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Late field goal lifts Saints to wet win over Seahawks

BRIAN Johnson, making his National Football League (NFL) debut, kicked a 33-yard field goal with 1:56 remaining as the New Orleans Saints defeated the host Seattle Seahawks (13-10) on a rainy on Monday night.

Alvin Kamara accounted for 179 yards of total offense and the lone touchdown for the Saints (4-2). Kamara gained just 51 yards on 20 carries, but had a game-high 10 receptions for 128 yards and a score. Kamara set an NFL record by reaching 3,000 yards rushing and 3,000 yards receiving in 66 career games, breaking the old mark of 70 set by former San Francisco 49ers star Roger Craig.

The Seahawks (2-5), playing for the second straight week without injured quarterback Russell Wilson, dropped to 0-3 at home and took their third straight defeat overall.

Seattle’s Jason Myers missed two field-goal attempts in the second half, including a 53-yarder that would’ve given the hosts a lead with 6:49 left.

The Saints then drove for the winning score, thanks in part to two series-extending penalties committed by the Seahawks.

Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner had Jameis Winston wrapped up for an apparent sack on a third-and-9 play, but defensive back Marquise Blair came in late with a helmet-to-helmet hit, giving the Saints a first down.

New Orleans lined up for a 41-yard field-goal attempt with 3:08 left, but Seattle defensive lineman Al Woods jumped offside, giving the Saints a chance to move closer and run off more of the clock.

Winston completed 19 of 35 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown. Seattle’s Geno Smith was 12 of 22 for 167 yards and a score.

Smith completed his first pass attempt to DK Metcalf for an 84-yard touchdown. Metcalf got a step on cornerback Marshon Lattimore, made the catch down the right sideline at Seattle’s 40-yard line and sidestepped a diving tackle attempt by New Orleans safety Marcus Williams before sprinting untouched to the end zone.

The Saints scored 10 points in the final 4:23 of the second quarter to take a 10-7 lead.

Johnson made a 21-yard field goal to cap a 19-play, 86-yard drive that took 10:16. The Saints had second-and-goal from the 1-yard line, but Kamara was stopped for a 1-yard loss and Winston’s third-down pass was knocked down in the end zone by linebacker Jordyn Brooks.

New Orleans took the lead with 40 seconds left in the half on a 13-yard pass from Winston to Kamara. Winston dropped the shotgun snap, but the ball fell on its side and stopped on the wet turf. Winston picked it back up with one hand, rolled to his right and hit Kamara on a screen pass, and the running back avoided a tackle on his way to the end zone.

The Saints finished with 304 total yards while limiting the Seahawks to 219. — Reuters

Collin Morikawa rises to career-high no. 2 in world rankings

COLLIN Morikawa reached a new career high by passing Ryder Cup partner Dustin Johnson for No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking on Monday.

Morikawa overcame an opening-round 71 at the Zozo Championship to post three rounds in the 60s to tie for seventh place. That came on the heels of a solo second-place finish at The CJ Cup @ Summit.

Morikawa, 24, now has 8.4710 average points, topping Johnson’s 8.3777. The two paired to win three matches during Team USA’s dominating Ryder Cup victory last month.

Johnson has only played once since, tying for 45th at The CJ Cup, and has said he plans to take the rest of 2021 off. That would mean Johnson will snap his 13-year streak of winning at least one PGA Tour event and fail to qualify for the season-opening Tournament of Champions.

Hideki Matsuyama of Japan vaulted seven spots to No. 12 in the world following his five-shot victory at the Zozo Championship in his home country.

Tony Finau and Brooks Koepka were idle last week, but Finau still moved past Koepka for the No. 10 spot in the rolling rankings system.

Also making big moves this week were Brendan Steele and Cameron Tringale, who tied for second behind Matsuyama. Steele climbed 42 places to No. 88, while Tringale rose 15 spots to a career-best 54th.

It was the best finish of 2021 for both players. — Reuters

Supersub

Considering how Carmelo Anthony remains significant to the plans of would-be title contenders, it’s hard to imagine how close he came to being out of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for good. But he did come close, and, for a while, was actually on the outside looking in. Three years ago, he saw the Rockets unceremoniously dump him after 10 games, with his “I’m too good not to start” sense of self most certainly not helping his cause. He spent the rest of the 2018-19 season taking stock of his worth, and, in retrospect, the absence did him a lot of good. He was in a Blazer uniform the next time he suited up, and the two years he spent alongside All-Star Damian Lillard and extremely underrated CJ McCollum helped him adjust to life as a supersub.

These days, Anthony is happy playing his part off the bench. He’s chugging along just fine, and, in fact, proved instrumental in the Lakers’ first victory of their 2020-21 campaign. For all the marquee names dotting the roster, he was the single biggest reason they finally broke into the win column after poor performances off the blocks. Not LeBron James. Not Anthony Davis. Not Russell Westbrook. Him. And it was, perhaps, only fitting that his heroics coincided with his passing of acknowledged great Moses Malone to ninth in the all-time scoring list.

The previous iteration of Anthony would have reveled in the moment, taking in all the accolades to feed his ego. Instead, he used the occasion to reflect on his longevity, and, in the process, comprehend that his continued significance in the league stemmed from his acceptance of his reduced role in the grand scheme of things. He’s no spring chicken at 37, and he figures to be closer to the rocking chair than to the treadmill. Yet, if nothing else, his stellar showing against the Grizzlies the other day underscored his capacity to make a difference now and then.

