Edge Davao 5 Issue 18

EDGEDAVAO

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VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

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Davao labor force, employment rise

By Jade C. Zaldivar

ICT Hub Page 7

D

AVAO region’s labor force increased in 2011 by 3.5 percent, according to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) here which attributed the rise to palpable economic growth.

NEDA regional director Maria Lourde Lim said 2011 saw the opening of more

n Services sector up, agriculture down

job opportunities that resulted to an increase in the labor force.

“Compared to the 2010 survey, 2011 showed an increase of 3.5 percent in labor force participation rate,” she said, adding that there was also an increase in employment rate by 1.5 percent.

On the other hand, the unemployment

rate for the same period was 1.5 percent, although there was an increase underemployement by 0.2 percent.

NEDA 11 attributes the increase in labor force participation to sustained investments in the region in 2011.

“Our employment level improved remarkably in general because of the eco-

FDAVAO, 13

Sports Page 16

TAKING ON A NEW FIGHT. Eight-time world champion and Sarangani congressman Manny Pacquiao appears to be calling for heavenly intervention as he takes on a new battle, this time not on top of the ring. Pacquiao was slapped with a tax complaint by a regional Bureau of Internal

Revenue (BIR) office for non-submission of tax documents. There is still no probable cause issued by the courts on the said complaint. Story on page 14.

Energy efficiency better than powerplant Follow us on

A

S part of the pre-Earth Hour salvo set end of this month, Department of Energy (DOE) officials flew to Davao City and held a seminar on energy efficiency and conservation.

This isn’t new, said DOE officials, stressing its importance. “Instilling the discipline of energy efficiency in the populace is much

cheaper than having to put up a powerplant.”

Senior. science research specialist Max Marquez of the Energy Efficiency Division of the DOE said a powerplant which can generate one megawatt (MW) would cost at least one million US dollars or P42,958,720.

“Mas malaki ang savings ng govern-

ment and the population in general kung marunong tayong mag-save ng enerhiya.

Yes, we need energy to keep the economy running, pero malaki rin ang kinakaing energy ng households. Most people are just not aware that they can save a lot on their bills if they know how to save energy,” Marquez said in an interview.

FENERGY, 13

2 THE BIG NEWS Davao hosts Mindanao green caravan, summit

By Lorie A. Cascaro

S

OME 2,000 participants are expected in the first green caravan on April 17-19 coming from four points in Mindanao (cities of Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, Surigao and Cotabato) to Davao City where the environment summit will be held on April 20-22.

The caravan will highlight environmental issues such as coastal waste management and effects of chemicals on farming among others, and the need for determined action.

“We would like to raise the level of awareness of the people in Mindanao down to the barangay level on the problems of our environment,” Ibno Hajar Turabin, chairperson of Earthsoul Solutions, Inc., said in a press conference last Tuesday at the Tribal Mission Center in Tugbok District.

Caravan, participants will distribute educational materials on environmental protection and organic farming, mini-orientation in stop-over areas, oay courtesy calls on local government units, be interviewed on television and/or radio and press conferences.

City Agriculturist Leonardo Avila said the city government will welcome the caravan participants and accommodate them at the People’s Park on April 19.

On the following day, the first Mindanaonon Environment Summit will start at the NCCC Mall, Matina where an organic trade fair will showcase the benefits of organic farming.

Organic fish cage, fruits and vegetables, poultry, and livestock are some of the organic practices to be showcased in the trade fair.

Avila cited a Davao City ordinance on organic agriculture, saying that farmers and consumers should understand the benefits of organic instead of chemical-based fertilizers.

Turabin said a highlight of the summit will be the signing of the Mindanao Environment Protocol which will be formulated by summit participants to guide actions of government, business and communities on the environment.

He mentioned “Do nothing, spend nothing” reforestation program as one of the discussion topics, adding that most

of the members of Earthsoul Solutions are “on the ground” or practitioners of organic agriculture.

Josephine Gamboa Lim, president of Earthsoul Solutions, Inc., said her group wants Davao City to be the first organic center of agriculture and that its practices will be replicated by other places in Mindanao.

Andry Lim, Earthsoul Solutions Davao City chapter president, is inviting everyone to join the green caravan and summit, including people in government, business sector, professionals, employees, farmers, fisherfolks, and students who want to show their commitment to Mother Earth.

“Even those from mining companies are welcome to the summit,” Turabin said.

Organized by Earthsoul Solutions, the environment summit will focus on environmental protection, including climate change and other environmental issues; organic agriculture; and, aquatic and marine resources.

Earthsoul Solutions is a non-stock, non-profit organization founded last May 21 in Sarangani Province.

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

100 YEARS. Joseph A. Bernal, Holcim Philippines Vice President and Davao Plant Manager, promotes the company’s community programs and projects for 2012 during Holcim Philippines’ 100th year celebration on Monday at Holcim Davao Plant, Bo. Ilang, Davao City. [LEAN DAVAL, JR.]

Ungab’s committee backs Rural Farm Schools Bill

T

HE House Committee on Ways and Means supports the passage of a bill seeking to create farm schools in rural areas by approving the measure’s tax provision which exempts from the donor’s tax any donation or contribution which may be made to farm schools.

Prior to its referral to the Committee on Ways and Means chaired by Rep. Isidro Ungab (3rd District, Davao City), the substitute bill to House Bill 4358 or the proposed Rural Farm Schools Act of 2011 was approved by

the Committee on Basic Education and Culture chaired by Rep. Salvador Escudero III (1st District, Sorsogon).

Approved by the Committee on Ways and Means during a recent hearing is the bill’s tax provision, Section 14, which provides that “Any donation, contribution, bequest and grant which may be made to the rural farm schools duly accredited by the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC) shall be exempt from the donor’s tax and same shall be considered as allowable

deduction from the gross income in the computation of the income tax of the donor in accordance with the provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended.”

Finance Assistant Secretary Teresa Habitan said the DOF interposes no objection to the tax provision and the bill itself.

The bill defines “rural farm school” as a parallel learning system and an alternative delivery mode of secondary education.

It is a facilitative and experiential learning on the

HILIPPINE Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Administration (PAGASA) aims further expanding its services to the public by providing training in hydrology to college graduates, then recruiting them for deployment to the Visayas and Mindanao to forecast flood there so vulnerable communities can be warned in advance about this hazard.

PAGASA Hydro-Meteorology Data Application Section chief Margaret Bautista said the agency considered such deploy-

ment amidst changing climate patterns that are beginning to cause flooding and other calamities there.

“Our flood forecasting at present is concentrated in Luzon only, so we must expand this activity’s coverage due to such development,” she said.

PAGASA earlier focused such activity in Luzon for being the Philippine area most hit by storms and typhoons.

Increasing occurrence of flood-inducing weather disturbances,

particularly in Mindanao, is making it necessary for PAGASA to expand coverage of its flood forecasting activities.

Such weather disturbances include storm ‘Sendong’ which ravaged parts of Mindanao and the Visayas in December 2011.

Authorities cited the disaster from ‘Sendong’ as among the world’s worst in 2011.

They also link alterations in weather patterns to onslaught of climate change from global warming.

The total area of land in question that actress Sharon Cuneta won in a ispute case against retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Justo Torres Jr.

The total purchase amount made

by Manila city government on BasaGuidote Enterprises Inc. (BGEI) property in 2001 that Commission on Audit (COA) has recently disallowed.

PAGASA plans to increase flood forecasting coverage

P ENVIRONMENT SUMMIT. Ibna Hajar Turabin (left), Chairperson of the Earthsoul Solutions Inc, and Josephine Gamboa Lim (right), President of Earthsoul Solutions, urge people who are

It figures

56,000 NUMBER of overseas Filipino workers in South Korea that the Philippine government is ready to evacuate if tensions with North Korea over its plan to launch a new rocket escalated in to a full-blown crisis. There also seven or nine Filipinos working in North Korea.

interested in environmental protection to join the upcoming 1st Mindanaonon Environment Summit on April 20-22 at the Kadayawan Hall of NCCC. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]

P1.1trillion PART (61 percent of the 2012 national budget of P1.8 trillion) released by Department of Budget and Management as of end-February, according to Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad. This was achieved with the disbursement of a big chunk of automatic appropriations amid effort to speed up spending compared with the year before.

60 The number of world leaders who gathered in South Korea for the two-day conference starting Monday meant to find ways to keep terrorists from detonating an atomic weapon in a major city.

398square meters

FUNGAB, 13

P34.7million 75%

The total percentage share contributed by the 36 Dumoy production wells to the entire water supply generated by the Davao City Water District (DCWD) in the city.

EDGEDAVAO

THE BIG NEWS

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

CHO putting up birthing facilities

By Lorie A. Cascaro

T

HE Davao City Health Office (CHO) will build a safe birthing facility in every district, each to cost between P5 to P7 million, according to CHO chief Dr. Josephine Villafuerte in last Monday’s Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Davao.

The project, which is expected to be completed by 2014, involves existing health centers which will either be renovated or replaced with new health facilities in 16 main health centers in Davao City.

“The Department of Health (DOH), including Philhealth, has very tough requirements for health facilities,” Villafuerte said.

The project will be funded by both the CHO and DOH. At least two health facilities will be finished

by April this year, particularly in the districts of Calinan and Paquiba-

to. The latter’s district hospital has been renovated to become a safe birthing facility.

The Marilog district hospital will be opened later this year.

Villafuerte said safe birthing facilities address the inaccessibility of women located in remote areas of the city to prenatal, child delivery and antenatal services from local hospitals.

She said traditional birth attendants, also called hilot, are being trained to service normal home deliveries, especially in areas where registered midwives are not available, following the Department Circular No. 69-A series of 1994.

The CHO has an annual budget of P253 million, the bigger chunk going to servicing communicable and non-communicable diseases, and preventive services such as immunizations and cardiovascular and diabetics programs.

3

STARTING YOUNG. A group of young kids rummage through a pile of debris and mud at the road construction in Quezon Boulevard to recover anything that may be sold at the junk shop. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]

Fire victim families get cash assistance

I

N March alone, 79 fire victim families in Davao City received financial assistance through the City Social Service and Development Office (CSSDO).

CSSDO head Malou Bermudo said Monday the city released P865,000 in cash last March 20.

The families were victims of fire incidents in the Ansaldo Compound on Durian Street, Sto. Ro-

sario, Barangay Buhangin last March 15, and in the Balbuena Compound, Kilometro 5.5, Balusong, Barangay Matina Crossing last March 16.

Bermudo said March had the highest number of fire victim families this year, including the one in Barangay 26-D last Friday affecting three families and 15 boarders (renters).

The city government has released almost P2 million in financial assistance to fire victims, including those in the Tibungco fire last September numbering 218 families.

Noting that March is fire prevention month, Bermudo said, “Ambot nganong mas daghan gyud sunog mahitabo kung March (I don’t know why more fire incidents occurred last

March).”

The biggest chunk of the CSSDO budget is allocated for assistance to victims of natural and manmade calamities, while every year they have relief and rehabilitation programs to prepare communities for calamities.

An average of 50 individuals seek assistance from the city mayor’s office every day. [LORIE A. CASCARO]

4

THE BIG NEWS

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

Casino complex set to reopen in Samal

I

SLAND Garden City of Samal Mayor Aniano Antalan expressed optimism that the reopening of a casino complex here would further boost the island city as a premier tourist destination.

Antalan said the Ekran Berhad resort and hotels complex is set to reopen anytime this year.

The 250-hectare complex opened in 1997 but stopped its operation three years later due to the economic crisis that hit the Asian region.

Ekran Berhad was the Malaysian investors’ response to the much-

hyped Brunei-IndonesiaMalaysia-Philippines/ East Asean Growth Area (BIMP/EAGA), a project of then President Fidel Ramos that aimed to perk up trade and investment exchanges among member countries.

Launched in 1992 in Davao City, BIMP/EAGA was projected to position the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region as a major player in world economy.

Antalan revealed the reopening of the casino complex in Kaputian municipality during the recent launching of the Visit Samal project.

Ten of the 26 colleges and universities in Region 12 or the Soccsksargen Region have set another round of increases in tuition and other school fees starting June, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) revealed.

Dr. Eloisa Paderanga, CHED Region 12 director, said they were formally informed of the new fee increases based on documents submitted to their office by the concerned colleges and universities.

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

“We’re currently reviewing the submitted documents based on the guidelines set by the Commission,” Paderanga said.

But she pointed out that CHED was not mandated to approve or disapprove the proposed fee increases that were submitted to their office.

She said they were only tasked to received and review the documents submitted by the colleges and universities to ensure that they complied with the requirements, among them the mandatory consultation, involving the new fee increases.

“We don’t approve, we just acknowledge them because the (increase in) tuition fees are decided by the owners or the school themselves,” Paderanga said in an interview with a local television station.

She did not cite any figure as to the proposed

tuition fee increases set by the 10 colleges and universities but she said they were coordinating with them to ensure that the hike would be at the reasonable level.

“If we find the increases as too high, we immediately ask their officials to reconsider and lower the rates to just around 10 percent,” Paderanga said.

Last year, 20 colleges and universities in the region had raised their tuition fees by 4 to 10 percent to supposedly cover for the increase in the salaries of their personnel and finance the necessary improvements of their facilities.

