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Biodiversity park to rise in Quezon City

BMB.GOV.PH

THE DEPARTMENT of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has signed a memorandum of agreement with the Quezon City government and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) for the development of an urban biodiversity park in New Manila, Quezon City.

“While our focus is largely directed at managing natural ecosystems through the establishment of protected areas, we also need to address the importance of enhancing our urban ecosystems to be able to provide a quality and livable environment for urban dwellers,” DENR Acting Secretary Jim O. Sampulna said in a statement.

The project will develop and sustainably manage Madison Park, which will be renamed Gabay Kalikasan Park.

It also intends to “encourage the business sector’s support in creating green urban communities at the city and barangay or village level.”

The park is under the DENR’s Urban Biodiversity Program, which seeks to promote urban biodiversity and green spaces, ensure ecological integrity and clean and healthy environment.

The DENR aims to increase green spaces by 2028 in the highly-urbanized cities of Quezon, Caloocan and Manila in the capital region, Cebu in central Philippines, and Davao in the southern island of Mindanao. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson

Solon seeks full data on Chinese intrusions for legislative considerations

PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD PHOTO

A HOUSE representative has called on maritime authorities to provide full information on Chinese intrusions in recent years to help Congress draft legislation that will strengthen the country’s protection of its territory and resources.

“I ask the Navy, Coast Guard, and PNP (Philippine National Police) Maritime Group to fully disclose to the Congress the number of Chinese incursions into Philippine territorial waters and what type of incursions were made so that we can also craft policies and propose actions on how to deal with these issues,” Pwersa ng Bayang Atleta (PBA) Rep. Jericho Jonas B. Nograles said in a statement.

Executive Director Myca Magnolia M. Fischer of the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs reported to the Senate in December that the Philippines has filed 241 diplomatic protests against China since 2016, but Beijing had only responded to 152 protests. — Jaspearl Emerald G. Tan

Prompted by pandemic, youngest province opens 100-bed hospital

BW FILE PHOTO/ MAYA M. PADILLO

DAVAO OCCIDENTAL, the country’s newest province that was formally instituted in 2016, recently opened a 100-bed hospital that will be developed into a level 3 facility capable of full medical services.   

This is a “dream come true” for the province, said Davao Occidental Rep. Lorna Bautista-Bandigan during last week’s launching ceremony.

Ms. Bandigan authored the bill for the establishment of the hospital. The proposal was signed into law in June 2021 as part of measures to boost the country’s healthcare system.

She said the Davao Occidental General Hospital, which sits on a property donated by the Bautistas, the dominant political clan in the province, now has several equipment for surgical operations and x-ray aside from the patient beds.

It received an initial budget of P100 million and has an additional P219 million allocation this year for another building that will be partly used as a rehabilitation center. The Office of the President provided an P80-million financial assistance for the purchase of medical equipment.

The hospital located in the provincial capital Malita is being positioned as a an alternative and complementary healthcare facility to the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) in Davao City, which is 133.5 kilometers away or about a three-hour drive.

Davao Occidental, which used to be part of Davao del Sur province, was created in 2013. It has a population of just over 317,000. Its residents elected their first set of officials in 2016. — Maya M. Padillo

Wizards beat Lakers as LeBron James nabs 2nd on NBA scoring list

KRISTAPS Porzingis scored 16 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter to lead seven players in double figures as the Washington Wizards rallied to snap a six-game losing streak, beating the visiting Los Angeles Lakers 127-119 on Saturday.

The win overshadowed a monumental night for Los Angeles star LeBron James, who had 38 points and passed Karl Malone for second on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

Washington trailed by as many as 16 before taking its first lead of the game at 107-106 on Mr. Porzingis’ three-point play with 7:26 left in the fourth quarter.

Mr. James scored with 2:33 left to put the Lakers ahead 116-115 before Deni Avdija’s 3-pointer with 1:02 left capped a 7-0 run and gave the Wizards a 122-116 lead.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope posted 18 points and 10 rebounds against his former team while Avdija and Daniel Gafford added 17 points apiece for Washington, which outscored the Lakers 34-20 in the fourth quarter. Tomas Satoransky had a season-high 16 points, Corey Kispert added 13 and Rui Hachimura had 10.

Russell Westbrook tallied 22 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for Los Angeles, which has lost 12 of its last 13 road games. Malik Monk scored 17 points, Carmelo Anthony added 13 and Stanley Johnson had 12.

The Lakers took control early and led 36-26 after shooting 65.2 percent in the first quarter.

Mr. James scored on a cutting layup with 5:20 left in the second quarter to move past Malone with 36,930 points. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sits atop the league’s all-time scoring list at 38,387 points.

Mr. James scored 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting in the first half for the Lakers, who held a 67-58 advantage at the break.

