Edge Davao 5 Issue 15

EDGEDAVAO

P 15.00 • 20 PAGES

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

www.edgedavao.net

Panigan River at risk: Study

Serving a seamless society

Indulge!

Page A1

By Lorie A. Cascaro

T

HE Panigan River in Baguio District, Davao City is contaminated with agriucltural chemicals and is at risk of being damaged as one of the city’s important watershed areas.

Results of a six-year water monitoring initiative of Panigan River conducted by

n Run-off from plantations during heavy rains carried

the agricultural inputs to the river.

the farming community of Tawantawan in Baguio District, Davao City show that its phosphate and nitrate content are of Class B and Class C standards.

This was presented by Aian B. Gumapac of Bantayo Aweg, a volunteer group

the community-based water monitoring group for the Panigan-Tamugan watershed, last Thursday at Lispher Inn, Juna Subdivision, Matina, Davao City.

He said under the standards used by the Environmental Management Bureau

FPANIGAN, 13

Hibermating bears Page 14

JAYWALKING. Ignoring the danger of being hit by fast moving vehicles and the street sign that prohibits crossing, a pedestrian wrestles through the rope to cross the street in a major thoroughfare in the city. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]

Sara names 5 challenges city faces Sports Page 16

Follow us on

By Jade C. Zaldivar

D

AVAO City Mayor Sara DuterteCarpio has bared the following challenges that her administration faces: waste segregation, vehicular traffic, informal settlers, and flooding.

“Basura, traffic, problema sa baha, ang informal settlers. Mao na ang challenges. Dili man gyud sakit sa ulo pero challenges,” Duterte-Carpio told Edge Davao.

The mayor, in an interview, reminded

locals to follow the city’s Waste Segregation Law. “Kung ilahang dauton ang environment sa syudad sa Davao kita lang gihapon ug sila gihapon mag-antos,” Duterte-Carpio said, referring to hardheaded locals who still do not segregate their waste.

The mayor has been receiving reports that some barangays are still “hard-headed” in regards to following the Waste Segregation Law. “As a little contribution sa city, segregate your waste, make our city clean. To

segregate is to make the city clean and green,” she said.

“Giingnan na nako si Joey nga pakusgan ilang enforcement. Daghan kaayo ta ug mga enforcers sa basura, gi-train na sila so dapat pakusgan pud niya ang implementation,” Duterte-Carpio said, referring to Joseph Felizarta, officer in charge of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro).

The waste segregation policy also known as Ordinance No. 361-10 Series of 2010 has been in force since July 1, 2011.

FSARA, 13

2

THE BIG NEWS

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

Sunflower production to help many farmers

By Lorie A. Cascaro

T

HE sunflowers were bowing their heads at noon time last Thursday, an indication that each flower was full of seeds, thanks to the bees. The back of the flowers showed a yellowish color, signalling the time had come to harvest them.

This was in Barangay Catigan, in Davao City’s Toril district where the 1.5 hectare demonstration farm will be harvested by the end of March in anticipation of the arrival of an oil extractor equipment on March 26.

A project under the Gawad Kalinga Pueblo Antonio, this demo farm will spawn a massive production of sunflowers in 10 more hectares of land which the landowner, Sally Habana, is offering to the farmers to utilize.

Project Director Jaime Severino said a cosmetic company known for organic products will buy the sunflower oil produced there. In fact, the oil extractor belongs to the cosmetic company.

Samuel Escamis, municipal agricultural officer of Toril district, said the cosmetic company will need a total of 2,000-hectares of sunflower farms from which to extract oil, an organic ingredient for the manufacture of lipstick, body oil, and the like.

City Agriculturist Leo Avila III who visited the demo farm last Thursday said the company had often been visiting his office

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to propose for a sustainable supply of sunflowers.

In order to sustain a good harvest of sunflower seeds, swarms of bees are needed to act as pollinators. Hence, farmers in GK Pueblo Antonio have cultivated a number of beehives, a mixture of European and native bees, not only for pollination of sunflowers, but also for production of honey.

Every European beehive produces 25-40 kilos of honey a year while a native beehive produces only two kilos of honey a year.

To gain more technical know-how on the cultivation of bees, Severino and Escamis will attend a seminar on the subject on April 17 at the University of the Philippines, Los Baños. Immediately after the seminar, they will apply their learning so that they could start the bee project.

A kilo of sunflower oil costs P2,000, a price much higher than buying only the flower. That is why the farmers of Barangay Catigan will extract the oil themselves using the equipment to earn a better income.

Sunflower is suitable for propagation in the area for it requires an altitude not lower than 600 meters above sea level, and an average temperature of 21 degrees Celsius.

The success of the demo farm will help many farmers who will be doing the work themselves on their own, Severino said.

‘WE are approaching what would seem to be a stalemate in our ideas of how to make permant the solutions that work for our peoples.’

--Marvic Leonen, chief government negotiator.

It figures

EDGEDAVAO

FIELD VISIT.(L-R) GK Project Director Jaime Severino and City Agriculturist Leo Avila examine the Sunflowerss at Brgy. Catigan, Toril District, Davao City.

Experienced CIO man is new city info chief

By Jade C. Zaldivar

n CIO now with two

consultants

J

OSEPH Lawrence Garcia, 37, is the new City Information Office (CIO) head.

City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said on local television Thursday that the CIO is now ‘managed’ by Garcia who has been working as an employee of the city for the past11 years.

While there has been no official memorandum from the Mayor DuterteCarpio designating Garcia as officer in charge he had earlier been named by former OIC Bong Aportadera as his replacement.

“When he (Aportadera) tendered his resignation before the Araw ng Davao celebration, he also issued a memo that I be put in charge,” Garcia said when sought for his comment.

“Technically, by operation of law I am next in line sa office. Si Bong, position

$1.452billion

P390billion 23

BALANCE of payments surplus aggregating $1.452 billion in the first two months, which was 1.4 percent higher year-on-year. The surplus validated the view that the country’s macroeconomic underpinning remains resilient in view face of global economic slowdown.

COST of the terminal expansion project of Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) whose contract being sought by five construction companies.

NUMBER of “critical elements” found by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) needs to address before the country can regain its ”Category 1” safety status.

Garcia niya was Information officer IV ako kay Information officer III,” Garcia said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the mayor on Monday announced her appointment of veteran radio/TV broadcaster Leo Villareal as consultant to

78 NUMBER of ecotourism sites in the Philippines where mining activities will be barred. The sites have been identified by the Department of Tourism for nurturing and sustaining tourism growth.

the CIO. Villareal, a veteran media personality in Davao City, is currently host of Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s weekly TV program ‘Ato ni Bay’ at the City Council.

Status quo

80

ADDITIONAL number of nursing schools facing possible closure of their degree programs for failure to improvetheir passing rates for three consecutive years in the licensure examinations administered by the Professional Regulatory Commission.

Garcia said he will be maintaining the status quo in the CIO “which already has an established system which works.”

“We upgraded and added to our equipment back in 2010, at the beginning of the city mayor’s administration when she allotted P5 million for our equipment upgrade,” he said.

“Perhaps masasabi ko na may kulang kami dalawa o tatlong tao pero sa ngayon we can still manage,” he added.

Garcia said under the leadership of Aportadera, the Creative media unit of the CIO was put up, adding to the capability of the office.

“The Creative media unit was started in 2010 which coordinates with the News gathering unit in order to produce our own news,” he said said.

Garcia added that the CIO had been expanding its reach to the locals by maintaining the city’s official website and several accounts on social networking sites.

$2.6billion AMOUNT involved in the planned investment of Texas-based Quantum International Group Inc. on five plasma gasification plants in the Philippines that can produce as much as 13,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity.

EDGEDAVAO

THE BIG NEWS

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

CHR workshop on women’s rights in emergency

Life in the Davao Gulf:

Hunting turtle scutes continues in IGaCoS T

By Lorie A. Cascaro

H

UNTING turtle scutes/scales of marine turtles, locally known as pawikan, continues in the Island Garden City of Samal (IGaCoS), according to researcher Ernesto T. Santa Cruz who received a report of discovered carapace of hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricate) by a foreign diver last February.

A volunteer researcher on marine turtles in Davao Gulf since 1986, Santa Cruz said the continuous activity of marine turtle hunting for scutes/ scales and meat poses a serious threat to the present species range population in Davao Gulf.

Last February, Santa Cruz submitted a report on sea turtle exploitation incident in the Island Garden City of Samal (IGaCoS) to Jaime O. Sampulna, regional director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 11, Pawikan Conservation Project – Parks and Wildlife Bureau (PCP-PAWB), and the city government of IGaCoS. According to his report, a visiting foreign guest diver had recov-

A foreign guest recovers a hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) carapace shell at the White Rock dive site in IGaCoS.

ered a fresh carapace of an adult sized hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) while on a diving tour.

During his interview, the attending dive master of the dive tour reported that this incident took place on December 11, 2011, at 90 feet in White Rock dive site, IGaCoS. He said the pictures show that four lateral scutes and five pieces of central scutes were missing. He observed that the

recovered hawksbill carapace had traces of burns at postcentral scutes.

Burning the carapace to remove the scutes was the method used by hunters as reported by some boatmen in Davao Oriental, he said.

The dive master told Santa Cruz that there were no traces of meat, internal organs, front and hind flippers, and, head of the hawksbill marine turtle within the perimeter

of the discovery site.

Santa Cruz mentioned in his report that in 2006, the PCP-PAWB conducted a formal training on marine turtle conservation and management in IGaCoS. He said, “For unknown reasons, however, the training’s main objective of information awareness did not prosper into enlightening fishermen and other marine resource stakeholders.”

He said the lack of

and House Bill 3603 authored by Reps. Diosdado Macapagal Arroyo (2nd District, Camarines Sur) and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (2nd District, Pampanga).

Umali said this information is necessary in taking the needed actions, whether for families budgeting their daily expenses, law enforcers running after hoarders and price colluders, private enterprises planning for the medium-term, or for national agencies and local governments directing their efforts to solve impending supply problems.

“Indeed, government transparency in food information is a step towards reinforcing the right of the people to affordable food and food security. The people have the right to know the factors that influence food supply and prices,” Umali said.

Arroyo said the Fili-

pino people have the right to information on all matters of public concern. Access to food is a fundamental human right and it is the government’s responsibility to ensure an adequate food supply for the people at affordable costs.

“In order to reinforce and guarantee the right of the people to affordable and adequate food supply, the government must be transparent in all its transactions involving food and basic commodities,” Arroyo said.

The bill defines the term information, among others, to mean all documents, papers, letters, minutes and transcripts of official meetings, maps, books, photographs, films, sound and video recordings, magnetic or other tapes and electronic data processing records.

The term also refers to and includes stored

computer data, electronic mail messages, or any other like or similar data or material, recorded, stored or archived in whatever form or format, which are made, received or kept in or under the control and custody of any government body pursuant to law, executive order, rules and regulations, ordinances or in connection with the performance or transaction of official business by any government body.

The measure provides for the creation of a Congressional Oversight Committee consisting of five members each from the Senate and House of Representatives, which shall be composed of the Chairpersons and members of the Committees on Agriculture, Trade and Commerce and Justice and Human Rights of both the Senate and House of Representatives, which shall meet bi-annually.

FHUNTING, 13

House okays bill seeking public access to info on food and basic commodities

T

HE House of Representatives has approved on second reading a bill adopting and implementing a policy of full public disclosure of all government transactions involving food and food supply, consistent with the Constitutional right of the people to information.

Although with limitations, House Bill 5868 mandates that all information involving food and basic commodities in the custody and control of the government be made available and accessible to the public.

The bill was endorsed for plenary approval by the House Committee on Trade and Industry chaired by Rep. Albert Raymond Garcia (2nd District, Bataan). It substituted House Bill 1143 authored by Rep. Reynaldo Umali (2nd District, Oriental Mindoro)

3

HE Commission on Human Rights in the region is set to lead a conference and workshop activity on March 23-24 at The Marco Polo Davao, this city to discuss emerging challenges in conflict and emergency situations that gravely affect women.

CHR 11 will conduct the activity dubbed “Workshop on Women’s Human Rights in Conflict and Emergency Situation” in collaboration with the United Nations Entity for Gender and Equality and Women Empowerment (UN Women).

CHR 11 regional director Atty. Alberto B. Sipaco, Jr. said the workshop intends to draw from the participants recommendations on how to bring the focus of human rights protection to women in Mindanao within the context of the theme.

The inputs will be very valuable for this first joint project of CHR and

UN Women as well as for the target group of rights holders, he stated.

Prior to the workshop proper, presentation and discussions on the situational analysis of the conflict and emergency situation in Mindanao will also take place.

Sipaco said they have invited as keynote speaker Pramila Patten, former member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Patten will tackle on using the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women for the advancement of women’s rights in conflict and emergency situation, he said.

He added that the participants will be coming from UN Agencies, CHR, other government agencies and non-government organizations. [PIA 11/CARINA L. CAYON]

Japan grants P34M projects for Mindanao

J

APANESE Ambassador to Manila, Toshinao Urabe, signed last March 22 eight grants for socio-economic projects in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao, with major stakeholders in the region’s peace process witnessing the occasion.

The Japanese embassy in Manila said this new package of assistance amounting to USD824,653 (about P34 million) forms part of Japan’s commitment to support peace and development efforts in the region.

With the funds, four school buildings, two post-harvest facilities with agricultural equipment and a training center will be constructed and hospital equipment installed.

Secretary Teresita Deles, chair of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and Major General Dato Abdul Rahim Bin Mohd Yusuff, the Head of Mission of the

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International Monitoring Team (IMT) will be among the witnesses.

The eight projects are the sixth batch of assistance under the JapanBangsamoro Initiatives for Reconstruction and Development (J-BIRD) funded through the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP).

J-BIRD was launched in 2006 to pursue Japan’s commitment to the peace process between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Since its launching, Japan has already supported 58 grassroots projects amounting to a total US$ 4.7 million (about P243 million).

