Digital Underground

Pirated DVDs in the Philippines



Start

Imagine every James Bond movie ever made on a three-disc DVD set.

Or what about every Six Feet Under episode?

What about live concerts from Eric Clapton to Eminem?

Tarantino box sets? Spielberg classics? Monster movie mash ups?



How about the latest studio releases in good quality? Forget the camcorder-in-theater versions, these films are the real deal, hot-off-the-press versions that are sent to motion picture award committees like the Oscars for evaluation.



Like Catholicism, pirated DVDs are a way of life in the Philippines. They are illegal, yet bustling markets filled with literally thousands upon thousands of DVDs and MP3 cds pepper Metro Manila from Quiapo to Pasig, Makati to Quezon City and beyond.

The Experience

To stumble upon one of these vendors, their stands jam-packed with discs wrapped in shiny plastic sleeves lined up like delicious digital baked goods, is truly something to behold.

Take a moment to imagine. Attempting to make sense of this mass of media, your eyes do a once over of the categories: new movies, televisions shows, kids programs, Korean soap operas, MP3 cds of Asian Pop and American Hip Hop, old movies, and the prerequisite stash of porn that the vendor will inevitably ask you about once you’ve committed to poking through his product. Keep in mind that at these bootleg markets there are literally a hundred stalls, each with a similar plunder of DVDs but with enough unique gems and rare finds among them to keep you interested.



Deciding where to start digging is like approaching an enormous buffet: there are so many options to choose from that sometimes it can be overwhelming. Where to begin? Should I search for the Rocky compilation, parse through the 8 in 1 discs (8 movies on one DVD), or rifle through the HBO series- Rome, Entourage or maybe I feel like Arrested Development?



The best part about these DVDs, and the reason they will always be the go-to option for Filipino consumers, is that they are dirt-cheap. One disc costs anywhere from 20 to 50 pesos (that’s 40 cents to $1 US for all you Yankees). In other words, you can have Lost seasons 1 and 2 for about $1.50 US. Or take home Apocalypto and Children of Men for 80 cents, and they’re good quality versions.



The selection is so enormous that there is truly something for everyone. Like flashy, big- budget Hollywood productions? Titanic, Blood Diamond, XXX, and The Fast & the Furious are readily available. Or what about old school film legends? Pick some Kurosawa flicks- Hidden Fortress, Ikiru, and Seven Samurai among others.

The list goes on… and on and on… and on and on and on…

You can screen the DVDs before buying to make sure the quality is up to snuff and if for some reason a disc doesn’t work at home, you can always exchange it- just remember to keep the vendor’s business card so you can track them down if need be.

Product Design

Leave it to the ingenuity of bootleggers to create a quality product. The covers of these movies are generally improvised, often comedic takes on the movies they represent. The text describing the movies is equally shaky.



And thus we arrive at one of the limitations of this unending fountain of media- the subtitles are often completely useless, if not hilarious, rendering foreign films unwatchable unless you stayed awake for fifth period Spanish in high school. Generally the subtitles grasp the concept of a conversation, but not the details of a sentence. This may appeal to those creative thinkers in the audience because sans functional subtitles, much of the movie will be left to your imagination.

Subtitles range from spot on...
The Warriors (1979)

To not even close...

Children of Men (2006)
Actual line: “Any girls? What about the one we had lunch with, Lauren?”

Another negative bi-product of access to so much media is the immediate decrease in one’s social life. It’s tough to go out when you have entire seasons of shows you’ve always wanted to watch just sitting on your desk waiting to be unwrapped.

But that is a risk people gladly accept.

So the next time you slip a $19.99 DVD into your player, just remember that half way around the world Filipinos are watching the same product for less than 1/20th the cost with funky, reworked covers, sleek packaging, and wacked-out subtitles to boot.

Enjoy suckers.

ALL DAY BUFFET

ALL DAY BUFFET is a new not-for-profit organization that will create on and offline social outlets for young adults combining social action with arts and culture.

The organization is called ALL DAY BUFFET and while it has nothing to do with food, it has almost everything to do with hunger. As a new social network for social change, the aim is to motivate young adults to recognize problems in the world, learn about them, and act together to make a difference, while having a lot of fun at the same time.