Granted, the Lakers seem destined to be a year-long experiment in counter-programming. At a time when pace and space call for speed and mobility, they stack up on bigs and employ, for the most part, an elephant-walk offense that Westbrook’s presence aims to correct. They also launched an experience invasion that’s akin to rolling the dice. As far as Anthony’s concerned, though, they’re not wrong to have done so. And he knows he’s Exhibit A. Once upon a time, he would have shouted it to the world. Now, he’s content to let his accomplishments do the talking. He got the Lakers their inaugural win of the season. If he stays grounded, there’s no reason he can’t help them get closer to the hardware.

 

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.

Future of work and workers

VECTORJUICE-FREEPIK

(Part 2)

In the book Thank You for Being Late, Thomas Friedman cites abundant data from economist James Bessen who authored the book Learning by Doing: The Real Connection Between Innovation, Wages, and Wealth. The major question addressed in the book is whether or not automation always leads to unemployment in the whole economy in general.

The first case discussed concerned weavers in the textile industry during the First Industrial Revolution in England. In the 19th century, 98% of the labor involved in weaving a yard of cloth got automated. The task went from 100% manual to 2%. Unexpectedly, the number of weaver jobs increased! The answer to the paradox is found in what is called Engel’s Law which states that as the real income of individuals and household increase, their demand for non-basic items increases exponentially. As Bessen explained: “When you automate a job that has largely been done manually, you make it hugely more productive. When that happens, prices go down and demand goes up for the product.” At the beginning of the 19th century, many people had one set of clothes, all of which were handmade. By the end of that century, most people had multiple sets of clothing. Because of the big drop in the prices of textile, the real incomes of individuals increased, enabling them to afford non-basic items. In addition to multiple sets of clothing, they started buying textile products for drapes on their windows, rugs on their floors, and upholstery for their furniture. As Bensen clarified: “As the automation in weaving went up and price went down, people found so many more uses for cloth, and demand exploded enough to actually offset the substitution of more machines for labor.”

Let us bring this discussion closer to the banking sector. Bessen examined the example of cash machines, which began to be deployed in the 1990s in large numbers in the US and now are everywhere. The expectation was that these machines would replace bank tellers. Exactly the opposite happened: “The number of full-time equivalent bank tellers has grown since ATMs were widely deployed during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Indeed, since 2000, the number of full-time equivalent bank tellers has increased 2% annually, substantially faster than the entire labor force… Because the ATM allowed banks to operate branch offices at lower cost, they were prompted to open many more branches, offsetting the erstwhile loss in teller jobs. At the same time teller skills changed. Non-routine marketing and interpersonal skills became more valuable, while routine cash handling became less important. That is, although bank tellers performed relatively fewer routine tasks, their employment increased.”

This example highlights the importance for our school systems to produce more graduates who are good in critical thinking, effective communication, and inter-personal skills rather than specific technical skills which can be better acquired on the job.

The example of the ATM is not an exception. The following are similar situations in which automation did not lead to a drop in the number of jobs available in the whole economy:

• Barcode scanners reduced cashier’s checkout times by 18-19%, but the number of cashiers has grown since scanners were widely deployed during the 1980s.

• Since the late 1990s, electronic document discovery software for legal proceedings has grown into a billion-dollar business doing work done by paralegals, but the number of paralegals has grown robustly.

• E-commerce has also grown rapidly since the late 1990s, now accounting for over 7% of retail sales, but the number of people working in sales occupations has grown since 2000.

Another interesting case is that of the demand for receptionists in offices. Receptionists whose main task is to answer the phone will be replaced by voice mail or call centers. Bessen noted, however, that there are still receptionists who answer phones and take messages but do other things as well. So, the number of telephone operators has declined dramatically (from 317,000 full-time equivalent in 1980 to 57,000 in 2017) while the number of receptionists has grown by more (438,000 to 896,000). Obviously, receptionists require more and different skills than switchboard operators.

Additionally, technology can create demand for totally new jobs — think data science engineers — even as it transforms the skills needed for some old routine jobs, such as bank tellers and paralegals and store clerks, that would seem to be made obsolete by computers and robots but actually aren’t. In fact, technology can vastly increase the skills needed to practice old jobs that have been transformed by computers and similar devices. A perfect example here is the graphic designer. A graphic designer who can use computer-aided design software makes a lot more money than an old-fashioned typesetter.

These considerations derived from empirical evidence in advanced economies like the United States lead me to the following observations. For the vast majority of the existing labor force of 48.45 million today, that may swell to close to 60 million 10 years from now, the skills needed by the ordinary workers in the farming, fisheries and forestry sectors; MSMEs in manufacturing and services; construction, mining, and public utility are more efficiently developed in the worksite itself. The education needed by these workers should be addressed by the K to 12 curriculum that should be geared towards providing the youth with the necessary formation to live fully human lives. Basic education should not be primarily geared towards making people useful economically, except in the last two years of the K to 12 curriculum which follow the TESDA route in producing technically skilled workers. Every product of the basic education program should acquire minimum skills in critical thinking, effective communication, and inter-personal relations.

Those who have the talents to advance to higher studies, independent of the financial capability of their respective families, should be enabled to aspire for what we can call “middle-class jobs” for want of a more appropriate term. These are the jobs which require higher levels of critical thinking, effective communication, and inter-personal relations. As we read in Thank You for Being Late, every middle-class job is now being pulled in four directions at once — and if we are going to train our citizens to thrive in such a world, we have to think afresh about each direction and what new skills or attitudes go with it in order to find a job, hold a job, and advance in a job. For starters, middle-class jobs are being uploaded up faster —they require more knowledge and education to perform successfully. To compete for such jobs, you need more of the three Rs — reading, writing, and arithmetic — and more of the four Cs — creativity, collaboration, communication, and coding. These should be the basis for designing the curricula of our institutes of higher education and of the many non-formal and informal means of delivering to our knowledge workers a lifetime of continuing education. Increasingly, we have to question the value of a college degree after high school. Many of the skills needed by our upper-middle income economy may be better developed by non-degree, non-formal or informal means of education.

