By Lorie A. Cascaro M ILITANT groups yesterday turned the Davao region’s offices of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Energy (DOE), Presidential Commission of Urban Poor (PCUP), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Mines and Geosci- ences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as “Stations of the Cross” yes- terday in depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ dubbed “Kalbaryo sa Kabus” (Cal- vary of the Poor). These government offices or “sta- tions of the cross” represent specific issues or policy that make the poor suf- fer, said Sheena Duazo, spokesperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), which led the procession, along with members of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Samahan ng Maralitang Kababaihang Nagkakaisa (SAMAKANA) and other progressive organizations. The groups dramatized the “true” Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows) of the poor, which includes the people’s wors- By Jade C. Zaldivar T WO people were shot dead Tuesday, three days after Davao City’s month- long gun ban expired March 31. The first victim was Eddie Cano Yu, 45, an electrician and church worker of Barangay Baliok, Toril, who was shot by one of two men who barged into his house at about 8 pm April 3 while he was watching television with his live-in part- ner, Marife Castillo, who was not harmed. Yu died on the spot from gunshot wounds in the head and body. One of the suspects was described as about 5’5” tall, slim and in his mid-thir- ties while the other was about 4’11” and of medium build. Both wore ballcaps. The suspects fled aboard a motor- cycle that had been parked in a dimly-lit portion of the street outside the victim’s house. Recovered from the crime scene by responding Scene of the Crime Opera- tives (SOCO) were two deformed slugs. EDGE P 15.00 • 20 PAGES www.edgedavao.net VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 2012 Indulge! Page A4 Sports Page 16 2 shot dead 3 days after gun ban ends Science/Environment Page 14 Serving a seamless society FGOV’T, 13 F2 SHOT, 13 n Attempted homicide case filed against stabbing suspect Follow Us On DAVAO BUBBLES. Two girls send bubbles flying in the air as they display toys that they are selling at the front stairs of the San Pedro Cathedral in the city. [KARLOS MANLUPIG] Gov’t offices turned ‘stations of the cross’
Transcript
By Lorie A. Cascaro
MILITANT groups yesterday turned the Davao region’s offices of the Department of Labor and
Employment (DOLE), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Energy (DOE), Presidential Commission of Urban Poor (PCUP), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Mines and Geosci-
ences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as “Stations of the Cross” yes-terday in depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ dubbed “Kalbaryo sa Kabus” (Cal-vary of the Poor).
These government offices or “sta-tions of the cross” represent specific issues or policy that make the poor suf-fer, said Sheena Duazo, spokesperson of
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), which led the procession, along with members of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Samahan ng Maralitang Kababaihang Nagkakaisa (SAMAKANA) and other progressive organizations.
The groups dramatized the “true” Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows) of the poor, which includes the people’s wors-
By Jade C. Zaldivar
TWO people were shot dead Tuesday, three days after Davao City’s month-long gun ban expired March 31.
The first victim was Eddie Cano Yu, 45, an electrician and church worker of Barangay Baliok, Toril, who was shot by one of two men who barged into his
house at about 8 pm April 3 while he was watching television with his live-in part-ner, Marife Castillo, who was not harmed.
Yu died on the spot from gunshot wounds in the head and body.
One of the suspects was described as about 5’5” tall, slim and in his mid-thir-
ties while the other was about 4’11” and of medium build. Both wore ballcaps.
The suspects fled aboard a motor-cycle that had been parked in a dimly-lit portion of the street outside the victim’s house.
Recovered from the crime scene by responding Scene of the Crime Opera-tives (SOCO) were two deformed slugs.
EDGEP 15.00 • 20 PAGES
www.edgedavao.netVOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 2012
Indulge!Page A4
SportsPage 16
2 shot dead 3 daysafter gun ban ends
Science/EnvironmentPage 14
Serving a seamless society
FGOV’T, 13
F2 SHOT, 13
n Attempted homicide case filed against stabbing suspect
Follow Us On
DAVAO
BUBBLES. Two girls send bubbles flying in the air as they display toys that they are selling at the front stairs of the San Pedro Cathedral in the city. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]
Gov’t offices turned ‘stations of the cross’
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 20122 THE BIG NEWS EDGEDAVAO
It figures
SAN Miguel Corp. has firmed up a deal to acquire 49 percent of tycoon Lucio Tan’s PAL Holdings Inc. for about $500 million, thereby obtaining a significant foothold in nationl flag carrier Philippine Airlines.PDI
THE National Telecommunica-tions Commission (NTC) has approved the plan of ABC Development Corp., operator of TV5 broadcast network, to borrow P3 billion from banks. BW
NUMBER of ranking police of-ficers in Davao City convicted by the Ombudsman for failure to solve killings in the city during their tour of duty. ED
BUDGET surplus posted by the government in February, its first in six months, as a result of slower spending for the period, according to the Bureau of Treasury. BW
NEW HIV (human immuno virus) infections monitored by Depart-ment of Health in the Philippines last year. There were only about 600 HIV cases in 2001. Sine 1984, some 3,700 Fili-pinos have died of AIDS-related causes.PDI
NUMBER of personnel from dif-ferent units ordered deployed by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio to implement the integrated security and safety plan during the Lenten season. ED
years old in practicing environmental protec-tion and organic farm-ing, the Earthsoul Solu-tions, Inc. aims green-ing Mindanao by find-ing common grounds among private and pub-lic sectors to work to-gether for environmen-tal concerns, said its president, Ibno Turabin during the Club 888 Fo-rum at The Marco Polo Davao yesterday.
“A Mindanao that is green, its waters teeming with life and its people producing food the natural way, at peace with nature and each other,” so goes the group’s aspiration.
The Earthsoul is pushing for agro-refor-estation, which includes productive trees such as mango, cacao, cof-fee and rubber that will help farmers earn from the yields of the trees without cutting them.
In this way, the farmers will take care of the trees and there will be a successful refor-estation, said Ed Cejar, the group’s corporate secretary.
The group’s strate-gies involve collaborat-ing with government, other like-minded groups and individu-als; raising awareness
of Mindanaonons on environmental issues through information and education; advocat-ing organic agriculture; demonstrating practi-cal solutions that every Mindanaonon can do; and recognizing best practices in environ-mental protection and organic agriculture.
It primarily advo-cates assisted natural reforestation using en-demic plants and agro-forestry for carbon se-questration; watershed rehabilitation and man-agement; home and in-dustry waste reduction; low-cost waste disposal and recycling technol-ogy; organic food crops, poultry, livestock and aquaculture; reviving and improving indig-enous food crops and farming practices; man-grove rehabilitation and protection; designation and protection of ma-rine sanctuaries; and, access of farmers to or-ganic agriculture tech-nology.
Initiating the Green Caravan (April 17-19) and the First Mind-anaonon Environment Summit (April 20-22) in Davao City, the Earthsoul did not in-vite mining companies for the summit but will be inviting them later when the people would be more educated.
Turabin said it is still too early for the
Greening of Mindanaois Earthsoul’s advocacy
Earthsoul’s advocacy:
CHICKS. A customer peers on the little yellow chicks being sold in the activity center of a shopping mall in the city which is part of the preparation for Easter Sunday. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]
By Jade C. Zaldivar
BOTH City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio and Vice Mayor Ro-
drigo Duterte welcome the thought of having a Muslim for city mayor.
The elder Duterte said during his latest TV program episode Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa, “I would be happy to see a Muslim city mayor, so long as he is fair and would receive the peo-ple’s support.”
Duterte was referring to the United States of America’s president who is of African descent.
“Kanang America, it was conquered by Britain (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ire-land). They conquered
the natives (Iondians), settled and brought in slaves from Africa, kanang himoon gyug slave. Karon who would have thought that the American presi-dent would be a descen-dant of the slaves?” he said.
Duterte-Carpio in a statement concurred with her father’s statement, saying the decision on who should become city mayor rests on the popu-lace.
She, however, added that this may not be pos-sible at the present time.
“Kaya lang, the can-didate may not get the needed number of votes. For you to win man gud you need the majority’s support. Mao gani nang I would want nga naa silay
sectoral representative sa City Council,” the mayor added.
Duterte-Carpio said she would support having a Muslim leader sitting as a member of the city council.
The 16th City Council has three sectoral repre-sentatives: (1) Associa-tion of Punong Barangays president Paolo Duterte, (2) Sangguniang Kabata-an president Jashera Gon-zales; and (3) the Indige-nous People’s representa-tive Berino Libayao Mam-bo-o, who was sworn into office January this year.
The vice mayor also said he would be amena-ble to having a gay rights representative in the Council to represent the “third sex” sector.
Dutertes amenable to havinga Muslim as city mayor…’if’
organization to invite mining companies, especially so because most environmentalists are against mining.
However, in its mission to help find a common ground and bring about synergy among them, the group will continue its infor-mation and education campaign and to pro-vide varied experience, expertise, skills, time and commitment of their volunteers and members to achieve their ultimate goal which is a green Mind-anao.
A suspected pick-pocket was nabbed by concerned citi-
zens Monday, April 2, and turned over to the police in Buhangin.
The victim, Aure-lia Encabo Canque, 57, a widow and resident of Matanao, Davao del Sur was aboard a jeepney from Panacan heading to-wards Davao City proper at about 10:45 am when another passenger, Ane-cito Entod Julian, 49, job-
less, of Mintal Relocation, took her wallet from her shoulder bag and alighted along with another un-identified male passenger.
However, another male passenger, Romeo Corona Crisostomo, 42. had seen Julian pick the woman’s bag and im-mediately jumped off the jeep and gave chase, shouting for help from bystanders.
Collared, the suspect surrendered the wallet
which contained P4,000 and a Pensioner’s ID.
The suspect was en-dorsed to PO2 Jerwen Gasta who was aboard a mobile patrol car.
Recovered from the suspect was a red back-pack believed to have been used as cover while he stole the wallet.
The suspect is facing a case of theft before the City Prosecution Office under Prosecutor Faizal Padate.[JADE C. ZALDIVAR]
Bystanders nab pickpocket
WIT Holganza, president of the Informa-
tion and Communication Technology (ICT) Davao, said Wednesday that in the long run, Davao City would benefit from the winners of the ON3 pitch-ing competition even if their products and/or services could be com-mercialized abroad by prospective investors.
The 2012 ON3 Pitch-ing Competition, which will be held April 13, 14 and 15 at Martha’s Place, Brokenshire Col-lege, Madapo Hills, Davao City, is accepting newbie companies inclined to technology, especially the consumer web, internet, mobile phone, wireless connectivity, social media,
gaming software, clean and biotech.
After its success-ful launching of the ON3 2011 Program in Mind-anao, ON3 is dedicated to discovering, mobilizing and forming a healthy en-trepreneurial ecosystem in the Philippines to fos-ter the development and growth of global compa-nies.
“Davao City will be-come popular as a pool of talents. When Davao City enjoys a good repu-tation for being a source of talents, investors will start flocking here. And that they will look at the possible commercializa-tion of any new ideas and any new technology not just in other parts of the world but also here,” she
said.Learning from the
experience last year, Hol-ganza said, this year’s competition will have a representative from the Intellectual Property Of-fice to ensure that innova-tors have registered their intellectual property (IP).
Out of 11 entries in Mindanao’s competition last year, three backed out for not having IPs, afraid that their ideas would be pirated.
Thus, interested par-ticipants in the competi-tion who do not own IPs have nothing to worry about because there will be free IP registration at the event proper.
“What we’re looking for is to build a vibrant ICT industry, and a culture of
Davao to benefit from ON3 pitching winners
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 2012 3THE BIG NEWSEDGEDAVAO
THE House of Rep-resentatives has ap-proved on third and
final reading a measure that seeks to curtail graft and cor-ruption in government by providing protection, secu-rity and benefits to whistle-blowers.
With 234 affirmative votes, the House passed House Bill 5715, to be known as the “Whistleblower Pro-tection, Security and Benefit Act of 2011,” which aims to promote good governance and safeguard national inter-est through the prosecution of corrupt and erring public officials and employees.
The measure was filed in accordance with the State’s declared policy, which states that public office is a public trust. It is the policy of the State to promote and ensure full accountability in the conduct of its officers and employees, and exact full retribution from those who shall engage in graft and cor-ruption practices.
Rep. Teddy Casiño (Par-ty-list, Bayan Muna), author of the bill, said an honest to goodness measure protect-ing whistleblowers should
be enacted into law to attract more people to come out in the open and denounce the corrupt officials in the gov-ernment.
Rep. Neri Javier Col-menares (Party-list, Bayan Muna), another author of the bill, said it is imperative that a mechanism be set up to se-cure the person of a whistle-blower and counter the stig-ma of ostracism so that the potential whistleblower or informant on graft and cor-rupt activities will not hesi-tate to come out in the open.
Rep. Juan Edgardo An-gara (Lone District, Aurora), also an author of the meas-ure, said the government needs a new institutional mechanism for integrity and accountability to eliminate scandals and restore credibil-ity in public service.
“The litmus test for such reforms is the government’s treatment of whistleblowers. Those ‘who blow the whistle’ are most often fired and os-tracized by friends and co-workers. They are accused of having a grievance with their employer or trying to profit from their accusations,” An-gara said.
House approves whistleblower law
BANG BANG. A young kid absent-mindedly pokes a toy handgun in his mouth as he tends a motorcycle parked at the grounds of the Davao City Hall. There are some parents in the city who are apprehensive in allowing their
children to play with toy guns fearing that it may impart to them the culture of violence. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]
By Lorie A. Cascaro
TO be bid out in June, a study worth P90 million will deter-
mine the cost of a Leyte-Mindanao interconnectiv-ity project, said Depart-ment of Energy (DOE) Undersecretary Ina Mag-pale-Asirit last Tuesday at the Grand Regal Hotel, Davao City.
This project will con-nect the Mindanao grid to that of Leyte, therefore creating a one loop for all power grids in the coun-try.
Compared to Luzon and the Visayas, Mind-anao is isolated, Magpale-Asirit said, as there is no underwater line or any cable to share the energy generated from one is-land to another.
Luzon and the Vi-sayas have a line under-water that allows export-ing power from Luzon to the Visayas or vice-versa should there be a need to augment the supply of ei-ther of the grids.
“Regardless where your generator is located, the power can actually be shared. Ideally it can be shared,” she said.
However, Mindanao does not have that line connecting to other is-lands’ grids.
Magpale-Asirit said there were plans to have it about 15 years ago but, unfortunately, have not been pursued until the new administration.
The Administration, she added, has realized that there is really a need to have interconnection, to have more investors confident of the reliabil-ity and stability of power supply across the entire grid.
“This will also give in-vestment comfort level to those who will be putting up power in Mindanao, should there be more to be put up in Mindanao to make it also available to other grida,” she said.
The DOE was able to engage with the National Grid Corporation of the
Philippines (NGCP) in this study. The NGCP then filed a petition with the Energy Regulatory Com-mission (ERC) for a study of the Leyte-Mindanao In-terconnectivity project.
“Everything has to start with a study. Any-thing as big as that can-not begin without making sure of your timelines, terms of reference and the kind of work to be done,” the DOE Usec said.
The NGCP was able to get the approval from the ERC last August and is finalizing the terms of reference.
Luzon has an excess of 2,000 MW even at its peak of dispatching, while the Visayas can export over 200MW, sometimes 300MW, from a total of 610MW capacity.
Citing projects of power generation in Lu-zon and the Visayas by late 2012, 2013, 2014, she said there are no is-sues of power supplies in the islands.
“If we have more
players in the market, then certainly it will be for the benefits of the con-sumers who will now be able to have the least cost available,” she said.
