edge davao 8 issue 160

P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 8 ISSUE 160 • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Wagdos, Miranda repeat as Milo Davao leg champs P14

EDGEDAVAOSports

DON’T ASK FOR ‘PINASKUHAN’

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAOINSIDE EDGERody lights candles for Yolanda victims P2

Gov’t workers’pay increase passed P3

City gov’t workers warned not to solicit Christmas gifts

CITY administrator Jesus Melchor V. Quitain has urged businesses and in-

dividuals to report city govern-ment employees who come to them soliciting Christmas gifts.

This after Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte, during his weekly program, Gikan sa Masa Para

sa Masa, warned all city em-ployees to refrain from asking for gifts or making solicitations during the coming Christmas season.

“Do not give anything and then you report it to us,” Quit-ain said in interview yesterday after the flag raising ceremony

at City Hall, addressing busi-ness owners.

Quitain said he had learned that those approached by city employees do not exe-cute affidavits for the filing of charges.

“Para sa kanila pag tapos na, tapos na (For them, if it is

already done, it’s done),” he said.

Quitain, however, said he wants to teach erring workers a lesson, adding he is disgusted to hear that some city govern-ment employees go around asking for gifts or money.

By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO [email protected]

FDON’T ASK, 10

FOR THE YOLANDA VICTIMS. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte holds a lighted candle offered for Yolanda victims in an undisclosed place in Davao City. Story on page 2. Downloaded from his Facebook page Rody Duterte

VOL. 8 ISSUE 160 • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

DAVAO City Police Of-fice (DCPO) director Senior Superintendent

Vicente D. Danao Jr. yesterday announced that a big anti-il-legal drug operation will be launched, this time targeting big-time drug suspects.

In an interview yesterday in his office, Danao said the DCPO is preparing to launch the operation two weeks after the lapse of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s ultimatum for push-ers to leave the city.

Danao said the operation will target big-time drug sus-pects who have chosen to re-

main in the city.“Yung hindi pa umalis ng

city, wala namang problema yan. Pero, pag nagpang-abot tayo tapos naabutan ko kayo, pasensyahan lang tayo (Those who did not leave the city, that’s not a problem. But if I catch you, then sorry),” he said.

He said the DCPO has al-ready identified the targeted suspects but did not divulge their identities so as not to jeopardize the operations.

“Don’t think we don’t know who you are because we do. There are just some

dealsy in the build-up of the facts,” he said.

Danao said some of the suspects come from promi-nent families, which is why “they have the audacity” to continue their illegal opera-tion in the city.

“I do not care kung sinong Herodes ka diyan. I don’t care kung anong pangalan meron ka. I don’t care kung paman-gkin ka ng kung sino diyan. Pero I know that you are deal-ing illegal drugs (I don’t care what name you have. I don’t care who you’re related to. I just know that you are dealing

illegal drugs),” he said.Danao said these people

have already been warned by the previous city police direc-tors but ignored them.

“I am telling you, we are dead serious here in imple-menting the anti-illegal drugs in Davao City,” he said.

This developed as an es-timated P110,000 worth of illegal drugs were recovered by the joint anti-illegal drugs operation of San Pedro Police Station and Tugbok Police Station in two separate oper-ations at Deca Homes Subdi-

2 EDGEDAVAO

NEWS

THE Indigenous People (IP) groups housed in the United Church

of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP)-Haran have declined the offer of the Davao City government for relocation.

This was bared by city administrator Jesus Melchor V. Quitain in an interview yesterday after the flag raising ceremony at City Hall.

“Ayaw nilang maglipat sa relocation site, temorary lang sana (They do not want to be relocated even if it’s temporary),” he said.

Quitain said the city government offered the IP groups a portion f Barangay

Los Amigos, Tugbok district because Haran is no longer safe, particulary in terms of health.

City Health Office (CHO) sanitation officers last month found that the area is unsanitary because of the presence of human and animal waste as well as garbage anywhere in the area.

There are also swampy areas because some of the young evacuees take bathe outside the bathrooms.

Quitain said the relocation area was offered by the city last week but the group refused because they learned that the

DAVAO City Mayor Ro-drigo R. Duterte light-ed candles and offered

a prayer to mark the second year anniversary of the dev-astation of Typhoon Yolanda in Central Philippines that claimed the lives of thousands of Filipinos and left thousands more families homeless.

“I lighted candles and of-fered a prayer in memory of those we lost when Typhoon Yolanda struck our country two years ago. May God grant them eternal repose and bless those they left behind,” Mayor

Duterte posted in his Face-book page Rody Duterte Sun-day.

The post was accompa-nied with a photo of the mayor lighting candles with his ex-ecutive assistant, Christopher “Bong” Go, beside him.

Duterte, who was born in Southern Leyte, was among the first officials to respond in the aftermath of the calamity that also destroyed agricul-tural crops and properties. He flew to Tacloban City after the typhoon struck bringing with him search and rescue teams

and medical squad that includ-ed doctors and ambulances.

Seeing the devastation of the typhoon himself prompted Duterte to declare then: “God must be somewhere else.”

Manny Piñol, Dutete’s friend and a member of the mayor’s core group of volun-teers, also posted in his Face-book page an article of the local chief executive’s candle lighting and prayer offering.

But, two years since the Yolanda tragedy, relief opera-tions in some hard-hit areas are still reportedly marred

with political influence and corruption, and this does not sit well with Duterte.

“Worse than the devasta-tion by Yolanda is the fact that some of our leaders are more concerned with politics rather than the welfare of our people,” Piñol quoted Duterte as saying.

Duterte was actually invit-ed in Tacloban to grace the sec-ond year anniversary of Yolan-da, but politely declined the invitation and decided to mark the event by lighting candles and offering a prayer to those who perished in the disaster.

THE local government is set to implement two multi-million road

concreting projects before the year ends.

Both projects will be funded by the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP) of the Department of Agriculture.

PRDP, formerly known as Mindanao Rural Development Program, is a six-year program that will end on 2020. It targets upland barangays to boost agricultural production on high valued commodities like cacao, rubber, cardava, abaca and cassava.

The first project will connect the three barangays of Poblacion, San Isidro and

Tacuk where the total project cost amounts to PHP89 million.

The second project will be implemented in the four barangays of Barayong, Mabini, Bala and Upper Bala. It will be a 17 kilometer farm-to-market road concreting project with an allocation of more than PHP190-million.

Municipal Engineer Haide dela Torre said both projects may commence simultaneously since the first project will be implemented by the provincial government while the second project will be implemented by the municipal government.

Both projects are expected to be completed after a year of construction work. (PNA)

Rody lights candles, offers prayer for Yolanda victimsBy CHARLES RAYMOND A. MAXEY

Lumads in Haran declinecity’s relocation site offer

By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO [email protected]

Davao Sur town gets 2 multi-million road projects DCPO to launch big anti-drug operation

NEW RULES. A man reads a new memorandum posted inside the Land Transportation Office (LTO) satellite office at SM City Davao requiring professional driver’s license holder to submit National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and police clearances when renewing their licenses. Lean Daval Jr.

FLUMADS, 10

FDCPO, 10


ARMY troopers overran over the weekend a base of the New Peo-

ple’s Army (NPA) in a hin-terland village in Malapatan town, Sarangani Province, fol-lowing a series of operations.

Colonel Ronald Villanue-va, commanding officer of the Army’s 1002nd Brigade, on Monday said troops under the 73rd Infantry Battalion (IB) captured an NPA camp in Sitio Lamsalo, Barangay Upper Suy-an in Malapatan town after an encounter at around 5 p.m. on

Sunday.He said the rebels were

forced to abandon the area as a result of the offensives launched by their troops.

“They (rebels) already withdrew towards the bound-ary of Davao Occidental but our troops are continuously pursuing them,” he said in an interview over radio station Brigada News FM.

The 73IB launched the operations after troops under the Army’s 512th Engineering

3EDGEDAVAO NEWS

DAVAO City First District Rep. and House Labor Committee Chair Kar-

lo Alexei Nograles yesterday condemned alleged attempts by Manila International Air-port Authority (MIAA) offi-cials to “suppress the media covering the airport” amid the “laglag-bala” controversy.

“Airport reporters are now enraged over the decision of MIAA General Manager Jose Angel Honrado to restrict air-

port reporters from accessing NAIA Terminal 3,” Nograles said in a statement.

He said the NAIA Press Corps headed by broadcaster Raoul Esperas is “up in arms” against the new restriction be-ing carried by airport security personnel in an apparent move to stop the media from making reports about the “laglag-bala” extortion racket at the NAIA.

Nograles said NAIA 3 has always been accessible to

duly-accredited members of the NAIA Press Corps. “The restriction was only imposed when the media exposed the laglag-bala extortion racket,” he said.

“Is it a coincidence that NAIA reporters are suddenly restricted from covering NAIA Terminal 3 or is it a deliberate attempt by airport authorities to suppress the media from making more reports about the shenanigans at the air-

port?” he said. Nograles said according to

Esperas, airport security have started restricting media from accessing NAIA Terminal 3 this Monday despite their failure to show any written memoran-dum on such a directive.

“Even accredited airport reporters were accosted by rude airport security espe-cially if the coverage is in con-nection with the controversial

DAVAO City Water Dis-trict has scheduled two separate sets of water

service interruption in some city parts.

First set is on November 11 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM affecting these areas in Ma-a: Maharlika Village, Green Meadows and the road from Maharlika Village to Green Meadows. DCWD’s Engineer-ing and Construction Depart-ment (ECD) crew will tap the newly installed 75mm diam-eter Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipeline to the existing 75mm diameter PVC pipeline for the mainline improvement at Purok 35, Maharlika Village.

Second set is on November

13 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Affected areas are portion of Cabantian – Indangan Road (from junction of Forestal Road to DCWD Cabantian Res-ervoir), Hidalgo Homes Subd. and Dacudao Village. This water service interruption is needed to give way to the tap-ping of the water distribution system of Celerina Heights in Cabantian by the ECD crew.

Once completed, both projects will allow for accom-modation of additional service connections.

DCWD general manager Edwin V. Regalado asks for the understanding and coopera-tion of would-be affected cus-

PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III endorsed to Congress today a pro-

posed bill titled “Salary Stan-dardization Law of 2015” or SSL 2015 for its consideration and enactment into law.

The bill mandates a four-year PHP226 billion compen-sation increase for the national government’s 1.53 million ci-

vilian, military and uniformed personnel.

