Edge Davao 7 Issue 97

VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

P 15.00 • 20 PAGES

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EDGEDAVAO Serving a seamless society

WHAT HOLIDAY? A laborer places safety cones at the center of the road where there is an ongoing construction work along R. Castillo Street in Davao City yesterday. Construction project in the said area continues even during holidays to ensure that it will be finished on time.

Lean Daval Jr.

DANECO-CDA PADLOCKED

NEA agents, cops close collection centers

By CHA MONFORTE Correspondent

A

GENTS of the National Electrification Administration (NEA), accompanied by local police officers, padlocked offices and collection centers of the Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative (Daneco) faction recognized by the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), also called Daneco-CDA,in a swoop that caught the Daneco-CDA-paid security guard by surprise.

The raid was conducted by Manila-based NEA lawyers Oswaldo Gabat and Dupay, backed by “dozens of policemen” led by no less than Davao del Norte police director, PSSpt. Sam-

uel Gadingan, at about 6 a.m. Monday at the Daneco-CDA main office at the PCU Building in Magdum, Tagum City.

After closing down Daneco-CDA’s main office

in Magdum, the team also raided and subsequently closed the group’s collection centers located at the Gaisano Grand Mall Tagum, Daneco substations in Ma

FDANECO-CDA, 10

2 THE BIG NEWS EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

EID CELEBRATION. Muslims from different parts of Davao City gather to participate in the activities of the 1st Centralized Eidel Fitr celebration at Magsaysay Park yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

Gulf’s closure to up fishing yield by 33%

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

T

crc@edgedavao.net

HE annual threemonth closure of Davao Gulf to commercial fishing is expected to result in the increase of total production of small pelagic fishes by 33 percent by the end of August, this year.

Lawyer Asis Perez, national director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), said that the increase has been also experienced in Zamboanga Peninsula and Visayas bay which are also closed during spawning season.

Some small pelagic fish-

es found in the gulf include the variety of mackerel locally known as karabalyas, kabalyas, hasa-hasa, buraw, anduhaw, kapisnon, lumahan and anduhan; variety of roundscad species also known as galonggong”, moro-moro, borot, alumahan, budburon, burot-burot; and the variety of big eye scad species locally known as matang baka, atulay, matambaka, tamrong and budlatan.

The closure period for Davao Gulf is the offshoot of the six-year study conducted by BFAR 11 that

FGULF, 10

PNoy praised, hit for SONA

By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.

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abf@edgedavao.net

HE President addressed all the components needed to be a fully developed nation, said Davao City third district representative Isidro Ungab. When asked to comment on the fifth State of Nation Address (SONA) of President Aquino last Monday afternoon.

In a text message, Ungab told Edge Davao that Aquino’s programs for national security, economic policies and social programs are all proven effective.

He said that these components are important in attaining the growth and develop-

ment which every Filipino aspire for the country.

“Expect that Congress will respond by enacting more meaningful laws that will aid this government in sustaining its achieved growth,” Ungab said, adding that lawmakersare committed to work hard for the welfare of the nation.

On the other hand, Bayan Muna representative Carlos Isagani T. Zarate joined other progressives and leftists in boycotting the SONA of the president by staging walked out last Monday afternoon.

Some Dabawenyos commended that the walk-

out was scripted since it was a spontaneous act in reaction to a statement to the president, a reason it was done even before he could start his speech. Reacting to some comments that their action was kabastusan to the President, the Makabayan bloc congressmen later explained that it was their way of protesting against the lie of President Aquino.

Zarate said in a text message that the Makabayan bloc decided to walk out because they already know that the president would just utter lies and defend the Disbursement Acceleration Program

(DAP).

“We have enough of his promises and lies. It’s now time to impeach who was further pushed our countrymen into increasing poverty,” Zarate stressed.

He said that the president has keep on bragging his accomplishments which he already said it in his previous SONA. “Ang SONA niNoy-noy ay nangangamoy pulbura dahilmalaking bahagi ng kanyang speech ay tungkolsabaril. Subalit ang kagalingan at kabuhayan ng mamayan ay napagiwanan,” said Zarate.

Highlights of the

He added that the national administration has been actively encouraging people to go to Mindanao and with it “Davao City is in the green map.”

The mayor said the city government’s cutting of red tape and gridlocks such as his maximum 72-

hour policy for the City Hall departments to release business permits to applicants and act on people’s complaints and requests has improved the attractiveness of the city to investors, tourists and people looking for a livable place.

FPNOY, 10

Rody notes city’s econ growth, rise in jobs Laments crime increase

By CHA MONFORTE Correspondent

M

AYOR Rodrigo R. Duterte said that during President PNoy Aquino’s time Davao City has experienced unprecedented economic growth and a rise in jobs due to the establishment of call centers and other Business Process Outsourcing

(BPO) companies. This was the comment of the mayor of Mindanao’s biggest city during his Sunday television program, Gikansa Masa, Para sa Masa.

On the other hand, being the chairman of the Regional Peace and Order Council, Duterte reported

a rise of “not more than 18 percent” in criminalities throughout Davao Region.

“Dirisa Davao (City) dilikaayo (not so much), but in many other places in Region 11, there seems to be a sharp rise of criminalities,” he said.

However, he did not

name the places in deference to the mayors concerned.

He said that the communist CPP-NPA rebels remain to be the leading threat to peace in the region even as he reiterated anew his consistent policy of talking peace with them.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

NEWS 3

EDGEDAVAO

NPA rebels free 4 abducted cops T

NEW AMBASSADORS. Dr.Roy B. Ferrer (left), Ambassador Club-Philippines past president, administers the induction of new Ambassador of Davao members during its general membership meeting at The Marco Polo Davao Monday evening. The newly-inducted members are Dr. Dorotheo L. Floresca,

Jr. a neurologist, (2nd from left), Dr. Ma. Lourdes G. Monteverde honory consol to Mexico (2nd from right) and Rhodora G. Nimmo an industrial engineer.

Lean Daval Jr.

P5.2-B software market has few takers: ICT-Davao

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

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crc@edgedavao.net

leader of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in Davao is urging local software developers to exploit the untapped P 5.2-billion market in the healthcare sector.

“Healthcare computer application and software development are a growing segment because of the initiative of the private sector to automate [transactions],” lawyer Samuel Matunog, chairman of ICT-Davao said.

Matunog said that hospitals, doctors, and nurses opted to contract only a few software developers because of its small number in the city.

During the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Annex last Monday, he said that aside from private hospitals and other med-

ical institutions, Philhealth and the Department of Health (DOH) are also into automation.

DOH 11 regional director Dr. Abdullah Dumama said that the health agency is already automated as far as data recording and analysis is concern. He said that DOH 11 allocated P 1-million for the automation project.

Matunog said that even the local government of Davao continues its effort to fully automate government transactions in order to decrease the occurrence of corruption within offices like City Treasurer Office and other revenue-generating offices.

“There’s so much demand but the supply of software developers is low,” Matunog said.

SONA 2014 at a glance

Belinda Laya- Torres, president of Jobs Academy in Davao City, confirmed Matunog’s observation.

“There are insufficient graduates in information technology and graduates in need to be equipped with industry standards but unfortunately not all,” Torres said in a text message to Edge Davao.

Torres said that though there is government support for scholarships, takers are still few as an effect of lean number of graduates interested in ICT. “To qualify for such program, the scholars should be an IT related degree holder. So we need to inform parents the opportunity of being part of this industry,” she added.

Torres also added that the government should support software developers too.

“Development entails budget and its usefulness will be only experienced once there is a finish product.

Unfortunately, we don’t have a program in government that I know of that we allow developers to build first funded by government,” she said.

Department of Trade and Industry regional director Belinda Q. Ambi said that the government included the ICT sector in its priority development cluster.

Ambi said that the ICT private sector and Department of Science and Technology are working together to address the supply and demand of ICT workers. CRC

HE four police officers abducted by the New People’s Army (NPA) in an encounter at Alegria, Surigao del Sur last July 10 were released yesterday after 19 days of captivity.

Eastern Mindanao Command public information officer (PIO) Captain Alberto Caber said in a text message that the four were freed by the rebel group in undisclosed location in Agusan del Norte at around 4 p.m. yesterday.

The four police officers who are now undergoing stress debriefing and medical check-ups are identified as PO3 Vic Calubag Concon, PO1 Rey O’niel Morales, PO1 Joen B. Zabala at PO1 Edito F. Roquino who are assigned at Alegria Municipal Police Station.

The four were released after EastMinCom issued suspension of military operations(SOMO) and suspension of police operations (SOPO) at the towns of Claver, Gigaquit, Bacuag,

Placer, Tubod and Alegria of Surigao del Norte and Kitcharao, Jabonga and Santiago, and all of Agusan del Norte which begun 12:00 noon of July 27 and will last until 12:00 noon of August 1.

The SOMO and SOPO were military’s response to the request of the rebel group to stop all military operation in identified areas in Agusan del Norte and Surigao del Norte in exchange of the freedom of the four.

The release of the signifies “as a goodwill gesture to promote the peace talks between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), and as a response to the appeals of the families of the Prisoners of War (POWs),” Luis G. Jalandoni, chairperson of the negotiating panel and member of the National Executive Committee of NDFP said in a statement.

CRC

EastMincom suspends operation in Sur, Agusan

By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR. abf@edgedavao.net

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HE Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) implemented a five-day suspension of military operations (SOMO) in the towns of Surigaodel Norte and Agusan del Norte.

Army Cpt. Alberto C Caber, Eastmincom public information officer, said in a statement that Somo had started last July 27, 2014 in the municipalities of Placer, Bacuag, Tubod, Gigakit, Claver and Alegria in Surigao del Norte and in

Santiago, Kitcharao and Jabongain Agusan del Norte.

Caber said that the five-day ceasefire temporarily prevents the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to conduct an offensive operations against New People’s Army (NPA) in the areas.

“Except on movements or activities aimed to support the civil authorities, government instrumentalists and other agencies in promoting peace, devel

FEASTMINCOM, 10

By PATRICIO P. DIAZ

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HE President’s Fifth State of the Nation Address Monday afternoon, July 28 – 1 hour and 34 minutes – is five pages (letter-size) shorter than the 2013 SONA (23 pages). Compared to any of the previous four SONAs, the fifth is better organized.

This time, however, the President looked somber.

SONA No. 5 may be divided into three major parts – the first, more than an hour long, the President presented the gains of his administration, opening with the benefits from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP); the second, his commentary on his critics; and, the third, his peroration, an affirmation of the good he had accomplished and of his resolve to do more.

The President’s recital of his accomplishments must have impressed his

audience who are mostly from Luzon; but his television audience from the Visayas and Mindanao could have been depressed. All those infrastructure developments are in Luzon – mostly in the Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Clark-Subic industrial zones. The Visayas was featured for its rehabilitation from calamities – the earthquake (Bohol) and Typhoon Yolanda (particularly, Leyte). Except for the rehabilitation of Zamboanga City, nothing was mentioned about Mindanao.

The President sounded more enthusiastic of the Mindanao peace process with the Moros in his SONA No. 4 than in the No. 5. Then he said “Peace is within reach”, talked spiritedly about the progress of the negotiation, asked the Congress to pass the Bangsam

QURAN READING. A Muslim girl practices her quran reading skill prior to the start of quran reading contest during yesterday’s 1st Centralized Eid celebration

FSONA 2014, 10 at Magsaysay Park in Davao City. Lean Daval Jr.