The study will take one year, excluding the bidding period which will take three months, and another one year for the assessment.
But, she said, the entire project may take 10-15 years according to NGCP considering all the processes and availability of equipment needed. The study will also show the cost of the project.
She also mentioned the need for a power de-velopment plan, including the projection of demand and supply until 2030 for private sectors to see which part has needs for more generation capacity.
To bring out the data to the stakeholders and industries that need them, the DOE is conducting in-formation and education campaign and investment forums.
P90M study for Leyte-Mindanaopower interconnectivity project
Bidding set in June
SOUTHEAST Asian leaders agreed to ac-celerate the ongoing
integration initiatives in five of the area’s sub-re-gional groupings as they vowed to “redouble” the efforts towards the estab-lishment of a single eco-nomic community in the region by the year 2015.
In its five-page dec-laration adopted during its 20th summit here on Tuesday, the leaders and heads of states of the Asso-ciation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) vowed to provide the necessary sup-port to further build up its five sub-regional growth areas, which includes the resurging Brunei, Indone-sia, Malaysia, Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).
BIMP-EAGA com-prises the entire sultan-ate of Brunei Darussalam; the provinces of East and West Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Ma-luku island chain and Irian Jaya in Eastern Indonesia; the federal states of Sabah and Sarawak and the fed-eral territory of Labuan in Eastern Malaysia; and, the islands of Mindanao and Palawan in the Philip-pines.
The region’s other sub-regional groupings are the Greater Mekong Sub-Region Economic Cooperation, Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle, Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy and the Cambodia-Lao-Viet Nam Development Tri-angle.
“(We) do hereby agree to continue to support the
initiative for ASEAN inte-gration as well as other sub-regional growth ar-eas…that would bridge the development gap within ASEAN,” the leaders noted in its 32-point “Phnom Penh Declaration on ASE-AN: One Community, One Destiny.”
The declaration was signed by the region’s 10 heads of states, including President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III.
As support to the sub-regional economic inte-gration efforts, the leaders agreed to “operationalize and utilize fully the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund (AIF) to further improve physi-cal connectivity and nar-row the infrastructure de-velopment gap in ASEAN.”
In an earlier meet-ing here, ASEAN’s finance ministers initially set the formal launching in May of the AIF, which is a US$4-billion financing project that may be accessed by member countries through the year 2020.
The fund, which was announced last year, was started with an initial eq-uity contribution of $485.2 million, with $335.2 mil-lion coming from nine ASEAN members and the remaining $150 million provided by Asian Devel-opment Bank (ADB).
In a press conference at the Peace Palace here on Tuesday afternoon, ASEAN Secretary Gen-eral Surin Pitsuwan said they will utilize the AIF to jumpstart the implemen-tation of priority projects identified under a regional master plan on connectiv-ity.[ALLEN V. ESTABILLO / MINDANEWS]
ASEAN to accelerate economic integration
BAYAN Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño yester-day revealed that the
issuance of the Depart-ment of Energy (DOE) of a stop-gap measure last month, with department circular DC 2012’03-0004, which directs electric co-operatives to nominate their needed power to supply their demands may have lessened the black outs but jacked up the
price of electricity in Min-danao.
“This is what the elec-tric cooperatives have been trying to prevent but the DOE was able to push for it with the circular. The choice was reduced to having higher power rates or no electricity at all,” said Casiño.
“It appears that there is enough power supply in Mindanao. The problem is that it is too expensive so the power distributors are not buying for fear of going bankrupt,” the law-maker said.
He said power rates dramatically increased in Mindanao after the
Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation or PSALM privatized the Nation-al Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) which then entered into an Ancillary Services Pro-curement Agreement or ASPA with Therma Ma-rine, Inc. involving two privatized power barges, Power Barges 117 and 118.
DOE circular, eases blackouts but jacks up price of electricity
n Casiño says gov’t takeover of power barges to alleviate Mindanao power crisis needed
FDOE, 13
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 20124 THE BIG NEWS EDGEDAVAO
ASEAN for reforms of economic lawsMEMBER states of
the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to initiate reforms in their economic laws and policies to harmonize the implementation of regional agreements to-wards the targeted estab-lishment of a single eco-nomic community within the next three years.
Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN Secretary General, said ministers and state leaders attending a two-day regional summit here acknowledged the need to amend some of their national laws, rules and regulations to ensure the full implementation of the ongoing regional integra-tion efforts.
“Now they are go-ing to concentrate on the implementation at the national levels, so that national laws, national rules, national regula-tions will be amended, re-formed in place in order to implement the major agreements,” he said in a press conference at the sidelines of the 20th ASE-AN Leaders’ Summit that ended Wednesday.
Surin said the mem-ber states have so far rati-fied 70 percent of the re-gional economic deals but there were agreements that remained pending due to conflicts with na-
tional or domestic laws and policies.
Trade Undersecre-tary Adrian Cristobal, who represented the Phil-ippines in the economic meetings, earlier admit-ted that the country is fac-ing some legal constraints with regards to the imple-mentation of the agree-ments in investments and the services sector.
He said government is on track with its com-mitment towards the regional integration ini-tiatives but is presently slowing down because of some restraints in the Constitution, specifically with the liberalization of the services sector, the foreign equity contribu-tion and investments.
The Constitution lim-its foreign equity invest-ments in specific econom-ic activities to a maximum of 40 percent.
Surin said they have been working with the member states for the fine tuning of their laws relat-ed to the agreements on investments, in goods and the services sector.
“All these things are important to move ASEAN forward to make it into one market,” he said.
Aside from the policy reforms, Surin said ASEAN leaders were also push-ing for more cross-border exchanges between small
and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the region.
“They want to in-crease the intra-regional trading from 25 to 40 percent (of the region’s gross domestic product). That is very, very critical if we want to make it into a strong integrated market,” he said.
He said ASEAN mem-bers were also addressing the “issue of inequality” in the region by adopting a strategy of equitability that aims “to make sure that growth in ASEAN is balanced, inclusive and equitable – in a sense that all member states can equally benefit from eve-ry growth, development and prosperity as a con-sequence of development or engagements with the external parties.”
Despite the chal-lenges currently facing the regional grouping, Surin said ASEAN remains on track in its integration ef-forts.
“I think the road to the (establishment of the sin-gle economic) community in 2015 is on track. The leaders, the ministers have called for the doubling of efforts and cooperation by all mechanisms, all sec-toral bodies of ASEAN in order to (ensure that it) move forward,” he added. [ALLEN V. ESTABILLO / MIN-DANEWS]
COLONVERSATIONS. Dr Robert Bandolan of the Southern Philippines Medical Center urges the public on Wednesday to be aware and critical on the cases of colorectal cancer in the region. He added that one of the
major problems in handling colorectal cancer in the re-gion is that it is difficult to follow-up the patients after discharge because most of them are from far-flung ar-eas. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]
ENVIRONMENT SUMMIT. Edmundo Cejar from Earth Soul Solutions, who is also an active practitioner of organic farming, invites the people of Mindanao on Wednesday to participate on the Green Caravan that will converge in the city’s People’s Park on April 19 which will be followed by the 1st Mindan-aonon Environment Summit on April 20-22. Cejar added that they are aiming to showcase the best and practical practices on environmental protection in the island. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]
ON April 8, Abreeza Mall fixes up a co-lourful concoction for
kids and kids-at-heart in a day of discovery to celebrate Easter Sunday! Join EASTER EXPLORER, a whole day af-fair offering a series of activi-ties that spell fun and excite-ment and a chance to bond with family and friends.
As one big family, start the day off with an Easter Mass at 9 am at the Activity Center, to commemorate the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. At 10 am, have a fun-filled picnic at
Abreeza Park (in front of the Mall) with activities for the whole family.
Kids can participate in the Egg-venture Hunt, Egg Pinata, face painting, balloon twisting, arts & crafts and play in the giant castle bouncer. Watch out for our friendly mascots as they strut their way in this summer soiree and join our games for great prizes and freebies. Families can also enjoy their lunch together at the park with food out-lets and carts available in the area.
At 4 pm, Abreeza Mall brings you the Mad Sci-ence crew from Manila to perform interesting science experiments that will wow both kids and parents alike at the Abreeza Mall Activity Center.
Watch Easter Egg-bert and his friends do live sci-ence demos and cool exper-iments to fire up your kids’ interest and imagination. There’s so much in store for everyone, so come and join the fun this coming Easter Sunday, April 8 at Abreeza Mall!
Explore a world of fun this Easter at Abreeza Mall!
THE Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Phil-Health) recently signed
a Collection and Remittance Agreement (CRA) with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) for the collection of premium contributions of Filipino workers overseas and migrant workers.
The LandBank, which has been a partner of Phil-Health for the past 14 years, will be collecting premi-um contributions abroad through its accredited remit-tance companies (RemCos) based in Europe, USA, Aus-tralia, Canada, Middle East, and throughout Asia.
The RemCos started collecting premium contri-butions last March 15, 2012 from Fiulipino workers over-seas and migrant workers based in HongKong, Macau, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) through its foreign tie-ups namely, Pa-cific Ace Forex H.K., Macau Pacific Ace Remittance, Ltd., and Al Rajhi Bank in KSA.
When paying their PhilHealth premium, work-ers overseas need only to present their PhilHealth ID card or Overseas Em-ployment Contract (OEC) as proof of identity to the RemCos’ authorized rep-resentative. They may use
their host-country’s cur-rency as payment for one or two years’ premium contri-butions, depending on the number of years specified in their OEC.
Migrant workers who want to sign up with Phil-Health need only to scan their accomplished Phil-Health Member Registra-tion Form (PMRF) and send it to PhilHealth Special Pro-grams Department on any day of the week via electron-ic mail with the following addresses to [email protected][email protected]
PhilHealth president and chief executive Dr. Ed-uardo P. Banzon said that the partnership was a big fa-vor, not just for PhilHealth, but particularly for Filipino workers overseas members as well. >p>He also said said:“We are really trying to expand, among other things, our benefits, which will redound to the welfare of our members. We believe that we should be much more aggressive in ensur-ing that our OFW members continue to be eligible.”
He added that “we have been challenged, mandated by the President and Health Secretary (Enrique) Ona to prime universal health care.
It’s a daunting task, difficult task. We believe it’s doable. But with partners like Land Bank, the more it becomes doable for us.”
On the other hand, Landbank president and chief executive Gilda Pico said that “we are very pleased with this arrange-ment with PhilHealth. We hope that this will pave the way for a more convenient collection and remittance system for PhilHealth con-tributions for our overseas Filipinos. We have always looked at the OFWs as our valuable partners in eco-nomic development.”
She also said that “we assure you that Landbank will support your objective of promoting better health and improve the quality of life of Filipinos.”
Also present during the signing ceremony were PhilHealth executive vice president and chief operat-ing officer Atty. Alexander A. Padilla, Senior Manager for Treasury Department Dr. Evangeline F. Racelis, Landbank executive vice president, Head, Institution-al Banking and Subsidiaries Sector Cecilia C. Borromeo and 1st vice president, Head, OFW Remittance Group Roberto S. Vergara.
LandBank now collects PhilHealth premiums from OFWs, migrants
THE Davao City Water District advises custom-ers that its call center
will not be able to attend to bill queries and other services requiring the use of computers on April 7, 2012 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
DCWD’s General Servic-es department has scheduled a power supply shut-off which will affect the Bajada office where its call center is situated. Said power cut is need for the maintenance check-up of all electrical lines and the tapping / transferring of electrical con-nection.
The DCWD manage-ment advises the general pub-lic that leak reports will still be accommodated as well as servicing of leak repairs. Cus-tomers will still also be able to inquire about possible emer-gency water interruptions in their areas. Once power supply resumes, DCWD call center operations will also normalize.
For any queries, com-plaints and comments, they can contact the DCWD 24-hour hotline 221-9412 or 0927-7988966. [JOVANA CRESTA T.
DUHAYLUNGSOD]
DCWD advisory
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 2012 THE ECONOMY 5EDGEDAVAOStat Watch
MONTHLY AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATE (January 2009 - December 2011)
THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reiterated its position that
the proposed across-the-board P125 daily wage increase is not feasible at the moment.
In a news release, DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said that while the agency cannot support the proposed across-the-board P125 daily wage increase because it will weigh down heavily on the economy through higher prices, loss of jobs, and slower overall eco-nomic growth.
In July 2010, a group of Congressmen filed a position paper with the Committee on Labor and Employment, which grants a daily across-the-board P125 increase to all employees in the private sector, whether agricultural or non-agricultural, regardless of capitalization and number of employees in con-nection with House Bill No. 375,
otherwise known as “An Act Pro-viding for a P125 Daily Across the Board Increase in the Salary Rates of Employees and Work-ers in the Private Sector and for Other Purposes.”
Baldoz said that based on the study made by the National Wages and Productivity Com-mission, or NWPC, the increase called for in the proposed mea-sure will translate to a daily ad-ditional effective labor cost of P156.49 per employee per day (assuming a six-day workweek), or P4,081.78 per month per em-ployee, or P48,981.37 per year per employee.
“Taking into consideration the 15.7 million wage and salary workers employed in private es-tablishments nationwide as of July 2011, an across-the-board P125 wage hike will translate to an additional labor cost of about P2.5 billion per day, (P156.49 x 15.7 million wage and salary
workers), or P64.2 billion per month, or P770.7 billion per year,” Baldoz said.
A P125 across-the-board wage increase, Baldoz said, will result to higher Inflation rates, which she said will further erode workers’ incomes.
“The NEDA estimated that if wages were increased by P125 across-the-board in July 2011, inflation rates would have risen by 11.7 percentage points, effectively breaching the target inflation range of 3-5per-cent,” she said.
The NEDA also estimated that the wage increase would have displaced about 344,000 in 2011, which would have brought unemployment from a range of between 7-7.2 percent to 7.9-8.1 percent.
Baldoz explained that implementation of P125 wage hike this year would mean dis-placement of some 353,000
workers that could bring unem-ployment from 6.8-7.1 percent to 7.7-8 percent.
The labor chief warned that the combined effects of higher unemployment and higher inflation rates could invari-ably slow down GDP growth, weaken viability of micro, small and medium enterprises which comprise 99 percent of total es-tablishments by forcing many of them to downscale, if not cease operation.
“The more serious impact, of course, would be the erosion of the country’s competitive-ness and loss of investments,” she said, saying higher labor costs will erode the country’s competitiveness against other Asian countries in attracting foreign direct investments.
An additional P125 to the current minimum wage of P426 will result in a daily minimum wage of P551.
P125 wage increase is not feasible
THE Department of Labor & Employment reiterated its call to public sector
employers to observe appropri-ate pay rules during the holi-days.
In a news release, Labor & Employment Secretary Rosa-linda Baldoz urged all private sector employers in the country to bear in mind the welfare of their workers by observing the applicable pay rules and other core labor standards during the nationwide holidays.
A long vacation awaits Fi-liupino workers beginning next weekend due to three regular holidays: Maundy Thursday (April 5), Good Friday (April 6), and Araw ng Kagitingan (April
9). The dates are specified in
President Benigno Aquino III’s Proclamation No. 295, declar-ing the regular holidays, special (non-working days), and special holiday (for all schools) for the year 2012 issued on November 24, 2011, as among the ten reg-ular nationwide holidays in the Philippines.
Earlier, President Aquino also issued Proclamation 360 declaring April 7, 2012 (Black Saturday) as a special non-working day throughout the country.
Under this scheme, employ-ees who decided to work on Sat-urday are set to receive 30-per-cent increase in their daily rate.
