Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube
Home Blog Page 979

A journey to Beyond Zero

The Toyota Corolla Cross H2 Concept being refueled at Toyota Manila Bay — PHOTO BY MANNY N. DE LOS REYES

And how Toyota is taking us there

ASIDE FROM some blue graphics and an “H2” logo on the side, it looks like any ordinary Corolla Cross, Toyota’s popular compact crossover.

But step inside, and you’ll be surprised to see the steering wheel on the right side. That’s because this particular Corolla Cross has been shipped from Japan as a showcase of the automotive giant’s hydrogen technology, of which it is among the leaders in the industry.

We are at the back parking lot of the huge Toyota Manila Bay dealership to witness the hydrogen refueling of the Corolla Cross. Viewed from afar, it looks like your ordinary gasoline or diesel refueling. But up close, you’ll see the pump nozzle and the refueling opening of the car to be much smaller than the usual gas/diesel nozzle/opening.

That’s because refueling with hydrogen is more complicated than refueling with gas or diesel. Hydrogen is stored at near-freezing temperatures (both at the pump and in the hydrogen tank of the car) and it can switch between gas and liquid states. It’s also stored and pumped under pressure and is measured in kilos, not liters. Another difference is that there is no gasoline smell as hydrogen is odorless and colorless. One similarity though is that it takes about the same time to refuel a hydrogen car as a regular gas or diesel car.

So how does it drive? In a nutshell, it drives and rides like any production Corolla Cross. Toyota officials invited members of the media to ride the prototype Corolla Cross (developed by Toyota Gazoo Racing in Japan) with a Japanese hydrogen specialist engineer from Toyota behind the wheel. He drove it at part throttle and also at pedal-to-the-metal and the car accelerated just like any normal gasoline engine car. It even sounds like any regular internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle.

But before the drive, Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) delivered a comprehensive presentation on its Beyond Zero global initiative with several speakers and decks. Reinforcing Toyota’s global commitment to carbon neutrality, Beyond Zero is Toyota’s corporate initiative toward clean energy and a low carbon economy transition. It aligns with key national policies related to the transportation sector such as the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA) and Philippine Energy Plan.

Underscoring its multi-pathway approach to decarbonization, TMP presented the Corolla Cross H2 Concept of a hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicle (HICEV). The demo car utilized hydrogen gas supplied by a local producer and was filled through a hydrogen refueling station (HRS) exclusively imported from an end-use application provider in Malaysia.

“For Toyota’s point of view, we would like to provide the most suitable vehicle technology for the country’s specific energy strategy. Matching multi-pathways with energy, Toyota has many powertrains available and currently being developed,” said Toyota Asia Region Chief Executive Officer Masahiko Maeda.

Recognizing the country’s abundant resources, TMP also emphasized the potential of diversifying energy resources to develop related industries and complement the decarbonization goals of various sectors, including transportation. With Toyota’s widest array of xEV powertrain technologies, hydrogen has the potential to be one of the advanced alternative energy sources that presents the possibility of zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Beyond its commitment to decarbonize the entire vehicle life cycle — from raw materials sourcing, manufacturing, distribution, to recycling cars and batteries — TMP stated it is also diversifying sustainable mobility with xEV usership services and exploring the benefits of data solutions and connected technology for travel or logistic efficiency resulting in CO2 reduction.

TMP’s commitment to sustainability extends throughout the entire vehicle life cycle. The company aims to achieve carbon neutrality in its vehicle manufacturing by 2035 through renewable energy and efficient practices such as responsible vehicle dismantling and battery recycling to minimize waste, among others.

The Corolla Cross hydrogen showcase is an excellent example that not all future zero-emissions alternative-energy or new-energy vehicles have to be electric. Toyota has models in every alternative- and new-energy technology from hybrid to full electric to hydrogen to fuel cell (in the Mirai, which is already available in the US, Europe and Japan).

Why Trump, a liar, seems honest to his supporters

RAWPIXEL.COM

ON THE EVE of Election Day, anthropology professor Alexander Hinton talked to me from a Trump rally, where he was already convinced the Republican candidate would win. He’d been observing the MAGA movement in a professional capacity, attending more Trump rallies than he can count, and he says Donald Trump’s supporters display an unusual fervor for their candidate. “He knows how to choreograph a show.”

Hinton’s prediction was based on Trump’s abilities as an entertainer and the way he’s inspired faith that he can lower the price of a cup of coffee and fatten Americans’ pocketbooks.

Some of the faith in the new president-elect and his economic promises comes from a sense that he “tells it like it is” — that he speaks with blunt honesty, even as he insists he won the 2020 election and propagates numerous other fictions. This paradox has confused pundits, pollsters, and other observers since Trump’s rise to political prominence over a decade ago. That he even got a chance to run for president a third time — despite losing in 2020 and despite many of his hand-picked candidates losing in 2022 — raises questions about our vulnerability to cults of personality.

