Showing up too early

July 21, 2021 | 6:00 pm

handsome-man-in-white-t-shirt-and-transperent-glasses-hold-big-clock-in-place-of-his-head-scaled — DIANA.GRYTSKU-FREEPIK

AS A PEOPLE, we get a bad rap for treating time for appointments like suggestions for the retail price of goods. Is a 10:30 a.m. meeting really the equivalent of any time before lunch is served, but not after the soup? “Filipino time” has become an approximated time check, vague and suggestive.

Developed countries post their train or bus departure and arrival schedules to the minute like 6:07 a.m. Such precision implies a commitment to punctuality. Panting towards the pick-up point at 6:15 a.m., and you surely just missed your ride, not even seeing the back of the bus pulling away. Our own point-to-point bus service has emulated this departure precision by being parked at the terminal 15 minutes before time, pulling away on schedule.

Acceptable timeliness in our culture follows certain rules, based on venue, occasions, and habits.

A corporate launch of a new logo may state the time in the invitation as 5:30 p.m. The notation, “registration” is a wink to the cognoscenti that the actual event will take place half an hour later. Thus, the invitee routinely adds at least 30 minutes before showing up.

On the other hand, an office meeting called by the CEO to review the budget, set at 10:30 a.m., is expected to start on time, and woe to the straggler who pops in 30 minutes late with wet hair and a lame excuse about traffic during GCQ. The presenter will not even stop to recognize the latecomer. And if it’s the big boss who is late? Well, small talk fills up the gap. As soon as he walks in, the chatter stops — can we start now?

With this game of “reciprocal expectations,” it is impractical to take the designated time for an event literally. The host provides a time which is expected to be adjusted by the socially aware invitee so that an overly punctual arrival does not cause embarrassment. (Please water the plants, while I take a shower.)

Being too early (or even on the dot) is considered a social lapse of manners.

Even in virtual meetings which have become routine, there are always those who click the link 15 minutes before time — the host will let you in shortly. Why are you so early?

For in-person meetings which are now allowed a bit more after the proper vaccinations, early birds are the bane of event organizers. The commute time is estimated on the high side, even with the lower traffic volume and the opening of new overpasses. Mishaps are thrown into the calculation like the possibility of a flat tire or being in front of three ambulances with sirens blaring. Waiters putting tablecloths on the table in their undershirts give these eager beavers a pitying look — do you want a bread basket, sir?

The early guest is expected to kill time somewhere else. It is a challenge then depending on the venue (a mall is ideal for killing time) to find something to do for at least 30 minutes which may allow a browse through the bookstore without buying a book. No need for a shopping bag, if the shopper will just download the title as an e-book.

It’s fine to be too early for appointments with doctors, dentists, car repair shops, job interviews, and lunches. There are waiting areas to look busy in.

In this political season, announcing availability too early gives the trolls time for “opposition research.” This is an investigative effort to dig up dirt on a subject like fake diplomas, unexplained mansions in the provinces, and previous entanglements of a scandalous nature. This effort is akin to the canonization process where the “devil’s advocate” tries to prove the unworthiness of a possible saint. It can also be conducted by a candidate himself to test his vulnerabilities. Early announcements just give more time for the trolls to get to work.

The incumbent has already demonstrated the advantage of tardiness in filing candidacies, even using substitutes as a way in. Even after being in office, his lateness for appointments can extend to not even showing up for announcements of quarantine status for the next two weeks.

The overly punctual guest is seldom fussed over and dismissed as a favor seeker. Nobody looks for him when he leaves too early… unless he’s supposed to pay the bill.

Tony Samson is Chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda

ar.samson@yahoo.com

China’s ‘iPhone city’ relocates 100,000 after massive floods

July 21, 2021 | 5:25 pm

Residents wade through floodwaters amid heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China July 20. — CHINA DAILY VIA REUTERS

AROUND 100,000 people have been evacuated from the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, as record rainfall caused widespread flooding and economic disruptions to Henan province, home to the world’s biggest production base for iPhones and a major hub for food production and heavy industry.

