Vice President Sara Duterte has an early Christmas gift for children — a “safe space” where they can grow and develop to their full potential.
That gift is the Depart ment of Education’s Child Protection Unit (CPU) web site and the Learner Tele safe Contact Center nation al hotline.
The CPU website will be the backbone of Filipi no learners to know about safety threats, and who to call or communicate with when threats happen.
The Learners TeleSafe Contact Center Helpline will also address the vic
tims’ concerns such as a possible backlash, victim shaming, or harsh physical punishment.
“When I assumed my role as the DepEd Secretary in June this year, not only did I have to think of solu tions to the problems that had hounded the depart ment for years, but I also had to deal with disturbing and painful stories about learners being victims of sexual abuse,” Duterte said
in her speech during the 30th National Children’s Month on November 24, 2022.
Duterte said the DepEd will be in the forefront of the campaign to end vio lence and sexual abuse in schools.
“DepEd will ensure a safe and nurturing learning environment by strength ening child protection mechanisms in schools,” Duterte said.
She said DepEd will be working with education champions, barangay lead ers, civil society partners, and fellow child protection advocates to strengthen
the Learners TeleSafe Con tact Center Helpline, pro vide immediate assistance to our learner-victims, and bolster the existing inter vention mechanism and referral system.
Child protection is close to the heart of the vice president.
In 2016, Duterte cre ated Kean Gabriel hotline when she was still mayor of Davao City following the death of the 3-year-old boy who died in the hands of his stepfather.
Since the creation of the hotline the city has no recorded child death due to FSAFE, P10
Apart from the regu lar assistance given to a newly-declared insurgency-free province, Governor Dorothy Monte jo-Gonzaga emphasized the need for educational schol arships in its geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA) to sustain the peace efforts.
In a press briefing here Wednesday afternoon, Gon zaga said they have revised the scholarship program of the province making sure that slots will be given to students in GIDAs and for mer rebels (FRs) or their family members.
“For the FRs or we call them ‘friends rescued’, they can avail of the scholarship. It is also made available for their families or relatives,” she said.
Gonzaga added they are also catering to scholars of the various indigenous peo ple’s tribes and children of solo parents.
She assured that their regular assistance in GIDAs would continue to avoid the reentry of the communist New People’s Army (NPA)
rebels into their communi ties.
Gonzaga said they are using the Provincial Peace and Order Council funds to provide the needs of the communities in the prov ince.
“It is much more chal lenging today because since there is no presence of the NPA, the expectation of the people from the provin cial government is high. They are now keen on the benefits of being insurgen cy-free,” she said.
In June this year, Davao de Oro was declared insur gency-free by the provincial peace and order council after the dismantling of armed rebel units in the province.
From an insurgency hot bed with 12 guerilla units, the military weakened the NPA to just one during the latter half of 2021.
The remaining rebels under the Guerrilla Front 2 which is the oldest NPA unit in Mindanao, eventually left Davao de Oro to free the province from insurgency.
The Technical Educa tion and Skills Devel opment Authority (TESDA) Davao Occiden tal Provincial Office has provided timely aid to the flood victims in the munic ipality of Sta. Maria.
With its utmost effort to extend immediate assis
tance affected by the on slaught of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the municipality, TESDA Davao Occidental together with the Provincial Training Center-Malita successfully conducted “TESDAmayan” relief operation on Novem ber 23, 2022 in Barangays
Poblacion and San Agustin.
The relief operation pro vided relief goods and food packs to over 200 affected families by the recent flood ing incident last November 17, 2022.
This assistance under “TESDAmayan” symboliz es the distinct sympathetic
nature of the Filipinos who are always ready to help their kababayans in distress, especially in times of calam ities.
During the visit, the TESDA Davao Occidental personnel had the chance to personally meet and asked the current situation of the
affected families who ex pressed their utmost appre ciation and gratitude to the agency for providing them assistance and basic neces sities in these trying times.
The provincial office is also considering to provide skills training on carpentry for the affected families to
capacitate them in restor ing their respective houses since most of them were rendered homeless, and they are currently housed in an emergency shelter in the evacuation area provid ed by the local government unit.
(TESDA Davao Occi dental)
Six communist rebels were killed during clashes with govern ment forces in the hinter lands of Sultan Kudarat province, the Army here said Friday.
Lt. Col. Frederick Chic ote, Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion (7IB) com mander, said the encoun ter occurred at 5:30 a.m. Thursday in Sitio Mudti, Barangay Chua, Bagum bayan, Sultan Kudarat.
Soldiers were pa trolling the village when they chanced upon a group of about 10 New People’s Army (NPA) reb els.
“The skirmishes lasted for about 30 minutes and the rebels fled deep into the forest, leaving their slain comrades,” Chicote said.
Slain were Dennis Dol unan, an NPA executive committee member and deputy secretary of East Daguma Front of Sub-Re gional Command (SRC) Daguma, Far South Mind anao Region; his wife La ilyn who served as medic,
Sep Kasa, Jerry Kasa alias Kikil; and two other un identified fighters.
Government forces recovered an AK-47 rifle, three M16 rifles, ammuni tion, a motorbike, rebels’ personal belongings and subversive documents.
“We suffered no casu alty,” Chicote said.
Maj. Gen. Roy Galido, Army’s 6th Infantry Divi sion commander, lauded the 7IB troopers for the accomplishment.
He expressed sadness though over the death of NPA combatants who were misguided and duped to join a useless armed struggle.
“As much as possible, we don’t want lives to be wasted, because we don’t want to see families suffering from the loss of their family members and loved ones” Galido, also the commander of Joint Task Force Central, said.
He appealed to all oth er enemies of the state to avail of the government’s peace offer. (PNA)
By MAYA M. PADILLODavao City has maintained its low pos itivity rate for Covid-19, however, it still recorded deaths.
Dr. Michelle Schlosser, spokesperson of the Davao City Covid-19 Task Force, told Dabawenyos that even though the positivity rate in the city has dropped below 5 percent, which is the ac ceptable positivity rate, the “killer” threat of Covid-19 still exists.
In the light of this latest
development, Schlosser re minded the public to take extra precautions when attending gatherings such as Christmas parties and reunions, specially since the yuletide season is ap proaching.
