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Does sustainability please the crowd?

UPKLYAK-FREEPIK

(Part 3)

In the past couple of weeks, we discussed how crowdfunding was an up and coming way to spur sustainability projects. Today I discuss the results of a research project co-authored with Professor Yulia Titova at IESEG School of Management building on the Master thesis of my student Jade Tissier. We had unique access to the KissKissBankBank (KKBB) crowdfunding platform and created a database using this information. Founded in September 2009, KKBB is the first and largest crowdfunding platform in Europe. Although it is Europe-based, projects are spread across 174 countries making it a truly global platform.

Any person with an innovative or creative idea can present their project to the platform free of charge. It then goes through a screening process by KKBB. KKBB lets project creators categorize their projects within one of the following categories: Music, Movies, Live performance, Arts, Sports and Expeditions, Food, Print, Fashion, Web and Tech, Photography, Education, Design and Innovation, Media, Event, Games, Local authorities, and finally the two categories we define as sustainability-oriented: Solidarity and Green projects. A large percentage of projects presented are culturally oriented, whereas sustainability oriented-projects account for 13% of all projects. We examined projects from 2010-016, with a final dataset including 22,404 project observations.

What do our results say? Does sustainability please the crowd? Indeed, it does. Crowdfunders choose to support sustainable projects above all other types of projects. This first finding clearly supports previous research that investors are motivated by both financial and non-financial returns. Indeed, the crowdfunders we looked at not only do not require monetary compensation but further, are keen to select projects based on their sustainability components. The immaterial utility gained such as happiness and satisfaction of making a difference in this world can be shown to matter to today’s young, generally wealthy investors.

However, we uncovered that this is particularly relevant for social sustainability projects rather than environmental sustainability projects. It appears that the urgency of the projects can partially explain this, wherein we find that social sustainability projects are perceived by the crowd to be more urgent than environmental projects (and other non-sustainability projects on average) and thus attract more money from investors.

Indeed, with the increasing amount of awareness campaigns on the precarious situation in which we find ourselves in today, it seems that crowdfunding campaigns have not only become shorter over time; but that people are more willing to fund campaigns that appear more urgent. This is a very interesting and keen observation. Whereas some forms of Social or Responsible Investment appeal to longer term investors and want to go against the short-term mentality of financial markets, crowdfunding appeals to investors who want to make a direct and tangible impact on an urgent, usually social problem. Further, due to the fact that there are a myriad of problems and issues that need to be solved, agents simplify their selection process by funding those that appear to be in most need of funding first.

We also find that whereas the quality of the campaign measured by the presence or absence of a video has no real effect on the probability of funding, whether direct or indirect, the information provided measured by the length of the description moderates the attractiveness of the more urgent social sustainability campaigns. This quality measure can be interpreted as the availability of information. That is, if a campaign is social, likely perceived as urgent, but provides less information, then it is more likely to attract less funding than if it provides more information. These results are indeed intuitive and illustrate how agents, regardless of preferences for philanthropic action nevertheless take into account rational considerations in making decisions. This highlights a very strong case for crowdfunding as a phenomenon: Projects must be both urgent and provide information for it to be successful, because people care about the impact of their money.

Our study is a first foray into this domain and there is much more to explore for future research. First is the categorization of projects. What we label as sustainability projects are based on the campaigners’ self-selection of categorizing their project as either solidarity or green projects. This does not mean that projects in other categories are simply not sustainable. However, it does appear that campaigners prefer not to position them as such. More research needs to be done to categorize which projects are sustainable or, even better, to have an index or level of sustainability to add more variation to the data. Further improvements must also be done for a better operationalization of quality. We must be able to clearly distinguish a good project from another in a better, more systematic way. 

Most important is the fact that we do not know what happens after the fundraising campaign. Success cannot merely be conceptualized as a fundraising activity — albeit being the focus of our paper and nevertheless a big first step. Rather, we must be able to assess the social impact of crowdfunded projects after they have been funded to understand whether our money truly does what we, as a crowd, dream for it to do: change the world.

“One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.” — John F. Kennedy n

Note: References are available upon request.

 

Daniela “Danie” Luz Laurel is a business journalist and anchor-producer of BusinessWorld Live on One News, formerly Bloomberg TV Philippines. Prior to this, she was a permanent professor of Finance at IÉSEG School of Management in Paris and maintains teaching affiliations at IÉSEG and the Ateneo School of Government. She has also worked as an investment banker in The Netherlands. Ms. Laurel holds a Ph.D. in Management Engineering with concentrations in Finance and Accounting from the Politecnico di Milano in Italy and an MBA from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

Living with plastic

RAWPIXELS.COM-UNSPLASH

We live in a plastic world, no two ways about that. And, whatever we say or think of plastic and plastic products, an outright ban on production or sale is simply unrealistic at this point. I am sure alternative materials are in the works. Eventually, plastic will be replaced, much like how plastic replaced wood, metal, glass, and stone in a lot of applications. But plastic will not be leaving us anytime soon.

Recycling plastic waste, for me, is an acceptable option for now. However, recycling all discarded plastic is easier said than done. Consumers have a big role to play in this, particularly in making their plastic waste suitable for recycling. The burden of preparation, I believe, must be shared by consumers themselves who enjoy the convenience of using plastic products.

Manufacturers should be made responsible for their products and their impact on the environment. However, consumers of these products share in that great responsibility. While consumers can opt to shun plastic use as much as possible, this is easier said than done. The alternative is to limit plastic use, and then reuse or dispose responsibly by recycling.

