EDGE By Jade C. Zaldivar D ELEGATES to the Mindanao Power Summit held in Davao City last Friday put forward a dozen recommenda- tions to solve the power crisis in the region. The “solutions” were bannered by the non-privatization of the Agus-Pu- langi power plants and the revision of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (Epira) Law. More than 300 energy players and stakeholders from power cooperatives, business organizations, and leagues of public officials in Mindanao gathered at Waterfront Insular Hotel to present their own analysis and recommendations. “The Mindanao power crisis is not only a technical issue, but also and sig- nificantly, a political one. It would not take political will in order for real solu- tions to be met,” Mindanao Development Auhority (MinDA) chair Lualhati Antoni- no said. Summing up presentations by the Confederation of Provincial Gover- nors, City Mayors and Municipal May- By Lorie A. Cascaro Jade C. Zaldivar M INDANAO leaders want govern- ment to look into an alleged con- spiracy among the big players in the power sector in creating an “artificial shortage.” This, as some officials claimed that President Aquino did not have sufficient information about the real situation when he attended last Friday’s Mindanao Power Summit. Cross ownership There is a need to investigate the cross ownership of the power industry in Min- danao, according to Secretary Luwalhati Antonino of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) at the close of the sum- mit attended by President Benigno Aquino III at the Waterfront Hotel, Davao City. Asked about the alleged conspiracy among power sectors resulting in “artificial power shortage,” Antonino replied, “Ang P 15.00 • 20 PAGES www.edgedavao.net VOL.5 ISSUE 29 • APRIL 15 - 16, 2012 Sports Page 14 Leaders want ‘cartel’ probed SCIENCE\ENVIRONMENT Page 4 Serving a seamless society F13 SOLUTIONS, 13 FLEADERS, 13 n Claim cross ownership of pow- er firms should be prohibited Follow Us On DAVAO 13 ‘solutions’ recommended Indulge! Page A4 Mindanao power crisis: Antonino Fuentes Del Rosario
Transcript
EDGE
By Jade C. Zaldivar
DELEGATES to the Mindanao Power Summit held in Davao City last Friday put forward a dozen recommenda-
tions to solve the power crisis in the region.The “solutions” were bannered by
the non-privatization of the Agus-Pu-langi power plants and the revision of
the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (Epira) Law.
More than 300 energy players and stakeholders from power cooperatives, business organizations, and leagues of public officials in Mindanao gathered at Waterfront Insular Hotel to present their own analysis and recommendations.
“The Mindanao power crisis is not
only a technical issue, but also and sig-nificantly, a political one. It would not take political will in order for real solu-tions to be met,” Mindanao Development Auhority (MinDA) chair Lualhati Antoni-no said.
Summing up presentations by the Confederation of Provincial Gover-nors, City Mayors and Municipal May-
By Lorie A. Cascaro Jade C. Zaldivar
MINDANAO leaders want govern-ment to look into an alleged con-spiracy among the big players in
the power sector in creating an “artificial shortage.”
This, as some officials claimed that President Aquino did not have sufficient
information about the real situation when he attended last Friday’s Mindanao Power Summit.
Cross ownership
There is a need to investigate the cross ownership of the power industry in Min-danao, according to Secretary Luwalhati Antonino of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) at the close of the sum-mit attended by President Benigno Aquino III at the Waterfront Hotel, Davao City.
Asked about the alleged conspiracy among power sectors resulting in “artificial power shortage,” Antonino replied, “Ang
P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.net
VOL.5 ISSUE 29 • APRIL 15 - 16, 2012
SportsPage 14
Leaders want‘cartel’ probed
SCIENCE\ENVIRONMENT Page 4
Serving a seamless society
F13 SOLUTIONS, 13
FLEADERS, 13
n Claim cross ownership of pow-er firms should be prohibited
Follow Us On
DAVAO
13 ‘solutions’ recommended
Indulge!Page A4
Mindanao power crisis:
Antonino Fuentes Del Rosario
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 2012
THE House Com-mittee on Ways and Means has ap-
proved the tax exemption of the proposed People’s Survival Fund to be cre-ated by amending Repub-lic Act 9729 otherwise known as the Climate Change Act of 2009.
The panel chaired by Rep. Isidro Ungab (3rd District, Davao City), in a recent hearing prior to the congressional break, approved the bill’s tax provision seeking to ex-empt from the donor’s tax any donation or bequest made to the People’s Sur-vival Fund.
Prior to its referral to the Committee on Ways and Means chaired by Rep. Isidro Ungab (3rd District, Davao City), the unnumbered substitute bill to HB 1711 authored by Deputy Speaker Ma. Isabelle
Climaco (1st District, Zamboanga City), HB 3528 by Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III (4th
District, Quezon) and HB 3558 by Rep. Rufus Rodri-guez (2nd District, Cagay-an de Oro City) were ap-proved by the
Committee on Ecol-ogy chaired by Rep. Dani-lo Ramon Fernandez (1st District, Laguna).
Section 14 of the sub-stitute bill provides for the amendment of Sec-tion 18 of RA 9729 by in-serting certain provisions on the creation of the Peo-ple’s Survival Fund which shall be established as a special trust fund for the financing or adaptation programs and projects based on the national strategic framework.
The People’s Survival Fund shall be used for activities that actually, directly and exclusively support priority adapta-tion projects and pro-grams adopted pursuant to climate change action plans of local
governments based on the substitute bill.
The committee ap-proved the tax provision
in Section 18 (D) of the measure which provides that “any donation or bequest made to the Peo-ple’s Survival Fund shall be exempt from donor’s tax and the same shall be considered as allowable deduction from the gross income of the donor, in accordance with the pro-visions of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended.”
The substitute bill provides that the Peo-ple’s Survival Fund shall be obtained from both public and private sourc-es, either foreign or local, including but not limited to the following:
•The initial amount of P50 million to be al-lotted in the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA), and there-after, such sum as shall be deemed necessary to carry out the objectives of the fund;
• Five percent of emission reductions earned by industries that are domestically
2 THE BIG NEWS EDGEDAVAO
n Proposes mini-hy-dro plants
It figures
GROWTH rate of the Philippine economy expected by Moody’s Analyt-ics in 2012. This slower than targeted caused by the dampening effects of a still weak global economy on Southeast Asian countries. Moody’s likewise expects the Philippine economy to grow at 4.8 per-cent in 2013.
YEARLY sugarcane production in Mindanao, according to the Philippine Sugar Millers Association. PSMA said the region’s four sugar mills generate about 1.5 million tons of bagasse (biomass), a potential source of surplus power of up to 70MW if only government fully imple-ments the Renewable Energy Law.
AMOUNT spent by the govern-ment in paying its debts in January and February, 2012, down 19 percent from the P242.3 billion paid in the same pe-riod last year, according to the Bureau of the Treasury.
DROP in car sales in the Philip-pines in the first quarter, from 36,184 units in 2011 to only 32,608 units from January to March, this year. However, the automotive sector remains confident that it is on track to a full recovery this year.
MONEY businessman Herminio Disini, a crony of the late dictator Ferdi-nand Marcos, which the Sandiganbayan ordered him to return to the Filipino people. The amount, according to San-diganbayan, represented “ill-gotten” commissions that Disini got brokering the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in 1974.
NUMBER of summer jobs of-fered by the private sector for students and out-of-school youths to help them pay for their education. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the jobs are made available under the DOLE Special Pro-gram for Employment of Students.
difficulty deciding wheth-er or not to allow the de-velopment of hydro elec-tric power plants in their palces, Davao del Sur Gov. Douglas Ra. Cagas has of-fered several towns and cities in his province as potential locations for hydro power plants.
Cagas, a veteran law-maker who’s on his thrid term as governor, made the offer during the 1st Mindanao Power Summit held April 13 at the Wa-terfront Insular Hotel.
Cagas said his prov-ince has numerous bodies of water, such as water-falls, which can host small power plants.
“What I really came here for (the summit) is to propose that we es-tablish mini hydro power
plants. Aside from the ex-isting plant we have from Hedcor, Davao del Sur can offer a lot of areas where we can establish mini hy-dros,” Cagas said in an in-terview.
“We have in Magsay-say, Bansalan, Matanao, New Quezon in Hagonoy, Malita, Sta. Maria, Don Marcelino ang dam-
ing waterfalls sa amin, maraming bodies of wa-ter,” he added.
Cagas said the Davao del Sur Electric Coopera-tive has started to con-struct facilities in Digos City.
“Although small, if you add up their production eventually it can be a lot of help, it would add up to the needed power and at the same time the availability of power will gain more in-vestors,” Cagas said.
Echoing the consen-sus of the sunnit delegates, Cagas said he is against privatization of the Agus-Pulangi plants.
“The governors’ rec-ommendation is to ask the President not to sell the Agus and Pulangi plants, hindi i-privatize. Inig mabaligya na ang nipalit mangutang, unya ang utang ipatong sa bay-ronon sa consumers,” he said.
Cagas offers DS townsfor hydro development
Cagas
EPIRA AMENDMENT. Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III proposes the immediate amendment of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 that takes out the responsibility of the government in the power generation. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]
Ungab’s committee okays taxexemption for PSF donations
DAVAO ORIENTAL is capable of generat-ing its own power
needs as it shifts develop-ment thrust from purely agriculture to industrial-ization.
This was bared by Gov. Corazon N. Malany-aon, who said that an in-depth study made recently shows that the province can generate the power supply that it would need in the future from its sources, especially those to be generated from bio-mass production. And other forms of renewable energy.
Another study is also
looking into solar energy, the lady governor told Edge Davao.
She said that while the province is not so keen in borrowing money for big ticket projects like power generation, there are al-ready several offers to fund power development
under various schemes.She said that 50 per-
cent of electricity of the province at the moment is sourced by the Davao Oriental Electric Coopera-tive (Doreco) from the Na-tional Power Corporation, while the rest is taken from the power barges.
She said her people’s concern is more on how they can continue enjoy-ing reasonable rates of electricity as the province develops.
The governor said the Aquino administration should be allowed to look for ways to solve the Min-danao power crisis.
Davao Oriental to generate own power, Gov. Malanyaon
Malanyaon
AFTER attending the Mindanao Power Summit Friday, Bayan
Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño called on President Benig-no Aquino III to listen to the people of Mindanao and not make the same mistake as his predescesors did in the Visayas and Luzon, which was to totally privatize power and jack up prices.
“The President was not only insensitive but
dead wrong in giving the people of Mindanao only two choices, which is to pay higher rates or live in darkness. There is another way, which is to address the power shortage by ensur-ing that the government-owned hydroelectric power plants continue to provide cheap and abundant re-newable energy to Mind-anao,” said Casiño.
He said Mindanao does
not have to follow the path taken by Visayas and Lu-zon, where electricity rates are the highest in Asia. “In fact, given that its low cost of power gives Mindanao its competitive edge, jack-ing up the rates would kill the economy and make the people of Mindanao poorer than they already are.”
“The Mindanao Sum-mit is showing the right way to go about develop-
ing the power sector, which is to ensure that state-run plants provide cheap and abundant renewable en-ergy while regulating the industry to avoid monopoly and abuse of market pow-er,” said the progressive so-lon.
“Pres.Aquino should especially heed the call of the governors of Mind-anao who passed a resolu-tion opposing the planned
privatization of the Agus and Pulangi hydropower plants.The governors are also seeking the revision of the EPIRA that would stop the further privatization of public power facilities, prohibit cross-ownership, and declare power plants as public utilities subject to the Public Utilities Act. We in Congress support their calls,” said the Davao-born lawmaker.
Mindanao lawmak-ers, on the other hand, are proposing the creation of a Mindanao Power Corpora-tion to run the rehabilitated Agus and Pulangui hydro-electric plants.
Casiño said that he was dismayed at Pres. Aquino’s response to the summit. “Instead of listening and keeping an open mind to the sound and logical pro-posals to stop the privati-
Casiño: Noynoy should listen to Mindanao stakeholders
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 2012
A tornado ripped through two vil-lages in the town of
Lake Sebu, South Cotabato last Tuesday afternoon, killing a 12-year-old girl and injuring two other residents.
In a belated report,
the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Manage-ment Council (NDRRMC) said Friday the twister ravaged residential and farming communities in Barangays Poblacion and Lamdalag of Lake Sebu at around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The lone fatality was identified as KC Dawang, who was reportedly in-side their house in Sitio Lem-ehek, Poblacion when it was struck by the twister.
Two local residents - Imelda Swan of Sitio
Lem-ehek, Poblacion and four-year-old Kayla Faith Tampungan of Sitio Tabudtod in Barangay Lamdalag - were injured after trees fell on their houses.
The NDRRMC said 15 families in the two named sitios also lost their homes as a result of the
incident.Isidro Janita, South
Cotabato Provincial Dis-aster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDR-RMO) chief, said Friday they immediately extend-ed food and relief assis-tance worth P19,800 to the affected
residents.The municipal gov-
ernment of Lake Sebu, through its Municipal Dis-aster Risk Reduction and Management Council, has also extended emergency assistance worth 5,000 to the victims, including fuel for the chainsaws used in the clearing of the felled trees, logs and other de-bris in the affected com-munities. [ALLEN V. ESTA-BILLO/MINDANEWS]
3THE BIG NEWSEDGEDAVAO
HELPING YOU MAKE INFORMED BUSINESS DECISIONS.