“Reminder lang gyud sa katawhan kay we are also anticipating one of the
big events in our yuletide season and the most antici pated events are Christmas and New Year. Reminder lang na these are going to be massive gatherings dili lang sa mga establishments and offices, each one of us naa ta’y mga Christmas party sa atoang families and friends and reunions, we would like to remind everyone nga naa gihapon tay Covid bisan less than the 5 percent na ang atoang
positivity rate,” she said over Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR) on Friday.
She reported that from the period of November 13 to 19, 2022, the city record ed six deaths and five of them are in the vulnerable sector.
“Naa gihapon ang Covid, in fact, naa gihapon tay namatay because of Covid-19. Although, ang cases of death nibaba but F
The regional office of the Department of Information and Communications Technol ogy (DICT 11) is offering free ICT-related training to those who are looking for home-based jobs through its digitaljobsPH Training Program.
DICT is implementing digitaljobsPH to create meaningful ICT-enabled jobs in the socio-econom ically disadvantaged areas in the country. It focuses
on the areas where there is a high population but low employment due to lack of investors.
Engineer Albert Gabri el, information technology officer 1 of DICT-Davao Region, explained that dig italjobs is a scholarship program of DICT where it provides ICT-related skills training for those people who want to work online.
“Kami sa DITC ang among direction is digita lizaiton ug gahatag mi ug
capacity building or train ings for digitalization. Uso naman karon ng freelanc ing ug home-based na mga trabaho so nagahatag mi ug free trainings sa mga tao nga gusto mu venture ug ingon ani nga pagtraba ho kay naa man tay mga kaigsoonan nga wala silay opportunity nga makatra baho sa four corners of the office but if you are com fortable to work at your homes with the use of tech nology, nagahatag mi ani,”
he said during the Kapihan sa PIA at NCCC Victoria Pla za Mall on Friday.
The training offers courses that are significant to land highly in-demand online jobs worldwide including digital market ing/e-commerce, web de velopment, social media marketing, advertising, search engine marketing and advertising, content writing, graphic design, and virtual assistance.
ThePhilippine digital economy is pro jected to reach $20 billion (P1.1 tril lion) by the end of 2022, an economic report on Southeast Asia said.
The annual e-Conomy SEA report said that the country’s digital economy enjoyed a growth of 22 per cent over the past year.
The report also fore cast that Philippine digital economy may reach $35 billion in 2025, growing at a 20 percent annual rate, and may also hit $100 to $150 billion by 2030.
Specific sectors of the country’s digital economy are also projected to enjoy significant growths in 2022,
namely: transport and food delivery ($1.9 billion), travel ($1 billion), online media ($3.1 billion), and digital fi nancial services ($6 billion).
The report also de scribed the Philippines as the “second fastest growing digital economy” in South east Asia, next to Vietnam.
Because of this, the country is forecast to be a “hot investment hub across sectors including digital fi nancial services,” attracting more investors in the com
ing years.
“The Philippines has the fastest growing digital in vestments sector this year in SEA, at 63 percent growth rate from 2021 to 2022,” the report said.
“Seventy-three percent of investors (second high est in SEA after Vietnam) are expecting deal activity to increase in the country’s local digital economy in the period of 2025 to 2030 as compared to the current sit uation,” it added.
Digital financial services in the country are of partic ular interest to investors, capturing 56 percent of to tal investor funding in 2022 and raising roughly $450
million in the first half of this year alone.
“The Philippine digital economy remains resilient despite headwinds and con tinues to provide boundless opportunities,” said Berna dette Nacario, Country Di rector of Google Philippines.
Willy Chang, Associate Partner at Bain & Company, also described the Philip pines’ digital economy as “one of the more attractive investment hubs in the re gion.”
“We expect growth to come from not only the physical goods and services internet sectors, but also digital financial services
The National Economic and Development Au thority (NEDA) Board has approved a new project and amended five ongo ing projects during its first meeting under the Marcos administration.
In a Palace briefing,
NEDA
Aquatic Resources (BFAR). Balisacan said FishCoRe aims to improve the man agement of fishery resourc es and enhance the value of production of fisheries in select Fisheries Manage ment Areas (FMAs).
Under the project, it will
establish support facilities and fisheries infrastructure, develop appropriate fish eries management policies, provide livelihood and en terprise development as sistance and improve insti tutional capacities of target
The government’s digitalization push, along with corpo rates’ goal to improve their operations which were further boosted by the remote working setup when the pandemic hit, has increased the im portance of information technology (IT) units.
This is among the find ings of the study by Mana geEngine, the IT manage ment division of Indian multinational technology firm Zoho Corporation, in the third quarter of this year.
Citing results of the survey titled “IT at work: 2022 and beyond”, Mana geEngine regional direc tor for Asia Pacific Arun Kumar, in a briefing on Thursday, said 93 percent of decision-makers cited greater collaboration be tween IT teams and other departments in the last two years.
Kumar said 100 per cent of the IT decision makers (ITDMs) from the 150 firms who participat
ed in the survey said their organizations have been making use of advanced data analytics, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), on their IT opera tions over the last year.
He said there is no fixed level of IT invest ment that companies need to follow because this depends on several factors such as the size of the company, the indus try it belongs to, and the maturity of its IT system --whether it has invested on this in the prior years or has not.
“I think it might look like the budgets are go ing to be high initially but that’s important because you invest today for the future,” he added.
Kumar said compa nies also have different reasons for investing in IT, but in general, this is aimed at making sure that the firms stay ahead of the competition, stay relevant to the business
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is expected to sign an executive order (EO) that will cut tariff rates on imported electric vehicles (EV) and EV parts and components soon, Socioeconomic Plan ning Secretary Arsenio Bal isacan said.
In a Palace briefing Thursday, Balisacan said the National Economic and Development Author ity (NEDA) Board has en dorsed to Marcos the EO modifying tariffs of EVs, including passenger cars, buses, mini-buses, vans, trucks, motorcycles, tricy cles, scooters, and bicycles, among others, to zero.
However, he said the tariff reduction would only be imposed on completely built-up unit (CBU) EVs, with an exemption for hy brid-type EVs.
Balisacan said the EO would also slash tariffs for EV parts and components from the current 5 percent to 1 percent.
