Several barangays in the First District of Davao City received their early Christ mas gifts from Representative Paolo “Pulong” Duterte and son Rodrigo “Rigo” Duterte II.
Rigo, who represented Rep. Duterte, led the dis tribution of gift packs to barangay officials, baran gay functionaries such as
barangay health workers, tanods, city-paid baran gay employees, barangay sweepers and barangay secretaries in Barangays
Talomo Proper, 74-A Mati na Crossing and 76-A Bu cana on December 5, 2022.
A total of 959 recipients from Barangay Talomo; 293 from Barangay 74-A; and 708 from Barangay 76A.
“Unta nalipay mo sa among pahalipay ug pina skuhan. Simple lang ni pero makatabang ni sa inyo.
Paningkamutan namo na mahatagan ug makadawat ang tanan,” Rigo said.
Rigo said the first Con gressional Office is aiming to distribute gift packs to 8,860 barangay function aries.
Rigo has earlier urged Dabawenyos to take a break from their busy lives
The Department of the Interior and Lo cal Government in Region XI (DILG-XI) has noted improvements in the implementation of child-friendly programs by the local government units.
“In terms of the im plementation of the child-friendly programs
of our LGUs, there is an improvement because they have been motivated to conduct child-friend ly programs, as they will also be given the seal of child-friendly local gov ernance,” stated Emelie Lumanao, DILG-XI’s de partment management officer and focal person of the Child-Friendly Local
Governance Audit (CFL GA).
Lumanao said that through the Seal of Child-Friendly Local Gov ernance, the LGUs are being recognized for es tablishing child-friendly programs and facilities for the welfare and pro tection of children.
When awarded with
the seal, the LGU will be given a chance to also gain the Presidential Award for being a child-friendly city and municipality.
Lumanao said that some improvements are seen in the implementa tion of child-friendly cen ters for pregnant adoles cents where beneficiaries
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday remind ed the public that the Reg ister Anywhere Project (RAP), which is set to be pilot-tested next week, is only limited to new voters and transfer of registration registrants.
In Comelec Resolution No. 10869, the Commission en banc said these applica tions are the ones to be ac cepted in the RAP booths, to be initially located at five malls in Metro Manila.
The Commission shall initially implement the RAP by conducting pilot testing, where only applications for New Registration and Transfer from Another City/District/Municipality shall be accepted,” it added.
Under the project, qual ified applicants residing in the Philippines may reg ister by submitting their application form, docu mentary requirements and have their biometrics taken on-site.
After which, submitted documents and captured biometrics data will be en dorsed and transmitted to the Office of the Election Offcier of the district/city/
municipality having juris diction over the residence of the applicant.
The pilot test of RAP will be held every Saturday and Sunday from Dec. 17, 2022 to Jan. 22, 2023.
They are initially to be established at SM Fairview in Quezon City, SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City, SM South Mall in Las Piñas City, Rob insons Place in Manila and Robinsons Galleria in Que zon City.
There will be no regis tration on Dec. 24, 25, and 31, 2022, and Jan. 1, 2023.
The poll body has formed five RAP teams in the National Capital Region (NCR).
“Each RAP team shall be designated as a remote reception point of all OEOs (Offices of Election Offi cer),” the Comelec added.
Each team will be com posed of at least two per sonnel to receive and pro cess the applications and interview the applicants; one Acting Election Officer, who shall be authorized to administer the oath of ap plications on-site.
They will also have at least five Voter Regis
The Department of Health-Davao Center for Health Development recorded 7,454,792 total doses ad ministered in Davao Re gion as of December 5, 2022.
Based on data, 94.7 percent or 3,595,553 in dividuals have one dose; 88.0 percent or 3,339,431 individuals are fully vac cinated; 17.7 percent or 671,012 individuals received the first boost er shot with additional dose; and 3.4 percent or 128,750 individuals re ceived a second booster shot.
DOH-Davao already announced that it is in tensifying the adminis tration of booster doses in Davao Region due to a shortfall.
