WITH the National Basketball Association (NBA) in ongoing negotiations with the players union over proposed schedule formats and dates for the 2020-21 regular season, commissioner Adam Silver reportedly told league general managers Monday that the two sides are “running out of time” if they want to begin in December.
ESPN reported that the NBA conducted a conference call with league GMs to update teams on the state of negotiations. Sources said Silver and the league office indicated the window to start next season before Christmas — as the owners proposed last month — is closing.
The NBA’s current 72-game proposal includes a Dec. 22 tipoff, and the league has previously said it would provide at least eight weeks notice before the launch of a new season, according to a report by The Athletic in mid-October. Currently, the eight-week mark would stretch into late December, past the league’s target start date. — Reuters
Head coach Bruce Arians had a decision to make, and he pondered the possible consequences of his choices. The Buccaneers were up 22-17 with 3:49 left on the game clock, and he could opt to have his charges go for fourth and one on the Giants’ 20-yard line. It was a move supported by quarterback Tom Brady who, naturally, wanted to be in position to put the score out of reach. Instead, he took the more conservative tack and sent Ryan Succop out to secure a fourth field goal in four tries. Mission accomplished.
The problem, of course, was that the Giants still had ample time to tie the contest. And for a while there, they appeared to be in prime position to force the extra period. Daniel Jones continued to blow hot and cold under center, but somehow showed his best just when things seemed bleakest; he summoned some magic on a 15-yard run off a remarkable scramble, as well as on two fourth-down conversions and, most tellingly, a 19-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Golden Tate. The stage was set; all he needed to complete the improbable comeback against the superior Buccaneers was make the two-point try.
That the Giants ultimately failed in extending the set-to speaks less of them and more about the Buccaneers, who were two-touchdown favorites heading into the encounter. Mere inches and a single moment foiled them; had Jones, given ample time by his offensive line, been more on target to the right, running back Dion Lewis would have had enough clearance to catch the ball in the end zone. As things turned out, safety Antoine Winfield Jr. scampered quickly enough to make contact and scuttle the attempted connection. In this regard, it also didn’t help that the pass was late.
Still, the Giants looked to have a chance. The referees huddled and deliberated on whether or not Winfield was guilty of pass interference. In the end, they made the right call, capping a stellar night of officiating and validating Arians’ own decision. Perhaps the Buccaneers deserved another outcome for showing up late to the party and unnecessarily keeping their opponents close. In any case, their talent depth enabled them to prevent yet another heartbreaker happening to Brady courtesy of his longtime foils.
At this point, the Buccaneers have ample reason to rejoice. They’re six and two for just the third time in history, and they wound up claiming the Vince Lombardi Trophy in 2002, when they were last in the same position. And as they aim to rule the National Football Conference South and, ultimately, the National Football League, however, they would do well to keep their focus. As even their most confident fans know, they’re capable of undermining early promise with late-season collapses. To be sure, they now have Brady, who can’t be too sad he’s done with the measurably mystifying Meadowlands and moving on.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
Turnitin has three functions: it scans for plagiarized content, processes grades for academic work, and handles peer reviews between students.
An Internet-based service helps teachers detect plagiarism, a problem that exists in both physical and virtual classrooms.
Turnitin has three functions: it scans for plagiarized content, processes grades for academic work, and handles peer reviews between students. Among the service’s Philippine clients are the University of the Philippines, De La Salle University, Ateneo De Manila University, the University of Santo Tomas, and the Mapua Institute of Technology.
To avoid the temptation of plagiarism, Jack Brazel, Turnitin’s head of business partnership in Southeast Asia, said educators need to build a classroom community centered on academic integrity with clearly defined expectations for students. Teachers need to teach students how to take notes as well as quote and cite sources properly. “Writing skills are not acquired overnight, and it requires constant practice to achieve a level of mastery,” he said. Classroom policies and consistent enforcement will also deter acts of plagiarism by students.