The projects are located in the municipalities of Magpet, Alamada and Carmen in North Cotabato province, in Sultan sa Barongis, Sultan Kudarat and Pagalungan towns in Maguindanao province, and in barangays in Lanao del Sur province. [PNA]

‘HE should really retire from boxing. In the Bible, God sometimes appeared to people in their dreams, so the result is very good to him.’ _-- Sorsogon Bisahop Arturo Bastes on Manny Pacquiao

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THE BIG NEWS

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

PHL, Kuwait to ink accord

T

HE Philippines and Kuwait will seal several agreements during the five-day state visit of Kuwait’s Amir, His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber, to further cement the growing relations between the two countries.

Sheikh Sabah will arrive in the country Friday afternoon and will meet with President Benigno S. Aquino III at the Malacanang Palace for a courtesy call and bilateral meeting.

Among the agreements to be signed by the two countries include: Memorandum of Understanding on Agricultural and Fisheries Cooperation, Agreement on the Waiver of Visa Requirements for Holders of Diplomatic, Special and Official Passports, Executive Program for the Cultural Agreement for the Years 2012-2014, Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Recruitment and Employment of Filipino Household Service Workers,

and Memorandum of Understanding in the Field of Labor Cooperation.

The signatories for the Philippine side will be Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, and National Commission on Culture and the Arts Chairman Felipe de Leon.

For the Kuwait government, the signatories will include Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah, deputy head of the council of ministers, minister of foreign affairs and minister of state for the affairs of the council of ministers.

The Amir’s visit to the country is upon the invitation of President Aquino to reaffirm the commitments of the two countries in reinforcing ties and in strengthening cooperation.

Kuwait is one of the country’s leading investment and development partners in the Middle East.

UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE. Bebina Limpag (right) calls for the immediate release of Debirth Zabala, a peasant who was detained on September last year for accusations of being a member of the New People’s Army. Andres Baticure (left), Barangay

ND Kidapawan students invent electronic helmet

OIC is observer A in peace talks

T

HE Philippine government (GPH) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) ended their three-daypeace negotiations Wednesday with no significant agreement reached on the substantive issues of power and wealth sharing but agreed to approve the request of the Office of the SecretaryGeneral of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (formerly Conference) to sit as observer in the 15-year old talks.

The approval of the OIC’s observer status was contained in the Joint Statement signed by GPH panel chair Marvic Leonen and MILF panel chair Mohagher Iqabal with Malaysian facilitator Dato Ab Ghafar Tengku Mohamed.

“Excellent move,” historian Rudy Rodil said of the entry of the OIC. Rodil served as government peace panel member in the negotiations with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) from 1993 to 1996 and in the negotiations with the MILF from 2004 to 2008.

The OIC, he told MindaNews, is the “perfect mediator between the MNLF and MILF.” Peace advocate Soliman Santos, a regional trial court judge who has written several books on the Bangsamoro peace process, echoed Rodil’s comment. He told MindaNews the entry of the

[PNA]

OIC is “good for convergence and international clout.

They should be able to help the MNLF-MILF unity process and see also who better represents the Bangsamoro aspirations.” “A value addition to the talks,” said Guiamel Alim of the Council of Elders of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society.

The 57-member panIslamic body brokered the peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the MNLF that led to the signing of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement and the 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA).

The MNLF has been holding an observer status in the OIC since 1977 and has been sending delegations to OIC meetings in the last 35 years. The MILF is composed of members of the MNLF who broke away from the MNLF in the late 1970s to form what it initially called the “New MNLF” but which it later renamed to MILF. The leader of the breakaway group was Salamat Hashim, vice chair to chair Nur Misuari.

Hashim succumbed to an illness in July 2003. Misuari was elected governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) a week after he signed the 1996 FPA. He was detained on charges of rebellion from January 2002 to April 2008.

The OIC initially created a Committee of Four that later expanded into the Ministerial Committee

FOIC, 13

Captain of Paquibato District, said that Zabala is just an ordinary peasant who lives by making coconut wine. KARLOS MANLUPIG

group of engineering students from a local school in Kidapawan City may soon acquire a patent for their invention: anelectronic helmet that they said can detect drunk driving.

Agham party-list Rep. Angelo Palmones said his group will help the studentinventors apply for a patent to protect their intellectual property rights.

Palmones considered the invention necessary since drunk driving is one of the many causes of vehicular accidents not only in North Cotabato but also in many parts of the country.

“This is very impressive, that’s why Agham party-list, through our representative, is bent on supporting the patent application of the

invention,” said Bing Belarmino, a staffer of Rep. Palmones.

Belarmino said they have already given the inventors the checklist needed for the application so they could submit the documents to the patent division of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The electronic helmet was invented by fourth year Electronics and Communications Engineering students at the Notre Dame of Kidapawan College, namely Dessa Caro, Bryan Lumbayan, Julius Lopez, and Darwin Zoilo, all residents of this city.

Caro, the group leader, said they could not imagine their invention would reach this far.

“I just could not believe

it. We did not expect we’ll reach this far. Actually, we invented this product as part of our thesis and as a requirement for our graduation,” she said.

Lumbayan said they were inspired to invent a motorcycle helmet when one of their classmates was hurt in a road mishap on his way home to Makilala, North Cotabato. The driver, he said, was drunk and did not use a helmet.

The group spent two months on their invention.

The critical stage was when they had to dispose some of the parts they earlier used to make the product work. One of these, Lumbayan said, was the Solenoid bulb.

“We intend to include in the gadget a gas sensor

using Solenoid bulb. But we didn’t use it because we have problems with the switch. It may create a spark and may cause a fire so we have to dispose it,” he said.

For the wireless communication, the inventors used a chip taken from a remote-controlled toy car which they used as transmitter and a receiver.

Lumbayan said all the materials they used to manufacture the product are available in the Philippines.

They all said the invention was 100-percent original.

“The gadget worked. We know it’s also viable, meaning, it can be reproduced and sold in the market,” said Lumbayan. [MALU CADELINA

session on January 16, 2012 -- has had to lift a dual burden which the Constitution imposes upon it... that of enacting laws for the greater good, and of enforcing public accountability among a select group of government officers removable only by impeachment,” he said.

With the adjournment of the Lower Chamber Wednesday evening, the House has approved 15 national bills on third and final reading; and eight national bills on second reading in line with the Aquino administration’s 16-point agenda or Social Contract with the Filipino People.

Before the chamber adjourned at 6:59 p.m. Wednesday, the House passed on third reading these LEDAC priority measures: House Bill

(HB) 98 “Defining and Penalizing Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance;” HB 5460 “Providing Incentives for the Manufacture, Assembly, Conversion and Importation of Electric, Hybrid and other Alternative Fuel Vehicles;” HB 5715 “Providing for the Protection, Security, and Benefits of Whistleblowers;” HB 5854 “Amending Republic Act 8239 or the “Philippine Passport Act of 1996;” HB 5860 “Providing

for the Delineation of the Specific Forest Limits of the Public Domain;” HB 5870 “Authorizing the Land Management Bureau to Conduct a Survey on Cadastral Lots in the Country;” HB 5932 “Penalizing the Unauthorized Stealing of Government Risk Reduction and Preparedness Equipment;” and HB 5990 “Providing the Compensation to Victims of Human Rights Violations during the Marcos Regime.”

MANAR/MINDANEWS]

House approves priority measures before adjourning for Lenten break

S

PEAKER Feliciano Belmonte Jr. lauded members of the House of Representatives on Thursday for passing on third and final reading eight priority measures identified by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) out of the 15 national bills approved despite the daunting dual tasks of lawmaking and the ongoing impeachment trial of Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona.

“We did our job well. We have a very good record of bills approved on third and final reading,” said Belmonte in a press conference at the Hotel Sofitel in Pasay City.

“Like our common folks who carry pails of water on their shoulders, this House -- since the resumption of

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‘IT is really hard for people to see if they refuse to see, to listen if they do not want to hear. If they’re happy doing it, it’s okay.

--PRESIDENT AQUINO ON “NOYNOYING”

EDGEDAVAO

Stat Watch

1. Gross National Income Growth Rate (At Constant 2000 Prices)

3.5% 4th Qtr 2011

2. Gross Domestic Product Growth Rate (At Constant 2000 Prices)

3.7% 4th Qtr 2011 USD 3,342 Million Nov 2011 USD 4,985 Million Nov 2011 USD -1,643 Million Nov 2011 USD -114 Million Dec 2011 P4,442,355 Million Nov 2011

3. Exports 1/ 4. Imports 1/ 5. Trade Balance 6. Balance of Payments 2/ 7. Broad Money Liabilities 8. Interest Rates 4/

4.71% Oct 2011 P128,745 Million Nov 2011 P 4,898 Billion Oct 2011

9. National Government Revenues 10. National government outstanding debt 11. Peso per US $ 5/

P 43.65 Dec 2011

12. Stocks Composite Index 6/

3,999.7 Sept 2011

13. Consumer Price Index 2006=100

128.1 Jan 2012

14. Headline Inflation Rate 2006=100

3.9 Jan 2012

15. Core Inflation Rate 2006=100

3.4 Dec 2011

16. Visitor Arrivals

284,040 Sept 2011

17. Underemployment Rate 7/

19.1% Oct 2011

18. Unemployment Rate 7/

6.4% Oct 2011

MONTHLY AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATE (January 2009 - December 2011) Month

2011

2010

2009

Average December November October September August July June May April March

43.31 43.64 43.27 43.45 43.02 42.42 42.81 43.37 43.13 43.24 43.52

45.11 43.95 43.49 43.44 44.31 45.18 46.32 46.30 45.60 44.63 45.74

47.637 46.421

February

43.70

46.31

January

44.17

46.03

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

THE ECONOMY

Modest financing boosts rice farming in Davao Sur

By Noel T. Provido

F

ARMERS here have adequate irrigation and postharvest facilities but lack of financing is a major productivity setback.

“Although necessary infrastructure where already in place, we cannot go full blast in rice production as it would require us financial capital for labor and farm inputs,” said Gamiel Portarcos.

Portarcos who is the president of the Sitio New Talisay – New Clarin Irrigators Association said they have no option but to turn to non-formal lenders to overcome financial constraints.

While he recognized that nonformal lenders helped them addressed their needs for the whole cropping season oftentimes, small farmers are in the losing end.

“Non-formal lenders collect high interest rates usually from 10 to 15 percent,” Portarcos said adding, “Most of the non-formal lenders are also traders and require farmers to sell their produce only to them. This practice usually shortchanged our farmers as they can no longer dictate the buying price.”

Portarcos said bulk of their income from rice farming goes to the repayment of their loans from traders with only meager amount left usually not enough to fund the production for the next cropping season.

“So we have no option but to again borrow money from nonformal lenders. Murag wala na’y katapusan (It becomes a vicious cycle),” he said.

He stressed insufficient financing limits some farmers to expand production for fear of having to pay higher interest rates.

The prospect of earning better in rice farming came when their municipal agriculture office endorsed their irrigators’ association as one of the beneficiaries of the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP).

MRDP is a long-term poverty alleviation initiative of the Department of Agriculture (DA) with a funding assistance from the World Bank.

Through the Community Fund for Agricultural Development (CFAD), the program’s livelihood component, their association was able to access a funding assistance of at least P250, 000.00.

The funds they have availed themselves of were used to develop an interest-free package of assistance amounting to P25, 000.

The said package is a combination of cash and farm inputs. Since members observe synchronous farming (planting rice simultaneously) the release of assistance was based on the farming activities within the production cycle.

“Our ultimate goal was to enable our members to break-free from their continuing dependence on trader-lenders in financing their farming activities. With this, the association does not only provide inputs but also cash assistance as there are activities like land preparation that requires money instead of inputs. If money is not available at this time, they would still resort to borrowing

from non-formal lenders to catchup with the planting season,” he said.

“Members can avail of cash assistance only during land preparation and transplanting. Seeds can be withdrawn from the PO during seed preparation while fertilizers and insecticides will be released as the need arises,” Portarcos explained.

“For other farming activities, inputs will be made available instead of cash to ensure that the assistance will go to its intended purpose such as fertilizer and insecticides,” he added.

At the end of every cropping season, each member are required to return the total amount of the package of assistance he has availed himself of plus the P2,000.00 capital share which is a meager repayment compared to the interest imposed by nonformal lenders. They were made to realize that the sustainability of their livelihood project relies on their repayment.

“Since we have availed ourselves of the CFAD assistance in Nov ember 2009, we have at least collected a savings mobilization of P57, 332.00. We have also increased our revolving fund from P250, 000.00 to P282, 332.00.

Our farmers have also increased their average yield from barely 60 sacks [at 60 kg/sack] to 120 sacks,” Portorcas said.

“Our income now allows us to support schooling of our children while some expanded their rice production including livestock raising for added income,” said

47.032 46.851 48.139

48.161 48.146 47.905 47.524 48.217

48.458 47.585 47.207

5

TRADERS NO MORE. Gamiel Portarcos, president of New Clarin Irrigators’ Association is shows off palay harvested from his farm sans high interest rates from non-formal lenders. Portarcos and his members availed them-

selves of modest but interest-free financial assistance from Mindanao Rural Development Program. Photo by Sherwin Manual.

Rizalde Palermo, the association’s vice president.

“The assistance we received from MRDP enabled us to recover from huge debts incurred from non-formal lenders. We are glad that MRDP as well as our local government provided us the window of opportunity to breakfree from the vicious cycle of unfair financial arrangements from trader-lenders,” Portarcos said.

The association also agreed that for the next cropping season they will apply for a crop insurance to ensure they collect capital share even if the farms is affected by calamities or damaged by pest.

MRDP program director Lealyn Ramos for her part said she is glad that out of the modest financial assistance provided by the program rice farmers in New Clarin are making headway in improving their income.

“Given the increasing demand to secure the supply of our staple food, the challenge now is how to make rice production more profitable so that we can entice more farmers to sustain rice farming,” Ramos said.

Aside from providing infrastructure and livelihood support to our small farmers, MRDP she said is also building the capacities of farmers to maximize their productivity.

“Rice farmers in New Clarin exemplify how the program’s community-driven development approach would not only address the beneficiaries felt need but also enabled them to be self-reliant as they are no longer dependent on traders to finance their farming expenses,” she added.

Portarcos said their association seeks to further improve their rice farming activities with several plans that would enhance their productivity. He is optimistic that that sooner they will not just sell their palay but will eventually produce and sell rice for better profit.

As they continue with their rice farming activities he urged their association officers and members to keep their financial resources well-guarded as they are not sure if the same livelihood opportunity will come by.

