P 15.00 • 34 PAGES www.edgedavao.net VOL. 7 ISSUE 125 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7-8, 2014 EDGE Serving a seamless society DAVAO Cover Story P2 THE CURE COMETH A TRIBUTE TO TEACHER RANDY www.edgedavao.net VOL. 7 ISSUE 125 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7-8, 2014 EDGE DAVAO SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT THIS SPECIAL ISSUE IS DEDICATED TO THE MATIGSALOGS OF PEGALONGAN 2014 RAMON MAGSAYSAY AWARDEE FOR EMERGENT LEADERSHIP NOBODY GOT RICH FROM THE TEACHING PROFESSION BUT A TEACHER LIKE ME GETS RICH FROM SHARING KNOWLEDGE, VAL- UES AND POSITIVE ATTITUDE FROM THE COMMUNITY RANDY HALASAN IN THIS ISSUE: EDGE DAVAO PAYS TRIBUTE TO TEACHER RANDY HALASAN
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P 15.00 • 34 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 7 ISSUE 125 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7-8, 2014
but Tim Tebow is a big name in sports. As a quarterback, Tebow took Amer-ican football by storm in 2011, of-ten coming out from behind late in the fourth quar-ter of many games. He is now a col-lege football an-alyst for ESPN, but the name Tim Tebow still rings loud especially be-cause he is not just a football player, he is also an out-spoken Christian. One of the things Tebow is known for is “Tebowing,” the act of for the act of kneeling on one knee in prayer with the head bowed and an arm resting on the bent knee. He is so vocal about his faith that he would make it a point to express it even without words.
Even fewer Filipi-nos know that Tebow was born in the Philip-pines (Manila, to be ex-act, in 1987), and that his parents worked as missionaries in Mindan-ao for many years (they
still have various minis-tries in the island up to now). This explains why Tebow, who has been a philanthropist since graduating from college, partnered with CURE In-ternational to put up a hospital project in Davao City.
Tebow CURE Hospital executive director Leron Lehman said the hospi-tal focuses on pediatric orthopedics because CURE’s founder, Dr. Scott Harrison, is an orthope-dist and began the min-istry in 1996 when he saw first-hand the over-whelming devastation experienced by disabled children and their fam-ilies in the Republic of Malawi in southeast Af-rica. CURE has since ex-panded to 30 countries (many of them in Afri-ca), 10 of which have a hospital each while the work in others is done through partner clinics and hospitals. The tenth CURE hospital is the one in Davao City and will initially have a 17-bed capacity when it opens hopefully in November.
“(Tim Tebow) is al-ready involved in the US with other children’s hospitals and charities for disabled children, so the partnership between the Tim Tebow Founda-tion and CURE Interna-tional is really a natural fit,” Lehman told Edge Davao in an interview. “He’s one of our larger donors and we decided to use his name as part of the project. This is a
win-win for everybody.”Lehman said Mind-
anao was chosen as the area for the hospital for a number of reasons. First, the island region has always been under-served. “There are a lot of poor people here. The poorest communities are on Mindanao. There was a big opportunity for us as an organization to do what we do as a Chris-
tian hospital,” he said.Second, Davao City
has a large number of well-trained medical workers like doctors, nurses, and clinical staff with whom CURE could partner. “There was also community support, and even some local financial donors,” he added.
On Tebow’s side, Mindanao has always been close to his heart
because his parents worked here as mission-aries and still have min-istries that they work with and support up to now. “The family is still involved with projects all throughout Mindan-ao,” Lehman said. In fact, Tim Tebow had been to Mindanao several times before sports stardom struck, visiting an or-phanage his father Bob
had set up and has been supporting for a number of years.
“Really all the pieces came together,” Lehman said of the reasons CURE and Tebow decided to partner in putting up a hospital here. “That was in 2009 when we made those decisions.
And now five years later as we get close to
The cure comethBy JON JOAQUIN
Inside Timmy’s Playroom. Filled with toys and games, the room aims to bring faith, hope, and love to patients and their families.
Inside the boys’ ward with (from left) Executive director Leron Lehman, spiritual director Madel Dapit, Davao City artist Dadai Joaquin, and medical director Dr. Espiridion Reyes.
From Pinoy superhe-roes to Superman and Batman, young Randy once dreamed of becom-ing a hero. But his was a different dream. Not one of heroes that fly in the skies clad in fanciful cos-tumes, nor brandishing weapons or protected by amulets.
Born to parents whose means of livelihood is vending vegetables at Bankerohan Public Mar-ket, young Randy shaped his perspective of her-
oism in the likeness of his hardworking parents Candilario and Perpetua (both now deceased).
It was his parents’ dili-gence and resolve to send Randy and his sisters Ledy, Thelma and Mary Jean to school that shaped the modules of a hero in Randy’s subconscious mind.
That dream in his mind, Randy went to Magallanes Elementary School where he finished in 1995, Pablo Loren-
zo National High School where he finished sec-ondary school in 1999 and at the University of Southeastern Philippines where he got his college degree in 2003.
Randy never became a hunk-type of a hero. Not even close to a cam-pus crush. He was just the ordinary unassuming guy admired by everyone for his humility and kind heart.
Last Sunday, August 31, at the historic Cul-
tural Center of the Phil-ippines (CCP) Main The-ater, Randy accomplished his dream of becoming a hero.
Not that heroic titles are given away, Randy’s conferment as one of five individual Ramon Mag-saysay laureates and one non-government orga-nization, put him in that Randy was adored like a superhero and mobbed like a rock star. The crowd milled around him to seek his photograph or
ask for a selfie. Everyone who had emerged from Randy’s corner at the lobby had only one thing to say—he is incredibly grounded.
No less than Presi-dent Benigno Aquino III heaped praises for the 31-year old Halasan and four other laureates from China, Afghanistan, In-donesia and a Pakistani non-government organi-zation during the hour-long presentation cere-monies of the prestigious
award known as Asia’s equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize.
President Aquino cit-ed the works of Halasan and another awardee, indigenous community teacher Saur Marlina Ma-nurong of Indonesia for their efforts at educating marginalized communi-ties.
“To all those of us who try to make this place a more inclusive place, the road to empowerment begins in the place of
learning. It is here where we can share knowledge that individuals may max-imize to make opportu-nities as they come. The innovations of Ms. Saur Marlina Manurong and Mr. Randy Halasan who have poured their hearts and souls in their work to educate indigenous com-munities bare witness to this,” Aquino said in his speech.
“Truly whenever one feels overcomed by cyn-icism, one can count on the Ramon Magsaysay Awards to point towards hope, towards stories of individuals who, con-fronted by the darkness of despair, have chosen to serve as beacons of light,” the President stressed.
Halasan, a gradu-ate of the University of Southeastern Philippines, is now head teacher of Pegalongan Elementary School in the hills of Mari-log and serves not only the Matigsalogs of Davao City but also some from neighboring Bukidnon province.
In his response be-fore an exclusive crowd of 2,000 mostly from the academe and civil soci-ety organizations, the soft-spoken teacher re-called his life as a teacher as one that typically starts at the most undesirable and challenging of assign-ments.
“On January 8, 2007, as newly appointed public school teacher, I was sent
to Pegalongan Elemen-tary School, the farthest school in all of Davao City, inaccessible, poor and isolated from any com-munication. At that time, we were only two teach-ers handling all grade levels. I told myself, I have to transfer immediately. I knew I wouldn’t be happy there,” Halasan said.
“But as the days passed, when I saw the poverty, when I saw the people’s eyes and ges-tures that they needed me, I began to love who they are and their simple lives,” Halasan said, add-ing that his vision for the Matigsalogs in Pegalon-gan is to uplift their lives from poverty. “This was also the vision of the late President Magsaysay who showed his passion and commitment to serve ev-eryone equally.”