The Lakers led by 14 with 2:37 left in the third quarter before the Wizards closed the quarter on a 10-2 run. Satoransky’s trey at the buzzer cut the gap to 99-93 entering the final quarter.

Mr. James finished with 10 rebounds and six assists while shooting 16 of 29 from the field and 4 of 10 from beyond the arc.

Mr. Hachimura made his first start of the season in place of Kyle Kuzma, who sat out with a right knee injury. — Reuters

Chelsea stroll past Middlesbrough into FA Cup semis

MIDDLESBROUGH, England — Chelsea continued to make light of their off-pitch turmoil with another impressive display on it as they reached the FA Cup semi-finals with a 2-0 victory at Middlesbrough on Saturday.

First-half goals by Romelu Lukaku and Hakim Ziyech knocked the stuffing out of second-tier Middlesbrough who had eliminated Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur in previous rounds.

Lukaku tapped in Mason Mount’s low cross after 15 minutes before Ziyech fired home 16 minutes later.

Middlesbrough were given raucous support inside the Riverside Stadium but never really looked capable of troubling the visitors who were always in control.

Chelsea, the object of several buyout bids, are operating under a special licence from the British government after Russian owner Roman Abramovich was hit with sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Only a few hundred Chelsea fans were inside the stadium – a consequence of restrictions on them selling tickets – but they could at least celebrate their team reaching the semis for the fifth time in six seasons.

Since Abramovich announced that he was putting the European champions up for sale on March 2 after 19 trophy-laden years, it has been very much business as usual on the pitch.

They have won all six fixtures since, the latest win coming the day after a deadline for bids to buy the club.

Despite the distractions, manager Thomas Tuchel has remained focused on winning games, and the performance of his players on Saturday was clinical.

“We were very focused and very serious. We showed the quality at decisive moments,” the German said.

“The effort was huge and we never let them get a foot into the door after the two early goals. It was a deserved win.”

“Nothing we can do will change the situation and we accept that it’s not in our hands, but what is in our hands is setting an example and staying focused.”

Chelsea had attracted criticism in midweek for asking for the match to be played without fans to ensure “sporting integrity” in light of them not being able to sell tickets.

They later retracted that request and the Riverside was rocking before kickoff.

But when Mount was allowed to advance down the left and then delivered a slide rule cross to allow Lukaku to tap home, the odds always looked stacked against Boro.

When Ziyech’s shot then flew past Middlesbrough keeper Joe Lumley the hosts had a mountain to climb.

Chelsea could have added to their lead with Lukaku denied by a goalline clearance and Lumley doing well to keep out Timo Werner’s late effort, while Boro rarely had a sniff of a chance.

It was Boro’s first home defeat in 10 games in all competitions, and their focus will now return to trying to make the promotion play-offs.

For Chelsea, they are still chasing silverware on two fronts after reaching the Champions League quarter-finals in midweek.

“We really have that winning mentality within the group. Any competition, any game, we want to win, and we want to keep that going,” Mount said. “It’s been a tough couple of weeks but for us, as a team, we’re just focused and ready to play.” — Reuters

Davis Riley owns 2-shot lead at Valspar Championship

PGA TOUR rookie Davis Riley shot a blazing 62 on Saturday to vault to the top of the leaderboard Saturday owning the 54-hole scoring record at the Valspar Championship at Palm Harbor, Fla.

Davis, 25, sits at 18-under-par 195, holding a two-shot lead over Matthew NeSmith, who shot 69 one day after matching the Valspar single-round mark with a 61 Friday. Davis carded nine birdies en route to a bogey-free round at the Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course.

Justin Thomas, on the strength of a third consecutive 66, and defending champion Sam Burns (67) sit three shots back at 15 under.

Canadian Adam Hadwin (70) is solo fifth at 13 under, five shots back.

Riley had never held a tournament lead after any round until Saturday, and his round was three stokes better than his previous career best of 65 at the Sony Open in January.

“I struggled a little bit with my approach play. I wasn’t as clean as I would like to the first two days, but thankfully the putter was there,” Riley said afterward. “And that’s what I’ve been telling myself is just give myself (a) look. I feel really comfortable with the putter on these greens and if you just get me on the greens, I have a chance.”

NeSmith had established a new tournament record through 36 holes after his blistering 61 in the second round Friday. He was still in command and atop the leaderboard by four shots midway through Saturday, when his round was marred by the first of four bogeys on the back nine at the par-4 10th hole.

“Today was a completely new day and we were trying to put one foot in front of the other one and that was the entire goal of today,” NeSmith said. “I think we accomplished that pretty well and I’m excited to try and do the same thing tomorrow.” — Reuters

Spot in play-in tourney

I’m the aftermath of a rare victory away from the Crypto.com Arena, Lakers head coach Frank Vogel remained sufficiently grounded to note in his presser that top dog LeBron James may well be sitting out the next leg of the road trip. After all, the 37-year-old stalwart had just played 45 minutes in an overtime game, and could use the time off to rest sore knees. He was being cautious, of course; were the choice purely his, he would most certainly be glad to send out the only consistent offensive threat in his roster. That said, he knew to brace himself for the worst.

