TRIAL OF S.C. JUSTICES EYED J USTICES of the Su- preme Court may be impeached and tried like ousted Chief Justice Renato C. Corona if a con- gressional investigation finds strong evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the magistrates in han- dling special funds. This possibility was raised by former Justice secretary Silvestre H. Bel- lo III, now a member of the House of Representa- tives, representing BAP1 Party-list, during a brief- ing with media practi- tioners in Davao City over the weekend. Bello, who has aligned himself with the oppo- sition, said he favors the administration-initiated move to investigate pos- sible misuse of the Judi- ciary Development Fund amounting to P5 billion. The inquiry is initi- ated by Iloilo Rep. Neil Tupas Jr., chairman of the House Committee on Jus- tice. Tupas, who led the prosecution panel in the trial of ousted SC Chief Justice Corona early this year, wants to scrutinize lump sums and discre- tionary funds disbursed by the High Tribunal. “I support the move not only to scrutinize, but also investigate the ex- penditures coming from the JDF,” Bello said who added that the JDF could be another form of PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) of law- makers recently outlawed by the SC. Aside from the JDF, the SC is also handling the so- called Special Allowance for the Judiciary or Judges (SAJ), which the lawmak- [email protected]By ANTONIO M. AJERO P 15.00 • 20 PAGES www.edgedavao.net VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 2013 By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR. [email protected]EDGE Serving a seamless society DAVAO FTRIAL, 10 A FTER 11 years of zero casualty in Davao City, the Southern Philippines Med- ical Center (SPMC) has re- corded a firecracker casu- alty last Christmas day. Dr. Ricardo Audan, head of the ‘Iwas Paputok’ campaign of the Department of Health (DOH) in region 11, told Edge Davao in an interview that a 14-year-old boy was the victim of the incident. Audan said that the boy from the Lanang Beach Club was brought to the emergency room of the hospital at 2:00 p.m. of Dec. 25 after his right ring finger was lacerated by a ‘piccolo’ firecracker which exploded when he picked it up from the road. Audan said that the at- tending physician immedi- ately applied anti-tetanus injection on the victim who was put under observation for few hours. Audan added it was only a minor injury and the boy was discharged from the hospital hours later. He said that they would be monitoring hospitals in the region in the DOH cam- paign which will end on January 5, 2014. Zero firecracker casualty no more PROBE OF PERKS OF GSIS, SSS, GOCCs ONGOING—BELLO INNOCENCE. In the eye of a young girl, Christmas is joyful even with just a cold drink on hand. The Roman Catholic world celebrates Innocent’s Day on Saturday, December 28. Lean Daval Jr. OH, WHAT A SMILE BRINGS! Happiness is written all over the face of this elderly man who may have already lost some of his teeth but it didn’t prevent him from laughing his heart out while watching comic performances during the traditional Christmas day “Pahalipay ni Mayor Rody sa Katawhan” in Central Park Subdi- vision, Davao City Wednesday afternoon. At right, Mayor Duterte, who was with his executive assistant Bong Go, couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh himself. Lean Daval Jr. SCRUTINY OF ‘JUDICIAL PDAF’
Transcript
TRIAL OF S.C. JUSTICES EYEDJUSTICES of the Su-
preme Court may be impeached and tried
like ousted Chief Justice Renato C. Corona if a con-gressional investigation finds strong evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the magistrates in han-dling special funds.
This possibility was raised by former Justice secretary Silvestre H. Bel-lo III, now a member of the House of Representa-tives, representing BAP1 Party-list, during a brief-ing with media practi-tioners in Davao City over
the weekend.Bello, who has aligned
himself with the oppo-sition, said he favors the administration-initiated move to investigate pos-sible misuse of the Judi-ciary Development Fund amounting to P5 billion.
The inquiry is initi-ated by Iloilo Rep. Neil Tupas Jr., chairman of the House Committee on Jus-tice. Tupas, who led the prosecution panel in the trial of ousted SC Chief Justice Corona early this year, wants to scrutinize lump sums and discre-
tionary funds disbursed by the High Tribunal.
“I support the move not only to scrutinize, but also investigate the ex-penditures coming from the JDF,” Bello said who added that the JDF could be another form of PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) of law-makers recently outlawed by the SC.
Aside from the JDF, the SC is also handling the so-called Special Allowance for the Judiciary or Judges (SAJ), which the lawmak-
AFTER 11 years of zero casualty in Davao City, the
Southern Philippines Med-ical Center (SPMC) has re-corded a firecracker casu-alty last Christmas day. Dr. Ricardo Audan, head of the ‘Iwas Paputok’ campaign of the Department of Health (DOH) in region 11, told Edge Davao in an interview that a 14-year-old boy was
the victim of the incident.Audan said that the boy
from the Lanang Beach Club was brought to the emergency room of the hospital at 2:00 p.m. of Dec. 25 after his right ring finger was lacerated by a ‘piccolo’ firecracker which exploded when he picked it up from the road.
Audan said that the at-tending physician immedi-
ately applied anti-tetanus injection on the victim who was put under observation for few hours.
Audan added it was only a minor injury and the boy was discharged from the hospital hours later.
He said that they would be monitoring hospitals in the region in the DOH cam-paign which will end on January 5, 2014.
Zero firecracker casualty no more
PROBE OF PERKS OF GSIS, SSS, GOCCs ONGOING—BELLO
INNOCENCE. In the eye of a young girl, Christmas is joyful even with just a cold drink on hand. The Roman Catholic world celebrates Innocent’s Day on Saturday, December 28. Lean Daval Jr.
OH, WHAT A SMILE BRINGS! Happiness is written all over the face of this elderly man who may have already lost some of his teeth but it didn’t prevent him from laughing his heart out while watching comic performances during the traditional Christmas
day “Pahalipay ni Mayor Rody sa Katawhan” in Central Park Subdi-vision, Davao City Wednesday afternoon. At right, Mayor Duterte, who was with his executive assistant Bong Go, couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh himself. Lean Daval Jr.
SCRUTINY OF ‘JUDICIAL PDAF’
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 2013
THE DAVAO City gov-ernment will allot P 8.64- billion for
an infrastructure project which aims to build di-saster resilient structures and facilities in the city.
Based on the annual in-vestment program (AIP), P3.83-billion or 44% of the budget will go to road development to ensure the development of all inter-connecting produc-tion road and city roads. The 15% or P1.29-bil-lion will be allocated for bridges, P1.62-billion or 19% will be for drainage system and the buildings and other public infra-structure projects will
have P1.40-billion or 16% from the budget.
The report stated that Engr. Mario Luis Jacinto City Planning and De-velopment Office head, explained that the infra-structure projects are de-signed to build resilient structures and facilities in different parts of the city.
“The conduct of di-saster mapping will be continued to identify the different elements that may be at risk to ensure that the infrastructure projects will be able to withstand possible occur-rence of natural calami-ties and disasters,” stated
“STAY here while Leyte rebuilds itself.” This was
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s message to some 200 families of super typhoon Yolanda when it struck Leyte who have sought refuge in Davao City, that the city government will help facilitate their live-lihood and encouraged them to stay in the city.
The City Social Ser-vices and Development Office (CSSDO) estimates the number of survivors to be around 800 individ-uals.
“Stay here, while we look for ways to make your lives easier,” he said.
“I hope you find your place here in the city so that you can rebuild your lives slowly,” he told
the survivors during the Pahalipay for the city’s scholars and the Yolanda survivors from Leyte.
The National Disas-ter Risk Reduction and Management Council has counted at least 6,109 deaths due to Yolanda.
The number of those injured has also been estimated to be around 27,665 with 1,779 still missing.
Duterte also distrib-uted to each family cash amounting to P2,000, a gift certificate worth P2,000, as well as one chicken for the Christmas noche Buena.
CSSDO chief Malou Bermudo said some sur-vivors have said they wish to stay in the city.
POLICE filed charges before the city prosecution
against a 33-year-old man office who attempt-ed to drown a neighbor and slapped a police-woman officer who re-sponded to the incident at Coaco Beach Resort at Km. 9, Sasa in the morn-ing of Christmas Day.
PO1 Charlene Guma-ga said in an interview she filed three separate cases against Erick An-tolin, vendor and resi-dent of Bolton Reloca-
tion, Km. 9, Sasa. Antolin will be fac-
ing charges of direct assault, resisting arrest and frustrated homi-cide.
Norma Vergara, his neighbor, also a wit-ness, said that Antolin dragged her to the beach and attempted several times to drown her.
Gumaga saw Antolin trying to drown
Vergara and went to her rescue, but An-tolin, who appeared to
THE MANSAKA Trib-al Council of Baran-gay Magnaga in Pan-
tukan, Compostela Valley Province has received a check for P1 million from the Kingking Copper-Gold Project (KCGP) for the live-lihood and social services program of its members.
KCGP is a partnership between the Nationwide Development Corporation (Nadecor) and St. Augus-tine Gold & Copper Ltd. (SAGCL) for the develop-ment of the world-class gold and copper deposit located in the municipal-ity.
According to Melin-do Lee, tribal chieftain of Brgy. Magnaga, inter-
viewed over Radyo Pan-tukan, the funds will be allocated for the benefit of indigenous peoples of Pantukan.
“Kini nga maong sapi ang ato na nahan-ay kung asa nato igahin tungod nakahimo naman kami og mga plano nga maoy among gisubmitar sa kompanya kaniadto”(This amount will be alloted for the planned programs which we have submitted to the company), Melindo said.
Barangay Councilman Embin Baño also of Mag-naga added that, “Isip chairman sa komitiba nga naglantaw sa kauswagan sa atong mga kaigsoonang
Mansaka dinhi sa baran-gay Magnaga, malipayon ako ug mapasalamaton ko sa King-king Copper-Gold Project sa pagtuman nila sa ilang saad ngadto sa mga lumad” (Being the chairman of the commit-tee that looks into the welfare and development of our Mansaka brothers here in Barangay Magna-ga, I’m happy and thank-ful to the King-King Cop-per-Gold Project because they stood by their com-mitment to the tribe.)
Clyde Gillespie, SAG-CL country manager and director for environment and permitting, was present in the turnover last December 13. The
event coincided with the ground-breaking ceremo-ny for a P500,000-BSP/GSP building that the proj-ect is also constructing in partnership with the Department of Education and the Kingking Central Elementary School.
Aside from the P1-mil-lion check, KCGP also gave P150,000 and P100,000 to the tribal councils of barangays Araibo and Tag-dangua, respectively, in support of both councils’ priority programs for In-digenous Peoples.