Most of what passes for “telling it like it is” comes down to Trump making completely subjective judgments with a tone of certainty — that some of his enemies are “losers” or “morons” or “low IQ” or that one of his rivals somehow has a face that’s not fit for office. Some might call this brutal honesty, but there’s nothing honest about it. The Week Magazine calls it “maniacal overconfidence” which “sounds to some people like forthrightness.” In that sense, he is telling it like it is — in his own self-serving head.

“The issue with narcissists is the difference between truth and falsehood has no meaning,” says University of Chicago behavioral scientist Dario Maestripieri. They only care about what helps them. And Trump’s narcissism makes him charismatic, he said.

The certitude can make Trump sound like he’s in the know. And some enjoy the insults hurled at other people — a part of the show that can be entertaining, and also flattering, since there’s an implication that Trump’s supporters aren’t among the morons. And focusing on categories of people such as undocumented immigrants gives some people a target on which to blame their own problems. That particular group also inspired outrage among immigrants who went through all the hurdles to enter the US legally.

New York Times columnist Ezra Klein had a slightly different slant recently, focusing on what he calls Trump’s disinhibition — a sometimes magnetic disregard for what people might think. Consider, wrote Klein, Trump’s strange behavior during a rally in the Philadelphia suburbs, when he stopped a question session and played music for more than 30 minutes.

That same unusual self-assurance was on display in Trump’s appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast. After watching the entire three-hour interview, I didn’t once witness Trump delivering the kind of refreshing honesty associated with the phrase “tell it like it is,” but he didn’t tell many clear-cut lies either. In fact, he usually didn’t finish a thought. Instead, he rambled and bloviated, and bragged.

When asked what it was like to move into the White House in 2016, he mentioned the Lincoln Bedroom — then expounded, as a tour guide might, about the items in the room and the personal lives of members of the Lincoln family. He also talked with bold confidence about climate, nuclear power and wind power, before going on a confusing diversion about how central California was once covered by giant lake.

For a three-hour interview, it was weirdly uninformative — but people I know who get their news from Rogan’s podcast say they only consume it passively while doing other things, or they see snippets later. That represents a radical change in the way people consume media. With people half tuned in, Trump’s ability to speak with confidence about so many topics might look impressive — if you’re not listening too closely, he might sound knowledgeable.

When he speaks, Trump is often cryptic, or vague, issuing his subjective views as if they were facts. When he does speak in clear, declarative sentences, he tends get ridiculed — as happened in the presidential debate against Kamala Harris when he said that immigrants were eating cats and dogs.

More often, he resorts to innuendo and hints of secret knowledge — about election fraud, foreign leaders or the origin of the COVID pandemic. For example, when Joe Rogan pressed him for a real answer on whether he really believed 2020 was stolen, he first said something unintelligible, then argued election fraud is possible in theory. Rogan later endorsed him.

Trump won with surprising decisiveness, despite his evasiveness and failure to justify his extraordinary claims. It’s tempting to conclude that we live in some kind of post-truth society. Perhaps, instead, we live in a society obsessed the truth, but we’ve lost our appreciation for explanatory depth and different perspectives. At the same time, we’re just as persuaded by a speaker’s confidence as ever.

Angus Fletcher, an Ohio State University English professor with a background in neuroscience, said people hearing just one side of a story report high confidence in their knowledge. Once they get another perspective, their confidence goes down. “A lot of disagreements can be solved just by filling in the missing pieces of information.”

Issues such as immigration look different from various angles — from the perspective of a refugee in need of a home, a teacher struggling to reach students who can’t speak English, and local people trying to accommodate the newcomers. “A narrative has different sides to it,” he said, “as opposed to a math problem, which has only one answer.”

Envisioning reality from various perspectives takes time — the kind of time some used to devote to reading entire newspaper stories or even a book, he said. “These are skills people are losing,” as they get more news from social media, short videos, and long, one-sided podcasts.

Hinton, the anthropologist, predicts the MAGA movement will dissipate once Trump leaves office because nobody else matches his ability to persuade and entertain. In the meantime, regaining the ability to look at the world through different perspectives might not make America unified again, but it could at least help us break free of cults of personality and start to understand each other.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Sugar import plans frozen until mid-2025

BOC - PUBLIC INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE DIVISION (BOC-PIAD)

THE Department of Agriculture said that it will postpone sugar imports until the middle of 2025, noting that domestic supply is expected to be stable.

“Given the current situation… a decision on sugar imports can be delayed until after May, when the current harvest season ends,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said in a statement on Sunday.

He ruled out additional imports of refined sugar, saying stocks of raw and refined sugar remain adequate.

According to the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), raw sugar stocks hit 216,641 metric tons (MT), while those of refined sugar amounted to 513,393 MT as of Oct. 13.

“We are just beginning our harvest season, so Secretary Laurel and I agree to delay the decision on sugar imports until after harvest sometime in May,” SRA Administrator Pablo Luis S. Azcona said.

