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Duterte appoints CA magistrate to Supreme Court

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has appointed an appellate court justice to the Supreme Court, according to the tribunal.

Jhosep Y. Lopez will replace Justice Priscilla J. Baltazar-Padilla, who retired for health reasons in November, it said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday. Executive Secretary Salvador S. Medialdea confirmed the appointment in a Viber message.

Mr. Duterte has now appointed 11 magistrates to the 15-member tribunal. He also promoted Diosdado M. Peralta, an appointee of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to chief justice. Three justices are appointees of Mr. Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno S.C. Aquino III.

Mr. Lopez, a native of Pangasinan province, served as a Court of Appeals magistrate for almost nine years, the high court said.

He took up political science at the University of the Philippines, Diliman and graduated cum laude. He took up law there and passed the bar exams in 1989 with an average of 84.55, it said.

Mr. Lopez entered politics in 1992, winning as a Manila councilor.

In 1998, he served as chief legal consultant to then Health Secretary Felipe Estrella until he was tapped as the country’s first agriculture attaché to Beijing.

He again served as Manila councilor from 2001 to 2006 until his appointment as a city prosecutor in 2006.

During his stint as a prosecutor for more than six years, he instituted reforms such as the computerized system of monitoring cases, the high court said.

Justice Lopez was a partner at the Lopez Rasul Maliwanag Baybay Palaran Law Offices from 1993 to 2006.

He is an educator at various law schools including the UP College of Law, New Era University College of Law and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila College of Law.

Born on Feb. 8, 1963 in Umingan, Pangasinan, he will mandatorily retire on his 70th birthday in 2033, it said. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza

Senate adopts resolution on UP accord

THE SENATE on Tuesday adopted a resolution urging the Department of Defense (DND) and University of the Philippines (UP) to revisit an agreement that limited military presence in the state university’s campuses.

The Senate welcomed the agency’s decision to hold dialogues with UP on the 1989 accord, according to a copy of Senate Resolution 616.

The chamber said the military should also hold talks with other academic institutions to expand the coverage of safeguards given to other state universities.

“We want to expand or extend the beautiful provisions and effects of the UP-DND accord to all education institutions,” Senator Francis N. Pangilinan said in Filipino in his sponsorship speech.

The military in a Jan. 15 letter to UP President Danilo Concepcion ended the ban on soldiers and police from UP premises without prior notification.

Senators Risa N. Hontiveros-Baraquel, Maria Lourdes Nancy S. Binay, Ralph G. Recto, Leila M. De Lima, Franklin M. Drilon and Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva co-authored the resolution.

Senator Ronald M. dela Rosa, President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s former police chief, abstained. He said ending the accord would protect the youth from the “snares of communism and its empty promises.” — CAT

Nationwide round-up (01/26/21)

PhilHealth chief says 92% of P15-B questioned fund now liquidated   

MORE than 90% of the P15-billion fund released by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to health care institutions, which has been under investigation, has so far been liquidated, the head of the state-owned insurance firm said on Tuesday. “On the record, the Senate and the House have instructed PhilHealth to liquidate the funds. As of now, 92% of the funds has been liquidated,” PhilHealth President and Chief Executive Officer Dante A. Gierran said in mixed English and Filipino during a televised news briefing. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has filed several and administrative complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman against former PhilHealth officials over alleged irregularities in the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism program, under which the funds were released. Mr. Gierran, a former NBI official who was appointed to the top PhilHealth post at the height of the controversies last year, denied the allegations that the funds were pocketed by former officials. “It was not lost, it’s just there, on record, 92% has been liquidated. Only a little is missing. I will not allow the funds of the Filipinos to disappear,” he said. Mr. Gierran also reported that PhilHealth has already paid about P3.4 billion owed to the Philippine Red Cross for coronavirus tests administered by the humanitarian organization, and that the P400 million balance will be settled “subject to validation.” He also gave assurance that PhilHealth would be able to bounce back from the challenges it has faced since last year, citing that the agency has sufficient reserves. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza

Senate panel OK’s bills giving the President power to defer SSS contribution hike

A Senate panel on Tuesday moved to grant President Rodrigo R. Duterte authority to suspend the scheduled increase in the contribution rate of the Social Security System (SSS) amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Senate committee on government corporations and public enterprises, joint with the labor committee, approved in principle the bill allowing Mr. Duterte to defer rate increases during a national health emergency. “My position would be to make it more nimble and leave it to the President in consultation with the SSS when they’re to take action on suspending or deferring the increase,” Senator Richard J. Gordon said during the hearing. The panel tackled Senate Bills 1965, 1970 and 1996, which either proposed to mandate the suspension or give the president the power to decide whether to defer rate increase upon consultation with concerned agencies. SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Aurora C. Ignacio, for her part, appealed to the chamber not to suspend the rate increase, reiterating how it will affect long term goals of the agency. “At the outset, we’d like to state that the bills… proposed will tend to imperil probably on a permanent or temporary basis the sustained benefits of the members and the benefits that’s supposed to go to the members,” she told senators. She said the scheduled increase is expected to generate P41.37 billion and realize a projected fund surplus worth P27.22 billion in 2021. It will also stop the build up of unfunded liability. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