Tonight is ALL DAY BUFFET's pre-launch event which features The Human Trafficking Project.

Download the new Human Trafficking Project Overview.

Show your support for young people working to make a difference.

Event Details:

What: All Day Buffet Pre-launch Party
When: Thursday, February 22, 2007, 8 (sharp) - 10 PM
Where: Triple Crown, located at 108 Bedford Avenue (at North 11th Street), Brooklyn, NY 11211. The first stop out of Manhattan on the L train (Bedord Ave).
Why: Social Networking for Social Change

Learn more about ALL DAY BUFFET.

Poverty, Perversion & Progress

My experiences after 66 days in the Philippines

Start
I have been in the Philippines for a little over two months, the sights and sounds of New York faded like distant memories.

It feels like I’ve been here a year and counting… that’s a good thing so far, I've yet to tire of the action and adventure.

It’s difficult to summarize my experiences, but bear with me for these next few paragraphs while I try to make sense of it all.

It has been an action-packed couple of months: my work, interests, and personal contacts have led me on a wild goose chase around Luzon and the 7,106 other islands comprising the Philippines.

I have visited run-down courthouses where metal detectors are present and functioning but not at all enforced: feel free to bring a gun, knife, or any other object you desire to your trial. I have relaxed in upscale lounges with pricey martinis, live jazz music, and plenty of foreign faces. I have talked politics with activists and businessmen alike moving from smoky, dingy, bohemian enclaves to polished, corporate board rooms with shiny elevators.

I have drank in meat-market girlie bars filled with sex tourists and Filipinas from the provinces, many of them victims of trafficking. I have stumbled upon nightclubs filled with the gyrating bodies of the young Filipino elite wearing the latest fashions, dancing to the latest Jay-Z single. I have experienced the warmth of comforting home-cooked meals and wandering conversations. I have smelled the harsh tin, concrete, and burning trash of squatter communities.

I have glimpsed the cream and the dregs, the good and the evil, the hope and the despair of the Philippines.

The Human Trafficking Project
As for my trafficking project, I have attended several conferences, made dozens of contacts, and am essentially bouncing from non-governmental organization (NGO) to NGO interviewing staff, clients, and observing programs with the goal of developing an overview of the anti-trafficking NGO community in the Philippines and the different approaches being used to combat trafficking. For example in the past few weeks I have interviewed staff at the Department of Education, which has integrated a trafficking module into the school curriculum for middle and high school students, observed a court case of eight trafficking victims against an illegal recruiter, and interviewed a social worker who counsels victims of trafficking.

I am also working on a music project and looking into developing film shorts, more on that in the near future.

To tell you the truth, at times it can be downright exhausting. To go from a morning of interviewing trafficking victims and learning first-hand about the poverty and unemployment that promotes migration and creates an endless population ripe for illegal recruitment and exploitation to eating lunch with activists and photojournalists and discussing the People Power movement and the various Muslim and communist guerrilla movements dotting the country to going out with rich Filipino college students who’s first language is English and are more interested in embracing other cultures than their own- it’s like seeing the life of a country flash before my eyes in the span of a day.

Statue of Jose Rizal, the Filipino national hero who's martyred
death in 1896 sparked the Philippine Revolution.

The exhaustion has been worth it, though, because I have been able to better understand both my work on trafficking and the foreign culture and society I’m living in. The diverse conversations, interactions, and experiences have helped me view the Philippines with a more refined, understanding eye, which ultimately benefits not only the quality of my work, but also the relationships I form and the cultural stimuli I ingest.

Disparate Experiences
It is depressing to hear the plight of pro bono lawyers who spend their time filing suits against traffickers only to have their cases dismissed time and time again because the defendant’s lawyer is the judge’s second cousin. The victims are then sent home to their respective provinces re-entering the same situation of unemployment and poverty that motivated them to leave in the first place thus fueling the trafficking cycle.

Fighting an uphill battle to convict traffickers in a corrupt justice system, a lawyer
from the Kanlungan Centre checks on one of his cases in the Pasay City courthouse.

It is enraging to see the sex tourism and the commodification of Filipino lives- to see swarms of Americans, Europeans, and Asians flocking to the Philippines to leverage their economic clout to freely pillage the bodies of Filipina women and children. To see the carnivorous look in the eyes of foreign wolves preying on these “natives”, these “little brown people.”