In January, the CHED central office issued a memorandum detailing the “Enhanced Policies, Guidelines and Procedures Governing Increases in Tuition and Other School Fees, Introduction of New Fees, and for Other Purposes.”

The memo specifically laid out the consultation process and the requirements to be met by schools that intend to raise their tuition fees.

It cited that 70 percent of the increase in tuition “should be allotted for the teaching and non-teaching personnel not necessarily an increase in personnel compensation.”

It set the creation in every region of a Regional Multi-sectoral Committee on Tuition Fee and Other Schools Fees (RMSCTOSF) to monitor the compliance of schools, colleges, and universities.

A National Multisectoral Committee was also formed to oversee the RMSCTOSFs. [ALLEN V.

Soccsksargen schools increase tuition fees

ESTABILLO / MINDANEWS]

GRADUATION. A young boy patiently waits for his name to be called during their graduation held in the activity center of a mall in Davao City. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]

Malnourished NorthCot kids undergo treatment C

LOSE to 600 malnourished children from two of the poorest towns of North Cotabato province are undergoing treatment and are being monitored by the rural health units, in partnership with a foreignfunded non-government organization (NGO).

The Action Against Hunger, known internationally as Action Contre la Faim (ACF), said 155 are considered severely acute malnourished and 417 are moderate acute malnourished.

The ACF considers acute malnutrition as the greatest pandemic of the 21st Century, affecting over 640,000 children under five in the Philippines.

The ACF has partnered with rural health units (RHUs) from President Roxas and Arakan to conduct screening of 10,598 children aged 6-59 months.

Among those screened, the group detected 572 globally acute malnour-

ished (GAM) who are now undergoing treatment by the outpatient and inpatient therapeutic program organized by the ACF in partnership with the RHUs. Dr. Martin Parreno, medical nutrition coordinator of ACF in the Philippines, said the best way to treat acute malnutrition in children is to prevent it, and the best way to prevent it is to support pregnant and lactating women.

Parreno, also spokesperson of the Philippine Acute Malnutrition Advocacy Initiative, said that at the frontline of the fight against acute malnutrition are pregnant and lactating women.

“Their diet before and during pregnancy is the only source of nutrition for the fetus, and their breast milk should be the only source of nutrition for the newborn until six months, as breast milk boosts a baby’s immune system with anti-bodies, while developing his/her gastro-intesti-

nal system,” he stressed.

Meantime, the ACF reported that after the devastation brought about by Tropical Storm Sendong in December, an estimated 22,750 pregnant and lactating women need access to essential food items, such as rice, meat, vegetables and fruits.

“Food donations from the private sector, which have been high during the first few weeks after Sendong, continue to decrease, and food rations are limited to just two kilograms of rice, one pack of noodles, and one can of sardines for a family of six,” it said in a statement.

The ACF, in support to pregnant mothers in Sendong-hit areas, started the distribution of cash vouchers to some 3,000 pregnant and lactating women. Each received cash vouchers totaling P1,700 to augment their diet.

The cash voucher distribution, which started on Feb. 23 and ended last

week, is part of ACF’s immediate humanitarian response to those most affected by Sendong, with funding assistance from the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO), the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), and Ajuntamento de Barcelona, Spain.

“The availability of essential food items in markets, as well as the accessibility of markets, has made cash transfer programming a cost-effective, and not to mention timely, assistance to affected populations,” said Demos Militante, food security and livelihood coordinator of ACF in the Philippines.

“However, more than merely invigorating local markets, cash transfer programming upholds the beneficiaries’ dignity and right to choose. For a mother with a child to feed, variety is as important as quantity.” [Malu Cadeliña Manar / MindaNews]

are aerial photos taken on the illegal mining in Iponan River. There are video footages,” Ledesma said during a press conference on Sendong Emergency Response updates this morning.

Last month, councilors identified with Emano have blocked a move by opposition politicians to legislate an ordinance seeking an end to the mining in Iponan.

Councilor President Elipe said there is no sufficient data to support that the mining in Iponan contributed in the destruction of communities living beside Cagayan de Oro during the Dec. 17 Sendong

flashfloods.

Last Jan. 13, Ledesma reprimanded the city officials and issued at the same time a call to civil society groups to launch a campaign to put an end to mining in Iponan River.

This morning, Ledesma lauded the Misamis Oriental provincial government and the munici-

pal government of Opol for leading police raids aimed to put an end on the illegal hydraulic mining activities along Iponan River.

More than 15 hydraulic pumps were seized in two separate operations in Iponan River, which is along the shared boundaries of Cagayan de Oro and Opol.

CDO execs ignore call for illegal mining ban

M

ORE than two months after he reprimanded them, Archbishop Antonio Ledesma said yesterday his appeal to put an end on destructive hydraulic mining along Iponan River has fallen into deaf ears among city officials led by Mayor Vicente Emano.

Ledesma, prelate of the Cagayan de Oro Archdiocese, said city officials continue to maintain business-as-usual attitude towards the illegal mining issue despite proof that foreigners have continued flushing gold along Iponan River.

“What more proof do they need? There

Quips

‘THIS is an unfortunate situation because there are existing United Nations resolutions and North Korea has said it will comply with the resolutions.’

--Vice President Jejomar Binay on North Korea’s plans to blast a satellite into space next month.

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

47.032 46.851 48.139

48.161 48.146 47.905 47.524 48.217

48.458 47.585 47.207

THE ECONOMY

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

5

Gov’t urged to act on power crisis A

progressive group echoed the calls of lawmakers in investigating the recent power shortages in Mindanao, and urgently solving the public’s dire inconvenience.

North Cotabato Governor Lala Tinio-Mendoza and the Mindanao Development Authority (MDA) slammed the National Grid Corporation (NGCP) claiming the power shortage a ruse to effect pressure on local government units to privatize the Agus-Pulangi hydropower plants. The Department of Energy responded to these accusations, blaming the local electric cooperatives in for failing to meet contract and generation requirements.

Aboitiz Power, among the country’s largest power providers, has offered

to supply Mindanao with additional electricity, if contracted.

“More than ten years of deregulation in the power industry through EPIRA has not given the Filipinos quality and affordable electricity. Mindanao has cheaper power rates because of its alternative sources of energy.

Privatizing these alternative sources serves only the oligarchy of private companies, warranting them to raise electric rates for super-profits. There are also propositions for utilizing alternative energy sources, but these have been disregarded and overlooked,” BayanSouthern Mindanao Region Spokesperson Sheena Duazo, said.

Duazo also cited the incongruity of the plunges in revenues of power cor-

Water service interruption

porations such as Meralco and Aibotiz, and the rise of their consolidated assets and profits. “They have passed the burden on to the public.”

Aboitiz Power has holdings in Davao Light and Power Co., Cotabato Light, hydro power generator Hedcor, and Therma Marine Inc., Subic Enerzone, San Fernando Light and Power Corp., Steag State Power and the Visayan Electric Company (VECO). In 2011, Aboitiz has a reported P19.6B increase on its consolidated assets from 2010.

“The predicament is not the cheap rates which cannot meet the maintenance costs of electric utilities. The problem is state neglect and the deregulation and privatization of public utilities such as electricity,” Duazo said.

VAT is necessary: Teves

F

ORMER Finance Secretary Margarito Teves has defended the enforcement of the Value Added Tax (VAT) which is now the subject of a nationwide protest by the transport sector who is calling for its abolition.

Teves, an economist who served as Finance Secretary during the Arroyo administration, said that VAT may be unpopular to most taxpayers, but it helped the economy a lot with billions of collections from it.

He clarified that as Finance secretary during that time, he had no other recourse but to implement the same as one of the department’s responsibilities.

Teves said that without the VAT, the government would incur deficits and will be forced to borrow from outside sources.

He said VAT was used to subsidize the transportation sector and for the sustainability of important government programs.

“We would not want a situation like in Greece wherein government is saddled with a lot of foreign debts in the absence of tax collection efforts,” Teves said. [PNA]

T

HERE will be two water service interruptions on March 30 from 8:00 AM until 5:00 PM in some areas in the south. Areas to be affected are Deca Homes Subd., Purok 18 in Upper Mintal, Purok 1 to 5 and 8 to 9 of Barangay Tacunan in Tugbok; Riverside, Redstone Village, Puting Bato, Los Amigos, Lower and Upper Biao Guianga, Biao Tienda, entire Brgy. Ula, IKP Village, Small Tacunan, San Lorenzo Tugbok, and Centennial Village I and II. The engineering and construction crew of Davao City Water District will tap the newly installed 150mm diameter Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipe to the existing 150mm diameter PVC for the mainline improvements from Deca Homes Subd. to corner of Purok 10 of Brgy. Tacunan in Tugbok and at Riverside to Tacunan.

Completion of these projects can accommodate more or less 70 new service connections and help reduce non-revenue water.

In behalf of the DCWD management, acting general manager Edwin V. Regalado apologizes for the inconvenience the water service interruption may cause and likewise appeals for the understanding and cooperation of the affected customers. Would-be affected customers are advised to store enough water prior to the scheduled water interruption as water supply may be restored earlier if work goes smoothly or later if unforeseen problems arise.

The general public may call the DCWD trunk line at 221-9400 and press “1” on their phone dial to listen to the latest daily water updates, or contact its call center through the 24hour hotline 221-9412 or 0927-7988966 for updates, complaints, queries and other matters pertaining to DCWD services. 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

6:15 6:25 6:30 7:00 8:50 8:10 8:30 9:40 10:10 12:20 12:30 13:35 13:25 14:05

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

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THE ECONOMY

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

NEDA ok’s 3 big irrigation projects

T

HE National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Board, chaired by President Benigno S. Aquino III, approved three irrigation projects, worth P19.7 billion, during its March 22, 2012 meeting in Malacañang.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala thanked President Aquino and other NEDA Board members, as the three irrigation projects will contribute to sustaining rice production and food staple sufficiency for the country’s growing population in the long term.

In particular, he said the three irrigation projects will sustain the gains of the Aquino government by end of 2013 when the country would have achieved rice sufficiency.

“Definitely, this is a big

n P1.97B allocated for the project n Project will cover Iloilo, Nueva Ecija, and

push towards our target to provide sufficient and sustainable rice supply for the entire nation,” Secretary Alcala said.

“Further, the three irrigation projects and several others that will be constructed this year and in 2013 will ensure that the Aquino Administration will adequately produce the total rice and other staple requirements of the country’s growing population,” the DA chief added.

The three projects include the Jalaur River Multipurpose Irrigation Project - Phase II (JRMIP2) in Iloilo, worth P11.2 B; Casecnan Multipurpose Irrigation and Power Project - Phase II (CMIPP2) in Nueva Ecija and Tarlac, worth P7B; and the Umayam River Irrigation Project (URIP) in Agusan del Sur, worth P1.5B.

They form part of the 12 big-ticket infrastructure projects, worth P133B, approved by the NEDA Board.

Secretary Alcala said the construction and completion of the three projects will be spearheaded by the DA through the National Irrigation Administration (NIA). The three irrigation systems will irrigate a total area of 102,890 hectares (has), of which 36,550 has are new, and 66,340 has are rehabilitated.

More importantly, he said the projects will directly benefit 72,900 farmfamilies in Iloilo, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, and Agusan del Sur, whose rice produc-

tion and income will more than double as they will be able to plant and harvest twice a year.

For his part, NIA Administrator Antonio Nangel said that at a conservative average harvest of four tons of palay per hectare per cropping, the three irrigation projects would enable farmers to produce an additional total annual harvest of 823,120 metric tons of palay, worth P14 billion, at P17 per kilo, the government’s support price.

The DA-NIA said the Jalaur irrigation project in Iloilo when completed will irrigate a total of 31,840 has, of which 9,500 has are new and 22,340 has are re-

being used in producing milkfish, tilapia, tiger prawns and malaga (siganid).

He said many are reluctant to raise sea bass, a high-value fish like grouper, because they thought it is not easy to source out trashfish which is the chief food of the fish.

Being carnivorous, sea bass also feeds on gills and intestines of other fish species, including throw-away materials such as fish bones coming from fish processing plants.

However, Rosario revealed there is an easier and more economical way

to feed sea bass raised in brackish water, such as fishponds.

That is by letting loose in the pond some 5,000 to 10,000 native tilapia (molobicus) that will lay eggs in 20 days which will soon turn into small fry.

Rosario said on the 21st day, the sea bass can already be released into the fishponds to co-exist with the tilapia in the water.

He said said the sea bass will eat only the eggs and fry of tilapia and not the mother native tilapia which are bigger.

The beauty of the

method is that fish farmers will have two crops to harvest from their pond - the sea bass and the native tilapia.

NIFTDC has started the culture and production of sea bass last year and is now ready to sell fry to fish farmers from P4 to 5 each.

He said when matured, sea bass can be sold in the market at P300 per kilo, three times the cost of milkfish which is from P90 to P100 per kilo.

He said BFAR-NIFTDC has developed reading materials on how to culture sea bass in brackish and marine waters. [PNA]

Agusan del Sur

Sea bass farming urged

F

ISH farmers in Pangasinan and all over the country are being encouraged to raise sea bass (Lates calcarifer) in their fishponds to boost their income and protein food for their families.