The regulator had earlier allowed imports of 240,000 MT of refined sugar aimed at plugging supply gaps before the start of the current harvest.

He added that the current harvest started slowly, with total cane volume equivalent to a third of year-earlier volume.

“Farmers had to delay their harvests to allow the cane to mature further and increase sugar content,” Mr. Azcona said.

The SRA said prolonged dry spells due to El Niño caused the cane to be “physiologically immature,” resulting in a 16% lower sugar content per MT of sugarcane.

The US Department of Agriculture said Philippine raw sugar production is expected to decline 3.6% to 1.85 million metric tons (MMT) during the 2024-2025 crop year.

The SRA projects a 7.2% drop in sugar production from the 1.92 MMT reported during the previous crop year, citing crop damage sustained during the dry conditions brought about by El Niño.

The SRA said sugar production remained constrained by the weather phenomenon despite an increase in the land area planted to sugar to 389,461 hectares from 388,378 hectares in the previous crop year. — Adrian H. Halili

MPH expands with Cavite acquisition

TOP ROW (L-R): Regina Nava, Metro Pacific Health business development specialist; Alvin John Merced, MPH AVP - Business Development; Ronald Basas, incoming deputy CEO of General Trias Doctors Medical Center (GTDMC). Bottom Row (L-R): Ariel Sandoval, GTDMC founder; Ricardo M. Beroncal, GTDMC founder and president; Jose Noel C. de la Paz, MPH director for corporate development; John Cenica, GTDMC founder; Ronald De Roxas, GTDMC founder and treasurer

METRO PACIFIC Health Corp. (MPH) has expanded its portfolio to 27 hospitals with the recent acquisition of the City of General Trias Doctors Medical Center, Inc. in Cavite.

The 27 hospitals under MPH’s network have 4,400 beds, 11,000 doctors, and 16,000 healthcare staff to accommodate 4.2 million patients a year, the company said in a statement over the weekend.

MPH has 11 hospitals in the National Capital Region, eight in North and South Luzon, two in the Visayas, and six in Mindanao.

“This investment in General Trias is our 16th provincial partnership and the second in the province of Cavite in just a little over a year,” MPH President Augusto P. Palisoc, Jr. said.

The newly acquired hospital, situated along Governor’s Drive in General Trias, is centrally located among the five most densely populated cities in Cavite.

It is also near the Cavite–Laguna Expressway (CALAX) Governor’s Drive toll exit, expected to open in the first quarter of next year.

“As our network expands, we are attracting more hospital owners eager to collaborate with us, probably because of the marked improvements they see in the hospitals MPH invests in,” Mr. Palisoc said.

MPH is the healthcare arm of the Pangilinan-led conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC).

Some of its hospitals include Makati Medical Center, Asian Hospital and Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Davao Doctors Hospital, and Riverside Medical Center. It also has 33 outpatient care centers, two allied health colleges, and a centralized laboratory.

MPIC is one of three key Philippine units of First Pacific, the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc.

Hastings Holdings Inc., a unit of the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Singapore’s DBS eyes Malaysian bank stakes in expansion push

PHILSTAR FILE PHOTO

SINGAPORE — Singapore’s biggest lender DBS Group Holdings Ltd. is exploring expanding into Malaysia with potential acquisitions of stakes in banks in its Southeast Asian neighbor, including in one of Malaysia’s smallest banks by assets, two sources said.

DBS is exploring a purchase of Singapore state investor Temasek’s 29.1% stake in Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd, said the two sources with knowledge of the matter, a slice currently valued at about $460 million.

Temasek is biggest shareholder in DBS with a 28.9% stake, according to LSEG data.

Other options for expanding into Malaysia include buying Kuwait Finance House’s Malaysian retail banking assets, worth more than $500 million and which have been put up for sale, one of the sources said.

Deliberations are in very early stages, however, the sources said, and any formal negotiations for an acquisition of a stake in a Malaysian bank would need approval from the Malaysian central bank, or Bank Negara Malaysia.

The two sources declined to be named as talks on the possible acquisitions were confidential.

“We do not comment on market rumors and speculation,” said a spokesperson for DBS, Southeast Asia’s biggest lender by assets. Temasek declined to comment.

Alliance Bank, the second smallest listed bank in Malaysia by total assets, and Bank Negara Malaysia did not respond to requests for comment after business hours on Friday.

Kuwait Finance House said the process for selling its retail banking portfolio in Malaysia was in preliminary stages, and that it was not able to share additional information.

DBS is the only Singaporean bank without a retail banking presence in Malaysia. Local rivals Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and United Overseas Bank both have retail banking operations in Malaysia.

DBS’ plan to foray into Malaysia comes amid improving economic prospects for the Southeast Asian nation, with new infrastructure projects and investments expected to result in a surge in credit growth.