KCGP likewise turned over a check for P250,000 for renovation of the San Jose Parish church,
2
FTRIBAL, 10
FCITY, 10
FDRUNK, 10
FDUTERTE, 10
EDGEDAVAO
THE BIG NEWS
CHRISTMAS TREAT. Park Inn by Radisson Davao represented by public relations manager Meghann Patricia Sta. Ines (5th from left), chef Jayme Natividad (mostleft) and sales coordinator Angie Perez (2nd from left) welcome members of local media to their Christmas lunch treat at the hotel’s RBG restaurant over the weekend. Lean Daval Jr.
REFUSE. Davao City’s trash bins are overflowing with uncollected garbage and other refuse a day after the celebration of Christmas. Lean Daval Jr.
Tribal group gets P1M from Kingking Project
Drunk slaps lady cop, faces three chargesBy EMILORD P. CASTROMAYOR
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 2013 3EDGEDAVAO
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VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 20134 NEWS
ACROBATIC. These two teenagers show off their acrobatic skills while enjoying a day at the beach with their families on Christmas day in Times Beach, Davao City Wednesday afternoon. Lean Daval Jr.
QUEUE FOR HOME. Province-bound passengers who will have their baggage undergo routine inspection form a long queue at the entrance of the Davao City Overland Terminal in Ecoland, Davao City Wednesday morning. Lean Daval Jr.
WORLD eight-di-vision boxing champ and Sa-
rangani congressman Manny Pacquiao refused to stoop down to Floyd Mayweather’s twitter swipe, saying Christmas season is a time to ponder God’s profound love for humanity.
“I’m thanking Floyd Mayweather that he has not forgotten me. I’m glad that he is still thinking of me,” Pacquiao told Edge Davao.
Pacquiao says he is busy doing some char-ity work, like visiting a
sick friend and giving gifts to the needy, among others.
“Christmas reminds us of God’s greatest love for us. He teaches us to love even our enemies. So, I won’t say any-thing that would hurt anybody,” Pacquiao said.
The other day, Floyd Mayweather Jr. posted a collage of photos aimed at deriding the Pinoy ring icon.
It spoke about how Mayweather feels regard-ing the much-awaited showdown between him
NO UNTOWARD incidents were reported yester-
day in connection with the 45th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in Davao City.
Davao city police di-rector Vicente Danao Jr., directed his men to be vigilant and alert against what the NPA would do.
Police stations in Cali-nan, Baguio, Marilog and Paquibato were warned by Danao that their areas of responsibilities are hot spots of the New Peo-ple’s Army presence.
“I went to their sta-tions to check if the po-
lice were intact to ensure that our troops were pre-pared,” he said.
Danao said that he was alarmed by the raid-ing incident against the Kibawe police station last December 12 where a senior police officer was killed and three of his men wounded when attacked by about 50 NPAs.
The rebel carted away guns before escaping.
Meanwhile, the CPP said on their website that the military continues to carry out operations in guerrilla zones in Davao del Norte, Compostela
THE POLICE regional office (PRO) 11 tal-lied seven cases of
violation of the firecrack-er ban with three victims injured during the Christ-mas holiday celebration.
Chief Inspector Jed Clamor, PRO 11 spokes-person, said there were three cases reported in Davao City and four others in Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte and Davao Oriental.
Injured victims are Er-vin Clyde dela Cruz, Chris Jelian Dona and Juanito Ornales Jr.
Clamor said that so far, despite reports on petty crimes, the celebration has been peaceful with no significant untoward inci-dent reported. The victims were given medication.
Davao City police di-rector Sr. Supt. Vicente D. Danao Jr., said that the celebration in the city was also generally peace-ful, except for the “slight” increase in crime against property like robbery, theft, bukas-kotse etc.
Police apprehended seven persons, including
three minors, with two cases filed at the city pros-ecution office for violation of city ordinance 060-20 or firecracker ban.
Larynyl Q. Lariza, 18, of Toril public market was apprehended by the police after he was caught in the act of exploding an im-provised bamboo cannon called lantaka at the Toril plaza Sunday morning.
Also, a certain Samira, 45, resident of Polomolok, North Cotabato, was ap-prehended last Decem-ber 14 at the Davao City
Overland Transport and Terminal for possession of 10 bundles of fireworks worth P500.
Last December 23, a group of minors was firing a lantaka on Silca St. and Crossing Bayabas, Toril when an approaching po-lice mobile car sent them scampering away leaving behind their four lantakas and one container of liq-uid gas.
Calinan police also re-covered firecrackers from minors who managed to evade apprehension.
DAVAO REGION
Christmas celebration‘generally peaceful’By EMILORD P. CASTROMAYOR
damage in the provinces of Davao Del Norte, Davao Oriental and Composte-la Valley have forced the agency to come up with the proposal.
For the past two years the region has experi-enced typhoons that dev-astated most, if not all, business operations. It may be recalled that Ty-phoon Pablo damaged the agricultural sector, especially the banana
industry. The damage to the banana industry af-fected its exportation.
The proposed pro-gram will also assist the business sector in reviv-ing their operation de-spite the calamity.
Aside from the con-tinuity plan, Castañaga said the program will also encourage the busi-ness sector to com,e up with a disaster resiliency plan.
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 2013 5EDGEDAVAO
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
MINDANAO’S tallest sky-scraper is well on its way from ground zero going up.
The FTC Group of Companies has announced the progress of the ongoing construction of the 33-lev-el Aeon Towers at J.P. Laurel Ave. in Davao City.
Aeon Towers, the most ambi-tious real estate property develop-ment project ever outside Metro Manila, is the next iconic symbol of Davao City towering over its skyline in the manner so characteristic of the majestic Mt. Apo and overlook-ing the wide expanse of the Davao Gulf’s pristine blue waters.
As of the final weeks of the year, the project has almost completed the diaphragm wall and bored piles with 10 panels of diaphragm wall and 10 bored piles casted. A total of 20 percent of the steel requirement for this part of the construction has been delivered on site equivalent to 340,000 kilograms.
Campbell and Associates, the construction partner of FTC Group of Companies has reported that the
project is 1.56 percent complete as of October 2013 and should be nearing completion of the Phase 1 of Package 1 of the project by the end of this year.
Construction of the guide wall for the diaphragm wall on the pe-rimeter is more than 50 percent complete and on progress. Removal of underground structure has also neared finish with 90 percent while the concreting activity is in full swing. AFCFC has poured a total of 1,834.50 cubic meter of ready mix concrete or equivalent to 13 per-cent of total volume requirements.
Fabrication of steel reinforce-ment for the diaphragm wall and bored pile is working two shifts, relocation of cables along J.P. Laurel Ave. is ongoing while the relocation of all electrical posts affected by the construction has been completed.
Also, relocation of all cables for communications utilities has been accomplished.
Operation, meantime, onsite has been activated on a 24-hour shift.
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 2013
THE YEAR 2013 greeted the Phil-ippines with chal-
lenging external develop-ments such as the linger-ing crisis in Europe and the weak growth in the United States.
However, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) faced the challenges head and given lesser worries as the domestic economy continues to expand even posting one of the highest growth in Asia.
The economy’s av-erage growth in the first three quarters posted an output of 7.4 percent, up from year-ago’s level of 6.7 percent. This is the second highest in Asia af-ter China and the highest among the economies of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASE-AN).
However, the third quarter growth of sev-en percent is lower than year-ago’s 7.3 percent and the previous quar-ter’s 7.6 percent as eco-nomic managers remain positive on the economy’s growth stressing that it remains at the seven-per-cent level.
The robust growth of the economy enabled BSP’s policy-making Monetary Board (MB) to maintain the central bank’s key rates to re-cord-low levels for the whole year.
To date, the overnight borrowing or reverse repurchase (RP) rate is now at 3.5 percent, and the overnight lending or repurchase (RP) rate is at 5.5 percent
The Board last touched these rates in October 2012 when it was slashed with 25 basis points.
The key rates were slashed off a total of 100 basis points in 2012 to help boost domestic growth amid negative de-velopments abroad.
Because of the strong domestic growth com-bined with the resiliency of the banking system, improvement in the ex-
ternal payments position and the fiscal situation, the country received in-vestment grade ratings from the world’s three major debt watchers.
Fitch Ratings upgrad-ed the Philippines to in-vestment grade status last March; Standard & Poor’s (S&P) last May; and Moody’s Investors Service last October.
These positive devel-opments did not come hassle-free. It resulted to increase in liquidity as well as more inves-tors parked their funds outside of the usual in-vestment options like the stock market and bond market.
A high liquidity situ-ation is advantageous for the economy because it entails more economic activity, but it becomes a burden when the situa-tion becomes inflationary.
However, monetary officials said the increase in liquidity in the coun-try remains manageable, thanks to the monetary tools put in place to ad-dress the situation.
The central bank’s special deposit account (SDA) facility is among
the areas where the in-creased liquidity went, with the surge of P1.98 trillion placed in the SDA last April.
The SDA is not an investment vehicle but among the policy toolkits of the central bank being used to mop up excess li-quidity in the economy.
To ward off specula-tive flows and make the facility function to its original purpose, the MB decided to implement several measures such as barring foreign funds from tapping the facility and excluding investment management accounts (IMA) from parking fund in the SDA.
IMA funds are mon-ey from retail investors pooled through a bank’s trust department.
Another regulatory change implemented for the SDA facility is the cut in its interest rate by at least 150 basis points.
Previously, interest rate of the facility was pegged against overnight borrowing or reverse re-purchase (RRP) rate, but since January this year it was cut to about two per-cent.
BSP Governor Aman-do Tetangco Jr. said all these measures were put in place because mone-tary officials want the li-quidity to flow out of the system and be used for productive purposes.
Relatively, inflation has been generally man-ageable despite an up-tick after the devastation caused by several natural calamities.
As of November, in-flation averaged at 2.8 percent, below the three to five percent forecast of the central bank.
This even as the rate of price increases in the 11th month posted a nine-month high of 3.3 percent, since last Febru-ary’s 3.4 percent.
Relatively, the peso continues to move in line with other currencies in the region.
A market-determined exchange rate is being observed in the Philip-pines but monetary of-ficials said the central bank joins the market but only to address ex-treme volatility.
As of December 23, the peso is trading at 44-level against the
dollar, weaker than the 41-level at the start of trading this year on Jan-uary 2.
However, this level is still within the govern-ment’s 42-45 foreign ex-change range set for this year.
Recent factors for the weakening of the peso against the dollar is the decision of the Federal Open Market Commit-tee’s (FOMC) decision to cut by US$ 10 billion the Federal Reserve’s US$ 85 billion monthly purchas-es of securities starting January next year after noting the improvement in the US economy.
