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Heritage Month of May

NATANAELGINTING-FREEPIK

May, when we honor and celebrate our Blessed Mother Mary and hold beautiful festivals like the Santacruzan, is also Heritage Month. The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic cancelled and altered many of the plans for this wonderful month over the past two years. However, resilience is the quality that characterizes the Filipino spirit. The show must go on, albeit on a smaller scale and online to protect the people.

The Filipino Heritage Festival, Inc. (FHFI), though the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), has produced activities and events that give Filipinos “the opportunities to take pride, know, experience, and value the heritage we call our very own,” Armita Bantug Rufino said.

“I have been with FHFI for 17 years (as president) and I don’t regret it, even if, at times, funding is difficult to get. Our Senator Serge Osmeña and Senator Edgardo Angara (+) extended their support whenever NCCA could not give us the funding. And our great appreciation goes to our partners Security Bank, SM, City of Makati, Philippine Postal, Intramuros Administration, National Museum, Metropolitan Museum and other LGUs. Without them, we would not have lasted this long. Mabuhay ang lahing Filipino (Long live the Filipino people)!”

“Heritage is what we inherit from those who came before us, it is the legacy of our community that binds us, roots us, and gives us a sense of who we are, where we came from, and what makes us unique. Preservation requires us to remember and celebrate our heritage, ensure that we treasure it, and ensure that the future generations enjoy the wealth of our community’s heritage and pass on who we are,” said Representative Francisco “Kiko” Benitez.

This year the Filipino Heritage Festival will be honoring cartoonist and National Artist for Visual Arts Larry Alcala with an exhibit, Larry Alcala: Slices of Life, Wit and Humor at The Metropolitan Museum of Manila (The M) from May 19 to June 19. There will also be the release of commemorative stamps featuring illustrations from Alcala’s Slice of Life cartoon series, and a tribute to him on May 19.

“The M will join hands with FHFI, NCCA, and other partners in paying tribute to National Artist Larry Alcala who distinguished himself as the dean of illustrators and cartoonists,” said Tina Colayco, Metropolitan Museum president. “He was a beloved art educator during his lifetime. For more than a decade, Alcala humored and amused audiences with his daily illustrations of everyday local neighborhood scenes called Slice of Life. His exhibition underscores the theme of 2022 Heritage Month that focuses on promoting and preserving the Filipino heritage within the community’ which is strongly aligned to the museum’s thrust to bring ART for ALL.”

This year’s theme, “Pamanang Lokal,” is simple yet full of depth as it encourages each one of us to know oneself, our family, our community, and our environment. “Our heritage is our pride, our wealth our joy, our dignity, our ‘binhi ng kulturang Pilipino,’” Ms. Rufino emphasized.

Mabuhay and Congratulations to the FHFI trustees, partners, performers, participants and sponsors.

 

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

mavrufino@gmail.com

The return of free speech

PCH.VECTOR-FREEPIK

The big news, of course, is the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade, what with the leaked draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s ponencia in Politico magazine. The ramifications of that will be discussed in a later article. The other big news, coming earlier, of Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, led to absolutely deranged breakdowns from woke progressives.

And the reason for the leftists meltdown, complete with gnashing of teeth? Because apparently Elon Musk promised that Twitter will be a platform for “free speech.”

Now in normal, saner times, that comment would not have raised an eyebrow. Much less mass hysteria. But these are not normal sane times (e.g., see lockdown and mask fanatics, as well as vaccine adverse effects deniers), so the idea of upholding free speech is now considered anathema to the woke crowd.

For them, free speech is an avenue for hate and intolerance. It gives the bigoted and the uneducated the freewheeling capacity to spew their misogyny and medieval beliefs (e.g., Christianity).

But the problem with that mindset is that it’s utterly self-serving, baseless, and self-destructive.

First of all, who decides what is hateful, intolerant, and misogynistic? And who decides what’s to be done with the hateful, intolerant, and misogynistic?

It can’t be those woke progressives with a clear ideological agenda on those matters. Their obvious bias can’t possibly reasonably lead to the common good. Because, actually, no one can. Because everyone has a self-interest: we all have wants, purposes, and beliefs. But society cannot cater to each individual’s wants, purposes, and beliefs. Rather, society seeks to uphold those shared characteristics, culture, interests, and beliefs, which free speech allows us to identify. That’s the point of free speech. Woke cancel culture is the reverse of that.