Apart from technology that enables educators to identify instances of plagiarism, “tactics such as breaking large assignments into smaller parts, integrating forms of personal or current events reflection in assignments, and requiring students to summarize their work to demonstrate mastery of the topic, are all important ways to reduce opportunities to plagiarize assignments,” Mr. Brazel added.
HONOR CODE Plagiarism is a continuing problem that affects educational institutions worldwide. US surveys between 2002–2015 conducted by Professor Donald McCabe, founder of the International Center for Academic Integrity, showed that 39% of the over 71,000 university undergraduates surveyed cheated on tests. Sixty-two percent also admitted cheating on written assignments.
Meanwhile, six in 10 faculty members in the US believe academic fraud is more common in online courses than in face-to-face courses, according to a 2019 survey on faculty attitudes on technology by Inside Higher Ed, a news and analysis source for the higher education community.
Parents and educators may unintentionally aggravate the problem by pressuring students to value results over learning.
Having an academic honor code—such as unproctored exams and a signed pledge of honest work from students—can help create an atmosphere of academic honesty and accountability. Having such a code, however, will only work if everyone practices it, said Linda Treviño, professor of organizational behavior and ethics in the Smeal College of Business at Pennsylvania State University, in a 2013 article on why students cheat.
According to Ms. Treviño, it is important to set high aspirations for students regarding academic honesty and to have shared values. An accountability system should be in place to manage students who do cheat.
“What we are trying to do is create a context that supports doing the right thing. Faculty and staff need to be willing to provide guidance and resources but also share power with students,” Ms. Treviño said in the same article. “This is a community effort.” — P. B. Mirasol
Three social innovators were inducted to the lifelong Ashoka Fellowship at the Ashoka Induction and Fellow Launch for creating inclusive and systems-changing solutions in their chosen Filipino communities: Ryan Gersava, Ben Abadiano, and Scott Stiles.
“Because of the pandemic, we are perfectly poised to build our world anew,” said incoming Ashoka Philippines country director Abby Mapua-Cabanilla during the virtual induction on Oct. 30.
Founded in 1981, Ashoka is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that supports and enables more than 3,500 social innovators worldwide.
Ryan Gervasa of Davao-based Virtualahan. Image via Ashoka Fellowship.
Mr. Gervasa, whose dream of becoming a physician was dashed when he couldn’t get a job after he tested positive for Hepatitis B, created the Davao-based Virtualahan, a virtual school that employs cost-effective social technology to help scholars from socially excluded populations access work in the global digital economy. As a result of the program, 42% of the school’s 350 graduates saw their income increase threefold.
Ben Abadiano of Pamulaan Center of Indigenous Peoples Education. Image via Ashoka Fellowship.
Mr. Abadiano established the Pamulaan Center of Indigenous Peoples Education in 2006 after spending time with the Manobo tribe in Bukidnon, the Mangyan tribe in Oriental Mindoro, and other indigenous peoples (IP). The first tertiary-level program for IPs, Pamulaan Center has a curriculum that integrates indigenous knowledge and culture with standard collegiate course material. Pamulaan counts teachers, anthropologists, agriculturists, community facilitators, and youth leaders among its alumni.
Scott Stiles of Fair Employment Agency. Image via Ashoka Fellowship.
Mr. Stiles, meanwhile, co-founded the Fair Employment Agency after seeing the plight of Hong Kong’s migrant workers during his summer internship there. Unlike exploitative recruitment agencies, the Fair Employment Agency promises transparent pricing and ethical practices. Within four years of launching in 2014, the agency placed over 3,000 Filipino workers without charging them recruitment fees, helping workers avoid almost US$4.5 million in recruitment debt.
To create change, Mr. Stiles advised innovators to develop a well thought-out plan to get funding support. “Embrace the power of storytelling,” Mr. Gervasa said. “That was a transformational moment that really helped us shape our narrative and attract mentors who believed in us.” Added Mr. Abadiano: “The resources will come. It is the easiest to happen if people see [your] sincerity.” — Patricia B. Mirasol
An opportunity to assuage consumer doubt regarding artificial intelligence lies within the pandemic. Wanting to be part of the solution against COVID-19, 71% of respondents understand that providing their personal information helps contact-tracing efforts. Fifty-seven percent also expect to share their personal information so that they can return to their workplace and usual social settings.