Tetangco expected any volatility on the ex-change rate vis-à-vis the cut in the Fed’s stimulus program to be short-lived.
After the sideways and depreciation move-ment of the peso in re-cent weeks, it ended the trading day last Monday better after gaining near-ly P0.16 to 44.34 from 44.50 at the end of last week.
One factor that fueled the peso’s strength is the strong inflows from over-seas Filipinos. [PNA]
THE ECONOMYStat Watch
MONTHLY AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATE (January 2011-September 2013)
Month 2013 2012 2011
Average 42.23 43.31December 41.01 43.64November 41.12 43.27October 41.45 43.45
September 43.83 41.75 43.02August 43.86 42.04 42.42
KNOCK-OFF. A woman browses through a collection of knock-off sunglasses sold way below the prices of the original items along San Pedro Street in Davao City yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.
BSP, banks standing high amid challenges
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 2013
TWO DESTRUCTIVE natural disasters and a man-made one, oc-
curring successively within a 60-day interval between Sept. 9 and Nov. 8, along with the stepped-up implemen-tation of its various social protection programs, put the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in a very busy mode in 2013.
The two natural disas-ters were the super typhoon “Yolanda” (international code name: Haiyan) which struck some provinces in Eastern and Central Visayas and Southern Luzon on Nov. 8 and the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Bohol and Cebu and other nearby areas on Oct. 15.
The man-made disaster or the so-called Zamboan-ga siege occurred on Sept. 9 when remnants of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)-Misuari group at-tempted to take control of Zamboanga City. The siege lasted for almost three weeks.
“Yolanda,” considered as the strongest typhoon in the world to hit land, caused major damage in Tacloban City, the home of more than 200,000 people and the re-gional capital of Eastern Vi-sayas or Region 8.
The typhoon hit land on Nov. 8, with winds of over 260 kilometers per hour. It triggered giant storm surg-es that flooded the city and other coastal areas in Leyte province, leaving a wide swath of destruction in the rest of the region.
Altogether, the worst ty-phoon to hit the Philippines killed over 6,000 people.
On Nov. 11, 2013, three days after the typhoon’s pas-sage and a day after visiting Tacloban, President Benigno S. Aquino III issued Presi-dential Proclamation No. 682 declaring a state of national calamity in Tacloban.
After Nov. 10, the Pres-ident visited Tacloban City two more times -- on Dec. 8 and Dec. 22 -- to inspect the progress of reconstruction and rehabilitation of the ty-phoon-damaged areas.
On Oct. 15, a shallow magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck some Central Visayas provinces, including Bohol and Cebu, destroying vari-ous properties, among them historic churches and other structures.
The quake struck at 8:12 a.m., centered about two kilo-meters southeast of Carmen, Bohol (09.80°N, 124.20°E). Its depth of focus was 33 ki-
lometers and was of tectonic origin, the Philippine Insti-tute of Volcanology and Seis-mology (Phivolcs) said.
About five weeks earlier, on Sept. 9, the Zamboanga City crisis broke out. It was an armed conflict between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and a fac-tion of the Moro National Liberation Front, generally known by other factions as the Rogue MNLF Elements under the Sulu State Revolu-tionary Command (SSRC) led by Ustadz Habier Malik and Khaid Ajibon, whose group continues to recognize Nur Misuari as MNLF chairman.
The crisis erupted when this MNLF faction attempt-ed to raise the flag of the self-proclaimed Bangsam-oro Republik at Zamboanga City Hall, which had earlier declared its independence on Aug. 12, 2013 in Talipao, Sulu.
This armed incursion was met with more supe-rior forces by the AFP and the Philippine National Po-lice (PNP), which sought to free the hostages and expel the MNLF from the city. The standoff degenerated into ur-ban warfare and had brought parts of the city under a standstill for days.
The clashes caused the displacement of more than 100,000 people, the occu-pation of several barangays (villages) by the MNLF, the deaths of several civilians, the closure of the Zamboanga International Airport (which has since been reopened), and the slowdown of eco-
nomic activity in the city.On Sept. 28, the govern-
ment declared the end of military operations in Zam-boanga City.
Both the Bohol earth-quake and the Zamboanga City siege also made Presi-dent Aquino busy in visiting the affected areas.
In continuing response to affected “Yolanda” victims, the DSWD had earlier an-nounced that there will be no holiday break for some of its field offices where rotational duties will be observed to en-sure that relief distribution will not be interrupted.
The directives was issued by DSWD Secretary Corazon J. Soliman to emphasize the importance of continuity of relief distribution to the ca-lamity victims and help them get back to their own feet.
In its effort to hasten the relief operations, DSWD recently opened two relief hubs in Isabel, Leyte and Cat-balogan City, Samar for stor-age and repacking of relief commodities.
President Aquino again visited the calamity-stricken Tacloban City to inspect and turn over bunkhouse units for the residents displaced by the typhoon. He was as-sisted by Secretary Soliman, Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Ro-gelio Singson and Leyte Gov. Jericho Petilla, among others.
Each bunkhouse with a common toilet/wash area and kitchen will be composed of 24 rooms with a floor area of about 2.4 X 3.6 square me-ters to accommodate a family
of five members.The bunkhouse was
made of coco lumber wood-en frames, GI sheet roofing, plywood walls and flooring, and cement footing.
Soliman said that the construction of bunkhouses in Tacloban City and Palo, Leyte as temporary shelters for families affected by Yolan-da was started last month by the DPWH.
She added that works are ongoing for the construction of more bunkhouse units in various sites in Basey and Marabut in Samar.
As of Dec. 16, a total of 3,321,351 rice and food packs, 494,213 liters of wa-ter, 109,601 canned goods, and 244,444 pieces of high energy biscuits have already been distributed to the 273,782 displaced families in the region.
Non-food items such as tents, hygiene kits, blankets, mosquito nets, mats, towels, cooking pots, water con-tainers, slippers, and plastic cups, among other things, were also distributed.
The DSWD also said ear-lier that the distribution of relief goods would end on Dec. 31 for those families who are already earning income and those that are already covered by the cash for work (CFW) program who can buy their foods and sustain their other needs.
But for those vulnerable sectors like the elderly, per-sons with disabilities and pregnant women, the relief distribution is extended un-til January 2014.
On Dec. 11, the DSWD and World Food Programme (WFP) signed a memo-randum of understanding (MOU) to provide P260 mil-lion (USD 6 million) in cash assistance to 500,000 food insecure people across 50 municipalities of Leyte and Samar in the aftermath of “Yolanda.”
The partnership with the WFP provides fixed emergency cash grant of P1,300 per household per month which will be added on top of the beneficiaries’ Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) cash grants for the months of December this year and January next year. The beneficiaries can use the amount to purchase goods that they need in or-der to survive.
The most food insecure households were identified in WFP’s post-’Yolanda’ as-sessments among the vul-nerable families.
In addition to the cash grant from WFP, each fam-ily will also be entitled to receive a one-month supply of rice.
“WFP’s assessments in-dicate that a combination of cash support and in-kind rice is an effective approach,” said WFP Philippines Coun-try Director and Representa-tive Praveen Agrawal.
According to Soliman, the agreement for cash sup-port through the 4P’s marks a step in the strategic evolu-tion of the assistance provid-ed by the WFP.
As of Dec. 20, about P64.3 million worth of local
donations were recorded to be received by the DSWD, while around USD 15.4 mil-lion worth was received as foreign donations.
Based on the Nation-al Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) report, about 3.4 million families or 16 million individuals were affected by the typhoon.
Some of the affected victims flew to Manila and other provinces via C-130 planes. Upon arrival at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, they were processed and underwent assessment and given the necessary as-sistance like transportation, food packs and hospital re-ferrals.
According to DSWD-Na-tional Capital Region Di-rector Alicia Bonoan, those who have no relatives in Metro Manila were brought to centers and institutions of DSWD where they can temporary stay until they decide to come back to Leyte when everything has turned completely normal to them there.
To date, a total of P1,218,237,144.14 worth of relief assistance was provid-ed to typhoon-affected fami-lies in Regions 4-A, 4-B, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, and CARAGA.
Of the total amount, P867,049,198.44 came from DSWD, P116,895,578.40 from local government units (LGUs), P177,363,918.5 from the Department of Health (DOH), and P56,928,448.79 from Non-governmental Orga-nizations (NGOs)/Other Government Organization (GOs).
The 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Bo-hol and Cebu in October was another exhaustive disaster that made DSWD and other government agencies busy attending to the needs of the calamity victims.
Prior to the earthquake, on Sept. 9, the Zamboanga siege erupted where about 500 MNLF rebels invaded the coastal villages of Mam-pang, Talon-Talon and Mari-ki and held dozens of civil-ian hostages and converged with their comrades who had prepositioned in Baran-gays Sta. Barbara and Sta. Catalina.
As DSWD’s interven-tion, Secretary Soliman flew from Manila to Zamboanga to personally oversee the situation of families in the different evacuation centers who were displaced by the conflict. [PNA]
7EDGEDAVAO
BIGGER PICTURE
A busy year for DSWD in aiding disaster victimsBy LEILANI S. JUNIO
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 20138 EDGEDAVAO
VANTAGE
Invitation of a lifetime
Fiscal independence
OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager
Columnists: MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • AURELIO A. PEÑA • ZHAUN ORTEGA • BERNADETTE “ADDIE” B. BORBON • MARY ANN “ADI” C. QUISIDO • LEANDRO B. DAVAL SR., • NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN • NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN • EMILY ZEN CHUA • CARLOS MUNDA Economic Analyst: ENRICO “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG • JONALLIER M. PEREZ
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EDITORIALS
HUNDREDS of victims of super typhoon “Yolanda” in the Visayas who sought temporary refuge in Davao City were given a taste of the extra-ordinary hospitality and kindness of Dabawenyos
led by Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte.More than 800 refugees from Leyte and Samar alone are in Davao
City. More such refugees are in other places in Region 11 where they have blood relatives and close friends who have given them temporary shelter and comfort while in the process of deciding what to do with their shattered lives.
During a gathering designed to give Christmas cheer to student scholars and Yolanda victims, Mayor Duterte offered them a touching invitation.
“Remain here while we look for ways to make life easier for you,”
the mayor said, adding, “I hope you will find your place here in the city so that you can gradually rebuild your lives.”
Mr. Duterte also distributed cash of P2,000 to each family in addi-tion to a gift certificate worth P2,000 each and one piece of dressed chicken for their Christmas noche buena.
The mayor’s gesture of inviting the victims to stay in the city while their devastated places in the Visayas are being rebuilt, likewise elated thousands of Dabawenyos who trace their roots to Samar and Leyte. Their decision to stay put could completely reverse the fortunes of the hapless Yolanda victims, many of whom lost not only the their loved ones but also property and sources of livelihood.