Dr. Westly Rosario, chief of the Dagupanbased National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC), said there is now an easier and more economical way of raising sea bass in both brackish and marine water.

Sea bass, a carnivorous fish like the grouper (lapu-lapu), can be raised in fishponds, normally

habilitated. It will benefit 30,000 farm-families in six towns.

The project is expected to be completed in five years, NIA said. Thereafter, farmers will be able to increase their palay production from 3.6 MT to 5 MT per hectare during the wet season, and from 3.4 MT to 5.5MT per hectare during the dry season, NIA Administrtor Nangel said.

Of the total project cost of P11.2 B, P8.95B will be sourced from foreign funders, particularly the Korean Exim Bank. The remaining P2.26B will be shouldered by the government.

The Casecnan irrigation project will serve a total of 60,321 has, of which 20,231 has are new, and 40,000 has are rehabilitated, within the Upper Pampanga River Integrat-

ed and Irrigation System.

Once completed, it will benefit 36,900 farm-families in Nueva Ecija (Munoz City, Guimba, Nampicuan, Talugtog and Cuyapo) and Tarlac (Anao, Ramos and Victoria).

The Casecnan irrigation project will cost P7B, of which P5.29B will sourced from foreign financial institutions, and the balance of P1.76B will be bankrolled by the government.

Finally, the Umayam River Irrigation Project (URIP) in Agusan del Sur will irrigate 6,729 has of new areas, mainly in the towns of La Paz and Loreto, and will benefit 6,000 farm-families. Of the total cost of P1.56B, P1.353B will be in the form of loan, and balance of P207 Million will be shouldered by the DA-NIA.

DTI 11 passes CSC report card survey

D

EPARTMENT of Trade and Industry (DTI)-11 has passed the Anti-Red Tape Act (ARTA) and Citizen’s Charter parameters set by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) for government offices.

The survey, conducted last 14-16 June 2011, focused on the service delivery of the Intellectual Property Satellite Office (IPSO) and Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB).

IPSO and PCAB are among the frontline services being offered by the DTI regional office.

In its report card survey result released this month, CSC-11 noted that among the 30 respondents interviewed within the three-day period, 100% were satisfied with the competence, courtesy, and fairness and ethical treatment of the staff handling the IPSO and PCAB concerns. Moreover, the report said that 93.33% were satisfied with the outcome while 90% were satisfied with the timeliness. Overall, the agency has an overall satisfaction rating of 93.33%.

The clients’ reception to the business name registration services rendered by the DTI-Davao City Field Office was also impressive with at least 90% saying they were very satisfied/satisfied with the outcome, knowledge/competence

Quips

of the staff, and fairness and ethical treatment. In terms of satisfaction with the overall transaction time, 93.33% were either very satisfied or satisfied with the services.

DTI-11 Regional Director Marizon S. Loreto said that the CSC’s report card survey result has further motivated the agency to give better, faster, and more efficient service to its clients.

“As what is embodied in our Quality Policy (DTI-11 is ISO 9001:2008 certified), we are committed to continuously improve our quality management system, and we are determined to achieve that,” she said.

Loreto said DTI-11 has been consistently looking for ways and strategies on how to improve its service delivery – which will redound to utmost client satisfaction.

“We can assure our clients that we never stop in looking for new measures and projects that will surely benefit them,” she said Loreto said the CSC can count on DTI-11’s commitment to continuously work on how to hit 100% satisfaction rating on all the service delivery parameters. The CSC-11 shall be conducting unannounced surveillance audits to ensure DTI-11’s continued compliance to ARTA.

“That a notice of disallowance is issued only after 11 years does not detract from the notice’s validity and integrity.”

E-BUS. Executive Secretary N. Paquito Ochoa Jr. leads the launching of battery-powered commuter bus called eBus at the Kalayaan Grounds, Malacañang on March 16, 2012.

The Climate Change Commission partnered with Victory Liner to produce the new breed of commuter bus under the program “Victory Against Climate Change”. The eBus, which can carry 52 passengers and run on 400V Winston Rare-Earth Yttrium Lithium-ion battery with a maximum speed of 90 kph, is one of the National Climate Change Action Plan’s responses to help reduce greenhouse gas emission in the country. [ROBERT VINAS / MALACAÑANG PHOTO BUREAU].

---Commission on Audit (COA) chairperson Gracia Pulido Tan in justifying its move to disallow the Manila city government’s P34.7million purchase of Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc. (BGEI) property in 2001.

EDGEDAVAO

ICT HUB

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

Windows Phone struggles to break catch-22 as app makers hold off Apps, apps, apps!

That is the main challenge that Microsoft and Nokia, who are trying to claw back market share from Apple Inc’s iPhone and Google’s Android in the red hot smartphone market, face now.

And so far the going does not look too good for the challengers and their warhorse Windows Phone platform.

Apps, short for applications, are small pieces of software that do useful or fun things on cellphones.

The huge number and variety of apps in Apple and Google stores are a key factor that has helped the companies emerge as dominant players in the lucrative smartphone market.

On Monday, Microsoft and Nokia said they would invest a total of 18 million euros ($23.9 million) into a new mobile application development program, AppCampus, at Helsinki’s Aalto University during the next three years.

The move underscores the seriousness with which the two companies view the problem.

Most popular global apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Evernote are available on the Windows Phone platform, but makers of many niche or local apps have shied away.

The number of apps available in the Windows Phone Marketplace now exceeds 65,000, surpassing

those at another rival Research in Motion’s BlackBerry store. But that is still far short of around half a million apps available on the Apple App Store and Google Play, according to app researcher Distimo.

Worse still, only 37 percent of developers are keen to make apps for Windows Phone, showed the latest IDC/Appcelerator survey.

That number, slightly down from the previous survey, compared with the 89 percent interested in iPhone and 79 percent in Android phones.

“Mobile developers’ interest for the Windows platform has been for the least very lukewarm over the last two years, with no sign of improvement,” Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu said.

Microsoft launched its latest Windows Phone 7.5 operating system, Mango, last year to good reviews.

And Nokia, struggling to reclaim smartphone handset marketshare from nimbler rivals such as Apple and Samsung Electronics, launched its Lumia line of phones running on Mango late last year.

Lumia phones look sleek and spiffy, with live, tiled icons that automatically update news, weather, pictures and social feeds.

But the fewer number of apps and their quality are hobbling the phones’ appeal to customers.

Finn Christian Lindholm, a Helsinki-based partner at digital design agency

Fjord, believes the latest Windows Phones are interesting enough to challenge the iPhone.

The key to both companies’ strategy to gain in the smartphone market would be how they break out of the vicious cycle -- the low sales of the Windows phones holding back app makers, and consumers shunning the phones for lack of the apps they are accustomed to.

“They need to break the Catch-22 before there is enough volume and natural pull,” Lindholm said.

SHRINKING MARKETSHARE Monday’s announcement by Microsoft and Nokia is an attempt to find new solutions to the problem, in addition to paying third-party developers for the apps.

They hope the program, which will provide support, coaching and also funding for app makers, will boost the number of unique and outstanding apps on Windows Phone.

It’s an uphill road for a new platform. Microsoft’s share of the smartphone market fell to just 2 percent last quarter, from 3 percent a year ago and 13 percent four years earlier, according to Strategy Analytics.

Last month, Windows Phone lost also its highly respected chief of developer relations, Brandon Watson, who left for Amazon.com Inc, which is taking on established players in the mobile devices market with its Kindle e-readers.

“It’s something we’ve been doing for a over a decade, in a formal way,” Sequoia Capital partner Jim Goetz said of his firm’s “customer days.”

At Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, several hundred connections a year are being made between portfolio companies and Fortune 500 companies, a spokeswoman said.

Other large VC firms cited similar efforts.

The trouble is, these efforts in many cases don’t ultimately amount to much, many entrepreneurs say.

Sometimes, the contacts are at the right company, but the wrong level to help a particular project. Sometimes the partners fail to share contacts among themselves. It is something Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz found wanting when they worked together at Netscape and then at Opsware.

“We got 2-3 introductions from VCs that actually amounted to anything,” said Horowitz. “It was underwhelming.”

Andy Rachleff, the for-

mer partner at Benchmark Capital who handled the Opsware investment, acknowledged that such networking was not a priority. He called Andreessen’s and Horowitz’s requests for introductions to chief information officers during 1999 and the early 2000s “a source of constant frustration.”

Rachleff says his most important contributions were in strategy, including in advising the company to move from service to software, and he remains close with the duo; they turned to him for tips when launching their own firm.

FOCUS ON INTRODUCTIONS While Andreessen and Horowitz stress that their overall experience with VCs was positive, they felt there was an opportunity to systemize and upgrade the introduction process. They hired Mark Cranney, who had previously worked at Opsware and was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Andreessen Horowitz, to run the program full-time.

Big venture firm raises the networking stakes

A

NDREESSEN Horowitz, a three-year-old venture capital firm, has made a big mark in Silicon Valley partly through the sheer scale of its endeavors, with big funds totaling some $2.7 billion and big investments in high-profile companies including Facebook, Twitter, Zynga and Groupon.

Now it is aiming to go big with another aspect of venture investing, one it says has often been more talk than action: providing start-up companies with business connections that can help them succeed.

The company has built a special facility, dubbed the Executive Briefing Center, and hired a partner and a small staff to connect entrepreneurs with companies that might buy their products.

The idea of VCs opening their Rolodexes to help their portfolio companies is hardly new, and in fact is often part of the pitch that blue-chip VCs make to entrepreneurs when they want in on a promising deal.

7

A visitor talks on his phone next to a Windows Phone advertisement during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

An app to make gift giving easier

W

HETHER it’s choosing the right present, selecting the proper size or style, or digging up a current mailing address, gift giving can be difficult.

Karma, a new app for iPhone and Android, aims to simplify the process with its service that lets people send gifts instantly via SMS, email or Facebook.

The app recommends gifts based on the recipient’s demographic profile and interests, which it garners from Facebook. After a notification of the gift is sent, the receiver enters their mailing address, along with other personal preferences that are relevant to the gift they will be receiving, whether it’s the size, style or color.

“You can open up Karma and, literally in under 60 seconds, the person you’re thinking of will get your card, see

your gift, can pick it out and have that fun, and then say ‘Thank You,’” said Lee Linden, the cofounder of Karma.

“I can send someone a sweatshirt without knowing their size, or a bottle of wine without knowing if they want Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot or Zinfandel. And the recipient can enter where they want it shipped to, maybe it’s their office because there’s a doorman there, their home, or vacation home. It’s their choice,” he said.

Gifts available on the app include wine, electronics, and fashion.

“We know that you’re giving a gift to a 33-yearold man for his birthday, and we can figure out great products for someone of that demographic.

We can see what he likes on Facebook or what other people are choosing for men of that age,” he said.

Karma allows the

recipient to change not only the color, size or style of a gift, but also the gift itself before it is shipped. There’s also the option to donate the value of the present to a partner charity.

The app also provides notifications on events occurring in the lives of friends in social networks using semantic analysis, algorithms that can detect the meaning behind text, and allows users to send gifts before submitting credit card information.

“We’re trying to think about e-commerce in a new way and each piece is worth reconsidering,” explained Linden. “Payment is a big pain point.”

Linden said the company also provides companies with demographic targeting and advertising via social networks.

Similar apps include Wrapp and Giiv, which have a focus on gift cards.

[GREG G. DELIGERO]

licensed by IBM to Yahoo.

Facebook, IBM and Yahoo all declined to comment when asked to confirm this by the BBC. Share sale Facebook announced in February that it planned a $5bn (£3.2) initial public offering - the biggest such share sale by an internet firm.

Later that month, Yahoo first warned of a possible US patent lawsuit. It followed through on the threat on 12 March.

Analysts said it might be trying to replicate a tactic carried out in 2004 when Google settled another patent dispute by giving Ya-

hoo shares issued in its flotation.

But one lawyer said that Facebook’s new acquisition might give it scope to resist a similar outcome.

“If Facebook has bought patents that IBM had already licensed to Yahoo it could tilt things in their favour,” said Ilya Kazi from the UK’s Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys.

“It would certainly strengthen Facebook’s negotiating hand. Depending on the sale terms they could terminate the licenses which could put Yahoo in a difficult position.”

Facebook purchases IBM patent following dispute with Yahoo

F

ACEBOOK has confirmed it has bought some of IBM’s intellectual property rights.

The social network would not provide further detail, but Bloomberg has reported that the deal involved 750 patents involving software, networking and other technologies.

It said that Facebook previously owned just 56 secured patents.

The move comes less than a fortnight after Yahoo launched a lawsuit against Facebook.

The web portal claimed that Mark Zuckerberg’s company’s “entire social network model” was based on its technology, and infringed its rights to innovations involved in messaging, privacy controls, advertising, customisation and social networking.

The Verge reported an unnamed source’s claim that at least some of the patents involved in this latest deal might have been

Quips

“For me, Noynoying means somebody who is so careful about the people’s money, who does not borrow recklessly and who does not spend recklessly.”

--Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II in redefining the term “Noynoying,”

8 VANTAGE POINTS

EDGEDAVAO

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

Mother and soldier (First of 2 Parts)

I

EDITORIAL

S

Quo vadis, fresh graduates?

