Category: Philippine Star

20 years ago, Kojie.san began with a single product and an entrepreneurial bet on an opportunity that had yet to be proven. Today, the homegrown beauty brand marks two decades in the market as Beauty Elements Ventures, Inc. (BEVi), the company behind Kojie.san, looks toward its next phase of growth.

What began with the iconic Kojie.san Kojic Acid Soap has grown into one of the Philippines’ most recognizable homegrown beauty brands. Alongside it, BEVi has expanded its portfolio, entered new categories and built capabilities across product development, manufacturing, distribution, e-commerce, and international markets.

For Jazz Burila, president and CEO of Beauty Elements Ventures, Inc., the journey is best understood not simply through the number of years the company has been in business, but through the decisions and relationships that allowed it to grow.

‘Those may seem like small moments. But millions of small moments, repeated over twenty years, become something much bigger. They become trust. And trust is something no company can manufacture. It has to be earned. Again and again.’

That trust became the foundation for Kojie.san’s continued evolution, allowing the brand to move beyond the product that started it all and respond to changing beauty, skincare, and personal care needs.

From one product to a broader portfolio

Kojie.san’s 20th anniversary offered a look not only at how the brand has evolved, but at the broader business BEVi has built around it.

The company unveiled developments across several categories, including the expansion of Defensil with new germ protection solutions and TV host Kuya Kim Atienza as its newest brand ambassador; Bio Camilo Hair and Scalp Care; botanical skincare line Cacay Cure Exponential Care; and fragrance collection Freshly Piqued.

Within the Kojie.san portfolio, Kojie.san Men revealed a new identity and expanded lineup, while Kojie.san Sun Protect, DreamWhite by Kojie.san, Kojie.san+, and Kojie.san Classic reflected the continued evolution of the brand across different skincare and personal care needs. Diamond Skin further expanded BEVi’s presence in premium skincare.

The company also introduced qloud, a new digital ecosystem and curated marketplace spanning beauty, fashion, wellness, lifestyle, and consumer products, signaling how the business is extending beyond traditional beauty and personal care into new consumer platforms.

Together, the developments point to a company that is no longer building around a single product or category, but across a wider portfolio of brands, businesses, and consumer opportunities.

Building the business behind the brands

Behind that portfolio is a broader group of capabilities developed to support continued growth.

Beauty Elements Ventures Manufacturing Inc. (BEVMi), led by President Reginald I. Burila, supports the group through its manufacturing capabilities, while other businesses across the group extend its reach into distribution, international markets, e-commerce, and business development.

The direction builds on a journey that has already taken Kojie.san beyond its home market. As Burila reflected in her anniversary address, what started small eventually found its way ‘beyond Manila, beyond the Philippines, into the hands and homes of people in other parts of the world.’

But reaching 20 years also raises a larger question for the business: what should the next 20 look like?

The next 20 years

With two decades behind Kojie.san, BEVi is looking ahead to a bigger opportunity: taking what it has built and creating the foundation for its next era of growth.

That next chapter means investing in new ideas, stronger manufacturing, new markets, and the people who will lead the business forward. It also means creating more ways for its brands to reach consumers, both in the Philippines and beyond.

The ambition goes beyond growing individual brands. BEVi is building an organization that can identify new opportunities, develop brands around evolving consumer needs, and help them grow at home and beyond the Philippines.

Kojie.san remains the clearest example of what that approach can build. What started with a single product has grown into a brand trusted across generations and markets. The opportunity now is to take the experience, partnerships, and capabilities built over the past 20 years and use them to create what comes next.

And as the business grows, so does the definition of legacy. For BEVi, the next chapter is not only about how far today’s brands can go, but about building an organization strong enough for the next generation to take further.

Twenty years built the foundation. What comes next is about how much further it can go.

Ateneo at home held on to a 75-72 squeaker over Far Eastern University to snap a three-game skid in the UAAP Season 89 men’s basketball on Sunday at the Blue Eagle Gym in Quezon City.

Kieffer Alas sank the dagger charities in the last two seconds to rescue the Blue Eagles from a near collapse after leading by as many as 18 points, including 11 inside the last two minutes.