Indeed, what Mayor Duterte has extended is an invitation of a life-time.
WHAT could turn out to be another blockbuster of a televised event in the genre of the trial of Supreme Court Chief Jus-tice Renato C. Corona a year ago is the reported Congres-
sional investigation into the Judicial Development Fund (JDF) and the Special Allowances for Judges (SAJ) slated early next year. Some outspoken lawmakers have labeled the funds as the Supreme Court’s pork barrel now in the vicinity of P5 billion.
The claim of some defenders of the High Tribunal that the judi-ciary enjoys fiscal independence may not wash since the newly-ap-
proved General Appropriations Act stipulates that all special bud-gets can be subject to congressional monitoring and examination.
The judiciary should accept the scrutiny since it is an opportunity for it to prove once and for all that there is no hanky-panky involved in the disbursement of the special funds. Why be afraid if there have been no questionable transactions involved?
The Filipino citizenry, of course, welcomes this development as another step towards total transparency in governance in this coun-try.
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 2013
THE MOST talked about person in the world — no surprise there! — is Pope Francis. Polls and Internet traf-
fic confirm: No celebrity even comes close to him in fame or favor.
When it comes to “followers,” the pope does have an enormous head start, as leader of the 1.2 billion-member Ro-man Catholic Church. He also inspires un-matched curiosity and attention globally among many millions from other faiths and no faiths.
Francis comments most effectively through compelling gestures. The public sees him kissing the bare foot of an impris-oned Muslim woman, or the illness-rav-aged face of a man he is blessing. When a child jumps to his side or grabs his papal skull cap, the pope is attentive, undistract-ed. Less instantaneous, but still revealing, gestures find him riding public buses, driving his own old car, living in humble quarters or sneaking off in the night to minister to the homeless.
Minority factions, Catholic and “other,” sputter criticisms. Months ago they were surprised at the election of this Argentin-ean Jesuit to lead the Catholic Church. Now they charge that he restricts himself to what they dismiss as mere gestures, mere symbols, mere ceremonies.
Rigid Catholic conservatives ask im-patiently why he does not nail down church dogma and permit only safe, well-worn practices. They charge he is elusive when it comes to supporting those dogmas and enforcing the canon laws. Both, they insist, should be public-ly defined, isolated and defended. Those much-noted gestures, they argue, are too ambiguous and nuanced.
Grumblers resent Francis’s evident muffling of hard-line utterances and his blurring of their cherished polarizing ac-tivities — against, for example, abortion and same-sex marriage. Many are befud-dled: Critics might dispute papal words, but who can refute his gestures?
These all come with contexts. Teach-ers of public speaking long ago pub-lished charts depicting and prescribing specific gestures designed to achieve particular effects. Actors learn ways to gesture, and referees at sporting events work with elaborate vocabularies of ges-ture. Well, so do popes.
Sixty-plus years ago Angelo Roncalli, on becoming Pope John XXIII, signaled a fresh approach to the papacy in much the same way. He would not, for exam-ple, use a ceremonial chair, carried by four bearers, at St. Peter’s in Rome.
His successor, Paul VI, continued to make points through symbolic moves. He embraced Patriarch Athenagoras, leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, in a 1964 meeting at the River Jordan — as if alluding to the Church East and the Church West beginning to affirm each other, where dogma and church law could not.
I reported on the Third Session of the Second Vatican Council, on November 21, 1964. During one of the daily ses-sions, before more than 2,000 bishops, I witnessed a gesture of ostentatious sim-plicity: Paul placed his precious three-tiered tiara on the altar at St. Peter’s. The pope was indicating the surrender of certain symbols of churchly power. He then announced that the tiara would be given to the United States. There it was to be sold, and the money given to the poor.
As with so many gestures, this one raised controversy. Some traditionalist Catholics are still upset. Critics on the left, meanwhile, pronounced it preten-tious and phony.
Part 1 of 3
BY MARTIN E. MARTY
COMMENTARY
AQUILES Z. ZONIOCorrespondent
VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO
Cha-cha is not a foregone conclusion
REVIVING INTEREST ON CHARTER CHANGE – Following a series of hast-ily called close-door meetings by key
figures of the House of Representatives, the leadership finally announced that it would include in the list of its priority agenda for 2014 the move to push for Charter Change or Cha-cha. Despite some pretty crucial is-sues confronting the present administra-tion – pork barrel scandals, rehabilitation of places devastated by man-made and natural calamities, power shortage and impending economic slowdown, the idea of restoring the interest on charter change has been given priority concern by leaders of Congress that raised the quizzical brows of the wary public.
News about reviving interest on charter change refused to fade away and despite war on words, a number of political parties have resumed advocacy on charter change. Even during the previous administrations the different political groups similarly view Cha-cha as a matter of necessity in the at-tainment of national goals. I could still viv-idly remember that the precipitating factor behind a Church-led public outburst during the term of President Fidel Ramos was the move to amend the Constitution, which over-bearing church leaders alleged would effectively allow the sitting president to serve a second term. Under the present political setup the president and the vice president are limited only to a single term of six years.
The controversial Cha-cha issue has been on the boil for quite some time with both supporters and opponents loudly making their cases heard in the legislative chambers and in the streets. Though Ra-mos then has consistently stated that the amendments are extremely necessary to remove defects in the constitution and that he personally does not want a second term his severe critics and detractors thought
otherwise. Ra-mos was un-der constant pressure and the amend-ment process failed to mate-rialize during his tenure. Hate, distrust and animosity could not dis-pel a common objective that ironically puts the adminis-tration of then President Gloria Macapa-gal- Arroyo and the opposition on the same side of the fence – the desire to amend the constitution.
Leaders of different political parties then proposed the revision of the funda-mental laws of the land, not only to elimi-nate defects, but to make it more respon-sive to the changing needs of the country’s fast-growing population. Moreover, the leaders of different political inclinations agreed on amending the constitution so that the government will no longer be changed at the will or whim of the military and mob rule. They say the move is well within the rights of the leaders and the peo-ple to do so. But then again the proposal to amend the Charter during Arroyo’s term suffered a similar fate.
Notwithstanding the number of hur-dles, party leaders previously believe that the amendments have a good chance of passage. However, Cha-cha Resolution No. 40, which seeks to turn Congress into a constituent assembly or ConAss – a necessary prerequisite for constitutional amendments, enabling legislators to con-sider nine proposed changes to the Consti-tution became the center of controversy. Critics and detractors insist that none of the proposals specifically deals with lifting
the term limits or allowing the president to run for re-election. Furthermore, more anti-Chacha groups pointed out that one consequence of the proposal would be a de facto term extension for the sitting president because once a constituent as-sembly comes into being, there would be no stopping it from introducing further amendments and doing away with term limits altogether.
Cha-cha advocates as always have a perennial formidable opponent – church leaders and their blinded allies. But de-spite the adamant opposition, various sectors in society remained optimistic the amendment process ensures that the pro-posed changes are not a foregone conclu-sion. This is precisely the reason news sto-ries are spreading around that there’s now a new move of the Lower House to “resur-rect” the Cha-cha agenda. Calls to revise or amend the constitution at this stage seem gaining ground even within the ranks of the business sector certainly because on top of its proposed amendment are chang-es on the economic provisions.
Nonetheless, this early, Palace senior political advisers hinted that President Benigno Aquino III is somewhat reluc-tant with the proposal to push for charter change and seems not amenable to the idea of holding revisions of the charter during his tenure. Keen political experts and thoughtful observers say the Presi-dent’s action and body language revealed his true sentiment on constitutional amendments. Lastly, we firmly believe a collective decision is the most important basis for constitutional amendments. In our subsequent column articles, we could probably enumerate the nine proposed changes to the fundamental laws of the land, which were laid out through the so-called “united call for charter change” during the Arroyo presidency.
Getting inspiration from the birds
LOOKING at the two last remaining weeks of December with your family off to the farm to rejoin your kids’ Lola
and Lolo for the traditional year-end visit combining both Christmas and the coming New Year, I’m sure, like me, you’re also fig-uring out things to do, to set up, to improve and to change ----so that things will turn out better in 2014.
I still don’t know if I’m getting random suggestions, wise decisions and “inspired thoughts” from the birds that sometimes perched on the railing outside the louvered windows of my apartment at Nova Tierra Village here.
But I enjoy watching them turn their little heads back and forth, whistling bird calls to fellow birds hidden among the thick foliage of avocado tree, mango tree and ma-copa tree beside the mosque.
With the help of a small book titled, “Birds of the Philippines” by Tim Fish-er and Nigel Flicks, I was able to identify these birds, maybe as “Tawny Grassbird,” “Ground Babbler”, along with common swallows, mayas and sandpipers. But the specie name doesn’t really matter to me, as long as they feel comfortable and safe flying near our windows and perching on that rail nearby.
Getting inspiration from these birds is becoming a habit for me here, as I churned out business news and features for the lit-tle national industry publication I edit and
produce for a foreign agency dealing with “boosting the capacities of industries to in-crease their ca-pability to boost their output and improve their prod-ucts”--- such heavy topics that can bore anyone to death but so important to people who produce goods or food to sell to global markets.
If you don’t look---and even talk to birds--- you’ll go crazy working deep in topics of “industry, trade, exports, mar-kets” because this type of work can siphon off all your energy and leave you exhaust-ed at the end of the day. So for me, I need to just hang loose and never to take things so seriously. I just turn to these birds for inspiration.
Although I don’t have an office to work on all my stories, I find it so productive to write---type or “encode”--- my stories on my laptop, looking out the window on the tree foliage beside the mosque, listening to the shrill bird calls and the choral music they make together, especially if I put on an instrumental DVD music piece of Dan
Gibson’s “Solitude”, that explore nature with music.
That’s probably why I never struggle with that thing called “writer’s block”, a common disease of all writers and jour-nalists who have a very hard time trying to start writing a piece--- a news item, a col-umn, a feature, an essay, fiction, anything. My secret is still the same trees and the birds who live in those branches.
If you ever have the chance of getting your hands on Dan Gibson’s “Solitude” and listening to such pieces as “Chopin—Nocturne in E Flat” or “Debussy—Claire de Lune” or even “Beethoven—Moonlight Sonata in Opus 27, No. 2 “---- then, you’ll know what I mean.
You can’t force yourself to write if the inspiration to write is not there. No one can force you to write well, not even any editor, it’s you alone who can find the in-spiration to write.
In these remaining two weeks of De-cember, I suggest you look for something that really make you feel good and focus your eyes or ears on it before you start doing anything--- to plan something or to write something.