The tariff modification will be implemented for five years.
“The EO aims to ex pand market sources and encourage consumers to consider acquiring EVs, improve energy security by reducing dependence on imported fuel, and pro mote the growth of the do mestic EV industry ecosys tem,” he added.
EVs coming from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are already at zero tariff as the country has free trade agreement with oth er Southeast Asian coun tries, but the most favored nation (MFN) tariff for EVs remains high at 30 percent.
This reform would ben efit EVs imported from big suppliers of e-vehicles such as China, Japan, and South Korea.
“We will review the ef fects of this new policy af ter one year and we’ll see how we reconfigure the system by then,” Balisacan said.
He said the issuance of the EO would open up the market for more EVs, and the growth of auxiliary
The national govern ment’s budget deficit last month stood at P99.1 bil lion, up 54.08% from the P64.3-billion fiscal shortfall posted in the same period the previous year.
The wider deficit re sulted from the 22.23% year-on-year acceleration in government spending, which outperformed the 14.14% growth in revenue.
Despite the wider year-
on-year fiscal gap, Octo ber’s shortfall is the nar rowest in two months since August’s P72.04-billion.
The year-to-date bud get shortfall, meanwhile, amounted to P1.1 trillion, 7.61% lower than the P1.2-trillion gap seen in the 10-month period a year ago and accounted for 67% of the P1.7 trillion full-year fiscal gap ceiling.
Compared to Septem
ber this year, the fiscal bal ance gap in October was narrower than the prior month’s P179.8-billion deficit.
In an emailed com mentary, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief econo mist Michael Ricafort said the wider year-on-year budget deficit was “part ly due to higher inflation as higher prices may have required more govern ment spending, as well as a weaker peso exchange rate in recent months (that increased the peso equiv alent of foreign debts and debt servicing) and higher local and US/global inter est rates that increased
debt servicing for the gov ernment’s debts.”
“Nevertheless, the economy reopened fur ther towards greater nor malcy that fundamentally boosted tax revenue col lections on a year-on-year basis, while also some what reducing the gov ernment’s COVID-related expenditures since there are no more large-scale lockdowns so far this year (compared to pockets of hard lockdowns in 2021), while also pushing for greater fiscal discipline amid the priority of nar rowing the budget deficit and temper the growth in
Prices of petroleum products are expect ed to drop again next week, the Department of Energy said on Friday.
Oil Management Bu reau Assistant Direc tor Rodela Romero said this was because of the COVID-19 surge in China and the industry’s price cap on Russian crude.
The United States’ fuel inventory also increased,
Romero noted, which means that “fuel demand is low.”
Here are the estimated rollbacks for next week, ac cording to the official:
• Gasoline - P1 - P1.20
• Diesel - P3.50 - P3.70
• Kerosene - P2.20P2.40
Romero allayed con sumers’ fears that prices of petroleum products will rise in the coming weeks,
given the trend.
“Wala tayong control doon (prices), yung presyo talaga market-based siya, kung ano ‘yung nangya yari sa international mar ket katulad ng... factors na makakaapekto para tu maas... o humatak pababa,” she said during a televised briefing.
(We do not have con trol of these. The prices are market-based so whatever
happens in the internation al market, it can either in crease or decrease.)
“Hopefully, hindi man maganda ang kadahilanan ng pagbaba, ma-sustain ‘yun para magtuloy-tuloy ‘yung nararanasan nating rollback,” she added.
(Hopefully that while the reasons for the price rollback are not good, these prices will be sustained so there could be more rollbacks.)
The Philippine government’s fiscal bal ance saw a wider year-on-year deficit in October as growth in state revenues outpaced the increase in spending during the period, data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Friday showed.A visitor chooses from a wide array of cacao byproducts during the second day of the National Cacao Congress at SM Lanang Premier’s SMX Convention Center on Thursday. Lean Daval Jr.
soon: NEDA chief
“When
Along Calle Bolton (as it was then called), there was a building whose historical and commercial significance was overshadowed by the lease disagreement that hounded it. The discord would eventually reach the Supreme Court, which resolved the case on December 12, 1911.
The edifice, the focus of Case No. G.R. No. L-6592 (Macleod & Co. vs. Simeon Marfori and Cenon Rasay), was a two-story house on the west side of the street, just 150 feet (45.72 meters) south of San Pedro Street, Davao City. Superimposed, it is situated be tween Magallanes (now Antonio Pichon Sr.) and San Pedro streets, along the roadside of Rizal Park, and was owned by Cenon Rasay, a former Davao municipal presi dent and planter.
On July 13, 1907, Macleod & Co., an American firm, entered
into a ‘contract of lease’ of P150 monthly with Rasay for five years, starting from January 1, 1908. The six-month period between signing and actual occupancy was to put the building ‘in good con dition and re-pair.’ To complete it, the company advanced P4,000, subject to an eight percent annual inter-est, and treated it as an ad vanced rental. The amount was divided into two tranches cov ered by promissory notes.
While the building was still being finished, Rasay sold the property to Simeon Marfori, then a Manila resident, at a judicial sale. Marfori’s agent was told to honor the existing lease, the money advanced by the compa ny and its application, and the turnover of the property for use if completed. If for some reason the structure could not be occu pied, the sum would be returned
to Macleod & Co., inclusive of in terest.
For failure to comply with the terms, the company sued Rasay before the trial court, which ruled that the original owner breached the accord in two respects, name ly (i) the fail-ure to complete the building so it could be turned over to the renter and (ii) the construction (i.e., cement block for the ground floor and frame for the second story) did not follow the con-tract stipulations.
In the hearing, George D. Tem pleton, an employee of the firm, testified that Rasay occu-pied the house himself from December 1907 to January 1908, even if it was not finished, and later leased it to Capt. W. J. Platka, 2nd Lt. E. L. Dunsworth and 3rd Lt. Antonio de Goicouria, of the Philippine Constabulary (PC). The structure was not completed until March,
1908.
In the lower court’s judgment, Rasay was ordered to pay the company P3,638, with inter-est, and both Rasay and Marfori for the cost of litigation, and sub jected the house ‘to lien for the amount of this judgment, less the costs, and that the same may be sold to satisfy the judgment.’