Ninety-four percent of Filipino consumers expect companies to accelerate their digital initiatives, according to “State of the Connected Customer 2020,” a report by customer relationship management (CRM) firm Salesforce released on October 29. COVID-19 drove this increase, with 88% saying that the pandemic elevated their expectations of digital capabilities.
“Regardless of who they market, sell, or provide service to, businesses are navigating a landscape they couldn’t have imagined at the beginning of this year… Connecting customers at various touch points—digital, human, or other—to gain a holistic understanding is the first step on the path to resiliency and growth,” said Vala Afshar, chief digital evangelist at Salesforce, in a press statement.
In the Philippines, more than 90% use messenger apps, e-mail, social media, and mobile apps to find out more about and connect with companies. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a potential growth area, as 60% of global consumers are open to its use in customer engagement. However, there is also an air of distrust around the use of AI, as less than half of global consumers trust companies to use it ethically.
This is a challenge for marketers as AI requires consumer information, often personal, in order to make responses and decisions. Sixty-three percent of global consumers feel that most companies aren’t transparent about how their personal information is being used. A further 61% also feel like they have lost control over how their personal information is used, up by 15% from the previous year.
An opportunity to assuage consumer doubt regarding artificial intelligence lies within the pandemic. Wanting to be part of the solution in the fight against COVID-19, 71% of respondents understand that providing their personal information helps contact-tracing efforts. Fifty-seven percent also expect to share their personal information so that they can return to their workplace and usual social settings.
“Should businesses, nonprofits, and governments seize this opportunity to demonstrate the immense good that can come from transparent, ethical use of personal information, it could mark a turning point in how customers view, manage, and share their data,” said Salesforce in the report.
The data from “State of the Connected Customer 2020” was collected between July 16 and August 18 of this year. Twelve thousand consumers and 3,600 business buyers from North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia Pacific were interviewed, including 650 respondents from the Philippines. Furthermore, the interviewees were composed of four generations, namely baby boomers, Gen Xers, millennials, and Gen Zers. — Mariel Alison L. Aguinaldo
LONDON — A small but key UK study has found that “cellular immunity” to the pandemic SARS-CoV-2 virus is present after six months in people who had mild or asymptomatic COVID-19—suggesting they might have some level of protection for at least that time.
Scientists presenting the findings, from 100 non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Britain, said they were “reassuring” but did not mean people cannot in rare cases be infected twice with the disease.
“While our findings cause us to be cautiously optimistic about the strength and length of immunity generated after SARS-CoV-2 infection, this is just one piece of the puzzle,” said Paul Moss, a professor of hematology at Britain’s Birmingham University who co-led the study.
“There is still a lot for us to learn before we have a full understanding of how immunity to COVID-19 works.”
Experts not directly involved with the study said its findings were important and would add to a growing body of knowledge about potential protective immunity to COVID-19.
The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed by other experts but was published online on bioRxiv, analyzed the blood of 100 patients six months after they had had either mild or asymptomatic COVID-19. It found that while some of the patients’ antibody levels had dropped, their T-cell response—another key part of the immune system—remained robust.
“(Our) early results show that T-cell responses may outlast the initial antibody response,” said Shame Ladhani, a consultant epidemiologist at Public Health England who co-led the work.
The study also found the size of T-cell response differed, and was considerably higher in people who had had symptomatic COVID-19 than those who had no symptoms when infected.
The researchers said this could be interpreted in two ways: It is possible that higher cellular immunity might give better protection against re-infection in people who had symptoms, or equally, that asymptomatic patients are better able to fight off the virus without the need to generate a large immune response.
“These results provide reassurance that, although the titer of antibody to SARS-CoV-2 can fall below detectable levels within a few months of infection, a degree of immunity to the virus may be maintained,” said Charles Bangham, chair of immunology at Imperial College London.