“Now that we have liberated ourselves from burden of paying high interest credit, we have to sustain our project not only increase our income but to reach out to other small farmers,’ he said.

as of august 2010

Cebu Pacific Daily Zest Air Daily Cebu Pacific Daily Philippine Airlines Daily Philippine Airlines Daily Cebu Pacific Daily Cebu Pacific Daily Cebu Pacific Daily Cebu Pacific Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri/Sun Philippine Airlines Daily Cebu Pacific Daily Silk Air Mon/Wed/Sat Cebu Pacific Thu Cebu Pacific Tue/Wed//Sat

5J961 / 5J962 Z2390 / Z2390 5J593 / 5J348 PR809 / PR810 PR819 / PR820 5J394 / 5J393 5J599 / 5J594 5J347 / 5J596 5J963 / 5J964 PR811 / PR812 5J595 / 5J966 MI588 / MI588 5J965 / 5J968 5J965 / 5J968

5:45 5:45 6:00 6:10 7:50 7:50 8:00 9:10 9:40 11:30 12:00 18:55 12:55 13:35

Manila-Davao-Manila Manila-Davao-Manila Cebu-Davao-Iloilo Manila-Davao-Manila Manila-Davao-Manila Zamboanga-Davao-Zamboanga Cebu-Davao-Cebu Iloilo-Davao-Cebu Manila-Davao-Manila Manila-Davao-Manila Cebu-Davao-Manila Davao-Cebu-Singapore Manila-Davao-Manila Manila-Davao-Manila

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Silk Air Thu/Sun Cebu Pacific Mon/Tue/Wed/Fri Philippine Airlines August Zest Air Daily Cebu Pacific Daily Philippines Airlines Daily Cebu Pacific Mon/Tue/Thu/Sat Cebu Pacific Daily Cebu Pacific Tue/Sat/Sun Cebu Pacific Daily Airphil Express Daily Philippine Airlines Daily except Sunday Philippine Airlines Sunday

MI566 / MI566 5J507 / 5J598 15:55 Z2524 / Z2525 5J967 / 5J600 PR813 / PR814 5J215 / 5J216 5971 / 5J970 5J973 / 5J974 5J969 / 5J972 2P987 / 2P988 PR821 / PR822 PR821 / PR822

18:55 15:00 Mani2Mani 16:05 16:35 16:55 18:00 18:40 20:00 20:30 20:30 21:20 22:20

Davao-Singapore Cebu-Davao-Cebu 16:50 Cebu-Davao-Cebu Manila-Davao-Cebu Manila-Davao-Manila Cagayan de Oro-Davao-Cagayan de Oro Manila-Davao-Manila Manila-Davao-Manila Manila-Davao-Manila Manila-Davao-Manila Manila-Davao-Manila Manila-Davao-Manila

15:20 15:30 16:45 17:05 17:45 18:20 19:10 20:30 21:00 21:00 21:50 22:50

6

THE ECONOMY

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

85 housewives learn T entrepreneurial skills

SSS Announcement

A

T least 85 unemployed housewives graduated recently in the RTU Handicraft Livelihood Training held in two separate venues as part of the City Government of Tagum’s program to equip housewives living in housing relocation areas with skills that could help them augment their income.

The City Investment and Promotion Office—the lead office who conducted the event—will help in marketing the products with the help of the Tagum City Council of Women.

Meanwhile, 43 housewives from Purok 8-A Laureta Homes in Barangay San Miguel benefited in the Native Plate Making last March 13-15, 2012 held at the Barangay San Miguel gymnasium. For three days, these housewives learned the basic of native plates making from coconut string locally called tukog.

Purok Chairwoman Aida Aparece of Laureta Homes said she was very happy that her purok colleagues were able to avail of this skills training program which they can use to

earn money in the future.

Aparece added her group is planning to organize a community-based organization that will produce native plates.

“Na-inspire gyud mi para maka-income among mga tagsa-tagsa ka pamilya,” she shared in an interview.

One dozen of native plate is tagged at 170 pesos while flower baskets range from 10 pesos-45 pesos apiece.

Meanwhile, a total of 42 housewives from the RTU Relocation Site also received free training on

on to its consumers the cost of purchase.

Zamcelco project supervisor and acting general manager Jesus Castro said the proposed rate which will eventually passed on to the consumers is more or less 90 centavos per kilowatt hour based on the proposed contract between Zamcelco and TMI. However Castro said the rate is not yet fixed and the ERC is evaluating everything to establish the right and affordable rate that TMI may charge from Zamcelco.

Meanwhile, Mayor Celso Lobregat, who personally talked with ERC Chairperson Zenaida Ducut over the phone on Monday, said the ERC will give Zamcelco a provisional authority “so the cooperative can immediately purchase power from TMI. Lobregat said that

Zamcelco, with the provisional authority, can buy power from TMI but the actual charging more or less will be dependent on the rate and will depend on the outcome of the public hearing to be held by the ERC. Zamcelco is buying 18 megawatts of power from TMI needed to augment the power supply in this city.

Zamboanga City will eventually experience brownouts of between four and six hours daily if no additional power will be purchased, according to Castro.

Purchasing additional power will shorten the daily brownouts, he added.

At present, Zamboanga City is experiencing threehour daily brownouts since it consumes about 85 megawatts but is only receiving an average of 60 megawatts a day. [MINDANEWS]

vention in a Makati hotel Wednesday.

The central bank chief said thrift banks play a major role in the country’s development because their primary clients -- the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) -- are the backbone of the economy.

“Indeed, by accumulating savings of depositors to finance small and medium enterprises as well as consumer loans, thrift banks continue to help the economy grow and generate employ-

ment,” he said in his speech.

Tetangco said the thrift banking industry’s resources posted high growth and cited that rise in thrift bank’s deposits is equal to the expansion in their loans to consumers, thus, the industry have surpassed their minimum requirement for MSME lending.

He stressed that the Philippines “is poised to achieve solid growth this year” due to strong momentum in both the monetary and fiscal sides. [PNA]

Zamboanga business group urges purchase of more energy supply

A

business group has filed with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) a motion to intervene in the hearing relative to the application of the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (Zamcelco) to purchase additional power from independent power producer Therma Marine Incorporated (TMI).

The ERC has set the public hearing on the proposed purchase of power

by Zamcelco from TMI on April 1.

However, Pedro Rufo Soliven, Zamboanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation Inc., president clarified they are not opposing any plan by Zamcelco to purchase additional power from an IPP. Soliven said they are only concerned over the amount that Zamcelco would eventually pass on to its consumers passing

B

EDGEDAVAO

BSP urges thrift banks to level-up

ANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. urges banks to really commit to their responsibilities to further gain the trust of their banking public.

“There should be no room for complacency in bank and bankers. Filipinos trust you with their money. You are accountable to them. Shape up, level up, and never betray their trust,” Tetangco told members of the Chamber of Thrift Banks (CTB) during the group’s con-

Flower Stand Making last March 16-18, 2012 held at the Barangay Apokon Gymnasium.

In an interview, City Councilor De Carlo “Oyo” L. Uy vowed to strengthen the skills training program of the local government, as it is one key in empowering women.

“This is one of the priorities of the local government of Tagum and this is a good way to help our less-privileged constituents to have an additional income,” the young solon said. [CITY INFORMATION OFFICETAGUM/JDA/PIA XI]

HE Social Security System is calling on its members with overdue loans to apply for the new loan condonation program, which would start on April 2.

The new loan condonation program allows members to settle the unpaid principal amount and corresponding interest of their loans without paying the entire amount of incurred penalties.

Its terms and requirements vary depending on the type of applicant availing the program.

Beneficiaries of deceased borrowers filing their death claim applications and borrowers filing total disability

or retirement claims within the availment period are also covered by the new amnesty.

The deadline of application is on September 30 but beneficiaries of deceased borrowers with outstanding loans can apply until March 30 next year.

The new amnesty program covers overdue salary, calamity, emergency, educational, study-now-pay-later, stock investment and privatization fund loans.

For more information and inquiries, members can call the SSS Hotline: 920-6446 to 55 or email the member_relations@ sss.gov.ph.

ing solar, wind, hydro and other renewable energy resources,” Bello said.

Meanwhile foreign renewable energy experts who attended the recently concluded Renewable Energy Conference organized by the Active Citizenship Foundation (ACF) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) last March 12-14, 2012 stated that renewable energy can meet 50% or more of a country’s energy needs.

According to renewable energy expert Dr. Uwe Leprich, Director of the Institute for Future Energy Systems (IZES) of Saarland University of Applied Science, Germany is already pushing for 50% of their energy to come from renewable sources by 2020.

“We are already pushing for 50% of our energy needs to come from renewable energy by 2020.

Full renewable energy is possible,” according to Leprich.

Another expert from Germany, Dr. Joachim Spengenberg of the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research, when asked of the current construction of coal-fired power plants in the country said that from his experience, “coal is a child of politics and not of the economics.” He said that coal power is very expensive in the long run and suggested that the country make use of the huge amount of renewable energy sources

it has such as solar and wind.

Prof. Bjorn Karlsson of the Efficient Distribution & Consumption of Energy Research Group, Mälardalen University in Västeras in Sweden also stated that renewable energy can be done small scale.

“Small houses in the countryside can be connected with solar panel and then connected to the grid,” according to Karlsson.

Bello urged the Aquino administration to fully implement the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 that lays down the government’s policy on developing the country’s renewable energy resources.

“Many countries have successfully made the shift to renewable energy, this should inspire the government to take the route to renewable energy. We should take the first step to ensuring that 50% of our energy needs are supplied by clean, renewable sources by scrapping any plan to construct additional coal-fired power plants.

After all, the more we develop coal power plants, the harder it becomes to end our dependence on them, and the graver the consequences become for the people and the environment. We should instead seriously transition to other alternatives such as solar, wind and hydro power,” according to Bello.

Renewable energy solution to oil price hikes

P

ROGRESSIVE groups urged the Aquino administration to push for renewable energy as a long-term solution to oil price hikes. Akbayan lawmaker Walden Bello said that the spiraling cost of fuel should send alarm signals to the government and stress the urgency of pushing for renewable energy to address the country’s energy needs.

“High fuel prices are here to stay because crude oil is a limited and nonrenewable resource. On top of that, an increase in oil prices always results in an increase of other commodities› prices because of our economy›s broad dependence on petroleum and other fossil fuels. Indeed, this dependence on fossil fuels has made our energy sector susceptible to price fluctuations. If there is any magic bullet to oil price hikes, it is renewable energy,” according to Bello.

Bello also said that the deregulation of the oil industry and the subsequent sale of Petron did not result in the promised decrease in fuel prices. He called on the government to invest in renewable energy alongside an increase in government regulation of the oil industry.

“The best solution remains to be serious government regulation of the oil industry with the view of eventually shifting to renewable energy. We cannot sustain this dependence on imported fossil fuel under the present circumstances; we should not allow our energy security to be violated by market forces. The key is for government to regulate fuel prices while deliberately strengthening the country’s capacity to meet our energy needs us-

Quips

“An across-the-board pay adjustment via legislation would all the more hurt micro and small establishments as such staggering amount of wage increase would compel them to close shop to the detriment of workers.”

--Employers Confederation of the Philippines President Edgardo Lacson on the proposed P125 across the board wage hike.

EDGEDAVAO

AGRITRENDS

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

Inoculating leguminous crops

7

By Jims Vincent T. Capuno

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EGUMES are the richest and cheapest common source of protein among all foods of plant origin. The protein found in legumes is a cheap substitute for fish, chicken, pork, and other meats. Aside from being an important food in the human diet, legumes are also good supplementary feed for livestock and poultry.

Legumes – soybean, mung bean, peanut, string bean, winged bean, to name a few – are special kinds of plants. They have the ability to hide bacteria in their roots, which form nodules (“numerous rounded masses in the roots”). The bacteria present in these nodules catch nitrogen from the air and transform it into usable from and supply it to the soil to be used by the next crop.

“Though nitrogen is abundant in nature – cycling between the atmosphere, soil and living organisms – it is only directly available to plants when converted through biological or industrial processes to certain forms, primarily ammonium and nitrate,” explains Lindsay Watkins, seed bank manager of the Florida-based Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO).

Some nitrogen is made available to plant through the decay of existing soil organic matter (example: manures and plant residues) or residues of the current crop. A small amount of atmospheric nitrogen is also “fixed” and converted to nitrate through lightning. Generally, these methods are not sufficient to replenish the nitrogen taken

Beans

Muling bean seeds up the crop and removed with the harvest.

“Adequate replacement of plant-available nitrogen in the soil, then, is accomplished by applying fertilizer (expensive inorganic chemicals, manure, etc.) and through biological nitrogen fixation.

Nitrogen fixation in the soil is primarily accomplished through a symbiotic relationship between plants in the legume family and a soil bacterium calledrhizobium. This microorganism interacts with the roots of leguminous plants to produce nitrogen which will naturally fertilize the plant and build soil fertility.

“If the nitrogen-fixing bacteria are not present in

the soil, the legumes will have to depend much on soil nitrogen,” explains Roy C. Alimoane, director of the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) Foundation, Inc. in Kinuskusan, Bansalan, Davao del Sur. “As such, the soil is depleted of its nitrogen.”

Both ECHO and MBRLC are non-profit, Christian organization that helps poor people in industrialized countries to grow food using science and technology. MBRLC, for instance, is known for its sustainable upland farming systems like Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT) and Food Always In The Home (FAITH) gardening.

According to Watkins,

String beans a legume growing in its native habitat is likely to have the appropriate bacteria present in the soil. “If nodules are present on the roots, especially along the taproot near the crown, and if the nodules are pink or red inside, then an appropriate bacterial strain is living in the soil and actively fixing nitrogen in symbiosis with that legume,” she says.

If the nitrogen-fixing bacteria are not present in

the soil, then it is necessary to introduce them into the soil where legumes are to be planted. This is made possible through a procedure called inoculation.

There are several benefits a farmer can get when he inoculates the seeds of legumes before planting. The most obvious is the reduced need for fertilizer application (specifically inorganic nitrogen).

Also, nitrogen fixed by bacteria is not as

This year’s procurement target doubles the 280,000 MT of palay bought by the agency in 2011. It will be the second largest palay procurement by the NFA. In 1979, the government purchased more than 700,000 MT of rice, the largest palay procurement in history.