It is eye-opening examining the cultural differences, connecting with locals and foreigners alike, and sitting back amidst ridiculous scenarios to think how on earth did I end up in this situation and wondering what people back home are doing at that moment. At no other time in my life have I found myself in so many situations where I didn’t know anyone in the group yet felt right at home and was treated as a close friend, a credit to the genuine warmth of Filipinos.

Preparing to make rice in the countryside.

It is refreshing to see life from a different perspective- to laugh at myself in awkward situations examining my paradigms and beliefs and destroying and rebuilding them, accounting for this new land.

It is comforting to be embraced by long lost family with open arms, winding conversations, non-stop jokes, and steaming pots. I have slowly been learning about my family history and am, for the first time, connecting with a culture that I have really only heard about.

My relatives. Not pictured- the scores of other cousins, uncles,
aunties, lolas, and lolos I have yet to meet.

Lastly, it is inspiring to speak with professors, artists, lawyers, journalists, taxi drivers, intellectuals, housewives, social entrepreneurs, film directors, and activists about their love for their country and the great potential that exists for transformation, for evolution, for progress.

Closing
I have spent my time in the Philippines immersed in disparate environments amongst a motley crew of characters that span the economic food chain and the occupational spectrum. It has been exhausting without a doubt, but at the same time it has opened my eyes to the different realities that co-exist here- from the terrible and malicious to the hopeful and brilliant.

So there you have it- after an exhausting first two months I am in the process of transcribing interview after interview, licking my wounds, recharging my batteries, and preparing for whatever comes next. It has been a dizzying road of surprises, challenges, horrors, setbacks, and small victories...

So far so good.

All is well, I hope I can say the same for everyone back home.

Until next time...

Let's Get Free

Human Trafficking 101

Slavery was officially abolished in the United States with the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution in 1865.

Yet today slavery remains a thriving industry...

Human trafficking (trafficking) is modern day slavery. Trafficking generally involves organized crime syndicates who profit tremendously from the forced prostitution and/or labor performed by its victims. Trafficking has become so profitable that it has superseded the traditional cash cows of drugs and arms trade in some criminal organizations.

Source: Corbis

Defining Human Trafficking

The U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 defines trafficking as:

1) Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under 18, or

2) The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of subjecting that person to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

The keywords to understanding trafficking are: deceit, coercion, forced labor, and sexual exploitation.

Filipina domestic workers in Kuwait escape to their embassy after suffering
violence and sexual advances at the hands of their employers. Source: Corbis

Trafficking vs. Smuggling

Trafficking and smuggling are often confused, but are NOT the same. Smuggling is the illegal crossing of a national border, and is a criminal act for the both the smuggler and the person smuggled. Trafficking, on the other hand, is the crime of slavery-like labor or commercial sexual exploitation, and may not involve any transportation at all. It is a crime committed by the trafficker against a victim, and so only the trafficker has committed a criminal act (Polaris).

Regarding forced migration or movement, while a trafficked person may experience forced movement during the trafficking, the forced movement or confinement is not by itself trafficking, absent other factors. It is the slavery-like labor exploitation or commercial sexual exploitation that determines whether trafficking has occurred. In some trafficking cases, little to no movement or transportation occurs (Polaris).

Trafficking does not necessarily require transportation, but it does always signify someone being deceived or coerced into a situation where they are forced to do some kind of labor against their will.

Trafficking is an umbrella term for persons being forced into activities such as:

• Prostitution
• Forced labor (factories, sweatshops)
• Domestic servitude
• Begging
• Soldiering
• Commercial or illegal adoption
• Camel jockeying (young boys)
• Organ trading

Chinese migrant laborers work 12-hour shifts at construction sites for
little pay amidst miserable work & living conditions. Source: Corbis

Source Countries vs. Destination Countries

Trafficking is an issue that connects poor countries to rich countries, the supply to the demand. The flow of trafficking victims is generally south to north, and east to west- in other words the poor moving to meet the demands of the rich. Victims are generally from South East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Approximately 80 percent of trafficking victims are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are minors. This can be attributed to the feminization of migration. As demand for domestic help and entertainers, among other female-oriented jobs, has increased around the globe, the vulnerable population of poor women and girls from developing countries seeking employment abroad has kept pace offering up a steady stream of migrants hoping to escape poverty and support their families back home.