“This … bodes well for the long term, in terms of both vaccine development and the possibility of long-term protection against re-infection,” said Eleanor Riley, an immunology and infectious disease professor at Edinburgh University. She stressed, however, that “we don’t yet know whether the people in this study are protected from re-infection.”
While more than 46 million people worldwide have been infected with COVID-19, confirmed cases of re-infection are so far very rare. — Kate Kelland/Reuters
Cruise operator Royal Caribbean Group said on Monday it would stop all its cruises through the end of the year, extending previous suspensions, as coronavirus infections continue to increase globally.
The company’s announcement comes days after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a framework for a phased resumption of cruise ship operations, after a no-sail order issued in March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic expired on Saturday.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd earlier in the day said it plans to extend the suspension of its cruises starting December through the end of the year.
Royal Caribbean reported negative revenue for the first time last week, as well as a billion-dollar quarterly loss.
Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise had previously set up an expert panel to safely resume operations, as the cruise industry came to a virtual standstill after many vessels became hotbeds of infection and some operators even faced lawsuits for onboard outbreaks. — Reuters
BENGALURU — Bets against the US dollar were expected to linger or even increase in the immediate aftermath of the Nov. 3 presidential election, despite jitters in the run-up along with surging coronavirus cases, a Reuters poll showed.
After trading within tight ranges for much of October, the greenback rose to a four-week high on Friday on fears the election results will be contested in the courts, along with economic damage from renewed lockdowns in Europe.
Traders reduced net short dollar bets in the latest week, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. But bets against the US currency have outstripped those in favor for 31 weeks in a row and that is set to carry on.
In the Oct. 27–Nov. 2 Reuters poll, nearly 70% of analysts, or 29 of 42, said net short dollar positions would either stay the same or rise further immediately after the election. Only 13 said they would ease off.
“The dollar’s move is obviously dependent on the election, but what is striking is … how little territory the dollar has been able to gain, and if anything, this pullback is viewed by many investors as a dollar-selling opportunity,” said Steven Englander, head of global G10 FX research at Standard Chartered.
Thirty-nine of 60 analysts with a view said the election outcome would be the biggest driver of the dollar over the coming weeks rather than the coronavirus spread, where the United States leads the world in daily infections.
Slightly fewer than half of respondents, 25 of 57, said incumbent Donald J. Trump getting re-elected along with a continued Republican Senate—seen as unlikely according to poll averages—is the outcome that would bring about a stronger dollar.
The broader Reuters survey of more than 70 respondents showed foreign exchange strategists expect the dollar to weaken against most major currencies over the coming year.
“USD positioning remains heavily skewed to net-short territory by its historical standards, but given the centrality of the US election risk event there is surely more room for those net shorts to be rebuilt into the dollar in a market-friendly election outcome,” said Francesco Pesole, FX strategist at ING.
Democratic challenger Joseph R. Biden leads in national opinion polls and a win for him and his party taking the Senate would probably hurt the dollar, partly on expectations of a swift, large fiscal stimulus package.
“The USD oversold condition does suggest a surprise win by President Trump could easily trigger a material short-squeezing effect on the USD,” added ING’s Mr. Pesole.
A continued surge in coronavirus cases that has forced lockdowns in parts of Europe has pushed the European Central Bank to flag further monetary easing in December, pressuring the euro down to a four-week low on Friday.
The euro fell 0.6% against the dollar in October.
Still, the single currency was up nearly 4% for the year and was expected to rise further to around $1.18 in a month. In 12 months, it was expected to rise more than 4% to $1.21 from about $1.16 on Monday.
“The euro, which is largely a COVID-19 story, hasn’t been hurt as much as you would have expected,” said Standard Chartered’s Mr. Englander.
“The sense in the market is even though this is unexpectedly aggressive resurgence, it is also temporary. The market is reluctant to abandon the short dollar trade.”
Ongoing concerns over the economic drag from rising global infections have pushed stocks lower, and crude oil down by double-digits in a week on Friday.