HAVEN BODY WORKS SPA & SALON Door 5 Kaykay Baloons Bldg., Laurel North
Cor. Bayabas St. General Santos City Tel # (083) 301- 1991
Tel No. (083)- 553-2211
General Santos
KoronadalYou can now buy your favorite Business Paper from any of these establishments still at Php 15.
Gen. Santos Drive, Koronadal CityTelefax No.: (083) 520-0816Mobile No.: 0922-843-9427
THE BIBLE PREACHER AND THE BAD BOY. Sarangani Rep-resentative ‘Manny’ Pacquiao immediately sits beside close friend Ilocos Sur Governor ‘Chavit’ Singson during the Mindanao Power Summit held here April 13. Pacqui-ao in February announced his being Bible Ambassador, and confessed he used to ‘do evil things like gambling
and womanizing’ while Singson confirmed March it was him in a photo enjoying a hedonistic party with women in a private plane. This, Singson said, was for a liquor ad but nonetheless the photo has gone viral online. [JADE C. ZALDIVAR]
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 2012
A tornado ripped through two vil-lages in the town of
Lake Sebu, South Cotabato last Tuesday afternoon, killing a 12-year-old girl and injuring two other residents.
In a belated report,
the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Manage-ment Council (NDRRMC) said Friday the twister ravaged residential and farming communities in Barangays Poblacion and Lamdalag of Lake Sebu at around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The lone fatality was identified as KC Dawang, who was reportedly in-side their house in Sitio Lem-ehek, Poblacion when it was struck by the twister.
Two local residents - Imelda Swan of Sitio
Lem-ehek, Poblacion and four-year-old Kayla Faith Tampungan of Sitio Tabudtod in Barangay Lamdalag - were injured after trees fell on their houses.
The NDRRMC said 15 families in the two named sitios also lost their homes as a result of the
incident.Isidro Janita, South
Cotabato Provincial Dis-aster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDR-RMO) chief, said Friday they immediately extend-ed food and relief assis-tance worth P19,800 to the affected
residents.The municipal gov-
ernment of Lake Sebu, through its Municipal Dis-aster Risk Reduction and Management Council, has also extended emergency assistance worth 5,000 to the victims, including fuel for the chainsaws used in the clearing of the felled trees, logs and other de-bris in the affected com-munities. [ALLEN V. ESTA-BILLO/MINDANEWS]
3THE BIG NEWSEDGEDAVAO
HELPING YOU MAKE INFORMED BUSINESS DECISIONS.
HAVEN BODY WORKS SPA & SALON Door 5 Kaykay Baloons Bldg., Laurel North
Cor. Bayabas St. General Santos City Tel # (083) 301- 1991
Tel No. (083)- 553-2211
General Santos
KoronadalYou can now buy your favorite Business Paper from any of these establishments still at Php 15.
Gen. Santos Drive, Koronadal CityTelefax No.: (083) 520-0816Mobile No.: 0922-843-9427
THE BIBLE PREACHER AND THE BAD BOY. Sarangani Rep-resentative ‘Manny’ Pacquiao immediately sits beside close friend Ilocos Sur Governor ‘Chavit’ Singson during the Mindanao Power Summit held here April 13. Pacqui-ao in February announced his being Bible Ambassador, and confessed he used to ‘do evil things like gambling
and womanizing’ while Singson confirmed March it was him in a photo enjoying a hedonistic party with women in a private plane. This, Singson said, was for a liquor ad but nonetheless the photo has gone viral online. [JADE C. ZALDIVAR]
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 2012
crisis is becoming one of the most pressing environ-mental and developmental problems facing humanity,” agrees Don Hinrichsen, an environmental journalist who has done studies on water crisis for Johns Hop-kins University and Wood-
row Wilson International Center for Scholars. “It may very well end up being one of the main issues confront-ing humanity as we proceed further into the twenty-first century.”
The Rockefeller family-funded Asia Society agrees. Its new report, Asia’s Next Challenge: Securing the Region’s Water Future, has identified water as the “next nexus of conflict.” So much so that it urges national gov-ernments of Asia to put wa-ter security on the “political and developmental agenda.”
An estimated 799 mil-lion people in Asia do not have access to safe drink-ing water, said Professor Tommy Koh, chairman of the Asia-Pacific Water Fo-rum Governing Council. The region’s water woes stem from a combination of inadequate supplies to service an increasing urban population, pollution, poor
infrastructure and endemic corruption.
“If the present trends continue, Asian will soon face a water quality manage-ment that is unprecedented in human history,” warns Kallidaikurichi Seetharam, director of the Institute of
Water Policy in Singapore.“In two or three years,
(the Philippines) could be in a real water crisis,” a World Bank official told Financial Times.
In 2007, the Asian De-velopment Bank (ADB) sounded the alarm. The study said that unless things are turned around, river and groundwater systems will fail by 2025. Only about33 percent of river systems are still suitable as a supply source and up to 58 percent of groundwater sources are
now contaminated.The country has 421
principal rivers. During dry months, 16 rivers are touted to be “biologically dead,” ac-cording to the ADB study. In addition, it warned that water availability could be “unsatisfactory” in eight of the country’s 19 major river basins.
The ability of ground-water – or water held un-derground or in pores and crevices in rocks – to meet future water demand was also projected to be very limited, amounting to only 20 percent of the total water requirement in the coun-try’s nine main urban cen-ters by 2025.
“Groundwater is used for drinking by about 50 percent of the people in the country,” said a report from the World Bank. Forty-nine percent of groundwater is consumed by the domes-tic sector and the remain-ing is shared by agriculture (32 percent), industry (15 percent), and other sec-tors. “About 60 percent of the groundwater extraction is without water-right per-mits, resulting in indiscrim-inate withdrawal,” the bank deplored.
4 EDGEDAVAOSCIENCE\ENVIRONMENT
THE Philippines has more than three million hectares of
dryland or rainfed areas or three-fourth of the 10 million hectares of culti-vated areas that can be the next frontiers for food pro-duction.
However, farming is becoming difficult because of the problem associated with climate change.
In a symposium, “En-hancing Philippine-Inter-national Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Phl-ICRISAT) Partnership in Agricul-tural Research for Devel-opment”, the Philippine Rainfed Agriculture Re-search Development and Extension Program (Phi-RARDEP) was discussed and given due concern by all stakeholders promot-ing agriculture.
Patrick L. Cabrera, technical staff of the De-partment of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR), one of the symposium discus-sants, explained that cli-mate change is undoubt-edly the biggest global challenge, and the Philip-pines is one of the most vulnerable to this phe-nomenon.
Cabrera said the peo-ple who live in drylands are at high risk due to drought, pest infestation, poor and degraded soils and lack in physical struc-ture and social services.
He defined rainfed ag-riculture as referring to the cultivation of crops without irrigation utiliz-ing mainly water that comes from precipitation stored in the unsaturated soil. This also refers to drylands mostly located in Northern Luzon, Cen-tral Visayas and Southern Mindanao.
Over five million poor households are dependent on dryland farming and it contributes only about 40 percent of total domestic food production, Cabrera said.
The country has vast drylands in higher eleva-tions as well as in coastal areas.
Cabrera said that BAR, as the national coordina-tor for research and de-velopment in agriculture, has been tasked to lead in the mapping out and for-mulation of a unified and integrated PHIRARDEP. This was done through a consultation-workshop with researchers, experts and project implement-ers from the national and regional DA agencies and other stakeholders in-cluding state universities and colleges (SUCs).
PHIRARDEP is en-
visioned to strengthen and invigorate the exist-ing rainfed systems and practices, thereby has-tening the development of rainfed agriculture in the country. This program will serve as the coun-try’s proactive defense to mitigate drought, land degradation and other risks arising from climate change.
Moreover, it will signif-icantly contribute to pov-erty alleviation and social empowerment through sustained and improved livelihoods brought about by a stable and secured supply of suitable crops in Philippine rainfed areas. This RDE program will mean more investments, community participation and better social services in the long run, according to the BAR technical staff.
The PHIRARDEP’s specific objectives are as follows:
1. Adapt, test and pro-mote suitable farming systems and drought-mit-igation strategies in Phl rainfed areas;
2. Increase rainwater use efficiency and water availability in rainfed ar-eas through rainwater conservation and rainwa-ter harvesting interven-tions;
3. Enhance livelihood opportunities in rainfed communities through th adoption of appropriate income generating activi-ties for women and small farm holders;
4. Support the formu-lation and advocacy of enabling policies and in-stitutional strategies for rainfed areas; and
5. Strengthen capaci-ties and mobilize various stakeholders to harness the full potential of the entire rainfed value chain.
The program’s compo-nents are:
1. Rainfed farming systems innovation -– de-velops cutting edge and demonstrates new busi-ness and funding mod-els on profitable farming systems for major crops/trees that could be grown in marginal, drought-prone areas;
2. Participatory water-shed management;
3. Strategic social sci-ence and policy research; and
4. Capacity building, communication and so-cial mobilization.
The primary benefi-ciaries of the program are the smallholder rainfed communities. Policy-mak-ers, local administrators, development workers and researchers will also benefit from the outputs of the program. [PNA]
Rainfed agriculture to ease climate change
IN 1979, Egyptian Presi-dent Anwar Sadat said: “The only matter that
could take Egypt to war again is water.”
In other parts of the world, water could also be the primary reason why a country would declare war against another country. As World Bank’s Ismail Se-rageldin said in 1995: “The wars of the next century will be about water.”
“The world has got a very big water problem,” says Sir Crispin Tickell, for-mer British ambassador to the United Nations and one of the organizers of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. “It will be the progenitor of more wars than oil.”
Next to air, water is the element most neces-sary for survival. A normal adult is 60- to 70-percent water. A person can live without food for almost two months, but without water only for a few days.
A household of five needs at least 120 liters per day to meet basic needs – for drinking, food prepara-tion, cooking and cleaning up, washing and personal hygiene, laundry, house cleaning, according to the Washington-based World-watch Institute, a global en-vironmental group.
A person needs at least 24 liters of water daily, or one liter per hour. Even when he is breathing, he still needs water. “Our lungs must be moist to take in oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide,” wrote Leroy Perry in an article. “It is possible to lose half a liter of liquid each day just by exhaling.”
That’s how important water is. While 70 percent of the earth’s surface is wa-ter, only three percent of it is considered fresh water – and almost all of that three percent is inaccessible for human use. About three-quarters of all fresh water on this planet is locked away in the form of ice caps and glaciers located in polar areas far from most human habitation.
In all, only about 0.01 percent of the world’s to-tal water supply is consid-ered available for human use on a regular basis. “If the world’s freshwater supply amounted to the contents of a bathtub,” ex-plains Don Hinrichsen, an award-winning American environmental journalist, “the amount easily acces-sible to humanity would fill a thimble.”
Today, water is be-coming a rare commodity. “There is now no longer an unlimited supply of fresh water and international competition for it is grow-ing. As demand grows, the competition will grow more fierce and more vio-lent,” observed Mostafa Tol-ba, former executive direc-tor of the UN Environment Program.
The world should lis-ten. By 2050, as many as 7 billion people – more than currently alive in the world today – may live un-der conditions of water scarcity and stress. “Water
“While 70 percent of the earth’s surface is water, only three percent of it is considered fresh water – and
almost all of that three percent is inaccessible for human use.”
Water: Progenitor of next war?By Jims Vincent T. Capuno
‘GIVEN the recent tragedy in Japan and the rethinking of utilizing nuclear power in places like Germany, we are not thinking of getting into nuclear energy,’
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 2012 THE ECONOMY 5EDGEDAVAO
WORLD TODAY
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HELPING YOU MAKE INFORMED BUSINESS DECISIONS.
PRESIDENT Be-nigno S. Aquino III yesterday said the
Mindanao needs a more diverse mix of energy sources if the demand of power supply cannot rely anymore on the existing hydropower to provide the base load of the entire island.
Speaking before the stakeholders during the Mindanao Power Sum-mit in Waterfront Insu-lar Hotel here, the Presi-dent said the Mindanao is relying on hydropower for more than half of its consistent consumption, the base load, which is not sustainable anymore, considering the many variables that affect water supply – from rainfall, to
natural calamities, even to seasonal variations like El Niño.
However, the Presi-dent said he is open for the rehabilitation of the Pulangi and Agus Plants. He added Pulangi plant will be rehabilitated with-in one month while Agus Plant 6 will be rehabilitat-ed within 30 months. The President also said Min-danao needs reliable and long-term electric power to accommodate the eco-nomic development of the island.
Meanwhile, the Presi-dent said Mindanao’s en-ergy production capac-ity is at 1,280 megawatts including the 200 mega-watts from the barges, “which I must thank the
cooperatives for contract-ing,” he said.
He further stressed Mindanao’s peak demand is at 1,300 so there is a need of 20 megawatts more to meet the peak de-mand. “But we also have to meet the reserve mar-gin of 150 megawatts. So, what this really means is we need 170 megawatts more,” the President add-ed.
Furthermore, Pres. Aquino said that in 2003, National Power Corpora-tion’s (NAPOCOR) debt had already reached a staggering P1.24 trillion which is 24.3 percent of total consolidated public sector debt.
He added this debt was bigger than the entire
General Appropriations Act for that year. “The country faced a continu-ing, hopeless dilemma which is to pay NAPOCOR or pay for everything else like roads, schools, and health care,” the Presi-dent said.