To be continued.

 

Bernardo M. Villegas has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard, is professor emeritus at the University of Asia and the Pacific, and a visiting professor at the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. He was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission.

bernardo.villegas@uap.asia

Democratic succession amid a pandemic

FREEPIK

Like in many other countries, the conduct of elections in the Philippines during a pandemic will be unprecedented. For this democratic exercise, we must aim for that delicate balance between ensuring election continuity and safeguarding public health.

These are not binary options. We do not have to choose one over the other.

Much can be learned from the experiences and practices of other countries that have conducted elections in 2020 and 2021. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an independent, nonpartisan member organization, think tank, and publisher, provided an evidence-based analysis that elections can be held in this pandemic period without necessarily sacrificing public health.

“Experts say elections held so far have shown that the risk of transmission in polling places decreases if officials enforce social distancing, require mask wearing, increase ventilation, and sanitize surfaces, among other measures,” CFR said.

Thus, what needs to be done is to ensure the strict observance of clear health protocols or guidelines from both the national government and local government units. Again, such an undertaking requires the cooperation of all stakeholders — the different sectors of society and the voters themselves.

With more than 63 million registered voters for the 2022 national elections, another top concern is election credibility. It is in this aspect where the Automated Election System (AES) plays a crucial role.

For so many decades before 2010, the year AES was first adopted, the problem of dagdag-bawas (add-subtract) haunted the credibility of elections in our country. The implementation of the AES has ensured and, to a great extent, guaranteed the legitimacy of elections.

For the 2016 and 2019 elections, PulseAsia conducted surveys, commissioned by Stratbase ADR Institute, to determine the people’s trust in the election results and on the continued use of automated voting in future elections.

Asked to indicate how big or small their trust is in the results of the 2016/2019 automated elections, 74% of Filipinos expressed Big Trust in the 2016 elections, while 22% expressed “May Be Big/May Be Small.” The very significant trust even improved by 10 percentage points when asked about the 2019 election results, where 84% replied with Big Trust.

It is noteworthy that the increase in the already big trust in the results of the automated elections were gained from the nine-percentage point decrease in those who could not decide whether their trust in the election outcome was big or small, showing even more voter trust.

In terms of the continued use of automated voting, the same commissioned survey revealed that in 2016, 89% of Filipinos said Yes. Again, this improved by two percentage points in the 2019 survey, implying that nine out of 10 Filipinos approved of the use of the automated system in future elections.

To a large extent, the AES provides a safer environment in the voting precincts as it prevents the existence of conglomerations and minimizes person-to-person contact in the counting of votes.

Equally important is the believability aspect of the AES. Specifically, Democracy Watch Philippines (DemWatch) asserts that “the voter verification paper audit trail (VVPAT) or voting receipts of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is a good transparency mechanism, in which voters can verify if the ballots they cast have been read correctly by the vote counting machines.”

Further, upon the Supreme Court’s decision “that the Comelec did not commit grave abuse of discretion in implementing the SC’s 2016 order to use voting receipts” and that the Comelec “exercised its judgment to ensure free, orderly and honest elections and to protect the secrecy and sanctity of ballots without grave abuse of discretion,” DemWatch stated that “the SC decision is yet another testament to the credibility and legitimacy of the automated election system (AES).”

The Comelec’s efforts to ensure safety in the 2022 exercise and election continuity — more transparent and reliable elections through automated elections, citizen source code review, and purchase of machines and source code — are more than laudable.

Another big concern in the election period is the current existence of widespread disinformation and misinformation. According to the CFR, establishing lines of communication between health authorities and elections agencies were instrumental in creating “standardized guidelines for polling places,” carrying out “nationwide voter-education campaigns,” and “planning for potential outbreaks.”

Holding meaningful elections and providing the kind of information environment where voters can make informed electoral choices are only possible if the public is empowered and enlightened.

Cognizant that the slate of political candidates will be finalized by Nov. 15 as provided by law, the Stratbase ADR Institute, in partnership with Democracy Watch Philippines, will launch an election webinar on Oct. 26, entitled “Democracy Goes On: Upholding a Safe, Free, and Credible 2022 Elections in the New Normal.”

Demonstrated by the experiences of countries in 2020 and 2021, the pandemic should not be used to justify the suspension of elections. As the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) appropriately emphasized in its COVID-19 Briefing Series, “As we try to crush the virus, we risk further hastening a troubling global decline in democracy that predates its emergence.”

The Filipinos’ commitment to democratic survival is absolute. We must reject any attempt to weaken or subvert our democratic system of succession and uphold our democratic institutions at all costs.

 

Victor Andres “Dindo” C. Manhit is the president of the Stratbase ADR Institute.

China is accused of exporting authoritarian technology. But the west has done so, too, more covertly

UPKLYAK-FREEPIK

China’s 5G technology has now been banned in many countries, including Australia, New Zealand, the US, and many in the European Union. In 2019, a NATO Cyber Defense Center report identified Huawei’s 5G technology as a security risk.

Since September, telecommunications providers in the US have been able to apply for compensation through a $1.9-billion program designed to “rip and replace” Huawei and ZTE equipment, due to perceived risks to national security.

But fears over China’s attempts to export its digital and surveillance technologies go far beyond just Huawei and 5G. China has been accused of exporting “digital authoritarianism” and spreading “techno-authoritarianism globally.” It’s been declared a danger to the rest of the world.