Being a Ramon Mag-saysay awardee, accord-ing to Halasan, is not about being popular. He said that it is a calling to serve fellow Filipinos and to become a true role model and inspiration for others—rich or poor. “I believe there are no lim-itations in helping our fellowmen especially the poor.”
Halasan refrained what he has overly em-phasized since he was announced one of the six laureates for 2014. “No-body got rich from the teaching profession but a teacher like me gets rich
from sharing knowledge, values and positive atti-tude from the communi-ty.”
Speaking last, he was lustily applauded after his five-minute response.
Juan Santos, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsay-say Award Foundation (RMAF) formally pre-sented the five individu-als and one organization from Afghanistan, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the Philippines who were accorded Asia’s premier prize, the Ramon Magsay-say Award.
The other 2014 Awardees are: China’s Hu Shuli, Indonesia’s Ma-nurong, Afghanistan’s Omara Khan Masoudi, China’s Wang Canfa and The Citizens Foundation of Pakistan.
Now part of the elite 300 or so laureates of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, Randy says everything is part of a process, part of living. “I know that this will come to pass and I will be back in Pegalongan where my life will be back to nor-mal.”
For Randy, his mission is not over.
“Everyday, there’s some work cut out for each one of us. Mine is in Pegalongan today. I will never know what will it be next.”
Words like that could only come from a hero. Plain, simple hero.
TRAVELLING TO PEGALONGAN. Randy Halasan’s journey to Pegalongan includes crossing two rivers, riding habal-habal, and taking a bamboo raft.
ROCK-SOLID. That’s what comes to mind when the pedigree
of proudly Dabawenyo developer Escandor Development Corporation (Esdevco) is the dish on the discussion table.
Imagine this. Davao Security and Investigation Agency (DASIA) and The Royal Mandaya Hotel—just two of a number of market leaders under one conglomerate—the Escandor Group of Companies (EGC).
It’s a simple thumb rule. Those who know Davao’s business landscape like the back of their hand should be no less than the homegrown taipans.
True to that, Esdevco emerges as the newest player in the real estate business in Davao. Despite entering the industry as a newbie, Esdevco prides itself of being founded on the solid reputation of a respected old hand in the
local business frontier. Backed up by its
tradition of excellence and reliability, Escandor Group of Companies’ new baby Esdevco comes to town offering Davao City’s first ever multi-family, mixed-use and exclusive contemporary living with its project called The Matina Enclaves.
That’s quite a splash for a new player creating a new innovation in the real estate business.
At the reigns of Esdevco is Glenn Yap Escandor, the man who inherited the EGC leadership from his father, the revered late Ret. Col. Emil Escandor—a visionary businessman who pioneered the security agency business in Davao City before diversifying into various businesses including one of Davao’s most prominent address The Royal Mandaya Hotel.
“I inherited my father’s business reputation and
our family is committed to keep that reputation in all of our business endeavors,” Escandor said.
According to the youthful Escandor, The Matina Enclaves is a product of long study from design to meeting the needs of clients of varied choices and requirements.
“It is never easy to come up with an idea and make it acceptable to the market. I assure that this project is a product of a lot of work and thinking. It’s not like coming up with something because it’s the trend or it’s the bandwagon. We had to understand the complexities of the market,” he said.
First, Escandor believed that they have the best available strip of real estate in the city.
“We have the best location to start with. Undeniably, you cannot find a better location than this at this point in Davao’s
growing metropolis,” Escandor said.
The Matina Enclaves is tucked along Quimpo Boulevard just across Davao City Golf Club and minutes- walk from SM City Davao. It is accessible to the city’s central commercial district, government offices and prominent schools.
The 5.3-hectare development is unique as it offers three residential options to choose from. Matina Enclaves has a 1-hectare open lot development through its pocket development called The Plains. It also offers house and lot units through another 1-hectare pocket development called The Courtyard. And to complement The Plains and The Courtyard, Matina Enclaves boasts of its Medium-rise Condominium Project called The Enclaves Residences. Its condo
project will consist of 6-proposed buildings.
Matina Enclaves will also have a neighborhood commercial development called Arqadia which occupies one hectare of the development. Arqadia will have a boutique hotel, shops, a wellness center, a member-only gym-spa and cafe.
The Matina Enclaves Project Director Gerald Kent M. Garces said that Escandor has aggressively developed the entire property for the past seven months, paving way for the construction of roads, drainage system, landscaping and an imposing main entrance gate that will also have water features on both sides.
“Mr. Escandor has his full commitment towards developing a landmark in Davao. And by any standard, his passion towards creating a quality project is going to be the
key towards establishing Esdevco as a premier local developer,” Garces said.
Escandor has emphasized that Esdevco is venturing into the real estate business to help families get the best value for their money. “It’s not just building your home or buying a house and lot, or owning a condo unit. It’s about investment. It’s about your hard-earned money. That’s what this project will offer its clients—value for their money,” Escandor said.
And with a solid reputation in business, investors and home-owning clients can be pretty much assured that at the end of the day, they made the right decision.
(For inquiries, visit the Sales Office and Showroom at Unit 11 Genesis Arcade, Ecowest Drive. You may also contact (082) 2857059, 0932-1200497 or 0922-8177305.)
THE MATINA ENCLAVES:A PROGENY OF SOLID BUSINESS
You can’t build a great building on a weak foundation. You must have a solid foundation if you’re going to have a strong superstructure. -Gordon B. Hinckley
your legacy that mat-ters.” Those words came from the mouth of Randy Halasan.
If the name doesn’t ring a bell, well, he is the first Dabawenyo to ever receive the Nobel Prize of Asia. The board of trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foun-dation (RMAF) cited him for Emergent Leader-ship.
Halasan was giv-en the award for “his purposeful dedication in nurturing his Matig-salug students and their community to trans-form their lives through quality education and sustainable livelihoods, doing so in ways that re-spect their uniqueness and preserve their integ-rity as indigenous peo-ples in a modernizing Philippines.”
“As an educator, I am very proud that the lone Filipino Ramon Magsay-say Awardee is a teacher by profession,” said Lo-renzo E. Mendoza, who is with the regional of-fice of the Department of Education in Davao City. “Indeed, this prestigious award proves that doing small thing with great
love is being rewarded.”Yes, Halasan is a
public school teacher in Pegalongan Elementary School in Sitio Pegalon-gan, Malamba, Marilog District. Randy Halasan studied and obtained his postgraduate and under-graduate degrees in Ed-ucational Management and Elementary Educa-tion, from the University of Southeastern Philip-pines.
“Five days a week, he goes to school, teach his students and at the end of each day, come home and prepare for anoth-er day,” wrote managing editor Neilwin Joseph L. Bravo in a profile he wrote for Edge Davao. “He wished life as a teacher is as simple as that.”
The RMAF agrees. “It is a truism that it takes a village to raise a child,” it said in a press state-ment. “But it seems equally true that it takes just one person to launch this collective process of education. In the Phil-ippines, where a public school system has been in place for over a cen-tury, many communities remain either unserved or underserved.
“Where physical ac-cess is difficult and dan-
gerous, government’s presence weak and fa-cilities are meager, and people are too poor to even claim an educa-tion, the work of public school teachers is noth-ing less than heroic, and yet largely goes unher-alded,” the RMAF further said.
According to Bra-vo, to get to Pegalon-gan, “Randy travels two hours by bus, another hour by ‘habal-habal’ motorcycle, plus around four hours of trekking,
which includes crossing two treacherous rivers -- Simod River and Davao River -- that at times go as high as his chest.
The rivers that sepa-rate Pegalongan’s school and the communities spell life and death.”
Many lives have been lost crossing the riv-ers, Halasan told Bravo. In fact, he almost got drowned himself. “Not even that stops Randy. He keeps pushing even if the journey to Pegalon-gan is life risking. In one
of his treks to Marilog, he and some pupils almost lost their lives traversing the raging Davao River. It is a journey he has cho-sen to take with the com-munity and his students, who also cross the chest-deep river everyday just to be educated.”