Alas finished with 21 points, four rebounds and two steals as the Blue Eagles drew inspiration from home fans and improved to 4-4 to rejoin a crowded middle pack of the standings.

The super rookie drew solid coverage from Jared Bahay with 15 points, while reinforcement Sultan Baruwa collared a 13-point, 12-rebound double-double laced by two assists. Ian Espinosa and Travis Roberts chipped in eight points each.

‘This is a very huge win for us because I know were are just one game behind sa mga nasa upper bracket,’ said coach Louie Alas, whose wards ended the first round with an 80-68 defeat to University Santo Tomas in Sampaloc, Manila.

‘But this is just (one) win. We need to bounce back against. We need to have a back-to-back win for us to be in contention again. As of now, we’re still in the lower bracket of the standings.’

At home this time, Ateneo did albeit via slimmest of margins after a 48-30 lead in the first half that it managed to protect in the last two minutes.

With what seemed a comfortable 73-62 upperhand off Roberts lay-up in the 1:51 mark, the Blue Eagles surrendered a 10-0 Tamaraws rally capped by a Jorick Bautista triple in the last three seconds.

Good thing for the hoopers from Katipunan, Alas was steady from the stripe to avenge their one-sided 93-70 loss to the Tamaraws in the first round.

FEU, once the early league leader at 4-1, absorbed its third consecutive defeat despite the 18 points of Bautista to slide to at 4-4 for a three-way tie with Ateneo and reigning champion La Salle.

Mo Konateh, the leader in the Best Foreign Student-Athlete derby, added a 12-16 double-double, Kirby Mongcopa and Cabs Cabonilas had 11 each, as reigning MVP Janrey Pasaol settled for seven points.

In women’s basketball, NU (5-2) fended off La Salle (1-6), 75-71, to end the first round in style as FEU (4-3) gained a piece of the coveted No. 4 seed with a 50-48 win over Adamson (4-3) on Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 stalwart Victoria Pasilang’s game-winner.

The scores:

Ateneo 75 – Alas 21, Bahay 15, Baruwa 13, Espinosa 8, Roberts 8, Tuano 6, Kapihe 2, Rogers 2, Bongo 0, Espina 0.

FEU 72 – Bautista 18, Konateh 12, Mongcopa 11, Cabonillas 11, Pasaol 7, Burgos 7, Daa 4, Nakai 2, Felipe 0, Gish 0, Montemayor 0.

Quarterscores: 21-14, 46-30, 58-50, 75-72.

Nur Misuari, founding chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front, has expressed strong support for Abdulraof ‘Sam’ Macacua to lead the Bangsamoro government.

‘You have my support, my full support,’ Misuari told Macacua.

Misuari made the remarks during Macacua’s courtesy visit to his residence in Davao City on October 22, congratulating him on his electoral victory in his parliamentary district and encouraging him to continue pursuing his vision for the Bangsamoro people.

‘Carry on, I hope you will stay long in your administration, In Shaa Allah,’ Misuari said, adding that younger leaders like Macacua should be able to pursue ‘a bigger dream for our people.’

‘We need good people like you at the helm,’ the veteran Moro leader added, underscoring his confidence in Macacua’s leadership.

Misuari’s endorsement comes as five provincial governors in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have thrown their support behind a 46-member parliamentary coalition aligned with Macacua ahead of the inaugural session of the region’s first regular Parliament on October 30.

The governors are Mamintal Alonto Adiong Jr. of Lanao del Sur, Tucao Mastura of Maguindanao del Norte, Ali Midtimbang of Maguindanao del Sur, Mujiv Hataman of Basilan and Yshmael ‘Mang’ Sali of Tawi-Tawi.

The coalition, formed by 46 elected Members of Parliament (MPs), brings together lawmakers from different political parties and groups under a common governance framework, positioning itself to organize the incoming government and determine the parliamentary majority.

With 46 members in an 80-seat Parliament, the coalition commands a numerical advantage over the 41 votes needed for a simple majority, giving it a strong position in the organization of Parliament and the selection of the next chief minister.

Macacua, who chairs the Bangsamoro Federalist Party (BFP), emerged as a key figure in the post-election political realignment following the September 14 parliamentary elections, with his party and allied groups consolidating support across different political formations.