Pictures published by state media showed large sections of roads submerged in Zhengzhou, a city of 10 million, while videos posted on social media showed passengers stuck inside flooded subway cars with water levels up to their shoulders and residents pulled to safety with ropes from fast moving floodwaters. State news agency Xinhua reported that 12 deaths had been confirmed so far.

The deluge has brought the equivalent of more than eight months’ worth of the city’s average rainfall since Tuesday, and has already interrupted the operations of at least one global company with manufacturing operations there. Nissan Motor Co Ltd. has temporarily halted production in Zhengzhou, according to a spokeswoman for the company. SAIC Motor Corp., China’s biggest automaker, said logistics around its factory in Zhengzhou have been impacted by the floods in the short term, but that the plant hasn’t been damaged.

Meanwhile Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which owns a massive iPhone production plant in Zhengzhou, said that it had activated an emergency response plan for flood control measures but that the flooding has had no direct impact on the facility.

Hon Hai’s plant receives components needed to assemble iPhones from global and domestic Chinese suppliers before shipping out the finished producers. The flooding struck just as the company prepares to ramp up output ahead of the launch of Apple, Inc.’s latest devices toward the end of the year.

The flooding in Henan may also impact China’s food supply. The province is the country’s second-largest food producer, accounts for about a quarter of the wheat harvest and is a major center for frozen food production. Henan is also the home of the world’s biggest pork processor WH Group Ltd., which acquired US meat production giant Smithfield Food, Inc. in 2013.

While China has already harvested its main wheat crop, earlier widespread rains impacted quality from areas including Henan. That is expected to drive up wheat imports by as much as 40% this year to the highest level since the mid-1990s, according to Bric Agriculture Group, a Beijing-based consulting firm. China has increased purchases from the US, Canada and Australia this year.

Other commodities have also been impacted by the flooding in Henan, which is a key hub for coal and metals. Some aluminum production and scrap-metal procurement has been halted or reduced, according to researcher Mysteel, citing its own survey.

On Wednesday, rescue workers and authorities continued to work to prevent dam breaches, restore lost power and pump out submerged gas stations. President Xi Jinping urged officials to step up disaster relief measures, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Inbound flights to Zhengzhou have also been suspended.

Zhengzhou saw 457.5 millimeters (18 inches) of rain fall in the 24 hours through 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the highest since records began for the city of more than 10 million people, Xinhua reported. That included a record 201.9 millimeters in a single hour, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m, a record for mainland China. Zhengzhou typically receives average annual precipitation of about 640.8 millimeters.

The record rainfall came shortly after key Chinese cities warned that homes and factories face new power outages as historic demand and supply shortages strain energy grids. Eleven provinces including eastern manufacturing hubs and landlocked central China reported record demand and peak-load surges last week, amid hot weather. Henan already started banning exports of its coal supply to other areas last week amid concerns over energy supplies due to heavy rain.

Environmental nonprofit Greenpeace warned that the weather events in China fit the global pattern of extreme weather brought on by climate change. In the last few weeks, the US and Canada have experienced unprecedented heatwaves, Europe and India have suffered major floods, wildfires have spread across Siberia and drought has gripped parts of Africa and Brazil.

“Climate change has made extreme weather like heat waves and floods more frequent and more deadly in the past 20 years,” said the group’s East Asia climate and energy campaigner Liu Junyan. Recent events in Henan, along with North America and Europe “are all wake-up calls reminding people of the climate change crisis.” — Bloomberg

J&J shot raises fewer antibodies against Delta variant in study

July 21, 2021 | 5:24 pm

A VIAL of the Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine is seen at Northwell Health’s South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, New York, March 3. — REUTERS

JOHNSON & JOHNSON’s single-dose COVID vaccine produced relatively low levels of antibodies against the Delta variant in a study, raising questions about how well the shot will hold up against the strain that accounts for the vast majority of US cases.