According to Budget Sec-retary Florencio Abad, the compensation package is composed of a salary increase, a mid-year 14th month pay, and an enhanced perfor-mance-based bonus (PBB) system.

The bill seeks to increase

the basic salary of covered em-ployees on the average by 27 percent, while the 14th month pay will further raise com-pensation by 8 percent. The enhanced PBB is equivalent to one to two months’ salary or an average 10 percent increase in salary.

Government personnel who play a greater role and

carry a heavier responsibility in improving government per-formance, will receive a higher bonus.

“At the end of the four tranches, government com-pensation, on a weighted av-erage basis, is estimated to increase by 45 percent and should be around 84 percent

Nograles hits attemptto gag NAIA media AN approximate area of

1,000 square meters that used to be a resi-

dential area under the Gover-nor Generoso Bridge will be soon fenced off, an official of the Davao City Water District (DCWD) said.

“The contractors of the rehabilitation project pro-posed for the fencing of the area to prohibit illegal settlers from constructing back their shanties in the area,” DCWD spokesperson lawyer Bernar-do D. Delima told reporters at

the sideline of the Kapehan sa dabaw at SM City Annex yes-terday.

The contractors – a con-sortium composed of RD Poli-carpio and Co. Inc., Allado Con-struction Company, Inc., and TGV Builders Inc. – construct-ed a new pipe bridge with a diameter of 1,000 millimeter (mm) at the center of Gover-nor Generoso bridges I and II. The bigger pipe replaced the 650mm and 750mm pipes that were used when the origi-

[email protected] CHENEEN R. CAPON

Gov’t workers’ pay increase passed

Water service interruptions in some parts of the city

Area under pipe bridgeto be fenced off: DCWD

Troops overrun NPAbase in Sarangani

RIVER BASIN TALK. Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) director for Policy Planning and project Development Office Reyzaldy Tan (right)talks about the upcoming 1st Mindanao River Basin Organization (RBO) Conference slated on November 11 and 12 at

the Grand Regal Hotel which will convene 250 river basin stakeholders from all regions in Mindanao. Tan was joined by Rolando Pinsoy of Mindanow during yesterday’s Kapehan sa Dabaw at the Annex of SM City Davao. Lean Daval Jr.

VASECTOMY DAY. City Health Office (CHO) population control officer Jeff Fuentes (right) bares that 55 men from Davao City availed themselves of vasectomy this year. Fuentes was joined by CHO district health officer Dr. Titus

Theodore Antonio in promoting the no-scalpel vasectomy and the upcoming World Vasectomy Day on November 13 during yesterday’s Kapehan sa Dabaw at the Annex of SM City Davao. Lean Daval Jr.

PHOTO OP. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte is flanked by guests who want to have a photograph of him during the re-launch of Chimes specialty store at Felcris Centrale on Saturday night. Lean Daval Jr.

FNOGRALES, 10

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FAREA, 10

FWATER, 10

FTROOPS, 10

VOL. 8 ISSUE 160 • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 20154 EDGEDAVAO

SUBURBIA

Dengue cases dropin Davao Region

MATI CITY

KIDAPAWAN CITY

DENGUE cases in the Davao Region fell down by 65 percent.

Department of Health Re-gion XI Director Abdullah Du-mama declared recently that the number of dengue cases in the region decreased to 3,068 on January to October this year from 8,841 on the same period last year.

Director Dumama also said number of deaths related to dengue plunged to 11 this year from 41 last year.

The pronouncement was made during the recent

launching of Brigada Kalini-san and Dengue Prevention Campaign in Tubod National High School in Carmen of this province.

“Hindi po importante ang pagbaba. Ang importante po ay may mga kaso pa. Habang may kaso pa, may mga Ae-des na lamok parin sa ating kapaligiran,” Dumama said. (The reduction is that not im-portant. What is important is there are still cases. And when there are cases, there are still Aedes mosquitoes in our envi-ronment.)

He encouraged the public to prevent dengue by cleaning their own backyard.

“Iwasan ho natin ang magkasakit lalong lalo na pag dengue kasi marami na ho ang nasasawi dahil dito. At ito ay maiiwasan lang sa pamamagitan ng pag-lilinis sa ating paligid,” he said. (Let us keepourselves from getting a disease especially dengue be-cause many have died due to it. And this can be prevented by cleaning our surround-ings.)

Dumama also urged peo-

ple to ensure that there is no water in rain pipes, cases, bot-tle caps, tires and others that can be a breeding ground for the Aedes mosquito.

“Butasan din ang mga lumang gulong para hindi ito makapag-ipon ng tubig,” he added. (Make a hole in old tires so they will not store wa-ter.)

Dumama said a drop of clean water can become a breeding area of the Aedes mosquitoes, in which they can live there for 30 days. (PIA11, Michael Uy)

CARMEN, DAVAO DEL NORTE

BANDONG. Motorized bandong is the main means of transport for residents of coastal villages like Taguitic in Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte. The bandong transports passengers, dry goods, marine products, and nipa shingles from Panguil Bay, passing through a river and a mangrove area. MindaNews photo by RICHEL V. UMEL

AIMING at strengthening disaster risk reduction and management in the

barangays, the provincial gov-ernment and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) awarded the best pre-pared barangays in this city.

The awardees are Tamisan as the Best Prepared Barangay with a cash reward of P30,000; Mayo as first runner up with a cash award of P20,000; and Tagabakid, Dahican, Sainz, and Mamali as second runners-up with cash prize of P10,000 each.

The search is a special proj-ect conceptualized by the DILG and the Development Academy of the Philippines and funded by the provincial and the city government of Mati to boost disaster preparedness down to the grassroots level.

With the project’s ultimate aim to have zero casualty and minimal damages to properties

when calamities strike, a thor-ough selection process was un-dertaken by conducting an on-site monitoring and evaluation in the barangays.

Upon inspection, the DILG reported that all 26 barangays in Mati have their own ful-ly-functional Barangay Disaster Operations Center. “They have already identified their own evacuation centers and the residents know where to go in times of disasters,” said DILG Provincial Office Outcome Man-ager Orle A. Cabaobao.

In the initial stage of the project, various disaster man-agement trainings were con-ducted in the barangays as well as distribution of emergency disaster signage to be posted in their centers.

DILG saw the project as good venue for collaboration as various local offices, councils

Barangays recognizedfor disaster preparedness

THE provincial Com-mission on Elections (Comelec) in North Co-

tabato has removed from its final list of registered voters a total of 31,901 individuals after having failed to beat the October 31 validation and biometric deadline set by the office.

Lawyer Duque Kadatuan, Comelec - North Cotabato su-pervisor, said that following the purging of its list, regis-tered voters for the province currently totaled at 671,876.

“Those (names) detached from the Comelec list would not be able to cast votes in the upcoming 2016 synchronized national and local elections”,

Kadatuan said.He added that their office

is preparing documents for final screening and approval by the Comelec central office in Manila.

According to Kadatuan, those prohibited from voting would only be allowed to reac-tivate validation and biometric registration after the 2016 polls in accordance with the recently approved Mandatory Biometrics Registration Act.

Names of qualified voters, meanwhile, would appear in the List of Certified Registered Voters that would be posted in barangay halls before the scheduled May 9 polling next year. (PNA)

32K North Cotabato votersremoved from Comelec list

THE Department of Trade and Industry in the re-gion is set to hold the

Philippine Rubber Industry Market Encounter (PRIME) in a bid to position Mindanao as a hub of rubber processing.

PRIME is slated on No-vember 10-11 this year at SMX Lanang, Davao City and is expected to gather more than 700 participants from the sec-tors of rubber growers, manu-facturers and producers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

DTI Davao City Director Edwin Banquerigo said they are also hoping for foreign del-egations to join the event, es-pecially from Thailand where the biggest rubber production is and Malaysia which has the best manufacturing technolo-gy.

Banquerigo said the mar-ket encounter hopes to draw P1.5 billion in investments and P1 billion from potential sales and transactions from the rub-ber industry in Mindanao.

He raised the importance

of PRIME in promoting the in-dustry among rubber players to improve productivity and quality.

The DTI official believed that the country could match up Thailand’s annual produc-tion of 1.8 metric tons per hectare. Philippines is only producing 0.7 metric tons per hectare yearly.

Banquerigo said the coun-try needs to expand rubber production and improve qual-ity to get premium prices.

He also suggested for a more value adding invest-ments.

From the 2014 production of over 450,000 metric tons, six per cent increase in the productivity is targeted per year starting 2015 until 2020.

“We would like to hit pro-duction of 1.9 metric tons per hectare by 2020,” Banquerigo stated.

He said as of last year, the country has a total area of 217,000 hectares planted to

DTI’s market encounterto promote rubber industry

CLEAN ELECTIONS. Parishioners of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro take to the streets Saturday, November 7, to call for a clean and orderly election in 2016 and an end to political dynasties. MindaNews photo by FROILAN GALLARDO

FDTI, 10

FBARANGAYS, 10

VOL. 8 ISSUE 160 • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015 5EDGEDAVAO

ECONOMY


LIFESTYLE MECCA. Mayor Rodrigo Duterte leads the wine-toasting during the opening of the new Chimes shop in Felcris Centrale on Saturday night along with the bigwigs of the homegrown shopping mall and guests. NJB

TWO Davao-based port operators have been cer-tified authorized custom

facility (ACF) by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in the Philip-pines.

The Terminal Facilities and Services Corp. (TEFASCO) and the Davao International Con-tainer Terminal, Inc. (DICT) received the ACF certification last week, becoming the first operators in the country to se-cure such certification.

Custom commissioner Al-

berto Lina himself handed the certification at the Park Inn by Radisson.

“These are the first two to comply with the requirements of the bureau in the whole country,” Lina said.

During the awarding cere-mony Friday, Lina said the two facilities have increased their competitiveness in the Asean integration that will result to a free trade of goods and ser-vices between member coun-tries.

Anflocor president and CEO Anthony Alexander N. Val-oria said the accreditation will allow the DICT to have better coordination with the system of the BOC.

“This must be the policy direction of all ports in the country to be competitive in the Asean integration,” Valoria said. The DICT is one of the companies under the Anflocor.

Among the concerns of the economic integration which will be fully realized by

December this year is the syn-chronization of custom laws and regulations of 10 coun-tries, including the Philippines, to the security of cargoes in cross-border trade.

BOC issued Custom Mem-orandum Order No. 30-2015 last September that provided rules for the establishment, su-pervision, and control of ACF, including wharves, container yards, container freight sta-tions, warehouses, examina-tion areas and other facilities

located within customs zones and/ or in airports and sea-ports, and used for temporary handling and storage of im-ported goods and immediate-ly discharged from airplanes, vessels and other modes of international transport.