In my research, I argue the story of digital authoritarianism is not that straightforward.

Technologies that help authoritarian leaders collect information and control their populations have been exported with few restrictions for decades. Although China does export ready-made surveillance systems to governments deemed as oppressive, countries in Europe and North America have also done so, albeit more covertly.

China falls in the direct line of fire for criticism on this front.

First, the country follows an authoritarian system. In a compilation of speeches by President Xi Jinping from 2012-18, he critiqued western political systems and called for greater “South-South collaboration” between China and countries in the developing world.

These views have since been incorporated as part of a new national ideology and China’s influential Belt and Road Initiative.

Second, both Chinese companies and the Chinese government have firmly maintained that countries are free to decide what they want to do with the technologies they purchase from China. They are neutral actors selling neutral technologies to other countries.

China is the largest exporter of telecommunications equipment, computers, and telephones in the world, with the US as its biggest destination. It has also exported digital infrastructure to more than 60 mostly developing countries through its Belt and Road Initiative.

Some of the most problematic exports of Chinese surveillance technologies include:

• CloudWalk’s facial recognition database in Zimbabwe, which opponents say may be used to monitor government critics;

• technicians from Huawei engaging in political espionage in Uganda and Zambia;

• the development of a controversial new “fatherland card” to monitor civilian activities in Venezuela;

• the sale of smart video surveillance technologies to the previous authoritarian government of Ecuador.

However, Chinese companies are not the only actors in the global trade arena that benefit from the argument of “technological neutrality.”

Companies from Europe and North America jumped at the first chance they got to sell surveillance systems to China in the early 2000s. Many of those technologies strengthened China’s online censorship system.

In a watershed report in 2001, an independent researcher, Greg Walton, showed that international companies started marketing their products to Chinese public security agencies as early as 2000 during a large security expo in Beijing. The same expo continued to attract international companies until the COVID-19 travel disruptions in 2020.

In 2006, Cisco was investigated by a US House subcommittee for selling surveillance technologies to China. The company defended itself by stressing its right to international trade and technological neutrality.

A couple of years later, Cisco again defended its right to sell to China in a meeting with the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights. A representative of the company argued: One thing tech companies cannot do, in my opinion, is involve themselves in politics of a country.

Earlier this year, investigative journalist Mara Hvistendahl also reported that Oracle (the same company that won the bid to co-host TikTok’s data in the US) had pitched its predictive policing analytics to public security agencies in China.

And in 2019, the UK was found to have exported telecommunications interception equipment to multiple countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

A political science researcher at the University of Cape Town, Mandira Bagwandeen, argues it’s easy to point fingers to China, diverting attention from other countries.

Let’s face it, if the US was really serious about restricting the spread of so-called “authoritarian technology,” then it should also impose comprehensive measures and restrictions on both democratic and autocratic producers.

The fact is surveillance technologies with the capability to gather and analyze information about people are inherently political.

Princeton University Professor Xu Xu argues that digital surveillance resolves the “information problem” in authoritarian countries by allowing dictators to more easily identify those with anti-regime beliefs.

But regulating new technologies is difficult even in democratic countries. Australia is seeing this play out with the unregulated use of number plate recognition technologies by the police to monitor lockdown compliance.

The police have also tried to use COVID QR code check-in data numerous times as part of criminal investigations.

Unlike other electronics goods, surveillance technologies have the capability to shape and restrict people’s lives, rights and freedoms. This is why it is important they are regulated.

While it may be difficult to enact a unified set of rules internationally given the current tensions between China and the west, better monitoring and regulations at the domestic level could be the way forward.

One large initiative is a multi-year project run by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute to map the international expansion of Chinese technology companies.

This is helping to monitor the activities of Chinese surveillance tech companies and providing data for government policy briefs. When iFlytek, a Chinese artificial intelligence technology company tied to surveillance of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, marketed its products in New Zealand, the media relied on ASPI’s findings to pressure a New Zealand company to cease its collaborations with the company.

And the European Parliament commissioned and published an extensive report on artificial intelligence in June 2021, which recommended establishing a security commission and new research center devoted to AI issues. It remains to be seen whether the report has any teeth, but it is the kind of start we need. 

 

Ausma Bernot is a PhD candidate at Griffith University.

Campaigning in the time of COVID

KATEMANGOSTAR-FREEPIK

The upcoming 2022 national and local elections will be the first, and hopefully the last, to be held in the midst of a pandemic. By election day, the Philippines will have surpassed the two-year mark of its COVID-19 anniversary, and health protocols and restrictions will surely impact the partisan political activities. When candidates begin campaigning, handshakes will be replaced with fist bumps and a spritz of alcohol. Traditional town hall debates may possibly be transformed to videoconference meetings where spectators can only give virtual applause. For health and safety reasons, physical campaigning activities will be drastically reduced, and online political activities will grow.

Online presence has been further maximized this pandemic where people are forced to stay at home and let the innovations of technology bridge the gap of being physically absent at one place but virtually present, nonetheless. As of 2021, the Philippines has over 80 million social media users,1 80% of whom are eligible to vote.2 Social media and video streaming websites have become additional platforms for politicians and candidates to publicize their accomplishments and respective ideals for the Philippines. As early as now, their online presence cannot be denied.

A few months ago, a vlogger launched a special series where she featured different political figures before the start of the filing of certificates of candidacies. Social media pages and cascade groups have also been organized to gather people of the same political beliefs so they may champion their respective bets together. People can also easily like and share publicity materials such as photos and videos which, when done collectively, lead the trending news for the day. All these are geared towards a common goal — to promote a political bet.