In the second quarter, Malaysia’s economy expanded by an annual 5.9%, its fastest in 18 months, on higher household spending, exports and investment. Its monetary unit, the ringgit, is Southeast Asia’s best-performing currency this year.

‘BOLT-ON ACQUISITIONS’
DBS emerged as a regional banking powerhouse under outgoing Chief Executive Piyush Gupta’s 15-year tenure, bolstered by acquisitions that established significant presences in markets including China, India, Indonesia and Taiwan.

DBS completed the acquisition of Citigroup’s consumer banking business in Taiwan in August last year. In July, Gupta said DBS was looking for bolt-on acquisitions that would support further strategic expansion in the region.

Tan Su Shan, who heads up DBS’ institutional banking group and is deputy CEO, will take over from Gupta in March next year, making her the first woman to lead the bank. On Thursday, DBS posted its highest ever quarterly net profit for July-September on record fee income.

DBS last attempted to buy Temasek’s stake in Alliance Bank in 2012. Those plans did not go through because of regulatory hurdles, according to sources at the time.

The current Malaysian government under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has been more forthcoming and open to ideas and investments with an aim to boost economic growth, said the sources with knowledge of DBS’ plan for Malaysia. — Reuters

Prada outpaces fashion rivals on Miu Miu’s Gen Z appeal

MIU MIU’S Arcadie bag proved especially popular.

PRADA SpA defied a luxury industry slump last quarter as fashion fans snapped up Miu Miu’s Arcadie handbags and cashmere cardigans.

Comparable retail sales at the Italian group grew 18% in the third quarter, the Hong Kong-listed company said last week. Those at its biggest label, Prada, rose 1.7%, while Miu Miu sales more than doubled during the period.

Prada has been outperforming high-end fashion rivals thanks to the success of its products among Gen Z consumers, led by the extraordinary growth rates at sister label Miu Miu, which now makes up about a quarter of group sales.

The brand was the hottest label during the period, rising one notch from the previous quarter on the Lyst index, which tracks searches and social media mentions. Prada remained third. Miu Miu’s Arcadie bag proved especially popular, according to the index. Its mini version starts at €1,850 ($2,004) in France.

Prada noted “more challenging market conditions” during the quarter in Asia Pacific, where sales grew 12%. The zone, hurt by a consumer downturn in China, has been a drag on other fashion competitors, from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE to Gucci-owner Kering SA.

Japan saw the highest growth rate among regions thanks to strong tourist spending, Prada said.

The company should be able to a name a new chief executive officer (CEO) for Miu Miu in the next two months after Benedetta Petruzzo left to become managing director of Christian Dior Couture, Prada CEO Andrea Guerra said. Mr. Petruzzo’s new role at the LVMH label was announced early September.

Miuccia Prada, the granddaughter of the group’s founder, is creative director at Miu Miu and splits those duties at Prada with Raf Simons.

The market could be underestimating the growth that Miu Miu can generate in the next 12 to 18 months, Bernstein analyst Luca Solca wrote in a note after the trading update. But Mr. Solca added he’s worried the Prada brand could be “well past its peak growth potential.” —  Bloomberg

Updated Porsche 911 Carrera now available in PHL

The new Porsche 911 Carrera in Carmine Red — PHOTO BY KAP MACEDA AGUILA

By Kap Maceda Aguila

PORSCHE’S ICONIC NAMEPLATE is back with updates and new toys.

It’s kind of tricky to evolve what is effectively a sacred model line. And while it is technically a rehash of the current generation, there are “comprehensive upgrades” that give the new 911 (or 992.2, if you will) just enough good stuff to draw fans to the Porsche Philippines showroom.

At its core, of course, the coupe version of the 911 remains a rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive, two-door coupe. It’s still driven by the generation’s familiar but “extensively revised” 3.0-liter six-cylinder horizontally opposed engine twin turbo mill — now delivering a maximum output of 394hp at 7,500rpm and 450Nm. This is mated to an eight-speed Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK) transmission. Standstill-to-100kph speed occurs in 4.1 seconds (trimmed to 3.9 seconds if one opts for a Sports Chrono Package); top rate is claimed to be 294kph. The gains, shared Porsche Philippines Managing Director Stephen Recinto to “Velocity,” were enabled by conscripting the turbochargers from the previous-generation 911 Turbo and GTS models. A charge-air cooler is also situated above the engine and directly under the rear grille.

Up front, the exterior tweaking is immediately apparent. The bumper now, well, bumps off the lighting fixtures which now relocate to the updated headlamps — comprised of Matrix LEDs that sport the signature four-point look, and now appear like parentheses when lit. The turn signals also make their way there. Crucially, because the ancillary front lighting has been nixed from the bumper, Porsche engineers and designers now use the space for larger cooling vents.

The 911 Carrera rolls on mixed Michelin Pilot Sports — 245/35 ZR 20-inchers in front and 305/30 ZR 21s in the rear.

