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Mapua remains in contention of twice-to-beat advantage

MAPUA needed a big second half push to turn back Lyceum of the Philippines University. — NCAA/SYNERGY/GMA NETWORK, INC.

By Joey Villar

MAPUA needed a big second half push to turn back Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU), 75-65, on Wednesday and stayed in contention for a twice-to-beat edge in the Final Four of the 97th National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) basketball tournament at the La Salle Greenhills Gym.

Paolo Hernandez and Toby Agustin each fired 13 points while Brian Lacap chipped in 12 as the Cardinals improved to 7-2 while keeping their chances of claiming the other Final Four incentive.

But Mapua would need the help of Letran, which already booked the first semis advantage, as a San Beda loss to the Knights in their duel on Friday at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan would forge a tie at second.

If this happens, the Cardinals would clinch the No. 2 seed and the Final Four bonus since they beat the Lions, 68-54, last week.

“Our coach (Randy Alcantara) emphasized the importance of this game, that is why we played with a sense of urgency,” said Arvin Gamboa, who came off the bench to contribute nine points for Mapua.

The Pirates, who were already out of it, put up some fight early and led 17-15 in the opening quarter and, 34-32, in the second half.

And then Messrs. Hernandez and Gamboa helped spark a big second half uprising that saw the Cardinals putting the Pirates away.

LPU ended their campaign with a 2-7 mark.

The Scores:

Mapua 75 — Hernandez 13, Agustin 13, Lacap 12, Gamboa 10, Garcia 9, Nocum 6, Bonifacio 5, Asuncion 3, Pido 2, Mercado 2, Salenga 0.

LPU 65 — Barba 16, Larupay 15, Remulla 8, Cunanan 7, Navarro 6, Bravo 5, Guadana 4, Garro 3, Abadeza 1, Jabel 0, Valdez 0, Guinto 0.

Quarterscores: 15-17; 32-34; 53-47; 75-65.

French actor Vincent Lindon to head jury of next Cannes Film Festival

PARIS — French actor Vincent Lindon will preside over the Cannes Film Festival’s 75th anniversary edition, with a lineup that includes Tom Cruise’s Top Gun sequel and an Elvis biopic by Baz Luhrmann featuring Tom Hanks, the Festival said on its website.

Mr. Lindon will follow US director Spike Lee, who headed the jury last year.

The festival will run from May 17-28.

Mr. Lindon co-starred in Titane, a body horror movie which explores themes of grief and love, that won the Palme d’Or for best film in 2021.

For his role in The Measure of a Man, Mr. Lindon won Best Actor at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

Isabelle Huppert was the last French movie star to be jury president, in 2009.

In the history of the Festival, French celebrities have often held this role in an anniversary year, such as Yves Montand in 1987 for the 40th Festival, Gerard Depardieu in 1993 for the 45th, and Isabelle Adjani in 1997 for the 50th. — Reuters

Ayala energy firms share wish list for next government

THE next political leadership will face a tightness in power supply in the next three to five years, officials of Ayala-led energy companies said, as they enumerated their wishes such as clarity in policy and enforcing “actionable” near-term solutions.

“The next leadership will be faced with a challenging situation given the ongoing energy crisis globally and given the impact of COVID on the post-COVID world,” Eric T. Francia, president and chief executive officer of AC Energy Corp. (ACEN), told reporters when asked to share his wish list for the next administration.

He said the pandemic had caused delays in the energy projects, including the competitive bidding for power supply, resulting in uncertainty.

“My concern always back then was it’s the typical whipsaw effect na (in which) there’s a big event, significant event that makes people step back and slow down the buildup,” Mr. Francia said in a briefing on Tuesday.

He said ACEN was one of few companies that continued building or investing in energy projects at the height of the pandemic in the Philippines and around the region.

“But that is not the norm. That is more of an exception. And because of that, I think we could face really a tightness in supply in the next three to five years,” Mr. Francia said.

He also cited the “trajectory” of the Malampaya natural gas, which is said to be nearing depletion, and “how that decline curve would look like. So that’s also a risk.”

Apart from these challenges, he said the next government leaders would be faced with elevated coal, gas and oil prices globally, and the ensuing uncertainty that these would evolve into over time.