4 SUBURBIA EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

PCA distributes P8.6 M to Dav Or coco farmers

Gov. Corazon N. Malanyaon together with first district representative, Nelson Dayanghirang, distributes checks to beneficiaries of PCA’s Modified Participatory Coconut Planting Project. Photo by Eden Jhan Licayan.

HE Philippine Coconut Authority distributed recently cash incentives amounting to P 8.6 million to 957 coconut farmers in the typhoon Pablo-hit towns of Baganga, Cateel and Boston in Davao Oriental.

PCA11 Regional Man-

T

ager Rex Buacsaid that this was only the initial cash distributionas the agency intends to complete the payoutsby the end of Augustin all the remaining covered barangays in Davao Oriental.

Implemented under theModified Participato-

HE national government has invested around P14.7 billion in the last three years for the implementation of various priority infrastructure projects in parts of Region 12 or the Soccsksargen Region.

Reynaldo Tamayo, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Region 12 director, said Monday such funding covered for the construction and development of 1,773 projects that were set under the region’s infrastructure program from 2011 to 2013.

He said these are on top of the 228 projects worth P5.17 billion that were approved by the national government under the region’s 2014 infrastructure program.

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

Tamayo said the implemented projects comprise major roads, bridges and

other structures that were deemed vital for the area’s socio-economic development.

These include components of the P1.135 billion city circumferential road, opening and concreting of tourism roads, the continuing expansion to four lanes of the region’s national highways and primary roads as well as the concreting of the secondary roads, he said.

In 2011, he said they accomplished a total of 245 projects worth P3.87 billion in 2011 and an additional 264 worth P4.35 billion in 2012.

He said they implemented 1,264 more projects worth P6.56 billion last year that were endorsed by the national government under the 2013 infrastructure program.

Tamayo said the 2013 program includes five tourism road projects worth P340.89 million that were endorsed by the national government to help enhance the region’s tourism potentials.

ry Coconut Planting Project, the programadopts a participatory and reward system approach, wherein farmers are given a P40 incentive for each seedling planted and stabilized, out of their own produced planting materials.

Stemming from the

agency’s regular PCPP, the Modified PCPP hopes to support rehabilitation efforts in the towns drastically hit by typhoon Pablo here in the province.

Based on reports from the PCA, the Modified PCPP involves a total of 1,741 coco farmers in the three

hard-hit towns, covering a total of about 4,000 hectares and earmarked with a budget of P16.6 million.

The 8 remaining townsof the province, on the other hand, will fall under the regular PCPP, allotted with a P2.8 million budget.

This program, according to Buac, is PCA’s strategy to sustain the country’s coconut industry, especially after Davao Oriental, previously tagged as the nation’s coconut capital, lost more than 3 million coconut trees during the typhoon Pablo devastation in 2012. PCA claimed that planting more coconut trees now will hopefully restore the impaled coconut industry of the province.

In fact, through a Memorandum of Undertaking, theLGU of Baganga, one of the three most-affected towns, now targets planting 11,000 coconut seedlings. PCA in return will pay the farmers P30 per seedling planted.

For this year, PCA revealed it aims to expand itscurrent 4,000 hectares area of coverage in Davao Oriental, in a hope to contribute in reaching its regional target of at least

35,000 hectares.

Aside from planting coconuts, PCA also urged beneficiaries to pursue intercropping of coconuts with other crops such as cacao and coffee as well as the emerging oil palm crop, assuring they will also provide technical assistance to farmers.

Gov. Corazon N. Malanyaon, during the ceremonial turnover of checks, told the beneficiaries to become not only grateful to the assistance they have been receiving, but rather complementing the government’s interventions by doubling their efforts and putting in more passion to their work.

“You have been so lucky to receive payment in planting crops that youyourselves would be harvesting,” she said, telling beneficiaries to vouch their commitment in doing their part in improving their lives.

She further thanked the PCA for making their contribution in the helping the province recover from a major disaster. By Karen Lou Deloso/photos

by Eden Jhan Licayan.

P14.7 billion spent Legarda wears Mandaya outfit on infra in R-12 in SONA to honor Hamiguitan T A

S a tribute to the recent inscription of the Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary in Davao Oriental as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Senator Loren Legarda wore a traditional Mandaya outfit at the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday afternoon.

Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities, said she wants to further promote her advocacies through the garments she will wear at the President’s SONA. “My outfit represents two advocacies closest to my heart—environmental protection and heritage preservation. Since the Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary is the newest addition to the Philippines’ UNESCO World Heritage Sites, I want to celebrate this triumph by wearing the traditional garments of the Mandaya, one of the indigenous communities in the area,” she said.

Legarda’s Mandaya at-

tire was handcrafted by the Mandayas and a gift from them and Davao Oriental Gov. Corazon Malanyaon.

It is composed of a badô (blouse) with embroidered geometric designs of colorful threads and beads, and a dagmay (handwoven skirt) made of abaca strips dyed using organic colorants from plants and herbs. The outfit is worn with various metal jewelry.

The Mandayas, characterized as brave and intelligent, are one of the three major indigenous groups of Davao. In Davao Oriental, most of them reside in Barangays Sangab and Pichon, Municipality of Caraga; Barangay Pantuyan, Municipality of Manay; and Sitio Patong Barangay Aliwagwag, Municipality of Cateel.

Meanwhile, a highlight of Legarda’s outfit at the Opening of the Second Regular Session of the 16th Congress, which will be in the morning before the President’s SONA, was the pangalapang necklace.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

EDGEDAVAO

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6 THE ECONOMY EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

VP Adel Tamano says

No sole Coke distributorship in sari-sari training program

A

DEL Tamano, vice president for public affairs and communications of Coca Cola Philippines, belied rumors that the company’s 5by20 Program aimed to empower women entrepreneurs has a built-in feature of making their sari-sari stores as sole distributors of Coca Cola products.

“It’s not one of the conditions, they can sell other softdrinks,” he said during the local launch of Coca Cola Philippines’ 5by20 Program in Tagum City last Monday.

The softdrink company’s entrepreneur development program that links up with local stakeholders targets producing 5 million women scholars as capable and empowered sari-sari owners by 2020.

For Tagum City alone, the program aims to produce 1,000 women scholars per Memorandum of Agreement signed on that day with the Tagum City Council of Women, Inc. (TCCWI), which is chaired by former city’s first lady Alma Uy. Tagum City or Davao del Norte is the 26th place in the country where Coca Cola launched the program since 2012.

“The TCCWI officers

and the women presidents in 25 barangays in the city will help achieve that,” Uy said.

Uy was instrumental in the coming in of Coca-Cola’s 5by20 Program when she initiated to inquire from the company and submit the TCCWI’s profile which eventually drew interest from the country’s biggest softdrink maker.

Tamano, a lawyer and former broadcaster, said that Coca Cola launched the program for seeing “sari-sari store owners and our sales people on the ground as the real spokespersons of Coca Cola.”

The 5by20 Program is also dubbed as Sari-Sari Store Training and Access to Resources or STAR Program, which would “help women retailers overcome the barriers they face to business success by providing them access to business skills and life training access to business resources and assets.

“The most important thing we give in this program is knowledge and education. We are not taking the handout approach. We are implementing a new paradigm of doing things, na may malalim nga partnership

REHAB. Linesmen check a telecommunications company’s power lines as part of its maintenance and rehabilitation work in Lanang, Davao City yesterday.

Lean Daval Jr. with civil society, with the government and the business sector, because we believe this is the new way of empowering women,” Tamano added.

“Our partnership in the program is complete and we have impact-ful goals,” he said.

Recently, Coca Cola

trained in Manila six trainors from the women council who will handle the courses in the 12-week Basic Entrepreneurship and Gender Sensitivity Training, from August 12 to November 12 this year.

Besides the TWWCI, the other MOA-signing

partners in Coca Cola program for Tagum City are the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, which is a national partner of the program, and the Cagayan de Oro-headquartered First Community Cooperative (FICCO).

Signatories and guests

during the launch included Coca Cola FEMSA Davao region manager Roger Araneta, TESDA 11 regional director Gaspar Gayona, TESDA Davao del Norte provincial director Urbano Budtan, and FICCO chief executive officer Edgardo Micayabas. - Cha Monforte, Correspondent.

In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) Monday, President Benigno Aquino cited some of the PPP projects such as the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX), Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3, Mactan-Cebu International Airport Passenger Terminal Building, and NAIA Expressway Project Phase 2, among many others.

Projects in the pipeline, likewise, include Laoag City Bypass Link Road Project, Cebu Bus Rapid Transit Project, LRT Line 1 South Extension, Line 2 East Extension, Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike, Busuanga Airport, and Clark Green City.

The booming construction projects of the private sector also boost the demand in cement, according to Sahagun.

Earlier this year, big real estate firms disclosed their construction plans for both Metro Manila and outside the

National Capital Region whether residential developments, malls and retails, and office spaces, among others.

In order to continue the cement industry growth, the government should implement its budget for public infrastructure.

From 2011 up to this year, the government has doubled its infrastructure budget from Php200.3 billion to Php404.3 billion.

Likewise, Sahagun said the increasing interest rate may also affect the growth of the industry as private firms also depend on this in their borrowing activities to support their projects.

During the first quarter of this year, construction activities -- which backs demand in the cement industry -- grew by 20.8 percent to 29,468 projects from Q1 2013’s 24,400 projects.

Holcim Philippines is the leading cement firm in the country. (PNA)

Firm investing P50M in GSC ecozone Cement industry to grow at least 6% this year

A

consortium is investing some P50 million for the development of a special economic zone designed to attract local and foreign investors, a company executive said.

Neil Cachuela, administrator of the GenSan Economic Zone (GEZ), said that President Aquino has declared the facility as a special economic zone early this month.

“This would be the biggest industrial-type special economic zone that would rise in southern and southwestern Mindanao,” Cahuela said.

Aquino signed Proclamation No. 820 creating and designating 47 hectares of land in Barangay Tambler as a special economic zone last July 3.

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) recommended to the President the declaration of GEZ as a special economic zone.

The Damalerio Realtors, Inc. is the operator and developer of GEZ. Cachuela said that potential investors from the United States, Taiwan and Thailand, besides domestic investors, have already expressed interest in establishing business in the special economic zone.

The American firm is interested in putting up an organic fruit beverage manufacturing plant while the Taiwanese and Thai companies would like to establish tuna canneries, he said.

Dubbed the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines,” this city hosts all but one of the country’s seven tuna canneries.

With the city’s strategic location in the East ASEAN Growth Area, Cachuela said they are hoping that the special economic zone could also attract investors from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Based on PEZA reg-

ulations, the following, among others, are theincentives that locators to the special economic zone can enjoy: Four years of income tax holiday and extendable up to 8 years; Upon expiry of the income tax holiday, a five per cent special tax on gross income and exemption from all national and local taxes; Allows 100% foreign ownership of enterprise; Simplified profit repatriation; Tax and duty free importation of production equipment and machineries, spare parts and supplies of the equipment and machineries; Exemption from export taxes, wharfage dues, impost and fees; and Value Added Tax zero rating on local purchases of goods and services, including land- based telecommunications, electric power, and water bills. (MindaNews)

T

HE local cement industry is seen to grow at least 6.0 percent up to 8.0 percent this year, an official of a leading firm in the industry said in an interview.

Eduardo A. Sahagun, Holcim Philippines Inc. chief executive officer, said the cement demand in the country will continue to grow with the rebuilding efforts of the government after the devastation in infrastructures in calamity-stricken areas.

Sahagun noted the on-going projects as well as those in the pipeline public-private partnership (PPP) projects support the growth of the industry.

