Edge Davao Vol. 15 Issue 166 | Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022

Barangay chiefs grateful to

Rigo

Rodrigo “Rigo” Duterte II represents his father, Davao City

District Representative Paolo Duterte, in community engagements and extending assistance to the victims of disasters in Davao City. Edge Davao

DepEd urged to release data on COVID-19 infections in schools

How many students have been infect ed with COVID-19 since the return of faceto-face classes?

A public health expert is urging the Department of Education to release data on the number of COVID-19 infections in schools, weeks before the resumption of full in-person classes in pub lic schools that continues to raise health and safety concerns.

In an online press con ference, Dr. Tony Leachon said DepEd should be transparent with the data, which could help schools and their communities re spond better in the event of COVID-19 outbreaks.

“I think for the safe ty of the kids, we need to be transparent about

our data,” said Leachon, former adviser to the government’s task force against COVID-19.

“Wala naman may gusto na hindi pumasok but how can we protect ourselves if we are not empowered, educated and engaged about our data?” he added.

(Nobody wants our students to not go to school but how can we protect ourselves if we are not empowered, edu cated and engaged about our data?)

Leachon said he ex pects the number of COVID-19 cases to be “underreported” since the Department of Health only counts positive RTPCR test results.

“The report right now

FDEPED,

Davao high school student places 3rd in Asian Professional Level IT Cert exam

GRATEFUL

Barangay chiefs grateful to Pulong, Rigo

By MAYA M. PADILLO

Barangay

chiefs in Davao City have expressed their gratitude to the fa ther and son tandem of Davao City 1st District Representative Paolo Z. Dute rte and son Rodrigo “Rigo” Duterte II, for “working non-stop in extending as sistance and turning over multipurpose buildings for the benefit of the barangays.”

Rigo presided over the delivery of a patient trans port vehicle to Barangay 5-A, Bankerohan. The ve hicle is a project of the First Congressional District.

“On behalf sa katawhan sa Bankerohan dako ang among pasalamat kay Con gressman Pulong sa ka nunay na pagsuporta ug of course sa iyahang anak na

si Rigo,” said Barangay Cap tain Edgar Ibuyan Sr.

Rigo also led the turn over ceremony of the multipurpose building for Barangay Talomo Proper.

“Daghan kaayong salamat Davao City 1st District Congressman Pu long Duterte sa inyong gihatag na multipurpose building para sa Barangay Talomo Proper ug kay sir Rodrigo Duterte II sa pag una sa maong turnover pati na sa iyang mga kugi han na mga staff. Kini na

proyekto dako kaayong tabang sa atong mga ka tawhan dire sa Talomo. Ako ug ang akong mga kaubanan sa Barangay Talomo Proper gahatag ug dako kaayong pasalamat sa imong ginahatag na su porta sa among barangay. Padayon me sa sa kadasig mo serbisyo sa among gi sakopan,” said Brgy. Capt. Bendor Calamba.

Rigo is hoping that the barangay officials and residents will take care of the said facilities.

Aloysius

Reve Batu Torres, a junior high school student of Davao City, attained the third highest score from 6 Asian countries that implemented the Infor mation Technology Pro fessionals Examination Council (ITPEC) Common Examination last April 24, 2022.

Based on Japan’s IT Engineers’ examination, the professional exam ination is locally imple mented as the Philippine National IT Standards (PhilNITS) Fundamental Engineer (FE) Certifica tion Exam.

A PhilNITS-FE certi fied passer is regarded as having the same level of knowledge and compe

tence as a professional IT Engineer in Japan.

Aloysius Reve most likely is the youngest ever to pass the examination, as typical examinees are mainly professionals or college students.

The average passing rate is 16% for the Philip pines and 25% for Japan.

Even professionals find it difficult to pass the exam as it covers a very broad range of IT skills and knowledge such as programming, algo rithms, data structures, networking, databases, security, project man agement, and business strategy, which partly en countered during college, some from actual work

FDAVAO, P7

All passengers safe as Korean Air aircraft overruns Cebu runway

All the 162 passen gers and 11 crew of a Korean Air aircraft from Incheon are reported safe after the plane overran the runway at Mactan-Cebu Interna tional Airport late Sun day, the airline confirmed on Monday.

“There were no inju ries and all passengers safely evacuated the air craft,” Korean Air said in an email.

Flight KE 631 was ex pected to arrive in Cebu at 10 p.m., and attempted to land twice amid the bad weather. On the third at tempt, the A330-300 air craft arrived at 11:07 p.m. and overran the airport’s runway.

“We are currently identifying the cause of the incident,” the airline said.

It added that passen gers were escorted to three local hotels, and an

alternative flight is being arranged.

Meanwhile, the run way has been closed due to aircraft obstruction.

The Manila Interna tional Airport Authority has so far logged 16 can celed flights between the Ninoy Aquino Interna tional Airport and Cebu.

These flights are Cebu Pacific (5J) 563/564 Ma nila-Cebu-Manila

5J 2510 Cebu – Manila

5J 565/566 Manila –Cebu - Manila

5J 571/572 Manila –Cebu - Manila

5J 567/568 Manila –Cebu - Manila

5J 577/578 Manila –Cebu - Manila

Philippine Airlines (PR) 1868 Cebu-Manila

PR 1868 Cebu-Manila

PR 1841/1842 Ma nila-Cebu-Manila

PR 1836 Cebu-Manila

Lafayette A. Lim, president and CEO of NCCC Group of Companies; Vice Mayor J. Melchor Quitain Jr. and First District Councilor Bernard Al-ag lead the lighting up of NCCC Mall VP’s 42-foot LED Christmas Tree at the mall’s Parking A along J.P. Laurel Avenue, Davao City on Sunday evening. Edge Davao

City gov’t reminds Dabawenyos to follow lease contract in cemeteries

By MAYA M. PADILLO

An official of the City Economic Enterprise (CEE) reminded the Dabawenyos to always follow the lease contract for burials in public ceme teries in Davao City.

Maximo Macalipes, head of CEE, said the rel atives or family of the de ceased must pay P2,200 for burials renewable every six years. If they are unable to pay for the renewal, the skeletal re mains of the deceased will be placed in the bone depository area.

“Naa natay Lease Con

tract para sa mga mag palubong sa sementeryo para guided ta kung kinsa tong naa sa mga sement eryo. Naa man na corre sponding ordinance na bayaran nila P2,200 re newable every six years. I-remind namo sila na magbuhat na sila sa ila hang Lease Contract,” he said.

Meanwhile, the CEE is eyeing to rehabilitate the public cemeteries in Davao City that will carry a similar compartmental ized design to the Wire less Cemetery.

“I-rehabilitae ang mga sementeryo sama sa pag rehabiltate sa Wireless Cemetery, murag mao na unta to (compartamen talized) ang standard nato nga mapabuhat sa uban pa nga sememteryo. Naay compartamenta lized niches ang plano nga pagabuhaton sa lain sementeryo including the

Recognitions to boost investors’ confidence in Davao City

Recent recognitions and awards re ceived by Davao City are seen to boost in vestor confidence.

Davao City won six awards during the 10th Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Summit last October 20, 2022, in the Highly Urbanized City Category.

The city won 4th Over all Most Competitive HUC,

3rd Most Competitive in Economic Dynamism, 8th Most Competitive in Government Efficiency, 6th Most Competitive in Infrastructure, 6th Most Competitive in Resiliency, and 7th Most Competitive in Innovation.

Councilor Al Ryan Ale jandre, chair of the Com mittee on Tourism, said these recognitions could add confidence to the in

vestors.

“Ug daghan na maka trabaho. In short dili na kayo maglisod ang mga Dabawenyos,” Alejandre said.

Vice Mayor Melchor Quitain Jr.said these rec ognitions signify the lead ership of Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, whose main focus is really to make the city stronger

perimeter fence,” said Ma calipes.

There are 10 public cemeteries in Davao City under the supervision of the CEE namely Wireless

Cemetery, Panacan Pub lic Cemetery, Bunawan Public Cemetery, Lubogan Public Cemetery, Calinan Public Cemetery, Tugbok Public Cemetery, Muslim

and Christian Cemetery - Maa, Mintal Public Cem etery, Tibungco Public Cemetery, and Muslim and Christian Cemetery –

EDITORIAL

You reap what you sow.

Reaping the fruits

ment in pushing for its development agenda despite the current pandem ic-hit times.

That ages-old adage still holds true in contemporary times. There is no substitute for effort. No shortcuts to success. Imagine the amount of time a body builder spends in the weights room to attain the that muscle-bound physique. No pain no gain, so to speak.

Same goes with building the image of the city as conducive to econo my. By economy we mean investor confidence in business and interest in the areas of tourism and agriculture.

That said, the city government’s efforts were paid off with handsome dividends after it emerged victorious in six categories that measure the success of highly urbanized cities in the Philippines.

Davao City won six awards during the 10th Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Summit last October 20, 2022, in the Highly Urbanized City Category.

These awards are a testament to the efforts of the Davao City govern

EDGE

The city won 4th Overall Most Competitive HUC, 3rd Most Competitive in Economic Dynamism, 8th Most Competitive in Government Efficiency, 6th Most Competitive in Infrastructure, 6th Most Competitive in Resiliency, and 7th Most Competitive in Innovation.

In another platform, Davao City was rated 9th among the richest cities in the Philippines in 2021 based on the recent report of the Commission on Audit (COA).

Likewise, Davao City was awarded 2nd in the Sustainable Devel opment Goals (SDG) under the LGU category by the Regional Devel opment Council 11 (RDC 11) and the National Economic and Devel opment Authority 11 (NEDA 11) during the 2022 Davao Region SDG Fiesta.

With these recognitions and awards, Davao City is seen to gain wide leverage in the areas of investments and tourism.

In thanking the father and son tandem of Davao City 1st District Representative Paolo Z. Duterte and son Rodrigo “Rigo” Duterte II for their projects and assistance to barangays:

Columnists: MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • AURELIO A. PEÑA

ZHAUN ORTEGA • BERNADETTE “ADDIE” B. BORBON

MARY ANN “ADI” C. QUISIDO • LEANDRO B. DAVAL SR., • NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN • NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN • EMILY ZEN CHUA • CARLOS MUNDA Economic Analyst: ENRICO “GICO”

DAYANGIRANG

JONALLIER M. PEREZ

NEILWIN

MAYA

“On

Seoul, South Korea – Pi noys are hooked to Korean dramas, or Kdramas, due to their charisma: complex, lov able, flawed characters with compelling personal stories, raw emotion-packed acting, and beautiful cinematography and directing.

Senator Jinggoy Estrada earned mixed reactions from netizens due to his comments that South Korean televi sion shows in the Philippines should be banned because Filipino artists are losing their jobs.

“From what I have ob served, we continue to show South Korean television series and that our fellow country men idolize Korean actors, while our artists are losing their jobs,” Estrada said during the Senate’s budget hearing for the Film Development Council of the Philippines.. “So, some times I think of banning these foreign shows so that our own artists should be the ones we are showing instead.”

He later clarified that his comment stems from the frus tration with the public’s “lack of support” for the local enter tainment industry.

I was recently in South Ko

DENNIS R. GORECHO KUWENTONG PEYUPS

KUWENTONG PEYUPS

BINGE-WATCHING WITH KOREAN DRAMAS

rea for ten days when he made the comment as I attended the Asian Patent Attorneys Asso ciation (APAA) conference in Busan then proceeded to Seoul for leisure.

K-dramas are popular in the Philippines since the 2000s. Huge demands from Filipino viewers prompted Philippine television stations to import Kdramas.

I am not originally really an avid fan of Kdramas until the pandemic lockdown resulted to my “binge-watching” (i.e, watching multiple episodes of TV series in single or continu ous sessions) in Netflix a night habit.

Covid-19 lockdown sub stantially impacted our daily habits, well-being and mental health forcing individuals to cope with uncertainty, fears, isolation and feelings of stress, anxiety and depression.

Digital technology provid ed a welcome source of alter native forms of connection and entertainment. People from anywhere in the world can eas ily access shows like K-dramas as a form of comfort that gave them hope during the COVID pandemic.

UP Diliman associate pro

fessor Erik Paolo Capistrano identified in an interview some of the factors that made K-dramas popular, particular ly among Filipinos. He is also principal investigator of UP’s Korea Research Center (KRC).

He noted that Korean en tertainment companies have been effective in creating “new and disruptive” content, in giving “a refreshing take on common themes”, in being “forward-looking” and for be ing open to moving to different platforms and genres.

Regardless of the topic or the theme of the drama, they have a very robust system be hind it that enables it to be ex ecuted in such a way that it can communicate to various audi ences, he added.

They also have shorter pro grams as typical K-dramas span 16 to 24 episodes, as opposed to popular local shows that last for months, or even years.

K-dramas are always mov ing, sometimes in directions you never thought they would go. They are not as predictable as Pinoy telenovelas.

K-dramas have been con stantly evolving and are made available to all through distri bution in channels outside of

the usual broadcast channels like Netflix.

There is also the aggressive promotions of K-dramas, simi lar to what is done with Korean music talents.

Korea is also home to Bu san International Film Festival (BIFF) which is an annual event considered as one of the most significant film festi vals in Asia.

The main focus of the BIFF is to introduce new films and first-time directors, especial ly those from Asian countries through its efforts to develop and promote young talents.

The festival contributed to making Busan a mecca for movie buffs and the hub of the visual culture industry.

It was recently held from October 5 to 14, 2022 along with the BTS Yet to Come concert last October 15 at the same period that I was attend ing the APAA conference.

We stayed at G Guesthouse in Itaewon, Seoul which is the same neighborhood where some scenes of “Itaewon Class” were shot.

It starred Park Seo-joon as a determined character who refuses to take the easy way out of any situation if it means

compromising his core values and beliefs.

He became subject to many ill circumstances and unjust treatment, eventually becoming a target of a power ful family who runs the most successful pub franchise in the country.

I also had the chance to visit the shooting locations of other K-dramas like Kingdom, The Last Monarch, Goblin, Coffee Prince, and Move to Heaven.

Director Joey Reyes said in an interview that the country should learn from the K-dra mas and movies.

Reyes sees no problem in Filipino viewers getting hooked with K-dramas, stress ing that part of the democracy in the Philippines is to allow the public to have alternative shows to watch.

As they say in Korean: “annyeonghaseyo”. Enjoy binge-watching.

(Peyups is the moniker of University of the Philippines. Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulil an law offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez.com, or call 0917-5025808 or 09088665786.)

THE

People—those who sur vived the depredations of the 1970s—still refer to it as the birthplace of the anti-com munist movement known as ‘Alsa Masa.’ But Soliman, a settlement that originally en compassed the areas between the defunct Agdao Creek and Rosemarie Street, was a lush, mangrove region bigger than the size of today’s People’s Park.

It got its name in the 1950s after a trail, chiefly submerged in seawater during high tide and accessed only via wooden planks on stilts, was assigned the name Soliman follow ing the christening of nearby streets after historical figures, i.e., Lakandula of Tondo and Lapulapu of Mactan, and the fabled Princess Urduja of Pan gasinan.

Soliman, as a hamlet that used to host houses on stilts, was home, among others, to

the Algabre, Francisco, Di ems, Veloso, Murillo, Bacus, Pavo, Ferolino, and Figueroa families, and was home to a mangrove forest that supplied crustaceans, crabs, eels, fishes, and other creatures to resi dents for food. On its western side, during high tide, the Ag dao Creek carried hundreds of logs to the upper sector where they were processed by a saw mill into lumbers.

Life in the village was bet ter than in many squatter colonies existing at the time.

People who settled at Soliman were mostly employed, and their kids, most of them, were enrolled in schools, chiefly at Holy Cross of Davao and San ta Ana Elementary School. On weekends, a sizeable number of kids would troop to the mangroves to catch mud crabs and eels, sling-shoot birds, catch stray bats, gather shell fish, and pick on heart-shaped

mangrove fruits for fun.

In perpetuating the lega cy of religious celebrations, the Soliman chapel, headed by the patriarch of the Pavo family, held the annual Santa Cruz fiesta, replete with the usual Mass, beauty pageant, parlor games for children, am ateur-singing contests, and family banquets. The area was hardly disturbed by crimes; everyone was content with liv ing in a peaceful community.

By day, children were con tent playing ‘tumba lata,’ while others congregated around wooden pool tables handily placed in corners to allow con venient access to passersby. Near the chapel, there stood an improvised basketball court, and across it regular pool counters.

Like any rustic hamlet, nearly everyone in the locality knew the mailman, or who to approach when electrical con

nections were busted. Every week, the city’s dump truck, almost without fail, made its scheduled haul of trash. That was how retrograde life was then.

In the 1960s, as if by de structive design, the Soli man village started to lose its mangrove patch. Saw dusts from the Sarmiento sawmills in Panacan, usually in sever al dozens of truckloads dai ly, were dumped in an area between 6th Avenue and Soliman Street, turning the mangrove cover into a defor ested landscape. Worse, the reclaimed area was later titled privately.

This destructive activity turned the mangroves into a bagasse-covered expanse and transform a watery place into a plant-less wetland. With the muddy beds exposed, a new wave of settlers invaded the area, building shanties that

would become 6th Avenue. Due to the eroded sawdust, the creek started to become shallow, thereby disallowing the passageway of logs.

Completing this ecological destruction was the decision of the city government, decades later, to reclaim the creek, and transformed it into access. This was executed following the plan to establish a terminal at Agdao public market. The rec lamation meant covering the brook, leaving only a portion (from the flyover to the sea) to remind people of environmen tal carelessness.

Today, with the mangroves forever lost to bureaucratic indecisiveness, every inch of land that used to cover the Soliman mangrove patch has either become a squatted property or a titled estate that is being developed. Squatting and progress have connived to destroy Soliman.

Redesigned Isuzu Davao building a showcase of quality customer service

If you pass by MacArthur Highway in Matina, there is no escaping the trendy look of the redeveloped Isuzu Davao building.

Staying true to its commitment to “Qual ity customer service at all times”, Isuzu Davao recently opened its new IOS building, which is envisaged to be a show case of how the compa ny values customer ex perience.

Leading the ribbon snipping were former President Rodrigo Dute

rte and Jockson T. Liu, Isuzu Davao president, and general manager.

The company’s com mitment prompted it to reconstruct its building to face the new and more progressive business en vironment of Davao City.

“We value our cus tomers, they buy their precious investment with us and we want them to experience an amicable environment of a grand showroom where they could roam around as they choose their new Isuzu vehicle,” said Liu.

With Isuzu Davao’s new building, visits will be a seamless brand ex perience beginning with the relaxing customer’s lounge inside a spacious service reception.

Liu said the next phase of the project is additional work bays that could accommodate a larger number of vehicle servicing for faster and

more efficient service, preventing breakdown and ensuring lesser ve hicle downtime for your precious investment.

It also houses service receiving, a sales show room, and parts and ac cessories display areas.

“Since we completely understand the urgency of having your vehicle fixed the soonest possible time for your family and businesses as well,” he said.

In sporting a new look, Isuzu Davao is amplifying its commitment to serv ing the generations to come.

Now at 73 years in this industry, the compa ny is looking forward to preparing for another 73 year.

“Today, we celebrate the opening of Isuzu Davao in the new IOS de sign. Together with this, we would like to honor and rejoice in the legacy

of my father, his passion for this business, who guided and take us to where we are today and the whole Liu family, we are honored with this momentous event to ev eryone,” Liu said.

Isuzu Davao is not only sporting a new look but also promising to continue to improve and ensure that its clientele will experience quality service at all times.

CITY...

FROM 3 Tagakpan.

The rehabilitation of Tagakpan Public Ceme tery is ongoing. Last year, former Mayor Sara Duter te ordered the temporary closure of the Tagakpan Public Cemetery burials to give way to the prepa ration of its development and modernization.

She also signed Execu tive Order (EO) No. 7, Se

DEPED... FROM 2

by the Department of Health ... may be under reported kasi ang nire-re port lang, usually ‘yong RT-PCR [tests]. I think ang mode of diagnosis natin ay rapid antigen tests, so I expect na underreported ‘yan,” he said.

(The report right now by the Department of Health... may be underre ported because what they report now are usually results of RT-PCR tests. I think the mode of diagno sis for many of us are the rapid antigen tests, so I expect the those numbers are underreported.)

COVID COUNT UP TO LGUS DepEd Spokesperson Michael Poa previously said it was up to the local governments to publicly

ries of 2021, which said, “The Tagakpan Public Cemetery is the most ide al City-owned public cem etery to be developed and modernized patterned af ter the rehabilitated Wire less Public Cemetery.”

“Ongoing na ang rehab sa Tagakpan ug hapit na mahuman. At least naa nay option ang mga naa sa third district,” Macalipes said.

RECOGNITIONS...

and bounce back from the pandemic.

“These also signify the cooperation of everyone in the city be it from the government or the pri vate sector,” he said.

Alejandre also rec ognized the efforts and cooperation of the city government of Davao and its officials and the Dabawenyos for achiev ing these recognitions.

FROM 3

maong nakab-ot nato ni. Ipadayon lang nato mga Dabawenyo ang pagsu porta sa atoang gobyer no. Let’s stand and do our part also para naa tay contribution sa atoang Davao City. I thanked the people of Davao and the leadership of Mayor Baste and sa tanan nato congratulations,” he said.

ALL... FROM 2

PR 1869 Manila-Cebu

AirAsia Philippines also reported the follow ing affected flights:

Z2 780 - Cebu-Manila

Z2 781 - Manila-Cebu

Z2 775 - Manila-Cebu

Z2 776 - Cebu-Manila

Z2 550 - Cebu-Caticlan

Z2 551 - Caticlan-Cebu

Both PAL and Cebu

Pacific announced that af fected passengers may re book or refund their tick ets, or convert the ticket into a travel voucher or travel fund.