Meanwhile, based on the regional situation up date on Covid-19 in Davao Region as of December 5, 2022, healthcare utiliza tion showed regional hos pital capacity at 22.0 per cent non-ICU bed use and 39.4 percent ICU bed use.
DOH-Davao reported that out of 324 Covid-19 admissions only 31 are severe and critical and out of the 31, only 13 (4.01% of the total admissions) are confirmed cases, while 18 are probable and suspects.
There are 3,339,431 individuals or 88 percent of the target population in the Davao Region are fully vaccinated.
It also shared that 175 new cases were recorded in the past week, which is lower by 37.9 percent than cases reported on November 21 to 27, 2022.
There were three ac tual death cases record ed in the past seven days wherein six cases are newly verified deaths re corded in the database.
DOH-Davao remind ed the public to contin ue practicing minimum public health standards: wear the best-fitted mask, isolate when sick, double up protection with vacci nation and boosters, and ensure good airflow. By Maya M. Padillo
By MAYA M. PADILLOThe city government of Davao strength ened its support for the out-of-school youth (OSY) in Davao City by creating the Davao City Alliance for Out-of-School Youth Development Council (DCAOSYDC) and providing funds for it.
Through Executive Or der (EO) No. 72 issued by Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte on December 2, 2022, the city government of Davao recognizes the need to provide opportu nities to the youth sector, improving OSY access to better education, em ployment, and livelihood support, and other youth development initiatives,
especially on second chance education, work force readiness, and posi tive youth development.
The new EO also states that the DCAOSYDC is a priority of the city govern ment along with the pri vate sector, government and non-government agencies, and youth orga nizations, recognizing the importance of strength
ening OSY development and integrating other OS Ys-related development programming through in stitutionalizing the inter vention into a council.
“The DCAOSYDC shall serve as the integrating body to institutionalize the participation of all sectors in identifying the appropriate interventions for OSYs through policies, planning, direction-set ting, mobilizing resources, implementation and mon itoring and evaluation to support OSY programs and services,” it said.
The DCAOSYDC is mandated to make an in ventory of the respective
members’ offices’ pro grams that can benefit the OSY in the city; for mulate policies, strate gies, programs and plan of activities and mobilize resources to support the education, employment, entrepreneurship, or live lihoods and engagement of Out-of-School Youth; enter into an agreement to forge partnerships among and with other institu tions or entities that have relevant projects to ensure the institutionalization of Out-of-School Youth De velopment Programs in the city; and identify and mobilize the prospective
The National Hous ing Authority (NHA) of Davao Region has distributed a total of 548 housing units to the 30,000 house and lots that were simultaneously awarded nationwide.
Staging its participa tion at the “Balai Pag
babago Davao” in Brgy Lasang, Davao City, NHA 11 gathered some ben eficiaries, among whom were indigenous peoples, informal settlers, and lowly-paid government workers.
Local chief executives from Davao City and from
the City of Mati, Davao Oriental, and Sto Tomas, Davao del Norte attended the nationwide event that was graced by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr who was in Naic, Cavite during the simultaneous run of the housing turnover.
In Davao Region, three
NHA housing projects that were part of the turnover rites were to benefit the indigenous peoples and indigenous cultural com munities. Two of which were in the Municipality of Sto. Tomas in Davao del Norte and one in the city
FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange company orga nized by young American entrepreneur Sam Bank man-Fried, has collapsed.
Many fund and financial experts say the bankruptcy was a result of youthful alac rity and ambition fired by an ambitious young man who thought the world can be had in the palm of his hands.
According to news reports, TESLA CEO and Twitter chief Elon Musk suspects that FTX CEO SBF probably contributed $1B dollars to the Democrats’ 2022 midterm campaign which was more than what published numbers want ev eryone to believe.
Many have slammed Musk for making these im plausible allegations with out any proof.
Bankman is said to be the second largest donor after
Built during the Porras administration, the defunct Davao Zoo, which occupied the Os-meña Park, was a stark contrast to the lively and at times noisy debates regularly echoing in-side the legislative chamber near by and the throng of peo ple seeking assistance from the city lawmakers. Given its location, commuters and passersby taking the Clave ria-Magallanes route, then two-way streets, always had a fleeting view of the caged animals.