The government hastens PPP projects particularly in public infrastructures such as roads and bridges that will ease the transportation and logistics system in the country for travellers and movement of commodities.

7 ENVIRONMENT

EDGEDAVAO VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

SOIL EROSION HAMPERS FOOD PRODUCTION

By GERRY T. ESTRERA

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HERE are wars and there will always be war. In Mindanao, there is an on-going war between Muslim rebels, the New People’s Army and the government’s military troops. But the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) Foundation, Inc., a non-government organization based in Kinuskusan, Bansalan, Davao del Sur, is waging a different kind of war: soil erosion.

But the Filipinos are not paying attention to it. Unknowingly, soil erosion is serious threat to any country.

“Soil erosion is an enemy to any nation – far worse than any outside enemy coming into a country and conquering it because it is an enemy you cannot see vividly,” said Harold R. Watson, an American agriculturist who received a Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1985 for peace and international understanding. “It’s a slow creeping enemy that soon possesses the land.”

Watson knows.

He was the former director of MBRLC; he is now retired and back in his hometown in Mississippi. He came to the Philippines in the 1960s and during that time, he sounded the alarm of deforestation and soil erosion.

But people laughed at him. They told him, “We’re never going to run out of trees!” That was before several presidents, other Asian governments, the United Nations – and countless farmers – recognized the value of his insights.

When Ferdinand Magellan “rediscovered” the Philippines in 1521, forests blanketed 95% of the country. When the Ormoc City, Leyte tragedy happened – which left 8,000 people dead – timber cover was only 18%.

In 1971, Watson opened to the public the MBRLC, a research and demonstration farm. In the beginning, they floundered. “When I got here, I had no idea what the problems were up in the hills,” said the American who spent almost half of his life in the Philippines. “Farming looked pretty good on the surface.”

Soon, Watson discovered that the problem was the surface: It was washing away. Loggers – both legal and illegal – were hauling trees out of the once-lush mountains, leaving behind denuded hillsides. Tribal people and migrants were using “slash and burn” methods (kaingin) to clear and farm the uplands, and topsoil was disappearing faster than what can be replenished. The result: low production, hunger, and hopelessness.

“Most of these farmers don’t have a vision to see five or 10 years down the line,” Watson said. “Most live for one more day, and don’t lift their head up. They’re not thinking about erosion. It’s ‘What can I get out of the land today, right now?’”

Soil scientists claims 58 percent of the country’s total land area of 30 million hectares is susceptible to erosion. “For one, the magnitude of soil erosion in cultivated sloping areas has reached an alarming proportion,” deplored Angel C. Alcala, former secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and also a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee.

Soil erosion is not a new phenomenon.

Archaeological sites of civilizations, studies showed, were undermined by soil erosion. The fertile wheat-growing lands that made North Africa the granary of the Roman Empire

are now largely desert. The lowlands of Guatemala that once nourished a thriving Mayan culture of five million people were drained of their fertility by soil erosion.

That human life should depend for its existence on less than a meter of mixed organic and inorganic debris may come as a surprise to modern man. Yet it is so. A compilation of more than a dozen American studies analyzing the effects of erosion on land productivity found that losing an inch of topsoil reduces corn and wheat yields by an average of six percent.

“Without soil, there would be no food apart from what the rivers and the seas can provide,” pointed out Edouard Saouma, former director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). “The soil is the world’s most precious natural resource. Yet it is not valued as it should be. Gold, oil, minerals and precious stones command prices which have led us to treat soil as mere dirt.”

Soil, aptly described as “the bridge between the inanimate and the living,” consists of weathered and decomposed bedrock, water, air, organic material formed from plant and animal decay, and thousands of different life forms, mainly microorganisms and insects. All play their part in maintaining the complex ecology of a healthy soil.

In the humid tropics, starting from a sandy base, a soil can be formed in as little as 200 years. But the process normally takes far longer. Under most conditions, soil is formed at a rate of one centimeter every 100 to 400 years, and it takes 3,000 to 12,000 years to build enough soil to form productive land.

“This means that soil is,

in effect, a non-renewable resource,” says a FAO publication. “Once destroyed, it is gone forever.”

Although soil erosion does occur naturally, the process is slow. However, man’s intervention has increased the rate of natural erosion. According to David Pimentel, an agricultural ecologist at Cornell University, exposed soil is eroded at several thousand times the natural rate.

Under normal conditions, each hectare of land losses somewhere between 0.004 and 0.05 tons of soil to erosion each year – far less than what is replaced by natural soil building processes.

On lands that have been logged or converted to crops and grazing, however, erosion typically takes away 17 tons in a year in the United States or Europe and 30 to 40 tons in Asia, Africa, or South America. On severely degraded land, the hemorrhage can rise to 100 tons in a year.

“No other soil phenomenon is more destructive worldwide than is soil erosion,” wrote Nyle C. Brady in his book, The Nature and Properties of Soils. “It involves losing water and plant nutrients at rates far higher than those occurring through leaching. More tragically, however, it can result in the loss of the entire soil.”

Authors Lester R. Brown and Edward C. Wolf contend that soil erosion threatens food production. In their book, Soil Erosion: Quiet Crisis in the World Economy, they explain: “The loss of topsoil affects the ability to grow food in two ways. It reduces the inherent productivity of land, both through the loss of nutrients and degradation of the physical structure. It also increases the

costs of food production.”

The two authors continue: “When farmers lose topsoil, they may increase land productivity by substituting energy in the form of fertilizer. Farmers losing topsoil may experience either a loss in land productivity or a rise in costs (of inputs). But if productivity drops too low or costs rise too high, farmers are forced to abandon their land.”

A recent study by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution concluded that approximately 30 percent of the world’s arable crop land has been abandoned because of severe soil erosion in the last 40 years.

“When soils are depleted and crops are poorly nourished, people are often undernourished as well,” Brown and Wolf contend. “Failure to respond to the erosion threat will lead not only to the degradation of land, but to the degradation of life itself.”

Fortunately, the MBRLC discovered a sustainable farming system that helps curtail soil erosion. It is known as Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT). “The principle of SALT is the same as that used by the Ifugao tribes,” explains Roy C. Alimoane, the current MBRLC director. “All we are doing is suggesting using nitrogen-fixing trees and shrubs instead of rocks.”

The SALT system still requires careful management of the space between the rows of trees and shrubs. A combination of permanent, semi-permanent, and annual crops is recommended so as to rebuild the ecosystem and maximize yields while enabling farmers to organize their work time efficiently.

In the SALT farm, one finds a mix of permanent

crops (cacao, coffee, banana and other fruit trees), cereals (upland rice, corn, or sorghum), and vegetables (bush sitao, winged beans, sweet pepper, tomato, eggplant, etc.). Every third strip of available land is normally devoted to permanent crops. A combination of various cereals and vegetables are planted on the remaining two strips of land. Each has its own specific area so that there can be a seasonal rotation.

“Crop rotation helps to preserve the regenerative properties of the soil and avoid the problems of infertility typical of traditional agricultural practices,” Alimoane explains on the importance of regular rotation of crops.

And yes, SALT helps control soil erosion. Its study showed that a farm tilled in the traditional manner erodes at the rate of 1,163.4 metric tons per hectare per year. In a SALT farm, there is still erosion but minimal – 20.2 metric tons per hectare per year.

The rate of soil loss in a SALT farm is 3.4 metric tons per hectare per year, which is within the tolerable range. Most soil scientists place acceptable soil loss limits for tropical countries like the Philippines within the range of 10 to 12 metric tons per hectare per year.

In comparison, the nonSALT farm has a soil loss rate of 194.3 metric tons per hectare per year.

“Soil is related to the earth much as the rind is related to an orange,” commented an American geologist. “It is the link between the rock core of the earth and the living things on its surface. It is the foothold for the plants we grow. Therein lies the main reason for our interest in soil.”

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EDGEDAVAO

VANTAGE

EDITORIAL

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VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

Pleasant problems

AVAO CITY and neighboring are facing some pleasant problems in so far as the expanding information, communication, technology (ICT) industry is concerned.

Already recognized as one of country’s leading destinations for business process outsourcing (BPO) companies because of its superior quality of manpower, transparency in governance and ideal law and order situation, Davao City now faces a shortage of highly talented young men and women applying for the thousands of job vacancies. Take note that the vacancies are not confined only to the voice talents in contact centers, but also in medical transcription, accounting, nursing, law and other knowledge professions that are now also outsourced.

Obviously, the universities and colleges in southeastern Mindanao and neighboring regions are not producing enough graduates qualified to take these BPO jobs.

The problem also lies in the different times zones that the Filipino workers have to reckon with in whatever he/she does in the contact or call centers.

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These and many other challenges in the BPO industry were revealed during a candid discussion with media practitioners by ICT-Davao leaders Samuel Matunog, a leading software developer and Belinda Laya-Torres and Hershe Tinapay of the Jobs Academy.

The reporters who attended the discussion were of the impression that the industry and their undaunted collaborators in the academe and government, especially TESDA, Deped and the Ched, are doing everything to find the solutions to these pleasant problems.

The media practitioners were told that even the Davao City government is doing its part by providing millions of pesos in scholarships that have not been all availed of.

More than just industry and perseverance, we need very creative solutions to these problems. We need to adopt new and unorthodox approaches, not run-of-themill strategies, to tackle this unique situation. Indeed, somebody was right when he said insanitary is when one keeps on repeating old and trite solutions and expecting a different result. Creativity is the key.

ANTONIO M. AJERO Editor in Chief

NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO Managing Editor PHILIPPINE PRESS INSTITUTE

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VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

Pros and cons on SONA

IVING IN A “ROSY DAYDREAM” – Some political experts and keen observers noted that the 5TH State of the Nation Address (SONA) is an entirely different customary address of President Benigno Aquino III void of scathing remarks and laying blame against the previous administration for its drawbacks.

While political detractors and critics, as usual, vilified the SONA some members of the opposition bloc praised the President for delivering a serious, sincere and sometimes emotion-filled statements.

Immediately right after the President delivered his time-honored address to the nation before the Joint Congress, political analysts and legal luminaries instantaneously debated whether President Aquino could still provide the push and direction for national unity and socio-economic development in his remaining two years in office. The President typically enumerated in his almost two-hour message to the people a long list of accomplishments during the past four years of his incumbency.

In addressing the people about the present state of the nation the President stipulates the preferential attention his administration has done for basic social services, job generation, infrastructure development, environmental protection, agriculture, and tourism. The Chief Executive likewise noted that every government project has been allotted a corresponding budget substantial enough to fund their respective managements.

The presidential gesture greeted him with rounds of applause from members of Congress, representatives from the government and private sectors, business institutions, military and police, academe, professionals, farmer’s groups, youth sector, and indigenous communities.

Furthermore, he mentioned other important and specific programs that need better government consideration such as energy supply, crime prevention, and

T

modernization program of the armed forces, additional benefits for government employees, disaster preparedness, foreign economic and diplomatic policy, and distribution of CARP-covered lands.

The President likewise mentioned that the passage and approval, and most importantly the smooth implementation of the Framework Agreement of the Bangsamoro (FAB) will be achieved before his term ends. President Aquino elaborated further that during his remaining years his leadership’s policy will be focused on national stability – social cohesion and peaceful and orderly atmosphere followed by economic progress and sustained development. Other major thrust are the upgrading of infrastructures, solve the power supply and enormous flooding problem, protection of the environment and wise use of our natural resources.