Princeton professor Robert George laments: “Secular progressive ideology is ascendant in the elite institutions of our society: the federal government, many state governments, universities, news and entertainment media, the arts, professions and professional associations, labor unions, charitable foundations, major business corporations, and on and on. [Wokeism has a] near monopoly on cultural power. Obviously, it enables the transmission of Woke ideology — a fundamentalist and increasingly militant pseudo-religion — to rising generations and makes it difficult for dissenters to challenge that ideology and, indeed, to survive without being subjected to discrimination and even ‘cancellation.’” (“Can We Still Reason Together?,” Serena Sigillito and Robert P. George, Public Discourse: The Journal of the Witherspoon Institute, Dec. 30, 2021)

Hence why it is absolutely vital for free speech to be upheld. A vibrant and dynamic society needs diversity of thought, which can only be achieved through voluntary and honest exchange of divergent ideas.

Political commentator Arthur Milikh writes: “Restriction of free speech… will cause a decline in these moral and mental prerequisites to self-rule. The loss of the capacity to think for oneself and form rational judgments about the common good and human merit will give rise to the rule of anger, resentment, and force.” (“Why Identity Politics’ Speech Controls Will Cancel Self-Government If We Don’t Resist,” The Federalist, Dec. 3, 2020)

News and social media are definitely to be blamed in this censoring of divergent views. And yet, universities are also hugely at fault for the rise in cancel culture mentality in the young: university professors trying to relive their glory days of 1970s activism, academics forcing their views on defenseless students dependent on them for grades, and — as we have seen recently — universities effectively campaigning for specific political candidates. This is all contrary to the idea of what a university should be.

Professor Lucas Morel, Professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University, points out that: “College campuses have to be in the vanguard of protecting the right of diverse thought that is uttered in good faith and civility. But even civility is being challenged now as, ‘Oh, if you’re in favor of civility, you’re in favor of the status quo, and therefore, you’re in favor of white supremacy.’ xxx [if on] college campuses you cannot be free, your students cannot be free, and if we are self-censoring to avoid challenging situations, then both hands are practically tied behind our backs in terms of trying to figure out what’s true, right, beautiful, and noble in the world.” (“Fighting for Free Speech on Campus,” Howard L. Muncy and Lucas Morel, Public Discourse: The Journal of the Witherspoon Institute, Aug. 28, 2021)

Universities serve as microcosm of the greater world. What happens to universities translates outside to the public. And, of course, those former students will eventually take over the country. Thus, Professor George says: “Where there is a mutual commitment to truth and truth-seeking, relationships can be built between religious believers and secularists, and they can indeed reason together. The minimum condition is this: interlocutors, however wide and deep their substantive philosophical or other differences, need to share the conviction that business between them is to be conducted in the proper currency of intellectual discourse — namely, reasons, evidence, and arguments.”

Indeed, after two years of pointless COVID measures, it would be nice for society to return to “reasons, evidence, and arguments.”

 

Jemy Gatdula is a senior fellow of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations and a Philippine Judicial Academy law lecturer for constitutional philosophy and jurisprudence

https://www.facebook.com/jigatdula/

Twitter@jemygatdula

Over 80 companies added to SEC list facing delisting risk

REUTERS
A MAN wears a protective mask as he walks on Wall Street in New York City, New York, US, March 13, 2020. — REUTERS

THE US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) added over 80 firms, including China’s JD.com, to a list of entities facing possible expulsion from American exchanges amid a long-running auditing standoff between the United States and China.

On Wednesday, the SEC expanded the list on a provisional lineup under a 2020 law known as The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA), which aims to remove foreign-jurisdiction companies from US bourses if they fail to comply with American auditing standards for three years in a row.

In the long-drawn dispute, US regulators have been demanding complete access to audit working papers of New York-listed Chinese companies, which are stored in China.

The request has so far been denied by China on national security grounds, but regulators in the two countries are discussing operational details of an audit deal that Beijing hopes to sign this year.

JD.com said on Thursday it is aware that the company has been identified by the SEC under the Act, and that it has been actively exploring possible solutions.

“The company will continue to comply with applicable laws and regulations in both China and the United States, and strive to maintain its listing status on both Nasdaq and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange,” JD.com said in a statement.

Other large Chinese companies that were added to the SEC’s list were JinkoSolar Holding Co Ltd., China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Bilibili Inc., and NetEase Inc., among others.

Sources had told Reuters in March Chinese regulators had asked some of the country’s US-listed firms, including Alibaba, Baidu, and JD.com, to prepare more audit disclosures.  — Reuters

Omicron as severe as previous COVID variants, large study finds

THE OMICRON variant of the SARS-CoV2 virus is intrinsically as severe as previous variants, unlike assumptions made in previous studies that it was more transmissible but less severe, a large study in the United States has found.