The laboratory study, released on the preprint server bioRxiv, hasn’t been published in a peer-reviewed journal and focuses on one key portion of the immune response, called neutralizing antibodies. New York University (NYU) scientists found that J&J’s vaccine produced roughly five-fold lower levels of the protective antibodies against the delta variant compared to the levels raised against an early coronavirus strain.

The delta variant accounts for 83% of genetically sequenced cases in the US, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday in a Senate hearing. While two-dose messenger RNA vaccines from Pfizer, Inc. and Moderna, Inc. also produced fewer antibodies against the highly transmissible Delta strain, the reduction was less dramatic, the study found.

Compared to two shots of mRNA vaccines, the single-shot J&J vaccine “showed a more pronounced decrease in neutralizing titer against the variants, raising the potential for decreased protection,” the researchers from NYU researchers said in the study.

The study examined only one aspect of protection, J&J said in an email, and didn’t consider long-lasting responses among immune cells stimulated by its vaccine.

“The data do not speak to the full nature of immune protection” from the shot, spokesman Jake Sargent said. J&J’s vaccine has been shown to produce a strong immune response that lasts at least eight months after immunization, he said.

Earlier this month, J&J researchers said their own data indicated that the vaccine neutralizes the Delta variant and booster shots weren’t needed.

Study author Nathaniel Landau of NYU Grossman School of Medicine said the results of his study and J&J’s antibody analysis are not totally different. Both found a decreased level of antibodies, he said in an email.

“We just found a greater degree of decrease,” he said. — Bloomberg

South Korea reports record daily infections as Delta variant drives surge

July 21, 2021 | 5:24 pm

SEOUL — South Korea reported a daily record of 1,784 coronavirus cases for Tuesday, breaking a mark set last week, as the authorities struggled to get on top of a surge in outbreaks linked to the Delta variant.

Transmission rates have been kept relatively low across the country despite no lockdowns thanks in part to aggressive testing and tracing, but the fourth wave of infections is proving particularly hard to contain as the unvaccinated fall victim to the Delta strain.

Genetic analysis of 2,381 infections last week found nearly 40% were the Delta variant, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Tuesday. More than half the total 1,741 Delta variant cases since December were diagnosed last week.

Latest cases do not include at least 266 infections among sailors who were flown to Seoul on Tuesday after a navy destroyer patrolling the waters off Africa was found to be riddled with the coronavirus, Lee Ki-il, deputy minister of health care policy, told a briefing on Wednesday.

The new distancing curbs, introduced about ten days ago, haven’t been effective in containing the virus spread as the summer season has contributed to higher infections in beach vacation spot, said Lee.

The government last week put the capital Seoul and neighboring areas under a semi-lockdown, including a ban on gatherings of more than two people after 6 p.m., as more than 80% of the caseloads were found in the region.

New distancing rules are expected to be announced by Sunday.

Despite the record number of cases, South Korea has seen no significant increase in hospitalizations or deaths, with a mortality rate of 1.13% and the number of severe cases at 214 as of Tuesday.

Of the country’s 52 million people 32% have received at least one vaccine dose, with the government aiming to vaccinate 70% by September.

So far, South Korea has recorded 182,265 cases and 2,060 deaths. — Reuters

Insular Life offers VUL Health Packages for dread disease and hospitalization coverage

July 21, 2021 | 3:34 pm

Healthcare spending in the Philippines could continue to rise as the country battles the pandemic. To ensure that there are funds to help shoulder health-related expenses and augment lost income due to hospitalization, Insular Life (InLife) came up with Variable Unit-Linked (VUL) Health Packages.

InLife’s VUL Health Packages are life insurance products with an investment component that should provide funds in case of sickness and hospitalization.

“Many Filipinos are trying to survive this pandemic. Many have to brave the streets and public transportation to go to work and provide for the family, even if they have yet to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Their immune systems may be compromised. For all of us, as we age and depending on our lifestyle, we become prone to health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, among others. It is important that we prevent these from happening by taking care of our health. But in instances where sickness becomes unavoidable, it is best to be ready. This is what InLife’s Variable Unit-Linked (VUL) health packages are for,” said Gae L. Martinez, InLife’s Chief Marketing Officer said.