DOLE to employers: pay proper holiday wages
GLOBAL airline industry has reported strong per-formance in February, ac-
cording to statistics released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Tuesday.
It recorded an 8.6 percent improvement in passenger de-mand and a 5.2 percent rise in cargo demand compared to the same month last year.
Several factors contrib-uted to the favorable result, including weaker traffic dur-ing the unrest in middle-east a year ago and the Carnival in Brazil in February, a month earlier than in 2011.
Despite relatively strong
performance in February, IATA’s projection for industry outlook remains negative.
“The outlook is fragile. Im-provements in business con-fidence slowed in February. This will limit the potential for business class travel growth and it implies that an uptick for cargo is not imminent,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Direc-tor General and CEO.
Rising fuel costs is an-other concern for the industry, as it could further erode the margin of airlines, which is al-ready recorded at a very low level, according to the agency. (PNA/XINHUA)
Airlines post positive growth in Feb ‘12
ENVIRONMENTALISTS and a major business group were one in saying that the
government should adopt strate-gies to maximize the power gen-erating potential of Mindanao’s hydroelectric plants instead of increasing the cost of power in response to the daily power out-ages plaguing the island
Miguel Varela, president of the Philippine Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (PCCI) said raising the cost of power to aug-ment supply would be “disas-trous” to power consumers in Mindanao, “as is now being expe-
rienced in Luzon and the off-grid areas.”
The low cost of power “was the key driver in making busi-nesses locate and thrive in Min-danao and would be the strong platform in achieving peace in the area,” Varela said in a state-ment.
The power crisis in the is-land needs “a blend of strategies uniquely crafted for the island,” he said, adding renewable sources of power “should be Mindanao’s core energy source.”
To complement this ap-proach, PCCI vice president for
energy Jose Alejandro said “diesel plants and power barges should remain to be in government hands as dispatchable reserve or standby power.”
Alejandro posited that the Agus complex in Lanao can raise its dependable capacity through dredging, rehabilitation and ex-pansion efforts.
“The Agus complex has the potential to produce up to 800 megawatts of power for about nine months instead of only six months of the year, and a potential year-round dependable capacity of up to 350 MW,” he calculated.
This supply capacity, he added, can be complemented by the 450-MW capacity of “slow speed” diesel-based power plants.
The proposed hydro-diesel mix will bring an increase of at least P1.00 per kilowatt-hour “in spread-out fixed costs,” said Ale-jandro.
Currently, the Agus complex can produce hydropower at P3.00 per KWH. He pointed out that this would mean that their proposed hydro-diesel mix approach would bring power generation cost to only P4.00 per kilowatt-hour, at the most. [MINDANEWS]
Biz group, environmentalists nix increasing power cost in Mindanao
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 20126 THE ECONOMY EDGEDAVAO
IN the preview of SM Group’s rising premier mall last March 22 for
its tenant partners; the country’s top retailers, food chains, service cen-ters and merchants had a first look of the soon-to-open SM Lanang Premier.
“Davao plays a pivotal role in SM Supermall’s ex-pansion in Mindanao. The opening of SM City Davao in 2001, then considered a bold and formidable move, has opened for us a wealth of business op-portunities in the south,” SCMC president Anna Ma-ria S. Garcia shared in her keynote speech.
The new mall, which is located at the northern part of the city, has a to-tal land area of 100,000 square meters. It has a 4-level structure built with a modern design in-spired by the origami. It has a Gross Floor Area of almost 145,000 sqm and a Gross Leasable Area of approximately 84,000 sqm.
World-class Facility The new mall will
carry some of the best features of existing SM
Premier malls.The Skygarden which
is located at the prop-erty’s façade will have restaurants amidst a lush garden with refresh-ing water features. In-side the mall is the Flat Café, floating above the ground and offers a vast view of The Atrium. The mall’s Ground Level will house international retail brands like Forever 21 as well as key SM retail an-chors, SM Supermarket, SM Department Store.
At the rear section of the mall will be a strip of restaurants both at the Ground and Second level overlooking the sprawl-ing outdoor event area called The Park. Also on the second level are 6 Digital Theaters (includ-ing SM Center Stage), the IMAX Theatre, the SM Bowling Center, and the Science Discovery Center.
The mall’s third floor will house the SMX Con-vention Center Davao, perfect for the growing MICE events (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) in the region.
SM Lanang Premier to reshape malling in Mindanao
Rising within the property is the Park Inn by Carlton of the Radis-son Blu which may also be accessed from the mall through a bridge way at the second floor.
All these facilities are SM’s response to the growing demands not only of the Davao market
but of the Tourism indus-try and its nearby prov-inces as well.
A Green Mall The first class mall,
SM Lanang Premier, in-corporates green archi-tecture and environment-friendly features as part of SM’s sustainability ef-forts. The mall building
itself takes only 40% of the total property with paver blocks used in the open parking area to minimize surface run-off water. It will also have the city’s first rain catchment system minimizing storm water peak flow, surface run-off and siltation.
The mall is also de-
signed with skylights and will use LED’s to ensure efficient energy consump-tion. Park finders will also be installed at the Base-ment Parking to minimize carbon output from vehi-cles. It will also utilize re-cycled water for its cool-ing tower and for comfort room flushing.
SM Prime’s biggest and first-of-its-kind premier mall development project in Mindanao, SM Lanang Premier is believed to set world-class malling and
shopping standard in the region. It will re-shape the malling experience in Mindanao bringing luxury that is within reach.
A business leader in Mindanao took note of what gov-
ernment is doing for the power supply problem in the island.
Mindanao Business Council (MinBC) chair Vi-cente Lao said the govern-ment is doing everything that needs to be done in order to address the pow-er shortage here.
In an interview after the Mindanao Stakehold-ers Meeting with heads and representatives of the state power bureau on Tuesday at Grand Regal Hotel here, Lao said there are actions that need to be addressed soonest if only to provide short-term solution to the cur-rent power problem.
Energy Undersecre-tary Josefina Patricia M. Asirit, among other of-ficials, presented short term solutions that would provide additional power supply namely the Min-danao Coal-fired Power Plant (STEAG) for 10
megawatts of un-con-tracted capacity, the oper-ation of Iligan Diesel Pow-er Plant (IDPP) for 100 megawatts, the transfer of power barges and ac-celerate energy efficiency program.
Asirit said the IDPP is on shutdown since June 2010 and there is also a pending clearance with the Commission on Audit (COA).
Asirit said the op-eration of IDPP is a very important source to aug-ment the power supply requirements of Mind-anao even as she said that according to the repre-sentative of Conal Hold-ings, once it is turned over to them they can immediately operate it and initially generate 20 megawatts.
Edgardo S. Calavio, head for marketing of Conal Holdings said on the first month it can pro-duce 20 megawatts, then an additional 15 MW on the second month and
another 15 MW on the succeeding month plus an additional 15 MW on the 5th month and it will fully deliver 96 MW on the 6th month of opera-tion.
A total shut down of Pulangi Hydro Plant is scheduled on April 17 for a major repair of the head start channel. Lao, however, requested to defer it to few more days if only to give some time for the COA to act on the pending clearance.
Given the informa-tion that the Commission will convene next week, Lao said maybe it would already give clearance and the go signal for the IDPP to be turned over to Conal.
But Asirit said they do not want to press on the COA because this is an independent office and COA looks at all gov-ernment agencies and not only for the Energy department.
“We just hope that
resolution will be done soonest,” she said.
Asirit also said the scheduled repair is set on April 17 and they still need to discuss with the appropriate agencies whether they still could defer the shutting down of Pulangi Hydro Plant.
National Power Corporation officer-in-charge for Mindanao Op-eration Rudy Brioso said the repair is inevitable because of the scouring at the headrace channel.
He said the sched-uled date is timely when the water is low other-wise they would not be able to conduct the need-ed repair of the channel when the water is high.
He said the Pulangi Hydro Plant is powered by run-over water that comes from the Pulangi River and covers 1,952 hectares of reservoir.
He said they are tar-geting to complete the repair of the channel within three weeks. (PNA)
Government is doing something about power crisis: biz leader
PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III told his counterparts in the As-
sociation of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) that the Philippine government has already ratified the Asean Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) agree-ment that will strengthen food security in the region.
“As an indication of our
shared desire to bring about better quality of life for our peoples, I am pleased to inform you that the Philip-pines has ratified the Asean Plus Three Rice Reserve Agreement in March 2012,” the President said during the Plenary Session of the 20th Asean Summit here in Cambodia.
The Philippines is look-
ing forward for the imple-mentation programs under the initiative for the benefit of the people in the Asian region.
Asean’s partners in the agreement include China, Ja-pan and South Korea, which have committed to finance the rice reserve agreement.
Under the pact, Asean members and China, Japan
and South Korea are to dis-burse million respectively to put up an endowment fund.
Indonesia, Brunei Da-russalam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Sin-gapore and Vietnam con-tribute US$ 107,500 , re-spectively while Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar allot US$ 83,000 each.
PHL committed to ensure regional food security, says Aquino
JOB was no longer elu-sive to three young men, who have started
to work for Singapore Air-lines as aircraft mechanics after undergoing training under the Technical Edu-cation and Skills Develop-ment Authority (TESDA).
Roland Allan Nicolas, Christian Paul Fulmaran and Mark Gerald Galarce recently began their ca-reer with the Singapore Air Engineering Philip-pines (SIAEP) based in Clark, Pampanga. They will start as maintenance trainees for SIAEP’s Main-tenance Training Program for one year as prelude to their regularization at the prestigious airlines firm.
The job opportu-nity came just after four months of intensive train-ing that started in No-vember last year with Aerotechnik Services Inc., TESDA’s partner in pro-viding free technical voca-tional education to Nico-las, Fulmaran and Galarce through the Training for Work Scholarship Pro-gram (TWSP).
“The opportunity that TESDA has given us has led us to work at this very prestigious com-pany which we know will greatly change our lives and open doors for more employment in the future,” the three said in a letter to Secretary Joel Villanueva, TESDA Direc-tor General.
Villanueva said he considered the achieve-ment of the three gradu-ates as another feat for technical vocational edu-
cation in the country.“They just finished
training, and here comes a job opportunity at hand. This shows that high-quality vocational educa-tion could be a path as well to great jobs,” Villan-ueva said.
Nicolas, 21, said wait-ing for the opportunity to avail of the TESDA and ASI training was worth it because he really wanted to become an aircraft me-chanic.
“There were chal-lenges I encountered while taking my course. I experienced getting a failing grade on my major subject, but that experi-ence motivated me more to finish my course and continue to fulfill and achieve my dream to be-come an aircraft mechan-ic,” he said.
“I call on the youth, particularly the newly graduates from high school to take tech-voc courses as well, more so, if they really have the talent. And also, the im-portant thing is they love what they are doing,” Nicolas added.
Fulmaran, 21, said the training from TESDA and ASI was an enhance-ment to the earlier course he took in college.
During the training, Fulmaran recalled the dif-ficulties he had to hurdle, such as his daily two-hour travel to the training site.
“I think the prospects of this course are big as they open up opportuni-ties for jobs at big air-lines,” he said. (PNA)
TESDA graduates land jobs at Singapore Air
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 2012 7GAME CHANGERSEDGEDAVAO
Making role models
Established in the year 2000 by Jon Nuñez, Glam Model House has emerged to become the city’s longest running modeling agency.
One of the basic rules that any model should know is how to walk with your chin up. Not only does it show proper pos-ture but also, it helps the model exude confidence.
If there is one thing that set Jon apart from all other managers of modeling agencies, it is his passion and how he takes care of his talents. “From the very start I make it clear that model-ing is something that they should do during their spare time, studies must always come first,” Jon said.
To make sure that his talents have the right priorities, Jon makes it a point to meet with the parents and discuss with them how the modeling industry in the city works. “It’s my way of earning the trust of the parents and to show that we are a legiti-mate modeling agency.”
“In this industry, you only have your name as
proof, that is why it is very important that you take care of it, whether you are a model or a manager,” Jon said, stressing that his agency is only involved in the strictest sense of modeling. “I do not allow my models to go out on dates with clients, that is why I deal with the clients directly so I can also set down the rules.”
If other modeling agencies tolerate unbe-coming behavior of their models, it is something that Jon won’t turn a blind eye on.
“I want to mold them to become, not only mod-els, but as role models. As people that the rest of the community will look up to. People to be respected. But to achieve that, they must also respect them-selves,” Jon said.
Another perception that Jon tries to refute is that models are just beau-tiful or handsome, with minimal gray matter.
“People still think that models are dumb. But that’s not the case with the models we have here. Several of the talents that we have are able to gradu-
ate from college in 4 years, while others graduated top of their class or with honors,” Jon said, adding that it makes him proud. “My role in their lives is not as a manager but more of a ‘tita’ who guides them.”
Jon started his ca-reer early in the model-ing industry, at 15 years old. “Even when I went to Manila to study my pre-medicine course at the University of the Philip-pines-Manila, I would still make sure to do shows and shoots every time I am in Davao during sum-mer breaks. It is some-thing that I just love to do,” Jon said.
Finally listening to his heart’s song, Jon went back to Davao and put up Glam Model House in 2000. And as they say, the rest is history.
Despite his success, Jon continues to walk the busy streets of Davao, rides the jeepney, and scouts the malls for poten-tial talents, while main-taining to be under the ra-dar. In the sidelines, doing what he has always loved, Jon looks on as his roster of models strut down the catwalk chin up, knowing that they have been mold-ed not just for print ads or the runway, but also to be role models of tomor-row’s youth.
“I want to mold them to become, not only models, but as role models.”
Text by Carlo P. Mallo Photograph by Ghea Jabile Make-up by Buddy Congson Hair by Hairs and Nails Salon
THERE are models and there are Glam Models. Ask anyone in the fashion in-dustry in Davao City about modeling,
whether for ramp or for commercial, only one name comes to mind – Glam Model House.
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 20128 VANTAGE POINTS
THE phrase sounds illogical, consider-ing that it was on a Friday—probably to be dated April 3, A.D. 33 (Answers.
Com)---when Jesus Christ died on the Cross. In the liturgical calendar of the Western
church, it is the Friday before Easter.The exact origins of the name are un-
certain…some argue it stems from the use of “Good” as an adjective applied to the day, which is an Old English synonym for “holy.”Others argue it is a corruption of the word “God,” in the same way that “Good Bye” comes from the phrase “God be with Ye.”
Christians believe the day is “good” be-cause the message of Easter is of Christ’s victory over sin, death, and the devil; as the Apostle Paul wrote: “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.”
It is believed that, in Jesus’ death on the Cross, He took once and for all the sins of all mankind upon Himself, in our place.
This gift He extends to everyone who will believe in Him. Believing in the Good News of the Gospel is our hope.
Jesus, the Son of God, who died for our
sins, was raised again for our justification, we who believe being made in right stead with God.
Calling the day of the Crucifixion ‘Good’ Friday is a designation that is peculiar to the English language. In German, it is Mourning Friday. And that is what the disciples did on that day---they mourned They thought all was lost.
In Rev. Kenneth Collins’ website, he says, ”Perhaps Good Friday was originally God’s Friday…but I think we call it Good Friday because, in pious retrospect, all that tragedy brought about the greatest good there could be.”
He adds: “I can see virtue in either ter-minology. If we call it Mourning Friday, as in German, we are facing reality head-on, tak-ing up the cross, if you will, fully conscious that the Christian walk is seldom a walk in the park. But if we call it Good Friday, as in English, we are confessing the Christian hope that no tragedy---not even death---can overwhelm God’s providence, love and grace.”
To which we say, Amen.
What’s good about Good Friday?EDITORIAL
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EDGEDAVAOThe history and meaning
of Holy Week
BY RICHARD BUCHER
COMMENTARY
WHAT is this thing we call Holy Week and the special days within it? What is the history of the annual celebrations
that happen in this leading to Easter? In other words, though we know that the events that we remember during Holy Week really happened to Jesus (e.g., the procession into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, His death on the cross, His resur-rection), when did Christians begin to annually observe them as we do? And, what is the signifi-cance of our observances today?
Holy WeekAs we now practice it, Holy Week is the last
week of the 40 day season of Lent and the week preceding Easter. In Holy Week we focus on the last week of Christ’s life, remembering especial-ly His passion and resurrection. Though calling this week “Holy Week” is more of a recent in-novation, the annual observance of the festivals within it are of ancient origin.
Palm/Passion SundayPalm Sunday is the commemoration of
our Lord’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem five days before His crucifixion. Scripture records this incident in Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1- 11, Luke 19:29-44, and John 12:12-19. This day takes it’s name from the fact that as Jesus ap-proached Jerusalem on a donkey (in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9), the huge crowd that followed carried palm branches as they praised Him. The people hailed Him as the long awaited “Son of David,” that is, the Messiah.
Though not annually observed at first, by 600-1000 a.d. Palm Sunday was being given full treatment, especially by Christians aligned with Rome. This treatment was part of a growing emphasis at the time to imitate as closely as pos-sible the last days of Christ’s life.
Holy ThursdayHoly Thursday remembers the events
in the upper room the night before Jesus died. These upper room events are described in Mat-thew 26:20-30, Mark 14:17-26, Luke 22:14-35, and John 13 – 17. Matthew, Mark, and Luke fo-cus on the institution of the Lord’s Supper and the eating of the Passover meal. John focuses on the words of Jesus and His washing of the disci-ples feet.
Since it was on this night that Jesus institut-ed the Lord’s Supper, that sacred meal has often been the chief emphasis of Holy Thursday. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated and often its mean-ing is rehearsed. At the end of the service, the altar is stripped, in preparation for Good Friday. This symbolizes Christ’s being stripped by the Roman soldiers prior to His crucifixion.
The Pascha — Good Friday, Easter Vigil, and Easter
As we would expect, Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection have been annually observed from the earliest times. Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection are described in detail in Matthew 27-28, Mark 15-16, Luke 23-24, and John 19-21. However, Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection were not celebrated exactly as we do now. With texts such as John 1:29 and 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 in mind the first Christians celebrated Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection in one festival, called the Pascha (Greek for “Passover”).
What about the Easter Vigil? Already in the Third Century a. d., Christians practiced a strict fast which ended after sundown on Saturday evening before Easter. After 313, the Vigil was the time for catechumens to be baptized. As such it also ushered in Christ’s resurrection fol-lowing Paul’s linking of baptism with Christ’s resurrection (cf. Romans 6:1-5). The theme of light conquering darkness is also prominent.
Easter, the celebration of Christ’s resurrec-tion, is the queen of the Christian holy days. The word “easter” and the German “Ostern” come from common source, referring to the direction from which the sun rises. In other words, the word referred to the celebration of the spring sun, when all things returned to life. This symbolism was transferred to the resurrection of Christ who brings us new life. There is no evidence that the word “easter” was the name of a Anglo-Saxon goddess “Eos-tre.” This is based on a passage in the writings of the Christian author, Bede, who in the eighth century erroneously ascribed the word to the goddess. To this day, no research has been able to find any mention of Eostre in Germanic my-thology.
Easter celebrates Christ’s victory over sin, death, and the devil, as well as the prom-ise of our justification and everlasting life. The season of Easter lasts 50 days until the day of Pentecost.
Holy Week is a marvelous opportunity for Christian growth. It offers incredible potential for satisfying spiritual hunger. It does this by exposing those who attend its services to God’s Word and Sacrament. In other words, we grow in Holy Week not by imitating Christ’s last days. We grow as the Holy Spirit works through the Gospel and Sacrament that we hear and re-ceive during these days. This Holy Week, taste and see that the Lord is good!
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 2012
FULL-BLOWN AND FULL-GROWN SYN-
DICATE – Top gov-ernment officials talk openly about the recent discov-ery of a Davao-based syndicate engaged in adulter-ating branded fertil-izer products with industrial salt. The widespread illegal business undertaking sent an alarming signal that reaches even the doors of Malacanang prompting President Noynoy Aquino to instruct concerned government agen-cies to immediately act on it.
The disturbing situation emanated from a complaint filed by a leading fertilizer manu-facturer against unscrupulous dealers in Davao City who allegedly adulterate, misrepresent and mislabel their products. By virtue of a search warrant issued by the court, a crack team of Anti-Organized Crime Division (AOCD)-Criminal Investigation Detection Group (CIDG) elements immediately raided a warehouse believe to be the place of the syndicate’s clandestine operation somewhere in Maa area few days ago.
The quick raiding operation yielded a tan-gible answer a result of several weeks of thor-ough investigation and surveillance operations. Caught in the act while conducting the “mixing process” were seven workers including the al-leged mastermind-dealer, and all the suspects were immediately arrested by the raiding team while one still remained at-large. Thousands of sacks of adulterated fertilizers ready for delivery in different parts of regions 11 and 12 are confis-cated. The “hot items” are now being stored in a safe place under the custody of AOCD-CIDG to be presented as evidence.
The successful operation against the highly illegal trade probably didn’t satisfy President PNoy who could be sensitive enough to the alarming situation and immediately acted on it.
Thus, instructed his trusted adjutant, Ret.Gen. Rex Piad, special envoy on transnational crime under the Office of the President to lead a com-posite team comprising AOCD-CIDG, Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) officials and a rep-resentative of the producer-claimant aimed at conducting an ocular inspection where the con-fiscated products are currently safely stored.
The “fertilizer scam” seemed like something that would eventually be a test case for Gen. Piad. “This is the first time our office has encountered such complaint,” Piad told media during a brief press conference, and added his office only came to know about the clandestine activities when the FPA and the manufacturer seek assistance from them. Even with the busting of the syndi-cate, still, two things make the discovery more than a little noteworthy. The first is simply that the syndicate’s tentacles have already spread far and wide. That’s a very big deal: many were con-vinced that the syndicate is already full-blown and full-grown – a crime committed supposedly would be considered as economic sabotage.
Secondly, it has turned out that way. Adul-terating, misrepresenting and mislabeling of products had been emerging gradually over the past years in big increments without getting notice by authorities or perhaps they have been playing deaf and blind or looking at the opposite direction for obvious reasons. Now, they are all reacting quickly, but in the real sense this illegal trade practices are actually old news. That could ultimately prove to be an even bigger deal. The “specialized mixing process” – in fact, evidently makes farmland unproductive. Adulterated fer-tilizers could in theory supply harmful compo-nents that would affect our farms involving plant and soil damages.
To avoid a similar illegal undertaking to happen, Piad urged the public to immediately in-form his office or any concern government agen-cies so it could act on it posthaste. The inspection team led by Piad believes that two factors may
have helped them succeed - extensive investiga-tion and surveillance operations, and coopera-tion and coordination among concerned agen-cies. What makes the achievement even more significant is that it makes the people, most nota-bly the most affected sector – the lowly farmers’ groups wary about the problem.
“The early detection of the illegal business operation is an important step forward,” said Piad, “but perhaps it’s just one obstacle out of the way.” The President, he said is particularly concern about the welfare and future of the poor farmers directly affected by the unscrupulous trade practice, therefore on my part more time and effort had to be exerted to solve the prevail-ing unbearable problem and the early solution of the case.
With the participation of the transnational crime agency under Piad in solving the rampant adulteration of fertilizer products, the serious problem is coming to a head. Appropriate charg-es had been readied against all those allegedly involved in the syndicate. But since there is no existing law that would qualify the case into an economic sabotage, they might as well be charge for the crime of violation R.A. 8293, section 168 in relation to 170 – intellectual property rights, adulteration, misrepresentation and mislabeling of products.
The Transnational Crime agency could be under test because it might not be as well informed as some would like it to be. The truth, suspecting many in the industry is complicated: fertilizer dealers actually help some dubious and enterprising people and at the same time dam-age others. To figure out what’s the impact of the case have a dangerous effect on poor farmers – economically. Concerned agencies need a much larger, broader surveillance and investigation networking. We the people, the poor farmers in particular would like to see the day that the per-petrators are put behind bars. How about it, Gen. Piad, sir?
FOREIGN ministers of theAssocia-tion of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) failed to come up with
a common stand over the disputed Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea especially on dealing with power-house China.
But the ministers agreed to contin-ue with the high-level discussions over a proposed code of conduct (COC) for the settlement of the disputed mari-time space and islands, and hopes re-mained high that the issue would be settled soon.
“We stood by our position (for ASEAN) to conclude first the drafting of the COC before we sit down with China,” Philippines Foreign Affairs Sec-retary Albert del Rosario told report-ers after their meeting at the Office of the Council of Ministers’ Peace Palace in Cambodia.
He said other parties wanted China to sit down with them before the draft-ing of the COC but “we did not agree to that.”
Reports said Indonesia is pushing that ASEAN should have initial discus-sions with China first before the draft COC is presented to them.
Indonesia, which chaired the ASE-AN last year, had facilitated the laying down of the guidelines for the pro-posed code.
Tension has continued to rise since last year over the disputed maritime area due to the alleged incursions of Chinese naval units, which the Philip-pines and Vietnam strongly protested.
Aside from the three countries, Taiwan and ASEAN states Brunei and Malaysia have also claimed portions of the disputed territory, which report-edly hosts significant oil and gas de-posits.
ASEAN and China initially signed a declaration of conduct over the dis-pute in 2002 and agreed on the guide-lines for its implementation in July last year.
In January, ASEAN started dis-cussions for the drafting of the COC, which it hopes to conclude before the planned ASEAN-China Summit here in November.
Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and In-ternational Cooperation Hor Namhong said the DOC will serve as basis for the settlement of the dispute.
“We agreed that the settlement should be based on the principle and spirit of keeping peace and stability in the South China (West Philippines) Sea,” he said.
Namhong said they decided that the settlement of the disputed area would be based on existing international laws, specifically the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas.
He said the drafting of the COC will follow a “step by step” process that would be determined in the succeed-ing talks.
Del Rosario said they’re still hope-ful that they would sign the code this year.
“The Philippines hopes that the code of conduct will be a real move forward not merely in terms of form, but more importantly in substance,” he added.
HOLY WEEK for us climb-ers of the Mt
Apo Climbers As-sociation of Davao or MACADAC was a time for a three-day climb to the Philippines’ high-est peak several years ago. Most, if not all, of us now are retired, not only from our nine-to-five jobs, but also from climbing it-self. Some of us have now joined the soil of the earth six feet under the ground or turned into ashes, God bless them all.
MACADAC started in the mid-seven-ties by architect Ed Viacrusis, insurer Rey Sorongon, boyscout leader Tony Uy and a few others whose names escaped me at the moment, when the climbing of mountains wasn’t a fad yet in Davao.
Around 1980, I started climbing Mt Apo with MACADAC and accepted as a member, climbing the highest peak at least twice or thrice a year: Holy Week Climb, Summer Climb, and New Year Climb. I can’t recall how many times I’ve climb Mt Apo, all I know is that I’ve memorized all the trails going to the peak better than memorizing the roads at the subdivision where I live today.
My knees started to give way and the usual stamina left me during the Centen-nial Climb of the Mountaineering Associa-tion of the Philippines or MAP even before our big group of 300 climbers was waylaid sometime in 1989 by the communist New People’s Army led by Commander Benzar at Sibulan, Sta Cruz, Davao del Sur and cap-tured as “prisoners of war” by the NPA.
If you recall, we were all released un-harmed after three days under the barrel of the gun by NPA guerillas while camped at the village school grounds. The release took place after intense negotiations by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Tony Uy with the heads of the NPA political committee, based in a se-cret safehouse in Davao City.
This all went well, of course, except for the fact that the NPA kept the four foreign-ers who joined our climbed, for “special interrogations” after they were suspected
as foreign “spies” which were, of course, de-nied, by those guys from Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the US. Benzar, who had just recovered from a bout of chicken pox at that time, asked Ed and I to act as “alalays” and interpreters for the four foreigners, but I begged off because of my losing stamina and failing knees.
To make this long story short, we were all released by the NPA after three days, while the foreigners were released later af-ter eleven days, their pictures with the NPA captors splashed all over the front pages of the New York Times, all smiling at the cam-era owned by one of the foreigners and used by the armed rebels as one of their propa-ganda coup.
If this NPA capture never took place, I would still be climbing Mt Apo today, but this little interruption in our annual traditional climbing activities, sounded the death knell for many of us “first generation” climbers at MACADAC. Of course, the sons and daugh-ters of MACADAC climbers carried the torch for us as the “second generation” climbers who love the sports of mountain climbing.
A typical climb for us starts with a two-month jogging and physical conditioning at the PTA grounds now known as People’s Park before the actual climb to Mt. Apo. Fol-lowing our favorite trail at Makilala, our trek starts off the highway going inland along rice fields and uphill on dirt road to New Israel, a small village of cult followers of the late Rev. Guivernas who believe this is the gateway to Heaven on this slope of Mt Apo.
Greeting us whenever we arrive at this strange village are smiling women with long hair in long white dress, looking like angels from Heaven, as well as hundreds of excited monkeys jumping from tree to tree around this forested village, our first jump-off point to Mt Apo. From here we would spent the night, making final preparations for the as-sault to the peak at early dawn.
Promptly at 4:00 am after a quick breakfast of rice and dried meat an hour earlier, our climbing group of about a dozen climbers of men and women would start making our way thru the dark winding trail with flashlights, a long uphill climb thru the
thick dark forest to our next camp about six hours away. This camp called “Makalangit” or like-heaven, looks almost like heaven, a clearing in the middle of a thick forest along Mt Apo slope, halfway to the peak.
It’s a beautiful place specially early in the morning when thick fog envelops the whole place, you almost expect St Peter or God himself to come out of the clouds. Lest you think it’s a very pleasant climb for us, it’s a slow painful, tortuous climb carrying our 30 kilos of supplies (food, thick cloth-ing, utensils, blankets, tent, etc) in our back-packs, all the way to the 10,000 feet peak, the country’s highest.
On the third day, we would reach Mt. Zion at the base of the peak itself where we rest for an hour before continuing the slow climb to the top, passing thru thick talahib and cogon before reaching the rocky portion where all plants are dwarfed by the cold, high elevation over many centuries.
For us climbers, it’s like carrying the cross of Christ when climbing to Mt Apo peak which resembles like Calvary if you just take a closer look. For pagans, agnostics, atheists and anti-Christ jerks out there, this sounds corny, to say the least, but one feels closer to God when climbing Mt Apo after re-alizing that you’re 10,000 feet closer to God than everybody else during Holy Week.
To top it all, when you’re inside your tent, fast asleep on Saturday night on top of the peak itself--- after Christ was nailed to the cross the previous day--- you’ll be treat-ed to a glorious day at dawn the following day Sunday, the day Christ resurrected from the dead.
As you open the day to a new day, you’ll see the golden sun rising above the horizon over the distant mountains below, still cov-ered with fog and orange-tinted clouds, over Davao Gulf so far away below.
It’s the most beautiful sunrise you’ll ever see in your life, you’d shed tears of joy, not only because of its unrivalled beauty but because it reminds you that God is really alive and all around you no matter where you are…
ASEAN leaders fail to come up with protocol on Spratlys
BY ALLEN V. ESTABILLO/MINDANEWS
SPECIAL FEATURE
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 201210 COMMUNITY SENSE EDGEDAVAO
THE Pilipino Ba-nana Growers and Exporters As-
sociation, Inc. (PBGEA), in partnership with the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and Nader & Ebrahim S/O Hassan (NEH) Phil-ippines, Inc through its DANA Foundation, for-mally inaugurated and turned over a newly con-structed three-classroom building to Semong El-ementary School at Brgy. Semong, Kapalong, Davao del Norte last March 26, 2012.
The new school building complements the existing buildings in the school to accommodate all its students from Kindergarten to Grade 6.
PBGEA Community Development Chairperson Dondon Jimenez said the classroom-building project, dubbed “TUCP in Mindanao Project” or taking up classroom problems in Mindanao, primarily aims to provide adequate school buildings to afford students with an appropriate learning environment
and to address the acute classroom shortage in public schools.
“While our banana industry is focusing on providing and propelling economic development, we also want to contrib-ute and address the social needs of the community,” Jimenez said in his mes-sage during the turn over rites.
Besides Semong El-ementary School, PBGEA and TUCP also turned over two-classroom building to Elias P. Dacu-dao Gumalang School of Home Industries at Brgy. Gumalang, Baguio Dis-trict, Davao City.
Another three-class-room building will be turned over to Datu Pa-glas in Maguindanao this second quarter of the year.
“This will not be the first and the last. This is just the beginning,” PB-GEA Executive Director Stephen Antig, who was also present during the event, said.
According to Antig, education has always been part of PBGEA’s cor-
porate advocacies. They continuously reach out to various places especially to far-flung areas to pro-vide classroom where it is much needed and pro-vide scholarship program to less privileged young-sters.
“We value education very much. Tungod niana, sulod sa sobra 30 ka-tuig, adunay sobra libo ka mga iskolars na ang among napaskwela ug kami magpadayun pa hangtod nabuhi ang sagingan. (Be-cause of that, for more than 30 years, we have sent over a thousand of scholars to school and we will continue serving until the banana industry exists.) We will definitely do everything we can to continue helping commu-nity in giving our children the best realms of educa-tion,” Antig said.
Likewise, TUCP Rep-resentative Raymond Democrito C. Mendoza said they will be plan-ning for more projects for Davao del Norte to bring community support ser-vices towards improving people’s lives and help
alleviate poverty through education.
“Importante dyud ang edukasyon. Mao ni ang pundasyon sa tanan (Education is very impor-tant. This is the founda-tion of everything.),” he added.
Davao del Norte Vice Governor Victorio R. Suaybaguio, Jr. extended his warmest appreciation to the stakeholders saying “We are very grateful that we have private groups who are always ready to give assistance to our schools to improve and raise the quality of educa-tion.”
The turnover ceremo-ny also gained the support of Kapalong Mayor Ed-gardo Timbol, NEH Phil-ippines, Inc. Sales and Marketing Manager Jennifer Karla Briones, DepEd Davao del Norte Representatives Cristy C. Epe and Engr. Lolita An-danon, Jovy Villar, who represented Davao del Norte Gov. Rodolfo P. del Rosario, Semong Brgy. Captain Joevin Doriman, and the barangay council of Semong.
PBGEA, TUCP, DANA Foundation build 3 classrooms in Kapalong
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PUBLIC ADVISORY
April 3, 2012
THE Philippines’ largest national flag carrier, Cebu Pa-
cific (PSE:CEB) adds 22% more flights from April to May 2012, in preparation of the travel surge during the summer months.
“Because of this in-creased seat capacity, passengers can take ad-vantage of CEB’s trade-mark low fares for travel this April and May. Plan your family or friends’ exciting summer vaca-tion by checking out the low-fare options on www.cebupacificair.com,” said CEB VP for Marketing and Distribution Candice Iyog.
CEB encourages pas-sengers to take advantage of its trademark lowest fares for travel this sum-mer. Low fares to the fol-lowing leisure destina-tions are still up for grabs: Siargao, Naga, Legazpi (from Manila and Cebu), Cebu, Tagbilaran (Bohol), Dumaguete, Davao, Ba-colod, Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro.
Those who wish to go home for the summer or spend summer break on a Southern adventure can also buy CEB’s low fares to the following des-tinations: Zamboanga, Surigao, Ozamiz, Taclo-ban, Zamboanga, Butuan, Cotabato, Pagadian and Ozamiz.
“CEB operates the largest destination net-work in the country and to the ASEAN. With 22% more flights, we continue to show our commit-ment in promoting travel within the Philippines, through our trademark
lowest fares, and young-est and largest aircraft fleet,” Iyog added.
The following CEB routes will have daily flights from February 8 to June 15, 2012: Cebu-Di-polog, Cebu-Legazpi and Cebu-Pagadian. Three more weekly flights will be added to the Cebu-Puerto Princesa route, making it 10 times weekly from March 17 to June 4, 2012.
From March 24, 2012, CEB is also adding flights to the following routes: Manila-Legazpi and Ma-nila-Puerto Princesa (to-tal of 4 daily flights each). Legazpi is the gateway to whale shark encoun-ters in Donsol, Sorsogon. Meanwhile, CEB remains the largest airline oper-ating to and from Puerto Princesa, which is world-renowned for its Under-ground River.
The summer peak months will also see flight frequency increases for the following routes: Cebu-Bacolod (total of 17 weekly flights), Cebu-Caticlan (3 daily flights), Cebu-Davao (5 daily flights), and Cebu-Siar-gao (4 weekly flights). CEB is the only airline flying direct to Siargao, an international surfing destination.
Flight frequency ad-ditions will be extended from March 24 to June 4, 2012 for the follow-ing high-traffic routes: Manila-Cebu (total of 99 weekly flights), Ma-nila-Bacolod (40 weekly flights) and Manila-Iloilo (7 daily flights).
CEB increases seat capacity by more than 20% this summer
TURNOVER. TUCP Representative Raymond Democrito C. Mendoza and Semong Elementary School Principal Alexander P. Redaniel cut the ceremonial ribbon.
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 2012
Strong determina-tion and courage can take you even
to your highest dreams.This was the mes-
sage conveyed by Cota-bato Governor Emmylou “Lala” Taliño-Mendoza as she spoke to college lead-ers attending the first ever leadership-peace camp for college students in the province held last February 27-March 1 at the Our Mother of Per-petual Help Shrine, Bino-ligan, Kidapawan City.
“Whoever you are, whatever tribe or fam-ily line you may belong to, you will really suc-ceed as long as your will is strong, you have deep faith, and you work hard for it.”
The governor, who has served as Ex-Officio Member of the Sangguni-ang Panlalwigan during
her youth as SK Federa-tion President, told del-egates that the provincial leadership is counting on them to lead the province and even the nation in the near future.
This, she said, is the reason why activi-ties such as this are be-ing conducted not only to hone their leadership skills and mold them into better persons but more importantly lead them to understand each other’s customs and beliefs and subsequently enjoy each other’s company despite their cultural and reli-gious indifferences.
During the 4-day camping event, social-ization and teambuild-ing activities were also conducted to develop camaraderie among the participants who came from different college
institutions all over the province.
The students also engaged in an educa-tional tour to PNOC-EDC Geothermal Site at Kidapawan’s barangay Ilomavis; an orientation on Environment and Global Climate Change was also conducted dur-ing the said visit.
Last year, same camping activities were also conducted for Grade V pupils (Summer Kids Peace Camp) with more than 18,000 delegates as
well as high school lead-ers (High School Leader-ship-Peace Camp) with 210 participants.
Last Friday, March 9, the 2nd Summer Kids Peace Camp kicked off at the municipality of Pikit and will be followed by another ‘kids camp’ for the municipality of Aleo-san on March 14. This year’s summer camp for children is scheduled to last until May this year when all LGUs are done. //lqg.idcd-pgo//
11SUBURBIAEDGEDAVAO
‘SOME companies sell their ores to sister compa-nies abroad, which is consid-ered transfer pricing.’
--Environment Secretary Ramon Paje on the disadvantageous prac-tice of transfer pricing of mining firms.BM
Quips
DELEGATES from different elemen-tary schools in
Aleosan, Cotabato dur-ing the opening program of the 2nd Summer Kids Peace Camp in the said municipality.
Thousands of grade five pupils from pub-lic and selected private institutions from Pikit, Aleosan, and Magpet, Co-tabato attended the 2nd Summer Kids Peace Camp held in their municipali-ties on March 9-11, March 15-17, and
March 19-21, respec-tively.
Governor Emmylou “Lala” J. Taliño-Mendoza who started this summer activity for Grade V pupils last year in coordination with the Department of Education and the local government units is both proud and happy to ad-dress the children and the teacher-facilitators.
“There should be no discrimination. Everyone has an equal opportunity. No matter what the sex-ual orientation, tribe or religion. And if you have discipline in your studies, you will go far,” the gov-ernor said instilling the value of education and a just society to young Co-
tabateños in all 3 munici-palities.
The lady governor also challenged the future leaders of the province to “put into practice what you learn during this 2nd summer kids peace camp and serve as role mod-els to the younger pu-pils when you go back to school.”
One big gathering of Muslim, Indigenous People and Christian kids, the 3-day camp teaches the participants leader-ship skills, encourages in-volvement in community development, inculcates moral values and intro-duces the diverse cultures of the tri-people living in the province they were born into and may some-day lead.
A total of 25,000 grade five pupils from the 17 municipalities and 1 city of the province in-cluding the participants from Antipas, Matalam, M’lang, Kabacan, Pigc-awayan, Makilala, Arakan, Tulunan, Carmen, Banisi-lan, Alamada, Midsayap, Libungan, Pres. Roxas, and Kidapawan City are expected to attend the said event scheduled this March until May.//LAF-IDCD//
Summer kids camp year 2 commences
With a fully fur-nished living quarters and
a fitness center, Police Non-Commissioned Of-ficers (PNCOs) will no longer live in quarters made of light materials and no longer will they be out of shape.
Governor Emmylou “Lala” J. Taliño- Men-doza, together with 2nd District Representative Nancy A. Catamco, Po-lice Provincial Director Superintendent Corne-lio R. Salinas, and Po-lice Regional Director represented by Deputy Regional Director for Administration Chief Superintendent Lester O. Camba, led the in-auguration of the Male PNCOs’ Quarters and the Gov. Lala Fitness Center inside the Cota-bato Police Provincial Office (CPPO) grounds at Amas, Kidapawan City last February 24, 2012.
Fully furnished with bunks, lockers, electric ceiling fans, re-strooms, and kitchens,
the quarters will be a permanent housing facility to 20 male PN-COs from PO1 to SPO4 during their duty inside the provincial police office. The Gov. Lala Fitness Center on the other hand is equipped with exercise machines to help the police force maintain physical fit-ness so they are better prepared to respond to crime incidents.
“We are looking out for the well-being and the welfare of our male PNCOs. The completion of these two projects are aimed to boost their morale and self-esteem. They now have a de-cent and comfortable residence and a fitness center here at CCPO,” PD Salinas stated.
The completion of the two amenities was made possible with funds from the Cotabato provincial government, proceeds from the 2nd Gov. Lala Shoot fest dur-ing the 2011 Kalivungan Festival, and donations from generous
Male PNCOs get permanent quarters and fitness center
THE Provincial Gov-ernment of Cotaba-to has appropriated
P5.5 M for the strength-ening of two laboratory facilities in the Province of Cotabato under the Ag-riculturang Pinoy (Agri-Pinoy) Program of the De-partment of Agriculture (DA) in a memorandum of agreement signing at the provincial governor’s of-fice held last January 12, 2012.
Recognizing the im-portance of upgrading the existing laboratory facilities to accomplish the Agri-Pinoy program objectives, Governor Em-mylou “Lala” J. Tali?o-
Mendoza has extended financial assistance to the Department of Agricul-ture - Regional Office XII (DA-RFO12) headed by Regional Executive Direc-tor Amalia J. Datukan, for the enhancement of the Amas Soils Laboratory and the Balindog Tissue Culture Laboratory ame-nities.
Provided with up-to-date tools, supplies, and equipment, the Tis-sue Culture laboratory in Balindog, Kidapawan City will be producing twenty-five thousand (25,000) pieces of high-quality Lacatan and Cardava Ba-nana potted seedlings
which will be distributed by the Cotabato PLGU to marginal farmers in the province.
On the other hand, the Soils Laboratory locat-ed in DA-CEMIARC Com-pound, Amas, Kidapawan City shall provide techni-cal assistance to farmers on the interpretation of the results of laboratory analyses and will be ren-dering soil pH analysis (acidity and basicity), or-ganic matter, Phosphorus and Potassium and Fer-tilizer Assay per request of farmer clients free of charge.
The Agri-Pinoy Pro-gram works in partner-
ship and active participa-tion with national govern-ment agencies, Local Gov-ernment Units (LGUs), Non-Government Organi-zations (NGOs), Farmer Organizations (FO), and private stakeholders in providing agricultural development focused on food security and self-sufficiency, sustainable agriculture and fisheries, natural resource manage-ment and local develop-ment.
The Amas Soils Labo-ratory and Balindog Tis-sue Culture Laboratory upgrading will cost P1M and P4.5M, respective-ly.//IDCD-LAF//
Cotabato allocates P5.5 M for upgrading laboratory facilities
DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman stresses the importance of sending children to school and submitting to regular health check-up through the Pantawid Pamilya program during her recent visit in Mati City. [DSWD/SHERYLL JANE B. SANICO]
‘Strive hard for your dreams’ - Cotabato Governor reminds college leaders
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 201212 NATION/WORLD EDGEDAVAO
NATION BRIEFS WORLD TODAYProtection
SOUTHEAST Asian leaders agreed Tues-day to take a phased
approach in developing an Asean instrument to pro-tect migrant workers in the region.
In a joint statement on the first day of a two-day summit, they in-structed labor ministers to continue implementing the Asean declaration on protecting and promot-ing migrant worker rights signed by Asean leaders in Cebu in 2007.
Fire
SEVENTEEN people died Tuesday when a night-time fire tore
through a two-storey Mos-cow market warehouse where migrant workers from a former Soviet re-public were camping out in squalid conditions.
“According to pre-liminary information, they were migrant workers. Their identities and ages are being verified,” the Russian emergencies min-istry said in a statement.
Tsunami
A 35-metre (115-foot) tsunami could hit the Japanese
coast in the wake of a mas-sive earthquake, an expert panel has said after revis-ing its worst case scenar-io projections following last year’s disaster.
If a 9.0-magnitude quake struck in the Nankai Trough off central to west-ern Japan huge swathes of the Pacific coastline could be inundated, with 20-me-tre-plus waves hitting ar-eas from Tokyo down to the southwestern island of Kyushu.
Flying car
DRIVERS hoping to slip the surly -- and traffic congested
-- bonds of Earth moved a step closer to realizing their dream, as a US firm said it had successfully tested a street-legal plane.
Massachusetts-based firm Terrafugia said their production prototype “Transition” car-plane had completed an eight-min-ute test flight, clearing the way for it to hit the market within a year.
Deployed
THE first batch of an expected 2,500 US Marines to be
deployed in Australia be-gan work Wednesday as Washington bolsters its presence in a strategically vital region, to the irrita-tion of China.
Some 200 Marines touched down in tropical Darwin overnight as part of an enhanced defence cooperation outlined dur-ing a visit by US President Barack Obama in Novem-ber that rankled Beijing.
