P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 2015

THE Criminal Investi-gation and Detection Group (CIDG) 11 has

recommended the filing of slight illegal detention and grave coercion cases against Davao Medical Edu-cation Management Services (DMEMS) Chief Operating Of-ficer Ashin Mohan based on complaints aired by a number of Indian medical students at the Davao Medical School Foundation (DMSF).

CIDG 11 deputy director Superintendent Edilberto Leonardo, however, said his

unit will continue gathering statements before filing the case before the City Prosecu-tion Office.

Leonardo said the gather-ing of the students’ statements had been postponed because it is their examination week.

“Once we complete the subscription of their sworn statements, we will file the case,” he said, adding that it could be done next week.

The CIDG conducted the investigation upon the direc-tive of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

Leonardo said more than

100 students have already submitted affidavit of com-plaints against Mohan.

In its initial report submit-ted to Mayor Rodrigo R. Dute-rte, the CIDG said it appears that Mohan violated the rights of Indian students by not al-lowing them to hold and se-cure their own passports and alien certificate of registration (ACR).

“Reportedly, some of the students did not even know the status of their visa. This matter should be discussed and should be brought to the

attention of the Alien Control Officer of Bureau of Immigra-tion,” the report said.

The report also said Tran-sworld Education Academy Pvt. Ltd, led by its Chief Op-erating Officer Dr. David Pillai whose company partners with DMSF to bring Indian students here, and Mohan were “cap-italizing on their familiarity with the area, knowledge of the operation of the govern-ment agencies, and influence with the DMSF for the ad-vancement of their business

CIDG TO SUE INDIANBLESSING. Catholic devotees bring their Sto. Niño statues to be blessed by holy water during the mid-afternoon mass at San Pedro Cathedral in Davao City in time for the feast of Shrine of Holy Infant Jesus of Prague yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAOEDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO

FINDIAN, 14

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

Illegal detention, grave coercion charges eyed

SPORTS page 15

INSIDE EDGE

FAJARDO NAMED BEST PLAYEROF THECONFERENCE

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 20152 EDGEDAVAO

THE BIG NEWS

THE Commission of High-er Education (CHED) 11 and Bureau of Im-

migration 11 advised Davao Medical School Foundation (DMSF) to “stop admitting for-eign students next year” after the school exceeded the pre-scribed number of enrolled foreign students this school year.

In an interview yesterday, CHED11 regional director Raul C. Alvarez, Jr. confirmed DMSF’s violation, saying the law only allows one-third or 33 percent of the total school population to be allotted for foreign students.

However, Alvarez said CHED 11 will not impose any sanction or penalty on DMSF despite the violation.

He also said CHED 11 and BI 11 will not start the imple-mentation of the recommen-dation until next year “be-cause we cannot oblige excess foreign students enrolled in the Medical school to stop this school year.”

In a press statement re-leased January 15, CHED 11 said DMSF “admitted that it has about 41 percent or an ex-cess of about 8 percent.”

The statement also said DMSF maintained that the

number of students it has is “very manageable” and the students have openly appreci-ated the quality of education it constantly provides.

Meanwhile, DMSF denied other allegations, including the complaint that school clearances of the Indian stu-dents are signed by an Indian national.

“DMSF does not include any private individual other than its designated officials as signatory of its school clear-ance,” a DMSF press statement dated December 15 said.

Some students, who had requested anonymity, had

earlier said DMEMS chief op-erating officer (COO) Dr. Ash-in Mohan’s signature in the school clearance is needed before a student can take ex-aminations.

Alvarez said DMSF sub-mitted a copy of the school clearance respectively signed by officials of the medical school.

“There is no Indian nation-al or any private individual,” he added.

On other issues on the three dormitories located in Jacinto, Bankerohan, and Baja-da managed by DMEMS, DMSF

Pope Francis

THE Davao City Business Bureau will not shut down the operations

of the Davao Medical Educa-tion Management Services (DMEMS) despite operating without a business permit.

In an interview, Business Bureau head lawyer Lawrence Bantiding told reporters that the closure of three dormito-ries of DMEMS might displace the more than 1,000 Indian students studying medicine at the Davao Medical School Foundation (DMSF).

“If we shut down the dor-mitories, what will happen to our Indian students? That is their dwelling house,” Bantid-ing said.

He said as of last Wednes-day, the management of

DMEMS is in the process of applying for a business permit.

“Based on our talks with DMEMS, they are willing to comply with the penalties for the violation that they have committed,” Bantiding said.

He said the Business Bu-reau will set a timeline for DMEMS to secure a business permit.

Bantiding said his office found that the dormitories have no business permits during its initial inspection last December.

He said the dormitory in the DMSF drive near the cir-cumferential road began oper-ating in 2013.

Batinding said aside from operating without a permit,

FORMER Promotion of Church’s Peoples Re-sponse (PCPR) chair

Father Benjamin Alforque yesterday lamented the elab-orate security set for Pope Francis here, saying the num-ber of security personnel de-ployed to protect the pontiff will make it difficult for the people themselves to see him.

“Give the pope what he wants,” he said, adding the

Pope wants “only the simplest things” even in his security.

He said the Holy Father does not want extravagant se-curity because he wants to be with the people.

“Yung kagustuhan ni Pope Francis simple lang. Hindi niya kailangan ng maraming gwardiya, kasi sabi niya kung may papatay sa akin e di ma-matay ako. Matanda naman

DMSF advised to limitnumber of foreigners

crc@edgedavao.net

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

Priest decries elaboratesecurity for Pope Francis

City won’t shut downDMEMS dormitories

FSTOP, 14

FPRIEST, 14

FDESPITE, 14

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

By FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA

PROBLEM SOLVING. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte tells Transworld International Academy president Dr. Da-vid Pillai (fourth from right) and Davao Medical Education Management Services (DMEMS) chief operating officer Dr. Ashin Mohan (second from right) to settle their problems with Indian medical students or get a lawyer so they can

defend themselves in court. Duterte invited Dr. Pillai and Dr. Mohan, together with the Indian medical students, to a meeting at the Grand Men Seng Hotel on Wednesday night. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 2015 3NEWSEDGEDAVAO

CHURCH officials here are in regular contact with local

police and military offi-cials to see if there is a se-curity threat from Mind-anao-based terror groups against Pope Francis who will arrive in Manila Thursday afternoon.

Monsignor Elmer Ab-acahin said the Cagayan de Oro Archdiocese has formed a group of priests who will be in regular contact with police and military officials to moni-tor any threat.

Abacahin said the entire Catholic clergy in the Philippines are wary especially after Italian media reported that ji-

hadist groups are target-ing Pope Francis after he denounced the shootings that killed 17 people in France last week.

The Italian media said Israel’s Mossad and the Central Intelligence Agen-cy provided the “specific” warning regarding the safety of the pope to the Vatican officials.

“We cannot afford to be complacent. We are a Third World country and with these terror groups, it may be easier to breach the security here,” Abaca-hin said.

Abacahin noted that there were two previous attempts on the Holy Fa-ther in their past visits in

the country.On November 27,

1970, Bolivian artist Ben-jamin Mendoza, wearing a priest’s robe, slashed Pope Paul VI with a dag-ger after he managed to slip through airport secu-rity in Manila.

In 1995, during the second Manila visit of Pope John Paul II, Al Qae-da mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center attack Ramzi Yousef tried to plant a bomb but the explosive detonated pre-maturely.

Abacahin said they are worried of the threats against Pope Francis es-pecially after the pledge of allegiance by groups in

Marawi City and southern Philippines to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Le-vant or ISIL.

The top police official in northern Mindanao, Chief Supt. Agrimeo Cruz, however, allayed fears, saying no security threat from Mindanao-based terror groups was mon-itored by their security services.

Cruz said the groups who pledged allegiance to ISIL are doing it for “propaganda” and does not pose serious threat against Pope Francis.

He said police security units in the entire region are on standby during the duration of the papal visit.

JOURNALISTS in this city have banded together after a Bombo Radio broadcaster

received threatening text mes-sages for his commentaries on extra-judicial killings involving police officers of the Cagayan de Oro Police Office.

Cagayan de Oro Press Club President Jerry Orcullo said he is holding the entire Cagayan de Oro Police Office account-able if any attempt will be made on the staff of DXIF Bom-bo radio station.

“We are not taking the threats lightly. The police were suspects in the series of ‘salvagings’ [summary execu-tions] so it left me with no oth-er option but to suspect that the threats came from them,” Orcullo said.

Orcullo and the COPC will hold a Media Safety Dialogue at the Archbishop’s residence on Jan. 20 Tuesday morning with the officers of the Cagay-an de Oro Police Office.

The meeting will be at-tended by concerned govern-ment agencies and to be pre-sided by Monsignors Elmer Abacahin, Ray Manuel Mon-santo and Text Legitimas of the Cagayan de Oro Archdiocese.

“A threat against any mem-ber of the press is a major concern for the Archdiocese,” said Abacahin, who heads the Archdiocese communications department.

He said aside from Bombo Radio, another radio station, Radio Ultra, received similar threatening text messages af-ter commenting against illegal drugs-related killings in the city.

Mark Martirez of DXIF Bombo Radyo said their news director, Junel Ucat, received two text messages after his program, warning him against commenting further on the killings of three individuals last December 10 and 11.

THE Department of Pub-lic Works and Highways (DPWH) has allocated

around P11.7 million for the construction of a pedestrian overpass along a busy section of the national highway here.

Engr. Pio Lumongsod, head of the DPWH’s city engineering district, said the project is one of the structures approved for implementation in the city this year to help ease the worsen-ing traffic congestion in major streets and highways.

He said the construction of the 28-meter structure has already started and is due for completion in 150 days or five months.

Lumongsod said the oth-er overpass will soon be con-

structed near the junction of the national highway and Apa-rente St. here.

DPWH and city officials, led by Mayor Ronnel Rivera and South Cotabato (1st Dist.) Rep. Pedro Acharon Jr., re-cently led the simple ground breaking of the project at the junction of the Makar-Siguel highway and Rizal Street in Ba-rangay Calumpang.

Acharon, who pushed for the project’s funding and im-plementation, said the com-pletion of the structure will help ease vehicular traffic in the area that is usually worst during the rush hours due to crossing pedestrians.

“This is to endure the

POPE Francis called for respect of “religious freedom as a fundamen-

tal right” in Sri Lanka as he declared missionary priest Joseph Vaz the country’s first saint.

Speaking slowly in English, the pope said each individual “must be free, alone or in asso-ciation with others, to seek the truth, and to openly express his or her religious convictions, free from intimidation and ex-ternal compulsion”.

“Saint Joseph shows us the importance of transcend-ing religious divisions in the service of peace,” the pontiff told hundreds of thousands of people who gathered for a sea-front Mass in Sri Lanka’s capi-tal, Colombo, on Wednesday.

He said Catholics, who make up about seven percent of the population of Sri Lanka, should follow the example of Vaz in building peace, justice and reconciliation in the coun-try, which has retained deep divisions following the bloody

2009 conclusion of an almost three decades long civil war.

“As the life of Saint Joseph Vaz teaches us, genuine wor-ship of God bears fruit not in discrimination, hatred and vio-lence, but in respect for the sa-credness of life, respect for the dignity and freedom of others, and loving commitment to the welfare of all,” said Pope Fran-cis.