AirAsia said travel ers may also move their flight within 30 days from the original flight sched ule, or retain the value of flight booking in a credit account. (PNA)

issue data on COVID-19 cases in schools, say ing the agency does not “want to give conflicting figures.”

Some local govern ments have reported COVID-19 infections since the start of School Year 2022-2023 last Aug. 22, which saw many schools reopen for in-person classes.

In Mati City, for in stance, 19 students and 4 teachers from 8 schools have caught the virus from Aug. 22 to Oct. 15, according to the local gov ernment.

The DepEd has or dered all public schools to return to 5 days of in-per son classes beginning Nov. 2. Private schools, meanwhile, may choose

“Kami nalipay kay daghan nakuha nga awards ang dakbayan sa Davao. We would like to congratulate sa atoang mga katungdanan sa local kagamhanan, sa time ni Mayor Sara kay siya nag sugod ani, sa mga depart ment heads, ug sa present administration kay May or Baste Duterte. With these awards lipay kaayo kami and I hope ang mga taga Davao nalipay pud sa recognitions and with your support and help sa atoang kagamhanan

Meanwhile, Davao City also ranked 9th place among the richest cities in the Philippines in 2021 based on the recent re port of the Commission on Audit (COA).

The city government of Davao was also re cently awarded 2nd in the Sustainable Develop ment Goals (SDG) under the LGU category by the Regional Development Council 11 (RDC 11) and the National Economic and Development Author ity 11 (NEDA 11) during the 2022 Davao Region SDG Fiesta. By Maya M.

WESLEY... FROM 8

our Fil-Am kababayan is as much inspired and motivated to achieve a repeat of his 2019 victory over the former.

The total prize fund for the FRCC (Fischer Random Chess Cham pionship) is a whop ping $400,000 where $150,000 goes to the win ner.

The rules stipulate that time control is 25 minutes per player for the first 30 moves after which 5 minutes is given each player on the clock with a 5 second increment per move.

The finals consist of a two group stage followed

by the knockout semifi nals and final.

So, a three-time US winner, is coming out of a not-so-impressive de fense of his national ti tle in St. Louis, Missouri, finishing in a tie for fifth along with four others in cluding the controversial GM 19-er Hans Niemann.

Former world cham pionship challenger and 2016 US champion Fabi ano Caruana took home the trophy undefeated in 13 matches who, unfortu nately, did not qualify for the Iceland competition. (Email feedback to fred lumba@yahoo.com.) GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES

to implement full face-toface instruction, full dis tance learning or blended learning beyond the said date.

The agency stood by its plan for public

schools to resume full in-person classes even after the Philippines re cently detected cases of the new COVID-19 vari ant XBC and subvariant XBB.

DAVAO... FROM 2

experience, and a good part from self-study.

This achievement by one of Davao City’s young students serves as an ex

ample and an inspiration, and a testament that Fili pinos have a bright future in the field of information technology.

WESLEY SO VS CARLSEN, ET AL IN FISCHER RANDOM TILT

Wesley So versus Magnus Carlsen is another anticipated duel the chess community has been waiting to see.

The superGM from Bacoor, Cavite defends his Fischer Ran dom 960 crown against seven elite GMs in Reykjavik, Iceland that begins tomorrow until Oct. 30, 2022.

Fischer Random is a chess variant invented by the legend ary Robert “Bobby” Fischer, the 1972-75 world champion.

The game’s rules are the same as standard chess but the starting position of pieces is randomly shuffled.

According to experts, Fisch er Random chess reduces the impact of opening theory and provokes players to be more contemplative and creative in their strategy and game devel opment from the first move.

The Cavite-born So captured the initial edition in murder ous fashion, turning back the

furious but futile challenge of world classical champion Mag nus Carlsen 13½ to 2½ pts! .

Aside from Carlsen, the six other competitors in this overthe-board tournament are American Rapid specialist Hika ru Nakamura, Iceland GM Hjor var Steinn Gretarsson, Vladimir Fedoseev, Matthias Bluebaum, Nodribek Abdusattorov and FIDE wild card nominee Ian Nepomniachtchi.

A very strong field, if you are familiar with all of them.

“I am very excited to be competing in Fischer Random again! And in iceland!,” said So in an interview, adding the his torical connection of the ven ue where Fischer snatched the world championship from Rus sian titleholder Boris Spassky, makes it more special.

I have a feeling that Carlsen is determined to exact revenge on So who embarrassed him with such a lopsided score. But

FWESLEY, P7

Senator Christopher “Bong” Go shows off his basketball tricks in one of his community visits. Handout photo