As things turned out, Mr. James did show up for work. Perhaps he was sufficiently buoyed by the unexpected victory to punch in; the Lakers hadn’t won in Canada in seven years, and yet managed to produce the favorable outcome on the strength of resolve and no small measure of good fortune. No doubt, he was likewise enjoined to suit up in light of the circumstances. The Wizards — against whom he put up a resounding 56 the last time they met — were on tap, and how better to overtake former iron man Karl Malone for the Number Two spot in career points than to face one of the worst defenses in the National Basketball Association. The opportunity looked too good to pass up.

Indeed, Mr. James went on to secure yet another place in hoops history with his 20th and 21st points off a layup midway through the second quarter of the contest. In retrospect, there was no better time to do so; the Wizards had, by then, turned what looked to be a rout into a battle, scoring eight straight markers to pull within five. And it wasn’t as if he went out of his way to pad his stats; he put up his numbers via an extremely efficient nine-of-14 clip to that point. He didn’t need to force-feed himself, of course; there was an air of inevitability to his ascent in the record books.

Mr. James would go on to score 17 more points, and, given the way the set-to evolved in the second half, the Lakers certainly needed them. That they would require him to put up otherworldly figures on the board speaks volumes of their relative lack of competitiveness. The season wasn’t supposed to unfurl this way, with him burning rubber for extended minutes and leaving nothing in the tank merely to keep their spot in the play-in tournament. And it seemed to grate at him in recent memory; the side stares and finger pointing even escalated into an outright scolding caught by broadcast microphones in a blowout loss earlier in the week.

Significantly, Mr. James was singing another tune after the Lakers beat the Raptors the other day. Not coincidentally, these were the very same Raptors that blew them out of the court earlier in the week, leading to his first-quarter outburst. The main difference in his disposition: the effort shown by those around him — a not inconsiderable matter in the face of his own lack thereof on occasion. Nonetheless, he talked about enjoying the game, of being thankful of his place in the sport, regardless of final scores. In the midst of the uncommon reason to celebrate the disconnect seemed to be lost on him.

To be sure, Mr. James is both right and wrong. Whatever joy that can be had from going for triumph is sucked out by listless play, and he’s enraged when he sees the Lakers’ slumped shoulders. The flipside is that he has himself displayed errant body language, and the negative results are magnified in his case because of all the eyes trained on him, and because of his leadership position. Yesterday, they lost anew, and with it any semblance of momentum brought about by their win over the Raptors. This time around, they whimpered across the finish line, scoring only 20 to the Wizards’ 34 to ultimately end eight down.

The Lakers stayed ninth in Western Conference standings, although the Pelicans seem fated to go past them with still 11 contests to go before the end of the regular season. And with their lack of confidence, there’s reason to argue that they’ll be one and done in the playoffs — whether or not stalwart Anthony Davis returns from injury. Meanwhile, Mr. James keeps chugging along. He’s doing all he can to hold back Father Time, but his efforts look wasted. And, soon enough, even he himself will be.

 

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.

Is the pandemic ending soon?

PATRICK ASSALE-UNSPLASH

Here’s how we can learn from and live with COVID-19

WHEN will this end? This question has been on everyone’s mind for many months. We are all tired of the pandemic. So naturally, we all want it to be over soon.

The government has started lifting restrictions. As a result, businesses can operate at full capacity, and people can travel freely irrespective of age or comorbidity. But that should not cause us to lower our guards — and masks.

During the Omicron wave in Jan. 2022, we saw a massive surge of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases. Fortunately, the risks of hospitalizations and deaths were lower. But that should not cause us to hesitate from getting COVID-19 vaccinations, including the booster doses, as required.

The pandemic is not over yet. We still need to get at least 70% of the total population vaccinated, with a greater focus on vaccinating the 2.4 million older adults who have not received even a single dose. In addition, we still need to continue masking, physical distancing, ensuring proper ventilation, and hand hygiene.

If we continue to do that, we will be ready for the next COVID-19 wave. But, if we stop doing that too soon, we will be wasting the lessons we have learned from the two years of living with the pandemic.

Using the tools we have and the lessons we learned, the Philippines can transition to sustained management of COVID-19. So let us do that collectively.

SUSTAINED MANAGEMENT OF COVID-19 AND PROTECTING THE MOST VULNERABLE
The Omicron variant is still around, and it can cause severe illness and even death, especially among more vulnerable and higher risk groups. Also, as Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, has said: “It is dangerous to assume that the Omicron will be the last variant or that we are in the endgame.”

The COVID-19 virus is an unstable virus that changes rapidly and limits our ability to predict what will become of it next.