In the back, the Carrera also cuts a marginally changed image — leading off with a redesigned light strip with an integrated light arc and “PORSCHE” lettering. The move helps to accentuate the rump of the vehicle. “It effectively gives a 3D effect,” said Porsche Philippines Senior Sales Executive Patrick To.

Above is a new rear grille with five fins on each side — melding with the rear window to “form a visual unit that merges into the retractable spoiler below.” The location of the rear car plate has been raised.

The dashboard of the Porsche 911 Carrera now, for the first time, features fully digital instrumentation and infotainment. A customizable 12.6-inch curved display “fits elegantly into the new control and display concept” and offers up to seven views. And yes, the classic Porsche display with five round dials is one of the options. Another first: the 911 now gets a start/stop button — still, of course, on the left side of the steering wheel. The Porsche Communication Management (PCM) system is accessed through a high-resolution 10.9-inch central display. The company reports that Apple CarPlay is now “more deeply integrated into the car, displaying information in the instrument cluster and facilitating the operation of vehicle functions by using the Siri voice assistant.”

For more information, contact the Porsche Philippines Concierge at 0917-826-8522.

The Trump card wins the election game

RAWPIXEL.COM

Donald Trump has won in the Nov. 5 general (popular) election for the presidency of the United States of America, to serve a four-year term from 2025 to 2029. He will be proclaimed the 47th President of the United States of America on Jan. 20, 2025, after formal election by the US Electoral College on Dec. 17 this year. (Donald Trump was the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.)

The popular vote determines which slate the electors will vote for — Republican, Democrat, or a third party.  Each of the 50 states are given a number of electoral votes proportionate to the population density in each state.   Candidates must secure 270 electoral votes, a majority of the 538 at stake, to win the presidency.  In most states, it’s winner-take-all — whoever gets the most votes in the state wins all of its electoral votes. There is no Constitutional provision or federal law that requires electors to vote for the candidate to whom they are pledged, though they almost always do.  “Faithless electors” are rare, since the electors are selected by the parties (cbsnews.com, Nov. 5, 2024).

Five presidents in the history of the US have won the presidency without winning the popular vote — the most recent was Donald Trump (Republican) in 2016. His opponent that year, Hillary Clinton (Democrat), won over 2.8 million more votes than Trump nationwide, but she lost enough key states to be defeated in the Electoral College, 306 to 232 (Ibid.). In a 2023 Pew Research poll, 65% of Americans said the president should be elected through the popular vote, not the Electoral College. But legislation to change the system is difficult because proponents say it keeps less populous states from being underrepresented (Ibid.).

And so, this year’s popular elections point to Trump’s being effectively already officially elected by the Electoral College, as he has secured 301 electoral votes, breaching the 270 needed to win. His opponent, Kamala Harris (Democrat) garnered the equivalent of 226 votes. Trump is the first Republican presidential candidate to win the popular vote since George W. Bush two decades ago. But why, and how, did he trump the game so cleverly?

Trump is the first president in American history to be impeached twice, and the first to run again after impeachment. Trump was first impeached by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives in December 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress due to his attempts to coerce Ukraine to provide damaging information on Biden and misinformation regarding Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections by withholding military aid (NPR, retrieved May 31, 2024). Trump’s second impeachment by the House occurred on Jan. 13, 2021, for “incitement of insurrection” owing to his role in the Jan. 6 United States Capitol attack.  As Trump was acquitted by the Senate in both cases, Trump was not barred from seeking reelection to the presidency in 2024 (FiveThirtyEight, ABC News, June 1, 2024).

Trump was elected despite persistently low approval ratings, four criminal indictments and a civil judgment against him for sexual abuse and defamation. In May, Trump became the first former US president to be convicted of a crime when a New York jury found him guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid to a porn star.

Trump’s political career appeared over after his false claims of election fraud led a mob of supporters to storm the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a failed bid to overturn his 2020 defeat (against Joe Biden). His efforts to reverse his defeat led to two separate indictments, though all the criminal cases against him are expected to end after his victory (Reuters, Nov. 7, 2024).

“It clearly paid off to aggressively push to delay these cases as long as possible,” said Jessica Levinson, a constitutional law professor at Loyola Law School.  A judge in New York is set to sentence the former president later this month after holding off on handing down the punishment ahead of Election Day to avoid any appearance of affecting the outcome of the presidential race — though Trump’s lawyers are expected to ask the judge to put off the sentencing now that he’s the president-elect (Reuters, Nov. 6, 2024).  Very clever!

Mainstream media unmasked “The Donald” (his “funny name,” as ex-wife Ivana referred to him). After he announced a White House bid for 2024 (CNN, Nov. 16, 2022), newspapers and TV had no qualms about putting him down. “News Analysis: Trump seeks to reclaim spotlight with old playbook of lying, talking smack to media,” the Los Angeles Times said (Aug. 24, 2024). “Trump has a bunch of new false claims. Here’s a guide” (The Washington Post, March 15, 2024).  “With false ‘coup’ claims, Trump primes supporters to challenge a Harris win” (The Washington Post, Aug. 24, 2024). “Trump calls Biden the ‘destroyer’ of democracy despite his own efforts to overturn 2020 election” (Associated Press, Dec. 15, 2023).

