actor said he felt the movie’s aim was to show that patriarchy “is just bad for everyone.”
“It affects men because it puts this weird shit in our minds about what we have to be and who we have to be,” he said. “And then, obviously, makes it really tough for women.”
Dr. Ellen Rome, head of adolescent medicine at Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital, sought reactions to the film from about 100 tweens, teens, and their parents who visited her clinic after the movie came out.
TEENS GET IT Most of the kids “picked up on how normative society’s patriarchy is, and how it can negatively impact both women and men,” Rome said. “Kids at 11, 12, and 13 got this.”
Boys “saw and could pick up on how inappropriate it was to treat women as objects, or to make negative comments about them,” she said.
The boys also wanted a more empowered Ken, she said.
“That he was an accessory wasn’t lost on the boys,” Rome said. “They wanted Ken to be able to have his own agenda.”
Rome said she appreciated that the movie tackled mental health directly. The “stereotypical Barbie” played by Robbie dealt with depression and thoughts of death and worked her way through it.
“They did beautifully addressing the fact that mental health challenges can affect anybody, and that you can do a hero’s journey to face that depression and figure out how to empower yourself,” she said.
Rome did have some critiques. She said the movie showed little body diversity among the Barbies or the Kens. There were no Kens with obesity, for example.
And, the “weird Barbie” played by Kate McKinnon, “is valued but isolated,” Rome said.
Barbie maker Mattel Inc. said its consumer research showed that 87% viewed the Barbie brand as empowering for girls after the movie’s release, and 80% said the brand “showcased body diversity.”
One outside survey found the film altered some perceptions about men and women in the workplace.
Resume Builder, a website for job seekers, commissioned a poll of 300 Americans who had seen Barbie. Fifty-three percent of all viewers said the film improved their opinion of women in the workplace, and 63% of men said the film made them more aware of the partriarchy at work.
Actor Ariana Greenblatt, who played a Barbie-skeptical teen in the film, said girls have thanked her for putting a spotlight on the issues they face.
“I think people will look at things differently forever,” she said. “And that’s the coolest thing in the world. Hopefully we change the journey of society.” — Reuters
In one recent episode of The View, Whoopi Goldberg tried defending the COVID-19 lockdowns and mandatory vaccination by saying that: “Maybe we’re lucky they [children] didn’t [die] because we kept them out of the places that they could get be sick.” But the guest, Dr. Phillip Calvin McGraw — better known by his stage name, Dr. Phil — would have none of such nonsense.
In as even a voice he could muster, the psychologist replied: “I’m saying it [children] was the safest group. They were the less vulnerable group, and they suffered [from measures] and will suffer more from the mismanagement of COVID than they will from the exposure to COVID. And that’s not an opinion. That’s a fact.”
And that’s when the audience broke into loud cheer.
That, in a snapshot, is the story of the entire lockdown fiasco, vaccine lie, and mask asininity.
Every new piece of evidence coming in merely confirms what sane people have been saying for three years — that more time was needed to reasonably prove the COVID vaccines were safe, that the vaccines likely had foreseeable adverse consequences, and that people should be allowed the freedom not to take it.
Thus, The Daily Wire reports, “a global study that looked at medical issues among nearly 100 million people who received the COVID vaccine found a higher-than-expected increase in neurological- and heart-related problems following the shot.” The study also “found a higher risk of myocarditis than was expected from mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna” and also “an increased risk of a type of blood clot in the brain in people who received viral-vector vaccines, such as the one developed by the University of Oxford and produced by AstraZeneca.”