Therefore, countries, communities, and individuals should not “give up” or “neglect” precautions at this crucial juncture of the pandemic.

Living with COVID-19 is far from passive helplessness. Instead, it is about staying alert and getting ready. It is about adopting a risk-based approach, making intelligent choices, and comprehensively calibrating our tools and measures to keep surges at bay.

During the Delta surge, the Philippines used strict border control to delay the importation of the deadly variant. But as we know, severe movement restrictions and border control measures are not sustainable. While these measures did buy some time for health authorities to strengthen the country’s health capacity, the Delta variant caused widespread community transmission of the virus, overwhelmed many health facilities, and brought tragic losses in many families.

WHO has been supporting the Philippines with lifesaving vaccines from the COVAX Facility. In addition, the government procured vaccines from other sources. These efforts resulted in accelerated vaccination in most parts of the country.

However, large pockets of unvaccinated individuals remain in many provinces and cities. These individuals are at risk of severe infections and death. They may also serve as reservoirs of intense transmission and overwhelm healthcare capacities when the next wave strikes. In addition, immunity gained from vaccinations and natural infection may wane over time, making us susceptible again.

To date, the country has vaccinated over 63 million Filipinos. This is a considerable feat. The credit goes to the National Vaccination Operations Center, the local government units, and health workers and volunteers implementing vaccination drives.

And yet, challenges remain, with around 2.4 million senior citizens not receiving a single dose of COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccinating the elderly must be an absolute priority as they are at high risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19. Other high-risk groups include healthcare workers, other essential frontline workers, immunocompromised individuals, and people with comorbidities. Until every priority group is protected, no community is safe.

We need more community-based vaccinations at the barangay level to reach the unvaccinated. These have to include house-to-house vaccinations or close-to-home vaccination drives.

The transition from acute pandemic response to sustained management of COVID-19 will depend upon how the virus evolves and a combination of vaccination, public health and social measures and other factors, including the behavior of individuals.

Filipinos have high compliance to mask-wearing, and we must keep this habit to prevent virus transmission and infection among the most vulnerable. Besides, mask-wearing also protects us from other infectious diseases (e.g., influenza, tuberculosis) and air pollutants.

Let us continue to work on the proactive surveillance of COVID-19 variants and other emerging diseases. Contact tracing and monitoring of confirmed cases among the vulnerable groups must continue. And there must be timely advice on how people can continue protecting themselves, their loved ones, and their communities.

RECOVERING FROM COVID-19 AND PREPARING FOR THE NEXT PANDEMIC
It is never too early to prepare for the next pandemic, as sadly, COVID-19 will not be our last. As we recover from this crisis, we should build systems to detect and respond to future public health emergencies. They have to be collaborative, multi-sectoral, and inclusive.

The solution is three-fold: strengthening health systems’ resilience, bringing health services closer to the people through Universal Health Care (UHC), and investing in pandemic preparedness and response.

Saving lives starts with investing in health and health systems. The Philippines must invest in health workers by building their capacity and supporting their well-being. The country should also invest more in empowering individuals for self-care and healthier lifestyles to reduce the risk of diseases. By doing that, we would collectively build resilient health and community systems that are not easily overwhelmed by health emergencies.

The government needs to continue to use COVID-19 as an opportunity to roll out UHC. Through UHC, it is possible to promote health and prevent disease at the primary healthcare level. UHC is one of the most sustainable ways to serve the vulnerable and the wider community’s needs.

To detect and respond to outbreaks, including pandemics, we need to invest in better tools for health surveillance. The WHO has a “Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence.” This hub can support health authorities worldwide with data, analytics, and expertise in surveillance.

We can minimize the impact of COVID-19 this year with what we know and the tools we have. But that will depend on how long transmission continues and how the virus evolves. That will also depend on how quickly and effectively we prioritize protecting the most vulnerable. We need to do these not just in the Philippines but all over the world. Let us continue to use the lessons from COVID-19 to build back better.

 

Dr. Rajendra Yadav is the Acting WHO Representative to the Philippines. Dr. Sangjun Moon is the Incident Manager for COVID-19 Response at WHO Philippines.

Does a mild case of COVID really damage your brain?

UNSPLASH

SCARY HEADLINES about the long-term effects of COVID-19 gain traction easily. Recent news reports have warned that “even mild COVID can cause brain shrinkage,” “memory loss” and “long term” “brain damage” that “greatly” changes the brain “as much as a decade of aging.” Over time, that fear is likely to wear no better than fears that the virus could spread outdoors at beaches or on pieces of mail.

The media shouldn’t underplay the danger of the pandemic, but overplaying risks can degrade public trust and focus attention on the wrong things.