“I think the next leadership will have its hands full in terms of this challenging energy situation,” Mr. Francia said.

However, he cited potential short to medium-term solutions, which he described as “low-hanging or addressable.”

Mr. Francia said Laguna de Bay could offer a partial solution, which is both actionable and of significant scale. The government has recently offered the lake as a possible site for a floating solar farm.

“The lake could add capacity in the next three to four years and that’s relatively quick. So, imagine that would be additional capacity by 2025, which people are concerned about what’s gonna happen 2024, 2025, maybe even 2026. So, we need actionable projects ideally on the clean energy or renewable energy side,” he said.

Mr. Francia cited another solution — clarity on policy regulation. He said the government could look into tapping transmission lines that were built for redundancy, and allowing power plants to temporarily connect, thus encouraging the development of new energy capacity.

He said the government should also look into incomplete initiatives such as the reserve market and the renewable energy market.

“I think that will encourage a lot of investments both in renewable energy and battery storage that can be done in a relatively rapid time line, rapid period,” he said.

He said the company is prepared to invest in more battery storage facilities to alleviate potential power supply shortages, but the economics would not work if it would end up selling its output to the energy market as opposed to selling it to the reserve market.

“If there is a renewable energy market, we will be even more aggressive in terms of building more renewable energy plants. But where are those two markets we’ve been talking about [in] the past five, 10 years,” he said.

For ACE Enexor, Inc. President Rolando J. Paulino, Jr., the development of the West Philippine Sea is on top of his wish list.

“It’s the clarity on the government policy vis-à-vis the geopolitical issue that we have with our big neighbor and also the encouragement that they want to have or they want to give to foreign investors on exploring that area,” he said.

He said it is important to develop the country’s offshore resources. The Philippines relies solely on the Malampaya production field, which is said to supply up to 40% of Luzon’s electricity needs.

“I think we need to now start using the Malampaya fund to something really productive in terms of the exploration,” he said, referring to the government’s share of the revenues from the offshore gas-to-power project.

Part of the fund was used to bring down the cost of electricity.

“It’s about time now that the government looks into… whatever is remaining of that fund to start really helping some of our local explorers to actually get some funding coming from Malampaya to develop the West Philippine Sea,” Mr. Paulino said.

He cited the need for petroleum exploration given global energy security issues.

ACE Enexor is the oil and gas exploration unit of ACEN. It holds a 75% interest in Palawan55 Exploration & Production Corp., an upstream oil and gas company that holds a participating interest in Service Contract 55. Palawan55 is in the planning stage for the drilling of an obligatory well.

ACEN aspires to become the largest listed renewable energy platform in Southeast Asia. — VVS

TDF yields go up on hawkish BSP, election jitters

YIELDS on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) term deposits inched higher as the offer was undersubscribed after the central bank said it could hike rates earlier than planned and amid risk-off sentiment ahead of the national elections.

Demand for the term deposit facility (TDF) of the central bank amounted to P276.324 billion, below the P320-billion offer and the P336.743 billion in tenders recorded last week.

Broken down, bids for the seven-day term deposits amounted to P102.146 billion, lower than the P140 billion auctioned off by the BSP. It also failed to beat the P152.652 billion in tenders a week earlier.   

Accepted rates ranged from 1.85% to 2.18%, slightly narrower than the 1.85% to 2.19% margin in the prior auction. With this, the average rate of the one-week papers rose by 1.57 basis points (bps) to 1.9595% from 1.9438% previously.

Meanwhile, the 14-day papers attracted just P174.178 billion in bids against the P180-billion offering. Demand was also down from the P184.091 billion in tenders seen on April 20.

Banks asked for yields from 1.84% to 2.39%, inching up from the 1.5% to 2.19% band a week earlier. This caused the average rate of the two-week term deposit to increase by 4.35 bps to 1.968% from 1.9245%.

The BSP has not auctioned 28-day term deposits for more than a year to give way to its weekly offering of securities with the same tenor.

The TDF and the 28-day bills are used by the BSP to gather excess liquidity in the financial system and to better guide market rates.

The BSP’s hawkish shift caused yields to inch up, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message.

