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At the drop of a name

DOLE777-UNSPLASH

IN OUR CULTURE, seeking favors from the powerful or asserting one’s status in society uses the indirect approach. Why not just drop names to open doors and gain access to powerful dispensers of benefits? Is association with higher status by a claimed, even if unjustified, familiarity enough to open doors?

The practice of claiming closeness, affinity, even friendship, loosely defined as knowing each other’s nicknames, with someone who is powerful or exerts influence in an organization no longer seems to work its magic. Maybe powerful people resent their names being associated with some highly reported crime — no, I will not resign.

Social media and chat groups have devalued name dropping as a social tool of persuasion. The claimed connections are easily checked and even get back to the affronted subject. (They weren’t even in the same high school.) Gaining access through suggestions of powerful backers has been too overused to still be effective.

The reason why anybody needs to drop names to get business is a lack of personal marketability. The name dropper may be unqualified for the position he desires, has achieved nothing to make him valuable or even interesting, or simply won’t get past the reception desk with some Valkyrie disguised as security staff — please leave your card and we’ll get back to you.

Maybe, the same few names, or initials, are dropped too often. With the acquisition of companies under fewer and fewer owners, the droppable names are also shrinking. Names of former owners of businesses, or those whose conglomerates are having meltdowns, are no longer droppable. So, the name of one who controls a third of the GDP of this country is likely to be mentioned too many times by too many people to be even taken seriously — hey, here’s another one.

Shakespeare has some insights into name-dropping as a tool for intimidation. In Henry the Fourth, Glendower claims: “I can call spirits from the vasty deep.” Hotspur dismisses his boast: “But will they come when you call them?” In the modern context, this translates into — Sure you can text her… but will she text back? (Who’s this?)

Of course, the dropped name is rarely asked to confirm if he is familiar with the name-dropper. The time of the former is too valuable to be taken up by such a mundane query. Besides, it puts the revered leader on the spot if he acknowledges that yes, he knows the person. He may then ask why the caller is asking him. Does this caller from HR think the only qualification for the job is some connection to him? Can this curious insect please give her name, rank, and direct report, please? (Do I know you?)

An upgraded and subtler version of name dropping is composed of idle chit-chat over lunch. This involves a particular icon in business or politics and an aimless narration of invitations received and turned down, weekend outings shared, gifts exchanged, foreign trips planned, and opinions casually sought. A touch of reluctance in mentioning such trivia (I didn’t even want to go but he was insistent) makes this approach even more intimidating, especially if true. No specific favor or request is even mentioned. The litany is capped by some mystifying aphorism — it’s so difficult to differentiate between mere name-droppers and close friends.

If this chat is on social media, the danger is of the post being forwarded to the subject of the conversation — the nerve of that guy, whoever he is.

Name dropping has its dangers outside of its ineffectiveness. One must be current on who’s in and who’s out of the current power structure. Dropping the wrong name (he was just asked to resign today) can have dire consequences. It reveals the losing camp that one belongs to. And a favorable impression can turn quickly into contempt for being so passé.

It is best not to mention names of powerful people, even in passing. Maybe, just plead some vague, distant connection — I don’t think he even knows me. There’s always a long line of people that want to talk to him or have selfies with him.

It’s best to just drop your own name to introduce yourself… and hope for the best.

 

Tony Samson is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda

ar.samson@yahoo.com

NK ballistic missile lands off South Korea’s coast for 1st time

SEOUL — A North Korean ballistic missile landed less than 60 kilometers (km) off South Korea’s coast on Wednesday, the first time an apparent test had landed near the South’s waters, prompting South Korea to issue rare air raid warnings and launch missiles in protest.

The missile landed outside of South Korea’s territorial waters, but south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed inter-Korean maritime border in what South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol called an “effective act of territorial encroachment.”

South Korean warplanes fired three air-to-ground missiles into the sea north across the NLL in response, the South’s military said. An official said the weapons used included an AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER, which is a US-made “stand-off” precision attack weapon that can fly for up to 270 km (170 miles) with a 360 kg (800-pound) warhead.