Considering that social media and technology have broadened the reach of political candidates, the question is whether these activities should be regulated by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

However, the political activities prevalent today, while appearing to be partisan in nature, are not yet considered as campaigning because there is no candidate to speak of under the law. A person is deemed a candidate only upon the commencement of the campaign period. Thus, Comelec regulations in this regard still do not apply.

Under the Omnibus Election Code, campaign refers to an act designed to promote the election or defeat of a particular candidate for public office. This includes, among others, directly or indirectly soliciting votes or support for or against any candidate and publishing or distributing campaign literature. The Omnibus Election Code also provides for the campaign period for national candidates which is 90 days before the election day or from Feb. 8 to May 7, 2022, and for local candidates which is 45 days from the election day or from March 25 to May 7, 2022.

In Penera v. Comelec (2009), the Supreme Court ruled that there is no such thing as premature campaigning because a person who filed a certificate of candidacy becomes a candidate only upon the start of the campaign period. If there is yet no candidate whose interest is being promoted or defeated, there is no restriction to any election campaign or partisan political activity. Therefore, any activities aimed at promoting potential candidates before Feb. 8, 2022 (for national candidates) or March 25, 2022 (for local candidates) have no restrictions. This now begs the question: During the election period, may the Comelec regulate the online activities of the political candidates?

Under the Fair Election Act, the Comelec shall supervise and regulate all election propaganda, whether it be on television, radio, or any other medium. The same law provides for the parameters and limitations imposed upon lawful election propaganda such as the maximum size of pamphlet and leaflets to be distributed, dimensions of the posters or tarpaulins to be posted, permissible areas of posting, and measurements of print advertisements on broadsheets. It also prescribed the allowable television and radio airtime for each candidate. Simply put, the Fair Election Act set the maximum values of allowable campaign materials for each candidate to ensure that they have equal access to media and be given equal opportunities under equal circumstances.

Congress has not enacted any law regulating the online platform insofar as partisan political activities are concerned. In this regard, however, the Comelec issued Resolution No. 10488 which monitored online campaigning of candidates during the 2019 national and local elections, and social media is considered as a form of mass media regulated by the said Resolution. The Resolution also includes the creation of user groups or community pages on social media as a form of election campaigning and included social media posts as a form of lawful election propaganda. However, no limit was imposed as to the number of posts allowed, permissible video airtime, photo dimensions, and the like. There is also no limit on the number of official blogs or social media pages for each candidate. The only requirement under said resolution is the registration of the candidates’ social media pages with the Comelec.

Hence, it appears that candidates may have social media pages and unlimited posts without any repercussions. This may undermine the purpose of the Fair Election Act which is to grant all candidates equal opportunities to reach their constituents under equal circumstances.

However, while regulating online activities of candidates is ideal, this platform presents a number of setbacks that make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to do the same. Should the Comelec attempt to regulate these online activities, it will be reaching out to several social media platforms and deal with them separately to meet their respective concessions. It may also have little or no control over the people who are sharing or commenting on the posts. Should it attempt to tally the number of shares, it may not be able to reach the campaign posts shared privately. If a video posted exceeds a certain time, will the Comelec have the means to take it down? The volume and extent of social media, being vast and limitless, make regulating the same an extreme challenge.

Finally, should online campaigning be regulated, the Comelec must be able to guard against the danger of curtailing every person’s freedom of speech. In this day and age, social media has become a vital tool of expression for the netizens. Freedom of speech is a constitutionally enshrined liberty which allows people to discuss matters of public interest publicly and truthfully without censorship and punishment (Gonzales v. Comelec [1967]). This liberty is so broad that it extends to protection to nearly all forms of communication (Chavez v. Gonzales [2008]), necessarily including virtual speech. With the prevalence of social media, Filipinos are making the most out of the ease and convenience of being able to air their opinions with just a few taps on their screens. After all, the Omnibus Election Code expressly noted that an election campaign does not include public expression of opinions.

There is a fine line between purely political posts characterized as campaigning and posts which result from one’s exercise of freedom of speech. While there is a need for the Comelec to regulate online activities of candidates, it must do so without curtailing Filipinos’ liberty of expression. As highlighted by the Supreme Court in Diocese of Bacolod v. Comelec (2015): “At the heart of democracy is every advocate’s right to make known what the people need to know, while the meaningful exercise of one’s right of suffrage includes the right of every voter to know what they need to know in order to make their choice… Speech with political consequences is at the core of the freedom of expression and must be protected by this court.”

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not offered and does not constitute legal advice or legal opinion.

1 See https://www.statista.com/statistics/489180/number-of-social-network-users-in-philippines/. 

2 See https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1119885.

 

Julienne Therese V. Salvacion is an associate of the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department (LDRD) of the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices or ACCRALAW.

(632) 8830-8000

jvsalvacion@accralaw.com

Japan’s Princess Mako marries commoner

JAPAN’s Princess Mako and her husband Kei Komuro attend a news conference to announce their wedding at Grand Arc Hotel in Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 26. — REUTERS

TOKYO — Japan’s Princess Mako, the niece of the emperor, married college sweetheart Kei Komuro on Tuesday, giving up her royal title and saying she was determined to build a happy life with her “irreplaceable” husband after a tumultuous engagement.

In an unusually frank joint news conference with her new husband, Ms. Mako said “incorrect” news reports about Mr. Komuro had caused her great sadness, stress and fear.

She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) earlier this year after a four-year engagement plagued by money scandals and intense media scrutiny.

“I’m aware that there are various views on our marriage. I feel very sorry for those (for) whom we have caused trouble …,” said Mako, who will from now be known as Mako Komuro, having had to give up her royal title after marrying a commoner, in line with Japanese law.

