Edge Davao 5 Issue 115

Pinakadakong SM sa Mindanao

EDGEDAVAO P 15.00 • 22 PAGES

VOL.5 ISSUE 115 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, AUGUST 12 - 13, 2012

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Science/ Environment

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Page 4 TEEMING HUMANITY. Thousands of people flock to the newly opened SM City General Santos City to see their favorite celebrities and to shop at the biggest SM Mall in Mindanao Friday afternoon. [LEAN DAVAL JR.]

Motoring

Sports

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UP Min condemns taxi driver’s killing O

FFICIALS of the University of the Philippines in Mindanao (UP-Min) condemned the robbery-killing of a taxi driver inside the university campus last Thursday night.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the senseless murder and those responsible for it. We are deeply saddened by the loss of precious life,” the school administration said in a statement issued

by Vic T. Calag, vice chancellor for administration and legal office.

Calag’s statement referred to

the killing of Joseph Lapayag, 49, driver of MidValley Taxi with plate no. LYE-127.

Tugbok police investigators said Lapayag could have been shot dead by a still unknown assailant inside his cab along Mindanao Road within the UP-Min campus in Mintal sometime in the evening of Thursday, August 9.

Lapayag was a resident of Cristina Homes in Lubogan, Toril.

Initial finding of Tugbok probers indicated that two unidentified men boarded the victim’s taxicab at

the SM Mall along Quimpo Boulevard and asked to be ferried to the UP-Min campus in Mintal where he was shot dead.

Later, children playing in the vicinity found the body of the driver inside his cab. His wallet was missing, prompting investigators to theorize that robbery was the motive of the killing.

The incident occurred just over a week after the city enforced a gun ban in connection with the celebration of the Kadayawan Festival.

The UP-Min community la-

mented the fact that the crime “happened on the hallowed ground of the University, an environment reserved for peaceful academic pursuit, underscores the atrocity and heinousness of the act,” Calag said, adding that the university joins the family of the innocent victim in their hour of bereavement.

“Our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to the victim and his family,” he said. “We hope that justice will be served and the violators punished in the severest terms as soon as possible,” he said.

incumbent governor of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines for Eastern Mindanao, is opposing the proposal of Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., chief prosecutor of the Corona impeachment trial and member of the JBC, to amend the council rules to be “fair and equitable.”

In a letter to Carpio, Torreon mentioned newspaper reports quoting Tupas Jr. as saying that he made a proposal to the JBC to

amend the rules to make it “fair and equitable” for those aspiring foro positions in the Judiciary.

Tupas was referring to Rule 4 Section 5 of the JBC rules which provides that those disqualified from being nominated or appointed to any judicial, ombudsman or deputy ombudsman position include: 1. those with pending criminal or regular administrative cases;

2. those with pending criminal cases in foreign courts or tribunals; 3. those who have been convicted in any criminal case or in an administrative case where the penalty imposed is at least a fine of more than P10,000 , unless he has been granted judicial clemency. a Tupas said aside from De Lima

Davao lawyer Torreon’s wish

SC to act on opposition to change JBC rules

By Antonio M. Ajero

Follow Us On

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DAVAO-BASED lawyer is hoping the Supreme Court under acting Chief Justice Antonio T. Carpio will act on his August 7 letter opposing a proposal to amend the rules of the Judicial Bar Council (JBC) in its quest for the replacement of ousted SC Chief Justice Renato C. Corona.

Israelito P. Torreon, dean of the Cor Jesu College law school and

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2 THE BIG NEWS Hot Races set Sunday

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Kadayawan

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T’S burning rubber time as top race car drivers from around the country pit their skills in the muchanticipated 2012 Kadayawan Hot August Races: The Mayor Inday Sara Duterte Drag Racing Championship starting Sunday at Speed City inside the sprawling Riverfront Corporate City Complex.

A bumper crop of noted 60 racers will be at the pits for the two-day event serving as one of the official events of the 27th Kadayawan Festival.

Phoenix Petroleum and AM/FM Productions along with the City Government of Davao, Holcim Philippines and HKS Super Oil conspire to put together this exciting 1/8 mile drag race.

Heading the cast of local teams are Davao teams W-Autosports Racing, Team Classic, Ground Image, Drift Tech and Phat Speed Racing with entries in the Class A, B, C and Quick 8 categories.

Time trials were held yesterday, Saturday, August 11, from 9 a.m. onwards

while he race proper will be held today, Sunday (August 12) starting at 10 a.m.

Other corporate backers of the Kadayawan Hot Races are JLL Engineering Services, JD Alvarado Architects, Syncom Janitorial and Allied Services, Tomas Electrical Supply, CCO Engineering Construction and Supply, Palermo Builders, Jinyl Import and Export and Ulticon Builders, Ramtrade, Herrera Brothers, Prestone Brake Fluid and Ensport Motors, Eddie Cinco, Eco Edge Home Interiors and Supplies Incorporated, Palermo Builders, Metropolitan Insurance Company, Davao Golden, Ronel Jay Aggregates, Davao Golden Hardware, Optein and Gonuts Donuts.

For inquiries on the Kadayawan Hot August Races as well as other accredited Kadayawan events, please contact Duaw Davao Festival Foundation at 2864183 and 305-7970 or email at duawdavao@yahoo.com.

Competing groups in ‘indak’ reach 17

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ITH a bigger cash bonanza this time awaiting the winners, excitement is running high for the keenly-awaited Indak-Indak sa Kadalanan (street dancing contest) set August 18.

Mayor Sara DuterteCarpio has raised the ante to a whopping half a million pesos each for this year’s Open and Davaobased category champions. The total cash pot is now P3.67 million.

For the Open category, the champion contingent gets P500,000, second placer P400,000, 3rd placer P300,000, 4th placer P200,000, 5th placer P100,000 and 10 consolation prizes worth P50,000 each.

In the Davao-based category, the champion also gets P500,000, second placer P400,000, 3rd placer P300,000, 4th placer 100,000, 5th placer P75,000 and 10 consolation prizes of P30,000 each.

This is the biggest cash pot ever in the history of Kadayawan street dancing competition.

The announcement was made during the opening of the Kadayawan Festival last August 3 by Mayor Duterte-Car-

pio to the loud applause of the crowd.

As of latest count, a total of 17 entries have signed up for the annual street dancing competition, one of the most anticipated events of the Kadayawan Festival, now on its 27th year.

The seven early entries in the Open Category are Talaingod, Bambad National high School, Indak Kabataan of Digos, Mangudadato, Mabuyok Nan Mainit, Surigao, Kutawato Institute, and Tribu Mapawa of Maragusan.

In the Davao-based category, Bolton Elem.

School, Sixto Babao Elem., Vicente Hizon Elem. School, Fatima Elem. of Mandug, Jesus Soriano National High School, San Isidro Elem. of Buhangin, Teatro Catalunians, Sta. Ana High School, Villa-Abrille Elem., and Tribung Hamtong of Agdao District Senior Citizens Association (non-competing).

For inquiries on the Kadayawan Hot August Races as well as other accredited Kadayawan events, please contact Duaw Davao Festival Foundation at 286-4183 and 305-7970 or email at duawdavao@yahoo.com.

SEMINAR. Hundreds of elementary and secondary students from public and private schools attend the campus journalism seminar last Friday. City Information Office chief Joseph Lawrence P. Garcia was the resource person for photo journalism. [SIMEON JR. CELI]

GPH, MILF negotiators: Spoilers won’t succeed

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HE Philippine government (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Saturday denounced the “senseless attacks” of the Bangramoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the “violent acts of lawless elements in several areas in Mindanao” and vowed to “work together to ensure that these (peace) spoilers will not succeed.”

“The GPH and MILF denounce these aggressions or dirty spoiling by groups who will do

everything to derail the peace process,” the panels said in a Joint Statement signed shortly before noon today at the State Room of the Palace of the Golden Horses hotel.

The panels said they will work together to ensure the spoilers will not succeed “as the parties continue to push forward to bring just and lasting peace to our peoples and communities.”

In deference to Ramadan, the panels and their technical working groups (TWGs) held morning

85% treatment rate

sessions only on August 7, 8 and 9, took a break on Friday the 10th and resumed on Saturday.

As usual, the Joint Statement was carefully worded. It said the panels have made “progress in the discussion on a framework agreement” that both GPH panel chair Marvic Leonen and MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal had repeatedly said they hope to sign soonest.

In a bid to speed up the process, the panels will meet again in late Au-

gust after consultations with their respective principals on the issues that have yet to reach a consensus.

This is the first time the panels are scheduling a second meeting within the same month.

The Joint Statement, however, noted that the TWGs on Wealth-Sharing ang Power-Sharing, which met for the first time here this week, “discussed and reached consensus on some issues on power sharing and revenue gen-

Suemith, head of the Programming Management On Drug Resistant Tuberculosis of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), there are 137 patients in the treatment center. Of these, she said, 65 are still being treated. A total of 72 patients are either already cured, or dropped out of the treatment program, if not already deceased.

Dr. Suemith said that in 2009, there were only less than 10 patients. In 2010, the number increased to 33; in 2011 to 65 patients; and as of the first half of 2012, there were 35 patients enrolled.

The symptoms of (MDR) TB and TB are almost the same. Mansukani said that treating TB should be closely supervised, so that the chance of having (MDR) TB will be minimal.

He also said that acquiring (MDR) TB results when a patient does not do his treatment or medication very well.

Mansukani warned against patients taking less dosage, wrong kind of medicines, and wrong duration of treatment, saying that “drugs, dosage and duration are very important.”

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Davao experts cite inroads in treatment of tuberculosis M

By Vicky Berdina M. de Guzman

ORE CASES of multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis have been recorded in Davao City lately.

However, this is not because there’s an abnormal rise in MDR tuberculosis, but because the detection rate for the disease in the public and private sectors has greatly improved.

This was the statement of Dr. Parkash Mansukhani, facility head of the TB DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Short Course) Center of the Davao Doctors Hospital and co-chair of the NTP (National Tuberculosis Program)

regional coordinating committee.

Mansukhani appeared as guest of the Kapihan sa PIA hosted by the Philippine Information Agency Region 11 office in Davao City Friday with other regional experts on respiratory diseases.

Due to the consistent information and education campaign on the program, coupled with a strengthened referral system among government and private health institutions and health professionals, more patients come out to be enrolled in the NTP program.

According to Dr. Lilian

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4 SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENT

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Environmentalists fear deluge in Luzon to happen in Davao T

HE DELUGE wreaking havoc on the lives of people in Metro Manila and neighboring areas in central and northern Luzon is a possibility in Davao City.

This is the view expressed by two militant Davao City-based environmentalists when asked to comment on the recent weeklong flooding in Luzon caused by monsoon-spawned heavy rains.

“Yes, it’s possible to happen here considering the downtown area of the city is or almost sea level,” Mary Ann Fuertes, executive director of the Interface Development Interventions (IDIS).

Fuertes said “ this could happen if we continue to disregard nature, if we keep reclassifying areas intended for protection and conservation to accommodate ‘development’ or infrastructure project.”

