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Fil-Am Jalen Green excited to represent the Philippines in the NBA

Filipino-American player and rookie draft hopeful Jalen Green is excited to represent his Philippine roots in the NBA. (SM NBTC League Facebook page)

Filipino-American Jalen Green is expected to go high in the 2021 National Basketball Association Draft on Friday (Manila time).

It is something that he is excited about as he not only gets to fulfil his dream of playing in the NBA but he also has a chance to represent his Philippine roots and his supporters here in the league.

“I love the Philippines. They show love and support. I’m just happy to get to represent them. I’m happy that I have family out there and I’m tied into the Philippines so I’m excited, and I hope they’re excited,too,” said 19-year-old Green, born to a Filipino mother who traces her roots to Ilocos Sur, in the lead-up to the draft.

One of the top high school players in the United States, Mr. Green decided to play in the NBA G League instead of playing collegiate basketball.

He suited for Ignite in the G League where he made many heads turn with his athleticism and competitiveness.

In 15 games with Ignite, he averaged 17.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists.

Back in 2019, he came to the country and played in the National Basketball Training Center Finals as a member of FilAm Sports.

Pundits have put Mr. Green as a shoo-in top two pick in the draft but not a few are saying he could well go first overall.

For his Ignite coach, Brian Shaw, to see Mr. Green receive much interest from teams is not at all surprising, describing his player as both having the inherent skills set as well an indefatigable work ethic, even likening some of his qualities to that of the late great Kobe Bryant.

“I’ve been around, obviously, Kobe Bryant when he was young, Paul George when he was young and there’s something that those guys have in common. Jalen has that, that mentality, that competitiveness, that will to win regardless of what it is,” said Mr. Shaw, who won NBA titles with Mr. Bryant with the Los Angeles Lakers, on online show Republika Huddle.

“He (Green) did not miss a single day of practice. He didn’t miss any games. I don’t think anybody ever beat him when we would run for conditioning in practice. I don’t think anybody ever beat him in a sprint. And so those kinds of things remind me of, especially Kobe, in terms of competitiveness and that will,” the coach added.

In this year’s NBA Draft, the Detroit Pistons hold the top overall pick.

The Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic, in that order, complete the top five.

Apart from Mr. Green, rookie prospects gaining interest are Cade Cunningham of Oklahoma State, Evan Mobley of University of Southern California, Jalen Suggs of Gonzaga, Scottie Barnes of Florida State and Jonathan Kuminga of Ignite.

The NBA Draft can be seen on NBA TV Philippines and NBA League Pass. The NBA Draft Pre-show and First Round will begin at 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., respectively. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Olympians are people

Olympians are people, too. We think that they’re invincible, that they can touch Heaven over and over, and every time they walk into the arena they have hitherto owned. We touch success through them, and we are so overcome, overwhelmed, by the feeling that we forget they’re not automatons. That they’re at the top isn’t because they can create magic with the flick of a wrist. It’s because they have learned to turn talent into a weapon through long hours of work, days of perseverance, months of focus, years of rote. Nothing is given., and nothing is a given.

It’s ironic that we feel our sports heroes are one with us when they separate themselves from us. They test limits and give us glimpses of what we can achieve. It’s why we cheered when Hidilyn Diaz won gold, because, through her, we believed we won — and were — gold as well. In truth, it’s the opposite. Like us, she’s not perfect. Like us, she will have bad days. And, like us, those bad days make the singular ones all the more memorable.

Why, then, are we hard on our champions? We questioned why Naomi Osaka withdrew in the middle of the French Open and skipped Wimbledon altogether. We cringed when Simone Biles sought to take a break from competition. We shook our heads when Katie Ledecky showed her mortality. We saw their actions as quitting instead of coping, never mind that we ourselves know we need to first survive in order to thrive.

We each of us have our own Everests to climb, our own burdens to carry on our shoulders. We do so for a great many reasons, but mainly because our needs intertwine with our wants. In our exemplars, we find hope, and we feel let down when that hope is seemingly crushed by unforeseen outcomes. It shouldn’t be. After all, Olympians are people, too, and it’s precisely because they are also one of us — and also us — that we should celebrate them all the more.

 

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.

One shining moment: Gold and SONA

It took only one kilo for Hidilyn Diaz to edge out Chinese champion Liao Quiyun to establish a new world weightlifting record of 224 kg in the 55-kg class and win the gold medal. That single feat was enough for the Philippine flag to be hoisted higher than China’s, and the Philippine National Anthem to be played on the podium during the awarding ceremonies — the first time in 97 years since the Philippines participated in the 1924 Paris Olympics.

That one kilo of a difference was executed in a masterful snatch, then clean and jerk.

But that one kilo of a difference was the product of a long and arduous journey before Hidilyn could engage her competitor in one-upmanship. She prepared for years, punctuated by lesser medals in similar competitions, buffeted by a lack of support, and, in the last year and a half, by the pandemic and the matrix claiming she was part of a conspiracy to oust the President.

President Rodrigo Duterte should not be surprised that his six-year term “will be judged solely on his administration’s COVID-19 response and not on the campaign promises he has fulfilled.” His singular failure to arrest the virus demolished almost everything that he attempted to build in order to leave a good legacy and secure his preferred mode of succession.

The President’s campaign promises that he said he fulfilled were basic and no doubt realistic. In his three-hour State of the Nation Address (SONA), the President reiterated that he just made fundamental promises to, one, offer free education; two, provide universal healthcare; three, fight against illegal drugs, criminality and corruption; and four, develop infrastructure.

Yet it seems his promises have not ripened after five years of his six-year term.