Surplus
THE government posted a budget surplus of P10.655
billion in February despite higher spending, as rev-enues increased during the month.
The February surplus reversed the P21.490-billion deficit the gov-ernment incurred in the same month last year and brought the deficit in the first two months of the year to P5.288 billion.
Homecoming
AFTER serving six months in the Car-ribean country, the
155-strong Filipino peace-keeping forces commis-sioned by the United Na-tions (UN) were welcomed and honored Wednesday morning at the General Headquarters, Camp Agui-naldo in Metro Manila.
The 14th Filipino contingent to Haiti, which arrived March 18, was welcomed and awarded by Major General Grego-rio Macapagal, theArmed Forces Deputy Chief.
Loses
PHILIPPINE telecom firms lose millions of pesos in revenues
annually to hundreds of il-legal operators that bypass global payment systems to convert long-distance calls to domestic.
A leading telecom executive described the magnitude of the problem following the arrest on Friday of three Taiwanese nationals and their Filipino cohort for allegedly run-ning a call bypass fraud syndicate from their condo units in Makati City.
Sold
PHILIPPINE Airlines said Wednesday it had sold a minority
stake in the loss-making carrier to San Miguel Corp, one of the country’s big-gest conglomerates, but both sides refused to dis-close details.
San Miguel, best-known for its beer but which has diversified into a wide range of business sectors in recent years, will also take a minority stake in PAL’s low-cost airline, Air Phil, as part of the deal, a joint statement said.
Challenged
EARTH Hour co-founder Andy Ridley challenged the Fili-
pinos to use their “united voice” to inspire other countries to participate more in the environmental cause.
“Use your voice. That unity of voice is amazing. It is an important thing to share with other coun-tries,” Ridley said, lauding the Philippines for its “mas-sive, extraordinary engage-ment” in Earth Hour.
FIERCE clashes erupted after Syr-ia’s regime sent re-
inforcements into rebel areas despite a truce pledge, as the UN said it was rushing a team to Damascus to pave the way for peace monitors.
The surge in violence on Tuesday killed at least 38 people, including 25 civilians, mostly in north and central Syria, and saw a string of arson at-tacks on homes, activists and monitors said.
It came a day after peace envoy Kofi An-nan told the UN Security Council that President Bashar al-Assad had giv-en assurances he would “immediately” start pull-ing back his forces and complete a military with-drawal from urban areas by April 10.
The United States ac-cused Assad of failing to honour his pledged troop withdrawal, as monitors reported heavy fighting in opposition strong-holds in the southern re-gion of Daraa, the central
REINFORCEMENTS. An image grab taken from a video on YouTube April 3, shows a Syrian army tank in Hamouriyah, a suburb of Damascus. Fierce clashes
erupted after Syria’s regime sent reinforcements into rebel areas despite a truce pledge.
Fierce clashes in Syria as regime reinforces
city of Homs, northwest-ern Idlib province and near the capital.
The Syrian Observato-ry for Human Rights has charged that the army is torching and looting rebel houses across the country in a campaign that could amount to crimes against humanity.
Dozens of armoured personnel carriers ar-
rived in Dael, a town in Daraa province where the uprising against Assad began in March 2011, as well as in Zabadani, a bastion of the rebel-lion near the border with Lebanon.
Clashes in the Atbaa area of Daraa left three civilians and two soldiers dead, according to the Observatory.
In Idlib, heavy fight-ing took place on the outskirts of the town of Taftanaz, where five civil-ians, four rebels and sev-en soldiers were killed amid heavy machinegun fire and shelling, the Brit-ain-based monitoring group said.
Clashes killed two ci-vilians elsewhere in the province.
ASEAN should forge a common position on a proposed code
of conduct aimed at easing tensions in the South China Sea before talking with China, Philippine President Benigno Aquino said Tues-day.
Aquino told fellow leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that the fundamentals of the proposed code should be “internal” to the region-al bloc’s members, accord-ing to a statement from the Philippine foreign ministry.
“It is important that we maintain ASEAN central-ity,” Aquino said at the an-nual ASEAN summit in the
Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
“After the CoC (code of conduct) has been fi-nalised by ASEAN, then ASEAN member states will meet with China.”
Philippine Foreign Sec-retary Albert del Rosario said there was a “big dis-agreement” at a session earlier when ASEAN Sec-retary General Surin Pitsu-wan announced that China might be invited to take part in the drafting of the code.
“We are saying that we’re happy to invite Chi-na but this should be done after the approval of the CoC (by ASEAN). I think
that we should be masters of our own destiny as far as the CoC is concerned,” del Rosario told report-ers, adding that Vietnam expressed a similar senti-ment.
He said that it would be difficult for ASEAN -- which operates by consen-sus -- to have all of the 10 members agree on invit-ing China to be involved in the code’s drafting.
“I believe that they need to have consensus if they are going to pursue this and they will not have consensus,” del Rosario said.
“We are trying to do it as fast as we can, but
what we are objecting to is we don’t want China to be invited in terms of the drafting and the decision making.”
Asked which countries wanted China to take part, he said: “I think Cambodia would be one of them.” Cambodia is the current chair of ASEAN’s rotating leadership.
During Indonesia’s chairmanship of the re-gional bloc least year, ASE-AN and China agreed on a set of guidelines for the proposed code, ending a nine-year impasse.
The code is envisioned to be a legally binding document aimed at pre-venting small incidents in the South China Sea from escalating into bigger con-flicts that could draw in major world powers like the United States.
ASEAN members Bru-nei, Malaysia, the Philip-pines and Vietnam along with non-members China and Taiwan have overlap-ping claims in the South China Sea, a conduit for more than one-third of the world’s seaborne trade and half its traffic in oil and gas.
The Philippines and Vietnam accuse China of aggressively asserting its claims in recent years. The United States meanwhile asserts a “national inter-est” in keeping the sea’s shipping lanes free and open.
PHL urges united ASEAN stand on South China Sea
LEADER. Pres. Benigno Aquino reads documents during the recently-concluded 20th Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Phnom Penh.
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 2012 13FFROM 1
FFROM 1
FFROM 2
FFROM 15
FFROM 3
EDGEDAVAO
2 shot...
Gov’t...
Davao...Wrestlemania...
Doe...According to Casiño,
“since April 1, 2010 there had been at least a 100% increase in electricity in Mindanao. In 2009, it was P49.70/ kilowatt-hour/month; in April 2010 it was P560 per kwh/month and in May P606 per kwh/month. Now the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation or PSALM has transferred to the Na-tional Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), a private corporation, the function to manage and maintain its transmission facilities in order to de-liver efficient and quality power transmission ser-vices in the country,”
Under the ASPA, Therma Marine would sell additional power to the Mindanao grid at a more expensive rate than when the power barges were still being used as baseload plants. Using the ASPA, the NGCP obtained a provisional authority for new power rates which is the cause of the exorbitant power rates today.
“Thus, a logical solu-tion is for the government to take over the power barges of Therma Marine and add it to the grid as cheap base load power instead of expensive ancil-lary power,” Casiño said.
“Temporarily taking over the power barges will lower prices allowing power distributors to buy cheaper power and sup-ply it to customers. Based on Article XII Section 17 of the Constitution, the gov-ernment can temporar-ily take over or direct the operation of any private-ly-owned public utility or business affected with public interest, if there is a national emergency, when the public interest so re-quires,” he added.
“In the long term, the government should imme-diately rehabilitate the hy-dropower plants in Mind-anao and tap solar power systems and other renew-able energy sources to augment existing supply,” the progressive solon said.
Rep. Casiño is the au-thor of House Bill 5405
or the proposed One Mil-lion Solar Roofs Act which provides for incentives and financing facilities to encourage the use of solar energy by ordinary electricity consumers like residences, offices and small to medium business establishments.
“With government harnessing the solar re-sources of the country and providing for incen-tives for massive deploy-ment of solar energy systems, the prospects of attaining energy indepen-dence from oil companies and significantly lowering electricity prices in the medium-term are realiz-able. Power crises then like in Mindanao would be a thing of the past,” ended Casiño.
Mindanao’s power demand is expected to grow at an annual rate of 4.56 percent from 2011 to 2030. Demand is pro-jected to exceed existing generation capacity by 2014 unless additional power generation capac-ity is installed.
and became the first man to enter the annual event last and win. Calaway is the only remaining WWE wrestler to have also ap-peared on the first epi-sode of its Raw television program.
Another favourite wrestler of mine is The Rock. Between The Un-dertaker and The Rock, the latter is more popular having appeared in sev-eral movies. The latest of which is The Journey II.
The Rock’s real name is Dwayne Douglas John-son. Johnson is widely considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. He won a total of 16 cham-pionships in WWF/E.
This included nine World Heavyweight Champion-ships (the WWF/E Cham-pionship seven times and the WCW/World Champi-onship twice), two WWF Intercontinental Cham-pionships, and five times as co-holder of the WWF Tag Team Championships. He was the sixth WWF/E Triple Crown Champion, and the winner of the 2000 Royal Rumble.
Johnson’s first lead-ing role as an actor was in The Scorpion King in 2002. For this film, he received the highest sal-ary for an actor in his first starring role, earn-ing $5.5 million. He has since appeared in several blockbuster movies such
as The Rundown, Be Cool, Walking Tall, Gridiron Gang, The Game Plan, Get Smart, Race to Witch Mountain, Planet 51, Tooth Fairy, Doom, The Other Guys, Faster, and most recently Fast Five starring opposite Vin Diesel and Paul Walker.
Tuesday night’s wrestlemania marathon rolled past midnight and into the early minutes of Wednesday.
No regrets though. My sidekick Jumar lost his bet twice against my boys—The Undertaker (who extended his Wres-tlemania streak won 20-0 over Triple H) and The Rock (who beat John Cena).
In the other incident was reported by the Bu-nawan police the same night. Shot dead was Jun-rey Abado Gicali, 19, single and jobless, resident of Purok 4, Upper Ilang, Ba-rangay Ilang where
the crime transpired.Gicali was walking on
the road at about 8:30 pm when an unidentified male suspect wearing a white sando shirt and ma-ong shorts aboard a blue Honda XRM shot him once in the head resulting to his instantaneous death.
The suspect fled aboard his motorcycle along Mudiang Road, Ilang.
Recovered from the crime scene was one fired empty shell of Cal. 45 pis-tol which is now in the custody of the responding personnel of SOCO 11.
Meanwhile, a case of attempted homicide was filed against Vincent En-somo Arias, suspect in a stabbing incident last March 30.
Arias allegedly stabbed Kenneth Miranda Sasam, 18, a motorcycle driver.
The suspect and vic-tim, both residents of Ilang, Tibungco, were re-ported to have engaged in a heated argument prior to the occurrence of the crime.
At about 9:45 pm that same day, Arias, armed with a knife, went looking for Sasam. Finding Sasam in Purok 5, Bugac, Ilang, he stabbed the victim in the left part of the chest and the left thigh.
Concerned citizens re-ported the incident and responding Central 911 medical emergency ser-vices brought Sasam to the Southern Mindanao Medi-cal Center for treatment.
The Bunawan police arrested Arias, who is now facing a case of attempted homicide before the City Prosecution Office under Prosecutor Jay Karel San-chez.
ening economic crises and human rights viola-tions.
“Gutom tungod sa kawad-on. Kalisud tun-god sa walay trabaho, ubos ang suhulan. Uhaw sa batakang serbisyo so-syal sama sa panglawas, edukasyon, trabaho o pan-ginabuhian, pabalay, ug pagrespeto sa tawhanong katungod. Suportahan ang P125 usbaw nga suhulan, ibasura ang mga polisiya ug programa nga kon-tra katawhan,” said Toto Bolcan, spokesperson of KADAMAY-Southern Min-danao.
“The Kalbaryo sa Ka-bus reminds the public that the suffering of Jesus in His passion and death are repeated today in the sufferings imposed on the poor by forced evictions, hunger, landlessness, joblessness, high prices, and low wages. However, the resurrection of Jesus is also repeated with the poor’s struggle to reclaim human dignity and attain genuine justice and devel-opment,” the groups said.
Depicted in the pro-cession were the “new” Pontius Pilate, who is President Benigno Aqui-no III for “Noynoying”
and washing his hands to escape from account-ability of the people’s suf-ferings; and the modern Roman centurions, who are represented by the oil companies, private power corporations, and Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Oplan Bayanihan.
“As Pontius Pilate violated human rights, so does P-Noy through his acrimonious neglect of consumer welfare while he pays homage to oil, en-ergy and food cartels and other foreign investors,” said Duazo.
The groups blame President Aquino for the jacked-up prices of oil and basic commodities due to State deregulation and the Value Added Tax (VAT).
Duazo also cited the energy crisis and the looming increase in pow-er rates bolstered by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA); low wages; the failure of land reform; and the govern-ment’s neglect to protect State’s resources as Aqui-no’s responsibilities.
The procession ended at the Davao Light Power Corporation, where the groups contin-
ued to call for “immedi-ate substantive economic reforms” and not just do-leouts as “band-aid solu-tions” that will not save the people from the cur-rent economic turmoil.
Earlier, in a press re-lease, the Christians for National Liberation-Na-tional Democratic Front of Southern Mindanao stated that the Lenten season should be an oc-casion to emulate the life of Jesus for He was the embodiment of righ-teousness, justice, and peace.
“Jesus’ Messia-ship was demonstrated through his deeds, his sacrifice, and his revolu-tionary resistance to the evils of the Roman Em-pire,” the group said.
It also cited Jesus’ mission statement as written in Luke 4:18-19, declaring His commit-ment to the poor and taught the people to call for the total liberation, freedom from captivity, captivity from the fas-cist machinations of the Roman Empire, enslave-ment from indebtedness, enslavement from domi-nation of the Roman rul-ing class of slave masters.
innovation,” said Sam Ma-tunog of ICT Davao and president of the Davao Software Group.
He added that suc-cessful stories of innova-tors and entrepreneurs will help encourage young people and investors to invest in innovative proj-ects and businesses.
Two winners out of the five entries from Davao City in the nation-wide final round of the 2011 ON3 Pitching Com-petition, the Piclyf and Rad Solutions are on their way to Silicon Valley in California.
The two startup companies will undergo three-month training with Silicon Valley, which is the capital of venture
capitalists in the world, where at least 300 capi-talists look at possible in-vestments every year.
“Many of our inves-tors are looking for in-novative businesses ac-tually. But, since they do not know what it’s all about, they’re afraid that they may lose their shirt in this project. We hope that through these activi-ties they will be educated, have an occasion to bring together, and they will see how it works in the Sili-con Valley,” Matunog said.
He also hopes that success stories like that of Eric Su, creator of Pic-lyf, a social networking using photos to describe life moments, will be the one to help us promote
the activities here.“Meron na kasi tay-
ong trainings for stu-dents, entrepreneurs, and outsourcing inves-tors, ang kulang na lang natin ay capital,” he said.
Representatives of the Silicon Valley will come during the com-petition in Davao City to help look at the new ideas of shortlisted con-testants, and to mentor them to be able to qualify in the countrywide finals in July.
Usually, three to four winners from each of the four elimination legs: Cebu in Visayas, Davao City in Mindanao, and two legs in Luzon, will be taken to the national finals. [LORIE A. CASCARO]
THE Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday said it
received 69 bids for 38 coal areas in its fourth Philippine Energy Con-tracting Round (PECR4) for coal last March 30.
Undersecretary Jay Layug, Chairman of the DOE Review and Evalu-ation Committee (REC), said the department opened 69 bids from vari-ous companies who have expressed interest in in-vesting in coal exploration in the Philippines.