Former Supreme court justices, UP law professors want SolGen to explain Parlade post

TWO former Supreme Court justices, along with law professors from the University of the Philippines (UP), asked the high court to direct the government’s principal counsel to explain the social media post of a military officer against those opposed to the Anti-Terrorism Act, saying it poses a “clear threat” to them. In a 13-page manifestation filed Monday, retired justices Antonio T. Carpio and Conchita Carpio-Morales, and law professors from the state university said they want the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to inform the court if the post under the name of “Antonio Parlade” is an official government position. The petitioners asked the court to direct the OSG to submit its explanation before the Feb. 2 oral arguments relating to 37 cases filed against the anti-terror law. The post of Mr. Parlade warned against individuals and groups who are assailing the law, which expanded the definition of terror crimes in the country. “The SC will soon be hearing petitions against the Anti-Terror Law. Let’s be watchful of these individuals, groups, and organizations opposing a law that will protect citizens from terrorists. What’s their agenda?” the post read. Lt. Gen. Antonio G. Parlade, Jr. is the commander of Armed Forces of the Philippines-Southern Luzon Command and a member of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict. The petitioners said the post was “designed to intimidate,” citing the parts “blood debts will be paid” and “amounts to interference with the Honorable Court’s power to administer Justice.” The petitioners said such stance is “inconsistent with the right to petition the government for redress of grievances” under the Constitution. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Physical classes allowed in some medical schools

THE resumption of face-to-face classes for some medical schools has been given the greenlight in areas with low coronavirus cases, Malacañang said on Tuesday. “This is for med schools and medical allied programs of higher education institutions under MGCQ (modified general community quarantine) and HEIs (higher education institutions) in GCQ (general community quarantine) areas with base hospitals that cater to COVID-19 patients,” Presidential spokesman Harry L. Roque, Jr. said during a televised press briefing. He said it is crucial for the country to keep producing medical professionals, especially with the continued coronavirus outbreak. “With a pandemic, we need all the doctors we can have,” Mr. Roque said. The country’s taskforce against the coronavirus pandemic earlier allowed the University of the Philippines-Manila to hold in-person medical internships. It also earlier allowed the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and other technical vocational institutions to hold face-to-face trainings in areas under MGCQ and GCQ. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza

3,000 foreigners deported in 2020

MORE than 3,000 foreigners who violated the country’s immigration laws, mostly Chinese nationals, were deported in 2020, the Bureau of Immigration reported. In a statement Tuesday, Commissioner Jaime H. Morente said 3,219 foreigners were deported last year, 3,009 of whom were Chinese. The others were: 60 Vietnamese, 40 Koreans, 25 Americans, 20 Japanese, 12 Indians, and five Pakistanis. “Deported aliens are automatically placed in our blacklist, and are banned from re-entering the Philippines,” Mr. Morente said. The number of deportees in 2020 was lower than the over 6,000 the previous year given travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Morente said that many of those deported were arrested for “working without permit, involvement in unauthorized online gaming operations, telecommunications fraud, economic crimes, investment scams, and cybercrime activities.” There are 276 foreigners still detained at the immigration facility in Taguig City and awaiting deportation as of Dec. 22. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Regional Updates (01/26/21)

Practice vaccination

THE LOCAL government of Valenzuela City holds its first simulation on January 26 of the vaccination process that is targeted for implementation by the second half of the year. The city government also opened its online registration site for the free vaccination program for residents 18 years old and above. The vaccination exercise was held at the Malinta Elementary School, one of the 17 designated sites. Mayor Rex T. Gatchialan said in a Twitter post: “Practice makes perfect.”

PCCI-Mindanao to assist Davao MSMEs procure COVID vaccines

HELPING small businesses recover from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is at the top of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Mindanao’s (PCCI-Mindanao) agenda this year, starting with the procurement of vaccines. PCCI-Mindanao Regional Governor Arturo M. Milan said they are currently conducting a survey of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Davao Region to find out how they can be assisted in buying vaccines. “We will consolidate the result of the survey and coordinate and inquire from the Inter-Agency Task Force (on the coronavirus response) and the Department of Health (DoH) how the MSMEs can procure the vaccines,” Mr. Milan said in an online interview. He said they see the rollout of vaccines as a means to rebuilding people’s confidence in going out more, which has been the biggest challenge in reviving the local economy. “Hopefully, things will change once we start the vaccination program,” he said. Meanwhile, the Health department’s regional office has assured that cold storage facilities are being readied for the vaccines. “Our (Davao Region) capacity in most of our LGUs (local government units) are the 2°C to 8°C facilities. We have a partner that owns a cold room storage facility of -25°C degrees centigrade,” vaccination program team leader Janis V. Olavides said in a virtual presser last week. She added that they are looking at whether the region still needs to secure ultra-low temperature freezers to accommodate vaccines that require this storage setting. Davao is in the list of regions flagged to have increasing coronavirus cases released by the national government Tuesday. As of January 25, the region recorded 16,289 cases, of which 2,631 are active. Most of the active cases are in Davao City at 1,490. COVID medical care facilities are at moderate risk with 71% of the 62 ICU beds occupied, while isolation and ward beds are at occupancy levels of 56.6% and 49.7%, respectively. — Maya M. Padillo