Trump’s style and behavior, including his embrace of far-right extremism (New York Times, April 16, 2024) “broke with traditional US political norms in an unprecedented way, marked by a rhetoric they described as authoritarian and dehumanizing toward his political opponents, likening it to populist movements and some drawing parallels to fascism” (ABC News, May 30, 2024). In July, President Joe Biden condemned the videoed, televised assassination attempt on Donald Trump, calling on all Americans to denounce such “sick” violence (BBC News, July 14, 2024).  Was it real, anyway, or staged, as some cynics thought?

Still, Donald Trump won the elections and will be president of the United States of America for a second term. “America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Trump said on the day after elections to a roaring crowd at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Florida (Reuters, Nov. 7, 2024). As if to applaud and cheer — “major stock markets around the world rallied following Trump’s victory, and the dollar was set for its biggest one-day jump since 2020” (Ibid.).

Analyses in mainstream and social media focused on why Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump. Most were similar to analyst Jon Sopel, who wrote that “the most pressing issues that decided Harris’s defeat were that Biden had been perceived as a failure by the American public; these included the fact that, as part of the global 2021-2023 inflation surge, inflation went up by 20% and real wages had not adjusted to match, as well as the state of the Mexico-United States border. By embracing the Biden agenda, (Harris) was simply tying herself to his unpopularity.” The Democratic Party was out of touch with the popular mood in the US, pointing to its lack of action on illegal immigration, its lack of attention to the economic state, and the majority of Americans’ lack of interest in the Biden administration’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts,” Sopel said in, “Kamala’s catastrophe: How it all went so badly wrong,” The Independent, Nov. 7, 2024.

The fatigue and disappointment with the government (i.e., the outgoing Biden administration) has caused widespread “anti-system” sentiment, some socio-political analysts say. And, in the anxieties of the aging Baby Boomers (the US median age is now 38.023 years in 2024 according to database.earth) — income, poverty, and health are critical issues.  Life has been difficult, dragged down by the long-staying COVID pandemic that started in 2020. The impatience for relief and deliverance has peaked — perhaps a bad-ass strongman fascist president like Donald Trump can get things done, and fast!

P.S.:  Does it not all sound so familiar to Filipinos — that sometime back it was thought that “a bad-ass, foul-mouthed, brusque strongman (bugoy, in Filipino) might be president and solve the problems of the country”?  To our American friends:  It didn’t work out!

 

Amelia H. C. Ylagan is a doctor of Business Administration from the University of the Philippines.

ahcylagan@yahoo.com

Food companies sell less healthy products in poor countries — report

REUTERS

LONDON — The world’s biggest food and beverage companies on average sell products in low-income countries that are less healthy than what they sell in high-income countries, according to a new report.

Products sold by companies including Nestlé, Pepsico and Unilever were assessed as part of a global index published by the Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNI), its first since 2021. The non-profit group found that across 30 companies, the products sold in low-income countries scored lower on a star rating system developed in Australia and New Zealand than those sold in high-income countries.

In the Health Star Rating system, products are ranked out of 5 on their healthiness, with 5 the best, and a score above 3.5 considered to be a healthier choice.

“In low-income countries, the multinationals’ portfolios rated 1.8 on the system. In high-income countries, where more products were tested, they were 2.3. — a very clear picture that what these companies are selling in the poorest countries in the world, where they are more and more active, are not healthy products,” said Mark Wijne, research director at ATNI, in an interview with Reuters.

“It’s a wake-up call for governments in these countries to be vigilant,” he added.

It is the first time the index has split the assessment into low and high-income countries.

ATNI said the index was important as packaged foods are increasingly playing a part in the obesity crisis that is now a global phenomenon.

More than one billion people worldwide are living with obesity, according to the World Health Organization. The World Bank estimates that 70% of people who are overweight or obese live in low- and middle-income countries.

“We have committed to grow our sales of more nutritious foods, as well as guiding people towards more balanced diets,” a Nestlé spokesperson said by e-mail, adding that Nestlé also fortifies products to help close nutrient gaps in developing countries.

A PepsiCo spokesperson declined to comment.

The company last year set new goals to lower sodium in its potato chips and add ingredients like whole grains into its foods. — Reuters

WalterMart malls go solar with First Gen

WM SHOPPING CENTER Management, Inc., the developer of WalterMart malls, has partnered with First Gen Corp. for solar power projects in Luzon.

First Gen and its sister company Pi Energy, Inc. constructed solar photovoltaic systems for WalterMart malls in Quezon, Zambales, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Batangas, Bulacan, and Rizal, the company said in a statement over the weekend.

