THE TOP order of power still belongs to the United States of America.
Albeit with a young unit, still inexperienced and all, the mighty Team USA sits atop of the food chain anew as the No. 1 team in the final power rankings for the FIBA Basketball World Cup that opens shop today in the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan.
Team USA, which is in Group C with Greece, Jordan and New Zealand, swept all of its five friendly games to emerge as the undisputed team to beat in the final and third volume of the FIBA power rankings among the 32 participants in the race for the Naismith trophy.
The Americans drubbed Germany, which climbed to second place, 99-91 in its final tune-up last weekend after also clobbering 108-86, Puerto Rico, 117-74, Slovenia, 92-62, and Spain, 98-88.
A slew of NBA players banners the reigning Olympic gold medalist led by All-Star guard Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson, Jr. from the Memphis Grizzlies.
Multi-titled mentor Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors, with Filipino-American pride Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat as one of his assistants, will handle Team USA that is in for redemption after a seventh-place finish in the 2019 edition in China.
Germany, the European powerhouse, jumped three places to loom as the closest threat to Team USA with Dennis Schroder of the Toronto Raptors and Franz Wagner of the Orlando Magic at helm.
France, the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist, and reigning champion Spain come in at third and fourth, respectively, as Canada led by All-NBA guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC Thunder) completes the Top 5.
Also in the Top 10 are Australia, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia and the Dominican Republic.
Meanwhile, Gilas Pilipinas — led by Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson — is at No. 19 out of the 32 World Cup teams ahead of its anticipated showdown in Group A against Italy, the Dominican Republic and No. 29 Angola.
Brazil, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Greece Mexico, Montenegro, Georgia and New Zealand complete the Top 20 as China, South Sudan, Puerto Rico, Jordan, Venezuela, Japan, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Cape Verde and Ivory Coast rounded out the 32 teams in order. — John Bryan Ulanday
IT MAY be dwarfed by other nation’s sporting prowess, but the Philippines’ fervor for basketball is gigantic, and enthusiasm for the sport is only intensifying ahead of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, which opens in Manila on Friday.
Basketball is played everywhere and by almost everyone in the Philippines, which counts the sport as a national obsession along with boxing and beauty pageants.
There is a basketball court of sorts set up near most churches, and whether it is in a cemetery or near a sewer, these places of worship are ubiquitous in this majority Catholic nation of 112 million people which is co-hosting the FIBA world championships from Aug. 25-Sept. 10 with Indonesia and Japan.
“We are excited since the tournament will happen here. There are many players from the NBA that we are excited to see,” college student James Froilan Almeda told Reuters near championship venue Mall of Asia Arena. The NBA is the US National Basketball Association.
The Philippines might not clinch the 32-nation championship but it can win some games, added Mr. Almeda. FIBA ranks the Philippines men’s team 40th globally and the women’s 42nd. Spain and the United States are in the top two spots.
Basketball first came to the Philippines in the 1910s, when it was a US colony. American teachers introduced the game to the public school system, initially just for girls.
The appeal of basketball endured through the decades because of its simplicity, veteran sports anchorman Sev Sarmenta said.
“The love affair with basketball continues,” he told Reuters. “I will give you a backboard right here, I will find a piece of wire, it becomes our ring, I’ll attach it to the wall here and we can play. And it’s a scene repeated many times in many streets throughout the country.”
Basketball also cuts across all social classes in this developing nation, where nearly half the population consider themselves to be living in poverty, a recent survey by private pollster Social Weather Services showed.
Jessie Conde, a regular at a court built by waste pickers in the slums of Tondo, said he always turns to basketball when things get tough at home or at school.
His teammates, bare-chested and barefoot, typically bet P50 ($1) each per game, with the winner often using the prize money to buy everyone refreshments.
“Once I’m on the court, I forget all my problems,” the 18-year-old said. At home, a statue of Jesus Christ wearing a Golden State Warriors jersey is prominently on display.
Even though the cheapest ticket for the World Cup costs almost half the minimum daily wage, organizers hope to smash the record attendance of 32,616 fans that watched the 1994 FIBA World Cup finals in Canada.