The South’s launches came after Mr. Yoon’s office vowed a “swift and firm response” so North Korea “pays the price for provocation.”

The North Korean weapon was one of three short-range ballistic missiles fired from the North Korean coastal area of Wonsan into the sea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The JCS later said as many as 10 missiles of various types had been fired from North Korea’s east and west coasts.

The JCS said at least one of the missiles landed 26 km south of the NLL, 57 km from the South Korean city of Sokcho, on the east coast, and 167 km from the island of Ulleung, where air raid warnings were issued.

“We heard the siren at around 8:55 am and all of us in the building went down to the evacuation place in the basement,” an Ulleung county official told Reuters. “We stayed there until we came upstairs at around 9:15 after hearing that the projectile fell into the high seas.”

A resident on the southern part of the island said they received no warnings.

Nuclear-armed North Korea has tested a record number of missiles this year, and officials in Seoul and Washington say the North has completed technical preparations to conduct a nuclear weapon test for the first time since 2017.

The launches came just hours after Pyongyang demanded that the United States and South Korea stop large-scale military exercises, saying such “military rashness and provocation can be no longer tolerated.”

Despite Mr. Yoon’s declaring a national week of mourning after more than 150 people were killed in a weekend crowd surge in Seoul, the United States and South Korea began one of their largest combined military air drills on Monday. Dubbed Vigilant Storm, the exercises involve hundreds of warplanes from both sides staging mock attacks 24 hours a day.

MAJOR MILITARY DRILLS
North Korea had said that a recent flurry of launches was in response to allied drills.

Pak Jong Chon, secretary of the Central Committee of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, said in a statement on Wednesday that the number of warplanes involved in Vigilant Storm proved the exercise was “aggressive and provocative” and specifically targeted North Korea. He said even its name imitated the US-led Operation Desert Storm against Iraq in the 1990s.

“The hostile forces’ inordinate moves for military confrontation have created a grave situation on the Korean peninsula,” Mr. Pak said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA.

On Tuesday in Washington, US State department spokesperson Ned Price responded to North Korea’s warnings about a “powerful” response to the drills by saying that Pyongyang appeared to be “reaching for another pretext for provocations it has already undertaken, potentially for provocations that it might be planning to take in the coming days or coming weeks.”

He said that the drills were “purely defensive in nature” and that the United States had made clear to North Korea that it harbored no hostile intent towards the country.

Mr. Price added that the United States and its allies had also made clear that there would be “profound costs and profound consequences” if North Korea resumed nuclear testing, which would be a “dangerous, destabilizing step.” He did not elaborate on the consequences.

In a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Foreign Minister Park Jin called the North Korean missile launch “unprecedented” and a “grave act of military provocation.” The two officials condemned the launch and agreed to cooperate against North Korean threats, Park’s office said in a statement.

LAUNCHING MISSILES IN ‘NEW WAYS’
South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said that because of the launches, some air routes over the sea between North Korea and Japan would be closed until Thursday morning.

A spokesman for the South Korean military said authorities were analyzing the launches to see whether the missiles’ flight paths were intentional or whether one had gone off course.

Japan Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said the government believed at least two ballistic missiles had been launched from North Korea, one flying east and another southeast.

The first flew 150 kilometers to a maximum altitude of approximately 150 kilometers, while the second covered a range of 200 kilometers to a maximum altitude of 100 kilometers, he said to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday morning.

It was the first time a North Korean ballistic missile had landed near South Korean waters, JCS said.

“Our military can never tolerate this kind of North Korea’s provocative act, and will strictly and firmly respond under close South Korea-US cooperation,” JCS said in a news release.

North Korea’s actions threaten the peace and stability of Japan, the wider region, as well as the broader international community, and are utterly unacceptable, Hamada said.

“North Korea has been repeatedly launching missiles at an unprecedented rate, in new ways that we have not seen before,” he said.