“We have had our share of flooding that caused deaths,” Dr. Jean Lindo, chair of Kalusugan Para sa Bayan (KAABAY), in agreeing to the possibility of a disaster happening here just like Manila.

The “Philippines as a whole is considered a climate hotspot No. 1,” Dr. Lindo said, adding that “Davao is not spared especially if our economic development dictated by abusive corporations becomes an end in itself.”

She said economic development should be a means to ensure safe and healthy people enjoying equity. “We have to do something to reverse the damage beyond greenwashing,” she said.

On the other hand, Fuertes of IDIS said

that one of averting disasters like the deluge in Luzon starts with “strict implementation of our environmental local ordinances such as the Watershed Code and the Rainwater Harvesting.”

Given the intensity and frequency of rain these days, we need to increase the water absorption capacity of our land, she said.

How? Fuertes said by increasing our forest cover not only in the uplands but in urban/lowland areas as well.

One practical way, she said, is to have many green/ nature parks within the city.

Fuertes argued that high density housing should establish first green/ nature parks before they start constructing houses and cementing roads.

“Many subdivisions here just leave empty/ open spaces - no trees unlike in other countries where they follow certain standards - like a one hectare of trees for every 200 houses,” she said.

Having rainwater collectors for every establishment, especially, big ones such as malls, hotels, condominiums is a big help in reducing accumulation of surface runoff within built-up areas, the IDIS leader said.

She said having proper drainage system and solid waste management will be a great help too in minimizing and even preventing flooding in the downtown part of the city.

The city of Davao has started to implement the three-year old City Watershed Management and Protection Ordinance Fuertes said “one more important thing is

Science vs law

MAKESHIFT RAFT. Children play in a makeshift raft on floodwaters in Malabon, Metro Manila August 10, 2012. The death toll in nearly two weeks of steady monsoon rains in Metro Manila and nearby provinces had climbed to more than 100 people,

while more than two million people were affected by the worst flooding in three years, disaster officials said. [REUTERS]

to have a good watershed and management plan for each watershed we have, where different s t a ke h o l d e r s / s e c to r s collaborate in its plementation, monitoring and evaluation and in

improving the plan when needed.”

Dr. Lindo said the city must invest in disaster preparedness and risk reduction programs.

“We can learn from successful models like

Cuba,” she said.

Cuba is not rich but it invests 15 percent of its GNP(gross national product) on health, Lindo bared.

“It will do us good to learn from their

disaster preparedness, management, and risk reduction programs,” Dr. Lindo said, adding “they have had hurricane whereby they had zero death.” [ANTONIOM. AJERO]

points (P) and counterpoints (CP) raised were as follows: P 1: Between housing subdivisions and cemeteries, the former was more a threat to the aquifer due to septic tank leakages.

CP : The issue here is not subdivisions but new cemeteries.

Subdivisions have been in existence before the DCWD put up production wells in Dumoy. It is unfair to fault Dumoy residents since they were mere buyers of real properties. (Councilor Karlo Bello) P 2: The whole of Davao City is sitting on top of an aquifer.

C P: Water from Coca Cola Plant (from Ulas, Talomo) up to Sibulan (Toril) and Sta Cruz, in Davao del Sur is the aquifer. But in the North, Buhangin, Sasa, Panacan, etc, the water is brackish (with salt water mixture) and is not safe to drink. (Retired Judge Jesus Quitain) P 3: Burial vault to contain the coffin in a

memorial park is “high tech, water-proof, and leak-proof” C P: For as long as the material composition includes cement, stones, sand, etc, it has porosity.

Therefore it can be penetrated by water and air. A simple test inside a materials testing laboratory will easily dispute fantastic advertising claims. (Retired DOST regional director Ma. Delia Moran-Morados) C P: In 10 to 15 years, caskets break, crack, dissolve because of humidity and water soak. (Retired Judge Quitain) P 4: All legal requirements/certifications have been complied with by applicants.

C P: “Kung sasabihin mo na idedemanda mo ang city council because you have complied with all the legal requirements pero wala pa rin, so what’s the point of the law asking concurrence of the council when you just have what you want

after the compliance of the requirements. Miingon gani ang city council huwag muna, huwag na muna”.

(Vice Mayor Rody Duterte).

P 5: No water was detected at a depth of 4.5 meters from the surface in a test drilling of proposed site in Baliok.

C P: Even if the DCWD has certified that the water table in Baliok is more than 4.5 meters from the natural ground, which is the minimum depth allowable by the HLURB for cemeteries, the reality is that in the nearby Dacoville/ Farlandville Extension subdivisions, there are a number of open dug wells whose depth is only 2 to 4 meters from the natural ground. Too close for comfort. (Engr Ismael Tabije, Hydrologist) P 6: Polluted water from the surface cleanses or filters itself naturally as it sinks deep into the ground. Thus there no contamination of

ground water.

C P: Until recently, the conventional wisdom was that layers of soil and particles of sand, gravel, crushed rocks and larger rocks were thought to act as filters, trapping contaminants before they could reach the groundwater.

Today, an overwhelming wealth of data to the contrary has weakened the argument considerably. The US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) admits that some contaminants can pass through all these filtering layer to contaminate ground water. (1993 US EPA Guide to Citizen Groundwater Protection) Part 6 is the last .in the series of articles. It focuses on the reaction of people rooting for Mother Nature after councilors voted overwhelmingly to protect the Dumoy Water Resource.

More importantly, what were there lessons learned from the legislative hearings?

Battle over the Dumoy water resource [Part 5]

By Ricardo Jr. A. Jimenez

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ike a scene taken from a jampacked courtroom, the council session of Davao City has experienced tense moments in the threemonth period of tackling the issue of opening new cemeteries over the people’s source of drinking water.

Involved in the entire process were the councilors debating among themselves, including the large crowd seated in the gallery who came as if to witness a championship bout.

The only rule was no clapping, please.

As Councilor Bernard Alag, chair of the subcommittee on housing and subdivision (middle end) and proponent of all applications for cemeteries, would regale the crowd with his own flair: “And now, ladies and gentlemen, we come to the main event of the evening!”

Scientific/technical points were met by counterpoints, legal points and counterpoints were

brought forth, raising the level of exchanges into something enlightening as well as entertaining.

The most critical issues were the threats of pollution.

Most councilors were just waiting for the opposition to come up with their own expert so that they could decide to vote No. On the day of voting, July 3rd, a hydrologist and a watershed management expert appeared. With the voting turnout, there was no need for their services.

Councilors were kind, they would gladly bend backward for the antis to show scientific/technical proofs. Lawyer councilors lent their knowledge of environmental laws to see if a cemetery business and aquifer could co-exist. But with the introduction of the Water Code in the debate, the equation dramatically changed .

In the early stages of the debate, among the colorful

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THE ECONOMY

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SM City GenSan opens for business S

M City General Santos, the 45th mall in the country of the Sy-led SM Prime Holdings, Inc., opened its doors to the public Friday.

SM Prime President Hans T. Sy graced the blessing of the 95,764-square meter, three-level mall on Thursday afternoon with a crowd of a few hundred that include the tenants, local government officials and business leaders.

City Mayor Darlene Antonino Custodio and South Cotabato First District Rep. Pedro Acharon Jr. joined Sy in cutting the ribbon to officially mark the launching of the grand opening day.

Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee arrived after the mass presided by several priests from the Diocese of Marbel.

SM City General Santos is SM Prime’s first mall in SOCCSKSARGEN or Region 12, which groups the provinces of South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.

It occupies almost a block of San Miguel Street corner Santiago Boulevard here, dubbed as the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines.”

“We warmly welcome our valued customers to SM City General Santos, our first mall in the province of South Cotabato.

With its thriving economy, General Santos provides an ideal venue for SM Malls as we see a huge potential for growth in the city,” Sy said in a statement.

SM City General Santos is already 80 percent occupied by various tenants, according to the statement.

The three-level shopping mall’s anchor tenants are SM Department Store and SM Supermarket. Other mall tenants include Watsons, Ace Hardware, Toy Kingdom, Breadtalk, Congo Grille, Classic Savory, Max’s, Tong Yang, Bench and Gymboree, among others.

SM City General Santos’ amenities include a food court, four cinemas with a combined seating capacity of 1,400 and parking slots for 1,500 vehicles.

General Santos, popu-

larly called GenSan, is a highly urbanized first class city and the center of commerce and logistics of SOCCSKSARGEN. The city hosts a seaport and an airport.

SM City General Santos brings the total number of SM Prime malls to 45 all over the country, with a combined gross floor area (GFA) of 5.4 million square meters (sqms). It is the fourth SM mall to be opened this year, after SM City Olongapo in Zambales, SM City Consolacion in Cebu, and SM City San Fernando in Pampanga.

For the rest of 2012, SM Prime is scheduled to open SM City Lanang in Davao City and SM Chongqing in China.

By the end of this year, SM Prime will have 46 malls in the Philippines and five in China with an estimated combined GFA of 6.3 million sqms.

SM City General Santos opened after about two years of construction, bringing to four the major malls in the city. The others are KCC Mall of GenSan, Gaisano Mall and Robinsons Place General Santos. [BONG S. SARMIENTO / MINDANEWS]

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LOWER ENROLLMENT FEE. A job and business coaching school tries to entice the public by offering a lower enrollment fee promo. [LEAN DAVAL JR.]

Alternative resource use bill backed

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group in Bukidnon composed of multi-sectoral organizations is seeking greater public support, especially from Bukidnon’s three congressional representatives, for the passage of the Alternative Minerals Management Bill (AMMB) to help protect the province’s remaining forest cover and natural resources.

In a press conference Wednesday afternoon, representatives from Lageng ta Bukidnon (Voice of Bukidnon) have called for public support for the AMMB, which seeks to scrap Republic Act 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 for the latter allegedly “caters to the interest of global extractive industry players.”

“Minerals are impor-

tant resources that are part of our national patrimony. The AMM Bill champions conservation of non-renewable mineral resources for the benefit of both present and future generations by adopting a sustainable, rational, needs-based minerals management geared towards effective utilization of mineral resources for national industrialization and modernization of agriculture,” the group said in a statement emailed to the media.

Carl Cesar Rebuta, the main speaker presented by the group, said it is high time for a new framework calling for judicious use of mineral resources.

“We don’t need an alternative mining law.

We needed a new policy framework in the use of our minerals, land and

other natural resources,” he added.

Rebuta, who is from the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, said the bill seeks to close all roads to mining until it is allowed to be opened.

He said President Benigno Aquino III’s Executive Order 79 renders a “business as usual” mining environment in the Philippines.

“It bans new mining applications only but does not cover existing mining operations,” he added. He cited that EO 79 also does not cover mining exploration projects.

The group cited about 48 large scale mining exploration applications since 2008 in Bukidnon.

The Bukidnon Sangguniang Panlalawigan, however, has opposed large scale mining in the province.