Alarming news stories obscure the fact that the disease affects people in vastly different ways. Some people (most unvaccinated) die. Some get sick despite having gotten three vaccine shots, perhaps due to genetic variations in the immune system. Some end up with long COVID and report suffering for weeks or months with fatigue, problems concentrating, memory lapses and sleep disorders. And a great number of people have cold-like symptoms and recover.

The protracted symptoms of long COVID are a real problem that deserves serious attention. Widespread brain shrinkage isn’t.

The brain shrinkage paper that garnered so much media attention didn’t include any data on whether the patients had lingering symptoms. And it didn’t show that having COVID-19 is likely to change your brain in any medically significant way. If you feel fine, you probably are fine.

“This paper might be the beginning of something — but they would have to do a lot more to show this is permanent or that the patients showed interesting changes in cognition,” said Columbia University neurologist Scott Small, who was not involved with the research. Small and other neurologists I spoke with were impressed by how subtle the changes to the brain were. The researchers, who described their brain imaging work in the journal Nature, teased out shifts too tiny to be observed by a radiologist.

Health scare stories often attempt to call attention to lurking risks for those who feel healthy — and that’s good if it helps real diseases get caught early. But there’s a limit to how useful it is. Some cancer screenings lead to unnecessary surgery. A new study suggests that healthy people with slightly elevated cholesterol don’t benefit much from statins. And it turns out that healthy people actually shouldn’t take an aspirin a day to prevent strokes. Again: if you feel fine, you probably are fine.

What makes the brain study exciting scientifically is that it takes advantage of unique circumstances — a group of 785 people who had gotten brain scans before the pandemic as part of a data collection effort. Rescanning them allowed the scientists to compare before and after pictures from those who’d had COVID and those who hadn’t.

To put the results in perspective, Shamik Bhattacharyya, a neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, pointed out scatter plots near the bottom of this paper. The dots depict variation in the brain regions of interest. Dots representing different brain measurements on scatter plots jumped up and down, both for the people who’d had COVID and for those who had not. Little changes like these can result from hydration status, other health problems or even the time of day. Nothing in the body is perfectly static or perfectly measurable.

The individual changes measured in the study were subtle, but by extracting information from hundreds of scans together, the researchers concluded those who’d had COVID showed slightly more of a decrease in brain regions they thought might be affected by COVID — those governing memory and sense of smell. One possibility is that the loss of smell in some patients led to changes in the brain, just as human brains are known to “remodel” themselves after changes in hearing or vision. And if the sense returns, the brain might reverse this very minor shift.

Avindra Nath, a neuroimmunologist at the National Institutes of Health who is studying long COVID, said the conclusions might hold clues to what’s causing long COVID, and figuring that out is critical to finding treatments. Researchers would love to see a similarly precise brain imaging study that included people with lingering symptoms.

One weird finding that nobody could explain was a slight difference between the COVID and control groups in the scans taken before the pandemic — the COVID patients actually started with smaller brains. “It’s highly unclear why this was true,” said Bhattacharyya.

People’s gray matter does slowly shrink with age, but the changes measured in this study aren’t necessarily permanent, say the neurologists. An illness can temporarily change the brain, but so can learning new skills such as juggling or driving a taxi.

Public health officials, doctors, and media outlets aren’t helping if they mislead people for any reason. Those who feel they can’t trust the mainstream media will migrate to fringe scientists and media figures who serve up vastly exaggerated reports of vaccine side effects, or promises of miracle cures. The sea of COVID misinformation is too vast to police — the best antidote for it is trustworthy, balanced information coming through mainstream channels.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Of quick fixes, pass through and silver linings

PHILIPPINE STAR/ MIGUEL DE GUZMAN
MOTORISTS crowd a gasoline station along España Boulevard in Manila as they gas up before a major hike in petroleum products on March 15. — PHILIPPINE STAR/ MIGUEL DE GUZMAN

It’s beginning to look a little like the 1970s, the Oil Price Crises decade. Those who share my ripe seniority can relate. In the wake of the Yom Kippur War in 1972, the Arab world through OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) decided to constrict oil supply, thereby forcing the world oil price to spike from an average of $3/barrel of oil in 1972 to $12/barrel in 1974 and to about $37/barrel after the Iran oil embargo in 1981. Gas station queues, global and local economic contractions, record unemployment and inflation (“stagflation” was the byword) were the result. One difference, among others, stands out: in 1970s, there wasn’t this profound grief and rage over innocent lives mangled and/or snuffed out.

Amidst all the fear and loathing, relief will come, though we do not know when exactly and how much. The latest price spike has doubled the average world price to, and which will yoyo around, $100/barrel as of March 2022. The global market can replace but only slowly the 2-3 million barrels per day of Russian oil withdrawn. During the OPEC oil crises era, the elevated price prompted the surge of North Sea and other non-OPEC oil and gas, which shortened the duration of elevated inflation. From 1986 to 1999, the per barrel price of oil was below $21! This time, the price will tempt a ramped up Middle East and other regional oil outputs. Demand reduction from China’s COVID-related lockdown has already softened the rise.