It was in 2007 when Halasan first arrived in Pegalongan. He was one of only two teachers in a two-room schoolhouse, teaching multi-grade classes between Grades 1 and 6. “There was no
electricity, amenities were primitive, and the place was virtually cut off from communication with the outside world. The young novice teach-er’s first thought was that he would seek a reassignment out of the place the first chance he could get,” the RMAF press statement said.
But something must have happened along the way. “My first grade that I taught is grade one and two and it’s a multi grade class and after
By HENRYLITO D. TACIO
HAPPY RANDY. Despite the treacherous trek to Pegalongan, teacher Randy manages to smile in a raft ride crossing the river. (top photo). Lower photo, Randy with his fellow public school teachers in Marilog district.
that I transfer to grade five and six. I was their adviser when the school held its first closing ex-ercise and it’s a memora-ble to me because I saw the happiness in their eyes the essence if you are already graduated,” Halasan told Bravo.
What Halasan thought was only for a short time became seven years -- and thinking of staying good. The RMAF observed: “Moved by compassion for the chil-dren who have to walk miles and cross rivers just to get to school, and who often fall asleep in class from hunger and fatigue, and driven by a sense of duty to help the impoverished and de-fenseless forest tribals against the encroach-ments of powerful out-siders, Halasan has em-braced the Matigsalug community as his own. He has turned down of-fers for reassignment, and his family often does not see him for many weeks on end.”
On his sixth year at Pegalongan Elementary School, he became the head teacher. With such capacity, “Halasanpro-actively lobbied with higher authorities to expand the Pegalongan school. What was once a two-room, two-teach-er schoolhouse is now a permanent school with nine rooms, eight teach-ers, and 210 students.”
Here’s what RMAF further said: “Through his representation, a cultural-minority high school has been estab-lished, withHalasan as teacher-in-charge. Con-vinced that education is key to the Matigsalug’s survival in a changing world, he has convinced parents to keep their children in school; dis-
couraged the customary practices of early and arranged marriages; and promoted values of self-help and egalitarianism in the community.”
Halasan, howev-er, has done more than those. He even helps the people living in Matig-salug to address food se-curity. “If I only focus on education, nothing will happen; the children will continue to go hungry,” he was quoted as saying.
Bravo noted this in his article: “Randy asked help from agencies in the city so that the farm-ers can be trained on planting vegetables and durable crops. He also solicited seedlings to get the people start planting new crops. In time, the community has nurser-ies and vegetable gar-dens in their backyards.”
According to oral tra-dition, the word Pega-longan means “the place from which the light shines.” Because of one highly motivated civil servant such as Halasan, the village has become truly what its name sug-gests.
Last August 31, Hala-san joined with other awardees (Hu Shuli and Wang Canfa, both from China; Saur Marlina Ma-nurung from Indonesia; Omara Khan Masoudi from Afghanistan, and The Citizens Founda-tion from Pakistan) to receive a certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of the late Pres-ident Magsaysay, and a cash prize. They will be formally conferred the Magsaysay Award during formal Presen-tation Ceremonies to be held at the Cultural Cen-ter of the Philippines.
“The Magsaysay awardees of 2014,” said RMAF President Car-
mencita Abella, “are tru-ly beacons of progress in Asia. All of them are creating bold solutions to deeply-rooted social problems in their re-spective societies, prob-lems which are most damaging to the lives of those trapped in pover-ty, ignorance, and unjust systems.
“Their inspiring and path-breaking leader-ship addresses very di-verse areas -- education for the poor and margin-alized, environmental justice for pollution vic-tims, increased trans-parency and account-ability in corporate and public governance, and the restoration of cultural pride – and yet it is clear that each of this year’s Magsay-say awardees is build-ing more hopeful lives among their people -- one smart, responsible, and persistent step at a time.”
Since 1958, the Ra-mon Magsaysay Award is being given to persons - regardless of race, na-tionality, creed or gen-der - who address issues of human development in Asia with courage and creativity, and in doing so have made contribu-tions which have trans-formed their societies for the better.
Halasan is the fourth person from Mindanao to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award. In 1974, Rev. Fr. William Francis Masterson was recognized for “his mul-tinational education and inspiration of rural leaders prompting their return to and love of the land.”
Masterson, an Amer-ican from New York, was the man behind the Southeast Asia Rural So-cial Leadership Institute
(SEARSOLIN) based at the Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City. Every year, the institute trained 50 rural leaders from Asian countries for eight months in applied agriculture and organi-zation of farmers.
Eleven years later, in 1985, Rev. Harold Wat-son was given the recog-nition for “encouraging international utilization of the Sloping Agricul-tural Land Technology (SALT) created by him and his co-workers to help the poorest of small tropical farmers.”
Watson, also an American who grew up in Mississippi, was the former director of the Mindanao Baptist Ru-ral Life Center (MBRLC) based in Kinuskusan, Bansalan, Davao del Sur. Aside from SALT, the center also conducts training on various sus-tainable and organic farming systems.
In 2004, Benjamin Abadiano was cited for “his steadfast commit-ment to indigenous Fil-ipinos and their hopes for peace and better lives consonant with their hallowed ways of life.”
To those who may not have heard of Aba-diano, he was the exec-utive coordinator for Ta-bang Mindanaw. He de-veloped a rehabilitation program that integrated social welfare, gover-nance, and livelihood measures with peace building. He was raised by his grandparents and educated at Xavier Uni-versity.
In the beginning, there were only four awardees. In the com-ing years, there will be more from Mindanao or whose roots are from this island!
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS. Randy Halasan finished college at the University of Southeastern Philippines in 2003. He was a simple, unassuming student who was kind at heart and humble.
His assignment at Pegalongan Elementary School was a no-choice situation for him being the only available teaching position at that time.
VOL. 7 ISSUE 125 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7-8, 2014 S9EDGEDAVAOLAUREATES. With President Aquino during the Presentation Ceremonies, Randy Halasan (extreme left) joins fellow Ramon Magsaysay laureates (r-l) Hu Shuli, Saur Marlina Manurung, Omara Khan Masoudi, The Citizen’s Foundation representatives and Wang Canfa. RMAF photo
Halasan, the lone Filipino among five Asians who received Sunday the Ra-mon Magsaysay Award, said in his acceptance speech that he “never expected” to receive the award.
“This is an extraordi-nary award and it makes me feel very happy and fulfilled,” the 31-year old teacher of Pegalungan Elementary School in the hinterlands of Marilog, Davao City, said during the awarding of what is touted as Asia’s ver-sion of the Nobel Prize, streamed live from the Cultural Center of the Philippines from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
“For me, being a Mag-saysay awardee is not about becoming popular. Rather, it is a strong call to have a greater passion to serve our fellow Filipi-nos and to become a true role model and inspira-tion for others,” Halasan said.
“We can build a strong Philippines,” he said, “if we open our hearts to serve the people without expecting any personal return.”
Halasan added that challenges and obstacles can be overcome “if we are determined, patient
and hardworking.”“Mabuhay po ang mga
Pilipino, Mabuhay po ang gurong Pilipino” (Long live the Filipinos, Long live the Philippine teach-ers), he said.
Halasan narrated that his dream was to be a lawyer or doctor but when he was in college, his father died and he had to work to send himself to school. Given his limit-ed resources, “I therefore studied teaching.”
He recalled how, as a newly-appointed teacher, he first set foot on Janu-ary 8, 2007 in Pegalun-gan Elementary School, “the farthest school in all of Davao City,” and told himself “I have to trans-fer immediately.’ I knew I will not be happy there.”
But as the days passed, “when I saw the poverty in the commu-nity, when I saw in the people’s eyes and ges-tures that they needed me, I began to love who they are and their simple lives. “
He said elder Matig-salugs “openly cried” during the first gradua-tion rites because
“they never imagined to see their children fin-ish elementary educa-tion, given Pegalungan’s remoteness and isola-tion.