The zoo, dedicated to the usually curious children, was built as a public pla za. Worship-pers from the nearby church, especially on Sundays, brought their chil dren to the zoo to ogle the animals or to be amazed by the few wonderful creatures detained inside it. At the time, there was no Magsay say Park to speak of, and the
businessman George Soros. Let me cite some pub lished reports. According to Opensecrets, “he donated $39,884,256 to Democrats before FTX imploded and had to file for bankruptcy. An estimated one million customers and investors lost billions of dollars in the exchange collapse. FTX is currently being investigated for mishandling customer funds.”
News reports also said that while Bankman’s do nations to the Democratic Party were of public knowl edge, he also made public his claims that he donated a similar sum to the Republi cans as if to balance his ac tions.
Musk’s accusations are opening a Pandora’s box.
I think I recall that FTX was also one of the princi pal sponsors of the Meltwa ter Chess Tour, an on-line Rapid and Blitz tournament that had mainstays as world champion Magnus Carlsen, superGMs Levon Aronian,
Wesley So, Anish Giri, Fabi ano Caruana, Alireza Firou za, Shahkiyar Mamedyarov, Jan Krystoff Duda, MVL and a host of other elite top 20 chess masters.
I often get to watch and listen to Bankman’s post games interviews as is usu ally the case when a sponsor deserves time to promote his business endeavor.
FTX was just then on the rise and I thought the spon sorship of an on-line chess tournament was way beyond the cryptocurrency nature of business.
Yes, of all things, why did FTX take interest in promot ing cryptocurrency through an on-line chess competi tion?
At any rate, as I cursorily read through SBF’s business journey, I learned he was holding office in the Bahamas and not in the USA mainland.
His parents are prominent and respected educators
He employed his class mates in college who are re portedly not knowledgeable
in the crypto currency trade as company executives who handled their jobs like it were a sorority or fraternity activity.
There were photos circu lating on social media plat form like Facebook about some casual sexual liaisons within.
Born on March 3, 1992, the 30-year old Californian was educated at MIT (Massa chusetts Institute of Technol ogy). Wow, impressive!
His parents are both law yers who earned law degrees from Yale.. Joseph Bankman, who is a BA alum from UC Berkeley, and Barbara Fried both teach law at Stanford where they are held in high esteem..
Just how rich FTX has become when it was on its way up, Wall Street Jour nal reported last November that SBF “sold a stake in the company worth $300 million when the crypto exchange raised capital last year, citing the firm’s financial records and people familiar with the
Continuing, the WSJ re port cited “ FTX’s October 2021 funding round where the company had raised USD 420 million from a clutch of big name investors including Temasek and Tiger Global, valuing the crypto exchange at USD 25 billion.”
Since FTX filed for bank ruptcy, it is expected that several crypto firms face the ignominy of falling out of grace because of lost millions of investment with the cryp to exchange company.
Is this scheme similar to the notorious multi-million Ponzi networking scheme which many others here in the Philippines have copied and aped?
As Lao Tzu said: “He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty.”
Nothing has changed. Fools remain fools chasing the stars in the firmament. (Email feedback to fredlum ba@yahoo.com.) GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
now-developed Rizal and Quezon grounds were noth ing but gardens for people to sit, hang around, or take pos terity photos.
A multilingual creative writer and multiple Palan ca Awards winner, Leoncio P. Deriada, an alumnus of Davao City High School and Ateneo de Davao, described the animal menag-erie in detail in his book, ‘The Road to Mawab and Other Stories’ (1984):
“The indiscriminate in stalling of cages for birds, mammals, and reptiles clut tered the place. Pools were dug for crocodiles and tur tles. After a few months, the fountain in front of the Police Department dried up and exposed rotting bodies of Javanese: gourami, Tai wanese carps, and Hawaiian frogs. A mossy pool under a duhat tree kept a trio of crocodiles captured in the
marshes of southern Agu san. A few paces from the wire enclosure that housed py-thons and cobras was the cage of a pair of Indonesian tigers named Jack and Jacie. The cats were very popular among the afternoon stroll ers, more popular than the spotless Palawan leopards and the quartet of snorting wild boars trapped by illegal loggers at the foot of Mt. Apo. Dispersed all over the park were cages of native mon keys that screamed every now and then, prompting the various species of par rots and Bornean macaws to drown the park with their own shrill screams.”