When from 2010-2014 oil price averaged about $90/barrel, fracking started cracking and by 2016 had helped cut down the world price to $38/barrel. Many fracking rigs, however, soon closed at so low a price. Gas output in the USA will ramp up as the inadequate pipelines improve. Investors are waiting to see if the elevated prices have staying power and where they finally settle. More apropos, we pray that the two sides in the conflict may still embrace realpolitik to stop the shooting and start rebuilding on new territorial boundaries.

The imported fossil fuel price volatility we cannot control. We control how we respond which will determine how fast we recover. During the 1970s, many countries resorted to quick fixes, such as overt and/or covert (disguised as fuel rationing), tax cuts, and price controls. A few countries adopted the “pass through and reset” policy. The latter countries, among them South Korea in 1973 and Taiwan in 1979, saw higher initial inflation but more quickly receded, allowing a quicker return of investment and growth (Khourk, 1991). Most countries, including the Philippines, in an effort to instantiate compassion for the poor, opted to drip-drip the price impact on consumers regardless of capacity but which produced a lingering inflation postponing the return of investment. Either way, inflation will rear its head but recovery is quicker and compassion more enduring with a pass through and reset.

Quick fixes that mortgage our future are the danger. In this season of election insanity, the Pavlovian tendency favors soft-headed but politically savvy easy outs: legislated wage increases, tax cuts, and price controls. Legislated wage increases will start a cascade of secondary price increases that can persist for a long time. Price controls trigger supply shortfalls resulting in secondary price increases. Tax cuts will sideswipe an already tenuous fiscal viability. The economy remains febrile for a much longer time than with a price pass through.

The lifting of the excise tax on fuel is a red button quick fix. Fuel excise taxes generate P131 billion per year for government coffers. If lifted, the gasoline pump price today at P77/liter will immediately drop to P67/liter and diesel will fall to P59/liter from P65/liter. But who really benefits? Affluent households commuting in air-conditioned private SUVs will get a bounty. Farmers and workers who walk or bike to work will not benefit but just the same they get hit by secondary commodity and food inflation.

Kudos to NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) which recommended, and President Duterte accepted, keeping the excise tax and instead using the proceeds for targeted cash transfers to the poorest households and for discount vouchers to public conveyance. Let’s use digital payment platforms to facilitate the process. Whoever said that a “soft heart for the poor” is a monopoly of “soft heads” got it wrong. The more affluent beneficiaries of our market economy should embrace the “price pass through and reset” policy.

Is there a silver lining? In the 1970s, the price spike woke the world up to fuel conservation and gas savers like the humble Japanese car Datsun. This time around, renewables will get a decisive boost, helping accelerate de-carbonization not just because of lower price per MWh but because fossil fuel price volatility is painful. Battery and other power storage systems that shift consumption to off-peak hours and provide ancillary services to the grid thus averting the need for fossil-fed peaker plants, will become even more attractive! Residential and business rooftop solar PV investment will get a shot in the arm, which it did not get from state subsidy in the Philippines. Government owns extensive idle rooftops (among public schools, say) and will be remiss not to convert these into solar farms. Extensive idle rooftops owned by businesses should be taxed contingently, that is, until utilized as solar PV power farms. The shift to EV transport will now get the traction it needs, more so with EVIDA (Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act) about to be signed into law. Private business should lead the charge to the decarbonized world.

Kudos to Meralco President and CEO Ray Espinosa for trailblazing with its eSakay, an all-electric public conveyance plying the Mandaluyong-Makati circuit, and for shifting its utility vehicles fleet to EV propulsion! Small steps perhaps but giant ones when multiplied a thousand times. Bottomline consideration is now overtaken by love for Mother Earth in the embrace of renewables, and private business must cease avoiding emerging decarbonization opportunities.

The imperative is to avoid short-term remedies that become long-term liabilities. Take the Oil Price Stabilization Fund (OPSF), which was created in 1984 by dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ PD 1956 in the wake of the Second Oil Crisis. It was amended by EO 137 of President Cory Aquino in 1987. While possibly beneficial in theory, politics and corruption in the monopoly of petroleum import so marred its implementation that it became a black hole gobbling up substantial fiscal resources. Much needed public infrastructure scrambled for crumbs from the fiscal table and/or was not built while private car owners were subsidized. The OPSF era was when we raced headlong to the bottom of the Asian league table. The lifting of OPSF in 1998, together with MWSS privatization a year earlier and EPIRA subsequently, led to the fiscal consolidation in the next decades. Credit upgrades, the financing for an upsized 4Ps program and even for BBB resulted.

Horror of horrors! Presidential candidate BB Marcos has called for OPSF to be reinstalled! Insane! BB Marcos, obsessed with proving his forebear a genius, promises a repeat of the season of insanity pioneered by Apo Ferdie. Vote wisely.