Misuari’s backing adds historical and political significance to Macacua’s leadership bid, given the MNLF founder’s prominent role in the decades-long Moro struggle and the separate political paths taken by the MNLF and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Macacua previously served as military chief of the MILF’s armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, before political realignments ahead of the elections placed him on a separate electoral track from the MILF’s United Bangsamoro Justice Party.

The combination of Misuari’s endorsement and the governors’ support for the parliamentary coalition strengthens Macacua’s political position, although the final choice of chief minister remains subject to the parliamentary process.

The October 30 session will be a crucial test of the coalition’s ability to translate its numerical advantage into a functioning government as the Bangsamoro region transitions from the interim administration to its regular parliamentary system.

The outcome will shape the region’s immediate political direction and its capacity to advance peace, development and inclusive governance under the new parliamentary arrangement.

Police arrested veteran journalist Philip Lustre Jr. while he was attending a media forum in Quezon City on Saturday, October 24, over a cyber libel case filed in Davao City.

Officers from the Quezon City Police District’s Station 10 took Lustre into custody, acting on a warrant issued by Davao City Regional Trial Court Branch 10, state-run Radyo Pilipinas reported.

Lustre’s lawyer, Dino De Leon, said his client was unaware of the case before the arrest. He added that police had no information on who filed the complaint.

De Leon said Lustre’s camp would post P48,000 bail and seek the reopening of the preliminary investigation.

Lustre was brought to the QCPD Kamuning Station 10 for booking and underwent physical and medical examinations.

Lustre is a longtime journalist and critic of the Duterte family. He wrote “Kill, Kill, Kill,” a book about former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

Jacob Rolida may still carry amateur status, but his stellar performance at the ICTSI South Pacific Classic signaled a player ready to leap into the professional ranks.

In a tournament defined by a tight five-man race won ultimately by multi-titled Clyde Mondilla, Rolida carved out a major breakthrough of his own by capturing low amateur honors.

Rolida outlasted fellow rising star Miguel Ilas in a gripping battle that stretched to the final hole, with both players finishing tied for 12th overall at eight-under 280 over 72 demanding rounds at the South Pacific Golf Club.

The amateur honors came down to the slimmest of margins, secured by Rolida’s closing 69 against Ilas’ 70, breaking a deadlock after four days of sustained pressure.

The duel was fiercely contested from the start, featuring matching opening-round 68s, dramatic lead changes, and pivotal shifts that kept both competitors locked in a tense race.

Everything climaxed on the closing stretch, where Ilas narrowly missed a seven-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th, leaving the door open for Rolida’s steadier finish.

For the 25-year-old former Ateneo de Manila golf team captain and national team veteran, the strong finish validated his belief that he can successfully transition to the big league.

‘Actually, it’s my second PGT event, so, yeah, so happy,’ said Rolida, whose understated reaction belied the significance of competing neck-and-neck with seasoned professionals.

His confidence grew from the very first round, when an opening 68 showed that he could keep pace with the professionals. Rather than being intimidated by the depth of the field, he drew motivation from it.

‘After the first day, parang I mean, I played good, so in my mind it’s like ang ganda din pala ng competition here kasi, well, four-under in the first round doesn’t really get you that far. I mean, it’s nice also to see the other players play well. Parang na-engganyo din ako to play well,’ he said.

That competitive spark was matched by a game plan that held up throughout the week. Rolida credited his ability to find fairways, create scoring opportunities and capitalize on what the course offered for helping him sustain his challenge over four demanding rounds.

‘It’s just a good overall week. Parang, well, nasusunod yung game plan, natatamaan yung fairways and maraming opportunities na nakuha ko din, like I made the most out of the opportunities that the course gave me,’ he said.

Remarkably, this milestone was achieved without a regular coach in recent months, relying instead on past guidance from mentors like J3 Altea and Boyet Zaragosa as he eyes future Q-School stints.

‘Wala akong coach ngayon. I haven’t gone to a coach in a while,’ he said, adding that he had worked with different coaches but had not recently stuck with one.

For a player with national team experience, a strong amateur pedigree, and the ability to contend against professionals over 72 holes, the South Pacific result could prove more than a one-week highlight. Qualifying school will present a tougher test, demanding consistency, sharper execution and the ability to deliver under pressure, but Rolida has given himself a promising platform from which to pursue those ambitions.