“For us, marriage is a necessary choice to live while cherishing our hearts.”

The two, 30, were married in the morning after an official from the Imperial Household Agency (IHA), which runs the family’s lives, submitted paperwork to a local office registering their marriage.

The couple broke with tradition by foregoing the rituals and ceremonies usual to royal weddings, including a reception, while Ms. Mako also refused the one-off payment of about $1.3 million typically made to royal women who leave the imperial family after marriage.

Japan initially cheered the couple’s engagement announcement four years ago, but things turned sour soon after, when the tabloids reported on a money scandal involving Mr. Komuro’s mother, prompting the press to turn on him and the marriage to be postponed. Mr. Komuro left Japan for law studies in New York in 2018 only to return in September.

During the press conference, Mr. Komuro said he loved Mako and pledged to support and protect her, unusually open language for anyone connected to Japanese royalty. “I want to spend the only life I have with the one I love,” he said.

Television footage earlier showed Ms. Mako, wearing a pastel dress and pearls, saying goodbye to her parents and 26-year-old sister, Kako, at the entrance to their home. Though all wore masks in line with Japan’s coronavirus protocol, her mother could be seen blinking rapidly, as if to fight off tears.

Though Ms. Mako bowed formally to her parents, her sister grabbed her shoulders and the two shared a long embrace.

Mr. Komuro, dressed in a crisp dark suit and tie, bowed briefly to camera crews gathered outside his home as he left in the morning but said nothing. His casual demeanor on returning to Japan, including a ponytail which was cut before the marriage, had sent tabloids into a frenzy.

MONEY SCANDAL
Just months after the two announced their engagement at a news conference where the smiles they exchanged won the hearts of the nation, tabloids reported a financial dispute between Mr. Komuro’s mother and her former fiance, with the man claiming mother and son had not repaid a debt of about $35,000.

The scandal spread to mainstream media after the IHA failed to provide a clear explanation. In 2021, Mr. Komuro issued a 24-page statement on the matter and also said he would pay a settlement.

Public opinion polls show the Japanese are divided about the marriage, and there has been at least one protest.

Analysts say the problem is that the imperial family is so idealized that not the slightest hint of trouble with things such as money or politics should touch them.

The fact that Ms. Mako’s father and younger brother, Hisahito, are both in the line of succession after Emperor Naruhito, whose daughter is ineligible to inherit, makes the scandal particularly damaging, said Hideya Kawanishi, an associate professor of history at Nagoya University.

“Though it’s true they’ll both be private citizens, Mako’s younger brother will one day become emperor, so some people thought anybody with the problems he (Komuro) had shouldn’t be marrying her,” Kawanishi added.

The two will live in New York after Ms. Mako applies for the first passport of her life. — Reuters

South Korea’s former president Roh Tae-woo dies at 88

EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

SEOUL — South Korean former president Roh Tae-woo, a decorated war veteran who played a pivotal but controversial role in the transition to democratic elections from rule by authoritarian leaders, has died, a Seoul hospital confirmed.

The 88-year-old died on Tuesday, a Seoul National University Hospital official said, without citing the cause of death.

Mr. Roh had been in poor health since 2002 when he received surgery for prostate cancer and he was repeatedly hospitalized in recent years.

In the space of a few decades, Mr. Roh went from military coup conspirator to South Korea’s first popularly elected president, before ending his political career in ignominy with a jail sentence for treason and corruption.

“I now feel limitlessly shameful for being a former president,” Mr. Roh told the public in a tearful televised apology in 1995 for secretly amassing a $654 million slush fund while in office.

Mr. Roh was born on Dec. 4, 1932, the son of a poor farmer in Talsong County, near the southeastern city of Taegu. He was educated first at the Korean Military Academy in Seoul and later attended a psychological warfare course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Mr. Roh began his military career during the 1950-1953 Korean War and was the commander of a combat unit in the Vietnam War. 

When former strong man Park Chung-hee was assassinated in 1979, Mr. Roh supported his former military classmate Chun Doo-hwan in a military coup that installed the latter in the presidential Blue House. Mr. Roh was rewarded with a series of government posts.

However, when Mr. Chun named Mr. Roh as his successor ahead of the 1987 presidential elections there was a public outcry, with large pro-democracy rallies held in Seoul and other cities.

In response and to distance himself from Mr. Chun, Mr. Roh issued the “June 29 Declaration,” announcing significant political reforms including the direct election of the president.

He campaigned as a man of the people. In office, he discarded the title “excellency” and opened up the Blue House to the public.

Mr. Roh had success as a global statesman, scoring a diplomatic breakthrough with his “Nordpolitik” drive to establish formal ties with Cold War-era enemies Russia and China.

As the original driving force behind the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Mr. Roh helped South Korea forge a new international identity. He also ushered the country into the United Nations in 1991.

But his term in office was blighted by street protests and economic instability. Two weeks before he left the Blue House he was voted the worst politician in South Korea in a public survey.

Just a few years later he was sentenced to 22-1/2 years in prison for his role in the 1979 coup and the 1980 Gwangju army massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators, as well as massive corruption.

Grim-faced and wearing prison pyjamas, Mr. Roh faced court alongside Mr. Chun, who received a commuted death sentence. Local media dubbed it the “trial of the century” as it dug up many of the dirtiest secrets from South Korea’s era of strongman rule.

Referring to the massacre, the judges’ verdict accused Mr. Chun and Mr. Roh of “putting down popular resistance to clear the way for their rise to power.”

Female relatives of the Kwangju victims, dressed in traditional mourning white, attacked Mr. Roh’s son, Jae-hun, as he left the court, shouting “Kill the murderer’s son.”