InLife’s VUL health packages are composed of two plans: Wealth Secure Health with premiums that start at P30,000 per year, and Wealth Assure Health with premiums that start at P80,000 per year. Both plans are life insurance products with investment component and have the dread disease, and hospitalization riders as supplementary contracts. The dread disease rider provides lump sum cash of up to a maximum of P10 million upon the diagnosis of any of the 59 covered illnesses. Meanwhile, the hospitalization rider gives daily allowance up to a maximum of P2,500 per day to replace lost income during the insured’s hospital stay.

InLife’s VUL health packages cover the insured until age 99 and give death benefits equal to the sum insured plus the fund value. They may be availed of by Filipinos aged 20 to 60 years old. As these are life insurance plans with an investment component, funds may be invested in the following: money market, fixed income, balanced, and equity-laced funds.

For inquiries on InLife’s VUL health packages, please visit http://www.insularlife.com.ph/wshealth, https://www.insularlife.com.ph/wahealth, or email e-mail inquiry@insular.com.ph to get in touch with an InLife Financial Advisor.

Central banks, wealth funds going greener and more activist — survey

July 21, 2021 | 3:11 pm

LONDON — The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is accelerating a shift by central banks and sovereign wealth and public pension funds to greener and more activist investment strategies, one of the largest annual surveys of their behaviors showed.

The Global Public Investor survey by think-tank Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) sampled 102 institutions overseeing a combined $7 trillion this year to track how the pandemic and other long-term trends are affecting them.

The findings of the survey, seen by Reuters ahead of its publication on Wednesday, showed the scale and speed at which environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors were now driving investment decisions.

“There has definitely been an acceleration due to COVID,” OMFIF’s Chief Economist Danae Kyriakopoulou said.

“At the beginning [of the pandemic], we thought there would be a focus on the short-term, the quick boosts to recoveries. But actually there has been this realization that our financial systems are so vulnerable to things outside the financial world.”

As well as a store of wealth for future generations, sovereign wealth funds are often used by countries during periods of upheaval.

For the first time since OMFIF started asking about ESG, the majority in all three categories of global public investors (GPIs) said that they now implement it in some way.

This differed widely between types of institution, with all pension funds implementing ESG criteria, compared with around two-thirds of sovereign funds and just over half of central banks.

Central banks made up around 60% of OMFIF’s survey sample this year and while many don’t invest in equities or infrastructure projects, green bonds remain their most popular ESG option.

Over a third of the banks asked in the survey now hold them, although some also said that liquidity and lack of supply of green bonds, especially in dollars, can be a headache.

TIPPING POINT
The survey also showed a trend for more active ownership, especially among sovereign wealth and public pension funds. Rather than just excluding polluters, many funds are now specifically buying companies or projects that transition to more sustainable practices from dirtier or less responsible ones.

There are still clear gaps though. The survey found that around 60% of GPIs didn’t use ESG benchmarks — a kind of shopping list of assets that they can and can’t own — and only 8% had their own bespoke benchmarks.

An Invesco survey earlier this month found the majority of sovereign funds think financial markets are fully pricing in the long-term implications of climate change.

Nevertheless, Ms. Kyriakopoulou pointed to one day in May when a Dutch court ordered Shell to lower its emissions faster, Exxon Mobil’s shareholders defied management to elect two new climate-conscious board members and Chevron’s shareholders went against its management to back emissions cuts.

“Policy makers and investors should not be surprised by such rulings or decisions. Even though they are radical and mark a ‘tipping point’, it is clear that momentum for change has been building.” — Marc Jones/Reuters

Australia, under lockdown, sees jump in COVID-19 cases

July 21, 2021 | 2:43 pm

SYDNEY — Australia’s two largest states reported sharp increases in new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases on Wednesday, a blow to hopes that lockdown restrictions would be lifted with more than half the country’s population under stay-at-home orders.