He also expressed gratitude to Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. for the opportunity to compete and to South Pacific Golf Club’s management for providing excellent playing conditions throughout the week. More importantly, he leaves Davao with a hard-earned amateur title, valuable experience against the pros and renewed confidence that the next chapter of his golfing journey could take him considerably further.

International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors are seeking to present testimony describing alleged orders “from above,” planning and payments tied to killings in their crimes against humanity case against former president Rodrigo Duterte.

In a redacted filing released Friday, October 23, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor asked Trial Chamber III to admit the previously recorded testimonies of three witnesses identified only as P-1155, P-1156 and P-1157.

Prosecutors said the witnesses could provide evidence under Count 3 of the case, which covers murder and attempted murder allegations, including Duterte’s alleged knowledge and intent.

They could also point to the existence of a policy to “neutralize” suspected criminals through violence, prosecutors argued.

Witness P-1155’s account covers alleged orders “from above,” instructions given to police officers and a reward linked to one of the incidents under examination, according to the prosecution.

The testimony of P-1156, meanwhile, concerns alleged orders, planning, preparations and payment related to the killings.

The third witness, P-1157, is expected to provide evidence concerning a killing and a planned police operation against the targets.

An earlier prosecution filing, made public on October 21, also sought the admission of recorded testimonies from three other witnesses, identified as P-0008, P-1164 and P-1303. Prosecutors said their accounts could help establish a pattern of police killings.

Recorded testimony

The prosecution argued that the three accounts were consistent and corroborated one another.

The testimonies, moreover, would establish the alleged policy of targeting suspected criminals through violent acts, including murder, it said.

The previously recorded accounts were requested to be admitted under Rule 68(3) of the ICC Rules of Procedure and Evidence, a procedure that allows qualifying prior testimony to be introduced at trial.

The prosecution maintained that admitting the previous statements would help shorten the proceedings without prejudicing Duterte’s right to challenge the evidence against him.

Expert report

In a separate filing released October 23, prosecutors also sought the admission of an expert report and 15 associated items from a witness identified as P-1400.

The expert’s field and much of the report’s contents were redacted. Prosecutors proposed shortening the witness’s direct examination from five hours to two hours while allowing further questioning in court.

The ICC has scheduled another status conference for November 2 to address outstanding preparations ahead of the trial.

The ICC’s Trial Chamber III, presided over by Judge Joanna Korner, is expected to rule on the latest requests.

Trial opening. Duterte’s trial is set to open on November 30 over crimes against humanity charges involving killings during his presidency and his tenure as Davao City mayor.

Duterte has been detained in The Hague since March 2025.

Only members of law enforcement and national security agencies are authorized to operate as armed groups in this country.

In some of the safest countries in Asia such as Singapore and Japan, police and military personnel must turn in their service firearms when off-duty; guns cannot be brought home.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, a powerful armed group is reportedly harboring Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity related to the bloody crackdown on illegal drugs.

This is according to Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, whose department has jurisdiction over the Philippine National Police.

Outside the PNP, the Armed Force of the Philippines and other law enforcement and national security agencies, why is there a ‘powerful’ armed group in this country that can afford to harbor a wanted man?

Remulla said he was negotiating with the armed group, which he did not identify, for Dela Rosa’s surrender. Negotiations are preferred, Remulla said, to prevent a bloodbath that could spark unrest similar to the five-month siege of Marawi in 2017 and potentially cause up to 10,000 deaths.

That must be one powerful armed group. Why is it allowed to operate in this country?

Dela Rosa himself has yet to surrender 91 of the 117 guns registered under his name. The PNP Firearms and Explosives Office has revoked his ownership licenses for the guns, so he can be arrested for illegal possession of firearms. Remulla has described Dela Rosa, a former PNP chief, as ‘armed and dangerous.’

Dela Rosa has been absent from the Senate since November. That’s one-third of the entire period of operation of the current Congress.

Last May, he popped up for a day to help replace Sen. Tito Sotto with Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president, and then left the premises by hitching a ride with Sen. Robinhood Padilla. It’s unclear how much of his monthly P300,000 in basic pay plus allowances and the bigger maintenance and other operating expenses he has received.