To prepare plastic refuse for recycling takes a lot of effort at the consumer level: rinsing or washing when necessary; sorting; cutting into smaller pieces when needed; popping plastic bubbles and tightly packing plastic bags; and then bringing the items to the local material recycling facility or to drop off points for such purpose. The entire effort entails time and resources as well as energy.

But such is the responsibility that goes along with the convenience of using plastic products. And if people choose to enjoy this convenience without exercising any responsibility for plastic use, then we will end up with a world drowning in refuse. Already, our waste problem is at crisis level, with much of it now polluting particularly waterways and oceans.

The key is educating consumers on how to properly dispose of plastic waste and how to prepare them for reuse or recycling. This is the main challenge for manufacturers, producers, and the government. We need to make it easy and convenient for people to properly dispose of plastic waste. We also need to educate them on how to best go about it. We can also provide incentives to communities for reusing and recycling plastic waste.

It is laudable that that a group of recyclers are turning bottles, single-use sachets, and snack food wrappers into building materials. Reuters reported that this group uses the Plastic Flamingo, or The Plaf, to collect waste, shred them, and then mold them into posts and planks called “eco-lumber.” The end-product can be used for fencing, decking, or even shelters.

“[It] is 100% upcycled material, 100% made from plastic waste materials, we also include some additives and colorants and it is rot-free, maintenance-free, and splinter-free,” Reuters quoted Erica Reyes, The Plaf’s chief operating officer, as saying. The social enterprise has collected over 100 tons of plastic waste to date.

But the big challenge is that “people are unaware of how to dispose of these plastics,” said Allison Tan, The Plaf’s marketing associate. “We give that avenue that instead of putting it in landfills or oceans… you give it to recycling centers like us and we would upcycle them into better products.”

In a forum co-hosted by the World Bank and the Norwegian Embassy in Manila in 2019, I recall a private sector representative who noted that the Philippines did not produce nearly as much plastic products as other countries, and yet it was among the top producers of plastic waste in our oceans. From this, I gathered that the issue was not our production or use of plastic, but our inability to properly dispose of our plastic waste.

But effective solid waste management means taking “politics” and “corruption” out of local garbage collection and disposal. It also means educating people and giving them the means to reuse and recycle particularly plastic waste. Manufacturers, producers, and consumers should be incentivized rather than penalized for doing their part in addressing the plastic waste issue.

I recall a study by the University of Baghdad, by researchers Zainab Ismail and Enas A Al-Hashmi, that used waste plastic in concrete mixture as aggregate replacement. After 86 experiments and 254 tests, the duo concluded that reusing waste plastic as a sand-substitution aggregate in concrete could reduce the cost of construction materials and address plastic waste problems.

Research at the University of Bath also concluded that plastic waste could be a viable partial replacement for sand in structural concrete. The study, done in partnership with the Goa Engineering College in India, showed that plastic waste in place of sand in concrete could help in the reuse of plastic waste as well as allow the sustainable use of a natural resource like sand.

A study by Ahmad Jassim of the University of Basrah, meantime, concluded that “plastic cement” could be produced from mixing high density polyethylene waste (used plastic bottles and food crates) and Portland cement. He also noted that this cement’s “density was decreased, ductility increased, and workability improved,” resulting in the production of “lightweight materials.”

Plastic waste can also be mixed with bitumen for road construction, using a technology first credited to Professor Rajagopalan Vasudevan of Thiagarajar College of Engineering in Madurai. Plastic-bitumen composite is said to have better wear resistance than standard asphalt; does not absorb water; and, has better flexibility which results in smoother, lower-maintenance roads.

“Plastic roads” already exist in the Indian cities of Pune, Bengaluru, and Jamshedpur; and, in Indonesia’s Bali, Surabaya, Bekasi, Makassar, Solo, and Tangerang. In 2018, the Dutch company Volkerwessels built a bicycle path made of recycled plastic in Zwolle, in northeast Netherlands. And in 2019, the UK Department of Transport announced a £1.6 million trial of a plastic road technology developed by Scottish reinforcement company MacRebur.

Locally, in late 2019, San Miguel Corp. (SMC) laid plastic-mixed asphalt on a 1,500 square meter pilot site in its logistics center in General Trias, Cavite. The road used 900 kilos of recycled plastic as a binder with bitumen to produce the asphalt. The road, meant to withstand heavily loaded trucks and equipment, is said to exceed Public Works standards.

To me, all these studies and developments point to the viability of repurposing plastic waste into something highly productive and useful. Such efforts also keep plastic waste from ending up in our oceans, and, at the same time, allow the more sustainable use of natural resources like sand, river pebbles, and rocks as concrete aggregates for construction.

But the plastic recycling effort needs help. Lawmakers and policymakers should consider funding education and information campaigns and providing support and incentives to industries and consumers that reuse, recycle, and repurpose plastic waste. A bigger step, perhaps for the new administration, is to consider allowing the use of plastic waste technologies in public works construction.

 

Marvin Tort is a former managing editor of BusinessWorld, and a former chairman of the Philippine Press Council

matort@yahoo.com

Political messaging: What you say and don’t say

PCHVECTOR-FREEPIK

As we inexorably head toward the elections on May 9, 2022, we reflect on the political marketing landscape and how things are shaping up as candidates stick to what their handlers or campaign managers have prescribed for a victorious campaign.

One of the key parts of any campaign is communications or messaging strategy, which has a symbiotic relationship with overall perception management or even brainwashing.

Those who know both the theoretical and practical aspects of political messaging realize that at the end of the day, the purpose of all communications and messaging is to convince the voter to elect a particular individual or political party.