Japan has lodged a complaint and protested the actions via diplomatic channels in Beijing, he added. — Reuters

Obama warns ‘more people are going to get hurt’ if political climate persists

REUTERS

DEMOCRATIC former President Barack Obama on Tuesday warned that “more people are going to get hurt” unless the US political climate changes, after the husband of the Speaker of the House was attacked by a man wielding a hammer.

A 42-year-old man has been charged with breaking into the home of Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday and, in her absence, attacking her 82-year-old husband, Paul Pelosi, fracturing his skull and causing other injuries. The suspect pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and a host of other state charges.

Campaigning at a rally for Democratic candidates in Nevada, the former president said he had spoken to Paul Pelosi recently and “he’s going to be OK.”

But Mr. Obama expressed grave concern about “this erosion of just basic civility and democratic norms,” in a country where supporters of Republican former President Donald Trump violently attacked the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.

“This increasing habit of demonizing political opponents creates a dangerous climate,” Mr. Obama said, faulting elected officials who fail to reject the violence, make light of it, or inflame the situation with heated rhetoric.

“If that’s the environment that we create, more people are going to get hurt.”

Obama was in Las Vegas to lend his star power to candidates who are in extremely close races for US Senate and governor ahead of the Nov. 8 election. He also backed candidates further down the ballot in races for the US Congress, state attorney general and secretary of state.

The two-term president, who left office in 2017, remains the Democratic Party’s most popular figure and has already made campaign stops in Wisconsin, Michigan and Georgia. — Reuters

Consumer brands set to miss plastic sustainability targets

PHILSTAR

SINGAPORE — Some of the world’s biggest consumer goods companies, including PepsiCo, Mars and Nestlé, are almost certain to miss a target to make plastic packaging more sustainable by 2025, according to a new report published on Wednesday.

The study by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the United Nations (UN) Environment Program also revealed that some companies -— including Coca-Cola and Pepsi — are using more virgin plastic despite a pledge to reduce its use.

The report comes as UN members are due to meet in Uruguay this month to start negotiations on the first ever global plastics treaty, which is aimed at reining in soaring waste pollution choking marine life and contaminating food.

Some UN members are pushing for a pact that includes legally binding targets to increase recycled content in packaging and use less petroleum-derived virgin plastic, rules that would have financial implications for the consumer goods and petrochemical industries.

Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Mars did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Dozens of major brands have in recent years set targets to increase plastic recycling and reduce the use of single-use packaging in partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, as part of efforts to burnish their green credentials.

The headline pledge was that 100% of plastic packaging would be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025, but this goal will “almost certainly be missed by most organizations,” the environmental group’s report said.

Greenpeace said the report is evidence that voluntary corporate targets have failed and called on the UN to forge a treaty that forces governments and companies to use less single-use plastic packaging.

“This underlines the need for governments to ensure that the global plastic treaty… delivers major reductions in plastic production and use,” said Graham Forbes, Greenpeace’s USA Global Plastics Project Leader.

“Anything less than this is a disservice to our communities and our climate.” — Reuters

Hong Kong’s Lee touts ‘China advantage’ to rebuild city’s image as financial hub

MAN CHUNG-UNSPLASH

HONG KONG — Hong Kong leader John Lee on Wednesday pitched the city’s connection with China in an address to some of the world’s top financial executives, as he strives to rebuild the Chinese territory’s COVID-hit image as a major financial hub. 

Chief Executive Lee told the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit that the city would continue working towards lifting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions. 

The conference is the biggest corporate event in Hong Kong, since it shut its borders in 2020 and put in place rolling restrictions to combat the pandemic. Those measures have badly hit the economy and have resulted in an exodus of talent. 

Some of the world’s biggest banking bosses, including Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon and Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman, are in Hong Kong for the first time in almost three years for the summit. 

For foreign financial firms operating in China and Hong Kong, the summit comes as they navigate tensions between the United States and China. A depleting pool of talent in Hong Kong, often described as “Asia’s world city” is also creating a major challenge. 