What we can learn from China’s lockdown policies

Pitting authoritarianism against democracy has become common during the pandemic, with the former often being painted as a more effective regime type in handling COVID-19. The Chinese Communist Party’s own narrative promotes a version of this argument, equating China’s success in keeping cases and deaths low with the “superiority” of its political system. This is in spite of successful containment by some democracies.

But arguing that the world should ignore governing style and instead focus on learning from China’s policies is problematic — it depends on the assumption that policies can simply be grafted from one political system into another. Introducing policies from a different type of regime requires adapting those policies to fit the systems they are absorbed into.

China’s lockdowns are an important example. They have succeeded in controlling transmission because they have followed a clear logic, underpinned by the nature and characteristics of their political system. To learn from China’s lockdowns, we need to understand both the logic behind them and the importance of the context in which they took place.

Wuhan’s lockdown began on Jan. 23, 2020. At 2 a.m., with no public debate, authorities ordered that at 10 a.m. all public transport both inside and going in and out of the city must stop. Then came orders to stop online car-hailing, close the tunnel under the Yangtze (which cuts through the city), and ban motor vehicle use. The city was forced to a halt.

But the logical result of stopping transport was that the government itself had to provide alternatives. It ordered districts to supply transport for transferring patients and requisitioned taxis for community use.

Having stopped movement, the government turned to building hospitals and requisitioning facilities exclusively for COVID-19 patients. It was then able to begin dividing up its population. It stipulated four categories of people to be separated from the rest: confirmed cases, suspected cases, people with symptoms for whom infection couldn’t be ruled out, and contacts. The first subset was sent for treatment, the latter three to centralized isolation facilities.

This was paired with measures to restrict the movement of everyone outside the four categories. Nationwide, to facilitate compliance, the government called on community workers and volunteers to set up 24-hour checkpoints at neighborhood entrances to register anyone entering or leaving. This formed a two-pronged approach: a collective effort that successfully restricted citizens’ movements, alongside the government casting a wide net to root out and treat or isolate every last person deemed as a transmission risk.

These measures demanded mass mobilization, involving countless residents, community workers, Party members, local militia, and staff drafted in from government and state-owned enterprises. Swiftly organized teams staffed checkpoints, couriered supplies, and went from door to door asking people about their movements and health.

All of this — the unapologetic sweeping categorization of people, the mass mobilization, the supplanting of citizen choice with government-supplied alternatives, and relocation of people deemed as a transmission risk — drew on the existing core capacities and well-practiced methods of the Communist Party and its government. Its logic made sense to a society well acquainted with this system of government.

This same logic is now being applied in very different circumstances in Hebei, a province neighboring Beijing. Three core elements of that logic are restricting movement, compelling but also enabling compliance, and rooting out anyone viewed as a source of risk.

The Gaocheng district of Shijiazhuang — a city of more than 11 million people which takes in both rural and urban areas — is at the center of a new outbreak. All people and vehicles there have been banned from leaving. The provincial court has warned that anyone failing to cooperate may be criminally prosecuted. Meanwhile a second city, Nangong — home to half a million people — has notified citizens that leaving home is prohibited and rule breakers will be detained.

While the logic remains the same, isolation policy is evolving: who is isolated — and how they are isolated — has changed. The government is building makeshift mass isolation facilities for anyone who could, conceivably, be infected. Since rural areas lack sufficient facilities such as hotels to requisition, to prevent the virus spreading within villages and individual households, isolation centers are being built from scratch.

Instead of isolating only contacts, secondary contacts are now isolated too. Shijiazhuang has found 986 new cases, and yet in Gaocheng, authorities ordered 15 entire villages — more than 20,000 people — to relocate into “centralized isolation.”

This applies and stretches the principle of “isolating everyone who must be isolated,” described by an expert from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention as part of a package central to China’s success. “Everyone” in Gaocheng’s case has meant anyone from a village with at least one case. Only villages with zero cases were allowed to isolate at home.

Authorities have just announced the adoption of this isolation model nationwide. Local governments must make anticipatory plans for requisitioning enough buildings for contacts and secondary contacts. In rural areas, they must prepare to build large-scale isolation facilities.