Under his stewardship, the President modestly claimed the country has so far weathered the economic drawbacks with a more stable currency, positive Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, and bullish stock market. However, critical groups were terribly upset because he still managed to defend the government’s spending scandal through the Disbursement Acceleration Fund (DAP), failure to address the sad plight of OFWs, the Freedom of Information Bill (FOB) and other equally crucial issues.

President Aquino defends his “Daang Matuwid” (Straight Path) catchphrase

stating that running after primary law violators particularly corrupt and wicked government officials and ranking employees would be fully intensified and seek justice for the aggrieved parties. As usual, strong words and stern warning underscored his SONA by reminding officials of various government offices that failed the people in their expectations specifically the income-generating and service-oriented agencies.

Meanwhile, opposition diehards, redflag waving and placard-bearing militant and progressive (or problematic?) groups and student activists, as their wont, have stick to their one-dimensional observation. They strongly argue that the Aquino administration is living in a “rosy daydream”, accusing that its pursuits is selective development directly ignoring the masses of our people, in particular the labor and agrarian majority. Of course, they are those who don’t want to see it that way – the country under the Aquino administration heading towards socio-economic progress and political maturity.

And we could not even fathom why all through the years they remain blinded by the belief that government or whoever steers the wheels of power is anti-labor, anti-farmer, anti-poor and anti-masses.

While political specialists and legal experts may argue about who can deliver what the country needs, they generally agree what it is: dauntless and courageous leadership to bolster the economy, expand social structures, reform the institutions and energize the people with new national goals.

After the fifth SONA, people will stay behind and majority still have high expectations of the Aquino leadership. Even with two remaining years, people firmly believe that a reputation for forthright action and strong words, so unlike the typical Filipino politician has made President Aquino seems a more likely instrument of reforms than his predecessors.

Epidemic of 1917- 1919

HE period from 1917 to 1919 was difficult for Mindanao, except for the provinces of Sulu and Bukidnon. As early as April, smallpox started hitting the barrio of Ganga, Cotabato.

Health inspectors traced the infection, which was subsequently placed under control, to seven Maranaos who came from Bayang, Lanao Province, via the Banisilan-Pikit trail linking Ganga.

By December 1917, the contagion has spread to Lanao, Zamboanga and other regions, engulfing Mindanao and frightening the island’s sparce population then. Although the disease was eliminated in Cotabato during its early stage, it resurfaced in Davao Province.

By January 1918, health authorities had pinpointed the “seat of infection” in the towns of Davao, Santa Cruz, Guianga (later a district) and Samal Island.

Towards the end of that month, reports of small pox cases were received from Tagum and Pantukan. Overtime, the infection reached both sides of the Davao Gulf. In Malita, the natives were the first to be hit, and transmigration across the gulf to escape the scourge was reasonably pointed as the source of the outbreak that was later observed in Mati and Sigaboy. Until March 1918, the disease was surging but later tapered off towards the end of the year.

According to the 1918 report of the Bureau of Health in Manila, nine Davao towns were hit by the contagion. Hard hit was Santa Cruz which had 530 cases with 122 deaths, the equivalent of 23 percent of the individuals affected.

Davao, already a bustling commercial hub by then, had 455 hits, 70 percent of whom died, or an average of 16.85 percent. Tagum was third on the list with 387 cases but it registered the lowest number of deaths with 14, or an average of 3.6 percent. The other affected

FAST BACKWARD

BY THE ARCHIVIST towns included Pantukan: 270 cases, 30 deaths, 11.85 percent; Guianga: 190 cases, 61 deaths, 32.1 percent; Samal: 161 cases, 55 deaths, 34.16 percent; Malita: 110 cases, nine deaths, 8.1 percent; Mati: 30 cases, seven deaths, 23.3 percent; and Sigaboy: five cases, one death, 20 percent. Overall, there were 2,138 cases reported, 374 persons dead and the percentage between cases and deaths was 19.22.

The 1919 Bureau of Health still had smallpox in its by-municipality report.

Three towns were listed with a total of 307 cases, 27.36 percent of which, or 84 patients, were reported to have died. Santa Cruz had 181 cases with 37 deaths, while Malita had 81 cases, half of it did not survive. Davao, despite its being a population center, had only 45 cases reported, six resulted in death.

Though the epidemic was contained in 1918, dysentery took over as a major concern for Davao region the following

year. 1920 health bulletin indicated that while the recorded dysentery cases reached only 96, there could have been a greater number of infections and casualties given the difficulty in reaching remote villages. Davao, the most populated, was on top of the list with 45, one of two towns, the other being Saug (Asuncion), with double-digit cases.

A year prior to the smallpox outbreak, Davao was also struck by Malaria, the most prevalent disease in the early decades of American occupation in Mindanao. A 1917 report of the Bureau of Health reported 2,093 cases, detected through the examination of intestinal parasites among children.

Most of the cases were attributed to contaminated The testing for infections was widespread. It involved 902 children in the towns of Baganga, Caraga, Cateel, and Mati in the eastern region.

In Davao, tests were conducted in Daliao, Bago, Talomo, Sirawan, Tigatto and selected public schools. Disease such as infected wounds (412 cases), skin illnesses (528 cases), and intestinal parasites (300 cases) were recorded.

The 1918 health record of common diseases for Davao cited the following: Malaria, 900 cases: traumatism by cutting or piercing instruments, 297; other diseases of the skin and annexa, 234; ill-defined organic diseases, 140; acute abscess, 126; influenza, 120; acute bronchitis, 103; other disease of the stomach (cancer excepted), 97; and neuralgia and neuritis, 75.

[The above article, written by The Archivist, is part of Edge Davao’s efforts to enhance readers’ knowledge and familiarity of Davao Region’s history, culture and the arts. The paper welcomes readers’ contribution of authentic information, photos and articles. – The Editors]

VANTAGE POINTS

9

Ever heard of management by wandering around?

WORM’S EYEVIEW

BY MANNY VALDEHUESA

A

Conclusion

related problem is the attitude of public officials that they should be left alone and not interfered with. This is the result of having non-performing constituents, citizens who pay no attention to the work of the officials, voters who keep on rewarding negligence and corruption.

It’s time we change this attitude. It won’t change if constituents aren’t assertive and demanding: to insist on getting value for the taxes they pay.

The contrast between the two residential areas reinforces perception that inequality or disparity among citizens is normal and should not be an issue. Sure, there will always be inequality— between rich and poor, between educated and uneducated; but it should not prevent officials from trying to provide some measure of public comfort and convenience. ***** Officials can make up for inequality providing orderly and neat surroundings so that people can enjoy an atmosphere conducive to healthful, sanitary living.

Budgetary limitations may not allow officials to improve the public domain’s facilities at par with the private, but they can certainly clean up, maintain order and sanitation, and do other basic things.

For instance, rallying the neighborhoods, organizing and mobilizing volunteers for cleanup drives periodically shouldn’t tax their energy or imagination too much.

There’s a management system that local officials should learn; it’s called “management by wandering around” (MBWA). Inspecting the jurisdiction on foot, noting potholes, broken streetlights, dirty parks, messy sidewalks, dead trees…and getting the crew to attend to them.

It includes walking around, calling the attention of a household to repair its run-down compound, urging a sari-sari store to remove and replace ugly signage.

Try it! It worked in the city of Baltimore in Maryland, U.S.A., where its mayor started MBWA in the mid 1980s.

These are small chores in the community, but they make a difference in the image of the nation—and its face to the world.

Manny is former UNESCO regional director for Asia-Pacific; secretary-general, Southeast Asia Publishers Association; director, development academy of Philippines; vice chair, Local Government Academy; member, Cory Govt’s Peace Panel; and awardee, PPI-UNICEF most outstanding columnist. He is President and National Convenor of Gising Barangay Movement Inc valdehuesa@ gmail.com

10 NEWS

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bini, Pantukan towns in Compostela Valley and the collection centers in Kapalong and Asuncion towns in Davao del Norte.

After ringing the PCU Building, the team also replaced the subdued guards belonging to the CISA Security Agency with guards from Obscor, the security agency hired by the rival Daneco-NEA faction.

It may be recalled that the Daneco-NEA and Daneco-CDA factions have been locked in a bitter rivalry over which faction has the right to manage Daneco, a huge electric cooperative whose franchise area includes the provinces of Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley. The hostilities, now in the courts, have left the cooperative’s 150,000 consumer members in confusion as to where to pay their power bills.

Because of this, the cooperative had not been able to collect more than P1 billion worth of light bills from its customers, resulting in arrears of more than P700 million to its power suppliers, led by Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM).

The padlocking in effect prevented the entry ofDaneco-CDA employees into their offices supposed to have opened at 8 a.m.

Daneco-CDA, a breakaway group claiming to be the legitimate electric cooperative which should manage Daneco, had been collecting at least P10 million monthly from follower member-consumers.

Daneco-CDA’s collections were said to be about 10 percent of theDaneco’s total collections from its 150,000 member-consum-

ers in the two provinces.

Daneco-NEA Project Supervisor GodofredoGuya saidDaneco-CDA’s operation was illegal and their collection activities as alleged acts of stealing money from Daneco’s member-consumers.

In an interview Monday afternoon at the provincial police compound, Daneco-NEA legal counsel JeorgeRapista said that “NEA Manila, through its authorized enforcement officers sent here, Atty. Gabat and Atty. Dupay, is just implementing its Cease and Desist Order issued last December 13, 2013 pursuant to Republic Act. No. 10531 and based on the injunction we got from the Court of Appeals.”

“It is just an exercise of NEA’s quasi-judicial function based on the new NEA Charter Law, RA 10531, which provides that all electric cooperatives should be under the NEA’s supervisory and disciplinary powers,” lawyerRapista said.

“The coverage of the cease and desist order includes the stopping of their operations and collections, and how to stop these is to padlock their offices and collection centers, Rapista said, adding they are also directed to surrender all their vehicles and equipment, and to turn over the management of Daneco under the NEA’s control and management.”

“The police are not implementing the order of NEA. They just provided assistance to NEA to maintain peace and order. The police followed the rules of engagements, and definitely there was peaceful implementation of the cease and desist order,” Rapista

argued.

Earlier, Daneco-NEA officials bared a notice of PSALM disconnection and threat of franchise-wide blackout owing to its heavy indebtedness to power obligations as a result of the long-running dispute starting July 2012.

As of last month, Daneco’s total arrears to its power suppliers reached P767.01 million, P601.37 million was due for PSALM. Its accumulated collectibles from member-consumers have reached a whopping P1.1 billion.

On Tuesday morning in radio interview, Daneco-CDA board director Noel Quidilla decried NEA’s “harassment to (their) group.” He vowed that his their group will continue operating unless “there’s already a Supreme Court decision.”

He said they had appealed the Court of Appeals cease and desist order to the Supreme Court and are readying to file court cases against NEA and Daneco-NEA officials for padlocking their offices and collection centers “with the help of armed policemen.”

“The policemen involved should also be relieved immediately,” Quidilla said.

It could not be immediately known how much money does Daneco-CDA have in the vault inside its office and collection centers as well as in its depository banks.

Traditionally, an electric cooperative has three “and” signatories composed of the general manager, chief finance officer and the president of the board of directors.- Cha Monforte, Correspondent

opment and humanitarian assistance programs,” Caber stated.

He said that the continuous joint army and police pursuit operations in the said provinces resulted to 13 encounters with several NPA members killed while the wounded NPA were brought to different places as they scampered for safety and evade our forces.

The statement said

that last July 15, around 70 NPA members attacked the Indigenous People’s (IP) community in Brgy.