“Hong Kong remains the only place in the world where the global advantage and the China advantage come together in a single city,” Mr. Lee told roughly 250 summit participants, mostly local financial executives. 

“This unique convergence makes Hong Kong the irreplaceable connection between the mainland and the rest of the world.” 

Eddie Yue, chief executive of the city’s de-facto central bank Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), said the reopening of Hong Kong brings exciting growth opportunities to talents and financial institutions around the world. 

Besides stringent COVID restrictions, Hong Kong’s outlook as a premier financial center has also been clouded by anti-government protests in 2019 and the imposition of a sweeping national security law a year later. 

Mr. Lee said that Hong Kong was working to attract top talent to offset a major brain drain seen in the past three years due to the pandemic rules. 

“As have many other major cities worldwide, Hong Kong has been through ups and downs over the years but our resilience remains remarkably unmatched,” he told the summit.  

FINANCIAL CENTER
Global financial institutions have for long betted on Hong Kong as a gateway to China, to tap into the world’s second-largest economy and its trillions of dollars’ worth of financial markets. 

Foreign banks including Goldman, Morgan Stanley, HSBC and Standard Chartered also have significant onshore presence in China.

Hong Kong was a “very, very important” financial center for China, China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) Vice Chairman Fang Xinghai told the summit. 

Authorities, he said, were keen for more international companies to list in Hong Kong to grow the city’s capital market activities. 

Hong Kong’s new share listings are worth $10.77 billion so far in 2022, the lowest level since 2017, compared with $37.7 billion at the same time last year, according to Refinitiv figures. 

Global investors are grappling with several challenges this year, with the Russia-Ukraine war, rising inflation, soaring energy prices and tightening interest rates all hammering risk appetite. 

Goldman Sach’s Mr. Solomon told the summit it could take up to six quarters for the world to “rebalance” after a period of uncertainty. 

“There’s still a significant amount of uncertainty as we get into 2023,” he said. “My expectation is that equilibrium will come more into balance in the coming quarters.” 

Michael Chae, Blackstone’s chief financial officer, said that the geopolitical situation playing out between major economies was a growing risk facing the world. 

“What keeps me up is the possibility of rising tensions around the world that could lead to serious threats to instability,” he said. 

Morgan Stanley’s Mr. Gorman said that the biggest risk the world currently faced was the high level of inflation. 

Meanwhile, UBS Group Chairman Colm Kelleher said that the bank keenly awaited the next step in China’s management of the pandemic which is considered the strictest in the world. 

As part of its zero-COVID strategy, China has continued to impose lockdowns, even for a small number of positive cases, even as the rest of the world has shifted towards easing nearly all restrictions. 

“We are waiting for zero COVID and the opening up of China to see what will happen,” he said. — Reuters

South Korea PM urges police to explain response to Halloween crush emergency calls

POLICE OFFICERS walk at the scene where many people died and were injured in a stampede during a Halloween festival in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2022. — REUTERS

SEOUL — South Korea’s Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said on Wednesday police must explain how they responded after receiving multiple emergency calls in the hours before a Halloween party crush killed more than 150 people in Seoul. 

The disaster on Saturday night killed 156 and injured 172, leaving 33 in serious condition. At least 26 citizens from 14 countries were among the dead. 

“The police must conduct thorough inspections and provide a clear and transparent explanation to the public,” Mr. Han said at the televised beginning of a task force meeting on the disaster. 

Tens of thousands of young revelers had crowded into narrow streets and alleyways of the popular Itaewon district for the first Halloween festivities in three years virtually free of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions. 

Transcripts of emergency calls released by the police on Tuesday showed the first warning of a possible deadly crush roughly four hours before the disaster, with the caller requesting police dispatched to an alley where partygoers were already packed wall-to-wall. 

Police received 10 other similar calls, with the callers pleading with growing urgency and desperation. The final call was placed just minutes before people in the narrow and sloping alley began to fall over each other. 