Since advertising is expensive and there is a heavy barrage of competing messages that create clutter, one’s message must be short, succinct, compelling, memorable, and credible or truthful. A message is propaganda and there is nothing wrong with propaganda as long as the message is true and not a dressed-up pack of lies reminiscent of the Martial Law years.

With the abundance of fake news, competing messages and objective reality are ignored in place of incredible conspiracy theories and glossy but misleading presentations peddled by so-called influencers. Executing true and ethical messaging has become a very daunting challenge. The work needed to counteract organized and systematic brainwashing multiplies a hundredfold if the sponsor of false information has billions of pesos and dollars at his disposal. The challenge becomes even greater if, as is usually the case, the lies had been repeatedly uttered and were unchallenged for so long. In short, anyone who has heavily invested in historical revisionism and misinformation for several years has a head start. This early lead can however be overcome by repeatedly telling the truth about your candidate and allowing others to tell the truth about your opponent(s); “If you don’t stop telling lies about me, I’ll tell the truth about you.” 

If there is any organization to account for the proliferation of lies, revisionism, hatred, anger, and envy, and for contributing to the threats to democracy, one of them has to be Facebook. The company is now being investigated both in the United States and the UK. The hate speech and the societal division that Facebook condones, promotes, and tolerates, albeit profitable, has created a toxic atmosphere of deception and extreme rightist and autocratic behavior.

What makes messaging even tougher is the COVID pandemic which, if not managed wisely through practical measures, could result in voter disenfranchisement, suppression, or denial. Serious presidential candidates are advised to frame a part of their messaging around what they plan to do to lick this health emergency which has affected the economy and other aspects of life like food security, nutrition, education, peace and order, and work and livelihood opportunities. The credibility of what one promises to do to overcome the pandemic challenge is, however, put very much under microscopic scrutiny and referenced with what one has actually done (or not done) in the frontlines as one’s contribution to the overall effort to alleviate the problems created by the pandemic. Nonchalance will not help.

We now look at how the campaigns of “leading” presidential candidates execute their communications and messaging strategy, i.e., What is their message.

Let’s start with the front runner, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. Marcos Jr.’s basic messages are: avoid the mention of the family name for to do so is to stoke bitter memories of Martial Law and its uncommon corruption, brutality, and Imeldific extravagance in the middle of widespread poverty and economic deprivation. So, the message is use “BBM” for Bongbong Marcos. Those are the instructions of Cambridge Analytica and they are to be followed. (This according to news reports quoting Brittany Kaiser, a former Cambridge Analytica business development director-turned-whistleblower. The Marcos camp has denied any connection with Cambridge Analytica. — Ed.) After all, Cambridge receives millions of dollars in professional services. It has handled Trump, presidential wannabe Ted Cruz of Texas, and other Republicans who now idolize Trump. One other alleged Cambridge directive is the use of pink, the color of the opposition candidate, Vice-President Leni Robredo. That ploy is obviously meant to confuse the followers of the Vice-President. 

Other messages include outright revisionism: that the dictator was “kidnapped” and did not flee the Philippines at the height of the EDSA People Power Revolution. That he had wanted to go to Ilocos but the Americans brought him to Hawaii… along with crates full of cash, jewelry, bank certificates, gold bars and other evidence of a “frugal” life.

Another message is that life during Martial Law was like living in the Garden of Eden, and so on and so on. There is, however, almost no mention of the Junior’s sterling record of public service in the Senate, as Governor of Ilocos Norte, and what he did during the height of the pandemic to help the people a la Patricia Non.

With respect to Junior’s scholastic record, an alleged statement of former Congressman Rudy Fariñas, another Ilocos Norte political kingpin, seems to indicate there are serious questions about Junior’s industry, diligence, and commitment to learning at Oxford, for example. Even his claim of having been a MILO kids taekwondo champion in 2000 at the age of 40 (seen on the candidate’s official website and now removed), stands out for its brazen lack of respect for martial arts’ unofficial but accepted code of ethics and for sports people’s ability to discern the truth behind the claim.

We still have to find official statements of his record as Senator and Ilocos Norte Governor, although there are supporters’ social media posts which include grabbing credit for a wind-powered energy project. There is very little in his corner’s messaging to indicate his grasp of the country’s problems aside from the usual lack of resources, some of which could be traced to Martial Law thievery and extravagance. There is no solid proof of sincere empathy for the marginalized, many of whom he, unfortunately, seems to have mesmerized with his slick YouTube and TikTok productions. None of these video productions can, however, back up the image of trustworthiness he is trying to cultivate.

The whole communications package seems consistent with Analytica’s tactics — confuse, confuse, with lots smoke and mirrors at this point, as it was during the Senior’s tenure and very similar to Trump’s Cambridge-backed campaigns. The only clear and consistent aspect of the messaging is the magnificence of the Junior’s campaign headquarters along the historic EDSA.

Manila Mayor “Yorme” Moreno’s message is: “I’m an action man. I act on the city’s problems right away especially during this pandemic. I sleep at City Hall to immediately act on problems. I’m here 24/7.” In short, Aksyon Agad (action at once). This go-to-guy narrative is spiced up with anecdotes of his impoverished youth — sleeping in Manila’s streets, eating restaurant left-overs, scrounging through garbage for plastic items for resale, Tondo Boy origins, working hard to enroll in some of the world’s finest institutions of higher learning. He caps off these inspiring stories with his folksy speeches which never fail to attract attention and sympathy. 

But his telling Filipinos, in a dismissive manner, to “move on” and to stop blaming the Martial Law dictatorship for the country’s ills and murders and tortures, gets some people to jump up with alarm and ask some serious questions about his commitment to the rule of law and human rights. One gets to wonder that probably he’s unaware that poverty, his early status, prevents the enjoyment of the full range of basic human rights. Stating his admiration for both the dictator and Lee Kuah Yew probably has Lee turning in his grave. 