UMMER is when government leaders, political scientists, economists and plain conscientious citizens worry about the hundreds of thousands who who’ll graduate from college courses nationwide and having a hard time landing a job. This month, more than 500,000 students leave the portals of their schools to grapple with the next level of challenges in the real world. Of course, the most challenging of them all is finding a job.

Unemployment in our country is a perennial problem, a nut that is so hard to crack our leaders seem to have stopped looking for solutions. Such creeping helplessness is shown in the general acceptance that getting work abroad is the ideal situation.

Of course, we all have an idea by now about the tremendous social costs that go with being away from home and not being able to care for the family and bring up the children properly. The inconvenient truth is that at the end of the day, those who earn thousands of dollars every month abroad might just have a family as broken and as dysfunctional as those who are jobless back home.

We should never surrender our timehonored family values and equanimity to the

EDGEDAVAO Providing solutions to a seamless global village.

ALBERTO DALILAN Managing

Door 14 ALCREJ Building, Quirino Avenue, 8000, Davao City, Philippines Tel: (082) 301-6235 Telefax: (082) 221-3601 www.edgedavao.net editorial@edgedavao.net marketing@edgedavao.net

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OLIVIA D. VELASCO General Manager

ARLENE D. PASAJE Cartoons

mighty dollar at whatever cost we should continue to be hopeful that soon our country will achieve economic success that would make seeking a job abroad unnecessary and irrelevant, to borrow a legal adjective commonly used by both prosecution and defense panels in the Chief Justice Renato C. Corona impeachment trial.

There is hope that the anti-corruption campaign of the Aquino administration will be successful and make our country more attractive to investors. We’ll just have to be patient that despite all the monkey-wrench thrown at President Noynoy’s much-vaunted fight against corruption it will bear fruit one day soon. We’ve waited so long for socio-economic nirvana which did not come, there’s no harm if we wait for some more time. After all, it can not be denied that Mr. Aquino’s efforts have begun to stir investors’ bullishness and confidence in our economy. The business pages of our newspapers are full of news accounts about local and foreign capitalists pouring billions of pesos worth of investments in this country. Yes, despite the charge by creative militant students’ accusing President Aquino of “noynoying.”

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

JOCELYN S. PANES Director of Sales

SOLANI D. MARATAS Finance

RICHARD C. EBONA IMELDA P. LEE Advertising Specialists

AGUSTIN V. MIAGAN JR Circulation

CAGAYAN DE ORO MARKETING OFFICE

LEIZEL A. DELOSO | Marketing Manager Unit 6, Southbank Plaza Velez-Yacapin Sts. Cagayan de Oro City Tel: (088) 852-4894

MANILA MARKETING OFFICE

ANGELICA R. GARCIA | Marketing Manager Blk. 1, Lot 10, La Mar Townhomes, Apitong St., Marikina Heights, Marikina City Tel: (02) 942-1503

met Rose Manuel at the International Women’s Day celebration at a mall last March 8. She looked every bit a woman with her hair pulled back in a short pony tail, a ready smile on her face, and an alert eye on her young daughter who was flitting here and there, ready to grab her at the slightest chance of straying.

On top of being a mother, Rose’s background is as typical as yours and mine. This 36-year old medium built woman is married to Capt. Christopher Manuel, with whom she has a 5-yearold son and 4-year old daughter.

Rose is an alumna of the University of Immaculate Conception or UIC (formerly ICC), having taken all levels of education wearing the pink uniform. She graduated with a degree of BS Computer Engineering from UIC in 1998, and took up Master in Public Management at the Samar State University in 2005.

Rose’s similarity to most women ends there. She is probably one of the few women in the country who can write Military Officer as an occupation in her resume. That’s because this mother of two is not only Mrs. Manuel, she is also Major Rosa Ma. Cristina Rosete Manuel, a military officer at the 10th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army.

Maj. Manuel is a consistent recipient of commendations from her superiors, and that’s between two to seven commendations a year. This did not go unnoticed as she was promoted to 1st lieutenant in 2003, then to captain in 2007, and to major in 2010.

Rose’s military service has been honed by her vast experiences in both administrative and tactical levels, completing staff duty at the battalion level as staff officer handling diverse responsibilities such as Adjutant/ S1 or Personnel/HR Officer, Battalion S7 or CMO Officer, S4/RSO or Logistics Officer, DO/SDO or Finance Officer, and Battery Commander of the 8th Field Artillery Battalion.

While serving as Battery Commander, she also commanded the Provisional Special Operations (KAMURAYAW or PEACE) Company serving three 8ID Commanding Generals, and was designated Officer-in-Charge of the 8th Civil Affairs Unit in the absence of the Commanding Officer. While these were on top of her usual responsibilities, she did all of it with aplomb.

In fact, her immediate superior, Maj. Jacob Thaddeus Obligado, Battalion Commander of the 10th CivilMilitary Operations Battalion, 10th ID, PA, has only good words about her, calling her the foundation of the unit.

“She capably handles all activities and programs without need for supervision. She’s very reliable and full of creativity. Idol namin siya,” he said with a proud smile.

It wasn’t only her superiors that Rose impressed. Last December, she was given recognition by the Mindanao Commission on Women (MCW) as one of the “women who broke barriers for advancing the status of women and for performing duties in a field usually dominated by men.”

She is also a good influence on her fellow female soldiers who take pride in serving the military and the people, taking on challenges that are not meant for the faint of heart. But beyond all the commendations, praise, and recognition, who exactly is Maj. Rose Manuel?

“I’ve wanted to become a soldier since I was in grade school, having been inspired by my father’s cousin, a major whom I saw on TV for his good deeds in Davao,” Rose related. She was also fascinated with the Citizens Army Training in UIC, seeing all the girls in fatigue uniform in formation, showing grit under the wilting heat of the sun.

EDGEDAVAO

G

OODNESS gracious, I thought the old Claveria or C.M. Recto street in this city was dying a slow death.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been seeing clear signs that Claveria is finally waking up from a long slumber.

All the while, people here saw how this city’s main street has deteriorated over the years. Offices closed down and moved elsewhere, buildings left abandoned, doors boarded up and locked, roofing sheets left hanging, walls and sidewalks gathering thick dust. It seems only the roaring, passing traffic of jeepneys and cars kept it alive, somehow.

Next to the old San Pedro street which started steering in the early 1900’s as Davao’s first business district, Claveria comes next with bigger buildings housing businesses like insurance, banks, real estate, pension plans, hotels, cinemas, etc.

San Pedro was more associated with department stores, restaurants, Bombay retailers, small hotels, during the old days.

The old, historic San Pedro street was probably born when the Spanish colonizer and trader Don Uyanguren set up the very first Catholic mass on June 29, 1848 in a small chapel on the exact spot where the present San Pedro Cathedral now stands. The Spanish colonizers just wanted to say thanks to St Peter for helping them conquer Davao three months earlier and pushed Datu Bago and his brave warriors away from the early settlement. This explains why every June 29, this city celebrate its “Feast of St Peter” or San Pedro Fiesta.

One strong sign that Claveria will finally be rejuvenated back to new life

N

EWS and commentaries on the ongoing impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato C. Corona have drawn various reactions from readers. This appears to contradict observations that ordinary citizens are generally uninterested in the fate of the first High Court official to be impeached, as the web is alive with debates and discourses on how the trial has progressed in the Senate – and how it should end.

Given the highly-charged political atmosphere surrounding the trial it is to be expected that the reactions from many readers may sound vicious.

Some have even gone to the extent of citing irrelevant issues or worse, attributing malice to the intent of the writers.

One MindaNews reader has resorted to this dirty tactic of imputing malice against me by implying that I am a paid hack of Malacanang.

I wasn’t peeved; I was instead amused knowing that not a single soul in the Palace knows that I exist. Alias Donsupremo, the reader I am referring to, presumes too much apart from trying to make others believe he is not siding with any party in the impeachment.

No point arguing with Donsupremo to the level of verbal attrition.

Monkey Business

VANTAGE POINTS

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

A quick look at Davao’s fast-rising skyline

is the coming in of Ayala Land with a high rise condominium project called “Avida Towers” which covers a huge area along Claro M. Recto street --- the official name of Claveria street today. The entire 15-story twin condo buildings occupy 6,124 square meters with two tower building, each floor allotted with only 23 spacious condo units with big panoramic windows.

As of this writing, Ayala Land is busy at J.P. Laurel Avenue, Bajada district, with two simultaneous construction projects: a new six story office building adjacent to the newly-opened Abreeza Ayala Mall and a 12-story hotel facing the shopping mall’s main façade. And less we forget: the biggest and most modern condo project called “Aeon Tower” will soon rise beside the Abreeza mall on the opposite side facing the Davao Light power plant.

But back at the old Claveria street, the entire skyline is changing fast. At one end of the street, facing south, is the newly finished condominium housing project of DM Consunji, one of their many property projects in this city. DMC made a bold move of putting up a condo project at Bolton street just a stone’s throw from City Hall and so far, it’s paying off.

If you face north, you’ll see of course, the towering glass-and-concrete building of Marco Polo Hotel, the first high-rise hotel project whose owners (Malaysians, Brunei, Indonesians and Filipinos) bravely built the hotel even amidst the bombings and fighting between Moslem rebels and government forces in Mindanao in the early 1990’s which scared off many investors.

Just beside Ayala’s site for Avida Towers,is a new four-story almost-finished hotel for low-cost budget travelers,

A don without a face

a boon to both tourists and visitors who have smaller pockets than the people checking in at nearby Marco Polo, which is a five-star hotel. Owners of this new hotel, leased the old big Aldevinco building which was the center of business activities during the old times at this old street. For sure, their noses probably followed the scent of a huge booming market for low-cost hotel rooms in Davao.

Old timers still remember the USIS Library at the smaller building next to it, which was taken over later by the Philippine Information Agency (PIA).

At the back of this building was the former Peryodiko Dabaw (later bought by Sun Star) which was run then by manager Olive Velasco and editor Tony Ajero ( present owners of Edge Davao daily newspaper).

If you look closely, a new shopping arcade with a hotel is also under construction right in an area between Bonifacio street and Rizal street. That was a “dead area” too, to most people familiar with Claveria over the years, but the owners of Derma Hotel along Magallanes street, are expanding their business in the heart of this city, whose heartbeat has virtually stopped to a standstill.

If Claveria was a dying patient, all these guys coming here bringing all these investments (with banks’ help of course) look like paramedics to me, pumping blood back to the arteries that had dried up over the years.

All over the city, from Claveria to Bajada and Lanang, you’ll see the same thing--- new big buildings are rising up fast. A new Davao is emerging, I can hardly catch its fast-rising skyline.

[Comments? Email : tradingpost_ davao@yahoo.com]

by an haciendero, at least in the realm of his subconscious?

An haciendero is my benefacBY MARCOS C. MORDENO/MINDANEWS tor? Oh my, I did not shout “Ibagsak ang piyudalismo” during my younger There are simply people who think years for nothing. My personal stand that political writers face the PC monion large agricultural tor each day in exchange estates – Hacienda Lufor favors from certain ‘Given the highly-charged po- isita included – has not parties. Or maybe, he changed even if I am no was actually alluding litical atmosphere surrounding longer marching in the to himself as a possible streets. media mobster com- the trial it is to be expected that Other readers missioned by a major might be interested to party in the impeach- the reactions from many read- know where our facement trial to discredit less don, who wants to arguments that are aders may sound vicious. Some reign intellectually suverse to his patron. preme, stand on the isOne cannot hope sue of agrarian reform. to change an attitude have even gone to the extent of Let’s just hope he is not founded on arrogance. harping on the HaciDon. The favorite co- citing irrelevant issues or worse, enda Luisita case only lonial era title that habecause it serves as a cienderos loved to ap- attributing malice to the intent weak spot of the curpend to their names. rent administration.

Supremo. It means leadof the writers.’

Let’s hope too that er. No other words perother readers who haps best describe the wish to share their views on the imnarcissism and feeling of superiority peachment trial will do so without that afflicts our esteemed reader, al- hiding their true identifies. Courage though I would like to add that Andres is a virtue only if it comes with a face.

Bonifacio, the Katipunan supremo, [H. Marcos C. Mordeno can be did not suffer from this psychological reached at hmcmordeno@gmail.com] disorder. Now, who is being enslaved

SOMEONE ELSE’S WINDOWS

9

Life in a fishbowl

F

OR the longest time, Manny Pacquiao, the great boxing champion, basked in the glory of his unprecedented and unequalled feats fed largely by the adulating media.

It not only opened up the world for him. It afforded him time to literally walk into the corridors of power having been a regular habitué of Malacañang and a recent White House guest of President Barrack Obama.

His transformation from semi-proletarian to a capitalist came as he stepped up the ladder of success in boxing. Now, he rightly fully belongs to the elite of Philippine society. In fact, Pacquiao is now a member of the bureaucrat capitalist class who is occupying a seat in Philippine congress. (Will the Left agree with my own class analysis of today’s version of Pacquiao?)

Things have taken a dramatic turn in the last two years for Pacquiao, however.

He is now mired and caught in the middle of the contradiction between two factions of his own class.