New South Wales (NSW) state, home to the country’s most populous city Sydney, logged 110 new cases, up from 78 the day before, nearly four weeks into a lockdown of the city and surrounding areas to contain an outbreak of the virulent Delta variant.

Victoria state clocked 22 new cases, from nine the day before, its biggest increase since the outbreak began this month, as it nears its second week of statewide lockdown.

“Had we not gone into the lockdown a few weeks ago, the 110 number today would undoubtedly have been thousands and thousands,” said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at a televised news conference.

“But we need to work harder and, of course, all of us need to be on guard,” she added.

Health leaders have said their greatest concern is the number of people active in the community before receiving their coronavirus diagnosis, and that the number should be near zero before lifting lockdown.

Ms. Berejiklian said that number jumped to 43 on Wednesday, double the previous day, and that she could not say until the following week whether the city would exit lockdown by a July 30 target.

Overnight, NSW added three regional centres some 250 km (150 miles) from Sydney to the list of areas under lockdown after a pet food delivery driver tested positive there, raising fears of local transmission.

“We know every day who’s going to walk through the door, but even the locals that do come in, they’re buying for like four days, rather than buying for every single day,” said Cameron Cassel, a butcher in Blayney, population 3,000.

Victorian authorities, meanwhile, said 16 of its 22 new cases were in quarantine during their infectious period, while exposure sites for the remaining six were “reasonably low.”

“That is something that should give us all a degree of confidence and hope that this response… is working,” said Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley.

A third state, South Australia, went into its first full day of a weeklong lockdown on Wednesday, and reported one additional case.

‘MORE PFIZER’

A year and a half into the pandemic, some 13 million Australians are under hard lockdown, raising pressure on the federal government which has seen its polling at its lowest in a year due to a sluggish immunization program. Just over 11% of the population is fully vaccinated.

The main vaccine in the government’s arsenal, developed by AstraZeneca Plc, has been recommended for use only for people aged over 60 by the country’s drug regulator due to a remote risk of blood clotting, while a vaccine made by Pfizer Inc has been restricted to over-40s due to limited supply.

“We have done as much as is humanly possible but the issue is we need more vaccines, we need more Pfizer,” said NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard.

The restrictions have also hit some economic indicators which had roared back to pre-pandemic levels after the initial upheaval of early 2020. Retail sales in June dipped 1.8% from a month earlier, according to government figures, nearly four times the drop foreshadowed by economists.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has been criticized for saying last year that the vaccine rollout was “not a race,” went on local radio to defend the program, but acknowledged it was about two months behind plan.

“I understand there is great frustration … but this latest Delta variant has thrown a completely new curveball on this issue, which every single country in the world is wrestling with,” Mr. Morrison told one radio station.

Still, Australia has fared better than many other developed economies in keeping COVID-19 numbers relatively low, with just over 32,100 cases and 915 deaths. — Renju Jose and Byron Kaye/Reuters

Central China’s Henan province swamped after heaviest rain in 1,000 years

July 21, 2021 | 2:42 pm

BEIJING — Large swathes of China’s central Henan province were under water on Wednesday, with at least a dozen people dead in its capital Zhengzhou after the city was drenched by what weather watchers said was the heaviest rain in 1,000 years.

With more rain forecast across Henan for the next three days, the government of Zhengzhou, a city of over 12 million on the banks of the Yellow River, said 12 people were reported to have died in a flooded subway line, while more than 500 were pulled to safety.

Video on social media on Tuesday showed commuters chest-deep in murky floodwaters on a train in the dark and an underground station turned into a large, churning pool.

“The water reached my chest,” a survivor wrote on social media. “I was really scared, but the most terrifying thing was not the water, but the diminishing air supply in the carriage.”

Due to the rain, the authorities halted bus services, as the vehicles are powered by electricity, said a Zhengzhou resident surnamed Guo, who spent the night at his office.

“That’s why many people took the subway, and the tragedy happened,” Guo told Reuters.