“We found that the risks of hospitalization and mortality were nearly identical between periods,” said four scientists who conducted the study based on records of 130,000 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, referring to times in the past two years when different variants were dominant across the world.

The study, which is undergoing peer review at Nature Portfolio and was posted on Research Square on May 2, was adjusted for confounders including demographics, vaccination status, and the Charlson comorbidity index that predicts the risk of death within a year of hospitalization for patients with specific comorbid conditions.

The studies that assumed that the Omicron variant was less severe were conducted in various places including South Africa, Scotland, England, and Canada, said the scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital, Minerva University and Harvard Medical School.

They said their study could have several limitations, including the possibility that it underestimated the number of vaccinated patients in more recent COVID waves, and the total number of infections, because it excluded patients who performed at-home rapid tests. — Reuters

Worsening global food security needs Ukraine, Russia production

REUTERS

ABUJA — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday the problem of global food security could not be solved without restoring Ukrainian agricultural production and Russian food and fertilizer output to the world market.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has added to volatility in financial markets, sending commodity prices higher and affecting logistics, potentially derailing the economic recovery from COVID-19 in many countries including Nigeria.

“Our analysis indicates that the war in Ukraine is only making things worse, setting in motion a three-dimensional crisis that is devastating global food, energy and financial systems for developing countries,” Mr. Guterres told reporters in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

“There is really no true solution to the problem of global food security without bringing back the agriculture production of Ukraine and the food and fertilizer production of Russia and Belarus into world market despite the war,” he said.

Mr. Guterres said he was determined to facilitate dialogue to help achieve those goals.

Nigeria had to buy emergency supplies of Canadian potash in April after the country was unable to import the key fertilizer from Russia due to the impact of Western sanctions, the head of Nigeria’s sovereign investment authority NSIA said.

Last month, the International Monetary Fund said the Russian invasion of Ukraine had delivered a further “huge negative shock” to sub-Saharan Africa, driving food and energy prices higher and putting the most vulnerable people at risk of hunger.

The extra pressure comes as many countries are still reeling from the protracted COVID-19 pandemic.

“We need to ensure a steady flow in food and energies through open markets by lifting all unnecessary export restrictions, directing surpluses and reserves to those in need and keeping a lead on food prices to curb market volatility,” Mr. Guterres said. — Reuters

Gay marriage, other rights at risk after US Supreme Court abortion move

US SUPREME Court Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion that would end the recognition of a constitutional right to abortion could imperil other freedoms related to marriage, sexuality and family life including birth control and same-sex nuptials, according to legal experts.

The draft ruling, disclosed in a leak that prompted Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday to launch an investigation, would uphold a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide.

The draft’s legal reasoning, if adopted by the court when it issues its eventual ruling by the end of June, could threaten other rights that Americans take for granted in their personal lives, according to University of Texas law professor Elizabeth Sepper, an expert in healthcare law and religion.

“The low-hanging fruit is contraception, probably starting with emergency contraception, and same-sex marriage is also low-hanging fruit in that it was very recently recognized by the Supreme Court,” Ms. Sepper said.

The court’s 6-3 conservative majority, including Mr. Alito, has become increasingly assertive on a range of issues. The court confirmed the authenticity of the leaked draft but called it preliminary.

The Roe decision, one of the court’s most important and contentious rulings of the 20th century, recognized that the right to personal privacy under the US Constitution protects a woman’s ability to terminate her pregnancy.

“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences,” Mr. Alito wrote in the draft, adding that Roe and a 1992 decision that reaffirmed it have only “deepened division” in society.

According to Mr. Alito, the right to abortion recognized in Roe must be overturned because it is not valid under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment right to due process.

Abortion is among a number of fundamental rights that the court over many decades recognized at least in part as what are called “substantive” due process liberties, including contraception in 1965, interracial marriage in 1967 and same-sex marriage in 2015.

Though these rights are not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, they are linked to personal privacy, autonomy, dignity and equality. Conservative critics of the substantive due process principle have said it improperly lets unelected justices make policy choices better left to legislators.

Mr. Alito reasoned in the draft that substantive due process rights must be “deeply rooted” in US history and tradition and essential to the nation’s “scheme of ordered liberty.” Abortion, he said, is not, and rejected arguments that it is essential for privacy and bodily autonomy reasons.