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ORCHIDS. A flower stall caretaker arranges different varieties of orchids at SM City Mall grounds on Saturday. [LEAN

Landbank lends P177.2-B to its priority sectors DAVAL JR.]

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DTI proposes bulk supply center in times of calamities

T TATE-OWNED Land Bank of the Philippines said on Friday loans to its priority sectors in the first half of the year cornered 73.9 percent of its total loan portfolio as part of its effort to beef up lending in the countryside.

Landbank president and chief executive officer Gilda Pico said loans to its priority sectors reached P177.2 billion of its total loan portfolio of P239.9 billion.

“We continue to step up our efforts in support of our priority clients as we realize their potential for growth and hope to optimize their strategic role

THE ECONOMY

in driving progress in the countryside,” said Pico.

The bank’s priority sectors are classified as follows: Mandated Sector, which covers the small farmers, agrarian reform beneficiaries and the small fisherfolk and their associations; Support for Agriculture and Fisheries, which includes agri-business, aqua-business, and agri-aqua related projects of local government units and government owned or controlled corporations; and, Support for National Government Priority Programs, which includes micro, small

and medium enterprises, communications, transportation, housing, education, health care, environment-related projects, renewable energy, and tourism.

Pico said loans to small farmers and fisherfolk reached P24.2 billion, or 12 percent higher than the P21.6 billion last year.

Loans for agri-business and aqua-business, on the other hand, stood at P17.1 billion, while those for agri-aqua related projects of local government units (LGUs) and governmentowned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) amounted to P48.6 billion. [PNA]

HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has proposed the establishment of a “bulk supply center” in every supermarket where goods for relief operations can be sourced during calamities.

DTI Secretary Gregory L. Domingo suggested this at Friday’s meeting of the National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC), which was attended by basic goods manufacturers and various government agencies where they assessed the supply and prices situation of basic and prime commodities following the massive flooding in Luzon.

Under the proposal, the bulk supply center would be activated during calamities only. The activation of bulk processing center would be triggered once retailers sense of a possible surge in demand because of a natural calamity. This means that retailers would have to stock up in such situation.

“The bulk supply center would be placed in one section in the supermarket where relief operations can source their supply instead of getting the relief goods

directly from the supermarket or grocery shelves,” Domingo said.

By having the bulk supply center, Domingo said, supermarkets will not run out of supply in their shelves. The goods from their shelves should be reserved for ordinary shoppers.

The experience has been is that relief operations get their supply also from the shelves competing with the shoppers and thus, resulting from shortages.

Retailers have been amenable to the proposal and promised to discuss this among their members.

Domingo further said that DTI will also come up with a website of a list of manufacturers of basic goods so that relief operations can also buy straight from them instead of going to the supermarkets.

Meantime, Domingo reported that based on the reports gathered at the NPCC meeting there was no movement in the prices of basic goods and prime commodities except for the prices of fish and vegetables.

Prices of fish have in-

creased by P10 a kilo while prices of vegetables have gone up by P10 a kilo also.

The increase in vegetable prices, however, was a much lower than the P100 increase in prices during the typhoon “Ondoy”.

Domingo expects prices of vegetables to normalize in a week’s time as more trucks of vegetables from Benguet have been dispatched to ensure delivery of vegetables.

The Department of Health, he said, has already acted on reports of exorbitant increases in prices of medicines, particularly for lyptus pyrosis.

On the supply of bread, Domingo said that while there is enough bread in the supermarkets, the cheaper brands like the “Pinoy Tasty” are running out of stocks as these are being used for relief operations.

The problem with bread, Domingo said, is they are baked everyday so if bakers cannot produce in one day, there is a tangible impact in the market.

There is, however, enough supply for the more expensive breads. [PNA]

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GenSan wants P700M for transport terminal

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MAKING A COMEBACK. A little boy buys “taho”, a tradional Filipino food snack that is making a comeback in the streets of Davao City. [LEAN DAVAL JR.]

MinDA forms inter-agency body to boost Mindanao coco industry T

HE Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) has formed an inter-agency body that will ensure and boost the growth of the island’s coconut industry.

Secretary Luwalhati Antonino, MinDA chair, said President Aquino had impressed upon her the need to boost the coco industry convinced that huge opportunities await in the global market.

“No less than our President encouraged us to look into further developing this industry, as he recognizes the significant contributions of the coconut industry to our economy,” Antonino said Thursday.

In his state of the nation address, President Aquino stressed that the national government has allotted P1.75 billion for the development of the coconut industry.

“Sa susunod na taon, lalong mapapakinabangan ang industriya ng niyog,” the President said last month.

Antinono also added that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) would be able to allocate initial funds for the proposal developed by the concerned agencies.

MinDA, along with Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and

the private sectors have committed during the meeting to identify all the requirements and technology necessary to make coco coir production and processing more accessible for farmers.

The Philippines currently has the highest net production volume among all the top coconut producing countries like Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, with an estimated output of 12.46 billion tons per year.

However, only 0.05 percent of these are being utilized for fiber production or 8,000 tons of fiber annually, while 30 percent is used for fuel utilization.

Data gathered by MinDA showed that India, which has an estimated output of 12.16 billion tons of coconuts was able to produce at least 500,000 tons of fiber every year.

Vietnam also utilizes its entire coconut output for fiber production.

Coco coir is among the many byproducts of coconut trees and is seen to be an additional source of income for farmers once the needed technology and resources for coco coir production and processing are available. Once processed, it can be converted into several products such as ropes, coco peat, coco pots, doormats, and carpets.

“It is good that we have MinDA to compel other concerned agencies to

really focus on the needs of this industry. Coco coir will surely provide more market for our coconut farmers who have long been dependent on copra products,” said Rex Buac of PCA Region IX. Coconut oil remains as the major coconut export of the Philippines with a total production of 2.3 million tons in 2011.

DTI revealed that the demand for the coco coir commodity is also promising both locally and internationally.

China and Europe are the top importers of geo-textiles made of coco coir.

“While there’s no doubt on the worldwide demand for coco coir, it should also be noted that from the domestic demands alone, our coco coir supplies are already insufficient,” according to Reynaldo Go, Vice President of Philippine Coco Coir Export Producers Association, Inc. (Philcoir).

Demand for coco coir in the country is also expected to increase once the DPWH implements the use coco-net coir fiber in sloppy and floodprone areas of Mindanao as part of its flood mitigation program.

Similarly, coco-net fibers are also being widely produced in Caraga Region, providing employment to hundreds of farming families in the region.

It supplies mainly to Taganito Mining firm

which uses coco-net products to prevent soil erosion in their mining areas.

“If it can be done in Caraga, it can be done in other regions as well,” said Antonino.

She urged the agencies to have a coordinated mechanism in order to move forward the coco coir industry all throughout Mindanao.

“It helps if one agency knows what the other agencies are doing, so we also know how we can complement each other’s efforts,” she added.

Any firmed up step is also seen to provide sustainable livelihood opportunities for the families in conflict affected areas of Mindanao.

Besides economic benefits, the coco coir industry could be one of the answers to the existing poverty and security problems in Mindanao, according to MinDA. “When people have livelihood that provides them enough money for a sufficient meal three times a day, I believe that peace and order would be more attainable in our Mindanao communities,” said Antonino.

An inter-agency proposal is already being prepared under the oversight of MinDA. Once approved, resource distribution and training are expected to be rolled-out in targeted areas of Mindanao within the year.

[PNA]

HE General Santos City local government is pushing for the establishment of a multimillion-peso integrated terminal complex that would serve as the area’s main transport and food trading hub.

Meriam Buguis, City Economic Management and Cooperative Development Office (CEMCDO) chief, said they are currently drawing out plans for the development of a 20-hectare food and transport terminal complex through a public-private partnership or PPP scheme.

She said the proposed facility, which is estimated to cost around P700 million, will eventually replace the Bulaong transport terminal complex, which has so far failed to cope with the city’s growing passenger traffic.

The existing terminal facility, which is located near the city’s downtown area, has also been congesting the city’s central business district, she said.

“It (Bulaong terminal) lacks appropriate facilities and technologies for product handling. Its overall features are way below international standards,” Buguis noted in a report posted at the city government’s website.

Buguis said the new terminal complex will comprise a food terminal, transport terminal and an AAA abattoir or slaughterhouse.

She said it will also feature complete and modern solid and liquid waste management facilities.

The official said they are currently seeking out viable PPP arrangements for the project, which is one of the major investment areas that the city government has been promoting through such scheme.

She said the other pri-

ority investment areas are the upgrading of the city’s central public market as well as the development of the Klaja Karsts Ecotourism Park and Queen Tuna Park as top tourism destinations.

For the public market project, Buguis said the local government wants to redevelop the 20,450-square meter facility into a modern commercial complex.

The project, which is pegged at around P200 million, will feature a mall-type structure that will replace the existing public market.

The proposed facility will include wet and dry market sections as well as shopping center with commercial spaces.

“It will have crowddrawing add-ons such as recreational, amusement and entertainment facilities and a carpark building,” Buguis said.

For the Klaja Karsts Ecotourism Park, she said the project will cover the development of several land sections covering portions of barangays Upper Labay, Olympog, Conel and Mabuhay.

The proposed developments include road rehabilitation; installation of hanging bridges, ladders, safety cables, solar power and water systems; building of campsites, eco-lodges and cottages; establishment of a tourist information center and ranger station; and development of mountain trails, rock climbing and zipline stations.

Buguis said they are planning to also develop the 31,715-square meter beach front of the Queen Tuna Park into a prime tourist attraction with the construction of an amphitheater, children’s playground, sea museum, exhibit area, baywalk, cafés, among others. [ALLEN V. ESTABILLO / MINDANEWS]

Guaranteed earnings of OFWs hiked by SSS

T

HE Social Security System (SSS) has approved higher guaranteed earnings for members of its special provident fund for overseas Filipino workers, called Flexi-Fund, to help them save more for retirement and encourage other OFWs to participate in the program.

Starting July 2012, interest earnings under the Flexi-fund Program will be based on average rates of SSS’ short-term placements or 91-day T-bills, whichever is higher.

“With higher guaranteed interest rates, OFWs can further increase their retirement savings and benefit from prime rates obtained in shortterm peso placements as against low interest rates offered in government

auctions,» SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Emilio de Quiros, Jr. said.

The Flexi-fund is a voluntary provident fund launched in July 2001 to provide additional social security protection to overseas workers.

The program is open to OFW-members paying SSS premiums at the maximum monthly salary credit, which at present is pegged at P15,000.

The average 91-day T-bill rate previously served as sole basis for computation of guaranteed interest income since January 2004. The SSS will continue its quarterly repricing of interest rates to keep the Flexi-fund in step with current market conditions. [SSS]

EDGEDAVAO

VOL.5 ISSUE 115 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, AUGUST 12 - 13, 2012

MOTORING

9

Kia Rio invades SM

By Neil Bravo

L

IKE a prized trophy, the new Kia Rio sat magnificently atop a gray carpet complementing its fiery red color as ten men drenched in sweat bang bodies against each other and outposition each other to get a blast on that yellow ball.