Opening games that include the Philippine team facing the Dominican Republic will be staged at a 55,000-seat arena. Ticket prices for these early games range from P249 to P19,199 (about $4 to $342).
Laurah Agmata, who plays for her school’s varsity and the local community league by the train tracks in Manila’s Pandacan neighborhood, said she was looking forward to seeing Jordan Clarkson represent the Philippines in the championship. One day, she hopes she can also play for her country like the Filipino-American NBA player who is currently with Utah Jazz.
“Sometimes I get discouraged because it’s often only boys who get opportunities in basketball,” the 15-year-old said. “But basketball is love.” — Reuters
THERE were so many “what-if” moments in Philippine basketball history.
One of the most notable ones was in the 1978 FIBA World Championship — the precursor to the FIBA World Cup — that the country hosted.
It was the time when professional basketball players were barred from participating in FIBA-sanctioned tournaments, thus preventing the country from sending the cavalry of talented PBA players back in the day.
Without the pros, the all-amateur, Nic Jorge-mentored Filipinos, who were seeded to the eight-team semis outright by virtue of being the host nation, dropped all their eight games.
The last time the country fielded in its cream of the crop was in 1974 in Puerto Rico.
While the team finished 13th, at least it beat Australia and Central African Republic, thanks to a core of young talents headed by Ramon Fernandez and William “Bogs” Adornado, who will later on become two of the country’s greatest players.
The Philippine Basketball Association was borne the next year and the country wasn’t able to field in pro players again from there until FIBA opened it to everyone in the 90s.
Now it begged the question, would the pros made the difference if they had played?
“Definitely, PBA players pupuwede dun,” said Mr. Fernandez, winner of four PBA MVP plums and a record 19 PBA championships. “Sonny (Jaworski) was at his best because he won the MVP that year. Abet (Guidaben), Atoy (Co), Philip (Cezar), Bogs (Adornado) at Crispa at Toyota players.”
“But as far as winning, hard to say and speculate at that time when we didn’t have 6-10 and seven-footers,” he added.
Mr. Adornado, for his part, said while personally he may not have contributed that year because he just came back from an ACL and MCL injury, he is confident a team of pros could.
Both greats also agreed that the Gilas Pilipinas team now is the strongest the country has ever formed.
“I would say this is the strongest team and we should inspire our team and cheer them up so we can at least put up a decent finish and very good performance because as I’ve said before that being part of the tournament is already a winfor us,” said Mr. Fernandez. — Joey Villar
Novak Djokovic slumped to the hardcourt immediately after the last point of the Western & Southern Open men’s singles final was decided. He had given every bit of himself in live ball action totaling three hours and 49 minutes, the longest in a three-set title match since the Association of Tennis Professionals began keeping time records in 1990. And after he emerged triumphant, seemingly despite the odds and against Carlos Alcaraz, relief swept over him — for reasons both obvious and not so apparent. He proved to be master of his fate, at least for the last week, and he left the World Number One in his wake.
For a while there, it looked as if Djokovic would once again be on the wrong end of the score against Alcaraz. Already ahead a set, the latter was two games in front in the second, and another two away from claiming the title in the third biggest event in the United States. And then his famed fighting spirit kicked in; he refused to go out in a whimper, fighting off championship point and then forcing a third set. From there, it was touch and go, but, unlike in Wimbledon, the breaks would go his way and lead him to triumph. It was by no means easy, but he was up to the challenge, even when he appeared to be continually rebuffed.
Djokovic was gracious in his valedictory, telling the crowd of his admiration of — and, perhaps more importantly, respect for — Alcaraz’s game. In the runup to the Masters 1000 Tournament, he spoke glowingly about the 20-year-old’s generational skill set, which he believed imbibed the best of his, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal’s abilities. No doubt, he was also psyching himself for the inevitable meeting with his current foil. With everything on the line, all he can do is be at his best — and there’s no shame in thereafter being beaten. At the same time, there is the confidence that the win is there for the taking, all other things being equal.