As countries face new lockdowns, China’s successful actions prompt reflection on our own approaches. Under Chinese policy, mandatory isolation includes everyone conceivably infected, and mandatory centralized isolation seeks to cut the risk of within-household infection.

China’s control methods combine population categorization, the dynamic capacity to find possible infections, strict compliance, and government coordination of everything from where a person isolates to how they access food. These methods rely overwhelmingly on system-wide mobilization, with Chinese citizens playing a key role. At the core of China’s response is replacing citizen choice with government command and organization.

In the UK, however, a premium is placed on public debate along with individual choice and responsibility. For policies to be taken from China, they would have to be adapted to fit this context. If Britons are to be asked (not compelled) to isolate, they must be financially able to do so. At-home isolation must be facilitated by clear, consistent, accessible guidance to help limit the risk of within-household infection. And, if centralized isolation is to be considered, people would need to be given the means to comply.

Reflecting on a year of lockdowns, there may be something to be learned from China. But a good place to start is in recognizing that for policies to be successful, they need to follow a coherent logic and fit the political system in which they are being used.

REUTERS

 

William Wang is a PhD Candidate at the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University. Holly Snape is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Glasgow.

The digital push

The digital push emanates from a universal drive for continuity and urgency to recover from this punishing pandemic. Digital technology in all its permutations has become an accessible tool to cope with the disruptions of lockdown measures, economic survival, and managing political stability.

Digitalization is playing an increasing role in the daily lives of the Filipinos as attested by the latest Pulse Asia survey (November 2020), which said 64% of Filipinos use the internet, indicating a general increase in internet usage induced by stay-at-home quarantine policies and the shift to work-from-home mode in both government and private offices.

In assessing digital competitiveness, the IMD World Competitiveness Center uses the subfactors of regulatory framework, capital, and technological framework to gauge digital capacity.

According to the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2020, our country ranked 57th — 7th from the last place — among 63 countries. Ranked at 62nd under Regulatory Framework, our country placed very low in the categories of Starting a Business (62nd) and Enforcing contracts (61st). In terms of Technological Framework, our country ranked 49th; 62nd in Communications Technology; and 61st in internet bandwidth speed.

But there is a bright spot. The top ten ranking given by the World Bank in telecommunications investment recognizes the performance of the aggressive infrastructure spending of the two dominant telcos, Globe Telecom and Smart, to upgrade their digital facilities.

Globe Telecom has announced big modernization efforts in Luzon and the upgrading of its signal to high-speed LTE signal in Visayas and Mindanao. The company is increasing 2021 investments by 250%, or an estimated P70 billion, to build new cell towers and expansion of its 5G network.

Smart Communications will likewise be spending heavily, projecting P88 billion to P92 billion capital expenditure to further expand services to the underserved and unserved parts of the country. More consumers will be enjoying high speed connectivity with 5G signals in more urban centers this year.

Despite a 500% spike in internet usage reported by telcos, The Ookla Speedtest Global Index Report for November 2020 measured a 148.52% for mobile broadband and 262.20% improvement on the country’s internet average download speed for fixed broadband compared to 2016.

Responding to the pandemic-stricken world, the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) — The Davos Agenda 2021 will be tackling the theme, “How governments and other stakeholders approach technological change will play an important role in “resetting” society, the economy and the business environment.”

Prompting this agenda was the new World Economic Forum-Ipsos survey (Dec. 23, 2020 – Jan. 8, 2021) involving 28 countries and 23,004 online adult participants. The survey revealed that “most adults are uniquely optimistic about accessing technology, digital tools and training in the next 12 months.” Additionally, it states that: “There has been a palpable mindset shift when it comes to technology. Throughout the pandemic, technology has been a lifeline to survival — both personal and for businesses — and it is now seen to hold the key to recovery.” And for the current year, the most likely “Expected Change in 2021” points to the 25% increase in the “availability of digital tools and technology.” 

This means that both domestic and international factors converge to represent the so-called digital push. Certain necessary components, however, need to be present in order to capitalize digitalization and move forward with the digital push.

Good governance must be present. It is indispensable in providing a sensible regulatory environment that would enable our telecom companies to thrive and deliver the much-needed digital services to the Filipinos.

Attuned to digital competitiveness, a good regulatory and technological framework is equally important in upgrading and building the country’s digital infrastructure and facilities. Digitalization can only succeed if the national government possesses a sound digital mindset and will commit substantial budget allocations to build a nationwide broadband backbone that will integrate with private telco infrastructure assets. This can more than quadruple the pace of digital infrastructure building and bring the country up to par with global digital standards.

Also, good governance entails the leveraging of productive government-business collaboration toward the delivery of public digital services and the streamlining of related services in this time of pandemic.

Exhibited by the private sector’s performance during the pandemic, it is appropriate to emphasize how this sector bolstered investments and resource mobilization in the COVID-19 response. In this sense, a trusting and mutually respecting attitude, rather than predatory, should be imbibed by the government. Only with synergy of the public and private sector can the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic be mitigated and recovery achieved.