It takes Halasan sev-
en hours to reach Pega-lungan from his house in Davao City – two hours by bus, an hour by habal-ha-bal motorcycle and three hours on foot, crossing two treacherous rivers.
The number of teach-er in his school has since increased (there were only two of them in 2007, teaching all grade levels), other school facilities have been constructed and they have opened a high school that “benefits not only te Matigsalugs of Davao but also from Bukidnon.” Marilog is lo-cated along the boundary with Bukidnon province.
But Halasan said he was “not happy seeing my hungry students and their impoverished families” so even if he had become school in charge since 2010, “I could not concen-trate only on formal edu-cation. I decided to extend my world to the commu-nity so they could learn how to make their ances-tral lands productive.”
He encouraged the community to plant ca-cao, rubber, coffee and other fruit trees. “and the tribe is now practicing multicropping to become food sufficient.” They also planted hundreds of trees along the riverbanks to prevent erosion and floods.
“My vision for the
Matigsalug in Pegalun-gan is to uplift their lives from poverty. This was also the vision of the late President Magsaysay who showed his passion and commitment to serve everyone equally and to ensure justice to all Filipi-nos,” Halasan said.
He explained that no-body gets rich from teach-ing “but a teacher like me gets rich from sharing knowledge, values and positive attitude to the community.”
Halasan thanked his co-teachers, the Davao City government, field of-ficers in education, agri-culture and environment agencies and other gener-ous partners for helping him in his development efforts.
“My deep gratitude also goes to the people of Sitio Pegalungan, officials and tribal elder, our stu-dents and their families. They believe in our vision of a dedicated and food- sufficient community,” Halasan said.
He also thanked his former district supervi-sor, Ava Marie Santiago, the Bato Balani Founda-tion “and the media who called public attention to our work,” his family for their “unconditional love and acceptance has en-couraged me through all the frustrations and dan-
gers” and God for always giving him strength.
Halasan, who received the award for Emergent Leadership, is being rec-ognized for “his purpose-ful dedication in nurtur-ing his Matigsalug stu-dents and their communi-ty to transform their lives through quality education and sustainable liveli-hoods, doing so in ways that respect their unique-ness and preserve their integrity as indigenous peoples in a modernizing Philippines.”
Halasan was the last awardee to deliver his re-sponse before President Benigno Simeon Aquino III delivered his message.
In his speech, Aquino said that for those who strive to make this world a more inclusive place, the road to empower-ment begins in the place of learning. “The innova-tions of Ms. Saur Marlina Manurung and Mr. Ran-dy Halasan, who have poured their hearts and souls into their work to educate indigenous com-munities, bear witness to this. Along with more tra-ditional classroom sub-jects, they are teaching immediately applicable life skills, such as farming and awareness of the ba-sic rights of each individ-ual,” Aquino said.
Established in 1957,
the Ramon Magsaysay Award is Asia’s highest honor and is widely re-garded as the region’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
The Award celebrates the memory and leader-ship example of the Pres-ident who died in a plane crash. It is given “every year to individuals or or-ganizations in Asia who manifest the same selfless service that ruled the life of the late and beloved Filipino leader,” the Ra-mon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) web-site said.
Aside from Halasan, the other winners are journalist Hu Shuli and environmental laywer Wang Canfa from China, educator Saur Marlina Manurung from Indone-sia, Omara Khan Masou-di from Afghanistan for protecting Afghan cul-tural heritage, and The Citizens Foundation from Pakistan for “the social vision and high-level pro-fessionalism of its found-ers and those who run its schools, in successfully pursuing their conviction that, with sustained civic responsiveness, quality education made available to all—irrespective of re-ligion, gender, or econom-ic status—is the key to Pa-kistan’s brighter future.” (MindaNews)
‘A great passion to serve’DELIVERING HIS SPEECH. Randy Halasan pays tribute to all Filipino teachers as President Aquino listens intently. RMAF photo
S12 EDGEDAVAO
SAY goodbye to flooding at least in that dreaded J.P. Laurel section.
For many years, the Bajada road in J.P. Lau-rel has been always filled with flood every time heavy rains pour in the city. The flooding in the area has been a headache to motorists who almost always end up with mechanical trouble as cars get submerged to knee-high waters after an hour of heavy downpour.
Commuters are also affected with the occurrence since they will be stranded for a long-hour in the area.
To mitigate the problem of flood in the area, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) installed drainage in the area to unclog all the water in the road during rainy days. They called it Veloso Main Drainage which aims to unclog the flood. How-ever, the size of the drainage culverts is not enough to pass off the waters in due time. What happens is that it takes long hours before the high waters will subside.
When the Aeon Towers project entered in the area the situation has started to change.
According to DPWH First Engineering District Con-struction Chief Engr. Milagros E. Delos Reyes, they asked Aeon Towers developer FTC to build a drain-age system that will catch all the water during floods. Delos Reyes said that this project is part of their re-quirements when Aeon Towers applied for a building permit.
Delos Reyes said that the management of Aeon Towers religiously complied with the requirements since this will be also for the good to their business. Delos Reyes said that she did not expect they will make a bigger one that will really mitigate the flood-ing during rainy days. She said that the Aeon Towers constructed 70-meter length box-culvert drainage. It has a dimension of 2.5 meters in height same as the width. She said that even a seven-foot tall man can walk under the drainage.
“If I am going to describe the drainage they made, it is permanent and structurally prepared to unclog the flooding in the area,” Delos Reyes said.
She said that all the flood water in the area will first pass on their drainage which is now the main drain-age in the area going to the culvert of Abreeza Mall, Veloso down to the city’s main drainage in Dacudao Avenue.
DPWH said that FTC offered the structure to relo-cate the main drainage inside their property. She said if their agency will spend the project it has a rough estimate of P3.5 million.
The project has started last week of May and com-pleted on June 20 this year.
After the completion of the project, flooding be-came a rarity in the area despite the onset of the rainy season. (Armando B. Fenequito Jr.)
A year ago, Randy Halasan’s story was nominated as one of
the five finalists to the Globe Davao Media Excellence Awards.
Randy, then an obscure public school teacher in remote Pegalongan some-where in Marilog, had start-ed to enmesh himself into a community that for gener-ations, did not see hope in life away from the madden-ing metropolis.
Pegalongan is part of Davao City’s vast landscape. But ask 10 Dabawenyos where it is, you would be lucky to have one who knows that it exists.
Pegalongan is part of Davao City’s vast landscape. But it takes seven hours to get there—about the same time it takes to reach Cagay-an de Oro City on a leisurely drive from Davao City via Bukidnon.
Pegalongan is part of Davao City’s vast landscape. But not even the advertised reach of any mobile net-work could reach it. When Globe recognized Randy’s story last year, his heart virtually leapt for joy as this could be a portent of things to come.
“I was hoping this could be the opportunity for us to get a cell site,” said Randy who had to stay in Pegalon-gan for a week or two each month and endure being incommunicado. “Like all of my dreams for Pegalongan, my hope still springs eter-nal.”
Almost a year after his story was told, Randy was named one of the six laure-ates of the prestigious Ra-mon Magsaysay Award—the only Filipino to make it
in this year’s batch and the very first Dabawenyo to be named to Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Randy’s accolade came after his story spread over to the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation. He ear-lier won an annual award given by Bato Balani Foun-dation last year for his com-munity works.
“A story like Randy’s is something you cannot just ignore. It’s incredible that he had all that patience and energy to rise above the challenges and bring about change,” said Kelly Austria, PR counselor for Bato Bala-ni Foundation who person-ally went to Pegalongan last year to “experience” Ran-dy’s journey and document Pegalongan’s transforma-tion under Randy’s head start.
Randy said the RMAF made verification visits and study of Randy’s communi-ty initiatives and the rest, as they say, is history. “I did not know that was it. I just thought they came to see us and check our situation. Yun na pala,” said the 31-year old graduate of state-owned University of South-eastern Philippines (USEP) in Davao City.
After the announce-ment of Randy’s selection as one of the Ramon Mag-saysay laureates, everyone wanted a chunk of Randy and his story. He was soon stormed with interviews and engagements.
Department of Edu-cation (DEPED) secretary Armin Luistro called him up to personally congrat-ulate him and expressed how he has transcended the noble public teach-
ing profession. Randy, like many graduates of educa-tion, waited years to get a teaching position and when an opening was available, it was the Pegalongan assign-ment many before him had turned down.
“Walang gustong ku-muha ng assignment na ito (Nobody wanted to take this assignment),” said Ran-dy, adding that he had to keep from his family how hard it is to be assigned in Pegalongan.
When his story was published in Edge Davao on September last year, it was then that his family dis-covered the hard life he had to go through as a public school teacher.
“Umiyak sila. Naintin-dihan na nila ako pagkata-pos nila mabasa yun (They cried. They learned to un-derstand me after they read the story),” he said.
His story and recogni-
tion by Bato Balani Foun-dation last year also meant promises by politicians to extend help to Randy’s dream of connecting Pega-longan to the city.
Yes, Pegalongan may be part of Davao City but it will take lots of guts and cour-age for one to get there and survive nature’s obstacles. Two treacherous rivers stand between Pegalongan and civilization. Randy and the Matigsalogs of Pegalon-gan could not keep count of how many children’s lives perished while cross-ing these two rivers just to reach school.
Upon his wish, Randy met Davao City mayor Ro-drigo Duterte and personal-ly asked him is the city gov-ernment can provide funds for those bridges.
“Mahiya tayo na tanggi-han (It is shameful to turn him down),” said Duterte after shaking Randy’s hand
when the two finally met at Marco Polo Davao last Au-gust 5.
Is he happy now?Randy said he is thrilled
to hear that from Mayor Duterte himself. However, he keeps his fingers crossed that this, too, will not perish with the ripples of the riv-ers.
Randy’s story had come full circle from his awaken-ing that his love for Pegalon-gan (which literally means “light”) goes beyond his tour of duty as a teacher to the mornings that he wake up with calls and text mes-sages from various media organizations seeking for interviews and from public officials and private groups wanting to get a slice of the Randy bandwagon.
Randy, afterall, is as ob-scure as Pegalongan. He is so grounded and unassum-ing inside and out that in one media forum he came
in and got seated at a cor-ner waiting to be called and no one even recognized him until he stood up—a collar-less shirt on and a backpack in tow.
Today, life has changed radically for Randy. From obscurity, his name is now almost like household commodity. Social me-dia is flooded with posts of his accomplishment. People wanted to be pho-tographed with him. Ev-eryone wanted to get his phone number.
Randy could only shake his head. This is his moment. But he knows too that this is not forev-er. Soon he will be back dreaming of bridges again and waking up on serene mornings without phone calls and text messages in his little place on earth somewhere in Davao City called Pegalongan—no cell sites, no bright lights.
NEWSMAKER. Randy Hala-san first broke into the news in Davao City when Edge Davao published his story last year, followed by three more cover stories, a personal meeting with Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, as well as radio and television interviews.
FAST FRIDAYS. Intern Janessa Ford and spiritual director Madel Dapit of Tebow CURE Hospital (left photo) talk about the hospital’s focus of giving physical and spiritual healing while Matina Enclaves project head Gerard Garces and
architect James Magdadaro give reporters an update on the development project during last week’s edition of Fast Fridays at Archipelago 7107 by Barrio Fiesta at SM Lanang Premier. Lean Daval Jr.
RESPECT. The daughter of one of the newly-wed couples of Friday after-noon’s “Kasalan sa Barangay” in Barangay 19-B El Rio Vista Village, Bacaca
kisses the hand of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte who administered the mass wedding. Lean Daval Jr.
MAYOR Rodrigo R. Duterte has categorically de-
clared he will not join a government that is a product of military desta-bilization or coup d’etat.
The issue surfaced af-ter his lawyer, Salvador Panelo,told reporters of a military destabilization plot in a press conference in Manila last week.
In a report from bal-ita.net.ph, Panelo told Manila reporters that
there are destabilization plots against the Aquino administration and that two military generals had gone to Duterte to ask him support to them.
Panelo added that the generals wanted Duterte to be the President once the destabilization suc-ceeds.
He said the reason the generals want to oust Aquino was the rampant corruption in his admin-istration as exemplified
by the Priority Develop-ment Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disburse-ment Acceleration Pro-gram (DAP).
When Davao City re-porters asked Duterte on Thursday night to con-firm Panelo’s statement, the mayor shook his head and said as a lawyer,he will not join a govern-ment which is a product of a destabilization plot made by the military.
“ P a g - k u d e t a m o -
d i h a o g k a m o l a n g , ayawko’giapil (Go on with your coup d’etat by your-selves, don’t involve me),” he said.
According to Panelo, Duterte told the generals to give President Aquino another chance since he has less than two years left in his term.
Panelo also said he was “very certain”Duterte will run for President in 2016 despite Duterte’sre-peated denials.
Rody rejectsmilitary coupBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.
AN executive of A b o i t i z P o w -er Corporation
said instead of linking the Visayas and Mind-anao power grids, in-vestments should be increased in the power sector of Mindanao to solve the perennial pow-er crisis in the island re-gion.
“Instead of putting up a submarine cable, why not just built more power plants instead?” AboitizPower first vice president for Mind-anao Manuel M. Orig-said during the plenary session of the recent 23rd Mindanao Business Conference at KCC Mall.
Orig said the estab-lishment of an under-
water cable will cost higher than setting up a power plant, either from a renewable or a non-re-newable source.
Energy Secretary Jer-icho Petillahad earlier said the interconnection is a long-term measure to ease the power crisis in Mindanao.
“The interconnec-tion is there to balance because the power situ-ation is not the same ev-ery now and then. There will be deficiencies and there will be excesses, so it is good that we will have this line,” Petilla said.
He said the underwa-ter cable project would cost the National Grid
expressed its opposition to the proposed bill of four congressmen, in-cluding Davao City third district representative Isidro Ungab, which seeks to ban mining ac-tivities in Davao City.
MGB-11 Mine Man-agement Division offi-cer-in-charge lawyer WilfredoMoncano told reporters in last Friday’s Kapihan sa PIA that House Bill (HB) 4348 “seeking to ban all min-ing operations in Davao City” is contrary to the Philippine Mining Act of 1995.
Moncano said that there are also some as-sertions in the proposed
bill that are “contrary to reality,” such as the claim that large-scale mining has not contributed to the growth of the city’s economy.
“It is not true because large-scale mining com-panies such as Holcim-- which is engaged in large-scale mining – are paying their taxes cor-rectly,” he said.
Moncano said there are other sides of the city that can be explored for mineral deposits that can be used for econom-ic growth.
“Minerals are one of the generators of wealth which can be used for other economic activi-ties,” he said.
Alveo Land’s Signature Address in Abreeza Davao wins award. Alveo Land’s Abreeza Residences has been adjudged as the Best Condominium Devel-opment in Davao at the 2014 Philippines Property Awards. In partnership with Accendo Commercial Corp., it is the maiden residential offering in
the equally pioneering Abreeza district in Davao City — the first master-planned Ayala township in the region. Receiving the award are Ayala Land Group Head for Visayas-Mindanao and Superblock Projects Emilio J. Tumbo-con and Alveo Land Project Manager for Visayas-Mindanao VC Bacungan.
THE tuna industry here could be a key contributor to the
foreseen surge in trade exchanges within the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Na-tions (ASEAN) with the commencement of the regional economic inte-gration next year.