The transcripts appear to confirm the accounts of witnesses, who told Reuters they saw some police directing traffic on the main road but few or no officers in the crowded pedestrian alleyways and side streets. 

Roughly 100,000 people were estimated to be in Itaewon on Saturday, an area known for its hills and narrow alleys. There were 137 police officers there at the time, the authorities have said. 

Police went to the scene for four out of the 11 calls, a police official told reporters. It was not immediately clear why they did not deploy officers on the other calls or what safety measures they took after arriving. 

“When someone dials 112, it is when the situation is very urgent and the help of police or action is desperately needed,” Mr. Han said, referring to South Korea’s emergency police hotline. 

The release of the transcripts fueled further criticism of missteps by the police that may have been a key factor leading up to the crush that has become the deadliest accident since a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people, mainly high school students who drowned amid botched rescue operations. 

Opposition members of parliament called for the immediate dismissal of the national police chief and the interior minister. 

National Police Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun on Tuesday acknowledged crowd control at the scene was “inadequate” and promised a thorough internal investigation. — Reuters

Blue whales found to swallow 10 million microplastic pieces daily

WASHINGTON — As Earth’s largest animals, blue whales are mighty big eaters, gulping tons of food each day. They also now are ingesting huge amounts of plastic, according to scientists, due to the alarming volume of tiny particles of pollution choking the oceans. 

Researchers on Tuesday presented an estimate of the amount of microplastics ingested by three species of baleen whales — blue, fin and humpback — off the US Pacific coast, detailing an issue posing uncertain health concerns for these marine mammals. 

As baleen whales, these species are filter-feeders. They strain food — shrimp-like crustaceans called krill and other small prey — from the seawater using baleen plates in the mouth made of keratin, the substance found in people’s fingernails. 

Blue whales, according to the study, may swallow roughly 10 million microplastic pieces daily, or up to about 95 pounds (43.5 kg) of plastic. For fin whales, whose main prey also is krill, the estimated daily tally is about 6 million microplastic pieces, or up to 57 pounds of plastic. 

Some humpback whales specialize in krill and some favor eating small schooling fish. Krill-favoring humpbacks, according to the study, may ingest about 4 million microplastic pieces (up to 38 pounds of plastic) daily, while those favoring fish may take in a much smaller amount, roughly 200,000 pieces (up to a couple of pounds of plastic). 

“In the moderately polluted waters off the US West Coast, baleen whales may still be ingesting millions of microplastics and microfibers per day,” said Stanford University marine biologist Matthew Savoca, a co-author of the study published in the journal Nature Communications. 

“Also we find that the vast majority — 99% — are via their prey that have previously ingested plastic and not from the water they filter,” Mr. Savoca added. 

The study illustrated how baleen whales may be at an elevated risk for microplastics ingestion as a result of their mode of feeding, the quantity of their food intake, and their habitat overlapping with polluted areas such as the California Current that flows south along North America’s western coast. 

Blue whales can reach a maximum of about 100 feet (30 meters) long, fin whales about 80 feet (24 meters) and humpback whales about 50 feet (15 meters). 

The researchers estimated the daily microplastic ingestion by examining the foraging behavior of 126 blue whales, 65 humpback whales and 29 fin whales using measurements from electronic tag devices suction-cupped to the animal’s back, with a camera, microphone, GPS locator and an instrument that tracks movement. They then factored in the concentrations of microplastics in the California Current. 

As a study published last year based on the same whales off the U.S. West Coast showed, blue whales eat about 10–20 tons of krill daily, while fin whales eat 6–12 tons of krill and humpback whales eat 5-10 tons of krill or 2–3 tons of fish. 

The new study found that the whales primarily feed at depths of 165–820 feet (50–250 meters), coinciding with the highest measured microplastic concentrations in the open-ocean ecosystem. 