Don’t even “think” about it. You’re wasting time. The New Year 2014 is just around the corner.
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 201310 EDGEDAVAONEWS
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Trial...
DTI 11...
CPP...
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City...
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OVERWHELMING. At least 10,000 Dabawenyos attend the traditional Christmas day “Pahalipay ni Mayor Rody sa Katawhan” in Central Park Subdivision, Davao City Wednesday afternoon. Lean Daval Jr.
Bermudo added that the CSSDO has also helped facilitate the return of some of the survivors to their home-towns from as far as Sa-mar and Tacloban.
“While they are here, if they still are not able to permanently support their families, the city will still help,” she said.
Earlier this month,
the city’s Public Em-ployment Services Office reported that 12 Yolan-da survivors in the city have been hired by sev-eral companies after the PESO held a mini-jobs fair at the City Hall in the last weeks of November.
The jobs fair was participated in by 70 companies. [MindaN-ews]
Drunk...FFROM 2
be drunk, slapped the policewoman’s face and pulled her hair. Gumaga sustained scratches in her face and hand when the suspect resisted ar-
rest. Antolin said that he
was mad at Vergara for being the go-between in the love affair of his wife and Vergara’s brother-
in-law. Antolin said his wife left him.
He said that when he saw Vergara at the beach he dragged her to the sea and tried to drown her.
“I apologized to the police woman because I was drunk at the time,” he said.
Antolin is detained in jail.
followed by a further P500,000-commitment to Rev. Fr. Roel delos Reyes for the completion of the makeover.
“Kami mapasalama-ton sa tabang nga gidu-nol kanato sa King-king Copper-Gold Project, tun-god dako kini nga kanti-dad nga mao gayud ang atong gikinahanglan aron mapanindot pa ang atong parokya” (We’re so grate-ful for the assistance ex-tended to us by the King-king Copper-Gold Project.
This is just what we need-ed to make our parish bet-ter.), said Fr. delos Reyes.
For his part, Gillespie said that the company and its owners are “very happy with the relation-ships that they have been able to build with the peo-ple of Pantukan. And we look forward to nurtur-ing more opportunities for engagement with the community, with the end objective of building a better future for the next generation.”
the report. The CPDO informed
the committee that there are some projects in the submitted list were al-ready included in the lo-cal development invest-ment program (LDIP) and AIP.
“However, the pro-posed budgets for some projects are lower. Thus, adjustments were made resulting to an increase in the amount,” the re-port stated.
The projects which have an increase in the budget are Drain-age System which has an additional budget of P3.79-million based on the cost estimates sub-mitted by the city engi-neer’s office (CEO) aside from the P9.60-million from the LDIP.
“Having a new project cost of P13,390,000.00
with the new Project Title Proposed Installa-tion of 36’’ 0 RCCP Line and Manholes with Cov-er, Quimpo Boulevard, Ecowest Drive, Ecoland, Davao City , ”
The buildings and other public structures also have P3.40-mil-lion increased aside P800,000.00 LDIP budget as they have a new proj-ect cost of P4.20-million.
Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang, chair of fi-nance, ways and means, told Edge Davao through interview that the plan will be up to 2016 and the source of funds of this plan are still to be collected.
Dayanghirang said that the plan will be funded depending on the priorities and available funds of the city govern-ment.
Technology (ICT)- Davao president Bert Barriga said that there’s a need to create a business climate which promotes continui-ty in business operations.
On the other hand, Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
Inc., (DCCCII) outgoing president said that de-spite the diversity in busi-nesses, the only solution is for business to be pre-pared for times of disaster and calamity by having a comprehensive Disaster Risk Reduction and Man-
agement (DRRM) plan to address external and internal risks to their op-eration,” Lim said. adding that the plan should have a pre-disaster, during and post disaster plan that would be fully integrated into the available 911 sys-
tem.On the other hande
DTI chief said that it will be introduced to SMEs by next year.
Currently, he said that they are still finalizing the components of the said program.
Valley and Davao Orien-tal.
“Despite the sup-
posed ceasefire declared by Malacañang, AFP op-erations continue to be
carried out unabated, committing widespread abuses of human rights
and international human-itarian law,” The CPP said without elaborating. [EPC]
and Pacquiao.Boxing fans around
the world drool to see the Pacquiao-Mayweather megabout.
In his website, www.mp8.ph, Pac-quiao put up a whole-some Christmas card
with a greeting “Wishing you a blessed holiday sea-son.”
In the same site, Pacquiao also post-ed a message “Man-ny Pacquiao Loves every one of you and wish-es you a very Merry Christ-
mas! Remember this is the season to cele-brate the birth of Jesus and remember His love for us. Please share that same love with every-one around you and God Bless.”
Unlike Pacman’s sub-
dued reaction, his fans around the world didn’t let Mayweather’s insult pass.
At around 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, Pac-quiao fans generat-ed a meme which is also becoming viral in the social media.
ers also want scrutinized.According to Bello,
now is the time to “find out how much they give to each retiring justice of the Supreme Court,” saying that he knows of an associate justice who was given a huge amount as retirement benefits.
“I think Congress should find out kung magkano ang binibigay, kasi sobra eh,” Bello said.
He said that if there is strong evidence of betrayal of public trust among justices, this would open them to im-peachment and trial.
This was what hap-pened to CJ Corona, Bello said.
Told that the inves-tigation might be con-strued as an act of re-venge by the lawmak-
ers when the Supreme Court declared the PDAF as unconstitutional, the lawmaker from Davao City and Isabela said the justices and the public should understand that the lawmakers have a responsibility to do their oversight function, to see to it that the monies ap-propriated by Congress are properly and judi-ciously spent.
Bello also bared that there is an ongoing in-quiry into the possible waste of public funds by the Social Security Sys-tem (SSS), the Govern-ment Service Insurance System (GSIS) and other government-owned and –controlled corporations (GOCCs) in terms of ex-cessive salaries, allow-ances and other perks.
PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III rejected the resignation of Energy Sec-
retary Jericho Petilla following their meeting on Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a state-ment.
Petilla has been criticized for failing to fully restore pow-er in typhoon-affected areas in the Visayas region despite his pledge to energize the region by Dec. 24.
Lacierda said the President did not accept the resignation, believing the energy secretary has done enough and that re-
storing power will take three to six months in town centers considering the extent of the damage.
The major grid in the Lu-zon-Visayas was down, the ma-jor geothermal plant in Leyte was also out of service and generation, transmission, and distribution lines were down, Lacierda said.
Despite the huge task, the President believes Petilla ac-complished a lot, according to Lacierda.
First, from his original tar-get of six months, Petilla was able to restore power in rough-
ly 40 days, Lacierda said.Second, within that period,
Petilla was able to energize 317 out of 320 affected towns, leav-ing 0.93 percent still to accom-plish, he added.
“By any measure, this is excellent performance. The President noted that foreign observers who have seen work being done in the Visayas, and in comparison to disasters of lesser magnitude in other coun-tries, pointed out that repair and rehabilitation of energy infra-structure was done faster,” he noted.
“For all these reasons, the
President, in rejecting Secretary Petilla’s offer to resign, reiter-ated that he has no intention of losing the services of an honor-able public servant.”
While visiting devastated areas in the region last Novem-ber together with the President, Petilla said he targeted to re-store the supply of electricity in the Visayas region by Dec. 24.
Petilla said he was hopeful of energizing the region by Dec. 24 considering the availability of manpower and equipment with the help of volunteers from Min-danao electric cooperatives as well as from Meralco. [PNA]
President Aquino rejects Sec. Petilla’s resignation
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 2013
TABLET penetra-tion in South-east Asia has
increased two-fold, according to an anal-ysis by Ericsson Con-sumerLab in South-east Asia & Oceania. According to the re-search data from Q1 2013 based on 4500 interviews using online surveys and face-to-face interviews involv-ing mobile phone users in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Indone-sia, tablet penetration showed strong growth, with Singapore and Malaysia continuing to lead for tablet penetra-tion. Singapore grew from 31% to 42% while Malaysia grew from 14% to 39%.
“There is a clear change in mobile data usage. Users now pre-fer instant messag-ing, social networking and video stream-ing,” said Afrizal Ab-dul Rahim, Region-al Head for Ericsson ConsumerLab South East Asia & Oceania. In the Philippines, tablet penetration in-creased from 6% in 2012 to 14% in 2013, according to the re-search data from Q1 2013 based on 500 face-to-face interviews
involving urban mo-bile phone users in the country.
Riding on the poten-tial of the tablet market in the country, Globe Telecom recently un-veiled its suite of data plans for Apple’s new-est tablet devices, the iPad Air and the iPad mini with Retina dis-play, allowing custom-ers to connect to its fast Long Term Evolution
(LTE) network with speeds up to 42mbps. The iPad Air 16GB is available for as low as P1,624 monthly at Plan 499 with P1,125* monthly cashout over a 24-month contract period, which already includes 85 hours of LTE surfing, 20 hours more than its compet-itor’s offer. Meanwhile, the 32GB variant is available for as low
as P1,790 monthly at Plan 499 with P1,291 monthly cashout over a 24-month contract pe-riod, also bundled with 85 hours of LTE surfing.
On the other hand, the iPad mini with Retina display 16GB is offered at P1,499 monthly at Plan 499 with P1,000 month-ly cashout over a 24-month contract period, complete with
85 hours of LTE surf-ing, while the 32GB variant is available at P1,665 monthly at Plan 499 with P1,166 monthly cashout over a 24-month contract pe-riod also bundled with 85 hours of LTE surfing. “We are excited to have the most affordable and value for money offer for the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display in the
Philippines, with in-creased mobile surfing hours to allow our cus-tomers to enjoy high-speed and prolonged browsing on the latest Apple tablet devices,” said Raul Macatangay, Head of Globe Postpaid Business and Devices. For more details on the offers, visit www.globe.com.ph/ipadair or www.globe.com.ph/ipadmini.
11EDGEDAVAO
ICT HUB
YOUTH SUMMIT. In line with Globe Telecom’s thrust of ensuring that business is pursued without ignoring societal and ecological issues, the company has thrown its support to LEAD ASEAN Youth Summit which gathered 150 of the brightest young leaders from across South East Asia to craft programs that will address problems being faced by governments today. Using Globe Telecom’s broad-band WiFi service, the participants engaged in workshops, interactive panel discussions, and cultural exchange activities focused on the subjects of economic development, environment, education and awareness, and human development.Globe, provided transportation during the exposure trips. LEAD which stands for “Link, Engage, Activate, Develop” was organized by Ayala Foundation in partnership with the United States Embassy with the goal of forging strong youth network across the region.