Within the zoo premises but facing Magallanes Street was the old San Pedro police pre-cinct. The menagerie, following the development of the legislative site, was moved to Toril where it fell into abandonment due to a
lack of funds for zoo keeping and the absence of reg-ular patrons. No one knows what happened to the animals af ter the safari park was per ma-nently closed.
On the other hand, a short fifty meters away from the zoo, at the junction of San Pedro and Bolton streets, was an imaginary village that old timers dubbed as Barrio Kawayan, so-called after a single cluster of bam boo that marked the area.
It was not just any place; it was a forum for Bible apol ogists and polemicists. In today’s world, it is compa rable to London’s Hyde Park and California’s Balboa Park though sharply dwarfed in size. Situated just across the San Pedro Church, Sunday lis teners swear, it was the home of the study group known as Catholic Defenders, who were mostly Visayans.
Though there were oc
casional flare-ups of tem per resulting from heated discussions, the place, now hosting a two-tier structure beside the City Council that looks like a view deck, was largely a site for people in terested in seeing the best Bible debaters shielding their faith against defenders from another Christian de nomination.
When progress overtook the area, the discussants were forced to migrate to a place across the street a few meters from the Rizal Park platform, close to a lamppost that lit the small crowd after twilight. Beside it was a concrete bench the debaters used as a table for their ref-erence books and other articles. As develop ment slowly encompassed the area, the debates were moved a few meters away, under the shadow of a sym bolic eagle’s canopy.
“Our society is run by in sane people for insane objec tives.” -JOHN LENNON
Members of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), chaired by Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amen ah F. Pangandaman, shared their positive outlook for the Philippine economy in line with Moody’s growth forecast for the Phil ippines in 2023.
As approved by the DBCC, GDP growth in 2023 is expected to range from 6.07.0 percent. This is aligned with Moody’s growth pro jection of 6.4 percent, which will make the country the fastest-growing economy in the Asia-Pacific region.
According to Moody’s
forecast, the country will be followed by Vietnam at 6.1 percent, China (5.1 percent), India (5 percent), Indonesia (4.7 percent), Thailand (3.9 percent), and Malaysia (3.8 percent).
Pangandaman believes that the government has put in place public investments
under the proposed FY 2023 national budget that will further boost the economy. These expenditure priorities are anchored on the admin istration’s overarching goal of economic transformation.
“Our budget is still an chored in the 8-point socio economic agenda to devel op human capital and fund infrastructure projects,” the Budget chief said during the press conference following the 183rd meeting of the DBCC on Monday.
Expenditure priorities set for next year are coupled with reforms that will en hance governance, capacity of local government units
and legislative measures that will harmonize the im plementation of programs and projects that enable broad-based growth.
In addition, Department of Finace Secretary Benja min Diokno clarified that the slight adjustment in the target GDP growth for 2023 to 6.0 to 7.0 percent is due to the anticipated global eco nomic slowdown. Despite this, the economic team is confident that the country will reach Moody’s forecast of 6.4 percent by banking on the strength of our local economy which will provide a shield against external headwinds.
Homebuilder and in tegrated property developer Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. will ramp up the launch of residen tial projects in 2023 to help curb the rising housing backlog as the situation im proves with the reopening of the economy.
Vista Land chairman Manuel Villar Jr. told report ers on Saturday night that the company remains op
timistic with the industry amid the strong economic growth, coupled with sus tained Filipino remittance.
“We will be more ac tive in housing. We have been holding back for three years (due to the pandem ic) though we did not stop. While we remained active in the market, we did not pursue it as much,” he said.