Both men were pardoned by President Kim Young-sam and freed from jail in 1997.

In 2013, Mr. Roh’s family helped him pay off the last of the money he illegally amassed during his presidency.

Mr. Roh is survived by his wife Kim Ok-sook and his two children. Son Roh Jae-heon is a certified lawyer in New York state and the president of the East Asia Culture Center in Seoul. Daughter Roh Soh-yeong, a director at an art museum in Seoul, is in the middle of a high-profile divorce trial with Chey Tae-won, the chairman of conglomerate SK Group. — Reuters

Rise in human bird flu cases in China shows risk of fast-changing variants

BW FILE PHOTO

BEIJING — A jump in the number of people in China infected with bird flu this year is raising concern among experts, who say a previously circulating strain appears to have changed and may be more infectious to people.

China has reported 21 human infections with the H5N6 subtype of avian influenza in 2021 to the World Health Organization (WHO), compared with only five last year, it said.

Though the numbers are much lower than the hundreds infected with H7N9 in 2017, the infections are serious, leaving many critically ill, and at least six dead.

“The increase in human cases in China this year is of concern. It’s a virus that causes high mortality,” said Thijs Kuiken, professor of comparative pathology at Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam.

Most of the cases had come into contact with poultry, and there are no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission, said the WHO, which highlighted the rise in cases in a statement on Oct. 4.

It said further investigation was “urgently” required to understand the risk and the increase in spill over to people.

Since then, a 60-year-old woman in Hunan province was admitted to hospital in a critical condition with H5N6 influenza on Oct. 13, according to a Hong Kong government statement.

While human H5N6 cases have been reported, no outbreaks of H5N6 have been reported in poultry in China since Feb. 2020.

China is the world’s biggest poultry producer and top producer of ducks, which act as a reservoir for flu viruses.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could not be reached for comment on the rise in H5N6 human cases. However, a study published on its website last month said the “increasing genetic diversity and geographical distribution of H5N6 pose a serious threat to the poultry industry and human health”.

Avian influenza viruses constantly circulate in domestic and wild birds, but rarely infect people. However, the evolution of the viruses, which have increased as poultry populations grow, is a major concern because they could change into a virus that spreads easily between people and cause a pandemic.

The largest number of H5N6 infections have been in southwestern Sichuan province, though cases have also been reported in neighboring Chongqing and Guangxi, as well as Guangdong, Anhui and Hunan provinces.

At least 10 were caused by viruses genetically very similar to the H5N8 virus that ravaged poultry farms across Europe last winter and also killed wild birds in China. That suggests the latest H5N6 infections in China may be a new variant.

“It could be that this variant is a little more infectious (to people)…or there could be more of this virus in poultry at the moment and that’s why more people are getting infected,” said Kuiken.

Four of the Sichuan cases raised poultry at home and had been in contact with dead birds, said a September report by China’s CDC. Another had bought a duck from a live poultry market a week before developing symptoms.

China vaccinates poultry against avian influenza but the vaccine used last year may only partially protect against emerging viruses, preventing large outbreaks but allowing the virus to keep circulating, said Filip Claes, Regional Laboratory Coordinator at the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases at the Food and Agriculture Organization. — Reuters

When a multifaceted language is reduced to what you see onscreen  

By Bronte H. Lacsamana 

The virtual space is very restrictive, writes college student Arianne Micaela A. Bulaong.    

For her and her friends, the limitations of chat and video calls keep them from fully expressing themselves. No number of pixels on a screen can capture the way their faces contort and the lively manner with which they use their hands to tell a story. Most may be intrigued or puzzled by their abrupt movements and unfiltered looks that include drawn eyebrows, pouting lips, and the like — but that’s just how they communicate.    

“I am Deaf and I use sign language to interact with others,” said Ms. Bulaong in an interview with BusinessWorld via e-mail, where she bared her feelings about remote learning during the pandemic. “Since I can’t move much or use body language and facial expressions, I cannot fully and freely express myself online.”    

(The College of Saint Benilde’s School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies, or SDEAS, the tertiary-level school where Ms. Bulaong studies, explains that Deaf is spelled with a capital “D,” to distinguish them as people with their own language and culture.)  

Filipino sign language (FSL), a visual language which has grammar and syntax just like any spoken or written language, is used by the Filipino Deaf community. In 2018, it was declared the country’s national sign language through Republic Act No. 11106.  

Unfortunately, because the coronavirus pandemic has kept Filipino students home for over a year, the full extent of FSL has been reduced to what’s visible on a computer or mobile screen. This has been a blow to Deaf students everywhere, their learning experiences have changed just as drastically or maybe even more so than their hearing peers.    

“We teach FSL and written language bilingual lectures during the synchronous sessions via Zoom, which has Deaf-friendly features,” said Ana Kristina M. Arce, Chairperson of SDEAS’ Bachelor in Applied Deaf Studies Program, via e-mail. “Deaf learners then study in their own time to view FSL videos and read written texts of all learning materials and instructions in their online courses during the asynchronous sessions via the learning management system called BigSky.”    

With these digital tools, schools for the Deaf like SDEAS aim to provide appropriate online delivery courses, she added. However, such a set-up gives rise to issues of internet connectivity, varying levels of student engagement, and even mental health.  

HUMANIZING ONLINE CLASSES
The Filipino youth’s mental distress has been a cause for concern due to the on-and-off lockdowns that have prevented the return of in-person classes. In August, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) counted the Philippines as among just five countries that haven’t reopened schools since 2020, affecting over 27 million Filipino students.    