On the one hand is President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III and his ilk and, on the other hand, the disgraced clique of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Used to be the darling of the presidential palace when Arroyo was at the helm of power, Pacquiao is now an outsider in the power shift even though he is an elected member of the House of Representatives.

Once promised by the Aquino government funding for his pet hospital project, Pacquiao faces humiliation from his constituents for failure to deliver his campaign promise as the expected government funding looks like it won’t be coming. His frustration is building up as reality seeps in. While a popular member of the House of Representatives, he is still outside the periphery of the good graces of the party in power. He has not been sworn in as member of the Liberal Party which is headed by Mar Roxas II. One of Roxas’ staff happens to go by the name of Liza Antonino whose sister Darlene AntoninoCustodio was once challenged by Pacquiao when the latter first ran but lost for a seat in Congress in nearby General Santos City.

The hardest cut of them all, he now finds himself being sued by the very government that he is part of, being a member of the legislative branch.

It would have been unthinkable for the Arroyo government to even suggest anything remotely leading to Pacquiao being pursued by the country’s revenue agency. On the contrary, Pacquiao for a while was a pitch guy for the campaign of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to convince people to pay their taxes. Sometime ago, he was the biggest individual taxpayer in the country.

Monday, it was his turn to complain that he is being singled out by the Aquino government. He cried “pure and simple harassment” when the BIR filed criminal charges against him for his alleged failure “to obey summons.”

To a large extent, I would agree with him.

As a popular Filipino political idiom is saying, “Weather weather lang yan.”

(Figurative translation: Political fortunes changes with the weather) Pacquiao’s popularity can bring him places as it had already brought him to Congress after a failed first attempt. But his interlopers and sycophants may just have pushed the envelope too far when they began to speak of the presidency just months into his election as a representative of the lone district of Sarangani.

It opened the floodgates for his potential rivals to begin tearing him down.

Life, for him from hence, became more than just a fishbowl.

Now, instead of building up a presidential image, Pacquiao is forced to defend himself not only before the bar of justice but also in the bar of public opinion.

He will be closely scrutinized in the same manner that he was unabashedly idolized before. Only this time, he will spend more. His battery of lawyers in Monday’s press conference is making sure of that and is suggesting more troubles ahead.

Pacquiao better be careful.

Although I believe he should be beyond political persecution given the honor he has brought to the country, he nevertheless should accept the fact that by accepting a very public life, he also opened himself up to fair criticism.

At the end of the day, no one is and should be infallible and beyond reproach.

10 COMMUNITY SENSE

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

Davao ‘ambassadors’ assist victims of ‘Sendong’ in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan B

ETWEEN the 16th and the 17th of December, 2011 when Filipinos were in the midst of preparing for the usual long Christmas holidays, flashfloods spawned by the torrents of rain caused by Tropical Storm “Sendong” (international codename “Washi”) swept the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan in northern Mindanao and Dumaguete in Negros Island in the Visayas.

Rampaging floods carrying cut logs and mud battered entire communities in the dead of the night. The sleeping residents were roused by the roar of killer floodwaters whose rise to as high as 5 meters was so sudden, many of the victims must have drowned in their sleep. The catastrophe left close to 2,000 dead and a wide swath of destruction never before experienced in the history of the three abovementioned cities.

The dead, the injured and the tens of homeless were simply beyond the capacity of local government units to handle.

Affected like the rest of the country, the elders and members of Ambassador Club Davao headed

by Edge Davao editor Antonio M. Ajero held an emergency meeting.

Upon the suggestion Dr. Roy Ferrer, Davao-based national president of Ambassador Club Philippines, the group cancelled its monthly membership assembly and Christmas party. The funds have set aside for the Christmas party and gifts were in-

stead given to the treasurer, Ambassador Mary Jeam Aninao, as stsrting fund for a campaign for relief and assistance for Sendong victims.

The club also unanimously adopted the suggestion of Ambassador Scott Nimmo to inform members of other Ambassador clubs in the Philippines and other parts of the world about the campaign and donate whatever they can spare and share in the humanitarian effort. Ambassador Nimmo volunteered to use his Internet account to email the appeals for succor and accept the dollar and euro donations. National President Dr. Ferrer also burned the wires, so to speak, to contact his counterpart country presidents about the drive. World President Martin Schwarz was one of the quickest to react.

He included the appeal for the Sendong victims in his Christmas message.

By February, the club had been able to gather a total of P464,305.02 from European and Philippine donors.

While the fund campaign was ongoing, the club, through its friends and contacts was monitoring what the victims needed most. The needs were shifting as the days wore on. First the immediate needs were body bags for the decaying dead, medicines and care for the injured, then food, water and clothes for the survivors. Then blankets and mosquito nets, kitchen utensils, followed

SERVING THE KIDS. Officers and member of the Ambassador Club Davao, led by Dr. Roy B. Ferrer, national president of Ambassador Philippines International, attend to kindergarten and

by psycho therapy for the thousands who were suffering from shock and trauma, The foodstuffs overflowed and getting spoiled, many families in the tents were already eating four meals a day.

When it was time for the Ambassadors to deliver the assistance, critically needed were still relocation sites for the homeless. The other needs were school supplies as the children had to go back to classes before they close for the long summer vacation in late March or early April.

The club decided to buy backpack bags for the children with notebooks, pens, crayon, slippers and some snacks inside. We also decided to purchase brand new desktop computer units to be donated to recipient schools.

With almost one ton of the school supplies, Ambassadors Roy, past national president Louie Bonguyan, past Davao chapter president Bel Reta and teasurer Mary Jeam Aninao motored to Cagayan de Oro and Iligan on February 24 to 26.

It was an 8-hour trip on a bumpy highway that was under repair.

The venerable Ambassador Uy Ching Siong offered to bring the heavy cargo on his delivery van.

Undaunted by his 88 summers, Ambassador Siong also heroically joined the grueling trip in his Expedition, with a driver and a lady assistant. We share some photos on the Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City.

nursery students in Cagayan de Oro City. Dr. Roy and his group raised almost half a million pesos for the Sendong for distribution to the typhoon victims.

MR SIONG. Ambassador Uy Ching Siong, the venerable owner of DIMDI and a host of other business enterprises in Davao City and elsewhere in Mindanao, cuddles three kids during the distribution of more than 1,000 backpacks, slippers and school

supplies to survivors of Tropical Storm “Sendong” last December. The Ambassador Club Davao and the Ambassador Club Philippines combined resources to raise funds for the children in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan last month.

DESTRUCTION. This subdivision called Orchids near the giant river in Iligan was one of the area badly battered. At the height of the flood, the houses were destroyed beyond repair, while

majority of its occupants either drowned or hospitalized. Below, this bridge broke into two at the height of the flood.

EDGEDAVAO

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

SUBURBIA

Military, LGU’s extend basic services to hinterlands The convergence of Peace and Development Teams of Davao Del Norte Provincial Government Offices, 1003rd Brigade, PNP Davao Del Norte, and other line agencies lend yesterday, 23 March 2012, the basic services right up to the seemingly-isolated folks of Bgy Mambing which was situated at the mountainous timberlands, the edge and peak of New Corella Municipality of the province.

The community warmly hailed the presence of the convergence teams; - the one-of-akind government presence they had been longing for; - the exciting respond to the interviews, prior and after the health, social services, livelihood and other assistance rendered by each convergence team’s shop.

The services of each team started ahead of the program proper which simultaneosly launched with the Barangay Forum wherein every head of office/agency were alloted time to intruduce their services and open for consultations on specific community problems that concerned their office.

The Provincial Health Officer Dr Agapito B Hornido announces his most needed shop that had been helping the residents on health care, giving free medical and dental consultation and medicines, laboratory services, x-ray, ECG, minor surgery, malaria case finding, treated mosquito net, Tutok Kubeta and Operation Tuli.

Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer Arlene Simblante advocated and facilitated the Pantawid Program, Social Pension for the elderly, Women Development Center, reading materials and slippers for elemantary pupils and Day Care children, milk feeding, free lugaw and free drug testing to address some existing social problems.

Engineer Josiejen Rabanoz, head of The Provincial Planning and Development Officer talks on infra-structural development of the province.

She urged barangay officials to submit and coordinate for the updates of their request to hasten the facilitation of the

project for funding with partner agencies like OPAPP and PAMANA. Provincial Agriculture Officer, Jun A Incarnation, also deals on veterinary nutrition, facilitated the distribution of twenty-five sacks of corn seedlings, animal dispersal and the distribution of reading materials for mushroom culture. The shop also distributed carp fingerlings to those who have fishponds.

Provincial Veterinary officer Renato R Embate’s team took charge on artificial insemination, Deworming (hog and poultry) and antirabies vaccination.

Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office head, Mrs Cudal conducted information drive on tree growing, reforestation, climate change and waste management.

Lawaan seedlings were distributed.

Provincial Legal Officer Edmark Wakan’s shop stressed on the importance of legal documents. His shop facilitated the processing of late registration, affidavit of legitimation and cedula (Residence Certificate) for free.

The program proper commensed with the pledges of support by the invited VIPs, awarding of Certificate of Recognition, awarding of wheelchair, ceremonial distribution of slippers and reading materials for Day Care children and elementary pupils.

Congressman Anthony G del Rosario, in his speech, expressed appreciation for the convergence and pledged his support to facilitate for the availability of funds to develop the farm to market road which is one of the perenial problems of the barangay.

Police Senior Superentendent Ceasar Asarez, Deputy Provincial Director, DDN, rxpressed hails the convergence as the wholesome scheme that shifted the orientation of PNP personnel from

Quips

‘posing’ in the cities and poblacions to unite with the AFP, LGAs and LGUs in bringing the service to the far-plunged barangay. ‘The PNP is comitted to resort to all necessary measure to protect the people agains any form of criminalities hand the military’, Asarez added.

1003rd Brigade Commander, COL LYSANDER A SUERTE stressed the essence of ‘Panaghugpong’ and further call the people to help with the sincere intent of the government to save our lost brothers to go back the mainstream of the society and live their normal lives, happilly with their family and loved ones.

‘With that, insurgency will be insignificant and peace will prevail, then, with the all-out support of the AFP, PNP and the Provincial Government, the essence of convergence will be focussed on the realm of sustainable development,’ COL SUERTE added.

In Governor Rodulfo del Rosario’ behalf, Vice Gov Victoriano ‘Baby’ Suaybagio, Jr. hailed the commitment of the Army and PNP in the convergence which reenforces the spirit of brotherhood being one Filipino blood. Together with the LGUs, the government is brought to the people. This is because we love ourselves as brothers and sisters, and we must, because we are all Filipinos. “Tungod niini, ang padayon natong panaghugpng ug panagigsoonay maoy magdala kanato ngadto sa hingpit nga kalinaw ug kalamboan”, Suaybaguio added in his closing statement.

Then, the ceromonial awarding of wheelchair, distribution of slippers, reading materials, carp fingerlings, corn and lawaan seedlings highlighted the essence of the program as it ended for the comtinuation of musical entertainment of 1003rd Bde’s RAPTOR BAND with the magic show of Cpl Julius Bolotano.

“I believe China is very sincere that it does not want to see North Korea with a nuclear weapon. But it is going to have to act on that interest in a sustained way.”

--US President Barack Obama in pressing Chinese President Hu Jintao to do more to persuade North Korea to scuttle plans for a rocket launch.

SARANGANI BAY– In this file photo, swimmers and crew ride past the majestic view of Mt. Matutum as they join the SwimAcross-the-Bay race as one of the highlights of the annual celebration of Sarangani Bay Festival. Guests and tourist can witness this 15-kilometer or an average of three hours swim relay from start to finish and get a chance to see dolphins and

11

pilot whales while crossing Sarangani Bay by renting boats of local fishermen. The Swim-Across-the-Bay will be on May 18, 2012 at 5 o’clock in the morning in barangay Tinoto in Maasim and will end up in barangay Tango in Glan. Come and enjoy Sarangani Bay Festival on May 18-19, 2012.

12

WORLD/NATION

NATION BRIEFS Losing

W

ORLD boxing champion and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao on Monday revealed that he is losing endorsements abroad because his image had been tainted by a tax evasion case filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Pacquiao said that his BIR case has tarnished his reputation overseas by creating a wrong impression that he is already being charged with tax evasion.

A

Arrested

N overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who reportedly went into hiding for a year in South Korea was arrested upon arrival on Tuesday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminal 2 on board Philippine Airlines flight PR 469 at around 11:30pm.

Airport immigration authorities identified the Filipino suspect as Jessie Magaway of Pasay City who has a bench warrant of arrest issued

by Paranaque Regional Trial Court in violation of Section 5(a) of the Republic Act 9262 (anti violence against women and their children act of 2004.

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

PHL gaming market gears up WORLD TODAY to beat Las Vegas, Singapore I Critical

T

HE Philippine gaming market is gearing up to overtake those in Las Vegas and Singapore with the completion of four integrated resorts with a total area of 100 hectares in the Manila Bay reclamation complex in the next four years.

The country’s total revenues from gaming activities are expected to reach US$ 10 billion once the integrated resorts at the Entertainment City start full operations by 2016, according to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor).

The amount is higher than Singapore’s US$

6.9-billion projected gaming revenues for this year from its only two integrated resort projects.