“The CMO also covers all existing customs bonded warehouses (CBWs), which will now have to undergo BOC review and seek reaccredita-tion as ACFs,” the BOC said. The order will affect at least 30

ACFs in the country. “The CMO was issued to

institute guidelines and pro-mote use of customs facilities for the promotion of security in the supply chain, the proper collection of duties and taxes, the prevention of the entry of drugs and other anti-social goods and the facilitation of the clearance process for im-ported goods,” the order said.

Under the CMO, the Au-thorized Economic Operator

Davao operators get ACF certification

FDAVAO, 10

VOL. 8 ISSUE 160 • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 20156 EDGEDAVAOTHE ECONOMY

MORE than 2,000 households resid-ing in the district of

Mandug and nearby areas will no longer have to worry about water supply as the Davao City Water District (DCWD) will start the opera-tion of the Mandug Facility by next week.

“We will be inaugurating the P57-million facility ei-ther by November 16 or 19,” DCWD spokesperson lawyer Bernardo D. Delima told re-porters during yesterday’s Kapehan sa Dabaw at Sm City Annex.

Delima said the construc-tion of the Mandug Facility started in 2013 and was im-plemented by phases be-cause the high cost of materi-als for the project.

“The Mandug Facility will have water distribution lines and elevated water tank,” he said. “It will have a capacity of delivering 400 cubic meters or 2,000 drum of clean and potable water.”

Delima said the capaci-ty of the facility “is enough to supply the daily require-ments” of the residents in the area who are now buying

their daily water supply. Some residents in the

Mandug District have to use “jetmatic” pumps to have underground water supply, according to him.

Since the facility has no reservoir, Delima said it will be replenish from time to time to ensure the sustain-ability of the water supply in the area.

“The facility will immedi-ately release water by 4 a.m. in the morning,” he added.

The DCWD is also target-ing to finish the P110 million water treatment facility in

Panacan, including the three additional production wells in the area.

“By then, our customers from the areas in Panacan and Lasang will no longer complain of the odor and col-or of the water,” Delima said.

However, he clarified that the water supplied in the area will not the same quality with the water from the Dumoy system.

At present, many resi-dents in the Panacan and La-sang area are complaining of the odor and yellowish color of the water.

P57-M Mandug waterfacility set for operation

FOR having put Davao City on the world’s chocolate map, homegrown pre-

mium chocolate maker and international awardee Malagos Chocolates was named the first recipient of the Davao Business Awards Friday at the 3rd Davao Investment Conference (ICON).

The award was conferred at the closing of this year’s Davao ICON at the SMX Con-vention Center by Architect Daniel T. Lim, former president of Davao City Chamber of Com-merce and Industry Inc. (DCC-CII) and chair of the investment gathering held November 4 to 6.

“This year, as we launch the Davao Business Awards, we are giving a special citation to a Davao brand that has made a mark in the chocolate indus-try and is now internationally renowned as one of the best chocolates in the world. Just this year, they received two in-ternational awards,” he said.

In April 2015, the Malagos Chocolates brought home the

Bronze Award for its 100 per-cent Pure Unsweetened Choco-late under the Best Unflavored Drinking Chocolate at the 2015 Academy of Chocolate Awards in London.

Last month, its 65 percent dark chocolate won silver in the 2015 International Choc-olate Awards’ World Drinking Chocolate Competition in Ha-nover, Germany under the Dark Drinking Chocolate category, specifically drinks made with milk.

Lim said the Davao Busi-ness Awards aims to give recognition to outstanding achievements, best business practices across business sec-tors. “Awards will be given to recognize new as well as exist-ing businesses that have sig-nificantly impacted on the con-tinuous growth of Davao City’s economy,” he said.

He added that this recogni-tion was based on “the nature of the project in support to the Comprehensive Development Plan of the city, as well as its

value adding to existing local products, local employment generation tax contribution.”

Charita Puentespina, own-er of the Puentespina Farm where the Malagos Chocolates is made, is credited for hav-ing put the city on the “map of chocolates” in the world.

“Chocolates are interna-tional products or food that are enjoyed by everyone. We have a very good chocolate here, very good source of the beans. We just need to come up with the proper growing and proper post harvest, and very good processing, so that we can come up with a very good prod-uct,” she said.

The Malagos Farm and Gar-den Resort has 25 hectares of land in Malagos, Baguio District where 80 percent of the bean requirement for chocolates are drawn while the other 20 per-cent come from the farmers, Puentespina added.

The Malagos Chocolates requires about 40 metric tons of cocoa beans a year, she said.

“We partner with the farm-ers who are willing to do quali-ty fermentation, and follow the proper way of harvesting of ca-cao beans,” she said.

The firm is also exporting at a small quantity to London, Japan, Singapore, and the Unit-ed States.

Puentespina envisions Malagos Chocolates as one of the leaders in the chocolate in-dustry in five years “because we have very good quality beans.”

“We are working on the production from the side of the farmers to produce the re-quired amount of the beans, so that we can be able to supply the export market. The interest now because of the awards, a lot of people are wiling to buy our product. Our product, the dark chocolate, is the chocolate that is good for the health,” he said.

She said the company trains the farmers on the best farming method so that cacao trees yield good cacao beans. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)


Malagos Chocolates emerges firstwinner of Davao Business Awards

ICTSI Manila gets4 new yard cranes

APEC senior officialsto process initiatives

THE International Con-tainer Terminal Services, Inc.’s (ICTSI) recently

took delivery of four new rub-ber tired gantry cranes (RTGs) for its flagship Manila Inter-national Container Terminal (MICT).

The RTGs are part of ICT-SI’s large port equipment or-der from Cargotec’s Kalmar.They also form part of the MICT’s port equipment up-grading to complement and sustain the multimillion dollar infrastructure development project at the terminal, which includes the expansion of the

container yard.ICTSI won the 25 + 25

years concession to operate the Manila International Con-tainer Terminal (MICT) in an international tender in 1988.

Since ICTSI’s takeover, MICT has increased its annual capacity five-fold, expanded its container handling fleet to make it the largest and most modern container terminal in the Philippines, and switched from a manual control system to an integrated real-time IT terminal control system.

MICT is ICTSI’s flagship operation.

NEW CRANES. The new RTGs at the MICT’s newly built Yard 7.

SENIOR Officials from the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) mem-

ber economies are scheduled to meet in Manila on November 13 to 14 to process the year’s worth of work under the leadership of the Philippines, prioritizing de-liverables such as action plans and statements to be endorsed to APEC Ministers and Leaders, for adoption.

A total of 229 meetings, including meetings under the APEC Finance Ministers’ Process, sectoral ministerial meetings and high-¬level policy dialogues, and the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) as the private sector arm of APEC.

Policies, initiatives, and pro-grams were developed during these meetings. Some of these include:

1.) The Renewed APEC Agenda for Structural Reform (RAASR) which was endorsed by the APEC Structural Reform Ministers. The The RAASR reaf-firms economies’ commitment to accelerate efforts to address in-stitution building in APEC econ-omies through structural reform and targeted capacity building on economic governance, unilateral reforms aimed at further improv-ing the services sector, regulatory infrastructure, and competition policy.

2.) The Boracay Action Agen-da (BAA) to Globalize micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) which was developed by APEC Trade Ministers. BAA outlines actions that are practical and important for MSMEs’ par-ticipation in global trade, such as access to finance, e-¬commerce, and markets. APEC officials have also developed an implemen-tation Plan which will guide economies to identify areas of convergence across APEC fora, and work with ABAC on comple-mentary projects and efficient use of resources in implementing MSME initiatives.

3.) The Cebu Action Plan (CAP) which was developed by APEC Finance Ministers. The CAP is a roadmap and a “living docu-ment” that will guide economies promote intra-¬regional trade and investments, connectivity, infrastructure development, and MSME and supply chain fi-nancing. It works on four pillars: promoting financial integration; advancing fiscal reforms and transparency; enhancing finan-cial resiliency; and accelerating infrastructure development and financing.

4.) The APEC Strategy for

Strengthening Quality Growth that embeds the principles of institution building, social cohe-sion/equity, and concern for en-vironmental impact of econom-ic/industrial activities as new dimensions with which growth should be pursued. The Strategy underscores how quality growth is about the economic well-¬be-ing of every individual and of every economy, focusing on how growth can be sustained over the medium-¬ to long-¬term. Thus, governments of each APEC econ-omy are called to ensure the prin-ciples of good governance, trans-parency, and inclusion in their individual economic pursuits.

In the next 5 years until 2020, this document will serve as a strategic guide for APEC as an institution and as individu-al economies in strengthening quality growth through agreed initiatives that could be pursued collectively or unilaterally.

5.) The Strategic Plan of the Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (PPWE) 2015-2018 was developed by APEC this year to advance women’s full and equal economic partici-pation through improved access to capital and assets;; access to markets; skills, capacity uilding, and health; women’s leadership, voice, and agency; innovation and technology.

Projects include the Women and the Economy Dashboard to track, measure, and communi-cate progress in reducing barri-ers to women’s economic partic-ipation; the Guide in Gender Cri-teria for APEC Project Proposal to ensure mainstreaming of gender perspectives across APEC; and the Policy Toolkit on Healthy Women, Healthy Economy to improve the physical and mental health, safety, and well-¬being of women in the workplace.

6.) The APEC Disaster Risk Reduction Framework facilitates collective work in building adap-tive and disaster-¬resilient econ-omies supporting inclusive and sustainable development in the face of the “new normal”-¬the increasing frequency, magnitude and scope of natural disasters, and the resultant disruption on the increasingly integrated and interlinked production and supply chains. The Framework enables collaboration in the four interoperable and mutually rein-forcing pillars, namely: Preven-tion and Mitigation, Prepared-ness, Response, and Rehabilita-tion and Build Back Better.

7.) The APEC Group of FAPEC, 10

EVENT

EDGEDAVAOINdulge!

SPOOKY A4

VOL. 8 ISSUE 158 • SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2015

A SPOOKY KINDMotorcade, Halloween Night spice up The Residences 3 launching

By NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO

THE BRAINS at Escandor Development Corporation (Esdevco) were at work and the result is just amazing—a spooky way to launch another condominium project.

Esdevco’s men and women, led by project di-rector Gerald Kent Garc-es, whipped up a party in-tertwined with the theme of the season—Hallow-een—and what a way in-deed it was to officially launch The Residences 3 of Matina Enclaves last October 30.