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said in an interview with Bloomberg Television that the central bank may consider raising benchmark interest rates at its June 23 meeting.

Policy makers may wait for another cycle after the May 19 meeting if the economy grew around 6%-7% in the first quarter, he said.

The BSP chief previously said the central bank may begin rate hikes in the second half of this year, and that an increase to 2.5%-2.75% as part of a normalization process is “reasonable.”

“We can afford to wait as to what will be the move of the Fed in the next two meetings,” Mr. Diokno said during Monday’s interview. “Right now, there is no evidence of second-round effects on the demand side.”

Mr. Ricafort added that investors are pricing in uncertainties due to the upcoming polls. The national elections will be held on Monday, May 9.

Former Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., who faces tax evasion allegations, remains the frontrunner based on surveys. Meanwhile, a Bloomberg poll of analysts showed analysts and investors preferred Vice-President Maria Leonor G. Robredo, the second leading candidate, as the country’s next chief executive. — Luz Wendy T. Noble

Tech giants duped into giving up clients’ personal data

MAJOR technology companies have been duped into providing sensitive personal information about their customers in response to fraudulent legal requests, and the data have been used to harass and even sexually extort minors, according to four federal law enforcement officials and two industry investigators.

The companies that have complied with the bogus requests include Meta Platforms, Inc., Apple, Inc., Alphabet, Inc.’s Google, Snap, Inc., Twitter, Inc. and Discord, Inc., according to three of the people. All of the people requested anonymity to speak frankly about the devious new brand of online crime that involves underage victims.

The fraudulently obtained data have been used to target specific women and minors, and in some cases to pressure them into creating and sharing sexually explicit material and to retaliate against them if they refuse, according to the six people.

The tactic is considered by law enforcement and other investigators to be the newest criminal tool to obtain personally identifiable information that can be used not only for financial gain, but to extort and harass innocent victims.

It is particularly unsettling since the attackers are successfully impersonating law enforcement officers. The tactic is impossible for victims to protect against, as the best way to avoid it would be to not have an account on the targeted service, according to the people.

It’s not clear how often the fraudulent data requests have been used to sexually extort minors. Law enforcement and the technology companies are still trying to assess the scope of the problem. Since the requests appear to come from legitimate police agencies, it’s difficult for companies to know when they have been tricked into giving out user data, the people said.

Nonetheless, the law enforcement officials and investigators said it appears the method has become more prevalent in recent months.

“I know that emergency data requests get used for in real life-threatening emergencies every day, and it is tragic that this mechanism is being abused to sexually exploit children,” said Alex Stamos, a former chief security officer at Facebook who now works as a consultant.

“Police departments are going to have to focus on preventing account compromises with multifactor authentication and better analysis of user behavior, and tech companies should implement a confirmation callback policy as well as push law enforcement to use their dedicated portals where they can better detect account takeovers,” Mr. Stamos said.

A Google spokesperson said, “In 2021, we uncovered a fraudulent data request coming from malicious actors posing as legitimate government officials. We quickly identified an individual who appeared to be responsible and notified law enforcement. We are actively working with law enforcement and others in the industry to detect and prevent illegitimate data requests.”

Facebook workers review every data request for “legal sufficiency and use advanced systems and processes to validate law enforcement requests and detect abuse,” a spokesperson said. Similarly, Rachel Racusen, a Snap spokesperson, said the company carefully reviews each request it gets from law enforcement “to ensure its validity and have multiple safeguards in place to detect fraudulent requests.”

A Discord spokesperson said they validate all emergency requests. Twitter and Apple declined to comment.

Emergency requests typically don’t include a court order signed by a judge, so companies are usually under no legal obligation to provide data. But it is a generally accepted practice that companies will turn over limited data in response to “good faith” requests by law enforcement involving imminent danger.

Last month, Bloomberg News reported that Apple and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, provided customer data to hackers who masqueraded as law enforcement officials. At that time, three people familiar with the matter said the fake requests appeared to be primarily used for financial fraud schemes.

The exact method of the attacks varies, but they tend to follow a general pattern, according to the law enforcement officers. It starts with the perpetrator compromising the e-mail system of a foreign law enforcement agency.