Needless to say, Djokovic’s 95th career title sets him up well for the US Open next week. He will be beginning the fortnight on a high, and looking to build on his conditioning and focus as the major progresses. He will once more need to be at his finest against Alcaraz, likely to make the final as well. And while no one can definitely predict the outcome, especially with so small a margin between the two, one thing is clear: He will never count himself out, and he is at his most dangerous when injected with unshakable self-assurance.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
PROTESTERS hold placards that read “No radiation contaminated water into the sea” during a rally in front of the headquarters of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) in Tokyo, Japan, Aug. 24, 2023. — REUTERS/KIM KYUNG-HOON
TOKYO — Japan on Thursday started releasing treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, a polarizing move that prompted China to announce an immediate blanket ban on all seafood imports from Japan.
China is “highly concerned about the risk of radioactive contamination brought by… Japan’s food and agricultural products exported to China,” a Chinese customs official said in a statement.
Signed-off two years ago by the Japanese government and approved by the U.N. nuclear watchdog last month, the discharge is a key step in a dauntingly long and difficult process of decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi plant after it was destroyed by a tsunami.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said the release began at 1:03 p.m. local time (0403 GMT) and it had not identified any abnormalities with the seawater pump or surrounding facilities.
However, China reiterated on Thursday its firm opposition to the plan and said the Japanese government had not proved the legitimacy of the water discharge.
“The Japanese side should not cause secondary harm to the local people and even the people of the world out of its own selfish interests,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
Tokyo has in turn criticized China for spreading “scientifically unfounded claims.”
It maintains the water release is safe, noting that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has also concluded that the impact it would have on people and the environment was “negligible.”
DECADES LONG PROCESS The Fukushima Daiichi plant was destroyed in March 2011 after a massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake generated powerful tsunami waves that caused the meltdowns of three of its reactors.
Japanese fishing groups, hit with years of reputational damage from radiation fears, have long opposed the plan. Fears that it would lead to a loss of exports to major markets appeared to be borne out by the indefinite Chinese ban.
“The fishing communities of Japan are feeling increasingly anxious as they witness this moment” despite the government’s assurances, the head of the Japan Fisheries Co-operative said in a statement.
Japan exported about $600 million worth of aquatic products to China in 2022, making it the biggest market for Japanese exports, with Hong Kong second. Sales to China and Hong Kong accounted for 42% of all Japanese aquatic exports in 2022, according to government data.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said import bans on Fukushima fisheries and food products will stay in place until public concerns were eased.
The water will be released in smaller portions initially and with extra checks. The first discharge totaling 7,800 cubic meters – the equivalent of about three Olympic swimming pools of water — will take place over about 17 days.
According to Tepco test results released on Thursday, that water contains about up to 63 becquerels of tritium per liter, below the World Health Organization drinking water limit of 10,000 becquerels per liter. A becquerel is a unit of radioactivity.
The IAEA also released a statement saying its independent on-site analysis had confirmed the tritium concentration was far below the limit.
Japan will conduct monitoring around the water release area and publish results weekly, starting on Sunday, the environment minister said.
Tepco expects the process of releasing the wastewater — currently totally more than 1.3 million metric tons — to take about 30 years.
Civic groups have launched protests in Japan and South Korea, although South Korea’s government has said its own assessment found no problems with the scientific and technical aspects of the release.
South Korean police arrested at least 14 protesters who entered the Japanese embassy in Seoul, according to an organizer and a Reuters witness.
Ahead of the release, a few dozen protesters gathered in front of Tepco’s headquarters in Tokyo holding signs reading “Don’t throw contaminated water into the sea!” The rally was over in about an hour.
“The Fukushima nuclear disaster is not over. This time only around 1% of the water will be released,” 71-year-old Jun Iizuka, who attended the protest, told Reuters. “From now on, we will keep fighting for a long time to stop the long-term discharge of contaminated water.” — Reuters
FUKUSHIMA Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Fukushima, Japan. — TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER CO., TEPCO/EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG
TOKYO — Twelve years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan has started to release treated radioactive water into the sea, a key step in the process of decommissioning the stricken plant, but much tougher tasks lie ahead, such as molten fuel removal.
Here are the challenges facing the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco)as they try to draw a line by the middle of the century under the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chornobyl.
MOLTEN FUEL REMOVAL Tepco has described the effort to remove highly radioactive fuel debris from reactor cores as an “unprecedented and difficult challenge never attempted anywhere in the world”.