The launch got off to a rousing start with a long queue of cars snak-ing through the city’s main thoroughfares for the morning motorcade which began and ended at the Clubhouse at Matina Enclaves (CAME).

The following realty firms joined the motor-cade: Ablas Realty, Apolo-nio Realty, Asoy Or RJBA Realty, Balio Realty, Cor-ro Realty, Denaga Realty, Fullworth Realty, Horni-jas Realty, Leuterio Realty, Romero Realty, Torefiel and RCJH Realty.

At night, Matina En-

OF LAUNCH

Matina Enclaves

AIRASIA took home the coveted title of Best Low Cost Carrier (LCC) at the inaugural 2015 Travel Weekly Asia Reader’s Choice Awards as voted by the leading travel trade magazine’s strong base of readers comprising of sea-soned travellers and indus-try players. Readers of Travel Weekly Asia magazine casted their votes from 14 August to 25 September 2015 on www.travelweekly-asia.com to choose their favourite travel and hospitality establishments out of 31 award categories ranging from airlines, cruise lines to travel agen-cies and hotel chains. Mr Logan Velaitham, CEO of AirAsia Singapore received the award on behalf of the AirAsia Group at the award ceremony held yesterday in Singapore. “On behalf of AirAsia Group, we are both delighted and proud to be recognized as the Best Low Cost Carrier among the readers of Travel Weekly Asia. Each award re-ceived is a testament to the hard work and determination of 17,000 AirAsia Allstars around the globe and it drives us to develop even better products and services for our guests. We would like to thank everyone for voting for us,” said Logan. This is the first Travel Weekly

Reader’s Choice Awards that is held in the Asia region as the spin-off of its American version which has been running for over a de-cade now in the United States. The Travel Weekly Asia Reader’s Choice Award will be presented annually to industry leaders as recognition for their service and product ex-cellence, voted by the magazine’s pool of discerning readers. Irene Chua, Group Publisher for Northstar Travel Media (Asia) said, “The awards are a confirma-tion of the travel industry’s most outstanding companies and lauds their achievements. Congratula-tions to all our winners, who truly deserve this recognition in the in-

dustry. Travel Weekly Asia heralds the travel professionals who have truly made a difference!” This year alone, AirAsia has been recognised as the best in the industry multiple times when it re-ceived the World’s Best Low Cost Airline recognition by Skytrax for seven consecutive years, Best Low-Cost Airline at the Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Travel Awards 2015 for four years in a row, and very recently the airline group also clinched the Excellence Award un-der the Airlines category at Expa-triate Lifestyle’s Best of Malaysia Awards. In this same week, AirAsia also received SimpliFlying Awards’ Top 3 Best Overall Airline in Asia

A2 INdulge! EDGEDAVAOEVENT

Travel Weekly Asia readers name Airasia as best LCC

CHANGE YOUR FOREGN CURRENCIES AT THE SM STORE. For your Foreign Exchange needs please proceed to The SM Store Davao’s Forex Counter or Global Pinoy Center at SM Lanang Premier, SM City Davao and SM City General Santos. Safe, reliable and convenient, The SM Store Davao Currency Exchange Service accepts 15 Foreign currencies.

Logan Velaitham (centre), CEO of AirAsia Singapore accepting the award from Arnie Weissmann (left) , Editor-in-chief of Travel Weekly and Senior VP and Editorial Director of Travel Group, Northstar Travel Media and Mr Ian Jarrett (right), Editor-at-large of Travel Weekly Asia.

Pacific while a special individual award was given to Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Group CEO of AirA-sia for Leadership in Social Me-dia, recognising AirAsia’s creative and effective integration of social media into overall marketing and business strategy. Keep updated with AirAsia’s lat-est promotions and activities via Twitter (twitter.com/AirAsia) and Facebook (facebook.com/AirAsia).

THE Blue Posts Boil-ing Crabs and Shrimps organized its very first kiddie “Hallow Party” last October 31, 2015 at its J.P. Laurel Avenue branch. 52 eager kids came in at 2 pm for registration wear-ing the prescribed fantasy or spooky-themed costumes. For only 250 pesos per head, the kids got to enjoy kiddie meals, snacks & drinks, Halloween loot bags, games, prizes and gift certs up to 1000 pesos in worth, a magic show and more fun and exciting activities. “We decided to organize this Hallow Party for kids since we noticed a lot of our loyal customers are large fami-lies with kids” says Dave Alva-rez, Marketing Head. “What better way to establish and strengthen our relationship with our loyal customers than

by celebrating this spooky sea-son with them?” The jam-packed Hallow party ended at 5 pm and in

true Blue Posts spirit, the kids were all in agreement that “It’s Fun to be Messy”. Blue Posts Boiling Crabs

and Shrimps is nearing its 2nd anniversary and Mr. Alvarez says “they’re cooking some-thing up to end the year with

a bang”. This is a well-deserved celebration as the restaurant is currently gearing up for its na-tional expansion with its very first franchise in Manila this coming 2016. If you want to find out what the buzz is all about Davao’s best-kept “messy, finger-licking seafood dining” secret, you can visit Blue Posts Boiling Crabs and Shrimps at JP Laurel Ave Bajada (221-8360) or at their 2nd branch at Lanang Business Park (295-9022).

Above: The kids were entranced by the 30-minute magic show.

Left: The kids in their cute Halloween costumes with their families.

Blue Posts Boiling Crabs and Shrimps holds first Hallow Party kid event

UP AND ABOUT


OVER 70 of the big-gest and brightest OPM stars gathered for a night in cel-ebration of MYX’s 15 years in show-casing the best of Pinoy music at MYX Mo, the biggest and longest run-ning OPM festival in the country. As early as 4PM, the crowd partied nonstop as they enjoyed the best OPM hits from MYX’s star-studded impres-sive roster of local artists across all genres to date –from jamming along with rock hits of Pupil to singing their hearts out to Kyla’s soulful songs. The MYX Mo! 2015 stage also became a platform for young ris-ing OPM artists to wow the crowd with their incredible talent. Per-formances from “The Voice Kids” alumni Lyca Gairanod, Elha Nympha,

and Darren Espanto had the MYX Mo! crowd shrieking and singing along to their renditions of hit songs. OPM artists who par-tied at MYX Mo! also took to Twitter to share their great experience at the biggest gathering of OPM artists this year. RnB prince Jay-R re-marked, “I’m still hung over from MYX Mo 2015. Always a great experi-ence performing on the MYX stage.” DJ Tom Taus also said he was honored to be part of the biggest lineup of OPM artists for MYX Mo. He tweeted, “what a great gathering of artists and music lov-ers. It was an honor to close out MYX Mo 2015.” Fans on social media also said that MYX! Mo was a nostalgic music concert as it featured the best OPM hits through-out the years, while a

first time MYX! Mo con-certgoer described it as “the best OPM concert.” MYX VJs Nikki, Chino, Robi, Ai, Erika, Tippy, and Diego also excitedly an-nounced at MYX Mo! the music channel’s first ever vlogger search for MYX-ph.com which will be launched soon for MYX’s 15th year. The vlogger search will scour for the newest face and online sensation who will star in MYXclusive web vid-

eos and other creative content on MYXph.com. The newest search is part of MYX’s effort to welcome changes to stay relevant and fresh to its young viewers in the years to come. MYX is currently one of the most followed youth-oriented social media account in the country with 5.7 million likes on Facebook and a whop-ping 5 million followers on Twitter.

TOP ONE PROJECT or T.O.P. celebrated their first month-sary as GMA’s new-est boy band sensa-tion. They posted a video message on their official Face-book page and ser-enaded their fans by singing their first and upcoming single, ‘Paggising.’ “Thank you guys sa lahat ng supporters, especially sa mga un-sTOPpables. Maraming maraming salamat,” Miko Manguba began. “Stay solid guys and don’t stop believing,” Mico Cruz added, while Adrian Pascual con-curred, “Nandito lang kami palagi sa tabi niyo.

Hindi kami mawawala.” T.O.P. was formed via the first multi-platform boy band competition

in the Philippines, To The Top (http://www.gmanetwork.com/gma/tothetop/). The group is

composed of Miko M., Mico C., Adrian Pascual, Joshua Jacobe and Lou-ie Pedroso.

INdulge! A3EDGEDAVAOENTERTAINMENT

Over 70 OPM artists perform at MYX Mo!

T.O.P. serenades fans with their first single

MYX is a youth-ori-ented music channel in the Philippines that aims to showcase music from OPM artists across

all genres. It belongs to the family of cable chan-nels under Creative Pro-grams, Inc., a subsidiary of ABS-CBN.


G

PG

R13 12:40 | 3:00 | 5:20 | 7:40 | 10:00 LFS

THE LAST WITCH HUNTER

Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie, Elijah Wood

PG 1:00 | 4:00 | 7:00 | 10:00 LFS

EVERYDAY I LOVE YOU

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

GOOSEBUMPS

Halston Sage, Jack Black, Amy Ryan

12:20 | 2:45 | 5:10 | 7:35 | 10:00 LFS

Liza Soberano, Enrique Gil,

Gerald Anderson

SPECTRE

Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz,

Ralph Fiennes

November 6 – 10, 2015

A4 INdulge!EVENT

claves treated its investors to a “Freaky Friday” In-vestors Night. Attendees took the theme seriously and came with their were their spooky halloween costumes. The Freaky Friday event offered dis-counts and special pay-ment terms for Building 3.

Garces said the freaky party signaled the start of their sales campaign for Building 3. The event was also part of the launching and the first formal activ-ity for the sellers and pros-pects of Building 3.

“We will still be hav-ing one 32 sqm Studio and 57 sqm 2 Bedroom units. But offering 2 BR units at 45 sqm is our response to market demand for more compact dwellings for the family. Essentially we are trying to expand our market base by pro-

viding an opportunity to other families who want to invest in Matina En-claves through smaller 2 BR units. These units still promise functionality and convenience of Enclaves’ bigger units. Building 3 is also designed with the same lifestyle-ish finishes carried by other models of

Matina Enclaves.” Garces said.

With The Residences 3 now officially in the market, expect sales to jumpstart with the unique features and payment schemes offered for this new concept otherwise called “The Crossover Condo.”

SPOOKY A1

EDGEDAVAO VOL. 8 ISSUE 158 • SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2015

VOL. 8 ISSUE 160 • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015 VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO

Worrying about agriculture and exports

“Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.” -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

***

SIX years ago, there was a call to declare Panigan-Tamugan River in Davao City as a “single purpose river.”