With the further re opening of the economy,
Villar said the firm will build more vertical hous ing projects next year com pared to horizontal ones.
“If these are vertical housing, you can preserve more land because land is getting to be more expen sive,” he said.
He added it already shifted back to building more vertical housing proj ects this year and expects to end 2022 with a 50-50 ra
tio of vertical to horizontal housing projects.
Villar said they will build both high-rise and mid-rise condominiums to cater to various segments of the market.
Vista Land launched 12 projects with an estimat ed value of about PHP21.8 billion as of the end of the third quarter of 2022. The project value doubled the full year 2021 level. (PNA)
Finance Secretary Benja min Diokno is looking at the approval of the proposed sovereign wealth fund (SWF) by mid-2023, and cited long term gains that will benefit the econo my.
In an interview by jour nalists after the economic managers’ meeting on Mon day, Diokno discounted the approval of the proposed legislation by the end of 2022.
“Not (by the) end of the year kasi tight na ang sched ule. Maybe (by the) middle of next year, before the bud get is submitted. (It) will take a while kasi o-organize pa yan (Not by the end of the year because the schedule is already tight. Maybe by the middle of next year, before the budget is submitted. It will take a while because it needs to be organized),” he said.
Last week, the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries approved and adopted the amendments of the technical working group for the pro posed Maharlika Investment Fund, authored by House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Under the proposed
measure, the SWF will be financed through pooled funds from state-owned financial institutions and state pension funds.
Specifically, the Govern ment Service Insurance Sys tem will contribute the high est share at PHP125 billion, followed by the Social Se curity System and the Land Bank of the Philippines at PHP50 billion each, and the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Bureau of the Treasury at PHP25 billion each.
Safety of the SWF’s capital is set to be ensured through a three-tiered au diting to be done by an in ternal auditor, an external auditor and the Commission on Audit.
A four-layer good corpo rate governance also will be in place through the Board of Directors, the advisory body, the risk management units and the congressional oversight committee.
Diokno said a SWF has long been needed in the Philippines given the large number of proposed infra structure projects and the availability of funds such as the government’s share in the Malampaya Fund.
The Department of Ag riculture (DA) said Monday it targets to accomplish the phytosan itary inspection of seized smuggled onions either this week or next week.
The DA said the onions needed to be inspected be fore making them available in Kadiwa markets.
At the Laging Handa public briefing, DA deputy spokesperson Rex Estope rez said food safety is of utmost importance for the consumers, considering these onions have been misdeclared as pastries.
“Mga PHP30 million iyan. Napakalaking halaga niyan, nagpanggap na pas tries, saka ‘yung marami ho iyang mga nakumpis ka na ‘yan (That’s around PHP30 million. That’s a big value. It was misdeclared as pastries. And there’s a lot that were confiscated). But these are white onions,” he said.
“Kung kailan? ‘Yung timeline natin, dapat ngay ong week or next week
matatapos na po ‘yung in spection… Kung ‘yan po ay papayagan natin, kung safe po, ang importante safe tayo (As to when, the in spection should be finished this week or next week based on our timeline. We will find out if the shipment will be allowed and is safe. It is important that we’re safe),” he added.
The DA is referring to the 100,000 kilograms of white onions seized at Ma nila International Contain er Port.
Illegal white onions
The DA, meanwhile, warned consumers that all white onions, whether sold online or in markets, are considered illegal.
“Illegal po iyan, lahat ng pumasok po na puti, iligal po iyan, kahit sa mga mer kado po natin. Iligal po ‘yan kasi walang na-issue iyong Bureau of Plant Industry na importation ng sibuyas. And therefore, kung walang papeles po ‘yan, smuggled po iyan (That’s illegal. All white onions coming into
PhilippineStatistics Authority (PSA) deputy national statistician Divina Gracia del Prado reported in a press briefing Tuesday that last month’s inflation is more than double from November 2021 inflation rate of 3.7 percent.
“It’s the highest since November 2008. We have (inflation rate of) 9.1 per cent in November 2008,” del Prado added.
The country’s highest inflation rate was in Janu ary 1999 at 10.7 percent, she said.