Microplastics are particles of plastic debris — less than 5 mm (0.2 inch) long — arising from the disposal and breakdown of various consumer products and industrial waste, with their concentrations in the oceans mounting in recent decades. The potential health effects on the whales from ingesting it is not well understood. 

“While this was not the focus of our study, other research has shown that if plastics are small enough they can cross the gut wall and get into internal organs, though the long-term effects are still unclear. Plastics can also release chemicals that are endocrine disruptors,” said marine biologist Shirel Kahane-Rapport of California State University, Fullerton, lead author of the study. — Reuters

Pfizer boosts 2022 COVID vaccine forecast, looks to pivot with deals, new drugs

PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

Pfizer Inc. on Tuesday raised its forecast for 2022 sales of its coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine by $2 billion to $34 billion, and said new deals and drugs in development should help replace future declining vaccine sales and lost revenue from patent expirations. 

The US drugmaker’s shares rose 2.7% to $47.84 as its third-quarter profit beat estimates, mainly due to higher-than-expected sales of the vaccine it shares with German partner BioNTech. 

The upbeat earnings also sent shares of rival COVID-19 vaccine makers higher. Novavax Inc. and Moderna Inc. were up roughly 2% each. 

Sales of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID vaccine are down from pandemic highs as many countries have neared the end of their primary vaccination campaigns. There are also concerns about soft demand for newly updated booster shots. 

In response, Pfizer hopes to roughly quadruple the price of the vaccine in the United States once the government stops buying doses and sales shift to the private market. 

Chief Executive Albert Bourla said in an interview that the company is trying to showcase what a “post-COVID crisis” Pfizer will look like. 

COVID-19 treatments and vaccines will be multibillion-dollar franchises, he said, “but that will be stable, not with ups and downs. And the growth will be driven by the pipeline and the business development.” 

Pfizer is expected to face the loss of patent protections for some key drugs between 2025 and 2030. The company has turned to deals such as its recent $5.4 billion acquisition of Global Blood Therapeutics Inc. and its $11.6 billion purchase of Biohaven to beef up its pipeline of future products. 

Mr. Bourla said the company’s internal pipeline should help replace lost growth from COVID sales and patent expirations, pointing to 19 products the company hopes to launch over the next 18 months that he said could deliver some $20 billion in annual revenue. These include treatments for ulcerative colitis and migraines, as well as its vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). 

The company said its experimental RSV vaccine was found to be effective in a late-stage study in preventing severe infections in infants when given to expectant mothers. 

BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman said some investors will point to the massive COVID vaccine beat as unsustainable, however, “we’re not yet throwing in the towel given an emerging pipeline and significant balance sheet flexibility.” 

Third-quarter sales of the COVID vaccine came in at $4.40 billion, blowing past estimates of $2.60 billion. 

However, $7.51 billion in sales of Paxlovid, the company’s COVID-19 antiviral treatment, fell short of estimates of $7.66 billion. 

Pfizer reported adjusted earnings of $1.78 per share in the third quarter, beating analysts’ estimates by 39 cents. — Reuters

Ahead of COP27, researchers call for climate compensation fund

MOTORISTS drive through a flooded portion of Taft Avenue in Manila following a heavy downpour midnight of Aug. 9. — PHILIPPINE STAR/ MIGUEL DE GUZMAN

BRUSSELS — Channeling climate compensation payments through existing funds will not work for vulnerable communities, a team of international researchers said on Tuesday, arguing that a new fund be created. 

“Loss and damage,” the contentious issue of how vulnerable nations affected by climate change could be compensated by rich countries, is set to dominate talks at next week’s United Nations (UN) climate summit in Egypt. 

Representatives of the nearly 200 countries attending COP27 will be weighing whether to create some form of compensation fund — a central demand by developing countries worldwide. 

In a report on Tuesday, researchers at the Stockholm Environment Institute backed the case for a new fund. 