Trial-based retrieval at the No.2 reactor, the first at the plant to go through such a step, has been delayed twice from an initially scheduled date of 2021, and is now set for a six-month period starting in October.
At Three Mile Island (TMI), the US nuclear plant in Pennsylvania that partly melted down in 1979 after a failure, fuel debris was kept under water during retrieval work, providing a shield against radiation.
That was the worst nuclear plant accident before the 1986 Chornobyl tragedy in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.
Japan and Tepco plan to remove molten fuel while it is exposed to air because it is difficult to fill the badly damaged reactor cores with water.
But that will also make it hard to protect workers and retrieval gear from strong radiation.
The Fukushima plant suffered triple meltdowns, compared to the single fuel core meltdown at Three Mile Island, which means the debris retrieval operation will be much larger and more complicated this time around.
The retrieval will be done by a remotely controlled, 22-meter-long (72-foot) robot arm. The initial stage aims to extract only a few grams of fuel debris, although the total molten fuel at the plant is estimated to be 880 metric tons.
RADIOACTIVE SOIL The 2011 accident spewed radiation into the air, which eventually contaminated the soil. Part of that tainted soil is stored at an interim site more than four times as big as New York’s Central Park.
But the law requires the soil stored at the interim site, located next to the tsunami-wrecked power plant, to be moved out of Fukushima within 30 years from when it began operating in 2015.
More than a quarter of that interval has elapsed with no clear sign the government is nearer to securing permanent storage, though the environment ministry says the earliest the search for specific locations will start is 2025.
BALLOONING COSTS In 2016, the government doubled to 21.5 trillion yen ($148.60 billion) its estimate of the costs of responding to the Fukushima disaster, including compensation, decommissioning and decontamination efforts.
About 12.1 trillion yen had been spent on such activities by March 2022, Japan’s audit panel, which reviews government expenditures, has said.
That represents an expenditure of more than half of the government’s estimate, even before really tough tasks such as fuel debris retrieval have begun, in turn raising concerns about cost overruns.
Tepco’s continuing payouts to the victims hits its bottom line.
In 2019, a private think tank, the Japan Center for Economic Research, said compensation, decommissioning and decontamination costs were expected to reach 41 trillion yen in a scenario in which Fukushima water was diluted and discharged into the sea. — Reuters
MOSCOW — Russia’s most powerful mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin was on board a plane which crashed on Wednesday evening north of Moscow with no survivors, the Russian authorities said, two months to the day after he led an abortive mutiny against the army top brass.
There was no official comment from the Kremlin or the Defense Ministry on the fate of Mr. Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group and a self-declared enemy of the army’s leadership over what he argued was its incompetent prosecution of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
A Telegram channel linked to Wagner, Grey Zone, pronounced him dead, however, and hailed him as a hero and a patriot who it said had died at the hands of unidentified people it called “traitors to Russia.”
A Reuters reporter at the crash site at first light on Thursday morning saw men stretchering black body bags. Part of the plane’s tail and other fragments lay on the ground near a wooded area where forensic investigators had erected a tent. Mourners left flowers and lit candles near Wagner’s offices in St Petersburg early on Thursday.
Amid fevered speculation and an absence of verifiable facts, some of his supporters have pointed the finger of blame at the Russian state, others at Ukraine which was due to mark its Independence Day on Thursday.
Whoever or whatever was behind the crash, his death would rid Mr. Putin of someone who had mounted the most serious challenge to the Russian leader’s authority since he came to power in 1999.
Others who have opposed President Vladimir Putin or his interests have also died under unclear circumstances or come close to death, including outspoken political leaders and journalists. The Kremlin has always denied any state involvement in such incidents.
Mr. Prigozhin’s death would also leave the Wagner Group, which incurred Mr. Putin’s wrath in June by staging an abortive armed mutiny against the army’s top brass, leaderless and raise questions about its future operations in Africa and elsewhere.
The Brazilian Embraer Legacy 600 model of executive jet that crashed has only recorded one accident in over 20 years of service, according to website International Aviation HQ, and it was not due to mechanical failure.