Del Prado said the high er inflation last month was
mainly due to accelerating prices of food and non-al coholic beverages, which climbed to 10 percent in the November 2022 survey from 9.4 percent in October this year.
“If we recall, we had ty phoon towards the end of November. I think this is a spillover that is why vege
tables were the main driver of the increase in food and non-alcoholic beverages,” she said.
PSA data showed that the inflation in vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses last month was at 25.8 percent. This is still lower than the 26.3 percent inflation for this basket in January this year.
Amid the supply issue that causes the soaring prices of onions in the do mestic market, del Prado said year-on-year prices of white onions climbed
by 137.2 percent and 47.2 percent for red onions. Month-on-month, prices of white onions decelerated in November compared to October prices, while red onions logged a 15.8-per cent increase.
DBCC target
On Monday, the Devel opment Budget Coordina tion Committee (DBCC) said it is eyeing 5.8-percent inflation for the full year of 2022.
With the fresh inflation data, average inflation from January to November this year stood at 5.6 percent.
The Department of Ag riculture (DA) said Monday an increase in the price of pork is less likely to happen during the Christmas holiday, consid ering its adequate supply.
At a Laging Handa brief ing, DA Deputy spokesper son Rex Estoperez said they are not expecting signifi
cant price adjustments.
“Sa ngayon, wala pa tay ong nakikitang pagtaas ng karne ng baboy, kasi mara mi nga, kahit frozen. Kaso nga hindi ‘yan ‘yung pref erence ng ating mga kaba bayan. Iyong bagong katay ang preference nila (For now, we are not yet seeing a pork price hike because
the supply is more than enough, even frozen meat. However, Filipinos prefer fresh meat),” he said.
Estoperez said even if pork prices go up, it would be minimal.
“Ayaw naming mag-speculate pagdating ng kapaskuhan. Medyo konting pagtaas pero hindi
naman sana ‘yung pagtaas na masyadong malaki (We don’t want to speculare, but when Christmas comes, a slight increase, but we hope for an increase that is not too much),” he added.
The DA noted that the volume of pork in the mar ket, both fresh and frozen,
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and enjoy the shows and activities in the Pasko Fiesta sa Davao 2022 celebration.
He also reminded the Dabawenyos that although restrictions such as wear ing a face mask are now optional following the re lease of Executive Order (EO) No. 71 Series of 2022
or an order adopting Pres idential EO No. 07 series of 2022 allowing the volun tary wearing of face masks indoor and outdoor setting, Dabawenyos should still be cautious and reiterated to continue observing the minimum public health standards (MPHS).
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tration Machine (VRM) operators; a laptop op erator for the National List of Registered Voter (NLRV); two personnel
in charge of crowd man agement and at least one personnel of the Comelec Organic Security Force. (PNA)
OSY learners.
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The EO also states that identified stakeholders and partners recognize the relevance of the youth development alliance as the mechanism to reduce OSYs’ current problems and issues as they have agreed to work closely with the city government to ensure a proactive and responsive DCAOSYDC.
The city mayor shall serve as the chairper son while the DCAOSYDC chairperson shall be the co-chair and the City Ad ministrator’s Office shall serve as DCAOSYDC Sec
retariat.
The members include the chairperson of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) Committee on Edu cation, Science and Tech nology, Arts and Culture, the chairperson of the SP Committee on Youth and Sports Development, the City Social Welfare and Development Office head, Public Employment and Services Office offi cer-in-charge, Office of the City Planning and Devel opment Office coordina tor, Department of Edu cation Davao City Schools Division superintendent,
Provincial Director Tech nical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) provincial direc tor, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Davao City director, Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) 11 Davao City chief labor employment officer, and the Philippine Infor mation Agency Davao Re gion manager.
The funds for this body are chargeable to the available funds of the City Mayor’s Office (CMO) sub ject to the usual account ing and auditing rules and regulations.
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will be given pre-natal and post-partum services.