The probable impression created is that Yorme needs more seasoning and needs to think more deeply about significant cause and effect situations — that absolute power corrupts absolutely and ultimately leads to the deprivation of human and economic rights. He may continue to reflect profoundly on the reality that governing the Philippines is going to be much more complex than administering the affairs of the 42.88 square kilometer area of the capital city. Crossing swords at this time with the country’s second highest elected official may have created an image of arrogance and lack of humility.

Apart from messaging, Yorme and his handlers probably ought to look at their internal messaging and operations, taking into account signs of disarray and infighting within the Aksyon Demokratiko party, particularly in the matter of naming candidates at the local level. Yorme’s handlers ought to be reminded of what they very well know: “All politics is local.”

Next week: Messaging: VP Leni Robredo, Senator Panfilo Lacson, and Senator Manny Pacquiao

 

Philip Ella Juico’s areas of interest include the protection and promotion of democracy, free markets, sustainable development, social responsibility and sports as a tool for social development. He obtained his doctorate in business at De La Salle University. Dr. Juico served as Secretary of Agrarian Reform during the Corazon C. Aquino administration.

Tipping points

VECTORPOCKET-FREEPIK

FAST FOOD places where one lines up, picks up his order, and pays the cashier allows one to get back all the change and leave nothing behind as a tip, even if there is a transparent box at the end of the line for that purpose. Of course, you can drop some coins there, including the new P20 one.

Specialized coffee shops (defined as those that don’t serve rice, except maybe for breakfast) require the customer to state his preference to the cashier and then pay up. Sometimes, he is asked his name so he can vigilantly wait for it to be called to collect his cafe latte’ with skimmed milk: Mr. Mike Fenis! The name is broadcast loudly to inform everyone how to address this customer should anyone want to make his acquaintance. (Just call me Mike, please.) This ordering model also does not require tipping.

However, when the cashier gives a number the size of a bingo card to display prominently on the table for the latte’ to be delivered with the bill, the loose change is expected to be left behind as tip — watch out for stores that empty their coin drawers.

Dine-in restaurants with receptionists are different. Is being present there as you make up your mind on what to order (Sir, the paella will take 30 minutes) and then for you to wait for the delivery of your order why servers are called “waiters”? Doesn’t waiting apply to both servers and customers?

Waiters in the First World, like Western Europe and North America, consider themselves entrepreneurs in disguise entitled to cash dividends, courtesy of customers’ tips. Manhattan waiters seem permitted by law to give free rein to strident remarks aimed at parsimonious tippers or, heaven forbid, non-tippers. They are practiced in the art of declaiming in a loud voice — Madam was there a cockroach swimming in the soup I served you? The cheeky ones run after the small tipper retrieving his bag in the coat area to hand back with undisguised contempt the meager offering left on the table — Sir, you may need this for your subway fare.

There are developed countries, notably Japan, that have eliminated tipping to servers like bellboys, taxi drivers, and waiters, maybe considering this practice a subtle insult, implying a master-servant relationship. The practice may entail higher prices as the server’s share is already included in the charge, instead of added on as a tip. Still, it saves the tourist from figuring out the system as the bill presented covers everything.

The word “tip” is supposed to be an acronym for “to insure promptness.” Since it is given or withheld after the service has already been provided, it often applies mostly to repeat customers who intend to come back to a particular restaurant and be insured of courteous handling.

The culture of tipping in the public service sector for routine requirements like licenses and permits is the door to petty, and then not-so-petty, corruption. (Face shields seem to require enormous encouragement.) Extra payment for a routine task may first only ensure jumping the queue, and then progressing to exemption from rules all the way to getting special deals. The tip is the second cousin of graft.

Membership clubs understand the adverse effects of tipping and therefore disallow it, except maybe for banquet functions. Otherwise, service quality may be influenced by the generosity of tippers. If you already gave business to the restaurant with a hefty bill, are you still required to add another 15% for the waiter?

How come shoe salesmen who help you with varying selections and sizes don’t expect tips after the purchase? Maybe they get a commission instead? A service charge works more fairly as it is distributed to all the service staff, not just given to the last person who happens to pick up the change folder.

Tipping points don’t always refer to gratuities. Malcolm Gladwell in his eponymous book refers to “trends that turn into epidemics.” No better example can be given than the present pandemic that started with two or three contagious persons from abroad spreading the virus to almost three million in this country alone in the last 20 months.

Does a political movement also have a tipping point? It can even be just a color to bring back the country… to the pink of health.

 

Tony Samson is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda

ar.samson@yahoo.com

Japan PM Kishida’s nuclear push faces resistance ahead of election

TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER CO., TEPCO

KASHIWAZAKI, Japan — Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s push to restart Japanese nuclear power plants idled after the Fukushima disaster faces stiff opposition ahead of a general election on Sunday, where his future as leader hangs in the balance if the vote is tight.

A decade after triple meltdowns at Fukushima forced mass evacuations and a shut-down of the nuclear industry, Japan has restarted only a third of its 33 operable reactors.

Debate over whether to fire more of them back up is highly charged, with 40% of the population opposing the move.

It matters most in rural cities hosting the idled plants which had once relied on them for economic activity, such as Kashiwazaki, 265 km (165 miles) northwest of Tokyo — home to the world’s largest atomic power complex.

“The reason why we feel so strongly about this is because we feel the danger of the nuclear power plant — it hangs over our heads every day,” said Mie Kuwabara, a resident of a town close to Kashiwazaki and anti-nuclear activist.