Embraer said it has complied with international sanctions imposed on Russia and had not provided maintenance for the aircraft since 2019.
The plane showed no sign of a problem until a precipitous drop in its final 30 seconds, according to flight-tracking data.
Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation agency, published the names of all 10 people on board the downed plane, including Mr. Prigozhin and that of Dmitry Utkin, his right-hand man who helped found the mercenary group and bore the call sign “Wagner.”
Russian investigators said they had opened a criminal investigation. Some unnamed sources told Russian media they believed the plane had been shot down by one or more surface-to-air missiles. Reuters could not confirm that.
The aircraft, which had been traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg, crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver Region, Russia’s emergency situations ministry said.
Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speech writer turned critic whom the Russian authorities have branded a “foreign agent,” suggested, without evidence, that the Russian leader, who is expected to run for another term in office next year, was behind the crash and had strengthened his authority in the process.
“The establishment is now convinced that it will not be possible to oppose Putin,” Gallyamov wrote on Telegram. “Putin is strong enough and capable of revenge.”
Bill Browder, a businessman with years of experience in Russia and another Kremlin critic, agreed.
“Putin never forgives and never forgets. He looked like a humiliated weakling with Mr. Prigozhin running around without a care in the world (after the mutiny). This will cement his authority,” Browder wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
On a visit to California, US President Joseph R. Biden told reporters he did not know what had happened.
“But I’m not surprised,” Mr. Biden said. “There is not much that happens in Russia that Putin is not behind.”
SECOND PLANE LINKED TO PRIGOZHIN Flightradar24 online tracker showed that the Embraer plane (registration number RA-02795) carrying Mr. Prigozhin had dropped off the radar at 6:11 p.m. (1511 GMT). An unverified video clip posted to social media showed a plane resembling a private jet falling out of the sky.
Another unverified clip showed the burning wreckage of the plane on the ground. Rescuers had recovered all 10 bodies or what was left of them from the scene, Russian news agencies reported.
Soon after the plane crashed, a second private jet thought linked to Mr. Prigozhin which also appeared to be heading to St. Petersburg, Mr. Prigozhin’s home base, turned back to Moscow, flight tracking data showed, and later landed.
Mr. Prigozhin, 62, spearheaded the mutiny against Russia’s top army brass on June 23-24 which Mr. Putin said could have tipped Russia into civil war. Wagner fighters shot down Russian attack helicopters during the revolt, killing an unconfirmed number of pilots, infuriating the military.
He had also spent months criticizing Russia’s war in Ukraine, something Moscow calls a “special military operation,” and had tried to topple Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff.
Many Russians had wondered how he was able to get away with such brazen criticism without consequence.
The mutiny was ended by an apparent Kremlin deal which saw Mr. Prigozhin agree to relocate to neighboring Belarus. But in practice he had appeared to move freely inside Russia after the agreement which had reportedly guaranteed his personal safety.
Mr. Prigozhin posted a video address on Monday which he suggested was made in Africa. He turned up at a Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg in July.
Unconfirmed Russian media reports said that Mr. Prigozhin and his associates had attended a meeting on Wednesday with officials from the Russian Defense Ministry. Reuters could not confirm that. — Reuters
BERLIN — Germany’s cabinet on Wednesday passed a draft bill to ease the citizenship law, hoping a faster track to German nationality will attract skilled migrants to plug chronic labor shortages holding back Europe’s biggest economy.
Some experts caution that progress may be slow, noting parts of Germany’s administrative machinery are already creaking under a big backlog of existing citizenship applications.
The draft, first presented in May, shortens the required residency time for migrants to five years from eight years and to three if migrants make so-called special integration efforts, such as speaking German very well or doing voluntary work.
The new law also allows dual citizenship and grants automatic naturalization to children born in Germany to a parent who has lived in the country for more than five years.
Germany, like industrialized countries around the world, is facing deep labor shortages, particularly in skilled high-growth sectors, which are taking their toll on an economy that could yet face a recession this year.
Official estimates suggest Germany’s ageing society will be short seven million skilled workers by 2035.