From the evening of Saturday until late Tuesday, 617.1 millimeters (mm) of rain fell in Zhengzhou, about 650 km southwest of Beijing. That’s almost on par with Zhengzhou’s annual average of 640.8 mm.

The amount of rainfall in Zhengzhou witnessed over the three days was one seen only “once in a thousand years,” local media cited meteorologists as saying.

‘FLOOD PREVENTION DIFFICULT’
The lives of millions of people in Henan, a province with a population of around 100 million, have been upended in an unusually active rainy season that has led to the rapid rise of a number of rivers in the vast Yellow River basin.

Many train services across Henan, a major logistics hub in central China, have been suspended. Many highways have also been closed and flights delayed or cancelled.

Roads in a dozen cities have been severely flooded.

“Flood prevention efforts have become very difficult,” President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday, addressing the situation in a statement broadcast by state television.

Dozens of reservoirs and dams also breached warning levels.

Local authorities said the rainfall had caused a 20-meter breach in the Yihetan dam in Luoyang city west of Zhengzhou, and that the dam “could collapse at any time.”

In Zhengzhou, the local flood control headquarters said the city’s Guojiazui reservoir had been breached but there was no dam failure yet.

About 100,000 people in the city have been evacuated to safe zones.

SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS CUT OFF
Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn operates a plant on the outskirts of Zhengzhou, next to the city’s airport, that assembles iPhones for Apple. It said there was no direct impact on its facility, but had activated an emergency response plan.

SAIC Motor, China’s largest automaker, said logistics at its Zhengzhou plant would see some short-term impact, while Japan’s Nissan said production at its Zhengzhou factory had been temporarily suspended.

Zhengzhou’s transportation system remained paralysed, with schools and hospitals cut off by waterlogging. Some children have been trapped in their kindergartens since Tuesday.

Residents caught in the flood had taken shelter in libraries, cinemas and even museums.

“We’ve up to 200 people of all ages seeking temporary shelter,” said a staffer surnamed Wang at the Zhengzhou Science and Technology Museum.

“We’ve provided them with instant noodles and hot water. They spent the night in a huge meeting room.”

About 3 km away, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University — the city’s largest with over 7,000 beds — has lost all power, and even backup supplies were down.

The hospital was racing to find transport to relocate about 600 critically ill patients. — Ryan Woo and Stella Qiu/Reuters

Britain to permanently deploy two warships in Asian waters

July 21, 2021 | 2:05 pm

HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH ARRIVES IN GIBRALTAR FOR FIRST OVERSEAS VISIT — Dave Jenkins - InfoGibraltar/CC BY 2.0/Wikimedia Commons

TOKYO — Britain said on Tuesday it would permanently deploy two warships in Asian waters after its Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier and escort ships sail to Japan in September through seas where China is vying for influence with the United States and Japan.

Plans for the high-profile visit by the carrier strike group come as London deepens security ties with Tokyo, which has expressed growing alarm in recent months over China’s territorial ambitions in the region, including Taiwan.

“Following on from the strike group’s inaugural deployment, the United Kingdom will permanently assign two ships in the region from later this year,” Britain’s defense minister, Ben Wallace, said in a joint announcement in Tokyo with his Japanese counterpart, Nobuo Kishi.

After their arrival in Japan, Mr. Kishi said, the Queen Elizabeth and its escort ships would split up for separate port calls to US and Japanese naval bases along the Japanese archipelago.

In a statement on the deployment, a Pentagon spokesperson congratulated Britain for its “commitment to an interconnected network of allies and partners, who mutually cooperate and support freedom of navigation and a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region.”

A close US ally, Japan hosts the biggest concentration of US military forces outside the United States, including ships, aircraft and thousands of Marines.

The British carrier, which is carrying F-35B stealth jets on its maiden voyage, will dock at Yokosuka, the home of Japan’s fleet command and the USS Ronald Reagan, the only forward deployed US aircraft carrier.

The British ships will not have a permanent base, a spokesperson at the British Embassy in Tokyo said when asked which ports the Royal Navy ships would operate from.