Building these solar power plants, which have a total capacity of 11.4 megawatts-peak (MWp), is part of the mall chain’s multi-phased program to source a substantial portion of its electricity from clean energy.

“In a span of four years, our partnership has grown in terms of scale and investment, and that shows the level of commitment of WalterMart to integrate renewable energy into its operations,” said Mark Malabanan, Pi Energy’s assistant vice-president for solar and key partners’ growth.

WM Shopping Center Management has 41 community malls in the country with a total solar capacity of 12.3 MWp, which is expected to expand to 27 MWp from 25 solar-powered malls by the end of the year.

The company is targeting to source 20% of its power requirements from solar energy by the end of 2025.

WalterMart first tapped First Gen and Pi Energy in 2019 with the installation of a solar power facility atop a WalterMart mall carpark building in Nasugbu, Batangas.

First Gen has a total of 3,697 MW of installed capacity coming from its portfolio of plants that run on geothermal, wind, hydro, solar energy, and natural gas. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera

Style (11/11/24)

Nuxe releases holiday goodies

CHARM loved ones with Christmas crackers from Nuxe, each containing a dash of glow in iridescent gold or iridescent pink with roll-on versions of Huile Prodigieuse Or and Or Florale. The little boxes are ready to hang on the Christmas tree, with gift boxes made entirely in France and designed with 0% plastic and 100% recyclable cardboard. Additionally, these sets are FSC-certified and sourced from sustainably managed forests. As for gift boxes, there is the original Huile Prodigieuse with the Prodigieux Collection, featuring its scent alongside luxurious additions. Another gift box has the uplifting floral notes of Huile Prodigieuse Florale and Very Rose care products. Nuxe is available at Rustan’s (Makati, Shangri-La Plaza, Alabang); LOOK (SM Aura, SM Mall of Asia); Mitsukoshi Beauty, and select Beauty Bar stores. It’s also available through Rustans.com, Shopee, Lazada, and ZALORA.

Lancôme releases holiday sets

PARISIAN beauty powerhouse Lancôme launched its new holiday collection reminiscent of diamond snow, featuring gift sets. The holiday gift sets showcase the luxury products from the brand’s fragrance, skincare, and makeup portfolio. This holiday season, Lancôme partners with Filipina actress and Lancôme ambassador, Kathryn Bernardo. The Idole Mini Fragrance Sets showcase Lancôme’s Idole fragrance with brand new mini sets. Meanwhile, the Flawless Skincare set is headlined by Lancôme’s Génifique, their most popular anti-aging skincare collection. They are also launching their first ever Makeup Set that gives the gift of holiday-ready glamor with specially curated makeup. All sets come with a discount of up to 50%. Lancôme has also collaborated with artist Sofia Ouares to create packaging that captures the spirit of the season. Ms. Ouares’ designs, featuring the brand’s signature Celestial Rose are intertwined with Parisian landmarks. As part of its holiday celebration, Lancôme will release a video featuring Kathryn Bernardo. Lancôme is making this holiday season even more special with its 12 Days of Extraordinary Christmas Raffle from Oct. 1 to Nov. 15 where shoppers at Lancôme’s Rockwell and Greenbelt 5 locations can enter to win prizes worth up to P35,000 in the holiday raffle. Online shoppers can also enjoy discounts on Lancôme’s holiday gift sets this coming Nov. 11 on their official Lazada and Shopee stores.

Lacoste launches new version of 1984 scent

LACOSTE and global fragrance company Interparfums present its latest creation, Lacoste Original Eau de Parfum, marking the first collaboration between the two companies. With the 1984 Lacoste Original celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, master perfumer Anne Flipo and perfumer Tanguy Guesnet were inspired to create a modern and addictive scent while highlighting the brand’s emblematic codes and distinctive signature. This resulted in a modern and dynamic woody, ambery, fougère eau de parfum. Ms. Flipo said in a statement, “As a brand, Lacoste combines timeless freshness with creative frenzy. The idea behind this sophisticated fragrance is to express movement in all its forms in a unique, powerful creation.” The perfumers worked on citrusy and spicy scents using bergamot, cardamom, and pink peppercorn as the top notes to convey motion. This mixture gives way to an aromatic fougère heart of clary sage and lavender, the common element between the 2024 and 1984 editions. The heart trails off to a base of tonka bean and sandalwood, while amber and patchouli reinforce the masculine side of the fragrance. Pierre Niney, a French actor, director, producer and screenwriter, is the star of the perfume’s ad campaign. Lacoste Parfums are exclusively distributed by Rustan Marketing Corp. and are available in-store in all leading department stores nationwide; and online at Rustans.com and Zalora.