German citizenship is not a condition of employment for migrants, but Germany wants to establish itself as a migration destination for foreign talent, like the US and Canada, and Berlin hopes the prospect of a smoother, quicker path to German nationality will attract skilled migrants.
The draft bill will also simplify the path to a German passport for thousands of foreign “guest workers” brought in decades ago from Turkey and southern Europe to rebuild Germany’s post-war economy. It will do this by lowering German language requirements and by withdrawing a naturalization test.
But with German authorities already overwhelmed by thousands of backlogged naturalization applications, some experts doubt the reforms can quickly achieve their main goal of luring global talent to fill hundreds of thousands of vacancies.
“We see very clearly that the law actually will offer relatively liberal regulations, but that these regulations will only exist on paper,” Holger Kolb, a researcher at The Expert Council on Integration and Migration, told Reuters.
Mr. Kolb said similar problems with long waiting times for appointments were also hindering Germany’s parallel reforms in related areas such as visas for skilled workers from abroad.
LONG WAITING TIMES Staff shortages in the public sector, whose jobs are mostly not as competitive as other sectors, a lack of digitization and the impact of several related migration reforms that were passed this year were overwhelming immigration authorities, Mr. Kolb added.
“You can change a law relatively quickly, but upgrading, digitizing and reorganizing an administration, that will be difficult,” he said.
Germany’s naturalization rate of 1.1% is well below the European Union’s average of 2%, according to the interior ministry, which says this reflects the reluctance of foreigners to give up their old citizenship for German nationality — a predicament the new bill addresses.
Migrants complain of long waits even for a first citizenship consultation appointment. But not everyone is deterred.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who arrived in Germany in 2015/2016 are now eligible for the red passport, largely contributing to a rise in naturalization applications, a study by Mediendienst Integration, an online portal that collects data on immigration and asylum, showed in March.
The number of applications has been growing faster than the number of naturalizations processed by authorities and has doubled within a year in the cities of Cologne and Dresden and even tripled in Bielefeld, the study showed.
Waiting times for applications vary between one year in cities like Hamburg and Munich to up to 36 months in Chemnitz, the study, which surveyed migration authorities in 23 of the most populous cities in Germany, found.
Asked about the long waiting times, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said handling applications and other administrative work by migration authorities was an issue regulated by federal states, adding that waiting times varied between regions.
Tariq Tabbara, a citizenship law professor at Berlin University of Economics and Law, said the new law contained new regulations that would probably make the process even more complicated, such as stricter conditions for ensuring the person can independently support themselves financially, a requirement that is already subject to lengthy scrutiny by officials.
“Even with this reform in Germany, access to citizenship is still much easier in traditional immigration countries like Canada. In the end it may be even more difficult,” Tariq Tabbara told Reuters. — Reuters
FullFill (We Empower Ecommerce Solutions, Inc.) warehouse in Pasig City.
Emerging entrepreneurs expanding their businesses in big cities continue to benefit from fulfillment services centers, according to an industry player.
“In the dynamic landscape of small business ownership, the demands of daily operations such as storing, picking, packing, and logistics coordination can be overwhelming — leading emerging entrepreneurs to lose focus on the bigger picture of furthering their ventures,” FullFill (We Empower Ecommerce Solutions, Inc.), a Pasig City-based fulfillment support hub, said in a press release on Thursday.
According to Straits Research, companies without sufficient internal warehouse space for efficient inventory management and those unwilling to allocate extra resources for shipping will find that a fulfillment center offers an optimal solution.
“The rise of e-commerce worldwide and the subsequent increase in people shopping online due to this trend, particularly in developing economies, is driving the demand for e-commerce fulfillment services,” the research firm said in a statement.
FullFill, which supports the operations of small businesses based in Manila and various parts of the country, said that the fulfillment services sector helps boost growth and create stability among entrepreneurs who aim to professionalize and scale their ventures.
The company currently provides fulfillment services and micro-warehousing support for home-based entrepreneurs.
“The concept was curated to help entrepreneurs who want to expand their business in Manila but don’t have the capacity to set up a new team,” FullFill said.
The company noted that it has started offering temperature-controlled shelf spaces that can maintain a temperature of approximately 24 to 26 degrees Celsius. This expansion caters to a broader range of temperature-sensitive products such as vitamins, health supplements, skin care, and more.