Finally, “researchers also found a ‘significant increase’ in Guillain-Barre syndrome within the first 42 days of an initial AstraZeneca vaccine. Guillain-Barre syndrome is an autoimmune disorder where an immune system attacks its body’s nerves, according to the Mayo Clinic.” (“Largest COVID Vax Study to Date Finds Higher-Than-Expected Increase in Heart and Brain Issues Following Jab,” The Daily Wire, February 2024)
According to the Vigilant News Network or VVN1, the study — The Global Vaccine Data Network’s (GVDN) COVID Vaccine Safety study — was quite detailed as to pinpoint the effects per shot:
Moderna (1st/2nd Dose):
• Swelling of the brain and spinal cord: Almost four times (400%) increased risk (1st dose)
• Myocarditis: 3.48 times increased risk (1st dose)
• Pericarditis: 1.74 times increased risk (1st dose)
• Myocarditis: 6.1 times increased risk (2nd dose)
AstraZeneca:
• Blood clots: 3.23 times (320%) increased risk
• Guillain-Barré syndrome (could lead to paralysis): 2.49 times increased risk
• Pericarditis (3rd Dose): 6.91 times increased risk
Pfizer:1
• Myocarditis (1st Dose): 2.78 times increased risk
• Myocarditis (2nd Dose): 2.86 times increased risk
• Myocarditis (3rd Dose): 2.09 times increased risk
Moderna (Further doses beyond the first):
• Myocarditis from the 2nd shot: 6.1 times increased risk
• Pericarditis (4th Dose): 2.64 times increased risk
• Myocarditis from the 3rd Dose: 2.01 times increased risk
To reiterate, none of the claims made in this new study are new. But it does support previous findings consistently made from 2021. To take just one example — Inside Precision Medicine reported two years ago that “the risk of myocarditis from COVID-19 vaccination was higher in males and increased with the number of vaccinations and boosters that people received” and that “there have been worldwide reports of cases of myocarditis/pericarditis after mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna), especially among younger male persons zero to seven days after they received dose two. Data is just starting to be gathered about the incidence of myocarditis/pericarditis after booster doses.”2
Hence why it is strongly reiterated here in the Philippines that RA 11525 provides compensation for any person “inoculated through the COVID-19 Vaccination Program” who because of it suffered “severe adverse effects” including “death, permanent disability or hospital confinement.” The law set aside P500 million for this purpose.
Furthermore, it is not true (as is widely reported in media) that “public officials and employees, contractors, manufacturers, volunteers, and representatives of duly authorized private entities” are free from liability and cannot be sued for actions in relation to the “administration or use of a COVID-19 vaccine.” RA 11525 actually provides that they can be sued and held liable if proven that they acted with “willful misconduct and gross negligence” in using or administering COVID vaccines.
Filipinos (or their family members) that suffered serious adverse effects arising from COVID vaccination should document their experiences and claim government compensation, and, more importantly (as provided by law), prosecute and hold accountable those that forced or misled people into talking vaccines.
And that liability should definitely include so-called “fact checkers” and all those that suppressed articles or information that questioned the crack-brained mandatory vaccination policy.
1“Largest COVID Vaccine Study Ever Reveals Bad News,” VNN, February 2024, citing “COVID-19 vaccines and adverse events of special interest: A multinational Global Vaccine Data Network (GVDN) cohort study of 99 million vaccinated individuals,” Faksova, et al., February 2024.
2“Risk of Myocarditis after COVID-19 Vaccine Rises with Number of Shots,” Inside Precision Medicine, October 2022; citing “Incidence of Myocarditis/Pericarditis Following mRNA COVID-19 Vaccination Among Children and Younger Adults in the United States,” Goddard, et al., October 2022.
The views expressed here are his own and not necessarily those of the institutions to which he belongs.
Jemy Gatdula read international law at the University of Cambridge. He is the dean of the Institute of Law of the University of Asia and the Pacific, and is a Philippine Judicial Academy lecturer for constitutional philosophy and jurisprudence.
Manila led the latest edition of the 100-city Prime International Residential Index (PIRI 100) published in The Wealth Report 2024 by real estate consultancy Knight Frank. The Philippine capital’s prices of luxury residences rose by 26.3% last year. It was higher than 3.8% average price pickup in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the global increase of 3.1% in 2023.