The petition read: “Because of the criti-cal role of the Panigan-Tamugan River to the health of Davao City residents and to the de-velopment of the city, it is likewise important to declare Panigan-Tamugan River as a ‘single purpose river,’ a river whose sole purpose is to serve as a source for domestic and munic-ipal purposes.”

That’s going ahead of the story. At that time, it was bared in a study that Dumoy Aquifer -- then the source of drinking water for Davao residents -- would not be able to supply the water needs of the city by 2013.

“It has been projected that by 2013, Davao City will have a deficit of potable water supply at approximately 13.80 million liters per day,” the petition said. “Over extraction of ground-water aquifer will result to ground subsid-ence and saltwater intrusion which makes our waters unsuitable for domestic uses.”

Thus, there was a need for additional source of water. One study had study identi-fied “the Panigan-Tamugan River as the only river that possesses an acceptable water quality and sufficient volume to meet the city’s future water needs.”

The petition came to mind when I read a news report which was published in Business Mirror last Sunday. It is written by Manuel T.

Cayon, the Min-danao Bureau Chief, and was titled, “Vigi-lance called over water-ex-traction project in Davao.”

The lead said: “Residents in the north-western wa-tershed areas and near a river were asked to actively participate in ‘scoping’ and to maintain their vigilance over the city project to extract its water for new drinking source.”

The report said that the Davao City Water District (DCWD), touted to be the No. 1 water utility in the Asia-Pacific Region, “would be expected to contact and gather the communi-ties along the Tamugan River in Baguio Dis-trict… as part of securing an environmental impact assessment before its P2-billion wa-ter-extraction project could proceed.”

“Consumers and watershed dwellers alike should actively participate in the scop-ing process so that all concerns will be ad-dressed,” Ann Fuertes, executive director of Interface Development Inventions was quot-ed as saying. “While we recognize that water is a public resource that must be available to all, its extraction should not damage the liveli-hood and way of life of the upland watershed dwellers.”

Davao City, one of biggest cities in the country, is blessed with abundant fresh drink-

ing water, both ground and surface. Accord-ing to DCWD’s website, “Mount Apo serves as the recharge point and the areas at the foot of the mountain contain these large reservoirs, the biggest of which is the Calinan, Toril and Talomo Triangle.”

But for how long this water would be available, no one knows. Multi-awarded Davao journalist Jeffrey Tupas, in an article some years back, reported: “Right now, over 99 percent of the water consumed by the city comes from groundwater extracted from the Talomo-Lipadas Watershed. With a daily extraction of 212,000 cubic meters from 50 production wells, sustainability is in danger.”

In 1991, Davao City was one of the nine cities in the country to be included in a study done by the Japan International Cooperation Agency as “water-critical areas.” The eight other cities were Metro Manila, Cebu, Baguio, Angeles, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga.

In areas where water is becoming a scarce commodity, water-related diseases like diar-rhea are bound to stay. In 24 provinces, one of every five residents gets water from dubious sources, says the Philippine Human Develop-ment Report a few years back.

Today’s “crisis in water and sanitation is – above all – a crisis of the poor,” according to the United Nations Development Program study: Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Water Crisis. “People living in the slums… face shortages of clean water,” the UNDP study claims. “(But) their neighbors in high income suburbs… keep their lawns green and swim-ming pools topped up. (The poor) pay five to ten times more for water per unit than those

in high-income areas of their own cities.” Each day, Filipinos consume 310 to 507

million cubic meters of water. “A household of five needs at least 120 liters per days to meet basic needs – for drinking, food preparation, cooking and cleaning up, washing and per-sonal hygiene, laundry, house cleaning,” noted David Satterthwaite and Gordon McGranahan in their collaborative report published in the State of the World.

Providing clean water can save most of the lives of children who would die from wa-ter-related diseases, according to UNDP. In-stalling a flush toilet in the home increases a child’s chance by 59 percent of celebrating his or her birthday. In the Philippines, out of ev-ery 1,000 kids, 27 never make it to their first birthday.

Although water is a renewable resource, it is also a finite one. Less than three percent of the world’s water is fresh, and more than 75 percent of this is frozen - mainly at the North and South Poles. Of the remaining fresh wa-ter, 98 percent lies underground. People and land-dwelling animals can only access about 0.01 percent of the entire world’s water.

“World demand for water doubles every 21 years, but the volume available is the same as it was in the Roman times,” observes Sir Crispin Tickell, former British ambassador to the United Nations and one of the organizers of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. “Something has got to give.”

“A water crisis is likely to hit around the year 2050.” This was the unanimous warning from participants at the first World Water Fo-rum held in Marrakech, Morocco in 1997.

Is Davao City ready for a water crisis?

WITH worrying regularity our agri-cultural sectors’ contribution to our economic growth and exports is go-

ing down. As its contribution to GDP has less-ened in the past year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that our Agriculture trade deficit widened 113.02 percent in the first half of the year as imports continued to outpace exports. Total export earnings gen-erated from Philippine agricultural exports fell 22.62 percent year-on-year to $2.6 billion. Our agritrade deficit rose to $2.3 billion from January to June from $1.08 billion in the same period last year. The sector comprised nine percent of the country’s total export earnings of $28.89 billion during the period.

What these statistics point to is that we are importing more to feed ourselves. The sad fact is that we are rapidly transforming into a coun-try with a potential consumer base than a pro-ducer of agricultural products. Increasingly, the Asian countries with surplus food produc-tion like Thailand, India, and China are looking at Philippines as mouths needing cheap food and are looking to sell to us.

Of course certain prod-ucts like wheat, palm oil ker-nel, and other imported in-puts need to be sourced from other countries, but what both-ers many is that 85% of meat to make hotdogs and corned beef need to be imported. Wow! Raising cattle need not be a job for the high-ly skilled, so why do we need to import most of our beef? Can we not push higher cattle production in many idle and less productive lands? Or is it easier and more profitable to import? Thousands of families can easily im-bibe the skills for such a simple task, yet we choose to import. This is a lost opportunity for employment and foreign exchange savings.

During the last Southern Mindanao In-dustrial Tour middle of this year, many of the

industrial investors who toured the different sites in Davao City and nearby areas were surprised to find active container terminals of Anflocor and Hijo, and mixed use industri-al estates of Nakayama group and Ciudades ready to receive their factories. It is therefore of strategic importance that government and Manila business organizations like the PCCI, the Joint foreign chambers of Commerce, and Makati Business Club push for programs and incentives that can enable companies to locate in the different industrial estates being pre-pared in Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and General Santos. After all, these are where the produce meant for processing are grown, near the farmers and the agri processors. These re-sult in lower cost supply chains, adding value to their investments and making their prod-ucts more competitive.

What we need to do, therefore, is bring more agri processing and industry to Mind-anao. Why bring them to Calabarzon, Clark, or Subic when they can be processed here, with lower power and labor costs? Are they afraid of Mindanao? I would be more afraid

of the brewing West Philippine Sea Conflict that threatens to choke vital sea routes to Ja-pan and Korea, which are the same sea lanes fronting Subic, Manila Bay, and the Batangas Port. Shipping out of Davao towards Japan and Korea allows them to avoid these conflicted sealanes. Moreover, I would be more fearful of a congested, dirty Greater Manila Area pricing its properties out of the market, with a spiral-ing cost of living that prohibits residents from making the best out of their livelihoods, and forcing them to max out their credit cards and pawn their television sets just to ensure their children’s school enrolment. What kind of life will recongesting the Greater Manila Area cre-ate?

With this, we sincerely hope that the road-maps being laid out by the Board of Invest-ments (BOI) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) seriously consider providing special incentives to locate processing plants here in Mindanao, at the source. It not only affords the investor lower costs but reduces their carbon footprint. We all need that push for Mindanao.

Is Davao City ready for a water crisis?

Henrylito D. [email protected]

THINK ON THESE!

John [email protected]

MY TWO CENTS’


Davao... FROM 5

Troops... FROM 3DON’T ASK... FROM 1

DCPO... FROM 2

APEC... FROM 6

PR Bank... FROM 11

Gov’t... FROM 3

Nograles... FROM 3

Area... FROM 3

Water... FROM 3

DTI... FROM 4

Barangays... FROM 4

Lumads... FROM 2

EDGEDAVAONEWS

(AEO) program established under the World Customs Organization (WCO) SAFE Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade and the World Trade Organization-Trade Facilita-tion Agreement (WTO- FTA) by ensuring integrity and se-curity of cargo in cross-border trade from the supply source to customs clearance to final distribution at the point of des-tination.

The issuance of the CMO likewise aimed “to harmonize the electronic cargo informa-tion requirements on inbound, outbound, and transit ship-ments for use in a risk man-agement approach to address security threats and ensure customs compliance.”

The order obliged opera-tors to make all records acces-sible to authorized customs officials or representatives “upon proper demand for oc-

ular inspections; maintain, inventory and other manage-ment records of imported car-goes handled and stored…at all times in their place of business and make this accessible on-line to BOC officers.”

Under the order, estab-lishments that would like to operate an ACF should secure application letter, articles of incorporation from the Secu-rities and Exchange Commis-sion, certificate of registration from the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and mayor’s permit if the establishments has not yet filed under the Client Pro-file Registration Sytem, loca-tion and layout of the facility, including machineries, equip-ment, x-ray, audited financial statement for the last two years, web-based inventory management system, and cus-tom facility for use of customs complement or proposed fa-cility.

“Sanctions should be im-posed on this,” he said.

Quitain said some employ-ees take advantage of the hol-iday season to generate more money because they are not satisfied with their salary.

He said an employee caught asking for gifts will be automatically terminated if he or she is contractual or is on job order.

Regular employees, how-ever, will undergo due process.

Quitain repeated Duterte’s

statement that the City May-or’s Office (CMO) will sponsor the Christmas parties of city workers to keep them from soliciting.

Quitain said instead of having separate departmental Christmas parties, the entire staff will have one big party so that employees can get to know each other.

“That is one way the peo-ple from different depart-ments will come to know each other better,” he said.

relocation area is far from the city proper.

He said he still hopes the groups would reconsider. “Help us help yourselves, people staying in Haran. We are offering a better place for them to stay,” he said.

Quitain, however, said the city will not force the IPs to accept its offer.

He said the city still has an obligation to attend to the needs of the lumads in the area.

Earlier, Pasaka staff member Abet Remitar asked the city government to provide construction materials to

improve the sanitation area in the evacuation center.

Remitar admitted that despite their efforts to educate the Lumads on proper waste disposal, some instances cannot be avoided because of cultural differences.

Remitar said the management of Haran and civil organization groups cannot just change the Lumads’ practices overnight.

He also said the water supply in the area varies. “There are times that the water gushing from faucets is very minimal,” he said. ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.vision in Mintal last Sunday.

Police arrested the sus-pects, identified as 35-year-old Roel Quibod of Poblacion Pikit,North Cotabato and 38-year-old Jovenile B. Diaz, an overseas Filipino worker from Awang, Maguindan-ao but a current resident of Phase 5, Deca Homes.

Police said Quibod was arrested first at around 4:45 p.m. of November 8 in Phase 5 where he allegedly sold a sachet of shabu (metham-phetamine hydrochloride) to a police agent.

Police said when the sus-pect was frisked, another nine sachets of shabu were recov-ered with an estimated value of P20,000.

After five minutes, Diaz was arrested in the same area after allegedly selling a big sachet of shabu to a police agent.

When he was frisked by the arresting officers, anoth-er big sachet of shabu was recovered from his posses-sion. Police recovered a total of P90,000 worth of shabu in the two sachets.

laglag-bala issue. Airport secu-rity cannot show any proof of the restriction order or name the person who issued the or-der but the NAIA Press Corps

believe that the restriction is a ploy to restrain freedom of the press,” Nograles quoted Espe-ras as saying in his Facebook account.

of private sector pay. The low-est salary grade, Salary Grade 1, will be about 154 percent of the market, while the high-est, Salary Grade 33, which is the President, will be about 70 percent of the market,” Abad said.

Currently, government pay, on the average, is only 55 per-cent of market rates.

“The adjustment is man-dated by the Joint Resolution No. 4 of Congress of 2009, which provided for a review of the compensation and po-sition classification system after three years from the last year of the adjustment (which was June 1, 2012) to deter-mine the competitiveness of government pay in relation to the private sector and the com-pensation strategy to bring government pay closer to mar-ket rates,” he said.

Accordingly, with the help of private sector consultant Towers Watson, the DBM un-dertook and completed the study in July 2015.

“In structuring the com-pensation adjustment, we were guided by five parame-ters:

(1)The minimum basic sal-ary—Salary Grade 1—shall be raised from P9,000 to P11,068 a month;

(2)To attract and retain competent and committed personnel, the new compensa-tion level for all salary grades shall be at least 70 percent of the market;

(3)To recognize differenc-es in duties and responsibil-ities, there shall be no salary overlaps;

(4)The link between pay and performance shall be strengthened, especially for those in the higher salary grades, and

(5)The structure of the

adjustment should temper the cost of benefits (i.e. GSIS premiums and PhilHealth con-tributions) and allow for high-er take home pay, especially for those in the lower salary grades,” Abad clarified.

As a consequence of RA 10653, which raised the amount of benefits exempted from tax to PHP82,000, for majority of civilian employ-ees, those belonging to Salary Grades 1-11, and who are only receiving the existing tax-ex-empt 13th month pay, the cash gift and the productivity enhancement incentive (PEI), their full 14th month pay and full PBB will also be exempt from tax.

For those belonging to Salary Grades 12-16, who also are only receiving the existing tax-exempt 13th month pay, cash gift and PEI, only their full 14th month pay will be exempt from tax.

“The first tranche of the adjustment will take effect on January 1, 2016, and the subsequent three tranches on every January 1 thereafter un-til the final tranche in 2019,” Abad added.

Abad further clarified that “under the Constitution, no increase in the compensa-tion of the President and the Vice-President shall take effect until after the expiration of the term of the incumbent during which such increase was ap-proved. Similarly, no increase in compensation shall take effect until after the expira-tion of the full term of all the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives ap-proving such increase.”

For the regular members of the Cabinet, Abad said the compensation adjustment shall take effect only on July 1, 2016. (PNA)

nal main pipe was damaged in 2007.

Delima said fencing the area would allow personnel of the DCWD to have easier ac-cess to the area during preven-tive maintenance operations for the bridge.

It can be recalled that the rehabilitation of the P105-mil-lion water transmission pipe on Governor Generoso Bridge 1 and 2 was delayed for two months because of the pres-ence of illegal settlers, who were relocated after Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte appealed to them.

“The contractors are still

assessing the cost of the fenc-ing project,” Delima said, add-ing that the proposed fencing of the area was not included in the original plan, thus ex-tending the deadline to more months.

“We still don’t know when the project will be endorsed to us because they need to secure the approval of another agency first,” he added.

The project contractors are still waiting for the approv-al of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 11 for the implementation of the fencing project. CHENEEN R. CAPON

tomers. He also advises them to store enough water prior to the scheduled water inter-ruptions. Water supply may be restored earlier if work goes smoothly or later if unforeseen problems arise.

The general public may visit DCWD website (www.davao-water.gov.ph) and of-ficial Facebook page (www.facebook.com/davaowater) or

call the Central Information Unit / Call Center through the 24-hour hotline 297-DCWD (3293) and press “1” on their phone dial to listen to latest daily water updates. They may also call / text 0927-7988966, 0925-5113293 and 0908-4410653 for other updates, complaints, queries and mat-ters pertaining to DCWD ser-vices. (Jamae G. Dela Cruz)

Brigade who were working on a school building project in Sitio Akbual in Upper Suyan were harassed by NPA rebels last Nov. 1.

No one was hurt in the incident but it affected the implementation of the proj-ect, which is a donation from Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel Pacquiao.

Villanueva said their troops initially clashed with a group of rebels as a portion of Upper Suyan last Nov. 5.

He said the operation eventually led to the discovery of the NPA encampment in Si-tio Lamasalo.

The 73IB elements tried to enter the area last Friday, Nov. 6, but were hit by a landmine that killed one of them and in-jured five others, he said.

On Saturday morning, a Huey helicopter ferrying

troops and supplies crashed near the area after being hit by strong winds.

The incident injured five 73IB troopers, and four Phil-ippine Air Force pilots and crew members.

The injured troops have declared out of danger and are currently recuperating a private hospital here.

Villanueva said they will continue with their opera-tions until they completely flush out the rebels from the area.

“We’ve been tracking their movements and right now, they’re (rebels) near the Jose Abad Santos town (Davao Oc-cidental) area,” he said.

The official added that they have sent additional troops to the area pursue the rebels and secure local com-munities. (PNA)

rubbers, mostly found in Min-danao.

Zamboanga Peninsula leads the most production fol-lowed by Soccsksargen area, North Cotabato and Autono-mous Region for Muslim Min-danao (ARMM).

Banquerigo said they are

pushing Davao City, Cagayan de Oro City, Zamboanga and ARMM as processing areas.

He added that one of the potential markets is the Yo-kohama Tires based in Subic, which produces 21,000 of tires daily. (PIA-XI/Carina L. Cay-on)

and national government agen-cies have worked hand in hand in its implementation.

Having seen the project’s success in terms of collabora-tion, it was awarded the Most Collaborative Special Project conferred by the Development Academy of the Philippines on July 2015. Furthermore, five other municipalities in the province have also started to replicate the project to enthuse barangay governments in mak-ing disaster preparedness a priority.

Governor Corazon Malanyaon lauded the DILG

Provincial Office for initiating the search. She noted it as an ef-fective tool in increasing level of awareness and participation of the communities towards disas-ter preparedness.She likewise congratulated the awardees, saying, This is a testament of their good leadership”.

“We really need to push aggressively our programs for disaster preparedness not only within the community but down to the household level as disaster preparedness is our important thrust amidst the current changes in our climate.” (PNA)

Friends on Disability was es-tablished to promote sharing of information, resources and good practices on disability issues among APEC members. APEC is also developing an Inclusive Mo-bility Framework in 2016 aimed to develop safe, secure and acces-sible transportation for persons with disabilities.

Also this November, Leaders are expected to endorse the APEC Services Cooperation Frame-work (ASCF) as a long-¬term strategic document, which will provide a common direction and more coherence in APEC’s work on services and help economies gain a deeper understanding of the policy and regulatory settings that will best facilitate innovative,

productive, and vibrant services sectors, as appropriate to their needs.

This Framework recognizes that more competitive services sectors help create jobs, produce quality goods, widen choices for consumers, and harness op-portunities for businesses par-ticularly for micro, small, and medium enterprises. The ASCF is complemented by the APEC Virtual Knowledge Center (to be launched at CSOM), the APEC Services Trade Access Require-ments (STAR) Database, and the recently endorsed Manufac-turing-¬Related Services Action Plan and Environmental Services Action Plan. (PNA/PCOO News Release)

Key technology enablers of PR Savings Bank also include Temenos, a market leading banking software provider, and Questronix, a key IBM business partner and systems integrator.

“We have been working with IBM and Questronix for a number of years, and they pro-vided us with the IT infrastruc-ture to reach out to a wider market. Today, with Temenos joining us as a new partner, we aim to keep expanding to more areas in need of financial services, and fulfill our goal of promoting inclusive growth throughout the country,” said

Roberto P. Alingog, President and Chief Executive Officer, PR Savings Bank.

PR Savings Bank acquired the award-winning core bank-ing software, T24, by Swiss software developer Temenos Group AG. It will run T24 Model Bank on powerful UNIX servers and hardware supplied by local IBM Premier Business Partner, Questronix Corporation. The acquisition of all software and hardware infrastructure will be funded by a three-year financ-ing plan from IBM’s lending and leasing business segment, IBM Global Financing.


NEW research from the Sun Life Asia Health In-dex 2015, which is now

in its second year, shows a sig-nificant year-on-year increase of 18 percentage points in the proportion of people in the Philippines who say that be-ing healthy is very important to them up from 71 percent last year, to 89 percent.

Despite being the most optimistic in the region about their overall health however, Filipinos are also the most worried over largely prevent-able conditions such as heart disease (60 percent versus 41 percent regionally) and diabe-tes (40 percent versus 31 per-cent regionally).

Canvassing the views of over 4,000 people aged be-tween 25 and 60 years across nine markets in Asia, the study shows that nearly all (97 per-cent) of the 700 respondents in the Philippines rank their personal health as an import-ant aspect of their lives.

Nevertheless, nearly half (46 percent) fall into ‘un-healthy’ segments, which in-clude those who struggle with lack of time (Generation O, comprising the single largest segment in the Philippines at 30 percent) or are too easi-ly distracted or unmotivated (newly identified ‘Distracted’ segment, 13 percent) to take action toward a healthier life-style.

Both these segments are also least satisfied across all life aspects, including stress management, level of exercise and energy, quality of sleep, and level of happiness.

