OPAMINE joins RDC 11

The Office of the Presidential Assistant for Eastern Mindanao (OPAMINE) Secretary Leo Tereso Magno officially joined as a regular member of the Regional Development Council (RDC) XI, on March 24, during the RDC XI Full Council meeting held in the City of Mati, Davao Oriental.

Also in attendance were Davao Oriental Governor Corazon Malanyaon, RDC XI chairperson; Arturo Milan co-chairperson; National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) XI Director Maria Lourdes Lim Vice Chairperson; and NEDA Asst. Regional Director Gilberto Altura, secretary.

Local chief executives in the Davao Region also joined the RDC XI meeting held at the Don Paco Rocamora Golf and Country Club.

During the full council meeting, Magno vowed that he will lobby the concerns of Region XI to SAP Sec. Anton Lagdameo and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Earlier this month, RDC XIII also invited Magno to be a regular member of their council.

Prior to the full council meeting, Magno met with City of Mati Mayor Michelle Nakpil Rabat to discuss the housing projects in the city under the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program.

“OPAMINE has an existing agreement with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Develop-

“After this event, Mayor Baste will still evaluate and we’ll see. Hopefully, we will find more participants and more partners in the staging of the Ironman event here in Davao so we will make proper announcements that will happen after the event,” said Dwight Tristan Domingo, assistant city administrator for administration.

The city government of Davao has forged a three-year agreement with Sunrise Events Inc. for the Ironman hosting in 2018. In the same year, the city hosted the first Ironman 70.3 on March 25, 2018, attracting some 1,800 participants, including international athletes and celebrities. In 2019, the city also hosted a successful and well attended event.

However, hosting its last Ironman in 2020 did not go ahead due to the pandemic. The event just resumed this year.

Princess Galura, general manager of Sunrise Events Inc. expressed interest to come back to Davao City.

“For the Ironman group, I would like to be back in Davao City because the spirit of sport is so strong here. Then coming from the pandemic and elections, isang malakas na boom power. We want to come back,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ironman Philippines will race to Dapitan City for the 5150 Dapitan on September 10, 2023. The city is preparing to host the triathlon for the first time, building the framework for 11 months before the major sporting event, which includes a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40-kilometer bike race, and a 10-kilometer run race across the Zamboanga Peninsula.

The request by the Tionko clan to rename Davao City National High School (DCNHS) af-ter

Doña Vicenta Monteverde Tionko (not the original retitling in honor of philanthropist Tomas Monteverde Tionko) ended amicably on February 23, 2033, the joint hearing of the City Council’s committees on Education, Science and Technology, and Arts and Culture hearing co-chaired by councilors Dr. Pilar C. Braga and Al Ryan Alejandre.

The ‘urgent appeal,’ as the letter of Tionko’s heirs called for, raised a furor, the loudest was heard inside the DCNHS campus itself. So emotional was the outcry that on the day of the hearing the education department (thru a rep), school principal and faculty, and alumni association, with many attendees carrying palpable grey hairs on their heads, trooped in

ANTONIO V. FIGUEROA FAST BACKWARD COMPROMISE IN THE DCNHS ISSUE

at-tendance.

Inside the Fuschia Room on the third floor of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, the air was emotional but not hostile. Even the manifestations were polite and calm, and so were the heirs of Tionko, led by Neil Dalumpines, who conveyed to amend the original request from Tomas to Vicenta after a scrutiny of the records pointed to the latter as the true donor of the school site.

Online, the change of name drew several, at times acerbic, comments. A few volunteered the idea that DCNHS is covered under Republic Act 10066, otherwise known as the Cultural Heritage Act, but the statute only protects physical structures, not the title of the institution.

But the irresistible sentiment is losing one’s identity as an alumnus, which is evocative of the Mapua

Institute of Technology case when the new owners wanted the school’s name changed. As a concession, MIT was retained but Malayan Colleges was adopted in the new branches.

There were also remarks about why it took 69 years for the Tionko heirs to request for the change of DCNHS name since the approval of RA 1059, which allows the naming of a school in favor of the donor of the land where the structure will be built. Another query was: Is the donation of land enough to alter the historicity of the school’s iconic name?

The more rational suggestion was the proposal to put a marker inside the DCNHS prem-ises declaring that the estate, which is the school site, is donated by Doña Vicenta M. Tionko.

An interesting disclosure during the public hearing is the revelation that the Tionko dona-tion only forms a third of the entire school campus, that two-thirds belong to another owner. The documents, however, say otherwise and favor the Tionko clan.

Ably steering the committee, Dr. Braga, the longest-serving city councilor, kept everyone in a civilized air. In the end, a compromise was met, with the DCNHS name, despite the laws favoring the heirs, remaining unperturbed and will continue to fly with the escutcheon of the city safely embossed on her wings.

The atmosphere after the compromise was sealed and signed was unlike any; it was more of the meeting of minds and the reunion of friends. There were no losers and winners; in fact, the heirs earned more than what they bargained for, and the hurriedly done accord reflects a lot more