For 2012, the DA targets to produce 18.46 million MT rice, and more than 20 million MT by 2013 to attain rice selfsufficiency.

Last year, the country managed to harvest 16.68 million MT of rice despite strong typhoons, which is 5.8 percent higher than the 15.77 million MT produced in 2010. [PNA]

Philippine wild raspberry called “sapinit” processed into juice, jam, and wine has penetrated the market with its unique taste and richness in leucoanthocyanin, an anti-Alzheimer’s, and anti-cancer phytochemical content.

The Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DABAR) has seen an initial success in its P1.55 million-funded project.

The processing facility in Tiaong town, Quezon Province only has a capacity now of processing 100 kilos of raw fruit per day.

BAR Director Dr. Nicomedes Eleazar said products like sapinit that are unique to the Philippines, particularly to the wilds

NFA beefs up funds for palay procurement

S

TATE-run National Food Authority (NFA) has beefed up funds for its local palay procurement as the summer harvest season starts, a senior official said on Tuesday.

NFA administrator Angelito Banayo said that under the Food Staples Sufficiency Program (FSSP), the grains agency plans to buy 1.248 million metric tons (MT) of palay from local farmers this year.

Banayo, however, stressed that NFA can only attain as much as half of their target or around 519,675 MT of palay due to limited resources.

“That is the most attainable target consid-

ering limited budget on hand, based on the palay procurement subsidy given by the national government and the sale of rice stocks in NFA warehouses,” he said, Banayo said the government is hard-pressed to meet the rice procurement target of 1.247 million MT, saying that the NFA would need at least P22 billion to buy the said volume from local farmers.

“We can only generate as much as P10.5 million for this year’s palay procurement, including the P4 billion subsidy from the national government,” he said.

Meanwhile, Banayo said they plan to buy bulk

of the palay harvests during the rainy season.

“Usually, summer crop has very good quality, so farmers can sell their palay between P18 to P18.50 to private traders. It looks like our buying will be heavier during the rainy season because that’s when we are needed,” he said.

Under the food security roadmap, the NFA plans to buy 1.248 million MT of palay in 2012 at a buying price of P17 per kilo plus P0.70 for farmers group, P0.20 delivery fee and P0.20 drying fee for individual farmers.

The NFA buys palay from local farmers to ensure stability of farm-gate prices of the staple.

quickly leached from the soil as is applied nitrogen, resulting in a more stable nitrogen pool.

Soil quality is also enhanced by inoculation, which fosters microbe diversity and residual nitrogen build-up over time. Finally, forage quality is improved when legumes are inoculated, since the increase in nitrogen levels promotes an increase in the legume’s protein content.

Raspberry ‘sapinit’ penetrates market

A

of Mt. Banahaw in Quezon and Laguna, need a big boost in research and marketing support from the government.

“You can’t find Sapinit anywhere as much as you find them thriving in our wilds even without a delicate need for nurture and care. They are protectors of our environment,” said Eleazar.

Other funders of the project are the National Agriculture and Fisheries Council and Japan’s KR2 Program.

Sapinit has a bright potential as a specialty product as its price in the market is high. Farmers can sell it fresh in the San Pablo City wet market at P300 per kilo. However, shelf life of fresh fruits is only three-four days.

8 VANTAGE POINTS

EDGEDAVAO

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

Limits of tradition 2 SOMEONE ELSE’S WINDOWS

By Marcos C. Mordeno/MindaNews

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EDITORIAL

T

Reading Rody Duterte

HE political pot seems to have started to heat up.

The national dailies already carried the results of a Pulse Asia nationwide survey listing senatorial wannabes in the 2013 mid-term elections. Leading the pack are Loren Legarda, a consistent senatorial topnotcher and two-time vice presidential candidate, and Francis “Chiz” Escudero, another wonder boy in politics. Both incumbent senators, Legarda and Escudero’s ratings in the surveys have see-sawed between No.1 and No. 2. In the latest survey conducted last 26 to March 9, Legarda regained the No. 1 slot held by Escudero in the November 2011 survey.

The rest of the senatoriables are Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas, Alan Peter Cayetano,Juan Ponce Enrile Jr., Noli de Castro, Antonio V. Trillanes IV, Gregorio Honasan, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Aquilino Pimentel III, Ted Failon and Justice Leila de Lima. The top 20 senatoriables include former senator Rodolfo Biazon, Kris Aquino, Juan Miguel Zubiri and Jambi Madrigal.

The nationwide Asia Pulse survey almost coincided with a similar local survey conducted by the newly launched Institute of Popular Opinion of the University of Mindanao. This particular poll is actually about the popularity and trust rating of incumbent elective officials and heads of offices. The survey included the perception of the people on the beneficiality of the city’s impact projects.

The initial release of the IPO opinion poll covering the first congressional district showed that Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, and

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First District Rep. Karlo Nograles are tied in popularity with an identical rating of 99.4 percent. In trust rating, daughter and father again tied at No. 1 with 98.8 percent, while Nograles was lower with 91.3 percent. In the same survey, Pilar C. Braga topped the first district city councilors, while Leonardo Avila III, the acting city agriculturist, is the most popular and most trusted of the 15 department heads.

That’s not all, Vice Mayor Rody announced he would finance the reelection bid of Mayor Sara if she so desires. Early on, Inday Sara said she would only run again for mayor if papa spends for her candidacy.

From their pronouncements, it may be deduced that there is a big possibility that Mayor Sara will run for reelection because her father said he would be willing to bankroll her candidacy.

The next question is will VM Rody run for vice mayor again, or for congressman of the first district, against incumbent and possibly reelectionist Karlo Nograles? What happens to eldest son, Paolo Duterte, who is a city councilor by virtue of being the president of the Association of Barangay Captains?

Whatever, political pundits and dyed-in-the-wool observers say, half joking, this is no time to second guess the moves of Rody Duterte, the astute politician that he is. He is known to always keep his cards close to his chest, so much so that even his allies are clueless about his final moves until the last minute.

But, as far as his daughter and son who are now in politics are concerned, it is always father who knows best.

ANTONIO M. AJERO Editor in Chief

RAMON M. MAXEY Consultant

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

Columnists: MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • AURELIO A. PEÑA • ZHAUN ORTEGA • BERNADETTE “ADDIE” B. BORBON • MARY ANN “ADI” C. QUISIDIO • LEANDRO B. DAVAL SR., • NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN • NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN • EMILY ZEN CHUA • CARLOS MUNDA Economic Analyst: ENRICO “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG

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SOLANI D. MARATAS Finance

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UMADS or indigenous peoples have their own ways of settling conflicts among themselves. And though these methods or processes don’t jibe with the prevailing legal system this is no reason to look down on them as inferior.

For the Lumads, such modes of conflict resolution have served as effective means of maintaining social order and relations.

Depending on the nature and level of offense that gives rise to a conflict, the indigenous system prescribes corresponding sanctions or actions for each party to comply as sacred obligations not only to the community but also to the spirits invoked in the whole process. Any intention to deviate from the terms of settlement exacted through culturally-defined standards carries with it the pain of stigma that would hang like a scarlet letter on one’s neck.

Studies conducted by anthropologists and other social scientists have shown that these practices have survived and continued to be observed in pockets of Lumad communities in Mindanao. Even Lumads who are already familiar with the formal legal system but find it too cumbersome – not to say expensive – would opt to settle conflicts among themselves the traditional way.

A shaman said that their culture even allows crimes like murder and rape to be settled without the parties going to the police and courts.

This is the method being proposed to resolve the murder of barangay chair Jimmy Liguyon of Dao, San Fernando town in Bukidnon reportedly by Aldy “Butsoy” Salusad, a former New People’s Army rebel who now heads a paramilitary group called the New Indigenous People’s Army Reform (Nipar). Since both the victim and the culprit are Lumads, theoretically, it would not be hard to find a closure to the incident using cultural standards.

That would have been ideal and realistic in a different setting in the distant past, when a person would take the life of another human being mainly out of passion and not for ulterior political or economic motives.

Unfortunately, things have turned for the worse in Dao. As local officials themselves have admitted, violence in the area has been sparked by the greed of some people who want to control the gold mining operations there. Salusad and his ragtag band of followers are just among the many characters in this brewing rivalry.

That they have resorted to murder and terrorizing local people who refuse to bow to their will suggests that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to oblige them to submit to cultural norms. It’s even harder to believe that the police and military would eventually have the will to seriously go after them since they are considered valuable to counterinsurgency.

So what we have in Dao is a conflict fueled by a deadly combination of economic interests and a campaign to eliminate security threats in the countryside by exploiting latent or actual divisions among the local people, the Lumads in particular.

The most the Lumads can do is weep for their dead and lost traditions.

[H. Marcos C. Mordeno can be reached at hmcmordeno@gmail.com]

Quips

‘THOSE who received allowances but did not pay withholding taxes should correct the error and pay.’

--Commissioner Kim Henares of the Bureau of Internal Revenue

EDGEDAVAO

F

OR so many stupid reasons before, I kept turning down special invitations by friends to go on an overnight trip to Kapatagan in Davao del Sur, not only to see Mt Apo in all its glory up close, but to see all the pine trees that have turned the place into something like Baguio.

It took somebody’s birthday within the membership of the Camera Club of Davao to make this weekend trip possible and that somebody is Willy, a photo hobbyist and owner of a graphics design store along Rizal Extension here.

Like almost everyone else who was smart enough to get land rights in that blessed piece of Mt Apo’s mountain ranges, Willy also planted hundreds of pine trees several years ago after he got the property’s rights from owners over there. Others in fact, planted thousands of pine trees, turning the Kapatagan mountain top into something that looks like Wyoming mountains right out of a US postcard.

Although the winding dirt road climbing up the forested mountain southwest from Digos is only good for vehicles with four-wheel drives, most of the access road coming off the highway was concrete, so the trip can be pleas-

D

ID Mrs. Cristina R. Corona really sell her 1,700 sq. m. land in Marikina Heights to Demetrio C. Vicente on July 26, 1990? Was the sale genuine?

These questions cropped up as the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported last Monday that Vicente would sell his property and move out of Marikina (PDI, March 19: Demetrio Vicente keen on leaving Marikina property). This report fuels and stokes the incredulity that the prosecution has raised.

Why is Vicente keen on moving out of the controversial 3,400 sq. m. property?

No, not because of the land ownership having been implicated in Corona’s impeachment case! That does not bother him, he told PDI. It’s the taxes that do.

What is his plan?

First, he wants to move to a “place where real property taxes are not as hefty” as that in Marikina. His regular tax is P70,000. Since 2009, the city has discounted the taxes by 50 percent due to the massive devastation brought by Typhoon Ondoy; this is temporary. [Note: As reported by Interaksyon, Vicente presented to the court a tax receipt for P65,268 as full payment for 2010 – not specifying if it was for Mrs. Corona’s 1,700 sq. m. or including that of Miriam Roco’s] Second, he needs a bigger area of land. Maybe he will buy in San Mateo, Rizal where taxes are cheaper, not in Marikina.

Third, he will sell the property for not less than P27.2 million. The prop-

Monkey Business

VANTAGE POINTS

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

Kapatagan : Catching the rising sun at Mt Apo

ant at times to visitors planning to drive all the way to the Kapatagan mountain ranges. Along the way, one can stop at one of the winding mountain curves to buy marang from makeshift nipa stalls and eating the fruit on the way up to the top.

What really struck me after waking up very early morning inside Willy’s family resort house, was the thick fog and the freezing cold that city-breds like me couldn’t take without wrapping myself with a thick woolen blanket over a thicker sweater and jumping up and down to keep warm among the dark, towering pine trees still slumbering and whistling with the cold winds sweeping over the sleeping valley.

Its too bad I didn’t go there as a photographer to capture Mt Apo’s creamstreaked face catch the first sliver of the early morning sun’s rays as they rise above the distant mountain ranges in the east--- which happens to be the direction where the metropolitan city of Davao is located.

Trying to make our way through the muddy trail up the slope in the dark, amid the whistling pine trees, my ten year old son Sean and I had to pick up some fallen tree branches along the way and break them up into walking sticks to support our careful steps to the mountain top. “We have to hurry, Sean, if you want to catch the sun before it comes

up,” I said, as he trailed behind, a few steps behind me.

Thinking we were the first the reach the top of the mountain range, we were surprised to see Willy all alone, his camera now attached to his big tripod, aimed steadily at Mt Apo, still dark and sleepy, but catching the growing light of dawn as the sun, still hidden behind the distant mountains, began its slow rise to greet another new day.

“You’re the first to come, where are the others?” Willy said without taking his eyes off his camera pointed at Mt Apo in one of his several attempts to get a more dramatic picture of the majestic, dormant volcano. The others, of course, were the CCD members still sleeping with all their photographic equipment in the mountain resort house, probably still unaware of nature’s drama that was just about to unfold over Kapatagan. It was perhaps just one of the million mornings out there when the rising sun comes up to greet the Philippines’ highest peak.

If my reason for going to Kapatagan was just to watch the rising sun greet the majestic glory of Mt Apo, that weekend trip up there was worth dying for. I don’t think I could ever exchange that for anything else….

(Comments : Email: tradingpost_davao@yahoo.com)

COMMENT

By Patricio P. Diaz

door apartment in Quezon City. If he can do this now, why did he not do it earlier?

There is a ready buyer who would advance the P200,000. This is the best scenario from heaven.

In the spirit of give and take, the Coronas trust him with a P200,000 loan in return for the trust that he has had for them. This is a long, long shot and a scenario that the prosecution likes to see happen.

What if Vicente, as the prosecution believes, is really just a caretaker and a dummy? He cannot sell the property.

Only Mrs. Corona and her sister Miriam can sell the property now. Will they through Vicente? If this happens, it will be the most interesting scenario.

Will any of the above scenarios materialize? If Vicente will be able to sell the property, that will prove he is the real owner. Resolving the incredulity of the prosecution at this stage of the impeachment will absolve CJ Corona beyond doubt of the charge he has not declared that property in his SALNs. Is it Vicente for his own sake that is really keen in selling the property he cannot legally sell? Why did he not make an issue about the “hefty” taxes earlier?

What does he need a “bigger area” for?