Commodity-linked currencies fell against the dollar on Friday, and for some it was their worst week since the March collapse near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While that trend was likely to play out this week, in line with the broad expectations in the poll, the dollar was predicted to weaken against most major currencies over the coming year—including commodity-linked currencies such as the Australian and the Canadian dollar.
“At some point we get back to what I call the fundamental view: the dollar is too expensive at these prices for the interest rate differentials that now exist in the world,” said Kit Juckes, head of FX strategy at Societe Generale.
“We will see the dollar after the election, in all probability, return to the pandemic lows.” — Hari Kishan and Rahul Karunakar/Reuters
SM malls in Metro Manila and in Luzon opened doors to stranded customers and to nearby residents as Typhoon Rolly made landfall in the Bicol and Southern Luzon regions last weekend. Overnight parking charges have been waived. Free WiFi, charging stations, and a help desk are made available.
“Our malls in typhoon-hit areas will remain open to those who need shelter. Rest assured that we will extend as much relief assistance as we can to help rebuild our communities,” said SM Supermalls President Steven Tan.
In an announcement, SM malls in Metro Manila and select parts of Luzon closed early last November 1 but will accommodate anyone seeking shelter from the typhoon.
SM Supermarkets, Hypermarkets, and Savemore Markets will remain open to serve as many customers as possible.
For more updates and announcements, visit www.smsupermalls.com or its social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@SMSupermalls).
It is a mistake for the Duterte administration to think that it can separate its maritime dispute with China from issues like trade, investment, and official development assistance, said International Studies Professor Renato Cruz De Castro, a trustee and convenor of the National Security and East Asian Affairs Program of the Stratbase ADR Institute.
At the United Nations General Assembly this September, BusinessWorld reported that “President Rodrigo R. Duterte gave his most forceful defense of a 2016 United Nations (UN) ruling favoring the Philippines in a sea dispute with China, in a move that could signal the end of friendly ties with its neighbor.”
This October, Mr. Duterte, changed his tone in one of his recent COVID-19 addresses and reiterated that the Philippines wants to strike a government-to-government deal with China for COVID-19 vaccines.
This compartmentalizing strategy, which Mr. De Castro calls the “dual-track approach,” won’t work with China.
“China doesn’t play that game,” he tells BusinessWorld reporter Gillian M. Cortez. “China is a traditional big power; it will act like any big power. It will never deal with us [the Philippines] in an equitable manner.”
TAKEAWAYS
Duterte’s policy toward China is a ‘policy of appeasement.’
“He [Mr. Duterte] distanced the Philippines from the United States and pushed the Philippines to the waiting arms of China,” said Mr. De Castro, who cited the current administration’s concessions to China and the delays in the US-Philippine Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which the Aquino administration signed in 2014. “The very essence of President Aquino’s foreign policy of challenging China was unraveled by his successor, President Duterte.”
‘China will literally run over us.’
Multiple surveys show that the majority of Filipinos do not trust China. “Your neighbors are not usually your best friend,” said Mr. De Castro, who characterized China as an expansionist power intent on dominating Asia.
“When China thinks its territorial integrity is being undermined, China will throw everything off the table,” he said. “Let’s not fool ourselves. China has a goal—that’s maritime expansion. If we happen to be in its path, China will literally run over us.”
An international ruling has to be enforced by countries that have a stake in it.
In an online briefing, Presidential spokesman Harry L. Roque said: “You do not enforce an arbitral ruling … The assumption in international law is that all countries will comply with their international obligations particularly with the arbitral award because it freely consented to the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal.”
Mr. Roque was wrong, said Mr. De Castro. “International law has to be enforced,” he said. “All naval powers have an interest in the ruling because they don’t want to see the South China Sea transformed into a Chinese lake.”
Mr. Roque’s interpretation, he continued, is “a justification for inaction, which the Duterte administration is known for when it comes to the West Philippine Sea.”
There are three things that the Duterte administration can do right now, according to Mr. De Castro:
The Philippines can file its extended continental shelf claim in the West Philippine Sea.