While numerous funds exist to help countries cut CO2 emissions and prepare for floods, rising seas, and other climate impacts, they cannot readily help countries recover from losses and damages already being incurred from climate-fueled natural disasters, the researchers argue. That is because of chronic funding delays or because recipient communities have limited involvement in decision-making, they said. 

“There are significant gaps in existing climate finance mechanisms that make it important to create a dedicated loss and damage mechanism,” said Ines Bakhtaoui, a lead author of the report. 

For example, most climate finance takes the form of loans, rather than the small grants the researchers said would support vulnerable communities without burdening them with debt. The report suggested forming a UN fund with simplified rules for easier access to cash for those hit hardest, while temporarily channeling compensation through existing funds while the new scheme is launched. 

“Climate finance is currently largely inaccessible for recipient countries and communities due to stringent proposal and accreditation requirements and long lag times in delivery,” the report said. 

The researchers said that, in principle, those responsible for causing climate change should be on the hook for paying compensation — but acknowledged that the idea was politically contentious. 

The United States and 27-country European Union have opposed such a fund over concerns about their liabilities. — Reuters

ISOG honors outstanding Filipino Cyberleaders at the first I Am Secure Cybersecurity Excellence Awards 2022

Information Security Officers Group (ISOG) gave recognition to 20 outstanding Filipino cybersecurity experts at the first ISOG I Am Secure Cybersecurity Excellence Awards held on Oct. 27, 2022 at the Shangri-La at the Fort.

ISOG launched the I Am Secure Cybersecurity Excellence Awards to recognize exceptional Filipino cyberleaders who showed exceptional leadership and contributions in their respective roles as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) or Senior Head of Security; Chief Risk Officer (CRO) or Risk Manager; Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief Technology Officer (CTO) or Technology Head; and Data Privacy Officer (DPO).

For the CISO/Senior Head of Security category, the awardees are Jose Paolo Rufo, CISO and DPO of UnionBank of the Philippines (Banking and Finance); Jan Martin Encina, Associate Director/Head of Information Security Governance and Ops of MAYA (Fintech).Russell Hernandez, CISO of Insular HealthCare (Insurance); Ross Sherwin De Claro, Senior Manager II of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Government and Public Sector); Charmaine Rose Valmonte, CISO of Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (Utilities); and Mario Demarillas, CISO of Exceture Inc. (Management and Services).

For the CRO/Risk Manager category, the winners are Ana Marie Acuña, Operational Risk Management Head of BDO Unibank, Inc. (Banking and Finance); Bayan Magallon, AVP and Senior Manager – Risk Management and Compliance Division of Cocolife (Insurance); and Kamille Ann Salva, Head of Business Analytics Continuity and Actuarial Risk Department of Public Safety Savings and Loan Association, Inc. (Other Financial Institutions).

For the CIO/CTO/Technology Head category, the awardees are Henry Rhoel Aguda, Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Operations Officer and Chief Transformation Officer of UnionBank of the Philippines (Commercial Bank); Alfred Punzalan, Information Technology (IT) Head of Northpoint Development Bank (Other Local Banks); Lloyd Alferez Sioson, Vice President for IT Department of Philippine Guarantee Corporation (Other Financial Institutions); Ken Sarmiento, OIC-ICT Branch Director of Department of Migrant Workers (Government and Public Sector); Reuben Thomas Nagtalon Jr., Consultant for Digital Transformation & Re-engineering of Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center (Healthcare); and Ricson Singson Que, Cybersecurity Program Coordinator/IS Consultant of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.

For the DPO category, the awardees are Jonathan John Paz, DPO & Enterprise IS Officer of Bank of the Philippine Islands (Banking and Finance); Jonathan Pineda, VP, CISO & DPO of Government Service Insurance System (Government and Public Sector); Jan Edward Cruz, Data Privacy & IT Manager of Chroma Hospitality Inc. (Management and Services); Michael Oliver C. Ignacio, Information Security and Data Privacy Vice President of Inspiro Relia, Inc. (Business Process Outsourcing); and Roselle Basa, DPO/Compliance Officer for Data Privacy of University of the East (Academe).