Unbelievably, not so he can expand his bonsai garden. In his heyday, he had 3,000 bonsai plants; now, past his heyday, it’s down to 2,000. He might be too old at 70 and sickly, too, to start a bigger garden.

The more keenly the sale has to be watched.

A Sale to Watch

erty is described by PDI reporter Tara Quismundo as “a lush garden …almost like a slice of a quiet park” of bonsai trees, fruit trees and other ornamental plants. A red-brick house in the middle.”

To sell the property, he has to first transfer the titles to his name.

He needs P200,000 for transfer tax, the amount, he says that he does not have. He did not do this in 1990 when this tax, he said, was only P2,599.92; yet, he paid the then P2,594.88 realty tax (ABS-CBNews.com, March 13: CJ witness: I couldn’t pay P2,500 transfer tax). [Note: To add more doubts to incredulity, as the realty taxes were going up during the 22 years, he was able to pay the running-away taxes but never the transfer tax and the accumulating penalties.]

What is there to watch in the sale?

There are interesting scenarios in how Vicente will possibly raise the P200,000 transfer tax.

There is enough demand for bonsai plants. He has some personal property to sell or to mortgage. His daughter in Kuwait has enough savings to pool with her father’s fund. The critical question: If he would raise by himself P200,000 now, why did he not do this earlier when the transfer tax was very much less?

Vicente can get a loan. Certainly, he cannot use as collateral the property he is selling. He can mortgage his wife’s 10-

9

The catchword is ‘fair competition’

E

(Conclusion)

VEN with such high cost of beer, especially in fine restaurants and e n te r t a i n m e n t joints licensed by the government to sell beer hasn’t hold back beer consumers into buying their favorite drink. Believe it or not, a bottle of beer costs $3.50 to $5.00 or depending on one’s brand of choice plus an additional 13% commodity tax.

For example, a certain brand of beer costs $4.50 a bottle plus tax will ultimately total $5.48 or equivalent to P230.16.

A box of a fast-selling beer brand containing 12 bottles costs about $33.90, 13% tax included or equivalent to P1,423.80. There’s a huge difference if we have to compare the prices, isn’t it?

But despite the staggering cost of beer, Canadians are still inclined to absorb the “superfluous expense”- without complaining.

Unlike in the Philippines, licensed beer and liquor dealers are fully monitored and strictly regulated by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario or LCBO, in the case of Ontario province. Same is true in all the regional municipalities and provinces throughout Canada. Funny but it’s true, I just can’t ignore my stacks of beer therefore I have to drink it slowly and gradually not knowing how and when to consume it. The irony is that I had no drinking partners during my stay in Toronto. No barkadas with whom I could share my beer supply and rely on during “bull sessions.” That’s it!

Again, I would say comparison is odious. Here, it’s the leading beer producers who are raising a howl against a legislative measure increasing taxes on beer products or the so-called “Sin Tax.” The manufacturers strongly oppose the passage of HB-5727 that seeks to unify and increase excise tax rate for beer products.

They reason out that on its first year of implementation, all beer products will be levied an excise tax of P25.00 per liter. And for the economy or low-priced brands that makes up 74% of all beer sold in the country would be tantamount to 140% increase in excise tax. As a result, there will be a steep drop in the beer industry volume.

In their own estimate, I don’t know if it’s reliable, that conservative figures have beer volumes declining by as much as 50% - a staggering decline. Really, gentlemen? Furthermore, a status quo will result in loss of jobs and income for those who need it most. Then as many as 8,000 workers directly associated with the production and selling of beer and tens of thousands more involved in the distribution of beer products stand to lose their jobs.

Still, they allege that lower beer sales will threaten the livelihood of more than 500,000 sari-sari stores nationwide.

However, they would support a tax law, which is multi-tiered and provides for moderate increases, protect the rights of low-income consumers and promote healthy growth of an industry which has always been a committed partner to economic development.

Anyway, it’s their opinion that the implementation of HB–5727 will serve as a crippling blow to the beer industry.

But it seems it might get harder to believe them since there are indications that there have been huge productivity gains in the profitable beer industry. In economic terms, higher productivity supposedly lead to lower prices, which requires increased production, spurs increased consumption – and more jobs. We hope that they’re not just expressing alarmist rhetoric. We’ll keep on beat watching!

10 COMMUNITY SENSE

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

Davao Light may conduct rotating brownouts

Nokia launches ‘It’s More Fun A in the Philippines’ campaign T

housands of Nokianatics and mobile phone users from key provinces all over the Philippines proved its more fun in the Philippines with the country’s leading mobile brand when they trooped to select malls as Nokia successfully put its own spin to the nowfamous tourism campaign with exciting activities, freebies and treats.

“We share everyone’s excitement with the new tourism campaign, ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ and we decided to inject our own twist to this campaign by bringing the

Nokia experience to the provinces. With the Mall Tours we want to show the fun and exciting mobile lifestyle of Filipinos, enriched of course by Nokia,” said Dharmesh Goshalia, General Manager and Head of Sales of Nokia Philippines.

For this campaign, Nokia visited select malls in five provincial cities.

The event kicked off at SM Pampanga, where Nokia launched an exciting promotion that had mallgoers and certified mobile phone lovers lining up to take first crack at the amazing deals up for grabs. For a whole

month, freebies and treats such as 4GB flash disks, Nokia fans, pouch bags and memo kits will be given away to visitors who purchased Nokia 1280, Nokia 100, Nokia 101, Nokia C200, Nokia C2-03 and Nokia Asha 200 models at Nokia’s partner-establishments.

Apart from this exciting sale, Nokia also showed just how fun it is to be a Nokianatic with exclusive activities at the Nokia Kiosk such as SIM redemptions and activations, phone demos, postpaid selling, free consultation with Nokia Care and fun games that gave away ex-

citing Nokia freebies.

Nokia also brought this “invasion” to four other malls in key provinces: SM Cebu, Gaisano Mall Davao, SM Baguio, and SM Calamba.

The Mall Tours aligned with the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines with Nokia” campaign that aims to showcase its most affordable phones with great mobile features. The campaign is in collaboration with Smart and Sun Cellular.

Hurry, visit the Nokia stores in the said malls until the end of March to have a taste of the fun with Nokia.

Comvalenyos extend help for Sendong victims in Iligan City

A

total of 225 provincial employees officially traveled to Iligan City on March 21 and 23 to help re-build Iligan and build 25 houses in 1014 days. Called the UswagGawad Kalinga Team, the group will be part of the National GK Challenge to help build a village in the resettlement site for the Sendong victims last December 17, 2011.

Inspired by the spirit of Gawad Kalinga and Iligan being one of Gawad

Kalinga partners of Compostela Valley, Governor Arturo Uy sees the need of the people especially those victims whose houses were washed out and rendered homeless. When the governor visited the city following the tragic event, he immediately set a meeting with the department heads and presented his plan of helping the victims specifically building homes for the homeless, thus the team is now on the go.

The 60 employees composed the first batch while the next batch travelled together with the Indigenous People PCB, Apex Mining and other 8 teams from the town of Maco, Mabini, Pantukan, New Bataan, Nabunturan, Monkayo, Laak and Mawab with their respective town Mayors.

Each municipality to represent one team is composed of 15 people.

In totality, the province is represented by 225 capi-

tol employees, excluding the team from different towns.

Comval’s Uswag-GK team have been recognized on its active participation to other GK build in other provinces and cities and noted as the very first team to finish in the building of the houses. “Let us always be an inspiration to others, lets help in any way we can,” Uy said. The National build is set from March 23April 4, 2012. [RODIELYN A. MANUGAS-IDS COMVAL]

FTER being able to avoid the rotating power outages for the past two months, Davao Light and Power Company may now be forced to implement rotating brownouts within its franchise as the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has announced an increase in the Mindanao-wide power curtailment at a level of 320 MW. While other areas in Mindanao have reportedly been experiencing long duration of brownouts, Davao Light customers may only experience 30-minute rotating outages due to the reserve power supply that it has contracted from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) as part of its con-

tingency plans to address power shortages.

The electric-utility has contracted energy power supply from Hedcor Inc.’s Sibulan and Talomo Hydroelectric power plants.

It also has power supply agreement with Therma Marine Inc. (TMI).

Davao Light also maintains on hot standby a Bunker C-fired standby power plant in Bajada.

Without the contracted power supply, customers would have been experiencing 2 to 3 hours of daily interruptions.

However, these power supply contracts can only support up to 280 MW of Mindanao-wide curtailment. Beyond this, Davao Light will be implementing the 30-minute rotating power interruptions.

DOE denies connivance with private companies Official Statement

T

he DOE has to follow existing laws, which is very clear about government’s role. We are doing all we can within the limits of law. Our actions have been as transparent as possible with very active consultation with stakeholders. We are not siding with anyone but just highlighting the truth of the situation. One such truth is that our actions have resulted in revenue reduction for some corporations clearly proving that we are not favoring

big business.

We have issued a Department Circular to rationalize the power supply in Mindanao, but again, this will only be a band aid solution. The real solution for Mindanao, as we said in 2010, is additional base load generation capacity which will require investments from the private sector as allowed by law.

These investments will only happen if the local governments and the people of Mindanao help in solving the situation.

IT’S MORE FUN IN SAMAL. The Island Garden City of Samal with the Department of Tourism Xl revealed last March 17, the line-up of activities for this year’s “Visit Samal” campaign which will run from April to July. The media briefing, led by DOT Xl Regional Director Arturo Boncato, Jr., Mayor Aniano Antalan, Vice Mayor Al David Uy and City Administrator Cleto Gales, was attended by Manila and Davao media. (DOT XL)

EDGEDAVAO

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

SUBURBIA

11

5k Tagumeño households qualify for cash dole-outs A

total of 5, 360 families qualified to be recipients of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

Recipients of the program received their first cash-out last March 17, 2012 at the City Trade and Cultural Center Pavilion.

The cash grants awarded by the program are as follows: P500 per month (for a total of P6,000 a year) per household for health and nutrition expenses; P300 a month per child for educational expenses, or P3,000 for one 10-month school year.

Only a maximum of 3 children per household are allowed to receive stipends; a total of P1, 200 a month for a household with 3 children. Cash grants shall be awarded through a Land Bank cash card with an 8 million plus amount was released.

Tagum City Mayor Rey T. Uy challenged all the recipients of the program to be responsible in using the money given to them by the government.

The City of Tagum is

the last recipient of the government’s conditional cash transfer scheme under Set 5 because of its low poverty incidence rate. But because of the national directive to saturate all cities regardless of their poverty incidence rates, Tagum City was chosen to be a recipient of the program.

Set 5 includes the city including some parts of the Municipality of Braulio Dujali and Carmen, respectively.

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is a social development strategy of the national government that provides conditional cash grants to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition and education particularly of children aged 0-14.

The poorest households in the municipalities are selected through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) implemented by the DSWD using the Proxy Means Test. This test determines the socio-economic category of the families by

looking at certain proxy variables such as ownership of assets, type of housing, education of the household head, livelihood of the family and access to water and sanitation facilities.

To avail of the cash grants beneficiaries should comply with the following conditions: Pregnant women must avail pre- and post-natal care and be attended during childbirth by a trained health professional; Parents must attend Family Development Sessions (FDS); 0-5 year old children must receive regular preventive health check-ups and vaccines; 3-5 year old children must attend day care or preschool classes at least 85% of the time; 6-14 year old children must enroll in elementary or high school and must attend at least 85% of the time; and 6-14 years old children must receive deworming pills twice a year.

Families that will fail to comply with the abovementioned conditions will be ineligible to receive the cash grants. [Louie Lapat of CIO Tagum]

are property in Barangay Paraiso that the LGU bought for P7.3 million specifically for this purpose.

The campus is situated in an area where the state-of-theart Philippine National Halal Laboratory and Science Center of DOST shall also rise.

In February, South Cotabato Gov. Arthur Y. Pingoy Jr. announced the provincial government is allocating P5 million to help fast track the construction of the buildings of PSHS campus and to augment the P5 million earlier pledged by Youth Against Corruption and Poverty (YACAP) partylist Rep. Carol Jayne Lopez.

Laidan said construction works will immediately commence after the formal turnover of the property to the PSHS, and that they are hopeful the school could begin operation next year. The turnover is still being worked out with Secretary Montejo expected to grace the event.

The PSHS, which is an attached agency of the DOST, is patterned after the Bronx High School of Science in New York City. It was created for the purpose of giving an education highly enriched in science and mathematics to exceptionally gifted Filipino children.

“The PSHS campus will not only boost quality

education in South Cotabato but also throughout Region 12 and other neighboring regions,” Dr. Laidan said.

Region 12 covers the provinces of South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.

A PSHS campus usually includes school buildings, laboratories, dormitory, canteen and sports facilities, among other amenities.

Once completed the campus in Koronadal City will be the country’s ninth PSHS site and the third in Mindanao; the first two are located in Tubod, Lanao del Norte (Region 10) and Tugbok, Davao City (Region 12).

Its main campus is in Diliman, Quezon City. It also has campuses in San Ildefonso, Ilocos Sur; Bayombong, Nueva Viscaya; Goa, Camarines Sur; Palo, Leyte; Iloilo City; Argao, Cebu; and Clark Freeport, Pampanga.

The PSHS accepts only the best and brightest high school students through a rigid screening process.

All students of PSHS schools are scholars who enjoy free tuition fee, free loan of textbooks, monthly stipend, and uniform, transportation and living allowances for low-income groups.

Pisay to open in Koronadal in 2013

T

HE Philippine Science High School (PSHS) here could begin accepting the brightest students of Soccsksargen Region and neighboring areas starting school year 2013- 2014, an official of the Department of Science and Technology confirmed.

DOST 12 Regional Director Dr. Zenaida P. Hadji Raof-Laidan, told Philippine Information Agency-12 today that the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the PSHS system has formally approved the setting up of a campus in Koronadal City, the administrative seat of Region 12.

“This is part of the efforts to put up a Philippine Science High School in every administrative region across the country to bring closer to the grassroots quality education highly focused on science, technology and mathematics,” Dr. Laidan said.

Science and Technology Secretary Mario G. Montejo chairs the BOT and Education Secretary Armin A. Luistro sits as vice chairman. The members include 11 others from the government, academe and private sectors.