When the case reached the Supreme Court, it ruled that ‘the judgment appealed from is af firmed, without special finding as to costs.’ The verdict, among others, cited that what was stated in the agreement ‘was to furnish money and not materials,’ and the reason for Macleod & Co. to withdraw from the lease was not Rasay’s failure to comply with the specifications but owing to the plan of the company to close its business in Davao.
The house later played a his
toric role in the June 6, 1909, mu tiny when twenty-three Mandaya natives who were PC members revolted against their superiors due to allegations of discrimina tion. The planned uprising was accidentally discovered by Lt. De Goicouria, a Spanish PC officer, while doing the rounds after see ing the guardhouse had no lights that early evening.
As a result, the officer, who first confronted the surprised soldiers who were then loading ammo in their guns, was shot sev eral times. Bleeding and within range of the deserters, he made a dash, zigzagging to the woods at the back of the arsenal; he got three flesh wounds from the at tack. He immediately headed to the town plaza and took shelter in the same house—now owned by Marfori—where he was treat ed for his injuries.
An acronym is defined by the dictionary as “a word formed by the combining of initial letters or syllables and letters of a series of words or a compound term.”
When I was younger and still in high school decades ago, I al ways enjoyed and got impressed whenever I read or came across nice acronyms in the newspapers, magazines, books, periodicals and other publications.
Oftentimes, I would re-read them a number of times so that I would remember and know their meaning when I came across them again, whether together with the actual group of words they stood for or not.
At that time, there were still few acronyms in the Philippines and even in the rest of the world, including in the United Nations which was initially composed of 50 countries in 1945.
To my mind, however, one of the most historical and memorable acronyms I had come across was about the “KKK” which stood for the “Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalan gang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan” (highest and noblest asso ciation of the sons of the country) “organized by Gat Andres Bonifacio and his group in the 1890s to fight for the Philippine independence from Spanish occupation. The Phil ippines gained its independence from the United States of America (USA) in July 1946.
Today, the most commonly read acronyms in the newspapers are those of the national govern ment departments represented by the Cabinet members of President “Bongbong” Marcos (BBM), includ ing the infant Department of Mi grant Workers (DMW).
Among the most common ac ronyms that could be found in local newspapers, magazines, periodi cals and books in the 1950s-1960s were (in parentheses): Philippine Islands (PI), Commonwealth of the Philippines (CP), Republic of the Philippines (RP), Philippine Gen eral Hospital (PGH), North General Hospital (NGH), Philippine Nation al Bank (PNB), Central Bank of the Philippines (CBP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine Constabulary (PC), Philippine Air Force (PAF), Philippine Navy (PN), Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), Securities and Exchange Commis sion (SEC), Manila Electric Com pany (Meralco), and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT).
There were also the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP), Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP), National Economic Protectionism Associ ation (NEPA), National Economic Council (NEC), San Miguel Brew ery (SMB), National Power Cor poration (NPC), National Rice and Corn Corporation (NARIC) which later on became Rice and Corn Administration (RCA), United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), Clark Air Force Base (CAFB), Supreme Court (SC), Court of Appeals (CA), and Nation al Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
A year after the bombing by unknown groups of the procla mation rally of the Liberal Party (LP) candidates in Plaza Miranda, Quiapo, Manila on Aug. 21, 1971, stepped-up activities by militant groups belonging to the Commu nist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Demo cratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) and the secessionist movement in Mindanao prompted President Ferdinand E. Marcos (1965-1986) to declare a nationwide state of Martial Law (ML) on Sept. 21, 1972.
The President said he pro
claimed martial law “as a final recourse to combat two principal sources of grave danger to society and the government --a rebellion mounted by a strange conspiracy of leftist and rightist radicals, and a secessionist movement support ed by foreign parties.” He was then referring to the movement by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Lib eration Front (MILF) to separate the former Mindanao-Sulu-Pala wan (MinSuPala) from the Repub lic of the Philippines (RP).
During the administration of President Corazon C. Aquino (1986-1992), steps were taken to quell the secessionist problem in southern Philippines. Under the 1987 Constitution, an Autono mous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was created, which was upgraded to the Bangsamoro Au tonomous Region in Muslim Min danao (BARMM) during the 20162022 term of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
A Cordillera Autonomous Re gion (CAR) in northern Philippines was also proposed but its creation remains pending after 35 years. What is there today is the CAR meaning Cordillera Administrative (not autonomous) Region.
In 1975, President Marcos decided to integrate through a presidential decree (PD) 17 local government units (LGUs) from the then Greater Manila Area (GMA), Rizal and Bulacan provinces and created the Metropolitan Manila Commission (MMC) headed by then First Lady (FL) Imelda R. Mar cos as governor. This led later to the creation of the Metro Manila Tran sit Corporation (MMTC), among many other agencies with their cor responding acronyms, and also to the birth of the present Metropoli tan Manila Development Authority (MMDA composed of 16 cities and one municipality represented by the Metro Manila Mayors’ Council
(MMC).
In recent years, the compound words Integrated Bar of the Phil ippines (IBP), South China Sea (SCS), West Philippine Sea (WPS), Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) also began to surface.
In July 1993, the Congress passed a law creating the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to re place the original Central Bank of the Philippines (CBP) established in 1949.
Originally, the National Press Club (NPC) of the Philippines was the only national organization of journalists in the country and its office can be found at the NPC Bldg. along Magallanes Drive in Intramuros, Manila. Later, the Fed eration of Provincial Press Clubs (FPPC) was born, followed by the National Union of Journalists (NUJP) and local press clubs in al most every province and city in the country.
There are also acronyms for known colleges and universities in the country. They include: Uni versity of the Philippines (UP), San Beda College (SBC), Manuel L. Quezon University (MLQU), Manila Central University (MCU), Philip pine Women’s University (PWU), Jose Rizal University (JRU), Centro Escolar University (CEU), Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU), De La Salle University (DLSU), Univer sity of the East (UE), Far Eastern University (FEU), National Univer sity (NU), Colegio de San Juan de Letran (CSJL), FEATI University (FU), Mapua University (MU), Ly ceum of the Philippines University (LPU), University of Manila (UM), Polytechnic University of the Phil ippines (PUP), Arellano University (AU), Technological University of the Philippines (TIP), University of Santo Tomas (UST), Adamson University (AdU), Philippine Nor mal College (PNC), Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM), College of St. Benilde (CSB), San Sebastian
In the political field, only two major political parties dominated the elections in the country --the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Liberal Party ( LP) -- under the 1935 Constitution. Later, there was the emergence of the Pro gressive Party of the Philippines (PPP).