Aquino said this ex-plains why Congress passed the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001. “The idea behind it was: NAPOCOR would sell its power plants to private investors, and use the proceeds to pay its debt. This was sup-posed to put an end to the never-ending, increasing debt. It also freed money that could go to essential government services,” President Aquino added.
Hydro not sustainable source of power: PNoy
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 2012
SAYING the people should “bite the bul-let” a little bit more
President Benigno Aquino III today rejected calls to stop the privatization of the power industry as a solution to the power cri-sis in the island.
Speaking at the Min-danao Power Summit at the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao, Aquino said
government was bent on pursuing the privatiza-tion intent of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) to remove the pestering financial bur-den plaguing the National Power Corp.
But he assured that re-moving the shackles of the heavily indebted state-run NPC, whose debt stood at P1.24 trillion in 2003 or more than the national budget that year, could free more money to build new power plants or im-prove further the invest-ment attraction “not only of the energy sector in Mindanao”.
Aquino was reacting to a consensus recom-mendation from the busi-ness and political leaders in Mindanao to “eliminate the privatization policy” in the Epira, extend the nationalization policy for the hydroelectric power plants in the region and, in case of hikes in power rates, “make it cheaper over the rate in Luzon and the Visayas”.
Aquino explained the Epira was intended for NPC to sell its power plants to private inves-tors, and use the pro-ceeds to pay its debt. “This was supposed to put an end to the never-ending increasing debt. It also freed money that could go to essential gov-ernment services.”
He said erasing the debt would have multi-plier implications, and in the case of Mindanao “businesses will improve our energy sector’s ca-
pacities as opposed to the old government-run system, in which these companies’ leaders had no qualms about mortgag-ing the country’s future to satisfy the people and to please the appointing body”.
But Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino noted that the NPC “remains indebt-ed despite paying billions of debts over the past 10 years.”
“From 2001 to 2010, Napocor shelled out $18 billion to service its finan-cial obligations. Yet, from $16.4 billion in 2001, Na-pocor’s debts remained high at $15.8 billion as of 2010,” Casino said in a statement yesterday.
He said power rates have doubled and NPC rates have jumped by at least 95 percent 10 years after Epira was imple-mented.
“You just have to bite the bullet a little more,” Aquino told the sum-mit, saying that efforts, including the scheduled shutdown of one power plant in Bukidnon, would proceed to retrieve more embedded capacities in the existing power plants that were downgraded by years of wear and tear.
Of the repair work on its seven power plants in the Agus complex in La-nao and Pulangi complex in Bukidnon, the complete shutdown of the Pulangi plant was the more threat-ening, with 140 mega-watts of running power to be lost within a month beginning April 17. But he
said that another 100 mw would be retrieved after the repair on the eroded portion of the water chan-nel in the dam.
Aquino said this would leave 70 mw more to even the overall demand of 1,300 mw in Mindanao, whose grid would be primed up more to reach the target of 1,450 mw. He said that this remaining deficit would be sourced from the other generating sources.
But he warned that this leveling of the capac-ity with the demand was precarious “because if any one of the plants malfunc-tion, then the problem re-turns”.
To improve the reli-ability of the base load, “the simple truth is: you have to pay more,” he said.
“Of our P1.8-trillion budget, remember that only P400 billion of this is programmable. So, can government pay for new plants, plus old loans, and still provide the services and facilities you need?” he added.
Vicente Lao, president of the Mindanao Business Council, expressed reser-vation about the denial of the Mindanao position to shield the island’s hydro-electric power plants from being sold at auction. “Will we still have to pay more because we believe that the loans would not still be fully paid after we sell these plants?”
He expressed the same apprehension over the likelihood of intercon-necting Mindanao to the
surplus grid in the Visayas and Luzon. “We expect that the NGCP [transmis-sion company National Grid Corp. of the Philip-pines] would charge us in our bills to recover the in-terconnection project.”
Aquino said that Min-danao has to accept some trade-offs in exchange for reliable supply. “What we need you to realize is that the old days of cheap pow-er are no longer sustain-able, and you must also put in your fair share in solving the problem. You have to pay a little more for the current and future health of the energy sec-tor in Mindanao,” he ex-plained.
Since January, the NGCP has reduced the power supply sent to the 27 power distributors and electric cooperatives in the island due to shortage in supply allegedly due to reduced generation from the hydroelectric power plants and the partial utili-zation of the other sources of energy.
Areas in the Zambo-anga Peninsula, South-western and Southeastern Mindanao, including those in Bukidnon serviced by the Bukidnon Second Electric Cooperative, had to sustain brownouts last-ing as long as four hours. After the government agreed to remove the mandated contingency re-serve and use it in the grid, brownouts had reportedly improved also in these ar-eas by half.
Davao City, some ar-eas in Davao del Norte,
Cagayan de Oro City and some parts of the Caraga Region, either have rotat-ing brownouts of 30 minutes or none at all.
Aside from ask-ing Aquino to shield the hydroelectric power plants in Min-danao from privati-zation, the Mindanao governors and sev-eral organizations also wanted to speed up the processing and permitting pro-cess by the national government. “For ex-ample, it would take two years to get a water right,” said Sa-rangani Gov. Miguel Rene Dominguez. (MINDANEWS)
6 THE ECONOMY EDGEDAVAOStat Watch
MONTHLY AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATE (January 2009 - December 2011)
Petitioner is a grantee of a Certificate of Public Convenience issued in this case authorizing the operation of a PUJ-DUAL Or-dinary Regular service on the route: ECOLAND SUBDIVISION (SM CITY OF DAVAO) ROUTE and for cargoes as dual service from said route to any point in Region XI with the use of ONE (1) unit, which certificate will expire on January 22, 2013. In the petition filed on February 17, 2012, petitioner request authority to extend the validity of said certificate to operate along the same route with the use of the same unit previously authorized.
NOTICE, is hereby given that this petition
will be heard by this Board on APRIL 30, 2012 at 09:00 a. m. at this office at the above address.
At least, FIVE (5) days prior to the above date petitioner shall publish this Notice once in a one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Mindanao
Parties opposed to the granting of the petition must file their written opposition sup-ported by documentary evidence on or before the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the petitioner, and may if they so, desire appear on said date and time.
This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the docu-mentary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive additional documentary and/or oral evidence.
WITNESS the Honorable BENJAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Regional Director, this 17th day of February 2012 at Davao City.
TERESITA DELA PEÑA-YÑIGUEZChief Transport Development Officer
/hocCopy furnished:Petitioner, Eugenio L. Limlao, #40 Orange St., Spring Village, Ma-a, Davao City Counsel, Atty. Eduardo T. Manzano, Rm 208, New Borgaily Bldg., San Pedro St., Davao CityNOTE: Affidavit of Publication and newspaper where notice was published must be submitted three (3) days before the scheduled hearing.
PNoy: Consumers should ‘bite the bullet’
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 2012
TIME was when the road going to Di-version Highway
through Marfori-Chinese Cemetery-Bacaca is a very lonely road.
Not today.I used to call it “The road
less taken” from Robert Frost’s 1915 poem. Now it is the road of choice for most motorists living or heading to, or coming from the city’s North side. That is why for us using this road everyday, the traffic has gone from deserted to dreadful.
Although traffic has im-proved this summer break, this is but a short respite. The usual heavy traffic would still be from 6 to 8 in the morning and 4 to 6 in the afternoon. Worse, a single accident is this section especially the Ladislawa ascent (descent if you are coming from the city) automatically results to a bot-tleneck. Then you can expect your schedule for the day to change for the worse.
It’s that vulnerable. No thanks to speeding motor-cycles who I count as having been involved in the most incidents of road accidents in this area.
Not to despise our mo-torcycle-riding motorists, I think most will agree with me that these small machines run faster than we imagine. Or shall we say, they are rid-
den faster than they should be. Add to their loud exhaust pipes and the knack of some bikers to ride ala threading-the-needle. Snaking their way through tight line of cars. Some counter-flow their way through like they’re not even afraid to run smack on your car.
Are these guys born with metal bones and self-regen-erating bodies and append-ages?
Why the heck most of them drive like there’s no to-morrow is a mystery to me considering that these 100, 125 and 150 cc machines are as light as a feather. A little bump here or a little skid there is already a lifetime of difference for the bike and the rider.
Last week after a meeting with the Department of Tour-ism at the Landco Building, I drove through the exit going to Torres Street. The vehicles from the JP Laurel side al-ready stopped to give way to my turning left. Just after my car’s hood crossed the middle of the road and as I turn the wheel to the left, a motorcycle wiggled his way frantically to avoid hitting me. He rode the wrong lane and sped faster than he should.
The man was lucky. I too was. But you see, incidents like these are not the first time I experienced in the road. Will this biker tell me why he had to ride the wrong lane and risk life and limbs?
I am sure you have experi-enced similar incidents on the road too.
Our roads are not big and wide here in Davao.
Yes, for the biggest city in the world, it is unfortunate that we still have to ride and drive the narrowest roads.
7MOTORINGEDGEDAVAORiding the wrong lane
WE took the Isu-zu D-MAX 4x4 Boondocks Edi-
tion to Kapatagan, Davao del Sur for the first ever Discoveride Mountain Bike expedition organized by the Mindanao Travel Channel and Bravetower Events Promotions.
Twice, we trekked Kaatagan and all of its 1,200-meter elevation on muddy conditions and we did not regret the de-cision to do the shoot in partnership with Isuzu D-MAX courtesy of Southern Motors Davao.
The first time we got up the chilly hills of Davao del Sur, which is a popular take-off point for Mt. Apo climbers, was to scale the terrain and discover trails for the mountain
D-MAX Discoveride in Kapatagan
biking expedition. The trail-finding journey was marked by heavy rains and muddy conditions, al-most rendering the road impassable.
Actually, by normal standards, it could have been impassable. But the D-MAX was a beast.
This 4x4 monster is a trusty beast on adverse road conditions. Not even the almost zero visibility coming down with heavy fogging could stop this off-
road genius. In the actual take, we
loaded the D-MAX with bikes and set off for the ex-pedition. Once again, the weather tested the D-MAX and our bikes to the full-est. In a place where the motorcycles and trucks tie their tires with chains to be able to manoeu-vre through rock-strewn roads without much trac-tion because of the thick mud, the D-MAX survived the muddy onslaught.
KAPATAGAN DISCOVERIDE. The Isuzu D-MAX 4x4 Boondocks got fully-loaded with mountain bikes and conquered Kapatagan’s slippery road conditions.
ISUZU Philippines Cor-poration continues the winning tradition of
the D-MAX as the diesel authority launches the 2012 model of the best-selling pickup. A recent recipient of the “Best On-Board Entertainment” trophy in the pickup cat-egory of the 2011 Auto Focus People’s Choice Awards, the 2012 D-MAX further proves that when it comes to versatility and dependability, “The Possibilities are Endless,” which is its marketing catchphrase for the year.
For the 2012 model year, Isuzu has desig-
nated the 4×4 D-MAX LS as the “Radikal” variant. It features a color-keyed bumper over-rider up front, genuine Isuzu bedliner at the back, and the distinctive “Radi-kal” badge on the sheet metal.
The cosmetic and functional upgrades complement the D-MAX’s proven standard equip-ment: powerful 3.0-liter 4JJ1-TC iTEQ common-rail diesel engine; du-rable ladder-type chas-sis; comfortable Flex-Ride suspension system; 2-DIN audio-video head unit with navigation-
ready system; projector-type headlamps that provide 14% more il-lumination than their ordinary counterparts; side-impact steel beams; dual front airbags; ABS with electronic brake-force distribution; re-verse camera and sen-sor; two-tone (4×2 LS) and Elegant Black (4×4 LS) seat materials; and a high-center console box.
“The continued sales and critical success of the D-MAX is proof of its world-class quality,” says IPC President Ryoji Yamazaki. “This is the re-sult of our sensitivity to
the unique requirements of the Philippine pickup market. The 2012 model is designed to preserve the D-MAX’s lofty stat-ure in its highly competi-tive segment.”
The 2012 Isuzu D-MAX is now available in Rich Red, Magma Red, Midnight Blue, Ebony Black, Glacial White and Titanium Silver.
For other inquiries, visit your nearest Isuzu dealership now. In Davao City, the Isuzu DMax is available at Isuzu Motors Davao (Southern Motors Davao) along McArthur Highway.
‘For the 2012 model year, Isuzu has designated the 4×4 D-MAX LS as the “Radikal” variant.’
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 2012
Editor’s Note: This is a Q-and-A primer on territorial and sovereignty claims, in part or in whole, of the South China
Sea, a timely snapshot read particularly now that the Scarborough scare has just been upon us.
Scarborough shoal is the international reference for what the Philippines now call “Panatag” (calm), alternatively Bajo de Masinloc. Scarborough and “Pagasa” Is-land (hope) in the Kalayaan Island Group of the internationally-referred Spratlys Archipelago are also claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan. In Chinese, Scarbor-ough is called “Huangyan Dao,” Pag-asa is known as “Zhongye Dao,” and the Spratlys as “Nansha.”
Philippine claims to Pag-asa island, which is a barangay in itself under Pala-wan’s jurisdiction was officially laid in 1974 when Admiral Tomas Cloma left a note there for the world to notice and the issue forwarded to the United Nations. I have seen that note and Cloma’s bust in the three times that I was privileged to fly to Pag-asa and boodle-fought with Philip-pine soldiers stationed in that desolate terrain.