‘SOCIAL PROGRESS’
Like abortion, other personal rights including contraception and same-sex marriage may be found by conservative justices to fall outside this framework involving rights “deeply rooted” in American history, scholars noted.

“This was considered social progress — we were changing as a society and different things became important and became part of what one cherished,” said Carol Sanger, an expert in reproductive rights at Columbia Law School.

In the draft, Mr. Alito sought to distinguish abortion from other rights because it, unlike the others, destroys what the Roe ruling called “potential life.”

“Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion,” Mr. Alito wrote.

Ms. Sepper said that Mr. Alito is “not particularly convincing because he doesn’t do the work to distinguish those cases in a meaningful way.” She added: “It’s a really sweeping opinion. It doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the abortion right.”

Mr. Alito’s opinion resembles his dissent in the court’s same-sex marriage ruling in which he said the 14th Amendment’s due process promise protects only rights deeply rooted in America’s history and tradition.

“And it is beyond dispute that the right to same-sex marriage is not among those rights,” Mr. Alito wrote in his 2015 dissent.

Some conservative commentators have suggested that Mr. Alito has provided a road map for future attempts to eliminate other guaranteed liberties. Other legal scholars doubt that there is either a willingness on the court or in legislatures to eliminate other rights.

“On interracial marriage, contraception and same-sex marriage, for one reason or another there is no likelihood the court is going to revisit those decisions,” Northwestern University law professor John McGinnis said.

The fact that Americans have relied on the same-sex marriage decision to plan and invest in their lives and relationships makes it unlikely that the justices will overturn it, Mr. McGinnis said.

Mr. McGinnis added, “No state legislature is going to get rid of contraception. That’s fanciful. And no state legislature is going to get rid of interracial marriage.”

George Mason University constitutional law professor Ilya Somin said Mr. Alito’s ruling could make it unlikely the court would recognize due process protections in new areas such as transgender rights.

“But on the whole its effect on due process rights is likely to be minor,” Mr. Somin said. — Reuters

Truce needed to get civilians out of Mariupol, says Ukrainian president

Army soldier figurines are displayed in front of the Ukrainian and Russian flag colors background in this illustration taken, Feb. 13, 2022. — REUTERS/DADO RUVIC/ILLUSTRATION

KYIV — Civilians including women and children remain trapped inside Ukraine’s besieged city of Mariupol and a prolonged ceasefire is needed to ensure their evacuation as Russia presses its assault, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday. 

After failing to capture the capital Kyiv in the early weeks of a war that has killed thousands and flattened cities, Russia has accelerated attacks on Ukraine’s east and south. 

Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the eastern region of Donetsk, said at least 25 civilians were wounded as Russian forces shelled Kramatorsk, a town some 180 kilometers west of Luhansk. 

Moscow declared victory over Mariupol on April 21 after weeks of siege and shelling, but fierce resistance by Ukrainian forces holed up in the Azovstal steelworks has prevented Russia completely overrunning the city. 

Mariupol is a major Russian target as the city is key to Moscow’s efforts to cut Ukraine off from the Black Sea — vital for grain and metals exports — and link Russian-controlled territory. 

The United Nations and Red Cross evacuated hundreds of people from Mariupol and other areas this week. But some 200 civilians, as well as Ukrainian fighters, are still holed up in a network of underground bunkers in the Azovstal plant, Ukrainian officials say. 

Russia vowed to pause military activity at Azovstal during Thursday daytime and the following two days to allow civilians to get out. In an early morning address, Mr. Zelenskyy said Ukraine stood ready to ensure a ceasefire in Mariupol. 

“It will take time simply to lift people out of those basements, out of those underground shelters. In the present conditions, we can not use heavy equipment to clear the rubble away. It all has to be done by hand,” Mr. Zelenskyy said. 

Ukrainian fighters inside Azovstal are fighting “difficult, bloody battles” against Russian troops, Denis Prokopenko, a commander with Ukraine’s Azov regiment, said late on Wednesday. A Ukrainian parliamentarian said Russian forces were inside the plant. 

Over 300 civilians were evacuated on Wednesday from Mariupol and other areas in southern Ukraine as part of a joint UN-Red Cross operation, UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine Osnat Lubrani said. 

It was not clear if further UN evacuations were planned. Tetyana Trotsak, a Ukrainian evacuee who was among dozens who reached a Ukraine-controlled town this week, voiced fear for those still trapped inside the steel plant. 

“God forbid more shells hit near the bunkers where the civilians are,” Ms. Trotsak said. 