Senator Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate Com-mittee on Agriculture and Food, gave this as-sessment as she declared that the country’s fishery sub-sector, as bannered by the tuna industry, is presently considered as among the most ready and competitive for the 2015 ASEAN integration.
She said the tuna in-dustry, which is mainly based in this city, has emerged as one of the top performers in the coun-try’s agriculture sector as seen with its expanding reach in the export mar-kets.
In 2013, she said gov-ernment data showed that the country shipped around $1.43 billion worth of fishery prod-ucts, with fresh and pro-cessed tuna accounting for around $632 million.
Villar described such export performance for tuna as the best in the last decade based on the recorded exports of just around $117 million in 2003.
“We should capital-ize of these competitive advantages and enhance our strengths as we ap-proach a more integrat-ed regional economy in 2015,” she said in her keynote speech at the opening of the 16th Na-tional Tuna Congress at the SM Trade Hall here on Thursday afternoon.
To sustain its compet-itiveness, Villar said the industry needs to focus its efforts on addressing various fishery-related issues and concerns, spe-cifically on sustainability.
She said specific pre-cautionary measures should be in place to en-sure long-term sustain-ability for the country’s fishery resources.
Villar cited the need for the industry and the country to observe in-ternational treaty obli-gations on food safety as well as illegal, unreport-ed and unregulated fish-ing.
She said tuna indus-try players need to fully comply with the conser-vation and management measures set by inter-national fishery conven-tions that involves the country.
These include regu-lations set by the West-ern and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, Indian Ocean Tuna Com-mission and the Interna-tional Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.
“There’s no question that we need to maintain a good balance between the requirements for in-creased production to contribute to food suffi-ciency against the need to conserve and protect our resources,” she said.
Around 500 domestic and foreign tuna indus-try players are current-ly gathered here for the two-day congress, which mainly centers on “bring-ing the Philippine Tuna to greater heights and mak-ing quality the forefront of trade strategy.”
The congress, which was organized by the
Socksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied In-dustries, Inc., carries the theme “Shared Resources, Shared Responsibility.”
The tuna congress is among the highlights of the city’s 46th city char-ter anniversary and 16th Tuna Festival, which opened on Friday.
Dubbed the country’s “tuna capital,” this city has hosted the National Tuna Congress since it was first staged 15 years ago.
The city hosts six of the country’s seven tuna canneries and other re-lated ventures that gen-erate an average of near-ly $300 million in annual export receipts. (Min-daNews)
GenSan tuna industryto boost trade in ASEAN
CO N S T R U C T I O N work on Matina Enclaves is moving
on schedule as the road network of Phase 1 or “The Plains” has been completed and four units have been built in Phase 2, or “The Courtyard.”
Speaking to report-ers in last Friday’s Fast Fridays at Archipelago 7107 by Barrio Fiesta at SM Lanang Premier, project head Gerald Garces and architect James Magdadaro said the construction of the medium-rise condomini-ums will begin in March
next year.The project is being
undertaken by a local developer, the Escandor Development Corpora-tion (Esdevco) against big players.
Garces said their competitive edge is that the company can “con-fidently claim that we have the lowest prices in the market.”
“We offer functional-ity and not merely living in a boxy home,” he said.
Garces said they are also banking on the lo-cation which is right be-side a golf course.
“It will provide the residents with suburban comforts without being far from the city, as it is a five-minute walk away from SM City Davao and near major schools and universities,” he said.
Magdadaro, for his part, said the design of the homes is “modern contemporary with the usage of straight lines and shed type roofing.”
“The property was designed to eliminate pedestrian and vehicu-lar travel and promotes going around on foot,” he added.
Matina Enclaves moving on schedule
VOL. 7 ISSUE 125 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7-8, 2014 5EDGEDAVAO THE ECONOMY
AUTRE Porte Tech-nique Global Inc. (APT Global) will
remain the maintenance provider of the Metro Rail
Transit (MRT) 3 after its contract was extended Friday.
The Department of Transportation and Com-
munications (DOTC) said that while the mainte-nance contract expired, the agency has yet to decide on a new mainte-
nance provider.DOTC spokesperson
Michael Arthur Sagcal told reporters that the contract extension will be
on an interim on a month-to-month basis wherein APT Global will continue to receive P57 million a month.
The DOTC is currently in the process of bidding out a P2.25 billion, three-year contract for the MRT-3 system’s maintenance.
Potential bidders have until October 13 to sub-mit their offers. The con-tract is meanwhile set to
be awarded by December.Instead of a one-year
contract, the DOTC will extend it to three years to attract large mainte-nance providers with greater expertise, the agency earlier said.
At present, the DOTC is exerting efforts to make the MRT-3 safe and convenient for its passengers, despite its glitches. (PNA)
APT Global’s contract asMRT-3 provider extended
THE Department of Agriculture has opened negotia-
tions with Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines (PAL) for the setting of special or preferential air-freight rates for the coun-try’s tuna exports to the Middle East.
Gil Herico, agriculture attache of the Philippine embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said Agriculture Secretary Pro-ceso Alcala is specifically seeking for reduced or lower airfreight rates than the current $2.60 to $3.60
per kilo being charged by foreign airlines to tuna shipments, which mainly come from this city.
Sec. Acala has initially reached out to chief exec-utive officers and presi-dents Ramon Ang of PAL and Lance Gokongwei of Cebu Pacific regarding the move, he said.
He said his office is also assisting the talks with the two airlines, which maintain regular flights to Dubai and oth-er key destinations in the Middle East. (MindaN-ews)
DA asks airlines to lower ratesfor ME-bound tuna exports
AN APPLE a day reduces risk of developing heart disease by 40 percent. This is the finding of a sev-en-year study of nearly half a million people in
10 areas of China with no history of cardiovascular dis-eases (CVD) and who were not taking medication for hypertension.
Dr. Huaidong Du from Oxford, UK presented the study at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress in Barcelona on September 1.
The study recorded the subjects’ fruit consumption habits categorized as: never, monthly, 1-3 days per week, 4-6 days per week or daily.
“About 18 percent of the participants consumed fruit daily, and 6.3 percent never consumed fruit, with the average daily amount being 1.5 portions, about 150gs,” the study said.
Overall risk of CVD was reduced by 25 to 40 percent, according to the finding.
However, more than reducing the risk for heart dis-
ease, the study found eating fruit also lowers blood pressure, saying that “daily fruit consumption was as-sociated with a 3.4 mmHg lower systolic blood pres-sure and a 4.1 mmHg lower diastolic blood pressure by comparison to fruit abstainers.”
The importance of fruit diet in man’s health is practi-cally a universal truth retold a million times, backed by studies like the one just discussed in Barcelona.
In the Philippines, the problem is the continued fail-ure of parents, educators and the government to incul-cate fruit consumption as an ideal habit among chil-dren. The dilemma is exacerbated by the excesses and irresponsibility of commercial media and the advertis-ing industry. Riding high over the gullibility and igno-rance of the market, this deadly tandem is notorious in promoting junk food and highly questionable panacea. Frustrated by ineffectual government regulators, re-sponsible members of the medical profession can just watch the anarchic situation in utter helplessness.
EDGEDAVAO
VANTAGE
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
OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager
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PHILIPPINE PRESS INSTITUTEthe national association of newspapers
IT’S getting to be monotonous learning that still another raid has taken place in some barangay, town, or business
compound—with the raiders getting away unscathed, leaving destruction or murder in their wake.
Just days ago, raiders swooped down on a private subdivision in Bukidnon’s Manolo Fortich Town, just half an hour’s drive from Cagayan de Oro, and made off with the weapons of the subdivision’s se-curity unit, escaping before anyone could react.
It was the latest in a series of raids in the province; each one netting the raiders more weapons and ammunition from lo-cal security units. In most cases, they also destroy or disable equipment, facilities, or infrastructure as they’ve done several times to Del Monte Philippines Inc.
