By Jade C. Zaldivar C ONSTRUCTION of three main drain- age canals will cost Davao City billions of pesos, according to Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio. The lady mayor confirmed an announcement of the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) last week that the city is mulling to invest a huge amount of money in building a comprehensive drainage system as a long-term solution to the perennial flooding problem. By Lorie A. Cascaro A RE job fairs becoming less attractive to job-seekers? This question was asked by observers upon learning that as of 1 p.m. yesterday, a measly 1,957 job-seekers applied for 24,301 supposed va- cancies involved in the Kalayaan job fairs held the Abreeza Mall and NCCC Mall in Davao City where the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) 11. As of that time, only 853 of the applicants qualified--497 for local employment , and 356 for overseas deployment. The total registered job applicants inter- n Construction to take over a decade n System to cost P20M a kilometer Most job-seekers snub job fair EDGE P 15.00 • 20 PAGES www.edgedavao.net VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 2012 Sports Page 14 Drainage plan to cost billions Science/Environment Page 4 Serving a seamless society FDRAINAGE, 13 FMOST, 13 Follow Us On DAVAO WAR VETERANS. War veterans pay tribute to comrades who sacrificed sweat and blood for the liberation of the country from foreign oppressors during yesterday’s commemora- tion of the country’s 114 Independence Day. [KARLOS MANLUPIG] Mayor Sara says Indulge Page A4 As of 1p.m., only 2,000 applied for 24,300 vacancies
Transcript
By Jade C. Zaldivar
CONSTRUCTION of three main drain-age canals will cost Davao City billions of pesos, according to Mayor Sara
Duterte-Carpio.The lady mayor confirmed an
announcement of the City Planning and
Development Office (CPDO) last week that the city is mulling to invest a huge amount of money in building a comprehensive drainage system as a long-term solution to the perennial flooding problem.
By Lorie A. Cascaro
ARE job fairs becoming less attractive to job-seekers? This question was asked by observers upon learning
that as of 1 p.m. yesterday, a measly 1,957 job-seekers applied for 24,301 supposed va-cancies involved in the Kalayaan job fairs held the Abreeza Mall and NCCC Mall in Davao City where the Department of Labor
and Employment (DOLE) 11.As of that time, only 853 of the applicants
qualified--497 for local employment , and 356 for overseas deployment.
The total registered job applicants inter-
n Construction to take over a decaden System to cost P20M a kilometer
Most job-seekers snub job fair
EDGEP 15.00 • 20 PAGES
www.edgedavao.netVOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 2012
SportsPage 14
Drainage plan to cost billions
Science/EnvironmentPage 4
Serving a seamless society
FDRAINAGE, 13
FMOST, 13
Follow Us On
DAVAO
WAR VETERANS. War veterans pay tribute to comrades who sacrificed sweat and blood for the liberation of the country from foreign oppressors during yesterday’s commemora-tion of the country’s 114 Independence Day. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]
Mayor Sara saysIndulgePage A4
As of 1p.m., only 2,000 applied for 24,300 vacancies
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 2012THE BIG NEWS2 EDGEDAVAO
A number of national line agencies have forged a memoran-
dum of understanding (MOU) for the implemen-tation of MindaNOW: Nur-turing Our Waters Pro-gram, a flagship program of the Mindanao Develop-ment Authority (MinDA).
MinDA chairperson Secretary Luwalhati R. An-tonino said that under the MOU, the agencies have committed to help in the planning, implementing, monitoring, and evalua-tion of the project.
The MOU signing was held during the Mindanao two-day environmental summit dubbed as the Mindanao Economy and Environment Summit held earlier this week at Grand Regal Hotel in this city.
Signatories to the MOU were Sec. Antonino; Sec. Mary Ann Lucille Sering of Climate Change Com-mission, Agriculture Sec. Prospero Alcala , Envi-ronment and Natural Re-sources Undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio, Office of Civil Defense Under-secretary Benito Ramos; Public Works and High-ways Assistant Secretary Dimas Suguilon; Science and Technology region XI director Anthony Sales; Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Sci-ence and Technology Asst. Secretary Abdullah Salic; Tourism XI director Ar-turo Boncato; National Economic Development Authority XI director Ma. Lourdes Lim; Commis-sioner Santos Unsad of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), Interior and Lo-cal Government director Francisco Jose and Educa-tion XI assistant director Fe delos Reyes.
She said the MindaN-OW Program was a con-crete response of MinDA to calls for ensuring sus-tainable economic devel-opment and ecological in-tegrity of Mindanao. It also seeks to fulfill the vision of sustainable development
under the Mindanao 2020 Peace and Development Framework Plan. It aims at developing and managing Mindanao’s river basins and watersheds. Aside for protection and preserva-tion, the watersheds and river basins needs to be managed properly to sus-tain its viability as Min-danao’s main source of power.
“This will ensure a continuing coordination across sectors and across river basin units. We will have to organize our co-ordination flow in a way that can provide focus on each unique requirement of every basin while en-suring convergence across watershed units,” she said.
Antonino quoted Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan, chief executive and director of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in the Philippines, on his positive note to the project and the collabora-tion of the national line agencies.
“For the longest time, too many people have looked at environmen-tal concerns in a “stand-alone” manner. This think-ing is outdated. Current thinking looks at the phys-ical environment, and the ecological services that come from it, in a cross cutting manner,” he said.
“The opportunity is to establish climate smart, economic convergence at meso-scale. If natural ecosystems are used as development anchors, this strategy will probably in-volve multi-regional zones defined by economic con-sonance,” he added.
Under the MindaNOW program, Antonino said the participating agen-cies would also provide technical service support to the river basin man-agement units which, in turn, would coordinate the various local resource councils and local govern-ment unit alliances for the sustainable management of their respective water-sheds. [PNA]
Gov’t agencies ink MOU on MindaNOW project
HOLE IN THE WALL. A construction worker takes a break from his labor to peek through an opening in the enclosed construction site at Jones Circle.
Like him, many Filipinos are looking for better opportunities in life. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]
THE Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC), a non-government
Filipino organization based in Washington, D.C., said on Tuesday the Phil-ippines and three other countries from South America signed with the United States Department of Labor (DOL) partner-ship agreements that would ensure migrant workers their right to safe workplaces and full pay-ment of wages as provided for under U.S. laws.
In an e-mail to the Philippines News Agency, MHC said U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis signed the agreement for the U.S. while Philippine Ambas-sador to Washington Jose L. Cuisia Jr. signed on be-half of the Philippine gov-ernment.
Ambassadors Nathalie Cely of Ecuador, Harold Forsyth of Peru, and Jorge Ramon Hernandez Al-cerro of Honduras signed for their respective coun-tries.
The signing was held at the DOL headquarters in Washington on Monday (Tuesday, Manila time). The accord augurs well for Filipino migrant work-ers throughout the U.S.
MHC said that accord-ing to the 2010 U.S. Cen-sus, the number of “Filipi-nos in any combination” in the U.S. increased by 44.5 percent from 2,364,815 in 2000 to 3,416,840.
The protection of the rights and promotion of the welfare and interest of Filipinos overseas is among the three pillars of Philippine foreign policy, the MHC said.
In a statement, Cui-sia said: “We are very pleased to sign these joint declarations and letters of arrangement with DOL. We assure DOL we will do our part in ensuring the dissemination of helpful information to Filipino workers concerning their right to a safe and healthy working environment, and fair wages and work-
ing hours in the U.S., and in assisting them to seek redress when such rights are disregarded or out-rightly violated.”
Under the agreement, regional enforcement of-fices of the U.S. Labor De-partment’s Occupational Safety and Health Admin-istration (OSHA) and its Wage and Hour Division (WHD) will cooperate with Philippine consul-ates throughout the U.S.
Together, the consul-ates and Labor Depart-ment agencies will reach out to migrant workers with information about U.S. health, safety and wage laws, MHC said.
The partnerships will help the WHD and OSHA to more effectively en-force U.S. laws, especially in high-risk and low-wage industries. This coopera-tion also will help both agencies identify prob-lems faced by migrant workers and target labor law enforcement efforts.
“Migrant workers
make important contri-butions to our economy,” Solis said.
“Enforcing labor rules means we ensure that companies that play by the rules get an advantage and compete in a level playing field, and that all workers are safe on the job and are fairly compen-sated,” she added.
DOL now has simi-lar agreements with 11 countries. The Labor Department previously implemented agreements with Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and India.
The U.S. DOL’s WHD is responsible for adminis-tering and enforcing laws that establish minimally acceptable standards for wages and working con-ditions in the country.
WHD has over 200 district, field, and area of-fices across the country with trained personnel available to assist work-ers. [PNA]
PHL, 3 other countries sign with U.S. partnership pact on migrant workers
THE Commission on Elections (Come-lec) is hoping to
get a favorable decision from the Supreme Court (SC) on the purchase of the precinct count opti-cal scan (PCOS) machines from Smartmatic Interna-tional.
The High Court will deliberate on Wednesday on the petition against the poll body’s decision to exercise its option to pur-chase the PCOS machines, which were first utilized in the automated May
2010 elections.“Kung close vote, or
maski 7-7 yan… okay na ako diyan kasi panalo pa din kami, kasi they have to get ‘8’ dahil sila ang petitioner,” said Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes.
He added that get-ting a favorable decision would give them the vir-tual “green light” to go ahead with their prepa-ration for the May 2013 polls.
The Comelec has de-cided to exercise its “op-tion to purchase” the
PCOS machines, includ-ing the software and the consolidation and can-vassing system (CCS). However, several poll watchdog and IT groups have challenged the deal with the Netherlands-based Smartmatic-Total Information Manage-ment.
The SC has already issued a temporary re-straining order (TRO) against the Comelec and Smartmatic from carry-ing on with their PCOS agreement. [PNA]
Comelec hopeful to get favorable SC decision on PCOS machines
UNA hit for accepting Migs ZubiriTHE decision of the Unit-
ed Nationalist Alliance (UNA) to include former
congressman Juan MiguelZubiri Zubiri on its 2013
senatorial ticket “weakens its pretensions that it will set the tone for the reformation of our country’s corrupt political system,” former Senate mi-nority leader Aquilino “Nene”
Pimentel Jr. said in a state-ment.
“By welcoming Migs into its fold, UNA has unequivo-cally put itself on the side of electoral cheats and sends the message that it will do anything to propel itself into power,” Pimentel Jr. said.
“To UNA, the principles that Koko Pimentel is fight-ing for: clean and honest elections, transparency and accountability especially of public officials are useless and irrelevant. And should be sub-stituted by what is politically practical and expedient,” he
added.Pimentel’s son and name-
sake, Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, has also objected to Zubiri’s entry to UNA, a coa-lition between the Binay-led PDP-Laban and the Partido ng Masang Pilipino of former president Joseph Estrada.
In the 2007 senatorial election, Zubiri won the 12th and last seat by a slim margin against the younger Pimentel.
Pimentel III filed a pro-test before the Commission on Elections and the Senate Electoral Tribunal, citing mas-sive cheating, particularly in Maguindanao province then ruled by the Ampatuans.
Zubiri yielded his seat in the Senate in August 2011, after some witnesses, some of them election officials, sur-faced and revealed how the cheating in Maguindanao was carried out.
Pimentel III was finally sworn in as senator a few
days after Zubiri stepped down, with the SET ruling that he led his rival by over 250,000 votes.
In an interview Tuesday night with ANC’s Lynda Jumil-la, the senator said the prob-lem is not Zubiri’s candidacy but his decision to run under UNA of which he (Pimentel) is a member.
He said allowing this to happen would be like “re-warding” Zubiri.
Pimentel III hinted he might run outside of the UNA ticket. “I would be up for adoption by any politi-cal party and by the people themselves,” he said.
The administration Lib-eral Party has invited the sen-ator to run under its ticket.
Zubiri had maintained that although he was the beneficiary of the cheating in Maguindanao, he had no knowledge about it. [MIND-ANEWS]
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 2012
By Lorie A. Cascaro
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will work hard
in promoting saving-consciousness among Filipino households, and some other policies and programs in reaction to the results of the first customer financial survey (CFS) in the Philippines.
Diwa C. Guinigundo, BSP deputy governor, monetary stability sec-tor, said Monday that the BSP should continue to work toward a more in-clusive financial system that reaches those who are otherwise “excluded”
or “unbanked”.Guinigundo said the
survey indicated that very few Filipinos are saving their money in the banks, a problem that has persisted since the coun-try’s birth more than a hundred years ago.
CFS results show that eight in 10 households or 78.5% did not have a de-posit account. The main reason cited by 92.8% of households for the ab-sence of a deposit account was that they did not have enough money for bank deposits.
Other reasons men-
tioned by the remaining 7.2% of households were: do not need a bank/cash account (1.7%); can-not manage an account (1.5%); minimum bal-ance is too high (1.2%); do not like to deal with banks/financial institu-tions (1%); and, others not specified (1.8%).
Guinigundo said the BSP has already made some headway in promot-ing and establishing an enabling policy and regu-latory initiatives, training and capacity building, and promotion and advo-
3EDGEDAVAO
n To promote savings consciousness among Filpinos
n 1 dead; missing person found
THE BIG NEWS
By Jade C. Zaldivar
DAVAO CITY Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio resigned from
the PDP-Laban (Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan) because of its rule that does not allow members to be part of another political party.
“I resigned because of that PDP rule,” she told a media briefing recently. “I was informed that there’s conflict of interest if you belong to another party, unless it’s just an alliance wherein you’re still part of a party which formed alliance with another,” she added.
It was upon the initiative of Duterte-Carpio that Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod (Hugpong), the political group of Duterte allies, applied with the Comelec for recognition as a party list.
However, she said the group has yet to hear from the Comelec.
“I’m party-less right now. We’re still waiting Comelec’s
processing of our papers,” she said.
Duterte-Carpio said that her decision is unconventional.
PDP-Laban, chaired by Vice President Jejomar Binay, had recently formed an alliance with Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) of President Joseph Estrada, giving birth to the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).
“I suppose it’s a backward decision; that while everyone is going to PDP here comes one who resigned,” she said in vernacular.
Duterte-Carpio justified that she’d rather focus on local politics than continue her membership in the PDP-Laban.
“I decided also to focus on local elections. Wala man koy interest sa national elections para walay conflict of interest,” she said.
“Mag-focus na lang ko sa local elections. I’ll just let national politics run its course,” she added.
Meanwhile, UNA
announced the addition of three more senatorial candidates for next year’s elections. They are Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Zambales Representative Mitos Magsaysay and former Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri.