According to an analysis report by Grand View Research, the size of the worldwide market for e-commerce fulfillment services was assessed at $97.33 billion in 2022. The report forecasts a compound annual growth rate of 13.9% from 2023 to 2030. — Arjay L. Balinbin
Cybersecurity measures must be employed by all scales of business, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), due to the increasing threats and attacks, according to experts.
“Even if they’re small businesses, they should also keep pace with what’s going on out there,” Pebbles L. Sy-Manalang, chief technology and operations officer at GCash, said in an interview with BusinessWorld at the cyber risk management forum of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) on Tuesday.
“So they know that it’s happening, and they can prepare for it and respond quickly,” she added, regarding SMEs enforcing basic security hygiene measures.
“Good security governance at every enterprise level is the key,” said Ivan John E. Uy, secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
Mr. Uy noted that businesses must adopt a risk management framework and secure critical information infrastructure to stay on top of increasing cyber threats. However, building awareness of such attacks is the first gap entrepreneurs and individuals must face, he said.
“You can have the most sophisticated system, but if your manager happens to give the password to somebody else, then all is lost.”
Mr. Uy said that the Philippines is fourth in the world with the most number of cyber attacks, and the second most attacked country by web threats worldwide last year, citing data from the DICT and Kaspersky.
Kaspersky has reported that SMEs in the Philippines experienced 658,874 web attacks in the first half of 2022 alone, with 17,786 detections of Trojan-password stealing ware attempting to infiltrate the corporate network and steal sensitive information.
“Small business owners may think their companies are too insignificant to become a target for cybercriminals. There is a certain logic in that because attackers usually look for maximum profit with minimum effort,” said Yeo Siang Tiong, general manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky, in a press statement.
“This sector is part of a bigger chain and like dominoes, if a single password stealer can enter a small enterprise’s systems, consider the entire chain compromised,” he added.
Amid the limited availability of resources, Kaspersky suggested that SMEs should adopt practices aimed at improving employees’ awareness of such cyber threats. These include developing a cybersecurity manual, granting a minimum set of access rights, using a secure password manager, and installing antivirus software on business devices.
“It is free to educate and protect your employees. You don’t need sophisticated tools yet,” Ms. Sy-Manalang said. “But as you scale your business, you become more of a target.”
Mr. Uy said that the DICT has partnered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to develop the e-commerce platform on the eGov PH superapp, which will host and support SMEs while employing best practices for cybersecurity.
“They’re on their own for now, but the government is doing something for them and it should be out soon,” he said, referring to current initiatives from the DICT to support SMEs in grappling with cybersecurity issues. — Miguel Hanz L. Antivola
Leave a Nest Philippines invites local and international researchers, innovators, students, and industry partners to participate in the 4th Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference in the Philippines (HIC PH). Several panel sessions and research poster and pitching sessions will be conducted during this program.
The Philippines has experienced a slight setback in its Global Innovation Index (GII) ranking for the year 2022. The country’s GII rank slipped by 8 positions, moving from 72nd place in 2021 to the 76th position in 2022. Alongside this decline, the Innovation Input and Innovation Output rankings also saw a decline to 76th and 51st positions as compared to the 72nd and 40th ranks in 2021. A notable cause that is being looked into as to why this happened was the reduced performance scores in Knowledge and Technology Outputs. These scores were primarily influenced by factors concerning knowledge creation, knowledge impact, and knowledge diffusion.
Despite this setback, the Philippines continues to outperform the regional average when compared to neighboring countries. This underscores the nation’s dedication to advancing technological solutions tailored to local needs. Recognizing the importance of cross-disciplinary and cross-country collaboration, the Philippines seeks to engage with experts from various fields to collectively brainstorm innovative ideas and develop well-informed strategies for effective implementation.
In light of these developments, the upcoming Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference Philippines aims to address the theme of “Convergence of Reformative Technologies for Localized Solutions.” This conference will serve as a platform to discuss the amalgamation of transformative technologies to tackle unique challenges faced by the Philippines, particularly through discussions regarding how knowledge and technologies around Asia have been used (or will be used) to solve such local and unique issues in the Philippines.