Those ten men inside a netted rectangular court measuring 16 meters x 25 meters have fought three other squads for the prize that’s just a plastic replica of this brand new sleek hatchback.

Indeed, what drives men to go this far for a prize as dear as one with the words inscribed as “Kia Rio Cup”?

“This is futsal, a discipline of the world’s most popular sport. Kia is synonymous to this sport, and men who aspire for excellence go this far for a prestigious Cup,” said Tobi Ang, vice president for operations of AB&T Resources, Kia’s dealer in Davao.

For four days, five men’s teams battled each other for the Kia Rio Cup Davao Interclub Futsal Tournament, otherwise known as 5:30 2D. These men belong to the Second Division clubs and they play futsal from 5:30 pm

onwards straight from the office.

“It’s a global sport, and we are a global brand. Men’s passion for football now goes with their passion for good cars. It’s that philosophy that Kia is building,” added Paco Mendoza, manager of Kia Motors Davao.

The Annex of SM City Davao was filled with both football and non-football fans from August 2-5, 2012 for the Kia Rio Cup, the first ever indoor football tournament inside the SM City Davao’s new event area at The Annex.

“We brought the Kia Rio car for people to get into the real feel of the Kia Rio hatchback. A lot of people were amazed of this car,” Mendoza said.At a little over P800,000, the Rio hatch already boasts

of features and accessories “that you need not change or upgrade.”

“You won’t think it’s this budget-friendly, but it is,” one futsal player said.

Although the Kia Rio was not the actual prize for the tournament, teams finished the event proud of the Kia Rio Cup trophy with the fire red Kia Rio image perched atop the glass trophy.

“One for the trophy case. Definitely, one of our best collection of championships,” said best goalkeeper Lanzi Borromeo of Rabies FC. The Kia Rio Cup is a collaboration of Kia Motors Davao and Bravetower with the support of SM City Davao, Philippine Sports Commission and Phoenix Petroleum Philippines.

10 VANTAGE POINTS

VOL.5 ISSUE 115 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, AUGUST 12 - 13, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

Starbucks want your phone to be your wallet COMMENTARY

BY JOHN C. ABELL

(1st of two parts)

A

EDITORIAL

Drug test

A

LERT police operatives collared an ex-policeman and a former city government employee during a drug raid Monday last week at a purok in Barangay 39-D, a village within the central business district of Davao City.

Initial police reports said the former police officer was earlier dismissed from the service after testing positive for illegal drugs in a random drug test last year.

The successful raid tells us a number of things. One, is that the arrest confirmed that random drug testing can be an effective way of flushing out drug abusers from the police force, an unlikely, even unthinkable, situation in the past.

Two, that drug abuse is so addictive it is almost impossible to kick the habit and those caught doing it will mostly be caught again. This is a strong argument for a program more comprehensive than just catching addicts–what we

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really need is a rehabilitation program, a corrective system that would make addicts productive members of society again.

The arrest of the former government employee confirms the suspicion that there are really government workers who are drug abusers. Again, this is an argument that random drug tests on city employees should be continued for obvious reasons. Drug addiction is so expensive that a government employee who is into it may be forced by circumstance to commit corruption to be able to sustain the habit.

Since the existence of drug users in government employ is a proven fact, the next challenging task should be finding out whether there are also pushers in the employ of the city government who are not users themselves, hence will pass any drug test, but are just as guilty under the law as their victims.

ANTONIO M. AJERO Editor in Chief

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GREGORIO G. DELIGERO CARLO P. MALLO Associate Features and Lifestyle KENNETH IRVING K. ONG KARLOS C. MANLUPIG • JOSEPH LAWRENCE P. GARCIA LEANDRO S. DAVAL JR., Creative Solutions Photography LORIE ANN A. CASCARO • JADE C. ZALDIVAR • MOSES C. BILLACURA Staff Writers

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FTER years of fits and starts, the prospect of using your phone to make purchases instead of your credit and debit cards is entering a promising era. The struggle for who will control your virtual wallet is intensifying, and while it’s far from certain what will replace plastic, it’s almost certain something will, very soon.

This isn’t about a gimmicky new way to separate you from your money. It’s about replacing credit and debit cards, and all of their vulnerabilities, with your phone. That phone will be linked to those same cards (and bank accounts), potentially enabling you to pay as you go without toting around cards or cash, and even without taking anything out of your pocket.

Within this revolution, there are two different technologies hoping to become the default. This time, instead of Betamax and VHS, we have NFC (Near Field Communication) and GPS (the same kind you use to navigate a map).

NFC backers – and there are plenty of them – are pushing a technology that sends payment information using radio waves from one device to another. GPS’s contingent is led by Square, a startup founded by Twitter inventor Jack Dorsey, and uses the location-awareness functionality of smartphones to establish a connection between you and a vendor.

This week, Starbucks announced it was partnering with Square, the best evidence yet that GPS might have an edge over NFC. For Starbucks, a $25 million investment in Square is pocket change, but the deal also puts visionary CEO Howard Schultz on the startup’s board and “Pay with Square” in every Starbucks, (eventually) letting caffeine addicts pay for their latte fixes with little more than a smile.

GPS mobile payments are at the opposite end of the conceptual spectrum from NFC, and therein lies their power. NFC is specifically designed to work only over tiny distances – a few centimeters – the better to avoid mishaps that might occur if you were just walking past a terminal. But that means the consumer is invisible to the retailer until she’s paying for something. GPS, on the other hand, can alert consumers to nearby establishments’ special offers, and alert establishments when returning customers are on the premises.

That creates untold opportunities to cultivate customers, not just take their money.

Schultz told Wired‘s Steven Levy that Starbucks had been shopping around for a mobile payments solution and was blown away by Square, even though it won’t initially be taking advantage of Pay with Square’s location awareness and background payment functions. “It was very obvious to me that this was a game-changer,” Schultz said.

But NFC isn’t dead yet. The basic idea is not new; a decade or so ago Exxon (for one) provided customers with a keychain dongle called “Speedpass” that ones waves at the pump to pay. The advent of smartphones gave the idea a real boost, since we always seem to have one with us. But how to take it mainstream? Without a lot of demand for NFC, handset makers have shied from incorporating it. Without the chip in wide circulation, retailers aren’t particularly interested in buying lots of new equipment to provide technology their customers have likely never even heard of.

Chicken, meet egg.

Google thinks it has the answer. It developed Wallet, an NFC-enabled payment system, and purchased Motorola Mobility, ensuring a big supply of NFC phones and the software to make payments intuitive. Google’s first NFC phone to launch since the merger is expected next month. Radio Shack, Home Depot and Bloomingdales already take Google Wallet.

EDGEDAVAO

VANTAGE POINTS

VOL.5 ISSUE 115 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, AUGUST 12 - 13, 2012

Protecting the coastline of Sabah

T

HE Sabah government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman, has made a wise and visionary approach to protecting the state’s coastline, said Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s (UMS) Borneo Marine Research Institute director Prof. Dr. Saleem Mustafa.

He said all people in Sabah are connected to the coast in one way or the other and many of them live and work along the coast.

“Beaches provide us with recreational means, the coast provides facilities and resources for fishing to name some of the coastal services. Even inland communities are connected to the coastal zone.

“In Sabah, the coast is not only a geographical entity, but economic and cultural as well. The richness of our coastal zone is an integral part of local culture and its wise use is an issue of great significance,” he told Bernama, here.

Saleem said protecting the coastline is consistent with the efforts to reduce the impact of land-based activities to sustainable levels.

“A legislative backing for coastal protection can serve to demonstrate the government’s resolve of listening to the community that includes scientists, environmentalists and the common man for protection of ecosystem services and cultural values,” he said.

As such, he said the Sabah government’s decision to bar any development on the Kota Kinabalu seafront totalling 1,555 hectares from Tanjung Aru to Likas Bay through the Land Ordinance (Amendment) 2012 Bill, which was approved by the state assembly last month, is a significant and bold move motivated by the need to protect the marine ecosystem services.

“This decision should serve as a blueprint for area-based management that comprises multiple management aims and takes into account both ecological and social considerations.

“The selected area from Tanjung Aru to Likas Bay is not just any area. It is an extremely important area that over the last few decades has seen the most intense development in Sabah in terms of urbanization, business, trade, commerce and tourism,” he said.

Saleem said the marine environment abutting this coastline that has been at the receiving end of reclamation and stressful coastal development needed respite from

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BY NEWMOND TIBIN human impacts and a healing touch that “I think this Act will provide”.

“This single Act has multiple benefits for the coastal environment. The marine environment, nearshore habitats, wetlands and waterways will probably start receiving serious consideration in strategic planning and land-use decisions at state level,” he said.

He said the Act will also preserve the scenic seascape, which is a unique natural asset that attracts people and for which Sabah is so well-known, not the concrete structures along the coastline which can be found elsewhere.

“Another positive outcome of this policy would be spreading the interest of investors beyond Kota Kinabalu to interior areas and hinterland. This will contribute to balancing the development, and creating business and economic opportunities to other regions as well.

“I do not think this Act is antidevelopment...it is in fact proecodevelopment and a futuristic investment in nature conservation for sustainable development goals, with positive socioeconomic implications,” he said.

Saleem said this Amendment Act that applies to the Kota Kinabalu coastline is a need-based initiative for protecting the coastal and marine environment.

“This stretch of land from Tanjung Aru to Likas Bay is home to rich marine biodiversity.

It is where the only marine protected area, on the west coast of Sabah (Tunku Abdul Rahman Park), is located.

“It is where many indigenous marine animals use habitat connectivity necessary for their survival and recruitment. It is where catchments and wetlands are situated. It is the area which offers a migratory route to global stocks of some of the endangered and charismatic forms of marine life,” he added.

He said the Act is a timely move since interest is fast building up for preserving the ecosystem services and valuation of the natural resources.

Ecological systems such as those in the Tanjung Aru-Likas Bay area provide enormous community benefits. Valuation of services of biological systems makes a strong

case for bringing them into management discussions and decisions.

“Economists are assigning monetary values to natural resources for the products and services they provide to enable policy makers take decisions regarding the conservation and sustainable development of the resources.

“We need to minimize the pressure of exploitation and invest in building resilience to help the marine habitats and animal communities that they support to be in a better position to face the effects of climate change and to continue to provide benefits to the society,” he said.

Saleem said The Act can become a model

“In Sabah, the coast is not only a geographical entity, but economic and cultural as well. The richness of our coastal zone is an integral part of local culture and its wise use is an issue of great significance.”

in the long run for adopting in other parts of the State or the country, and it could be embraced as a feasible, implementable and popular tool to cover most of the threats to the coastal and marine habitats, and to protect the amenities as well Regulating development on coastal land amounts to building resilience in marine critical habitats and the whole ecosystem, and a major step in long-term coastal zone security, he said.

Due to its strategic location, this area (Tanjung Aru-Likas Bay) has been a focus of attention for observations on bathymetry, coastal hydrodynamics, water quality, biodiversity and fishing activity, he said.