A week before that, a banana plan-tation, also belonging to Del Monte, was raided in Tubay Town in Agusan del Norte. Then again the week before that, two soldiers were abducted while on ci-vilian duty in Impasug-ong Town, Bukid-non. They are now “prisoners of war” of the New People’s Army.
*****These outlaws are amassing quite an
arsenal from their take in these raids, which they seem to be able to do at will—in the process, they embarrass both civil-ian and armed forces officials.
That they do so with great success every time ought to be enough to open the eyes of civilian, police, and military authorities to the reality that current ar-rangements, strategies, and protocols are utterly inadequate.
To the community, it is obvious that neither their civil officials nor the police and military are up to their mission of securing people, property, or community, let alone stopping criminality—a failure that should be of the greatest concern to them.
Every time a raid occurs, all we hear are the usual noises about launching hot pursuit operations, barricading roadways traversed by the raiders (which they’re not likely to use so soon after!), and lame admonitions about the need for vigilance and cooperation of the people.
But the raids go on anyway—success-fully! You’d think it would rouse officials to earnestly review the security situation and figure out what can be done or devise more effective strategies.
*****The least they can do is to make clear
to everyone what role or action to take when threats arise. This holds true for
both military and environmental threats. Appeals for cooperation would be more fruitful also if they hold security drills in the community to heighten people’s awareness and readiness.
Such disruptive events and their fre-quency reveal how weak, disorganized, and easily infiltrated our barangays or communities are. It shows them to be readily intimidated, prone to disarray when their jurisdiction is trespassed or assaulted.
It also shows how poorly led they are, left helpless by their own officials in times of emergency, and sorely lacking in ability to cope.
Civil officials—barangay chair, kaga-wads, mayors, councilors—should head efforts to devise, in collaboration with military and police authorities, protec-tive or defensive measures for such con-tingencies, including overt and covert mobilization of constituents.
As for the citizenry, such incidents should not only alarm them but cause them to demand that their officials take appropriate action, exercise leadership, and be heroic if necessary.
*****In general, people should view securi-
ty matters as everyone’s concern, not just of the police or the armed forces. It’s peo-ple after all who are victimized by raiders and other predatory forces.
And when the police or military say they cannot combat criminality and oth-er threats without the people’s help, they should be heeded. Everyone should be concerned and act affirmatively.
To think of security as primarily a mat-ter for the police and military to handle will only lull others into thinking they have no responsibility for securing themselves, their property, or their community.
This attitude is reinforced by the prac-tice of reporting incidents to the police or military only when trouble develops, side-lining the civil authorities.
Governors, mayors, or barangay chair-men should not so readily surrender their leadership to the armed forces. They should not hole up in their offices during emergencies. That’s when their leadership is needed most.
Peace and order, harmony, and cooper-ation, are part of the mandate of political leadership.
Manny is former UNESCO regional di-rector for Asia-Pacific; secretary-general, Southeast Asia Publishers Association; director, development academy of Philip-pines; member, Philippine Mission to the UN; vice chair, Local Government Acad-emy; member, Cory Govt’s Peace Panel; awardee, PPI-UNICEF outstanding colum-nist. He is president/national convenor, Gising Barangay Movement Inc. [email protected]
ON a bright Saturday morning re-cently, an adult female Philippine Eagle was found dead in Mount
Apo, leaving a seven-month old eaglet behind. Environment and Natural Re-sources Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje con-demned the killing of the endangered bird.
“Upon learning the news of the ea-gle’s death, Paje immediately ordered the regional environment officials in Davao City to investigate the incident and to seek the assistance of the police and the local government in tracking down the perpetrator and cause the fil-ing of appropriate criminal charges,” re-ported the website of the environment department.
“We are appalled by this awful news,” Paje said. “It is sad to think that while we are trying to save the endangered Philippine Eagle from extinction, there are those who are undermining our con-servation efforts.”
According to Paje, the eagle was among those being monitored by the en-vironment department and the Davao-based Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) for years. The bird was apparent-ly felled by a bullet.
In a report by the PEF, the decom-posing body of the eagle was retrieved August 14 in barangay Kapatagan, 10 kilometers away from its nesting site at sitio Mitondo, in Sibulan, Davao City. The eagle bore a crack at its keel bone, giving suspicion the bird was shot to death.
The environment chief gave assur-ance that the DENR “will do everything to
ensure that the eaglet will sur-vive through the fledgling stage.”
In July 1995, then President Fi-del V. Ramos signed Procla-mation No. 615 naming the Philippine Ea-gle the country’s national bird. He said the bird is found only in the Philippines and as such should be a source of nation-al pride.
The Philippine Eagle is listed by the International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources as among the country’s threatened birds. If the na-tional bird dies, according to Ramos, “so will all the country’s efforts at conserv-ing its natural resources and treasures.”
PEF executive director Dennis Salva-dor cited deforestation as the culprit as to why the eagles are fast disappearing from this part of the world. “Deforesta-tion is terrible,” he pointed out. “The Philippine Eagle has become a critically endangered species because the loss of the forest had made it lose its natural habitat.”
Studies have shown that a pair of Philippine Eagle needs at least 7,000 to 13,000 hectares of forest as a nesting territory.
“If Filipinos don’t get their act togeth-er for the cause of the endangered bird,
it shall be doomed to die,” Salvador said.PEF, which manages the eagle cen-
ter in Malagos, Baguio District of Davao City, is a non-governmental organization which deals with the conservation and protection of endangered “Pithecophaga jefferyi,” described by American aviator Charles Lindbergh as “the world’s no-blest flier.”
More than two decades ago, the Phil-ippine Eagle Center became the toast of the world when it made the impossible task: having a tropical eagle born in cap-tivity. It was the result of a long and te-dious work of the PEF to save the very rare bird found only in the Philippines.
Today, the center is one of the most often visited places in Davao City. Some 30 kilometers northwest and about an hour’s ride from the heart of the city, it hosts about 100,000 tourists and visi-tors every year.
Almost always, people who have a close encounter with the country’s icon-ic bird are mesmerized by its beauty. “They are impressive birds,” said Chad Gessele, an American from Oregon who edits Better Life Television, Inc. “Be-fore my mini-trip there, I knew of these things, knew their basic statistics, but seeing them up close is a different deal.”
The eagle center was opened to the public in 1988. Simulating a tropical rain forest environment, it offers visitors a glimpse into the country’s forest eco-system (as it is located at the foothills of Mount Apo, the country’s highest peak). Here, visitors – both locals and foreign-ers – can see more than a dozen eagles,
some of which were rescued after they were trapped or shot.
Almost three dozens birds have been raised as part of a breeding program. Most of them are being induced to breed in captivity. Pag-asa (a Tagalog word for “hope”) is one of its noted attractions. Yes, it is the first tropical eagle conceived through artificial insemination.
“Pag-asa connotes hope for the con-tinued survival of the Philippine Eagle, hope that if people get together for the cause of the eagle, it shall not be doomed to die,” says Salvador.
In the near future, PEF aims to re-lease the captive birds and those that have been artificially bred back into its natural habitat. But “if time will come that we have enough stocks of Philippine Eagles, where shall we release them?” Salvador asked.
In the meantime, the center has been doing its best to educate the Filipino people as to the importance of the bird and its habitat.
Guests are charged a nominal fee to enter the facility. The proceeds are used to support research and conservation efforts of the PEFI. The center depends largely on donations from individuals and multinational companies.
The question remains: Will the Phil-ippine Eagle go the same way as the ex-tinct dodo?
Before we forget, hunting and killing of the Philippine Eagle is punishable un-der Republic Act 6147, or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act, by 12 years in jail and heavy fines.
42 years ago, Davao Security and Investigation Agency, Inc. (DASIA) pioneered the industry when Davao City was just struggling to its feet.
A brainchild of the late visionary Ret. Col. Emilio Escandor, DASIA epitomized the growth of a home-grown enterprise into a competitive brand that has expanded to the
rest of the country’s islands.