The claim to Bajo de Masinloc was sup-posedly made even earlier, which was fol-lowed by a scientific exploration. Between the two areas, that with Scarborough -- proven to have rich oil and gas deposits -— is for now believed to be an even more touchy claim for the Philippines and China.
Completing the list of claimants of oth-er reefs, atolls and sandbars in the Nansha are Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.
For us in the media, this 22-page Eng-lish-language publication is a commend-able move on the part of China. The closest I got to related literature from the Philip-pine side is the controversial Republic Act 9522, the Philippines Baselines Act of 2009. I was presented a draft map of Phil-ippine territory based on those baselines that was prepared by the National Map-ping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), the official Philippine cartogra-pher. I still have to actually obtain an offi-cial Chinese map that shows the dashes to its Nansha claims.
As to the Q-and-A primer itself, per-sonally given to me by Chinese ambassa-dor to Manila Ma Keqing, we still have to find one from the Philippine side that is as clear-cut about China’s stand on the South China Sea dispute.
Ask yourself: if even many in the me-dia do not fully grasp the issue of the so-named West Philippine Sea, how can the general public be far behind? It is enviable that China has a specific government think tank handling the issue of the South China.
After the scare of this week, we are as-sured that China and the Philippines are bent on resolving their conflicting territo-rial claims diplomatically. But how many times have we heard this diplomatese ut-tered, particularly since after 2009 when the Philippines formally presented its Ex-clusive Economic Zone (EEZ) claims based on the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).
True, it is the job of the armed forces to protect our sovereignty and our mari-time environment, but after the verbal braggadocio, we retreat into a diplomatic cubicle? Better to be restrained and cir-cumspect from start to finish; can we re-ally afford the posturing?
President Aquino was right to say that violence should be avoided even as we as-sert sovereignty.
For now, China also wants their dif-ferences shelved while projects for joint cooperation in the disputed areas are con-templated, citing the more encompassing and greater issue of Philippine-China in-terests. “No party to the disputes should impose its claim of jurisdiction on other parties.”
For its part, the Philippines wants that Beijing first agree to some parameters or “talking points” before even considering sitting on the discussion table. This in-cludes China pointing out which specific areas could be developed jointly for oil/gas/seismic exploration, etc. There is a stand-off here.
8 VANTAGE POINTS
SOMETHING big and classic is about to happen in the Big City.
A group of physicians and other con-cerned citizens is set to file a P1-billion class suit against the owners of motor vehicles proven to contribute to the worsening air pol-lution inManila by emitting toxic substances. The suit will include the transportation sec-retary who happens to be Manuel “Mar” Rox-as II.
Although bad publicity for Mar, the poli-tician, this is definitely welcome news to all citizens who are exasperated by the govern-ment’s continued failure to check air pollu-tion, not only in Manila, but also in other ar-eas of the country.
In a statement, the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) said it will include the transportation secretary (Roxas) because his agency, the Department of Transportation and Communication, is mandated by the clear air law to ensure that motor vehicles that are registered do not spew toxic substances into the air.
Among those targeted by the suit are negli-gent private companies and government reg-ulatory agencies tasked with safeguarding air quality in the National Capital Region (NCR).
“The current state of air in the metropolis poses a clear and present danger to the lives of the people residing in the area,” the PMA
stated, adding that “it does not only bring re-spiratory illnesses to Metro Manilans but can also result in cardiovascular problems like heart attack, stroke and sudden death.”
PMA president Oscar Tinio said 80 percent of the air pollutants in Metro Manila come from the more than 3.2 million motor vehi-cles plying the streets of the metropis daily.”
According to PMA Manila Governor Leo Olarte, an orthopedic surgeon and a practis-ing lawyer, the Philippine Clean Air Act (RA 8749) recognizes the principle that “pollut-ers must pay.”
Once air polluters are penalized without exception, their ‘partners-in-crime’ are ex-pected to quickly get on the side of the law—or else! That would be a big leap towards drastically reducing air pollution and attain-ing that longed for ‘nirvana’: a Metro Manila largely free from life-threatening pollutants, thanks to its clean air. This will be good for its population, including Mar Roxas himself and his yet-to-be-born offsprings.
We laud PMA President Tinio and his asso-ciation for finally coming out strong against a long existing problem and for “biting the bul-let” as it were with its billion-peso proposed class suit against the major polluters.
The time has come to confront the govern-ment’s “noynoying” on the decades-old prob-lem.
Classic suitEDITORIAL
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Printed by Zion Accuprint Publishing Inc. Door 14 ALCREJ Building,
Quirino Avenue, 8000, Davao City, PhilippinesTel: (082) 301-6235
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EDGEDAVAOSouth China Sea 101
BY GLORIA JANE BAYLON
SPECIAL FEATURE
(Part 1)
To be continued
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 2012
PO P U L A -T I O N C O N -
TROL PRO-GRAM EX-PLAINED – There is a fun-damental point that needs em-phasis: popu-lation control and family planning program, and con-traceptive use cannot exist completely independently. Both are essentially im-portant to each other. Surely population explosion is far more than compound-ing the country’s prevailing socio-eco-nomic problems. Population control program defines the boundaries that give security to the majority – food, ed-ucation, shelter, health care and medi-cal services, employment and more.
However, other projections are even terrifying. Consider this: the supply of contraceptives becomes scarce as a re-sult of the USAID decision to stop its project, most likely there will be more cases of abortion even without the controversial Reproductive Health Bill. About nearly a million women are es-timated to have abortions each year to deal with the financial and emotional strain of unwanted pregnancy despite the fact that abortion is highly illegal and strictly prohibited and against the teachings of the Catholic Church.
And besides, the church shall con-tinue defending the right to life of every human being, from the moment of con-ception to the end of his or her natural life, and resists all organized efforts of the government that they perceived as transplanting “anti-life and anti-family
laws and practices” into our social or-der. For fear of getting the brunt of the powerful and influential Catholic Church, what has to be done by some of our lawmakers, it might be asked?
We should take a good look at our predicament and raised this question: What isn’t going right here in our coun-try? Take note that growth outruns the country’s ability to build its economy and investment in infrastructure. The country’s puny savings and high con-sumption rates, chronic budget deficits, high population growth and high-ratio of non-working dependents to work-ing population makes the Philippines lagged far behind its progressive and prosperous neighbors. These coun-tries – Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia reduced birth rates at the time of or be-fore economic takeoff.
Yes, in reality as stated earlier, popu-lation growth is straining the country’s resources, which is why there is crush-ing poverty – an old problem tradi-tionally associated with joblessness, homelessness, landlessness, and food shortage, lack of shelter and medical care, and literacy. But it needs not to be a permanent one. With an honest-to-goodness, well-meaning and long term government population control and hu-man development program like the RH bill, Filipinos could properly organized and motivated to become an important resource in addressing their own eco-nomic and social conditions.
They have to realize that the most important change will come not only from the government or any outside entity but from them. They must firmly
believe that the problem on population can be conquered if only they have the drive, the courage and the will to over-come it. Any government program can be achieved if the strong political will and determination intervene in every turn. Sustaining legislative advocacy is the first mean to the success of any gov-ernment undertaking.
We would call this the brain and spinal column of a population, human development and reproductive health program, such as we defined the sub-ject. And we must begin with what ex-perts call a “situational factor” – the involvement of a non-stock and non-profit foundation such as the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Inc. (PLCPD), a non-government organization established in December 1989.
The foundation becomes an advo-cacy, empowering and building institu-tion between the legislature, govern-ment agencies and civil society to effec-tively gather support and consolidate efforts in the formulation and imple-mentation of laws that favor popula-tion control and sustainable human de-velopment program. But the PLCPD or the like could only undertake advocacy work on population and human devel-opment, and make it succeed if the gov-ernment officials – from top to bottom would embrace sacrifice, work shoul-der to shoulder, hand in hand, and set aside self-righteous pride in addressing the concern and see to it that the urgent program should be strictly followed and carried out to the letter. There is an advocacy worth our support and coop-eration – the RH Bill.
An advocacy worth our support and cooperation
NO matter how hard I did, I couldn’t find the flimsiest reason for the Philippine government
to fret over the scheduled launching of North Korea’s Unha-3 long-range rocket that will bring a weather satellite into orbit and hype it as a security threat.
The rocket is unarmed, and that’s a clear-cut assurance it isn’t aimed against any imagined target, not even against ei-ther of its two nem-eses, Japan or South Korea. If this is the case, why would the Philippines embroil itself in an issue in which it has no di-rect stakes? The gov-ernment was acting irresponsibly by spreading fears and treating the event as if a nuclear weapon was about to be launched.
Some elements of the media only added to the confusion by uncritically echoing Malacanang’s alarmist state-ments. Last night, I was aghast to know
that a multi-awarded [kuno] broadcast journalist found it all right to feed her viewers with “news” that tended to por-tray that the rocket launch could wreak
terrible havoc on us. Now, aside from
the need for the me-dia to be sober and discreet in report-ing events related to the rocket launch, let’s be candid about other things and not indulge in delusions. The Philippines is a nobody when it
comes to geopolitics. Whatever we say on North Korea’s plans won’t create a ripple in Pyongyang, although it will earn for President Aquino a pat on the back from President Obama with a com-plimentary “that’s my boy.”
We are a nobody when it comes to
geopolitics. In fact, we can’t even as-sert our legal, historical right to Sabah in Northern Borneo. Don’t brag about PNoy’s eagerness to defend the coun-try’s sovereignty over the Kalayaan Group of islands in the disputed Spratlys. He is speaking from beneath the shadow of Capitol Hill, and presumes that the US military will automatically come to the rescue in case the tension in the West Philippine Sea escalates into a shooting war.
Disgusting indeed that the Philip-pines should find it in its best interest to embrace a confrontational stance toward China and North Korea only because we are banking on America’s equally aggressive brand of diplomacy as our insurance policy. In short, our role in Asian geopolitics has not and could not go beyond that of being a comic, if nervous, elf standing on the shoulder of one of two mean giants out to destroy each other. [MindaNews/H. Marcos C. Mordeno writes mainly on the environ-ment, human rights and politics. He can be reached at [email protected]]
9VANTAGE POINTS
Monkey Business
EDGEDAVAO
COMMENTMisplaced fears
(1st of 2 installment)BY MARCOS C. MORDENOSOMEONE ELSE’S WINDOWS
We are a nobody when it comes to geopolitics. In fact, we can’t even assert our le-
gal, historical right to Sabah in Northern Borneo.
No sign of signing
(3. Leonen’s Past Opening State-ments)
AS the opening statements of Gov-ernment and MILF chief negotiators during their 26th Exploratory
Talks last March 19 to 21 show, the difference of their positions is so wide that a stalemate impends. Beyond their mutual determination to stay on course, are the parties softening in their posi-tions? A review of their past opening statements will show.
How have the government present position evolved since the Parties re-sumed their talks after the four-month impasse following MILF’s rejection of Government’s proposed peace settle-ment, the “3 for 1 Solution” last August?
December 5 – 7, 2011On the 23rd formal exploratory talks,
Marvic Leonen, citing the President, states that the “current policy of govern-ment today is all-out justice, not all-out war” and “is consistent with the primacy given to our peace and the overriding hope that peace can better be achieved through a comprehensive settlement”.
Defined: A peace agreement is one that:
“can sincerely be implemented by the administration that promises it”; “serves as a framework for all parties to work with each other under a regime of mutual respect”; “should reflect a genu-ine knowledge of history and a true un-derstanding of the current and future needs of our people”; “ should be flexible enough” -- its provisions contingent with and “malleable to their contemporary realities”; is “a negotiated political set-tlement of armed conflict” and that “it should be able to address the legitimate interests of all those we represent”– a peace agreement acceptable to and sup-portable by all.
In Gist: Behind the statement’s fine rhetoric, Leonen essentially reiterates the “GPH ‘3 for 1’ Solution”, the core of the ARMM Reform Agenda under RA 10153, which at the time was already three months behind launching sched-ule, as the substance of the Government’s political settlement and comprehensive compact.
January 9 – 11, 2012:On the 24th formal exploratory talks,
Leonen stresses how “the entire Republic of the Philippines will benefit with a re-gion for Bangsamoro peoples that is not only genuinely autonomous but also one where the principles of good and effec-tive governance is in place”.
Envisoned: This autonomous gov-ernment is one:
that “can be democratically elected in free, clean and honest elections en-sured by security forces that are neutral from political interests and a vibrant and assertive civil society” where “there are real choices between sincere and capa-ble political parties who offer principled leaders”. has “a clear working relation-ship with the national government in many aspects” including “the equitable sharing of wealth and the generation of revenues to make the autonomous gov-ernment credible in producing opportu-nities for its people in an environmentally sustainable manner as well as allow the national government to provide the kind of assistance that should be expected of it”.
Goal and Timeline: The Govern-ment’s political option: “… this is an ad-ministration that wants to see the so-lution to the Bangsamoro question in motion when it leaves in a little over four years time”.
Then addresses the MILF Panel: “… we should both meet the challenge of crafting an agreement soon enough, so that it could be implemented and then assessed and then adjusted before the next term of the next President of the Re-public” – setting a timeline: “… the golden opportunity to craft such an agreement is this first quarter of this year”.
Mandate: Of the Government Panel: “Our standing instructions from our President are to work earnestly and with due and deliberate dispatch careful to consult all constituents that we also rep-resent along the way.”
February 13-15, 2012On the 25th formal exploratory talks,
Leonen again clarifies that the ultimate goal of the Government-MILF negotiation is to secure permanent peace: “The legacy that all of us in this room wish to partici-pate in is to facilitate an agreement that will not only make peace possible--it is also an agreement that should bring in the possibility of making peace permanent.”
BY PATRICIO P. DIAZ
(Last of a two parts)
To be continued
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 201210 SUBURBIA EDGEDAVAO
SARANGANI is a good flying site for paragliding said
Armand Dard, a French national and a visiting paragliding professional instructor.
“This is my second time in the Philippines and my first time in Sa-rangani. Last year I did some paragliding in Car-mona, Cavite and also in Boracay but this place which I discovered one month ago is a better flight site,” Dard said.
The flying site is lo-cated at SAFI Ranch 1 in barangay Seguil, less than 30 minutes drive from General Santos City.
The flight site is over-looking Sarangani Bay.
“It has comfortable take off and landing sites,” Dard noted. “It
also has big landing site comfortable for begin-ners and you can fly al-most everyday.”
Dard is conducting paragliding internation-al standard trainings to members of the newly-formed Sarangani Para-gliding Club.
“You ask what is the next big thing in Region 12, we are crossing our fingers -- but I believe in a heartbeat, it’s going to be Paragliding in Sa-rangani. It is definitely a #1forfun!” said Michelle Solon, chair of the Re-gional Tourism Council.
“Who said there is no wind around Sarangani Bay? On the contrary there is enough wind!” added Solon who has tried sky sports para-gliding.
Joseph Oncada, vice president of Sarangani Paragliding Club said they started paragliding in September last year “and this is the newest sport in the country.”
“To those who want to become pilots, or just want to experience fly-ing in tandem, we of-fer training and tandem flights,» Oncada said.
A short flight or a maximum of 10-minute flight would cost P2,300. “For a long flight or 15 to 20-minute flight, we charge 3,000 pesos» Oncada added.
Oncada said the Sa-rangani Paragliding Club will also have a paraglid-ing accuracy competi-tion on May 18 in time for Sarangani Bay Festi-val.
Paragliding in Sarangani
THE King-king Cop-per-Gold Project (KCGP) recently
facilitated the ground-breaking ceremony for the proposed multi-pur-pose building of the Alter-native Learning System (ALS) Pantukan District, an informal educational system for out-of-school youths and individuals who failed to finish for-mal education.
Clyde Gillespie, Direc-tor for Environmental Permitting of St. Augus-tine Gold & Copper Ltd.
(SAGCL) and Rogelio “Jing” Bantayan – Com-munity Social Respon-sibility Head of SAGCL attended the event. Also present is Brgy. Capt. Roberto Yugo of Brgy. Kingking; Ms. Carmen Agustin, DepEd District Supervisor; Mr. David Vismanos, ALS District Coordinator and the el-ementary teachers from all over Pantukan.
“This donation is part of the continuing effort of SAGCL’s ongoing com-mitment to support the
education sector of the Pantukan community” said Mr. Gillespie. In the past, KCGP has also pro-vided school facilities to Pantukan’s schools.
KCGP is currently studying the feasibility of mining the Kingking gold and copper deposit in Pantukan. In connec-tion with this, they are conducting extensive environmental research, community consulta-tions, exploratory drill-ings and other related studies within the area.
Alternative learning center launched in Pantukan by KGCP
A temporary water service interruption is scheduled by the
Davao City Water District from 5:00 PM of April 17 until 12:00 AM of April 18 to allow the interconnec-tion of 150mm diameter pipe to 400mm diameter pipe along Davao-Agusan Road corner Amparo Vil-lage and Purok 2 in Ti-bungco. When done, this project will help improve water pressure in the area.
The water cut will be experienced in the following areas: Ilang: (Davao – Agusan Road) Ilang (From Barangay Hall of Ilang), Amparo Village, Bugac-Ilang, New Society Village, Central Ilang, Muslim Village ; Ti-bungco: (Davao – Agusan Road) Purok 10, Upper Manggahan, Manggahan Village, Tibungco Doctors Medical Clinic, Purok 11, Purok 1 & 2, Barrio Pogi
St., Tefasco, Deluxe Saw-mill, Purok 3, Purok 12, Purok 4, Cal Village, Vi-cente Gloria Compound, Purok 5, Tibungco Reloca-tion, Tibungco Cemetery, San Juan Village, Hudson Sawmill, Purok 9, Purok 6, Purok 14, MINDDACO, Purok 6 Buhisan, Tesda School, Buhisan Elem. School, Purok 16-A; Bu-nawan: Barrio Bunawan, Km. 22 Budbud, Felipe Calderon Elem. School, Km. 23, Don Ramon Sub-station, Holy Cross of Bunawan, Bunawan Bgy. Hall, Daniel Perez Central Elem. School, Lim Medi-cal Clinic, Purok 5 Pu-nong, Km. 24, Inabangga, Km. 25; Lasang: (Davao – Agusan Road) Crossing Licanan, Km. 26, Licanan, Bgy. Lasang, Tambungon, Saguitarius, Lasang Elem School, Lasang Public Market, Purok Scorpio Bu-cana, Aledia Elem. School, Bucana, Purok Pisces.
Would-be affected customers are advised to store enough water prior to the scheduled water in-terruption as water supply may be restored earlier if work goes smoothly or later if unforeseen prob-lems arise. In behalf of the DCWD management, acting general manager Edwin V. Regalado apolo-gizes for the inconve-nience the water service interruption may cause and likewise appeals for the understanding and co-operation of the affected customers.
The general public may call the DCWD trunk line at 221-9400 and press “1” on their phone dial to listen to the latest daily water updates, or contact its call center through the 24-hour hotline 221-9412 or 0927-7988966 for up-dates, complaints, queries and other matters per-taining to DCWD services.
April 17 - 18Water interruption bared
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 2012 11COMPETITIVE EDGEEDGEDAVAO
LOCATION AREA (sq.m.) PRICE/sq.m. Villa Josefina Resort Village, Dumoy Toril, Davao City
Minimum of 240 sq.m.
P5,985
St. Joseph Homes, Sirawan, Toril,Davao City
Minimum of 150 sq.m.
P3,600
LOCATION Lot Area Flr. Area PRICE Blk. 4, Lot 10
Villa Josefina Resort Village Dumoy, Toril, Davao City
240 sq.m. 177.31 sq.m P4.8 M
Pneumococcal vaccination for adults kicks off in DavaoPFIZER Philip-
pines Founda-tion Inc., in
partnership with the Davao Chapter of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and In-fectious Diseases (PS-MID), administered pneumococcal disease vaccines to Davaoe-ños to indigent senior citizens, kicking off the foundation’s first-ever adult vaccination drive in Davao City. Pfizer and PSMID vac-
cinated 130 elderly in: Missionaries of Char-ity, Southern Philip-pines Medical Center, and Carmelite Sisters. Pfizer’s ongoing vac-cination program for pneumococcal dis-ease, “PD Alliance in Motion”, started in 2010 through partner-ships with various lo-cal government units and non-government organizations focus-ing initially on vacci-nating children. Since
it started, Pfizer has provided free pneu-mococcal vaccination to nearly 10,000 chil-dren from Nueva Eci-ja, Manila, Malabon, Bacolod, Palawan, Pangasinan, Aurora, Pampanga, and Cebu. The vaccination in Davao is the first leg of the Pfizer adult vac-cination campaign, given recent FDA ap-proval for the adult indication for 50 years old and above.
Pneumococcal Disease is among the leading killers in the world and the #1 cause of morbidity in the Philippines, especially for adults with compromised immune systems; however, it is also the leading vaccine-preventable disease.
The vaccination program of Pfizer Philippines Foundation Inc. includes a short class to educate Filipinos on Pneumo-coccal Disease, which in the Philippines is the most common cause of pneumonia.
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 201212 NATION/WORLD EDGEDAVAO
DAVAO City-born Jas-mine Lee has been elected to a seat
at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, a first for South Korea’s growing immigrant com-munity.
According to the De-partment of Foreign Af-fairs, Lee stood for elec-tion under the Saenuri (New Frontier) Party, which won 25 of 54 party-list seats in the National Assembly. Lee’s election victory helped Saenuri get the majority votes in the assembly with 152 of 300 seats.
According to the web-site of Korea’s National As-sembly, Lee is expected to “maintain proper dignity as an assemblyman, at-tend the Plenary Session and committee meetings, and comply with legisla-tion and regulations re-
garding the proceedings.” She will serve a term of four years.
Lee grew up in Davao City and took up Biology at the Ateneo de Davao University. She married a Korean sailor in 1995 and moved to Korea soon after, the DFA said.
She became a Korean citizen in 1998.
Since 2006, Lee has appeared as a panelist on “Love in Asia,” a Korean television show that “rais-es awareness of (Korea’s) foreign neighbors and re-flects on the true mean-ing of family.” She also ap-peared in a Korean movie.
Lee regularly gives lec-tures on multiculturalism and is secretary-general of a charity organized by foreigners married to Koreans. “In January of this year, she received the Korea Image Millstone
Award, which is given to people who successfully blended into the Korean society and helped it be-come a better place,” the DFA said.
In a speech to leaders of the Filipino community in Korea last month, Vice President Jejomar Binay said the Philippines was “very proud” of Lee for running for parliament.“It shows that Korea is pre-pared to extend the oppor-tunity to become a public servant even to those who were not born here,” he said.
Philippine Ambas-sador to Korea Luis Cruz said in March that Lee “has distinguished herself as an ardent advocate of multi-culturalism in Korean so-ciety.”
There are around 1.2 million immigrants in South Korea, the DFA said.
Dabawenya in Korea’sNational Assembly
AFTER a decade of war and billions of dollars in Western aid, Af-
ghanistan is drowning in a tide of corruption that is exacerbat-ing conflict and stifling eco-nomic development, experts say.
Corruption is enabling the drug trade to thrive and pushing Afghans towards the Taliban, analysts warn -- fuelling the two drivers of instability in the war-torn country.
Mohammad Shafiq Hamdam, head of the Afghan Anti-corruption Network, said
CORRUPTION. After a decade of war and billions of dollars in Western aid, Afghanistan is drowning in a tide of corruption that is exacerbating conflict and stifling economic development, experts say.
Corruption feeding Afghanistan unrest
graft lies at the heart of most of the country’s problems.
“If there are cases of infiltration in the army, it’s corruption. If there are cases of smuggling heroin out of the country, within the country, it’s corruption,” he said.
In January, an Afghan soldier killed five of his French trainers at a base in Kapisa, in the country’s northeast. According to the US news website McClatchy, he bribed a recruiter first to join the Afghan army and then again to rejoin after deserting.
Corruption among the security forces is rife -- the interior ministry recently sacked 70 police officers in western Afghanistan.
“I’ll never say that the first problem of Afghanistan is security. The first one is corruption,” said Mohammad Qasem Halimi, of the Asia Foundation NGO.
With checkpoints at the entry to built-up areas, militants can only get in because of corrupt police, he said.
Upon extra-judicial petition for sale under Act 3135, as amended filed by the
above-mentioned mortgagee against Tamsi Awoura Realty Incorporated and Sps. Flora T. Henri Armand Joseph Kervella, with postal addresses at Door 7 Casa Esperanza Ha-bana Compound, Rizal St., Davao City, Unit B Somerset Town Villas Doña Luisa Ave., Juna Subd.,Matina, Davao City and/or Lot 8-B along Doña Avenue, Juna Subd., Matina, Davao City, to satisfy the mortgage indebtedness which as of February 29, 2012 the total amount of the outstanding obligation/indebtedness of the mortgagors in favor of the mortgagee has amounted to Philippine Pesos: FOUR HUNDRED FORTY SEVEN FIVE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED NINETY NINE AND 05/100 (Php 475,199.05), inclusive of in-terest, penalties and other charges, plus other legal expenses incident of the foreclosure and sale the undersigned Sheriff IV of the Regional Trial Court, Davao City, will sell at public auction on May 03 , 2012 at 10: A. M.; or soon thereafter , at the main entrance of Hall of Justice, Ecoland, Davao City, to the highest bidder for CASH or MANAGER’S CHECK and in Philippine Currency, the following real property mentioned and described below together with all the improvements found thereon, to wit;
TRANSFER CERTIFICATE OF TITLE NO. T-446533 “ A parcel of land ( Lot 8-B, Psd-11-106048 xxx) situated in the Barangay of
Matina City of Davao, Island of Mindanao. xxx containing an area of ONE HUNDRED FORTY SEVEN and 75/100 (147.75) SQUARE METERS, more or less.”- Registered in the name of TAMSI AWOURA REALTY INCORPORATED.
All sealed bids must be submitted to the undersigned on the above-stated time and date.
In the event the public auction should not take place on the said date, it shall be held on June 7, 2012 without further notice.
Prospective buyers are hereby enjoined to investigate for themselves the title of the herein-above described real property and encumbrances thereon, if any there be.