“The decision to protect the coastline is, therefore, backed by scientific facts. The scientific community and general public who enjoy sights and sounds of our seashore will be too happy with this decision,” he said.

[PNA/Bernama]

G

11

Corresponding rise in anxiety

E N E R A L SENSE OF U N E A S E – With its vast track of fertile lands and rich natural resources, the province of Maguindanao in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) promises to be a perfect place for business.

But for the prospective entrepreneurs, to establish business and make money there, first you have to stay alive.

On the surface, life in several ARMM towns seems normal, but there is actually a general sense of unease. The drumbeat of attacks by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) breakaway group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM), led by its notorious Kumander Umbra Kato against soldiers and government properties are continuing.

The reality on the ground is vastly complicated. Doing business in the troubled area is highly risky, security being the main concern. Maguindanao province in particular and ARMM in general have indeed moved forward under the Aquino dispensation, but the progress has been matched by a corresponding rise in anxiety and uncertainty.

People in the province routinely veer from optimism to apprehension due to the security problem. A series of attacks targeting military detachments and government properties around three Maguindanao towns, namely Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Datu Unsay and Shariff Aguak , capital of the province, have stoked fears that the very foundation of its socio-economic fabric is shaking. It’s perhaps a hopeful sign that captains of trade and industry in the province made an appeal to the government with the cooperation of the MILF leadership to put to a halt BIFM’s lawlessness.

In situations where rebel attacks are likely, businesses also face old-fashioned theft and robbery. Movement of goods and people oftentimes comes to a halt as main roads connecting towns are totally closed.

Indeed, lawlessness is the No.1 concern in these areas, prompting business groups to ask the government and MILF panel to sign a peace agreement as a means to neutralize the threat posed by Kato and his ragtag BIFM band.

In order to isolate lawless elements taking refuge in or near MILF-controlled communities, the government has to employ an AdHoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG).

It would likewise stop the skirmishes specifically in three towns of Maguindanao that leave thousands of displaced farmer families. But for some people in these localities, shootings, ambuscades, bombings and roadblocks have become part of daily life – a regimen in which opportunities coexist with the most terrifying of dangers.

Right now, the business sector blames the breakaway rebel group for the aggressions that continue to plague the province. Security is tight in affected areas, as the military take over checkpoints and vital government facilities.

Still amazingly, the dauntless entrepreneurs who endure this tough life, believe there are rewards. They think the situation fits well into a pattern of confidence that many local traders feel toward doing business in unfriendly territory.

Hard-nosed business smarts continue anticipating that sometime soon the hostile situation will die down and the proverbial sun behind the clouds will eventually shine on them.

The exact number of attacks against traders in those areas is largely unknown.

All we know is that local entrepreneurs brag about the fact the notion that their experience through the hair-raising years gives them a huge edge over new prospective investors.

Who would be willing to invest in troubled areas, might we ask? Well, you have to be a little bit crazy. No one can predict when violence erupts, but when it does, it could really slowdown business and investments. Despite all the challenges, a great number of grizzled businessmen persevere in the area as if saying that “for the daring and the fearless, Maguindanao is a great place to make money.”

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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES REGIONAL TRIAL COURT 11TH JUDICIAL REGION BRANCH 16 DAVAO CITY

Republic of the Philippines Department of Transportation and Communications LAND TRANSPORTATION FRANCHISING AND REGULATORY BOARD Regional Office No. XI Davao City

FOR: CORRECTION OF ERRONEOUS ENTRY IN THE CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH OF JOSEPHINE CAWAYAN TUNGCALING

Petition for Renewal of a Certificate of Public Convenience to operate a PUJ-DUAL Ordinary Regular Service

JOSEPHINE GOSHI TONGCALING Petitioner, -versusTHE LOCAL CIVIL REGISTRAR OF DAVAO CITY, Respondent.

X =========================================X ORDER A verified petition having filed by petitioner assisted by counsel prayed that this Honorable Court will order the Local Civil Registrar of Davao City to correct the erroneous entries over the Certificate of Live Birth of JOSEPHINE GOSHI TUNGCALING particularly, over the following entries: INCORRECT

CORRECT

Child 3. Name

JOSEPHINE CAWAYAN TUNGCALING

JOSEPHINE GOSHI TONGCALING

Father 7. Name

MELECIO TUNGCALING

MELECIO LADAY TONGCALING

Mother 12. Name RAMONA CAWAYAN

RAMONA CAWAYAN GOSHI

24. Date and Place of Marriage of Parents (for legitimate birth) October 21, 1962 October 23, 1962 Finding the said petition to be sufficient in form and in substance, it is hereby ordered that said petition be set for hearing on November 12, 2012 at 8:30 AM on which date, time and place, all persons who are interested may appear and show cause if any, why said petition should not be granted.

Let a copy of this Order be published in newspaper of general circulation at least once a week for three (3) consecutive issues at the expense of the petitioner.

The Local Civil Registrar, Davao City, and the Assistant City Prosecutor are cited to appear on said date of hearing, in order to show cause, if any , why said petition should not be granted.

SO ORDERED.

EMMANUEL C. CARPIO Presiding Judge

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES REGIONAL TRIAL COURT 11TH JUDICIAL REGION BRANCH 17, DAVAO CITY IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR THE CORRECTION OF ENTRIES IN THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE OF DANILO GOMIA AND JOSEPHINE R. MAGLANA JOSEPHINE M. GOMIA, Petitioner, -versus-

Case No.2010-XI-01144

NOTICE HEARING Petitioner is a grantee of a Certificate of Public Convenience issued in this case authorizing the operation of a PUJ-DUAL Ordinary Regular Service on the route: BAGUIO DISTRICT ROUTE and for cargoes as dual service from said route to any point in Region XI with the use of ONE (1) unit, which certificate will expire on July 9, 2012. In the petition filed on May 28, 2012, petitioner request authority to extend the validity of said certificate to operate along the same route with the use of the same unit previously authorized.

NOTICE, is hereby given that this petition will be heard by this Board on AUGUST 22, 2012 at 9:50 a.m. at this office at the above address.

At least, FIVE (5) days prior to the above date petitioner shall publish this Notice once in a one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Mindanao Parties opposed to the granting of the petition must file their written opposition supported by documentary evidence on or before the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the petitioner, and may if they so, desire appear on said date and time.

This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documentary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive additional documentary and/or oral evidence.

WITNESS the Honorable BENJAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Regional Director, this 28th day of May 2012 at Davao City.

Davao City, Philippines, July 20, 2012

(Edge 8/13,20,27)

REY R. GLORIA, Petitioner x- - - - - - - - -- -x

SP. PROC.CASE NO. 12,100-2012

THE LOCAL CIVIL REGISTRAR OF DAVAO CITY, Respondent,

TERESITA DELA PEÑA-YÑIGUEZ Chief Transport Development Officer

Republic of the Philippines Department of Transportation and Communications LAND TRANSPORTATION FRANCHISING AND REGULATORY BOARD Regional Office No. XI Davao City

Petition for Renewal of a Certificate of Public Convenience to operate a PUJ Ordinary Regular Service LILIBETH B. RENDON, Case No.2002-XI-01241 Petitioner x- - - - - - - - -- - - ------x

ORDER

NOTICE HEARING

Petitioner Josephine M. Gomia, filed the instant Petition, praying that after due notice and hearing, an Order be issued to the Office of the City Civil Registrar to correct the entries of Petitioner’s Marriage Certificate from (a) DANILO GOMEA, (b) 24 yrs. May 5, 1959, (c) DOMINADOR GOMEA and (d) VERONICA DURITAN to (a) DANILO GOMIA, (b) 24 yrs. May 1, 1959, (c) blank or unknown remarked and (d) VERONICA GOMIA.

Petitioner is a grantee of a Certificate of Public Convenience issued in this case authorizing the operation of a PUJ Ordinary Regular Service on the route: MINTAL ROUTE with the use of TWO (2) units, which certificate will expire on June 20, 2012. In the petition filed on June 08, 2012, petitioner request authority to extend the validity of said certificate to operate along the same route with the use of the same unit previously authorized.

Finding the Petition to be sufficient in form and substance, set hearing of the Petition to October 1, 2012 at 10:00 o’clock in the morning , ordering all interested persons, to appear on the said date and to show cause, why this Petition should not be granted.

Petitioner is directed to publish this Order, at least once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks, prior to the date of hearing in a designated qualifies newspaper of general circulation, pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 1079.

Furnish copy of this Order, to the Clerk of Court, Regional trial Court, Davao City for raffling of the publication.

SO ORDERED. Given this 18th day of July, 2012 at Davao City, Philippines.

(SGD) EVALYN M. ARELLANO-MORALES Presiding Judge (Edge 8/6,13,20)

NOTICE, is hereby given that this petition will be heard by this Board on AUGUST 22, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. at this office at the above address.

At least, FIVE (5) days prior to the above date petitioner shall publish this Notice once in a one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Mindanao Parties opposed to the granting of the petition must file their written opposition supported by documentary evidence on or before the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the petitioner, and may if they so, desire appear on said date and time.

This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documentary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive additional documentary and/or oral evidence.

WITNESS the Honorable BENJAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Regional Director, this 8th day of June 2012 at Davao City.

TERESITA DELA PEÑA-YÑIGUEZ Chief Transport Development Officer

CLASSIFIED ADS 13

14 COMPETITIVE EDGE EDGEDAVAO Global shipping firms assured of competent Filipino seafarers VOL.5 ISSUE 115 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, AUGUST 12 - 13, 2012

The Business PAPER

You can now buy your weekly paper fill of in-depth business news and features from any of these establishments still at Php 15.

Jose Abad Santos St., Corner Arellano St., Tagum City 8100 Philippines Tel. No.: (084) 216-3003 Cell No,: 0939-243-8539

HELPING YOU MAKE INFORMED BUSINESS DECISIONS.

M

ARITIME Industry Authority (MARINA) officer-incharge Nicasio Conti has assured the international shipping companies of the Philippines’ commitment to produce more qualified and competent seafarers.

Conti, a lawyer and spokesperson of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), made this assurance in a presentation he delivered during the National Shipping Industry Conference held from August 6 to 8 in Melbourne, Australia.

In his paper entitled, “Maritime Workforce Innovation in the Philippines,” Conti said all efforts and programs being implemented by the DOTC under the stewardship of Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II are geared toward improving the quality of the Filipino seafarers.

“One out every four seafarers in the international seaborne trade is a Filipino. That is why all our efforts are geared toward ensuring that the Philippines will remain number one in providing qualified and competent seafarers worldwide – and we

are committed to remain number one,” Conti said.

Conti elaborated before the conference attendees representing large shipping companies in Australia and other parts of the world the recent reforms and initiatives that the Philippines implemented to enhance and promote the competitiveness of Filipino seafarers.

Among the reforms implemented are Manila’s Amendment to the

International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) for Seafarers, efforts to ratify and implement the 2006 Maritime Labor Convention or MLC 2006, and the ratification of the Seafarers Identity Document Convention.