For instance, the first two have been legislated but budgetary constraints due to prioritization issues have not allowed these programs to progress to meaningful coverage of the population. The laws on free education and universal health are mere enabling laws. Unless fully supported by the national budget, they cannot cover as many Filipinos as necessary. One challenge is to do a snatch, the other is to clean and jerk a heavier weight.

While the battle lines have been drawn against drugs, criminality and corruption, the war is yet to be won. On drugs, while nearly 22,000 barangays were reported to have been cleared of drugs, we have yet to see the program bringing drug lords to the courts, prosecuted and imprisoned. One suspected drug lord even managed to escape from the Philippines while more than 8,000 people have been killed in the drug war. On criminality, we have yet to clear the air of suspicions that some uniformed personnel were involved in extrajudicial killings. In fact, as the broadsheets reported, a few hours before the SONA, two activists were killed in Albay while spray-painting protest graffiti. On corruption, we have a long way to go in even the big celebrated plunder cases where principals should serve terms rather than just their mere subordinates. The Senate is about to begin investigating charges of corruption against some key government departments and offices.

The SONA extolled the Duterte accomplishments in infrastructure. Duterte increased infra spending to an average of 5% of GDP, higher than the four administrations before it. With this, significant progress has been chalked up. These are quite obvious in public transport, air and seaports, highways and bypasses, and, yes, road widening.

But while Hidilyn cemented her own legacy in the Olympics by actually setting a new world record, the Duterte administration appeared to have failed to clear the hurdle.

For at the time of the SONA, the Delta variant was threatening to ravage the country, especially Metro Manila and surrounding cities and provinces. The OCTA Research Group subsequently recommended that the Government consider implementing a hard lockdown “to stop the surge of new COVID-19 cases driven by the more infectious Delta variant.” This is a circuit-breaking initiative in order to prevent a recurrence of the on-off enhanced community quarantine last year that actually destroyed the economy.

At least today, the business community is more supportive of the call for a short lockdown rather than risk longer, persistent quarantines.

One thing cannot be denied. The economic scars are just too plenty and they must still hurt. What the Duterte administration painfully built in the last four years were, for the most part, eroded by the coronavirus in 2020.

For example, real GDP in 2020 declined by 9.6% to P17.5 trillion from P19.4 trillion in 2019. In the first quarter 2021, output growth further dropped by 4.2%. Real GDP in 2020 translated into $333 billion, nearly back to the 2017 level of $326 billion.

Factoring income from abroad, our real gross national income (GNI) actually showed a bigger drop of 11.4%, from P21.3 trillion to only P18.9 trillion, or from $405 billion to $358 billion.

This means our per capita GNI decreased from $3,864 to $3,579. With the new World Bank country classification by income level starting 2020-2021, we are farther away from the Government’s goal of joining the upper-middle income group. We were a breath away from the old classification of $3,996-$12,375 two years ago. Today, at $3,579, we are miles away from the new classification of $4,046-$12,535.

In contrast, Indonesia moved from lower-middle income to upper-middle income with a per capita GNI of $4,050. Even Nepal came out from low-income category to our lower-middle income group with its per capita GNI of $1,090.

The economic scars have social dimensions, too. Unemployment in 2020 was double the level in 2019. While joblessness appears to be stabilizing at lower levels, millions continue to remain without jobs, more are underemployed.

With supply constraints due to the lockdown, even domestic prices surged and actual inflation in 2021 had breached the government target of 2-4 %.

There are also heavy fiscal and credit costs.

With revenues down in an economic recession, the Government increased its borrowings to finance the cost of pandemic mitigation and safeguard growth and jobs. As a result, total outstanding debt rose from P7.7 trillion at end-2019 to P11.1 trillion at end-May 2021, bringing the debt to GDP ratio from 39.6% to 60.4%. What adds fuel to the fire is the reported billions of pesos under previous Bayanihan allocations which remain unspent, obligated but not yet released by the implementing agencies.

The President should realize that these macroeconomic and fiscal consequences of COVID-19 are monitored by international financial institutions and credit rating agencies. For the Fund, its growth forecasts for the advanced and emerging markets differed according to the degree of their struggle with the coronavirus. Rich countries’ access to vaccines and fiscal support earned for them some upgrades while the handicaps of small emerging markets underlie their downgrades. The same narrative applies to the credit rating process. Fitch has already downgraded our outlook from stable to negative.

Of course, we can always choose to be indifferent to what these institutions have to say, but we rely on external borrowings for additional funds. If their assessment is negative, interest rates could climb a few basis points higher which could have a serious impact on balance sheets.

Hidilyn spent years preparing for the Tokyo Olympics. She “appeared weak” even if she was strong, a Sun Tzu strategy. At the end, she was triumphant with the gold and everything else she was entitled to.

The SONA did not even glitter as gold because it fell short of providing us with markers on how to proceed in our journey over the last 11 months of the Duterte administration. The direction provided us is a chimera, something good at the beginning of a journey because we have all the time to work hard for it.

 

Diwa C. Guinigundo is the former Deputy Governor for the Monetary and Economics Sector, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). He served the BSP for 41 years. In 2001-2003, he was Alternate Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC. He is the senior pastor of the Fullness of Christ International Ministries in Mandaluyong.

‘Modernizing’ repression

FREEPIK

The Washington DC, USA-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) is concerned over the sale to the Duterte regime of $2.5 billion worth of US fighter jets and precision guided missiles.

In an op-ed piece published in The Washington Post, HRW’s Washington Advocacy Officer Elisa Epstein warned that the Biden administration would be “reward(ing) an increasingly abusive government with such a large weapons sale.”