Traffic nightmare before Christmas

PHOTO BY KAP MACEDA AGUILA

Congestion isn’t a simple issue to discuss or solve, but there are ways to mitigate it

HEAVY TRAFFIC in Metro Manila is always news. It never grows tired, no matter that it has been a bane of metro living for decades. This is especially true during this time of the year when — like a trifecta — school, work, and the yearend holidays simultaneously appear to brew a perfect storm. Depending on the day of the week, the time of day, and the season of the year, road congestion arguably goes from bad to worse.

Many have cited the growing mobility needs of the country, the lack of roads, the inadequacy of public transport or a lack of enforcement of traffic rules as reasons for the mayhem. As it turns out, we — the drivers or passengers — are as much at fault. Our driving habits and the way we navigate the thoroughfares of the metro have as much an impact on traffic as the usual culprits we blame. To paraphrase the adage, it is not the car you got but how you use it that matters. Cars do not cause traffic; motorists do.

The dire situation of road congestion will not be denied. The TomTom Traffic Index ranked Metro Manila as the most congested metropolitan area in the world. Average travel time per 10 kilometers across the road network of Metro Manila was reported at 25 minutes and 30 seconds, up by 50 seconds from 2022. During rush hour, the average travel speed was recorded at 19kph.

In 2021, as mobility restrictions from COVID-19 were being lifted, a total of 3.2 million vehicles were reported to be plying the roadways of Metro Manila at an average speed of 30.63kph. In 2023, as businesses and government ramped up the return to office and schools resumed face-to-face classes, the number of vehicles on the roads increased to 3.6 million, moving at an average of 24.5kph.

Though work-from-home arrangements still linger, the resumption of face-to-face life continues to drive vehicles back to the roads. Mobility is, after all, an essential conveyor of economic and social activity. While usage of existing vehicles revert to or exceed pre-COVID-19 levels, traffic congestion is further aggravated by a resurgence in new vehicle sales. The local automotive market peaked at 473,000 units in 2017. It dropped by half to 244,000 in 2020 then trended back up to 438,000 last year. In 2024, sales are expected to reach a new record of close to 480,000. That is almost half-a-million new cars on the road, 40% of which are bought — and used — in Metro Manila. The good news is the government is hard at work building new roads, expressways, peripheral highways, and bridges.

SAFETY FIRST
Road crash incidents — excluding the rising wave of road rage events — are also seen to be rising. From 2016 to 2019, the number of vehicle crashes averaged 114,506 per year, increasing by about 10% per year. This dropped by 61% to 65,032 incidences in 2020 but the 10% spike was again observed in 2021 and 2022. A study by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) showed this to be a critical occurrence for traffic, since a 30-minute standstill resulting from a road crash incident creates a backlog spanning 2.5 kilometers and requiring 42 minutes to clear.

We’ve all had our fair share of experiences where a fender bender or a vehicle breakdown was enough to result in anarchy on the roads — not only because a lane is taken out of service but also because motorists cannot wait patiently in their lane, resort to creating their own lanes or, worse, make illegal counterflows. Surely, defensive driving and a regular dose of vehicle periodic maintenance service can go a long way in reducing congestion caused by accidents.

According to the MMDA, one cause of delay in the clearing of road accidents is the fact that their deputies need to wait for the police to appear on the scene to issue an accident report. This is apparently required by insurance companies in case of claims. The good news is that the Insurance Commission is now working to allow acceptance of MMDA reports to support insurance claims.

FLYOVERS VS. SERVICE ROADS
Another contributor to traffic is a penchant of motorists to use flyovers and underpasses versus the service roads. Motorists flock to the Shaw underpass on EDSA — cutting from the three right lanes into the two lanes of the underpass even if the service road is open. The MMDA reports that during morning peak hours, there are 49% more vehicles (11,067 vehicles) using the Santolan flyover than the service road (6,681 vehicles). In the afternoon, it is 97% more with 11,600 using the flyover and only 4,030 the service road. I think this is a carryover from before the introduction of the bus carousel lanes. When buses were confined to the rightmost lanes, it was traumatic to use the service roads because of “bus-bullying.” I have taken to using the service roads of EDSA as much as I can.

The MMDA believes that the suspension of the no-contact apprehension policy (NCAP) has also resulted in reduced road discipline and, consequently, increased roadside apprehensions that contribute to traffic. In 2022, a total of 97,000 traffic violations were registered. In 2023, after the implementation of NCAP was suspended by a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court in August 2022, that number increased to 242,000. Arguably, ill-disciplined motorists have been emboldened due to the shutting of the “big eye in the sky.” Arguably.

Indeed, there are many contributors to our traffic woes. From two-wheelers occupying covered road lanes when it rains, to vendors making use of streets and pavements for business, to pedestrian jaywalking and illegal parking on roadsides. If we all try to get together on the right side of responsible driving and car ownership, though, I think we can help reduce this traffic nightmare that we are as much responsible for as we are victims of.

1...978979980...12,800Page 979 of 12,800
© 2024 BusinessWorld Publishing.
All rights reserved.
Read our privacy guidelines
Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube