Edge Davao 9 Issue 247 by Edge Davao The Business Paper

VOL. 9 ISSUE 247 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

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EDGEDAVAO Serving a seamless society

OBSTACLE COURSE. A police personnel maneuvers a motorcycle through a series of obstacle courses which is part of motorcycle training for policemen and military in Davao City at the Davao Crocodile Park yesterday. Motorcycle cops continuously enhance their skills to improve their capability as both national and foreign officials who come to Davao City need motorcycle escorts. Lean Daval Jr.

CPP CEASEFIRE TO END FEB. 10 PRO 11 to focus on

Dureza expresses dismay over ceasefire termination By ALEXANDER D. LOPEZ & TIZIANA CELINE S. PIATOS

HE Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Operations Command of the outlawed New People’s Army on Wednesday said they have decided to terminate a unilateral ceasefire declared last year. The unilateral ceasefire was declared by CPP on August 28, 2016. In a statement, Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos, said the unilateral ceasefire will expire effective 11:59 p.m. on February 10. Ka Oris added that the negotiating panel of the Gov-

ernment of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) will be given notice of the termination on Wednesday, February 1 by the negotiating panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). The CPP-NPA cited several reasons for the termination of the unilateral ceasefire, among them the alleged non compliance of the GRP with its obligation to amnesty and release all political prisoners under the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and the

Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) as a matter of justice and in fulfillment of the promise of President Duterte. “The unilateral ceasefire declaration was issued on the mutual understanding with the GRP that such releases will take effect within 60 days of August 28. Such was the context why the GRP panel approached the NDFP towards the end of October seeking an extension of the CPP/NPA’s declaration with a promise that around 200 political prisoners were set to be released,” Ka Oris explained.

He added that the Duterte administration “failed to fulfill such obligation even though the CPP obliged it by extending the ceasefire declaration to more than 150 days.” The CPP-NPA also cited what they considered as “treacherous” taking of advantage of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) of the unilateral ceasefire to intrude their territories. The statement said across 164 municipalities and 43 provinces, the AFP have occupied at least 500 barrios which

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‘internal cleansing’

By TIZIANA CELINE S. PIATOS

OLLOWING Philippine National Police chief Director Ronald dela Rosa’s order to disband the police’s anti-drugs unit, the Police Regional Office 11 on Wednesday said it will focus on ‘internal cleansing’ to purge its ranks of scalawags.

“The rogue policemen must go,” said PRO regional director C/Supt. Manuel Gaerlan, adding there would be mercy against those that seek to destroy the image of the police organization. President Duterte has

EDGEDAVAO Sports MAKE IT HAPPEN P16

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2 NEWS EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 9 ISSUE 247 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

WITH FAMILY. President Rodrigo Duterte welcomes his brother, Benjamin, and relatives who visited him at Bahay Pagbabago on Tuesday evening. TOTO LOZANO/Presidential Photo

Solon seeks full inheriting rights for adopted children

L A W M A K E R at the House of Representatives has filed a bill which, if passed into law, would grant adopted children the right to inherit by representation from the ascendants and other relatives of the adoptive parent. Valenzuela City Rep. Wes Gatchalian said the passage of his pet bill, House Bill No. 4802, would be a landmark development in adoption, being well aware of the long tradition doctrine he is seeking to overturn is built on. “For a better part of a century, it has been that the adopted child may only inherit from their adoptive parent on the theory that the relation

created by adoption does not extend beyond the adoptee and the adopted,” he said. “But it is my humble belief that when we adopt a child, we accept him as our very own into our family. In fact let me go a bit farther: we ought to accept him or her as our very own, and it is for this belief that I think to retain the current state of things would be wrong,” Gatchalian said. In the current state of the law on succession, a biological legitimate child of a parent may inherit from the other relatives of the latter. As in the case when a parent predeceased his own father (grandfather of the child), his child may

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DAR scores vs Lapanday CA denies Lapanday TRO on DAR CDO By ALEXANDER D. LOPEZ

adlopez0920@gmail.com

HE Eight Division of the Court of Appeals in its January 6 decision has denied a petition lodged by the Lapanday Foods Corporation that sought the issuance of a temporary restraining order or injunction on a cease and desist order (CDO) issued by Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano on December 16 last year. In a statement, DAR welcomed the decision rendered by CA. The CDO was issued by Mariano following a petition of the Madaum Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association Inc. (MARBAI) for intervention

preferably in the form of a preliminary injunction. The CDO ordered Lapanday to prohibit its security guards, and all persons acting for and in its behalf from forcibly evicting the members MARBAI and from disturbing peacefully the possession and occupation of the subject property in Tagum City. After the issuance, Lapanday challenged the CDO through a Petition for Certiorari before the CA. Lapanday questioned DAR’s jurisdiction to CDO, arguing that the same is not granted under the provisions of the Comprehensive

Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) or Republic Act No. 6657. “The resolution issued by the court deemed it appropriate to deny Lapanday’s application for TRO and/or preliminary injunction citing that it may very well give rise to a tug-ofwar scenario over the physical possession of the land allocated by the Provincial Agrarian Reform Adjudicator (Davao del Norte) to MARBAI members,” DAR said in the statement. The CA, DAR added, also affirmed that the maintenance of peace and order in the subject landholding is

paramount. “Measures undertaken to ensure such condition as directed in the Cease and Desist Order should not be interfered until the final adjudication of the merits of the petition,” the resolution said as quoted in the DAR statement. The Legal Affairs office of DAR also asserted that Secretary Mariano has the original and exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving agrarian law implementation and primary jurisdiction to adjudicate on matters involving agrarian disputes.

victimized and lost property to street robbery, burglary, or carnapping registered at 4.5 percent, surpassing the previous quarterly record of 5.5 percent in March and June 2016,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said at a press briefing. Abella noted that the same survey also indicated that 52 percent of respondents agreed that the number of drug addicts in their respective communities has decreased compared to

56 percent in the previous quarter. Relatedly, Abella also announced that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has conducted its pilot activity for the reintegration of the drug surrenderers in the community. “Last January 27, the Department of Social Welfare and Development coordinated with the local government unit, LGU of Talisay, Batangas which led the conduct of ‘Linis

Bayan’,” he said. Linis Bayan is a community clean-up campaign aims to reintegrate rehabilitated drug users in the community by involving them in various activities, which would be beneficial to their neighborhood. Abella said the DSWD plans to implement Linis Bayan in other cities and municipalities as part of the government’s efforts to solve drug problem in the country.

‘Right to disconnect’is worker’s choice: DOLE Decline in numbers of crime victims lauded

HE Department of Labor and Employment said it is up to an employee whether it will respond to work-related messages from its employers after office hours. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III noted that the “right to disconnect” or employees disregarding such is, technically, a voluntary engagement between employers and their employees. “Answering or ignoring texts, e-mails from employers after working hours is a

voluntary engagement of an employee, and they are not obliged to respond. The right to disconnect is a choice of an employee,” he said in a statement. Bello believed that the proposed measure before the House of Representatives might ease burnout and stress of the employees by drawing a clearer line between work and home. “Employees and employers know that there’s time for connection and so does a time

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MALACAÑAN official on Tuesday welcomed the recent Social Weather Station (SWS) survey showing a decline in the number of Filipinos who fell victims to crimes. “We welcome the results of the Fourth Quarter 2016 Social Weather Station survey showing the people’s sentiment that there was a decline in crime victimization, specifically, the results indicated that families who said they were

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NEWS 3

EDGEDAVAO

PAL Clark-Davao flight starts, Palawan next

HE Philippine Airlines on Wednesday ramped up its operations by formally launching its third domestic flight that will connect Clark International Airport in Pampanga to Davao, President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown province. PAL Airbus 321 PR831 with more than 170 passengers took-off at noon after the send-off ceremonies held at the Clark Passenger Domestic Terminal graced by House Deputy Speaker and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Governor Lilia Pineda, Angeles City Mayor and League of Cities of the Philippines president Edgardo Pamintuan, Clark International Airport Corporation president Alexander Cauguiran, Clark Development Corporation president Noel Manankil and Department

of Tourism Regional Director Ronaldo Tiotuico. The Davao route came at the heels of the January 30 Clark-Cebu flight launch, the international flights to Incheon in South Korea on January 1, and Clark-Caticlan last December 16, 2016, making Clark Airport as PAL’s secondary hub for their North Luzon operations. The Davao route flies every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. PAL president and CEO Jaime Bautista said the direct flights to Davao will allow passengers from Central and Northern Luzon to fly to President Dutere’s hometown without transiting Metro Manila. “The history of PAL shows that wherever PAL flies, progress follows as what happened

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UNRUFFLED. Eastern Mindanao Command spokesperson Major Ezra Balagtey (right) says they will be on active defense mode to protect themselves and the community after the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Operations Command

of the New People’s Army decided to terminate a unilateral ceasefire declared last year. Balagtey, together with Task Force Davao commander Colonel Bernard Neri, made the disclosure during yesterday’s AFP-PNP Press Corps media forum at The Royal Mandaya Hotel. Lean Daval Jr.

Council okays ordinance O on underground cabling

Dureza advises Pres. Duterte to maintain ceasefire with NPA

By FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA

HE 18th city council will ask all electric utility companies and public communication carriers to implement underground cabling in the downtown area of the city. On Tuesday, the council approved the underground cabling ordinance in the poblacion area to be implemented within three years. Committee on Energy chairperson Councilor Diosdado Mahipus said that since Davao City is already a “world class city in the making” it is about time to clear the streets of the city from

hanging wires. In late 2015, all electric utility companies and pubic communication carriers started laying out their underground cabling around the vicinity of the city hall. Mahipus said that they are looking forward to a 2020 when the streets of Davao will be cleaned from wires. “The different companies concerned personally volunteered to improve the quality of lives, environment and ambiance of the city of Davao being the exhibit A of President Rodrigo Duterte,” he said.

He said that even though the concerned companies volunteered to do the underground cabling, they still find the needs to put it in a law to aware other companies who plan to put up their wires. Under the said ordinance, any company who violates it will be fine with P5, 000 and/ or a year of imprisonment. The implementation of the ordinance will follow after its publication. Mahipusa said that the ordinance will have 4 phases; the 1st phase will start this year in the junction of San Pedro St. and will end at

Ramon Magsaysay Ave. that will cover more or less 1100 meters. “The 1st phase will start this year, the underground cabling in the city hall area is our experimental stage,” he said. On 2018, the 2nd phase will take place in C.M Recto Street and will end in Magsaysay Park, the3rd phase will start at 2019 on Roxas Ave. Rotunda up to San Pedro Street and the 4th phase will start on 2020 in San Pedro Street to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in Quirino.

FFICE of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza on Wednesday advised President Rodrigo Duterte not to lift a unilateral ceasefire with the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed component, the rebel New People’s Army. Dureza made this recommendation to the President after NPA spokesman Ka Oris announced on Wednesday that the rebel group is ending unilateral ceasefire effective February 10. “On the part of the Office of the Presidential Peace adviser, we respectfully recommend to President Rodrigo Duterte that the government continues to maintain and uphold the unilateral ceasefire to sustain peace in the communities where our people desire to live in peace,” Dureza said in a

the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for violation of the environmental compliance certificate. Chucote disclosed the information during yesterday’s Wednesdays @ Habi at Kape at Abreeza Mall. Lean Daval Jr.

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Palace welcomes survey results on how democracy works under Duterte admin

FOR ILLEGAL ACTS. Mines and Geosciences Bureau 11 active information officer Iowell Chucote bares that two big mining companies’, Hallmark Mining Corporation and Astral Mining, Inc., applications were suspended by

press statement. Dureza also recommended that government forces should continue to be relentless in their campaign to protect the civilians from harm and terrorism. The OPAPP official expressed dismay at NPA’s withdrawal but said “we respect their decision.” “This cancellation came just after some progress were made in the third round of peace talks in Rome where negotiating panels from both sides agreed to further discuss a bilateral ceasefire in The Netherlands sometime end of this month,” Dureza said. Last Tuesday, Dureza expressed concerns over the recent series of attacks and harassments allegedly perpetrated by the communist rebels in some areas of the country.

ALACANANG has welcomed a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showing majority of the Filipinos are satisfied with how democracy works in the Philippines under present government of President Rodrigo Duterte. Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the 2017 SWS Survey Review briefing results “underscores our people’s high level of public confidence in the President.” He said this also underscores the Duterte administration’s commitment to provide a “comfortable life for all” by building a climate of safety and security in which businesses will thrive and allow for greater job creation. According to the survey, the 86 percent was the highest among the last five administrations of Presidents Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Ar-

royo, Benigno Aquino III and Duterte. The survey also showed that 62 percent of Filipinos “always prefer democracy” while 19 percent “sometimes prefer authoritarianism.” The same SWS poll said that 46 percent of Filipinos are “very happy” under the present government of President Duterte. Meanwhile, Abella also welcomed the results of the SWS’s Fourth Quarter survey showing people’s sentiment that there was a decline in crime victimization. ”Specifically, the results indicated that families who said they were victimized and lost property to street robbery, burglary, or carnapping registered at 4.5 percent, surpassing the previous quarterly record of 5.5 percent in March and June 2015,” Abella said. (PNA)

EDGEDAVAO

4 SUBURBIA

VOL. 9 ISSUE 247 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

Butuan now under state of calamity B

BACK HOME. Thirty-four affected families who evacuated from their homes in Purok 1A,1B, 10A of Poblacion Maniki and Purok 3A Tumana Pag-asa in Kapalong, Davao del Norte due to flooding were sent back home from

evacuation center as the water level in their respective communities already subsided on Monday, January 31. (Kapalong LGU Photo)

ARMM, Malaysia reopen Sabah cross-border trade B

OTH the Autonomous Region Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the Malaysian government are in high spirits for the scheduled resumption on Wednesday of the decades-old Sabah– ARMM cross-border trading activities, halted last year by the proliferation of sea piracy and kidnapping of seafarers as perpetrated by Abu Sayyaf bandits. Responding to an announcement made by the Mindanao Development Authority, the ARMM has sent a delegation to the Jan.30 – Feb. 3, 2017 Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area

(BIMP-EAGA) Strategic Planning Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia as part of its commitment to reciprocate the move to reopen the trade route. Malaysia suspended since last year the cross-border trade between Sabah and ARMM’s island provinces due to security concerns in the Sulu Sea wherein piracy and kidnap-for-ransom activities thrived. However, as security measures improved, authorities are convinced that a holistic approach is necessary wherein providing livelihood opportunities would help dissuade the youth from engaging in piracy as a way out

of poverty. Lawyer Ishak Mastura, chair of the ARMM Regional Board of Investments (RBOI), led the region’s delegation to Jakarta as head of the regional cabinet cluster on economic growth and linkage. “Most of our cross-border trade is with Sabah but the ARMM is committed to promote cross-border trade not just with Sabah but with all BIMP-EAGA countries, particularly Indonesia and Brunei,” Mastura said. The primary policy framework for cross-border trade to be enhanced in the ARMM shall be through the establishment of special eco-

nomic zones, Mastura added. The ARMM has its own Regional Economic Zone Authority created by the Regional Legislative Assembly with similar powers as the Philippine Economic Zone Authority. It has established the Polloc Freeport as Special Economic Zone in Parang, Maguindanao. ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman has earlier ordered that Polloc port and all other special economic zones across the region should be “halal-compliant”, or that the conduct of economic activities are permissible under Islamic religious laws. (PNA)

community,” explained Marlyn C. Getizo, Kalahi-CIDSS Area Coordinator of New Corella. She said, with the support of the local government unit, they adopted the activity at the municipal level to recognize the effort of the volunteers who selflessly put their time and effort to implement the program. “Our volunteers were able to share their gains and experiences. Through this, our volunteers also improved their planning efficiency and safeguards so that the effort, time, and resources they put in the program implementation are aptly used.” The Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), one of the core programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), is a community-driven development program of the Philippine Government aiming

to empower people through sustainable development, enhanced participation in local governance, and management of poverty alleviation projects. Since the scale up of the program in New Corella in 2015, 60 sub-projects have already been completed. 40% of these are basic infrastructures, 45% on basic social services, 10% are facilities for community production and economic support, and 5% on environmental protection and conservation. “I am grateful to be part of this activity. This is the first community volunteers’ congress at the municipal level. I am thankful that we are given the opportunity to express our ideas on the interventions that can help in sustaining the processes of the program,” said Jeannibeth Lemonsero, Kalahi-CIDSS volunteer from Barangay Sta. Fe. “The activity is a fruit of our sacrifices because the pro-

gram values our worth as volunteers, making us partners of government and as catalysts of change,” Lemonsero stressed. “Another good thing about Kalahi-CIDSS is that ordinary people are being capacitated and trained in the simplest way one can understand, thereby enhancing their knowledge as they go further and further in the learning process,” said Virgilo B. Getizo, Chair, Committee on Social Services. He added, at the end, one can also see the real transformation of these ordinary citizens when they become resource persons in future motivational talks and gatherings. One of the volunteers’ outputs during the congress is a resolution which urges the use of community driven development process in identifying sub-projects that address the needs of the community. To date, there are 1,192 community volunteers in New Corella. (DSWD)

New Corella Kalahi-CIDSS holds volunteers’gab

ROUND 300 community volunteers from 20 barangays in the town of New Corella, Davao del Norte participated in the recent Kalahi-CIDSS Municipal Community Volunteers’ Congress held at the municipal gymnasium. The Kalahi-CIDSS Area Coordinating Team with the support of the local government unit, adopted the recently conducted Community Volunteers’ Congress held at the regional level, which gathered some 800 Kalahi-CIDSS volunteers from 27 implementing municipalities. “The one-day activity is a combination of team building activities and workshops that aim to build trust and strengthen the camaraderie of our volunteers. Also, this activity will help them determine ways on how to sustain and carry on the lessons and processes of community driven development (CDD) in their

UTUAN City was declared under a state of calamity on Tuesday due to the massive floods caused by inclement weather during the past few days. An information released from the Butuan City Public Information Office stated that in a session this afternoon, the Sangguniang Panglungsod of Butuan chaired by Butuan City Vice Mayor Jose Aquino II approved the recommendation of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC) on Monday to declare Butuan City under a “state of calamity” as the number of temporarily displaced families and flood-affected barangays continued to rise. Continuous light to moderate rains brought about by twin weather disturbances -- a trough of a low pressure area (TLPA) and tail-end of a cold front (TECF) affecting Butuan City and Caraga region have caused the waters of Agusan River to stay marked at the critical level. Latest data from the Butuan City Public Information Office (as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, January 31) stated that the water of Agusan River was still at Code Red Flood Alert 3 with the elevation at 3.20 meters in low tide. Residents in barangays along the river banks and its tributaries were advised to

evacuate to the nearest evacuation centers immediately. According to the city PIO, distribution of food items is ongoing to the evacuated families which number has swelled to 6,090 families from the 31 presently affected barangays. The evacuees were temporarily housed in several schools and barangay covered courts. The 31 inundated barangays included Agao, Agusan Pequeno, Amparo, Aupagan, Baan Km. 3, Baan Riverside, Bading, Banza, Baobaon, Bobon, Bilay, Buhangin, Dankias, Florida, Golden Ribbon, Humabon, Limaha, Mahay, Mahogany, Mandamo, Maug, Maguinda, Maon, Obrero, Pangabugan, Port Poyohon, San Ignacio, San Vicente, Sto. Nino, Tagabaca and Tungao. City health office personnel are on post at major evacuation centers to assist and respond to the health concerns of the evacuees. As per Proclamation No. 6, classes in all levels were suspended today (Tuesday, January 31) both in private and public schools in the entire city. The City PIO also passed its emergency numbers for accessibility: 815 2607 (PLDT/ Philcom); 0921 768 7287 (Smart/TnT); 145.630 (Radio Frequency OPCEN) and 342 2696 (PIO). (PNA)

Special non-working holiday in Kidapawan City on Feb. 8

ALACAÑANG has declared February 8 as a special non-working holiday in this city as it celebrates its 19th foundation anniversary. The declaration was made through Proclamation No. 137 released and signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and was received by the Office of the Mayor on Tuesday. “Whereas, it is but fitting and proper that the people of the city of Kidapawan be given full opportunity to celebrate and participate in the occasion with appropriate ceremonies,”

the proclamation stated. Authorities have steppedup security measures, particularly along the Davao-Cotabato highway and other public places here like the market, mall centers and plaza prior to the conduct of the festivity. Mayor Joseph Evangelista said the city government has allocated Php 7 million for the celebration, which would highlight the city’s exotic traditions, talents, creativity and natural resources. From the total amount, the mayor said PhP 1 million is intended for security measures. (PNA)

2,125 IPs in Panabo to benefit from P15-M worth of Cash-for-Work aid

HE City Social Development and Welfare Office (CSWDO) announced on Monday, January 31, that 2,125 indigenous peoples in the city will benefit from the Cash-for-Work program worth P15 million funded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). CSWDO Head, Jeannette L. Lamoste, said the beneficiaries from thirty three (33) barangays will be tapped to execute beautification projects in villages and daycare centers, tree planting initiatives, and

clean up operati ons in the city’s drainage system. The month-long program starting February 1, 2017 will compensate the recipients with P237.00 per day. Meanwhile, the city government will provide the materials to be used in the cleanup and beautification activities. Lamoste said that the implementation of the program can assist flood control strategies of the local government in the present weather condition, which caused frequent flood problems in the city. (Vikki J. Amorio – CIO Panabo)

5 ECONOMY EDGEDAVAO

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In attendance during the momentous occasion were (L -R) SMX Convention Center Manila Vice President & General Manager, Walid Wafik; Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC) Chief-TIDS Engr. Fernando Magsino; PTTC Executive Director Nestor Palabyab; Worldbex Services International (WSI) Founding Chairman Joseph Ang; WSI Managing

The world built bigger

XCELLENCE knows no bounds and it is a philosophy embodied no less by Worldbex Services International (WSI), the country’s leading events and expositions organizer as it plays a key role in championing the country’s economic growth and development. This season, WSI is once again expected to break new grounds as it returns with the highly anticipated Philippine World Building and Construction Exposition (WORLDBEX) on March 15 to 19, 2017. Now running on its 22nd installment, WORLDBEX is intent on living up to its game-changing reputation. Especially as it announces its expansion by way of welcoming the SMX Convention Center as its newest addition to its roster of expo venues. To officiate the affiliation, a contract signing event was held last January 20, 2017 at the Conrad Hotel – marking the significant merging of three exposition powerhouses. Indeed, the Philippine construction and design industry is experiencing unprecedented progress as paralleled by this monumental milestone in the expositions industry. As

the President of World Trade Center Metro Manila Pamela Pascual attests, “The global exhibition industry is really growing, and it is a great feeling that the Philippines is part of this growth. There is a select group of local seasoned exhibition organizers, and being a pioneer in their industry in the Philippines, WTCMM is a witness to growth and maturity of WORLDBEX.” In support, SMX Convention Center Manila Vice President and General Manager Walid Wafik remarks, “The joined partnership with WORLDBEX is an addition and a milestone for the different industries. WORLDBEX extension to SMX is a positive impact on the growth of the exhibit segment in the Philippines.” Growing bigger and bolder each year, WORLDBEX leads at the forefront of progress – serving as a formidable force in bolstering the country’s countless sectors including the local construction and design industry as well as the expositions industry to greater heights. For more information, visit www.worldbex.com or contact 656-9239.

Tourism execs from 21 countries coming to PH for B2B meetings

OP tourism executives from 21 countries will be coming to the Philippines next month to attend a series of meetings meant to keep up with the growth of their respective travel and tourism industries. According to the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA), these top tourism executives will be attending the 2nd International Travel Tour Expo (iTTE) slated on February 10 to 12 on-one business-to-business (B2B) meetings with executives from 44 tourism companies and national tourism organizations from 21 countries. Among the countries and

territories participating include Australia, Cambodia, China, Egypt, France, Guam, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, United Arab Emirates, United States, and Vietnam. Currently, more than 190 members of the PTAA and non-member travel agents from across the country have sought appointments with the international delegation. PTAA immediate past president and current Travel Tour Expo (TTE) chairperson Maria Michelle Reyes-Victoria said the B2B meetings will be a

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Director Jill Aithnie Ang; World Trade Center Metro Manila (WTCMM) President Pamela Pascual; SMX Manila VP for Sales & Marketing Agnes Pacis; and WTCMM VP Marketing Lila Cailles.

DoT-ARMM eyes 15% rise Tawi-tawi tourist arrivals T

HE Department of Tourism in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DOT- ARMM) expects a 15 percent increase in tourist arrivals in Tawi-tawi this year, after receiving a million visitors in 2016. DOT-ARMM regional secretary Ayesha Mangudadatu-Dilangalen however said the one million arrivals posted last year by Tawi-tawi could be more since all visitors were not captured by the data gathering mechanism. She said 15 percent of one million were foreign visitors and the remaining 85 percent were domestic travelers from Luzon, the Visayas and the neighboring provinces and cities of Mindanao. Dilangalen said majority of the foreign visitors were Malaysians, who come yearly for a pilgrimage to the 637-yearold mosque, the Sheik Karim

al Makdum Mosque in Tubig Indangan, Simunul, Tawi-tawi. The island province is also known for its beaches found in the municipalities of Balimbing, Bongao, Cagayan de TawiTawi, Simunul, Sitangkai, South Ubian, Tandubas, Turtle Island, Languyan and Sapa-Sapa. Dilangalen said the island is also home to wild cattle, wild hogs, and monkeys of the brown and white variety, and the many exotic fauna abound in the forests of mainland Tawi-Tawi. Lying at the southwestern tip of the Philippines, Tawi-tawi is only a few hours from Sabah in Malaysia. Tawi-Tawi boasts of its natural zoos. She said Sibutu is a place where wild hogs come in bands and also rare birds of orioles, peacocks, and the green, gold and white par-

rots. Thousands of seagulls have settled at Gusong Reef in Cagayan de Tawi-tawi, where they lay eggs while the Bongao Peak is a monkey sanctuary. The Turtle Island is a sanctuary where a biodiversity project is being undertaken. This can be reached by boat for 17 hours from Zamboanga but only 45 minutes from Sabah. Dilangalen is calls on the national government to help Tawi-tawi in its development plans. The province is marketing the place as an eco-tourism destination. It has a total of 500 rooms and is being served by Cebu Pacific for one flight daily from Zamboanga City. The province is also planning the expansion of the airport. The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), on the other hand, is coming up

with a master plan for Tawi-tawi province. MinDA chair Secretary Abdul Khayr Alonto said the proposal will be submitted to the national government for funding in the preparation of a master plan that will include the development of the area as an economic free zone in support to the tourism industry of the island. Alonto said the Tawi-tawi infra plan is part of the comprehensive and detailed infrastructure development program that will link the different places of Mindanao through road networks, bridges and ports. “We wanted to transform the area within the term of President Duterte,” he said. Alonto said there are already interested investors from the Middle East and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). (PNA)

lated congressional proposals, has filed HB 4774, which covers the first package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) that the Department of Finance (DOF) has endorsed for congressional approval as an integral component of the Duterte administration’s unmatched spending on infrastructure, human capital and social protection over the next six years. HB 4774, which Cua filed in the chamber last Jan. 17, is anchored on sizable cuts in personal income tax (PIT) rates, as part of the CTRP plan to make the country’s tax system simpler, fairer and more efficient, particularly for poor households along with lowand middle-income taxpayers. To make up for the expected losses from the PIT cuts, Cua’s bill provides for revenue-offsetting measures including a staggered increase in the diesel excise tax from zero to P6 per liter over a threeyear period from the second half of 2017 to 2019. By 2020, the diesel

excise tax would be adjusted by 4 percent to account for inflation. “Strictly on the proposed excise tax on fuel products, I support the staggered increase as proposed by the Department of Finance,” said Teves, an economist who was DOF secretary during the Arroyo administration and a former lawmaker. Economist Jo-Ann Latuja Diosana, reading AER’s position paper during the hearing, also backed Cua’s bill, pointing out that the taxes on petroleum products “is not just about compensating for the loss from the personal income tax reform but also, together with other excise taxes, is the most effective way in the generation of domestic resources.” “After all, the burden of taxation on petroleum falls mainly on the richest 10 percent of the population,” she said. Wayne Barford, senior advisor of the ITIC also said at the hearing that “on petroleum, we support the recommendations

from the DOF.” “We support the approach of the DOF. We look forward to good tax reform in the Philippines,” he added. Maria Lourdes Lim, who represented TMAP at the hearing, said the proposed oil excise tax adjustment “is a compensating revenue measure that would not adversely have an effect on poor and marginalized sectors of the society because fuel prices are expected to be low in the next several years.” Teves and Lim separately suggested that the panel consider indexing the fuel excise tax to the actual inflation rate by 2020, rather than imposing a flat rate of 4 percent. “The proposal of the Department of Finance is an automatic 4 percent. If the Department and the Committee will consider the actual inflation rate….we note the actual inflation rate of the past two years has averaged about 2 percent. So I think it’s better to look at the actu-

Ex-DOF chief, sectoral leaders back CTRP diesel tax

ORMER Finance Secretary Margarito Teves along with sectoral leaders have expressed to the Congress their support for a provision under House Bill No. 4774 that seeks to adjust the diesel excise tax and index it to inflation, as part of a government plan to raise enough funds for a massive public investment program to attack poverty and sustain the country’s streak as one of Asia’s fastest growing economies. Together with Teves, officials of the Action for Economic Reforms (AER), and the Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP) similarly issued their respective groups’ statements of support for HB 4774 at a hearing of the House Committee on Ways and Means. The nonprofit research group International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC), based in Washington DC, also backed the fuel excise tax hike. Cua, who chairs this House panel that tackles all revenue-re-

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6 ECONOMY

EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 9 ISSUE 247 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

Lawmaker commends DOT for Miss Universe pageant success

POLICEWORK NEEDED. Concentrix Services Corp. site director Ellen Jane Garcia reveals that poaching is a very big problem that the Business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is facing right now. Garcia also said during

yesterday’s Wednesdays @ Habi at Kape at Abreeza Mall that she hopes the city government of Davao will police BPO companies engaged in poaching. Lean Daval Jr.

RP’s BPO industry to surpass India Garcia bares 900 vacant positions in Davao unfilled By JERMAINE L. DELA CRUZ

NDIA which serves as the world’s most favored destination for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services will soon be surpassed by the Philippines in terms of client preference according to a pioneering global business service company in Davao City. Ellen Jane Ferenal-Garcia, Site Director of Concentrix Services Corporation said on Wednesday’s media forum at Habi at Kape, Abreeza Mall, Davao City that the only reason India remains to be a “tough” competitor of the Philippines in terms of BPO is because of the cost consideration. Garcia cited one United States-based company they are currently serving which is looking at closing down their accounts in other BPO com-

panies in India and Costa Rica and moving in to Concentrix, specifically in Davao City. She added that quality-wise Philippines have the edge over those in India that are accused by customers of poor-quality of service. “When I say quality, that comes with the language because we speak much better English than people in India,” she said. According to the site director, Concentrix partner companies are all US-based corporations enlisted on the Fortune 500, an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks 500 of the largest U.S. corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. Garcia stressed that in Concentrix, they train their workers not only in speaking

with American accent but also in dealing with American culture. “We have to educate our people about the language because whatever they (Americans) speak might actually mean a different thing,” she told the reporters.

Job opportunities Concentrix Davao is now looking for interested applicants to apply for 900 vacant positions to fill 450 seats in their company. According to Garcia, 97 percent of their company leaders grow from ranks as she stressed the company’s position as highest in retention level among BPO companies in Davao City. In terms of compensation, she pointed out the company’s efficiency in providing com-

petitive salary as well as incentives such as medication not only to their worker’s but also to their respective families. The site director also disclosed that three US-based companies are eyeing them to be their service provider. Two of which need at least 300 heads with growth of 1000 at the end of the year for one account alone. According to Garcia, Concentrix has now 25,000 service workers nationwide, 1000 of which are in based in Davao City. Concentrix, a wholly owned subsidiary of SYNNEX Corporation since 2006, is a leading global business services company. SYNNEX sits at number 212 on the Fortune 500 listing. Concentrix is headquartered in Fremont, CA.

To recall, Gatchalian filed Senate Resolution No. 213, which called on the Senate to look into the economic effects on consumers and the national economy of the present model of operation and regulation of the telco industry. He said this provision will be included in his committee report. “The NTC needs more teeth to better regulate the telecoms industry. I will make sure that it gets the

same powers like the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission),” Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, said. NTC previously admitted having difficulty imposing drastic penalties against telcos which fail to deliver satisfactory services to consumers. NTC Deputy Commissioner Edgardo Cabarios said they failed to compel industry giants Globe and Smart to deliver the minimum speed

of 12 mbps in Internet connectivity as promised in their advertisements. Cabarios said that since the NTC and the two telcos differ on the issue of whether or not data connection speed limits can be imposed, the NTC has opted to be silent on the issue “because of the limitations in the law.” He added that the P200 penalty per day for non-compliance to NTC regulations is likewise not a deterrent to the telcos. (PNA)

More powers for NTC to control telcos mulled

O better regulate players in the telecommunications industry, Sen. Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian on Wednesday proposed the need to grant the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) with additional powers. Gatchalian, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, sought for NTC’s additional authority to allow them to discipline erring or incompetent telecommunication companies.

MEMBER of the House Committee on Tourism on Wednesday filed a resolution commending the Department of Tourism for the country’s successful hosting of the Miss Universe beauty pageant. Siquijor Rep. Ramon Rocamora said he filed House Resolution No. 737 titled “A Resolution commending the Department of Tourism for spearheading the wellplanned, coordinated, and executed hosting of the 2016 Miss Universe Pageant” to give proper cognizance to the efforts of the tourism department and the future benefits it will generate for the country. “I believe that Tourism Sec. Wanda Teo and the entire Department of Tourism should be given credit where credit is due. While the costs were minimal, the benefits of the Miss Universe pageant will be felt by the country in the months to come long after the pageant has concluded,” he said. “It is a vote of confidence on our country’s tourism sector that many of the pageant contestants themselves have voiced willingness to return to the country as tourists. Although we might not have bagged the crown, we’ve already shown that the Philippine has the potential of being one of the world’s top tourist destinations,” Rocamora said. In view of this success, the lawmaker said the DOT has its work cut out for it by raising the expectation of future important events to be hosted by

the country. “We were able to exceed everyone’s expectations. Now, the DOT must work harder to secure high level events such as this and ramp up the infrastructure to help accommodate a larger volume of tourists arriving in the country. From their performance in less than a year under the present administration, I think they are on their way,” Rocamora said. This year’s Miss Universe beauty pageant is the third time the country hosted the prestigious beauty tilt. The first one was in 1974 when Spain’s Amparo Muñoz was crowned while the second happened in 1994 with Sushmita Sen of India winning as Miss Universe. France’s Iris Mittenaere won this year’s Miss Universe, a first in 60 years. In the meantime, the Siquijor lawmaker urged the DOT to also feature lesser known but equally beautiful locations in the country in future international events as a way to promote additional tourist spots and further boost the country’s tourism industry. “One area for improvement is really improving the marketing of other provinces and islands. Cebu, Boracay, Palawan, Bohol are already known the world over. So, it is just a matter of equity that we give other areas the chance of taking in their fair share of tourists,” Rocamora said. (PNA)

DOF welcomes criticisms but challenges critics to present fairer tax plan: Alvarez

EPARTMENT of Finance (DOF) Assistant Secretary Paola Alvarez has called on critics of the DOF-proposed Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) to come up with an alternative tax plan thatcould make the current system and fairer to low- and middle-income taxpayers, while at the same time raising enough revenues to fund an ambitious government program to free some six million poor Filipinos from poverty and transform the country into a high-middle income economy by 2022. Alvarez, the DOF spokesperson, said that while she agrees with critics that implementing tax administration reforms in the Bureaus of Internal Revenue (BIR) and of Customs (BOC) will indeed increase revenue collections, such higher collections will never be sufficient enough for the Duterte administration’s unprecedented public investments in infrastructure, human capital development and social protection for the poor and other vulnerable sectors over the next six years. Moreover, the current complex system of filing taxes, which abets corruption and often discourages the payment of taxes, leads to non-compliance and massive collection leakages costing

over P100 billion per year, Alvarez also said. “For example, with 59 lines of exemptions in the value-added tax (VAT) compared to around 30 in other ASEAN countries, it is not surprising that we have the lowest collection effort despite having the highest VAT rate. Our tax reform seeks to correct this,” Alvarez said. “The simpler the tax system, the more efficient and equitable it is, the easier to collect and stamp out corruption and tax evasion. In this regard, both tax policy and tax administration are our priorities,” she added. The first package of the DOF’s CTRP—as contained in House Bill No. 4144 authored by Rep. Dakila Carlo Cua, aims to lower personal income tax (PIT) rates and reduce donor and estate taxes, while adjusting fuel and automobile excise taxes and expanding the VAT base but retaining exemptions enjoyed by senior citizens and persons with disabilities, among other reform measures. Cua chairs the House ways and means committee, which has started public hearings on the different components of the CTRP’s Package One. Various groups and sectoral leaders have already expressed their support for this tax reform plan. (PR)

EDGEDAVAO VOL. 9 ISSUE 247 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

AboitizPower ends Indonesia power generation project

BOITIZ Power Corp. oration (AboitizPower) has decided to exit from the greenfield geothermal exploration and development project in East Java Province, Indonesia, to allocate its resources for other ongoing and pipeline projects. AboitizPower told the local bourse this will allow its partner, AboitizPower International Pte. Ltd. (AP Intl), to proceed with the development of the 2x55 megawatt geothermal power plant. AP Intl entered into the agreement with PT Medco Power Indonesia to participate in the exploration and development of a potential geothermal power plant in September 2015.

Conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) allocated Php58 billion in capital expenditures in 2017, over P 43 billion of which will be used for its power expansion projects. AboitizPower’s Pagbilao 3 coal-fired power plant and Manolo Fortich hydropower plant are scheduled for completion this year. Its 8.5-megawatt (MW) Maris hydro power plant and 300-MW Cebu coal fired power plant are expected to be operational by 2018. Meanwhile, projects in the pipeline also include the 150-MW third unit of the Cebu coal plant, the 600-MW Subic coal plant and 150-MW third unit of the Davao coal plant. (PNA)

DOE pushes government agencies to conserve energy

NERGY Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the government must take the lead and serve as a role model to private companies in achieving energy security. “Under our Government Energy Management Program (GEMP), the Department of Energy has required 140 government entities to submit their electricity consumption from 2015 to 2016 to assess usage,” Cusi said. “We are closely monitoring their energy consumption so that we can provide strategies to help them become more energy- efficient in their daily operations,” he pointed out. As part of GEMP, the DOE has enlisted government agencies with available power generating units that can be enrolled for the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) to augment power supply capacity in times of Red Alert Status or when power supply reserves are thin. “The ILP seeks to convince big load customers of Distribution Utilities and Electric Cooperatives to register so they can run their stand-by generation sets in times of energy supply deficiency to prevent power outages,” Cusi explained. “Based on our GEMP survey, about 100 government

buildings have operational gensets and these total to 85 megawatts of power supply capacity,” Cusi said. Other energy efficiency measures that the DOE enjoins government agencies to adhere to include setting the thermostat of air-conditioners to no lower than 25°C; replacing aircon units with inverter-type ,and switching fluorescent lamps with light-emitting diode (LED) lights. Aside from requesting government institutions, the DOE asked nearly 70 malls nationwide to set their cooling system’s temperature to 25°C as a way to temper their huge buildings’ demand for electricity. “We, the government, have to be the best examples to our people in managing our energy consumption,’ Cusi emphasized. Earlier, the DOE released a number of appliance-focused energy-saving tips to household consumers which they can adopt as energy efficiency and conservation methods. “Government agencies will continue stewarding our kababayans and private companies in achieving energy security for the country through efficient and judiciously managing electricity usage,” Cusi said. (DOE)

COMPETITIVE EDGE

Megaworld rent income to reach P20B in 2020 R

EAL estate giant Megaworld’s rental income is expected to reach P20-billion by 2020, more than doubling its P9-billion recorded rental income in 2015. In the next three years, the company will be completing close to 1,000,000 square meter of fresh rental inventory, mostly office, lifestyle malls and commercial spaces around its 22 townships and integrated lifestyle communities across the country. This will bring the company’s total rental space inventory to more than2.5-million square meters by 2020. “While we remain strong in our residential condominium business, it is also imper-

ative for us to also fortify our rental portfolio. This direction will not only allow us to become a stronger and more sustainable company, but at the same time, we address the increasing demand for these spaces in our various townships,” says Jericho P. Go, senior vice president, Megaworld. By 2020, Megaworld will have around 1.5 million square meters of expansive office space inventory across the country. “By the end of this year, we will breach the 1-million square meters of office space inventory as we continue to experience a demand for office spaces,” says Go. Currently, Megaworld has

over 130 companies in its office rental portolio, occupying around 850,000 square meters of offices spaces, making it the biggest lessor of office spaces in the entire country. Megaworld offices enjoy a very high occupancy rate of 99%. Pre-leasing rates of its office buildings that are still under construction stand at an average of 80 percent. “On the commercial side, as population in all of Megaworld townships is expected to also balloon to 1,000,000 by 2020, we expect a tremendous growth in consumer spending especially on food, so we are prepared to address that,” explains Go. In the last two years,

ration with the Community of Learners Foundation and OrangeFix, the Batibot app features games like “Alin ang Naiba,” where children are presented with a group of objects and are asked to identify the item that does not belong to the group. Kids can also practice tracing letters on their device, sing along to Batibot songs via the app’s videoke feature, and watch stories in Filipino. The app also teaches other basic concepts like match-

ing, sorting, shapes, colors, and numbers. The Batibot app is preloaded in tablets donated by Smart to public schools all over the country, as part of digital learning packages called the Smart TechnoCart and School-in-a-Bag. These are among Smart’s efforts to use technology to develop different sectors in society. Since its launch in August 2015, the Batibot app has had close to 400,000 installations. Feedback from teachers,

Megaworld has opened seven (7) new malls and commercial centers last year, namely Uptown Mall, Uptown Parade, Venice Grand Canal Mall, Twin Lakes Shopping Village, Festive Walk Parade, Burgos Park and Eight Forbes Town Road, both in Forbes Town, covering around 300,000.00 square meters of gross floor area. This year, the company is also expected to open new commercial and retail spaces at The Mactan Newtown, Iloilo Business Park, Southwoods City, Uptown Bonifacio, McKinley West, ArcoVia City and in some of its properties in Makati CBD, covering an additional 200,000.00 square meters of

F MEGAWORLD, 12

Smart’s Batibot app nominated for GSMA award

HE Batibot mobile application co-developed by Smart Communications was recently shortlisted for the Best Mobile Innovation for Education or Learning citation of the prestigious Global Mobile Awards. The digital version of the beloved Filipino children’s show is the first app in the Filipino language that is aligned with the kindergarten curriculum of the Department of Education. It was designed to develop literacy among children aged two to 6 through fun games and interactive features. The app can be downloaded for free on Android devices. The Global Mobile Awards is organized by the GSMA, an international association of mobile operators, to recognize companies and individuals that are driving innovation in the rapidly evolving mobile industry. Entries are judged by world-leading independent experts, analysts, journalists, and academics. Winners will be named in a series of awarding ceremonies to be held in Barcelona, Spain in February. Developed in collabo-

parents, and an independent evaluator showed that the app improved students’ academic performance, increased their interest in learning, and decreased absenteeism. The Batibot app also lessens the need for teachers to tap into their personal funds to create audio-visual aids for their classes. For more information on Smart’s initiatives to use technology to enhance learning, please visit www.smart.com. ph/learnsmart. (PR)

DTI 12 launches P3 program

HE Department of Trade and Industry in region 12 (DTI12), in collaboration with the Small Business Corporation (SBC) launched the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-Asenso (P3) program in SOCCSKSARGEN area. The launching was held in the town of Alabel, Sarangani Province last January 31, 2017. DTI Undersecretary for Regional Operations Group Zenaida Cuison Maglaya and Mr. Brillo Reynes, President /CEO of the SBC graced the event as guest speakers. The event was also participated

by top leaders of Sarangani province led by Governor Steve Chiongbian and officials from DTI-12 headed by regional director Ibrahim Guiamadel. Representatives from various national agencies also joined the launching as well as municipal officials in the area. In his message, Reynes pointed out that the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso or P3 is a funding program that will provide microenterprises an alternative source of financing that is easy to access and

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EDGEDAVAO

8 VANTAGE

EDITORIAL

The war continues

HE fact that the Philippine National Police (PNP) has suspended the war against illegal drugs does not mean the war is over and happy days are back for the drug lords and the PNP scalawags. It’s too early for them to celebrate because that is not what it’s going to be. What will happen is just a passing of the torch from the PNP to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) which will now take the cudgels from the police. That means, the war isn’t over. The PDEA now has the unenviable task of continuing where the PNP left off. Also helping in is the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). The PDEA operations will focus not only on high value

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targets but also street peddling and to some extent, even do Tokhang-type house-to-house visits. The PNP-led anti-illegal drugs operations which commenced the moment President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office produced bloody results. It elicited protests and criticisms not only from within but also from the international community. It was a case of the PNP thrown into the war unprepared and uncleansed. Hence, the need to put a stop to the PNP-led war. Now that the fight is in the hands of the PDEA, both the government and the people expect that the agency is welltrained, well-manned and well-equipped to carry on the war. This time, with much better results. ANTONIO M. AJERO Editor in Chief

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NLY eight men hold and enjoy the treasure and wealth of half of the world’s population. Perhaps, more shockingly to us is that only one percent of more than one hundred million Filipinos control the country’s wealth and economy. Both realities are heart-rending – an astoundingly unbelievable fact that the reality shakes us down like as if an earthquake with magnitude 10 had hit us with nary a soul even knowing it. Amazing but true! I almost puked. The news release by Oxfam, an international anti-poverty organization, made headlines around the world but I don’t know if the many who read it were affected or merely gave it a shrug. “It is obscene for so much wealth to be held in the hands of so few when 1 in 10 people survive on less than $2 (P100) a day,” Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, said. I guess the revelation will just become a mere statistic as poverty has become a daily

“C

ONDOMS will be available in Davao schools,” wrote my friend, Alexander D. Lopez, in a headline that was carried by EDGE Davao last year. “The rational distribution of condoms in senior high schools in Davao region will push through despite the opposition posed by other sectors to the said measure,” penned Lopez, whose source of information was Dr. Abdullah Dumama, Jr., assistant health secretary and health department’s regional director. “This measure must be implemented right away,” Dr. Dumama was quoted as saying. He added that distribution of condoms among the senior students in high schools will help decrease the number of teen pregnancies and prevent the rising HIV cases in the region. I don’t have record on how many teenagers become pregnant in Davao region, but studies conducted by the World Bank from 2000 to 2003 ranked the Philippines as one of the top 10 countries with an increasing number of teenage mothers. Seven out of 10 Filipina mothers are adolescents; most of them are below 19 years old. “It is unlikely that a sexually active teenager will settle with a single partner for life,” says Dr. Mildred R. Yutuc, an obstetrician-gynecologist from Caloocan City. In fact, there are some girls who claim that they engage in casual sex with acquaintances. In an article published in Health and Lifestyle, author Ma. Vanessa L. Estinozo quoted Dr. Jean S. Tay, director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Davao Doctors

VOL. 9 ISSUE 247 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

VANTAGE POINTS

Inequality encounter SPECKS OF LIFE with suffering millions around the globe that they have all but become inured to their dreadful circumFred C. Lumba stance. But truth to ask, does this news headline even bother the superrich families among us? Bill Gates, Microsoft founder, has $75B to his name, followed by Amancio Ortega, owner of clothing retailer Zara, with $67B; financing wizard Warren Buffett, $60.8B, then coming fourth is Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim Helu with $50B. Jeff Bezos, founder of on-line store Amazon.com, is ranked fifth richest with $45.2B; Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of the world-famous social media platform Facebook, is in sixth place with $44.6B

in the bank; Larry Ellison, founder and chair of software giant Oracle and Michael Bloomberg, former New York City Mayor and financial info provider, with $40B. Well, you can rationalize and say, we live in a free enterprise, right? But the love of money, as the Holy Bible says, is the root of all evil. If you care to argue, isn’t the yawning gap between the rich and the poor is unmistakably created by avarice and greed? I don’t care if my logic is a little fractured but, tough as it may be, the wealth of the world – the wealth of this country in particular is being shared exclusively and selfishly by just a shrewd few. Okay, okay. Maybe some are just smarter than the rest, huh? Look, a hungry nation, a hungry populace, is the best recipe for a revolution. As more and more Filipino families continue to live below the poverty line, the collective cries of those in despair and desolation seemed to have been ignored by those in government.

Just after winning the Republican National Convention, then presidential candidate Ronald Reagan said: “The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them right away.” I agree wholeheartedly. Those outside of government and who are doing great in private are being wooed to join executive positions in the bureaucracy but they shy away, afraid that they may be contaminated by the virus of indolence and corruption. This exasperating inequality has prevented Philippine society to breed a strong middle class that would have helped shaped a “society with a conscience.” There must be a tipping point somewhere before it becomes too late in the day to stave off the growing restiveness within. Verily, inequality is a serious threat to the democratic institutions that are now in place. Is there someone who can rectify and shoot down this thing called “inequality”? (Email your feedback to fredlumba@yahoo. com.) GOD bless the Philippines!

Hospital, who THINK ON THESE! enumerated some factors on why teenage girls are most likely to get pregnant: “if they are living together with their boyfriend, they are Henrylito D. Tacio out of school, henrytacio@gmail.com their parents are separated or one is overseas, they engage in sex at a young age and/or if they use condoms improperly.” In premature sex, pregnancy is not the only risk. There is also the peril of contracting a sexually transmitted disease, which can result in chronic infection, infertility or, in the case of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), death. Last year, the Davao region was listed by the health department as among the areas in the country that have high number of new HIV infections. From 1984 to 2016, some 1,793 cases were recorded in the region with 98 of them already dead. The health department data said that at least three cases were from the age bracket of 15 years old. From 15 up to 24 years old, the cases reported were 719. Some 893 cases came from those ages 24 to 34. However, Dr. Dumama pointed out that condoms will be distributed among senior level students with parental supervision. This was supported by Jeff Fuentes, the

chief of the Population Division of the City Health Office. In fact, counseling and sex education will be provided to those who will receive the condoms, according to EDGE Davao reporter Tiziana Celine S. Piatos. Condoms will be distributed in school clinics, guidance center, or health centers. For their parts, teachers will undergo training on how to impart lessons on sex education. “In that way, the students are alerted that these are the ways of preventing unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infection,” Fuentes was quoted as saying. Distributing condoms among students is nothing new. In 1997, the New York Times News Service circulated a news report based from a study that was published inThe American Journal of Public Health. The study compared the rates of condom use and sexual activity by thousands of high school students in New York City schools, which offer condoms, and by students in Chicago, where HIV/AIDS education is provided but condoms are not available in schools. “A new study says that making condoms easily accessible to public high school students through AIDS education program does not increase rates of sexual activity, but does increase condom use,” the news report said. The study rebuts the most visceral thinking of critics: that having condoms widely available might make teenagers more promiscuous. The study also concluded that condom access in schools is “a low-cost, harmless addition” to AIDS prevention efforts. In fact, one expert said considered the

study significant. “It’s an important study and important findings, but we need many more studies to access efforts to help young people who do engage in intercourse to protect them from being infected,” the expert commented. A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse. Actually, there are two types of condoms: one for male and another for female. A male condom is a thin sheath worn over a man’s erect penis to keep seminal fluid (cum) or pre-seminal fluid (pre-cum) from entering his partner’s body during oral, anal, or vaginal sex. On the other hand, a female condom is a thin pouch worn inside the woman’s vagina to keep her partner’s seminal fluid or pre-seminal fluid from entering her body during intercourse. “With proper use – and use at every act of intercourse – women whose partners use male condoms experience a 2% per-year pregnancy rate,” Wikipedia reports. “With typical use the rate of pregnancy is 18% peryear.” The AIDS program of the American government also reports: “When used consistently and correctly, condoms are highly effective in preventing HIV. They are also effective at preventing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) that are transmitted through bodily fluids, such as gonorrhea and chlamydia. However, they provide less protection against STDs spread through skin-to-skin contact like human papillomavirus (genital warts), genital herpes, and syphilis.”

Condom controversy

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10 ENVIRONMENT

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SOS: Saving our soils Text and Photos by HENRYLITO D. TACIO “There are about a dozen major environmental problems, all of them sufficiently serious that if we solved 11 of them and didn’t solve the 12th, whatever that 12th is, any could potentially do us in. Many of them have caused collapses of societies in the past, and soil problems are one of those dozen.” – Ward Chesworth of the University of Guelph, Ontario *** HE rice terraces, ingenuously carved out of the mountains by the Ifugaos for rice farming, are a living monument to the ingenuity of tribal Filipino farmers who have tilled the steep slopes for over 2,000 years. Described as “the stairway to heaven,” it is among the top 50 Wonders of the World and is listed on the roster of the World Heritage Sites of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 1995. “A living cultural landscape of unparalleled beauty,” hailed UNESCO when it was conferred the World Heritage status. In Kinuskusan, a barangay of Bansalan, Davao del Sur, a technology that seems to be patterned after the rice terraces is still existing – after more than four decades it was built by an American agriculturist and Filipino counterparts. It is called Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT) and the principles being implemented in the scheme is the same those used by the Ifugao tribes. “Instead of using rocks to build terraces, we are recommending live shrubs of various nitrogen fixing species,” explains Roy C. Alimoane, the director of the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) Foundation, Inc. Harold R. Watson, an agriculturist from Mississippi,

Fruit trees are planted along with harvestable crops

Harold R. Watson, an agriculturist from Mississippi

came to the Philippines in the 1960s. Together with the late Warlito A. Laquihon and Rodrigo R. Calixtro, they constructed the original SALT in the rolling mountainside of Mount Carmel in the early 1970s. “It is still existing until today,” Alimoane says. In fact, thousands of visitors – including those from other countries – still flock to the center to see how SALT has stood the test of time. The MBRLC came into existence to help Filipino farmers uplift their standard of living just a year before Martial Law was declared. Farmers came to the center and oftentimes complained of low and declining farm yields. They also expressed the need for better income distribution throughout the year. There were times during the year when a family had no money or food since they depended on a seasonal monocropping system. Recognizing these problems, the MBRLC tried to find ways. Watson and his staff kept experimenting, searching for something simple and practical that could help stem the tide of topsoil washing down the mountainsides. They believed soil erosion was the

According to Watson, soil erosion will imperil the country’s food supply in the coming years. “Soil is made by God and put here for man to use, not for one generation but forever,” he reminded. “It takes thousands of years to build one inch of topsoil but only

Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT)

Erosion

primary culprit of low production. If President Rodrigo R. Duterte is hell bent on curbing, if not stopping, the proliferation of illegal drugs which have destroyed so many lives already, the government should also engage itself in the war against soil erosion. It’s an enemy that most Filipinos are aware of but no one seems to recognize it. It attacks on broad daylight and creeps at night when everyone is sleeping. And because soil is less spectacular, media focused more their attention on other environmental issues and concerns like energy crisis, fuel problems, climate change, ocean acidification, biodiversity, logging and forest fires.

“Soil erosion is an enemy to any nation — far worse than any external enemy coming into a country and conquering it because erosion is an enemy you cannot see vividly,” said Watson when he accepted the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1985 for developing SALT and other MBRLC technologies. “It’s a slow creeping enemy that soon possesses the land.” While experts talk about biotechnology, organic farming, high value crops, more crop production, and exportation, they fail to include soil – “the bridge between the inanimate and the living” – in the equation. After all, it has been estimated that more than 99 per cent of the world’s food comes from the soil. “Without soil, there would be no food apart from what the rivers and the seas can provide,” said Edouard Saouma, former head 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.” Estimates from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources showed about 10,000 cubic meters of arable soil per hectare are eroded annually, such an amount equivalent to one meter layer of soil thickness removed per hectare per year.

o n e good strong rain to remove one inch from unprotected soil on the slopes of mountains.” But there is an interesting story on how SALT came to be. One day, Watson and some of his staff gathered together in one room to brainstorm. “We decided to start with what we knew,” Watson recalled. “We could run a contour or a terrace line, but how could we keep it there? Suppose we took this ‘miracle plant’ people had been talking about growing in the flatlands and put it around the terrace in hedgerows.” The “miracle plant” he was referring to was “ipil-ipil,” known in the science world as Leucaena leucocephala. (When it was devastated by psyllid infestation in later years, the MBRLC recommends other nitrogen-fixing species like Desmodium rensonii, Flemingia macrophylla and Gliricidia sepium.) “It’s a legume, we would be enriching the soil,” Watson further said. “Then, we’d take the green leaves of this plant and put them back on the soil. We knew that one line wouldn’t hold the soil, so we said, ‘Let’s make a double line.’” They got excited. If the method worked, it would stop erosion, rebuild soil and increase crop yield. Within an afternoon, the basic theory of Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT) was born. “SALT is one of the solutions to the problems that beset the world these days,” said Roy C. Alimoane, the current MBRLC director. “But it seems that most experts are looking for big things that can

help curb, if not arrest, the difficulties this planet has gotten into.” Just like the prophet David defeated giant Goliath with just a sling shot and a stone, the problems can be solved by going back to the basics, Alimoane said. “We don’t need modern technologies and high gadgets to defeat the enemy. All we have to do is use what God has provided us through the years.” SALT is one possible answer that should be given much attention. “Basically, the SALT method involves planting of field and permanent crops in 4-5 meter bands between double-controlled rows of nitrogen fixing trees and shrubs,” explains Alimoane. Examples of field crops are the legumes (beans, peas, and pulses), cereals (upland rice, corn, and sorghum), root crops (sweet potato, cassava, carrot, and taro), and vegetables (cabbage, ampalaya, tomato, eggplant, etc.). Permanent crops include cacao, coffee, banana, citrus, and fruit trees. This is where food security comes in. “Most farmers are locked into one crop,” Alimoane points out. “When the crop is harvested, he has much money, but it is soon gone, and he has overspent. He’s called a millionaire for one day.” With SALT, a farmer can harvest every now and then. “He has something to look for,” Alimoane says. “Because the harvested crops are just enough for the market, there is a tendency that the price of his produce is much higher.” Organic farming is practiced in the SALT scheme. Double hedgerows of leguminous perennials are planted at 4-5 meter intervals on equal-elevation contours. The hedgerows are pruned frequently (every 5-6 weeks) and the cuttings are applied to the crops as source of fertilizer. The cuttings also served as mulching materials. In the SALT farm, you find a mix of permanent crops, cereals, and vegetables. 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.

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VOL. 9 ISSUE 247 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

FOOD

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My week in chocolate WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS, CRAVE FOR CHOCOLATES. Why not, right? It’s not non-sequitur; it’s plain palate logic. The moment your palate absorbs a particular taste, you either smile with glee or crave for something else. If lemons are not your cup of tea, then go ahead, find something to replace the frown in your face. In my case, chocolates. Admittedly, I am not a big chocolate fan. Not a hypocrite, I do eat them once in a while, but not one to finish a bar on my own – in one sitting. And for me, chocolates are either bitter or bittersweet. Never milk or white. Nothing in between. BUT, one can always have a change of heart, right? Sticking to something entails commitment. Like how I am with my bitter and bittersweets. However, when the situation calls for a variety,

I take it as a sign to give in and embrace another flavour to coat my palate. Like a new addition to my

list of favourites, Milka. Not bitter or even bittersweet, it’s creamy, smooth and milky in every bite. I love the rich flavour and the decadent taste of chocolate as it melts in the tongue. One thing though, especially for someone who doesn’t bite on the pieces, after 2 or 3 slices, your tongue feels granulated and dry. Solution? Water therapy. On days when I’m torn between being maldita and nice, I always end up with a zip lock full of

Reese Peanut Butter Cups in my bag, fridge or office table. As popular as they are abroad, these chocolate cup confections combine milk and dark chocolate and of course, peanut butter. I love my peanut butter; I also love my dark chocolates. Why

should I choose when I can have them both? Exactly my point. If, at times, I feel like a Band-Aid, I crave for some decadent truffles to soothe the stress away. Of the many, my palate craves for slices of Duc d’O truffles -- light choc-

olate mousse rolled over piles of chocolate flakes and wrapped in Belgian chocolate. The texture is what uplifts my soul. But the taste? The taste is what sets this pack of decadent goodness from the rest. It’s not something you’d regularly come across with; it’s something you’d most likely neglect at the first instance. My crafty side ignited after I saw my friends excited with their plan-

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VOL. 9 ISSUE 247 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

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Head to American clothing brand Guess to get 70% off on selected items at its store at the Upper Ground Level. Visit as well other international brands – Aldo, American Eagle, Charles and Keith, Call it Spring, Cotton On, Terranova, Mossimo, Sperry, Clarks and Mothercare – for exclusive markdowns during the sale period. For stunning fine jewelry options, go to The Gallery at the Upper Ground Level to grab 50% discount on selected items. Shop till you drop at The SM Store Lanang and Our Home to enjoy up to 50% off on a wide range of products including furniture items. Load up on the best toys for your kiddos at Toy Kingdom at 10% off and grab grocery value packs at 70% off at SM Supermarket Lanang. First 20 shoppers with a minimum purchase of Php 10,000 can relax and revel in a 30-minute stay at the Shoppers Lounge with free refreshments. Many more premium treats are up for grabs at the 3-Day Sale. For shopping convenience, mall hours are extended from 10am till 11pm on February 3 to 5. Catch awesome deals and shopping treats at SM Lanang Premier’s Great 3-Day Sale. For sale alerts, visit SM Lanang Premier’s official account on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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VOL. 9 ISSUE 247 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

FOOD

EDGEDAVAO ROYAL CHEF A1

ner purchases. Because I did not want a generic planner, I opted to buy a plain notebook and converted it into my DIY planner-slash-notebook of 2017. Like Twix, it is too plain looking on the outside but as you take a bite, you’d love the biscuit and caramel centre that explodes inside your mouth. On days when I feel like I’m all over the place, I crave for some crunch and rich, bold chocolate on my palate. Just like Freia’s famous chocolate bar, Kvikk Lunsj, this choco-

INdulge! A3 late coated wafer biscuits are just so delicious. More like kitkat but not, they have the same composition but with a richer and smoother chocolate. This is perfect for when you are always on your feet – trying to finish everything in 8 hours. Weekends are the holiest of them all. It’s a time to rest, relax and enjoy freedom from work and other commitments. Just like Patchi and Royce’, two different brands and two different approaches to chocolates. Despite the difference, both of which are

decadent and luxurious to the taste. It’s highly addicting, yes, but can also become tiresome to the palate. Oh and I always, always end up munching with a piece of chocolate to cap the night off. What’s your week in chocolates story? Want to know my latest food finds? Follow me on Instagram @iamleebai and I’ll make you hungry in a snap. For missed features, you can read them on my blog theroyalchefeats.wordpress.com. Happy munching, #royalistas!

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“The farmers’ encampment in the disputed area have been the subject of several attacks by alleged goons of Lapanday last December. MARBAI members were reportedly dispossessed of the 145-hectare banana plantation when around 300 security guards forced them out of the landholdings on the last day of 2016,” DAR said. Mariano also warned Lapanday, during the recentlyconcluded campout of farmers in Davao City of contempt if the banana farmers of Tagum are not reinstated to their lands immediately, adding that no

one can e can prevent DAR from installing the farmers to their farms. The secretary said he will personally lead the installation of MARBAI members. “The CDO is based on the quasi-judicial powers of the secretary. Any person who ignores or violates the CDO is guilty of contempt. It is time to summon the contempt powers of the DAR Secretary through the proper petition to protect the rights and interest of the MARBAI members,” Undersecretary Luis Pañgulayan said in the statement.

inherit from the estate of his grandfather by way of representation. This is not the case when it comes to adopted children

who are excluded inheriting from the of the other relatives person who adopted (PNA)

are considered territory of the revolutionary government. It added that the suspension of military operations (SOMO) and suspension of police operations (SOPO) issued by the AFP and Philippine National Police (PNP) as basis of the GRP’s unilateral declaration of interim ceasefire have served as license for its armed troops, police personnel, paramilitary units and death squads to engage in hostile actions, provocations or movements, surveillance and other offensive operations that are labelled as “peace and development”, “civil-military”, “peace and order”, “anti drugs campaign,” “medical missions” or “law enforcement.” “They have subjected entire barrios to their armed presence and have committed widespread violations of human rights, such as occupation of people’s homes, barangay halls, day care centers and other civilian structures. People have suffered threats, intimidations and harassments by AFP soldiers in their barrios. These counter-insurgency population and resource control have gravely affected the people’s farm productivity, commerce and overall livelihood,” the statement added. The CPP-NPA also cited the incident in Makilala, North Cotabato last January 21 which they considered as an offensive operation conducted by the AFP and a clear violation of the reciprocal ceasefire declarations. “Over the past months, NPA units have manuevered to evade AFP offensive operations which have heightened over the past weeks. Armed skirmishes over the past days were bound to erupt in the face of relentless and heightened AFP

offensives, on the one hand, and efforts of the NPA to actively defend the people’s interests, on the other,” they said.

Meanwhile, at the same press briefing, Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) Chairman Arsenio Balisacan discussed the primary role of his agency, which is to enforce and implement the provisions of Republic Act No. 10667,

otherwise known as the Philippine Competition Act (PCA), in time for their first year anniversary. Balisacan, who served as the Socio-Economic Planning Secretary and concurrently the director general of the National

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from estate of the them.

Continued support to peace process Ka Oris however clarified that even as the CPP-NPA will terminate its unilateral ceasefire declaration, the group will continue to support the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations within the framework of The Hague Declaration of 1992. “In our experience and in the experience of other peoples, it is possible to negotiate while fighting until the substantive agreements are forged to address the roots of the armed conflict and lay the basis for a just and lasting peace,” the statement emphasized. The group added that they will “oppose the use of interim ceasefires as basis for a protracted or indefinite ceasefire without substantial benefit for the people and their revolutionary forces and for laying aside peace negotiations on substantive issues such as social, economic and political reforms.” They said that such is tantamount to the capitulation and pacification of the revolutionary people and forces.

On active defense mode Ka Oris said that starting February 1 to February 10, all commands and units of the NPA, including the people’s militia and self-defense corps, are tasked to take initiative and more vigorously carry out active defense in order to defend the people and revolutionary forces. “They must counteract, frustrate and punish AFP-CAFGU-PNP interior patrol operations, AFP psywar operations

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ALERT MODE. Police Regional Office (PRO) director Chief Superintendent Manuel Gaerlan (right) orders police personnel in the region to be on alert for possible attacks after the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-New People’s Army (NPA) terminated the unilateral under Oplan Kapayapaan, AFP units occupying barangays and communities and enemy armed offensives posing as anti-drug and anti-crime operations,” he emphasized. All territorial and unit commands of the NPA are also ordered to take full initiative in planning, coordinating and carrying out military campaigns and tactical offensives against the AFP, PNP and para-military units. Ka Oris also specified what he called the “death squads of the Duterte government”, drug traffickers and operators of the drug trade and large-scale gambling, private armies and private armed groups of warlords, local tyrants as well as spies as among the subjects of the NPAs campaigns and tactical offensives. “The NPA will also continue to enforce policies and laws of the people’s democratic government, perform necessary and appropriate functions of governance, and mobilize the people and resources in territories under its authority. In particular, the NPA will enforce economic policies pertaining to land rent, usurious loans, wages, means of livelihood, provision of social services; as well as policies for the protection of the environment and defense of the interests of national minorities, peasants and workers affected by large-scale mining, logging and plantation operations,” he added.

No effect on AFP The Department of National Defense on Wednesday said the decision of the CPP-NPA to lift its unilateral ceasefire will have no effect on the military. DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said it is up for the CPP-NPA to terminate their Economic and Development Authority during the previous administration, underscored the importance of his agency, a quasi-judicial body, in ensuring an efficient market and providing a level-playing field among businesses in the country. (PNA)

unilateral ceasefire. “It will not affect the armed forces. Despite their declared ceasefire they have not stopped extorting under the guise of their so-called revolutionary taxation,” Lorenzana pointed out. He added that while under ceasefire, the NPAs also went on recruiting, burning of civilian vehicles and equipment, ambush, and kidnapping soldiers. The DND, he said will continue to enforce the government unilateral ceasefire pending instructions from President Duterte. “Our troops will not actively operate against the NPA while our ceasefire is in effect. However, it will continue to maintain peace and order and run after lawless elements whoever they are. We do not recognize any areas under NPA control nor are they allowed to roam around with their firearms intimidating people,” Lorenzana added. OPAPP dismayed “We are dismayed with the announcement of New People’s Army spokesman Ka Oris withdrawing their unilateral ceasefire effective Feb 10.” This was the statement given by Secretary Jesus Dureze of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) in reaction to the latest move of the CPPNPA in ending their unilateral ceasefire. The cancellation, Dureza added, came after some progress were made in the 3rd round of peace talks in Rome where GRP and NDFP negotiating panels agreed to further discuss a bilateral ceasefire in The Netherlands sometime at the end of February.

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for disconnection. It’s always up for the employees to oblige themselves to work even after office hours,” the DOLE chief added. But, he noted that completely disconnecting would not apply for certain jobs, and the employers must

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ceasefire. Gaerlan and Davao City Police Office (DCPO) director Senior Superintendent Michael John Dubria (left) graced yesterday’s AFP-PNP Press Corps media forum at The Royal Mandaya Hotel. Lean Daval Jr. Despite the disappointment, Dureza said the government respects the CPP-NPA decision. “On the part of the office of the presidential peace adviser, we will respectfully recommend to President Rodrigo R. Duterte that the government continues to maintain and uphold the unilateral ceasefire to sustain the peace in the communities where our people desire to live in peace. This will provide an enabling and conducive environment to the on-going peace talks. At the same, we will recommend that government forces continue to be relentless in their campaign to protect the civilians from harm and terrorism,” he pointed out. He said that he agreed with situation where various incidents on the ground had become untenable to sustain without the guidelines and protocols that a bilateral ceasefire provides. “This gives more impetus and encouragement to our earnest task of forging a sustainable ceasefire agreement,” Dureza added. He also expressed hope that the search for peace will continue and the tragedy of Filipinos fighting fellow Filipinos will come to an early end. “As we always stress, the road to peace is not easy to traverse. What is important is that we all stay the course,” Dureza said.

Major Ezra Balagtey, spokesperson of EastMinCom in reaction to the recent decision of the CPP-NPA to terminate the unilateral ceasefire they declared last year. “Specific si Lt. General Leonardo Guerrero sa mandate niya na sumunod sa ceasefire declaration at suspension ng military operations,” Balagtey told reporters on Wednesday. He added that the command and all its units will continue to protect the communities in their areas of responsibility especially in times when these are threatened or attacked by lawless armed groups. “We are on defense mode. We need to protect our troops and the communities,” he pointed out. He added that EastMinCom recently ordered all its troops to be on high alert amidst the series of attacks staged by the NPAs. He said the decision of the NPA to end their unilateral ceasefire will have an effect to the ongoing peace negotiations between the GRP and the NDFP. On the other hand, Chief Supt. Manuel Gaerlan, regional director of PNP in Davao region told reporters of the possibility of division within the ranks of CPP-NPA with the decision to end the unilateral ceasefire they declared. “Mahahati na siguro sila, may mga troops na gusto pang makipag-usap at ipagpatuloy ang peace talks at meron ding ayaw na,” Gaerlan emphasized. He said he has already warned all the police units in the region for the possible breakdown of talks especially now that the CPP-NPA is pulling out their declared ceasefire.

be the one to implement a policy in accordance with the standards of the labor code, which will benefit both parties. “It’s the employers’ own assessments and evaluations to reduce out-of-hours work. They either implement policy that will prevent their

employees to work after office hours or compensate them for extra workload,” Bello added. Quezon City Representative Winston Castelo authored House Bill 4721, which aims to amend the Labor Code of the Philippines. (PNA)

EastMinCom to follow SOMO The Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom) of the AFP will continue to adhere to the unilateral ceasefire declared by the government and the continuing implementation of SOMO. This was emphasized by

12 NEWS

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Lacson not keen on PC revival S

ENATOR Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Wednesday said that he is not too keen on the proposal to revive the Philippine Constabulary (PC) stressing that it was better to cleanse the police ranks first. To recall, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte earlier said that he was amenable to the proposal to revive one of the major service commands of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) during the time of former President Ferdinand Marcos. Lacson, however, said that it would require lengthy discussion as the revival of the PC could cause problems within its jurisdiction. “There will be an overlapping in the issue of jurisdiction unless the President is thinking of a

Lacson National Guard concept for the PC,” Lacson said in an interview. He explained that the National Guard only enters when there is a nationwide calamity or disaster so the PC might eventually be inactive. “Under the Philippine setting, especially because we are not a rich country, they might be dormant,” he added.

ordered cleansing of the PNP in the wake of the reported involvement of police officers SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel and Supt. Rafael Dumlao II in the abduction and killing of Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo. In a press conference Wednesday, PRO 11 Regional Director CSupt. Manuel Gaerlan said that they have received the mandate from dela Rosa to “suspend the war on illegal drugs” to intensify the drive against scalawags within the organization. “Apektado na rin ang mga matitinong police dahil sa ginawa ni Sta. Isabel and Dumlao,” he said, explaining that the whole PNP is demoralized with the recent controversy they are currently facing. However, Gaerlan clarified that the suspension on their operations against illegal drugs only refers on police-initiated ones. “If a crime is happening in your presence, nakita mo nagbebenta ng drugs sa harap mo, pulis ka, kailangan aksyunan mo yan. Ibig sabihin yung mga reactive operations, nakita mo nagbebetahan, alangang hindi mo hulihin e nasa harapan mo,” he said. As part of intensified internal cleansing, they have also created a counterintelligence

group focusing on running after rouge cops. He added that they would show “no mercy” against the policemen who destroy the image of the organization. “They don’t have the right to stay longer in the PNP,” he added. Davao City Police Office director Sr. Supt. Michael John Dubria, who was also present in the press conference, added that the cleansing has been intensified because of what happened. “We will do it through counter -intelligence and we are encouraging the populace to report to us any police officer that is involved in any illegal drug activity and we will file appropriate charges against them, an administrative or criminal case,” Dubria said. Meanwhile, Gaerlan said that while the police cannot do it’s operations against illegal drugs, they would only be supporting the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency which would take over the said campaign. “We’ll contact PDEA if ever may tatawag sa amin regarding illegal drug operations and we are more willing to transmit any information [regarding illegal drug campaign] sa agency,” he added.

made available at a reasonable cost. The program, he added, is aimed to boost the development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector, particularly the microenterprises that comprise about 90% of registered enterprises in the country. Reynes also stressed that the P3 Program Funding is in line with the President Duterte’s directive to provide affordable micro-financing program for MSMEs. The 2017 General Appropriations Act (GAA) included P 1.0 Billion for financial assistance subsidy to microenterprises under the P3 Program. Depending on the performance of this initial funding, P3

may be scaled up and included in the GAA for subsequent years, he added. Usec. Zenaida C. Maglaya also explained that the primary beneficiaries of the P3 program are the microenterprises and entrepreneurs in the country. As the primary beneficiaries of the program, they no longer have to access to credits that impose high interests because P3 is already here to provide assistance to their financing needs at a very affordable interest rate. Among the beneficiaries Maglaya identified include the market vendors, the agribusiness, members of cooperatives, industry associations and co-operators. (DTI 12 RO/ VTP)

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He instead urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) to prioritize cleansing its police ranks. The senator said that the temporary stop in Oplan Tokhang operations is positive but maintained that it was unfair to call at least 40 percent of police officials as “bad.” He also expressed confidence that PNP chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa would be able to regain public trust on his agency. “I’m 100 percent sure that it’s not too late. Gen Bato can do it. I’m very sure of that. He really knows what to do,” Lacson said. Sen. Leila de Lima, for her part, said the President had just exercised an emergency power of the commander-

in-chief, calling out the AFP to suppress lawless violence, rebellion, or invasion. De Lima explained that the exercise of this emergency power requires the existence of lawless violence, invasion or rebellion and cannot be invoked due to his own order suspending the PNP from conducting anti-drug operations. “At first glance, two issues stand out. Whether this is constitutional, i.e, whether are in a state of lawless violence, and whether the real solution after ordering the PNP to stand down is to order the AFP to step up,” she said. The neophyte senator, however said that the real issue is the “legitimacy” of the intensified campaign against illegal drugs. (PNA)

“We agree that the situation, with various incidents on the ground, had become untenable to sustain without the guidelines and protocols that a bilateral ceasefire provides,” Dureza said. “This gives more impetus and encouragement to our earnest task of forging a sustainable ceasefire agreement,” he added. Despite reports of NPA attacks, Dureza said the government is still hopeful that the search for peace will continue and the tragedy of Filipinos fighting fellow Filipinos will come to an early end. “As we always stress, the road to peace is not easy to

traverse. What is important is that we all stay the course,” he said. In an effort to achieve peace with communist rebels, President Duterte declared a unilateral ceasefire right in his first state of the nation address or SONA on July 25 last year. The President, however, lifted the declaration on July 31 after the Communist Party of the Philippines (CCP) failed to meet deadline to reciprocate the government ceasefire. On August 21 last year, President Duterte restored the unilateral ceasefire five days before the peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) was held in Oslo, Norway. (PNA)

venue for local travel agencies to expand their services. “Those meetings are important to our members as it gives them the opportunity to look at potential partners in those countries for both inbound and outbound travel especially now that ASEAN has launched a campaign to promote the region as a single tourism destination,” Victoria said. She said that because the tourism industry is evolving, and tourists are going beyond the traditional tourist spots, the PTAA wants its members to be abreast of new developments. “Last year, the PTAA provided a record number of trainings and seminars for our

members. As the operations of travel agencies go beyond the travel bookings, the association has been giving them new learnings from the use of the latest technologies to knowhow in working with government agencies and embassies,” she added. She said that with the iTTE and TTE, the association provides the public with easier and cheaper access to their travels and ensures viability of travel agencies and tour operators while also promoting the growth of Philippine tourism. The TTE, which is now on its 24th year, is the flagship project of the PTAA. It is now considered as the country’s biggest annual travel and tourism event. (PNA)

gross floor area. “We see a continuing rise in consumer spending especially on food. While each of our townships has its own growing population, we have experienced influx of people visiting our townships because our lifestyle malls also become leisure attractions like the Venice Grand Canal,” reveals Kevin L. Tan, senior vice president and head of Megaworld Lifestyle Malls.

By 2020, around 18 new malls and commercial centers in various Megaworld townships all over the country will be completed, covering close to 390,400 square meters of fresh retail spaces. This will bring the company’s total commercial and retail space inventory to 1.17 million square meters covering a total of 30 lifestyle malls & commercial establishments nationwide. (PR)

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to Cebu, Bacolod and Iloilo and other major cities in the country,” Bautista said, adding that preparations are underway for the launching of two additional domestic flights to Palawan on March 26 that include Puerto Princesa and Busuanga. Clark International Airport is included among several huge infrastructure development projects in what is billed by the Department of Transportation as the ‘golden age of infrastructure’ under the term of President Duterte. “President Duterte’s directive is to develop Clark―the premier airport of the North,” Cauguiran said, citing CIAC’s vision is aligned with DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade’s efforts to develop CRK with the support of private proponent initiatives. Meanwhile, Arroyo commended PAL for its newest flight route in Clark that will

benefit passengers wishing to tour various destinations in Mindanao. “I want to see the SubicClark corridor to be the best logistic and service center in Southeast Asia,” the former president added. PAL said its direct Clark domestic flights especially to Cebu will connect passengers to various international destinations in Asia and North America. Cauguiran said PAL’s operation at Clark is essential in easing the issue of decongestion in Metro Manila, particularly the Ninoy Aquino International Airport which already reached passenger capacity to 37 million last year. “Clark Airport offers convenience and comfort to passengers especially those coming from the CAMANAVA area and northern and Central Luzon,” the CIAC chief added.

al inflation rate as indicated by the Bangko Sentral rather than…. (the) figure of 4 percent,” Teves said. Lim also said that “in terms of indexation, this should be based on inflation.” Teves’ support brings to 20 the number thus far of former top officials of the DOF and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) who have publicly

thrown their support behind the DOF-proposed CTRP. At the House hearing on HB 4144, Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua explained that to prevent an undue increase in the cost of petroleum products in the future, the CTRP proposal includes a suspension of the rate adjustment if and when global oil prices hit $100 per barrel. (PR)

“Crop rotation helps to preserve the regenerative properties of the soil and avoid the problems of infertility typical of traditional agricultural practices,” explains Alimoane on the importance of regular rotation of crops. SALT can help control soil erosion. A seven-year study conducted at the MBRLC showed that a farm tilled in the traditional manner erodes at the rate of 1,163.4 metric tons per hectare per year. In comparison, a SALT farm erodes at the rate of only 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 10-12 metric tons per hectare per year. The non-SALT farm has an annual soil loss rate of 194.3 metric tons per hectare. As SALT is an example of agroforestry (a collective name for all land-use systems and practices where woody perennials and crops are planted together), it offers other valuable ecological advantages. “SALT greatly reduces the risk of drought, landslides, floods, the silting over of low-lying areas, and wind erosion -- all of which are linked to the radical transformation of the natural environment and the destruction of the mountain forests,” Alimoane says. SALT was heavily promoted in the 1990s up to the late

2000s by various government agencies (particularly agriculture, agrarian reform and science and technology) and non-government organizations. Other countries in Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Laos, South Korea) sent their farmers and technicians to adopt the system in their respective upland farms. But despite the sustainability of the SALT system, some Filipino farmers still abandon their SALT farms after several years. According to Alimoane, it’s not an easy task to follow the SALT system diligently. “We have had our failures, too,” he admits. “I can take you to a lot of farms that started out with SALT, and about halfway through the farmers just gave up. Part of it could be our fault; maybe we didn’t motivate them enough.” SALT maybe sustainable but Alimoane believes it is not a perfect farming system. “SALT is not a miracle system or a panacea,” Watson once pointed out. “To establish a one-hectare SALT requires much hard work and discipline. It took many years to deplete the soil of nutrients and lose the topsoil; no system can bring depleted, eroded soil back into production in a few short years. The price of soil loss is poverty, but we have seen land restored to a reasonable level of productivity by using SALT.”

Ex-DOF... FROM 5

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NEWS13

EDGEDAVAO

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AWARDING OF BOOTS. Lt. Col. Emmanuel A. Canilla, commander of 60th Infantry Battalion personally awarded the five (5) brand new Altama Boots intended for the well-deserving soldiers recommended by the unit for the EQUIP-A-SOLDIER PROJECT. In his remarks

during the simple ceremony, Lt. Col. Canilla emphasized that “hard work pays.” The project truly serves to inspire soldiers to do their jobs always with their best foot forward and beyond, if not above, expectation. (60th IB Photo)

DND wants order on fielding of AFP units in anti-drug war

ITH President Rodrigo Duterte planning to field military units in the on-going war against illegal drugs, the Department of National Defense on Wednesday announced that it was seeking an official order as basis for the armed forces to comply with. “In line with this, the Department of National Defense has requested the Office of the Executive Secretary to is-

sue an official order regarding this presidential directive to serve as a legal basis for our troops to follow,” DND public affairs office chief Arsenio Andolong said. Earlier, President Duterte said he was planning to use the military to support the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the ongoing anti-drug campaign. The decision stemmed from the involvement of sev-

eral narcotics officers in the kidnap-slay of a South Korean businessman in the so-called “tokhang-for-ransom” racket. In the same vein, he also wants the latter’s assistance in arresting rogue and corrupt police officers. “By the same token, the President’s verbal directive to arrest ‘scalawag cops’ should also be covered by a formal order,” Andolong added. (PNA)

EDGEDAVAO

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Electrified Nissan Juke e-powers up

ISSAN Gripz Concept Nissan will plunge further into electrification with the debut of the Juke e-Power concept, set to be unveiled at the Tokyo auto show this fall. With the current Juke now seven years old, the new concept is said to have an exterior modeled after the radical Gripz SUV-style concept first seen in 2015 and pictured here. The concept also will feature an unusual hybrid powertrain borrowed from the Note e-Power production subcompact. Nissan e-Power series hybrid system Launched late last year in Japan, the e-Power is a series hybrid that pairs a 1.2-liter three-cylinder gasoline engine with a power generator and inverter, which gets its

electricity from using the engine as a generator for the car’s electric motor. What’s interesting about this new powertrain is that, despite effectively being an electric car with a gasoline generator, it doesn’t have the option of being recharged from the grid, as it has no plug-in port. Instead, it relies wholly on the engine for electricity. While this may seem strange given the proliferation of plug-in hybrids such as the Chevrolet Volt and the Toyota Prius Prime, this new system doesn’t have much battery to charge. The battery pack will be around 1/20 the size of that in the Leaf. The main advantage here is that the battery doesn’t intrude on interior space, since it’s neatly packaged un-

derneath the front seats. It may not have the zing of an out-and-out sports car, but this Juke concept should have

the instantaneous response of an electric vehicle. Expect a price of around $20,000, when the Juke

Kia Stonic wants piece of Nissan Juke’s pie

HILE some cars keep getting bigger and bigger, crossovers keep getting smaller to the point that the subcompact crossover segment is quickly turning into the new frontier – with mass-market automakers clamoring to get on the action. And the latest, it seems, could be coming from Korea. Both Hyundai and its sister brand Kia are tipped to be preparing subcom-

pact crossovers to take on the likes of the Nissan Juke, Mazda CX-3, Honda Vezel/HR-V, Jeep Renegade, and Fiat 500X (to name just a few). Judging by its similarity to previous Rio prototypes, what we appear to be looking at here is Kia’s version, undergoing cold-weather testing way up in the north of Sweden. Internally

known as project SE, sources indicate that the model will reach the market as the Kia Stonic. Whatever it’s called, the model is slated to slot in underneath the Soul (and well underneath the Sportage), and with a less boxy, more conventional SUV-like shape. It’s also expected to pack a range

of turbocharged four-cylinder engines driving the front wheels, with all-wheel drive a likely option. Expect the South Korean automaker to lift the veil on its littlest sportute at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, with a US debut likely to follow by year-end at the LA show.

e-Power eventually reaches the market. Whether that market will include the United States is unclear, as the U.S.

currently doesn’t get the Note e-Power, although we are a prime outlet for the current Juke.

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SPORTS 15

EDGEDAVAO

PSC: Partnership, programs key to sports success F

ILIPINOS generally see sport in a positive way. Sports provide a training ground for a desirable character traits and productive citizens. Sports reaffirms commitment, it emphasizes competition, success and fair play. Countless sports summits have taken place and sports program have been laid out both by government and private institutions. At present, Philippine sports continue to be challenged in all fronts -- organization, management, human resource (athletes pool), training and budget. Major international sports competitions also await our athletes to include the 2017 Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) set in Kuala Lumpur in August; the 2018 Asian Games to be held in Indonesia; and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

PSC chair William “Butch” Ramirez has emphasized that his agency’s collaboration with several sports stakeholders -all the (national) sports associations, Department of Education (DepEd), Commission of Higher Education (CHED), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the private sector will improve the country’s sports development. And to achieve the country’s dream for an elusive Olympic gold, Ramirez said the partnership of the PSC-NSA-Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) must be strengthened. Six months after leading anew the PSC, Ramirez and his able board members have expanded incentives to national athletes that include scholarships, medical, retirement benefits, among others. PSC also launched a 5-year (2017-2022) strategic direc-

tion that include Philippine Institute of Sports (PIS), a science-based athletic development program. Other programs include the strengthening the Sports For All, all-inclusive programs that actually been re-introduced, promotes an active healthy lifestyle for Filipinos

across various sectors; Sports Promotion, an intensified sports promotion across all media platforms; Sports Excellence, PSC shall provide all kinds of high-performance training opportunities for athletes. Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte has directed the PSC

10 losses-4 draws-15 Kos, has already arrived early in London together with his Japanese manager Ryuta Kato, matchmaker Warren Eliot and trainer Jhun Agrabio. “Kailangan namin masanay na agad sa lamig dito sa London kaya kami maagang dumating (We need to get used to the cold weather here in London so we came early),” said Agrabio. The 28-year-old Diale previously beat Michael Enriquez via a unanimous decision to capture the vacant WBC Inter-

national flyweight title. Diale, a native of Malungon, Sarangani Province is a former Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF), WBO Oriental and Philippine flyweight title holder. He also fought but lost against Mexican Julio Cesar Miranda for the WBO World flyweight title on Feb 26, 2011 in Mexico. Selby, on the other hand, is still undefeated with seven straight wins and five knockouts. He recently took the vacant IBF Inter-Continental

flyweight crown by stopping another Filipino Jake Bornea in the 7th round last November 18 at the Wembley Arena in Wembley, London. The Diale-Selby 12-round title fight is the main supporting bout of the IBO World super middleweight championship of defending champion Renold “Destroyer” Quinlan (11-1-0-7 KOs) of Australia and former WBA world middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr. (231-0-18 KOs) of United Kingdom. (PNA)

PLANNING. PSC chairman Butch Ramirez (second from left) in a planning session with commissioners Charles Maxey, Cecil Kiram and Mon Fernandez and other key officials of the agency.

Diale set for title defense in London

EIGNING World Boxing Council (WBC) International flyweight champion Ardin “The Jackal” Diale of the Philippines will defend his title against Andrew “Superstar” Selby of the United Kingdom on February 4 at the Olympia in Kensington, London. It will be Diale’s first title defense of the vacant crown he won last December 13, at the Puerto Princesa Coliseum in Puerto Princesa City Palawan. Diale, who holds 32 wins-

McGregor camp: Pacquiao out in one or two rounds

MONG the numerous talking points from Conor McGregor’s Q&A in Manchester last Saturday evening was the Irishman saying he was open to forgoing the prospect of a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather in favour of stepping between the ropes to face Manny Pacquiao. The Filipino remains one of the finest boxers of his generation despite the loss he suffered to Floyd Mayweather in their gargantuan PPV bout last year. Mayweather, who has recently stated there is no fight he is prepared to accept other than one with Conor McGregor, has said to the media that he is the “A-Side” in a match-up between

the two and his compensation for the bout should reflect that. McGregor counters this claim by asserting that Mayweather’s last match, a unanimous decision win over Andre Berto in September 2015, sold just 300,000 pay-per-views. McGregor, meanwhile, has seen his last five UFC bouts eclipse the one million mark in PPV sales. Speaking to Ariel Helwani in Manchester last weekend, McGregor said he would consider a bout with Pacquiao if acceptable terms with Mayweather couldn’t be reached. “Maybe fuck Floyd,” McGregor said. “Maybe fuck the A-side. Maybe I’ll just fight Pacquiao instead. Why not do that? Why not

fight Manny and fuck Floyd?” Artem Lobov, longtime friend and training partner of McGregor, doesn’t think that Pacquiao would cope very well with McGregor in the ring should the Mayweather bout fall apart. Speaking exclusively to TheMacLife.com, Lobov said that McGregor would make short work of the Filipino: “I think that’s a more realistic fight. I tell you one thing; before even Conor himself thought about fighting Mayweather, I was the one telling him that this is the fight to make. I was telling him that this is where this was going to go. “I’m not sure how serious he took me at the time, probably

not much because his mind was set on the UFC gold. That was what he wanted, so I don’t think he took it seriously but now it’s coming to light. “I honestly feel that Mayweather doesn’t want the fight. Think about it this way, him and Pacquiao… it took them five years to make the fight happen and they are in the same sport. How is he now going to take on Conor, who is in his prime, is young motherfucker knocking everybody out. Mayweather is 40 now. He’s not going to risk that, but he’s making the most of it. You’re not going to find a single article in the last year about Mayweather where Conor is not mentioned.

head to unify sports, strengthen grassroot development -- giving access sports to communities, and get rid of corruption. The PSC as a regulatory national agency has the responsibility of coordinating all amateur sports development programs and institutions in

NEXT PG? Lance Stephenson got very close to LeBron James when the two matched up in the playoffs. Could he get even closer soon?

Stephenson could be Cavs’next PG

EBRON James thinks the Cleveland Cavaliers need “a f***ing playmaker.” But is he ready for it to be Lance f***ing Stephenson? The slumping Cavs continuing to reel, suffering a Monday loss to an “underrated s*** team” in the Dallas Mavericks to fall to 4-7 in their last 11 outings, and 32-15 on the season as a whole. While James vents his frustration at attention-seeking ex-players with national TV commentary gigs, the Cavs are turning their attention to trying to find somebody to fill their open roster spot who can handle the rock and who, ideally, won’t cost all that much. From Chris Haynes of ESPN. com: Veteran point guards Ma-

rio Chalmers and Kirk Hinrich and wing Lance Stephenson are scheduled to work out for the Cavaliers on Wednesday, league sources informed ESPN. A few other free-agent prospects are expected to attend the session, sources say. Depending on how well the participants perform, sources with knowledge of the Cavaliers’ thinking believe one could be signed prior to the All-Star break. Tom Withers of the Associated Press also reported Tuesday that the Cavs will take a look at Hinrich, who turned 36 earlier this month and who has remained unsigned this season after splitting last year between the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks.

promoter, however, said he was willing to step aside just for the fight to happen. “I tell you, if the only impediment to Manny Pacquiao fighting Conor McGregor is because Dana doesn’t like me, then I won’t be around,” he said. Arum is open to givethe fighting Senator the right and the permission to fight McGregor anytime, on the condition

that the money is right for the eight-division world champion. Pacquiao is set to fight Australian welterweight contender Jeff Horn possibly at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on April 22. Only the venue and the finer details of the fight are left to be finalized. The fight looms as the biggest boxing bonanza in history in Australia.

MAKE... FROM 16

PRAYER. Players of the Ateneo de Davao University kneel down in a prayer huddle before their match against Ford Academy in the ongoing SM-NBTC basketball tournament at the ADDU Jacinto Gym. Lean Daval Jr.

the Philippines and formulating policies on programs/institutions. The PSC also provides leadership, formulates policies, and sets priorities and direction for all amateur sports promotion and development, particularly giving emphasis on grassroots participation. (PNA)

16 EDGEDAVAO Sports

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MAKE IT HAPPEN Arum fine with stepping aside to make McGregor fight happen By NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO njb@edgedavao.net

ERE’S another possibility for Manny Pacquiao’s farewell tour--a fight with Mixed Martial Arts champion Conor McGregor.

DREAM FIGHT. Manny Pacquiao (left) and UFC champion Conor McGregor (right).

If Top Rank boss Bob Arum will have his way, he will let the fight hapen even if it takes for him to step aside. Arum said in a recent interview that he was more than willing to make a fight between the Filipino ring icon and the Irish MMA superstar. “That’s an easy fight for Manny, and I would love for that fight to happen, absolutely,” Arum said in an interview with TMZ Sports. “For sure, Manny Pacquiao would love to fight Conor McGregor in boxing,” he added. “Any boxer would like to fight Conor McGregor, because they’d knock him out.” Talks of the fight came through after McGregor had quipped that he might square-off against Pacquiao if a fight with Floyd Mayweather did not materialize. Pac-

quiao, on the other hand, had made it clear that he would gladly fight McGregor in a boxing match. There’s a hitch though. the head of the UFC does not like the idea. So while the trio of Pacquiao, McGregor and Arum are seemingly willing to work with each other, UFC President Dana White gave it a cold shoulder. There lies the problem because McGregor is exclusively signed with the UFC, thus he needs White’s approval to compete in professional boxing match. In a recent interview with Yahoo, White thumbed down the fight even before it could get to a more serious level. White said that while he loved Pacquiao, he does nt want to deal with Arum. The veteran fight

F MAKE, 15