“In the Philippines, we have so much to offer. We have the best beaches in the country and historical sites just few kilometers from the Entertainment City,” said Pagcor chairman Cristino Naguiat during a forum organized by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines and San Miguel Corp.

He cited other competitive advantages of the Philippines among other Asian countries, including its strategic location and the hospitality of Filipinos who can speak Eng-

lish fluently.

Recognizing these advantages, Naguiat said the integrated resort will be packaged into a more family-oriented one in an effort to attract more foreign tourists to visit the country.

“The father can play in the casino while the mother can go shopping.

We have a total package for the Philippines, unlike others. They could not package all these into one -- going to beaches and historical sites and gaming (activities),” he stressed.

Naguiat bared that they are in talks with a number of hoteliers that are planning to build ho-

tels within the integrated resorts.

These prospective investors are on top of the four proponents of the Entertainment City which are committed to invest a minimum of US$ 1 billion each.

These proponents are Bloomberry Hotels and Resort Inc., Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc., the SM Consortium and the Travellers International.

“It should not be just a hotel casino but should also have retail stores, a theater. It should be a one-stop shop for tourists; they don’t have to go out to do something else,” he said.

No red alert

A

RMED Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Jessie Dellosa on Tuesday said that no “red alert” calls will be sounded as the New People’s Army (NPA) celebrates its 43th founding anniversary on March 29.

However, Dellosa clarified that the entire AFP will remain vigilance and will continue its intelligence monitoring operations against known threats against the government.

S

Conversion

AYING his proposed law will help improve the health services delivery throughout the country, Senator Franklin M. Drilon has filed a bill seeking the conversion of national government hospitals into government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs).

Drilon said the restructuring of national government hospitals to corporate entities will capacitate them to engage in revenue-generating activities, and proceeds of which can be used to subsidize medical care of indigent patients.

Casino Filipino

Iran execution surge lifts world toll

A

sharp rise in executions in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq pushed the known world total to at least 676 in 2011, Amnesty International reported Tuesday, but said the real figure was much higher with China still putting thousands of people to death every year.

But although the number of executions was rising, fewer countries were using the ultimate penalty last year, the London-based rights group said in its annual review of death sentences and executions worldwide.

While China continues to execute more people than the rest of the world put together, Amnesty said it had reduced the number of offences facing the death penalty, abolishing its use for 13 mainly white collar crimes.

Amnesty called on Beijing to publish data on those executed or sentenced to death.

Globally, those executed in 2011 were killed by a number of methods: behead-

ing, hanging, lethal injection and shooting.

Amnesty said China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea and Saudi Arabia were using “confessions” obtained through torture. And some countries -- Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and Somalia -- held public executions.

Figures on the death penalty remained classified in Belarus, China, Mongolia and Vietnam, Amnesty noted, with little or no official data from Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Malaysia, North Korea and Singapore.

Amnesty highlighted a significant increase in judicial killings in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia last year.

Iran had executed at least 360 people, three-quarters of them for drugs offences, the report said, up from at least 252 in 2010. Saudi Arabia had executed at least 82, compared with 27 the year before.

The increase in these two countries alone more than accounted for the 149 net increase in known executions

across the world.

Iraq had executed at least 68, the United States 43 and Yemen at least 41, it added.

But Amnesty said it had credible reports of at least a further 274 unconfirmed or even “secret” executions in Iran. And at least three people killed by Tehran were under 18 when they committed their crimes.

It also cited reports of four further juvenile offender executions in Iran, and one in Saudi Arabia.

While the Arab uprisings had changed the political landscape in North Africa and the Middle East in 2011, hopes that this would lead to changes to the death penalty “have yet to be realised”, Amnesty said.

And although the total number of death sentences in the region fell by a third compared to 2010, actual executions increased by almost half, because of Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Amnesty secretary general Salil Shetty remained optimistic however.

“Even among the small group of countries that executed in 2011, we can see gradual progress,” Shetty said.

“These are small steps but such incremental measures have been shown ultimately to lead to the end of the death penalty.

“It is not going to happen overnight but we are determined that we will see the day when the death penalty is consigned to history.”

The offences for which people had been executed or sentenced to death included adultery, sodomy, apostasy and “enmity against God” in Iran, blasphemy in Pakistan, sorcery in Saudi Arabia and the trafficking of human bones in the Republic of Congo, said Amnesty.

Some 18,750 people were under a death sentence at the end of 2011, compared to 17,833 in 2010.

But only 20 countries used capital punishment last year, down from 23 in 2010 and 31 a decade ago.

NDIAN doctors operated on a Tibetan exile who set himself alight and suffered severe burns in a protest against a visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to New Delhi this week, his family said on Tuesday.

Jamphel Yeshi underwent the procedure overnight at the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in the city after he doused himself in fuel and lit his clothes at a demonstration against alleged repression of Tibetans by the Chinese government.

D

Charged

ISGRACED former IMF chief Dominique StraussKahn was charged with involvement in an organised vice ring that procured prostitutes for top-class clients, lawyers said.

Prosecutors said the 62-year-old former Socialist finance minister and one-time presidential favourite had been released on 100,000 euros ($135,000) bail after the charges on “aggravated pimping as part of an organised gang”.

T

Sorry

HE president of a company at the centre of scandal in which $1.3 billion of pension fund cash was lost said on Tuesday he was sorry but did not explain how he might get the money back.

“I would like to apologise to all the members (of the pensions fund),” AIJ president Kazuhiko Asakawa told a parliamentary panel in his first public appearance since the scandal surfaced in February.

Impediment

U

.S. President Barack Obama made clear on Tuesday he expects election-year politics to prevent a breakthrough with Moscow on missile defense before 2013 as he staunchly defended remarks caught on camera the day before with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Obama was overheard telling Medvedev on Monday that he would have “more flexibility” to deal with contentious arms-control issues after the November 6 U.S. election, drawing sharp criticism back home from his Republican foes.

EDGEDAVAO

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VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

Davao... Energy...

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nomic growth in the region,” Lim said, adding that more people found fulltime employment in 2011 due to more job opportunities with the opening of more wholesale and retail trade subsectors, as well as in construction.

Conversely, NEDA noted the drop in employment under the agricultural sector brought about by the continuing shift from agriculture sector to the services sector in 2011 compared with the past two years.

In 2009, workers under the services sector numbered 763,000 while agricultural workers ere pegged at 710,000 and, as the trend continued in 2011,the services sector recorded employment of 800,000 workers while 704,000 were classified as agricultural workers.

NEDA 11 also noted a drop in poverty rate in the region by 0.6 percent in 2011, thus the region had a lower poverty rate than the other regions.

Assistant regional director Bonifacio Uy attributed this to the “good business climate in the region which brought in more investments that in turn generated more jobs.

The energy conservation and efficiency seminar was held at the Abreeza Mall on Monday attended by 250 people from various barangays, teachers, students, local government units in the region, and nongovernment organizations.

It was held in partnership with the DOE, the World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines (WWFP) and the regional Philippine Information Agency office, in coordination with the Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC).

The event served as an opportunity for the participants to understand and be convinced to participate in the staging of the Earth Hour 2012 set on March 31.

Patrick Co, WWFP project manager for sustainable consumption and production and green economy, also discussed climate change mitigation and adaptation.

“If before we thought climate change was just a myth, climate change is already upon us. Every year we experience heavy rains and flooding, these are the effects of climate change,” Co said, adding that the time to conserve energy is now.

Marquez said if there is less energy consumption

then power plants ‘would not have to have so much carbon emmission.’

“Less carbon emmission means less concentration in the atmosphere which in the broadest scale would lessen climate change,” he said.

Understanding the electric bill and learning the electric meter have been a common concern of the household, thus DLPC officials gave lessons on this.

Among the many tips the officials gave to the attendees was to inform regarding phantom loads.

Marlon Domingo, senior. science research specialist of the DOE division, said a phantom load is an electrical device that is operating 24 hours a day even if you think the device is turned off.

“The surest way in to kill these phantom loads is to make sure the plugs are pulled. Huwag niyong iwanang naka-kabit ang plug ng TV, ng aircon, ng stereo at kung ano pa man kung hindi naman itong nagagamit. It will only suck in energy na hindi naman napapakinabangan,” Domingo said.

Also a highlight of the event was the pledging of commitment to save energy every day.

Davao dance craze marks Earth Hour O

VER a thousand Dabawenyos are expected to groove into a dance craze once the world plunges into sixty-minute darkness from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm in observance of Earth Hour 2012 on March 31.

A choreographed dance moves called the Davao Dance Craze together with black-light and fire dancing will mark the ceremonial switching-off of lights in the country’s 5th Earth Hour celebration in an aim to save power and the environment.

Davao City is set to be in festive and street party mood during the event at SM City Davao which is chosen by the World Wide Fund for Nature-Philippines (WWF) to be the official switch-off site for Mindanao.

Maia Melencio, WWF marketing services manager, said the Earth Hour celebration in Davao will highlight a Kadayawan-themed parade around SM City Davao to start at the mall’s annex building at 6:00 pm.

Melencio told the media in a press conference on March 23 that WWF-Philippines National Ambassador Marc Nelson will host the

event in the city where tribal dances and candle lighting will also be featured.

She said that SM City Davao has asked dance troupes in the city to develop the Davao Dance Craze which could be viewed at the mall’s official Facebook fun page for Davaoenos to learn and master before the event.

SM City Davao mall manager Lynette Lopez said they have invited schools and other establishments in Davao City to join the whole country and other parts of the world in this year’s onehour switching-off of lights.

Lopez said teachers and students from Enrico T. Nograles National High School and Sta. Ana National High School will also participate in the parade and street party.

“We’re inviting all Davaoenos to come and join us in this gathering for the environment conservation. There will be many surprises,” she urged.

WWF-Philippines has partnered with SM City Davao and Green Alliance for Davao in staging the Earth Hour activities in Davao City.

Aside from Davao, the Earth Hour ceremonies will also be held at Ayala Triangle in Makati City as central hub for Luzon and at Plaza Independencia in Cebu as the official site for Visayas.

Activities in the WWFled switch-off points will be live streamed where the speech of Earth Hour founder and executive director Andy Ridley of Australia could be heard.

Ridley is expected to celebrate Earth Hour 2012 in the Philippines which has been rewarded for being number one in terms of town and city participation level for three straight years.

WWF-Phils. Earth Hour communication head Gregg Yan hoped that the country could still make it to the top this year. The country was the first Asian nation to pledge full support to Earth Hour in 2008.

Yan said the Philippines has set a record-breaking in 2011 as 1,661 cities and municipalities switched off their lights, making the country a three-time Earth Hour champion and official Earth Hour ‘Hero Country.’

of all citizens to quality education at all levels and take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all.

Public rural farm schools shall be free from tuition and other school fees, except those fees which may be allowed by the Department of Education. Private rural farm

schools shall set a minimal fees subject to the approval of DepEd, provided that the relatives of beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) up to the third degree of consanguinity in the descending line shall be exempt from payment of said fees based on the bill.

gusta last year. However, his win at the Match Play Championships a few weeks ago automatically makes him someone to watch for to make noise late into this weekend.

The Chunked Flops Geoff Ogilvy The 6’2 easy-going Aussie always seems to be in the conversation come major-tournament time, especially after his T-4 at Augusta in 2011.

However, Ogilvy has been struggling to produce viable results on a consistent basis, and he has sporadic driving of the golf ball to blame for his lack of success. Hitting only 58% of your fairways just won’t cut it at Augusta, and it seems like it might take a few extra months before Ogilvy rounds back into major championship contending form.

Rory Sabbatini Despite his top-10 finish to kick off his season at the Tournament of Champions, Rory has spiraled quickly down-

hill thereafter. Coupled with the fact that Augusta National and he haven’t been able to get along in recent memory (he is 15 over par there in the past two years) it is safe to say Sabbatini should be avoided in all household fantasy golf competitions.

And the winner will be….Rory McIlroy.

People have forgotten too quickly about his dominant performance at the US Open less than a year ago, and it is Rory’s time to shine at Augusta.

No one in the world is playing better golf than Rory right now, and he has the best swing on the planet on his side.

Rory has held up through the pressure of being thrust into the number 1 ranking (and consequently the golfing world spotlight) and the expert’s prediction is that he will survive a final group pairing with Woods on Sunday to capture his first of many green jackets at Augusta.

Ungab...

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core subjects of social sciences, numeracy, literacy with focus on agriculture or fisheries and patterned after the needs of rural, agricultural or fisheries communities.

The proposed establishment of rural farm schools is in pursuance of the State policy to protect and promote the right

Tiger...

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of the leaderboard Bubba Watson Another amazingly consistent performer so far this season, Watson has not finished outside the top 18 in any tournament in which he has entered this season. The difference has been his ability to harness the power of his monstrous driving skill.

If you have watched Watson at all this season, it has been amazing to see how he has turned 7,400 yard courses into his personal pitch and putt stomping grounds. More than 40% of all of his tee shots travel further than 320 yards. If Bubba can consistently keep turning 508 yard par 4s into Driver-Pitching Wedge holes for himself, he must be considered in any Masters conversation.