Conti also stressed the innovation in the adoption and implementation of critical changes to promote efficiency in the overall performance of the

maritime workforce.

These changes include the enhancement of existing human capacity and the re-engineering of the regulatory framework to make it consistent with international practice pursuant to Executive Order No. 75 issued and signed

by President Benigno S. Aquino III on April 30, 2012, designating DOTC, through the MARINA, as the single and central maritime administration for STCW. [PNA]

GETTING READY. Two high rise window washers clean up the windows of Marco Polo Hotel to get ready for the high volume of tourists that will visit the city to witness the Kadayawan Festival. [LEAN DAVAL JR.]

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Zamora-Apsay joins agencies in distribution of 10,000 CFLS

R TOKEN. Col. Greg Almerol, 10th ID’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, receives a token from Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario for gracing the recent convocation program of Davao del Norte Provincial Capitol.

SouthCot governor rallies support for RH bill passage

S

OUTH Cotabato Governor Arthur Pingoy Jr. rallied residents on Friday to support the passage into law of the controversial Reproductive Health or RH bill.

Pingoy, who co-authored a similar measure in his previous stint at the House of Representatives, said the proposed law is not flawed as claimed by critics but mainly brings more benefits to the Filipino people.

“The RH bill is not perfect and it may have some flaws but they should not

hinder its passage by Congress,” he said.

Pingoy, who is a doctor, pointed out that the RH bill respects the views and stand of the Catholic Church on the matter, specifically its position on the “protection of families and preservation of the life of the unborn.”

“It is not pro-abortion, rather it gives freedom to those who want to avail of family planning commodities,” he said.

Pingoy said the bill’s provision on introducing sex education in schools is

not new but has been going on in the last several years.

“I think it’s about time that we promote healthy and proper discussions on this subject by institutionalizing it in schools,” he said.

The governor believes that RH bill is the answer to the country’s population problems and will eventually help ease poverty, especially in the countryside.

He said the country’s “poorest of the poor,” who are often blamed for the ballooning population, will benefit most from it. [PNA]

Happy Kadayawan! from:

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KRISTINE

EP. Maria Carmen Zamora-Apsay has teamed up with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the distribution of 10,000 pieces of Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) to 5,000 qualified households in the first legislative district of Compostela Valley Province.

The project is part of the Philippine Energy Efficiency Project (PEEP) National Residential Lighting Program through the use of CFLs being promoted by the government.

It aims to reduce the overall

carbon footprint of the country, according to Ms ZamoraApsay.

“Under this laudable project, the DOE will distribute 10,000 pieces of CFLs to beneficiaries in the district using, among others, the National Household Targeting System (NHTS) of the DSWD,” Rep. Zamora-Apsay said.

The project will not only enable the efficient implementation of the endeavor, but will also ensure that recipients are really those in need of help from the government, she said.

“The CFLs are to be given by the government for free to

beneficiaries. The bulb will provide economic benefits to the recipient-households as they can replace incandescent lamps that are roughly 3–4 times their wattage, saving up to 75% of the initial lighting energy. Aside from lowering power consumption, they also last about 10 times as long (10,000 hours) based on scientific tests,” the lawmaker added.

Some 5,000 homes in Rep. Zamora-Apsay’s district will be illuminated by 10,000 power-saving CFLs as soon as the needed documentation is completed.

tional highway and Bonifacio St. Based on the initial recovered fragments, Supiter believes it was a 40mm grenade launched from somewhere using an M-79 grenade launcher, which he said could fire a grenade from as much as 400 meters away.

The police officer said investigators are still looking into the motive of the incident . He said police have not

received any threat from any group prior to the incident.

But Supiter said a similar incident simultaneously occurred in the municipality of Mlang, also in North Cotabato.

However, he could not say if the incident is related to the recent attacks of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) against military targets in Maguindanao. (KEITH BACONGCO / MIND-

Grenade explodes in Kabacan; no one hurt

A

grenade exploded on the roof of an internet cafe in Kabacan, North Cotabato around 8 p.m. Friday, police said.

Supt. Raul Supiter, Kabacan police chief, said no one was hurt in the explosion caused by what investigators believe could be a 40mm grenade.

The explosion damaged the roof of the Quaknet internet café, which is located along the corner of the na-

ANEWS)

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Army forces retake village from rebs in Maguindanao

G

OVERNMENT forces backed by armored vehicles recaptured Thursday the village of Meta in Datu Unsay, Maguindanao which the renegade Moro rebels seized on Monday.

Col. Mayoralgo dela Cruz, chief of 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade, said his troops recovered the village at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday after bomb experts and infantrymen cleared the area of booby traps and snipers from Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

Only the villages of Iginagampong and Maitumaeg remained under

rebel control.

According to dela Cruz, the highway will be opened to commuters Friday.

Meanwhile, some of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) have started to return home as the situation is slowly returning to normalcy.

According to Assistant Sec. Pombaen Karon Kader of the Department of Social Welfare (DSWD) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), some of the IDPs have opted to return home since the flash point is far from their communities.

Kader said relief work-

ers from the government and private sector have intensified its distribution of rice and noodles to affected families.

A total of 11 persons, four soldiers, four rebels and three civilians, have been killed in the conflict which started when Moro rebels attacked military detachments in five Maguindanaon towns.

Rebel spokesperson said the attack was in retaliation to the death of one BIFF members in the hands of the military in Datu Unsay.

But the military has denied the allegations.

in Davao del Norte posted the highest reduction of poverty incidence among the cities and municipalities in Region XI. She said poverty incidence in this municipality was pulled down by half from 51.2 percent in 2003 down to 21.5 percent in 2009.

Turingan also said there are several variables that were considered in coming up with the results although she said they based this in the NSO official survey.

Executive Order 352 states among others that the NSCB has established a system of designated statistics in accordance with its mandate, that enables the identification and generation of the most critical and es-

sential statistics required for social and economic planning/analysis based on approved criteria.

She said based on the EO that the local government units are mandated to refer to NSCB for any statistics they want to produce.

The use of the data she said could help policy makers come up with their respective development plan more so in aligning programs that would address reduction of poverty.

Meanwhile, Turingan said there is improvement in poverty incidence in the Davao Region.

She said among the provinces in Mindanao, Davao Region is lowest.

by Col. Mayoralgo de la Cruz, of the 1st Mechanized Brigade, earlier attempted to cross the stretch of highway Friday morning but was fired upon by snipers positioned in the nearby hills.

Cruz said the rebels left behind on the highway visible to the troops what they thought was an improvised explosive device.

As soon as the soldiers alighted, shots from snipers rang out from nearby hills, prompting De la Cruz to issue orders not to open the highway yet.

A TV news team said they saw empty shell casings littered on the highway and soldiers lying prone on the nearby grounds.

Later by mid-morning, another convoy of 30 tanks and police cars made another attempt from Shariff Aguak town

and was successful in reaching the other end of the closed highway in Barangay Salvo, Datu Ampatuan town without any untoward incident.

“We were able to cross the highway without being fired upon by the snipers. So far this is a good sign that they have withdrawn from the nearby hills,” Maguindanao police provincial director Senior Supt. Marcelo Pintac said.

Along the way, Pintac said he saw the devastation caused by the five-day shooting war ¬-- burnt houses and a mosque heavily damaged by bullets.

“I cannot really assess the damage since the convoy was moving fast but I saw about two houses that were burned down,” Pintac told reporters. [FROILAN GALLARDO / MIND-

[PNA]

NSCB 11 urges LGUs to maximize use of poverty incidence statistics

T

HE National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) in Region 11 encouraged anew the local government units (LGUs) to maximize the use of the data they recently released for dissemination.

NSCB regional director Estrella R. Turingan however said they are trying to monitor whether the data they released have been used by the LGUs. “We believe they had been using the results considering that there are improvement of poverty incidence in some areas in our region,” she said.

She cited for instance that based on the 2009 Small Area Estimates (SAE) of poverty by World Bank and NSCB, Kapalong

[PNA]

Cotabato-Isulan highway now open for motorists

A

FTER five days of painstakingly clearing it of snipers and booby traps, the military said the highway linking Cotabato and Isulan cities is now open for public transportation.

Col. Prudencio Asto, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said joint Army and Philippine National Police Special Action Forces have finally recaptured Friday afternoon the last three-kilometer stretch of highway between the towns of Datu Unsay and Datu Ampatuan earlier occupied by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

“The highway is already open. Now that the PNP Special Action Forces are here, we can now better protect vehicular traffic that will use the highway,” Asto said.

An armed convoy led

ANEWS]

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EVENTS

Lindsay Lohan crashes birthday party for Clint Eastwood’s daughter

LINDSAY LOHAN is still acting like a “Mean Girl.” On Tuesday night, the out-ofcontrol actress caused a scene at West Hollywood nightclub Bootsy Bellows when she spotted reality star Francesca Eastwood, daughter of the legendary Clint Eastwood, celebrating her 19th birthday with pals in a private area. “Lindsay came over and started screaming that Francesca should leave,” a source tells Us Weekly. “She was yelling ‘I’m a star, she’s a nobody, get her out of here!’ One poor guy came over and tried to calm [Lindsay] down and she acted aggressively.

At that point the security told her to leave and it was totally embarrassing.”

But Lohan didn’t ruin the birthday girl’s night. Eastwood tells E! Online that although she’s “not sure what exactly sparked Lindsay’s outburst ... I still had an amazing birthday.” And in what perhaps was a dig at the actress’ stalled career, Eastwood adds, “’Parent Trap’ is still my favorite movie.”

Kristen Stewart all smiles at Marie Claire shoot

Lohan – who has posed numerous times over the years for Eastwood’s controversial photographer boyfriend Tyler Shields – was in such a huff when she left the club, her speeding car nearly struck a valet worker, according to a witness, who adds that Lohan had a friend drive her home.

The “Liz and Dick” actress’ bad behavior “is hard to watch because

she needs help,” adds the magazine’s source. But Lohan, 26, has one person pulling for her: her former “A Prairie Home Companion” co-star Meryl Streep. During an appearance on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” on Thursday night, the Oscar winner said she prays for her when asked by host Andy Cohen to give her thoughts on the troubled actress.

UP AND ABOUT

Trust Home Depot’s celebrates Kadayawan with “Unique Eats and Shabby Treats” with Pofta Buna THIS KADAYAWAN, Trust Home Depot converts its grounds into a foodie’s and homemaker’s paradise.

Ms. Stephanie Ong, Marketing Manager of Trust Home Depot, said, ”This is another breakthrough event for a hardware store.

Trust Home Depot is the first store of its type to host art lessons and an exhibition, and more recently, the cooking lessons with one of Davao’s most respected chefs. This coming Kadayawan will be another trendsetting event for Trust Home Depot as it hosts Pofta Buna’s traveling food festival with a surprise twist.”

Expect a veritable cornucopia of food offerings from the Davao’s choice restaurants and food specialists gathered in a single roof. From American flamegrilled burgers to TexMex goodies, lechon to meat pies, Chinese staples to Pinoy favorites, from appetizers to pastries, Pofta

Buna will showcase a wide range of the best-selling, mouth watering specialties from around the city.