The Philippines can enforce—not just acknowledge—the arbitral ruling.
The Philippines can organize an international coalition of countries that have an interest in enforcing the ruling.
Traders work on the trading floor of the Philippine Stock Exchange amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Taguig City, Sept. 30. — REUTERS/ELOISA LOPEZ
By Denise A. Valdez, Senior Reporter
THE Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) is targeting to implement short selling and new listing rules by early next year to help drive up activity in the local market.
In a virtual press briefing on Monday, PSE President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ramon S. Monzon said the bourse operator is expecting to receive regulatory approvals within the fourth quarter to allow short selling as early as the first quarter of 2021.
Short selling is the sale of a security not owned by the seller, but will be settled by the delivery of borrowed securities. Investors may generate profits by selling borrowed securities at a time of higher prices, then buying them at a lower price in the future.
Short selling guidelines were greenlit by the PSE in 2018, but were not implemented due to some pending approvals from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Specifically, the PSE is waiting for the approval of offshore collateral for foreign investors, the accreditation of the Philippine Depository and Trust Corp. as a certified securities lending agent, and the global master securities lending agreement.
“I hope we can get the approvals by the end of the year, so we can launch (short selling) early in the first quarter of next year,” Mr. Monzon said.
He noted launching short selling may attract a lot of foreign investors as it allows them to hedge their investments.
The PSE is also aiming to submit the final draft of the amended listing rules to the SEC within the next two weeks. It expects to secure the regulator’s go signal by the first quarter of 2021.
In September, the PSE introduced proposed amendments to listing rules that would ease the requirements for companies conducting an initial public offering (IPO).
Among the proposals are removal of the P500-million minimum market capitalization requirement to list on the PSE main board, and the positive EBITDA requirement to list on the PSE small, medium and emerging board.
Stakeholders were allowed to comment on the draft rules until Oct. 7. Mr. Monzon said the primary queries were regarding the sponsorship criterion, which seeks to allow investment houses to guide a company in its IPO phase until three years after its listing.
“We should be submitting that (to the SEC) in the next week or two. Then we’ll be following it up with the SEC… (Hopefully) by the first quarter the listing rules can be approved so we can go out on a campaign,” Mr. Monzon said.
Also on Monday, the PSE elected four new members of the board of directors, including two independent directors.
This makes the PSE compliant with SEC Memorandum Circular No. 20 Series of 2020, which requires the board of directors of exchanges to allocate one-third of the seats to independent directors, and have at least four representatives for issuers, investors, and other market participants.
The two new independent directors are Teresita J. Leonardo-de Castro, former chief justice of the Supreme Court, and Consuelo D. Garcia, former country manager at ING Bank.
Also elected as new directors are Ferdinand K. Constantino, chief finance officer and treasurer of San Miguel Corp., who will be a sectoral representative for non-broker director-investors; and Diosdado M. Arroyo, president of Securities Specialists, Inc., who will act as a broker-director.
They will be replacing Emmanuel O. Bautista, Francis Chua, Amor C. Iliscupidez and Alejandro T. Yu.
The rest of the PSE board members were reelected: Jose T. Pardo, Roberto Cecilio O. Lim and Vicente L. Panlilio as independent directors; Anabelle L. Chua, Rolando Jose L. Macasaet and Edgardo G. Lacson as non-broker directors; and Eddie T. Gobing, Eusebio H. Tanco, Wilson L. Sy and Ma. Vivian Yuchengco as broker-directors.
Mr. Monzon was reelected as president and CEO.
“The PSE Board will continue to adopt reforms and promote initiatives that will help make our market more competitive in the region. I am confident that the new members of the board will contribute significantly to the growth and success of the organization,” Mr. Pardo, chairman of the PSE, said in a statement.
TYPHOON ROLLY damaged crops worth P1.17 billion, mainly rice, across several regions, according to an initial estimate by the Agriculture department on Monday. Read the full story.
In an announcement, SM malls in Metro Manila and select parts of Luzon closed early last November 1 but will accommodate anyone seeking shelter from the typhoon. 