Hunter Mahan After back-to-back top 10 Masters finishes in 2009 and 2010, the ultratalented Mahan would be more on the Masters radar if not for his MC at Au-

14 SPORTS

Pacquiaocries harassment

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

By Neil Bravo

B

OXING champion Manny Pacquiao took to the podium like it was another promotional tour of an upcoming fight.

Dressed in tuxedo, today’s world’s highest-paid boxer, indeed announced his next fight. No, this is not against Timothy Bradley, the young undefeated American whom he will facing on May 5.

This is not against the flamboyant Floyd Mayweather either.

The fighting congressman from Sarangani, whose net worth have breached the billion peso mark, is waging a new fight. This time, not on top of the ring.

Pacquiao was recently slapped with complaint by the Bureau of Internal Revenue for non-submission of tax documents.

The eight-time world champion says the criminal complaint against him

Legal team wants Jeremy Lin named medical marijuana stopped

T

HE lawyers for Jeremy Lin have a message for those dealing “Linsanity’ medical marijuana: you are one toke over the line.

“Their enthusiasm for Jeremy Lin got ahead of their understanding of the law,” Pamela Deese of the Washington, D.C., firm Arent Fox. Several California dispensaries have gotten cease-and-desist letters and are also being asked for letters of apologies.

The news of the marijuana first surfaced in tweets by entertainment stars Rick Ross and Stalley. The product was going for $60 for an eighth of an ounce.

“You can’t file a trademark when there’s a clear connection to someone else’s name,” Deese said.

“In this case, Jeremy Lin has the right to his name and related names and marks, as well as his signature, voice and likeness.

That’s all part of his intellectual property.”

Li Na (right) of China in action against Sabine Lisicki of Germany during Day 8 at Crandon Park Tennis Center at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida.

by the Philippine tax bureau is “plain and simple harassment” and he has never shortchanged the government.

After hearing of comparisons of the fate his chief rival Mayweather is facing, Pacquiao says he has no plans going to jail.

Pacquiao dismissed speculation that he may

follow fellow boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. to prison, saying “I would rather see him inside the ring, not in a jail.”

After his upcoming fight with Miguel Cotto, Mayweather is due to serve a 90-day jail sentence in a domestic violence case in Nevada. He and Pacquiao have been

unable to agree on terms for a fight that the world wanted to see.

Pacquiao was slapped with a criminal complaint for allegedly failing to submit tax documents.

Prosecutors haven’t decided if there is enough evidence for a court case. Pacquiao could face up to two years in prison if convicted.

JAM. (Below, left) Charles Mamie leaps over three Phoenix personnel in the finals of the Royal Mandaya Hotel Slam Dunk competition, a sidelight of the recent Araw ng Dabaw Invitational basketball tournament. Mamie’s efforts went short as Devon Sullivan (top) won the slamfest with routines made of a vicious 360-degree and a windmill. [BOY LIM]

Boxing historian Bert Sugar dies at 75

Bert Sugar 1937-2012

B

ERT Randolph Sugar, the legendary boxing writer and historian, and one of the sport’s most colorful and iconic characters, died Sunday afternoon in Mount Kisco, N.Y., after a long battle with lung cancer.

Sugar was 75 when he succumbed to cardiac arrest. He was surrounded by family at Northern Westchester Medical Center.

With his fedora and ever-present cigar, Sugar was an instantly recognizable figure who loved to talk, and he could talk and write about boxing like few others. There weren’t many better ambassadors of the sport than Sugar.

Sugar wrote more than 80 books, and was present at many of the greatest fights in boxing history, including the unparalleled Ali-Frazier heavyweight trilogy. He wrote about those fights in a special Muhammad Ali edition for USA TODAY two years ago.

Here’s how Sugar started his story: “Some day, when ring historians gather ‘round boxing’s smoldering campfire to tell stories of great fights, going all the way back to the time when spectators wore grapes in their hair and the lions ate the losers, one fight from

that long laundry list will be remembered as having been one of the greatest two-sided fights in boxing history: Ali-Frazier III.” He was best known as the editor and publisher of Boxing Illustrated and Ring magazine. Sugar was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as an observer in 2005.

“Bert Sugar was a truly colorful character in the sport of boxing,” said Hall of Fame executive director Edward Brophy. “His quick wit and amazing knowledge about boxing made him a fan favorite as a writer and as a commentator. As the boxing community mourns his passing, the Hall remembers him and his contributions to the sport.”

Sugar was also wellversed in other sports, and one of his books, Bert Sugar’s Baseball Hall of Fame: A Living History of America’s Greatest Game, has been described as a “treasure chest” of memories.

Sugar graduated from the University of Maryland and earned a JD and MBA from the University of Michigan in 1961. After passing the bar exam, he worked in the advertising business in New York City for a decade, and was one of the “Mad Men” of the ‘60s.

INdulge!

EVENTS

One big family of fabulous friends B

I RT H DAYS are always special occasions, especially when family and friends are involved.

Such was Rochelle del Rosario’s birthday celebration held at the beautiful ancestral home of Chin-chin Lat-Santos.

Family and close friends even all the way from Tagum were present to catch up and enjoy the fabulous evening that had great food - thanks to both John Punsalan’s Ningnang Food Services and Carmina del Rosario’s The Crazy Cook. And many thanks also to the wine that flowed and the great company, there was never a dull moment in this big family of friends.

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

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A2 INdulge!

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

Photo by Maniniyot Community Models Sam, Jesse, and Kim of Glam Model House

YOUTH ISSUES

Summer fling dos and don’ts A

summer fling, they say, is the best summer accessory; it is the best way to make a summer memorable and much more fun. Although some people bash it for being too forward, as it inevitably involves wanton sex, a lot of people also enjoy it for being hassle- and drama- free. And therein lays the allure of a summer fling. Like most relationships, a summer fling involves two people who are attracted to each other and probably even appreciate each other.

Unlike most relationships, it can not involve jealousy, genuine love, commitment, or setting rules and creating boundaries.

However, a summer fling can get really tricky. In the strictest form of it, love is not allowed to commence and extending the relationship after the season of the sun is never really an option. The thing is, unlike real relationships, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to summer flings.

If you want to indulge in a sexy summer fling this season, here are some of the Do’s and Don’ts to observe.

tion comes with a definite end-date, and this would require your summer fling to end once you get back home.

The good news is that if you indulge in a summer fling while on vacation, the other party would understand that the relationship is anything but permanent.

DO: Stay protected.

DON’T: Get pregnant or im-

thing exciting together like taking up an extreme sport.

DON’T: Plan your (summer) life around your summer fling. Doing this is just plain uncool and inappropriate for a summer fling. You should make yourself available to your summer fling when you are available. Moving your appointments and engagements to go on a date with

much.

DON’T: Try to make the summer fling extend into a full blown relationship. Obviously, there is always a possibility of it extending and growing into a real relationship that overcomes the summer constraint of a fling, but if it does not happen naturally, do not try to force it either. Again, the key to summer flings is being casual about everything.

DO: Keep your fling private.

Remember that a summer fling is supposed to seem fun, light, carefree, and exciting.

Introducing your summer fling to all your friends would just kill the excitement of the moment. Plus, it will make all of your friends assume that you are dating; something that you do not want people to think because you obvi-

DON’T: Look for summer flings in the wrong places. What would count as a wrong place? Places that you frequent; especially the work place, gym, or church. Remember, you would want to forget about your fling once summer ends, so seeing the person too often would defeat the purpose.

DO: If you do not have a summer fling prospect yet, it is a great idea to do something that would expose you to new people like taking classes or summer jobs. This will give you an opportunity to meet new people in a setting that is very temporary (like the perfect summer fling).

DON’T: Look for summer flings in the wrong places.

What would count as a wrong place? Places that you frequent; especially the work place, gym, or church. Remember, you would want to forget about your fling once summer ends, so seeing the person too often would defeat the purpose.

DO: Look for a summer fling while on vacation. Your vaca-

pregnate your partner. This will obviously destroy the fantasy of a short-lived fling.

DON’T: Choosing blindly is not a good way to approach summer flings. In the end, a summer fling is still some sort of relationship albeit one that will not last long. You would still need to screen the person for any negative attributes (especially possessiveness) or for any disease (especially STDs).

DO: Use your fling to consume your time. When it all boils down to it, you want a summer fling because the season bores you as you crave for more action and adventure. Plan adventurous dates out of town with your summer fling or do some-

your summer fling is just crazy and seems too much like a real relationship.

DO: Clue your summer fling in about your plans. Tell him/ her that you do not want a real relationship and that you are in a stage where you just want to have fun without commitment.

DON’T: Tell them straight out that they are a summer fling.

That’s just tacky. Let them figure it out for themselves.

DO: Go with the flow. Just enjoy how the fling is and how you interact with each other. Remember that the point of having a summer fling is for the both of you to have fun. So do not be too serious about it, and do not think about your status too

ously plan to sever the relationship once June steps in.

DON’T: Ever introduce your fling to your parents. That’s just crazy. Duh. DO: Enjoy the benefits of a summer fling. First, it takes up some of your time, which is always good if you are bored. A summer fling can also bring back your belief in romance after a bad breakup or a series of bad dates.

DON’T: Let your heart get in the way. In cases like these, falling in love is not an option. Think with your heart and not with your head. Enjoy the romance, but keep your guards up.

DO: Something worth remembering. Go on a vacation together and choose

your destination wisely. The best destination could be somewhere the both of you have never been to. This will at least give you something to look back on in the future.

DON’T: Divulge very personal information. Psychos are everywhere these days.

Remember, the more they know about you, the more dangerous they can be to you. The thing with summer flings is that it happens so fast that sometimes you do not have a chance to get to know the person too well so it helps to keep your guards up.

DO: Be honest with yourself. You have to know if you are ready for a fling or if you want a real relationship at this stage in your life. Confusing one with the other is the worst thing you could do because that is tantamount to setting yourself for some heart ache. Most people who involve themselves with summer flings and end up falling in love and heart broken are those who fail to be honest with themselves even before agreeing to begin a summer rendezvous.

DON’T: Be clingy afterwards.

Although it would be tempting to want to spend more time with your fling after summer, it would simply come off as annoying and clingy.

When you feel the urge to get back with your summer fling, remind yourself that flings come with expiration dates.

What do you do then? Look for another fling to occupy yourself with.

Catch Confessions of a Partyphile (the radio show) on 105.9 Mix FM every Wednesday evenings from 6 to 9. For comments, suggestions, and more confessions from this partyphile, log on to http://party.i.ph or follow the columnist at twitter. com/zhaun

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

INdulge! A3

WELLNESS

Flat belly tips Y

OU’D love to have a flat belly for the summer bikini party, but thanks to one too many sodas or that pack of tortilla chips, zipping your pants is a real struggle. Abdominal bloating not only looks bad, but can cause physical discomfort. The good news? Experts say stomach bloating is a condition you can avoid pretty easily.

We’re not talking about extra pounds of stomach fat here, but the temporary abdominal distention that plagues most everyone from time to time. Unless your stomach bloating is because of a medical condition, such as liver or heart disease, the only real cause is intestinal gas - not “water weight,” says Michael Jensen, MD, an endocrinologist and obesity researcher at Mayo Clinic.

“It is a myth that bloating in the stomach is from fluid accumulation in healthy adults, because the abdomen is not a place where fluids accumulate first,” Jensen says. “Instead, you would see it in your feet or ankles as long as you are upright.”

So what causes gas to accumulate and wreak havoc on how you feel and look?

Experts say there are several causes, from food intolerances to constipation.

Flat Belly Tip No. 1: Avoid Constipation.

Too little fiber, fluids, and physical activity can lead to constipation, which can result in bloating, Jensen says.

To avoid this, eat a diet high in fiber (25 daily grams for women and 38 for men) from whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds.

Also, drink plenty of fluids (aim for 6-8 glasses a day) and aim for physical activity for at least 30 minutes, five times a week.

If you’re eating a low-fiber diet, gradually bump up the fiber level, making sure you also drink plenty of fluids for better tolerance.

Flat Belly Tip No. 2: Rule Out Wheat Allergies or Lactose Intolerance.

Food allergies and intolerances can cause gas and bloating, but these need to be confirmed by your doctor. Many people self-diagnose these conditions and unnecessarily eliminate healthy dairy and whole grains from their diets.

If you suspect you have an allergy or intolerance, see your doctor for tests.

You may benefit from reducing the amount of the suspected food and/or eating it with other foods. In the case of dairy, it can help to choose aged cheeses and yogurts, which are lower in lactose.

Flat Belly Tip No. 3: Don’t Eat Too Fast.

Eating quickly and not chewing your food well can cause air swallowing that leads to bloating, says Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, author of The Flexitarian Diet.

So slow down and enjoy your food.

Your meals should last at least 30 minutes. Also, keep in mind that digestion begins in the mouth, and you can decrease bloating just by chewing your food more, Blatner says.

There’s another benefit to slowing things down: When you take your time to thoroughly chew and taste your food, your snack or meal becomes more sat-

isfying. And studies have shown that if you eat more slowly, you may end up eating less.

Flat Belly Tip No. 4: Don’t Overdo Carbonated Drinks.

The fizz in carbonated drinks (even diet ones) can cause gas to get trapped in your belly, Blatner says.