Child beggars in Mexico. Often girls like these are part of a larger network
of older women and young children recruited to beg. Source: Corbis

Causes of trafficking

• Lack of economic opportunity- with no jobs at home, people are forced to go abroad or starve
• Feminization of migration- as the international labor market shifted its focus to women-staffed occupations, the population vulnerable to trafficking ballooned
• Organized crime syndicates- elusive and adaptive, crime syndicates have maximized their profits from trafficking by taking advantage of the large number of people seeking work abroad
• Government corruption- trafficking will be difficult to solve with customs officials and other government staff accepting bribes to facilitate the trafficking
  
• Poor education- many uneducated, desperate men and women are duped into trafficking by manipulative recruiters
• Low awareness of trafficking- the fewer people that know about trafficking, the less awareness there is, and the less chance that an effective movement can be mobilized to effectively fight the issue

Illegal organ trade in Pakistan: men selling their kidneys. Source: Corbis

Stakeholders

• Governments- Integral in creating anti-trafficking legislation and enforcing it through a strong justice system, governments also have the resources to develop effective awareness campaigns to educate the public and outgoing migrants on trafficking as well as provide direct services to victims.
• Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)- Key in advocating to create or amend existing legislation, developing new legislation in conjunction with governments, and, because of their in-the-trenches perspective, training law enforcement and social workers about trafficking as well as running awareness campaigns, providing legal assistance to victims, and offering direct services to victims of trafficking. The shortcoming of NGOs is that they often work with extremely limited resources and because of this, operate at the whim of grant stipulations, which can alter their programming and put the stability of their services in jeopardy without guarantees of long-term funding.
• Law Enforcement- Integral in conducting raids to free victims and enforcing anti-trafficking legislation on the streets. Training on recognizing trafficking situations is needed to have a well-informed police force that is aware of the issue in its various forms.
• The Media- Plays a key role in raising awareness and framing the issue in the public's eye. It is important for the media to portray trafficking as not only limited to sexual exploitation but also forced labor and its other forms. Further, the media should portray trafficking not as an exotic, isolated issue but, where appropriate, as an ongoing problem that exists within our communities.
• The Public- Everyday people can do much to stem the tide of trafficking. Awareness by itself is a big step- we cannot begin to effectively address this issue unless we know of it. Further, the more people that are educated about trafficking, the more eyes and ears there will be to recognize a trafficking situation, making it harder for traffickers to conduct their business.

A child soldier in Africa. Often times children can be forcibly removed
from their communities and forced to join armies. Source: Corbis

To Be Continued...

Sources:
Polaris Project. What Is Human Trafficking? Retrieved February 2nd, 2007 from http://www.humantrafficking.com/humantrafficking/trafficking_ht3/what_is_ht.htm.

Jesus was a Black Man

The Context:

The Black Nazarene is a life-sized, dark-skinned statue of Jesus Christ that was supposedly brought from Mexico to the Philippines in the early 1600’s. The statue is presently enshrined in the Quiapo Church in Manila.

For more than 200 years the Black Nazarene has been placed on a gilded carriage every January and hauled through the streets of Quiapo by male devotees dressed in maroon and gold. People who touch the Nazarene are reported to sometimes be healed of diseases. A number of faithful usually collapse and faint during the ritual, some have died.

Observers throw towels to those guarding the statue in hopes of having them rubbed against the Nazarene and absorbing some of it’s miraculous power, or at least walking away with a good luck charm.

The procession and the accompanying Feast of the Black Nazarene take place every January 9th. It is one of the largest festivals in the Philippines.

Source- Wikipedia

A Personal Account:

*Many of these pictures were taken in low light. Click the images to see larger versions.

Stepping off the subway, I find myself darting through a sea of followers, burgundy and gold flashing in the afternoon sun, bare feet dark from unholy residue. I kept a brisk pace dodging and weaving through streets choked with honking, eccentric jeepneys and idling tricycles buzzing like a menacing swarm of mosquitoes awaiting its victim.