Through the collaborative efforts, rigorous research, and the implementation of innovative solutions that will sprout from the discussions in this Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference, we hope that the Philippines will be able to make significant progress in its innovation journey, promising a brighter and more prosperous future for its citizens.
If you are a researcher, professor, student, or faculty from any academia or research institution, we would like to invite you to become part of our research presenters for the conference who will be given the chance to present their studies and research to the entire conference participants. Admission of participants affiliated with any academia institution is FREE of charge. We’re exploring the potential of technological transformation by embracing global innovations and reshaping them to uniquely address the Philippines’ local issues. Your participation is key to shaping a brighter future!
There are only 20 slots available for Research Splash Presenters (with posters) with 20 additional slots for Poster Presenters. Research Splash Presenters will be given the opportunity to give a three-minute presentation in front of the audience during the given time slot as well as have a poster presentation within the venue. For those who would prefer to only do a poster presentation, they are open to join and participate in the conference solely as Poster Presenters.
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President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and senior officials with Kacific CEO, Christian Patouraux and Kacific Executives
Kacific CEO Christian Patouraux met with President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in Malacañang to discuss the future of digital connectivity in the Philippines. Kacific executives and senior Government officials explored potential collaborative opportunities. Discussions covered how the Philippines could leverage the Kacific’s future second satellite Kacific2 to support enhanced connectivity and cyber security across the country.
Currently, Kacific’s geostationary satellite, Kacific1, delivers powerful spot beams, covering the entire Philippines and neighboring regions. Notably, Kacific1 has achieved this milestone through strategic partnerships with over 164 distributors, 19 ISP partners, and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in the Philippines. By successfully connecting over 2,000 businesses in the Philippines, Kacific1 has been a catalyst for economic growth and global market access.
Looking ahead, with the planned commissioning of Kacific2 in 2027, the available capacity will significantly expand, enabling Kacific to reach more communities, businesses, and homes throughout the archipelago, especially in rural and remote areas where traditional internet infrastructure poses challenges in deployment and maintenance. Aiming to enhance broadband services even further, Kacific2 will incorporate the latest software-defined technologies. These advanced capabilities will enable efficient frequency reuse and targeted coverage, catering to areas that require higher capacity and address the ever-changing demands of customers.
High-level discussions about strengthening digital connectivity and cyber security in the Philippines took place between the Government and Kacific in Malacañang.
President Marcos emphasized the importance of building the country’s long-term digital capacity, ensuring the strong and equal participation of the Philippines in an increasingly digital world. This vision informed partnership conversations: “We have to keep up. We are always looking for additional capability when it comes to all these communications, especially with the problems of cybersecurity,” President Marcos said. “It’s the capability that the Philippines really needs… so yes, let’s set it up,” he added.
Accompanying senior officials who participated in the high-level discussions about this ground-breaking initiative included Information and Communications Secretary Ivan John Uy, Science and Technology Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr., the Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry, Alfredo E. Pascual, NDC General Manager Antonilo DC Mauricio, the Director General of Philsa, Dr. Joel Joseph S. Marciano Jr., and Presidential Adviser for Investment and Economic Affairs, Frederick Go.
Numerous partnership opportunities were explored, including a closer collaboration with the Philippines Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and a continued partnership with the Department of Information and Communication (DICT) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), both of which recognize the potential for advancing existing connectivity targets together. “The broadband services offered by Kacific2 could enable government-to-government communications from specific central offices to remote constituents and also support the existing government initiatives that promote better Internet connectivity such as the Free Wi-Fi For All Program, the National Broadband Program, and the eGOV PH super app,” said Cheloy Garafil, Press Secretary of the Presidential Communications Office.
The benefits of the partnership to the Philippines are clear and substantial. Both parties recognize the economic and social benefits that would arise from the collaboration. Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John E. Uy said additional bandwidth from Kacific2 would “help the economy through the propagation of the digital economy.”
“We are proud to be able to help the government of the Philippines achieve its goal of building long-term digital capacity,” said Mr. Patouraux, “and we are honoured to be partnering with this in an endeavour that will positively impact the lives of many millions of Filipinos.”
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