Sta Irene, Prosperidad, Agusandel Sur where 13 NPA members were killed while 4 bagani tribal guards and a soldier also were killed.

“IP or Lumad communities in CARAGA and Davao region are continuously abused and exploited by the NPA and

its partner organizations through deception as the key to the recruitment,” Caber said.

It is stated that the joint army and police units are working closely with the concerned Local Government Units and other civilian stakeholders for the protection of the people and their communities from attacks, harassment and extortion activities by the NPA.

oro Basic Law by the end of 2014 once the Bangsamoro Transition Commission had drafted it. This time, what he said was virtually a rehash of press statements about the present status of BBL draft from the Palace and his Peace Adviser’s office.

Following are what he said: The conflict ended with the signing of the CAB: “Matapos ang mahabang panahon ng hidwaan at napupurnadang negosasyon, naibalik na natin ang tiwala.

Pruweba po nito: Noong nakaraang Marso, nilagdaan na ang Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.”

(After many years of conflict and negotiations, we were able to restore the trust [of the Moros]. Last

March, we signed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.)

He relates the CAB to the ARMM: “Pero simula pa lang ito ng ating pag-usad sa landas ng malawakang pag-unlad sa Mindanao.

Wala pong makakatangging napag-iwanan ang ARMM. Gusto po nating bigyan ng pantay na pagkakataon ang lahat ng Pilipino, kaya nga dapat may boost up, para naman maka-catch up ang ating mga kababayang nasa laylayan. Halimbawa, sa budget na imumungkahi natin para sa 2015, 5.17 billion pesos mula sa budget ng DPWH ay nakalaan para sa imprastraktura ng ARMM.” (But this is just the beginning of our slow and challenging endeavor to extensively develop Mindanao.

No one can deny that the ARMM has been left behind.

We want to give all Filipinos equal opportunity; so we have to help our very poor countrymen to catch up. For 2015, P5.17 billion from the DPWH budget has been allocated for the ARMM infrastructure.)

On the status of the BBL: “Kasalukuyan na po nating pinapanday ang panukalang Bangsamoro Basic Law. Humihingi po tayo ng pang-unawa sa ating Kongreso ukol rito.

Mahalaga pong maging masusi ang paghimay natin ng bawat probisyong ilalatag.

Sa abot ng ating makakaya, isusulong natin ang isang panukalang batas na makatuwiran, makatarungan, at katanggap-tanggap sa lahat.”

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aims to rehabilitate its declining fishery resources.

Perez said that the annual closure should have started last June but was moved on July because of delay in publication in national newspapers. Commercial fishing vessels using bag nets and ring net are not allowed to fish inside the gulf.

Though there’s no data available on hand, Perez said in an interview during the 12-hour onboard monitoring of the Davao Gulf using the MV/ DA- BFAR, a research vessel, last Saturday that the closure will benefit most the small and municipal fisher folks.

Barog sa Katawhan sa Governor Generoso Multipurpose Cooperative manager Jerry V. Dela Cerna told Edge Davao that their

members helped in the recommendation of Davao Gulf closure because of the decreasing catch of small fishermen.

The cooperative is composed of 74 members, of which more than half are fisher folks.

“Sa ilang eksperyansa man gud kaniadto makahuli sila ng 15 to 25 kilos per day, karon usahay isa o duha na lang ka kilo tungod sa pagpanagat sa commercial fishing vessels nga namisroute sa municipal water,” Dela Cerna said.

BFAR 11 regional director Fatma Idris said that the effect of the closure cannot be felt as early as now but she assured that the closure will help in the reproduction of small fishes in the gulf.

Idris said that small

fishermen using open line and hand line can continue their livelihood for one the rest of the year, only the commercial fishing vessel are not allowed for three months.

She said that there were 41 registered commercial vessels using ring nets in their office while there’s no registration in bag nets that are affected now by the close season.

BFAR will be giving assistance to small scale fisherfolk who will be affected by the fishing ban during the spawning season.

“We are giving assistance in the form of fishing gear and boats,” Idris said.

Idris added that the agency was also ready to give boat engines, with a counterpart boat from the fisherfolk. CRC

Speech Aquino cited the P1.6 billion Training for Work Scholarship Program of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) which was funded by the Disbursement Acceleration Program.

The president said that the amount enabled the graduation of 223,615 beneficiaries. He said 66 percent of these—or, 146,731 graduates—now have jobs.

“As for the remaining 34 percent, TESDA is helping them find employment.

Just take a look: All of these scholars have their names and other pertinent data listed down, should you wish to confirm them,” Aquino emphasized.

Aquino also said that the government launched the Expanded Conditional Cash Transfer Program in June of 2014, with a budget of 12.3 billion pesos.

“Now, the government will also support the beneficiaries until they are 18 years old. Some will ask, “Why?” According to a study conducted by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, a high school graduate earns 40 percent more than someone who was only able to finish grade school,” he said .

“We are investing in our most valuable resource: The Filipino people,” Aquino stressed.

He cited a data from the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) attesting their success. He said that according to data, 27.9 percent poverty rate during the first semester of 2012 went down to 24.9 percent for the same period in 2013. He said that three percentage points are equivalent to 2.5 million Filipinos who have crossed the poverty line.

Aquino also highlighted the security status of the country.

“We are aware of the challenges our country

faces, and we also know the high cost of the equipment we need. Today, I am glad to report to you the ongoing modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)” Aquino emphasized.

Aquino said the government had acquired brand new assets, including eight Sokol Combat Utility Helicopters, three Agusta West land109 helicopters, and the first landing craft utility ship built right here in the country: the BRP Tagbanua. Four refurbished UH-1 helicopters and two navy cutters have also arrived.This past May, we also inaugurated the Naval Forces West’s state-of-theart Command Center in Palawan.

“Next year, two out of the 12 FA-50 lead-in fighter jets we procured will arrive in the country. We expect the rest to be delivered in 2017,” Aquino said.

Aquino said that they are also targeting the acquisition of an additional eight Bell combat utility helicopters, two anti-submarine helicopters, 10 more Agusta West land109 helicopters, two light-lift aircraft, three medium-lift aircraft, radar systems, all of which are brand new.

“These, along with other new equipment, will boost the capacity of our Armed Forces,” Aquino stressed.

He said that the M4 assault rifles we bought for our soldiers have likewise arrived. In the next few months, the total number of rifles that will be in

the hands of the soldiers: 50,629 units.

“On top of this, through a correct and transparent procurement process and the honest management of funds, we were able to save more than 1.2 billion pesos,” Aquino said.

“I must emphasize: all these rifles are brand new and of good quality from a veteran manufacturer. Was it not true that, before, our funds were depleted in the purchase of Kevlar Helmets that were not even according to specification? Instead of buying them from the U.S., these helmets were purchased from another country,” he added.

He said that there has already been a conviction over this matter. The investigation of a judge who was allegedly involved, which was ordered by the Supreme Court, has been concluded.

“We are awaiting their verdict,” he said.

The image of our police has changed since the government have already reached a 1:1 police-to-pistol ratio, which is why these rookie policewomen were issued brand new guns.

“Proof of this are the 30 policemen, led by Inspector Charity Galvez, who repelled an estimated 250 NPA members who stormed their precinct in 2011,” Aquino cited.

He said that Before, the needs of the police force went ignored but, today, the state is taking care of them matching with this support of efficient and upright service.

PNoy... FFROM 2

NOTICE OF LOSS

Notice is hereby given by LOYOLA PLANS CONSOLIDATED INC. ThatCERTIFICATE OF FULL PAYMENT No.(s) 21048436 – 1000727 under LOYOLA PLAN Contract No.(s)192230-5-301181-9 issued to NELLY M. BAUZON was lost. Any transaction entered into shall be null and void.

7/23,30,8/6

EDGEDAVAO

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VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

LOOMING FISH SHORTAGE SEEN Text and Photos by GERRY T. ESTRERA

I

F within five to ten years from now you won’t see fish anymore in your plate or restaurant menus, don’t be surprised. Blame the current surging population for that.

Currently, the Philippines is home to 100 million people. “About 62 percent of the population lives in the coastal zone,” says the Philippine Environment Monitor published by the World Bank.

The Philippines has one of the highest population growth rates in the world, with an average annual rate of increase of 2.75 percent during the last century. Estimates show that if the present rapid population growth and declining trend in fish production continue, only a few kilograms of fish will be available per Filipino per year in the coming years, as opposed to 28.5 kilograms per year in 2003.

“Without any change in fish consumption and no active human population management program,” the World Bank report warns, “domestic demand for fish will reach 3.2 billion kilograms by 2020, given the projected population growth rate of the country.”

If increased demand is met solely by marine capture fisheries, such increased pressure on the fisheries sector could lead to an eventual collapse of fisheries and the fishing industry, which employs

more than one million people (about 5 percent of the national labor force).

“All fisheries are showing decline in total catch and per unit effort (total number of fish caught per unit of time) despite increasing effort,” the World Bank report notes. “Fish are harvested at a level 30 to 50 percent higher than the natural production capacity.”

The Philippines is among the largest fish producers in the world, the World Bank report states. The commercial, municipal, and aquaculture fisheries account for 36, 30, and 24 percent of the total fisheries yield, respectively. Its annual total fisheries yield is estimated to be worth around US$70 to UD$110 billion (equivalent to about 2-4 percent of the country’s gross domestic production over the years).

A report from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) said that the total volume of fisheries production increased by 9.67 percent during the third quarter of 2007 over the same quarter in 2006.

Even if the government can check the current population growth, there’s one problem that cannot be solved by the country alone: global warming.

“We still have enough fish now but with global warming we may have problems in the next five

to ten years unless we do something about it,” warns Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero III, former executive director of the Laguna-based Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (PCAMRD).

This has been confirmed by a recent report released by the United Nations. “At least three quarters of the globe’s key fishing grounds may become seriously impacted by changes in circulation as a result of the ocean’s natural pumping systems fading and falling,” the UN report suggests.

Global warming refers to an increase in average global temperatures, as a result of too much greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This, in turn, results to climate change. Marine species are not spared from the threats caused by rising temperatures.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration physicist Josefino Comiso recently told Philippine media that rising temperatures could reach a point where “various living creatures” would start to die in large numbers. “Such temperatures would vary from species to species,” he said. “But the deaths of these creatures would gravely affect the food supply chain.”

UN report author Christian Nellemann said

that more than 50 percent of the world’s coral reefs could die by 2050 because of bleaching caused by higher ocean surface temperatures, based on climate projections by international scientists. “Slight changes in ocean temperature will lead to coral bleaching which will impact on the coral reefs on which the country’s fishes feed,” Dr. Comiso said.

In the Philippines, an estimated 10-15 per cent of the total fisheries come from coral reefs. About 8090 per cent of the income of small island communities comes from fisheries.

“Coral reef fish yields range from 20 to 25 metric tons per square kilometer per year for healthy reefs,” says Dr. Angel C. Alcala, former environment secretary.

“Corals tend to die in great numbers immediately following coral bleaching events, which may stretch across thousands of square kilometers of ocean,” explained Dr. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, who has studied the phenomenon of coral bleaching since the early 1980s.

A new threat that will most likely cause havocs among coral reefs is ocean acidification. Unlike mass coral bleaching, when corals stressed by increased temperature become white, it is difficult to detect when any coral species is threatened by acidification, ac-

cording to Rod Salm, Nature Conservancy’s tropical marine conservation director for Asia and Pacific region.