Yesterday, acknowledging public concerns over the law enforcement capability of the government, Remulla announced a P50-million bounty for Dela Rosa’s capture and gave the senator a week to turn himself in.

It was unclear what the government intended to do if Dela Rosa ignored what seemed like an ultimatum to surrender.

The government is going to look even weaker if that deadline lapses without the expected result.

You have probably seen this video circulating online of a road rage incident in Talisay City; a motorcycle rider gets upset at a bus drive, overtakes then parks his motorcycle directly in front of the bus to stop it, then gets into the bus to spit at the driver.

What led to the dispute between the motorcycle rider and the bus driver was not recorded, but everything the rider did after it is; including his dangerous maneuver in stopping in the middle of the road, up to his spitting at the bus driver, eyes aflame, nostrils flaring, and lips downturned and all.

To get to the bottom of the matter, the Land Transportation Office has issued a show cause order against the rider, but also asked him and the bus driver to both surrender their licenses while awaiting preventive suspension.

Because the LTO is still looking into the incident we won’t say yet who was in the right or in the wrong regarding what led to the traffic altercation. However, we can say with certainty that at least for the rider, that was not how someone civilized ought to act in the road.

Again, the right thing to do when placed in a situation where you feel like striking out against someone, especially someone driving a vehicle like you are, is to keep your cool.

Some drivers or riders need to realize that they share the road with other drivers or riders; the road was not made for them alone. Some drivers or riders also need to realize that cameras are almost always around these days, and any rash action they do can be recorded, quickly spread, and immortalized on the internet.

Some drivers or riders also need to realize that their actions can deem them unworthy of a driver license –a privilege that can be taken away from them the moment they become unworthy of it– and they may lose their driving privileges forever.

As with many road ragers who have been penalized for being violent or even jailed for doing worse in the past, they always say they regret giving in to a moment of poor judgment.

Clang Garcia was in the inflight magazine trade for many years and would also dabble in handling inbound tours. She traveled as part of her job covering places for the magazine, and would see ‘hop-on hop-off’ tours in major cities. These buses have designated stops on a route where a tourist can get on or off at any of the stops. Usually like a circuit, one can go around a circuit more than once if you wished. Taking inspiration from those tours, Clang tried to talk to hotels in Manila to pilot a similar tour but this time, using the popular iconic Filipino jeepney. The hotels could not grasp the concept of making people get on at their stop but lose them to other destinations. Clang had to innovate to keep her business going, and so she curated tours around food.

Along with the late chef Margarita Forés and with the late tourism secretary Mon Jimenez, she curated a tour for food media for the Madrid Fusion in 2017. They started the trip at Farmer’s Market in Cubao, visited historical sites in Intramuros, stopped at designated restaurants to try local fare – and slowly the tour was taking shape. Since then, Clang has focused on food tours instead of the usual tourist sites with obscure dining experiences. Most tours would bring tourists to iconic sites but would serve food just as a break with no mention of its origins and local ingredients. Clang’s innovation led to the publication of her first book ‘Food Holidays’ in 2016, which won the Best Food Tourism book at the Gourmand awards in 2021.

The jeepney was another concern. She had to get a franchise from the Land Transportation Franchise Regulatory Board even if she only had one jeepney. She has special routes, not competing with the riding public on regular jeepneys. When she was about to renew her franchise, the agency shifted or updated its requirements, asking her to buy 10 new jeepneys with Euro4 compliance. First, it was going to cost her a lot. Second, how could she operate 10 new tours by herself? Her prayers were answered because the COVID lockdowns happened even before she could take a loan to get those new vehicles which would have drained her cash flow. A sigh of relief for Clang to again twist and pivot to another business model.

She went around the country to discover unusual food that was indigenous to a community and got to meet many cultural communities which now became her signature food tours. I am a witness to her success as she took three foreigner friends of mine on a special tour of Manila with food included. The focus is on food and its origins, with the side tour of the sights. This makes her tours unique and truly an experience tourists can keep as a beautiful memory of the Philippines.