The Trust Home Depot stop for Pofta Buna will have a twist. With the food fair will be a section devoted for the homemaker – home accent pieces, kitchen and dinnerware, and other delightfully shabby chic items.

Free lessons on dressing up your dinner table will be conducted as well.

“Unique Eats and Shabby Treats” will be a 3-day fiesta from August 17 to 19, 10 AM to 8 PM, at the Trust Home Depot grounds at the Ecoland Drive and Quimpo Blvd. in Matina, Davao City.

“There will surely be something each member

of the family will love in this fiesta. It will surely be an enjoyable and savory long weekend for everyone at Trust Home Depot this coming Kadayawan.

Come and join us,” Ms. Ong invites.

Mark the dates, August 17 to 19, from 10 AM to 8 PM, and get ready to roll up your sleeves for a weekend of gastronomic treats and home finds at the “Unique Eats and Shabby Treats” of Trust Home Depot and Pofta Buna.

For more information, please call 298-7878, 2953588. Or visit Trust Home Depot on Facebook.

TRUST Home Depot is at Ecoland Drive, Quimpo Boulevard, Matina (formerly Task Force Davao).

WE CAN imagine Kristen Stewart isn’t smiling about too much these days.

But just a couple of months before K.Stew’s short-lived romance with her married Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders was exposed by a photog, the Twilight star was all smiles for a Marie Claire photo shoot, looking carefree as she hung out with her On the Road castmates.

In the shoot for the mag’s September issue, Stewart donned a Blondie T-shirt, red jacket and black cut off shorts while posing solo in a pool in Cannes, France, and poolside with costars Garret Hedlund and Sam Riley.

And this may be the most will see of Stewart for now (at least until the

Breaking Dawn premiere).

The embattled actress has been laying low postscandal, managing to stay completely out of the public eye.

Meanwhile, her estranged beau Robert Pattinson is stepping back into the spotlight, gearing up for appearances on The Daily Show and Good Morning America next week to promote his flick Cosmopolis.

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FFROM 1 who is facing two disbarment complaints, there are other candidates who also have pending cases.”

In opposing Tupas’ proposal, Toreon said he is not against reform and that he admires the Aquino administration for “its steadfast campaign to eradicate corruption.”

Describing himself as a pro-PNoy lawyer during the 2010 presidential elections, Torreon, however, said that as a proactive follower “I weep that the administration I supported has been playing favorites too far. “ “That the palace had been helping De Lima in her JBC bid is no secret,” Torreon said, adding, “Malacanang had admitted that its legal team had been

GPH...

assisting the Secretary of Justice to have her disbarment cases dismissed by the IBP. “ He said the IBP Board of Governors, in a unanimous vote, dismissed the motions to dismiss and the motions for reconsideration filed by Secretary de Lima.

“Despite extensive research conducted by this representation on the matter, there was simply no law nor jurisprudence that allowed us, the IBP Board of Governors, to dismiss her disbarment cases outright,” the Davao lawyer said.

“A day after the August 6 IBP Board Resolution and a day before the August 8, 2012 JBC Deadline to submit the JBC shortlist, Tu-

pas proposed the “amendment” of JBC rules. To me and to a number of lawyers who had raised their concerns to me, the proposed amendment of the JBC Rules at this point of time is not necessary and is perceived by many as a brazen political power play.

“From what I have learned in law school and my 14 years of practice, the Supreme Court is the constitutionally ordained overseer of the Judicial and Bar Council and so far, the disqualification rule under Section 5 Rule 4 of the JBC Rules had been enforced and had caused the disqualification of many an applicant to the offices whose officers the JBC nominates

residents in Maguindanao and North Cotabato displaced in the aftermath of the BIFF’s simultaneous attacks on military detachments at around 11:30 p.m. Sunday, August 5.

On August 8, three soldier and two civilians, including a ten-year old boy, were killed while 30 others, mostly students, were wounded when gunmen believed to be members of a private armed group attacked an Army patrol inside the state-run Mindanao State University in Marawi City.

The BIFF and Marawi attacks triggered comments about an alleged war in Mindanao, prompting OIC ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman to appeal to the public to “please double check facts before posting on social media. Let us not cause undue panic which may hamper government operations. Let us be part of the solution and not cause further trouble.”

In their opening statements on August 8, both GPH peace panel chair Leonen and MILF peace panel chair Iqbal said the BIFF attacks had even strengthened their resolve to forge a peace agreement soonest.

“These incidents serve no other purpose than to strengthen our resolve to find a credible, workable and just political settlement with the MILF. The sooner we craft our agreements, the sooner we will also be able to fully unmask those groups who do not do justice to the many sacrifices of the many to find a just solution to the Bangsamoro question,” Leonen said in his open-

ing statement.

“The sooner we craft our agreements, the sooner we will be able to do our jointA advocacies so that our partnership can effectively deliver on our mutual promises,” he added.

In his opening statement, Iqbal said the BIFF’s intention “is clearly to shame us and to stop the peace negotiation.

But will they succeed?

It depends on the MILF and the government. If we are not decided to settle the Moro Question and the armed conflict in Mindanao, then we become their first casualty and their laughing stock.”

The BIFF, a breakaway group from the MILF, was founded by Ustadz Amiril Umra Kato, former commander of the MILF’s 105th Base Command who resigned in December 2009 and set up the BIFF in March 2010.

The MILF Central Committee on September 22, 2011 expelled Kato after a series of dialogues with him failed.

In November 2011, Kato was reported to have suffered a stroke and that he allegedly died. Abumisry Mama, BIFF spokesperson said in late November that Kato was “still recovering from poor health but we can assure you he is alive.”

The media-savvy Kato, however, has neither made any public appearance nor granted any interview even if by telephone, since his reported stroke in November. Reports reaching the military said Kato is still alive but is incapacitated. [CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS/

FFROM 2

eration and wealth sharing arrangements.”

The Statement did not indicate what the consensus points are.

Present in today’s signing were Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita QuintosDeles and Mujiv Hataman, OIC Governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), observer and consultant, respectively of the government peace panel.

Hataman is serving as OIC until noon of June 30, 2013, when the elected officials of the ARMM take over.

The incoming elected officials will be the last for the ARMM. Under the GPH-MILF Agreement on the Decision Points on Principles on April 24, the two panels will, among others, work for the creation of a “new autonomous political entity” that will replace the ARMM. The new entity, according to the same Agreement, “shall have a ministerial form of government.”

Malaysian facilitator Tengku Dato’ Ab Ghafar Tengku Mohamed on Thursday summed up the first three days of the talks, thus: the panels are “on the same paragraph now, but it’s still a long paragraph.”

At the end of the talks on July 18, Tengku told MindaNews that the two panels were still on the same page but were moving closer to the same paragraph.

Backdrop of violence The August 7 to 11 negotiations were set against a backdrop of gunfire and some 20,000

MINDANEWS]

appointees for. “ Law might not prohibit the proposed amendment of the JBC Rules by Tupas.

Institutions, even the Supreme Court of the Philippines, are indeed subservient to law. There are however requirements before any amendment will take place. I certainly agree with the Former Chief Justice Davide who made a comment this morning that due to the many stakeholders, a public consultation must first be made by the JBC before the removal of this disqualification rule. Furthermore, like other laws, amendments to the JBC rules must be published

in a newspaper of general circulation before the same could become effective such as the amendment made in Rule No. JBC]10 in 2002.

“Granting that Tupas can weave his magic wand and make the public consultation and publication happen before the selection of nominees on August 8, 2012, does that leave all of us with no choice than just allow De Lima to be part of the nominees just because those in power favor her?

“Secretary Leila de Lima has her qualifications that no one can demean. However, to amend the JBC rules hours too close to the submission of the JBC nominee list

without even a public necessity for such sudden amendment speaks of nothing but an already too obvious accommodation of a favorite who just does not fit the list under the present rules.

In fact, the proposed amendment goes into the very heart of the rules as Fmr. Chief Justice Davide calls it, because it seeks to change the requirements on INTEGRITY. I, as every other Juan and Juana, have my favorites in the list of Chief Justice applicants.

We however have no such power to just amend the rules hours before the submission of nominees to the President just because we want our favorites in,” Torreon said.

Encantada comes home to where it all started

By Vicky Berdina M. de Guzman

S

PECTACULAR, applauded, stupendous and appealing to the eyes, Agnes Locsin’s Encantada shown at Philippine Women’s College RSM event center last August 9 was nothing less than the best words can describe the event.

It was full of life. People felt that the Encantada cast danced with their hearts and participants gave their utmost best in executing their parts. Expectedly, they received a standing ovation at the end of the show.

The successful event presented by Ballet Philippines enthralled Dabawenyos who marveled at colorful scenes and lively perfor-

mances.

Carissa Adea played the role of Encantada, Katherine Trofeo as Babaylan, Jean Marc Cordero as Estranjero and Richard Yadao as Fraile added life to the show as did the music, imaginative setting and graceful executions by the members of the cast.

The play begins with the entrance of Encantada.

The story continues in the two acts presented in this play highlighted by the fastpaced, synchronized movements of the dancers. The same intensity of energy and vigor was felt as the play ended.

The title of this article was part of Ballet Philippines company president

Margie Moran-Florendo’s opening speech as she welcomed the audience to the showt. She bared that the play had already won 10 awards at the recently Philstage Gawad Buhay Awards.

“Choreographer Agnes Locsin and composer Joey Ayala are Davao natives, and it was in Davao where the three collaborators Locsin, Ayala and librettist Al Santos first worked on the prequel to Encantada,” she said.

In sum, the play is comparable to other plays I have seen so far. It is one of a kind and is truly remarkable and people in Davao City ought to be very proud of their artists who were part of the show.

PRACTICE. Students of Tomas Monteverde Sr. Elementary School practice their ethnic dance routines in preparation for the upcoming Sayaw Mindanaw to be held at the Annex of SM City Davao on August 14-15, 2012. [LEAN DAVAL JR.]

Davao...

FFROM 2

Dr. Mansukhani also said that “the average treatment for (MDR) TB is 18 months and that the medicines are not readily available, they are more expensive at tsaka they are more toxic, mas maraming side effects.”

Dr. Ashley Lopez, head of Davao Chest Center and NTP medical coordinator, said that the treatment success rate in Davao City is 85 percent, adding that in 1976, the treatment rate was only 48

percent.

“Currently our drug is donated by Global Fund and we are assured that until 2016 meron po tayong adequate supply ng drugs so that is being given absolutely free for our TB patients,’” Dr. Lopez said.

“Somehow, someday, we will be living in a world free from TB,” Dr. Abdullah Dumama, Department of Health regional director, said.

TB may be prevented by

avoiding the habit of smoking, having good nutrition, enough sleep, healthy lifestyle, right exercise, avoiding lack and excess of work and having good stress management, he said.