“In our mission to safeguard people and institutions in cyberspace, we find encouragement in the dedication and untiring efforts of our colleagues and partners in the field of cybersecurity. Through this ceremony, ISOG hopes that our awardees’ commitment and competence inspire a culture of excellence among cybersecurity professionals in the Philippines,” ISOG President and Land Bank Chief Information Technology Officer Archie Tolentino said.

All nominees were screened by ISOG core and its alliance and partner representatives from Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), ISACA Manila Chapter, IT Interaction Philippines (ITIP), and ROOTCON.

“The success of this first ISOG Cybersecurity Awards affirms that the Information Security Officers Group is in the right direction towards strengthening information security in the Philippines. Since the organization was founded in 2014, we’ve continuously equipped and empowered as many information security professionals through our awareness and education programs, as well as avenues for community and fellowship,” said ISOG Vice President and I Am Secure Cybersecurity Excellence Awards Chairman.

Organized by XMS, the ISOG I Am Secure Cybersecurity Excellence Awards is one of ISOG’s initiatives to strengthen information security in the Philippines. Titanium event sponsors are Microsoft, Huawei, Trends, Cycognito, DarkTrace, Crowdstrike with ITSDI, Trend Micro with Netsec and VST ECS. Platinum event sponsors are VMWAre; Checkmarx; Palo Alto with Westcon, Extrahop; Fortinet, Trellix with VST ECS, Mandiant with MDI Novare, and VST ECS; and Rubrik with Exclusive Networks. Gold event sponsors are BlueVoyant, Efficient IP, Gigamon, F5 with Westcon; and Silverfort and IPV Network. Exhibitors were G Core Labs; Arcon, Cybereason, Cyfirma with NextGen Group, KnowBe4, Yubico and Sophos with WSI.

Media partners for this event are the Philippine Daily Inquirer, BusinessWorld, DIGI.PH, Backend News, and the New Hue.

For more details about ISOG, visit ISOG’s official website at www.isog-org.ph and socials at LinkedIn: ISOG (Information Security Officers Group), Facebook: ISOGPH, YouTube Channel: ISOG SUMMIT.

 

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Dennis Uy’s Udenna weighs sale of Conti’s, Wendy’s restaurants businesses

CONTIS.PH/STORES

SINGAPORE/MANILA – Udenna Corp, controlled by a close associate of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, is exploring the sale of its Conti’s Bakeshop and Restaurant and Wendy’s fast-food chain businesses in the country, five sources told Reuters.

The Philippine petroleum-to-education conglomerate is in talks with at least one financial adviser on potentially selling both businesses together, three of the sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The deal could fetch as much as $200 million for the two assets combined, two of the sources added.

The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the media. Udenna owns Wendy’s and Conti’s through its food subsidiary Eight-8-Ate Holdings, according to its website.

“We are always exploring opportunities available that would be beneficial for the group,” a Udenna spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday.

The Philippines’ economy grew 7.4% in the second quarter from a year ago, the second fastest in Southeast Asia for the period trailing only Vietnam, following the easing of lengthy COVID-19 restrictions.

Tycoon Dennis Uy, a close associate and the top campaign donor of Duterte, founded Udenna in 2002.

It bought a 70% stake in Conti’s in 2018 for an undisclosed sum, according to its website.
A year later, it acquired all of Wendy’s restaurants in the Philippines, becoming the master franchisee of the fast-food chain in the country. It did not provide financial details on the purchase.

Conti’s owns 70 stores in the Philippines. Its founding owners hold a minority stake in the company.

Wendy’s has 52 stores in the Philippines, mainly in the capital.

Uy’s rapid, debt-fueled business expansion started when Duterte took office in 2016, but revenues declined significantly during the pandemic. The company has long insisted it received no preferential treatment under Duterte.

Amid deep losses, Uy had to resort to selling his assets, including a stake in the Philippines’ major gas field in the South China Sea. — Reuters

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