All three have been identified with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
“We do not take them in thinking they are Arroyo-allies, or whatever. Whoever we support will be supported because of his or her capabilities,” Binay said in an interview following his guesting at Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s TV show here in Davao City.
“If they are liable for dubious activities during the time of the former president (Arroyo) then we will not support them,” he added.
UNA’s other senatorial bets are Joey de Venecia, Cagayan Representative Juan Ponce “Jack” Enrile, Senator Gregorio Honasan, and San Juan City Representative Joseph Victor Ejercito.
Reason for resignationPDP- Laban doesn’t allow dual membership – mayor
INDEPENDENCE DAY. Davao City Mayor Inday Duterte-Carpio leads the commemoration of the 114th Independence Day at the Rizal Park. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]
NOT FREE. Progressive groups led by Bagong Alyansang Mak-abayan (BAYAN) stage a protest activity in time for yesterday’s 114th Independence Day commemoration wherein they con-demned the continuing intervention and presence of American
military forces in the country, declaring that the Philippines is not for sale to foreign forces and multinational corporations. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]
BSP reacts to results of customer financial survey
FBSP, 13 F30 DABAWENYOS, 13
FLANDSLIDE, 13
SOME 30 Dabawen-yos will join train-ing on marine turtle
(pawikan) conservation to be given by the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) of the Department of Environment and Natu-ral Resources (DENR) cen-tral office come June 14-15 to be held this city.
City Agriculturist’s Of-fice (CAO) in-charge Leon-ardo Avila III said yesterday that most of the participants will come from Toril dis-trict, particularly Binugao, Sirawan and Lizada.
“These areas have a number of pawikan nest-ings and emergence re-ported the past years. We
have a temporary hatchery in Lizada. We need to train the community in the advo-cacy and technical capabil-ity,” he said.
The CAO is the lead office in the city, together with DENR 11 and PAWB, in the conduct of this train-ing.
Ernesto T. Santa Cruz, a volunteer researcher and advocate of pawiAkan con-servation in the Davao Gulf, recommended the training design, which he adopted from the training design of his former colleagues in the Pawikan Conservation Project of PAWB.
As indicated in the training design recom-
mended, the training will provide participants knowl-edge about marine turtles.
This includes marine turtle biology and morphol-ogy; differences between a marine turtle and a land turtle; species identification techniques; species identifi-cation learning assessment; evolution and life cycle.
Participants will also learn about threats and causes of marine turtles’ mortality; their popula-tion status; and ecological significance, as well as the impacts of climate change.
They will also be taught how to protect pawikans that involves hatchery site
30 Dabawenyos to trainin ‘pawikan’ conservation
P312,000 worth of dam-age was caused by the landslide that hit about
2 a.m. last June 11 Sitio Ladi-an, Marilog district, Davao City.
Central 911, Davao City’s emergency response unit, reported that eight houses were totally damaged while two others were partially damaged.
“A tribal office building was also partially damaged,” according to Central 911 ac-tion officer Emmanuel Jaldon.
The number of persons affected were 32--17 children and 15 adults.
As earlier reported, an 11-year old girl died in the landslide. She was identified as Sweet Jahira Unad, daugh-ter of Myra Unad, a single mother.
An unidentified person who was earlier reported as
missing turned out to be un-harmed and was not missing at all, Jaldon said.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Car-pio said there was no rain that could have triggered the incident.
“There as no rain. The ground simply caved in,” Mayor Sara told reporters in a briefing in her office last June 11.
However, the Office of Civil Defense for Davao re-gion said there had been heavy rains in the area for the past few days.
“The rains that occurred the past several days report-edly caused stress to the up-land soil,” said City Informa-tion Office acting head Joseph Lawrence Garcia.
“Ang mga tao man gud
nag-puyo tupad sa bukid. Nag-ligid ang yuta gikan sa bukid ug nitabon sa mga balay,” he added.
Retrieval operations were conducted by the Urban Search and Rescue Team of Central 911 in coordination with community residents and the elements of the 84th Infantry Battalion of the Phil-ippine Army.
According to its com-manding officer, Lt. Colonel Gabriel Viray, three of the destroyed houses belonged to CAFGU (Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit) personnel in the area.
Mayor Duterte-Carpio said the victims of the land-slide will be given ample as-sistance from the local gov-ernment.
Those whose houses were totally damaged will be
Landslide cost P312-T in damages
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 20124 EDGEDAVAOSCIENCE/ENVIRONMENT
WITH his hat pulled down low over his
face, Mamy braved the autumnal winds and rain of the southern hemi-sphere to proudly point to a range of grey granite mountains in Madagas-car.
“This is a special place,” he says, acting as a guide to the natural park. “We’re going to see lemurs, caves, ances-tral tombs, chameleons, birds, butterflies and also medicinal plants.”
He belongs to Mada-gascar’s Anja community which has been working to save local forests and wildlife and setting an environmental example that has earned Anja a UN-backed prize.
Up in the mountains, a labyrinth of corridors wind through the rock. Mamy points out zebu horns which mark the entrance to a tomb. A little farther on, he looks up and notes the black and white lemurs leaping from tree to tree.
“These are Maki-Kat-ta lemurs. ‘Katta’ comes from the English ‘cat’ because they look like cats.”
Today, 300 lemurs live in the park. Twenty years ago, they were nearly all gone. At the beginning of the 1990s, half of the 13 hectares (32 acres) of the for-est of Anja was illegally chopped down.
The consequences
were dramatic, including a fall in water supplies, the drying out of rice paddies and the drift-ing of sand on to fields. The lemurs fled and the few that remained were sometimes eaten by vil-lagers close to starvation.
To cope with the disaster,local people in 2001 set up an associa-tion named Anja Miray (the community of Anja), which involved six vil-lages in reforestation and the development of ecotourism.
The project received a United Nations dona-tion of about 30,000 euros (38,000 dollars) -- a substantial payout in a country where three quarters of the popula-tion live on less than a dollar a day. The goal was to make local people aware of the economic in-terest in protecting their environment.
Eleven years later, the UN has awarded Anja Mi-ray the biennial Equator Prize, which recognises 25 communities from all over the world for their work in safeguarding bio-diversity and promoting ecotourism.
In a village another Anja native and local guide, Bruno, leads the way down a dirt track to a brick house where chil-dren are playing outside.
“Before it was a very small house. But today we have money, thanks to the association. There are several thousand tourists
A woman prepares food in Anja, southern Madagascar. The UN has awarded Anja Miray the biennial Equator Prize, which recognizes 25 communities from all over the world for their work in safeguarding biodiversity and promoting ecotourism.
Madagascar community sets example of saving environment
who come every year. So I was able to make my house bigger and build a balcony,” he says.
Balconies, a typical regional feature, are a sign of a certain social standing. “Now almost everybody has one,” Bru-no remarks.
Ecotourism brings about 30,000 euros a year into this community of 2,500 people. With the help of this money, Anja Miray pays for patrols to watch over the park, take
a census of the species living there and provide a welfare system to benefit the handicapped and the elderly. The community is also now self-sufficient in food.
Later this month rep-resentatives from Anja will go to Rio de Janeiro to accept their prize at the UN environment summit there. A celebration of this trip recently brought together the residents of Anja and about 40 guests from communities all
over the Indian Ocean is-land nation.
Fatma Samoura, UN coordinator in Madagas-car, was one of the invited and said: “I feel proud for this community.”
And she said they have a message for the delegates at the Rio sum-mit.
“Today these commu-nities, by way of the state-ments they are going to make in Rio, will never-theless raise the alarm, by saying, ‘Listen, we made
the choice of not being dispossessed of our land, but we should also like the Madagascan authori-ties really to help us to stay in our homes and to produce at the same time as conserving nature’,” Samoura said.
The representatives who took part in the cel-ebratory event founded a network whose aim is to ensure that each commu-nity enjoys the same type of development as has taken place in Anja.
THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR) will soon orient stakeholders concerned on the contents of its new landmark “Handbook on Management and Resto-ration of Forests in Areas Affected by Mining in the Philippines” to help them better bring such eco-sys-tems back as near as pos-sible to their original states in terms of species compo-sition, structure, function and productivity.
Such handbook is the first attempt to consolidate in one publication existing policies as well as knowl-edge, experiences and practice on managing and restoring affected Philip-pine forests at all stages of mining operations from exploration to decommis-sioning, DENR said.
“There’ll be orientation training on the matter,” said Remy Evangelista, who’s chief of the Refor-estation Division under DENR’s Forest Manage-ment Bureau (FMB).
She added that the training will be for mining companies, noting these are duty-bound to reha-bilitate and restore areas where respective opera-tions were carried out.
“Members of multi-sectoral monitoring teams in the country will also be briefed on the handbook so they’ll know what to look out for,” she said.
University of the Phil-ippines Los Baños (UPLB) Chancellor Dr. Rex Victor Cruz believes the hand-book’s production will help boost the bid for re-sponsible mining.
“With almost US$ 1 trillion mineral reserves underneath the Philip-pine land surface, many of which are below many forest eco-systems, strik-ing the delicate balance between development and conservation is vital in achieving goals of both realms,” he said.
DENR’s Ecosystems Research and Develop-ment Bureau (ERDB), Mines and Geosciences
Bureau (MGB) and FMB partnered with UPLB in producing the handbook, realizing availability of and access to information on sound rehabilitation and restoration technologies are essential in promoting responsible mining across the country.
The Australian govern-ment as well as the Com-monwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Orga-nization provided support for the undertaking.
“A sound rehabilitation program using scientifi-cally- based techniques is very essential in order to bring about a responsible mining industry,” said ERDB Director Marcial Amaro Jr.
During DENR’s silver anniversary celebration last week, he and other of-ficials concerned turned over a copy of the hand-book to Environment Sec-retary Ramon Paje.
“I hope our field imple-menters will use this hand-book to guide them on management and restora-
tion of forests throughout all stages of mining opera-tions,” said FMB officer-in-charge Director Neria Andin.
She noted both for-estry and mining sectors must work together to help ensure rehabilitation will truly restore mining-affected areas to functional stability.
“Forest resource use as well as extraction of mineral resources in for-est lands is allowed under existing laws, rules and regulations but with safe-guards,” she said.
Latest available DENR data show forest land ac-counts for about 50 per-cent of the Philippines’ 30 million hectares of land.
Of the country’s total forest land covering some 15 million hectares, DENR said about 30 percent “are considered as high poten-tial for minerals.”
Evangelista expects DENR to come out soon with a memorandum cir-cular directing its field of-fices nationwide to adapt
the handbook.“That circular might be
out by this month’s end,” she said.
She said a draft of the circular was already pre-sented to Paje for his ap-proval and signing.
MGB Director Leo Jasareno considers the handbook’s production as “timely,” warning aban-doned and unrehabilitated mine sites pose danger to people and the environ-ment.
“This explains why we continue to work for ad-vancement of responsible mining where mining ac-tivities shall be undertaken with due and equal regard for economic and environ-mental considerations as well as for health, social and cultural concerns,” he said.
He reiterated that mine rehabilitation aims establishing a permanent-ly stable landscape “that’s aesthetically and environ-mentally compatible with surrounding lands.”
Amaro assured
ERDB’s participation in related future undertak-ings so this agency can develop initiatives that’ll further help promote sus-tainable and responsible mining nationwide.
ERDB’s output will also form part of the sci-entific basis for developing sound mining policies, he noted.
“Science-based poli-cies are very necessary in evolving a responsible industry that aspires to bring usability and stabil-ity to the environment,” he said.
Cruz likewise said UPLB will “continue to share the burden of other research institutions in generating effective and cost-efficient mining re-habilitation technologies for widespread use by mining companies.”
Fora and symposia will still be among UPLB’s means of sharing knowl-edge for improving exist-ing Philippine policies and practices on mine rehabili-tation, he added. [PNA]
Training mulled on mining-affected forests’ management, restoration
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 2012 THE ECONOMY 5EDGEDAVAO
Stat Watch
MONTHLY AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATE (January 2009 - December 2011)
SAGITTARIUS Mines, Inc. (SMI) awaits issuance of an Executive Order on new
mining policies by President Benigno Aquino III as it contin-ues to prepare the groundwork for its planned commercial op-eration by 2016.
“We are still waiting for it,” said Mark Williams, SMI gen-eral manager.
Williams was in the city re-cently for the launching of the 2011 Tampakan Copper-Gold Project Sustainability Report as part of the company’s commit-ment to open and transparent business reporting.
President Aquino last year said the EO to be crafted by a Special Team, led by the Nation-al Economic Development Au-
thority (NEDA), would be out by January. But there has been no news so far on the EO that is being awaited by the mining industry.
The US$ 5.9-million Tam-pakan Copper-Gold Project--the single biggest investment in the Philippines today--is situated on the boundaries of four provinces: South Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat and Davao del Sur and is considered as one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold de-posits.
The Project has an esti-mated 2.94 billion metric tons of ore reserves at a grade of 0.51 percent copper and 0.19 grams per tons gold, using a cut-off grade of 0.2 percent cop-
per. This represents 15 million tons of copper and 17.6 million ounces of gold.
The Tampakan Project is operated by SMI, whose 40 per-cent controlling equity is a joint venture among Xstrata Copper (62.5 percent) and Indophil Resources NL (37.5 percent). The 60 percent non-controlling equity shareholders of SMI are the Tampakan Mining Corpora-tion and Southcot Mining Corp. (known as the Tampakan Group of Companies).
Malacanang earlier assured foreign and local business-men and other stakeholders in the local mining industry that their concerns would be taken into consideration in President Aquino’s executive order out-
lining the government’s mining policy.
Foreign investors are inter-ested in pursuing ventures, but policy bottlenecks are hamper-ing them, and like SMI are ea-gerly awaiting the presidential EO.
Aquino in March said vari-ous stakeholders are now go-ing through the draft of the EO for their final inputs before he signs it.
On top of the pending EO, SMI is also awaiting results of its appeal with the Department on Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) which has temporarily denied approval of its Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) on the basis of the ban on open-pit mining by the South Cotabato provincial government.
The DENR denial of its ECC and the South Cotabato open pit mining ban, including secu-rity risks to its personnel posed by communist rebels, however have not affected the sched-ule of SMI to start commercial operation in 2016, said John Arnaldo, corporate communi-cations manager of SMI, which invested some P1.8 billion last year alone for its large-scale project in the mountains of Tampakan town in South Cota-bato.
Arnaldo said despite the de-lays in the permitting process, they were still hopeful to jump start the production of the Tam-pakan project on schedule.
“Admittedly, if there are de-lays in the approval process, it would have an effect [to the timeline]. But so far, we are still looking at 2016 for the produc-tion phase,” he said.