Epstein pointed out that the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) had only recently asked for approval to begin an investigation into possible crimes against humanity committed in connection with the thousands of extrajudicial killings in President Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs.” The weapons sale would be contrary to US President Joseph Biden’s pledge “that the new administration would put human rights at the center of US foreign policy.”

The Biden administration, Epstein recalled, had earlier approved the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of weapons to Egypt and Israel, despite those countries’ human rights record.

“To put it bluntly,” she continued, “the Biden administration is selling weapons to at least three human rights abusers — the Philippines, Egypt, and Israel — despite a pledge to make human rights central to its foreign policy.”

It is not only the Biden administration that has pledged to do so. The 39th US President, “Jimmy” Carter, also made the same pledge, and other presidents also implied in their criticism of other countries that they were of the same mind. But the US has continued to support through such sales, military and economic aid, and other means the rule of some of the worst human rights abusers in Asia and Latin America.

The key factor in US support for such governments has always been whether they serve its economic and strategic interests, as summed up in the policy of “full spectrum dominance” that, cloaked in its supposed mission to bring democracy and freedom to benighted lands, drives the foreign relations of every US administration.

HRW shouldn’t have been surprised about the sale of weapons to the Philippines. It is, after all, only one more indication of what motivates US foreign policy, the practice of which has had a long and troubling history in this country.

During a visit to the Philippines in 1966, then US President Lyndon B. Johnson for example referred to Ferdinand Marcos as “my right arm in Asia.”

No one knows what Marcos thought of his being so cavalierly described as another head of state’s instrument because he never said anything about it — at least not in public.

But his resentment, if he did resent it, was presumably assuaged by the joint communiqué between him and Johnson that they issued at the end of the US President’s visit. Among others, that document committed the US to providing funding for the allowances, equipment, and other needs of the engineering battalion that Marcos eventually deployed in Vietnam to support the then US effort to make it appear that the war it was waging there had the support of the international community.

There was also the promise of additional economic aid to the Philippines. Pressed to reveal what exactly was motivating him to send troops to Vietnam, which he had earlier opposed, Marcos demurred, and some opposition congressmen and senators warned that the US bonanza could end up as pork barrel funds. They were of course right: Marcos had yielded to US pressure because it was also to his and his allies’, cronies’ and cohorts’ advantage as well as that of the US’.

Marcos had not yet placed the Philippines under martial law during the 1966 Johnson visit. But his having done so six years later in 1972 did not prevent George H.W. Bush (later US President and the father of George W., who himself became President from 2001 to 2009) from proclaiming in 1981 that he and the US, then led by Ronald Reagan as President, and of which he was Vice-President, “love (Marcos’) adherence to democratic principles and democratic processes,” and following that up with the pledge that “we will not leave you in isolation.”

What not leaving him “in isolation” meant the Marcos regime had been amply demonstrating since Sept. 23, 1972 when his Presidential Proclamation 1081 went into effect. Not only were the troops that arrested and detained journalists, his opposition, student, labor and farmer leaders, academics, artists and writers and other dissenters; or who abducted, tortured and summarily killed others — brandishing US-manufactured weaponry. The blankets, food trays, and drinking cups issued to political detainees during their incarceration were also all stamped “made in USA” and were part of the US military aid that the Marcos regime was using to keep itself in power.

Some analysts may argue that in selling advanced weaponry to the Duterte regime, Biden and his defense and security advisers are looking at it as a means of enabling the Philippine military to resist with some credibility Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea. It is also their response to Mr. Duterte’s declaration that for the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) to continue, the US “will have to pay.” Despite the reality of despotic rule, and the US’ interest in “containing” Chinese military and economic ambitions, it would still be to the Philippines’ advantage to “modernize” the military as possession of advanced weaponry would do.

Unfortunately, those weapons would also “modernize” repression. The defense of Philippine interests and sovereignty against foreign incursions in its territorial waters has not been Mr. Duterte’s preferred role for the military. Rather, that role been explicitly and loudly limited to the suppression of dissent. Thus did the Commander-in-Chief only recently reiterate his instructions to “his” soldiers to kill alleged members and sympathizers of the New People’s Army (NPA), which he and the military very loosely define as activists and anyone else who dares criticize the regime.

The Philippine military has never been an instrument against external aggression, as its failure to prevent the country’s falling into Japanese hands during World War II showed and as it is currently demonstrating in the West Philippine Sea. Seventy-five years after 1946, the Philippines is still relying on the US to defend it, because, like the guardia civil of the Spanish colonial period, the military has always been an internal pacification force charged with the very same task of silencing social protest that the Duterte regime has assigned to it.

Indeed, as HRW and other human rights groups fear, the likelihood is that the sophisticated weaponry the US will be supplying it with will be used against those Filipinos the Duterte regime has labeled “enemies of the State” and to bomb with the use of US-sourced aircraft supposedly NPA-influenced communities as it is already doing.

Despite its human rights prattle, that hardly matters to the US government. Regardless of which party is in control of it, whether Republican or Democrat, the bottom line is if, in its calculation, arms sales and aid to “increasingly abusive government(s)” will contribute to the advancement and protection of US interests.

The Duterte regime’s policies over the last five years should be proof enough that the Biden administration is mistaken in assuming that selling it arms will be to the US’ benefit. It will not only be at the cost of its own interests, and also those of the Filipino people’s. And that will be even more evident if Mr. Duterte and company succeed in keeping themselves in power for another six years beyond 2022.