After the ratification of the 1973 Constitution, the 1976-1978 Batasang Bayan (BB) called for the election of the members of the In terim Batasang Pambansa (IBP) on April 7, 1978 and several political parties emerged, further increasing the number of acronyms. Among them were: Kilusang Bagong Li punan (KBL), United Democrat ic Organization (UNIDO), Grand Alliance for Democracy (GAD), Lakas ng Bansa (Laban), Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP-Laban), and Partido ng Bayan (PnB), among others.
For the religious groups, the most common existing acronyms are those of the Catholic Bish ops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and Iglesia ni Cristo (INC).
Elsewhere in the globe, there are the United Nations (UN) with 193 member countries at present, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Asia-Pacific Eco nomic Cooperation Forum (APEC), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), European Union (EU), and Organization of Petroleum-Export ing Countries (OPEC).
It seems that as the population of a country and the whole world continues increasing at a fast rate, reaching the eight-billion mark this November, there is a corre sponding rise in the number of organizations, associations and other grouping of people, result ing in the unending proliferation of acronyms.
Have you ever noticed the seemingly unending proliferation of acronyms of almost all kinds not only in the Philippines now adays, but also in other countries throughout the world?College-Recoletos (SSC-R), Univer sity of Perpetual Help System-Dal ta (UPHSD), and Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC).
Your skin is the largest organ of your body and one of its main functions is to protect your body from external elements such as bacteria, chemicals, and other toxins.
It is also a good indica tor of everybody’s general health and that is the rea son why it is important to
invest on skin care.
Skin care does not choose any season, wheth er it’s summer or rainy, even during pandemic, as there are a lot of factors that can take its toll on your skin. Skin care is essential and a proper regimen will help in making your skin
firm, tough, beautiful, and even protected from virus es.
Give your skin a little love with Savonille Skin care Essentials, which has an array of essential skin care products, carefully for mulated, dermatologically, and clinically tested to be effective and safe for sensi tive skin.
The name Savonille was derived from the combina tion of two terms: Savon, meaning soap, and Manille, the name that Europeans used to call Manila with during the Spanish era.
Launched online under Optimity Corporation in December 2021, Savonille was first available online with product categories in cluding Brightening Soaps, Brightening Hand and Body
Washes, Moisturizing Hand Sanitizers, and Brightening Hand and Body Lotions.
The products were recently introduced here in Davao City by a Mind anaoan entrepreneur Anna Marie T. Anastacio, chief ex ecutive officer of Optimity Corporation, through the Savonille Skincare Essen tials Glow Getter Fellow ship event with the Davao media and influencers at Habi at Kape in Rogen Inn, Davao City.
“I was never into skin care but what encouraged me to go into it is the sci ence behind it. We have soaps, hand and body wash, hand sanitizer, and lotion. Why such products? Because it was during the height of the pandemic and I was looking at what the people need at that point in
time,” Anastacio said.
For a little more TLC, it uses licorice, which has gly cyrrhizin that prevents pre mature aging, as a unique ingredient across the cat egories. Glycyrrhizin is an anti-inflammatory that reduces irritation, itching, redness; and skin lighten ing.
In enhancing product efficacy, the hand and body lotions contain coconut oil while the moisturizing hand sanitizers contain 70 percent ethyl alcohol and aloe vera.
The brand is well-loved for its three signature scents: Citrus Boost (lemon scent), Classic Mild (baby powdery scent), and Floral Fresh (floral scent) which is available across all four categories. It also has an unscented line called Pure,
and a double dose of an ti-microbial potency under Tea Tree.
The only partner you will ever need in your journey to healthy skin, Savonille Skincare Essen tials have both regular commercial sizes and easyto-carry travel sizes for all its products. It also has curated gift sets that are ideal for gift-giving on any occasion.
In Davao City, Savonille is available in SM Lanang Premier’s Kultura Filipino Boutique, NCCC Depart ment Stores (Magsaysay, Buhangin, and Tagum), and soon Chimes (Sales and Abreeza Mall).
Savonille is available in more than 30 online and offline stores in the Phil ippines and has recently launched on Amazon US.
The debut moto-music event welcomed more than 1600 attendees to the fes tival, which was filled with motorbikes, music, stunt shows, contests and awards Bangkok, Thailand — Harley-Davidson® suc cessfully concluded its first ever Asia Harley Days® festival, with a roar of en gines and thundering mu sic on November 6, 2022. The event was attended by more than 1600 festi val goers from all over Asia including Thailand, South Korea, Philippines, Malay sia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan, Macao, Hong Kong, India, Guam and Singapore, as well as 80 H.O.G.TM (Harley Owners Group) chapters and motorcycle clubs from these countries and territories.
Beyond Asia, riders came all the way from Bel gium and Australia to join the festival as well. The
two-day moto-music festi val ran from November 5-6, 2022 at Triple Tree Beach Resort, Cha-am beach, Thailand and featured a power-packed program that included English and Thai music concerts by re nowned bands, breath-tak ing stunts, test rides and bike competitions, fun games and contests.
Asia Harley Days in cluded the iconic H.O.G. parade on 5 November, which was organized exclusively for H.O.G. members and Friends of H.O.G. The parade kicked off with a traditional cer emony to pay respect to the 7 Kings of Thailand, followed by H.O.G. logo formation. More than 350 riders came from Ra jabhakti Park, Hua Hin, to join the parade and ride to the festival venue at Triple Tree Beach Resort, Cha-am. The parade was
flagged-off by Lieutenant General Pit Chotisut, Di rector of Army Tourism Promotion Agency and Major General Somporn Donsingha, Commander of Royal Thai Army Ser geant School, Hua Hin. The parade was led by Dimitris Raptis – Vice President, Asia Pacific, Harley-Davidson, along with Sajeev Rajasekharan, Managing Director, Asia Emerging Markets & In dia, Harley-Davidson.