SMI waits for new mining policies
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) First Consumer Finance
Survey (CFS) in the country showed a big number of the population still unbanked.
BSP deputy governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said in the CFS result, it showed that said eight out of 10 households or 78.5 percent did not have de-posit accounts.
Gunigundo on Monday told stakeholders here that the CFS has a sample size of 10,520 households consisting of 3,872 households from the National Capital Region or 36.8 percent and 63.2 percent in AONCR (area outside of NCR), specifi-cally Regions 1, 7, and 11 and the overall response rate was
89.4 percent.He said the reason cited
why 92.8 percent of the house-holds do not have deposit ac-counts was they do not have money for bank deposits. Other reasons cited by the remaining 7.2 percent of the households were: they don’t need a bank/cash account, 1.7 percent; can-not manage an account, 1.5 percent; minimum balance is too high with 1.2 percent, do not like to deal with banks/financial institutions, one per-cent; and others not specified at 1.8 percent.
“Despite the number of banks operating in various communities and with several branches, many of our house-holds are still unbanked,”
Gunigundo said.He said for those who have
deposits or cash accounts, he said the most common type of depository among households across all regions are the com-mercial banks.
The secondary deposit in-stitutions in Regions I, VII, and XI are the rural and coopera-tive banks, he added.
Gunigundo also noted that the survey result showed that Filipinos are inclined to-wards savings, and display good sense of money, however many people are not risk tak-ers when it comes to their in-come and business.
The results, he said would affirm BSP’s financial inclu-sion and financial education
initiatives.Guinigundo said some
policy implications that can be drawn from the results of the survey is for the BSP to work towards a more in-clusive financial system that reaches out to those who are otherwise “excluded” or “un-banked”.
The BSP official however, said BSP has already made some headway in promoting and establishing an enabling policy and regulatory envi-ronment to increase access to financial services of the entire populace through policy and regulatory initiatives, train-ing and capacity building, and promotion and advocacy ac-tivities.
Majority of Filipinos have no bank account 114 FLAGS FOR THE 114TH INDEPENDENCE DAY. As the entire country observes a national commemoration, 114 security guards bearing 114 national flags paraded around SM City Davao as a tribute in the celebration of the 114th Independence Day. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 20126 THE ECONOMY EDGEDAVAO
PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III is set to meet with rep-
resentatives from farmer organizations to firm up strategies that will fast track distribution of land to legitimate farmer ben-eficiaries, a Palace official said on Monday.
In a regular press briefing in Malacanang, Presidential Spokeperson Edwin Lacierda assured farmer beneficiaries that the Aquino government, through the Department of Agrarian Reform, was expeditiously working to-wards distributing land to them as mandated by the Comprehensive Agrarian Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER) Law.
Lacierda said Presi-
dent Aquino will meet the farmer organizations the soonest possible time.
“The Cabinet Secre-taries will be briefing the President because there are certain proposals that require the approval of the President. Kapag naayos na po iyan, we will find a schedule for the President to meet with the farmers. At nasabi na rin po ni Pangulong Aquino na nais rin niyang makita at makausap ang mga magsasaka,” Lacieda said.
Lacierda said Friday’s meeting between the members of the Aquino government and the rep-resentatives from farmer organizations was a con-structive one as both
sides agreed on several issues.
After the meeting, the Cabinet secretaries came out with proposals to be submitted to President Aquino.
“May mga 5 or 6 do-ables kaming na maipa-pakita kay Pangulong Aquino. And some of them would require the approval of the President. Kasi pinag-usapan din doon ang support servic-es na hinihingi rin ng mga magsasaka. Ang support services will be provided for by the Department of Agriculture,” Lacierda said .
“One of the complete steps na ginawa po natin is to focus on the claim folders. May tinatawag po
silang claim folders kung saan doon iyong mga lands to be acquired and distributed,” he said.
Among the members of the Aquino administra-tion who joined the five-hour meeting with the farmers include Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Presidential Spokesper-
son Edwin Lacierda, Agri-culture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Agrarian Reform Secretary Gil Delos Reyes, Public Works and High-ways Secretary Rogelio Singson and Presidential Management Staff Secre-tary Julia Abad.
Landbank President and CEO Hilda Pico was
also present in Friday’s meeting in Malacanang. Other officials who were at the meeting include undersecretaries from the Department of Agrar-ian Reform Anthony Pa-rungao, Jerry Pacturan, Narciso Nieto and Assis-tant Secretary Jose Gra-jeda.
Aquino to discuss faster land distribution with farmer groups
THE government may reduce its bor-rowing program to
around P100 billion in the third quarter this year due to its healthy cash posi-tion, a ranking Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) execu-tive said.
Deputy Treasurer Edu-ardo Mendiola said they were considering to is-sue lower allocations of Treasury bills (T-bills) and Treasury bond (T-bonds), with the latter with tenors of 10, 15, 20 and 25-year.
“We may reduce it to P100 billion. It won’t be drastic so as not to make the market anxious and make the prices fluctuate,” he said.
The government has set a P117-billion and P106.5-billion borrowing program for the first and second quarters this year, respectively.
BTr data show that to date, it has sold P131.856 billion worth of T-bills and T-bonds.
Of the total, T-bills sold
amounted to P59.856 bil-lion while T-bonds totaled to P72 billion.
The government has a 75-25 borrowing mix this year in favor of domestic borrowing to save from paying costly funding overseas.
Earlier, Finance Cesar Purisima said they con-tinued to issue more debt with longer tenors on-shore to maximize the low interest rate environment as well as lengthen matur-ities of liabilities.
Gov’t to reduce borrowing in 3rd quarter of 2012
SALES of motor ve-hicles rose to 59,177 units in the first
five months this year, up six percent from 58,976 during the same period last year, according to the Chamber of Automo-tive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI).
“The strong showing was largely due to the im-proved supply condition and sustained consumer confidence that was re-flected by the 6.4 percent growth in the Philippine economy in first quarter,” CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said.
CAMPI data showed that for the month of May alone, the 16-mem-ber association of cars and trucks assemblers and importers managed to sell 14,265 units as against 12,304 units in April to land a 15.9 per-cent monthly increase in sales.
The May performance was also substantially higher at 30.7 percent compared to 10,913 units sold in May 2011.
“During the first four months of the year, the industry posted minimal growth due to the con-tinued limitation in sup-ply still brought out by the effects of the Thai-land flooding. However, because of exciting new model introductions, im-proved supply conditions and the country’s thriving economy all brands still continued good showing
during this period,” Guti-errez said.
“This May we have seen drastic improve-ments in the industry be-cause manufacturers are able to serve the strong demands due to the sta-bilization of supply situ-ation. We are very opti-mistic that the clear per-formance in May is a clear sign that the industry is on the road to recovery and can achieve record breaking sales for 2012,” he said.
CAMPI data show that sales from the passenger car segment in May grew 15.5 percent to 4,274 units from 3,702 units in April. However, on a year to date basis this segment remains in the red at 9.5 percent lower as cumu-lative sales reached only 17,616 units from 19,462 units in the same period last year.
The commercial ve-hicle segment performed better in May with 16.18 percent increase to 9,991 units from 8,602 units in the previous month. In the first five months of the year, this seg-ment grew 5.5 percent to 41,561 units from 39.185 units in the same period last year.
Almost all vehicle cat-egories also posted posi-tive growths. The Asian utility vehicle grew 16.4 percent year to date and 19.5 percent in May ver-sus the previous month. AUV sales reached
16,393 units in the first five months as against 14,048 units in the Janu-ary-May period last year.
Last month, the AUV category sold a total of 3,881 units from 3,249 units in April.
Sales of light commer-cial vehicles grew 13.5 percent in May to 5,806 units from 5,116 units in April, but its year to date sales still remained negative at 1.3 percent to 23,865 units from 24,173 units last year.
The light trucks cat-egory substantially im-proved its performance with 17.2 percent in-crease to 873 units from 745 in the first five months last year. Last month, sales of light trucks (pick-ups) grew 15.3 percent to 166 units from 144 units in April.
The most improved category is the light trucks and buses catego-ry which posted a 48.4 percent increase in sales to 136 units in May from 93 units only in April. Its year to date sales also went up 16.5 percent to 488 units from 419 units in the same period last year.
In terms of ranking, industry leader Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. dominated the market with 39.7 percent share followed by Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. with 23.9 percent and Isuzu Philippines Corp. with 8.1 percent.
Vehicle sales up 6% in first half of 2012
EUROPEAN finance ministers’ decision to extend 100 million
euro bail out to Spain’s ail-ing banking sector has re-sulted positively even to the local bourse and the cur-rency, which went up to the 5,000-level and 42-level, re-spectively Monday.
The composite index gained 81.78 points, or 1.64 percent, to 5,075.85 points over the previous trading day’s 4,994.07 points.
Also, the broader all shares index rose by 35.99 points or 1.08 percent to 3,371.10 points from last Friday’s 3,335.11 points.
All the sectoral indices, led by the property index, also ended the trade with gains.
The property index in-creased by 2.85 percent or 50.99 points to 1,841.81 points from the previous session’s 1,790.82 points.
Value turnover surged to P10.66 billion after 1.14 billion shares changed hands.
Gainers led losers at 103 to 43 while 42 stocks were unchanged.
Relatively, the local cur-rency gained P0.35 against the dollar after closing at 42.92 from last Friday’s 43.27 finish.
It started the day at 43.10, better than the pre-vious trading session’s 43.20 opening.
Its strongest trade dur-ing the day stood at 42.90 while weakest was at 43.12 resulting in an average of 43.004, an improvement over last Friday’s 43.237.
Volume of trade amounted to US$ 976.7 mil-lion, slightly higher than the US$ 967.05 million at the end of last week.
Bangko Sentral ng Pili-pinas (BSP) Deputy Gover-nor Diwa Guinigundo, in a text message, said improve-ment of the peso against the dollar “suggests that the market has digested recent financial market develop-ments and realized Philip-pine macrofundamentals remain strong and sound.”
He stressed that mon-etary officials “have seen a resumption of capital in-flows complementing the resilient current account
transactions.”“We expect this to con-
tinue unless the events in the Euro and US turn for the worse and deleveraging forces the money out of the emerging markets anew.”
The central bank official said that strengthening of the local currency would impact negatively on mer-chandise trade, remit-tances, tourist receipts and foreign investments.
For one, stronger peso means lower peso value for remittances. It will also make domestic products expensive to foreign trade partners.
Guinigundo, however, stressed that “the BSP for its part will have to assure the markets that liquidity will be made available.”
“Monetary and banking policies and measures will be appropriately adjusted to suit the new configura-tion of economic realities,” he said.
“Constant monitoring will be done and we shall sustain our communica-tion with the markets,” he said.
PSE back in 5,000-level
THE Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP)
welcomed the Monetary Board’s decision to re-move the restrictions on bank branching rule say-ing this will further widen rural banks’ customer base and increase access of rural folks to the formal banking sector.
“The Rural Bankers Association of the Philip-pines welcomes the deci-
sion of the BSP in lifting the limitations to branch expansions. For rural banks, it is a way of fur-ther creating growth and progress in far flung areas by providing much need-ed financial services like loans for farmers and mi-cro entrepreneurs,” RBAP President Ian Pama said in a statement.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has removed the restriction
policy on bank branching but requires banks apply-ing for the opening of new branches and extension offices to ensure that it has the necessary qualify-ing capital to do so.
BSP Circular No. 759 Series of 2012 estates that total processing fee for the branch and exten-sion offices application will be charged immedi-ately against the bank’s
Rural bankers elated over new bank rules
FRURAL, 13
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 2012 7ICT HUBEDGEDAVAO
APPLE Inc took the wraps off its own mobile
mapping service and improved the search capabilities of its Siri electronic assistant technology, as it rolled out souped-up software and hardware on Mon-
day to help it wage war on Google Inc.
CEO Tim Cook, who took over from late co-founder Steve Jobs last August, spearheaded the unveiling of new services -- such as in-house mapping, beefed-up Siri software, address-bar search on its
Safari browser -- to help keep at bay Google and its fast-growing Android mobile platform.
Apple tweaked a num-ber of features in its mo-bile operating system to further its lead in entic-ing users to stay within its ecosystem. The upgrades
marked a bolstering of Ap-ple’s arsenal as it tries to keep its top-down applica-tions and hardware envi-ronment ahead of compe-tition from Android device makers such as Samsung Electronics and Motorola Mobility.
The event’s key high-
light was the debut of Ap-ple’s new in-house map-ping service that the com-pany has been working on the past few years.
Its new mobile operat-ing software -- the iOS6 -- comes with the mapping system “built from the ground up,” said software chief Scott Forstall, side-lining the Google map service that the Internet gi-ant has invested heavily in.
Apple will be replacing Google Maps, a pre-loaded app so far on the iPhone and iPad, with its own in-house map service, deliver-ing a big blow to Google, which gets about half its map traffic from Apple de-vices.
The move signals that the friendship between Ap-ple and Google -- whose former CEO once sat on Apple’s board -- is long over, and underscores Ap-ple’s efforts to reduce its ties with Google, said Co-lin Gillis, analyst with BGC Partners.
“What happens if one day Google decides to not provide Apple with maps,” said Gillis. “You can’t have that kind of dependency on a competitor.”
Apple’s map service comes with three-dimen-sional images of cities called “Flyover” along with real-time traffic updates and also turn-by-turn navi-gation, the last a feature
that Google has in An-droid devices but had not made available in Apple devices.
And Siri, the innova-tive voice-activated iPhone search-feature users have criticized as faulty and in-adequate, is now available on iPads and recites a larg-er database of answers, es-pecially sports, restaurants and movies.
Siri is also integrated into the new mapping ser-vice so users can ask for step-by-step directions.
While Apple is late to the game with turn-by-turn directions, Forrester analyst Charles Golvin said that Apple’s new ser-vice featured various nice touches, demonstrating Apple’s ability to take an experience offered by rivals and “go even further.”
He also cited a new app for iPhone and iPads called Passbook that organizes a user’s electronic airline tickets, movie tickets and restaurant loyalty cards. The app is a “harbinger of them doing much, much more,” said Golvin, point-ing to the electronic pay-ment and mobile com-merce market.
Finally, executives said Apple has integrated No. 1 social network Facebook deeper into the operating system, allowing Siri-users to post photos with voice commands.
THE EDGELong lines marked the
beginning of the week-long annual Worldwide Devel-opers’ Conference, where Apple developers rub shoulders with employees, test the latest products and software, and connect with peers. Apple kicked off proceedings by touting its hardware, its biggest edge over Google.