 

Luis V. Teodoro is on Facebook and Twitter (@luisteodoro).

www.luisteodoro.com

The Bravo Awards for Women

“The Eight Bravo Awards recognize incredible women who have excelled in their different professions yet share a common thread of going beyond their comfort zones and reaching out to the less fortunate — the least, lost, and last. It is their generosity of spirit that is inspiring. They are beacons of light amidst the darkness,” remarked Ada Ledesma Mabilangan, chair of the Bravo Awards Committee.

The Bravo Award was inspired by Remedios Palanca Bantug of Victorias, Negros. The dynamic, low-key woman of substance was “the epitome of someone who did whatever is good for the community without thinking of being recognized,” recalled Armita Bantug Rufino, Zonta Club of Makati and Environs (ZCME), past Area 5 Director and two-time past president.

“My Mom helped the Church, the marginalized, the nuns, the women, and, most especially, the elderly. Reaching towards her twilight years, she was recognized by the Soroptimists. In 2015, this was the concept when I approached Security Bank and discussed it with Belen C. Lim, then EVP for Communications …. She liked the idea about recognizing the ‘Unsung Heroes.’ No other organization has done it for women.”

At the first virtual presentation, Security Bank President and CEO Sanjiv Vohra gave the welcome remarks.

Vivian Uy, ZCME president, said, “In 2015, Security Bank partnered Zonta Makati and Environs to create the Eight Bravo Awards in support of their shared advocacy to empower women who help build a better society through their individual achievements and personal advocacies. The award honors change makers, achievers and advocates of social change nationwide.”

Bravo Awards Committee Chair Ms. Mabilangan cited our new hero who won the first Olympic gold medal for our country.

“Hidilyn Diaz, you exemplify the best in a Filipino woman and epitomize what a Bravo awardee stands for. Thank you for making all of us proud to be Filipinos.” She was the special Bravo Awardee for 2021.

Past Bravo special awardees are:

Dr. Lourdes Reyes-Montinola, Far Eastern University (FEU) chair emeritus who received the Lifetime Achievement Award (2017). She reestablished FEU as a prominent educational institution with beautiful architecture and an extensive art collection. She was the author of the award-winning book Piña which gave global attention to the cultural significance to the pineapple plant and helped revive the piña fabric industry.

Jessie C. Lichauco, Special Bravo Woman Awardee (2019), was an inspiring 107-year-old Cuban-born Filipino American recognized for her charitable works and service to the Filipino community. During World War II, she opened her home to internally displaced persons and war refugees. She transformed it into a makeshift hospital that served 2,000 people.

The distinguished Board of Judges for this year are: Victoria Chingtoco-Yu, president of Samahang Babaepreneur, Inc. and Chairperson of Farm to Market Agriculture Cooperative; Tanya Ansaldo-Deaken, Security Bank VP and Head of Corporate Communications; Dr. Patricia B. Licuanan, past president of Miriam College and past Chair of the Commission on Higher Education; Mary Jane Ortega, Special Advisor to CityNet, an association of cities and Stakeholders in Asia Pacific based in Seoul where she served as Secretary General 2009-2013, and former Mayor of San Fernando, La Union; and retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Consuelo Yñares-Santiago, Gawad Parangal sa Larangan ng Serbisyo Publiko awardee, and Trustee of National Sandigan Foundation of the Philippines. The Chair of the Board of Judges was Ambassador Delia Albert, the first woman Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and former Philippine ambassador to Switzerland, Germany, Romania, and Australia. She was conferred the Order of Sikatuna rank of Datu, Knights Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany among others.

Here is an excerpt from her speech: “A wise 99-year-old woman once remarked that ‘Butterflies are like women. We may look pretty and delicate, but wow, we can fly through a storm.’ We award women who have flown through many storms to get here as winners of the BRAVO awards…. It is their dedication and passion in their advocacies in serving the community as well as their resilience and strength of spirit that the BRAVO award considered most in its serious and extensive search nationwide. They are truly selfless, hard-working … catalysts for change.”

The awardees for 2021 are:

Arts, Culture and Heritage. Carol Rodriguez —humanitarian, a cultural worker who specializes in communication for development. A pioneer of contemporary indigenous chanting, setting the standards for vocals and chants for world music in the Philippines. She has worked in disaster-stricken communities in Bangsamoro Autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and Eastern Samar. She formed the Marig-On Theater Group (2014) in Eastern Samar for young people most affected by Typhoon Yolanda.

Business. Yvette Punzalan — a social entrepreneur, owner of Yvette’s Bags and Beads Collection. He has been designing and producing washable, recyclable bags using crochet since 2007. She has worked with women prisoners from Davao and has provided livelihood to women in her community. She partners with indigenous people from the Bagobo Tagabawa, Tagakaulo, Matigsalog, and Kiblawan tribes.

Culinary. Regina Aspiras — a chef who helps the less fortunate. She spearheaded the Magic Kaldero, a feeding program for children and families affected by flash floods and typhoons. During Typhoon Yolanda, she formed a food emergency response team “Kusination” to feed the evacuees brought to Manila. With the World Wildlife Fund, she has raised funds for environmental warriors whose livelihood was affected by the pandemic.

Education. Dr. Emily Arangote — the first woman president of Aklan State University, former chair of the Teacher Education Department. She supports the Commission on Higher Education in boosting global competency of Filipino graduates.

Media and Public Affairs. Michelle Ong — veteran business anchor for ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC), she organized fundraising for personal protective equipment for frontliners and joined a COVID-19 testing facility that employs part-time medical workers who lost their jobs or had pay cuts during the pandemic.