Davao City, Philippines, March 29, 2012
FOR THE EX-OFFICIO PROV’L SHERIFF: (Sgd) JAY C. ESPERANZA SHERIFF IV
NOTED BY: ATTY: EDIPOLO P. SARABIA, JR. Clerk of Court & Ex- Officio Provincial sheriff
Copy furnished: THE MORTGAGEE : BANCO DE ORO UNIVERSAL BANK.THE MORTGAGORS:TAMSI AWOURA REALTY INC. andSPS. FLORA T. &HENRI ARMAND JOSEPH KERVELLA THE PUBLISHER: EDGE DAVAO POSTING : 3 Conspicous places (Edge 4/16,23,30
LEGAL NOTICENotice is hereby given that an Affidavit of Self-Adjudication was hereby executed by Danilo S. Pichon, the only surviving son of Antonio B. Pichon leaving a estate consist-ing of parcels of land, located in Davao City and evidenced by TCT No. T-26006, TCT No. T-26008, TCT No. T-26012, TCT No. T-24228 and TCT No. T-23785 of the Reg-istry of Deeds of Davao City. Acknowledged before Notary Public Atty. Oscar A. Carcedo per Doc. No. 207;Page No. 42; Book No.I; Series of 2012
nakikita namin, it’s a cross ownership kasi ikaw na may-ari ng generator, ikaw pa ang may ari ng transmis-sion, ikaw pa yung distribu-tor, so diktado mo lahat. Ito yung dapat tingnan.”
She added that the Elec-tric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) failed in its pur-pose of creating a “regime of competition” because in reality there are only few players in the industry.
Presenting viable solu-tions to the power situation in Mindanao at the summit, Davao del Norte Gov. Ro-dolfo del Rosario said cross ownership should be abso-lutely prohibited between and among the generation, transmission and distribu-tion sectors as a result of the EPIRA.
He asked the President during the conference to review the EPIRA because privatization of power as-sets has resulted in cartels, such that only a few in the private sector are involved.
“The EPIRA has not worked for the island of Mindanao after 11 years of implementation,” he said in his presentation.
Meanwhile, Rep. Daisy Fuentes told reporters that she was dismayed by the EPIRA, admitting that she was one of the legisla-tors who passed the law in 2001. Fuentes also served as governor of South Cota-bato for three terms before goping back to Congress.
“Kaya naman kami nag approve ng EPIRA kasi na-niwala kami doon sa mga experts na ito ang pinakata-ma,” she said.
“Yung sinabi nilang walang cross ownership, it’s happening,” she said, adding that reasonable rates of electricity have not been attained in contrast with the objective of the law.
Non-transparencyMayor Darlene Custo-
dio of General Santos City also told the President dur-ing the conference, “There is a feeling of non-transpar-ency,” because until now no one is telling us exact num-bers.
Noting the issue on transparency, Fuentes said, “Kasi baka maraming nagsasabotahe, baka hindi totoo tong mga numbers.”
She added that some members of the House are also suspicious about the national agencies involved because of their failure to give data during committee hearings.
“Alam nyo na ngayong dumating si Presidente, napwersa silang lahat na gumalaw lahat at magbigay ng data nila,” she said.
Further, she lauded Del Rosario for his presentation of the nine-year income of the National Power Corpo-ration (NAPOCOR), saying it was her first time to see data of the national agency.
Antonino also hit the non-transparency, par-ticularly of the Power Sec-tor Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) for not providing her office with data.
“Dalawa lang nakuha namin na financial state-ments from PSALM,” she said, citing the data shown to the President during the summit.
“Kahit napepeke ang data, kailangang imbestiga-han,” Antonino said, adding that the President agreed that there is a need to inves-tigate.
Monitoring commit-
teeIn his address, the Presi-
dent said the government is studying the formation of a Mindanao Power Monitor-ing Committee to be chaired by MinDA, with representa-tives from the Department of Energy, NAPOCOR, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, and oth-ers from civil society, elec-tric cooperatives, and the business sector.
It is to make sure that price increases of electricity are fair even as the Presi-dent said people in Mind-anao should expect to “pay a little more” for a stable supply of energy.
Meanqhile, Aquino may be a victim of misinforma-tion or disinformation on the real situation of Mind-anao’s power problem, oth-erwise he would consider maintaining government control of the Agus-Pulangi Hydro Complex (APHC).
This was the common reaction of some of the re-gion’s leaders--who strong-ly oppose the privatization of the hydro power plants in Mindanao--to the Presi-dent’s message during the power summit last Friday.
Antonino, who main-tains her opposition to the privatization of hydro power plants, said the Pres-ident lacks information and that energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras admitted it, particularly on the data submitted to the national central office.
Representative Teddy Casiño said the President is misinformed about the privatization issue in Min-danaom hence his strong resistance to the call to stop privatization of the Agus and Pulangi hydro plants.
“Ang dating sa akin pa-rang hindi siya nakinig. Pa-rang buo na yung idea niya. Sarado na ang kanyang isip,” he told reporters.
Immediately after the summit, Casiño expressed dismay over the President’s action, saying, “I would have wanted more open-ness from the President, more discussion of ideas than opposing the point. Gusto ko sana napalabas pa niya yung mga actual sug-gestions ng mga tao dito rather than nagdebate.”
Before reading his speech, Aquino said EPIRA has not worked in Mind-anao as it had exempted the Agus and Pulangi hydro plants from privatization for10 years.
Addressing President Aquino that EPIRA has di-rectly affected Mindanao, Sergio Dagooc, president of the Association of Min-danao Rural Electric Co-operatives, (AMRECO) Inc. said only the hydro plants were exempted but not the power barges.
He told the President that the EPIRA was the rea-son for privatizing the two 200MW power barges, now owned by the Thermal Ma-rine, Inc., causing the hike of power rates in Mindanao.
“In fairness kay Pangu-lo, he’s making his response based sa mga feedbacks sa energy family and some leg-islators. Bigyan na lang na-tin ng pagkakataon si Presi-dente pag aralan naman yung mga proposal natin at mga justification natin vis-a-vis doon sa previous data/information na na-kuha niya and we will wait,” Dagooc told reporters after the summit.
Casiño said the Presi-dent’s mind appeared to be closed as he is pursuing the policy of privatization of
our power assets.“Sa isang summit you’re
not supposed to debate eh or argue. Ang importante dito, palabasin mo lahat ng idea and then i-didigest ito pero parang ang dating, ang Presidente ang nakipagde-bate,” he said.
Casino hopes that all the efforts at the summit will not be put to waste, and that the President would study all the presentations submitted by different sec-tors.
Might considerMeanwhile, Antonino
said the President is pursu-ing privatization because there is a law, he just cannot really say it.
Thus, Congress has the capacity to do something about the law.
Representative Daisy Fuentes hoped that the President would consider not privatizing the hydro plants by the time Congress can present to him the pa-per work.
“He’s asking for num-bers kung makakatulong ba yan, mababayaran ba ang utang, masusustain ba nin-yo. I think if we can prove it to him, possible. Ang gaga-win ng DOE (Department of Energy) magkacounter sila na mali yang number Antonino said others are saying the hydro plants are losing, but, “No. It’s making money. Internally, we can generate the funds to fix the thing.”
She mentioned that DOE Secretary Jose Rene Almen-dras also said that the APHC is a net earner.
“Kung maprove siguro namin na it can fix itself, na makabayad pa sa utang, na marerehabilitate na hindi na hihingi sa national, maku-kumbinse natin siya,” Fuen-tes said.
Casiño pointed out that the hydro plants were not rehabilitated earlier than the power crisis occurred because the government was planning to sell them anyway.
“Kami po sa Kongreso may malakas na resolution opposing the privatization of Pulangi. Hopefully, ma-habol pa natin itong appar-ently fixed position ng Pan-gulo,” he said.
Antonino said the reha-bilitation of AHPC may only cost less than P5 billion.
“If in one year’s time, the complex will earn around P7 billion, it can fund its own rehabilitation with one year income. Lalaki na ang capac-ity nya, of course mas lalaki pa ang income,” she added.
ors League Presidents (Confed), the Philiuppine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Asso-ciation of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives Inc., Lanao Power Consumers Federation (Lapocof), the Mindanao Commission of Women, among others, reesulted in the following recommendations:
• Stop the Leyte-Mindanao intercon-nection project, keep Mindanao separate from the Luzon-Vi-sayas grid – This will maintain exclusive ac-cess to power from hy-droelectric plants.• Review the Epira Law in order to deter-mine whether the ob-jectives of the law were met. ‘It has ‘has not worked for the island of Mindanao after 11 years of implementa-tion.’• Maintain govern-ment ownership of the Agus-Pulangi hydro-electric power com-plex under the premise
that the region would continue enjoying cheap power rates this way.• Retain state own-ership of power barges so these assets run by the National Power Corp. (Napocor) would serve as ‘spare tires’ to augment electricity supply in the region.• Reactivate, repair, and maintain existing plants of Napocor • Create the Min-danao Power Com-mittee which should be led by people from Mindanao.• Establish a one-stop-shop in order to fast track applications of small power coop-eratives to sell their surplus energy to the Mindanao grid, and to ease investor inflow.• Pursue nuclear power development although construction is expensive, the en-ergy produced from it would be greater and cheaper than that from coal and diesel fueled plants.• Cultivate renew-
able energy sources such as biomass in or-der to harness Mind-anao’s rich agricultural resources.• Establish a cri-sis fund for Mindanao which will be paid for by Mindanao residents and not having to rely on national taxes.• Guarantee a bud-get for maintenance of existing state-owned power plants. Stake-holders said the state-run Power Sector As-sets and Liabilities Management Corp. had ignored the main-tenance requirements of facilities that are up for privatization.• Strict monitoring of electric cooperatives by the Department of Energy to ensure that the cooperatives honor supply agreements with power plant operators who have complained that the distributors contract only minimal power and turn to the region’s reserves whenever de-mand outstrips their available supply.
implementing the inter-national carbon market instruments. Provided that this provision shall be considered as an au-tomatic compliance with the required sustainable development undertak-ing;
•Ten percent of the annual special vehicle pollution control fund under RA 8794 other-wise known as “An Act Imposing a Motor Vehicle User’s Charge on Owners of All Types of Motor Ve-hicles and For Other
Purposes”; and •Donations, endow-
ments, grants and contri-butions.
zation of Agus & Pulangui hydropower plants to keep power rates low, revise EPIRA and further develop the island’s rich renewable energy sources, he was in-tent on shooting down the
proposals and insisting that Mindanaoans pay higher rates for private power companies.”
“The President seemed gravely misinformed about the negative impact of power privatization in Mindanao, the facts about renewable energy, and the
failures of the EPIRA law. He even said hindi siya nagpapapogi, insinuating that the participants were just grandstanding. It was a truly disappointing exer-cise. The morning session was great but things turned sour when the President spoke,” Casiño concluded.
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 201214 SPORTS EDGEDAVAO
HELPING YOU MAKE INFORMED BUSINESS DECISIONS.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) Coach Mike Brown wasn’t on the Los AngelesLakers’
bench in a suit and tie. Kobe Bryant was.
Although that’s an un-likely scenario for success, the Lakers still took an enormous step toward the postseason thanks to Matt Barnes’ out-side shooting and Andrew Bynum’s inside persistence.
Bynum had 30 points and eight rebounds, Barnes add-ed a season-high 24 points
and 10 rebounds, and the Lakers clinched a playoff berth with a 103-97 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Friday night.
Pau Gasol had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Pa-cific Division-leading Lakers (38-22), who have won three of four without Bryant while the NBA scoring leader rests his bruised shin. Los Angeles also played without Brown, who left Staples Center short-ly before tipoff for undisclosed
personal reasons.‘’You can tell that these
guys went out tonight and wanted to represent Mike Brown as best they could, and that’s what they did,’’ said assistant coach John Kuester, who didn’t give any additional information about Brown’s issues after running the team. ‘’They have worked extremely hard, they care about one another, and it’s also those types of feelings that are poured out on the
floor.’’With Bryant shouting
instructions and counsel as a virtual assistant coach on the bench, the Lakers gave away another early lead and committed 23 turnovers, yet still took three of four from Denver to win the clubs’ sea-son series for the first time in three years. With six games left, Los Angeles is 1 1/2 games ahead of the Clippers for the division lead and the No. 3 playoff seed.
Lakers hold off Nuggets, clinch playoff There was nary a Chinaman’s chance for Charly Suarez. His Chi-
nese foe made sure of that.Charly Suarez threw
everything at China’s Liu Quiang but in the end, China’s Liu Qiang put an end to the Philippines’ aspirations in the Asian Olympic Qualifying Event after the Chinese bet fash-ioned out a 15-11 win last Thursday in Astana, Ka-zakhstan.
The Davao boy’s loss leaves the Philippines with just one qualifier to the London Games in men’s boxing: another Davao bet light-flyweight Mark Anthony Barriga of Panabo City.
That means, the brunt of the country’s Olympic quest now lies on the nar-row shoulders of this tiny young man.
The report from Ka-zakhstan told us that Liu banked heavily on his height and reach advan-tage in repulsing Suarez, who became desperate in the second round as the Chinese bet took an early 3-1 lead.
Nevertheless, Liu kept his poise and in-stead piled up point after point en route to break-ing the hearts of the five-man Philippine team that was hoping to send two or three more Olympic qualifiers. I am sure the loss was also terribly felt in Charly’s hometown in Panabo City where he honed his boxing skills at the Barangay Una stable.
Charly earned a trip
to the gold medal match by whipping Japanese Daisuke Narimatsu, 24-11, in the semifinals. Liu secured a trip to the fi-nals with a victory over an Iraqi rival after elimi-nating a top Mongolian rookie early in the tour-nament.