BATTLES IN BORDER AREAS, DONBAS, KHARKIV
More than 5 million Ukrainians have fled abroad since Russian President Vladimir Putin Russia launched the invasion on Feb. 24. 

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West say the fascist allegation is baseless and that the war is an unprovoked act of aggression. 

As Western military aid for Ukraine pours into the country, the United States has also provided crucial intelligence that has helped Ukrainian forces kill Russian generals, theNew York Times reported on Wednesday. 

Washington has provided to Ukraine details on the location of Russia’s mobile military headquarters, allowing Ukrainian forces to strike those targets, the newspaper said, citing senior US officials. 

The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on the report. 

Ukrainian officials said they have killed about 12 Russian generals on the battlefield, according to the New York Times. 

Ukraine’s military said on Thursday its forces had repelled 11 Russian attacks, downed four Russian aircraft and destroyed over a dozen Russian military vehicles, including tanks. 

Russian missile strikes in recent days have included railway stations in an attempt to interdict Western arms transfers. 

OIL BAN?
The United States and its European allies have placed sweeping sanctions on Moscow over the invasion and provided Ukraine with billions of dollars worth of aid, including weapons that Kyiv says have led to heavy Russian losses. 

Piling pressure on Russia’s already battered $1.8 trillion economy, the European Union on Wednesday proposed phasing out imports of Russian crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of this year. 

“Putin must pay a price, a high price, for his brutal aggression,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told applauding EU lawmakers in Strasbourg. 

The plan, if agreed by all 27 EU governments, would follow US and British oil bans and be a watershed for the world’s largest trading bloc, which remains dependent on Russian energy and must find alternative supplies. 

A source said EU envoys could reach a deal on Thursday or later this week on the plan, which also targets Russia’s top bank, its broadcasters, and hundreds of individuals. 

The Kremlin said Russia was weighing various responses to the EU plan, adding that the measures would be costly for European citizens. — Natalia Zinets/Reuters

Can Europe survive without Russian oil? Nuclear power may be key

Tihange nuclear plant in Huy, Belgium. — WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

HUY, Belgium — After a 20-year political battle, Belgium was set to shut its nuclear plants in 2025 but the war in Ukraine and rising energy prices have forced a U-turn — and reignited debate across Europe over the best route to a secure, low-carbon energy future. 

Christophe Collignon, mayor of Huy — whose skyline and history are dominated by the Tihange nuclear plant — said most people in the medieval city in eastern Belgium welcomed the decision to extend the aging reactor’s life until 2035. 

“Sometimes you have to be more pragmatic and less ideological,” said Mr. Collignon, who remembers the first plant opening in 1975, adding that everyone in Huy knows someone who works there. 

“The question is can we follow the timeline for shutting down? Right now the answer is no,” he said, describing the 2025 deadline as too tight to ensure Belgium’s energy security. 

Belgium’s dilemma over how to shift to reliable, green energy sources is being played out across the European Union (EU), as it scrambles to meet a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 to prevent catastrophic global warming. 

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the 27-nation bloc has also vowed to cut its use of Russian gas — which makes up about 40% of its supply — by two-thirds this year and to end its reliance on Russia “well before 2030.” 

Proposals on Wednesday to ban Russian oil imports could further complicate EU energy security as prices are spiking. 

The twin goals of cutting back on Russian fossil fuels and reducing emissions are reviving interest in nuclear power across much of Europe. 

“It was already hugely ambitious to try and reach net zero goals in an acceptable timeframe and limit global warming. It’s a costly endeavor,” said Richard Bronze, head of geopolitics at Energy Aspects, a London-based research firm. 

“But if you need to move away from Russian energy imports on an even shorter timeline, it makes the whole task harder.” 

RENEWABLE ENERGY
Belgium’s efforts to wean itself off nuclear power date back to 2003, when it voted to phase out nuclear energy in a political win for the Green party, after coming to power for the first time in a coalition government. 

Twelve governments later, the goal still has not been met. 

Ironically, it was the Green party’s Tinne Van der Straeten who, as energy minister, announced in March the decision to delay Belgium’s nuclear exit. 

“The world had changed,” Green party spokesperson Baptiste Erpicum told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Circumstances forced us to change the route but not the destination.” 

Almost 40% of Belgium’s electricity comes from nuclear power, the sixth highest rate in the EU, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. 

Belgium has yet to find reliable alternatives, despite major investment in offshore wind farms, and phasing out nuclear power is likely to increase its use of gas, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency. 

Erpicum said the Green party is committed to exiting from nuclear power, particularly in light of the radiation fears raised by Russia’s capture of Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Zaporizhzhia, in March. 