In so far as digitalization has become a reality of our everyday life, and in so far as the prospects of the new normal have changed how we live; the digital push could be reinforced and actualized into public benefits not only through public-private collaboration but with the participation of the whole population as well.

 

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

Of course the boss cares what you say on Twitter

SHORTLY AFTER US President Joe Biden spoke of uniting the country last week, Will Wilkinson of the Niskanen Center think tank quipped on Twitter, “If Biden really wanted unity, he’d lynch Mike Pence.” The joke — in case it doesn’t sound funny to you — being that Pence is now hated on both the left and the right.

Wilkinson quickly lost his job. And the reaction was predictable: Fox News reported the tweet at face value. Reason magazine condemned “cancel culture.” And other public intellectuals on Twitter fretted that if it can happen to Wilkinson, “it can happen to any of us.”

That’s right. It can happen to anyone … who jokes on Twitter about lynching the vice-president.

This isn’t about free speech or cancel culture. It’s about employability. People who think they have unlimited free speech on social media are deluding themselves about how companies work. Just as you can’t joke about a bomb in an airport without expecting to hear from the Transportation Security Administration, you can’t say certain things on Twitter without expecting a call from HR.

Employers have made this clear for at least the past 10 years. Social media can be dangerous for those of us who rely on a paycheck. Google “waitress fired for Facebook” and you will find stories from Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio about servers getting axed for complaining about rude customers or stingy tips.

Sarcasm ratchets up the danger. This has been clear since at least 2014, when communications executive Justine Sacco lost her job after tweeting “Going to Africa, hope I don’t get AIDS!” — a comment she insisted was sarcastic.

When I tweet something even moderately controversial, I ask myself if it will cause me to lose my job — and consequently health insurance and the ability to pay my mortgage. Perhaps online caution is a generational thing. Social media predates my arrival into the workforce; as soon as I had a cubicle, I was friending bosses and colleagues on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This means coworkers get a peek at my personal life, and also that I self-censor, a lot. And I’m an oversharing millennial; Gen Z often eschews Facebook altogether and keeps other accounts private.

It’s not that different from other kinds of self-questioning at work, especially among employees outside the dominant demographic: How direct can I be? Will someone take offense if I say this? Is this too personal?

More than a century ago, the essayist John Jay Chapman described the link between employability and self-censorship in a commencement address to the graduating class of Hobart College. It’s short — you should read the whole thing — but here’s the crucial point: “Try to raise a voice from here to Albany and watch what comes forward to shut off the sound. It is not a German sergeant, nor a Russian officer of the precinct. It is a note from a friend of your father’s, offering you a place in his office. This is your warning from the secret police.”

Chapman goes on to advise the graduates to “make a bonfire of your reputations, and a close enemy of most men who would wish you well. … Be shunned, be hated, be ridiculed, be scared, be in doubt, but don’t be gagged.” It’s a rousing, backbone-strengthening defense of bold speech. Often, when I’m deciding to speak up about something important, I’ve re-read these lines for courage. And often I’ve wondered how Chapman paid his bills.

But the risk is worth it only when you’ve got something important to say. It’s one thing to speak up against unsafe working conditions, inadequate pay, discrimination. It’s another to risk your reputation for an online bon mot.

Firing people for social media posts, whether they are waitresses or writers, isn’t fair because it isn’t proportional. The reputational damage to a company from an employee who tweets tastelessly is small; the reputational damage to the worker from getting publicly sacked is large. And companies do sometimes terminate people for imaginary infractions, such as when Sherwin Williams fired an employee last year for making unauthorized — and wildly popular — paint-mixing videos on TikTok. (He soon had offers from several competitors.)

Employees have always had to watch their words on the job. Professionalism is a mask, and online personas aren’t people’s “real selves,” either. Both at the office and online, we’re expected to put on our most palatable faces. The safest motto is: Tweet in haste; repent at leisure.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Xi warns against new Cold War

PRESIDENT Xi Jinping called on the world to abandon “ideological prejudice” and shun an “outdated Cold-War mentality” as he signaled that China will continue to forge its own path regardless of western criticism.

It’s vital to stay committed to international law and international rules “instead of staying committed to supremacy,” Mr. Xi told the Davos Agenda event on Monday, in his first address since Joe Biden entered the White House. “Confrontation will lead us to a dead end,” he said, and urged a return to mutual respect to help the recovery from the pandemic.

“To build small circles and start a new Cold War, to reject, threaten or intimidate others, to willfully impose decoupling, supply disruptions, or sanctions, or to create isolation or estrangement, will only push the world into division and even confrontation,” he said.

Mr. Xi’s speech had been widely anticipated for the tone it would set for relations between the world’s biggest economies over the next four years. Though Mr. Xi did not name Mr. Biden by name, many of his comments were clearly targeted at the new US administration.