The REC is tasked to examine, evaluate, and review the legal, techni-cal, and financial qualifica-tions of the PECR 4 appli-cants. In determining the winning bidder, the REC will be guided by the crite-ria set out in DOE Circular No. DC 2011-012-0010
(Reiterating a Transparent and Competitive System of Awarding Service and Operating Contracts for Petroleum and Coal Pro-spective Areas…), consist-ing of legal qualification (10%); technical capabil-ity (30%); financial cre-dentials (30%); and work program (30%).
The opening of new bids clearly showed in-creased private compa-nies’ interest to invest in exploration and develop-ment of indigenous coal re-sources in the Philippines from the previous years. This development will, once commercial produc-tion occurs, further reduce the country’s dependence on imported coal and will consequently result in dol-lar savings arising from de-creased coal importation.
Certain coal areas gar-
nered multiple bids, par-ticularly Areas 18-A and 18-B in Bislig and Lingig, Surigao del Sur, which the DOE considered as the most prospective in coal resources. Areas that did not receive any bids in PECR 4 will be offered in the next contracting round.
Some old and new players have submitted ap-plications, including PNOC Exploration Corp., Semir-ara Mining Corp., Benguet Corp., Blackstone Mineral Resources, Inc., Altura Min-ing Phils. Inc., South Peak Coal Resources, Inc., Su-perfine Mines and Miner-als, Inc., and Empire Asia Mining Corp.
The DOE expects to award the winning bid-ders their coal operating contracts within 150 days from the opening of the applications.
Coal areas generates 69 bids
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 201214 SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENT EDGEDAVAO
A study has highlight-ed the importance of wildfires in allowing
flowering plants to spread during the Cretaceous pe-riod (145-65 million years ago).
Researchers sug-gested that conditions at the time, like higher tem-peratures and atmospheric oxygen levels, established “angiosperm fire cycles”.
The “small, weedy” plants were able to regen-erate after a fire, giving them an advantage over conifers, they said.
The findings have been published on the New Phytologist journal’s website.
“The Cretaceous is the period when flowering plants (known as angio-sperms) first evolved,” ex-plained co-author Andrew Scott from the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London.
“It was also a time when there was a large number of fires, partly be-cause there were probably higher atmospheric oxy-gen levels than there are today.”
Research suggested that oxygen made up about 25% or higher during this period, compared with 21% today.
“Angiosperms, partic-ularly weedy angiosperms,
can do particularly well in these sorts of circumstanc-es; they can regenerate very fast and take advan-tage of such a regime,” Pro-fessor Scott told BBC News.
Continue reading the main story
“Start QuoteWe now know that fire
had a much more impor-tant impact in the Earth system than previously thought”
Professor Andrew ScottRoyal Holloway, Uni-versity of London
“They can also quickly provide fuel ready to be burnt; this means that they have quite a good competi-tive advantage over other plants.”
He said that many of the early angiosperms were small, herbaceous or shrubby “weedy plants”, so when wildfires - especially surface fires - frequently swept through an area, it created a positive feedback cycle.
“It prevented other plants getting into an area - most of the trees at this time were conifers. If you have relatively regular fires then the trees can never grown above the height of the flames.
This meant that gym-nosperm plants, such as conifer trees, which had previously dominated the landscape, were unable to
KEY ROLE. Fire has always played a key role in shaping landscapes around the world
Spread of early flowering plants ‘aided by fire’
regenerate as quickly as the angiosperms and lost the opportunity to shape the surrounding habitat.
“It was rather like the savannahs of today - if you did not have fires in Africa, then you would not have savannahs.”
‘Novel fire regime’Explaining the link be-
tween the spread of angio-sperm plants and fire pat-terns at the time, Profes-
sor Scott said the level of oxygen in the atmosphere played a key role in allow-ing a “novel fire regime” to become established.
“In the geological past, there have been fluctua-tions in atmospheric oxy-gen, in particular if you get below 15%, then you cease to get the spread of fire,” he said.
“If you get to 25% and above, you can burn wet-
ter and wetter plants. The impact of this is that as you increase atmospheric oxy-gen, then you can increase the places where fires can start and how often they occur.
“So you have the co-incidence of the evolution of flowering plants, which have an advantage over a number of other plant sys-tems, linked together with a period of increase fire
that clears out all competi-tors.
“This would have al-lowed angiosperms to re-ally diversify, quicker than they would have done oth-erwise.”
Evidence of the rela-tively rapid emergence and spread of the flowering plants was found in char-coal deposits that dated back to the Cretaceous pe-riod.
SCIENTISTS say they have new evidence that our ancestors
were using fire as early as a million years ago.
It takes the form of ash and bone fragments recov-ered from Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa.
The team tells the journal PNAS that the sedi-ments suggest frequent, controlled fires were lit on the site.
The ability to use fire is regarded as a key step in human development because it gave us access
to cooked foods and new technologies.
Stone tools found at Wonderwerk Cave indi-cate the ancestor in ques-tion may have been Homo erectus, a species whose existence has been docu-mented as far back as 1.8 million years ago.
Establishing precisely when humans first ac-quired the ability to control fire has been very difficult.
There have been sev-eral claims that the skill was in existence even earlier than at Wonderwerk.
But they have all been challenged, with sceptics arguing the fire remains from open sites could have been the result of natural blazes ignited by lightning.
In contrast, the PNAS team, which consists of sci-entists based at US, Israeli, German and South African institutions, says state-ments about the Northern Cape cave are far more se-cure.
If correct, the Wonder-werk discovery would push the earliest indisputable controlled use of fire back
by about 300,000 years.In their paper, the re-
searchers describe burnt remains of grasses, brush-es, leaves and even bones in the cave’s sediments some 30m back from the entrance.
This makes it far less likely that what they are viewing is material from wildfires that was simply blown into the cave by wind, they argue.
The depth of the sedi-ments also suggests fires were lit on the same spot over and over again.
EVIDENCE. Wonderwerk Cave is in the Northern Cape and was occupied by ancient human species
Evidence of ‘earliest fire use’ bared
HUMAN-made fires are influencing the evolutionary pro-
cess of some plant species’ seeds, a study has shown.
Scientists found that seeds that were less round-ed and coated in thicker protective hairs were more likely to survive fires used to clear scrub.
The study was carried out in an area where natu-ral fires were very rare, al-lowing the researchers to analyse the impact of hu-man activity.
The results appear in the Proceedings of the Na-tional Academy of Sciences.
“Our findings provide insights into the under-standing of the evolution of seed traits in fire-prone environments and demon-strate that human-made fires can be driving evolu-tionary changes in plant species from ecosystems where fire does not occur naturally,” the researchers wrote.
The study was carried out in an area within Chile’s matorral, a Mediterranean eco-region on the nation’s west coast.
Playing with fireMost Mediterranean
eco-regions (in southern Europe, California, South Africa, Australia) have a long history of being sub-ject to natural fires, result-
ing from lightning strikes, yet the central area of the matorral in western Chile is an area where such fires are extremely rare.
“Macroevolutionary studies indicate that fire has driven the diversifica-tion of plant species with seed persistence (fire-re-sistant or fire-stimulated seed banks) in Mediterra-nean ecosystems, particu-larly... where fire has been more frequent or intense,” the Chilean scientists ex-plained.
“Nevertheless, we have little knowledge on how fire acts on the vari-ability of seed traits among individuals to drive evolu-tionary changes in natural populations.”
The researchers chose their study area because evidence suggested that fire had not featured in the natural landscape for the past “few million years, probably accounting for the lack of fire-dependent reproduction in matorral flora”.
But, they added, that fires in the area - as a re-sult of human actions - had been common since the mid-16th Century as a re-sult of the Spanish coloni-sation, and had increased even more since the hu-man population expanded during the 19th Century.
Fires ‘changing seed evolution’
Good thing it is all in the past as Tiny Kitch-en moved their address down the road and into a much bigger space. Finally, guests have the space to sit down and have their favorite dishes and desserts. Better still, every favorite dish still tastes as good as before. My personal favorites from the Tiny Kitchen would be their Paella Va-lenciana, Paella Negra, and Rosemary and To-mato Chicken. Of course a growing restaurant also means new menu items like the savory and comforting Don Quix-ote which is slow cooked beef paired with al-dente penne pasta. I also loved their version of Salpicao. Dessert at the Tiny Kitchen is like dying and immediately waking up in heaven, many thanks to an entire display of luscious chocolate cakes, various cheesecakes raging from chocolate cookie cheesecakes, to the classic blueberry cheesecake, and my fa-vorite dulce de leche cheesecake. If you are not afraid of butter, then I suggest you go for their uber luxurious sylvan-nas, either in chocolate, mocha, or in its original flavor. If one is dieting and were to count the calories, I really would suggest going straight to dessert at the Tiny Kitchen to make every calorie count. And surprisingly,
even with the additional space, the Tiny Kitchen was still jam-packed, a true testament to the restaurant’s delicious food. Follow or chat me up on twitter @kenneth-kingong for foodie finds, exciting happenings, or even just crazy nothings.
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 2012
EDGEDAVAOFOOD
Tiny Kitchen is tiny no moreTHERE was a time when you felt like wanting to have a bit of Spanish-Filipino food. So you make your way to Torres Street, ready to sink your teeth into some honest-to-goodness Gambas, Salpicao, Paella, Pasta, and to-die-for desserts at Tiny Kitchen. And when you get there, get thwarted by the fact that the Tiny Kitchen was that, tiny, and there were no tables for you to sit down properly and eat.
INdulge!
Jackfruit:The Jack of all fruits
A2 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 2012EDGEDAVAOFOOD
By Jims Vincent T. Capuno
THE fruit is called a variety of names around the world. The English one, jackfruit, is gen-erally cited as deriving from the Malayalam chakka or cak-kai via the Portuguesejaca, the name for it used by the physi-cian and naturalist Garcia de Orta in his 1563 book. How-ever, a botanist named Ralph Randles Stewart argued that it was named after William Jack (1795-1822), a Scottish bota-nist who worked for the East India Company in Bengal, Su-matra and Malaysia . Like most tropical fruits, Western-ers considered jackfruit as somewhat weird and exotic. It is enormous and prickly on the outside and it looks somewhat like the controversial durian (although it tastes like heaven, it smells like hell). Once a jackfruit is cracked open, what you will find inside are pods or “bulbs.” Often referred to as the seeds, these bulbs are actually the fleshy cov-ering for the true seeds or pits, which are round and dark like chestnuts. The fruit juices are extremely sticky, so peo-ple often oil their hands before prepar-ing the fruit. Actually, the “bulbs” are delicious raw or as ice cream, jelly, chutney, syr-up and jam. An American journalist describes jackfruit in these words: “The ripe fruit smells like rotting onions from the outside, but the fruit flesh in-side smells like banana or pineapple.” Nutritionists claim the fruit is nearly as calorie-dense as the custard apple. Hundred grams of the edible flesh, in-cluding the seeds, contains almost 100 calories, most of it as sugar and starch. The flesh is rich in beta-carotene and potassium, while the seeds are rich in thiamine and riboflavin-B vitamins. Here’s a word of warning: Eating uncooked, unripe fruit can cause in-digestion; the culprit is an enzyme that inhibits the gut’s protein-digesting en-zyme called trypsin. However, cooking destroys this inhibitor. On the other hand, the ripe fruit increases gut motil-ity and can cause diarrhea among those
who eat too much of the fruit. There’s more to jackfruit. The pulp, when boiled in milk, yields delicious orange-toned custard, while frying dry, salted bulbs serves up an alternative to potato chips. Jackfruit seeds (nuts) can be roasted like chestnuts, or boiled. If left to cook inside the flesh (for exam-ple, in curries or other cooked dishes), the nut softens and can easily be eaten. Jackfruit also possesses some medic-inal properties. The Chinese consider jackfruit pulp and seeds tonic, cooling and nutritious, and to be “useful in overcoming the influence of alcohol on the system.” The seed starch is given to relieve biliousness and the roasted seeds are regarded as aphrodisiac. The ash of jackfruit leaves, burned with corn and coconut shells, is used alone or mixed with coconut oil to heal ulcers. There are also reports that the latex, when mixed with vinegar, promotes healing of abscesses, snakebite and glandular swellings. The root is a rem-edy for skin diseases and asthma. An extract of the root is taken in cases of fever and diarrhea. The bark is made into poultices. Heated leaves are placed on wounds. The wood has a sedative property; its pith is said to produce abortion. Recent laboratory studies show that lectins found in jackfruit and its seeds may have antibacterial, antifungal, an-tiviral, and immunostimulative proper-ties. However, clinical study is still lack-ing. The currently available research examines the role of jackfruit leaves
in increasing glucose tolerance. More studies in humans are needed to define jackfruit’s potential role in diabetes. In agriculture, jackfruit is also indis-pensable. In some areas, the jackfruit is fed to cattle. The tree is even planted in pastures so that the animals can avail themselves of the fallen fruits. Surplus jackfruit rind is considered a good stock food. Jackfruit is also good in controlling pests. The golden apple snail is one of the major rice pests in Asia, includ-ing the Philippines . If they are not controlled, they can devastate the rice crops causing huge losses to farmers. In Malaysia , some farmers are using jackfruit instead of pesticides to control the snails. They put rotten jackfruits in their rice fields. This is how they do it. Fresh rotten jackfruits with strong smell are col-lected. These are carefully place in a suitable spot with running water and populated with golden snails as bait and should not be submerged under water. The bait is left overnight and in the morning, snails that gather on and around the jackfruit are collected and destroyed. The rotten jackfruit may be replaced if and when necessary. Jackfruit (scientific name: Artocar-pus heterophyllus) is native to south-western India and Sri Lanka . It was reportedly cultivated for food as early as the 6th century BC in India . At ap-proximately 25 centimeters in diam-eter, jackfruit is reportedly the largest tree-borne fruit in the world.
Awards on Saturday, and the first lady extended an invitation to the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll on Easter Monday. But sorry, they’re busy. The band’s spokesper-son explained that the boys had to decline “due to prior commitments.” The Sun reports that al-though they won’t be able to make the event, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson were all thrilled to meet the first lady. Styles even reportedly chatted with the first lady, who was joined by daugh-ters, Malia, 13, and Sasha, 10, by asking how they order pizza at the White House. (How do they order piz-za at the White House?!) Maybe next year, Mi-chelle, as long as you extend the invitation for that now.
A3INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 2012EDGEDAVAOENTERTAINMENT
One Direction declines Michelle Obama’s invite!
AT SM City Davao, there are more rea-sons to celebrate Easter! Shake those bunny ears and strike a pose! Gather your friends and family at SM’s EGGstremely Gi-ant Eggs photo area from March 31 to April 8 at The Annex- Atrium. And, have your fill of yummy good-ness and fun trinkets for keepsakes at the Eggcit-ing Bazaar on April 7-8. On April 8, Sunday, Easteriffic Funfare awaits all kids for a magical af-ternoon with games and prizes. Kids from 4 to 12 years old may hop their way to SM in their cutest, wackiest and most colour-ful bunny costumes! The party starts at 1 PM while the Easter Bunny Costume begins at 3 PM. Registra-tion is on-going. Plus, iButterfly flies to
the Cyberzone. Boost your gadgets with the iButter-fly application, hunt for the Easter iButterflies at SM City Davao on Sunday, and win prizes! Check out posters for promo me-chanics. All hip, all here! Spend
the hippest Easter at the City’s hippest hub, The An-nex! For inquiries, please call 297.6998 local 126. Like SM City Davao on Facebook or visit www.smcitydavao.blogspot.com for event and promo updates.