ERICSSON REPORT
Tablet penetration in SEA grows two-fold in 2013
Tablet ownership in the Philippines grows to 14%
WIRELESS ser-vices leader Smart Commu-
nications Inc. (Smart) has launched its latest satel-lite-powered communica-tion service called Smart Sat, which provides sub-scribers with the flexibili-ty, mobility, and connectiv-ity of a mobile phone even at times when cellular cov-erage is compromised.
Smart Sat is powered by the Thuraya SatSleeve, a revolutionary case that turns an iPhone into a sat-ellite device with the aid of a mobile app.
Smart is expected to deliver the device in Jan-uary 2014, but interested parties may start reserv-ing for the sleeve by visit-ing www.smart.com.ph/smartsat.
“Smart is pleased to offer the Smart Sat ser-vice to everyone, follow-ing the surge of demand for satellite services be-cause of our grim experi-ence with super typhoon Yolanda,” said Tina Mari-ano, head of Smart’s Global Access Group.
The storm washed out entire villages, knocked
down power lines, and toppled communication infrastructure, rendering many areas in Eastern Vi-sayas out of reach.
“Many people have realized the significance of satellite communi-cations in times when cellular coverage is com-promised. The Smart Sat service gives you that vital communication line when all else fails or when you simply need a back-up for business or personal use,” Mariano said.
Wide range of uses
Dependent on a net-work of satellites above the equator for the trans-mission of communi-cation signals, satellite phones are not suscepti-ble to natural calamities and may work virtually anywhere in the world.
As such, the Smart Sat
service makes your iP-hone versatile, not only for disaster situations but also for important oper-ations by government, military, and civic orga-nizations. It may also be useful to industries such
as mining, seafaring, and media, among others.
Simple and us-er-friendly
Smart Sat users only need to download the Sat-sleeve app for free at the Apple App Store before using the device.
Once the app is run-ning, you only need to dock your iPhone 5 or iP-hone 5s into the Satsleeve to enjoy access to phone calls, emails, instant mes-sages, and popular social media apps in satellite mode.
Coverage in over 140
countries For its satellite ser-
vices, Smart has part-nered with mobile sat-ellite services provider Thuraya Telecommunica-tions Company (Thuraya), which provides coverage in over 140 countries or two-thirds of the globe.
It also provides cover-age in major sea lanes in Asia, New Zealand, Aus-tralia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Indian Ocean.
To know more about the Smart Sat, please visit www.smart.com.ph.
Smart launches Smart Sat service
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 201312 EDGEDAVAOCLASSIFIEDS
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May apply in person at Human Resource Department, YBLI Office, General Santos Drive, Koronadal City.
EDGEDavao Davao Partners
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 2013
CLASSIFIEDS
13VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 2013
EDGEDAVAO
COMPETITIVE EDGETFC backs OWWA seminarfor OF families in DavaoOWWA REGIONAL Welfare
Office XI OIC-Director Edu-ardo Bellidoencourages
OFs and their families to undergo a paradigm shift and break the vicious cycle of dependency
December 23, 2013 (Davao City, Mindanao) - The Filipino Channel (TFC) furthersupports the Overseas Workers’ Wel-fare Administration’s(OWWA) programs aimed at providing end-to-end support for overseas Filipinos (OFs) enrouteto their overseas work and back to the homeland.The TFC teamgraced OWWA’s “Mag-negosyoTayo,” micro-entrepreneurial business seminar recently held at the Pinnacle Hotel and Suites in the Crown Jewel of Mindanao, Davao City inSouthern Philippines.
According to OWWA Re-gional Welfare Office XI OIC-Di-rector Eduardo Bellido, the seminar, attended by nearly 50 OF families, is part of OWWA’s monthlyactivities for overseas workers and their loved ones under its OFW Family Circle pro-gram. The OFW Family Circle is a program that gathers these OFs and their families with the aim of bringing these distant families together using a holistic approach, covering areas from
psychologicalwell-being tofinan-cialliteracy. “Mag-negosyoTayo,” the micro-entrepreneurial sem-inar,specifically aims to break the vicious cycle of dependency of the families of OFs. With the theme “Developing an Entrepre-neurial Mind-set,” the seminar, Bellido said, aims to change the thinking that is prevalent in these families - to look at their OF ben-eficiaries for economic support.
Bellido said “As much as possible, we want these families to veer away from the depen-dency situation of the families on those working abroad. We also want to develop the entre-preneurial skills of those left be-hind.“Kesanamanasatayongasa-samgaanaknatin, kaya pa natin, isipinnatinanongmagandangpa-pasukin?Anoangmagagawang-ganitong amount nanaitabi?” (Instead of depending on our children, we can opt to do some-thing to sustain our families. What can we do with the amount our OF family members saved?)
OWWA, the primary gov-ernment agency assigned to promote the welfare and over-all well-being of OFs and their dependents, in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Region XI
unit represented by Ivy Uy, se-nior trading industrial develop-ment supervisor,took this shift in mind-set further through a whole-day training covering
leadership capacity building, financial literacy and technol-ogy training. The seminar in-cluded advice on sunrise indus-tries such as soap-making and
craft-making and foreboding against sunset industries.
Public Employment Service Office (PESO) Manager Sher-yl Espinosa also discussed the
proper procedures in the em-ployment procedure to avoid illegal recruitment and other illegal activities possibly involv-ing returning OFs.
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 201314 EDGEDAVAOSPORTS
CLASSIFIEDS
EDGEDavao Davao Partnerslateral movement that caused some to suggest he was run-ning.”
The flamboyant Ameri-can fighter, who has ditched a fight with Pacquiao in a reluctance so intriguing his reputation has been taint-ed because of the one fight he refused to take, is one of those guys who will be ap-preciated much more when he’s gone than he is while he’s still competing. But for Iole, “he’s the best of the best, and he was the best of a very good crop of fight-ers in 2013. For that, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the 2013 Yahoo Sports Boxing Fighter of the Year.”
Iole said Mayweather didn’t get the respect he needs from the media. “The boxing media hasn’t been willing to recognize his greatness,” Iole wrote.
“Floyd Mayweather is so good, so far ahead of the competition, that we have difficulty believing it. We say that he’s fought no one, that he’s passed up the great competition, that if he had
fought this guy or that guy or this other guy, he wouldn’t have a perfect record” Iole continued in his commen-tary which is considered by many in the boxing world as the new gospel of boxing.
Iole defended his choice of Mayweather saying: “We see him rout champion after champion, winning 10, 11 or, in most cases, all 12 rounds, and we say he got them at the right time. We insist that this next up-and-comer is going to be the one to beat him. Go back and check how many boxing writers picked Canelo Alvarez to beat May-weather in September. It was a lot.”
Iole, however, believes Mayweather is getting older. But he proved he could slug it out with the sport’s mighty young turks like Canelo Al-varez whom he disposed. “Alvarez could punch, they wrote (as if Miguel Cotto, Os-car De La Hoya, Diego Cor-rales, Victor Ortiz and count-less others Mayweather has faced could not). Alvarez was the bigger man, and the
younger man. When the final bell rang, with all apologies to judge C.J. Ross, it was as obvious a wipeout as could be. Not even Alvarez himself thought he won (or drew),” said Iole.
Iole thinks Mayweath-er still isn’t given nearly the kind of credit for his in-ring performances as he de-serves.
Iole cited the case being made for Adonis Stevenson for the 2013 Fighter of the Year. Stevenson went 4-0 in 2013, knocking out Darnell Boone in six and Chad Daw-son in one. He made Tavoris Cloud quit after seven and he stopped Tony Bellew in the sixth.
“It was as if he’d beaten Ezzard Charles, Bob Foster, Archie Moore and Michael Spinks in the same calendar year. Yet, when Mayweather won in stunningly one-sided fashion against Alvarez and Robert Guerrero (OK, that was not quite as stunning), it was dismissed,” said the American boxing scribe.
For Iole: “It shouldn’t be,
though. Mayweather is the best boxer, and he had the best year, and he deserves to be Fighter of the Year. Had he gotten off the deck and rallied from behind to defeat Alvarez, he might be given more credit than he’s getting by going wire-to-wire.
But because he’s dis-tanced himself so far from the field – honestly, who in any division near him do you seriously think would beat him? – that credit isn’t as easily forthcoming. He just makes it look so easy.
It’s coming from this cor-ner, though. Mayweather’s fantastic year, routing Guer-rero and Alvarez in a pair of one-sided bouts, makes him the easy selection as the Ya-hoo Sports Boxing Fighter of the Year.”
Iole considered Steven-son as one of a handful of worthy candidates for the award, and according to him, the big man from outside of Montreal may have won it had Mayweather only fought once in the year, as has been his recent trend.
Iole picks...FFROM 16
The cheese school has an air-conditioned lounge were workshops and even wine and cheese tastings can be held as well as an actual laboratory where students can get their hands on experience making their own cheeses. “Hopefully, the school will help in the ad-vancement of cheese making in our region where the norms of European cheese making do not regularly apply.” says Olive. The blessing was a casual affair with close friends from Davao and Manila in atten-dance. “I really did not have big plans for the opening and
blessing of the school, I just texted the date and time to friends and I know they will be here.” beams Olive. And it was a good thing that guests arrived since the one-of-a-
TO BE HONEST, I had to take a second look the first time I saw the cheeses from Malagos. They offered a simple kesong puti, as well as a nice crumbly feta. It was hard to imagine that just a few years after my first encounter with Olive Puentespina’s cheeses that she is offering beautiful blue cheeses, soft cheeses as well as hard cheeses that are the toast of chefs all round the Philip-pines. And on November 28, Olive finally realised her dream of setting up a cheese-making school at her family’s Agdao garden.
INdulge! VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 2013
EDGEDAVAOFOOD
New horizons at the Malagos Farmhouse
kind buffet spread featuring mounds of steamed slipper crabs, corn, a pair of roasted tender cabrito (milk-fed baby goat), heaps of juicy grilled burgers, and of course, beau-tiful artisanal cheeses from Malagos. The Malagos Farmhouse and cheese making school is located at the Puentespina compound at Bolcan street, Agdao, Davao City. Follow me on Instagram or on Twitter @kennethkingong for more travel and foodie finds as well as happenings in, around and beyond Durianburg.
DAYS from now, 2013’s chapter will close and another year shall begin. Say-ing goodbye to “what has been” and em-bracing “what shall be” is life’s most terri-fying phase. Yes, the transition is nerve wrecking – in the most positive way, that is. For most of us, we cel-ebrate the coming of the New Year with a bountiful celebration of merrymak-ing, laughter and abundant food. For us, it is another reason to wake the chef in us and let everybody expe-rience our kitchen power and prowess through our masterpieces. Hence, before we say goodbye to 2013, let me share with you some of my favorite recipes that I will most definitely prepare for this year’s medya noche. These are by-products of my food adventures and are now belongs to my ‘ex-perimental but delicious’ recipes.