Mayor of Cha-Am, Mr. Nukul Pornsomboonsiri, was guest-of-honour at the traditional Thai-style opening ceremony held at the festival venue of Tri ple Tree Resort, Cham-am Beach. Throughout the eve ning, thousands of festival attendees relished the elec trifying music performanc es by well- known bands such as Ebola, Evolu5ion, DJ Alpha, DJ Riviere and Silly
Fool. Apart from the music performances, the attend ees enjoyed many other activities such as breath taking gymkhana stunts, slow racing and test rides. Fun contests such as best beard, best tattoo, fashion icon, highest number of Harley-Davidson patches and best slogan. The iconic Custom Kings contest was one of the major attrac tions of the festival.
On the second day, fes tival goers enjoyed perfor mances by leading bands Silly Fools, Dead Rabbit, Black Rose, DJ Kenny & DJ Karn, as well as June & San pond Violin and Saxophone dual.
Attendees were also entertained by many other activities such as Cham pionship Extreme stunts and food extravaganza. In the evening, awards were handed out to various win ners of the on-spot contests
and first ever Asia Harley Days Hall of Fame receipi ents, where over 50 select riders and dealer groups were recognized for their contribution and achieve ment to the community. The event was hosted by Guitar – Saruda Chusri and popular Thai artist, GuyRachanont Suprakob.
Presenting sponsor for the event was Krungsri Auto, while other sponsors included Snap On, Singha Drinking Water, Mueng Thai Assurance, Betagro, Sheraton Huahin Resort & Spa, Tourism Author ity of Thailand, Hua Hin Toursim and Thai Airways. Asia Harley Days will be an annual event from Har ley-Davidson in the region and announcement for the 2023 edition will be made soon.
Harley-Davidson Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, 20 Cecil Street, PLUS, #19-07, Sin
gapore 049705
Catch the official wrap up film on YouTube by clicking on the link here. For high-resolution imag es and video of the event, please click here. Please credit Harley-Davidson for the use of these images.
To know more about the event and participate in the social media contests, visit the event website or follow H-D Asia at:
FB: @HarleyDavidso nAsia IG: @HarleyDavidson_ Asia
YT: Harley-Davidson Asia
Any customer queries related to the event can be routed to: hogap@har ley-davidson.com. #Har leyDavidson #UnitedWeR ide #HarleyDavidsonAsia #AHD2022 #AsiaHarley Days #UnitedWeRide #Har leyOwnersGroup
abuse.
“I learned this in Davao City, and I learned the hard way. Noong pagbalik ko as mayor, we always get deaths of children because of abuse — ginulpi, pina hirapan, and pinatay. I was asking our City Social Welfare and Development Office, “Bakit dumarating tayo pag patay na ang bata?
Bakit hindi ninyo alam that there is something happening already in the houses in the community? We found out through our interviews in the commu nities na karamihan sa atin, hindi tayo nakikialam sa gulo ng kapitbahay natin dahil ayaw din natin magu lo iyong ating paninirahan sa pamamahay natin. So what we usually do is we keep quiet, turn a blind eye, turn our heads away, and think as if hindi nangyayari iyon because that is not our problem and is not happen ing in our house. So ganoon
ang nakita namin na cul ture sa mga communities,” she said.
Every Dabawenyo learned the number and the jingle, and the hotline started getting reports.
“I told them to create an anonymous way where people can report. I won’t have to tell who I am, I don’t have to tell you my name, I just have to tell you kung anong nangyayari sa bata and anong nangyayari sa bahay na iyan. Then that was very simple, we cre ated a hotline and a jingle. I told our City Information Office to get a vanity num ber, iyong madaling maaa lala na number, and ask someone to make a jingle and play the jingle sa en tire syudad. And then we did. And ang pinakaunang natuto sa jingle ay ang mga bata. They learned the ho tline, they learned the num ber through the jingle,” she said.
Four months after its declaration, the region was also declared “insurgen cy-free” following the se
beneficiaries.
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This project also aims to raise the income of fish erfolk.
Balisacan added the project will be funded through official develop ment assistance.
The NEDA Board also approved to amend five ongoing projects of the De partment of Transporta tion (DOTr), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC).
The DOTr requested for utilization of savings for the requested change in scope and loan validity extension involving the acquisition of the 10 Multi-Role Response Vessels for the Philippine Coast Guard. This is under the Maritime Safety Capa bility Improvement Project Phase I of the agency.
Changes in DOTr’s Nav igation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management System (CNS-ATM) project to ex tend loan validity was also approved.
“The project involves the construction of the Ma nila ATM Automation Sys tem and the Manila ATM Center Building in Pasay
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ries of successful peace and order initiatives that dis mantled the remnants of the NPA in the area. (PNA)
the truth of the matter is naa gihapon and most of our deaths na belong sa vulnerable sector. Kaning atong vulnerable sector ex pected unta na by this point in time naka fully vaccinat ed na sila and boosted na sila pero daghan gihapon sa ilaha ang wala naka ba kuna ug wala gtyud nakapa booster bisan isa,” Schloss er said.
The main objective of the program is to provide technical training to in crease the capabilities of
She reported that 75 percent of the 144,000 population from the vul nerable sector are fully vaccinated, however, as of November 17, 2022, those who received their booster doses are at 42.66 percent only.
“Katong namatay na bakunado na with primary doses wala pud nakakuha ug booster doses,” she said.
people, who are currently unemployed or financially unstable, to land ICT-relat ed jobs.
ter-finals.
They have come to Qa tar as the favorites for a sixth title, two decades af ter their last victory. Other results in the opening round of matches in Qatar served as a warn ing, with Argentina suffer ing a shock defeat to Saudi Arabia at the same stadi um and Germany losing to Japan.
Brazil would have known not to take Serbia lightly, but it still would have been a huge shock for them to lose at a ground where they intend to re turn for the final on De cember 18.
moments in the first half came when Thiago Sil va’s defence-splitting pass found Vinicius in the box, only for goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to thwart the Real Madrid man, and when Raphinha played a one-two with Paqueta be fore his shot was saved.
Barcelona winger Raphinha was involved again within a minute of the restart when he hounded Nemanja Gudelj out of possession but was again denied by the goal keeper.