Mr. Xi repeated many of the same talking points about multilateralism and “win-win” outcomes that he deployed in his last address to Davos four years ago, days before Donald Trump’s inauguration, but he also signaled that he does not intend to change course in the face of US pressure.

“Each country is unique with its own history, culture and social system, and none is superior to the other,” Mr. Xi said, warning against imposing a “hierarchy on human civilization” or forcing one’s own systems onto others.

China’s leaders have long embraced Davos as a forum to showcase economic reforms while sidestepping difficult questions about politics. Former Premier Li Peng visited in 1992 as China sought to attract foreign investors in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.

Mr. Xi signaled his desire to put aside political issues which have helped drive a deterioration in ties with Western countries, including his abolition of term limits and use of “re-education” camps in the far western region of Xinjiang. “No two leaves are identical,” Mr. Xi told his online audience.

Mr. Xi’s desire to set aside political differences won’t be an easy sell. On the campaign trail, Mr. Biden said China’s policies in Xinjiang were “unconscionable” and even branded Mr. Xi a “thug.” The European Union (EU) also officially labeled China as a “systemic rival” in 2019, although it went on to sign an investment deal with the Asian nation in the final days of 2020.

“Xi’s efforts to pitch China as a force for multilateralism is likely received with more skepticism today than perhaps it was in 2017,” Patricia Kim, a Wilson Center global fellow, told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday. Ms. Kim cited China’s initial handling of Covid-19 and resistance to global investigation of the virus’s origins, along with its behavior toward Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan.

“Global context has dramatically changed for China,” she said. “Since 2017, China’s global image has really plummeted.”

WHITE HOUSE REACTION
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday that Mr. Xi’s remarks “don’t change anything” about how the administration is approaching the relationship with Beijing.

Ms. Psaki said Mr. Biden’s view is that the US needs to “play a better defense” when it comes to protecting American technology and said the administration will continue to review key issues such as the investments by Chinese companies and the blacklisting of Chinese telecommunications companies.

“Those complex reviews are just starting, and I noted, they will need to go through the interagency so the State Department, the Treasury Department, a number of others who will review how we move forward,” Ms. Psaki said. “We’re starting from an approach of patience as it relates to our relationship with China.”

During his speech, Mr. Xi hinted at his desire to reestablish high-level dialogue with the incoming administration, calling for countries to “enhance political trust through strategic communication.” The Chinese leader succeeded in building a cordial personal relationship with Mr. Trump even as the two powers descended into a trade war. That effort began with a trip to the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in April 2017 and led to the development of official dialogue tracks which eventually disintegrated over the course of Mr. Trump’s presidency.

By the time Mr. Biden was sworn-in, more than 100 officially organized exchange forums had been disbanded, companies like Huawei Technologies have been hit with export curbs and tariffs imposed on almost $500 billion of products. While Mr. Biden hasn’t given many specifics on how he’ll deal with these and other flashpoints, he has signaled a shift from confrontation to competition.

In his speech, Mr. Xi steered clear of the triumphal tone evident in some of his domestic addresses in recent years. In a speech last September, Mr. Xi said China’s pandemic response demonstrated the “superiority” of China’s political system. In others, he has argued that “China is moving closer to the center of the world stage.”

Still, the president spoke from a position of strength: China has been the only major economy to report growth amid the pandemic last year, and economists are forecasting an expansion of 8.3% this year, compared with 4.1% in the US — Bloomberg

House Democrats deliver article of impeachment against Trump to Senate

WASHINGTON — The US House of Representatives delivered to the Senate on Monday a charge that former President Donald Trump incited insurrection in a speech to supporters before the deadly attack on the Capitol, setting in motion his second impeachment trial.

Nine House Democrats who will serve as prosecutors in Mr. Trump’s trial, accompanied by the clerk of the House and the acting sergeant at arms, carried the charge against Mr. Trump to the Senate in a solemn procession across the Capitol.

Wearing masks to protect against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), they filed through the ornate Capitol Rotunda and into the Senate chamber, following the path that a mob of Trump supporters took on Jan. 6 as they clashed with police.

On arrival in the Senate, the lead House impeachment manager, Representative Jamie Raskin, read out the charge. “Donald John Trump engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors by inciting violence against the government of the United States,” he said.

Ten House Republicans joined Democrats in voting to impeach Mr. Trump on Jan. 13. But Senate Democrats will need the support of 17 Republicans to convict him in the evenly divided chamber, a steep climb given the continued allegiance to Mr. Trump among the Republican Party’s conservative base of voters.

President Joe Biden said on Monday he did not believe there would be enough votes to convict Mr. Trump, according to CNN, citing a brief interview with Mr. Trump’s Democratic successor.

Over 30 Democrats were present to hear Mr. Raskin’s remarks, but just three Republicans: Senate party leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Mitt Romney and Senator Roger Marshall, who was just elected in November.