Then, the attacker will forge an “emergency data request” to a technology company, seeking information about a user’s account, the officers said. Such requests are used by law enforcement to obtain information amount online accounts in cases involving imminent danger such as suicide, murder or abductions.

In return, the companies provide the attacker with basic subscriber information — the same data provided to law enforcement in response to a court-ordered subpoena, said law enforcement officials and people familiar with the legal processes.

The data provided vary by companies, but generally includes the name, IP address, e-mail address and physical address. Some companies provide more data.

Though seemingly innocuous, such personal data in the wrong hands can be weaponized. The attackers have used the information to hack into victim’s online accounts or to befriend the women and minors before encouraging them to provide sexually explicit photos, according to the people. Many of the perpetrators are believed to be teenagers themselves based in the US and abroad, according to four of the people.

If the victims don’t comply with the demands, the attackers have used several harassment techniques to retaliate, according to the people.

One technique that has been deployed is called “swatting,” where perpetrators call in a fake threat to a local 911 dispatcher in order to generate a law enforcement response to the address of their target. In multiple instances, underage women have been swatted at their homes and schools, the federal law enforcement officials said.

Another approach, called doxxing, involves publishing the detailed personal information, including phone numbers and physical addresses of victims and their family members, online. The information, which is sometimes obtained in part by fraudulent legal requests, is usually posted on sites dedicated to doxxing, which essentially serve as an open invite for other people on the site to harass the victim.

In addition, perpetrators have threatened to send sexually explicit material provided by the victim to their friends, family members and school administrators if they don’t comply with the demands, according to the people. In a few instances, the victims have been pressured to carve the perpetrator’s name into their skin and share photographs of it, according to the law enforcement officials and online chat transcripts reviewed by Bloomberg.

The problem of forged legal requests is prompting companies to think of new ways to verify legitimate legal requests, according to a dozen people who are familiar with the matter.

“Fraudulent emergency data requests abuse the ‘good faith’ basis of imminent harm, but fraudsters have also been known to spoof legitimate legal process such as subpoenas and search warrants by counterfeiting a judge’s signature,” said Matt Donahue, founder of Kodex, which creates software for companies to manage legal requests.

In a statement last month, US Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, said he was requesting information from technology companies about the practice of forged legal requests. “I’m particularly troubled by the prospect that forged emergency orders may be coming from compromised foreign law enforcement agencies, and then used to target vulnerable individuals,” Mr. Wyden said. “No one wants tech companies to refuse legitimate emergency requests when someone’s safety is at stake, but the current system has clear weaknesses that need to be addressed.”

Allison Nixon, chief research officer at the cybersecurity firm Unit 221b, said the threat from underage perpetrators should be prioritized by the computer security industry and law enforcement.

“We are now witnessing their transition to organized crime, and all the real-world violence and sexual abuse that comes with it,” Ms. Nixon said, adding that juvenile hackers are causing serious harm, so “we need to start treating them like adults.” — Bloomberg

Ateneo battles streaking FEU; UP clashes with UST

UNBEATEN Ateneo Blue Eagles — THE UAAP

By John Bryan Ulanday

ALREADY at the doorstep of another outright finals berth, unscathed Ateneo aims to thrust its one foot inside when it collides against dangerous and streaking Far Eastern University (FEU) in the penultimate playdate of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 84 at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Blue Eagles sport an immaculate 12-0 slate in the homestretch and a win at 4:30 p.m. against the No. 4 Tamaraws (6-6) would put them in prime position to sweep the two-round elims like they did in 2019 for another free passage to the championship round.

Ateneo’s last game is on Sunday against rival and No. 2 University of the Philippines (UP) (10-2), which will figure in a non-bearing game against also-ran University of Santo Tomas (UST) (3-9) at 7 p.m. on Thursday night.

Prior to that, National University (NU) (5-7) fights for dear life against winless University of the East (UE) (0-12) at 10 a.m. while Adamson (5-7) and La Salle (7-5) clash at 12:30 p.m. with huge Final Four implications on the line.

For the three-time reigning champion Ateneo though, it is not keen on looking ahead regardless of how huge the stake is.