Science and Technology. Dr. Pauline Convocar —emergency medicine clinician whose expertise includes community healthcare, administration and management, health promotion and education, and inter-facility critical care transports.

Social Service. Dr. Angelita Sievert Fernandez —psychologist, child life program manager at Kythe Foundation, specialist in Counseling and Developmental Psychology who serves children from the low-income sector. Her advocacy is empowered parenting.

Sports. Meri Ann Geli Bulaong — professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, first female champion of the URCC, the first and only professional MMA competition in the Philippines. She has broken the stereotype by excelling in a sport dominated by men. She is a crusader for transforming the lives of women who were victims of abuse.

The Bravo awardees receive a trophy and a grant (P50,000) from Security Bank for their special advocacies.

During the intermission, She is Water, a dance film choreographed, directed, and edited by Tiffany Mangulabnan and performed by Tessa R. Tordesillas was shown.

The hosts for the program were Joanne Zapanta Andrada and Maritoni Rufino Tordesillas.

Warm congratulations to all!

 

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

mavrufino@gmail.com

Delta’s spread is testing ‘COVID Zero’ defenses

REUTERS

THE RISE of the highly-contagious Delta variant is challenging even the most aggressive COVID-19 containment regimes, an ominous sign as economies look to open up and return to pre-pandemic life.

An outbreak that started at an airport in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing is testing that country’s zero-tolerance measures, which are some of the most sweeping and comprehensive in the world. New infections are rising by the dozens and seeding subsequent clusters around China despite well-honed systems of mass testing and stringent quarantines. Beijing reported its first locally transmitted infection in six months Thursday, linked to an outbreak in the southern province of Hunan among people who’d recently been to Nanjing.

The variant is scaling some of the toughest virus defenses, with “COVID Zero” places — countries that had snuffed out the virus within their borders — still seeing outbreaks despite strict anti-virus measures.

Among the hardest hit is Australia, where delta is slipping through the mandatory hotel quarantine system far more easily than past strains and taking advantage of a low community vaccination rate. A delta-fueled outbreak even forced Sydney, despite its efficient contact tracing and testing apparatus, into weeks of lockdown, with cases climbing to nearly 3,000 since mid-June.

In China, the first infections were among nine airport cleaners. The cluster quickly expanded to their close contacts, then to a handful of other locations, leading to nearly 200 confirmed Covid cases as of Thursday. It’s one of China’s biggest outbreaks since a wave concentrated in the country’s northeast saw more than 2,000 infections last winter.

Officials have confirmed that the new outbreak is caused by the Delta strain, which has been driving a resurgence in infections across the world.

The variant, which first emerged in India and is more transmittable than other strains, is exposing the limitations of the strategy of virus elimination, which is also favored by New Zealand and Singapore. Taiwan, which went months without any infections at all last year, recently backed away from Covid Zero, saying it was no longer targeting nil cases but transitioning toward a strategy of living with the virus.

AIRPORT WORKERS
Many of the people infected in China, including the Nanjing airport workers, had been fully vaccinated — and only four have developed severe cases of the disease — according to official data. The numbers signal that the immunity generated by China’s vaccines while enough to ward off critical illness and death, is still insufficient to prevent the spread of the variants.

Nanjing is ramping up COVID measures as the outbreak added 18 more cases on Thursday. All residential compounds have been placed under lockdown, and the city is starting a third round of virus testing for its more than 9 million people. The airport has canceled most flights and its staff have been placed under restrictions.

The infected Beijing resident is likely connected to a cluster at an outdoor theater performance in Hunan, where the audience included infected people who had traveled to Nanjing. It’s the first local infection recorded in tightly-guarded Beijing since the start of the year, when an outbreak in nearby Hebei province led to sporadic cases in the Chinese capital.

The cluster has placed every one of the roughly 3,000 theater-goers in Hunan at risk of infection, local authorities said, indicating that the number could grow.

BOOSTER SHOTS
The Chinese vaccines’ efficacy in preventing symptomatic Covid has ranged between 50 to 80% in studies, lower than the more than 90% effectiveness for the potent mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer, Inc. and its German partner BioNTech SE, as well as Moderna, Inc.

Countries including Thailand and United Arab Emirates that initially relied on Chinese vaccines have decided to offer booster shots to some fully-vaccinated people to provide better protection against the delta strain. Globally, the variant has already forced the US to institute new mask mandates, delayed a reopening in Singapore and put other Australian cities under lockdown.

Despite its largely closed borders, China has also seen more frequent virus flareups since the beginning of this year as variants from other hotspots around the world get in, often through workers in high-risk areas such as airports and cargo centers.

The outbreaks, while minimal compared to clusters in parts of the US and Southeast Asia, are putting pressure on officials to rethink the vaccination campaign to possibly include booster shots. China’s inoculation drive — the fastest in the world — is just a month away from covering 75% of the country’s 1.4 billion people with two doses.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. — whose inactivated virus vaccine has formed the backbone of China’s inoculation campaign, and rollouts in many parts of the developing world — said Wednesday that a third dose of its shot increases antibody levels by three to five times, building a stronger case to give booster shots to workers in China at greater risk of contracting the virus.

Bloomberg also reported in April that China was expected to approve the mRNA vaccine developed by BioNTech. The shot could be used as a booster for people fully vaccinated with Chinese vaccines. — Bloomberg

Japan’s COVID-19 adviser urges clear risk message as cases surge in Olympic host

REUTERS
PEOPLE are seen in a reflection as they enjoy the view at Shibuya Sky observation deck ahead of the official opening of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in Tokyo, Japan, July 21. — REUTERS

TOKYO — Japan faces its most serious situation since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the country’s top medical adviser warned on Thursday, urging the government to send a “clearer, stronger message” about growing risks, including to the medical system.