Balls of flame spewed from the mouths of roaming transvestite troupes, holding the crowd in awe for a fleeting moment with brilliant bursts of flaming liquid burning precariously close to the messy jumble of electric wires hanging from above.





The crowd is infinite, endless- a unified mass of individuals filling the narrow streets, alleys, and plazas of Quiapo awaiting a precious few seconds when they will see and maybe even touch the sacred Nazarene.



After weaving my way through the masses, I finally reach my destination- a balcony above the chaos, a vantage point to watch this spectacle, this show of devotion and faith unfold before my eyes.

The never-ending stream of people flowed over the pavement as the sun dipped below the horizon and darkness enveloped the city.

Banners and flags dotted the crowd, clans marching to war, seeking repentance, hoping to experience suffering for a better tomorrow, for good luck, for a miracle. The noise builds to a steady buzz, in the distance there are cheers and yells, lights and towels flying, firecrackers snap and pop.





Enter the ropes- snaking ahead of the main attraction like the tentacles of a giant squid. The men grasp them as if their lives depended on it, pulling the Nazarene through the streets in hopes that their physical exertion will translate into good luck in the New Year.

Pushing and shoving commences. Men push, pry, and prod trying to loosen the grip of those holding the ropes, fighting for a chance to strain and struggle. Those holding the ropes close their eyes and rest on each other, sucking in the experience, praying.



The energy escalates further. The buzz is quickly becoming a din. The shouts are only a block away. The ropes writhe with men clinging on for life, like army ants carrying their prey back to the nest.

A loud bell pierces the darkness- it is here.

A large cross, white and gold flash from the carriage, long ropes, and a black Jesus. Cheers erupt from the crowd. Towels flutter like ghosts in the wind, caught, rubbed, and released back to the owner to take home and cherish. Flash bulbs sparkle and illuminate the scene. Sweat, passion, faith, aggression, pain, pandemonium- the air is electric.





Those behind the carriage begin to push it forward.

The Nazarene moves off into the night as does the noise and calamity. Chaos is replaced by tranquility as the street is filled with hundreds of candle bearing followers. Silence. Light. The soft glow illuminating the faces, the emotions of those marching- the hot ember of adrenaline slowly cools.





Adobo, pancit mollo, and biko fill my stomach. Conversation between strangers follows. Eventually the crowd withers away and powerful fireworks rock the neighborhood. It is time to make my exit.

I say thank you to my gracious hosts and once again dart through the streets. Dodging explosions and ambulances, past the countless vendors of pirated computer programs and pornography, I move towards home, slipping away into the night.

Happy Feet

An Introduction to Migration in the Philippines



San Francisco, Munich, Dubai, Florence, Melbourne…

Roughly 1 million Filipino workers move abroad each year with an estimated 8 million, or nearly 10 percent of the country's population, working and/or residing in close to 200 countries and territories around the world (Asis).

According to a 2005 World Bank report, the Philippines is the fifth-largest recipient of remittancess, or money being sent home from workers abroad, after India, China, Mexico, and France (Asis).

With its low rate of foreign investment and a steady reduction in development assistance, the Philippines has come to rely on overseas employment as a strategy for survival (Asis). Indeed, remittances have become an important source of income for the Filipino economy generating more than $10 billion USD through official channels in 2005, or 13.5% of the country’s GDP (Teyes).



In the last 30 years, a "culture of migration" has emerged, with millions of Filipinos eager to work abroad despite the risks and vulnerabilities they are likely to face. A nationwide survey of 1,200 adult respondents in 2002 found one in five Filipinos expressed a desire to migrate (Asis).

Filipino society has become migration-savvy having developed the ability to respond and adjust to the changing demands of the global labor market. Anticipation of future demand for nurses, for example, has resulted in the proliferation of nursing schools and a remarkable increase in student enrollment in nursing programs in recent years. Even doctors are studying to be nurses to improve their chances of working abroad (Asis).



This dependency on foreign job markets is dangerous, however, as a sudden decrease in demand of nurses abroad, for example, can spell unemployment for the multitude of Filipino nurses unless they can obtain one of the few, mainly low-paying nursing positions in-country or can locate a new market abroad where their skills are in demand.