Eggs Baked in Tomato SauceIn a saucepan, pour ½-cup tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce and 5 pieces deseed-ed and halved ripe toma-toes and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, break each egg in a small bowl. Using a ladle, make a well onto the surface of the to-mato sauce. Carefully drop each egg. Season to taste -- some salt, pepper and grat-ed cheddar cheese. After seasoning, cover pan and let the heat cook the egg. Turn heat low and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Gently lift each egg and serve with to-mato sauce on the side.
Grilled Chicken and Avo-
cado TortillaThaw store bought tortilla wrappers in microwave or over grill. Be careful not to burn; set aside. With your left over grilled chicken, chicken barbeque or litson manok, shred until bite size pieces. Meanwhile, shred some purple cab-bage and soak in ice water and vinegar. Drain and pat dry with paper towels. In a bowl, cut 1 medium avocado in cubes; set aside. Get your warm tortilla; add some chicken pieces, avocado cubes, shredded cabbage, drizzle with ol-ive oil and any dressing of your choice. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and cheese. Serve wrapped in parchment paper or foil while warm. You can also use tuna flakes, adobo flakes or purely vegetables.
Spinach Pesto and Garlic PastaCook pasta according to package direction. Set aside. In a processor or blender, combine spin-ach, pine nuts, salt, pep-per and garlic. Blend and
gradually pour olive oil. Blend until paste like con-sistency. Taste and season accordingly. In a saucepan, add olive oil and garlic. Sauté until brown but not burned. Add pasta and toss in prepared spinach pesto. Combine altogether and serve while hot. Driz-zle with olive oil and some grated parmesan cheese for added flavor.
Fruit Medley With this most versatile ingredient, you can outdo the typical fresh fruit juices and shakes. Try a fresh fruit sandwich or a fresh fruit salad minus the cream. Have it raw or poached with red wine or flambéed with rum, you can never go wrong with a fruit. For a change, have your almost overripe banana frozen and blend with some taho, brown sugar and milk. It will most definitely spike up your mornings.
Sweet KebabWith a skewer, skew pieces of blueberries, strawber-ries, brownies and mal-
lows. Use your creativity and use as much fruits and sweet treats as you like. There is no rule here. Best served with a glass of spar-kling cider or wine. Mostly for kids, you can spike this one up by dredging your brownies in some rum be-fore freezing. There you go, a little bit of something for everyone. Do not limit yourself with what I have written. In-stead, take queue and ex-plore. Use the many offer-ings of your pantry and not be limited by it. One more thing, party on! Let me be the first to greet you of a Happy and bountiful New Year ahead. To my family, friends and officemates from JSOW (Steve, there you go!), my TauMu Bros and Sis (S/o to Kid Aznar!) and those who have made #theRoyalChef a Thursday favorite, KU-DOS! To the coming year. . . enjoy! Be a part of Davao’s Thursday habit! Email me at [email protected] or follow me @herroyalheir-ess on instagram! Cheers!
THE Philippines’ leading low-cost carrier, Cebu Pacific Air (PSE: CEB) adds flights to Boracay and promotes low fares to Phuket, Thailand, just in time for the holiday season. The airline mounts an additional daily flight between Manila and Caticlan (Boracay), from December 27 to 31, 2013 and from January 3 to 6, 2014. This additional frequency departs Manila at 6:15am and arrives in Caticlan at 7:25am. The return flight departs Caticlan at 8am and arrives in Manila at 9:05am. For this period, CEB offers up to 10 daily flights between Manila and Caticlan. It also operates direct flights from Manila and Cebu to Kalibo, as well as from Cebu to Caticlan. Meanwhile, CEB highlights Phuket, Thailand as a possible holi-day destination for leisure travelers. CEB offers direct thrice weekly Manila-Phuket flights, for as low as P3,299. “Beach vacations to places like Boracay and Phuket are terrific options, for those who are just planning their vacations now or are looking for Christmas gifts for their loved ones,” said CEB VP for Marketing and Distribution Candice Iyog. For bookings and inquiries, guests can go to www.cebupacific-air.com, or call the reservation hotlines (02)7020-888 or (032)230-8888. The latest seat sales can also be found on CEB’s official Twit-ter (@cebupacificair) and Facebook pages. CEB’s 47-strong fleet is comprised of 10 Airbus A319, 27 Airbus A320, 2 Airbus A330 and 8 ATR-72 500 aircraft. It is one of the most modern aircraft fleets in the world. Between 2013 and 2021, Cebu Pacific will take delivery of 15 more brand-new Airbus A320, 30 Airbus A321neo, and 4 Airbus A330 aircraft.
A2 INdulge!
Cebu Pacific highlights beach destinations with more flights, low fares
Globe Telecom offers iPad Air and iPad mini
with Retina display
UP AND ABOUT FOOD
Globe Telecom today announced that iPad Air with Wi-Fi + Cellu-lar and iPad mini with Retina display with Wi-Fi + Cellular are now available in the Philippines. Globe Telecom is offering these new iPads with a range of attractive data plans that allow customers to connect to its fast Long Term Evolution (LTE) network with speeds up to 42mbps. The iPad Air 16GB is available for as low as P1,624 monthly at Plan 499 with P1,125* monthly cashout over a 24-month contract period, which already includes 85 hours of LTE surfing, 20 hours more than its competitor’s offer. Meanwhile, the 32GB variant is available for as low as P1,790 monthly at Plan 499 with P1,291 monthly cashout over a 24-month contract period, also bundled with 85 hours of LTE surfing. On the other hand, the iPad mini with Retina display 16GB is of-fered at P1,499 monthly at Plan 499 with P1,000 monthly cashout over a 24-month contract period, complete with 85 hours of LTE surfing, while the 32GB variant is available at P1,665 monthly at Plan 499 with P1,166 monthly cashout over a 24-month contract period also bundled with 85 hours of LTE surfing. “We are excited to have the most affordable and value for money offer for the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display in the Philippines, with increased mobile surfing hours to allow our customers to enjoy high-speed and prolonged browsing on the latest Apple tablet devices,” said Raul Macatangay, Head of Globe Postpaid Business and Devices. iPad Air features a stunning 9.7-inch Retina display in a new thinner and lighter design. Precision-engineered to weigh just one pound, iPad Air is 20 percent thinner and 28 percent lighter than the fourth generation iPad, and with a narrower bezel the borders of iPad Air are dramatically thinner—making content even more immersive. iPad mini with Retina display brings all the pixels from the 9.7-inch iPad to its 7.9-inch screen, delivering razor sharp text and detail in the same amazingly thin and light design. The new iPads feature the powerful and power-efficient Apple-designed A7 chip with 64-bit desktop-class architecture, ultrafast wireless with faster built-in Wi-Fi and expanded LTE cellular con-nectivity, and the newly-designed iOS 7 featuring hundreds of great new features. To date, over 80% of the network is already on 4G HSPA+ pro-viding faster mobile browsing experience for customers, com-plementing the pilot LTE deployments in key business districts. Nearly 900 Long Term Evolution (LTE) sites in key cities and holi-day destinations are now operational. At the same time, Globe continues to enhance its Service Quality with the continuing opti-mization and capacity upgrade of its modern network. For complete details on pricing, please visit www.globe.com.ph/ipadair or www.globe.com.ph/ipadmini. For more informa-tion on iPad please visit www.apple.com/ipad.
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 2013EDGEDAVAO
Prepping for the New Year
INdulge! A3
RJ Jacinto, Gruppo Tribale, DJ Jon Tupas to perform at
Ateneo Homecoming
ABS-CBN’s team animazing serves up Christmas treat
with all-new lineup
ENTERTAINMENT
Kids and kids-at-heart are in for a wonderful treat this Christmas as ABS-CBN’s Team Animazing takes the wraps off all-new heroes looking to prove themselves beginning Monday (Dec 23). Follow the adventures of the first Ultraman as he re-turns to earth in “Ultraman Mebius,” weekdays at 9 AM. Ultraman Mebius, under the guise of Mirai Hibino, shows that age is just a number by leading the new members of GUYS in protecting Earth from an invasion of mon-sters. After watching Ultraman save the world, cheer for Kuroko Tetsuya and Kagami Taiga in “Kuroko’s Basket-ball” at 9:25 AM as they lead the little-known basketball team of Seirin High and battle against Japan’s bas-ketball powerhouse, led by Kuroko’s former teammates and stars of the ‘Generation of Miracles.’ Take a break from the ac-
tion with the light-hearted story of misfit monster “Domo Kun” and watch his adventures with the animals of earth after “Ultraman Me-bius” and “Kuroko’s Basket-ball.” The action returns at 9:45 AM as Naruto’s old friend, Sasuke, learns the truth behind his family and en-tire clan’s death in “Naruto Shippuden Season 5”. After blaming everything on his older brother, he discovers that he is just a tool used by
the Hokage to wipe out his clan. He is convinced to fight the Hokage to avenge the Uchiha family’s death. The Hokage, however, has a rea-son for fighting the Uchiha clan. They foresee the clan’s strength and incredible power as a threat to every-one’s future. Can Naruto stop Sasuke turn completely into the darkness? Don’t miss the all-new Team Animazing every week day mornings beginning 9 AM only on ABS-CBN.