“We still have games to go. We would love to feel confident in ourselves, but there’s just still too much uncertainty in how we’ve played so far this year,” said coach Tab Baldwin, keeping wary of their remaining challenges starting against the gritty FEU.

For its part, FEU on a three-game win streak to claim a solo fourth spot vows to wage an all-out resistance even against a mighty opponent that has also won 38 straight games since 2018.

“It’s gonna be a tall order. We’re gonna ride on this momentum and our confidence level,” said coach Olsen Racela as FEU coincidentally handed Ateneo’s last loss back in Season 81.

FEU was also one of three teams along with UP and La Salle to drop a single-digit loss against Ateneo this season, fanning hopes for Mr. Racela to pull off a gargantuan upset this time around and boost its own Final Four goal.

Netflix inks Japan studio deal in animé push

REUTERS

LOS ANGELES/TOKYO — Netflix, Inc. on Tuesday announced a multi-film deal with Japan’s Studio Colorido, as the streaming giant ramps up its animé offering and looks to Asia for growth.

Netflix is co-producing three feature films with Studio Colorido including Drifting Home, which premieres in September, as it invests more deeply in original animé. The film will also premiere in cinemas domestically.

Animé has proven a draw for Netflix in both Japan, where almost 90% of its users watch it, and globally, where half of users tuned in last year, with rivals including Amazon and Disney also racing to offer such content.

“In order to … win globally, we must win locally first,” Kaata Sakamoto, vice-president of content for Japan, told Reuters in an interview.

The Asia-Pacific region was the lone bright spot in Netflix’s first-quarter earnings, in which the world’s dominant streaming service reported it lost subscribers for the first time in more than a decade. The company said it was seeing “nice growth” in the region, including in Japan, where it reported 5 million users in Sept. 2020.

Netflix offers access to a broader audience than the hardcore animé fans traditionally targeted by the industry, Studio Colorido President Koji Yamamoto told Reuters.

The studio favors stories in which characters are pulled from their ordinary lives by a fantastical turn of events such as Penguin Highway from 2018, in which an elementary schoolboy investigates the sudden appearance of penguins in his town.

Such family-friendly fare fits with Netflix’s strategy of expanding its content offerings in Japan, including launching some 40 original anime titles, scripted dramas such as First Love, and unscripted series like Last One Standing.

“We are ramping up our investment in Japan content, not just in volume but in a variety of genre and formats,” Sakamoto said.

Netflix has also struck deals with domestic broadcasters, which have been slow to embrace streaming, for content such as long-running variety show Old Enough! from Nippon TV. The show, which depicts very young children running errands for the first time while being filmed by production staff in disguise, has generated buzz online. —  Reuters

EDC expands Mt. Apo geothermal facility by 3.6 MW

EDC HANDOUT

LOPEZ-LED Energy Development Corp. (EDC) has expanded its Mt. Apo geothermal facility with the launch of its 3.6-megawatt (MW) binary geothermal power plant on Wednesday.

The power plant, also known as M3, was synchronized to the Mindanao electricity grid on March 12 and passed compliance testing by system operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines on March 25, the company said.

“Through our geothermal facilities here in Cotabato, which now includes M3, we are able to fulfill our revitalized mission to forge collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future in this part of our country,” said EDC Deputy Chief Operating Officer Jerome H. Cainglet in a media release.

EDC, a unit of listed First Gen Corp., held on Wednesday a launching ceremony at the power plant in Brgy. Ilomavis in Kidapawan City, Cotabato province.

Aside from providing clean and reliable power to the Mindanao grid, the project will also avoid around 25,000 tons of equivalent carbon dioxide yearly through the use of geothermal energy.

“The facility will make use of existing brine from EDC’s 103-MW Mindanao 1 & 2 geothermal power facilities to generate additional energy without the need for additional drilling. Heat from the brine will be used to generate electricity by the new power plant before it is re-injected back to the reservoir,” the company said.

The power plant started construction during the pandemic, with EDC ensuring the safety of workers through strict health and safety protocols.

Mr. Cainglet said the M3 plant is part of EDC’s commitment to continuously power Mindanao’s growing economy with 100% clean energy to lessen its dependence on fossil fuels such as coal.