Capitol Police were scattered along the lawmakers’ route from the House to the Senate, and security around the Capitol remained tight, with roads closed off and barbed wire-topped fencing. Many of the National Guard troops deployed after Jan. 6 had been sent home, but thousands remained.

FEB. 9 START DATE
Mr. Trump, a Republican, is the only US president to have been impeached by the House twice and is set to become the first to face trial after leaving office. His term ended last Wednesday.

The Senate is expected to start a trial on Feb. 9 on the article of impeachment against Mr. Trump. The 100 senators are due to serve as jurors in proceedings that could result in Mr. Trump’s disqualification from ever again serving as president.

Democrat Patrick Leahy, the Senate’s longest-serving member, said on Monday he would preside over the trial.

Although the Constitution calls on the US chief justice to preside over presidential impeachments, a senator presides when the impeached is not the current president, a Senate source said. First elected to the chamber in 1974, Mr. Leahy, 80, holds the title of Senate president pro tempore.

Chief Justice John Roberts presided over the impeachment trial when the Senate, then controlled by Mr. Trump’s fellow Republicans, acquitted Mr. Trump in February 2020 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress arising from his request that Ukraine investigate Mr. Biden and his son.

Mr. Leahy will still be able to vote in the trial, an aide said, noting that senators still vote on all matters when presiding over the chamber.

A number of Republican lawmakers have objected to the impeachment, some arguing that it would be a violation of the Constitution to hold a trial now because Mr. Trump no longer serves as president.

“I still have concerns about the constitutionality of this, and then the precedent it sets in trying to convict a private citizen,” Republican Senator Joni Ernst told reporters. “So in the future, can this be used against (former) President (Barack) Obama?” she asked. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, rejected that argument on Monday.

“The theory that the Senate can’t try former officials would amount to a constitutional get-out-of-jail-free card for any president,” Mr. Schumer told the Senate.

The Senate is divided 50-50, with Democrats holding a majority because of the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris. Senate leaders agreed on Friday to put off the trial for two weeks to give Mr. Trump more time to prepare a defense and let the chamber focus on Mr. Biden’s early priorities, including Cabinet appointments.

The impeachment focuses on Mr. Trump’s speech to supporters on a grassy expanse near the White House shortly before a mob stormed the Capitol, disrupted the formal certification of Mr. Biden’s victory over Mr. Trump in the Nov. 3 election, sent lawmakers into hiding and left five people dead, including a police officer.

During his speech, Mr. Trump repeated his false claims that the election was rigged against him with widespread voting fraud and irregularities. He exhorted his supporters to march on the Capitol, telling them to “stop the steal,” “show strength,” “fight much harder” and use “very different rules.” — Reuters

Canadian CEO resigns after being accused of vaccine queue-jumping

VANCOUVER — Great Canadian Gaming Corp. CEO Rod Baker has resigned, the company said on Monday, after he and his wife were charged with traveling to northern Canada and misleading authorities in order to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

The North York, Ontario-based company said in a statement that it received the chief executive officer’s resignation on Sunday but offered no details, stating that it did not comment on personnel matters.

Mr. Baker did not immediately return a request for comment.

Great Canadian Gaming Corp. is in the process of being bought by Apollo Global Management, Inc. for C$2.52 billion ($1.98 billion).

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp., which first reported the incident, said Mr. Baker, 55, and his wife Ekaterina Baker, 32, had traveled from Vancouver to the Yukon territory and posed as local workers in the remote community of Beaver Creek in order to receive a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

The sparsely populated territory, home to a high proportion of indigenous people, is situated in northwestern Canada, where government data shows a faster vaccination rate than in the rest of Canada. It covers almost 500,000 km (310,685 miles) with just under 36,000 residents.

Documents filed in the Yukon court registry show the pair were charged on Thursday with having failed to behave in a manner “consistent with (their) declaration.”

They also were charged with failing to quarantine for 14 days on arrival in Yukon and each was fined C$1,150 ($902.60), according to the tickets.

“We are deeply concerned by the actions of individuals who put our elders and vulnerable people at risk to jump the line for selfish purposes,” White River First Nation Chief Angela Demit, leader of the local indigenous nation, wrote on Facebook.

Yukon’s Community Services Minister John Streicker said in a statement he was “outraged” and found it “disturbing that people would choose to put fellow Canadians at risk in this manner.”

A spokesman for the Yukon government said it would implement new requirements for proving residency in the territory.

Last month Apollo sweetened its bid for Great Canadian Gaming Corp., helping the private equity firm to win support of shareholders who had opposed the initial offer. — Reuters

Tokyo revises contact tracing strategy, narrows to higher-risk cases

TOKYO — Tokyo has revised its contact-tracing strategy to prioritise outreach to higher-risk individuals affected by coronavirus, according to a letter sent by the metropolitan government to public health authorities last week.