It’s an EGGciting Easter and iButterfly Hunt at SM City Davao!
IT’S official: Ev-eryone from Sel-ena Gomez to Michelle Obama
is a One Direction fan! The Simon Cowell-created British boy band had everyone gushing—and dancing—at the Kids’ Choice Awards on Satur-day. “I think they’re awe-some,” Victoria Justice told me. “They’re supercool. They’re super down to earth and I think they’re re-ally talented…The fact that they’re from the U.K. and have those accents, it’s very appealing to a lot of people and they’re all supercute guys.” Those guys, if you don’t know by now, are Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Zayn Malik. Their al-bum Up All Night made Billboard history by be-coming the first debut al-bum by a British group to enter the chart at No. 1. X Factor star Rachel Crow met them recently in New York City. “Their songs are in my head all the time,” she said. Their hit “What Makes You Beautiful” is her favor-ite. “I pretend they’re sing-ing to me,” Crow smiled.
During 1D’s Kids’ Choice performance, Gomez, Swift and even the First Lady got out of their seats to dance. Glee’s Chris Colfer was walking the orange arriv-als carpet just a few feet in front of the guys. It wasn’t easy interviewing anyone when 1D was around, be-cause the screaming was deafening. Colfer cracked, “Maybe we’ll do a One Di-rection tribute episode.” Ha! And 1D seems to be on a campaign to work with
Bruno Mars. They recently told E! News they wanted to collaborate with the “Grenade” hitmaker and reiterated it on Saturday. “If we could work with anyone in the world, I think we’d pick Bruno Mars,” Harry said. “He’s just incredible. He’s got the voice. And he’s a great performer.” And if that doesn’t work out, Louis joked, “Susan Boyle.” Moreover, E! Online re-ports that Simon Cowell’s British boy band, who has
taken the world by storm, is so booked they can’t even pencil in an appearance at the White House. Yeah,
we’re serious. One Direction ran into Michelle Obama at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice
A4 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 2012EDGEDAVAOFOOD Let there be fish
Compiled by Carlo P. Mallo
DON’T fry that fish just yet. Just because it’s Holy Week it doesn’t mean that you have to stuff yourself with the same old fish recipes that you have grown ac-customed to. With 5 days off this weekend, why not try these two fish recipes we got from Yummy.ph? It’s a new twist to some of your old favorites, and it’s easy to make, too!
FIVE-SPICE FISHBALLS250 g cream dory fish fillet (or any white fish available)6 tablespoons cornstarch1/4 teaspoon salt1/4 teaspoon pepper1 teaspoon white sugar2 tablespoons finely chopped young onion2 tablespoons finely chopped eggplant2 tablespoons finely chopped carrots
vegetable oil, for deep fryingFor the five-spice sauce3 tablespoons all-purpose flour2 tablespoons vegetable oil1/2 tablespoon minced garlic1 medium onion2 tablespoons soy sauce2 cups water1 1/2 tablespoons sugar1 teaspoon iodized salt1 teaspoon chili flakes1-2 teaspoons five spice pow-derProcedure:1 In a food processor, chop the fish fillets until it resembles a coarse paste. Add in all the other ingredients except for the oil and mix until combined. With wet hands, take 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of the mixture and form into balls.2 Heat oil in a deep pan. When the oil is hot, deep fry fish balls until golden. Drain in paper towels. Set aside.3 Make the five-spice sauce: In a dry pan, lightly toast the
flour. Dissolve the flour in a bit of water. Set aside. In the same pan, sauté garlic until golden brown. Add onions and cook until transparent. Add the rest of the ingredients for the sauce except for the flour slurry. When it starts boiling, add the flour slurry and continuously mix until thickened.4 Assemble your shooters: Pour a tablespoon or two of the sauce in a shot glass. Place skewers with 3 fish balls into it and serve immediately.Cooking tip: No food proces-sor? Finely chop the fish using a sharp chopping knife.
FRIED TILAPIA IN SOY VINAI-GRETTE400 grams tilapia, deboned 1 pinch salt1 pinch ground pepper3 tablespoons AA powder2 to 3 cups vegetable oilFor the soy vinaigrette sauce 1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon onion, finely chopped1/2 cup soy sauce1/2 cup vinegar3 pieces siling labuyo a pinch of saltProcedure:1 Fillet and pat dry tilapia. Slice into thin strips2 Season with salt and pepper, then coat with AA powder.3 Heat vegetable oil. When it’s hot enough for frying, carefully drop in the tilapia fillet strips one by one to prevent them from sticking.4 Fry until golden brown and crispy. Serve with soy vinai-grette on the side.5 Make the Soy Vinaigrette Sauce: In a bowl, mix together the following: garlic, onion, soy sauce, vinegar, siling labuyo, salt. Serve with the pata or tila-pia. This versatile dipping sauce is great for grilled meats too.Cooking tip: Drain the fried fish so they remain crisp until ready to serve.
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saying that great fa-thers seldom have great sons. Chito has resigned his mem-bership in the Philip-pine Sports Commis-sion to be with his ailing father in Aus-tralia.
I can still remem-ber when Carlos Loyzaga was called Pomfret after a Ca-nadian athletic great. I can recall when he
led the Philippine team to a No. 3 finish in word basketball in Brazil in 1953.
I was in Rizal High then and rooted for Ateneo, whose rival was San Beda. La Sal-le was not even in the radar screen at the time, with all due re-spect. It was San Beda versus Ateneo which drew mammoth crowds to the oven-like Rizal Memorial Stadium, for the big enchilada, the Zamo-ra Trophy, which San Beda got and retired after three years as champion, thanks to Pomfret.
When I got to San
Beda in 1955, I might have been torn be-tween Ateneo’s Moro Lorenzo, et. al. and San Beda’s Caloy, et. al. But that little love for San Beda, slowly grew and grew, until it became a passion that whipped the blood. It still does — umpa, umpa — if fan came from fanatic, I can only agree. Time was when the NCAA was king, but later wracked by violence in the 60′s, it was suspended. And re-vived.
Elitist Ateneo and La Salle were unaf-fordable to me in 1955. San Beda, our
15EDGEDAVAO SPORTS
FSIMPLY, 13
FWRESTLEMANIA, 13
THE BIG DIFFERENCE. Carlos “The Big Difference” Loyzaga (4) led the Philippines to a 3rd place finish in the 1954 World Championships in Brazil. Due to the legendary cage star’s illness, Loyzaga’s son Chito recently quit his post in the Philippine Sports Commission.
Rene Saguisag on Caloy Loyzaga:
Simply the best ever
FIVE teams from Sin-gapore plus a team from Vietnam, Aus-
tralia, Indonesia and the Asia Pacific will battle it out with various local and national teams in the much awaited 2nd Inter-national Mt. Apo Boulder Face Challenge slated on April 28-29, 2012 in the Municipality of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.
The international teams will be competing against teams from Metro Manila, Cabanatuan City, Cebu City, Davao City, General Santos City, Di-gos City, Bukidnon, Davao del Norte and Sta. Cruz,
Davao del Sur including four corporate teams and teams representing some of the event’s sponsors, namely R.O.X., San Miguel Corporation and Franklin Baker, in what is believed to the one of the most dif-ficult adventure races in the country.
The competing teams, composed of three mem-bers - 2 racers and a lo-gistics crew, will conquer water, land and altitude in a 24-hour extreme challenge that will entail four disciplines: moun-tain biking, trekking, wa-ter tubing and running.
From the beach lines
of Sta. Cruz, the teams navigate themselves through the municipal-ity’s rugged terrains and wild rivers, then scale the peak of Mount Apo - the country’s highest peak - passing through its gru-eling boulder face. The entire stretch of the race is around 70-80 kilome-ters.
A project of the De-partment of Tourism Xl and Local Government of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, the champion team of the 2nd International Mt. Apo Boulder Face Challenge will receive P150,000 while the sec-
ond and third placers will pocket P100,000 and P75,000, respec-tively.
The top five finishers will also receive a conso-lation prize of P10,000 each.
The annual event is supported by the Moun-taineering Federation of Southern Mindanao (MFSM) and corporate partners San Miguel Cor-poration, Aboitiz Power Corporation, Zest Air, Columbia Sportswear, R.O.X. (Recreational Out-door Exchange) Philip-pines and Primer Group of Companies.
MT. APO BOULDER FACE CHALLENGE
9 foreign teams head cast
LEBRON James arrived at work a little earlier than usual on Tues-
day (Wednesday Phl Time), warming up more than three hours before tip-off with hopes of finding his rhythm.
With Dwyane Wade out, Miami needed some extra offense—and James deliv-ered.
James scored 14 straight Miami points in the fourth quarter and finished with a season-high 41, help-ing the Heat clinch a playoff spot with a 99-93 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
It was the 16th straight home win for Miami, which has won its last 11 regular-season games against the 76ers. The Heat also moved within 2 1/2 games of Chi-cago in the race for the Eastern Conference’s best record.
“It was a grind,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “No question, it was a grind.”
Mario Chalmers had 19 points, Chris Bosh scored 17 and Udonis Haslem grabbed 11 rebounds for Miami, which improved to 9-1 without Wade this season. Wade sat with a bruised left knee, leaving his status for Wednesday’s showdown with Oklahoma City in some doubt.
Evan Turner scored 26 points for Philadelphia, which fell 1 1/2 games be-hind Boston in the Atlan-tic Division. Lou Williams scored 18, Spencer Hawes added 12 and Andre Iguo-dala had 11 before leaving in the third quarter with a left eye contusion.
Lakers blow big lead, hold off Nets 91-87
In Los Angeles, Kobe
Bryant’s tiebreaking 3-pointer bounced off every available surface, pinballing around the rim and back-board while Staples Center held its collective breath.
Yet the Lakers and Nets all seemed to know exactly where the ball would end up.
Mostly because they know the guy who shot it.
Bryant scored 24 points and rattled home that deci-sive 3-pointer with 6.8 sec-onds left, and Los Angeles blew every bit of a 17-point lead before holding on for a 91-87 victory over New Jer-sey on Tuesday night.
The NBA’s leading scorer closed out yet an-other victory in memorable fashion, beating the shot clock with a 26-footer that bounced roughly a half-dozen times before falling.
Put it this way: Accord-
ing to the official box score, Bryant took the shot with 10.1 seconds left, and the clock didn’t stop for anoth-er 3.3 seconds.
“It was just one of those shots, I guess,” Bryant said. “The basketball gods were with us tonight.”
That sure didn’t appear to be the case for most of the fourth quarter. Los Angeles led by 12 with 10 minutes left, but Deron Williams led an 18-6 run for New Jersey, tying it on a 3-pointer with 1:29 to play.
Bryant made a long jumper moments later, and the Lakers controlled the ball for 52 straight seconds during the final minute with an offensive rebound and an out-of-bounds de-flection. Bryant then made his third 3-pointer, and Williams missed his own 3-point attempt.
NBA ROUND UPJames fires 41 as Heat beat 76ers 99-93, Lakers blow big lead
Wrestlemania XXVIIII am already in my home-
town by the time I email this piece for today’s is-
sue which I almost forgot. Tuesday night, I was
glued to my TV set antici-pating the action in Wres-tlemania XXVIII. Growing up as a child, I watched the annual professional grap-plefest since Wrestlemania III. Those were the era of Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, George “The Animal” Steel, Jake the Snake Rob-erts and Jim “The Hack-saw” Duggan.
It was easier to know the wrestling pros of the past since there was just a few of them. Today, there a bunch of wrestlers and it’s not easy knowing their names.
Tuesday night, I was rooting for The Under-taker and The Rock. The Undertaker (Mark William Calaway) is one of the most recognizable wrestlers of all time. Simply because there is no one dressed and packaged like him. He is one of a kind.
Calaway is the most veteran of all wrestlers un-der the WWE fold. Calaway began his wrestling career with World Class Champi-onship Wrestling (WCCW) in 1984. He joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as “Mean” Mark Callous in 1989. When WCW did not renew Cala-way’s contract in 1990, he signed with the World Wrestling Federation in October and, after shorten-ing his name from Kane the Undertaker to simply The Undertaker, has remained with the company since.
The Undertaker has two contrasting personas. The first is the role of The Deadman, an undead, oc-cult-like figure, which has consisted of many differ-ent styles. He debuted his original Deadman persona during his own on-camera debut at Survivor Series (1990). At this event, the Undertaker was clad as a Western mortician. Next, in September of 1999, the Undertaker appeared as the leader of the Ministry of Darkness (with similar
apparel). Since Wrestle-mania XX, the Undertaker has appeared as a hybrid version of the Deadman character, using elements of the previous Deadman incarnations.
His other persona has been that of The American Bad-Ass, a biker, which he portrayed from May, 2000 through November, 2003. The Undertaker is also as-sociated with various spe-cialty matches: the Casket match, the Buried Alive match, the Hell in a Cell and the Last Ride match. An important part of the character is the Undertak-er character’s half-brother Kane, who has also played an important role in The Undertaker’s character development. Kane was in-troduced in 1997, and has both feuded with The Un-dertaker and performed in a tag-team with him as the Brothers of Destruction.
The Undertaker holds an unrivaled record of be-ing undefeated at Wrestle-Mania, WWE’s premier pay-per-view event, with a 20–0 record. Among other accolades, Calaway is an eight-time World Champi-on having won the WWF/E Championship four times and the World Heavy-weight Championship three times as The Under-taker, and the USWA Uni-fied World Heavyweight Championship once under the Master of Pain charac-ter. The Undertaker is also a seven-time World Tag Team champion: a six-time WWF Tag Team Champion and one-time WCW Tag Team Champion. The Un-dertaker was the winner of the 2007 Royal Rumble
VOL.5 ISSUE 24 • APRIL 5-7, 201216 EDGEDAVAOSPORTS
JUMP FOR JOY. Maria Kirilenko of Russia celebrates winning the women’s doubles final with team mate Nadia Petrova against Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy on day 14 of the Sony Ericsson Open at Crandon Park Tennis Center in Key Biscayne, Florida.
ELEVEN of the 16 invited PBA stars have said “Yes” to
the Gilas II Pilipinas na-tional program.
This means, only James Yap, Marc Pingirs of B-Meg, Alex Cabagnot and Arwind Santos of Petron Blaze and Mar-cio Lassiter of Powerade have not confirmed their stint.
Kelly Williams, Jim-my Alapag, Jayson Cas-tro, Larry Fonacier, Ryan Reyes and Ranidel de Oc-ampo of Talk ‘N Text, LA Tenorio and Sonny Thoss of Alaska, Gabe Norwood of Rain or Shine, Gary David of Powerade, and Enrico Villanueva of Ba-rangay Ginebra signed the letter of intent to join the pool of the national team.
Gilas II coach Chot
Reyes confirmed the participation of the play-ers in a text message sent to InterAKTV.
In a previous inter-view, Reyes said he ex-pects all 16 players to commit to the national team’s cause as it is the ultimate dream even of players playing in the PBA.
“I still believe that it’s every players’ dream to play for the national team,” he said.
Yap and Pingris are still competing in the on-going PBA Commission-er’s Cup quarterfinals, where their team is trail-ing 1-0 to Meralco.
Cabagnot, Santos, and Lassiter, meanwhile, are on the sidelines after failing to make it to the quarterfinals of the tour-nament.
YES!11 of 16 PBA stars confirm Gilas II stint
YES. Gary David of Powerade (top left), Ranidel De Ocampo of Talk N Text (bottom left) and Alex Cabagnot of Petron Blaze (top rght) have all confirmed their tint with the Gilas II program.z