President Rodrigo R. Duterte only approved a pilot test of limited in-person classes in September, in areas with a low number of coronavirus cases.  

“I do experience stress and slight mental breakdowns,” said Ms. Bulaong, who admitted that she missed learning face-to-face. “It was challenging for me to do online classes at home but education does not stop us from learning. It really tested my patience and optimism to study well.”    

She said that her family was usually helpful when she encountered difficulties with her studies despite all of them being busy learning or working from home, but this may not be the case for all Deaf students.    

SDEAS Chairperson Ms. Arce, a Deaf person herself who has been teaching Deaf studies for eight years, explained the importance of humanizing online classes: “Many experience loneliness while staying at home. Most parents don’t know how to communicate as they are not fluent in FSL. Sometimes, they just use gestures.”  

To address this, SDEAS provides a Deaf Awareness and FSL program for hearing parents, to help the parents and the Deaf child understand each other better. For the students’ personal mental health, the school organizes online extracurricular activities.    

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
The Department of Education (DepEd) revealed in July that only 51,375 learners with disabilities (LWDs) enrolled in special classes this year, a significant drop from 2018 when 231,631 LWDs were enrolled.  

Though the department is currently working with various Deaf organizations to foster more inclusive education for Deaf students and other LWDs, there is much work to do.  

One challenge would be resource videos, said Ms. Arce. Learning materials often use audio without any subtitles. Deaf schools and educators have a hard time finding subtitled videos for their students.    

“Deaf community members [in the Philippines] have been advocating for FSL education. FSL modules are not sufficient or available in schools due to transitioning to the online classes,” she said, adding that both Deaf and hearing educators must work together to develop more modules that will be inclusive for all.    

On the difficulties faced by Deaf students, SDEAS student Ms. Bulaong said: “We need strength to cope with the situations happening in this world and doing the online classes. It is overwhelming for us. Help us when we are struggling and comfort us when we feel discouraged. Listen when we want to express our thoughts and feelings.”

LEARN THE LANGUAGE
Deaf people have but a simple request, according to her — that hearing Filipinos take a step to get to know them and their culture.

The best way to do this would be to enroll in formal classes, like Benilde’s FSL Learning Program, in order to learn to properly communicate with the Deaf.     

A mobile application called FSL Buddy, developed by Benilde in cooperation with Accenture Philippines, also exists as a guide for those who want to explore FSL on their own time.

First released in 2018, the app offers over 200 FSL signs from various word categories, visual-gestural communication lessons, and sensitivity and awareness orientation. Its second and latest version is currently in development and will soon be launched in leading app stores, adding frequently requested signs and phrases based on initial feedback.

“It may be hard at first, but it is fun to learn our sign language,” said Ms. Bulaong. “We will be happy to see them willing to start and [be] open to learning about Deaf culture.”  

  

Benilde-SDEAS is currently accepting Deaf and hard-of-hearing applicants for the 1st term (late August to early December) of the Academic Year 2022-2023.

WFH staff cautioned when accessing company network; personal devices a possible gateway for corporate cyberattacks 

PIXABAY

By Patricia Mirasol 

Work-from-home employees and information technology (IT) teams have a shared responsibility when it comes to securing their company’s network. 

A 2021 IoT security report by Palo Alto Networks, a multinational cybersecurity company, found an increase in non-business devices connected to corporate networks in the last year. When compromised, personal IoT (internet of things) devices like game consoles, heart rate monitors, and smart lightbulbs could be used to laterally access work devices — if both use the same home router — which in turn could allow attackers to move onto corporate systems. 

“Remote workers need to be aware of personal home devices that may connect to corporate networks via their home router,” said Vicky Ray, principal researcher of Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks, in a press statement. “Enterprises need to better monitor threats and access to networks… to safeguard remote employees and the organization’s most valuable assets.” 

Only half (51%) of the surveyed IT decision-makers with IoT devices connected to their organization’s network said these were segmented on a separate network from the one used for business applications. Another quarter (26%) of the respondents implemented micro-segmentation within security zones, a practice which separates IoT devices from IT devices and prevents hackers from moving laterally on a network. 

The attack worrying leaders the most (55%), revealed the 2021 report, involve the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). IIoT enables “dumb” items to become “smart” by equipping these with data-gathering sensors to help further business opportunities. The weaponization and hijacking of security cameras was also reported as a concern (46%). 

BEST PRACTICES
Among the IoT security tips Palo Alto Networks recommended for enterprises are: 

1. Know the unknowns — Get complete visibility into all IoT devices connected to the enterprise. This helps collect an up-to-date inventory of all IoT assets. 

2. Conduct continuous monitoring — Implement a real-time monitoring solution that continuously analyzes the behavior of all network-connected IoT devices, to segment the network between IT and IoT devices. 

3. Implement “zero trust” — Zero trust is an approach to security that relies on continuously verifying the trustworthiness of every device, user, and application in an enterprise. An IoT security strategy that aligns with zero trust is advisable to enforce policies for least-privileged access control. 

ACTIVE PLAYER
During his address at the SEIPI Annual General Membership Meeting on May 31, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said the Philippines is expected to become an active player in the global IoT space. 

“Global trends suggest that software is now being increasingly bundled with hardware products and gaining a larger share in the IoT value chain. With this, the strong software development competency of the similarly export-oriented Philippine IT-BPM industry can be a good source of technology, talent, and knowledge through linkages and value co-creation,” Mr. Lopez said. 

There will be 29.3 billion networked devices worldwide by 2023, up from 18.4 billion in 2018, according to Cisco, an American technology company. Its March 2020 white paper also predicted that connected home applications will have nearly half (48%) of the IoT market share by 2023.

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