Dr. Laidan said the BOT finally gave its go signal after the provincial government of South Cotabato promised to donate 4.5-hect-

Tagumeños who qualified to avail of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) flocked to Tagum City Trade and Cultural Center Pavilion for the first cash pay-out last March 17, 2012.

4Ps is a social development strategy of the national govern-

ment that provides conditional cash grants to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition and education particularly of children aged 0-14. [PHOTO BY LEO TIMOGAN

A Land Bank personnel hands out cash to one recipient of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program for the first cash payout last March 17, 2012 at the Tagum City Trade and Cultural Center Pavilion. To avail of the cash grants beneficiaries should comply with the following conditions: Pregnant women must avail pre- and post-natal care and be attended during childbirth by a trained health professional; Parents must attend

Family Development Sessions (FDS); 0-5 year old children must receive regular preventive health check-ups and vaccines; 3-5 year old children must attend day care or pre-school classes at least 85% of the time; 6-14 year old children must enroll in elementary or high school and must attend at least 85% of the time; and 6-14 years old children must receive deworming pills twice a year.

OF CIO TAGUM]

12

WORLD/NATION

NATION BRIEFS

T

Concerned

HE Philippine government is gravely concerned over Pyongyang plans to launch a satellite sometime in April, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement on Wednesday. ”We find (the plan) unacceptable, DFA said, urging North Korea “not to proceed with its planned launch” and instead abide

by United Nations Resolutions 1874 and 1718.

T

Unaffected

HE Aquino government will continue to perform and do its responsibilities despite all criticisms by detractors bearing in mind the more important tasks of improving the economy and ensuring the welfare of the Filipino people, a Palace spokesman said.

Whatever criticisms are leveled against the government, Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said what is important is that the government is able to carry out reforms that benefit the country’s economy and the poor.

T

Upgraded

HE Department of Tourism (DOT), in a move to attract more tourists and boost the country’s tourism industry, has upgraded the visa privileges of foreigners as part of the department’s policy reforms.

The privileges include the granting of a 30-day visa free stay to Chinese nationals tour group, a 14-day visa free stay for Indian nationals with a valid valid American, Japan, Australian, Canadian, Shengen, Singapore, or United Kingdom visa and the increase in the visa-free privilege for 166 countries/territories from 21 to 30 days.

Seized

A

ROUND P14.9 million worth of illegally-cut logs and its by-products were seized by joint law enforcement task force during its recent operations in Mindanao.

These series of operations were conducted in Agusan Del Norte, Agusan Del Sur, Surigao Del Norte, Surigao Del Sur, and Dinagat Islands or the provinces which composed the CARAGA Region.

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

WORLD TODAY

Developing nations to name candidates for World Bank T

Exempted

HE United States exempted Japan and 10 EU nations from financial sanctions because they have significantly cut purchases of Iranian oil, but left Iran’s top customers China and India exposed to the possibility of such steps.

The decision means banks in these countries have been given a sixmonth reprieve from the threat of being cut off from the U.S. financial system under new sanctions designed to pressure Iran over its nuclear program.

N

IGERIAN Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and former Colombian Finance Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo are set to be nominated to lead the World Bank, sources with knowledge of emerging market efforts to find candidates said on Tuesday.

The candidacies of Okonjo-Iweala and Ocampo, who have credentials as both economists and diplomats and according to sources the respective backing of Brazil and South Africa, pose a challenge to the United States, whose hold on the top post has never been contested.

But with its majority of votes and the expected support of European countries, the United States is still likely to ensure that another American will succeed Robert Zoellick, who plans to step down when his term expires at the end of June.

Washington has held the presidency since the Bank’s founding after World War Two, while a European has always led the International Monetary Fund. It has yet to publicly identify a nominee to succeed Zoellick.

The deadline for submitting nominations is Friday, and the Obama administration has said it will name a candidate by then.

All of the World Bank’s 187 members nations have committed to a merit-based process to select Zoellick’s successor.

Emerging and developing economies have long talked up their desire to break U.S. and European dominance of the Bretton Woods Institutions, but have until now have failed to build a coalition large enough to change the status quo.

Three sources said Ocampo, currently a professor at Columbia University in New York, would be formally nominated by Brazil.

One source said OkonjoIweala could be nominated on Wednesday, while two other sources said it would be Friday.

Nominations will be submitted to the 25-member World Bank board, which has said it will decide on the next president within the next month.

Two sources said Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy had the blessing of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who convinced her to join his cabinet last year to lend more weight to his reform agenda.

“IMPRESSIVE CREDENTIALS” The decision to nominate Okonjo-Iweala and Ocampo followed weeks of discussions among emerging and developing countries at the World Bank board including China and India.

Two sources said South Africa’s director at the World Bank board, Renosi Mokate, who also represents Nigeria and other English-speaking African countries, personally flew to Abuja to consult with Okonjo-Iweala about her nomination.

HE government posted a P15.94 billion budget gap in the first month this year, a reversal from year-ago’s P13.42 billion surplus after expenditures overshadowed revenues.

Data released by the Department of Finance (DOF) showed that revenues last January amounted to P126.35 billion, seven percent lower than year-ago’s P135.91 billion while spending reached P142.3 billion, 16.2 percent higher than the P122.49 billion same period last year.

Both the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) posted expansion in their revenues contrary to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr)

and the Other Offices.

Of the total collections, BIR, which collects about 70 percent of government revenues, shared in P85.15 billion, 14.2 percent higher than year-ago’s P74.57 billion.

Also, BOC contributed P21.99 billion, 7.1 percent higher than its P20.54 billion revenues in January 2011.

On the other hand, collections of the BTr dropped by 64.3 percent to P11.05 billion from year-ago’s P30.98 billion.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima traced the decline to the “time difference in the remittance of dividends from government-owned and –controlled corporations (GOCCs).”

He said GOCCs remitted

about P19 billion in dividends to the national government last February, a delay compared to last year when the dividends were remitted in late January.

The DOF, in a statement, cited that “had the amount been credited in January, to make the figures comparable year-on-year, not only would have revenues increased, but a budget surplus of roughly P4 billion would have been realized despite increased spending.”

Relatively, the Other Offices’ revenues reached P8.17 billion, 16.9 percent contraction over year-ago’s P9. 83 billion.

Meanwhile, interest payments rose by 40.3 percent to P50.28 billion over the

P35.84 billion in January 2011.

The government also posted a P34.34 billion primary surplus in the first month this year, which Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima attributed to continuation of fiscal consolidation.

Purisima expressed confident that revenues would continue to increase for the rest of the year and sustain its performance since last year.

He cited the improvement in BIR and BOC’s revenues, which account for about 90 percent of government revenues.

He said that “as we continue to strengthen tax administration efficiency, I do not see any reason for us not to surpass our performance last year.”

“The government will continue its fight against tax evasion and smuggling and plug loopholes in our system to boost our revenues,” he said.

The Finance chief, on the other hand, said the government needed lawmakers’ help for “the timely passage of the fiscal incentives rationalization and excise tax reform bills to generate more state resources.”

“Following a notable performance last year, the government looks at 2012 as an opportunity to continue with its fiscal consolidation process as it strives for higher, sustainable and more inclusive growth,” he added. [PNA]

Nigeria’s Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala attends a session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, January 26, 2012.

Gov’t posts P15-B budget deficit T

Aviation

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ALACANANG said the Aquino government is working double time to ensure that the country’s aviation status is reverted back to the Category 1 level to aggressively promote the tourism sector and reach a wider market.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the government is concerned about the effects of the recent aviation status of the Philippines particularly on the tourism sector.

EDGEDAVAO

FRIENDSHIP. Defense panel head former Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas shakes hands with former Senator Francisco Tatad before the start of day 33 in the impeachment trial of

Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona on Wednesday (March 21, 2012) at the Senate Session Hall in Pasay City. [PNA/ JESS M. ESCAROS JR.]

S

Mourning

OME 5,000 mourners on Wednesday attended a funeral service for 15 children and two adults from a school in Belgium who died in a bus crash last week in Switzerland.

Soldiers carried small white coffins into the hall where the ceremony, at which King Albert II, flanked by the Dutch crown prince, was to join mourners from 11:00 am (1000 GMT) in this Belgian-Dutchborder town.

Observers

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YANMAR has invited election observers from the United States, the European Union and the United Nations for its closely watched by-elections next month, a government official said on Wednesday.

They would join about two dozen poll observers being sent by Myanmar’s regional neighbours belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

G

Elections

REECE must hold general elections on April 29 or May 6, the conservative New Democracy party, which is part of a coalition government with the Socialists, said on Wednesday.

“We must go to elections immediately, for the sake of consistency and for the sake of democracy,” New Democracy’s spokesman Yannis Michelakis said in a statement.

A

Condemed

USTRALIAN Foreign Minister Bob Carr Wednesday condemned as “recklessly irresponsible” claims by mining billionaire Clive Palmer that the CIA was funding a plot against the coal industry.

Palmer, Australia’s fifth-richest person and a top donor to the conservative Liberal/National opposition, launched a tirade against the left-wing Greens Party Tuesday following the passage of a new tax on mining profits.

EDGEDAVAO

Sara...

Panigan...

FFROM 1

FFROM 1

of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, such level of phosphate and nitrate means the water is only good for recreational purposes, although the river still conforms to the Class AA standards, which is the highest for clean water.

According to Interface Development Intervention (IDIS), the use of fertilizers and pesticides and popular use of detergents along the upstream portions of the river may have caused the high presence of the chemicals.

The group said the runoff from plantations dur-

OIC...

ing heavy rains carried the agricultural inputs to the river, and the absence of buffer zones augments the problem.

Rey Sapid, advocacy officer of Kinaiyahan Amumahon Panggaon ug Protektahan, Inc. (KAPPI) said most of the plantations in the third district have not implemented buffer zones, and that this is against the mandate of the law.

An environmental paralegal group of farmers and lumads from the third district, KAPPI is actively initiating information campaign on the importance

and implementation of buffer zones to protect rivers.

A buffer zone is about 40 meters distance between a plantation and riverbanks, planted to trees or permanent vegetation which protect people and other life forms from toxic effects of chemicals from agricultural inputs. This is a requirement of the Watershed Code of Davao City.

Panigan River is identified by the Davao City Water District as the future source of Davao City’s drinking water, and is surrounded by monocrop plantations and small farms.

The GPH-MILF and GPHMNLF have been moving as two tracks. The Arroyo administration tried to get the two tracks together but failed. “Convergence” The Aquino administration has repeatedly said it wants a “convergence” of the three tracks -- the GPH-MILF peace talks, the GPH-MNLF-OIC review of the implementation of the 1996 FPA along with its reform agenda in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the core territory of both the GPH-MILF and GPHMNLF peace tracks.

The MNLF had repeatedly said the congressional act -- RA 9054 which amended RA 6734, the Organic Act creating the ARMM -- did not incorporate key provisions in the 1996 FPA and rendered the autonomous region less autonomous than it already was.

The MILF on the other hand has repeatedly said ARMM is a “failed experiment” and is not the solution to the conflict. It handed over its proposed peace settlement in February last year -- a Bangsamoro substate that is “less than independence but more than autonomy.”

The government handed its proposed “3 for 1” formula on August 22, 18 days after President Aquino and MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim met in Tokyo, Japan to fast-track the peace process and ensure an agreement is reached within the first half of the Aquino administration. .

The MILF panel rejected the proposal. Leonen quickly replied, “We reject your rejection,” the negotiation was adjourned on the second of the three-day talks.

The Malaysian facilitator shuttled from the GPH to the MILF peace panels in September and October and in November got the key members of the panels into an informal talks that eventually paved the way for the resumption of the talks in December. Since

then, the two panels have been meeting monthly and will meet again in April in Kuala Lumpur.

In his opening statement on March 19, Leonen said, “we are approaching what would seem to be a stalemate in our ideas for transition as well as in our ideas of how to make permanent the solutions that work for our peoples.

I invite our counterparts to take a step back with us. Perhaps, by examining the reasons why we insist on our various positions we can see ways forward.”

Iqbal in his opening statement said he hopes the Aquino administration is still pursuing the “first best option, which is to sign an agreement with the MILF, and the second best option, which is merely to reform the ARMM is not being pursued by the government in replacement of the negotiated political settlement of the Moro Question and the armed conflict in Mindanao.”

“Clearly if the first is the option of the government, then we can expect seriousness in the current peace talks. But if the second is now the option, then it is very easy to see. Expect commitment made to be changed randomly,” Iqbal added.

The talks, described “tough” by both panels, moved on until March 21 but without a significant agreement reached. According to the Joint Statement, the parties, “continued their discussions on substantive issues, including power sharing on governance and wealth sharing.” Nothing more was said about the discussions.

Aside from approving the request of the OIC-Secretary General’s office to sit as observer in the talks, the two panels also agreed on the Terms of Reference for the consultants who will be part of their respective delegations in subsequent talks. What the terms are have not been made public.

FFROM 4

of the Six led by Indonesia to facilitate the talks until the signing of the FPA in 1996. In late June 2000, just as the military was about to attack the MILF’s main stronghold, Camp Abubakar, in the “all-out war “ waged by then President Joseph Estrada, the OIC’s International Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM) held in Malaysia, added two more country-members – Malaysia and Brunei – to make it into the Committee of the Eight , to look into the implementation of the 1996 FPA. Historic That meeting – the International Conference of Foreign Ministers of the OIC – in June 2000, is historic for both the Bangsamoro and the Philippine government. For the first time, an MILF delegation attended the meeting along with the MNLF as OIC observers. It was also the first time the Philippine government attended an OIC meeting as guest.

The June 2000 meeting was held at “Asia’s most extraordinary hotel,” - the Palace of the Golden Horses in Kuala Lumpur, venue of this week’s GPH-MILF peace talks.

Malaysia, an OIC member and member of the Committee of the Eight, has been facilitating the GPH-MILF peace talks since 2001, upon the invitation of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In 2006, the OIC initiated the Tripartite Review of the implementation of the 1996 GPH-MNLF peace pact, expanding the Committee of the Eight membership into the Peace Committee for Southern Philippines (PCSP), with Indonesia as chair.

The first Tripartite Review was held in Jeddah in November 2007. An Ad Hoc Hi-Level Group meeting of the OIC-GPH-MNLF Tripartite Implementation Review Process was held in Bandung, Indonesia early this month “to review the remaining unresolved issues to complete the implementation of the FPA.”