The LGUs have also en hanced their child-mind ing centers that provide care and cognitive de velopment learnings for young children of govern ment workers. It features reading centers and play grounds where children can learn and play.
She cited that Davao City and Tagum City were hailed as the best in prac ticing child-minding cen ters that aimed at helping government workers for a safe place to leave their children while they are working.
Davao Region has 15 LGUs that passed the child-friendly local gover nance audit in 2022.
“Child participation is highly encouraged in the local council for the protection of children,” Lumanao stated in one of the episodes of Kapihan sa PIA at NCCC Mall. (PIAXI/Franchette Delfin)
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of Mati, Davao Oriental.
These IP housing proj ects were the Balai Pag babago Davao in Brgy La sang, Davao City; the Balai Karoyawan No Bakalag in Sitio Talos, Brgy San Jose in Sto Tomas; and the Balai Maganahay in Brgy Dawan, City of Mati in Davao Oriental.
The NHA Mampabana Housing Project in Brgy Cabasagan, Municipal ity of Boston in Davao Oriental was for infor mal settlers living along danger areas and those affected by government infrastructure projects in Boston, while the NHA Balai Maal’lag Housing Project in Brgy Andap, Municipality of New Bataan in Davao de Oro were families affected by Tropical Storm Pablo in New Bataan. (PIA XI/ Jean Duron-Abangan)
Qatar — There were no signs of the limp or the swollen ankle that had sidelined Neymar at the World Cup.
There was a goal, though.
Neymar scored from the penalty spot in the 13th minute to help Brazil
beat South Korea 4-1 and advance to the quarterfi nals for the eighth straight World Cup.
The forward’s 76th
goal moved him one shy of Pelé’s all-time scoring record for Brazil’s national team. Vinícius Júnior, Rich arlison and Lucas Paquetá also scored for Brazil at Stadium 974.
Neymar hadn’t played since injuring his right an kle in the team’s opening match against Serbia. Bra
zil coach Tite had said Ney mar would play from the start against South Korea depending on how he did in training on Sunday.
Neymar was substitut ed in the 80th and said he felt fine.
“I didn’t feel anything on the ankle,” he said. “I think I played well, but
there is always room for improvement.”
Danilo, who also in jured his ankle in Brazil’s opener, joined Neymar in the starting lineup against South Korea. He played at left back, though, because Alex Sandro remained sidelined with a hip in jury. The other left back,
Alex Telles, was dropped from the squad because of a knee injury sustained in Brazil’s loss to Camer oon in its last group game.
Central defender Éder Mil itão was playing at right back.
Gabriel Jesus also was dropped from the squad because of a knee injury.
Plaza de Luisa Bulldogs dominated the Vegas League 3x3 Streetball Challenge Narecom Davao Leg by winning two categories in the tournament held last De cember 3-4 at the Gaisano Sky Gym.
The Bulldogs, mentored by Prince Macavinta, won two cham pionships and three runners-up honors.
The Bulldogs crushed the compatriot team Bulldogs B, 14-7 in the 16 Under Division.
Bulldogs A was bannered by Most Valuable Player Randy Gi mena, Joseph Enrico Macavinta, Noel Lanceta and Alvin Villanue va, who is also a member of Myth ical 3.
The Bulldogs B, on the other hand, is composed by Adriane Macavinta, Jacob Farochilen, Remark Delima and Mythical 3 member Marco Sabio.
It was also an all-Bulldogs fi nal in the 14 Under which ended at a close 14-13.
Plaza de Luisa team A was composed of MVP AJ Ejuran go, Alberto Labandero, Jeffer son Bentulan and JM Oropeza (Mythical 3), while team B was bannered by Zandrei Go, Paul Pavadora, Jostein Bandao and Mythical 3 member Jay Tapu roc.
The Bulldogs 12 Under team also settled for runner-up. They are Abram Amaneo (Mythical 3), Brent Tan, Misael Pairat and Juaki Garcia.
A total of 50 teams saw action in the league.
The Davao Leg champions will see action in the Regional Fi nals on January 14-15 at the Gai sano Sky Gym. (Contributed story by Lito delos Reyes)