In the Slow Food movement (www.slowfood.com) we do have Slow Food travel which began in Europe and now is already in Western Visayas. The Slow Food focus is on preservation of culture through food and traditional ways of cooking. Think pinikpikan manok, pinaupong manok, pinausukan manok which are ways different provinces and cultures prepare chicken. Even paksiw (stewed in vinegar) for fish is called differently in Iloilo as pinamalhan. There are slight variations in souring ingredients or in fermentation called buro, balao-balao or in pickling like atchara.

This is also how Clang envisions the preservation of culture, starting with the basic social unit which is the family. If we eat together as a family even just once a month, and feature Lola’s recipes or taste what our mothers used to cook, we can start listing down these recipes and passing them down to the next generation. Her advice to all readers and their families is to preserve their own family recipes because eating together makes a family unite in a soulful way. We are the guardians of our culture and if we look inwards, we can touch three generations immediately and preserve what we still remember.

My brother took it upon himself to gather everyone every Sunday lunch to rediscover recipes of our Mom’s puchero, pancit lomi and even how she served seafood like crablets, crabs and shrimps. Everybody gets to learn how to eat talangka, buntot sa mustasa, giniling sa tausi and tito sa mani. Every family has their quirky traditions and this, according to Clang’s research, is our food heritage.

To innovate on her jeepney tours, Clang helped develop the Malabon tricycle food tours, food tours in Binondo, Intramuros and Cavite and a special indigenous foodways tour combining B’laan and T’boli cultures in Sarangani and Cotabato. There, tourists see how indigenous people start fire from scratch and use what is in their backyard, or what you can call a ‘zero kilometer’ dish as you never have to leave home to get ingredients. That is true locavorism, or cooking from what is closest to point of use – the backyard reveals all the ingredients for a local dish.

Her good and green tips for sustainability of food cultures are to travel, eat and learn. And we can start today with our own families. What did your grandmother (in our case, our grandfather cooked) cook? Since our great grandparents came from Amoy (now Xiamen), our grandfather taught our mother that kind of cooking which we still do today, four generations later. After keeping your family recipes intact, you can now travel and learn other cultures, locally first like Pampango or Visayan cuisine, or even Tausug fare.

Or you can join Clang on one of her tours and learn more about foodways and our Filipino food culture. You can find Clang in social media and as Food Ambassador of the World Food travel association. Or get a copy of her book Food Holidays, a do-it-yourself food guide to Philippine gastronomy.

I find myself passing time while trying to look for a very good topic to write about this rainy afternoon. I turn to different modes of distraction to slow down my very active brain. With different things to do left and right, it is difficult to find focus amid a very noisy landscape. At this point, I recall an activity I did this week about opportunities to give a younger version of myself. Of course, I said I would want to give the gift of time.

The generation of teenagers these days seems so hung up on the instant. They want to know everything in advance, even when told to take it easy or slow down. At one point, they are so excited and give it their all, but in the next few moments, they hit a slump and shun the tasks that need to be completed. They often use the words ‘burnout,’ which is legitimate in every sense. The harder question is how to manage it without wearing ourselves or each other out.

I wonder if my background in an intense high school environment taught me to toil even when I was not feeling well, or if there is simply greater emphasis now on well-being. While these concerns are valid, it seems that time for the much-needed break is often what gets taken away. As it is, a second passes faster than the blink of an eye. Before we realize it, we are already in the last quarter of the year. We think about the promises we made at the start of the year and gauge whether we can still fulfill them. Time has indeed taken its toll on all of us.

To return to the gift of time, I would always encourage the young to take things calmly and at their own pace. Nothing beats a relaxed pace of life while getting to know oneself. There is so much out there to discover about what we can actually do, and speeding things up might do more harm than good. Waiting is also one of the most challenging things to do. Like delayed gratification, it teaches us that not everything worthwhile needs to happen immediately.

Perhaps the real value of time lies not in how much we accomplish in a day, but in how much of ourselves we give to the things that matter. There is a difference between making the most of our time and filling every moment of it. If I could give my younger self anything, I would say there is no need to rush into becoming the person you are meant to be. Some lessons take years to understand, and some opportunities arrive only when we are ready for them. We may not always have control over how quickly time passes, but we can choose how we spend it. After all, life is not a race against the clock. Sometimes, the best thing we can do is slow down, breathe, and allow time to do its work.