Vaz, who was born in the seaside town of Benaulim in southern Goa in 1651 when it was under Portuguese rule, came to Sri Lanka as a mission-ary priest in 1686.

He spent five years preach-ing in secret in the lowlands before going up into the King-dom of Kandy in the highlands where he was arrested and accused of espionage for Por-tugal.

After spending a year in detention, Vaz came under the protection of Buddhist King Vi-maladharmasuriya II who was convinced that the priest had

Pope Francis calls forreligious freedom

Church coordinating with police,military on threats against Pope

CDO journalists back broadcaster

P11.7-M overpassplanned in Gensan

ON THE STREET. A pedestrian is forced to walk on the street despite the danger of being hit by vehicles as a giant food chain company occupied the entire sidewalk which is supposed to be for the exclusive use of pedestrians. Lean Daval Jr.

FDPWH, 14

FPOPE, 14

FCDO, 14

FAIL. City Health Office (CHO) Environmental and Sanitation division chief Robert L. Oconer says some dormitories where Indian medical students reside did not pass the city’s sanitation standards. Oconer showed pictures taken by his office in one of the dormitories during I-Speak media forum at City Hall yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 20154 EDGEDAVAO

SUBURBIA

PANABO City Mayor Jose Silvosa Sr. direct-ed officials of the City

Engineer’s Office to demol-ish illegal structures such as squatting vendors’ shanties, dilapidated structures, and in-appropriate billboards to pave the way for smooth traffic and clear the highway section of

the city of sight obstructions.This was in response to

Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario’s request during a recent conference for the city to demolish illegal structures and other obstruc-tions that cause traffic along the highway in Panabo City this month in preparation for

the Palarong Pambansa on May 3 to 9.

Del Rosario said Educa-tion Secretary Armin Luistro had specifically asked for a solution to the traffic gridlock in Panabo City’s central area during the final judgment of the Palaro national panel during which Davao del Norte

was chosen as this year’s host.Del Rosario also urged

Panabo City officials to fast-track the preparation for the city’s mariculture park along the seashore to make it one of the eco-tourism sites that Palaro athletes, officials, and visitors can visit.

At present, the maricul-

ture park already boasts of eco-tourism facilities and features such as a 210-meter boardwalk inside a mangrove plantation, viewing deck, watchtower, and cottages.

Del Rosario said provincial officials have already identi-fied 12 school sites to accom-modate the 17 Palaro delega-

tions. He said he would fast-track the improvement and construction of more shower and comfort rooms in some of the sites.

The governor has been visiting eco-tourism areas in the province to prepare them for the Palarong Pambansa. Cha Monforte, Correspondent

THE University of Min-danao will be sending a representative from

the UM Legal Aide Network to attend the US Perspective on Legal Education seminar in Washington DC.

Mymannah Lou Dima-caling of the College of Legal

Education will be travelling under the Voluntary Visitor Program, which assists Fili-pino professionals by arrang-ing meetings with American counterparts for discussion on issues of mutual interest and concern.

The seminar will impart

knowledge on American best practices of clinical legal edu-cation and conflict resolution that Dimacaling hopes she can apply to the legal aide pro-gram of the University.

“I will prepare a communi-ty action plan based on the in-sights that I will gain,” she said.

The seminar will run from February 2 to 10 in Washing-ton DC and other sites.

Also expected to partici-pate are select students and professionals from Palawan, Zamboanga City, Iligan, Cagay-an de Oro, Bukidnon, and Marawi City.

THE Philippine Coast Guard South-eastern Mindanao

has a new commanding officer in the person of Commodore Joselito de la Cruz replacing Com-modore George Ursabia, who will be assigned to PCG Palawan after his tour of duty ended.

De la Cruz, a for-mer chief of staff of the PCG-General Headquar-ters, pledged to support all efforts in the fight against terrorism and illegal drugs, and to im-part knowhow on disas-ter preparedness, rescue and response in line with climate change.

“We will be support-ing the police and mil-itary units in the fight against terrorism using our K-9s and aluminum boats in our sub-sta-tions,” he said during the turn over ceremony on Wednesday officiated by Deputy Commander Rear Admiral William Melad.

The ceremony was also attended by other of-ficials headed by Retired Chief Superintendent Francisco Villaroman, chief of the City Public

Safety Command Center and regional directors of line-government agen-cies headed by Commo-dore Efren Elbanbuena, district commander of the PCG-Auxiliary and director of the Philippine Information Agency 11 and representatives from local government units, fishing and shipping in-dustries and resort oper-ators.

De la Cruz said that the PCG will continue its mandate on search and rescue, marine and en-vironmental protection, functions initiated by his predecessor Commodore Ursabia.

He said he will pro-vide water search and rescue to local govern-ment units in prepara-tion to floods that regu-larly occur during mon-soon rains.

De la Cruz said the training called WASAR will run during summer for LGUs in their area of responsibility particular-ly in the cities of Davao, General Santos, Mati City, Davao Oriental, Bislig, Surigao del Sur and Sa-rangani. (PNA)

RDR wants Panabo highwayscleared for Palarong Pambansa

PCG SoMin hasnew commander

UM legal aide stude to attend US training

EXECUTIVE MEET. Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario (second from right) presides over an executive meeting in preparation for the 2015 Palarong Pambansa to be held on May 9-15 at the Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex. Raymund Dino Faciol/davnor pio

DECLOGGING. After several days of rains in Surigao City, workers of the Department of Public Works and Highways have been declogging canals along Rizal Street since last week. This picture was taken Tuesday, January 13, but work has been continuing. MindaNews photo by Roel N. Catoto

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 2015 5EDGEDAVAO

ECONOMYTax collection hikedTHE City Treasurer’s Of-

fice (CTO) recorded a 12 percent increase in

tax collection during the first 12 days of the renewal period for 2015.

In yesterday’s I-Speak media forum at City Hall, City Treasurer Rodrigo Riola said the city had already collected a total of P91, 466, 812 in tax revenue as of January 14.

Riola said the figure is

higher than last year’s total collection of P78, 281, 081 for the same period.

He attributed the early influx of taxpayers during the first week of the renewal pe-riod to the their information campaign which started in November of 2014.

“We saw during the first week, there were many busi-ness owners who renewed their business permits, and

our assessment on the busi-ness taxes also increased,” Riola said. “These are the factors that attribute to the increase of collection.

The CTO chief said the collection came from the 9,069 taxpayers who already paid their taxes. Of the total paid businesses, 4,821 have already their permits with logo.

Businessmen should re-

new their permits and pay their taxes before January 20 to avoid penalties, according to Riola.

Based on the record from the Business Bureau, they al-ready received a total of 23, 950 renewal applications and 195 new applications.

Of the total applications, a total of 4,760 renewal permits and 61 new permits were al-ready issued by the office.

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

TAX TALK. City Treasurer Rodrigo R. Riola (left) reminds businessmen in yesterday’s I-Speak forum at City Hall to renew their permits and pay taxes before January 20 to avoid penalties. Also appearing in the regular media conference is Business Bureau head Lawrence Bantiding. (Lean Daval)

CEBU Pacific Air (PSE:CEB) offered its first systemwide seat

sale, after the airline removed fuel surcharges on all flights last January 9, 2015, in line with decreasing fuel prices worldwide.

The seat sale is available on all 34 domestic and 28 in-ternational destinations, from January 14 to 16, 2015 or until seats last. It is for travel from July 1 to November 30, 2015.

Passengers can take ad-vantage of P399 seats on all its domestic routes, which includes popular island des-tinations such as Boracay (Caticlan), Palawan (Puerto Princesa), Cebu, Davao, and the like. It also operates in-ter-island routes from its hubs in Manila, Clark, Cebu, Iloilo, Kalibo and Davao.

International seat sale fares are also up for grabs, with no fuel surcharges.

Guests can book P1,499 seats from Manila to Guang-zhou, Kota Kinabalu, Taipei or Xiamen, and from Clark to Hong Kong or Macau.

P2,499 seats are also available from Manila to Bangkok, Beijing, Brunei, Ha-noi, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Ma-cau, Nagoya, Osaka, Phuket, Shanghai, Siem Reap or Sin-gapore.

The same P2,499 seats are also available for those traveling from Cebu and Il-oilo to Hong Kong, or from Cebu, Clark and Iloilo to Sin-gapore. P2,999 seats may also be booked for flights from Manila to Bali, Busan, Seoul (Incheon) orTokyo (Narita), or from Cebu to Tokyo (Nar-ita).

Guests traveling long-haul with CEB can also take advantage of P4,999 seats from Manila to Dammam and Dubai, and P5,999 seats from Manila to Kuwait and Riyadh. All-inclusive P4,999 seats are also available from Manila to Sydney.

“We remain committed to offering the traveling public low fares so more people can afford to fly, an extensive net-work for faster flights, and the newest aircraft fleet with the latest technology,” CEB VP for marketing and distribution Candice Iyog said.

She encouraged guests to check CEB’s new fares, without fuel surcharges, through www.cebupacificair.com or reservation hotlines (02)7020-888 or (032)230-8888. They may also down-load the Cebu Pacific official mobile app on the App Store. While initially available for iOS devices, CEB is scheduled to roll out a version for An-droid devices soon.

CEB holds first seat sale without fuel surcharges

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 2015EDGEDAVAOTHE ECONOMY6

Amendment soughtto PPP ordinanceAN official of the Davao

City Investments and Promotion Center

(DCIPC) is seeking for the amendment of the two-year Public-Private Partnership (PPP) ordinance in order to lure more investments to the city .

Speaking in Monday’s Kapehansa Dabaw at SM City Annex, DCIPC offi-cer-in-charge Ivan C. Cortez said members of the PPP Board, to which DCIPC is a member, already recom-mended to the City Council for the amendment of the ordi-nance passed in August 2012.

“We are recommending for the amendment of ordi-nance because we want to get

more joint venture projects in Davao, specifically on infra-structure, utilities and power for Davao City,” Cortez said.

He said the recommen-dations was purposely done for Davao City to keep abreast with nearby provinces in get-ting more investments like Davao del Sur, which has mul-tiple PPP projects on power.

Cortez added that the DCIPC and even Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte have already receive a lot of project proposals, but that the city government cannot accept most because of the limita-tions set by the PPP ordinance.

“The mayor has been getting a lot of proposals for joint venture agreements and

somehow the ordinance on PPP for Davao City has been limiting to joint venture be-cause of the conditions set by the ordinance,” he said.

In an earlier interview, Cortez said that the proposal to amend the ordinance was already endorsed to a city councilor whom he did not identify.

Davao’s PPP ordinance, noted to be first of its kind in the country, is an adoption of the national government’s centerpiece program intended to allow more private inves-tors to wholly or partly finance government’s undertakings like public projects and public services as mutual partners.

Under the city’s PPP ordi-

nance, PPP projects “include but may not be limited to the following: power plants, high-ways, ports, airports, canals, dams, hydropower projects, water supply, irrigation, tele-communications, railroads and railways, transport systems, land reclamation projects, industrial estates or townships, housing, gov-ernment buildings, tourism projects, markets, slaughter-houses, bulk grains handling facility or logistic support system, warehouses, solid waste management, infor-mation technology networks and database infrastructure, education and health facilities, sewerage, drainage, dredging, among others.”

DA 11 PAMANA focal person EnyaCeloso (3rd from R) and Provincial Agriculturist RotchieRavelo (6th from L) together with AFMA officials and AFP personnel visits the PAMANA project in Brgy. Aliwagwag in Cateel, Davao Oriental. (Photo by RonellTangonan DA11)

THE Department of Agri-culture (DA) 11 vowed to continue its support

to conflict-affected areas through its PAMANA (Payapa at MasaganangPamayanan at Pangkaunlaran) program.

In 2014, a total of seven farm-to-market roads(FMRs) under PAMANA project are on its pre-implementation phase. The beneficiaries are from the municipality of Cateel in Davao Oriental, Monkayo and Compostela in Compostela Valley Province, Talaingod and Panabo City in Davao del Norte, Magsaysay in Davao del Sur and Malita in Davao Occi-dental.

Currently, three FMRs under PAMANA is being pre-pared for implementation in the region, one in Davao del Sur and two in Compostela Valley Province.

Agriculture regional direc-tor Remelyn R. Recoter said there are still a lot of PAMANA projects like livelihood and FMRs to be implemented to various parts of Davao region.

“To the Dabawenyos who are lucky to receive assistance like these, we hope that you will take good care and sustain the project. It is like saying that many are called but few are chosen, so you are very fortu-nate,” Recoter added.

On the other hand, one of the successful PAMANA livelihood projects is found in Barangay AliwagwagCateel, Davao Oriental and its benefi-ciary is the Aliwagwag Farm-ers Multipurpose Association (AFMA).

Since the residents of the said barangay depends on upland rice as their source of

DA 11 provides projectsin conflict-affected areas

crc@edgedavao.net

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

THE Department of Transportation and C o m m u n i c a t i o n

(DOTC) will begin this month the preparatory works for the Php959 million city in-ternational airport expansion project.

Noel Quiratman, secre-tary of the Regional Develop-ment Council (RDC) of Region 12, said such development was relayed to the council by the DOTC, which had adopted the project as among its prior-ities this year.

The RDC-12 and other local stakeholders made a strong push last year for the implementation of the project that was funded by the na-tional government under the 2015 budget.

“We expect the initial

works to start within this month,” said Quiratman, who is also the assistant director of the National Economic and Development Authority in Re-gion 12.

The official said the proj-ect covers the rehabilitation and expansion of the airport’s terminal building and other component facilities.

He said the arrival and departure area of the termi-nal building, which has not undergone any major repair since it opened in 1996, will be expanded to cope with the airport’s growing passenger traffic.

Quiratman said the build-ing’s basic facilities will be upgraded to provide more comfort to airline passengers and other users.

“The expansion is also aimed at attracting more tourists to our area,” he said.

The city airport, which is classified by the Civil Avi-ation Authority of the Philip-pines (CAAP) as an alternate international airport, mainly serves the air transport re-quirements of the greater part of Region 12.

Also known as Soccsksar-gen, the region comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, North Cotabato and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Co-tabato.

The city is considered as the region’s airline hub and has seen a surge in traffic following the entry of budget airfares here several years

ago.CAAP officials here said

the airport serves seven reg-ular flights and an average of 1,000 passengers on a daily basis.

Tiger Airways, Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Pacif-ic serve five to six daily flights for the Manila-General Santos route.

PAL uses the wide-bodied Airbus 330-300 aircraft while Cebu Pacific, which serves three additional weekly flights each for the Iloilo-Gen-eral Santos and Cebu–General Santos routes utilizes Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft.

Low-cost carrier Air Asia had signified to open daily flights soon for the Ma-nila-General Santos route.(PNA)

Expansion of GenSan airport to start this month

THE Philippines will host the First APEC Senior Officials’ Meet-

ing and Related Meetings (SOM1) from 26 January to 07 February 2015 at Clark and Subic Freeport Zones.

As the first comprehen-sive Senior Officials’ Meeting for the year, SOM1 begins with a series of more than thirty working groups and committee-level meetings covering various topics such as Trade and Investment, Economic and Technical Co-operation, Anti-Corruption, Counter Terrorism, Com-petition Policy, Ocean and Fisheries, Customs, E-Com-merce, Services, Life Sciences, Health, Illegal Logging, and Services.

Following from the out-comes of the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting (ISOM) held last 8-9 Decem-ber 2014 in Manila, the var-ious meetings will also dis-cuss how each APEC working

group can advance the APEC 2015 priorities and the over-all theme of “Building Inclu-sive Economies, Building a Better World”.

The series of working groups and committee-level meetings (from 26 January to 05 February) will culmi-nate in the Senior Officials’ Meeting to be held on 06-07 February 2015 in Fontana Leisure Park, Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga.

As host, the Philippines will also hold a Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) on Informa-tion Technology and Busi-ness Process Management (IT-BPM), Creative Industries, and Research and Develop-ment Services on 03 February 2015. The PPD on Services is the first in a “Dialogue Series”, which aims to guide the APEC Senior Officials and the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in promoting trade in services in the Asia-Pacific region. (PNA)

First APEC meetingslated in Clark, Subic

HONG KONG topped Asia in terms of construction costs in 2014, according

to a report published Thurs-day.

The annual International Construction Costs Report, re-leased by the Dutch design and engineering consulting firm ARCADIS, said that price in-flation continued to affect the Hong Kong market in 2014, re-sulting in its elevated position in the rankings.

The city ranked third worldwide in construction costs, just behind Switzerland and Denmark.

Elsewhere in Asia, con-struction markets had another strong year in 2014, particu-larly in Japan where the stim-ulus associated with one of the three “arrows” of Abenomics

has had a significant impact, the report said.

Singapore also saw strong growth throughout 2014, driv-en by a combination of robust housing markets and high lev-els of infrastructure spending.

The report also showed that India was the cheapest country in the world for con-struction.

The report forecast con-struction costs in Hong Kong would rise 6-8 percent in 2015, slower than the 7-10 percent growth seen last year.

However, the report said, in Chinese mainland, the gradual shift to a consumption-based economy means that the huge growth in construction that has been witnessed over the last 10 years is unlikely to continue in the long term. (PNA/Xinhua)

Hong Kong tops Asiain construction costs

FDA 11, 14

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 2015 EDGEDAVAO 7

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 2015EDGEDAVAO8 EDGEDAVAO

VANTAGE

There’s hope in PopeEDITORIAL

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” G. DAYANGIRANG • JONALLIER M. PEREZ

OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager

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Columnists: CARLOS MUNDA • HENRYLITO TACIO • MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • AURELIO A. PEÑA • MARY ANN “ADI” C. QUISIDO • LEANDRO B. DAVAL SR., • NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN • VIDA MIA VALVERDE • Economic Analysts: ENRICO “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG • JONALLIER M. PEREZ

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MEGHANN STA. INES NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN

Lifestyle

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RICHARD C. EBONAMarketing Supervisor

SOLANI D. MARATASFinance

AQUILES Z. ZONIOFUNNY PEARL GAJUNERA

CHA MONFORTE Correspondents

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PHILIPPINE PRESS INSTITUTEthe national association of newspapers

MERCY and compassion. That’s the theme of Pope Francis’ visit to the Philippines.

Several months back, Pope Francis made it very clear for us Filipinos that he wanted to be with the poor and the suffering and to see the real face of poverty. So there was one casualty after an overeager mayor down in Visayas ‘cleaned up’ her backyard to prepare for the Pope’s coming.

Clearly, the sign on the board said “mercy and compas-sion,” and for the Pope, you do not mask the face of poverty. No candy-coating, no photo-shopping. To put it straight – get real. That’s not quite the kind of mentality most politicians in the Philippines have.

The Papal visit in the country is a welcome respite from all the politics, corruption, crime, and calamities. It affords

us some fresh air to breathe. Everyone must understand that other than being a Pope

for the poor, Francis is everyone’s hope amidst despair and desolation. He wants us to see Jesus in him and not Francis the Pope.

We are happy for the victims of typhoon Yolanda as they receive the Pope’s warm embrace. While we endeavour to keep them living each day of their lives with our works of charity in the aftermath of the disaster, the spiritual bliss that only the Pope can bring should give them the rails of hope to cling on.

The message is quite simple and clear – in this time of hun-ger for mercy and compassion, we must turn to our faith. If need be, return to our faith.

IN 2010, Edge Davao carried a news item urging small banana grow-ers in Davao City and neighboring

provinces to shift to oil palm. This was due to the export ban of bananas and other fruits by Iran.

“Banana growing is capital inten-sive. You have to spend P1,000 a day per hectare and small farmers will not be able to sustain their farm if they can-not sell in the next two months,” Ireneo D. Dalayon was quoted as saying.

Some farmers heeded the call. “Farmers need to see the big potential of this industry,” Peter Laviña, a for-mer Davao City council, said during a recent forum. A member of the Philip-pine Oil Palm Industry Development Council, he said oil palm has a huge demand not only locally but abroad as well.

In his talk, Laviña said the Philip-pines imported a total of P35 billion worth of palm oil -- a product of oil palm which is used for cooking, baking, and in food preparation -- from neigh-boring countries, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia.

According to the former city coun-cilor, the Philippines could save such huge amount if only farmers in the country “start producing their own palm oil instead of importing from oth-er countries.”

Currently, about 70,000 hectares are planted to oil palm in the country. This can supply only 20 percent of the total local demand. “It will be also ben-efit our farmers because it has a high-er yield than coconut or soya,” Laviña

said.L a v i ñ a

gave this comparison between co-conut and oil palm, as reported by Edge Davao’s Cheneen R. Capon: A sin-gle hectare planted with 140 good va-riety of oil palm and good farm man-agement can produce as much as 20 tons per year. On the other hand, coco-nut needs to have 3-4 hectares before it can produce the same amount.

Human use of oil palms may date as far back as 5,000 years. In the late 1800s, archaeologists discovered a substance that they concluded was originally palm oil in a tomb at Abydos dating back to 3,000 BCE. It is believed that Arab traders brought the oil palm to Egypt.

Palm oil has long been recognized in West and Central African countries, and is widely used as cooking oil. Eu-ropean merchants trading with West Africa occasionally purchased palm oil for use as cooking oil in Europe.

Some historians reported that palm oil became a highly sought-after com-modity by British traders, for use as an industrial lubricant for machinery during Britain’s Industrial Revolution.

A noted Canadian agricultural sci-entist considers oil palm as the greatest

crop in Southeast Asia. “The vegetable oil yield of oil palm is five times that of coconut and more than ten times that of soybeans, sunflower, and rape-seeds,” wrote Dr. Pablito P. Pamplona in an article which appeared in Agricul-ture.

Growing oil palm is invest-ment-friendly and easy, as proven by farmers from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand who grow it. “A typical oil palm cultivating two hectares or more is economically transformed and liber-ated from poverty in four to five years after planting,” Dr. Pamplona wrote.

At 25 percent, poverty incidence in the Philippines is among the highest among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. In compar-ison, the poverty incidence in Indone-sia is only 13.3 percent, 7.2 percent for Thailand, and 3.8 percent for Malaysia.

“Among these four countries, it is only the Philippines which will not be able to meet the UN Medium Term De-velopment Goal of reducing poverty by half by 2015,” wrote Dr. Pamplona.

In 2012, a World Bank report cited the significant role of oil palm in help-ing overcoming poverty in Indonesia. The government of Thailand likewise credited oil palm to as having signifi-cantly helped the country overcome ru-ral poverty, and the same was true for Malaysia.

“Large-scale oil palm plantations in these three neighboring countries have helped them become net food ex-porters, with vegetable oil in the form of palm oil being among their major

export food products,” Dr. Pamplona wrote.

Should Mindanao farmers consid-er planting oil palm extensively? But before that happen, there should be planting materials which farmers could plant. Unfortunately, lack of planting materials has been cited as one of the main reasons why the industry is on a stand still.

“A single seedling can cost a farmer from P200 to P300 and that’s huge be-cause a single hectare needs 140 piec-es,” Laviña said.

It means that a farmer needs an ini-tial investment of P28,000 to 42,000 per hectare for one hectare alone. What if he plants five hectares? The initial investment is from P140,000 to P210,000.

Aside from using palm oil in cook-ing and food preparation, it can also be used to produce biodiesel, which is also known as palm oil methyl ester. Palm oil biodiesel is often blended with other fuels to create palm oil biodiesel blends.

Meanwhile, the organic waste mat-ter that is produced when processing oil palm, including oil palm shells and oil palm fruit bunches, can also be used to produce energy. This waste material can be converted into pellets that can be used as a biofuel.

Additionally, palm oil that has been used to fry foods can be converted into methyl esters for biodiesel. The used cooking oil is chemically treated to create a biodiesel similar to petroleum diesel.

All about oil palmVOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 2015 VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO

Henrylito D. Taciohenrytacio@gmail.com

THINK ON THESE!

I FELL in love with Davao City by way of Samal Island. I was on a ship with a team of campus mis-

sionaries in April of 1992 (plane fare was still very expensive back then), and when the vessel entered Davao Gulf my breath was taken away by the awesome beauty of Samal. A few days later our team was brought to a re-sort there, and I remember feeling so blessed that I could visit such a won-derful place. The beach was pristine, the air fresh, the water clear and blue. I literally had never known such beau-ty, having grown up in Manila where seawater was black and smelled of rotten eggs. In contrast, here was Sa-mal, a true paradise for the people to treasure.

I’ve always loved Samal, but there’s one thing about it that I don’t like. The owners of the resorts that dot its shoreline have literally taken over the beaches, fencing off their respective areas as if they were their own proper-ty. Many people accept this as a mat-

ter of fact, and none of us even question the practice of most resorts to charge en-trance fee for use of “their” beach. We’ve grown so ac-customed to the fences and jetties that surround the resorts that we think they’re the norm and that they’re legal. We’ve lost paradise and we don’t even know it.

The handbook “Managing the Phil-ippine Foreshore: A Guide for Local Governments” (a PDF file of which can be downloaded here: http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADB807.pdf) produced by the United States Agency for International Development (US-AID) in July 2004 says while every-one has the right to have access to the

shore, in many areas “such access is often denied the public because of per-manent structures (either private, such as walls or fences constructed by own-ers of adjacent lands, or public, such as wharves, seawall, causeways).”

The handbook also cites Article 51 of Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1067, otherwise known as The Water Code of the Philippines, which states that the banks or rivers and streams and the shores of the seas and lakes “are sub-ject to the easement of public use. No person shall be allowed to stay in this zone longer than what is necessary for recreation, navigation, frottage, fishing or salvage or to build structures of any kind.”

In other words, while the resorts own the property behind the beach, they don’t actually own the beach it-self and may not prevent anyone from entering and using it. People can swim there, fish, dive, and even park their boats in the waters. The beach and the water are for everyone to enjoy and

utilize reasonably, and as long as no one abuses these resources, then we’re all fine. The seawater is not anyone’s property.

The problem is abuse, and to ad-dress this the Foreshore Lease Con-tract (FLC) – which resort owners must apply for – imposes the following requirements on the tenure holder: pay rent; construct improvements ap-propriate only to the FLC’s purpose; use the land only in accordance with the purpose specified in the FLC; shall not sublet the area covered by the FLC; guarantee the general public free ac-cess to the beach and nearby coastal water (italics mine).

And that’s the bottom line: free ac-cess. I would love to see the day when we can stroll on the beach in Samal and not be hindered by fences and jet-ties and other structures from cross-ing over to the next resort or property. That’s how Boracay, Bohol, Dahican, and many other beaches are. That’s how it should be in Samal.

Paradise lost

Jon Joaquin

THIRD WORLD

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 201510 EDGEDAVAO

ICT HUB

SELFIES at tourist attrac-tions are nothing new. But until recently, if you

wanted a perfectly composed picture of yourself with Times Square or the Colosseum in the background, you might have asked a passer-by to take the photo.

Now, though, relative-ly new gadgets called sel-fie sticks make it easy to take your own wide-angled self-portraits or group shots. Fans say the expandable rods, which allow users to hold their cellphones a few feet away, are the ultimate con-venience: no more bothering passers-by to take pictures, no more fretting about strangers taking lousy shots or running off with a pricey iPhone.

But some travelers be-moan the loss of that small interaction that came with politely asking a local to help preserve a memory. And crit-ics express outright hatred of selfie sticks as obnoxious symbols of self-absorption. They even have a derisive name for them, playing on the narcissistic behavior they think the sticks encourage: narcissi-stick.

Sarah Kinling of Baltimore said she was approached “17 times” by vendors selling sel-fie sticks at the Colosseum in Rome. “They’re the new fanny

pack — the quickest way to spot a tourist,” she said. “The more I saw them in use, the more I saw how much focus people were putting on sel-fies, and not turning around to see what they were there to see.”

When Kinling wanted a photo of herself with her sister and sister-in-law, she asked strangers to take the shot. “Even when the other person didn’t speak English, you hold your camera up and make the motion and they un-derstand,” she said.

But some travelers say it’s better to stage your own va-cation photos. Andrea Garcia asked a passer-by to take her photo in Egypt and later re-alized he’d zoomed in on her face, cutting out the pyramids behind her. “I couldn’t really be mad at him — he wasn’t my photographer, I didn’t pay him,” she said. The experience made her appreciate the selfie sticks she sees tourists using at 1 World Trade near her office in Lower Manhattan. “Take control of your image!” she says.

Selfie sticks are just start-ing to show up at attractions in the U.S., but they’re ubiq-uitous in many destinations overseas, from Dubai’s sky-scraper, the Burj Khalifa, to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. A

GLOBE Labs, in part-nership with Google Development Group

(GDG) Philippines, takes ad-vantage of the growing pop-ularity of Google Cardboard, the latest trend in virtual reality, as it challenges the local developer community to create fun and simple apps for an immersive user expe-rience.

With the 24-hour Google Cardboard hackathon slated on January 31-February 1, Globe Labs expects interest-ing apps to come out in the areas of education, travel/culture, gaming, and retail.

“This is a great way to start the year and we’re ex-cited about holding the first Google Cardboard hackathon in the Philippines. We look forward to the apps that our developer community will create for Google Cardboard which may eventually be ad-opted by Globe Telecom for its millions of customers who want a new virtual reality ex-perience with a lifestyle that has gone more digital,” said Anne Michelle Santos, Globe Labs developer relations manager.

Using ordinary items such as a fold-out cardboard, lenses, magnets, Velcro, and a rubber band or a ready-made Cardboard viewer kit,

developers are on their way towards a 3D journey which will make the tech-hungry population demand for more.

For the Google Cardboard to work, the viewer kits are fitted with a smartphone with stereoscopic display that allows users to view the images in 3D mode. Existing apps already bring the view-ers inside the Shire, let them dive from a skyscraper, watch musical legend Paul McCart-ney perform “Live and Let Die” in 360 degrees, or even ride a deserted roller-coaster amidst a tropical island.

Meanwhile, individuals or groups of four members who could create marketing, games, or educational app for the Ayala Museum have a chance to win P35,000 under a special category. Apps will be judged based on innova-tion, design, level of fun, com-pleteness, and presentation.

The Globe Labs Google Cardboard Hackathon will be held at the Globe Corpo-rate Showroom in Valero St., Makati City. There will also be a Google Cardboard 101 pre-hackathon on Janu-ary 21 in the same venue to give the developers a chance to try out the Google Card-board. Interest participants may register via bit.ly/globe-labshack.

ERICSSON and Apple filed patent lawsuits against each other in

the U.S. in a dispute over roy-alty payments demanded by the Swedish telecommuni-cations equipment manufac-turer.

The companies have been locked in negotiations for about two years over re-newal of an expired licensing deal on patents that Ericsson deems essential to industry standards.

They filed lawsuits against each other since they can’t agree on a new license fee.

In its suit filed Wednes-day in the U.S. District Court

for the Eastern District of Texas, Ericsson said every Apple smartphone and tablet with cellular capability uses technology from Ericsson for which Apple should pay a li-censing fee.

The suit is a response to one Apple filed on January 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Cal-ifornia after the companies failed to reach a new deal.

Apple had asked the court to rule that it does not infringe on LTE patents that Ericsson deems essential to that standard.

It also alleged that Erics-son’s patents are not essen-tial to the standard and that

if the court does find that any of them are, the Swedish company is demanding an unreasonable royalty rate.

Apple said Ericsson’s royalty demands should be proportionate to the value of the technology to which it applies, notably the Qual-comm baseband processors in Apple products that use industry-standard commu-nication protocols, and not to the entire device.

In its countersuit, Erics-son maintains that its patents are essential to the standard and asks the court to rule its licensing demands for its en-tire standards-essential pat-ent portfolio are fair.

“We’ve always been willing to pay a fair price to secure the rights to stan-dards-essential patents cov-ering technology in our prod-ucts. Unfortunately, we have not been able to agree with Ericsson on a fair rate for their patents so, as a last re-sort, we are asking the courts for help,” an Apple spokes-person said.

Ericsson said it filed the suit to in order to get an in-dependent assessment of whether its global licens-ing offer complies with its FRAND commitment, and said its goal is to reach a mu-tually beneficial resolution with Apple.

Tourist convenience or narcissi-stick?

Globe Labs throws challengefor fun and simpleGoogle Cardboard apps

Apple, Ericsson sue eachother over patent royalty

SELFIE STICKS:

soccer stadium in London, White Hart Lane, has even banned them because they obstruct other fans’ views.

The Four Seasons Hotel in Houston started making them available to guests last week, “similar to the way many ho-tels provide umbrellas,” said hotel spokeswoman Laura Pettitt.

The sticks range in price from $5 to $50 (P220 to P2,200). Simpler models merely grip the phone, so us-

ers must trigger the shot with a self-timer on the camera. More sophisticated versions either use Bluetooth technolo-gy or connect the phone to the stick with a cord, with a button on the grip triggering the shot.

Jasmine Brett Stringer of Minneapolis writes a lifestyles blog called “Carpe Diem with Jasmine” and uses selfie sticks to record her videos. “A friend brought one back from Dubai and I said, ‘I’ve got to get one,’” she said. Now she doesn’t have

to rely on others to help shoot her work. The sticks are also an improvement over hand-held selfies because they let you shoot “at better angles, avoid the awkward arm reach and the dreadful half-face shot.”

Megan Marrs of Boston, who writes a travel blog called Vanishing Balloons, thought the sticks were ridiculous when she saw them on a trip to South Korea last fall. “It seemed so vain and silly,” said Marrs. But she bought one to

bring home as a gift, ended up trying it herself and became a fan.

“I don’t love intruding on other people’s experience, asking them to take my picture — they’re there to enjoy their time, too,” she said. “Some-times I feel silly — one more tourist taking a selfie in front of the Colosseum — but I’m more comfortable doing it my-self than asking someone else.” BETH J. HARPAZ, AP Travel Editor

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 2015 11

COLON cancer is the fourth most common cancer among Filipinos

-- after breast, lung, and liver cancers. But unlike the first three cancers, colon cancer is not commonly discussed in the open.

“Among cancers, colon cancer stands out as a disease that can be largely prevent-ed, but few people believe it will happen to them,” says Dr. Atenodoro Ruiz, Jr., a gastro-enterology consultant at St. Luke’s Medical Center and a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine in Gastroenterology and of the Philippine College of Physi-cians in Internal Medicine.

If discovered early, colon cancer is preventable and treatable. “If it is in the early stage and localized within the colon, the cure is 100 percent,” says Dr. Ruiz. “If it had spread to lymph nodes or distant or-gans, the 5-year survival rate is much lower.”

Dr. Aaron I. Velasco, an in-ternist and gastroentorologist who works in various hos-pitals in Davao City, says the 5-year survival rate of those diagnosed with stage 1 colon cancer is 92 percent. It goes down to 63-80 percent for those with stage 2 and 50 per-cent with stage 3. The chance of survival of those diagnosed with stage 4 is very minimal: 11 percent.

One cannot talk about co-lon without mentioning the rectum, too. Thus, colorectal cancer (CRC) came into exis-tence. “Almost all colorectal cancers are adenocarcinomas, which develop from the lining of the large intestine and rec-tum,” notes The Merck Manual of Medical Information.

Both colon and rectal cancers begin in the digestive system, which processes food for energy, and the last part of it absorbs fluid to form solid waste (stool) that then passes from the body.

The American Cancer So-ciety (ACS) shares this infor-mation on how the digestive system works: “After food is chewed and swallowed, it travels to the stomach. There it is partly broken down and sent to the small intestine.” The small intestine is the lon-gest part of the digestive sys-tem – about 20 feet.

“The small i n t e s t i n e a l s o

breaks down the food and absorbs most of the nutrients. It leads to the large intestine (also called the large bowel or colon),” the ACS explains. “The colon absorbs water and nutrients from the food and also serves as a storage place for waste matter. The waste matter moves from the co-lon into the rectum, the last 6 inches of the digestive system. From there, the waste passes out of the body.”How cancer develops

Cancer that starts in these different areas may cause dif-ferent symptoms. But colorec-tal cancers have many things in common. “In most people, colorectal cancer develops slowly over a period of sev-eral years,” explains Dr. Gerry Cornelio, former head of the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology (PSMO).

“Colon cancer usually begins as an area of abnor-mal cells (lesion),” informs the Mayo Clinic in Minneso-ta. “Most of these abnormal lesions begin as tiny polyps — raised clumps of non-can-cerous (benign) cells growing on the inner lining of the large intestine. Another type of pre-cancerous lesion (non-polyp-oid lesion) forms as a flat or recessed area on the wall of the colon. Non-polypoid le-sions are less common than polyps.”

According to Dr. Cornelio, if cancer forms within a pol-yp, “it can eventually begin to grow into the wall of the co-lon or rectum. When cancer cells are in the wall, they can then grow into blood vessels or lymph vessels. Once can-cer cells spread into blood or lymph vessels, they can travel to distant parts of the body, such as the liver.”

Just bear this in mind though: Not all polyps become cancerous, but nearly all col-orectal cancers start out as polyps.

Until now, no one knows what causes CRC. “Epidemi-ologic, human case-control, and animal studies support a strong association between colon cancer and a diet that has high-fat (usually saturat-ed fat), low fiber, and high red meat consumption,” Dr. Ruiz says.

Risk factors that predis-pose a person to develop

colon and rectal

Don’t ignore that gut feelingBy HENRYLITO D. TACIO

cancer include age, personal history of adenoma or carci-noma, family history of CRC, and pre-existing diseases, like inflammatory bowel disease.

“Age 50 is the most com-mon risk factor for CRC as 90 percent of cancers occur after the age of 50,” Dr. Ruiz says. No symptoms

Like most cancers, many cases of co-

lon cancer have no symptoms. The following s y m p t o m s , however, may

indicate colon cancer: diarrhea,

constipation, or oth-er change in bowel

habits; blood (either bright red or very dark) in the stool; un-explained anemia; ab-dominal pain and ten-

derness in the lower ab-

domen; intestinal obstruction; weight loss with no known reason; feeling very tired; and vomiting.

“The most common first symptom of rectal cancer is bleeding during a bowel movement,” says the Merck manual. “Whenever the rec-tum bleeds, even if the person is known to have hemorrhoids or diverticular disease, doctors must consider cancer as part of their differential diagnosis.

“Painful bowel movement and a feeling that the rectum has not been completely emp-tied are other symptoms of rectal cancer,” the Merck man-ual continues. “Sitting may be painful, but otherwise the person usually feels no pain from the cancer itself unless it spreads to tissue outside the rectum.”

As CRC doesn’t have early warning signs, it’s very import-

ant to get screened, recom-mends Dr. Velasco. Once the aforementioned symptoms appear, “tumors tend to be much bigger and even harder to treat.”Understanding colonoscopy

Dr. Velasco suggests that once a person reaches the age of 50, he should under-go a colon screening. One of the highly recommended is colonoscopy, which should be done every 10 years after the first screening. “In colonosco-py,” he explains, “we use a tube with a tiny camera to look at the whole colon and rectum. We don’t only find tumors ear-ly, but the test can also prevent colorectal cancer by removing polyps.”

The test usually takes 30 to 45 minutes, Dr. Velasco says. But in some instances, it may take longer, depending upon what is found and what is done during the test.

WebMd.com gives this in-formation as to what will hap-pen after the test: “You may have bloating or crampy gas pains and may need to pass some gas. If a biopsy was done or a polyp taken out, you may have traces of blood in your stool (feces) for a few days. If polyps were taken out, your doctor may instruct you to not take aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for 7 to 14 days.”

Dr. Velasco cautions that there is a slight chance for problems from a colonoscopy.

The scope or a small tool may tear the lining of the colon or cause bleeding. This must be the reason why WebMd.com suggests that those who un-dergo colonoscopy should call their doctor immediately if, after the test, they: have heavy rectal bleeding, have severe belly pain, develop a fever, are very dizzy, are vomiting, and have a swollen and firm belly.

Aside from colonoscopy, other screening tests for colon cancer include barium enema X-rays, sigmoidoscopy, stool tests, and computed tomo-graphic colonography. Which screening test you choose depends on your risk, your preference, and your doctor. “Be sure to talk to your doctor about what puts you at risk and what test is best for you,” Dr. Velasco reminds us.

As stated earlier, colon cancer is treatable when dis-covered early. But if the cancer has already invaded other tis-sues, it may be too late.

On January 20, 1993, Oscar winning actress Audrey Hep-burn died of colon cancer in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland at the age of 63. Emmy-win-ning American comedian and actor Milton Berle was told he had a cancerous colon tumor in 2001 but he refused sur-gery; he died in Los Angeles, California the following year. Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino gave colon cancer a valiant fight before succumb-ing to the disease in 2009.

EDGEDAVAO

HEALTH

Staging colon cancer(from Merck manual)

Dr. Aaron I. Velasco, internist and gastroenterologist (Photo by Henrylito Tacio)

Colon cancer (from Wikipedia)

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EDGEDAVAOINdulge! FOOD

It’s aWRAPEVERYBODY needs to eat, but with today’s ever hectic lifestyle, people are now finding alternative quick eats to save time while grabbing a bite or two. And wrapping everything up in a thin flour skin for eating on-the-go is one surefire solution that is a life saver for busy bees.

Gaisano Mall of Davao.

Pastanni Bringing Italian street food to Davao was the main concept behind Pastanni and one of Pastanni’s best sellers is their Piada Roll. Basically a grilled flour warp filled with risotto, fresh lettuce, cheese, and a choice of meat, the Pia-da roll is a handy belly buster. Although there are many other fillings to choose from, my personal favourite is the one with Roast Pork Belly with Balsamic Vinegar. The flavours of the grilled pork pop with every bite, and for only Php130, it is a bargain. Pastanni is located at the second level of the Abreeza Mall.

Army Navy Everyone knows Army Navy serves burgers, but what I truly love having at Army Navy is its American-Mexican fare. From tacos to the fajitas and quesedillas, Army Navy is a fresh concept in the local fast food scene. Filled with meat, Spanish

rice, beans, onions, lettuce and cilantro, Army Navy’s burrito is served with a side of fresh salsa and a wedge of lime. For the fillings, one can choose between Pulled Pork or Carnita, Steak, and Chick-en. There is also a Vegetarian version for those who want to cut the meat habit, but for those who are unafraid of grease, I would suggest go-ing for the All Day Break-fast Burrito instead which substitutes hash browns and scrambled eggs instead of the usual Spanish rice filling. Prices range from Php165 to Php180. Army Navy outlets can be found at the Abreeza mall as well as at the SkyGarden of SM Lanang Premier.

Crazy Cravings Talking about Mexican-inspired food, Crazy Crav-ings Bistro is a new addi-tion to Davao’s fast-growing quick-eats scene. Specialising in tacos, nachos, quesedillas, and other chilli and salsa-in-fused dishes, Crazy Cravings is an affordable alternative whenever one starts craving for a burrito. Filled with Spanish rice, beans, lettuce, and onions, Crazy Craving’s burritos comes with your choice of either beef or chicken and is served with their house hot sauce, salsa on the side may be asked from the server. For only Php110, it is definitely a more afordable alternative.Crazy Cravings is located

along Jacinto Street Exten-sion.

Majid’s Kebab One of the earliest places that started serving meat in a wrap is Majid’s Kebab. Al-though just a simple dish of grilled beef or chicken and served with grilled tomato and wrapped in a thin un-leavened bread, the kebab’s flavour was complex mainly thanks to the accompany-ing garlic cream and chilli sauces. Majid’s kebab not only scores high on taste but it also scores high on afford-ability as well as each order costs only Php40, which is as easy on the wallet of the busy working-class urbanite.Majid’s Kebab is located along Rizal Street.

Munchtown Taking American com-fort food to another level us-

ing quality fresh ingredients is Munchtown Diner. The brainchild of celebrity chef Robby Goco, Munchtown Diner is famous for its Angus beef burgers, sliders, home-made smokees, pizzas, and milkshakes. But aside from all the above mentioned dishes served at Munchtown, it is restaurant’s burrito that I love. Filled generously with Spanish rice, Carnita, cheese, beans, corn, sour cream, and served with salsa on the side, Munchtown’s burrito is a foodie work of art that is filling and a true joy to bit into. Non-pork eat-ers can also try the chicken and vegetarian options in-stead. Although pricey at Php240 a pop, it is really worth every peso and every calorie. Munchtown Diner is lo-cated at the Fountain Court of SM Lanang Premier.

From light Middle-East-ern inspired fare to the more heavy rice-filled burritos, places that serve meals in a flour wrap are now popping up all over Durianburg and here are some of the ones I was able to sink my teeth into.

Sheikh Shack What started out as a one time pop-up store at a local bazaar is now an actual store that serves beef and chicken

shawarma and shawarma rice. Go for their beef sha-warma which is filled with beef brisket, cabbage, and tomato, smothered in their slightly sweet house sauce for just Php99. I preferred to have my shawarma with their spicy house sauce in-stead for a little added kick. Sheikh shack has two branches, with the main shack located at Palma Gil Street and a branch located at the Lower Ground Floor of

Munchtown’s epic burrito.

Sheikh Shack’s signature shawarma.

The original Majid’s Kebab.

Crazy Craving’s Burrito.

Pastanni’s Piada Roll.

Army Navy’s Burrito.

GMA Network all set for most comprehensive Papal visit coverageTWO DECADES since then Pope John Paul II’s visit to the Philippines, GMA Network’s monumental coverage continues to resonate among generations of Filipinos.

BEAR WITNESS to the much awaited union of the Filipinos’ well-loved and favorite couple Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera and be part of the momentous wedding celebration of 2014 as GMA Network gives Kapuso viewers an exclusive pass via a two-part special on January 17 and 24 at 8:15PM after Magpak-ailanman. These specials show the beautiful union between two people who love each other unconditionally. Dingdong and Marian’s love story is a testament that true, genuine love exists. Their marriage was finally sealed and sancti-fied by the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony as they pledged their love before God and be united forever in love. On January 17, get a

glimpse of the church cer-emony, from the bride and groom’s wedding attire, the bride’s magical entrance, up to their first kiss as a married couple. The special dubbed as “Dingdong and Marian Wedding Special THE CER-EMONY” is the first of the two part special. The first part will feature the preparations and fun mo-ments of Dingdong and Mar-ian hours before they walk down the aisle as their close friends and families share their thoughts and wishes. It will likewise give the viewers an exclusive access to the people behind Ding-dong’s success in fulfilling Marian’s dream wedding in-cluding his live TV proposal to Marian, their prenuptial shoot and Marian’s meet-ing with her wedding gown designer in Dubai, and the gathering with their principal

sponsors. Viewers should watch out for the dramatic entrance of Dingdong inside the Immac-ulate Conception Cathedral but most importantly, the most anticipated highlight of the ceremony, the stun-ning bride as she finally walks down the aisle in her fairytale wedding dress. Get also an exclusive look at the couple’s exchange of vows as they profess their absolute love for each other and the long-awaited magical kiss. Meanwhile on January 24, it couldn’t get any more magical as the network airs the second part of the special dubbed as “Dingdong and Marian Wedding Special THE CELEBRATION.” Viewers will witness this time the celebration of love, joy, family and friendship with the Spanish-themed wedding reception held at

the SM Mall of Asia Arena. The special will feature a never-before released pre-wedding interview of the couple, their friends, celebrity guests as well as details from the creative team behind the reception. Viewers will hear the cou-ple’s fairytale love story from their dearest friends and loved ones - Marian’s Maids of Honors Roxanne Barcelo, Ana Feleo and Joy Santos; and Dingdong’s Groomsmen Marvin Lanuza, Harvey Cam-posano and Angelo Dantes while Marian’s father, Fran-cisco Javier Alonso Gracia, gives a touching message to his loving daughter. Also, watch as the couple present their 3D-mapped wedding cake featuring the different pre-nuptial videos shot in Pampanga and Dubai, as well as the special short films made by one of the cou-

ple’s ninangs and their good friend, Bb. Joyce Bernal. The part two will similarly show Marian’s surprise for her groom while Dingdong sur-prises Marian with a special gift - an original song and a special performance by Mari-an’s favorite band – the Aegis. The program was hosted by the couples closest friends; Gabby Eigenmann, Bettina Carlos, KC Montero, Tim Yap, Janno Gibbs and Ogie Alcasid with inspiring performances by Jaya, Christian Bautista, Noel Cabangon, Julie Anne San Jose, Gloc-9, Marc Abaya, Jay Durias and Regine Velas-quez-Alcasid. Don’t miss this rare TV event and be part of the memorable milestone in the lives of Dingdong and Marian with the two-part wedding special on January 17 and 24 after Magpakailanman on GMA.

A2 INdulge!ENTERTAINMENT

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 2015EDGEDAVAO

GMA Network airs Dingdong and Marian’s wedding on January 17 and 24

This January, the Kapuso Net-work is again all set to make his-tory by giving viewers “Ang Peo-ple’s Pope sa Pilipinas,” the most comprehensive coverage of the much-awaited five-day apostolic and state visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines. Bannered by GMA News pil-lars Mel Tiangco, Mike Enriquez, Vicky Morales, Arnold Clavio, Howie Severino and Jessica Soho, together with the full roster of GMA News and Public Affairs, “Ang People’s Pope sa Pilipinas” airs on GMA-7 and on GMA News TV from January 15 to 19. “Ang People’s Pope sa Pilipi-nas” special coverage starts with the arrival of Pope Francis on Thursday afternoon, followed by the Pope’s state visit to Mala-canan Palace on Friday morning, a Eucharistic celebration at the Manila Cathedral by noon, and a special meeting with families at the Mall of Asia Arena in the afternoon. On Saturday, the special cov-erage intensifies as Pope Francis goes to Leyte to meet the survi-vors of super typhoon Yolanda and the Bohol earthquake, bless the newly built Pope Francis Complex Center for the Poor, and visit to the Palo Cathedral before he flies back to Manila. On Sunday, “Ang People’s

Pope sa Pilipinas” continues its blow-by-blow account of the his-toric visit as Pope Francis heads a youth gathering at the Univer-sity of Santo Tomas, and leads the most awaited Mass celebration at the Quirino Grandstand in Lu-neta, which in 1995 housed the largest papal crowd in history as then Pope John Paul II celebrated the World Youth Day. On Monday, January 19, “Ang People’s Pope sa Pilipinas” joins the country as it bids farewell to the Pope. Using state-of-the-art news-gathering equipment and na-tionwide transmission facilities, GMA-7 delivers the highlights of the Papal visit via the flagship primetime newscast 24 Oras, late-night news source “Saksi,” morning public affairs program Unang Hirit, and special editions of Flash Report. GMA News TV, at the same time, provides the latest updates on the Papal visit on news pro-grams News to Go, Balitanghali, Balita Pilipinas Ngayon, Quick Response Team, State of the Na-tion with Jessica Soho, and News TV Live. GMA News Online, mean-while, launched recently its official papal visit microsite (gmanews.tv/popefrancis) to provide netizens with all the lat-

est news and information on the Papal visit. The website fea-tures a liveblog and livestreams, dubbed Pope TV, so users can stay on top of what’s happen-ing. Those who want to attend the Papal events may also check out the Pope’s itinerary through the site’s ultimate guide on the Papal visit. It also encourages netizens to participate in the mi-crosite’s #BlessedByThePope sec-

tion, which features a prayer wall, messages to the Pope and stories about the Pope. Using the hashtags #Blessed-ByThePope, #PapalVisitPH and #PopeFrancisPH, netizens are also invited to post their mes-sages, reactions, comments and photos on Twitter (twitter.com/gmanews), Facebook (facebook.com/gmanews), and Instagram (instagram.com/gmanews). The

public can also follow GMA News on Viber’s Public Chat (chats.viber.com/gmanews). Netizens may also send their letters, photos or video messages to Pope Francis through YouS-coop. Live radio broadcast of the event is also available on the Net-work’s flagship AM radio sta-tion dzBB 594 kHz Super Radyo through its “Si Pope Francis sa

GMA Network all set for most comprehensive Papal visit coverage

AWARD-WINNING ac-tors KC Concepcion and Paulo Avelino will teach kids and families the im-portance of family and selflessness in the finale episode of ABS-CBN’s Christmas series “Give Love on Christmas Pres-ents Exchange Gift” this Friday (January 16). Despite the efforts of their son Jacob (Miguel Vergara) to keep their family together, Christian and Anna’s arguments just keep on getting worse as they carry on with their annulment. What can Jacob do to stop their family from falling apart? Will Anna and Christian continue their plan to separate or can they still find their way back to love? In the end, can Anna and Chris-tian set all their differ-ences aside for the sake of their only child? “Give Love on Christ-mas” is composed of three stories that revolve around family, relation-

ships, and love. These include Paulo and KC’s “Exchange Gift,” Eddie Garcia, Aiko Melendez, Dimples Romana, Car-lo Aquino, and Louise Abuel’s “The Gift Giver,” and Gerald Anderson and Maja Salvador’s “The Gift of Life.” t is a Christmas special produced by Dream-

scape Entertainment Television, the group that created top-rating TV masterpieces such as “Walang Hanggan,” “Ina Kapatid Anak,” “Juan dela Cruz,” and “Ikaw La-mang.” Don’t miss the last episode of “Give Love on Christmas Presents Ex-change Gift” this Friday,

INdulge! A3

PG 13 /

* PG 13

PG 13 / *PG 13

PG 13 /*R 16 12:00 | 2:00 | 4:00 LFS / * 6:00 | 8:00 | 10:00 LFS

R-16

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB / * BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP

Ben Stiller, Robin Williams/ * Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth

PG 13 12:40 | 3:00 | 5:20 | 7:40 | 10:00 LFS

SEVENTH SON / * TAKEN 3

12:00 | 2:00 | 4:00 LFS / * 6:00 | 8:00 | 10:00 LFS

EDSA WOOLWORTH / *AMAZING PRAYBEYT BENJAMIN

Pokwang / * Vice Ganda, Richard Yap

12:00 | 2:10 LFS / * 4:20 | 6:35 | 8:50 LFS

Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges / * Liam Neeson

TAKEN 3

Liam Neeson

January 16, 2015

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 2015 EDGEDAVAO

KC and Paulo give viewers the best ‘gift’ ever in “Give Love” finale this Friday

GMA Network airs Dingdong and Marian’s wedding on January 17 and 24

Pilipinas” special coverage. Neti-zens can also follow dzBB on so-cial media via twitter.com/dzbb. The Kapuso Network has con-sistently been at the forefront of significant events of the Catholic Church including the election of Pope Francis in 2013 and the joint canonization of St. John Paul II and St. John XXIII in 2014.

before “It’s Showtime” in ABS-CBN Prime-Tang-hali. For more informa-tion about “Give Love on Christmas,” visit the show’s official social networking sites Twitt-ter .com/DreamscapePH and Instagram.com/

DreamscapePH. Viewers may also catch up on full episodes and past episodes of “Give Love On Christmas” through ABS-CBNmo-bile. For more informa-tion, please go to www.abscbnmobile.com.

TOURISTS and devotees heading to Cebu for the Sinulog now have a por-table guide to one of the country’s grandest festi-vals. The Sinulog Guide app, which can be down-loaded to Android de-vices, iPhones and Win-dows Phones for free, is published as part of a col-laboration among Cebu-based new media startup InnoPub Media, wireless leader Smart Commu-nications, Inc. (Smart), Sinulog Foundation, and Cebu mass communica-tions students undergo-ing internship with Inno-Pub. The guide is the most com-prehensive resource on the fes-tival, containing information about the Sinulog and its his-tory, Kaplag or the discovery of the Sto. Nino image 450 years ago, and the different Sinulog contingents. It contains handy tips for tourists on things to do in Cebu. The app also provides

a directory of important phone numbers such as of hospitals, police stations. A full listing of tour guides and tour operators accredited by the Department of Tourism is also included in the guide. The directory is ac-tive and tourists merely need to tap on numbers to place a call. Tourism spots featured in the app also contain GPS data and have “check location” links that, when tapped, use GPS to guide a tourist to a particular site. The app also contains a news section that will contain the lat-est updates on the festival as it draws near and until after the grand parade. The app team will be providing updates on performances, parties and other Sinulog news through the app. “With the Sinulog Guide, revelers can plan their itinerary ahead and maximize their ex-perience celebrating this grand festival,” said Smart Public Af-fairs Group Head Ramon R. Isberto. “Sinulog Guide is a useful resource to tourists because it

is on a device that people take with them wherever they go: the phone,” said InnoPub Media co-founder Marlen Limpag. To promote the use of the guide, Smart and InnoPub are holding social network pro-motions that offer those who download the app premium giveaway items. Smart and InnoPub are also holding, for the second year, an online Sinulog photo contest using #SmartSinulog2015. De-tails of the contest will be made available within the Sinulog Guide app. The Sinulog Guide is part of the Digital Tourism program of Smart and InnoPub, which uses mobile technology to deliver tourism, cultural, and histori-cal information. The initiative was given an Anvil Award of Merit in February 2013 and commended by the Cebu City Council, in a resolution passed on mass motion in January 2012,  as an “ingenious” way to deliver tourism information.

A4 INdulge!UP AND ABOUT

Sinulog 2015 mobile app guides tourists to country’s grandest festival

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 2015EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 2015 13ZION ACCUPRINT

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VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 201514 NEWS

Indian... Stop...

Priest...

Despite...

FFROM 1 FFROM 2

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Pope...FFROM 3

STRONG SUPPORT. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte gestures while discussing important matters with former Cotabato Governor Manny Piñol, an avid supporter of the Duterte for President 2016, at the Grand Men Seng Hotel on Wednesday night. Lean Daval Jr.

EDGEDAVAO

income, the PAMANA project under the Office of the Presi-dential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) together with DA and provincial gov-ernment of Davao Oriental granted the association with upland rice production and post-harvest facilities (sin-gle pass rice mill) worth P750,000 in 2013.

According to Marlyn Bor-ja, AFMA president, the proj-ect has helped a lot in terms of increasing their income and it somehow alleviate the pover-ty rate of their community.

“We thanked the nation-al government for giving us the chance to improve our income. Rest assured that we

will take good care of the proj-ect,” Borja said.

In July last year, the Armed Forces of the Philip-pines (AFP) lauded DA’s im-plementation of various agri-cultural projects in the 10th Infantry Agila Division’s area of responsibility making the agency its active ally in forging peace and development.

These include conduct of trainings and seminars, em-ploying practical and efficient farming techniques and meth-ods thereby increasing farm productions and enhancing the living condition of the ben-eficiaries particularly the reb-el returnees and their families. (ChePalicte - DA11)

and to make these students cower from opposing them.”

The CIDG report said the Indian students are not al-lowed to transfer dormitories of their own choice at any giv-en time and are threatened with deportation and failing grades if they go against Mo-han.

The CIDG noted that while the house rules being imposed to maintain cleanliness and orderliness “somehow help the students to conduct them-selves properly and prevent them from roaming around doing other things which might affect their studies,” it is “not a valid reason… to vi-olate the rights of the foreign students.”

For his part, Mayor Dute-rte told Mohan not to deprive the students their freedom.

In a meeting with Mohan and the students on Wednes-day night at the Grand Men Seng Hotel, Duterte said it “does not really sound good for an Indian to oppress your comrade citizens also of your country.”

He said everyone is treat-ed equally in the Philippines since the law protects both Fil-ipino citizens and foreigners.

He said no one can be de-prived of freedom of choice and compelled to live in a cer-tain place.

He then told the Indian students to look for other dormitories of their choice, to which the students applauded loudly.

Duterte told Mohan to maintain their contracts but to remove the imposition of the excessive fees that they are demanding from the students.

But Pillai, whose company partners with DMSF to bring Indian students here, said what they want is to secure the students after an incident in 2011 in which an Indian student died.

“What we have been only done, it is only in terms of safe-ty and security,” Pillai said.

Based on the police blotter report at the Sta. Ana Police Station, incoming medical stu-dent Vijay Baskar Paneer Sel-

vam died of drowning at Isla Reta Resort in Talikud Island at around 5:45 a.m. on May 30, 2011.

The police report said Vi-jay was last seen partying with three Indian friends and one Filipina on the night of May 29, 2011.

He was next seen already dead, his body floating on the danger zone of the beach re-sort around 5:45 a.m. the next day.

“After that one, the Indian government told them (stu-dents) that they should be staying in a place where there are a rules and regulations,” Pillai said.

He said that although the students’ parents can sign a waiver stating their children can stay anywhere they want, this could affect the reputation of DMSF and the city if some-thing happens to them.

“At the end of the day, it would really affect the city because I remembered when that boy died here, I and every-body in the DMSF were called by the Indian embassy and we were punished for that. Even now, we are having a case in India because of the death of that boy though it was not our fault,” Pillai said.

He said the reason they are here is the quality of edu-cation at DMSF and the repu-tation of

Davao City as one of the safest cities in the world be-cause of the strict leadership of Duterte.

“I am not saying that you cannot have your freedom, but excess of freedom can-not be good for your medical studies,” Pillai said.

In the middle of Pillai’s talk, the students began howl-ing in an apparent opposition.

Duterte, however, said the laws in India cannot be used in the Philippines where no one can be deprived of free-dom as provided by the Con-stitution.

“Whatever you signed in India particularly limiting their movement or you where you want them to reside, it is not acceptable here,” he said.

the dormitories also commit-ted violations found by the Bu-reau of Fire Protection (BFP) and City Health Office (CHO).

He said the BFP found that the fire exits do not follow the standards.

CHO environmental sani-tation head Robert L. Oconer said that they found unsani-tary condition of the commis-saries and unhygienic practic-es by the employees.

Based on the report, att the Happy Home Dormitory of DMEMS in Margarita Village, Bajada, the trash bins have no covers and plastic liners.

Some of the toilet doors had no door knobs and some were damaged. Also, there

were no proper fire exit in the building. The employees have no health cards.

In the University Park Suites and Residences in Ja-cinto Street, there is a business permit but there is no sanitary permit to operate.

The garbage bins have no covers and plastic liners.

In the commissary in DMSF road, it the dormitory has no business and sanitary permit to operate.

Oconer said that they were supposed to issue a clo-sure order but they want to give DMEMS consideration and ordered total renovation and clean up for the dormito-ries.

also stated that it “agreed to review the house rule of its own dormitories and likewise make representation in inter-est of student welfare with the dormitories operated by a pri-vate entity which is outside of the DMSF’s jurisdiction.”

Alvarez, meanwhile, re-frained from commenting on the dormitory issue because the matter belongs to a private entity and is already out of his jurisdiction as the regional head of CHED 11.

He said CHED 11 and BI 11 had done the inspection on the dormitories located inside DMSF. “Based on the result of inspection that was conducted November last year, these dor-mitories inside DMSF passed all requirements,” he added.

DMSF also denied that it purposely flunked an Indian student who claims to be a deans’ lister but had failing grades in two subjects.

“DMSF does not give ‘dean’s list’ recognition to any

student of good academic standing but awards graduat-ing students with Latin Hon-ors if they meet the criteria inscribed in DMSF’s student handbook,” it said.

DMSF, in the statement, also agreed to release the Good Moral Certificated of the student for “humanitar-ian reasons and denied that its issuance is influenced by persons not connected with DMSF.”

The medical schools also answered issue of crediting subjects gained from India.

“DMSF has obtained clearance from CHED to grant equivalency and/or transfer credits for its students which in line with academic free-dom,” it said.

Finally, on the issue that there are students enrolled at DMSF without passing the Na-tional Medical Admission Test (NMAT), “DMSF assured that all their students have passed NMAT prior to admission.”

ako at saka alam niya kung bakit siya pinatay, dahil may paninindigan (Pope Fran-cis wants simple things. He does not need many guards. He said if someone wants to kill him then he cannot pre-vent it. He said he is old and he knows why he would be killed, because he is firm in his stand),” Alforque said.

Thousands of security groups and individuals were deployed all over Tacloban City up to Palo, Leyte where the Pope will have his lunch and his second mass.

Thousands of police of-ficers were also deployed by different nearby regions to secure the Pope in his arrival.

Policemen were also aug-mented on the streets with a distance of five meters be-tween officers.

Residences were also asked to list the entire names of their family members and

visitors for security purposes. Homeowners who have sec-ond floors were also asked to stay on the ground fall upon the arrival of the Pope.

Barricades were also put all over the place.

Alforque said the reason Pope Francis decided to visit Tacloban is to let the people know that he is with them.

However, the priest said that it would be hard for the people to see the Pope with all the barricades and police officers all over the place.

“Makikita niya yung ka-totohanan gustong-gusto niya na makapiling ang mga tao, pero sa dami ng barika-da baka mapalayo ang mga tao tapos sinesecure na sana walang mangyaring masama sa kanya, maraming pulis, miltar. Sila na ang makakita sa kanya (Pope Francis) hindi na yung pangkaraniwang tao,” he added.

Four police officers were arrested and tagged as sus-pects for killing brothers Har-old and Roland Jamaca, and Maria Erica Yabut, in Barangay F.S. Catanico here last Decem-ber 11.

Summary execution survi-vor Jim Jamaca, 24, identified PO1 Arnel Gighe, PO1 Jun Reil Barrientos, PO1 Manuel Qui-panes, and Senior Insp. Ludwig Charles Espira as responsible.

JB Deveza, of the National Union of Journalists of the Phil-ippines (NUJP) Mindanao Safe-

ty Office, said Ucat told him that he had asked protection from the Army’s 4th Infantry Division (4ID) because he was being tailed by unidentified men.

Major. Christian Uy, 4ID public information officer, said an Army team sent to protect Ucat spotted two men with hidden guns tailing the jour-nalist before the New Year.

Uy said the soldiers, seeing the situation as critical, decid-ed to get Ucat to their vehicle for his protection.

safety of pupils, students and residents who are regularly crossing or passing by this in-tersection,” he said.

The area where the pe-destrian overpass is being constructed is within the city’s commercial and industrial zone.

The junction of the Ma-kar-Siguel highway and Rizal Streets is close to food chain outlets and several other es-tablishments.

The RD Group of Compa-nies, which is owned by Mayor Rivera’s family, is building a

shopping mall near the area.Rizal Street is the main

road leading to the Gener-al Santos City National High School – the city’s biggest pub-lic school – Romana C. Acharon Elementary School, H.N. Cahil-sot Elementary School and the Antonio C. Acharon Sr. Sports Complex.

The Makar-Siguel national highway serves as the entry point of vehicles going to the city fishport complex, city in-ternational airport and four coastal towns in Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat provinces.

no ill intentions against the kingdom.

The future saint remained in Kandy until his death in 1711 at the age of 60. He is credited with converting 30,000 people and reviving the Catholic Church on the island.

Pope Francis said Vaz is also an example of missionary zeal.

“Though he came to Cey-lon to minister to the Catholic community, in his evangelical

charity he reached out to ev-eryone,” the pope said.

He said the saint “knew how to offer the truth and the beauty of the Gospel in a multi-religious context”.

“I pray that, following the example of Saint Joseph Vaz, the Christians of this country may be confirmed in faith and make an ever greater contri-bution to peace, justice and reconciliation in Sri Lankan so-ciety,” Pope Francis said.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 2015 15SPORTS

NO less than Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte will open

the much-awaited 2015 Duterte Basketball League (DBL) Inter-Political Dis-trict Basketball Tourna-ment this afternoon at the Davao City Recreation Cen-ter Almendras Gym.

Sports Development Division-City Mayor’s Of-fice (SDD-CMO) deputy Ma. Tisha Goldie Delvo, who is in charge of the event, said this will be the first time that barangay captains and their respective kagawads will compose each of the 12 political districts com-

peting in the event.The DBL Inter-Political

District tournament is one of the major sports activ-ities being held regularly under the administration of Mayor Duterte.

Seeing action in the tournament organized by the SDD-CMO are Bu-

hangin, Agdao, Paquibato, Poblacion A, Poblacion B., Talomo, Toril, Calinan, Tug-bok, Marilog, Baguio and Bunawan.

Today’s program, which will start at 4 p.m., will also have the Davao delegates who competed in the 8th BIMP-Eaga Friend-

ship Games in Labuan, Ma-laysia last December.

Delvo said she hopes to finish the tournament in five weeks, with the games scheduled from Monday to Friday staring at 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every week.

The champion team will pocket P15,000, sec-

ond P10,000, third P7,500 and fourth P5,000. All the top four placers will also receive trophies.

Meanwhile, Delvo ex-pressed her gratitude to Davies Paints for sponsor-ing the jerseys of the 12 competing teams. (SDD-CMO)

JUNE Mar Fajardo is the best player of the PBA Philippine Cup anew. The San Miguel

Beer center was crowned the MyPhone Best Player of the Conference for before the tipoff of Game 4 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

Fajardo bested Alaska’a Calvin Abueva, San Miguel Beer’s Alex Cabagnot and Ar-wind Santos, and Ginebra’s

Greg Slaughter. He’s only the second player in history who has won back-to-back BPCs in the Philippine Cup. The only other player to do this was the legendary Nelson Asaytono also with the Beermen.

The Kraken topped the statistical race as he averaged 18.33 points, 12.5 rebounds, 1.72 assists, and 2 blocks per game.

“Hindi ko naman iniisip yung award,” Fajardo said before the start of Game 4. “Ngayon ko nga lang nalaman na awarding na kasi sa game talaga ako naka-concentrate. Down kami kaya kailangan yun muna yung isipin ko.”

Fajardo swept the media votes, getting the first place in all 38 entries. He narrowly edged Abueva in the player

votes while he finished second to The Beast in the PBA’s vote.

Fajardo garnered a total of 1,141 points, way ahead of Abueva who got 889 points. Santos finished third with 523, Slaughter was at fourth with 392, and Cabagnot, who got most of his statistics play-ing for GlobalPort Batang Pier, rounded out the five with 390 points.

CRISTIANO Ronal-do’s son Cris junior is a Lionel Messi

fan the boy’s father said after they met up with the Argentina captain at the Ballon D’Or ceremo-ny in Zurich on Monday.

After Ronaldo was named 2014 Ballon D’Or winner, beating four-time winner Messi into second place, the two players had a friendly exchange in the lobby of Zurich’s Kongresshaus when Cris pointed at Messi and then stood up to greet him.

Real Madrid’s Por-

tugal captain Ronaldo told his arch-rival Messi: “He watches a video on the internet of all of us and he talks about you,” prompting a coy reaction from his son.

Barcelona forward Messi chuckled and asked the young Cristia-no how he was doing.

“You are embar-rassed now!” Ronaldo then laughed to his son.

Ronaldo received his third Ballon D’Or on Monday with the Portu-guese or Messi having won the award every year since 2008.

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, stands with his son Cristiano Ronaldo Jr, af-ter winning the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2014 during the soccer awards ceremony at the Kongresshaus in Zurich. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

EDGEDAVAO

Rody to open DBL cage tourney

IT’S amazing how Davao del Norte held itself up in an almost killing waiting game

for the Palarong Pambansa waiting game.

The decision from the all-mighty Palarong Pamban-sa Board came only last De-cember 2014 for a national event that will be held in five months.

Yes, buddies. Five months.It’s crazy even for one to

get married today and pre-pare for just five months. This one is for the Palaro—the country’s biggest sporting conclave for school-based ath-letes. I have covered a number of Palarong Pambansa and I have seen the preparations build up in a span of at least a year with not even perfect results.

In 1994, Cebu City--the country’s next biggest urban center outside Metro Ma-nila—hosted the Palarong

Pambansa and they ran a good show that started from months back to build up for the anticipation of the event, even using the Sinulog Fes-tival to drum it up. Come the big day or week that is, the organizing committee com-mitted a blunder in its media center in failing to bring in fast results and outbound com-munications for the covering media organizations.

Good thing, the glitch was solved in time albeit there was some ‘screening’ of news that happened out there whenev-er we fax (yes, there was no email yet) our type-written (yes, there were no comput-ers either at that time) stories.

And then there were the usual problems of food poi-soning escalating into heat-stroke problems in Koronadal City in 2007 that led to death of one high school principal from Marinduque. Two ath-

letes also died in a bus mishap that year.

We are not doomsayers nor doom seekers but we would like to point it out here that preparations are import-ant in hosting big events not only in terms of dealing with all the necessary facilities and utilities for the event, but also precious time for the hosts to maximize the opportuni-ty in terms of publicity and

promotions—this is where business and tourism kick in. The Palarong Pambansa is a multi-million event in terms of capital and revenues.

Good thing for Davao del Norte is that the province has been ready—with the fa-ther-son leadership of Gover-nor Rodolfo del Rosario and Rep. Anthony del Rosario—since the day it decided to bid for the Palaro. In fact, one of the reason they built their 11-hectare sports facility is they wanted to bring in the Palaro—an event denied of them in 1992.

Now, Davao del Norte owns perhaps the staunchest sports supporters in the Del Rosarios with Anthony hold-ing an influential position as chairman of the sports com-mittee of the House of Repre-sentatives.

The challenge now for Davao del Norte is to make

those bidding promises and powerpoint presentations into tangible matters. Among the concerns are security, sup-ply of potable water, and hotel facilities.

According to sports co-ordinator Giovani Gulanes all that have been taken cared of.

Awesome.Now, back to the bidding

system of the Palarong Pam-bansa. It cannot go on like this. I mean giving a host five months to put everything up is insane. Consider these things—an LGU prepares its annual budget for the next year and passes it as early as October for it to be financially equipped by the start of the new fiscal year. Without hav-ing programmed your expens-es for the next year and expect to spend millions for an item that wasn’t there is almost like suicidal unless you anticipat-ed everything like a financial

mogul.On the part of the travel-

ling contingents from as far as Luzon and the sea-ferrying delegations from Visayas, it will also give them the lever-age to anticipate the cost of travel.

The Palarong Pambansa Board should give ample time not only for hosts but also for the rest of the competing re-gions. Given the hosting cycle of Luzon-Visayas-Mindanao (or is it still that way?), it is best to make the bidding for every cycle and identify the hosts for the next three years.

That should be fair for ev-eryone.

For now, let us be thankful that Davao del Norte is mighty ready for this and there’s the catchment city like Davao ready to absorb the influx of visitors.

Just this time please. Not another time.

Reforms needed for Palaro bidding system

Neil Bravo

LET’S GET IT ON

Fajardo named Best Player of the Conference

Ronaldo says hisson is a Messi fan

June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beermen wins his second Philippine Cup Best Player of the Conference award. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 201516

Maria Sharapova hits a return during a match at the Brisbane International tennis tournament.

GUNNING FOR MORE GLORYEDGEDAVAOSports

Sharapova aims to win second Australian Open title

VETERAN M a r i a S h a r a -

pova head into the open-ing Grand Slam of 2015 next week as a form play-er, but there is a heady mix of youth and expe-rience snapping at her heels.

Sharapova, who has been a fixture on the tennis circuit since 2002, continues to shine with victory over Ana Ivanovic

in Brisbane handing her a 34th career title.

She won her only Aus-tralian Open in 2008, beat-ing Ivanovic in the final.

The Russian’s closest ri-val, world number one Ser-ena Williams, is gunning for a sixth Australian Open title but was unimpressive at the mixed-teams Hopman Cup

in Perth this month.The American, aiming

for a 19th Grand Slam crown, spluttered her way through with moments of brilliance interspersed with extended periods of erratic play.

“I do feel like I am get-ting back into the groove, I am not moving as well as I was last year,” said the Amer-ican, who is the defending US Open champion but has not won the Australian Open since 2010.

“I am going to try and im-prove that and I know I can so but I am getting there.”

Along with a revitalised Ivanovic, world number three Simona Halep of Ro-mania is shaping as a threat after winning the warm-up Shenzhen Open on Saturday, although she pulled out of this week’s Sydney Interna-

tional with gastroenteritis.The dangerous Agniesz-

ka Radwanska is another to watch, having beat Williams in Perth.

China’s Li Na won the women’s crown last year, battling past surprise pack-age Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, but has since re-tired.

There is plenty of incen-tive to win with the prize money bumped up to a re-cord Aus$40 million (US$32 million), with the singles win-ners taking home Aus$3.1 million each.

Held in the height of the southern hemisphere sum-mer, weather is always a wildcard in Melbourne with temperatures known to fluc-tuate up to 20 Celsius from one day to the next.

Last year, extreme heat

forced organisers to suspend play for several hours follow-ing days of complaints about “inhumane” conditions which left some players fainting and vomiting.

At the time Murray warned organisers were risk-ing a tragedy as temperatures hit 42 Celsius (107.6 Fahren-heit), while Canada’s Frank Dancevic said he hallucinat-ed a vision of cartoon dog Snoopy before blacking out.

Temperatures for the opening day on Monday are forecast to be a mild 21 Cel-sius.

The impact of the weath-er will be minimised this year with the installation of a third retractable roof at Melbourne Park. The Rod Laver and Hi-sense Arenas already had this facility and Margaret Court Arena has now joined them.

WITH a showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd

Mayweather Jr. seemingly coming closer to fruition, box-ing personalities are again being asked who they favor between the two pound-for-pound kings.

Respected boxing trainer, Joel Diaz, who is best known for his work with former world champion Timothy Bradley Jr., told HustleBoss recently that he would pick Mayweather over Pacquiao.

“His defense… and he’s very accurate,” said Diaz.

Mayweather has long been acknowledged as one of the greatest defensive fighters of his generation, although some believe that Pacquiao’s punch output and awkward angles can give him a run for his money.

But Diaz believes that Pacquiao’s tendency to go somewhat wild inside the ring will leave him open to Mayweather’s blistering counter-punches.

“Pacquiao has speed and power,” Diaz conceded, “But he’s a little reckless when he goes in for the hunt.”

“He exposes himself a lot, and he’s reckless,” he added.

Diaz was in Bradley’s corner when the American fought Pacquiao in 2012 and again in 2014. Bradley famously upset Pacquiao in their first encounter, winning a controversial decision, but the Filipino got his vengeance last year.

Bradley trainer favors Floyd over Pacquiao

VOL. 7 ISSUE 215 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 -17, 2015