The ocean absorbs about one-third of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which combines with sea water to form carbonic acid, a process called ocean acidification. Carbonic acid erodes calcium carbonate needed by corals and other calcifying organisms to build their skeletons.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide is expected to double in 50 years if current emission trends continue and “ocean acidification will continue to an extent and at rates that have not occurred for tens of millions of years,” Salm said. “Ocean acidification is creeping, progressive and insidious... a weakening of the reef structure that makes corals more vulnerable to breakage from waves and human use.”

Mangroves are not spared from destruction. “All over the country, whatever coastal province you visit, you see the same plight - desolate stretches of shoreline completely stripped of mangrove cover and now totally exposed to the pounding of the ocean’s waves,” a marine environmentalist deplored.

Experts are very worried at this prospect as mangroves are home to 68 species of fish (includ-

ing bangus, kitan, tilapia, eel, and mullet, to name a few), 54 species of crustaceans (shrimps, prawns, and crabs), and 56 species of gastropods.

“Fish use the spaces under the mass of prop roots of mangrove trees as ‘delivery rooms,’ and the offspring of many marine species spend their growing period in the mangrove swamps before moving on to the open said,” explained Dr. Guerrero.

But there are signs of hope. For instance, the country’s mangrove forests were estimated to cover 5,000 square kilometers 1918. By 1970, they had dwindled to 2,880 square kilometers and to 2,420 square kilometers a decade later.

But presently, mangroves are “relatively stable and even increasing in selected areas of management in Visayas,” according to the World Bank report. As such, overall rate of decline in recent years has lessened. “This is good news, indeed!” environmentalists declared.

However, more endeavors will still have to be done to slow down the current surge of population in the country in addition to protecting the fishery resources and their ecosystems, if this vital source of protein and culinary delight is to remain on the local dinner plate.

12 CLASSIFIED

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Billiard Supplies

Phone Nos.

Cell Nos.

EDGEDAVAO VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

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EDGEDAVAO LATCH Davao brings Canadian doctor Jack Newman for breastfeeding seminar VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 •WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

WOMEN

Photos by Mima Tan

CELEBRATE the Breastfeeding Month (August) by learning together as a community in a one-day symposium by one of Canada’s highly acclaimed doctors and breastfeeding advocates, Dr. Jack Newman. Dubbed as Breastfeeding Uncovered: Mission Possible, this special event is set to happen on August 11, 2014, from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM at the SMX Convention Center in Davao City. Organized by Latch Davao, the whole day activity is open to nurses, mothers and other interested individuals. Topics include What they didn’t teach you about breastfeeding, Norms for the first few days, Numbers on demand: Norms for the breastfeeding baby.

L.A.T.C.H. (Lactation, Attachment, Training, Counseling, Help) is a hospital-based non-profit organization established in 2006 that offers quality lactation education and peer counseling services to mothers

who wish and make a commitment to breastfeed.

As mothers, Latch Davao Peer Counselors reach out with kindness and understanding to fellow mothers.

Their aim is to empower parents by ensuring they receive the most up-to-date information to assist them

with their breastfeeding baby. Sharing challenges and benefits of breastfeeding raises awareness and creates ripples within the community, and a Latch Peer Counselor’s purpose is to reach out within her own growing sphere to support,

promote and forge breastfeeding into everyone’s lifestyle. Their resources also address breastfeeding concerns, milk supply issues, fears about babies’ health as related to feeding, and help to prevent future problems.

Latch Davao regularly holds breastfeeding talks and counseling among groups of parents and women within the city. Their lectures include not only their experience but also medical data, new ideas and best practices in breastfeeding.

The upcoming event with Dr. Newman is one feat that Latch Davao is proud of. Throughout the year, the group ran series of fund raising activities that circled around the interests and hobbies of moms.

Considered a labor of love, all members of Latch Davao generously shared their time and talents in putting together workshops and lectures just to save up for everything that was needed to fly in Dr. Newman.

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UP AND ABOUT

Prince of Speed Marlon Stockinger holds Meet and Greet with fans in Manila FILIPINO-SWISS racer Marlon Stockinger recently came home to Manila to promote his partnership with Globe Telecom and Lotus F1. The leading telecommunications company will hold an event called “Slipstream” on August 30, 2014, where fans and racing aficionados can see Stockinger drive his Lotus-Gravity Charouz Formula Renault 3.5 car around Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

As a testament to its modern and fast network infrastructure now with 100% 3G coverage nationwide and soon 4G HSPA+, the event will also feature Lotus F1 simulators, booths, freebies, and games in partner-establishments. The day will be capped off with a high-velocity concert and party to celebrate the milestone.

“We are bringing in the world’s fastest sports headlined by one of the fastestdriving young drivers in the world, happening at the country’s fastest-developing business hub, powered by the nation’s fastest and most modern network to make our customers feel what it’s like to see fast, hear fast, and be fast powered by Globe,” shares Peter Bithos, Chief Operating Advisor of Globe.

The Prince of Speed spent the afternoon with his fans who joined his Instagram contest, where they were asked to submit their video messages to Marlon telling him why they deserve to be at the Speed Meet with Marlon, his own version of a meet and greet session.

Lucky fans, which included a hardcore supporter all the way from Baguio, were treated to hours of games, fun activities, freebies and prizes, as well as photo opportunity with their racing idol. Radio disc jockey Tracy Abad was assigned hosting duties and brought Marlon closer to his fans and supporters beyond the racing suit, as they got the chance to get to know Marlon more through Speed Talk, a portion where Marlon was asked more personal questions revealing his interests, hobbies, and future goals.

THE SM STORE TO HOLD LUGGAGE SALE. Prepare to go places with The SM Store’s Luggage Sale happening on August 1 – 31! Bag amazing discounts of up to 50% off the widest selection of travel bags, backpacks, suitcases and travel accessories from your favorite brands like Samsonite, American Tourister, Elle and many more!

Get free Luggage scale for a minimum single -receipt purchase of P3,000. It’s The SM Store’s Luggage Sale happening from August 1 31. Per DTI-FTEB SPD permit no. 0454 series of 2014.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 •WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

EVENT

Inday Sara shares bonding moments with son and Johnson’s Baby

By Kenneth Irving Ong

Sara Duterte-Carpio and her son Mateo Lucas “Stingray”.

MOMS always love bonding with their little one. Singing and being silly during bath time, massaging baby after bathing, or tickling baby before changing his clothes. But did you know that these everyday bonding moments could help your chill’s skin develop healthily?

Johnson’s Baby, together with its new ambassador Sara Duterte-Carpio together with her son Mateo Lucas “Stingray”, launched its new campaign that advocates for “healthy skin galing sa lambing” (healthy skin with the help of mom and child bonding). Its campaign is all about how mom’s touch and caring for her child through everyday routines like massaging, and bathing can do wonders to help her child have healthy skin.

Several media personalities joined Johnson’s Baby for lunch in welcoming Sara Duterte-Carpio as the brand’s newest ambassador at The Stairwell, Matina Town Square, Davao City on July 28.

Sara Duterte-Carpio, who prefers to be called Inday Sara, is a lawyer and a former mayor of Davao City.

She is a representation of new moms in Mindanao who give unconditional

time and care for her child amidst different challenges and hustle of her daily life.

“If I could spend 24 hours with Stingray, I would.” says Sara “But giv-

en that I have to go to the office, I make sure I am with him in the morning when he wakes up and in the afternoon after work to play and bond with him.”

Sara adds that she makes

Sara together with the Johnson’s Baby team in Davao.

it a point that when the clock strikes 5 o’clock, she stops work at 5 o’clock to go home to her son.

Together with Johnson’s Baby products with Triple Baby Protection seal in these everyday routines, babies can enjoy the brand’s promise to keep baby’s skin’s natural moisture, keeping baby safe and protected and keeping baby protected from irritation. Johnson’s Baby’s Triple Baby Protection is the brand’s guarantee that all their products are safe, mild, and effective. That’s why they’er recommended by the World Infant Care Authority.

For other moms like Sara, who want to learn about tips on how their child can achieve healthy skin through bonding, like Johnson’s Baby Philippines on Facebook.

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ENTERTAINMENT

‘Little Superstar’ Lyca is first “The Voice Kids” grand champion NINE-YEAR-OLD Lyca Gairanod of Cavite emerged as the first ever grand champion of “The Voice Kids” after garnering the highest percentage of text and online votes during the two-night finale of the top-rating and Twitter-trending singingreality show.

Coach Sarah Geronimo’s bet led the public voting based on the Power Ballad, Upbeat Song, and Special Performance with a Celebrity Guest rounds and took home P1 million, a oneyear recording contract with MCA Universal, house and lot, a home appliance showcase, a musical instrument showcase, and P1 million worth of trust fund.

Team Sarah’s Darren Espanto came in second, while Team Bamboo’s Juan Karlos Labajo and Team Lea’s Darlene Vibares placed third and fourth, respectively.

Lyca impressed the coaches and the audience with her rendition of Regine Velasquez’ “Narito Ako” and Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” Saturday night (July 26), but what brought the house down was her version of “Basang Basa sa Ulan,” which she performed with band Aegis on Sunday (July 27), earning a standing ovation from coaches Lea

Salonga, Bamboo, and the audience at Resorts World Manila.

Even before “The Voice Kids” started airing, Lyca had already made a mark on netizens and viewers with her blind audition performance of Aegis’ “Halik,” which was used as a teaser for the program and became a viral hit.

As she fought through the Battle Rounds, SingOffs, and Live Semi-Finals, Lyca was dubbed the “little superstar” after she was likened by coach Lea to Nora Aunor. Lyca, a small kid with big dreams, became known for her heartfelt performances and humble back-

ground as a daughter of a fisherman who sometimes helps her mother scavenge junk to sell. Lyca also previously revealed that she would perform for her neighbors in exchange for cash or food.

Netizens also tuned in

to Sunday show to wait for the announcement of the grand champion, as #TheVoiceKidsChampion, #TVKDarrenForTheChampion, #WowAngGwapoNiLuis, Jhong Hilario, Lani Misalucha, Gary V and JK, You Are My Song, and other finalerelated hashtags trended worldwide and locally on Twitter.

The star-studded Sunday finale, hosted by Luis Manzano and Alex Gonzaga, also featured performances from Darren and Martin Nievera, Juan Karlos and Gary Valenciano, and Darlene and Lani Misalucha.

It was opened by a lively performance from the Final Four young artists, the three coaches, and “The Voice of the Philippines” Season 1 grand winner Mitoy and finalists Klarisse de Guzman, Myk Perez, and Janice Javier.

Since its pilot, “The

Voice Kids” has consistently ranked as the most watched program in the country. The first night of its finale last Saturday (July 26) scored an all-time high national TV rating of 37.7% for the program, while the Sunday show hit 37.2%.

The “The Voice of the Phil-

ippines” Season 2 for adults, meanwhile, is expected to premiere before the year ends. For updates on the program, visit thevoice.abscbn.com, like www.facebook.com/thevoiceabscbn, or follow @thevoiceabscbn on Twitter and @abscbnthevoice on Instagram

“Sa Puso Ni Dok” soon on GMA7 CONTINUING its tradition of award-winning original series, GMA News and Public Affairs creates a groundbreaking medical drama “SA PUSO NI DOK”, inspired by the harsh realities of public health in the Philippines.

Award winning actor Dennis Trillo plays stern and mysterious head resident Doctor Dennis, who resists the lure of work abroad to spend his work days serving the sick in Melchora Aquino General Hospital and his personal time tending to the poor in a remote barrio.

Afraid to love again, Doc Dennis discovers fate has another plan for him in the person of Doc Gab, played by 2014 Famas’ Best Supporting Actress Bela Padilla.