The consumer device giant introduced an all-new addition to its Mac-Book Pro lineup, Apple’s highest-end laptops. At 0.7 inches and weighing under 4.5 pounds, the new MacBook Pro ranks among the thinnest laptops in the market and will hit store shelves months before many Microsoft Windows-equipped “Ultrabooks.” They will employ the “reti-na” displays that have won strong positive reviews for the new iPad, but start at $2,199.
Along with the intro-duction of the new Mac-Book Pro, Apple also up-dated it current Mac lineup including the MacBook Air.
Marketing chief Phil Schiller outlined how the redesigned MacBook Air notebooks will be about
$100 cheaper on average than predecessors, but sport quicker Intel Corp processors, potentially eat-ing into territory staked out by Hewlett-Packard, Dell Inc and other PC mak-ers.
Analysts have specu-lated that the company will begin aggressively com-peting on price, gradually shrinking the premium its Macs carry in general.
More than ever, Apple finds itself in a pitched bat-tle with Google: in smart-phones, cloud computing, and a never-ending com-petition to attract the best software developers. That is crucial as Apple looks to draw users deeper into its applications ecosystem.
Cook told the audi-ence that customers have downloaded more than 30 billion Apple apps so far, choosing from more than 650,000 apps -- the largest library in the industry.
Battling in many are-nas, the rivals employ dif-ferent weapons. Apple’s vise-like grip on its eco-system - with the closely managed app store and its seamless integration with the hardware - stands in sharp contrast to Google’s free-for-all approach.
The open system ap-proach, reminiscent of Microsoft Corp’s hugely successful strategy of creating standard-set-ting software that runs on a variety of hardware, has allowed Android to capture the market lead in smartphones, albeit with nothing close to Apple’s profit margins.
Android has also helped create several potent hardware rivals to Apple. Samsung Elec-tronics’ Android-driven Galaxy SIII is drawing favorable comparisons to iPhone and Ama-zon.com Inc’s cheaper Kindle Fire is challeng-ing Apple in tablets and digital content.
The move - years in the making - to replace Google Maps is a dra-matic example of how the rivalry between the companies has been evolving.
Google has invested huge sums in mapping technology over the years, and about half its map traffic now comes from iPhones and iPads. Among other things, the traffic from those de-vices reveals valuable location data that helps improve the mapping service and provides features like real-time traffic reports.
Apple takes on Google with own maps, better Siri
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2012 in San Francisco, California June 11, 2012. [Reuters]
Banners for the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2012 are seen in San Francisco, California June 11, 2012. [REUTERS]
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 20128 VANTAGE POINTS
A class of his ownEDITORIAL
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EDGEDAVAO
Disturbing signs from UNA
MANNY Pacquiao, despite losing his world welterweight title in controversial fashion on Sunday,
has shown the world he is a class act.There is no denying the pain of losing a
fight you fervently believed was yours up to the end. Manny was the classier fighter in probably 9 or 10 rounds of the 12-round championship match against American Timothy Bradley Jr. at the MGM Grand Gar-den Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. But when the verdict was read by ring announcer Michael Buffer as a split-decision win for Bradley, it stunned majority of the 14,206 fans who filled the cavernous fight venue and millions more around the globe who saw the fight on TV.
Though equally shocked by his loss, Man-ny, the born again Christian, kept his poise without a whine or whimper, taking the judgment in stride like a true gentleman--a class act so rare in the giddy world of the fight game. At that instant, he was already looking forward to a rematch with Brad-
ley in November when he would regain his WBO crown--and there would be no need for intervention by biased judges. Read that: a knockout win over Bradley.
Humble to the end, despite the aggra-vation of the patently unfair and onerous verdict against him, Manny “accepted” his “loss” even if he did say that he won the fight. This Bible-reading ring warrior is a rara avis, indeed.
Where mere mortals would have erupt-ed in revolt and disagreement, Manny took the verdict in stride. This is boxing. This is sports. He had done his best, except that two of the three judges, for reasons of their own, did not see it that way. Or were like “blind mice” in the words of promoter Bob Arum.
As they say in sports, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And sometimes it rains.
That’s what happened that night in the MGM Grand Garden Arena, in Las Vegas, Ne-vada, USA. It “rained” and poor Manny got “wet!” – as in.
SO it has come to pass: Repre-
sentatives Gwen-dolyn Garcia and Mitos Magsaysay, as well as former c o n g r e s s m a n Juan Miguel Zubi-ri, have been of-ficially accepted into the senatorial ticket of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) for 2013. This latest development in the political front not only confirmed that Lakas, to which the three had belonged while it was convenient to do so, has disinte-grated; it has also exposed Vice Presi-dent Jejomar Binay’s real worth, if any, as a politician.
Although not entirely unexpected, the announcement that the three prom-inent allies of the former president are running under UNA has shown to what extent Binay will go to fulfill his am-bition to win the presidential race in 2016. It doesn’t matter that these three politicians have defended Gloria no end. It doesn’t matter that one of them stole the vote in Maguindanao in 2007, and had the gall to say that he had no knowledge of the fraud that enabled him to illegally occupy a seat in what used to be a dignified institution called the Senate.
In explaining why Zubiri was accept-ed despite the objections raised by Sen-ator Aquilino Pimentel III, UNA spokes-person Jose Virgilio Bautista said: “The covenant clearly indicated that a mem-ber of a political party, meaning either PDP Laban or PMP, endorsed by said party shall automatically become a can-didate for the position for which he or she has been endorsed.”
Bautista’s statement only exposed the superficiality of the alliance. UNA should be ashamed that its covenant is more concerned with technicalities even if it would mean accommodating personalities who have given electoral fraud a face. Bautista asked Pimentel III to exercise “better judgment.” As things stand however it’s UNA’s leadership that lacks good judgment. I wonder if it’s really a covenant, a term that con-notes nobility of purpose, or a Faustian pact.
Strange that in this country dis-graced politicians hold no qualms about giving it another try. And it’s dis-gusting that the voters treat them like they just committed a childish demea-nor. In mature democracies they would be consigned to a mental institution if they think they’d be able to fool the people twice.
Recycling waste materials is good for the environment. But having recy-cled politicians like Zubiri, Garcia and Magsaysay in the Senate adds to the vexation of our body politic. Can this country not find the likes of Jose Dio-kno, Lorenzo Tanada, and Claro M. Rec-to? Can we not look beyond people who have given us a reason to be ashamed as Filipinos?
I know this is a lonely cry. Given their resources and their patrons – in-cluding Arroyo perhaps – they have good chances of hoodwinking us for yet another time. No, we don’t have a short memory as a people; we simply don’t have one. [MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. H. Marcos C. Mor-deno can be reached at [email protected].]
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 2012
I have grown this habit of s c r i b b l i n g
down my own scorecard every time Manny Pacquiao fights after he was held to a draw by Juan Manuel Marquez.
So Sunday, I again took a few notes which actually sum up the way I saw every round of his fight with Timothy Bradley. I have four pages from my notes.
Rounds 1-3Manny Pacquiao captured all first three
rounds of the fight with Bradley trying to probe Manny’s defenses. Bradley was the busier, throwing more punches but it was Manny who were landing the more accu-rate and heavier punches. Manny is out-landing and outpunching Bradley. At the end of the first round, long time second corner man Buboy Fernandez was telling Manny, “basaha, basaha” (read, read him –
referring to Bradley). Pacquiao is bringing the fight to Bradley in the first two rounds and they intermittently traded punches in spurts. Manny was landing his powerful left straights which Bradley can-not seem to figure out.
Rounds 4-6Action picked up as both fighters were
looking to engage in a brawl. In Round 4, both fighters locked themselves up several times and went at each other with loaded bombs. Manny repeatedly caught Bradley and may have hurt him a couple of times. The crowd was roaring in approval. Man-ny clearly won the round convincingly by landing the cleaner and clearer punches. In Round 5, Bradley started cautiously but was again forced to engage Manny in furi-ous exchanges. Bradley was swinging wild-ly while Manny had his share of misses. Still Manny got the better of exchanges. In Round 6, it was Manny’s turn to pace him-self but caught Bradley with a powerful up-percut to end the round. I gave all rounds at this stage of the fight to Manny.
Rounds 7-9Pacquiao resumes hunting for Bradley
who would oblige in toe-to-toe battle from time to time and would inevitably end up at the receiving side of exchanges. More pow-er shots coming from Manny. In Round 8, Bradley tagged Manny several times but was quick to retaliate. Buboy urged Manny to feint his attacks. In what arguably was the best round of the evening, both fight-ers went after each other all over the ring
with both fighters throwing caution to the wind. Manny was throwing roundhouses and Bradley was likewise wildly swinging. Manny still dominating the fight and in my scorecard was going for a shutout.
Rounds 10-12Bradley now looked like he was intent
on finishing the fight standing. He is now boxing. Manny looked gassed up and was breathing through his mouth. I gave the 10th round to Bradley as Manny was miss-ing his backpedalling target. By now, I lost interest scoring the fight as I believe the outcome is a foregone conclusion. Still, I give the 11th round to Manny. I didn’t bother score the 12th round, which, even if it went to Bradley, was still a runaway win for the defending champion.
Until the verdict was announced.So outrageous was it that I posted this
on by Facebook:“EXCLUSIVE: a hologram expert was
hired to do the coverage of Pacman-Brad-ley fight. He went further by photoshop-ping and digitally altering the Pacman-Marquez fight and made it appear it was Bradley. Result: the judges saw a different fight and Pacquiao lost.” (P.S. I still have my notes of the Pacquiao-Marquez III where I scored it a draw.)
9VANTAGE POINTS
Monkey Business
EDGEDAVAOFading out
Good place to start
BY HONOR BLANCO CABIESPECIAL FEATURE
BY BENEDETTA BERTIOPINION
Another look at Pacman-Bradley fight
WARNINGS that the crisis in Syr-ia will spiral into a serious regional problem have been sounded since
the regime of Bashar al-Assad began to for-cibly put down protesters over a year ago. Those warnings have turned out to be true – meaning that a solution to Syria should also involve the region.
International envoy Kofi Annan, then, is right to suggest the idea of an international “contact group” that can influence both sides in Syria – including regional players such as Iran. As the former UN secretary gen-eral himself admits, his six-point plan is not working and the country is in “imminent” danger of “full-scale civil war.”
But as Syria is divided, so is the region, and the obstacles confronting a contact group of world and regional powers are high indeed.
Events in Syria have always had regional implications and repercussions. For exam-ple, this conflict has produced a large num-ber of refugees seeking shelter in neighbor-ing Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.
However, in the past few months, the cross-border impact of the Syrian crisis has intensified. In northern Lebanon, for in-stance, recent clashes between pro-Assad Lebanese Alawites and pro-opposition Sunni groups highlight Lebanon’s own de-terioration of relations between sects. While these clashes have not led to broader armed confrontations at the national level, still, the longer the violence continues in Syria, the more tense sectarian relations will become in Lebanon.
While the Syrian conflict is having increasingly stronger repercussions in the Middle East, it is also true that regional players are having a growing impact on the crisis in Syria.
Shiite Iran is strongly backing the Assad regime, made up of an Alawite minority that is a considered a Shiite branch. Regional Sunni powers, such as Saudi Arabia, are sup-porting the opposition. Involvement from both sides fuels the Syrian fire as the coun-try becomes a proxy battlefield for these two regional powers that compete for influence in the Middle East.
Sadly, the Middle East has seen this
proxy fight before, during the long Lebanese civil war between 1975 and 1990.
What’s more, the Syria crisis mirrors a broader international divide. Members of the UN Security Council have opposing in-terests in Syria – with Russia, for instance, wanting to protect its strategic interests, in-vestments, and port access there by keeping Mr. Assad in power.
Accordingly, a contact group along the lines that Mr. Annan proposes would engage all the main parties, both Assad’s backers – mostly China, Russia, and Iran – as well as supporters of the opposition – Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. They would try to devise a mutually satisfying approach to end the violence.
Involving these players has an unde-niable advantage: It is in tune with real-ity, recognizing that the conflict in Syria has reached a point where regional and interna-tional interests have mixed with those of the warring parties.
It also implicitly adjusts to the worsening internal situation within Syria. With the level of mutual trust between the Assad regime and the political opposition at an all time low, it will require solid third-party guaran-tees to convince both sides of the conflict to commit to end the hostilities.
However, this new approach would face staggering obstacles. An obvious one is that the regional and international actors in-volved have mutually exclusive interests in Syria’s future. Such is the case with Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Also, the minimal condition for the Syr-ian opposition to join a political negotiation process – the removal of Assad from power – is strongly opposed by China, Russia, and Iran. The last two countries in particular have strong historical, personal, economic, and strategic ties to Assad and his regime, and persuading them to give up on their regional ally will require some serious con-vincing.
Unless the international community is
prepared to provide concrete incentives for them to do so, the negotiations on the future of Syria are likely to stall. In turn, this will give Assad more time to crack down on oppo-nents.
Finally, even if a Syria contact group could agree on a mechanism to remove Assad from power (such as protection in exile) and to be-gin a transition process, this would not guar-antee a permanent end to the hostilities.
As the ongoing internal divisions in Lib-ya shows, getting rid of a dictator is very dif-ferent from ensuring a smooth political tran-sition afterward. Because of the frail state of internal sectarian relations and the growing wedge between the warring parties, a post-Assad political transition could easily spiral into more internal violence – short of strong external peace enforcement.
Given the general international reluc-tance to get involved in yet another shaky post-conflict stabilization scenario, one can-not help but wonder how a peace agreement between the parties would be kept.
If the contact group is to work, it will have to get Russia and Iran on board, for example by meeting the political prices demanded by both countries – obvious ones being a sig-nificant change to the US missile defense pro-gram in Europe and an easing of international sanctions on Iran.
These are (rightly) considered too costly. However, if both countries can be convinced that Assad is unequivocally doomed and that by supporting a political transition, Mos-cow and Tehran can retain some influence over who rules the country next, then there may be chance to lure them away from sup-porting Assad.
If not, the choice for the next step may be even more difficult: watching Syria as it de-scends into a potentially long and devastating civil war, or a “coalition of the willing” for mili-tary intervention, for which none of the usual nations have any appetite.
[Benedetta Berti is a fellow at the Insti-tute for National Security Studies, a lecturer at Tel Aviv University, a member of the Atlantic Council’s Young Atlanticist working group, and coauthor of the book, “Hamas and Hezbollah: A Comparative Study” (Johns Hopkins Univer-sity Press, 2012.]