THE Ateneo de Davao High School Batch ‘88’s (AMDG’88) silver jubilarians, AMDG’88 together with Globe, and HP will host At-eneo Flashback: The Ateneo de Davao Grand Alumni Homecoming 2013 to be held on December 30, 2013 at the SMX Convention Cen-ter in SM Lanang Premier. “It has been a long time since the Ateneo de Davao Grand Alumni Homecom-ing was held in a more con-venient and comfortable venue and this was why Batch ‘88 decided to hold this year’s homecoming at the new SMX Convention Center.” says homecom-ing Chairman, Bobby An-tepuesto. Performing on Decem-ber 30 is Filipino rock and roll legend Ramon “RJ” Ja-cinto together with Gruppo Tribale providing energy to the evening and DJ Jon Tupas spinning retro beats from the 80’s and 90’s. “Ateneo Flashback: The Ateneo de Davao Grand Alumni Homecoming is the culmination of months of preparation of AMDG’88 and we hope that it will be a means for the Ateneo de Davao community to come together, catch-up with
each other and have a good time as well.” adds Bobby. Tickets to Flashback: The Ateneo de Davao Grand Alumni Homecoming 2013 are available at Coco’s Ma-tina, Angeline Gandionco (09321808645) or Tricia
Malcampo (09255750727) or you may call your batch representatives. For more information you may check out the Ateneo Flashback Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/at-eneoflashback2013
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 2013EDGEDAVAO
IMAGINE the joy of my cuticles once they finally got a polishing they deserved, after a hectic december schedule did a num-ber on my dear deli-cate nails. Exactly a year after their first branch opened, Im-pulse Nail Bar & Salon had another branch opened just this December 18 2013 at the 3rd floor of Veranza. I cant get over how in-credibly chic their interior is, hot pink with wood fin-ished furniture, the light-ing, plus their very neat relaxing ambiance, on the right their mani-pedi sta-tion, further in from the right, their VIP area, for those who want to get their nails done in private, just add Php50 to your mani-pedi, very affordable! You could lounge on their com-fy couch, even with your own TV. On the left it’s their salon area, where you could relax and enjoy the wide array of lavish salon services from hair treat-ments, styling, color and make-up as well. Impulse is very confident and proud, they only use trusted and imported brands for their services to assure their cus-tomers get the best results. “Classy, fancy but not pricey” is how owner and beauty fairy godmother, Pinky Mihara would de-scribe Impulse. Growing up, she’s always been fond of glamming stuff up and making things pretty which made her take up cosme-tology in Japan. Being born and raised in Gensan she decided to put up a nail bar and salon here. With her aim of providing fellow Generals, comfort and sat-isfaction with very afford-able prices, I could say they didn’t fail to comply. For only Php310 I was able to get my mani-pedi, with a fiery red Sally Han-sen’s complete salon mani-cure, All Fired Up polish. Got a bit confused while I was trying to pick a shade of polish, because of the vast collection of imported nail polish I was presented with. I was as seated at the end of this long, pink, su-per kawaii/cute couch, I saw their autoclave/steriliz-er placed on my right, what a big plus, customers could get the comfort of knowing the tools they’re using are clean. The manicurist did an awesome job of filing, buff-ing and painting my ragged claw like nails. Their em-ployees are definitely ex-perienced and hospitable,
people that you could build a customer friendship with, I had a nice chat with her, where in which I learned that they could finish an exceptionally clean and polished manicure within 15mins, and a mani-pedi under 30 mins, how awe-some is that? Overall the price is fair
and very affordable espe-cially when you consider the cleanliness & the prod-ucts that they use. One could see that cleanliness is of the utmost importance to this nail bar and salon, followed by a close second of customer satisfaction, that definitely makes you want to back again and
again. For appointments, info and updates visit www.facebook.com/Impulse-NailBarAndSalon Follow me on Twitter or Instagram, @kyriekoutre for more adventures in and around my wonderland that is Gensan, Tuna Capi-tal of the Philippines.
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 2013 15SPORTSEDGEDAVAO
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Los Angeles Lakers missed hav-
ing Kobe Bryant out on the court on Christmas Day. Same for LeBron James.
Playing without its biggest star, Los Angeles stayed right with the Mi-ami Heat for most of the day before slipping to a 101-95 loss against the de-fending NBA champions on Wednesday.
Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade had 23 points apiece, and James added 19 points in the Heat’s sixth straight win. Bosh grabbed 11 re-
bounds and Ray Allen made four 3-pointers for 12 points, helping Miami improve to 5-0 against the Lakers on the holiday.
‘’I knew we would get a good game out of them, and I think the NBA wanted a good game,’’ James said, noting the blowout results of the first two games on the league’s holiday sched-ule.
Bryant was relegated to the sideline with his fractured left knee, leaving him unable to extend his NBA record for Christmas Day appearances to 16.
‘’It’s not as special when Kobe’s not out there,’’ said James, who shared a post-game hug with Bryant.
Streaky reserve Nick Young scored 20 points for the Lakers, who were tied four times in the fourth quarter. Jodie Meeks add-ed 17 points, Xavier Hen-ry had 14 and Pau Gasol added 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Miami shot 51 per-cent from the field while improving to 7-0 against the Western Conference this season. It was its
19th straight win overall against West opponents.
Bosh scored 13 of his 23 points in the first half, when Miami trailed 27-21 after the first quarter.
‘’I just made an effort to get to the basket a little more,’’ he said. ‘’We just kept wearing on them of-fensively. They made some tough shots.’’
Los Angeles shot 42 percent in its third straight loss. The Lakers were 14 of 36 from 3-point range as they tried to go over the top to beat the Heat’s rug-ged interior.
NEW YORK – For Okla-homa City Thunder guard Russell West-
brook, ’tis the season for a triple-double.
With 14 points, 13 re-bounds and 10 assists, West-
brook recorded the eighth Christmas Day triple-double in NBA history as the Thun-
der took down the New York Knicks 123-94 on Wednes-day.
“Definitely (means a lot
for the performance to come on Christmas),” Westbrook said. “It’s a happy holiday season. It’s fun to play on Christmas. Not everyone is blessed to play on Christ-mas, so it definitely was a fun game.”
Westbrook achieved the feat for the first time this season with six minutes left in the third quarter, hitting a 3-pointer to put the Thunder up by 22 points.
“Russell was doing a good job manipulating the screens, getting into the paint and kicking out for open shots,” Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said. “He knows that when we move the bas-ketball and defend we put a lot of pressure on teams.”
Oklahoma City has won 10 of its last 11 games and shares the best record in the league with the Portland Trail Blazers and the Indiana Pacers.
Thunder forward Kevin Durant led all scorers with 29 points. He added seven re-bounds and six assists while shooting 63 percent from the field.
STEVE Stricker made it clear that money was not important.
His plan was to de-fend his title at Kapalua and walk away from the PGA Tour for the rest of the year. Over the holi-days leading into 2013, he reached a compro-mise and cut his schedule roughly in half. He con-tacted his sponsors, and they supported him.
Stricker didn’t have great expectations start-ing his year of semi-re-tirement.
‘’If I could just make enough money to pay yearly expenses, I’m fine with that,’’ he said. ‘’If we don’t have to touch any-thing I’ve put away ... I don’t need to do what I’m doing just to make mon-ey. I’d rather be staying at home, doing things at home with the foundation and with my kids.’’
No one else was around during this con-versation, but Stricker still leaned in and lowered his
voice as he stated what everyone already knew.
‘’You know, we’re pretty conservative with our money,’’ he said.
Stricker was run-ner-up that week at Kapa-lua and made $665,000. He didn’t play for six weeks, and then reached the quarterfinals of the Accenture Match Play Championship to earn $275,000. Two weeks later, he was runner-up at Doral and brought in $880,000.
That should pay the bills.
He finished the year with just over $4.4 mil-lion, the third-highest total of his career. His world ranking improved 10 spots to No. 8. And by the end of the year, he had several players contem-plating a similar schedule.
Along the way, there were plenty of other mo-ments that showed more about players than just their birdies and bogeys, and the checks they cash.
THE AIR 21 Express re-main at the bottom of the PLDT MyDSL Phil-
ippine Cup standings despite winning against the Global-Port Batang Pier on Christ-mas Day.
With a 2-8 record, the Express remain a game and a half behind the nearest teams — Barako Bull, Alas-ka, and Meralco — in the standings.
But help is on the way according to Air 21 coach Franz Pumaren, who hinted at trades to bring in addi-tional firepower to the Ex-press lineup.
“Hopefully by January, we can have new guys,” Pu-maren told reporters shortly after the victory.
The coach, however, re-fused to give additional de-tails about possible new ad-
ditions to his squad.“Magagalit si Santa,” said
Pumaren, who added that
the deals should address the holes on his team.
“We need a point guard
and we need another big guy, maybe a four or a five,” said Pumaren.
Tales from the TourAP Golf Writer
By DOUG FERGUSON
Westbrook triple double lifts Thunder
Kobe-less Lakers lose to Miami 101-95CHRISTMAS HEAT
Trades could save Air 21
A YEAR IN GOLF:
WESTBROOK. Triple double performance.
STEVE STRICKER
JOSEPH YEO. Is he on the way out?
BITING THE FAKE. Miami Heat forward aChris Anderson (right) fouls Los Angeles Lakers center Jordan Hill during the first half of action between the Lakers and the Heat. The Heat won 101-95. (AP)
VOL. 6 ISSUE 203 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27-28, 201316 EDGEDAVAOSports
DAVAO CITY’S top w o o d p u s h e r s lead the hunt
for top honors in the year-ending Davao Christmas Chess Fes-tival which gets going tomorrow at the Cen-terpoint Plaza in Matina Crossing.
The two-day chess-fest will have the Age Group division on Day 1 (December 28) and the Open division on Day 2 (December 29).
For the Open di-vision, the champion takes home the top kit-ty worth P2,500 and a
trophy with the second placer getting P1,500 and a trophy, third plac-er P1,000 and medal, 4th placer P500 and medal, and 5th placer P500 and medal.
At stake in the age group division are cash prizes and medals in the following categories: Un-der 10 Boys and Girls (1st P300 + Medal, 2nd P200 + Medal, 3rd P150 + Med-al); Under 14 (1st P500 + Medal, 2nd P300 + Medal, 3rd P200 + Medal); and Under 20 (1st P700 + Medal, 2nd P500 + Medal, 3rd P300 + Medal). (NJB)
BOXING authority Kev-in Iole of Yahoo Sports picked Floyd May-
weather as the hands down choice for top fighter of the year.
In his series of year-ender honors, Iole gave Mayweather his vote and never gave Man-
ny Pacquiao (who fought only once in 2013) even an honor-able mention.
Also in the list of Iole’s contenders are Danny Gar-cia; who defeated Zab Judah; Lucas Matthysse; Pacquiao conquerorTimothy Bradley (wins over Ruslan Provod-
By NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO nikov and Juan Manuel Mar-quez); Gennady Golovkin (4-0 against Gabe Rosado, Nobuhi-ro Ishida, Matthew Macklin and Curtis Stevens); Guill-ermo Rigondeaux (victories over 2012 Fighter of the Year Nonito Donaire and Joseph Agbeko); and Mikey Garcia (Wins over Orlando Salido, Juan Manuel Lopez and Rocky Martinez).
Mayweather, according
to the respected writer, stood above them all, even in a year in which he turned 36 and when he fought twice in a year for the first time in six years.
Iole thinks Mayweather’s defense remains remarkable. “He’s rarely hit even though he’s taken to fighting most of his recent bouts flat-footed. He’s virtually eliminated the on-his-toes style filled with
FIOLE PICKS, 14
FLOYD MAYWEATHER. No respect for his greatness.
GREGZILLA. Ginebra center Greg Slaughter is triple teamed by Petron’s Arwind Santos , Doug Kramer and Chris Ross. PBA Images