Instead, drink water flavored with lemon, lime, or cucumber. Or just reduce the number of fizzy drinks you consume each day. Try some peppermint tea for a soothing beverage that may help reduce bloat.

Flat Belly Tip No. 5: Don’t Overdo Chewing Gum. Chewing gum can also lead to swallowing air, which can cause bloating.

If you’ve got a gum habit, alternate chewing gum with sucking on a piece of hard candy or eating a healthy, highfiber snack like fruit, vegetables, or lower-fat popcorn.

Flat Belly Tip No. 6: Watch Out for Sugar-Free Foods.

“Many of my patients suffer from bloating because they consume too much sugar alcohol in artificially sweetened foods and drinks,” which can lead to bloating, Blatner says.

Experts recommend consuming no more than 2-3 servings per day of artificially sweetened foods and drinks.

Flat Belly Tip No. 7: Limit Sodium.

Highly processed foods tend to be high in sodium and low in fiber, both of which can contribute to that bloated feeling, Jensen says.

Get in the habit of reading food labels, Blatner advises. When buying processed, canned, or frozen foods, shoot for no more than 500 mg of sodium per serving in any product -- or a total of 1,500 to 2,300 mg of sodium per day.

Look for labels that say “sodium free,” “ low sodium,” or “very low sodium.”

Flat Belly Tip No. 8: Go Slow with Beans and Gassy Vegetables.

If you’re not used to eating beans, they can cause that gassy feeling. So can the cruciferous family of vegetables, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower.

That doesn’t mean you should give up on these super-nutritious, high-fiber vegetables.

“Don’t be nervous about beans,” Blatner says. “Just work them into your

diet slowly until your body adjusts to the compounds that can initially cause gas.”

Or, you can take an anti-gas product, which can help reduce gas from beans or vegetables.

Flat Belly Tip No. 9: Eat Smaller Meals More Often Instead of three big meals per day, try eating smaller meals more often. This can keep you free of the bloated feeling that often follows large meals. Eating more frequently can also help control blood sugar and manage hunger.

So go for five to six small meals each day, but make sure the quantity of food and calories are proportionate to your needs. To create a daily meal plan that includes the recommended amounts of all major nutrients, visit the FNRIDOST website.

Flat Belly Tip No. 10: Try AntiBloating Foods and Drinks.

A few studies suggest that peppermint tea, ginger, pineapple, parsley, and yogurts containing probiotics (“good” bacteria) may help reduce bloating.

“These are safe foods that are good for you when used appropriately, so why not try them and see if they help you de-bloat?” Blatner says.

A Final Word About Stomach Fat Experts agree that laxatives, water pills, fasting, and skipping meals are not recommended, either to help you debloat or lose weight.

If you’re looking to flatten your belly for the long term, there’s no substitute for losing a few pounds, Jensen says.

“For most everyone, when you lose total body fat, your body reduces belly fat preferentially,” he says. “Even though people lose weight differently, there is a little more lost in the abdominal region than elsewhere.”

Experts also say that doing ab exercises all day long won’t get rid of the excess belly. Although you can’t necessarily spot reduce, you can strengthen abdominal muscles with routines like Pilates and exercise ball workouts. And, stronger muscles can help your belly appear flatter.

“Toning and strengthening the abdominal muscles can help you look less fat and improve your appearance, muscle tone, and posture, which is also very good for your back,” Jensen says.

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VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

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

Koronadal

Gen. Santos Drive, Koronadal City Telefax No.: (083) 520-0816 Mobile No.: 0922-843-9427 email: manggorio09@yahoo.com

Khloe Kardashian quits PETA

E

! Online reports that after years of being a vocal supporter for PETA, Khloé Kardashian Odom has officially severed ties with the animal-rights organization.

Writing on her blog and Twitter, the reality star explains that she is “absolutely disgusted by their behavior” after a shocking link surfaced between the group and the flourbomb attack on Kim Kardashian last week.

E! News has confirmed that the woman who blasted Kim is Chris-

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tina Cho, a very active animal rights activist who PETA has past referred to as a “superstar activist.” The organization even presented Cho with an award in 2010 for her activism.

Now the crazy connection part: Christina is the sister of Los Angeles-based PETA official Michelle Cho, who helped coordinate Khloé’s

nude PETA PSA. Michelle was even featured in a Keeping Up With the Kardashians episode dedicated to Khloé’s PETA shoot.

A source close to the situation tells E! News exclusively that Christina’s flour-powered stunt was done without the knowledge—or sactioning— of Michelle or PETA.

EDGEDAVAO

SPORTS

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

2012 Masters Preview

15

Tiger is back but Rory is it P

HIl Mickelson has opened up the season in top form, earning a victory at Pebble, followed by a playoff loss the next week at the Northern Trust Open.

Newly crowned world number1 Rory McIlroy seems poised to be the first golfer in a while capable of holding that spot for the better part of the next decade. Considering the fact that he is just 22 years of age, it would mark the first time we have seen the likes of that since…

Oh right. Tiger.

Speaking of Tiger, who just happens to be coming fresh off of a dominating 5-shot victory at Bay Hill, a possible breakthrough win that ended a 923 day victory drought, it’s safe to say we might have a bit of a golf tournament brewing.

Here is the expert’s preview of the field for the 2012 Masters, plus a

Heat lose two in a row

prediction for who will don the green jacket on Sunday.

The Contenders Tiger Woods It’s safe to say: Red is back.

Breaking through this weekend at Bay Hill could not have come at a better time for Tiger, heading into one of his most hyped tournaments in recent memory. The key statistics are simple. Tiger has not finished outside the top 15 in any stroke play event in which he has completed this year, and he is returning to a course at which even during his last few “down” seasons he has placed 6th, 4th, and 4th respectively.

Everyone in the field is going to be sensing the return of Woods’ dominating presence, and a win this week could set in motion the history making we’ve all been waiting for.

Rory McIlroy The previously men-

tioned McIlroy is a mere 22 years old, but he is ready to shine on the big stage.

In his three PGA Tour events this season the ultra-talented Irishman has finished 2nd, 1st, and 3rd. With his near flawless swing drawing rave reviews from players and fans alike, the emergence of the first true young superstar since Tiger himself could set up one of the greatest rivalries the sport has seen for the next 5 years.

Phil Mickelson To be honest, putting Phil on the contender list is almost simply out of respect to quite possibly one of the most genuinely nicest guys that you will ever be able to meet.

The golfing world is Tiger and Rory’s right now, and the rest of the guys are simply the chase pack. However, it is Augusta, and Phil has been sharp in the early going.

If he can get his putter going, and ride the magic of Augusta to yet another green jacket, it would not surprise me in the least.

The Greenies Keegan Bradley The promising youngster has been playing some of the best golf on Tour as of late, and if this was the 2011 Master’s field, rather than 2012, he would have been declared the favorite to win the tournament. Instead, the blossoming 25-year old who hasn’t finished outside the Top 22 in any of the 8 events he has entered this season has been relegated to the chase pack. And what a force he could be.

4th in the tour in scoring average, the only chink in his armor is he hasn’t been able to produce exceptional rounds on the weekend. One big weekend from the pinseeker could be all he needs to find himself atop

FTIGER, 13

I

NDIANAPOLIS—Welcome to the spotlight, Indiana Pacers.

While the Dwight Howard contract saga in Orlando, the emergence of Jeremy Lin in New York and team success in Chicago and Miami grabbed attention in the Eastern Conference, Indiana quietly became one of the best teams in the league.

The Pacers needed something bigger than just being steady to awaken the basketball world, and they got the signature win they have sought since the All-Star break, beating the Miami Heat 105-90 on Monday night.

“Our guys had a determination that they weren’t going to be denied tonight,” Indiana coach Frank Vogel said.

“We’re competing at a high level. We’re looking forward to making a serious run at the end of the season and be one of the hottest teams going into the playoffs.”

Danny Granger scored 25 points, Darren Collison scored 20, andPaul George added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers, who have won four of five.

“It’s a confidence builder, showing that if we play the right way, believe in each other, play team defense, that we can be one heck of a team,” Pacers guard George Hill said. “Anytime that you get a win like this, you have to build off of it.”

LeBron James had 24 points and nine rebounds, and Dwyane Wadehad 24 points and six assists for Miami. The Heat, coming off a 103-87 loss at Oklahoma City on Sunday night, lost by double digits in back-to-back games for the first time this season.

TIGER WOODS. Another green jacket?

M DRAG RACE WINNER. W-Autosports’ Honda EG a.k.a. “Honey” is shown here after winning the Quick 8 racce in the recent 3rd Ground Image Araw ng Dabaw Drag Race. After several mechanical problems and runner-up wins, finally it won a

major quick 8 title in a convincing and tight race against Gary Dumbrigue’s “Manong” at the Speed City of the Davao Crocodile Park.

Castrol backs Run with the Masters

C

ASTROL Philippines will be the main presentor of the 1st Castrol-Vantage Sports Run with the Masters on April 15 at the Davao Crocodile Park.

Edgar Ponce, Castrol’s area business manager for Visayas-Mindanao, formally announced the lubricant firm’s support during the weekly Davao Sportswriters Association (DSA) Sports

Forum at the Tower Inn. “We are here to promote a healthy lifestyle, not just good motoring,” Ponce said.

Ponce explained that Castrol is committed to support sports and physical fitness as they have also sponsored some running events in the past.

The Run with the Masters is organized by Vantage Sports in cel-

ebration of its fourth anniversary.

“This is our way of promoting running here in Davao,” said Kenneth Sai of Vantage Sports.

Last year, Vantage staged 33 running events earning for them the tag “Masters of the local running circuit.”

Registration for the footrace is ongoing at the Adidas outlet inside Gaisano Mall of Davao. [NJB]

ADVENTURE RACE. Mayor Sara Duterte awards the P100,000 replica check to Team Violet, winners of the recent Araw ng Dabaw Great Davao Adventure Race organized by Duaw Davao Festival Foundation. [BOY LIM]

Vintage Vantage

Y good friend Kenneth Sai and his wife Honey of Vantage Sports have a lot to be thankful for.

Vantage Sports is now four years old and to celebrate those quick four years, Kenneth and Honey are putting up the very first self-organized event under the Vantage outfit.

For Vantage’s initial project, it is putting up the very first Run with the Masters, an age-group footrace to be staged on April 15 at the Davao Crocodile Park. The fun run is supported by Castrol Lubricants and Smart Telecommunications, and Adidas, among others.

Run with the Masters was coined as it speaks of the Vantage outfit as the Masters of the local running circuit. Vantage has emerged as the best organizing outfit for running in this part of the country.

Proof of Vantage’s ‘arrival’ in the local sports scene is its increasing following in their Facebook page, or so Honey has a way of simplifying demographics. Honey says they now have more than 1,000 likes on FB. I believe that too. My outfit’s own page Bravetower is far from reaching that. I can only hope it can also breach the 1,000 mark soon.

While browsing Facebook on Tuesday morning, I saw Kenneth’s poster posted on my wall. And then just as quickly, came some comments and likes from the running community of Davao.

And then there was this comment from a certain Mr. Villarta who bluntly ordered Vantage to stop using the Run with the Masters title. He claims ownership to the title.

I came to the rescue of

Vantage. I knew the Run with the Masters in Manila which was organized

by NMSAAP whose members included the Masters of track and field in the country—Elma Muros, Erlinda Lavandia, etc.

The Run with the Masters has been staged in Manila as a fundraiser for the Philippines’ legendary tracksters who will be taking part in the World Masters Track and Field Championships. The event is being supported by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

Mr. Villarta claims the title is registered with the DTI and wants Vantage to stop using it.

I do not want to give this Mr. Villarta any attention because I do not even know in whose authority is he talking about. But I talked to Atty. Guillermo Iroy, Jr., executive director of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) that same morning and he told me there is no problem with the event, much less with Mr. Manny Ibay who chairs the event in Manila.

Anyway, if this fellow is serious, I challenged him to take his action to the proper forum. Not facebook.

We are not selling balut here.

He might also complain about that. There balut in Manila is also balut here in Davao.

16

SPORTS

VOL.5 ISSUE 18 • MARCH 28, 2012

Doc Rivers’ son enters NBA draft

D

URHAM, N.C. —Austin Rivers is leaving Duke after one season for the NBA draft.

The freshman guard announced his decision and plans to hire an agent on Monday after team officials said he spent the weekend discussing his future plans with his family at their home outside Orlando, Fla. “Duke has prepared me for the challenges that are ahead both on and off the court,” Rivers said in a statement issued by the school. “I have learned so much from the coaching staff and my teammates that will help me succeed at the next level.”

The son of Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers averaged a team-leading 15.5 points and was a unanimous selection as the Atlantic Coast Conference’s rookie of the year. He’s just the third Duke freshman to lead the team in scoring after Johnny Dawkins in 1983 and Bill Sapp in 1945.

“Austin had a terrific year as a freshman and has put himself in a position to pursue his dream of being a great player in the NBA,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said, adding that he supports the decision. “We look forward to watching him continue to develop and excel at the next level.”

North Carolina Wilmington golfer Alei Mitchell reacts after a bad putt on the 10th hole in the final round of the UNCW Seahawk Classic at Riverlanding in Wallace, N.C.

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