However, Serbia’s re sistance was broken just after the hour mark.
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across payments, lending, and other Fintech prod ucts,” Chang said.
For his part, Trade Sec retary Alfredo Pascual said the report shows “that the digital future of the Philip pines is bright as it has the fastest growing digital in vestments sector this year in the region.”
“The Department of Trade and Industry is com mitted to digitalize our MS MEs and work closely with our private sector partners like Google to help reach the
full potential of the coun try’s growing digital econo my,” Pascual said.
The annual e-Cono my SEA report examines the digital economies of six countries in Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The report uses Google Trends, Temasek insights, and Bain & Company’s anal ysis, industry sources, and expert interviews in exam ining the digital economies of these countries.
Serbia coach Dragan Stojkovic said his team “fell away physically” and added that injuries to key players, including Juventus duo Dusan Vlahovic and Filip Kostic, hindered his side.
“We came here with a lot of injuries to deal with affecting key players. That is the way it is and we have to face this fact,” he said.
The warning had come when Alex Sandro lashed a left-foot shot off an upright and two minutes later the goal arrived.
Neymar set up Vinicius for a shot that Milinkov ic-Savic got a hand to, but the ball broke to Richar lison who followed in to score.
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the national government’s overall debt after incurring large borrowings of nearly P6 trillion since the pan demic started in 2020,” Ri cafort said.
The national govern ment’s disbursements grew to P387.9 billion from P317.4 billion in the same month last year.
The Treasury said the higher spending in October was “driven partly by high er National Tax Allotment of LGUs (local government units) and subsidy releases for programs implement
City, and the installation of communications and sur veillance equipment in ten radar sites,” NEDA said.
The NEDA Board also approved the extension of loan validity and the Sa mar Pacific Coastal Road Project of the DPWH as well as the request for change in scope of works, increase in cost and real location of contingency cost to civil works cat egory for its Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Ad aptation (IDRR-CCA) Mea sures in Low-Lying Areas of Pampanga Bay.
It also gave the green light to the request of the PCC for a change in scope for its Capacity Building to Foster Competition Project, which is a long-term capac ity building plan of the PCC, formerly chaired by Balisa can.
The project aims to boost the institutional and individual capacities of PCC and other agencies with mandates to protect the do mestic market from unfair competition to strengthen enforcement of the Phil ippine Competition Act. (PNA)
and to automate their processes.
Another notable result of the survey showed that 59 percent of the ITDMs said they are mostly likely to resign from their cur rent jobs if the flexible work system, which was largely adopted during the pandemic, would be removed.
Also, 41 percent of the respondents said their or ganizations should have supported their IT units more in the last two years, with 60 percent consider ing lack of training as the biggest challenge in max imizing companies’ use of technologies followed by the lack of basic technical knowledge, 49 percent.
Results of the sur vey also indicated that 36 percent of the ITDMs feel less loyal to their em ployers than they did two years ago, and 33 percent are actively looking for a new job.
It also showed that 37 percent are more con cerned about losing their jobs than they were ear lier this year, while 36 percent agree that they are more willing to make a risk career move than
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they were two years ago.
These figures are low er compared to the re sults of the survey done simultaneously in other parts of the world.
Kumar attributed the ITDMs position on this to several factors, such as issues on the budget and the spike in demand for IT workers during the pan demic, which increased the workers’ stress level.
Asked whether the lev el of digitalization bids in the country could be part of the ITDMs’ concerns vis-a-vis their confidence on their present jobs and on keeping it, Kumar said survey results showed that around 60 percent of the respondents con sider their companies to be successful in digital transformation while the balance of 40 percent is making attempts toward this path.
“I don’t think that’s the reason for people to resign or to look for new opportunities because we could see that most of the respondents are actually positive, saying they are already in the process of actually transforming,” he added. (PNA)
Acrobatic Tite sent out a very attack-minded side, with Neymar in support of Rich arlison while Raphinha and Vinicius occupied the wings and Lucas Paqueta added creativity in mid field.
Serbia did their best to frustrate Neymar, who come close to scoring di rect from an early corner that would have raised the roof at the magnificent Lusail Stadium, where the stands were filled with yel low and green.
The best Brazilian
Serbia responded by bringing on Vlahovic, but Brazil had now found their stride and the second goal when it came was worthy of the biggest stage.
A Vinicius cross with the outside of his right boot was controlled by Richarlison who then spun around and leapt to score with an outrageous acro batic effort.
Brazil could have scored more, with Case miro seeing a shot come back off the crossbar, but this was a promising start, as long as Neymar’s inju ry is nothing serious. © Agence
athletes planning to com pete in the national and international taekwondo championship.
“I have been on this journey for a long time al ready. Paolo [Duterte] was young back then when I trained him. He was not yet a politician at that time. We are grateful for his support to the club and to the tae kwondo athletes,” Kim said.
The tournament also attracted more attention to local businesses here in Davao City with the influx of visitors.
Kim said everyone is welcome to participate in various taekwondo clubs, adding that Taekwondo is an Olympic sport, a very
ed by government corpo rations, namely National Health Insurance Program under the PhilHealth (PHIC), Irrigation Systems Restoration Program and Irrigation Systems Devel opment Program of the National Irrigation Ad ministration (NIA), Com prehensive and Integrated Housing Program of the National Housing Author ity (NHA), and Missionary Electrification Program under the National Power Corporation (NPC).”
The BTr said dis bursements for the social
protection programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Develop ment (DSWD) and road infrastructure projects of the Department of Pub lic Works and Highways (DPWH) also contribut ed to the higher October 2022 spending.
The national govern ment has disbursed P4.1 trillion, representing 82% of the P5-trillion program.
The year-to-date ex penditures grew by 9.87% from January to October 2021, with actual spending
at P3.7 trillion.
Primary expenditures stood at P354.7 billion, up 24.11%, and accounted for 91% of the total monthly spending.
On a year-to-date basis, the primary expenditures reached P3.6 trillion, up 9.10% year-on-year.
Total Interest Payment (IP), meanwhile, reached P33.2 billion in October, up 5.23% year-on-year.
The January to Octo ber IP totaled P433.2 bil lion, higher than last year’s P370.9 billion.
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dynamic martial arts form, and a very family-friendly event.