THE traditional Filipino serenade, popu-larly known in this Southeast Asian archi-pelago as “harana,” is slowly fading out.
This part of the country’s culture, in vogue and in crescendo in the 1950s up to the 1960s – when Elvis Presley was wiggling his hips with “Jailhouse Rock” and the Beatles dishing out their “It’s Been A Hard Day’s Night,” has now been overtaken by a different key and scale.
The inroads of the cell phone technology and the spread of social networking services have helped erase from the manners of today’s generation of Filipinos the erstwhile cherished tradition of their grandparents and grand un-cles and aunts.
In some provinces – like Quezon, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and the whole Ilocos region – the sight of a man and his friends, the classic Span-ish guitar in hand, was most familiar by the window of one woman being courted at past dusk.
The men in their late teens or early 20s, in their evening best, hair combed with scented pomade available from the nearest town store, belted out several love songs when the night was young and the moon was yellow.
In some of the provinces, particularly those in rice-growing Nueva Ecija, the men would be politely invited inside where they would en-gage, alternately, in sort of competition with the woman being courted with the number of songs sung till past midnight.
But those in the Ilocos, even if they were still awake, would never let the men inside – high in the belief the modest Ilocana should never show the man courting him he was be-ing considered, if at all.
It seemed they belonged to the old school of thought that the Ilocana, as were many Fili-pino women in other parts of the country, were basically shy and secretive.
Fast forward to the later decades, and the culture of “ang-angaw” among the Ilocanos and “tuksuhan” among the Tagalogs or just teasing flourished.
This was common among teeners and young adults, a way of matching people who may have mutual admiration or affection for each other and may end up in a romance or avoidance of each other if the scenario became embarrassing for both individuals.
The presence of other men during the eve-ning serenade, most notably very close friends of the one courting or one who is interested in the woman next door or in some other baran-gay, was at that time a psychological boost.
In the Ilocos, the men would blend voices and sing the ballad “adayo pay nga ili ti nag-gapuanmi, ‘diay ili a Santa Fe…”
That only means, even while the men and the woman being serenaded knew it was not true, that the men had come from a distant place, the town of Santa Fe in far Nueva Vizcaya across the imposing Caraballo mountains.
Among those that evoke poignant memo-ries is the Tagalog “harana,” popular in Bulacan and Laguna and other surrounding provinces of Metro Manila, particularly the one being sung today, “O Ilaw (Oh Light)” where the man compares his beloved to a star in pitch dark sky.
The song lyrics particularly asks the wom-an to open her window and look out at the man, who is dishing out his heart and affection.
But the modern Harana of Parokya ni Ed-gar can be a bit facetious.
Notice the lyrics: ” Uso pa ba ang harana? Marahil ikaw ay nagtataka/Sino ba ‘tong mukhang gago, nagkandarapa sa pagkanta...at nasisintunado sa kaba. Meron pang dalang mga rosas. Suot nama’y maong na kupas at nariyan pa ang barkada...
Its loose translation: “Is serenade still the trend to date? Perhaps it makes you meditate. Who is this looking like a fool alone, singing p[iteously out of tune. And he has a rose in his hand. What he’s wearing are denims old in the company of friends so bold.”
Singing the harana, in provinces near the metropolis or those in the far-flung country-side, had its origins during the Spanish colonial period that started in 1521.
That was the year Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator sailing under the flag of Spain, brought the Catholic Cross to these far eastern islands, 141 years after Arabian mis-sionary Sheik Karim ul-Makhdum established the first Muslim mosque in Simunul in Tawi-Tawi.
Today, with modern gadgets easily avail-able and convenient -- without having to learn the lyrics of an appropriate ballad or love song -- a loved one may just be a text away.
Or the loved one may just be an email away, in an email protected by the account holder’s password none of even his closest friends may know.
And the wonder of it all is the text message may no longer come from just one direction.
If there is mutual understanding – or MU in the language of the 21st century generation of Filipinos – the text messages can clog the two-way street.
Every day, every week of the yea. Or, in the language of the now generation, “24/7.” [PNA]
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 201210 SUBURBIA EDGEDAVAO
CHILDREN who come into contact with the law in the province
will soon have a tempo-rary home that would re-store their values and so-cial functioning.
Provincial Social Wel-fare and Development Of-ficer Arlene Semblante re-vealed the construction of the Bahay Pag-asa in New Corella town is set to start this June to provide short-term residential and reha-bilitation care to the juve-nile delinquents 15 years old and below.
She said Governor Rodolfo del Rosario has pushed for the establish-
ment of the center since it is in line with the gov-ernor’s P.E.O.P.L.E. agenda, apart from being mandat-ed by Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.
“The Bahay Pag-asa shall offer a safer place for children in conflict with the law (CICL) than jails,” she said at the recent quarterly meeting of the Provincial Peace and Or-der Council.
Semblante is confi-dent that the establish-ment of the facility will address the rising number of young offenders who figured in various crimes
around the province. P/SSupt. Edgardo Wy-
coco, Provincial Director of Davao del Norte Police Provincial Office bared that from April 2012 to June 8, 2012 alone his of-fice has recorded a total of 23 crime incidents com-mitted by minors.
“Dumarami ang kri-men na involved ang mga bata dahil hindi natin sila makasuhan at wala din silang mapaglalagyan,” he said.
He hopes the tempo-rary shelter will help sig-nificantly reduce, if not eliminate the number of crimes perpetrated by the
minors. The Department of So-
cial Welfare and Develop-ment provided P2.5 mil-lion for the construction of the center, while the provincial government in turn allotted two hectares for the location of the cen-ter within the vicinity of the Luntiang Paraiso Re-gional Rehabilitation Cen-ter.
The province shall also allocate funds for the annual operational costs of the facility, to include the budget for personnel services and maintenance of the facility, among other expenses.
Shelter for young offenders to rise soon in New Corella
Municipal Health Officer Dr. June P. Lim checks a baby up during the convergence medical and social mission in San Jose, Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte.
DREAMING for im-provement in life is a free enter-
prise. For One-Town One-Product (OTOP) program producers in Davao del Norte, this has inspired most micro entrepreneurs to improve their products despite their old age, lack of finances, and lack of technological expertise.
Grass into mats Engineer Joaquin lives
in Ilagan, Barangay Lim-baan, New Corella. This man in his 60s is the pro-ducer of Tikog mats exclu-sively sold at SM Malls na-tionwide. He also weaves Tikog into hats, bags, hammocks, lamp stands, and slippers. He vies not only for local and national markets but also for in-ternational markets. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) sends him to showcase Philippine-made products during national and international trade fairs.
A mechanical engineer by profession, he has re-tired early from govern-ment service as a worker of the National Irrigation Administration. For 18 years now, he devotes his time and energy into his Tikog handicraft products that bear the trade name, Silagan Handicraft.
With his wife Clara Silagan who will soon re-tire from her government work as the Alternative Learning System (ALS) District Coordinator of New Corella, he is dream-ing of crossing countries with his Tikog mats and handicrafts. He hangs on to this dream though the local supply of Tikog is dwindling as swampy areas where such grass grows have been planted with bananas.
“Banig lang ang akong gisaligan. (I am banking only on my mats),” he said.
Silagan now gets a 50-kilo supply of Tikog locally in a month. He buys much of his Tikog raw materials from Kalingayan, Bayugan, in Agusan. He continues to look for more supply to meet the demand for his Tikog mats and handi-crafts.
Waste water turned vinegar
Young Mandaya chief-tain of Buclad Tribal Coun-cil, Joel Andoy, 41 years old, confessed of dreaming a better life for his tribal council members, among whom were Dibabawon, Mangguwangan, Muslim, other than Mandaya.
Indigenous women in Buklad used to have no productive undertakings, but now they are into vin-egar and coco-shell acces-sories production. This is an offshoot to the partner-ship that the tribal council has tied up with St. Mary’s
College Business Resource Center (SMC-BRC), De-partment of Science and Technology (DOST), and DTI.
A vinegar production house now stands in their community, making use of the coconut juice that used to be just thrown away when producing copra. Mang Bernard Aquino, 66, goes around the nearby coconut plantations to col-lect the coco juice to be fer-mented into vinegar. Some women help in fermenting and bottling of vinegar, while others are into the production of coco-shell craft made into accesso-ries and handicrafts.
“Kung mag tapok-ta-pok sila karon, aduna nay panginabuhian nga gibu-hat (When they come to-gether now, they are into livelihood production),” Andoy said as he conveyed thanks to partner agencies that extended values edu-cation and entrepreneur-ship training to the mem-bers of his tribal council.
Fresh banana to flour AMS Employees Fresh
Fruit Producers Coopera-tive (AMSEFFPCO), aside from producing fresh ba-nanas for export, widens its business ventures to food-grade flour produc-tion to make the most of the huge market demand. It used to supply the Uni-versal Food Corp (UFC) about 60 tons of food-grade flour from 2007 to 2009, and Anselma Ronquillo, AMSEFFPCO Chairperson, wishes such demand to come again as it means more business opportunities for the co-operative.
AMSEFFPCO is work-ing to get a Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) certification as proof of assurance that the flour it is producing is safe for public consumption. AM-SEFFPCO eyes not only big food companies but also supermarkets so it can widely sell its banana flour which bears the trade name, “Musa.”
While complying with the stringent standards of BFAD, Ronquillo takes comfort from the support given by OTOP cooperat-ing agencies, particularly DTI and DOST, which have continually assisted AMSEFFPCO to improve its product as well as its labeling. The Department of Agriculture-Mindanao Rural Development Pro-gram (DA-MRDP) is also awarding it a solar dryer, worth P1.5 million.
When asked about banana chips produc-tion, however, Ronquillo referred to Aling Yeyeng, an AMSEFFPCO member who, Ronquillo said, got so serious of such ven-ture.
How OTOP changed the countryside
Success Stories
Vice Gov. Victorio Suaybaguio, Jr. hands over the visual and reference materials to Day Care Worker May Alinao, at the convergence mission in San Jose, Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte.
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 2012 11COMMUNITY SENSEEDGEDAVAO
AROUND 300 em-ployees of Davao City Water District
ran from the DCWD Ma-tina office to Barangay Matina Pangi last June 9, 2012 for their fun run ac-tivity themed “Takbo Para sa Kalusugan, Kalikasan, Kalayaan“. Aside from the actual run, another highlight of the whole event was the tree plant-ing along the riverbank of Matina Pangi wherein a total of 600 Malibago and Mahogany seedlings were planted.
During the opening program, OIC-assistant general manager for ad-ministration Mildred G. Aviles welcomed and thanked all the runners for supporting the cause. She stressed that the ac-tivity is very instrumen-tal in preventing another flood disaster from dev-astating lives citing the 2011 flood incident which greatly affected Brgy. Ma-tina Pangi and Davao City in general.
Acting general man-ager Edwin V. Regalado also explained the rel-
evance of the KKK theme in the whole event. “Aside from enjoying ourselves, this activity allows us to exercise which is really good for our health. The tree planting is also very instrumental in restoring the Matina Pangi river-bank which is also part of the watershed of Davao City as it helps replenish our aquifer. Lastly, this fun run is also our way of celebrating the 114th Independence Day of our nation. Thus, the theme Kalusugan, Kalikasan, Kalayaan,”Regalado said.
Winners for the male category include Romeo C. Masuela of the Engi-neering and Construc-tion Department in first place, Dick O. Magdosa of the Production Depart-ment in second and Ariel M. Clenuar of the General Services Department in third. For the female cat-egory, first placer was Roxanne C. Sayago of the Human Resource Depart-ment (HRD), second plac-er was Ruth G. Jabines of HRD and third placer was Jade C. Veloso of the Cor-
porate Planning Depart-ment.
For both categories, first placers received P1,500 and trophies, sec-ond placers got P1,000 and medals while third placers received P700 and medals.
Matina Pangi baran-gay captain Benjamin T. Badon was very thankful that the DCWD family has chosen his area for the be-nevolent cause. “They say that water is life. How-ever, last June 28, 2011 we have witnessed how it can also be very destruc-tive. That is why we are very thankful for DCWD for helping us plant trees along the river to lessen the possibility of anoth-er flood disaster from happening,”Badon said.
Closing the whole event was OIC-assistant general manager for op-erations Exequiel B. Ho-mez who lauded every-one who participated. He challenged everybody to strive harder and to continue supporting and joining DCWD hosted fun runs and other events. (JO-VANA T. DUHAYLUNGSOD)
DCWD runs for Kalusugan, Kalikasan, and Kalayaan
DCWD FUN RUN AND TREE PLANTING. Employee participants exercise before running towards Brgy. Matina Pangi to (R) plant trees along the riverbank of Pangi River.
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 201212 EDGEDAVAO
NATION BRIEFS WORLD TODAY
NATION/WORLD
PunishBEING detained in a hos-
pital has not stopped Pampanga Representa-
tive Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from filing a bill seeking to punish with life imprisonment government officials and em-ployees for stealing from and desecrating victims of natural and man-made calamities and accidents.
While detained at the Vet-erans Memorial Medical Cen-ter on charges of electoral sab-otage, Arroyo has sought the filing of House Bill 6226 which also seeks to impose stiff pen-alties for crimes of looting, rob-bery and desecration against victims during and in the after-math of natural or man-made disasters and accidents.
ProbeTHE National Bureau of
Investigation (NBI) has asked Ombudsman Con-
chita Carpio-Morales to inves-tigate 21 officials and employ-ees of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for allegedly allowing the release of 20 shipping containers without inspecting them, defrauding the govern-ment of P1.4 million in duties and taxes.
The NBI recommended that the Ombudsman inves-tigate Filomeno Vicencio Jr.; former director of the Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Section and current Intelli-gence Group officer-in-charge; former Intelligence Division chief Fernandino Tuazon; for-mer CIIS officer-in-charge Ma-rina Rae Galang; CIIS attorney Floro Calixihan Jr.; former Port of Batangas district collector Juan Tan; Assessment Division acting chief Leonardo Peralta and Ports Operations Division chief Felix Embalsamado.
HeritageCABLE News Network
(CNN) International cited the historic land-
mark Manila Hotel, the oldest premiere hotel in the Philip-pines, as one of today’s seven “heritage hotels” in Southeast Asia, alongsideMandarin Ori-ental in Bangkok, Thailand, and Raffles Singapore.
In the article “Then and now: The stories behind Southeast Asia’s heritage ho-tels” posted on http://www.cnngo.com/explorations, authors Tina Hsiao and Jules Kay “pondered on the legacy... [in] these grand old dames of hospitality” by tracing a bit of the history of each of the seven hotels, their famous guests, unique features and distinc-tions, and their present states, which were accompanied by then-and-now images.