“What we are seeing is both a clear increase in the im-portance of health to people in the Philippines, an even great-

er state of readiness in terms of attitude for self-manage-ment in maximizing personal health, compared to last year’s baseline,” said Riza Mantaring, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sun Life Financial Philippines. “What hasn’t shifted, however, is the discon-nect between the awareness that better lifestyle choices translate to improved person-al health, and the action taken as a result of those choices.”

Ninety-seven percent of people in the Philippines say they know how they can im-prove their health further, 93 percent say they do everything they can to maximize their health, and 96 percent say they support and encourage their family to live a healthy lifestyle.

Yet being overweight or obese and respiratory con-ditions are among the top three health issues that they have personally experienced.

Diabetes and heart disease, in turn, top the health issues experienced by family mem-bers, providing still further evidence of the gap between awareness and action.

Six segments were iden-tified through the latest re-search. Three of these rep-resent different sorts of ‘un-healthy’ people, while the oth-er three are people who are -- in different ways – ‘healthy.’ Each segment is character-ized by distinct perceptions, attitudes and behaviors that either hinder or enhance healthy living. For example, ‘Health Starters’ of which the Philippines has the highest proportion (15 percent) in the region perceive themselves to be in good health, acknowl-edge that effort is needed to maintain it, and regularly en-gage in one health-directed action such as exercising, med-itating or eating healthily.

The research also shows

that Filipinos rank highest in the region for having a fam-ily history of chronic health issues, suggesting significant scope and opportunity for pi-oneering solutions that help break bad habits and form new, healthier ones. Peer modeling (seeing other peo-ple similar to oneself succeed in reaching health goals and learning from their experi-ence) and making small, in-cremental changes, could be beneficial.

“We are equally commit-ted to creating such immedi-ate opportunities for everyone employees, agents, clients, their families to do just that alongside us at Sun Life,” said Mantaring. “Community sporting events we sponsor include the annual SunPiolo-gy Run, in which several Sun Life colleagues participated to exemplify our vision of self-care and health-directed behavior as a new norm.”

11EDGEDAVAO

COMPETITIVE EDGEHealth-related awarenesson the rise in Phl, but… SMART Communications,

a subsidiary of PLDT, through its enterprise

business group SMART Enter-prise, announced that it has partnered with BlackBerry to make available to customers here in the Philippines the BlackBerry Enterprise Portfo-lio.

This includes BES12, a multi-OS EMM solution by BlackBerry that helps manage and secure smartphones run-ning Android, iOS, Windows Phone as well as BlackBerry 10 and the BlackBerry OS. In addition to reselling BES12, SMART Enterprise will also be offering BBM Meetings, BBM Protected and WatchDox by BlackBerry as part of a secured collaboration suite.

BES12 is the foundation for BlackBerry’s extensive portfo-lio of enterprise security, pro-ductivity, and communication and collaboration services that will help SMART Enterprise customers in the Philippines to securely connect employ-ees with each other and with the corporate information and devices that are required to get their jobs done. SMART En-terprise customers can opt to deploy BES12 on premise us-ing the company’s network or through BES12 Cloud, which uses a web-browser interface that does not require server installation.

The BlackBerry software and services SMART Enter-prise offers customers include:

• BBM Meetings, which provides users high quality audio and video conferencing capabilities that leverage the collabo-ration benefits and func-tionality that BlackBerry, is known for.

• BBM Protected, offering an enhanced security model for BBM messag-es sent between smart-phones. BBM Protected brings regulated indus-

tries the most secure and reliable real-time mobile messaging experience in the industry.

• WatchDox by BlackBerry, which enables organiza-tions securely to connect employees with each other and with corpo-rate information across all mobile and desktop platforms. WatchDox technology is unique be-cause it allows security to travel with shared files on both mobile and desktop devices to give organi-zations full visibility and control over how files are edited, copied, printed or forwarded.

“We’ve seen how mobile devices have become indis-pensable tools not just for per-sonal interactions, but also for professional communications,” said PLDT First Vice President and Head of SMART Enterprise Jovy Hernandez.

“Making the suite of Black-Berry enterprise solutions available to our customers, particularly those with mobile workforces, will mean we can help them increase their pro-ductivity through dependable, real-time access to sensitive data. More importantly, cus-tomer’s data remain protected, as BES12 leverages BlackBer-ry’s strength in delivering best-in-class security.”

Howard Stevens, SVP, Global Carriers at BlackBerry said, “Today’s business world thrives on bringing ideas to-gether any place, any time and it is our priority to meet the complex mobility needs of our customers. We are excited to be partnering with SMART Communications, as custom-ers in the Philippines can now benefit from solutions which streamline the operating en-vironment and provide con-venience and flexibility, while enhancing their productivity.”

SMART Enterprise announcespartnership with Blackberry

EXPANSION. (From left) Jason Galang, PR Savings Bank Chief Finance Officer; Raju Daryani, Temenos Group AG Regional Director for Asia Pacific; Luis Pineda, IBM Philippines President and Country General Manager;

Roberto P. Alingog, PR Savings Bank President and Chief Executive Officer; Mike S. Dionisio, Questronix President; and Sheryl dela Cruz, PR Savings Bank Branch Services Group Head.

IBM Global Financing, the lending and leasing busi-ness segment of IBM, has

announced that the Philippine Resources Savings Bank (PR Savings Bank), the country’s fourth largest independent thrift bank, will adopt its fi-nancing solution to fund the acquisition of core banking software and hardware infra-structure.

PR Savings Bank began as a rural bank on May 12, 1977 and was recently upgraded to a savings bank by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in August 2011. The bank focus-

es on providing loan facilities to foster modernization and increased production in the country’s agricultural sector. PRSB also provides financial services to workers and small-to-medium-sized enterprises in rural areas of the Philippines to promote inclusive growth. PR Savings Bank is now the fourth largest independent savings bank in the Philippines in terms of total assets.

IBM will support PR Sav-ings Bank in achieving its cor-porate development growth plan with a 3-year financing of computer equipment and

software. The solution will help PR Savings Bank to meet its long-term financial targets and will enable the bank to prior-itize core revenue generating activities such as agribusiness loans, microfinancing, and sal-ary loans.

The bank has embarked on an expansion effort by in-troducing more products and establishing more branches to provide greater financial ac-cess to countryside communi-ties. IBM Global Financing will help PR Savings Bank to invest in its strategic initiatives and build the systems that will help

it attract customers, develop revenue-generating opportu-nities, and optimize operations.

“IBM has been delivering business value to banking cli-ents in the Philippines for more than seven decades. We are excited and honored that IBM will support the funding strate-gy of one of the largest savings banks in the country. We are glad to add them in the port-folio of many global and local banks that we serve,” said Luis Pineda, President and Country General Manager, IBM Philip-pines.

PR Bank selects IBM for expansionTHE Acropolis-based Estrada

family is the first customer in the Philippines to sub-

scribe to and experience a home broadband plan with internet speeds of up to 1Gbps powered by Globe Telecom.

As part of its efforts to uplift the state of internet services in the country by giving customers access to a faster internet expe-rience with lower monthly ser-vice fees (MSF), Globe recently unveiled its new roster of home broadband plans powered by fiber-to-the-home (FFTH) tech-nology, providing customers the fastest fiber connection speeds at home now available at a more affordable price.

With the new Globe Plat-inum Broadband Plans, home broadband customers can enjoy a broadband plan with internet speeds of up to 50Mbps at Plan 2499, 100Mbps at Plan 3499, 200Mbps at Plan 4499, 500Mbps at Plan 7499, and 1Gbps at Plan 9499.

“We are excited for the Es-trada family to experience blaz-ing-fast internet speeds at their home powered by Globe. This is a milestone not just for Globe but also for the entire country as we see more Filipinos enjoy high-speed and best-value broadband services as they build their life and work experiences around

a digitally-connected lifestyle,” shares Globe Senior Advisor for Consumer Business Daniel Horan.

Prior to introducing a more aggressive home broadband port-folio, Globe already made strides in providing superior mobile technology services as evidenced by a recent LTE report released by OpenSignal. The report showed that Globe Telecom’s LTE down-load speed is at 10 Mbps, double its competition’s LTE download speed of only 5 Mbps. Globe LTE download speed is comparable to territories/countries like Hong Kong (Smart Tone), India (Airtel), Norway (Telenor, Network Nor-way), Portugal (NOS), Indonesia (Indosat), which all registered a 10 Mbps download speed, and even higher than the 8 Mbps download speed in Russia (MTS), Malaysia (DiGi) and even US (AT&T, US Cellular, Sprint, C Spire Wireless).

“Globe is deeply committed in providing the best telecommu-nication solutions, utilizing both wired and wireless solutions, to give our customers better and faster internet experience and hopefully pave the way for the Philippines to be globally-com-petitive in terms of internet speeds,” Horan added. Since it launched, customer inquiries for the telco’s high-speed broadband plan offerings have doubled.

Globe powers first 1Gbpsbroadband plan customer

FPR BANK, 10


Advertise with

Tel No. 082.221.3601/224.1413Email: [email protected] [email protected]

12CLASSIFIED EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 8 ISSUE 160 • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015 NEWS13EDGEDAVAO

Tawi-tawi hosts 1st Int’lconference on Sama Badjao THE Sama Studies Cen-

ter of the Mindanao State University (MSU)

in Tawi-tawi is hosting the 1st International Conference on the Sama Badjao (Sama Dilaut) at the university’s Marine Science Museum next month.

The theme of the De-cember 1 to 3 conference is “Sea-bound and Cross-Bor-ders: Maritime Commerce and Sea-faring Lifeways of the Sama Dilaut in Tawi-Tawi.”

The conference aims to strengthen research and en-courage academic interest on the plight and situation of the Sama Dilaut “by highlighting their roles in the social and cul-tural development of the Sama society, their contributions to the dynamics of maritime and sea-based economy in Tawi-Tawi and the Philippine waters, and the impact and consequences of geopolitics in Southeast Asian region in these roles and contributions.”

It also intends to discuss development models, survey affirmative actions, and “eval-uate empowerment programs and interventions for this most marginalized of Sama ethnic communities” and pro-vide venue and spaces for the Sama Dilaut to “tell their nar-

ratives as well as for listening to alternative voices speak-ing as interlocutors for Sama Dilaut issues.”

The conference is envi-sioned to be a “convergence of scholars, social and natural scientists, as well as develop-ment strategists, government officials and cultural practi-tioners.”