“Many people think that Taekwondo is for kicking and fighting. It’s more on exercise, learning proper skills and techniques, and, most significantly, disci plining oneself. If you look at Paolo Duterte now, he grows up a fined and disci plined man,” Kim said.
To promote fitness, physical awareness, and mental acuity, Kim said that Taekwondo incorpo rates several techniques and mindsets, adding that this martial art provides its practitioners with a wide range of advantages and benefits.
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services, like charging sta tions, are expected to fol low suit.
“As of now, the quantity of those vehicles is not that big, but because we want to encourage the adoption of EVs, that will eventually increase the demand for support systems, like the chargers. It can even devel op value-adding services for our industry,” he added.
A commissioned study by Frost & Sullivan in 2021 showed that the Philip pines is one of the coun tries in Southeast Asia with high readiness in adopting e-vehicles.
The study also showed that the significant lower ing of barriers has encour aged ASEAN consumers to purchase electric cars.
Concerns of interested EV buyers in the region are mainly infrastructure-re lated, including the avail ability of charging stations.
Last month, Ayala Land, Inc. said it would launch at least 20 e-vehicle charging stations across Luzon, which will be present in strategic locations such as malls, offices, estates, ho tels, and industrial zones owned by the company. (PNA)
DOHA -- Richarlison scored twice as tournament favorites Brazil beat Serbia, 2-0, in their World Cup opener on Thursday, but the win was soured by an ankle injury to captain Neymar.
The record five-time winners had toiled at times in the first half but improved after the break at the Lusail Stadium and were rewarded when Tot tenham Hotspur striker Richarlison followed in to score the opener in the 62nd minute after a Vini cius Junior shot was saved.
Vinicius then set up Richarlison to score again in the 73rd minute with a stunning acrobatic effort that is surely the goal of the World Cup so far.
However, Neymar was then forced off with a sprained ankle that the Brazilian team doctor said would be assessed over the next 48 hours.
Injuries have hampered Neymar at the tournament in the past and Brazil will hope his World Cup has not ended already, although coach Tite struck a positive tone after the game.
“You can be certain that Neymar is going to play in the World Cup,” said Tite.
Thursday’s result
continues Brazil’s superb record in the World Cup group stage, in which their last defeat came in 1998 against Norway.
Tite’s side are now al ready on top of Group G ahead of Switzerland, who beat Cameroon 1-0 earlier and who Brazil meet next.
“We played well, es pecially in the second half when our opponents started to tire and we took advantage of that,” said Richarlison, who called it “a boyhood dream come true” to score the goals.
The scoreline was the same as when these sides met in the group stage in 2018 but Brazil are deter mined to do far better than four years ago, when they lost to Belgium in the quar
NEYMAR, P10Today, as the world witness es how Qatar is hosting and wel coming throngs of foreign visi tors to the FIFA 2022 World Cup, there is more than just a tinge of regret why FIFA moguls should not have awarded its hosting to this Middle East Arab country.
Too many dos and don’ts.
For the record, the FIFA World Cup is the biggest and most watched spectator event sports fanatics eagerly wait for 4 years.
What takes the cake are some melo-dramatic actuations of some teams who have an axe to grind which they expressed during the singing of their re spective national anthems be
fore the actual action.
The Iranians were seen clear ly on video posted on the social media who did not sing their na tional anthem as shown by their unmoving lips throughout.
They were said to be protest ing the cruel implementation of the wearing of the hijab by the Khomeni government. The death of Mahsa Amini who was arrested by the morality police for wearing her hijab improper ly triggered a nation-wide pro tests in Iran.
Another unlikely upset was registered by Saudi Arabia over former world champion Argen tina while Japan shocked title contender Germany. Ecuador
embarrassed the host country when the South Americans de feated Qatar on opening day.
More than one billion follow and monitor the matches in their homes, in the offices, inside pubs and even buses and trains where Wi-Fi screens are available.
Many Europeans - to avoid having to hustle for a hotel room when the influx of athletes and delegations are expected to be heavy - reserve relatively much cheaper pension rooms ahead of schedule.
To assure foreign visitors and tourists that there will be adequate accommodation and billeting, Qatar officials con structed many five star hotels to
fulfill their promise that every visitor will have an available de cent room to stay in for the du ration of the soccer tournament.
What shocked everybody was the Qatari government’s banning of alcoholic drinks which somewhat dampened the enthusiasm of football fans par ticularly beer drinkers.
Football, beer and hotdogs are the staple while watching live the proceedings of very ex citing and highly competitive matches that only FIFA can do.
Some Muslim practices that are seen to be hindering favor able media coverage are making foreign tourists ill at ease.
For visiting journalists, there
are guidelines to observe.
A photo journalist who com mitted the mistake of straying into a prohibited area and took photos was “arrested” and de tained but eventually released. From then on, he was tailed by the Qatari secret police so that he would not misbehave.
Thirty two teams were divid ed into eight groups of four.
The top two teams in each group will move on to the quar terfinals.
As far as betting odds are con cerned, England is the heavy fa vorite. You bet $200 to win $100. Oh, oh, Too much. (Email feed back to fredlumba@yahoo.com.)
The Regional Central Gym (RCG) Strik ers Tagum ruled the 10th Pulong Dute rte Taekwondo Championship held at the crowded SM Annex in Ecoland in Davao City on Sunday.
RCG Strikers Tagum won the overall championship while RCG Kaizen took the first runner-up, followed by the RCG Matanao and the Hwarang, respectively.
Event organizer Coach John ny Kim bared the results to Edge Davao.
Around 700 taekwondo jins competed in the Davao re gion-wide taekwondo champi onship. Most of the participants came from Davao, Digos, Tagum, and Mati, and the municipalities of Malita, Matanao, Nabunturan, Compostela, and Lupon.
Kim said the youngest among
the male and female athletes during the 10th Pulong Duterte Taekwondo Championship is a three-year-old, while the eldest is aged 30.
“The Pulong Taekwando Championship is a yearly event for the taekwondists. It was sup posed to be a Mindanao-wide tournament, but due to the ven ue’s limited space, we only held the tournament in Davao Region instead,” Kim said.
Kim said that this tournament would be a proper preparation and serve as a tune-up for those