13

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

[CAROLYN O.ARGUILLAS/MINDANEWS]

More than a hundred violators were charged before the court.

On first offense, a first time violator is subject to a P300 fine and one-hour mandatory segregation lecture to be conducted by barangay officials and the Cenro.

A second-time offender will have to pay P500 fine or render five days community service at eight hours per day, while for the third offense a violator is subject to a P1,000 fine or 10 days community service.

A case will be filed before the court against four-time offenders.

Based on the 2010 to 2010 List of Major Ac-

complishments, released by the City Information Office, through the operation of the New Carmen Sanitary Landfill, the average disposed volume of garbage per day has decreased by 97 tons.

Prior to the implementation of the sanitary landfill, the average disposed garbage volume per day was 456 tons per day. This decreased to 356 tons because of the co-related program of waste segregation.

The 2010 to 2010 List of Major Accomplishments includes a total of 445 underprivileged citizens of the city residing within danger zones having benefitted from hous-

Hunting...

FFROM 3

concern impedes enforcement on existing laws and regulation, and lack of public awareness contributes to poor management of marine turtles in Davao Gulf.

Therefore, he recommends that IGaCoS and other Local Government Units of Davao Gulf and National Government Agencies should seriously exert efforts to conserve and manage marine turtle population. Further, he suggests strengthening the awareness and information campaign, law enforcement and conservation management in Davao Gulf.

Santa Cruz told Edge Davao that he has not yet received any reply from the recipients of the report he sent through email as of press time.

He also cited the report of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild

Fauna and Fora (CITES) in 2005 that DENR-PAWB published the seizure or confiscation of nine sacks of marine sea turtle scutes / scales weighing 520 kilograms destined for Vietnam.

Vietnam is popular among tourists for its marine turtle products such as jewelry, especially bangles and rings, and various types of hair clips, pins and bands. This was based on a document in 2008, An Assessment of the Marine Turtle Products Trade in Vietnam.

Among the five species of marine turtles known to occur in the Philippines, four are nesting in the beaches of Davao Gulf-- Chelonia mydas (green turtle), Eretmochelys imbricata (hawksbill turtle), Lepidochelys olivacea (olive ridley turtle), and Dermochelys coriacea (leatherback turtle).

Asilum...

FFROM 15

After powering ACD (then known as Blue Archers) to several titles in Davao, Asilum was recruited to play for Sacred Heart-Ateneo in Cebu.

It was a surprise move considering the Far Eastern University Tamaraws were ready to sign him up when he was 12 to move to Manila.

Apparently, his father supported the move to play in Cebu instead.

Sacred Heart Cebu finished runner-up to the University of the Visayas Baby Lancers in the 2011 CESAFI Juniors tournament, part of which Asilum missed because of his national team commitment.

The Magis Eagles, led by Asilum, also emerged champions in the SeaOil

NBTC Elite League National High School Championships held at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

Asilum, however, will have to earn his spot at the point for the Fighting Maroons (2-12) who will have several options with incumbent starter Mike Gamboa, Gelo Montecastro and the returning Mikee Reyes.

UP will also see the return of two other veteran guards who missed last season in Mark Lopez and Alvin Padilla, which could bolster their hopes of making a run at the Final Four.

Mike Silungan, Alinko Mbah, Jett Manuel and Carlo Gomez are all expected to return for Season 75.

ing projects initiated by the city.

Families who were affected by development projects and demolitions were also able to acquire more decent dwellings at Los Amigos Relocation Site.

On 2010, the Traffic Eagle Squad was created in response to irresponsible drivers and traffic violators.

The squad is comprised of 15 patrol vehicle drivers (from the PSCC); five motorcycle drivers; 20 TMC personnel; with five patrol vehicles and five motorcycles.

The squad serves as an arm of the Traffic Management Center, tasked to ensure smooth traffic flow in the city’s major thoroughfares.

Meanwhile, the mayor said the local government is intensifying its drainage canal declogging efforts in anticipation of the advent of what Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio calls the “flood months.”

Along with this, the Food for Work program conducts regular de-clogging of barangay canals.

The program has 15,676 volunteers from 28 barangays in the city, and from 2010 to 2011, the declogging operations covered 38 kms and 720 linear-meters of dirt net fences were installed.

The Food for Work program has addressed two concerns at the same time—namely, (1) poverty and (2) community cleanliness.

Davao..

FFROM 16

camps lined up during the Summerfest are basketball, tennis, football, swimming and karatedo. These will be handled by various accredited professional trainors and coaches. There will also be Dance, Art and Music workshops.

The most significant addition to the Summerfest is the holding of the 1st Davao Sports Expo slated May 1-6 where sports brands, retailers, manufacturers, service professionals, pharmaceuticals and sports infrastructure firms are expected to participate.

The Davao Summer Games will cap the Summerfest’s sports component with the staging of competitions in various sports, from regular Olympic events to extreme adventure sports. This will include initially some national and regional tournaments in karatedo, tennis, football, mountain-biking, wakeboarding, and cycling.

The Davao City Sports Development Office and other key offices of the city government will be among the conduits of the Summerfest which is one of the four festivals recognized as official events of Davao yearly.

EDGEDAVAO 14 SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENT Hibernating bears’ wounds heal without scars VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

B

LACK bears have a surprising capacity to heal as they hibernate, say researchers in the US. Medical researchers and zoologists worked together to find that the bears’ wounds healed with almost no scarring, and were infection-free.

The scientists hope, eventually, to find out exactly how the bears’ bodies heal while their body temperature, heart rate and metabolism are reduced.

This could aid studies of human wound-healing.

The findings, published in the journal Integrative Zoology, are of particular relevance to medical researchers hoping to improve slowhealing and infectionprone wounds in elderly, malnourished or diabetic patients.

This study was part of a project by scientists from the universities of Minnesota, Wyoming and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, who have tracked 1,000 black bears, in order to monitor their health and behaviour, for 25 years.

Whilst tracking the bears - using radio collars - the researchers noticed some early evidence of their surprising healing abilities.

They wrote in their paper: “We identified a few animals each year with injuries resulting from gunshots or arrows from hunters; bite marks from other bears or predators.

“These wounds were considered to have been incurred some time before the bears denned, and were often infected or inflamed... in early winter.

“Yet typically, when we revisited bears in their dens a few months later, most wounds had completely resolved whether or not we [cleaned them], sutured the areas or administered antibiotics.”

To test the bear’s healing abilities experimentally, the team carefully tracked the healing of small cuts on the skin of 14 of their radio-collared bears in northern Minnesota.

Between November (when the bears first settled down in their dens) and March (about a month before they emerged) the wounds healed with “minimal evidence of scarring”.

Added to this, there were no signs of infection, the layers of damaged skin regrew and many of the bears even grew hair from newly formed follicles at the site of their injuries.

One of the researchers, Prof David Garshelis from the University of Minnesota, told BBC Nature: “It seems so surprising to us that their wounds would heal so well and so completely when they’re hibernating and their metabolism is slowed down.

But, he added, the animals had many other “remarkable adaptations to

protected, commercial poaching remains a significant threat,” he added.

“We are working with governments, protected area managers, conservation groups and local people to prevent extinctions of the many small, isolated sun bear populations.”

Until this latest assessment, the bears had been classified as “data deficient” because not enough was known about the state of the species.

Uncertain times One of the iconic species for conservationists, the giant panda, remains listed as “endangered”, despite recent efforts in China to release captivebred pandas into the wild.

“Even though some people have claimed that panda populations are on the rise, we still consider them endangered because too much uncertainty exists to justify changing their status,” explained Dave Garshelis, co-chairman of the IUCN bear specialist group.

Although the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) remains the world’s most threatened bear species, there are reasons to be optimistic

about its long-term survival.

China has established nearly 60 panda reserves, a logging ban and begun a programme of reforestation.

Out of the eight species featured on the IUCN Red List, only the American black bear is considered secure throughout its range, which includes Canada, the US and Mexico.

With an estimated population of 900,000, there are more than twice the number of American black bears than all the other species put together.

An enormous amount of effort and funding for conservation and management continue to be directed at bears in North America,” said Bruce McLellan, Mr Garshelis’ fellow co-chairman of the group.

“It is unfortunate that so little is directed at bears in Asia and South America where the need is extreme.”

The assessment of the seven terrestrial bear species and polar bear (technically classified as a marine mammal) was

Black bears emerge from up to seven months of hibernation in the spring

hibernation”.

“They sit in the den for six months and don’t lose any appreciable muscle or bone mass, so I guess this healing is another adaptation,” Prof Garshelis said.

During its winter hibernation, a black bear’s core body temperature is reduced by as much as 7C (13F) and their heart rate lowers dramatically. In

humans, a lowered body temperature, or conditions that hamper circulation can seriously complicate wound-healing.

For this reason, the team hope to find out the mechanism behind the bears’ remarkable healing abilities.

He told BBC Nature: “We consider this to have implications for medical research.

Concern grows for smallest bear H

ABITAT loss and commercial hunting have been blamed for a decline in the number of sun bears - the world’s smallest species of bear.

An assessment by World Conservation Union (IUCN) has re-classified the animal as “vulnerable”.

Experts estimate that sun bears, found in southeast Asia, have declined by at least 30% in the past 30 years.

The IUCN’s bear expert groups warn that six out of the world’s eight bear species are threatened with extinction.

“Although we still have a lot to learn about the biology and ecology of this species (Helarctos malayanus), we are quite certain it is in trouble,” said Rob Steinmetz, a member of the IUCN bear specialist group.

“We estimate that sun bears have declined by at least 30% over the past 30 years and continue to decline at this rate.”

Mr Steinmetz said deforestation had reduced the size and quality of the bears’ habitat.

“Where habitat is now

“If we can work out how the bears heal, we hope there’ll be potential to translate this research to [studies of] human healing.”

This could be especially important for the development of treatments for slow-healing skin wounds in malnourished, hypothermic, diabetic and elderly patients.

Experts are fearful for the long-term survival of sun bears

published on Sunday following a meeting in Mexico.

The findings will be

used to update the bears’ entries in the 2007 edition Red List of Threatened Species, which is

considered to be the most authoritative audit of more than 41,000 species.

INdulge!

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

EVENTS

(From L-R) The Starmobile team: Trade Marketing Manager Michael Gumate, President Michael Chen, Consumer Marketing Head Katrina Tioseco, Assistant Brand Manager Paula Rivera, Sales Director Jameson Say and Mindanao Sales Manager Marlon Alaba Starmobile President Michael Chen

Starmobile:

Designed for happiness

S

TAYING connected is now essential for every Juan and Maria and modern telecommunication tools are already a necessity. But such basic telephony tools, like the ordinary cellphone, can get quite pricey in the Philippines. If you add internet connectivity like Facebook, twitter, and web browsing to a cellphone you usually end up with a very expensive phone that is out of each from the average Jowi.

Starmobile Consumer Marketing Head Katrina Tioseco

Enter Starmobile with its range of well-designed and well-built dual-SIM mobile phones that are priced

Michael Chen introduces the Naptune T501’s touchscreen to M Magazine’s Ian Garcia.

within easy reach of the ave Dabawenyo. Starmobile’s consumer marketing head, Katrina Tioseco beams “Our phones are designed with great value in mind.

Imagine having an average person off the street spend half of his month’s salary to purchase a cellphone but in the end loses it due to poor build quality in just a couple of months. That is a huge loss for that person, that is why we really take pride in our phone’s build quality.” And honestly, for mobile phones costing less than four thousand pesos, I am impressed with the finishes and the solid feel the phones have.

On the functions of the phones, Tioseco says that the software for each phone is programed in the Philippines for the Filipino consumer in-mind. “The features on our phones reflect the different lifestyles and aspirations our consumers want, like the Venus series is stylish with a chic design, a 3.2megapixel camera, an MP3 music player, video

player and recorder, pus it also has bluetooth, and even has built-in access to Facebook, Yahoo! Messenger and MSN all for a low price of P3,290” beams Tioseco. “We want our phone owners to be happy with their Starmobile phones by including great value with each and every phone we design, build, and sell.”

I guess this passion for making people happy is what sets Starmobile apart from every other entrylevel mobile phone player.

And with handsets that continually break the mold in design, features (Believe me, I have seen the upcoming models and they are just fantastic!), and build quality, it is good to know there are still people who aim to make other people smile.

Look for Starmobile phone units at your local phone dealer or better yet, you can visit the Starmobile Davao flagship store at the third floor of Gaisano Mall of Davao. You can also like their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ starmobilephones and get a chance to win two tickets daily all the way until April 10, 2012 for the LMFAO concert at the Araneta Coliseum this April 11 no purchase necessary! So if I were you, I’d do it right away and maybe happiness will again come my way thanks to Starmobile.

Starmobile Jupiter Q501i

Integrated MSN, Yahoo! Messenger, Facebook, and Twitter.

Starmobile Neptune B501i

Starmobile Venus SQ301i

And the crowd goes wild with happiness and great deals at the opening of the Starmobile flagship store at the third floor of Gaisano Mall of Davao.

EDGEDAVAO

A2 INdulge!

ENTERTAINMENT

BOOKS

Let the games begin!

EXCITED for Hunger Games? Take a sneak peek at what happened during the movie’s premiere night in New York City with Vanity Fair’s hottest scoop on the most anticipated movie of the year.

At Tuesday’s New York City premiere of The Hunger Games, co-hosted by the Cinema Society and Calvin Klein, flashbulbs fired for Liam Hemsworth (who plays Gale)—even though the hunky Aussie arrived sans his Vanity Fair Oscar-party date, pop princess Miley Cyrus.

And as the movie’s two other stars—Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, wearing a sexy green dress and snug suit from Calvin, respectively—wended their way to the School of Visual Arts Theater, Lawrence told reporters that what she most admired about her character, Katniss, is “her willingness and strength to stand up for something when it’s not an easy thing to do.”

Not unlike her Winter’s Bone character, Ree—a role that garnered the then newcomer an Oscar nomination at the age of 20—Lawrence’s Hunger Games character is a stoic and tenacious coal miner’s daughter, out to defend her hardscrabble homeland.