BanA shell fish ban has been
imposed in several bays across the country, a re-
port of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) showed.
BFAR said the ban is in ef-fect in Balite Bay in Mati, Davao Oriental; Dumanquillas Bay in Zamboanga del Sur; Mur-cielagos Bay in Zamboanga del Norte and Misamis Occidental; Bataan waters of Mariveles, Limay, Orion, Pilar, Balanga, Orani, Abucay and Samal and Matarinao Bay in Eastern Sa-mar, after testing positive for red tide toxins.
IncreaseCAR sales of member
firms of the Chamber of Automotive Manufactur-
ers of the Philippines (CAMPI) rose 30.7 percent in May with sales of 14, 265 units from 10, 913 in the same month last year as limitations in the sup-ply chain brought by flooding in Thailand ease.
Sales in May rose 16 per-cent from April sales of 12, 304 units.
Access
UNITED Nations leader Ban Ki-moon demand-
ed UN access to the Syrian city of Al-Heffa, as regime helicopters fired on rebel stronghold towns, leav-ing more than 100 people dead.
On the political front, the newly elected leader of Syria’s exiled oppo-sition urged President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power to his deputy, in line with a plan based on a UN-backed transition in Yemen.
Reelection
THOUSANDS of sup-porters thronged the streets of Cara-
cas to join cancer-strick-en Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as he regis-tered to seek reelection amid ongoing concerns about his health.
The president sought to play down any con-cerns he might seek to extend his long-ruling socialist government -- which has nationalized strategic industries and heaped praise on Cuba’s Communist model -- should he lose at the polls.
Wildfire
MORE firefighters were called up on Tuesday to help
fight a raging wildfire in the western US state of Colorado, which remains out of control and has claimed one life, officials said.
Up to 200 firefighters were ordered in to help reinforce the 400 already battling to contain the blaze northwest of Den-ver, along with aircraft, including five of the nine heavy air tankers avail-able nationwide.
Unimpressed
THE euro came un-der fresh pressure in early trading
Tuesday as fears over the health of the com-mon currency resurfaced following initial eupho-ria over a rescue deal for struggling Spanish banks.
On Monday the mar-kets had enjoyed a brief bounce as they reacted to the weekend news that Spain’s eurozone part-ners had agreed to extend up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) to salvage a banking sector weak-ened by reckless lending to a property market that crashed in 2008.
Human shields
SYRIAN troops have tortured children, executed them and
used children as young as eight as “human shields” during military raids against rebels, according to a UN report released Tuesday.
The United Nations branded the Syrian gov-ernment as one of the worst offenders on its annual “list of shame” of conflict countries where children are killed, tor-tured and forced to fight.
THE United States said it would ex-empt seven emerg-
ing economies including India from tough new sanctions after they cut back on oil from Iran, but the punishment still loomed for China.
Secretary of State Hill-ary Clinton added India, Malaysia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan to the list of those exempt from the sanctions. In March, she made exemptions for European Union nations and Japan.
The decision was an-nounced two days before Clinton meets Indian offi-cials for annual talks. The move resolves one of the biggest points of tension in years in the growing relationship between the world’s two largest de-mocracies.
Under a law approved last year that irritated some US allies, the United States starting on June 28 will penalize foreign fi-nancial institutions over transactions with Iran’s central bank, which han-dles sales of the country’s key export.
Clinton said the seven economies exempted on Monday have all “signifi-
Iranians line up at a petrol station to fuel their motorcycles in central Tehran on February 19, 2012. The United States says it will exempt seven emerging economies including India from tough new sanctions after they cut back on oil from Iran, but the punishment still loomed for China.
US exempts India, but not China, from Iran sanctions
cantly” reduced crude oil purchases from Iran. She cast the exemptions as proof of success in the US campaign to put pressure on Iran’s clerical regime, which Israel and some Western officials fear is seeking a nuclear bomb.
“By reducing Iran’s oil sales, we are sending a decisive message to Iran’s leaders: until they take concrete actions to sat-isfy the concerns of the international community, they will continue to face increasing isolation and
pressure,” Clinton said in a statement.
However, the United States did not announce an exemption for China -- which is heavily de-pendent on oil from Iran and elsewhere to power its giant economy. Offi-cials said that the United States remained in talks with Beijing.
“We have informed our Chinese colleagues fully about the scope and urgency” of the sanc-tions, a senior US official told reporters on condi-
tion of anonymity.But the official said
that China -- one of six nations in talks with Iran that resume next week in Moscow -- was a “very important partner” on the nuclear row.
“We may have differ-ent perceptions of sanc-tions at different times, but one of the things that has been very important is that China has agreed to this dual-track process of pressure as well as persuasion,” the official said.
PRESIDENT Aquino’s net satisfaction rat-ing has dropped to
its lowest level so far, ac-cording to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.
The poll, conducted from May 24 to 27 and published in Business-World yesterday, showed 63 percent of Filipinos re-main satisfied with Aqui-no’s performance and 21 percent dissatisfied for a net score of +42, down by 7 points from March’s +49 (68 percent satisfied, 19
percent dissatisfied).The SWS noted the
President had the biggest dip in satisfaction rating in Metro Manila.
The survey showed that Metro Manila respon-dents who remain satisfied with Aquino dropped by 24 points, from 72 percent in March to 48 percent in May. The President’s sat-isfaction rating among the class ABC also declined to +25 from March’s +62 (from 79 percent to 54 percent).
The only recorded im-
provement was in Mindan-ao, where Aquino’s net sat-isfaction score increased by eight points to +61 from +53, staying in “very good” territory.
His scores plunged to a “good” +41 from the “very good” +50 previously in the Visayas, and main-tained his “good” score in balance Luzon, but was down four points to +41.
Satisfaction with Aqui-no in rural areas was al-most unchanged at +51 from +52, still “very good,” while urban satisfaction
fell to +35, still “good,” from +45.
Aquino’s net rating re-mained “good” among the class D or masa at +41, slightly lower than March’s +46.
The President main-tained his “very good” rat-ing among class E, but was down by two points to +50.
Satisfaction among women, meanwhile, dropped to a “good” +41 from a “very good” +50.
Aquino maintained his “good” rating of +43 among men, although lower than the +48 in March.
The SWS surveyed 1,200 adult Filipinos na-tionwide.
Noy trust rating drops in Pulse Asia survey
Although Aquino con-tinued to enjoy the trust of a majority of Filipinos in the past three months, a recent Pulse Asia survey noted a slight drop in his approval and trust ratings in May.
Pulse Asia said major-ity approval ratings are re-corded across geographic areas (57 percent to 69 per-cent) and socio-economic groupings (58 percent to 71 percent). “Only marginal changes in presidential per-formance and trust ratings occur between March and May 2012,” Pulse Asia said in a statement.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino (C) reviews the honor guard upon his arrival to lead a flag-raising ceremony in front of the Barasoin church in Malolos town, Bulacan province. [REUTERS]
P-Noy’s satisfaction ratings dip
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demand deposits and not on staggered basis.
Opening of the branch is allowed to be extended for one to three years af-ter the approval date and will not be subject to fur-ther extension.
However, the central bank will ether suspend or revoke the opening of new branches if it dis-covered that the bank’s qualifying capital is no longer enough to support
the remaining unopened branches; the bank or any of its subsidiaries is not under BSP’s prompt cor-rective action (PCA); and the banks has no major outstanding supervisory concern on safety and soundness.
Pama explained that the new policy will enable rural banks to increase their presence and in turn the services they provide aside from the use of au-
tomated teller machine (ATM) and mobile bank-ing, which he said increas-es “our market presence and our relevance and value to our customers.”
“We welcome this very positive decision by the Monetary Board of the BSP in BSP Cirular 759. It is a step towards bet-ter services for our de-positors and helping the banking industry grow in general,” he added.
“It would take billions (of pesos) to implement,” she told reporters recently.
The mayor said the drainage plan is not new but rather an implementation of the city’s original master drainage plan.
“In the discussion during the meeting of Task Force Drainage, participated in by Dutch expert, it was the consensus that there’s no need to make new a plan. What needs to be done is to re-visit the master drainage plan,” she said.
“What we did was to see what has been done and what has not yet been done out of the master drainage plan,” she added.
Duterte-Carpio said the master plan encompasses numerous recommendations “but which still need to be filtered.”
“The task force on drainage is now reviewing the master plan, and also look for ways how to fund it,” she said.
The mayor said implementing the master drainage plan would take at least a decade to finish.
“Kung nasugdan ni siya at the time, 1996, most likely naa ta karon at 75% completion,” she said.
“Pero sa pagkakaron man gud wala na-implement tanan nga naa sa masterplan. Naa pero mga ginagmay pa
lang ang na-implement,” she added.
Last week, CPDO officer-in-charge Robert Alabado said the areas eyed for the construction of three main drainage canals are in barangays Lasang Buhangin, and Toril.
“We’re looking at a drainage system that would cost perhaps as much as P20 million per kilometer,” Alabado said during the I-Speak media forum.
“We’re not looking at this as if we’re only going to use this once. These drainage canals are going to be kumbaga the main highways ng ating drainage system. They’re going to be huge. This is going to serve the present and the next generation so gagastos talaga tayo. The city is going to have to bite the bullet,” he added.
However, the area proposed cuts across both public and private lands, thus Alabado said lands would still have to be bought from people.
“We would still have to procure these lands. This is according to the present proposal we’re looking at,” he said.
Alabado also said that the city government is planning to buy small backhoes in aid of its anti-flooding operations in residential areas.
viewed were 675, with 318 for local, 180 for overseas, and 177 for local and over-seas employment.
There were 126 individu-als hired on the spot whose names were announced pub-licly during the jobs fair, with 74 for local and 52 for over-seas employment.
The total applicants for final interview or “near hire” were 223, specifically 144 for local, and 79 for overseas employment.
Saying that the region’s labor office has been con-ducting the Kalayaan jobs fair for four years now, Allan R. Baban, officer in charge/chief technical support and services division, DOLE 11, said jobs fairs are only “stop gap” measures for the grow-ing labor force of the country.
He said the demand in the local labor market is low as industries are limited in the country, adding that while there are more local com-panies than overseas, more overseas jobs than local jobs were solicited for the jobs fair.
In fact, of the 104 com-panies, 71 were local and 33 were overseas, but, out of the 24,311 solicited jobs, 5,136 were local jobs and 19,175
overseas.Baban said the DOLE
seeks to provide more than just the stop gap measures such as jobs fair, but the department is also looking forward to sustainable reso-lution to economic related problems.
Conducting jobs fairs is only to stabilize the cur-rent situation, he added, but, workers should be free from economic problems, as well as unemployment.
Citing the message of Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz for the In-dependence Day, Baban said the overseas Filipino workers must be liberated from their condition of working abroad for the lack of employment here.
Thus, it remains a chal-lenge for the government to have long term measures for workers to have sustainable placement through industry creation, industry develop-ment and foreign investments among others, he added.
Baban also noted that there will be no more jobs fairs conducted when all la-bor forces are being absorbed by local industries, and over-seas employment is only but an option.
cacy activities.As soon as the BSP
complete the rolling out of CFS results and gath-ering all observations, issues, suggestions, and recommendations from sectors involved, he said they will encourage banks to review their fees and charges to accommodate more clients.
The results were al-ready presented in Metro Manila, Quezon City and Davao City, and the next schedule will be in Cebu City.
There is a need to con-tinue educating Filipino households on the advan-tages of saving in financial institutions and investing in various forms of finan-cial instruments, he con-tinued.
In 2010, the BSP for-mulated an economic and financial learning pro-gram to integrate its vari-ous learning programs, which are aimed at pro-moting general aware-ness and understanding of important economic and financial issues.
He said there is a need to look into “shadow banking” transactions and related regulatory and su-pervisory approaches to monitor system-wide risk exposure to particular sectors without reducing credit opportunities for consumers.
It was shown in the survey results that money lenders are the primary source of loans for other real property acquisi-tions.
The BSP should liaise with government pen-sion systems to encour-age membership, and regular/timely payment of premiums to national pension and retirement funds among household members who are self-employed and unem-ployed.
The CFS results show that only three in 10 household members (29%) were covered by health insurance, which indicates that Philhealth insurance was able to cover less than one-third of household members and that the majority of the population has yet to be covered by health in-surance.
Guinigundo said the results of the survey affirm the relevance of the BSP’s commitment to financial inclusion, which is the pro-vision of a wide range of fi-nancial services, including credits, savings, payments and insurance.
He added that the re-sults also attest to the importance of the BSP’s advocacy for inclusive and proactive economic and fi-nancial education among its stakeholders.
given P10,000 each, while the lone casualty will be afforded free burial services, she said.
“Food assistance to the victims will be extended by the City Social Services and Development Office,” she add-ed.
The city mayor also said she wants the victims of the landslide to use the financial assistance as means to relo-cate.
“We expect them to relo-cate and rebuild their homes somewhere else not within the areas considered as landslide-prone,” she said, recalling how in past years residents had been warned about the dan-gers of building their houses on landslide-prone areas.
Although near the land-slide site, the Davao-Bukidnon highway was not affected by the calamity.
In a geo-hazard mapping conducted last year, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau or MGB of the DENR identified barangays Marilog and Mag-saysay as having several si-tios determined as landslide-prone.
se lect ion/construct ion; hatchery design; advantages of hatcheries; hatchery pro-cedures (ex situ); movement induced mortality; hatchery monitoring; and, nest evalu-ation.
Also in the training is the proper handling of marine turtles, especially on tagging, stranding, and nesting inci-dence monitoring; and, what to do when a marine turtle is encountered.
As indicated in the train-ing design, participants are also requested to commit their support by conducting marine turtle tagging, hatch-ery, rescue, rehabilitation and release of stranded marine turtle/s in their respective ar-eas of jurisdiction.
“I just hope participants can design an action plan
based on what they learn and self knowledge to protect ma-rine turtles in other wildlife in Davao Gulf and implement their ideas,” Santa Cruz said.
Inputs on Wildlife Re-sources, Conservation and Protection Act (R.A. 9147), Guidelines on the establish-ment of critical habitat, and Adopt-A-Wildlife Species (AAWS) Program will also be given.
Avila said the CAO may consider making the city’s pawikan hatchery sites and the communities surrounding them as tourism destination in the future.
“But, it should be conser-vation first. Tourism should only be considered if the for-mer is assured,” he added. [LO-RIE A. CASCARO]
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 201214 SPORTS EDGEDAVAO
OKLAHOMA CITY -- LeBron James ver-sus Kevin Durant. It is
the story of these NBA finals.Except to the guys who
share the top billing.One of them will emerge
with his first champion-ship and probably the title of best player in the game.