Doc Gab is a fresh graduate armed with idealism but not the experience to face daily medical crises such as hostage taking when a patient runs amok, a bus

SHE'S DATING THE GANGSTER Daniel Padilla, Kathryn Bernardo PG 13

12:40 | 3:00 | 5:20 | 7:40 | 10:00 LFS

TROPHY WIFE Cristine Reyes, Derek Ramsay, Heart Evangelista, John Estrada R 13

collision or a fire affecting hundreds of victims.

The romantic love story of the two doctors unfolds in the face of these challenging medical scenarios and tragedies as well as the

discovery of administrative corruption.

“SA PUSO NI DOK”s ultimate battlecry is the improvement of public health care in the country and to showcase the heroism of

many of our government employed doctors, nurses and health workers – who value integrity and service for their fellow Filipinos.

“SA PUSO NI DOK” will air soon on GMA-7.

12:40 | 3:00 | 5:20 | 7:40 | 10:00 LFS

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman PG 13

R-16

12:00 | 2:30 | 5:00 | 7:30 | 10:00 LFS

HERCULES Dwayne Johnson R 13

12:40 | 3:00 | 5:20 | 7:40 | 10:00 LFS

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WOMEN

LATCH...FFROM A1

EVENT

Dr. Jack Newman is a Canadian physician specializing in breastfeeding support and advocacy. A graduate of University of Toronto medical school, first worked as staff pediatrician at the Hospital for Sick Children emergency department from 1983 to 1992, sometimes acting as chief of the emergency services. It was during those years that he found his calling and decided to campaign on the benefits of

breastfeeding to both mothers and children. This advocacy eventually gained a lot of following and took more of his time from the hospital.

He then decided to work full time in helping mothers and babies discover and enjoy the wonders of breastfeeding. This journey led him to open the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic and Institute based at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto.

Dr. Newman is known for having written books on breastfeeding. In 2000 he, along with Teresa Pitman,

published books on breastfeeding for professionals and mothers called Dr. Jack Newman’s Guide to Breastfeeding, The Latch and Other Keys to Breastfeeding Success and The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers. Some of his works were translated to French, Indonesian and Japanese, and some are currently being translated to Spanish and Italian. He, along with Edith Kernerman, also produced a video guide in DVD format as learning tool for health professionals and mothers.

Register for Dr. Jack Newman’s seminar by July 31 and avail of the early bird rate of Php1,000.00 net per participant. Regular admission fee is at Php1,500.000 per person and Php800.00 for medical students. Seminar fees also cover snacks and packed lunch.

For inquiries, please contact Latch Davao through (0905) 353-7144 or send them an email at latchdavao@gmail.com. Follow https://www.facebook.com/ LATCHDavao for regular updates on breastfeeding talks and seminars.

Grand Regal Hotel Davao joins Kasalang Filipino THE premier wedding reception venue in Davao City has again showcased it’s creative abilities by presenting a one of a kind romantic outdoor wedding set-up, in the muchanticipated annual wedding fair at Abreeza Mall from July 25 to 27.

Call: 224-0733 • Tionko St., Davao City

Grand Regal Hotel’s booth looks surreal as a truly-inspired dream wedding that a couple had always dreamed about.

Using real tree trimmings that included the roots and vines, real flowers and a thick foliage that compliments the green bamboo walling. The three angel figurine fountains complete the garden-inspired wedding set-up. It is indeed a picturesque presentation of a how a hotel can create awe-inspiring set-up when wedding events happen inside Grand Regal Hotel Davao.

Each week, more and more wedding receptions are scheduled at Grand Regal Hotel, as they find it a perfect venue that suits their requirements.

The hotel has the capacity to accommodate a

banquet for 700 guests at the Grand Pilipinas Ballroom, the biggest ballroom in a hotel in Davao City. it sure will be a grand reception where guests enjoy elegance and comfort during these very special occasion. Of course, if the occasion calls for an intimate gathering of 100 guests, each of the three smaller ballrooms named

Sulu, Mactan & Corregidor can accommodate just that, and can also be converted into larger area are should the wedding guests reach to 300 people. These ballrooms are fully-carpeted with highceiling where awesome wedding décor-works can be created for maximum satisfaction of how the couple wanted their

dream wedding reception to be remembered for life.

To make the Grand Regal Hotel experience truly grand like no other, the couple will have the chance to stay at the posh Bridal Suite at the corner of the 12th floor. This luxurious suite with a timeless elegance is a perfect spot to gaze at the city’s blueish hues during dusk and nightline. It also offers a picture-perfect view of the Davao Gulf and Samal Island in all its serenity and splendor especially during daybreak.

For inquiries, please call 082-2350888 and 09228838809.

13 COMMUNITY SENSE

EDGEDAVAO VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

Hedcor plants 13,000 trees S

TA Cruz, Davao del Sur – Volunteer team members of Hedcor in Davao and its host communities united in planting 4700 trees during the Aboitiz group wide tree planting last July 19.

Hedcor, Inc., Hedcor Sibulan, Inc. and Hedcor Bukidnon, Inc. employees reforested the 3km roadside near Tudaya Hydro 2 in Sta Cruz, Davao del Sur. Meanwhile, Hedcor team members in north trouped to La Trinidad and Bakun Benguet, Alilem, Ilocos Sur and Bauko, Mt. Province. All in all Hedcor was able to plant

13,000 trees in the simultaneous tree planting.

“We are one in the efforts of Aboitiz group for environmental sustainability across the country. Our tree planting activities all throughout the year reinforces our Watershed Management Plan [WMP],” said Hedcor Vice President for Mindanao Operations Rolando Pacquiao.

Species planted are narra, durian and rambotan. By planting fruit-bearing trees, Hedcor’s host communities will be able to harvest and sell the produce, thereby

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If you are a grade 6 pupil from any DepEd recognized school, join the annual search for Philippine Science High School scholars for SY 2015-2016 and be part of the country’s brightest high school scholars.

The annual scholarship is open to pupils who belong to the upper 10% of the batch (SY 2013-2014)

augmenting their income.

Through reforestation, Hedcor supports sustainable development and preserves the environment.

One of the major activities of Hedcor under its WMP is roadside rehabilitation and riverbank stabilization. Each single tree planted will help protect the watershed considering that a tree can hold or absorb water, thus preventing flash floods.

The tree planting activity is one of the many initiatives undertaken through the company’s WMP. In fact, just last year,

Hedcor achieved the 1000 hectares reforestation in Mt Apo Natural Park.

Hedcor was awarded with the Philippine Environment Partnership Program Seal of Approval for many years now by DENR for going beyond compliance. Hedcor has 21 run-of-river hydropower plants in Benguet, Ilocos Sur, Davao City and Davao del Sur with a total installed capacity of 170 MWs and looking for an additional capacity from Sabangan Hydro Project in Mt Province and Manolo Fortich Hydro Project in Bukidnon.

UNIFIED EFFORTS. Through unified efforts of Hedcor and the host communities, the July 19 13000 trees commitment succeeded. These trees

are the testament of the continuous effort of the company for preserving the environment.

Deadline for application is Aug 15 and do not have a grade below 80% as certified by the School Principal or Registrar. If the applicant does not belong to the upper 10%, he/she should have special aptitude in Science and Math as evidenced by the report card, with at least a final grade of 85% in Science and Math and 80% in all other subjects. The applicant must be a Filipino citizen with no pending application as immigrant to any

foreign country; born on or after June 1, 2000; in good health and fit to undergo a rigorous academic program; of good conduct and behavior; and has not taken the PSHS National Competitive Examination (NCE) previously.

The PSHS System National Competitive Examination (NCE) will be on October 4, 2014. This one-time screening is composed of test items designed to measure the

scientific and quantitative ability, abstract reasoning, and verbal aptitude of the applicant.

Application forms are available and may be submitted at the PSHS Southern Mindanao Campus or the DOST Regional and Provincial Offices. Forms may also be downloaded from the official PSHS website at http://www.pshs. edu.ph. Deadline for filing of application is on August 15, 2014.

14 SPORTS

EDGEDAVAO VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

Only a Floyd-Manny fight will save boxing W

ELL known Australian promoter Peter Maniatis believes that the fight boxing fans have longed for over the past four years a fight between “Fighter of the Decade” Manny Pacquiao and undefeated pound-forpound No. 1 Floyd Mayweather Jr has to happen to save boxing.

Maniatis told the Manila Standard/Viva Sports that both Pacquiao and Mayweather “both realize the fight has to happen” in the face of a major downswing in payper-view numbers with a showdown between the two biggest names in boxing certain to boost the sport as well as the PPV numbers.

He said fight fans are no longer that interested in boxing with “so many other sports competing for attention such as MMA, UFC and basketball.”

Maniatis said that “nobody wants Pacquiao and Mayweather to agree to fight at a time they’ll have to enter the ring in wheelchairs. The time is now.”

Mayweather faces Argentina’s Marcos Maidana in a rematch on September 13 and has said he will make a surprise announcement on his next fight which is expected to take place in

May next year.

After he announced the Maidana rematch, Mayweather kept fans guessing when he said “I’m fighting in May (2015) and I’m going to have a big surprise for

you all.” The speculation has centered around a much-awaited fight against Pacquiao.

Maniatis noted that Pacquiao who defends his WBO welterweight title against light welter-

weight champion Chris Algieri in Macau on November 22, “is fighting a guy who is lanky, much taller but doesn’t have much power.”

However, the Aussie promoter noted that he

is “resilient and Ruslan Provodnikov nearly put him away in the first couple of rounds but he (Algieri) came back and won the fight. Not many fighters can get beaten up that badly, have their

face swollen and eventually win.”

Maniatis said Algieri is undefeated in 20 fights “while Manny has had a lot of hard fights” and it may not be as easy as some fight fans believe.

OUR young players from Davao City will see action in the Philippine Jiu Jitsu Gi and No Gi National Championships slated on August 2 and 3 at the SM Sucat in Paranaque.

“They are Mark Lim, Mike Lim, Mark Co and Jun Ranier, all members of the Cenojas Mixed Martial Arts-Kamphuis Fabricio BJJ,” said CMMA-KFBJJ

chief instructor Marco Cenojas at the SCOOP Session of The Royal Mandaya Hotel last Tuesday.

The event is dubbed as the Philippine National Championships for the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu both Gi and No gi and for Children. The first day of competition is for all BJJ Gi divisions including Juniors while Sunday is for all No Gi divisions and children’s

BJJ divisions.

The Lim twins and Co are all veterans already of the said event. Mark, 17, won four golds last year in the under 70 kilogram category for the Blue Belt.

Mike (under 64 kg.

Blue Belt) pocketed two golds in the Pan Asia Championships held last May in Manila.

Co, who won a gold in the Pan Asia Junior divi-

sion will compete in the under 60 klg. White Belt division while newcomer Ranier will play in the under 67 klg. For White belt.

“They are our best four players and we are hoping that they will bring home the medals,” Cenojas said.

Meanwhile, CMMA is also joining the Mindanao Martial Arts Expo slated on August 10 at the Oases’ Garden in Bo. Obrero.

ment manager Friendee Nunez at the SCOOP Session of The Royal Mandaya Hotel.

The first day will be played at the second floor, hallway of the Abreeza Mall from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. It will continue at the Spin Davao along Avancena St. on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The champion in the Open Men’s Singles and Open Women’s singles will both received P6,000 plus a trophy.

The first runner-up will

get P5,000, second runner-up P2,500 and third runner-up P1,500.