Voters mostly care about economic recovery from the pandemic. But energy policy came into sharp focus last month, when Mr. Kishida beat a popular anti-nuclear candidate in the race for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) chief.

The architect of Mr. Kishida’s victory, party veteran Akira Amari, assumed a key party post and immediately pushed for restarts of 30 reactors while also promoting new, smaller reactors to replace ageing ones.

Mr. Amari says Japan must revert to nuclear power to meet its 2050 carbon neutrality pledge, avoid rapidly rising prices of imported coal and gas and to cut its reliance on other countries for energy needs.

Mr. Amari faces a tight race in his home district, where he is struggling to attract support from anti-nuclear junior coalition partner, Komeito.

Opposition to his plan is strong in Kashiwazaki too.

“This prefecture as a whole, even within the LDP, is united behind the idea that the nuclear power plant can’t be restarted,” said Mineo Ono, who runs the LDP’s local chapter where anti-nuclear proponent Taro Kono polled higher than Mr. Kishida in the leadership race vote.

Mr. Ono cited local distrust caused by what he called multiple mishaps by the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Holdings.

The nuclear regulator upended plans for a restart of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, which can power 24 million households, in April, after identifying operational issues including faulty intruder detection alarms and the misuse of ID cards. Nation-wide, restarts have been delayed by technical issues, lawsuits and regulatory reviews.

Tepco in an emailed statement apologized and said it would work to regain the trust of locals. It added that while nuclear energy is instrumental in achieving carbon neutrality, the time is not right to discuss restarts.

That poses a problem for the LDP, which polls show is on the brink of losing its simple majority, an outcome that would still let it cling to power thanks to the coalition with Komeito, but that may lead to a push inside the party to oust Mr. Kishida.

The government said in its latest energy policy on Friday it would double 2020 levels of renewable energy to 38%, but has maintained nuclear power will provide some 22% of the country’s energy by 2030, up from 6% in the 2018 financial year.

‘DIVIDING FACTOR’
Kashiwazaki, a town of 80,000, sits on the coast of the Sea of Japan. In the evening, buses unload workers maintaining the complex around the main train station.

“We host the world’s biggest nuclear plant, but that energy goes mostly to Tokyo and its surrounding regions. Locals feel deeply about that,” LDP’s Mr. Ono said. There is a ‘divide’ between the sentiment of the locals and people in Tokyo, he said.

A restart is critical for Tepco, which needs money to fund the clean-up at its Fukushima plant. Restarting Kashiwazaki-Kariwa would save an estimated $790 million per year in fuel costs, it says.

But even the local chamber of commerce, instrumental in wooing the plant which started operations in 1985, says it is tired of what it sees as Tepco’s repeated failures.

“It’s almost unbearable, seeing how shoddy they are,” said chamber of commerce chief Masao Saikawa.

To allay these fears, Kenichi Hosoda, the LDP candidate in the district who serves as the vice minister at the Ministry of Industry overseeing energy policy, has toned down his pro-nuclear message.

“Now is not the time to discuss the issue,” he told Reuters after a recent rally held near the plant.

In response to a question on why discussions on the nuclear plant have been toned down before the vote, local LDP leader Mr. Ono spoke of “a large group of swing voters who the candidates have to capture.”

“When it comes down to it, the issue of nuclear energy will be the dividing factor. It’s a fact that the nuclear element has an influence,” said Mr. Ono. — Reuters

China’s growing COVID-19 outbreak tests towns along vulnerable borders

JOSHUA FERNANDEZ-UNSPLASH

BEIJING — China has reported nearly 250 locally transmitted cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) since the start of the current outbreak 10 days ago, with many infections in remote towns along porous international borders in the country’s northwest.

China had 50 new local cases for Oct. 26, the highest daily count since Sept. 16, official data showed on Wednesday. The overall number is tiny versus many clusters outside the country. It is also modest compared with more than 1,200 local cases reported during China’s July-August outbreak and the more than 2,000 cases in January during the last winter.

However, the steady increase of cases in the past week and their geographical spread alarmed local authorities and prompted the return of complex sets of restrictions on travel as well as on the tourism and catering sectors.

China has said the COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest challenge to its hosting of the Winter Olympics in February. Officials suspected the current flare-up was caused by a virus source from overseas.

Richer cities such as Beijing have managed to keep infection numbers low by quickly quarantining and testing potential cases. But small border towns, battling a higher risk of infections imported from overseas while equipped with relatively few resources, have suffered more severe and prolonged disruptions amid China’s zero tolerance for COVID-19.

Prior to COVID-19, Ejina Banner, a remote administrative division on China’s border with Mongolia, saw 8 million visitors in 2019 thanks to attractions such as a drought-resistant forest that would turn a golden yellow in October.

But the settlement of 36,000 residents has been hard hit in the latest outbreak. Ejina has gone into a lockdown since last week, rendering nearly 10,000 tourists unable to leave, a local official said on Tuesday. Nearly half of those visitors are aged over 60.

“[Ejina Banner] has fewer medical workers and virus control staffers,” Fan Mengguang, a health official at Inner Mongolia where Ejina is based, told state television.

“Because Ejina is large but sparsely populated, it’s hard for it to seal its border,” Fan said.

Ruili in the southwestern province of Yunnan, rocked by multiple domestic outbreaks this year, has been served with the toughest curbs ever seen in China.

People who want to leave the city, except for those leaving for a few essential reasons, must be quarantined at centralized facilities for at least seven days before departure, Ruili said on Wednesday.