On the arrival carpet, Isabelle Fuhrman, who plays District 2’s Clove in the movie, spoke effusively of her cast mates: “Usually you get to know everyone on set and then you go your separate ways, but not with this cast,” she told us. “We get together in Los Angeles almost every month.” The sole representative of the film’s adult cast, Stanley Tucci—who plays an exuberant, blue-haired television personality in the film— told Vanity Fair that his own favorite TV host was Jimmy Kimmel, although he seemed to us to be channeling Chris Tucker’s Ruby Rod in The Fifth Element.

The movie bowed to a

packed audience, with brief remarks from Lionsgate’s Joe Drake and Hunger Games director Gary Ross, who summoned the three young stars and had Tucci—who was already seated in the back— come bounding up to heartily wave to fans. Security—at both the screening and the afterparty—was tighter than tight, with celebrities and normals required to check their phones for the movie’s duration, and guards aplenty at the post-movie festivities, held at the top of the Standard Hotel. Still, the inside of the Boom Boom Room, our day’s Rainbow Room, was starry. Seth Meyers laughed quietly in the corner with his girlfriend, Alexi Ashe, and took a very diplomatic approach to V.F.’s questions, especially regarding bromance: “I can’t tell you who was a better host—Jonah [Hill] and Jason [Segel] are both incredible. Ask them!” Cheyenne Jackson from NBC’s 30 Rock told us that he “fucking loved” the film. Also in attendance: Tony Danza, Steven Soderbergh, Penn Badgley, Darren Aronofsky, Spike Lee, Zoë Kravitz, Bridget Moynahan, Patti Smith, Paul Haggis, and Victor Cruz.

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

By Andrew Bolton Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty examines the full breadth of the designer’s career, from the start of his fledgling label to the triumphs of his own world-renowned London house. It features his most iconic and radical designs, revealing how McQueen adapted and combined the fundamentals of Savile Row tailoring, the specialized techniques of haute couture, and technological innovation to achieve his distinctive aesthetic.

Francisco Costa and Erin Heatherton.

Shalom Harlow.

Zoe Kravitz.

Liam Hemsworth, Jennifer Lawrence, and Josh Hutcherson.

Rachel Roy.

Cheyenne Jackson.

HOW TO BE A HEPBURN IN A HILTON WORLD

By Jordan Christy Full of fun assignments, notable names and real-life examples, Christy offers a new look at seemingly “old fashioned” advice.

She covers diet, speech, work ethic, friends, relationships, manners, makeup, and fashionable yet modest clothing, showing modern ladies how they can be beautiful, intelligent and fun while retaining values and morals.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO COCO CHANEL

By Karen Karlo Delving into the extraordinary life of renowned French fashion designer Coco Chanel, Karen Karbo has written a new kind of self-help book, exploring Chanel’s philosophy on a range of universal themes—from style to passion, from money and success to femininity and living life on your own terms.

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

INdulge! A3

ENTERTAINMENT

HOT or NOT BB Gandanghari is back in town after his/ her stint as an androgynous model in New York. Is he/she hot or not?

Robin Padilla, the older brother of BB Gandanghari, announces in public that they are not ok with each other.

Do you think the announcement should have been made public?

THE material girl, Madonna, is at it again with her new single “Girl Gone Wild” whose music video show off her fit figure, scantily clad men in high heels, and some scenes aping Lady Gaga. Do you think she may have gone a bit too far this time?

IT’S Suri Cruise’s world, Katie Holmes just lives in it. That was evident on Tuesday night when the 5-yearold went to dinner with her actressmother in New York City dressed in heart-patterned nighties with a purple suede coat and silver flats for a late meal at trendy ABC Kitchen

EDGEDAVAO

A4 INdulge!

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

One golden evening EVENTS

T

HE creativity and style of celebrated Filipino designers Oj Hofer and Jun Escario brought the house down in a special fashion preview held at the Marco Polo Ballroom.

The city’s most chic and stylish came in their own statement attire, and swayed and posed with much pizzazs and class as they entered the ballroom. The all-white stage set up was complemented by frosted glass imitations of French boutique displays.

It was no less than the statuesque Georgina Wilson who opened the show, parading in Oj Hofer’s all black number. Davao socialites Jessica Yap, Jarisse Go, Bia Bautista, Karen Alabado,

and Aina Del Rosario graced the runway together with some talents from Glam Model House. All models were decked with intricate accessories by DiaGold, Inc., the jewelry brand for which Georgina is the main endorser.

Jun Escario’s black and gold corset gown was the show stopping ensemble that Georgina wore at the curtain call. It was indeed a night of glitter and fashion for the city.

Jessica Yap in Jun Escario.

Georgina in an Oj Hofer creation.

Aina Del Rosario, Jennifer Viloria, Oj Hofer, Merce Abellana, and Che Uy.

Georgina in a Jun Escario creation.

DiaGold’s Jennifer Viloria with Georgina Wilson and Jun Escario.

Bia Apostol in Jun Escario.

A creation by Oj Hofer accented by pieces by DiaGold.

Aina del Rosario in Oj Hofer.

Jarisse Go in Jun Escario.

EDGEDAVAO

15

SPORTS God must have spent a little more time talking to Manny

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

M CROSSOVER. Phoenix Vega-San Sebastian Stags’ Calvin Abueva loses his guards with a nifty crossover during their match against Goldstar Hardware. The Stags won 83-67 to enter the finals with a 2-0 card in the Araw ng Dabaw Invitational basketball tournament. [BOY LIM]

Phil wins GoldenBoot

W

ITH a third place finish in the tough AFC Challenge Cup, the Philippines celebrated another milestone as its ace strike Phil Younghusband bagged the tournament’s Golden Boot Award—the prize for the player with the most number of goals scored.

The Fil-Briton Younghusband knocked in a total of six goals in five matches capping his brilliant stint with a twin-goal explosion in the battle for third place against Palestine which the Azkals won 4-3.

The Golden Boot Award is one of the most coveted plums in the tourney.

Yo u n g h u s b a n d scored one against Turkmenistan in the semifinals, one against Tajikistan, and two against India. That achievement added more glitter to the historic finish by the Azkals who have exceeding their semifinal finish in the Suzuki Cup two years ago that sparked a football revival in the Philippines.

Manny backtracks, 3 more fights left D

ID God also tell him three?

Not immediately, not after Bradley.

The number is three.

“Three fights pa,” Pacquiao was quoted as saying in a recent interview.

A day after a radio interview wherein he said that he was asked by God to hang up his gloves, the Filipino pound-forpound king told a Manilabased fight scribe that he still has a few more fights left before calling it quits, the report said.

Pacquiao is currently in Cebu and was met at Mactan airport by renowned Cebu promoter Wakee Salud, who revealed that a couple of episodes of his game show “Manny, Many Prizes” will be taped in Mandaue City.

Pacquiao is booked to face Timothy Bradley on June 9 in Las Vegas and if victorious, will be scheduled to return to action again in November.

THREE MORE OR TWO MORE. Manny Pacquiao says he will retire after three more fights.

Pacquiao is headed for Baguio City next month for the initial stage of his training for the Bradley match at the MGM Grand.

The past few weeks, Pacquiao has been making headlines, quoting Biblical verses and telling the whole world that

Asilum to don UP Maroons in UAAP

D NEXT MAROON HOPE. Davao’s Renzar Henry Asilum will be suiting up for the UP Maroons after finishing his stint with Sacred Heart-Ateneo Cebu.

he has gotten rid of many bad habits.

In the past, Pacquiao can be seen betting fortune in cockfights and casinos and partying all night long.

Since finding solace in the Holy Book, Pacquiao has mended his ways.

AVAO boy Renzar Henry Asilum will be suiting up for the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons in the coming UAAP Season.

The 5-foot-5 Asilum, son of former Assumption College of Davao mentor Henry Sr., has agreed to suit up for the Dilimanbased State college. This early, basketball experts believe Asilum’s presence in the Maroon rotation will improve the chances of the squad.

“I’m very excited because I’m one of the few kids that have been given the opportunity to study in UP,” Asilum said.

Asilum was part of the Energen Pilipinas national youth team that finished fourth in the FIBA Asia Under-16 Championships in Nha Trang, Vietnam last year. He averaged 8.3 points and 2.4 assists in eight games. He also made six three-pointers in the tournament, the secondmost for the Philippines.

FASILUM, 13

ANNY Pacquiao’s recent pronouncement that he was told by God to retire made a big impact not only here but in the global sporting scene.

News of Manny’s impending retirement spread like wildfire in the internet and social media, making it as one of the trending topics early this week.

The God-told-me-so had so much impact that people took it as gospel truth. And when God tells you to stop, it means you got to stop cold turkey.

Like stopping abruptly a habit like smoking.

I remembered a few days before Christmas two years ago when my body told me to stop smoking. I stopped cold turkey. Right on the next day.

Manny says it was God, not his body, not his mommy, not even Jinky, to stop fighting. If God to tells me to stop, that is like the highest order albeit I believe God does not order. You come to a point of realization. That is God’s way of telling us.

So Manny declares his now famous God-told-meto-stop today. Announces it like gospel. And then the next day qualifies it.

Three more fights.

Manny clarified.

Did God also tell him three?

Or so that was his clarification when he woke up the next day. I don’t know if there was another demigod somewhere in Vegas in the name of Bob Arum who told him “No way, Manny. Three more.”

So is that three more after Timothy Bradley? Or Bradley plus two more?

Manny must make up his mind. He must be decisive.

God is decisive. When he says three for trinity, he does not add one more persona the next day.

When he says he will resurrect in three days, there would be no other extension just because a third day falls on a holiday.

What is written is written in stone.

Don’t get me wrong

here. Like most boxing pundits, I love to see more of Manny. In fact, if only we can put him in a time machine, I suggest we must. Manny is a spectacle as rare as a solar eclipse. He is a phenomenon, a meteor that falls on Earth once in 100 years. It will take another generation to see someone come close to his feat.

Eight world titles.

Pound For Pound Champion. Pay Per View King.

No doubt, Manny is bound for the Hall of Fame.

Everyone loves the Manny Pacquiao show.

Everyone is moved by the Manny Pacquiao story. From baker to world champion boxer. From GenSan to Vegas. From poor boy to billionaire.

From prizefighter to future President.

Three fights.

Three more fights.

That is what God told Manny according to Manny.

So what would you wish for in the last three fights?

Mayweather, Marquez, Alvarez? If I were asked, I would make it Mayweather 1, Mayweather 2 and Mayweather 3. A Trilogy for boxing history. Only thing is, Mayweather could be 40 in the deciding Chapter 3.

Three more fights could also mean another.

2013 Governor.

2016 Vice President.

2022 President.

God must have spent a little more time talking to Manny. He must have said, “Make up your mind, Manny. Money (Mayweather) or the Presidency?”

(For your comments, email me at bravoneil@ rocketmail.com.)

DOUBLES CHAMPS. Aileen Rogan and Macy Solon (second and third from left) receive their trophies and cash prizes during the awarding rites of the recent SelectaMayor Sara Duterte National Men’s and Women’s Tournament at Woodridge Park.

Flanking the women’s doubles champions are tournament organizer Maikee Ferrazzini, Atty. Mans Carpio, and Selecta manager Ruel del Valle. [BOY LIM]

16

SPORTS

VOL.5 ISSUE 15 • MARCH 23 - 24, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

Phoenix Vega in finals

By Neil Bravo

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AMES tonight, March 23 4:00 – 5:30 pm Championship for Phoenix Under – 16 basketball tournament 5:30 – 7:30 pm Battle for 3rd place (#3 vs. #4) 7:30 – 9:30 pm Championship (#1 vs. #2) Title favourite Phoenix Vega-San Sebastian College took the first ticket to the finals of the ongoing Araw ng Dabaw Invitational Basketball Tournament after coming through with another massacre of a win. This time, against the team they consider to be the biggest roadblock to the title—Goldstar Hardware.

The Stags blasted the Hardwaremen 81-67 on

Wednesday night before another sellout crowd at the Davao City Recreation Center for their second straight win in the fourteam tournament supported by Mayor Inday Sara Duterte in celebration of the city’s diamond anniversary.

Phoenix Vega-SSC coach Topex Robinson had earlier predicted a tough battle against Goldstar whom he considers as their toughest foe.

The Stags, reigning Philippine Collegiate Champions League titlists, earlier beat the Royal Mandaya HotelUniversity of the East Warriors 98-79 on Tuesday to serve notice of their title bid. Goldstar upstaged Montana Pawnshop 80-76 for their first

win. The Hardwaremen (1-1) now needs to hurdle the Warriors (0-2) who succumbed to their second setback at the hands of the Pawnbrokers (1-1).

Despite the win, the Stags are wary the next two games will be a lot tougher for them.

Spitfirish Calvin Abueva and Ian Sangalang will not be around for the final two outings as they are set to fly out anytime to Manila to suit up for their mother club NLEX in the PBA D-League. The Road Warriors will be playing on Friday.

Meantime, Phoenix Accelerate Supreme will meet Phoenix Cycle Fork Oil in the finals of the 3rd Trip ko Phoenix Fuels Under-16 Basketball League at 4:00 pm today.

Davao Summerfest 2012 set

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PROMISING KID. Davao boy Francis Escandor (No. 26) suiting up for the Philippine 13 Under Boys basketball team tries to shake off his defender from the Royal Mandaya Hotel Davao Youth selection in the preliminary game of the ongoing 75th Araw ng Dabaw Invitational Basketball League. The PHL squad,

however, lost to RMH, 68-80. (Inset) Calvin Abueva of the Phoenix Vega-SSC will be missing the final two outings of the Stags as he will be playing in the PBA D-League for NLEX along with teammate Ian Sangalang. [BOY LIM]

FTER the festivities of the 75th Araw ng Dabaw, get ready for Summerfest 2012.

The city government in cooperation with the Duaw Davao Festival Foundation is all set to launch the summer-long festivities with main focus on sports tourism, the arts and culture.

Duaw Davao executive director Lisette Marques, appearing in the weekly I-Speak forum, said this year’s Davao Summerfest

promises to be an exciting menu and will officially take place from April to May. Among the activities highlighting the Davao Summerfest 2012 are art and music workshops,

sports camps, sports expo, and the Davao Summer Games which will all have a unique menu of events geared towards attracting more visitors to the city to participate in the said events.

With the onset of summer, outdoor sports activities and workshops are just among the many things one can engage in most especially, the children who will be out from school for two months.

Included in the sports

FDAVAO, 13