Now the only hope for the Philippines to aim for a few more Olympic quali-fiers will come when the women’s squad plunges into action in the Asian qualifying in China next month.
The Philippines sent six Olympic bets, but it was only Barriga, who earned a berth during the 2011 world champion-ships in Baku, Azerbaijan.
In London, two man-datory representatives from athletics and anoth-er two from swimming and one from shooting make up the very lean Philippine delegation so far.
All told, the debacle suffered in Kazakhstan is going to toll heavily to the country’s chase for an elusive Olympic gold. It stands at a very low possibility now unless the pint-sized Barriga, a product of Barangay Una project of sports patron and former congressman Tonyboy Floirendo, defies the odds and nail down our first ever gold.
But that, for now, is wishful thinking.
End of the road
WRESTLING. Talk N Text guard Jared Dillinger (right) applies the arm lock on Mick Pennisi of Barako Bull in Game 2 of their semis match in the ongoing PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
GAMES and Amuse-ment Board Chair-man Juan Ramon
“Monju” Guanzon laments here the lack of govern-ment support to develop local boxers even as he discloses that Visayas and Mindanao have been producing quality boxers and successfully landed remarkable stints both in the local and internation-al scenes.
Guanzon told sports-writers in Bacolod City that there should be a program that would focus on a boxing program from the grassroots level.
Guanzon also said that there were cities that got boxers from Bacolod City but since there were no support from the local government, these box-ers had been claimed by other towns and cities as their own. He claimed the boxing facility at the Paglaum Sports Complex was established during the time of his father, the late Congressman Romeo Guanzon and also took initiative for substantial support for the Negros Amateur Boxing Associa-tion (NABA) and lauded the volunteerism of train-ers and coaches who teach young kids at the said facility.
GAB chair says gov’t support needed
By Carlo P. MalloGraphics and Photos by Kenneth Ong
THERE are already too many crimes committed against the fashion world, and whether you like it or not, you are most probably an ac-cessory to the crime or an accomplice without even know-ing that you already are. Even here in Davao City, we are already committing a lot of crimes against the fashion industry; the sadder part is that government seems to be turning a blind eye, or even consent-ing, the commission of these crimes. Fashion is not just fash-ion. Not because it only deals with clothes, bags, or brands that may seem obscure to the hungry Fili-pino masses, means that we can just trample upon the fashion industry and the very laws that serves to protect it and the people behind it. After all, fashion is a form of art. And no, we are not go-ing to talk about fashion victims and the million fashion faux pas we see ev-eryday. While the city is not yet host to some of the biggest fashion houses in the in-dustry, it has already com-mitted two of the greatest mortal sins against the in-dustry. Take a look at Roxas Avenue and see how it is clogged with ukay-ukay vendors selling their wares.
There is nothing wrong with wearing ukay-ukay per se, but the fact of the matter is that these prod-ucts are illegal. Used cloth-ing, as provided by law, are not allowed to be imported into the country except for humanitarian purposes in calamities - man-made or otherwise. In other words, the sacks upon sacks of ukay-ukay that thousands of Filipinos wait with abated breath to be opened are all smuggled into the country. Smuggled products do not pay the right taxes to the govern-ment, if it pays any tax at all. And doesn’t it make you wonder why the local government is not doing anything about the prolif-eration of ukay-ukay in the city? Your guess is as good as mine. Down in the city’s Chi-natown, the sidewalks are teeming with knock-offs or products that imitate the complete design, branding, and even the packaging of other products. It doesn’t matter how many A’s there are in the class of your de-signer bag, your bag is still as fake as it could get. While knock-offs are nearly seen in every corner of the world, the lack of ac-tion from government offi-
cials couldn’t help but make you scratch your head in amusement. Haven’t gov-ernment officials seen how prevalent piracy these days are, even with designer bags, shoes, shirts, and even mobile phones? Oh wait, government officials also patronize these prod-uct. Buying knock-offs or going to your favorite ukay-
ukay may seem as harm-less, little do you know that you are actually helping crime syndicates prolifer-ate and earn money from these seemingly harmless ‘entrepreneurial’ activities. While buying ukay-ukay and knock-offs may seem the practical solution in this third world country, you are actually shortchanging yourself. Ukay-ukay prod-
ucts are second hand rejects from other countries that may have been exposed to God-knows what kind of germs and microbes while the knock-offs are made of
substandard quality with substandard materials. The choice is in your hands, do you want to commit another crime of fashion?
VOL.5 ISSUE 29 • APRIL 15-16, 2012
EDGEDAVAOARTS
And doesn’t it make you wonder why the local government is not doing anything about the proliferation of ukay-ukay in the city?
The People’s Mart along Roxas Ave.
INdulge!
By Angelo Narciso Songco
THE fountain of youth has been the stuff of legend for centuries. Hollywood films have been made with dashing heroes searching for it the world over with a sultry heroine weaved into the plot. On the shelves of fancy shoppes and bou-tiques, über expensive beauty products claim age-defying effects from exotic ingredients from edibles like caviar, wheat germ and bee pollen to creepy sound-ing placenta, stem cells and hard-to-read obviously man-made chemicals. Youth and beauty go hand in hand, however, a more holistic approach to staying young is staying healthy inside out and not just slathering creams and lotions on the body where it just pen-etrates up to certain level. Eating healthy has more holistic youthening effects as it works from the inside out. In a nutshell: The high fibre content of healthy food cleanses the colon and physically detoxifies the body. Organic and natural foods are devoid of chemicals which retain wa-ter and potentially harm the body in so many ways. More importantly, they posses essential nutrients that are ab-sorbed by the body on a cellular level conferring a wealth of health benefits from the bone to the skin. Anti-oxidants protect against and combat the harmful effects of free radicals, rogue molecules that harm cell membranes and DNA and cause skin ageing and various diseases in-cluding cancer. All of these foods, when consumed with consistency and gratefulness, work together and keep one healthy and young looking. An-tioxidants also protect cells’ ability to accurately reproduce themselves. This slows down the aging process and helps us fight off a variety of diseases. After much research and discus-sions with health food advocates, I’ve come up with a list of practical foods that, when sensibly incorporated into one’s lifestyle, youthens you from the inside out. Always, remember that or-ganic is always best for fresh produce (and natural for processed food). Af-ter all, we’re aiming to maximise the youthening properties of food. It’d be pointless to consume fruits and vegetables that have the residue of chemical fertilisers and pesticides and finished foods that are full or artificial ingredients and preservatives. Dabawenyos need not fret though that the list comprises of far-out items from exotic locales. Marketing and buzz hype a couple of the items in this list but you’ll be surprised to find that a lot of youthening foods can be found right in your neighbourhood market. I haven’t taken out certain items that are renowned the world over for their anti-oxidant properties. It’s good that health food stores like Sugarleaf already carry these items. But it’s best to consume what’s in your immediate surroundings as your assured of fresh-ness.
• Raw unsalted nuts and seeds like pili, cashews, peanuts, sunflower seeds: a tasty mid-afternoon snack, rich in vitamin E which promotes healthy skin, hair and nails and protects cell membranes from free radical dam-age from air pollution and ultra violet rays. Most raw nuts if consumed in reasonable amounts without process-ing and excessive salt are rich in cho-lesterol-lowering, mono-saturated fats that are good for the heart. Imported nuts like almonds, Brazil nuts are also very healthy • “Good fatty” fruits like avocado and durian: These fruits are cholester-ol-free and high in vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre which promote co-lon cleansing. Avocado one of nature’s best natural moisturisers rich in vita-min C and E, and omega 3 fatty acids that have youthening benefits. Durian has high levels of essential amino acid, tryptophan which have an important functions like sleep induction • Wild fish like salmon: The pig-ment that colours it pink is astaxan-thin, a powerful free radicals fighter. Limit consumption of farmed fish which are raised with feeds and hor-mones
• Citrus fruits like calamansi, pomelo, lime, lemon and local berries such as strawberry, blueberry, bignay: rich in vitamin C, needed in collagen-building, an essential component of youthful-looking skin. Citrus also contains bioflavonoids, which protect skin from UV rays and help prevent cell death. Berries have naturally oc-curring strong anti-cancer properties, flavonols and anthocyanin all with age-defying properties. Imported ber-ries include raspberries, blackberries, loganberries, blueberries, bilberries, and cranberries. Goji berry from the Himalayas and açai, a superfood from the Amazon are world-renowned as two of the most potent anti-oxidants on the planet • Vegetables such as cucumbers, sweet potatoes, leafy greens, zucchinis, bell peppers: peppers are loaded with antioxidants as evidenced by their brightly coloured red, yellow, and or-ange hue. Beta-carotene, which makes sweet potatoes orange, balances the skin#39;s pH, helps combat dryness, and promotes cellular health. Spin-ach, tatsoi, polunchai and other greens contain lutein, which protects skin from sun-induced inflammation and
wrinkles. Cucumber and zucchini are excellent for rejuvenating tired, dehydrated skin due to its high water content and high amounts of silica, a mineral needed for healthy, glowing skin • Aromatic garlic, onion, chives and leeks: promotes cardiovascular strengthening, decreases fat storage and fights inflammation and infec-tion. Consume raw when possible, mince finely to release allicin in the garlic, an antibacterial and antifungal compound, and do not overcook to retain benefits • Raw chocolate: this will surely put a smile to a lot of peoples lips but read RAW. Most health benefits are lost or diminished the more cacao is pro-cessed, ie heated and combined with milk, sugar and flavourings. Raw ca-cao is rich in flavanols which improve blood flow to key areas of the brain. It has also been shown to improve brain function, fight sleep deprivation, fa-tigue, and the effects of aging • Healthy fats from virgin coconut oil, olive oil, eggs: Monounsaturated fats help improve cardiovascular health. Rich in polyphenols, power-ful antioxidants that may help prevent age-related diseases. Antioxidants , es-pecially in free range and organic eggs are easily absorbed. Eggs are also rich in carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin which promote healthy eyes and sharp vision. • Probiotics in kefir and other live, fermented products: last but not the least, probiotics, which literally mean “beneficial to life,” are live cultures that confer benefits beyond basic nutri-tion. Most probiotics include live ac-tive cultures added to foods. Research show that there are several strains of es-sential good-for-you bacteria that have an ability to promote healthy gastroin-testinal functions, increase immunity and help prevent the development of cancer-causing toxins throughout the body. Kefir, the “emperor of yoghurt”
or “milk champagne” has over 30 spe-cies of beneficial microorganisms, a serving of which contains several bil-lions of these good bacteria. • Green tea: contains healthy acids and protein, which help to improve complexion. Regular consumption of green (or black tea) may reduce the risk of age-related degenerative brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s. At Sugarleaf, we strive to make healthyummy treats for people of all ages. We’ve come across a variety of people who are on various phases on their path to health–some just with sensible eating while others combine it with physical activity. From yogis and yoginis, triatheletes and serious sports enthusiasts, Sugarleaf strives to make healthy eating as “normal” as possible for everyone (normal meaning great-tasting and practical). The key is not to take things too seriously and enjoy your journey to-wards health; not to make a 180 degree turn and forget your favourite foods and instead incorporate healthier food into your lifestyle gradually. A soda or a bag of chips is perfectly fine once in a while but do not make this an every-day part of your intake. Try to avoid artificial sweeteners, heavily processed and fast food. Sugarleaf in Makati is located at the G/ and 2/F of the MEDICard Lifestyle Center, 51 Paseo de Roxas corner Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Urdaneta Village Makati City, open 8am to 7pm Mon-days to Saturdays. Tel 385 0387. Green-hills branch is located at G/F Health Cube Building, 226 Wilson Street, West Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila. Open 8am-10pm Mondays to Satur-days and 8am to 2pm Sundays. Tel (63 2) 661 6639 or mobile (63 917) 837 4257. Follow us on Twitter @sugar-leafph. Davao franchisees are welcome! Contact [email protected] if you wish to join our mission in making the Philippines healthier one person at a time!
A2 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 29 • APRIL 15-16, 2012EDGEDAVAOFOOD
Practical “youthening” foods for FilipinosThe fountain of youth on a plate
Sugarleaf interiors
Healthy Picks’ certified all-organic produce
HerbTisane
Sugarleaf’s organic vegetable quiche.