Olympic host city Tokyo recorded 3,177 new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases on Wednesday, hitting a daily record high for a second straight day as a spike in infections puts pressure on hospitals. Nationwide new cases topped 9,500 for the first time, media reported.

“The biggest crisis is that society does not share a sense of risk,” top medical adviser Shigeru Omi told a parliamentary panel. “The numbers (for Tokyo) surpassed 3,000 and this may have some announcement effect. Without missing this chance, I want the government to send a stronger, clearer message.”

The spike in infections adds to worries about the Games, which are taking place under unprecedented conditions including a ban on spectators in most venues.

The surge also spells trouble for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, whose support ratings are at their lowest since he took office last September, ahead of a ruling party leadership race and a general election this year.

Mr. Omi said vaccinations would help contain the virus, but many more factors threatened to cause further rises in infections including the prevalence of the highly transmissible Delta variant, weariness of restrictions, and the Olympics.

Only 26.5% of residents of Japan are fully vaccinated and the rollout has hit supply snags recently.

Many Japanese have worried the influx of athletes and officials for the Games will add to the surge, while experts have warned that holding the high-profile sports event sends a confusing message about the need to stay home.

Olympic athletes, staff and media must follow strict rules including frequent testing to prevent any spread of the virus from inside an “Olympic bubble”.

Organizers on Thursday announced 24 new Games-related COVID-19 cases including three athletes, bringing the total to 193 since July 1.

Tokyo is under its fourth state of emergency set to run through the Olympics, but the mostly voluntary measures have proven less effective than in the past. — Reuters

Thailand risks first double-dip recession since 1998 crisis

REUTERS

THAILAND will likely be the worst economic performer in Southeast Asia this year, with economists continuing to slash the country’s growth forecast amid surging COVID-19 infections, mounting political tensions and fading hopes for a tourism revival.

Gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow 1.8% this year, according to the latest weighted average of 36 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. That’s particularly weak considering it’s a comparison to last year, when the Thai economy contracted 6.1%, the most in more than two decades.

In the latest sign of pessimism, the Ministry of Finance on Thursday cut its 2021 GDP growth forecast to 1.3% from 2.3% in April. With new COVID infections and deaths continually breaking records since the latest surge began in April, some economists are flagging the possibility of a technical recession in the second half of the year — or even a second straight annual contraction, something the country hasn’t suffered since the Asian Financial Crisis more than two decades ago.

“We see Thailand as a laggard in the region, penciling in the lowest GDP growth forecasts in Asean for both 2021 and 2022,” said Charnon Boonnuch, an economist at Nomura Holdings, Inc. in Singapore. “Our forecast implies economic output will not return to pre-Covid levels before the third quarter of 2022, the slowest in Asean, partly reflecting the high dependence on foreign tourists.”

Bangkok and 12 other provinces, which account for more than half of Thailand’s economy, have been under lockdown and curfew since last week as the delta variant threatens to overwhelm the country’s public health system. The Bank of Thailand has said the outbreak could shave as much as two percentage points off GDP this year if current measures fail to quell it and the pandemic endures for the rest of the year.

The Thai baht has weakened 8.9% year to date, the worst performer among Asian currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The local currency was little changed at 32.871 to the dollar as of 11:25 a.m. local time, after the finance ministry released its economic outlooks, including forecasting the baht to average 31.48 per dollar this year

Thailand reported 17,669 new infections and 165 deaths on Thursday, both are highest single-day increase since the pandemic began. The nation’s cumulative cases jumped to 561,030, of which 95% have come since the latest wave began in April, official data show. The Health Ministry says the current wave should begin easing by October.

Thailand has administered about 16 million vaccine doses, enough to cover about 11% of the population, according to the Bloomberg Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker. The central bank, which previously expected herd immunity to be achieved in the first half of next year, now says that milestone won’t be reached until after 2022.

WORST WAVE
“There’s now increasing chatter that the Thai economy will contract again this year,” said Maria Lapiz, managing director of Maybank Kim Eng Securities Thailand. “There’s no reason for optimism.”

The economic and health crises coincide with a rise in political unrest. The pro-democracy movement has returned to the streets in Bangkok after a six-month lull, with near-daily gatherings organized by different groups since June 24.

“We are in a severe crisis and our health system is on the brink of collapse,” said Burin Adulwattana, chief economist at Bangkok Bank Pcl. “The compensation program is inadequate. More and more people are losing faith with the government, which led some of them to take to the streets. This can undermine the government’s stability and further damage confidence.”

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha aims to allow more foreign arrivals from October, but infections are already rising in Phuket, a resort island that began a quarantine-free program for vaccinated tourists in July. That could threaten the goal of rescuing the tourism industry, which contributed one-fifth of Thailand’s economy before the pandemic and employed about 20% of its workforce.

The government planned a 1 trillion baht ($30.4 billion) borrowing program last year to combat the pandemic and added another 500 billion baht this year amid the recent wave of infections. The Cabinet approved a further budget of as much as 30 billion baht in mid-July to compensate businesses and workers affected by the latest restrictions.

The economy’s two remaining engines — government spending and exports — also face uncertainties. June exports rose 43.8% from the same period last year, the fastest pace in 11 years, in line with recovering global demand. Yet this growth driver may also be at risk if vaccination remains slow, an industry group warned.