“Radioactive waste represents a real danger, without even taking into consideration the risk of a nuclear accident,” he said. 

“Investment in nuclear takes funding away from the only really green energies,” he said, adding that the government had set aside 1.2 billion euros towards its goal of making Belgium 100% reliable on renewable energy by 2050. 

“It’s an historic sum … and will progressively make us less dependent on fossil fuels, which are often the source of conflict or war.” 

NUCLEAR SOLUTION?
Europe is split over nuclear power, with some committed to avoid it following Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Chernobyl reactor explosion in 1986. 

Nuclear electricity production has fallen across Europe since 2004, with Lithuania shutting its facilities in 2009, and major declines in Germany, Sweden, and Belgium,EU data shows. 

Germany — Europe’s largest economy and a powerful political player — is set to close its last nuclear plants this year. 

On the other hand, France, which already gets 70% of its electricity from nuclear energy according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, is ramping up production, along with Romania, Hungary and the Netherlands. 

“In terms of climate change matters, nuclear clearly provides a solution,” said Jessica Johnson, spokesperson for Foratom, an association for Europe’s nuclear industry. 

“It’s low-carbon and can ramp up and down as needed,” she said, adding that it is more reliable than renewables because it does not need the wind to blow or the sun to shine. 

President Emmanuel Macron of France, which generated 52% of the EU’s nuclear power in 2020, said in November that he would build new nuclear reactors to meet global warming targets, ensure energy independence and rein in soaring energy prices. 

Meanwhile, new small modular reactors, which are quicker and cheaper to build than traditional nuclear power plants, are attracting interest in Romania, Poland, and Britain. 

ATTRACTING INVESTORS
With many EU countries lagging on carbon emissions targets, nuclear is seen as a stopgap measure while investments in renewables ramp up, including improving storage technologies, said Catalina Spataru, an energy policy expert. 

“It could be a back-up type of power … until we really move towards renewable energy,” said Spataru, director of the University College London Energy Institute. 

Moving away from fossil fuels is costly and slow, she said, pointing to France’s Flamanville 3 nuclear project, which is forecast to cost 12.7 billion euros ($13.4 billion), more than quadruple the first calculation in 2004. 

“We’ve seen subsidies over the years for fossil fuels. So if we could see the same kind of subsidies for (renewable energy) storage then we will definitely see a different picture in 20 years time,” she said. 

So which way will Europe go? 

One answer may lie in new investment rules proposed by the European Commission, which would label some gas and nuclear energy projects as green, making them more attractive to investors. 

If the rules are approved in July, they will come into force in 2023. Some EU lawmakers have already said they will oppose the so-called Taxonomy Regulation. 

Bronze of Energy Aspects predicts continued disagreement across Europe over nuclear power. 

“Countries which have significant experience with nuclear will be the places it remains in the long term … and there are others where that’s an unacceptable option,” he said. 

“That very differentiated national level approach is probably going to continue.” — Joanna Gill/Thomson Reuters Foundation

Financial firms face $225 billion in water-related losses, analysis estimates

PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

LONDON — Financial institutions face losses of at least $225 billion from risks related to water, with a third of them doing nothing to assess the potential impact, a report by leading environmental disclosure platform CDP and Planet Tracker estimates.  

The United Nations has warned of a 40% shortfall in supply by 2030 if water consumption and production patterns do not change and so-called water risk, through flood, drought or pollution, is set to become a growing issue for companies over the next decade.  The most common impacts flagged to CDP, whose data is used to inform investment decisions by financial firms managing more than $130 trillion in assets, included reduced production, increased costs and lower revenues.  

In its first such analysis, CDP and non-profit Planet Tracker analyzed submissions to a survey on water security from 1,112 companies, in which 69% flagged a risk of a “substantive” impact on their business.  

Of the 377 listed financial institutions reporting to CDP, 33% said they were not assessing their exposure to the connected risks, which can include fines and other liabilities, shareholder lawsuits, or an inability to get insurance.  

By underestimating the risk, banks, investors and insurers could be allocating too much capital to companies and projects that may ultimately prove uneconomic, leading to the assets becoming “stranded” and the investment or lending written off.  

“Financial institutions need to understand how exposed they are to these risks and take immediate steps before it’s too late,” said Cate Lamb, CDP’s global director of water security.  

CDP analyzed the $225 billion value at risk from a subset of 499 of the largest corporates to have disclosed a financial projection of potential related costs. So the figure for all companies in the world would be higher.  