Pitt has put a custom-made ring on Jolie after roughly seven years, three adoptions and two pregnancies together—but it’s the thousands of tabloid head-lines they’ve survived that make us think they’ve really got a shot at making it. So, in honor of the happy news, let’s take a look back at what the history books mean when they say “Hollywood romance”: 2004: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie start shooting the steamy-and-funny action flick Mrs. & Mrs. Smith. Rumors that there’s romance brewing between Jolie and her married costar are in-stantaneous, but the duo insist otherwise. January 2005: Pitt and Jen-nifer Aniston announce they’re separating after four and a half years of marriage, saying they “happily remain committed and caring friends with great love and admiration for one another.” Anis-ton files for divorce in March. May 2005: Time to pick sides! Pitt walks on the beach in Kenya with Jolie and her then-3-year-old son, Maddox. A week later, they meet up in London and jet to Morocco, where Pitt’s shooting Babel. June 2005: Jolie tells the To-day show’s Ann Curry: “To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive. I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that. I wouldn’t be attracted to a man who would cheat on his wife.” July 2005: Pitt and Jolie play a married couple with five kids in a domestic-noir-themed photo spread in W. Pitt also goes with Jolie to Ethiopia, where she adopts daughter Zahara. September 2005: In a cov-er-story interview with Vanity Fair, Aniston discusses the split in depth and admits to being “shocked” by Pitt’s immediate hookup with Jolie. She also fa-mously says that her ex “has a sensitivity chip missing.” October 2005: Pitt and An-iston’s divorce is finalized. She gets the house and eight years of grief. Jan. 19, 2006: Zahara and Maddox’s last names are legally changed to Jolie-Pitt, and the adoption is finalized soon after. May 26, 2006: Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, the couple’s first biological child, is born in Namibia. People pays a reported $4.1 million for first-picture honors. October 2006: Pitt tells Esquire that he and Jolie will get married when “everyone else in the coun-try who wants to be married is legally able.” The term “marriage equality” becomes even more significant for tabloids. March 15, 2007: Jolie adopts Pax from Vietnam as a single par-
ent because the country doesn’t allow unmarried couples to adopt. By May, he’s a Jolie-Pitt. People buys the first pics of their newest addition for a reported $2 million. July 12, 2008: Twins Knox and Vivienne are born in Nice, France. Pitt and Jolie donate the record $14 million they supposedly got for domestic and international photo rights to charity. October 2008: Jolie implies to the New York Times that there could be more kids in their future: “I mean, I know we seem crazy, just bringing them in one after the other, but we do plan.” Oh, she also says that she can’t wait to show her kids Mr. & Mrs. Smith because “not a lot of people get to see a movie where their par-ents fell in love.” December 2008: Aniston is quoted on the cover of Vogue saying: “What Angelina did was very uncool.” August 2009: Pitt reiterates what he said about marriage equality in Parade: “I stand by that, although I took a lot of flak
for saying it—hate mail from reli-gious groups.” January 2010: Relevant par-ties shoot down an In Touch Weekly story that Jolie had an affair with her Salt dialect coach. However, the couple skip that month’s Golden Globes and SAG Awards (Inglourious Basterds won the top prize), further fueling rumors of trouble in paradise. February 2010: Pitt and Jolie sue now-defunct British tabloid News of the World over a report that they’re separating. The claim is settled in July, with all proceeds going to the Jolie-Pitt Foun-dation. The still-going-strong
couple walk the Oscar red carpet together. November 2011: Pitt tells Australia’s 60 Minutes that he wants to switch from acting to producing when he’s 50—and that he’s “not sure if [he and Jolie] are finished” having kids! Feb. 26, 2012: Jolie exposes her right leg through the thigh-high slit in her Versace gown at the Oscars...and the Internet (or our view of Julia Child holding a turkey) is never the same. April 13, 2012: Pitt’s manager confirms that he and Jolie are en-gaged, though they haven’t set a date yet.
A3INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 29 • APRIL 15-16, 2012EDGEDAVAOENTERTAINMENT
IN “making a promise for the future”—i.e., getting engaged—Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt instantly made their fans swoon and wedding planners salivate.
They’re engaged!
A4 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 29 • APRIL 15-16, 2012EDGEDAVAOSTYLE
MARKS & Spen-cer (M&S) will open a brand new store at the
Abreeza shopping mall in Davao City on 25th April 2012. The new 1,000 square metre store will offer this season’s latest collec-tions and M&S’ exclusive innovations across womenswear and menswear, as well as accessories, footwear, sleep-wear and lingerie. Examples of M&S’ popular clothing brands that will be at the store include: • Autograph – Luxurious, chic and sophisticated, the range embod-ies understated, international style. • M&S Woman and M&S Man – Stylish, dependable but still inspiring, the range brings you the great value clothes you love. • Indigo Collection – Soft, pretty and coordinated casualwear, the col-lection is perfect for women who need easy style for a busy life. • North Coast – takes a relaxed ap-proach to life with a casual, authentic and laid back style. • Blue Harbour – the clean, mas-culine range offers men considered style, where casual can still be smart. The new store is in line with Marks & Spencer’s international strategy to
build a strong presence across Asia. Following the store opening, M&S will have 19 stores in the Philippines, run under an existing franchise agree-ment with Rustan Marketing Special-ists, Inc. Anthony Huang, the Executive Vice-President for Stores Specialists, Inc. said: “We’re delighted to be open-ing a new store in Abreeza Mall, pro-viding local shoppers with the very best of Marks & Spencer. Prepara-tions for the opening are in place and the team is very excited about wel-coming customers from all over the region to the store – we’re sure that our range of good quality, great value products will be a hit with customers across Davao City.”
Countdown to new Marks & Spencer store in Abreeza Mall
We’re delighted to be opening a new store in Abreeza Mall, providing local shoppers with the very best of Marks & Spencer.
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 2012 15EDGEDAVAO SPORTS
NEW YORK (AP) Tom Benson brought stability to the
Saints nearly three de-cades ago and now plans to do the same for the Hornets in small-market New Orleans.
The Saints’ owner agreed Friday to purchase the Hornets from the NBA.
‘’We expect this club to be one of the most outstanding clubs in the league, otherwise I don’t want to get involved,’’ Benson said. ‘’This is just a good thing and I’m just glad to be a part of it.’’
A person familiar with the deal says the purchase price is $338 million. The person spoke to The Asso-ciated Press on condition of anonymity because the financial terms have not been announced.
The NBA has been trying to sell the Hornets since buying the club from founder George Shinn in December 2010. While preparing the team for sale the league negoti-ated a new lease for the Hornets to remain in the
state-owned New Orleans Arena through 2024.
The sale of the team to Benson has to be ap-proved by the NBA’s Board of Governors, which was meeting in New York on Friday.
‘’The city is one of the country’s treasures and we really have found the perfect owner,’’ Commis-sioner David Stern said. ‘’Our goal all along has been to get the Hornets bought by somebody whose commitment to New Orleans would be unrivaled.’’
The framework of ownership negotiations were handled in a way that a new Hornets own-er would have to accept the lease worked out be-tween the NBA and Gov. Bobby Jindal. The lease agreement also called for $50 million in improve-ments to the basketball stadium, which sits right across the street from the Superdome.
Once the NBA ap-proves the sale of the team to Benson, the next step is for the state Legisla-
ture to approve the arena lease deal because of the funding needed for sta-dium improvements. But legislative leaders already have publicly voiced sup-port for the proposed lease deal, which would take effect in July.
The 84-year-old Benson, a New Orleans-native, has owned the Saints since 1985, when he stepped in to block efforts by other prospec-tive investors to move the NFL franchise to Jackson-ville, Fla. Now Benson has made another major in-vestment to stabilize the NBA’s presence in the Big Easy on the same day that the Hornets were host-ing the Utah Jazz, the very team New Orleans lost to relocation in 1979.
Benson helped bring the Saints their first play-off appearance in 1987 and finally a Super Bowl title in 2010. His owner-ship of the Hornets means the two small-market franchises both will be lo-cally owned and now can work as partners in their efforts to attract corpo-
rate sponsorships, and Hornets fans can at least hope that will translate to a better product on the hardwood.
‘’When you have somebody like Mr. Ben-son, I think it makes it a ton easier because you have stability and you have a foundation,’’ Hor-nets coach Monty Wil-liams said before Friday night’s tip-off. ‘’It can only be good for me as a coach, our players and especially our city.’’
Hornets forward Carl Landry, who signed only a one-year deal with New Orleans this season in part because of the own-ership situation, said Ben-son’s involvement ‘’defi-nitely will help.’’
Selling the KingsMeantime, in Sacra-
mento, business leaders are asking NBA Commis-sioner David Stern and league owners to ‘’strong-ly encourage’’ the Maloof family to sell the Kings so a deal for a new arena can be reached.
In a letter signed by about two dozen of Sac-
ramento’s most powerful businesses leaders and sent to Stern on Thurs-day, the group accuses Kings owners Joe, Gavin and George Maloof of not negotiating in good faith. It also questions whether the Maloofs have the fi-nances - and motivation - to keep the team in Sac-ramento.
‘’We feel it is time for the Maloofs to sell their ownership of the fran-chise, for the good of the city and in the interest of advancing Sacramento’s effort to build a down-town arena,’’ a portion of the letter reads. ‘’The city, the fans and the NBA deserve and require an ownership group that is fully committed to being a good-faith constructive participant in the arena process.
‘’And we deserve an ownership group that is not only committed to the long-term viability of the franchise in this re-gion but also one that has the wherewithal to make it a thriving, competitive organization.’’
The timing of the let-ter was no accident.
The Maloofs were giving an update on the project to the NBA Board of Governors during its annual spring meeting in New York. It was exactly a year ago when Sacra-mento Mayor Kevin John-son and the city’s busi-ness leaders convinced owners - along with pre-senting more than $10 million of new sponsor-ship and ticket sales for this season to the team - at the same Manhattan hotel to keep the Kings from moving to Anaheim, Calif.
Sacramento city of-ficials were not in atten-dance Thursday. Johnson, who had initially said the city had done its part and it’s up to the Kings and the NBA to resolve the issue, was expected to meet with the Maloofs in New York on Friday, a team spokesman told reporters outside the St. Regis hotel. The mayor’s staff had no comment on what the meeting would entail.
Juvic Pagunsan of the Philippines ranked no. 9 as of April 8, 2012
rankings released by the official world golf ranking body.
Pagunsan, who fin-ished in a tie for 35th in this year’s World Golf Championship, rose to the 9th position with 1.05 av-erage points. The smooth-swinging Filipino also climbed to 167th position in the world golf rankings owing largely to his fine performance in the world championships in Doral, Florida.
K.J. Choi of South Ko-rea, 26th in the world is on top of the Asian rankings which was dominated by Koreans. Choi earned
3.801 average points and seven other Koreans oc-cupied the top 7 spots. Bae Sang Moon and K.T. Kim were second and third, respectively.
The other Koreans in the rankings were Y.E. Yang (4), Charlie Wi (5), John Huh (6), and Noh Seung Yul (7).
Siddikur Rahman of Bangladesh ranked no. 8, a notch higher than the Filipino.
In the world rankings, Luke Donald assumed no. 1 spot with Rory McIlroy in no. 2 and Lee West-wood in no. 3. Newly-crowned Masters cham-pion Bubba Watson is no. 4 while Hunter Mahan is no. 5.
WORLD GOLF RANKINGS ASIA GOLF RANKINGS
VOL.5 ISSUE 29• APRIL 15 - 16, 201216 EDGEDAVAOSPORTS
MADRID — Span-ish football may be enjoying one of its
most successful eras, pow-ered by Barcelona and Real Madrid’s charge through the Champions League, but the glittering success on the pitch hides a darker story.
As Real and Barca are through to the elite Cham-pions League semi-finals, and three Spanish clubs are into the Europa League last four, a survey of the ac-counts of the country’s top clubs reveals a tale of crip-pling debts and tax arrears.
Real Madrid lead Bar-celona by four points at the top of La Liga, but the two global superstars also ri-val each other in the depth
of their debts — Real have accumulated 589 million euros ($772 million) to Bar-celona’s 578 million euros.
The archrivals’ debts eclipse their revenues, which for 2010-2011 amounted to 479 million euros for Real Madrid and 450 million euros for Bar-celona.
Europa League semi-finals Valencia and Atletico Madrid are also both awash with red ink, to the tune of 382 and 514 million euros respectively.
But the latest figure to hit the headlines in Spain is the 752 million euros that Spain’s elite clubs owe to the tax man at a time when more than five million are
unemployed and the gov-ernment is asking citizens for more sacrifices.
The sports ministry an-nounced a plan to ensure that football pays for its own debts. But for the mo-ment it is unclear how they will do so.
Six of the 20 Liga clubs — Rayo Vallecano, Racing Santander, Real Betis, Zara-goza, Granada and Mallorca — are currently in bank-ruptcy proceedings, as are another six second-division teams.
“That figure alone shows that Spanish foot-ball is not well managed financially,” said Barcelona University Professor of Eco-nomics Jose Maria Gay de
Liebana, who specialises in football.
The analyst compared Spanish football’s debts, which he estimated at 3.5 billion euros in total, to the frenzy of the country’s property market bubble, which imploded in 2008.
“Football is a mirror of the general economy in Spain. For years we have been spending beyond our means, getting deeper and deeper into debt,” he ex-plained.
“For football it’s the same: for years clubs have made colossal and inef-ficient investments. And as they did not have their own funds to finance these expenses, they went mas-
sively into debt.”A good example of the
race to invest, no matter the cost, is Valencia’s “New Mestalla” stadium.
In 2007, in the midst of the property boom, Valen-cia decided to buy itself a new 70,000-seat stadium — even though it has only 39,000 members.
The 300-million-euro construction cost was sup-posed to be financed by the sale of the land from its old stadium for some 400 mil-lion euros.
Two years later, en-gulfed by the property market crisis, construction stopped when the club real-ized it could not find buyers for the old stadium prop-
erty.One other factor may
have contributed to the ac-cumulation of debts — a lack of financial control by Spanish institutions.
Some blame a lax atti-tude by the Spanish football league, others the league’s inability to impose tough sporting sanctions.
Until very recently the Spanish professional foot-ball league did not have the power to relegate a club in bankruptcy.
Some teams even used the bankruptcy law to their advantage, enjoying legal protection from their credi-tors while continuing to play football at the highest level.
SUPERSTARS Leo Messi (10) of FC Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo (4) of Real Madrid play for the two most successful ballclubs in the Spanish League.