“It’s hard to hang on to the hope that the country will re-open in October,” Maybank’s Lapiz said, “or whether this re-opening — if it does happen — will make a big difference.” — Bloomberg

Australia’s Sydney posts record daily rise in COVID-19 cases, seeks military help

SYDNEY, July 29 (Reuters) – Australia’s biggest city Sydney posted a record one-day rise in local COVID-19 cases on Thursday and warned the outbreak would get worse, as authorities sought military help to enforce a lockdown of 6 million people poised to enter its sixth week.

Australia has struggled to contain an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant in and around Sydney in recent weeks, which threatens to push the country’s A$2 trillion ($1.5 trillion) economy into its second recession in as many years.

Despite an extended lockdown of Sydney, the state capital, New South Wales recorded 239 locally acquired cases in the past 24 hours, the biggest daily rise since the pandemic begun.

“We can only assume that things are likely to get worse before they get better given the quantity of people infectious in the community,” New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

Ms. Berejiklian said one more person had died from COVID-19, taking the death toll from the current outbreak to 13 and the overall national total to 921.

With little sign that recent restrictions are reducing case numbers, Ms. Berejiklian said new curbs would be imposed on the southwestern and western areas of Sydney where the majority of COVID-19 cases are being found.

More than two million residents in eight Sydney hotspots will now be forced to wear masks outdoors and must stay within 5 km (3 miles) of their homes.

With even tighter restrictions set to begin on Friday, New South Wales Police said it had asked for 300 military personnel to help enforce lockdown orders.

“With an increase in enforcement activity over the coming week, I have now made a formal request to the prime minister for (Australian Defence Force) personnel to assist with that operation,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said in an emailed statement.

It was not clear what the military personnel would be doing if deployed, but neighbouring Victoria state used a similar number of troops to assist with running testing centres and checking to see whether people under strict stay at home orders were abiding by the requests.

Representatives for Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Defence Peter Dutton did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ms. Berejiklian on Wednesday extended the Sydney lockdown by another month, but allowed the majority of construction projects to resume as long as workers do not come into contact with residents.

The restrictions are likely to take a heavy economic toll, with New South Wales accounting for more than a third of Australia’s economy.

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said he expected the national economy to shrink in the September quarter but the ability to avoid a technical recession would depend on whether New South Wales can avoid a longer lockdown.

“With respect to the December quarter, that does depend to a large extent how successful New South Wales, our largest state economy, is in getting on top of this virus,” Frydenberg told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Ms. Berejiklian has said restrictions need to remain as too few people in Sydney are vaccinated amid tight supplies of Pfizer vaccines, which Canberra had hoped to inoculate everyone under 60 years old.

All adults in Sydney have now been urged to seek an AstraZeneca vaccine. But citing rare blood clots, many are reluctant and would prefer to wait several months when Australia is expected to receive additional Pfizer supplies.

Only about 17% of people above 16 years fully vaccinated in New South Wales.

More than 2,800 cases have been detected so far, with 182 people hospitalised. Fifty-four are in intensive care, 22 of whom require ventilation. Two new deaths were recorded, taking the total number of deaths in the latest outbreak to 13.

The outbreak in Sydney leaves many with little to do but watch the Olympics, and Australian athletes said they hoped they could provide a little bit of joy with their performances.

“Just extremely grateful and happy that we maybe sparked some joy in some people’s living rooms or something for people to celebrate in the time of lockdown,” Spencer Turrin, Australian Rower and Gold Medallist in the Men’s Four at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics told reporters in Tokyo. – Reuters

Pentagon chief in Vietnam to advance ties but rights concerns linger

HANOI – U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sought on Thursday to nudge forward security ties with Vietnam that have been slowly deepening as both countries watch China’s activities in the South China Sea with growing alarm.

Despite closer military relations, more than four decades after the Vietnam War ended in 1975, President Joe Biden’s administration has said there are limits to the relationship until Hanoi makes progress on human rights.

Vietnam has emerged as the most vocal opponent of China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and has received U.S. military hardware, including coastguard cutters.

Before a meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart in Hanoi, Mr. Austin said the United States did not ask Vietnam to choose between countries.

“One of our central goals is ensuring that our allies and partners have the freedom and the space to chart their own futures,” Mr. Austin said.

He did not mention China but there is a perception in Asia that China is making countries chose between it and the United States, as tension rises between those two big powers.

On Wednesday, a U.S. Navy warship carried out a transit through the Taiwan Strait. While such operations are routine, they usually anger Beijing.

“(Vietnam) wants to know that the U.S. is going to remain engaged militarily, it’s going to continue its presence in the South China Sea,” said Greg Poling, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The two sides signed a “memorandum of understanding” for Harvard and Texas Tech University to create a database that would help Vietnamese search for those missing from the war.

 

LIMITS

On Sunday, the United States shipped 3 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam, raising the amount given by the United States, via the global COVAX vaccine scheme, to 5 million doses.

Poling said there was a limit to how fast and far the Vietnamese were comfortable with deepening ties.

Experts say there are lingering concerns in Vietnam about Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrawing from the Trans Pacific Partnership trade pact in 2017.

There are also limits to how far the United States is willing to deepen relations before Vietnam improves its human rights record.

Vietnam has undergone sweeping economic reforms and social change in recent decades, but the ruling Communist Party retains a tight grip over media and tolerates little dissent.

In Singapore on Tuesday, Mr. Austin said the United States would always lead with its values.

“We will discuss those values with our friends and allies everywhere we go and we don’t make any bones about that,” Mr. Austin said.

This month, Marc Knapper, Biden’s nominee to be the next U.S. ambassador to Vietnam vowed to boost security ties but said they could only reach their full potential if Hanoi made significant progress on human rights.