The change comes as a third wave of the pandemic overwhelms Japan’s public health centres, which handle everything from tests and tracing to finding hospital beds.

Despite its early success, experts have warned that the country’s strategy to trace clusters of cases rather than conduct mass tests could face limits as virus cases surge nationwide.

Public health officials and doctors have lobbied for months for authorities to increase testing to ensure early detection and contain the spread of the virus.

Since infection cases began to rise in November, public health centre officials have asked to further narrow their contact-tracing efforts due to staffing shortages.

“Regarding epidemiological investigations, each public health centre will focus on finding out places and groups that contain people with higher risks,” said the Tokyo metropolitan government’s letter dated Jan. 22 seen by Reuters, referring to the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions.

Asked about concerns over scaling back efforts to trace the contacts of every person, Naomi Seki, an official at Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s health bureau, told Reuters the new policy would help public health workers cope with the rising number of coronavirus cases. — Reuters

PBA draft pool gets deeper

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

JANUARY 27 marks the deadline for aspirants to submit their application for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) rookie draft, which now boasts of a fortified pool after a number of quality players added their names to the list.

From collegiate and amateur/pro-am standouts to all-around Fil-foreigners, this year’s roster of rookie hopefuls is viewed by many as one of the deeper in years in the local pro league.

Among the players who made themselves available for the draft recently are Larry Muyang, Will Navarro, James Laput, Jamie Malonzo, David Murrell, Jun Manzo, and Jaydee Tungcab.

Mr. Muyang is a champion collegiate player out of Colegio de San Juan de Letran.

The Pampanga native is one of the more successful players to come out of the Knights’ program, having won the rookie of the year award in Season 94 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) then a year later helping Letran win the NCAA title.

It is this same success the 6’5” bruiser wants to achieve in the pro ranks where he hopes he could be of help to teams wanting to shore up their front court.

Mr. Muyang, 25, also played for the Pampanga Delta in the National Basketball League and Pampanga Giant Lanterns and the San Juan Knight-Go For Gold in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League.

In applying for the draft, one of the motivations for Mr. Muyang is to begin providing a good life for his family.

Mr. Navarro, meanwhile, is coming off a successful collegiate career with University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) champions Ateneo Blue Eagles.

While he still has one year of eligibility to play in the UAAP, he decided to try his luck in the draft to also help his family.

In Ateneo, Mr. Navarro worked his way up before finding a steady place in the rotation of the Blue Eagles where he excelled.

His development and work did not go unnoticed, with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas including him in the Gilas cadet pool of players.

He saw action in the second window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in November in Manama, Bahrain, and is now in the running for a roster spot in the upcoming ACQ window in February here.

Mr. Navarro is currently at the INSPIRE Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna, where Gilas is holding a training “bubble” in preparation for next month’s competition.

Messrs. Laput and Malonzo, for their part, were a couple of one-and-done players for the De La Salle Green Archers in the UAAP and showcased their wares in the PBA D-League.

Big man Laput unfortunately was not able to show what he is capable of in the UAAP because of an injury he suffered in practice, limiting him to just seven games for La Salle.

He recently played in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 President’s Cup and did well for the Big Boss Cement-Porac.

“I just want to be with a team that sorely needs a big man. Maybe a team like Meralco or Magnolia. I think it would be fun to be able to play with those teams and learn from the veterans, and at the same time do what I need to do to help the team,” Mr. Laput was quoted as saying by the official PBA website of his draft aspirations.

Mr. Malonzo is highly touted entering the draft and considered a top three prospect, if not the number one selection.

In his lone season for La Salle, he averaged 15.77 points, 9.92 rebounds, 1.62 assists, and 1.08 steals per game, earning him a spot in the UAAP Season 82 Mythical Team.

Messrs. Manzo, Murrell, and Tungcab, meanwhile, were key players in the impressive showing of the University of the Philippines in the UAAP in the last couple of years.

They played their respective roles for the Fighting Maroons effectively, with Mr. Manzo the top floor general, Mr. Murrell a defensive presence, and Mr. Tungcab a do-it-all wing player.

Other players in the draft pool include top 3×3 players Joshua Munzon, Alvin Pasaol, Santi Santillan and Troy Rike, Fil-foreigners Franky Johnson, Taylor Statham and Mickey Williams, and collegiate standouts Andrei Caracut and Ben Adamos.

The PBA Rookie Draft happens on March 14, but to adapt to the prevailing conditions with the coronavirus pandemic, it will be done virtually.

It is still being determined if just like last time around there will be a special draft for Gilas as the PBA is still awaiting word from the SBP.

Also, in place of a traditional draft combine, where the aspirants have their skills tested, the PBA may ask the aspirants to submit videos of themselves doing skills tests and drills for the teams to pore over as they make the decision on which players to take.

Set to pick first for the third straight season are Terrafirma Dyip, who finished last in the lone tournament in the coronavirus pandemic-hit PBA season in 2020.