The water crisis is already causing billions of dollars in losses, CDP said, pointing to related writedowns across the oil and gas, electric utilities, coal and metal and mining sectors.  

CDP and Planet Tracker also identified the state and public institutions most closely linked to 42 of the world’s most water-impacted companies, through shareholdings or lending.  They found the 20 most exposed held a combined $2.7 trillion in equity and had lent $2.5 trillion over the last decade. The firms also have around $327 billion of financing due to mature over the next five years. — Simon Jessop and Tommy Wilkes/Reuters

Stanford University given $1.1B by venture capitalist for climate change school

PIXABAY

Stanford University received $1.1 billion, its largest ever gift, from venture capitalist John Doerr to fund a new school focused on climate change, fueling a debate about whether billionaire donations are enough to combat the climate crisis. 

“Stanford’s first new school in 70 years will launch this fall as the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, recognizing a $1.1 billion gift from John and [his wife] Ann Doerr, the largest in the university’s history,” the California-based university said in a statement on Wednesday. 

“Climate and sustainability is going to be the new computer science,” Mr. Doerr told the New York Times in an interview published Wednesday. He made his estimated fortune of over $11 billion investing in technology companies such as Alphabet Inc and Amazon.com Inc. 

Mr. Doerr is among a list of billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Michael Bloomberg, who in recent years have donated money to combat climate change. 

Some experts have said the climate crisis should not depend on the charity of billionaires and that governments need to set up proper taxation systems to make sure billionaires pay their fair share. 

The gift is the largest ever to a university for the establishment of a new school, and is the second largest gift to an academic institution, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Arun Majumdar, who has advised the administrations of former US President Barack Obama and President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., on energy issues, has been named as the inaugural dean of the school which will open in the fall. — Kanishka Singh/Reuters

VOX POPULI | What do you look for in a president?

The next president of the Philippines should prioritize health, education, and job generation, according to voters residing in the National Capital Region aged 20- to 40-years-old.

In this Vox Populi feature, BusinessWorld asked: “What do you look for in a president?” and “What should the next president prioritize?”

“Gusto ko yung president na laging present sa mga sakuna [I want a president who’s always there, especially in a crisis],” said Kim, 22.

“Hindi makakapaglingkod ang isang presidente kung… wala siya ideya sa kalagayan, pangagailangan, at ano ang mga dapat na unahin nung kanyang pagsisilbihan [A president cannot serve if… he/she has no idea about the conditions and needs of the nation],” said Jenilyn, 24.

Fighting against corruption ranked high among respondents.

“Matalino, matapang, walang bahid ng corruption [Intelligent, brave, not a whiff of corruption] …a leader by example,” said Ganders, 43.

Joel, 44, is likewise looking for a quality other than competence: “I’m looking for a president with moral ascendancy.”

Added Patricia, 26, “I don’t want to hear about pending cases for graft, corruption, tax evasion cases, murder … Ideally, they’re an expert in both study and experience. I want them to use these skills to crack down on corruption.”

Given the reality of the pandemic, recurring concerns on health and livelihood surfaced.

“For me, the president should prioritize the improvement of health and education systems, and the provision of jobs in order to revitalize our economy,” Yelena, 32, said. “He or she should look for the root causes of our problems.”

A lot of people lost their jobs these past few years, noted Tonio, 22.

“It would be best if matulungan yung mga nawalan ng trabaho [It would be best if those who lost their jobs were helped],” he said.

Education and livelihood were identified as top priorities as well.

“Gusto ko yung makarating tayo sa punto na hindi na iniisip ng bawat Pilipino na kailangan nila mangibang bansa para may pangtustos sila sa pangangailangang nila sa bahay, or sa family nila [I want the country to get to the point where Filipinos won’t need to work overseas just to feed their families],” said Star, 27. “Like yung mga nurses natin, ‘di ba? Mababa masyado sahod nila… [Like our nurses, right? Their salaries are so low].”

RJ, 25, said education has taken a hit due to the onslaught of disinformation.

“To protect our future, we must protect our children. We must protect our education,” he said. “That is how we can progress as a nation.” — Patricia B. Mirasol with reports from Brönte H. Lacsamana and Earl R. Lagundino

 

Vox Populi is a compilation of informal man-on-the-street interviews. It is not a scientific poll and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of the public as a whole.

Consumer boom nearly over as Central Europe heads into ‘decade of peril’

A shopping mall in Poland. — WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

VELENCE, Hungary/WARSAW/PRAGUE — War may be raging on their doorstep but Central Europe’s economies are outpacing their euro zone peers as consumer spending booms. A reversal could come as soon as this summer, however, leaving a painful, inflation-laced hangover. 