Ruili is a key transit point for Yunnan, which has fought to monitor its rugged 4,000 km (2,485-mile) border with Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam for illegal immigration amid unauthorized crossings by those seeking a haven from the pandemic. — Reuters

S.Korea sees peace declaration as key to restarting N.Korea talks

A view from South Korea towards North Korea in the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom. North and South Korean military personnel, as well as a single US soldier, are shown. — WIKIPEDIA

SEOUL — In a last ditch attempt to restart talks with North Korea before his term ends next year, South Korean President Moon Jae-in is calling for a declaration that could eventually end a state of war that has technically lasted since the 1950s.

South Korea and a US-led UN force are technically still at war with North Korea since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, and Seoul sees an “end of war declaration” as a way to build trust, restart stalled denuclearization talks, and eventually secure a lasting peace agreement.

Such a declaration is seen as a less politically fraught issue than other points of contention, such as North Korea’s nuclear weapons.

But critics fear a declaration could undermine the US-South Korea alliance or weaken international pressure over the North’s weapon programs, and both Koreas have failed to follow through on previous efforts to end the war.

UNENDED WAR
In 1953, South Korean leaders opposed the idea of a truce that left the peninsula divided, and were not signatories to the armistice, which was officially signed by the commander of North Korea’s army, the US commander of the UN Command, and the commander of the “Chinese people’s volunteers,” who were not officially claimed by Beijing at the time.

The idea of ending the war gained renewed attention in 2018 during a flurry of diplomacy between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, then-US President Donald Trump, and South Korea’s President Moon.

The two Koreas agreed to declare the Korean War over by the end of that year, and Trump said the effort had his blessing if North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear arsenal.

But as disagreements over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and international sanctions dragged on, Washington and Pyongyang showed less interest and the idea stalled along with nearly all talks.

PROSPECTS FOR A DEAL
In a speech at the United Nations last month, Mr. Moon again raised the idea. North Korean officials responded that Mr. Moon’s proposals were of interest, but premature without a change in what they deemed to be hostile policies.

US President Joseph R. Biden’s administration has said it is open to negotiations without preconditions.

North Korea has rebuffed those overtures, however, saying that US support for sanctions and military moves in the region suggest its talk of diplomacy hides hostile intent.

“To be effective, (a declaration) needs to be embedded in a broader process,” said John Delury, a professor at South Korea’s Yonsei University. “But signaling readiness for an end of war declaration is, at minimum, a way for the Biden administration to signal they are serious about ending the so-called hostile policy.”

When asked about the South’s proposals, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan this week declined to comment on specifics. He said that the United States agreed with South Korea on the need for diplomacy, but may have a different perspective when it comes to the timing, conditions, or sequence of different steps.

Some analysts note that a deal could have implications for the roughly 28,500 US troops and the UN command stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the war, which help secure the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas.

South Korea’s plan calls for a political declaration that the Korean War is over, then a peace treaty that replaces the armistice, and finally the establishment of a broader peace regime, said Duyeon Kim, with the US-based Center for a New American Security.

The Biden administration may support raising the idea of a declaration as a way to gauge North Korean attitudes but is unlikely to support anything that alters the armistice, she said.

North Korea, meanwhile, has made it clear it is not interested in a symbolic declaration.

“It would likely be interested if a declaration alters or promises to change the armistice and UN Command,” Ms. Kim said. — Reuters

Treatment drug for mild to moderate COVID-19 available in the Philippines starting November 

REUTERS

By Patricia Mirasol 

Molnupiravir, an oral pill for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19, will be available in the Philippines starting November. The prescription medication will be dispensed in hospitals with a Compassionate Special Permit (CSP) from the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the brand name Molnaflu.  

Four undisclosed local hospitals already have a CSP, with four undisclosed more currently applying for one.  

A CSP is a special permit granted to physicians or hospitals to use drugs which are not yet registered or are in the process of registration in the Philippines for the treatment of seriously ill patients.  

The oral medicine will benefit the 84% of Filipinos with mild to moderate COVID-19 cases, said Meneleo “Meny” C. Hernandez, Jr., president of pharmaceutical company JackPharma, Inc., in an Oct. 27 press conference. “Maaagapan siya [The progression of the disease can be arrested]. The patients will be treated very early on,” he said.  

JackPharma, Inc. partnered with MedEthix, a pharmaceutical importer, to increase the reach of molnupiravir (Molnaflu) to medical institutions, hospitals, and treatment sites in compliance with the FDA’s CSP requirements. 

Its mechanism of action is to insert itself in the body of the COVID-19 virus, making all copies of the virus defective when it replicates. Molnupiravir, which was developed by MSD (known as Merck in the United States and Canada) and Miami-based Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, comes in a 200 mg capsule. Its recommended regimen is 800 mg, to be taken twice daily for five days, for a total recommended dose of 40 capsules. 

The initial shipment coming in next month, November, will be enough to treat 300,000 patients – or enough to cover the order of the four Philippine hospitals that already have CSPs, said Monaliza B. Salian, co-founder, president and chief executive officer of MedEthix.  

“We already applied for an Emergency Use Authorization with the FDA yesterday,” she told the audience at the press conference.  

Ms. Salian added that Aurobindo Pharma Ltd., the India-based manufacturer of the drug, has the capacity to meet the anticipated demand in the Philippine market. 

Because it is under CSP, patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 can only get the prescribed drug in the pharmacies of hospitals with a CSP.  

“We estimate each pill to be between P100-150,” Mr. Hernandez said.  

Queries about the drug can be coursed to MedEthix at info@medethix.com.ph, 632-737-37777, 0969-017-0380, or 0945-455-9829. Patients who experience adverse effects while taking the drug may contact JackPharma at info@jackpharma.com or 0917-168-5225.