In a meeting with Mr. Austin on Thursday morning, Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc said he was looking forward to an upcoming visit to Vietnam by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris could travel to Vietnam and Singapore in August, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday. – Reuters

Say goodbye to falling in line as GCash expands to 600 billers nationwide

The time to be rushing to fall in line and waiting to be able to pay your bill is now behind us. GCash, the country’s leading mobile wallet, has made it possible for its users to easily pay online in just a few taps through their mobile devices.

Even better, GCash has now expanded its network to more than 600 partner billers nationwide, giving users easy access to more utilities, government, loan payments, insurance, real estate, and even school payment transactions. The e-wallet leader shared that it continues to establish partnerships and expand its network to deliver convenience to its users while supporting MSMEs and companies in their businesses during these challenging times.

“With the expansion of our biller network, we are enabling more Filipinos to have access to convenient financial services such as paying for their essentials, utilities, credit cards, insurance telecoms, transportation, and a lot more. Our goal is to continuously add to the pool of billers, and be able to cover more needs of our users,” said Martha Sazon, GCash President and Chief Executive Officer.

Currently, GCash is in partnership with a number of key billers that many Filipinos are availing of their services such as Meralco, Meralco Kuryente Load, Maynilad, and Manila Water. GCash also covers electronic payments for telecommunications billers, such as Globe Postpaid, and government billers namely Pag-IBIG, BIR, NBI and SSS-PRN.

With the growing demand, the app has now added to their list of billers for different categories. For loans specifically, GCash includes AppendPay, Billease, Unionbank Quickloans, City Savings Bank, and Malayan Bank. Paying for insurance is also hassle-free with these billers: Singlife, Generali and Standard Insurance. The biller network also includes schools, such as International School Manila, STI Education Services Group, Inc, Manuel L. Quezon University and PHINMA University. While for real estate, SMDC is now part of the roster of billers — not missing to grab any opportunity to tap partners that are beneficial for the needs of GCash users.

More than just billers in the greater metro, GCash has also expanded with new regional billers in its network. For utilities, these include TEI, TARELCO1, Calbayog Water, South Luzon Water, Calumpit Water, Metro Cotabato Water, Bicol One Broadband Services, SAMELCO, Metro Iloilo Water, Metro Roxas Water District. The app also tapped several education sectors, namely Bataan State University, Bulacan State University, Malayan Colleges Mindanao, University of Mindanao, and Unibersidad de Zamboanga. Cooperatives in the regions are easily accessible on GCash too with Benguet Cooperative, Sorosoro Ibaba Development Cooperative, Holy Cross Savings and Credit Cooperative, San Jose Del Monte Savings and Credit Cooperative, CEBU CFI COOP now included on the list. Furthermore, some local government units have also joined GCash’s biller network including the Province of Bataan, Paranaque City, Manila City, Cauayan City, Lapu-Lapu City, Balanga City, Batangas City.

Customers can easily pay their bills digitally through GCash by simply downloading the GCash app from Google Play or App Store on your mobile phone. Register your phone number and set-up a 4-digit PIN. From the dashboard, click the “Pay Bill” option. Pick from the list of bill categories you need to pay for, such as cable/internet bills, and proceed with payment.

With GCash’s 600 billers nationwide, more GCash users and businesses can have secure and seamless transactions. For more information, visit www.gcash.com.

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Biden to ask federal workers to get vaccinated or face testing – source

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to announce on Thursday that all civilian federal workers will need to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or face regular testing, social distancing, mask requirements and travel limits, a source familiar with the matter said.

Mr. Biden, who will deliver remarks on COVID-19 at the White House at 4 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Thursday, will not mandate vaccines for federal employees and those who decide against getting a vaccine will not be at risk of being fired, the source said.

The United States has about 2.18 million civilian employees and another 570,000 people work for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), according to 2020 data. It is not clear if Biden plans to apply the requirement to the postal service or to contractors who work for the federal government.

CNN first reported Mr. Biden’s plan late on Tuesday.

Some states and New York City have announced similar requirements, said the source, who declined to be identified.

For example, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday that state employees will be required to be vaccinated or get tested weekly.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday mandated that its doctors and other medical staff get COVID-19 vaccines, becoming the first federal agency to impose such a requirement.

The VA comprises the largest U.S. healthcare system, employing more than 367,200 full-time healthcare professionals and support staff at 1,293 facilities, according to its website.

On Tuesday, Mr. Biden said his administration was considering the requirement for federal employees.

Numerous U.S. agencies on Wednesday mandated masks at federal buildings in COVID-19 hot spots in line with instructions issued by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), according to an OMB email seen by Reuters.

The Defense Department said late Wednesday that the masking requirements would apply to the Pentagon.

The White House also said masks are required indoors in federal buildings for all employees and visitors, whether or not they are vaccinated, in those areas experiencing sharp increases in infections.

On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said nearly 67% of U.S. counties were at substantial or high transmission rates, up from 63.4% on Tuesday.

The federal government is racing to contain the pandemic in the hope of avoiding nationwide shutdowns, as the virulent Delta variant of the coronavirus blazes through parts of the United States and immunizations lag.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told C-SPAN that the union supports vaccine mandates.

“If you come back in and you are not vaccinated, everybody in that workplace is jeopardized,” Mr. Trumka said Tuesday.

The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) said it opposes a vaccine mandate for federal employees and expressed concern about Mr. Biden’s expected announcement.

“While the APWU leadership continues to encourage postal workers to voluntarily get vaccinated, it is not the role of the federal government to mandate vaccinations for the employees we represent,” the group said in a statement.

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