EDC said the project also supported the local economy with up to 567 jobs, which were generated for nearby communities at the peak of construction.

It said the project is expected to provide additional benefits to the host local government units of Brgy. Ilomavis, Kidapawan City, Cotabato province and Region 12, or SOCCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and General Santos).

It will also benefit indigenous peoples in barangays Ilomavis, Balabag and Kawayan in the form of the government-mandated Energy Regulations No. 1-94 funds, which give to host communities an equivalent one centavo per kilowatt-hour of total electricity sales.

EDC has more than 1,480 MW of installed energy capacity, which it said accounts for 20% of the country’s total installed renewable energy capacity. Its 1,181-MW geothermal portfolio is said to account for 62% of the country’s total installed geothermal capacity. The Philippines is the third largest geothermal producer in the world.

Singapore’s rise sparks boost in defenses vs financial crime

JAY ANG/UNSPLASH
SINGAPORE’S regulators have already moved to tighten oversight after a series of high profile corporate collapses and alleged frauds. — JAY ANG/UNSPLASH

SINGAPORE is girding to tackle white-collar cases that are expected to become more complex as the city-state expands as a global financial hub.

The crime unit of its prosecutor’s office is “actively recruiting” to add to its current bench of about 200 prosecutors and investing in technology that’s able to sift through documents that could run into millions of pages, according to one of its top law officers.

Singapore’s regulators have already moved to tighten oversight after a series of high-profile corporate collapses and alleged frauds in recent years threatened the city-state’s reputation.

“Singapore is going to be an international hub for various matters,” Tan Kiat Pheng, chief prosecutor at the crime division of the Attorney-General’s Chambers, said in an interview, citing the city’s role as a financial, fintech, shipping and oil bunkering center. “We welcome all sorts of investments in Singapore, but we will not allow anyone to come in and use our system” for illegal activities.

Recent corporate blow-ups include an alleged billion-dollar nickel trading investment scam at Envy Group that may be the biggest in the country’s history. The collapse of oil trader Hin Leong Trading Pte has also left its bank creditors struggling to recoup debts. Other unresolved cases that have hit retail investors hard over the years include blow-ups at Noble Group Ltd., the commodity trading house that remains under investigation for its accounting practices, and former market darling Hyflux Ltd., a water and power company that is also under probe for suspected false and misleading statements.

MOVE QUICKLY
The Monetary Authority of Singapore said Wednesday it aims to conclude the probe of Noble and its subsidiary by the third quarter, and investigations into Hyflux are still ongoing.

Mr. Tan, who’s worked on cases including Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal, said he recognizes the need for urgency, especially for high-profile cases where investors and creditors are anxious to see a resolution. He cites court charges brought against alleged Envy nickel mastermind Ng Yu Zhi and Hin Leong founder Lim Oon Kuin within months of the scandals surfacing as instances of prosecutors moving quickly.

Ng and Lim haven’t entered pleas.

“We have to move in and quickly seize assets, forfeit them or return them to the victims,” Mr. Tan said. “The money cannot go back to the criminals.” In the case of 1MDB, he said Singapore has returned about S$88 million ($64 million) in cash that was misappropriated from the plundered investment fund as of February.     

COOPERATION
The growing cross-border nature of financial crimes is one of the key challenges and will need increasing cooperation between agencies in various jurisdictions to counter this threat, Mr. Tan said. While working with the likes of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Commercial Affairs Department at home, Mr. Tan’s team is also in close contact with counterparts in countries like the US, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

“We want to send a message to criminals who commit cross-border crimes that they aren’t only dealing with Singapore investigators and prosecutors, but with several global counterparts together and that means we are upping our game substantially,” Mr. Tan said.

“The reputation that Singapore has always enjoyed is that it’s a very orderly and safe place to conduct business. It took decades for us to build that reputation and position,” he said. “We have to guard that very closely.” — Bloomberg

Cisco boosts efforts to address digital gap, skills shortage in PHL

TECHNOLOGY COMPANY Cisco is boosting efforts to help the country address gaps in access to information and communications technology (ICT) resources and limited manpower in the field of technology.

Through its country digital acceleration (CDA) program, the company hopes to help the Philippines achieve inclusive and sustainable digitization, Cisco Senior Vice-President & Global Innovation Officer Guy Diedric said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday.