It could be James, the three-time MVP. Or it might be Durant, the league’s scor-ing champion the last three years.
All they know is who-ever it is won’t have done it alone.
‘’Everybody is going to make the most out of the matchup of me versus LeB-ron, but it’s the Thunder ver-sus the Heat,’’ Durant said Monday. ‘’One guy versus another guy, it’s not going to be a 1-on-1 matchup to win the series, it’s going to be all about the team.’’
Maybe, but it’s easy to get caught up in their indi-vidual brilliance.
It’s the first time the MVP and scoring champ have met in the finals since 1997, when Michael Jor-dan’s Bulls knocked off MVP Karl Malone and Utah.
They are friends and workout partners, play the same small forward position and are blessed with unlim-ited basketball talent. After
years of waiting on a James-Kobe Bryant finals matchup that never materialized, the league gets one starting Tuesday that’s perhaps even better, if not quite as sexy, to wrap up a successful season after the lockout.
‘’It’s great for the NBA,’’ Miami’s Shane Battier said. ‘’I anticipate record ratings, which is great, so maybe we can get some of the escrow check back from the owners. First and foremost, that’s why I’m excited to see Kev-in Durant versus LeBron James. But selfish reasons aside, it’s just a great match-up.
‘’There’s so many young, great players in this league and established players and All-Stars. If you’re a basket-ball fan, you’re missing out if you’re not watching this series.’’
Both have sworn off Twitter, at least for the time being, James posted his last message on April 27 and Durant on May 1.
For now, KingJames and KDTrey5 will stick to mak-ing their statements on the court.
‘’Kevin is locked in on what he needs to do to help the team win,’’ Thunder All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook said. ‘’It’s going to be a great series for both
NBA FINALS PREVIEWFocus on Lebron and KD
It’s going to be a marquee match up between two of NBA’s best players today—Miami Heat’s Lebron James and Oklahoma’s Kevin Durant.teams and hopefully we can come out with the win.’’
James is back for a third crack at his first champion-ship, his Cleveland Cavaliers swept aside by San Anto-nio in 2007 just a couple of weeks before Durant was drafted by the then-Seattle SuperSonics with the No. 2 pick in the draft.
James fell short again
last year in his first season with Miami, then carried the Heat to another chance with victories in the final two games of the Eastern Conference finals against the Celtics, starting with a sensational, 45-point, 15-re-bound Game 6 performance in Boston.
‘’You know, third time in the finals in nine years,
there’s a lot of guys who don’t get there once,’’ Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. ‘’Of course, that right there in itself is an honor. But you want to win one. You want to get there and win one. Obvi-ously, LeBron wants to win a championship. I can’t say that he wants to win more than the next man, than any-body on OKC. I can’t say that.
But obviously he wants to win and get another oppor-tunity. I’m sure he will try to seize it a little bit better than he did the first two times.’’
A disappointment last year in the Heat’s six-game loss to Dallas, James has said he’s been in a better frame of mind this season and is looking forward making up for his previous failure.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma – For LeBron James to
finally claim his long-sought NBA Finals title, he and the Miami Heat will have to shut down NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Two star-studded teams begin the best-of-seven championship se-ries at Oklahoma City on Tuesday, ending a cam-paign shortened by a fi-nancial dispute between players and team owners that delayed the season’s start to December 25.
James, this season’s NBA Most Valuable Play-er, departed the Cleve-land Cavaliers in 2010 for Miami to join fellow superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and spoke of not only winning an NBA crown but taking multiple titles.
The Heat lost to Dallas in last year’s NBA Finals but James has worked to reach the NBA Finals for the third time in his ca-reer in his ninth NBA sea-son, having also lost with Cleveland to San Antonio in 2007.
James averaged 27.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists to spark Miami and has produced 30.8 points and 9.8 rebounds a game in the playoffs, but the goal remains another four victories away from the superstar playmaker.
“We look forward to the next challenge,” James said. “Still one more step.”
The Heat and Thun-der split two regular-season meetings, each club winning at home. Oklahoma City went 47-19, one game better than Miami, to claim a home-field edge for the final showdown.
This will mark the first year since scoring king Michael Jordan guided the Chicago Bulls against Utah’s Karl Malone in 1997 that the NBA’s top scorer and Most Valuable Player competed against each other in the NBA Fi-nals.
But Durant, who aver-aged 28.0 points this sea-son and is netting 27.8 points and grabbing 7.9 rebounds in the playoffs, has some help in the form of fellow 23-year-old American Russell West-
brook.Add James Harden,
voted the NBA’s top man off the bench, and Serge Ibaka, the Spanish big man who led the NBA in blocked shots for the sec-ond year in a row, and the Thunder bring plenty of confidence they can claim the crown.
“It doesn’t matter who starts or who finishes the game,” James said. “James Harden doesn’t start, but he’s always on the court at the end of the game. It’s who is being productive. That’s what it all boils down to.”
There are some his-toric links between James going to Miami and the Thunder. To help clear salary room for making a run at James in 2010, the Heat sent away Daequan Cook and Derek Fisher to the Thunder.
Miami’s Bosh has re-turned from an abdomi-nal strain but has yet to start since coming back in the Heat’s Eastern Con-ference finals win over Boston.
“I’m going to have my time out there with cer-tain lineups,” Bosh said.
King without a crown vs. Boy who would be King
Philippines U-14 Little Azkals captain Jed Diamante (10) of Davao City in the pre-match briefing with the game officials in their match against Timor Leste in the AFC
U-14 football festival in Stadium Likas, Kota Kinabalu. (DAPOY DIAMANTE)
Davao’s Javi Romero-Salas (7), playing for the Philippines’ U-14 Little Azkals, maneuvers against a Timor Leste de-fender during the AFC U-14 football festival in Stadium Likas, Kota Kinabalu. (DAPOY DIAMANTE)
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 2012
EDGEDAVAOSTYLE
IT was one of those rare Wednesday af-ternoons when a la-dies’ night out starts at four o’clock. Davao City’s own Jackie O., otherwise known as Ms. Mary Ann Montemayor, gathered female jewelry enthusiasts for a fashion en-counter at the Villa Margar-ita Hotel. Dubbed as Le’ Mar Arts and Crafts, the cocktail event featured the creations of one of the country’s cel-ebrated accessory designer, Oskar Atendido. Ms. Mon-temayor, fondly called by most as “Tita Baby,” has always been a strong sup-porter of Philippine brands and products, and has con-stantly trail blazed events that highlight the unique talent and artistry of Filipi-nos from all over the coun-try. This time around, she flew in Oskar Atendido to showcase his Philippine Filigree collection, a jewelry
line of delicate and intricate ornamental work made from gold, silver, and other finely twisted wires. Most of his pieces are reminiscent of the Spanish jewelry style, translating the romantic look and feel of lace into jewelry. For his exhibit in Davao, he displayed his freshest rendition of the Filigree, a juxtaposition of the vintage and modern touch with the use of multi-colored glass beads and pre-cious pearls and stones. Classic black was the dress code for the models during the fashion show.
Their black tank top and slacks became the modern fusion to the off-white piña and multi-colored Mind-anaoan cover up’s --- very nationalistic, just in time for the celebration of the Phil-ippine Independence Day. It was great to see fel-low moms / friends, Marga Nograles and Dit-Dit San-tos, on the runway, model-ling Oskar’s collection of necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings. These two suc-cessful momprenuers are the perfect models for these set of intricately-designed ornaments, as they ooze with the spirit of the elegant and fashionable modern woman. Both looked stun-ning and walked the ramp like pros. The afternoon show and fan fare got good reviews from the audience, more so with the group of ladies who lined up to reserve pieces from Oskar’s limited collection.
Oskar Atendido and Ms Montemayor. Oskar Atendido together with his models.
Designer gem
INdulge!
ENTERTAINMENTEVENTS
Ending Summer with a BURNACCORDING to PAGASA’s reports, Summer 2012 ended last June 1; which makes it all the more appropriate for the latest Confessions of a Partyphile event, a Summer-ender to be held on the same day. In many respects, this Summer-ender was not like all the other Confessions of a Partyphile parties. Instead of having a long, kitschy title, this one was simply called BURN. The first-ever Confessions of a Partyphile pool party was also held at Marco Polo Davao’s The Deck instead of the usual Eagles Bar. Tickets went for 350 pesos instead of the usual 250. And the time was a little different. As BURN was a Sunset party, it went on from 3PM until 9PM only; just enough to start getting buzzed until the sun set, and then dance for a couple more hours to get set for more hardcore par-tying elsewhere. But what else went down during the event? Here’s what hap-pened: As with most Confes-sions of a Partyphile events, cocktails were over-flowing and came free with the door charge. For this event, we served some Mai Tai, Moji-to, Daiquiri, and Margarita, much to the delight of the guests. Aside from these, guests were treated to more freebies. Everyone who at-tended the event got baller bands form popular urban and athletic wear, DC, as well as sim cards from Globe Prepaid. Aside from this, they also had the chance to avail of free fifteen minute massages from Marco Polo Davao’s very own luxuri-ous day spa, Lazuli. Guests could also try out the amaz-ing Slendertone which gives the user a workout equiva-lent to doing 120 crunches in 20 minutes, without do-
ing much more than just wearing the Slendertone belt around their torsos. DC also upped the fun ante with their game booth that gave away limited edition gift items from the com-pany for anyone who could complete their challenge—that is, shoot three DC baler bands into a bottle in one turn. One of the most ex-citing freebies for the night was from FunFlips! Much
like a photo booth, FunFlips had set up their own little nook filled with light and cameras in one side of The Deck. Unlike a photobooth, however, FunFlips allowed guests to pose for a seven seconds video in front of the camera. The print-outs came in the form of flip-books that brought a little more novelty and fun to the whole event. Aside from all these free-bies, more free stuff were given away via our standard games. Prizes included pe-dometers from Slender-tone, cash vouchers from DC, gift items from Globe Prepaid, and gift certificates from Pizzaccademia. Party-attendees had to perform three dares each to win the prizes. Unfortunately, I can’t really describe on this
column what went down during that part of the party due to censorship rules, but pants were definitely dropped. All in all, the party was one for the books. The amount of freebies the guests enjoyed, the over-flow of happy juice (alco-hol), the crazy games, the uber-relaxed vibe the pool-side afforded the party, the gorgeous music played by DJ Gary, the beautiful sun-set, and the attendance of Davao young society’s most revered, BURN was defi-nitely an affair to remem-ber. The best bit of news is that a lot of the attendees have been asking for a re-peat which Confessions of a Partyphile might be able to get around to once the rainy season has passed.
A2 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 2012EDGEDAVAO
PYT-Pretty Young Things- all came ready for the first pool-side party from Confessions of a Partyphile
Not the usual suspects-- first-timers in the Confessions of a Partyphile scene came in looking fashionable and fierce
The beautiful sunset provided a gorgeous backdrop to the ultimate Summer-ender of the season
Confessions of a Partyphile’s regular patrons were there to party despite having work on a Friday. Partyphiles lounge at the pool side.
The ladies of Marco Polo.Partyphiles enjoy the unlimited drinks by the pool.
“WHAT if life were more like theater?” 2012 Tony Award host Neil Patrick Harris asks the audi-ence before break-ing out into song and dance. The magical night brought a slew of dancing stars and singing sensations to the stage at the Beacon Theatre in New York as per-formances by Ricky Mar-tin, the cast of Once and a special award presented to Hugh Jackman made for an entertaining evening. Missed out on all the ac-tion? Never fear, fellow the-ater lovers! We’ve got the best, the worst and all the rest from this year’s 2012 Tony Awards: Opening Act: The 2012 Tony Awards kick off with the musical number “Hello” from 2011 Tony winner The Book of Mormon. Let the razzle dazzle begin, folks! Best Opening Line: “Welcome to the 66th An-nual Tony Awards, or as we like to call it, Fifty Shades of Gay,” third-time host Neil Patrick Harris quipped before gushing over the show. LOL! We knew this veteran host would bring his A-game. From the Best Kick-Off Routine: Neil Patrick Har-ris breaks out into song and dance with an original musical number and won-ders what life would be like without theater. Amanda Seyfried and little orphan Annie even take the stage with Harris as he belts out Tony-inspired lyrics. “If like were more like theater, life wouldn’t suck so much,” NPH sings. To The First Big Win!: Paul Rudd presents the award for Best Actress for a Feature Role in a Play. Theater speak translation? Best supporting actress—which went to Judith Light for Other Desert Cit-ies. “I’m a little bit in shock, but I’m really thrilled...I dreamed about it, hoped about it,” Judith gushed to E! News backstage. JoBro Sighting!: Nick Jonas takes the stage to introduce the company of Newsies before the cast breaks out into a peppy rendition of “Seize the Day.” Cue the impressive dancing and acrobatic tricks—we loved all the action in this high-energy performance. Worst (Silly) Idea: NPH takes the stage and makes a fairly convincing argu-ment for a Tony Award mash-up—and suggests
combining popular mov-ies with popular musicals. Our favorite? My Left Foot-loose. Nice Work!: Amanda Seyfried, who looks stun-ning with her hair slicked back and deep red lips, presented the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Feature Musical Role. The winner? Michael McGrath for his perfor-mance in Nice Work If You Can Get It. First surprise of the night! Spooky Surprise: The cast of Ghost takes the stage for a performance after a brief commercial break. It’s far mellower than the Newsies showdown we saw earlier, but the cast sounds phenomenal as they belt out the sweet tunes. Worst Shocker: But we’re not complaining! John Tif-fany takes home his first Tony for Once and thanks his family for the “gift of music” onstage. Best Sweet Speech: Mike Nichols wins Best Di-rector of a Play for Death of a Salesman—his sixth Tony Award (and 18th nomina-tion!). Nichols teared up as he thanked the “cast straight from heaven” and was bursting with happi-ness onstage while his wife beamed in the audience. Best Superstar Perfor-mance: Josh Young belts out a hit from the Broad-way show Jesus Christ Su-perstar. Dressed in a shiny, royal blue suit, Young gave a powerful and entertain-ing performance. Neil, Quit Hanging Around!: Leave it Neil Pat-rick Harris to serve up a few surprises! We couldn’t help but LOL when NPH was suspended from the ceiling upside down in an ode to Spider-Man. Add Andrew Garfield’s adorable smile from the audience and you have one priceless Tony moment. Best Smile, Worst Out-fit: Jessica Chastain had us mesmerized with her stun-ning smile and beautiful red hair as she presented the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, which went to Christian Borle for Peter and the Starcatcher. Our only complaint? Chastain’s dress—the nude mesh and sequined embroidery were simply too much. Worst Performance: Sorry, Matthew Broderick, but we simply weren’t feel-ing your Nice Work perfor-mance. It was cute and en-
tertaining, but far from the night’s best. Best Ode to the Plays: It’s not just about the musicals! Of course, the Tony Awards took a moment to recognize the year’s best plays with a video montage and mini performances from the stars. One of our favorite moments from the night so far! Best Original Score: Eight-time nominee Alan Menken takes home his first Tony for Newsies and recalled how the film bombed at the box office and received a Razzie be-fore becoming one of the most successful musicals on Broadway this year. What an impressive turn-around! Once Upon a Tony: Cast of Once takes the stage for a very instrument-savvy performance. The violins, guitars and sweet vocals made for a nice mid-show musical number. Big Banging at the To-nys: Jim Parsons brings his signature smirk to the stage as he introduces the nominees for Best Play as moments from each nomi-nee flash across the screen. Sheldon Cooper himself then presents the Tony Award to Clybourne Park, penned by Bruce Norris. Livin’ La Vida Tony: The company of Evita, including the multi-talented Ricky Martin, bring their sizzle to the stage for a fun per-formance. Ricky rocks a silly ‘stache and hits some seriously high notes as he somersaults for the audi-ence. Best Married Mo-ment: Hugh Jackman was
beaming as his wife took the stage to present a spe-cial Tony Award honoring the musical thesp. “I know you hate public speaking. This is probably the great-est thing you’ve ever done for me,” Jackman gushes as he accepts his honor. “This was a minor miracle that it happened,” Hugh told E! News backstage after the big surprise. Most Touching Mo-ment: Steve Kazee gave the most emotional speech of the night when he ac-cepted his award for best lead actor in a musical and remembered his mother,
who passed away on Eas-ter Sunday. “My mother al-ways told me before shows to stand up and show them whose little boy you are. And I am here to tell you I am the son of Kathy Withrow Kazee who lost the fight with cancer on Easter Sunday this year,” he proudly said. Talk about a tear-jerker! Worst Upset: Fans were shocked when James Corden won for Best Lead Actor in a Play for One Man,
Two Guvners snagging the award from frontrun-ner Philip Seymour Hoff-man. A tearful Cordon thanked his fellow nomi-nees including his “favorite actor in the world,” Philip Seymour Hoffman. “When you’re on a list like that, you don’t expect to win,” Cord-en admitted to E! News backstage after the big moment. Best Closing Mo-ments: Nina Arian-da squeals with excitement as she accepts the award for Best Lead Actress in a Play for Venus in Fur. Audra McDonald then accepts the award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. “I was a little girl with a pot belly and Afro puffs, hyper-active and overdramatic, and I found the theater and I found my home,” McDon-ald remembers. And That’s a Wrap!: Once wins the award for Best Musical as the show comes to a close!