 

Raul V. Fabella is a retired professor of the UP School of Economics, a member of the National Academy of Science and Technology and an honorary professor of the Asian Institute of Management. He gets his dopamine fix from bicycling and tending flowers with wife Teena.

Putin’s disinformation and Russia’s loss

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN — KREMLIN.RU/

Putin’s war is predicated on a false narrative. In an hour-long address to the Russian people on the eve of the Ukraine attacks, Vladimir Putin revealed his grand argument as to why the Ukraine deserved to be invaded.

Putin claimed that Ukraine was created by the authors of the Russian Communist Revolution more than 100 years ago to be an extension of Russia. That in the last 30 years, the United States and Europe, collectively referred to as the “West,” connived to install Neo-Nazi leaders in the Ukrainian government. Since taking the reins of power, the Neo-Nazis have been feeding the Ukrainian people anti-Russian rhetoric with the intent of exterminating the Russian-speaking communities in the eastern part of the country.

Putin asserts that Ukraine aspires for full NATO membership. Once a part of the western military alliance, Ukraine will serve as the jumping point of the west to obliterate modern day Russia “just as Hitler did 80 years ago.” This time, Putin assures, the Russian people will be ready.

With clear and present dangers, Russia must invade Ukraine to save the Ukrainian people from Nazi tyranny and protect the Russian motherland from possible NATO attacks. Besides, Putin says, if the Ukrainian people are going to disavow Russia and the land the Communist Party gave them, then it must be taken back.

In summary, Putin’s justification for his war hinges on four points. First, that Ukraine has always belonged to Russia. Second, that Ukraine has been “hijacked” by the west. Third, that the west controls the country through Neo-Nazi puppets. And fourth, that NATO is bound to use Ukraine as a bridge to attack Russia.

Aware that the Russian people will reject a bloody invasion, Putin framed his siege as a rescue mission and a national security necessity. This Russian narrative, however false, is echoed by Russian diplomats around the world including the Philippines.

The Putin narrative is untrue on all levels. In the first place, Ukraine was never a Russian creation. Kiev, the capital, was a thriving independent city even before Moscow came to be. It has its own culture and its own historical borders.

Since gaining independence from the USSR in 1991, Ukraine has had seven presidents, all of whom were democratically elected except for Oleksander Turchynov who was an interim president. None of the presidents were Neo-Nazis. In fact, in the 2019 elections, the political party representing the extreme right (the closest in philosophy to Neo-Nazis) won only 2% of the votes and no seats in parliament. As for NATO, Ukrainian membership was never a possibility since it failed to meet the alliance’s qualifications.

Despite a justification based on falsehoods, Putin ordered an all-out invasion in the early morning of Feb. 22. Entering the Ukraine from eight strategic fronts, the Russian forces first seized rural areas with tanks and missiles, before slowly making their way to the cities.

Putin made a grave miscalculation. He thought the Ukrainian people would not resist given the overwhelming strength of the Russian forces. He believed many would even welcome Russian occupation with open arms, especially the citizenry in the Donbas region. How wrong he was.

In an admirable display of bravery, the Ukrainian people resisted Russian aggression with their lives. There is a long waiting list today to join the Ukrainian army. Men and women took up arms to fight. Molotov cocktails versus Russian missile trucks. Civilians used their bodies to block tanks…. many lay prostrate on the streets to prevent Russian convoys from progressing. With such dedication and bravery from the Ukrainian people, the Russian forces are losing despite their immense firepower.

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky was offered to be airlifted to safety by the US but he chose to fight shoulder to shoulder with the people. He said poignantly, “I need ammunition, not a ride.” To that, western democracies came to Ukrainian aid in an unprecedented show of support. Even neutral Switzerland sent arms to help the resistance.

The unshakable resistance of the Ukrainian people and the all-out support of her allies foiled Putin’s plan.

As events unfold, it is highly unlikely that Putin will have the victory he designed. Everybody will lose, but Russia will be the biggest loser.

Putin may succeed in driving the Ukrainian government out of Kiev and seize large swaths of Ukrainian territory for itself. But it is impossible to occupy the entire country without spending hundreds of billions of dollars — dollars Russia does not have. Ukraine has Europe’s largest land mass at 603,548 square kilometers.

The Ukraine Republic will endure but perhaps with a smaller territory than it had before. It will rebuild with massive support from the west and other democratic nations.

As for Russia itself, its economy will suffer the severe aftershocks of the stiff economic sanctions imposed by western democracies. Moving forward, Russia will become increasingly isolated, to its peril. Putin’s cabal of oligarchs will lose large parts of their wealth and will slowly turn their back against their benefactor. Some already have.