Caring for employees always a top priority for Globe

Employees are a company’s backbone. For Globe, extending care to customers and providing better connectivity experience especially amidst challenging times happen because of their hard work.

Therefore, the company’s relentless dedication in treating people right to create a Globe of good is evidenced by initiatives to ensure the overall well-being of its workforce.

“Doing our part in helping the nation rise above this pandemic is not simply about what we do externally for our customers and the community, but also what we do internally to care for our employees,” said Ato Jiao, Globe Chief Human Resource Officer.

Last year, Globe promptly ensured all-around employee assistance through a holistic COVID-19 support package. It boosted digitalization efforts to limit in-person contact and exposure, and allow employees to remain agile and efficient despite the logistical constraints. Globe particularly kept an eye on frontline workers providing essential service on-site. They were provided with safe lodging, meals, personal protective equipment (PPEs), vitamins, transportation, hazard pay, and insurance to help alleviate anxiety.

Focusing on employees’ health and wellbeing, the company enhanced its existing medical insurance coverage, even going as far as fully shouldering medical expenses of those infected by the virus. Konsulta MD, AC Health, and Maxicare provided a hotline that employees and their dependents can consult with for urgent health concerns anytime, anywhere. A partnership was also forged with MindNation and HopeChat to care for employees’ mental health through virtual psychologists to help alleviate isolation and anxiety during these pressing times.

To maintain active employee engagement, Globe adopted a multi-faceted strategy focusing on the happiness, well-being, and continued growth of each employee despite challenges and limitations of an evolving work environment. Employee engagement sessions went virtual with learning and fitness sessions, talk shows, fun and educational webinars, and podcasts. Globe held 16 wellness webinars, and released 53 posts during Wellness Wednesdays, an initiative where Ka-Globe can talk about wellness in an online community.

 

Various chatbots were also developed to help ease employees into the new working style. Digital Usher for Disasters and Emergencies or DUDE is a chatbot which serves as daily health check-in for employees and enables COVID-19 support as well as access to mental health partners. Wanda was also developed as a recognition chatbot to enable employees to send special e-cards to one another, enabling them to nurture Globe’s culture of recognition even while working apart.

Leaders kept in touch and maintained regular interactions through virtual town hall meetings led by President and Chief Executive Officer, Ernest Cu. More than being kept abreast of key developments and updates on the business and the organization as a whole, these sessions were great opportunities for employees to directly ask questions and air concerns to the leadership team. While the Philippines is still battling the virus, Globe continues to listen to its employees and provide the necessary assistance to keep them safe, secure, and productive.

Globe strongly supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly UN SDG No. 3 on providing good health and well-being. Globe is committed to upholding the United Nations Global Compact principles and contributing to 10 UN SDGs.

To know more about Globe, visit www.globe.com.ph.

 

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Making meaningful connections through customer experience

There is a natural disparity in the conversation about digital transformation. While the accessibility and affordability of technology nowadays have created digital natives out of the average consumer, the same cannot be said for businesses, particularly those in fields as established as the financial services industry.

On the contrary, digital transformation for such industries are often expensive, arduous processes that take years of planning and strategizing.

Head of Digital Networks at Singlife Philippines Kame Amado-Gomez

Kame Amado-Gomez, head of digital networks at Singlife Philippines, the first and only 100% digital insurance company in the Philippines, pointed out that many incumbents in the insurance industry have not innovated their digital customer experience (CX) journey past the purchasing stage.

“When we were doing these design processes, we noticed that most life insurers or the incumbents currently touting to be digital say that they are focused on CX, but when you really take a look at the experience that they offer, most of them stop at the buy or the purchase journey,” she said during a panel discussion at the Seamless 2021 virtual conference.

“Sure, you can buy insurance online, but activating your policy will take you another day or two and if you want to manage your policy, or view your contract, or make any changes, or file a claim, most probably you’ll still have to move to another platform and undergo disjointed and manual processes,” she added.

Such an approach limits the insurers from engaging with and building an authentic connection with their customers, as it fosters a ‘buy and forget’ relationship. This was far from Singlife’s goal. When they entered the Philippine market, Ms. Amado-Gomez shared, Singlife had the bold ambition of disrupting the status quo of an age-old insurance industry by going 100% digital.

“For us, that meant a lot of unlearning the traditional ways of thinking, dreaming up new ideas and concepts, and trying to redefine how insurance is being experienced currently,” she explained.

“If you try to buy a Singlife product through GCash, you will actually be able to complete the purchase journey in less than five minutes. You’ll get your policy contract instantly, as in a matter of seconds. You don’t have to wait. You get to view your policy details and even file a claim without having to leave the GCash app,” she added.

Furthermore, customers who want to cancel their policies can receive their refunds directly through their GCash wallet in real time. Customers can even opt to receive claim payouts through the same feature.

Singlife’s customer-centric approach to their insurance services have netted the company a customer satisfaction of 92%, with 90% of its customers retaining their policy every month. In addition, 7% of these customers opt to buy an additional product from the company, a relatively high percentage compared to the industry standard of 2-3% of customers buying another insurance policy.

Transparency and authenticity

Ms. Amado-Gomez advised other companies starting on their CX journey to start small and realize that redesigning an end-to-end customer journey and changing an organization’s mindset regarding that journey cannot be done overnight.

“So pick low-hanging fruit or one particular use case that you believe will make a sizable impact in your organization. Make sure to monitor the results and gather actionable insights from that initiative. Because these insights although gained at a small scale but applied often can be used to build on and continuously improve your overall CX over time,” she said.