The country is observing the National Lung Month in August. The health community will highlight the commemoration with a series of event s from 10AM to 5PM on August 28 at SM Annex ground floor.

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SPORTS

You can now buy your favorite Business Paper from any of these establishments still at Php 15.

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General Santos

VOL.5 ISSUE 115 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, AUGUST 12 - 13, 2012

Kadayawan Phoenix Run

Star-studded, wi-fi powered

R

un side by side, stride by stride, with the stars today. You can hear their heart beat, you can see them huff and puff like you. You can see them sweat, tire and yes, have fun in the run. If that’s something new, what else could be?

Oh well, while you are at it. Seize the moment. The entire race course is wi-fi powered courtesy of Globe. Send tweets, post your photos, messages and status as this race blazes a new trail running.

Lest you forget, this is the Kadayawan season and everything is just super-fun. Including Fun Runs.

That said, the starstudded Kadayawan Phoenix Run fire off early this morning at the SM City Davao Grounds.

Celebrity runners Alice Dixson, Eula Caballero, Victor Silayan, Makata Tanawan, Pat Fernandez, and April ‘Congratulations’ Gustilo who are all mainstays of the run’s television partner TV5, will be in their customized Serving

a

BOMBED OUT. Daniel Caluag of the Philippines, negotiates the track in the quarterfinals of the BMX competitions in the 2012 Olympics. Caluag bombed out in the quarterfinals ending the stint of the 11-man Philippine contingent.

Phoenix singlets with the rest of the huge field that’s expected to breach the 2,000-mark.

The rest of the field will have an assembly of runners from Davao, Tagum, Compostela Valley, and as far as Manila and Cebu in this

WORLD TODAY

Seamless

society

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HELPING YOU MAKE INFORMED BUSINESS DECISIONS.

EDGEDAVAO

HELPING YOU MAKE INFORMED BUSINESS DECISIONS.

premier Kadayawan highlight event.

The Kadayawan Phoenix Run will be staged for the benefit of the Talomo-Lipadas watershed, one of two watersheds that serve as the main source of water supply in Davao City. For every runner, one tree shall be planted to help protect and conserve the watershed. The run is also a tribute to Ninoy Aquino and his ideals of freedom and love of country.

The categories are 500-meter, 3K, 5K, and 10K, with winners each for men and women.

Registration has been extended to August 10 to accommodate late registrants.

A Zumba party, a first for a run event in Davao City, will start at 4:30 am to warm up runners. Other fun events include the contest Biggest School, NGO/Corporate and LGU delegations, and Jazz-Up-Your-Race-Tee. Exciting prizes will also be raffled.

Phoenix marketing supervisor Neb Bulaclac said registration was extended yesterday to accommodate more runners at the registration centers in Phoenix Petroleum stations in Acacia St. and Damosa, Davao City Water District office in Bajada, Skechers ShopGround Floor Abreeza Mall Davao, Skechers Shop- 2nd Floor Gaisano Mall of Davao, and at the Duaw Davao office in Wheels N More Compound, JP Laurel Avenue.

Assembly time is set

at 4:30 am for the 10K, 4:45 am for 5K, 5am for 3K, and 5:30 am for 500-meter. The run will start and end at SM City Davao.

Participants of the Kadayawan Phoenix ‘I Recycle’ Run will also be treated to postevent promotions.

For starters, Skechers is giving 20% discount on regular priced items, valid until September 16, 2012. A Runner’s Reward Card from RunClub Davao entitles runners to a 10% discount on regular-priced footwear and apparel.

Dencio’s branches at SM City Davao, NCCC, Damosa Gateway- Lanang and Fortune Homes- Lanang will give free bottomless iced tea for every purchase of a Pares meal, valid from July 27 to August 31, 2012.

To avail of the treats, the participant only has to present his/her race bib.

The Kadayawan Phoenix ‘I Recycle’ Run, an accredited event of the 27th Kadayawan Festival, is presented

by Phoenix Petroleum Philippines and Pioneer Insurance in partnership with the Davao City Water District, with SM City Davao as venue partner and TV5 as the official media partner.

For inquiries on the Kadayawan Phoenix Run as well as other accredited Kadayawan events, please contact Duaw Davao Festival Foundation at 2864183 and 305-7970 or email at duawdavao@ yahoo.com.

EDGEDAVAO

VOL.5 ISSUE 115 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, AUGUST 12 - 13, 2012

SPORTS

19

Bladerunner gets Olympic dream L

L

ONDON – Oscar Pistorius came to the Olympics with no legs, a huge heart, and a simple goal: to compete.

He inspired, of course. The world almost unanimously supported the South African who lost the lower part of his legs at age 1 and became a brilliant athlete anyway.

That wasn’t the point though. Not his, at least.

The Blade Runner is a competitor. He is a runner. And like every other competitive runner at these Games, he wanted to run as fast as possible, be as great as possible.

He wasn’t different from everyone else. He was just another guy trying to whip around the Olympic Stadium.

So there he was Friday, the anchor leg of the 4x400 final, an Olympic final, with medals on the line.

His team was overmatched. It stood no chance against the Bahamas and the United States, who won gold and silver, respectively. It got into the final only by winning an appeal after Kenya was disqualified.

That was OK. South Africa was in the race.

When Pistorius got the baton, they were in eighth place, but he dug deep, turned it on during the backstretch, barreled through the second turn, and gave every ounce he

had until he crossed the line.

South Africa was still in eighth, but Pistorius’s split of 45.67 was secondfastest on the team. They picked up .17 seconds on Venezuela and .62 on Belgium, the seventhand sixth-place finishers, respectively.

“I ran a very good backstretch and second corner, and then coming into the home stretch, there was just a little bit too much work,” he said afterward, wearing a big smile. “I’m very proud of my team.”

And that was always the point for Pistorius.

He was another athlete, another competitor looking for a challenge.

Yes, the blades on the bottom of his legs made him physically different, but mentally, emotionally, competitively, he was the same as the others.

If that image wound up inspiring the world, then great; just don’t think he was here as a show.

If anything, Pistorius said he was in awe of everyone else, all the world’s greats on one stage, all the runners striving to do better and better. “I’ve been inspired by a lot of athletes here.”

Thursday he watched an 800-meter race and witnessed those runners hitting numbers they’d never before seen.

“Personal bests, and

not by a small margin, but by huge barriers,” he marveled. “Every athlete out here trains as hard as they can for four years.

They sacrifice.”

Pistorius has won four Paralympic titles and will stay in London and compete in those games in a couple of weeks. He wanted to challenge in the main Olympics though, and when he qualified with his performance and was approved by various sports courts, what he wanted was to race in an Olympic final.

He reached the semis in the 400-meter individual race and declared that a success.

The relay was his best shot, South Africa having finished second in a world championship event.

When one runner fell during a heat Thursday, the dream appeared over. Then Kenya was disqualified, and an appeal was possible, although seemingly unlikely to succeed.

One of the South Africans, L.J. Van Zyl, had actually begun heading home when word came down that the team was back in, given the ninth spot in the final based on its previous performance.

“I was on my way to the airport, and I got a call from our team leader to come back and unpack our bags,” Van Zyl said, laughing.

medalists eventually cooled off.

James added seven rebounds and seven assists before taking a seat in the fourth quarter.

Manu Ginobili scored 18 to lead Argentina, which will play Russia on Sunday for the bronze medal.

“We had a great run in the first half. We started the third very well. And then

we blinked,” Ginobili said.

“They started hitting the threes, getting rebounds.

They did what they are supposed to do.”

Spain lost two games in group play, including to Russia, but the team loaded with NBA players has risen to the occasion again when it matters. It beat France in a tense quarterfinal after trailing and did it again

against Russia, which collapsed in the second half.

Pau Gasol had 16 points and Jose Calderon scored 12 of his 14 in the second half as Spain rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit.

“I’m extremely proud of all we have accomplished as a team,” coach Sergio Scariolo said.

“That doesn’t mean that our mission is over.”

It’s US vs. Spain in finals

ONDON—Pau Gasol and Jose Calderon rescued Spain after the break as the European champion rallied to beat Russia 67-59 and reach its second straight Olympic gold medal game against the United States.

Kevin Durant scored 19 points while Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James added 18 apiece as

heavily favored Americans rolled past Argentina 10983 in the second semifinal Friday.

Four years ago in Beijing, the Spaniards hung with the Americans before losing 118-107.

“It’s huge to make it twice in a row to the Olympic finals,” Pau Gasol said. “We have to enjoy it and appreciate the

Kevin Durant of the U.S. jumps on the back of teammate Carmelo Anthony after Anthony made a three-point basket against Argentina during their men’s basketball semifinal match at the North Greenwich Arena during the London 2012 Olympic Games August 10, 2012. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

moment, but there’s still one game left. We can’t just be happy with reaching the final.”

With James doing a little of everything, the Americans finally pulled away in the third quarter from Argentina, whose strong outside shooting had them within six points at halftime. But the defending bronze

FEED. Kobe Bryant dishes off Argentina’s Manu Ginobili in the semifinals of men’s basketball. USA beat Argentina to advance to the finals against Spain.

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VOL.5 ISSUE 115 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, AUGUST 12 - 13, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

Action revs up in Kadayawan Hot Races

By Neil Bravo

T

he Kadayawan Festival swings to fast mode today at the Speed City inside the sprawling Riverfront City Complex in Maa for the 2012 Kadayawan Hot August Races: The Mayor Inday Sara Duterte Drag Racing Championship.

Make way for the top race drivers this part of the country and hereabout as the action revs up in the much-anticipated 1/8 mile drag racing event.

You could not ask for more from the line-up of 60 topnotch racers behind the wheels of the fastest

four-wheeled creatures ever assembled in Davao’s race pits making this race a must-see for every racing fan.

Much thanks to Phoenix Petroleum and AM/FM Productions who along with the City Government of Davao, Holcim Philippines and HKS Super Oil have conspired to put together this exciting 1/8 mile drag race.

Parading their best fleet are the home teams from Davao led by WAutosports Racing, Team Classic, Ground Image, Drift Tech and Phat Speed

Racing with entries in the Class A, B, C and Quick 8 categories.

After Saturday’s time trials, the winners will emerge today (Sunday) in the race proper starting at 10 a.m.

Kadayawan Hot Races is also backed up by JLL Engineering Services, JD Alvarado Architects, Syncom Janitorial and Allied Services, Tomas Electrical Supply, CCO Engineering Construction and Supply, Palermo Builders, Jinyl Import and Export and Ulticon Builders, Ramtrade, Herrera Brothers, Pre-

stone Brake Fluid and Ensport Motors, Eddie Cinco, Eco Edge Home Interiors and Supplies Incorporated, Palermo Builders, Metropolitan Insurance Company, Davao Golden, Ronel Jay Aggregates, Davao Golden Hardware, Optein and Gonuts Donuts.

For inquiries on the Kadayawan Hot August Races as well as other accredited Kadayawan events, please contact Duaw Davao Festival Foundation at 286-4183 and 305-7970 or email at duawdavao@yahoo.com.