The Queen Elizabeth is being escorted by two destroyers, two frigates, two support vessels and ships from the United States and the Netherlands.

It will come to Japan through the South China Sea, parts of which are claimed by China and Southeast Asian countries, with stops in India, Singapore and South Korea.

In a further sign of Britain’s growing regional engagement, Wallace, who traveled to Japan with a delegation of military commanders, said the UK would also eventually deploy a Littoral Response Group, a unit of marines trained to undertake missions including evacuations and anti-terrorism operations. — Reuters

Multisectoral program aims to end PH malnutrition by 2030

July 21, 2021 | 1:23 pm

hunger-poverty-011819 — PHLSTAR FILE PHOTO

Pilipinas Kontra Gutom, an anti-hunger coalition, launched a program that aims to feed children and educate mothers on proper nourishment. Called Kain Tayo Pilipinas, the multisectoral initiative hopes to end child malnutrition by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goals set up by the United Nations.

“Companies and non-government organizations (NGOs) have attempted to feed children, but it’s not sustainable,” said Kristine Alvarez-Go, project lead of Kain Tayo Pilipinas, at the virtual launch. “When they go home, they go home to families that can’t sustain nutrition due to lack of education and resources.”

Educating a mother and teaching her to provide nourishment on a budget, said Ms. Alvarez-Go, automatically reaches at least three children. The initiative will focus on children in the first 1,000 days of their life (and not just schoolchildren as previous feeding programs did).

“A child’s brain is 80% developed by age three. Between age zero to five is the important period where we can make the biggest impact,” she said.

Cabinet Secretary and Task Force Zero Hunger Chairman Karlo Alexei B. Nograles highlighted the importance of ending involuntary hunger and malnutrition in the Philippines once and for all, citing a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that revealed 4.2 million Filipinos went hungry in 2020.

He also emphasized that the multisectoral approach would be best for this initiative, with Pilipinas Kontra Gutom growing to almost 80 member companies from just six in November.

Echoing Mr. Nograles’s call for collaboration, Ms. Alvarez-Go said: “In the past, each private, public, or government agency or foundation would operate in isolation. We each do our own program, mostly feeding, some education, some reaching kids, some reaching mothers too, but the programs we all work on separately have a high chance of duplication.”

By tracking each organization’s programs, she reported that Kain Tayo Pilipinas had identified 49 critical areas across the Philippines, with 22 of them already serviced by member companies. The remaining 27 areas can be moved or allocated to members.

“The essence and beauty of this project is the fact we are all coming together. We have 80 members now but we can always use more,” Ms. Alvarez-Go said. “And we’re not asking you to change your existing program. We are accepting all programs already out there. We just want to make it even stronger.” — Brontë H. Lacsamana

Countries make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory

July 21, 2021 | 12:51 pm

Vaccine-reuters-e1612782756832 — REUTERS

A sharp upturn in new coronavirus infections due to the highly contagious Delta variant and a slowdown in vaccination rates have pushed governments to make coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) jabs mandatory for health workers and other high-risk groups.

A growing number of countries also stipulate that a jab, or a negative test, will be needed for dining out, among others.

Here are some countries’ vaccine mandates:

AUSTRALIA

Australia decided in late June to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for high-risk aged-care workers and employees in quarantine hotels.

It has also made vaccinations obligatory for Paralympic athletes heading to Tokyo because unvaccinated members on the team could pose a health risk.

BRITAIN

It will be mandatory for care home workers in England to have coronavirus vaccinations from October.

English nightclubs and other venues with large crowds will require patrons to present proof of full vaccination from the end of September.

CANADA

Canadian Treasury Board Secretariat said on July 20 it was considering whether COVID-19 vaccines should be required for certain roles and positions in the federal government, according to CBC.

FRANCE

All health workers in France must get COVID-19 jabs and anyone wanting to get into a cinema or board a train will need to show proof of vaccination or a negative test under new rules announced by President Emmanuel Macron on July 12.