“One more important thing that I learned in my own CX journey is to not treat it like a separate function or limit your strategy to just the front-end experience. There’s still this misconception that CX is just the website design or your UX UI design, which it is not. CX encompasses all aspects of the business. It is a reflection of your brand promise. Good CX will amount to nothing if you don’t have a good product. All the pretty screens and interactions that you design will be wasted if you don’t have the tech and the supporting back-end processes in place.”

With the growing prevalence of on-demand services, customers have come to demand more from businesses. As such, the landscape is set to further evolve to meet those demands.

“At Singlife, there is constant effort to build real-time processes, do away with unnecessary steps for the customers and really invest in smarter technologies that can support all these innovative experiences that we dare to imagine,” she said.

“To succeed in CX you have to genuinely love your customers. You have to find it fulfilling that you make them happy.”

To know more about Singlife Philippines, visit https://singlife.com.ph/.

Spotlight is BusinessWorld’s sponsored section that allows advertisers to amplify their brand and connect with BusinessWorld’s audience by enabling them to publish their stories directly on the BusinessWorld Web site. For more information, send an email to online@bworldonline.com.

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U.S., Indonesia call for new G20 forum to prepare for next pandemic

STOCK PHOTO

WASHINGTON – The world’s biggest economies should create a forum to facilitate global coordination for the next pandemic, as well as a new financing facility to keep up with emerging threats, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Tuesday.

In a letter to their G20 colleagues, the two finance ministers said the forum would allow health and finance ministers to better cooperate and coordinate prevention, detection, information-sharing, and any needed response.

A copy of the letter, dated Monday, was posted Tuesday by the Treasury Department.

Ms. Yellen and Ms. Indrawati said the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed nearly 5.2 million people around the world, had revealed a lack of readiness at the country level and a lack of coordination among G20 countries.

“While we are making progress in fighting COVID-19, we also face a stark reality: this will not be the last pandemic,” they wrote ahead of Friday’s joint meeting of G20 health and finance ministers. “We must not lose this opportunity to demonstrate leadership with a decisive commitment to act.”

Several independent organizations, including the High-Level Independent Panel headed by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Singaporean Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, have called for creation of such a forum,

Ms. Yellen and Ms. Indrawati said the forum would elevate and empower the work of the World Health Organization and other technical entities, but should include diverse voices and perspectives from around the world, such as the African Union.

They said a new financing facility could complement the resources of multilateral development banks and ensure sufficient dedicated, reliable financing so that vaccination and treatment can keep up with emerging threats.

While the two initiatives were complementary, their timetables need not be interlinked, the ministers said. – Reuters

Southeast Asian nations tout green power links ahead of COP26

SINGAPORE – Southeast Asian nations are speeding up their plans to transmit renewable energy through a proposed regional power grid, with first trials set for 2022, as the area strives to meet climate change targets, government and company officials said.

Some members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are also exploring carbon capture storage (CCS) technology to reduce emissions, officials said at this week’s Singapore International Energy Week conference. ASEAN has proposed that 23% of primary energy come from renewable sources by 2025.

The announcements come ahead of the U.N. COP26 climate summit starting on Oct. 31 in Glasgow, considered one of the last opportunities for countries to announce firm targets for cutting emissions this decade.

“We’ve heard some very positive announcements in terms of investments going into renewables,” Gauri Singh, Deputy Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) said.

“ASEAN are really looking at bringing in almost one-quarter of the energy from renewables by 2025 — that’s a very ambitious goal that they’ve set for themselves, but I think the international cooperation, and regional cooperation are going to play a very, very important role.”

Singapore will start importing renewable electricity from Malaysia by 2022 and later that year utilities in ASEAN will start transmitting the first 100 megawatts (MW) of electricity under a Laos-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore power integration project as part of a regional grid project.

The ASEAN grid, an idea first proposed in 1999 to enhance regional energy security, will now facilitate renewable power transmission. Australia has also been tapped for its green energy supplies with plans to export to Singapore.

“With the power sector accounting for almost a quarter of global emissions, decarbonising electricity generation is at the core of the global climate change effort,” Gan Kim Yong, Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry said in a speech at the event.

Singapore, which depends on natural gas for almost all of its power generation, plans to import up to 4 gigawatts (GW) of low-carbon electricity by 2035, or about 30% of its total supply.

Singapore’s Sunseap Group and Sembcorp Industries and Indonesia’s PLN Batam and PT Trisurya Mitra Bersama (Suryagen) signed agreements this week on new solar power projects.

Singapore plans to also launch standards and guidelines for renewable energy certificates that will allow companies to buy credits that verify their power is from renewable sources.

Still, many ASEAN countries must address their reliance on fossil fuels in their power generation mix to meet their climate targets.

For countries that are still heavily dependent on coal for power, CCS could be a solution in reducing emissions, said Arifin Tasrif, Indonesia’s minister of energy and natural resources.

“The ASEAN region is still in some ways dependent on coal power… this situation must be carefully considered when setting our path towards carbon neutrality, and significant efforts should be made,” Tasrif said.

Carbon capture technology is very important for Indonesia’s strategy to reach its net-zero emissions goals, and the country will start using it by 2030, he said.

Exxon Mobil Corp is pursuing CCS hubs across Asia and has started talks with countries on potential storage options for carbon dioxide.

To be sure, the region will still require further regulations and massive investments in upgrading and connecting grids across borders.

ASEAN will need at least $367 billion in the next five years to finance its energy goals, ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi said.

The bloc needs to improve its investment environment and also expand beyond its current sources of finance to reach its energy transition targets, he added.

“Much remains to be done,” Lim said. “(There is a) need to improve the investment environment for energy transition, and to expand beyond our current sources of finance.” – Reuters

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