In the Boys and Girls 12 under singles the top four winners will win P1,000, P750, P500 and P300. The champions in the Media and Indonesian Consulate Staff category will pocket P4,000 and a trophy.

The first runner-up will get P3,000, second runner-up P2,000 and third runner-up P1,000.

“The top two qualifiers from the media will battle it out with the

top two from the Indonesian Consulate Staff in the semifinals,” said Nunez, also president of the Dep. Ed Table Tennis Association of Davao City (DETTADAC).

Deadline of registation is on Aug. 8. Players in the boys and girls 12 under must bring a school ID and a birth certificate from the NSO. For more inquiry, contact 09989771050 (Friendee) or 09108256999 (Stanley).

Flight of the 4 Davao players in PH JJ Nat’l Open Eagles on Oct. 5 F T

HIS YEAR’S annual 12th Flight of the Eagles Fun Ride cycling event slated on October 5 from Magsaysay Park to the Malagos Watershed Park near the Philippine Eagle Center in Baguio District will again continue to raise funds for the Lunhaw Awards.

“We’re again very pleased to be one of the beneficiaries of the Flight of the Eagles,” said Lunhaw Awards co-organizer Mary Ann Fuertes of the Interface Development Interventions (IDIS) at the SCOOP Session of The Royal Mandaya Hotel last Tuesday.

Also present at the weekly public service sports program sponsored

by TRMH, Genesis 88, Mulatto Outdoor Apparel and Beefit Gym was IDIS media advocacy officer Erolle Linus Miranda.

The 40-kilometer fun ride will start at 7 a.m. with the theme, “Bike Safety: Share the Road”.

It is organized by the Cycle for Life, Davao City Water District, IDIS, Philcycling, Office of City Councilor Leo Avila III, Watershed and Environmental Protection Coalition of Davao (WEPCD) and Watershed Management Youth Council (WMYC).

“This will go a long way in providing funds so that the Lunhaw Awards can recognize more deserving green initiatives in Davao City,” Fuertes said.

The funds will also go to the reforestation initiatives in the Talomo-Lipadas area which the annual activity has been supporting for the last 10 years. A part of the proceeds will also go to the installation of bike racks in Magsaysay Park.

Registration fee is P500 inclusive of jersey shirt, lunch pack and raffle ticket. Registration is open until Oct. 4 at the Office of Councilor Avila at Room 212, S Building, San Pedro St.

Indonesian Independence Day net fest Aug. 9-10

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HE 69th Indonesian Independence Day Table Tennis Tournament is slated on August 9 and 10 at the Abreeza Mall of Davao and Spin Davao.

The categories are the Open Men’s Singles, Open Women’s Singles, Boys 12 under singles, Girls 12 Under Singles and the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles for the Media and Indonesian Consulate Staff.

Registration is free according to tourna-

SPORTS 15

EDGEDAVAO

NEAR PERFECT VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

Pinoy bets hurdle Bulgaria in WPA first round

TEAM LEADER. The Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose dribbles the ball during a USA Basketball minicamp scrimmage Monday (Tuesday PHL Time) in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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AY 1 at the 2014 World Pool Team Championship at the Tongzhou Luhe High School in Beijing may have been short, with only one session played, but the results were indicative of just how the remainder of the group stages will most likely proceed over the next few days.

The Philippines is surely going to qualify for the final 16 and contend for the title. Davao’s Lee Vann Corteza, Dennis Orcollo, Carlo Biado and lady standout Rubilen Amit had a few early issues with a fired up Bulgarian squad. But the Pinoy stars buckled down for a 5-1 win.

16 out of the 25 teams saw action today, including both Chinese squads, and all the favorites won by landslides or comfortable margins.

What this shows is that the multi-discipline format of the event makes surprises about as difficult to come by as a school playground here in Beijing full of blonde Chinese students.

The World Pool Team Championship is not an ordinary 9-ball event, where an upstart can get red hot and catch a big favorite by

surprise. Yes, it can happen here. But that surprise would be just one match out of a total of six matches played between the two countries in one contest. (one 8 ball men’s doubles, one 8-ball men’s singles, one 9-ball women’s singles, one 9-ball men’s singles, one 10-ball mixed scotch doubles, one 10-ball men’s singles.) Any pool players knows what happens when you play long sets, or multiple sets against an opponent. The age old phrase, “the crème always rises to the top,” comes to mind.

The cream of professional pool didn’t have to even rise anywhere today as it began the evening’s action already at the top and stayed firmly there throughout.

Defending champions Chinese- Taipei, with its powerhouse line up of stars Chang Jun Lin, Ko Pin Yi, Hsu Kai Lun, Fu Che Wei, Chou Cheih Yu demolished an overmatched New Zealand squad 6 -0. The Taiwanese played in the same smooth and calm manner throughout this event in 2012 and were practically untouchable then. Any team lined up against this juggernaut better be prepared.

SCOTT IS IT

Rose back to lead USA D

ERRICK Rose says he feels old.

The 25-yearold point guard’s rigorous play on Monday during the U.S. basketball team’s first practice dictated otherwise.

“I was joking with Kyle Korver, I told him ‘I’m getting old, man. I’ve got to stretch, I’ve got to use rollers and stuff.’

He looked at me kind of weird,” Rose said laughingly. “But I feel a lot more mature. I’ve been preparing for this for a long time. I’ve dedicated my whole summer to this. I think I’ve sacrificed a lot for this moment.”

Rose, the Chicago

Bulls star who is coming off two knee injuries that kept him out for much of the last two seasons, said he played roughly nine minutes of the team’s scrimmage during a twohour practice. He added he was excited about how he felt physically.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski was elated with Rose’s play, saying he was most impressed with his defensive pressure and tenaciousness.

“I think Derrick was a great excitement for us, because you hear about how he’s worked out, but to see him today, I mean, he put it all out,” Krzyzewski said. “He was play-

ing to exhaustion. That was a big plus for today, to see him. I was pleased that he didn’t hold anything back. He played his butt off.”

Rose, who played just 10 games last season before his season was ended by a torn meniscus in his right knee, said he’s spent much of the summer in Chicago working out, other than a few promotional days in Los Angeles for adidas. He was happy to be back on the court, playing against and alongside other NBA players.

“I work out a couple hours a day (and) I know how much work I’ve put into this; I’m just excit-

ed to be here,” Rose said.

“Going out there competing and having fun, to tell you the truth, just having fun, I think that’s the key.”

The 2011 MVP also said he’s felt no pressure to prove himself to anyone, and isn’t trying to play outside the realm he was accustomed to before his initial injury.

“I think last year I was trying to (prove myself) and you see the outcome of that — that wasn’t my game,” said Rose, who is expected to return next season. “This time around, I know my game and I know exactly what I need to do when I go out there.”

Lakers confirms hiring Scott as new coach T HE Los Angeles Lakers confirmed Byron Scott is their new coach Monday night.

The Lakers finally made the long-anticipated announcement in a news release. Scott will be introduced at a news conference Tuesday at the Lakers’ training complex.

Scott told reporters last weekend he had been hired by the Lakers, who have been without a coach since Mike D’Antoni resigned April 30. Scott is the 25th head coach in the 16-time NBA champions’ franchise history.

General manager Mitch Kupchak said he conducted “an extensive and thorough search” with owner Jim Buss.

“We’re proud to welcome Byron back to the Lakers family as our next head coach,” Kupchak said. “Byron has proven

himself at the highest levels of the game as both a player and a coach in his almost 30 years of NBA experience. His leadership skills and track record for success make him the ideal person to lead this franchise forward.”

Scott is 416-521 as a head coach for New Jersey, New Orleans and Cleveland, reaching two NBA Finals with the Nets.

He has won three division titles, and he was the NBA’s coach of the year in 2008.

Scott also was a shooting guard for the Lakers for 11 seasons, playing alongside Magic Johnson during the Showtime era.

He was a teammate of Lakers star Kobe Bryant during his final NBA season, and Bryant has endorsed Scott for his new job.

16 EDGEDAVAO Sports

VOL. 7 ISSUE 97 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014

WALKING THE TIGHTROPE Execs survive ABC scare, take 2 – 0 series lead

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HIS time, they walked through the tightrope.

The usually dominating City Hall Executive Oldies scampered through a fiery late surge by the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) to pull off a scrappy, 73 – 70, win in Game 2 of the 3rd Conference best of seven series on Monday night at the Davao City Recreation Center.

The Executive Oldies held off a big last minute run by the ABC that wiped out their 14 points lead in the final minutes and overcame a poor critical free-throw shots in closing to take a 2 – 0 series lead.

A Glenn Escandor split from the line with 15 seconds to go gave the Executives a 2 points lead, 72 – 70, and a pretty chance for the ABC to turn the table around.

But the ABC’s final play went futile as the village chiefs woefully missed two crucial attempts under three seconds left in the game.

Rhodelio Poliquit’s split free throw with 1.6 seconds remaining sealed the win for the Execs who got a well-balanced scoring with five players finishing the game with double-digits.

Christopher “Bong” Go

BOSS BROTHERS. Glenn Escandor (81) takes a shot from the corner as teammate Bong Go (18) looks on. Lean Daval Jr.

dished out 9 assists and led all scorers with 18 points after scoring only seven points in the first half which came to an end with the Execs leading, 39 – 32.

Birthday-boy Michael Peloton, who led the charge for the Execs in the first half attack, shot three triples to finish the game with 15. Escandor and Poliquit had 13 apiece.

The village chiefs battled hard all throughout the game but just fell short in the closing seconds to trail two games to none in the series.

Jun Labro top scored with 19 points for the ABC which got 18 from Barredo and 11 from Jesse Culaste.

Ram Reyes added 12 for the Execs who were up 20 – 16 at the end of the first canto.

Box scores: Executive Oldies – 73 – Go 18, Peloton 15, Escandor 13, Poliquit 13, Reyes 12, Escarilla 2 ABC – 70 – Labro 19, Barredo 16, Culaste 11, Bantayan 7, Villegas 4, Guevarra 5, Laurel 2, Apostol 2, Cayetano 2, , Maquiling 2

SKIPPER. Team USA skipper Derrick Rose remembers playing against the SMART Gilas in 2011.

USA star remembers rough time with Gilas D

ERRI C K Rose is currently in Las Vegas, Nevada to compete against other NBA superstars for the 12 slots in the squad that will represent the United States of America in the 2014 Basketball World Cup in Spain.

On the opposite side of North America, Gilas Pilipinas is undergoing the same thing in Miami. Although the

two teams may be on different spectrums of the basketball world, Rose took time off to give some advice.

“They play rough, man,” Rose said while letting out a laugh when he was asked about the Philippine national team.

“They play rough in the Philippines.”

Rose and other NBA superstars had a taste of how basketball is played in the country during the 2011 Ultimate All Star Weekend. Back then, Rose, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, James Harden, Chris Paul, and other

NBA stars played against a selection of PBA players and the Smart-Gilas squad mentored by Rajko Toroman.

The NBA players won both games but had a tougher time against the Philippine national team.

“Just play hard. Take the game seriously all the time and really take care of your bodies,” Rose said.

“Being 25 and coming off multiple injuries, it’s easy to lose sight of the importance in taking care of your body. I want to stay this game for a long time and play until

my body gives out on me and I know that proper preparation can help me with that. We’re all basketball players. I know we all want the same thing.

We want to win at every level we compete at and taking care of our bodies is really important.”

Rose is coming off two knee injuries that took him out for almost two full seasons. During the launch of his newest signature shoe, the adidas D Rose 5, the Chicago point guard said that he was now physically and mentally ready to get back into the game.