ENTERTAINMENTENTERTAINMENT
And the Tony goes to...INdulge! A3VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 2012 EDGEDAVAO
We already know that some of the roy-als are pretty skilled when it comes to ath-letics.
But one young lady in particular shows so much promise, that she’s been selected to compete in the Olympic games.
So who can we look for-ward to seeing go for the gold?
That would be Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughter Zara Phillips.
According to The New York Times, Phillips was se-lected to compete on Great Britain’s Olympic team at the London Games in 2012. An experienced equestrian, Zara is one of five members of Great Britain’s eventing team, according to a state-ment released Monday by the British Equestrian Fed-eration.
“It’s awesome to be given this opportunity,” Phillips said in a statement released by the federation. “I’m re-ally excited and can’t wait to kick on and get him there—hopefully we will make it this time after you know what happened last.”
This will be the 31-year-old’s Olympic debut after missing out on the 2008
Beijing Games when her horse, Toytown, was injured before the competition. Phillips will be competing
with a horse named High Kingdom.
Sounds fitting, if you ask us.
OLYMPICS COUNTDOWNA4 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 2012EDGEDAVAO
Which British Royalty is competing in the Olympics?
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 2012 15EDGEDAVAO SPORTS
Is Bob Arum sincere?
THE furor over Manny pacquiao’s ridicu-lous loss to Timothy
Bradley will not die down that easy.
I was elsewhere read-ing a foreign daily and one page was devoted to the story entitled: Was Manny robbed?
The social media is still abuzz too. Twitter, for example, exploded with twits including those from professional athletes and celebrities.
Here are some:Former Coyotes center
Kyle Turris (@KyleTurris): “Wow, watched the first 6 rounds and went to bed, thought Pacquiao won all 6. What happened in the second half?”
Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald (@Lar-ryFitzgerald): “Saw a rob-bery by the Nevada (ath-letic) commission 2night @ the MGM. Big ups 2 Manny 4 being a class act regardless of the circum-stances.”
Aaron Brooks, Suns guard who played in China last season (@thirty2ze-ro): “I hope the (Philip-pines) don’t have weapons of mass destruction.”
Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett (@DDockett) : “PAC got robbed without a gun!!! I’m seriously (ticked). First my Celtics crumble in the 4th then PAC got robbed and Bradley know he didn’t win.”
Phoenix Suns swing-man Jared Dudley (@Jar-edDudley619) was really riffing:
“They’re cheating in Vegas!!!! OMG!!!! Wow!!!!! Biggest cheat EVER!!!!”
“This is crazy. Those judges in Vegas need to be fired ASAP! I never felt so cheated of my money in my life!!!!”
“I can’t get over that PAC MAN fight! You know how the Gov got involved with steroid use in base-ball, it’s now time for box-ing.”
Cardinals running back Alfonso Smith (@FonzoAZ46): “#RipBox-ing.”
Yeah, rip it. This box-ing boo-boo will never die down that easy even if Manny himself has walked away from talking about it.
But the question in my
mind, to be very honest about it is whether or not Bob Arum is sincere.
Arum, he of the bril-liant mind in boxing, says he wants an investigation first before accepting a rematch. Did you suspect anything here? Ju honestly believe Bob Arum really sincere?
Before this fight, I had thought Manny is going the way of Marco Antonio Barrera. Life is but a cycle. Even in boxing. Fame and greatness is like a wheel of fortune. It goes around.
Barrera was an age-ing legend when a young Manny Pacquiao was tossed in the ring with him. Unlike Bradley though, Manny won via by a vicious TKO. When Man-ny was said to be taking a young Bradley as his next foe, I thought honestly in my humble, untrained boxing mind, that there will be a changing of the guards in boxing. Floyd is in jail. Manny is already gobbled up by politics and let’s face it, Manny is beginning to lose his mojo. In his last two fights, Manny is as flat as a day old beer. Nothing of the kick of the strong beer he endorses.
In short, boxing needs a resident champion. A new blood. New excite-ment.
Bob Arum, to keep his outfit Top Rank, had to get him a new star to bank on. Remember it should have been Amir Khan but he lost to Lamont Peterson. Then it could have been Chavez Jr. but the kid just doesn’t have the charisma of a Pacquiao or a Dela Hoya.
The search goes on for Bob’s new star. He knows, pretty soon, Manny’s days will be over.
By the law of gravity or by the law of averages.
By Neil Bravo
THE three judges who scored the contro-versial Manny Pac-
quiao-Timothy Bradley fight will be watching it a second time. Slowly and surely.
In the aftermath of the controversy that stained Sunday’s fight awarded to Bradley in a widely-criticized split decision,
the Nevada State Athletic Commission is set to re-view the video of the fight with the three ring judges that scored the bout.
The RingTV.com, the online news website of Ring Magazine, reported that NSAC Executive Di-
rector Keith Kizer plans to review the video of the disputed split-deci-sion that dethroned Pac-quiao as WBO welter-weight titleholder sepa-rately with each of the fight’s three judges.
Bradley (29-0, 12 KOs) was awarded the victory over Pacquiao by the scores of 115-113 on the cards of judges C.J. Ross and Duane Ford, while Jerry Roth had it
for Pacquiao by the same score. An informal poll of 51 writers favored Pac-quiao over Bradley, 48-3.
The RingTV.com re-ported Kizer as saying, “I’ve talked with all three judges after the bout, as well as today. We’re go-
ing to review the tape of the bout because there was so much controversy, and because there was so much disagreement with the decision. Even with bouts with less contro-versy, judges like to re-view the tape anyway.”
“I want them to re-view it with me for my own edification. So I’m going to have them come in individually and we will watch it. I expect
these judges will show that they used correct scoring criteria and can verbalize their decision-making, as they have be able to do in the past,” RingTV.com reported.
Kizer’s decision comes on the same day
that Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, who promotes both Pacquiao and Brad-ley, told RingTV.com that he has requested that Nevada attorney general Catherine Cortez Masto investigate the results of Bradley-Pacquiao, which took place on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Ve-gas.
“This is by no means any kind of negative thing. I want to have them come in and take a look at the replay with me, which happens from time to time, and which they were going to do on their own anyway. With com-petitive bouts, sometimes you agree and sometimes you disagree with others’ round scores,” Kizer told RingTV.com.
“They [judges] see the bout from differ-ent angles and have to subjectively decide how hard a punch was, and relate it to the other punches landed in that same round. You do your round by round scoring and there are often a lot of close rounds. It’s hard to evaluate in real time.”
Pacquiao (54-4-2, 39 knockouts) out-landed Bradley in 10 of the 12 rounds, with the overall count in his favor 253-to-159. He also scored with more total jabs (63-51) and power punches (190-108). Bradley out-landed Pacquiao in only the ninth round, while the 10th was even in punches connected with
each landing 14.Kizer said the idea is
to examine each of the in-dviduals’ judging criteria.
“What you do is you go through and you watch the rounds, especially the rounds where there was disagreement among the judges, and you go through the rounds. You stop the fight a couple of times during the round and say, ‘right now, where did you have the round?’ or ‘how did you have it scored through the first minute and 10 seconds,’” said Kizer.
“What I’m interested is seeing is where the rounds were close, and why one judge went this way and the other two went the other way. What
was the difference in A) how close it was in their minds, and B) what was the difference in that round that they gave that round to Pacquiao or they gave that round to Bradley. So again, what your looking for is A) a good explanation and B) very similar if not the ex-act same criteria that the judges are applying to what they see and what they hear.”
Kizer said he wants to get the process going as soon as possible.
“I have to get a copy of the DVD first and have them stop in when avail-able,” said Kizer. “De-pending on their sched-ule, I would want to do it sometime this month.”
Fight to be reviewed
AFTER an impres-sive opening cam-paign, the Philip-
pine Under-13 girls foot-ball team composed of the core of Davao City’s U-13 squad, dropped two of its last matches in the Asian Football Confeder-ation U-13 Girls Festival of Football at Thong Nat Stadium in Vietnam.
The nationals lost to Vietnam on Sunday, 3-0, and Guam on Monday, 4-0, to fall to fifth place out of the six countries competing in Group C.
In the festival’s open-
ing day on Saturday, the Philippines showed might as it drubbed Cam-bodia, 5-1, behind the heroics of Mikhaela Ju-mawan and Cecile Deita, who both hit two goals in the match.
The squad takes a one-day rest today be-fore facing Myanmar on Wednesday and Thailand on Thursday to cap off the event.
The festival is formed by the AFC to develop young football players in coaches in Southeast Asia.
Phl U-13 girls fall to 5th
Novak Djokovic hits a back-hand return to Rafael Nadal.
PARIS -- Rain or shine, clay or mud, Sunday or Monday, Rafael
Nadal rules Roland Garros.The man they call
‘’Rafa’’ won his record sev-enth French Open title Monday, returning a day after getting rained out to put the finishing touches on a 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Novak Djokovic. He denied Djokovic in his own run at history - the quest for the ‘’Novak Slam.’’
The match ended on Djokovic’s double-fault, a fittingly awkward con-clusion to a final that had plenty of stops and starts, including a brief delay dur-ing the fourth set Monday while - what else? - a rain shower passed over the sta-dium.
They waited it out and Nadal wound up as he has for seven of the past eight years: down on the ground, celebrating a title at a place that feels like a home away
from home for the second-seeded Spaniard. He broke the record he shared with Bjorn Borg, improved to 52-1 at the French Open and beat the man who had defeated him in the last three Grand Slam finals.
‘’This tournament is, for me, the most special tour-nament of the world,’’ Nadal said.
After serving his fourth double-fault of the match, the top-seeded Djokovic dropped his head, slumped his shoulders and walked slowly toward the net - an emotional two-day adven-ture complete, and not with the result he wanted.
He was trying to be-come the first man since Rod Laver, 43 years ago, to win four straight major titles. He came up short just as Roger Federer twice did in seeking four in a row - his pursuit also halted by Nadal at Roland Garros in 2006 and 2007.
Sweeter the 7th time for Rafa‘’It was a very difficult
match against the best player in the world,’’ Nadal said. ‘’I lost three Grand Slam finals - Wimbledon, the U.S. Open last year, and the Australian Open this
year. I’m very happy, very emotional.’’
Nadal won his 11th overall Grand Slam title, tying him with Borg and Laver for fourth among the
Rafael Nadal of Spain cel-ebrates victory in the men’s singles final against Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Nadal won his seventh French Open title.
The controversial loss of Manny Pacqui-ao to Timothy Bradley will be reviewed by the three judges, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
FSWEETER, 16
VOL.5 ISSUE 72 • JUNE 13, 2012SPORTS16 EDGEDAVAO
all-time leaders.Next up on Nadal’s list:
Chris Evert? Yes. Before Monday, Evert was the only player, man or woman, to win seven titles at Roland Garros, and Nadal would break that record next if he wins No. 8.
‘’He’s definitely the best
player in history on this surface and the results are showing that he’s one of the best-ever players to play this game,’’ Djokovic said.
A match with so much of tennis history riding on it proved awkward and frustrating for both play-ers.
Unable to solve Nadal’s mastery of the clay, Djokov-ic was throwing rackets
around early in the final. A bit later on Sunday, Nadal was complaining bitterly as the rain picked up, the tennis balls got heavy and officials refused to stop the match.
Djokovic rolled through the third set as the rain turned the heavy red clay into more of a muddy paste. He had all the mo-mentum when play was
halted, up a break early in the fourth. The weather cleared well before dusk Sunday and Djokovic said he was sitting around the locker room, ready to play. But officials decided to call it a washout, setting up the first non-Sunday finish at the French Open since 1973, when Ilie Nastase wrapped up his title on a Tuesday.