“Our CDA program uniquely positions Cisco and our partners to be the bridge between a country’s digital ambitions and the benefits of a digital future,” he added.

According to Cisco, its model is based on engagement across ecosystem partners in the public and private sectors.

“Through CDA, we can support our community leaders in addressing key societal challenges by harnessing strategic co-investment and relentless co-innovation,” Mr. Diedric said.

The company noted it has invested “hundreds of millions of dollars” over the past five years in more than 40 countries.

It has 1,200 active or completed projects across 44 countries through the CDA program.

“Our local CDA program [was launched] two years ago with the idea to build not just a campaign, but an open platform wherein existing, ongoing, and upcoming ICT-related plans can be enacted on — whether it be through access to Cisco technology, knowledge-sharing, or stakeholder engagement, regardless of sector or industry,” Cisco Philippines Managing Director Zaza Nicart said.

Experts have said the Philippines should continue to develop digital infrastructure in order to drive economic recovery, as the pandemic helped accelerate digital transformation initiatives for both the public and private sector. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Alex Eala jumps 17 steps to no. 395 in pro ranks

ALEX EALA FB
ALEX Eala, a 16-year-old Filipina, aces now at no. 395 in WTA. — ALEX EALA FB

ALEX M. Eala netted a new career-high ranking in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), barging inside the Top 400 for the first time after a strong campaign in Thailand.

From a previous best at 411th last week, Ms. Eala jumped 17 notches at No. 395 this week in steady WTA ascend after starting behind Top 1600 last year.

Ms. Eala’s previous high was at No. 505 last August.

The 16-year-old Filipina ace racked up the ladder after an impressive W25 Chiang Rai stint in Thailand highlighted by a championship in the first leg and a quarterfinal finish in the second leg.

That was Ms. Eala’s second pro title after winning the W15 Manacor last year to jumpstart her promising career in the women’s circuit.

Ms. Eala also came off a main draw stint in the Miami Open and a pair of Round-of-16 finishes in France.

She also earned a wild card berth in the Madrid Open but got an early boot against WTA No. 58 Anna Bondar of Hungary in the qualifying round on Wednesday, 6-0, 6-0.

Ms. Eala’s series of international events is part of her preparations for her debut in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam next month after being named in the stacked Philippine tennis team. — John Bryan Ulanday

Benedict Cumberbatch returns for ‘riot’ in multiverse Dr. Strange

LONDON —  Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch reprises his superhero role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, in the hotly anticipated sequel which has fans guessing which Marvel characters might make surprise appearances.

The movie, which begins its global cinema rollout on May 4, sees Cumberbatch’s Doctor Stephen Strange travelling into the multiverse, allowing for different versions of himself.

This, fans say, allows for other Marvel comic book characters to make cameo appearances, just like in last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home film.

“It’s just a riot, it’s the usual mixture of pathos and humor and some issues that are relatable to all of us, and some extraordinary things,” Mr. Cumberbatch told Reuters at fan event in London on Tuesday.

“The fact the character is a gateway to a lot of other characters in quite a crowded film, but also to the epic nature to what the multiverse brings to storylines means it really does deserve to be seen on a big screen.”

The film also stars Benedict Wong as Strange’s trusted friend Wong and Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, a role she played in several Marvel movies as well as series WandaVision.

“We are creating new opportunities, opening up the Multiverse for I think the rest of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) which is very exciting to me and I have no idea where our stories lead ever, and so I am curious to see where we go from here,” she said.

Xochitl Gomez debuts as America Chavez, a character who is gay in the comic books.

The Hollywood Reporter said last week the movie had been banned in Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is illegal. Various outlets have since quoted an AFP report citing an official saying Saudi Arabia had asked Disney to cut “LGBTQ references” from the movie but that it had not been banned.

The Saudi government communication office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters on Tuesday.

Asked about reports of a ban, Mr. Cumberbatch said: “(It’s) A sort of expected disappointment, I guess… It just makes it all the more important I guess that we have this inclusion of diversity in our cast.

“However, I would love to get to the point where this isn’t a topic of conversation.” — Reuters

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