On the supply side, the push factors have not abated. The absence of sustained economic development, political instability, a growing population, double-digit unemployment levels, and low wages continue to compel people to look abroad (Asis).



On the demand side, the pull factors are ever-present as relatives return home to spend their newfound wealth presenting a glitzy reality of working abroad and the tantalizing promise of overseas salaries.

Without sustained development in the Philippines, job creation, and an increase in wages, Filipinos will continue to staff our hospitals as nurses, raise our children as domestic helpers, sing or dance as entertainers, man our ships as sailors, and fill a variety of generally cheap labor positions. There are Filipino migrants working in technology or other technical fields, but these are the exception not the rule.

This exodus from the Philippines results in what is referred to as “brain drain”- the top nurses, doctors, and other skilled workers seek jobs abroad to take advantage of higher wages while there is a shortage of nurses in-country, families are broken up and strained as parents and/or children move abroad for years at a time, and the lack of development and job creation at home fuels societal ills such as prostitution and drug trafficking.


A protester at a migrants rights rally in Manila

The Philippines has a migration-dependent economy that is customizing its workers to serve developing nations and fuel economic growth abroad while development and foreign investment at home stagnate prompting those left behind to become increasingly dependent on remittances.

Having such a large population abroad also increases the population vulnerable to human trafficking and other abuses. Migration’s relationship to trafficking will be discussed in a future post.



For now, Filipinos will continue to look beyond their borders for employment. The remittances will continue to pour in, fueling the local economy and improving quality of life for those in-country, but without local development and job creation, the Philippines will rely on others to employ its citizens and guide its economic destiny.

Sources:

Asis, Maruja. The Philippines' Culture of Migration. Migration Information Source. Retrieved December, 22nd, 2006 from http://www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/display.cfm?id=364.

Teves, Oliver. Remittances Can’t Replace Good Economic Policies. Global Nation. Retrieved December, 22nd, 2006 from http://www.inq7.net/globalnation/sec_new/2005/dec/02-01.htm.

*All images from www.corbis.com

Mall of America

The Philippines is a country with the third longest coastline (36,289 km), the second largest archipelago (7,000 islands), and some of the largest mega malls in the world.

Expansive, exhaustive, indomitable- mere malls have nothing on these marvels of modern construction.

Imagine fifty strip malls within a Wal-Mart within a Bloomingdale’s, add a church, internet cafes, and multiple food courts (Starbucks, TGIF, and Taco Bell included), sprinkle liberally with arcades stocked with the latest Japanese videogames, movie theaters complete with THX sounds systems, cars on display, cell phone stands hawking pre-paid minutes, and every product electronic or otherwise conceivable to man and you’ll start to have an idea of the scope of these mega structures.


Mall of Asia: 386,224 m², 600 stores, 5,000 parking spaces

From fine to fast dining, morning mass to ice skating, malls in the Philippines have become more than A place to go- they are THE place to go.

Consuming and spitting out patrons like whales eat plankton, the sky is the limit as any consumer fantasy is fulfilled, no product or niche market left untapped. A recent visit to SM Mega Mall in Ortigas revealed a serendipitous stew of products within a fifty foot radius- electric guitars from the music stand, flaming wallets from the magic shop, fresh polo shirts from Lacoste, and 12-gauge shotguns from the camping store, and let’s not forget vcd’s for $1 USD a pop!


Glorietta Mall in Makati City, Manila

The point is, malls have thoroughly invaded the Philippines and scored a direct hit on the material needs of the masses. They have sucked away the need for small businesses and replaced local Filipino brands with the familiar Starbucks, KFCs, and Tommy Hilfigers, with the exception of Jollibee which dominates McDonalds in the local fast food market.

Malls serve as convenient outlets for spending the approximately $10 billion USD worth of remittances earned annually by overseas Filipino workers. Remittances are integral to the Filipino economy and will be discussed in future posts.


An example of a successful local business in the Philippines

Malls have become the one-stop shop in Manila for all of your needs. Not just shopping but dining, playing, strolling, and more- almost whatever you desire can be found in the gleaming, air-conditioned halls of one of these consumerist havens. And with spending power often boosted by overseas salaries from the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, Filipinos are lacing up their walking shoes, wallets/purses in hand...