The government said on July 19 that the planned 45,000 euro fine for businesses that do not check that clients have a health pass will be much lower, starting at up to 1,500 euros and increasing progressively for repeat offenders. Fines will not be imposed immediately.

GREECE

Greece on July 12 made vaccinations mandatory for nursing home staff with immediate effect and healthcare workers from September. As part of new measures, only vaccinated customers are allowed indoors in bars, cinemas, theatres and other closed spaces.

INDONESIA

Indonesia made COVID-19 inoculations mandatory in February, with capital Jakarta threatening fines of up to 5 million rupiah ($357) for refusing the vaccine.

ITALY

A decree approved by the Italian government in March mandates that health workers, including pharmacists, get vaccinated. Those who refuse could be suspended without pay for the rest of the year.

KAZAKHSTAN

Kazakhstan will introduce mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations or weekly testing for people working in groups of more than 20, the health ministry said on June 23.

POLAND

Poland could make vaccinations obligatory for some people at high risk from COVID-19 from August.

RUSSIA

The Russian capital has unveiled a plan requiring 60% of all service sector workers to be fully vaccinated by Aug. 15, according to the Moscow Times.

Moscow residents no longer have to present a QR code demonstrating they have been vaccinated or have immunity in order to sit inside cafes, restaurants and bars from July 19.

SAUDI ARABIA

In May, Saudi Arabia mandated all public and private sector workers wishing to attend a workplace get vaccinated, without specifying when this would be implemented.

Vaccination will also be required to enter any governmental, private, or educational establishments and to use public transportation as of Aug. 1.

Saudi citizens will need two COVID-19 vaccine doses before they can travel outside the kingdom from Aug. 9, state news agency SPA reported on July 19, citing the ministry of interior.

TURKMENISTAN

Turkmenistan’s healthcare ministry said on July 7 it was making COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for all residents aged 18 and over. — Reuters

Paranaque City taps MultiSys to deliver more online services for Paranaque residents, businesses

July 21, 2021 | 10:10 am

PQ-119 — Paranaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez (left) and MultiSys CEO & Founder David Almirol (right) during the recent Memorandum of Agreement signing and courtesy call at the Paranaque City Hall.

The City of Paranaque has tapped leading software solutions company Multisys Technologies Corporation to give a boost to its online services amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The initiative is in fulfillment of the City Ordinance Number 2020-05 or the Electronic and Online Payment Collection System, which seeks to provide Paranaque residents and businesses cashless, contactless and paperless transactions with the city local government unit (LGU).

Paranaque citizens and enterprises can now settle their business taxes online, at the comfort of their homes or offices, through the Paranaque Business Permits and Licensing System. In the coming months, the payments for Real Property Tax, Local Civil Registry, Community Tax Certificate (CEDULA), Clearances, Health Certificates, and other government pre-requisites will also be available in the system.

Further, the City has also fortified its No Contact Apprehension Site, which will soon include various online payment options for motorists with Notice of Violation (NOV). Motorists only need to type in their plate number or conduction sticker to verify or check for any possible traffic violations. The actual NOV will be delivered and once received, the violator have the option to pay online the said violation fees through the “Multipay” E-payment facility.

Paranaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez said that the LGU is also planning to setup kiosk machines in designated areas at the city hall, various government offices such as barangay halls and private establishments.

Olivarez added that the LGU is undertaking this initiative to make payment transactions safer, more convenient and accessible.

“One of our top priorities this 2021 is to transition citizen and government transactions online, not only because of the imminent dangers out there due to the pandemic, but because we believe that we must adapt to the changing times—to do things efficiently, save money and provide convenience. We hope that our constituents will make use of these technologies that we’re now offering and we’re confident that we will receive their usual support,” Olivarez said.

In the past years, Paranaque’s newest technology partner for this initiative, MultiSys, has shown expertise in advancing the transformation of various cities and municipalities into a Smart City. Its Smart City project is a flagship program launched in 2019 to help LGUs and government agencies provide convenient and efficient online services to everyone. It is set to roll out similar technologies to over 50 LGUs nationwide.