Economists are already sounding the alarm about inflation momentum in Hungary and Poland, fueled partly in both countries by government transfers to households that helped supercharge demand in the first quarter. 

Sharp interest rate rises have so far failed to curb price pressures, as a region-wide shortage of workers pushes up wages and the conflict in Ukraine causes energy prices to soar. 

At the Velence Resort and Spa, beside a lake just four hours’ drive from Hungary’s border with Ukraine, director Peter Barsony expects a bumper 2022, with a strong increase in weekend bookings since February despite recent price rises. 

“Unless trends change, this will be a substantially better year than last in terms of revenue,” Mr. Barsony said. “The purchasing power of Hungarians has definitely not deteriorated for the time being.” 

Hungarian retail sales surged by an annual 16.2% in March, driven by higher spending on fuels and non-food items. 

While economic fundamentals are strong, consumer spending has been boosted by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s pre-election wage hikes and handouts to families. In Poland, robust growth in retail sales after pandemic restrictions were lifted has been further supported by spending on millions of refugees fleeing neighboring Ukraine. 

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have also poured into Hungary, like Poland, a member of NATO, since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24. 

As Europe heads into what Mr. Orban described last week as a “decade of peril,” with the war escalating an energy crisis, central banks are struggling to contain inflation that has blasted past their targets and is on track to reach 14% to 15%. 

‘DONE IN TWO SENTENCES’ 

Zsolt Csombok, a 51-year-old IT services entrepreneur, has raised wages three times over the past year — Hungarian unemployment is at a record low — and increased his company’s hourly fees by 25% to 30% to cover that and other expenses. 

He says his clients, similarly plagued by supply chain issues and rising costs, have simply accepted the price hikes, signaling strong demand-side inflation pressures. 

“Something which would have taken tough negotiations to push through just a year ago can now be done in two sentences,” Mr. Csombok said. 

Projecting first-quarter growth at 7% to 8%, Hungary’s central bank, already in its third-steepest tightening cycle since Communist rule ended in 1989, has warned Mr. Orban to start rebalancing the economy. Core inflation, which strips out volatile energy and food, hit a near 21-year high in March. 

“Tighter policy is needed to take the heat out of domestic demand,” said Liam Peach at Capital Economics. 

“This will require a combination of tax hikes, spending cuts as well as interest rates rising above 8% for a prolonged period of time to cause GDP growth to weaken.” 

In Poland, retail sales beat forecasts in March and returned to their pre-pandemic trend, economists at Bank Pekao said, while warning of “bleak” consumer prospects for later 2022 as the war sours sentiment. Most respondents in an April survey nevertheless said they were not worried about job security. 

Maciej Skurczynski, a 34-year-old specialist in industrial real estate, said he was unsettled by the conflict, but trying to live a normal life. 

“We can only live or we can stay at home. And I prefer to live,” Skurczynski said as he finished off a lunchtime burger at a food hall in central Warsaw. 

DEMAND-DRIVEN INFLATION 

With inflation still rampant, the Polish and Czech central banks are set to hike borrowing costs again on Thursday. 

Hungary’s central bank has raised its base rate by nearly 500 basis points since June, but government price controls, wage hikes and caps on mortgage rates are acting as a counterweight. 

“Pre-war data from retail, industry, and construction sectors, and even the latest big data, are suggesting surprisingly strong first-quarter GDP growth,” ING economist Peter Virovacz said. 

“This could mean a wider positive output gap, translating into longer and stronger demand-driven inflation for the remainder of the year, in our view.” 

The Czech economy grew by a better-than-expected 4.6% year-on-year in the first quarter, but with less government help for households facing double-digit inflation, consumer confidence hit its lowest in nearly a decade in April. 

Central bank Vice-Governor Marek Mora told Reuters on April 26 that he foresaw a 6% to 8% fall in real wages this year. 

And some companies are already bracing for when consumer appetite, buoyed recently by savings accrued during COVID lockdowns, cools further. 

“People are still buying our products and volumes are increasing,” Martin Pisklak, chief financial officer of Czech soft drinks maker Kofola Ceskoslovenkso, told an analyst call last month. 

“But with the high numbers in inflation, we expect in the second half of the year or during the next winter, there will be pressure on the volumes for sure because of the lower purchasing power of our consumers.” — Gergely Szakacs, Alan Charlish and Jason Hovet/Reuters

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