At the international level, the conference hopes to “cre-ate spaces for dialogue be-tween the foreign scholars and researchers with their local Sama Dilaut informants” with the aim of validating, reaffirm-ing or, “if need be, rectifying, reconstructing and updating their findings as well as rec-ommending areas for further engagements by future schol-ars.”

Legal and development experts from national agen-cies such as the Commission on Human Rights, the National Commission on Culture and the Arts, National Commis-sion on Indigenous People, Autonomous Region in Mus-lim Mindanao and the local governments in Tawi-tawi, by drawing from their experienc-es of direct engagement with indigenous people and those in the margins, “can provide a perspective to shed light on

aspects of politics and devel-opment that has impacted and has implications on the prospects of Sama Dilaut and alternatives available to them.”

According to the confer-ence flyer, scholars and aca-demics are given a whole day to present their discourses in three thematic panels: Cul-tural Politics, Negotiation and Accommodation, and Margin-alization; Economic and Social Migration, Diasporization and Sama Dilaut Crossing Borders; and Development, Environ-ment and Towards Building Safer Seas for the Sama Dilaut.

Faculty and staff research-ers from the MSU-Tawi-tawi College of Technology and Oceanography (TCTO) will present their studies and re-ports on their engagements and actions with the Sama Dilaut, it said.

Conference fees, which are inclusive of kit, lunch and snacks are 100 US dollars for foreign participants, PhP1,500 for professionals and Php 750 for students.

Chancellor Lorenzo R. Reyes Chancellor, MSU-TCTO, is conference chair while Prof. Abduljim J. Hassan Director of the Sama Studies Center is conference co-chair. (MindaN-ews)


ACCIDENTAL WINNERS

14 EDGEDAVAOSportsSonny Wagdos wins race ‘abandoned’ by national champion Poliquit, Judelyn Miranda repeats despite lack of training

DEJA VU. Sonny Wagdos (left) and Judelyn Miranda (right) hold their trophies after repeating as champions in the 39th Milo National Marathon Davao Qualifying Race last Sunday at the SM Lanang Premier.

HUMILITY is a mark of a true champion.

In a race that has spanned for 39 years, Milo National Marathon once again came out with something new for future champions-- new stories to tell and new lessons to learn.

Sunday’s race in Davao was just another of those vir-tue stories from a virtual deep well. Unfortunately, the bitter lesson was tasted by no less than the champion.

An overconfident reign-ing national winner Rafael Poliquit will have to take this lesson by heart. After promis-ing to break the 1:10 barrier some 48 hours before the race and storming ahead of the pack early in a blinding pace on a not so familiar journey, the country’s best marathon runner banished unceremo-niously from a race he was ex-pected to rule handily. No, he wasn’t banished. He actually abandoned the race—a prod-uct of exhaustion apparently from underestimating the new course.

With Poliquit gone, last year’s Davao leg champion Sonny Wagdos saw a window of opportunity, grabbed it, and then coasted home a bewil-dered champion. Much like the turtle-beating-the-rabbit kindergarten story.

Wagdos, sidelined for three months with a foot in-jury that dashed his dream of representing the country in the Southeast Asian Games this year, repeated as Milo Marathon Davao City leg 21-K champion with a clocking of one hour 15 minutes and 25 seconds—a shade away from the 1:10 qualifying standard set by organizers but enough to earn him a ticket to the National Finals next month in Manila.

Wagdos took over from the fatigued Poliquit on the uphill section just after the halfway turnaround mark along with Michael Echalico, then found himself all by his lonesome five kilometers to the finish after the latter also started to fade away.

With no other challenge in sight, Wagdos made a mad dash to the finish using the downhill stretch along Bu-hangin Road and the relative-ly flat straightaway heading home to SM Lanang Premier.

“Na-shock ko na mi-hunong si Poliquit, so kami na nagdala ni Michael (Echal-

ico), pero siya pud nawala pag-abot sa Milan (Buhangin I n t e r s e c t i o n ) . Pagkakita nako na nag-inusara na lang ko, ako na gibuhos t a n a n (I was shicked to find Poliq-u i t

drop out of the race, so me and Michael took over the pace but he too was gone when we reached Milan. When I saw that I was all alone, I gave it my all),” said a surprised Wag-dos, who was not expecting to retain his title after the long layoff and the pres-ence of Poliquit.

Poliquit, an enlist-ed Philippine Air Force personnel who was sup-posed to take Sunday’s race as his tune-up run for the finals, jumped off the starting gate like a man possessed. He took a huge lead over the trail-ing Wagdos and Echalico and set a burning pace to the half-way mark.

“Kusog kayo siya, dili gyud namo kaya apason. So nagpac-ing lang mi ug amoa. Wala na sa akong huna huna na mapil-di siya (He was so fast and we could not keep up with him. We decided to take our own pace. I never thought I could beat him),” Wagdos recounted to Edge Davao after the race.

Echalico finished second in 1:15:56 while Manny Marfil took third place in 1:19:34.

In the distaff side, Tagum

[email protected]

By NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO

City’s Judelyn Miranda also repeated as champion at the ripe age of 30 years old. The muscle-bound Miranda, a civil security personnel with the Tagum City local government unit, clocked a fast time of 1:32:57 despite lack of prepa-rations and the challenging new course.

“Kulang ko sa practice. Nag National Boy Scout Jamboree sa Tagum ug dili ko kahawa sa akong post mao nang kaduha ra gyud sa is aka semana akong ensayo (I did not practice enough because we we’re busy

with the National Boy Scout Jamboree in Tagum. I cannot leave my post so I had to make do with two times a week of practice),” Miranda said.

Her cousin Madelyn Car-ter finished second in 1:48:19 while Yuka Mashiyama fin-ished third in 1:52:07.

The new course took the premier 21-K runners to en-ergy-sapping uphill sections in Buhangin and the Philip-pines-Japan Friendship High-way which took the air out of most runners—the biggest victim proved to be Poliquit

himself.Poliquit could not be

tracked for interview after the race which drew some 8,500 runners.

Arlan Arbois took the 10-K men’s crown in 34 minutes and 38 seconds beating Agus-tin Ychon (34:32) and Michael Barrosa (36:30), Diana Memo-racion won the women’s 10-K crown in 43:35 with Mae Barit (47:07) in second and Joylyn Quirante (49:06) in third.

Erwin Gubal won the 5-K men’s race in 16 minutes and 19 seconds besting Glen Pay-

ac (17:07) and Jomar Angga (17:22). Arlieny Onso won the women’s 5-K title in 21:05 besting Rosenelyn Depillo (21:25) and Jolly Mae Gab-aisen (22:10).

Edgardo Memoracion emerged winner in the 3-K men’s in 11:23 with Erwin Iting (11:25) and Alexis Dagaang (11:27) in second and third, respectively. The women’s ti-tle went to Mary Depone who clocked 12:26 while Arlene Onso (12:56) and Rebecca De Gracia (13:38) finished second and third in that order.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 160 • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015 SPORTS15EDGEDAVAO

Multi-million offers await Alyssa

FAREWELL TRIPBryant’s career to end this season

SUPER Liga teams are playing the waiting game and ready to offer millions, according

to a source, as top prospect Alyssa Valdez plays out her final season in college volleyball.

“Alyssa will be playing her fi-nal year in the UAAP and it is no surprise that a lot of PSL teams are interested. It’s now up to her to pick which team will fit her style. Sky is the limit,” a source told Spin.ph.

“The PSL is overflowing with young talents,” the source added. “And should Valdez decide to join the league next year, it’s going to be a great development not only for the league and to the teams, but to her personal volleyball ca-reer as well. Everybody is looking forward to having her.”

As of posting time Valdez was unavailable for comment.

The PSL earlier announced that annual contracts are now being prepared for players in-stead of short-term deals, and the source noted there are teams willing to spend millions to sign

Valdez, who, outside of the college leagues, has played mostly in the amateur-commercial Shakey’s V-League.

At least three teams have ex-pressed interest and are eager to see the two-time UAAP champion join the draft pool for next year, ac-cording to the source.

PSL president Tats Suzara said he is not surprised to hear that clubs are eyeing Valdez this early. The league has a loaded schedule next year, starting with an Invita-tional Cup in February, All-Filipino Conference in June and the im-port-laden Grand Prix in October.

Also scheduled are beach vol-leyball tournaments as well as a possible hosting of the FIVB World Women’s Club Championship and the AVC Asian Women’s Club Championship.

“No surprise. I heard all teams are ready to beef up their respec-tive rosters next year in prepa-ration for year-round volleyball action. It’s now up to her to decide, but there are a lot of teams inter-ested to acquire her,” said Suzara.

LAKERS coach Byron Scott asked Kobe Bryant re-cently how he wants to

handle his minutes this season.Bryant’s response was

about next season — there might not be one.

Scott said on Sunday (Mon-day, Manila time) that was when Bryant first told him this could be his last season in the NBA.

With the 37-year-old Bryant coming off Achilles, knee and shoulder injuries that cut short his last three seasons, Scott talked to him over the sum-mer about how Bryant would be used, particularly when the Lakers played on back-to-back nights.

“We’ve talked about it a few

days ago. Talked about it again and his feeling was, ‘Coach, this might be my last year. So if possible I would like to try to play every game,’” Scott said.

Bryant hasn’t said if his 20th season will be his last. He told report-ers Saturday that “if you asked me today, this would be my last year,” but that he was leaving it open. His com-ments on Sunday echoed that.

“My message has been con-sistent all the time. If I change my mind, I’ll come back and

play. If I don’t, I

wo n’ t ,” B r y a n t s a i d .

“ I ’ v e been pret-

ty consis-tent with

that, so I don’t know how

much, what else can I say?”

Bryant fin-ished with 18 points Sunday in

a 99-95 loss to the New York Knicks in what

may have been his final appearance at Madison Square Garden, where

he scored his first NBA point in 1996 and set the opponent record with 61 points in 2009. He is in the final year of his contract and is shooting just 32 percent while trying to re-gain his form after a calf injury during the preseason.

He shared a long embrace afterward with Carmelo Antho-ny, who said Bryant remains a tough opponent even while con-templating retirement.

“I wouldn’t count him out,” Anthony said. “But especially for young guys to be able to be in his presence, and knowing the mark that he left on this game, or that he’s leaving on this game, it’s a special mo-ment.”

MOST SOUGHT AFTER. Alyssa Valdez of Ateneo is about to be deluged with multi-million peso offers to play in the Philippine Super Liga.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 160 • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 201516 EDGEDAVAO

edge davao 8 issue 160

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