In Ukraine, whatever support Russia enjoyed from loyalist in Donbas and Crimea have diminished as Putin’s true colors were revealed. Putin’s stronghold in Ukraine has all but vanished. In contrast, the Ukrainians have witnessed how the West has supported them and this has drawn them closer to the democratic way of life.

As for Putin himself, he lost the trust of the Russian people. The majority now realize that Putin’s narrative was a lie — the Ukrainians, with whom the Russians feel kinship, were never under Neo-Nazi control nor were they preparing to attack the Russian mainland. For this, scores have expressed resentment towards Putin for duping them into war.

If anything, Putin’s war succeeded in uniting the West and strengthened NATO anew. With a common enemy and a common purpose, western democracies have banded together with a renewed resolve. The West got stronger while Russia got weaker. A bitter pill for Putin to swallow.

 

Andrew J. Masigan is an economist

andrew_rs6@yahoo.com

Facebook@AndrewJ. Masigan

Twitter @aj_masigan

Thousands in Mariupol taken by force to Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visits people who were injured while fleeing from Kyiv’s outskirts as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, at a hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 17. — UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

LVIV/ODESA, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia’s siege of the port city of Mariupol was “a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come,” while local authorities said thousands of residents there had been taken by force across the border.

“Over the past week, several thousand Mariupol residents were deported onto the Russian territory,” the city council said in a statement on its Telegram channel late on Saturday.

Reuters could not independently verify the claim.

Russian news agencies have said buses have carried several hundred people Moscow calls refugees from the strategic port on the Sea of Azov to Russia in recent days.

Air raid sirens sounded across major Ukrainian cities early on Sunday but there were no immediate reports of fresh attacks.

Some 400,000 people have been trapped in Mariupol for more than two weeks, sheltering from heavy bombardment that has severed central supplies of electricity, heating and water, according to local authorities. Rescue workers were still searching for survivors in a Mariupol theatre that local authorities say was flattened by Russian air strikes on Wednesday. Russia denies hitting the theater or targeting civilians. Russia’s defense ministry said on Friday that its forces were “tightening the noose” around Mariupol and that fighting had reached the city center.

In a late-night broadcast, Mr. Zelensky said the siege of Mariupol would “go down in history of responsibility for war crimes.”

“To do this to a peaceful city… is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come.”

Still, he said, peace talks with Russia were needed although they were “not easy and pleasant.”

Russian forces have taken heavy losses since Feb. 24, when President Vladimir Putin launched what he calls a “special operation” aimed at demilitarizing Ukraine and purging it of what he sees as dangerous nationalists. Ukraine and the West say Putin launched an aggressive war of choice.

Long columns of troops that bore down on the capital Kyiv have been halted in the suburbs.

British intelligence believes Russia has been taken aback by Ukraine’s resistance to its invasion and is now “pursuing a strategy of attrition,” said Britain’s defense attache to the United States.

Mr. Zelensky said the Ukrainian front line was “simply littered with the corpses of Russian soldiers.”

Reuters could not independently verify the veracity of the comments.

On Saturday, Russia said its hypersonic missiles had destroyed a large underground depot for missiles and aircraft ammunition in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region. Hypersonic weapons can travel faster than five times the speed of sound, and the Interfax agency said it was the first time Russia had used them in Ukraine. A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force Command confirmed the attack, but said the Ukrainian side had no information on the type of missiles used.

NEUTRAL STATUS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow expected its operation in Ukraine to end with the signing of a comprehensive agreement on security issues, including Ukraine’s neutral status, Interfax reported.

Kyiv and Moscow reported some progress in talks last week toward a political formula that would guarantee Ukraine’s security, while keeping it outside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), though each sides accused the other of dragging things out. Mr. Zelensky has said Ukraine could accept international security guarantees that stopped short of its longstanding aim to join NATO. That prospect has been one of Russia’s primary stated concerns.

The Ukrainian president, who makes frequent impassioned appeals to foreign audiences for help, told an anti-war protest in Bern on Saturday that Swiss banks were where the “money of the people who unleashed this war” lay and their accounts should be frozen.

Ukrainian cities “are being destroyed on the orders of people who live in European, in beautiful Swiss towns, who enjoy property in your cities. It would really be good to strip them of this privilege,” he said in an audio address.

Neutral Switzerland, which is not a member of the European Union (EU), has fully adopted EU sanctions against Russian individuals and entities, including orders to freeze their wealth in Swiss banks. The EU measures are part of a wider sanctions effort by Western nations aimed at squeezing Russia’s economy and starving its war machine.

US President Joseph R. Biden warned his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Friday of “consequences” if Beijing gave material support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On Saturday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China stood on the right side of history over the Ukraine crisis and that its position was in line with the wishes of most countries.

“China’s position is objective and fair, and is in line with the wishes of most countries. Time will prove that China’s claims are on the right side of history,” Wang told reporters, according to a statement published by his ministry on Sunday. — Reuters