Today, as Davao City emerges to become the country’s most promising local economy, DASIA likewise has stretched its reach to serve the country with its topnotch
service that has earned the accolade of the Philippine National Police as Most Outstanding Security Agency of the Year in 2012 and 2013.
As a private security provider to major establishments in Davao City, DASIA takes pride in having contributed to the city’s status as one of the most liveable cities in
the world. That commitment, built around years of dedicated service and the strong resolve to power itself with modern equipment and training, is the solid foundation
DASIA’s name will be forever be known.
42 YEARS OF TOPNOTCH
SERVICE
CARRY ON, DASIA.
DAVAO SECURITY AND INVESTIGATION AGENCY INC.A member of the Escandor Group of Companies
Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Transportation
and CommunicationsLAND TRANSPORTATION
FRANCHISING AND REGULATORY BOARDRegional Office No. XI
Davao City
Petition for Renewal of a Certif-icate of Public Convenience to operate a PUJ DUAL Ordinary Regular Service
RIVELLA DIGAL VERFUERTH, Petitioner Case No. 99-XI-00911
x- - - - - - - - -- - - -----x
NOTICE OF HEARING
Petitioner is a grantee of a Certifi-cate of Public Convenience issued in this case authorizing the oper-ation of a PUJ-DUAL Ordinary Regular Service on the route: MULIG ROUTE and for cargoes as dual service from said route to any point in Region XI with the use of ONE (1) unit, which certificate will expire on Octo-ber 5,2015. In the petition filed on August 28, 2014, petitioner request authority to extend the validity of said certificate to oper-ate along the same route with the use of the same unit previously authorized. NOTICE, is hereby given that this petition will be heard by this Board on SEPTEMBER 23, 2014 at 09:20 a.m. at this office at the above address.
At least, TEN (10) days prior to the above date petitioner shall publish this Notice once in a one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Mindanao
Parties opposed to the granting of the petition must file their writ-ten opposition supported by doc-umentary evidence on or before the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the petitioner, and may if they so, desire appear on said date and time.
This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documentary ev-idence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it nec-essary to receive additional doc-umentary and/or oral evidence.
WITNESS the Honorable BEN-JAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Regional Director, this 28th day of August 2014 at Davao City.
TERESITA DELA PEÑA-YÑIGUEZChief Transportation Development Officer
Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Transportation
and CommunicationsLAND TRANSPORTATION
FRANCHISING AND REGULATORY BOARDRegional Office No. XI
Davao City
Application for a Certificateof Public Convenience to op-erate a TH FREIGHT TRUCK Service
MICHAEL JOSEPH A. PIATOS, Petitioner
Case No.2014-XI-00657
x- - - - - - - - -- - - -----x
NOTICE OF HEARING
Applicant requests authority for a Certificate of Public Conve-nience to operate a TH FREIGHT TRUCK SERVICE for the trans-portation of freight on the route.WITHIN DAVAO CITY AND FROM SAID PLACE TO ANY POINT IN THE ISLAND OF MINDANAO AC-CESSIBLE TO MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC AND VICE VERSA with the use of THREE (3) units. NOTICE, is hereby given that this petition will be heard by this Board on SEPTEMBER 22, 2014 at 09:20 a.m. at this office at the above address.
At least, TEN (10) days prior to the above date petitioner shall publish this Notice once in a one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Mindanao
Parties opposed to the granting of the petition must file their written opposition supported by documentary evidence on or be-fore the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the petition-er, and may if they so, desire ap-pear on said date and time.
This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documentary ev-idence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it nec-essary to receive additional doc-umentary and/or oral evidence.
WITNESS the Honorable BEN-JAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Regional Director, this 27th day of August 2014 at Davao City.
TERESITA DELA PEÑA-YÑIGUEZChief Transportation Development Officer
opening, it’s certainly been the right decision.
It’s a great place to have the hospital. We have a big opportunity to help a lot of children.”
Never turn a child away
The most common ailment CURE treats is clubfoot, which medical director Dr. Espiridi-on Reyes said occurs in one out of every 1,000 live births. It is a very treatable condition us-ing the Ponseti method, which involves manipu-lating the affected foot or feet and, in severe cases, a surgical correc-tion. Done early enough, the treatment is almost a hundred percent suc-cessful.
Unfortunately, many poor families cannot af-ford to have their chil-
dren treated, so these grow up with a deformity that prevents them from actively pursuing life. This is what CURE wants to address through sub-sidies and outright free treatment.
“In CURE we say, ‘We’ll never turn a child away,’” Lehman said. This means using every means in order to make sure that no patient is left untreated just be-cause there is no mon-ey. Tim Tebow may be the biggest donor, but the hospital also counts on other sponsors like churches, foundations, and individual donors.
Patients who are subsidized or treated for free are of course screened by social work-ers to make sure their families really need the
help, but Lehman said CURE would apply this with a degree of laxity. “We’re willing to be tak-en advantage of to an ex-tent,” he said. For those living far away from Davao City and can’t afford transportation, CURE will even provide fare for the patient and some family members.
Healing changes ev-erything
Tebow CURE Hospital is targeted for opening in November, with Lehman and Dr. Reyes currently working hard on its li-cense from the Depart-ment of Health (DOH). It will “soft open” with an initial 17 beds and a staff of 55, including about 10 doctors. The grand opening will be in February next week, and Lehman said Tebow
has committed to being present.
The building has six floors, and at the time of this writing the fa-cilities are “99 percent complete,” according to Lehman. Aside from two operating rooms and wards/rooms for the patients, the hos-pital will have a reha-bilitation center and “Timmy’s Playroom,” a place “where kids can be kids,” Lehman said. Filled with toys and games, the room aims to bring faith, hope, and love to patients and their families.
And this is really at the core of what CURE does. Lehman said the organization leans heav-ily on Luke 9:2 in the Bi-ble, which says, “… and he (Jesus) sent them
(the 12 disciples) out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” “We prioritize both,” he said. CURE hospitals do not just treat the phys-ical ailments of the pa-tients, they also share the Gospel to them and their families. The mes-sage is not forced on the patients, however; the preaching of the Word is made real as it is paired with the good work of healing. “Our mission is clear,” Lehman said. “We’re here to be Jesus to everyone we meet.”
He also said CURE has a tagline: “Healing changes everything.”
“The people that we serve,” he continued, “they’re typically not life or death situations. Usually they’re elective surgeries, and what we
find in Africa is that these disabled children have no hope for the future. There is shame in them and their fam-ily. Often they don’t get an education. If they do they’re probably made fun of. They’re outcasts. All these issues sur-rounding them make it difficult for them to be-come real functioning part of society.”
Lehman said when a child comes in and can’t walk, CURE treats him or her “and we send them walking with two legs. Instead of being somebody who’s an out-cast and ashamed of his or her physical condi-tion, it puts them back to the ability to support family, the ability to get a job, the ability to be part of the community.”
Corporation of the Phil-ippines (NGCP), the in-vestor of the project, an estimated $1billion if it will take the Leyte-Su-rigao route.
The cost of a Negros- Zamboanga route is still undetermined.
MilfranceCapulong, regional corporate com-munication head of NGCP in Mindanao, said they are studying the Leyte- Ozamiz City route after finding out that the Leyte- Surigao route is not feasible because of technical issues.
Capulong said the study is expected to be finished anytime by now and construction of the cable line will start in 2016 and will be com-pleted by 2018
A report said NGCP president Henry Syesti-mates the whole project to cost $500 million.
Meanwhile, Origsaid the expected excess in the power supply in Mindanao will be tem-porary.
Although Mindanao expects that there will be an excess in the pow-er supply of 1,270 mega-watts (MW) from 2016 to 2017 because of the commissioning of new coal-fired power plants, it will be just enough for the increasing power
demand in the island-re-gion.
In an earlier forum, officials from the De-partment of Energy (DOE) had projected that demand for power will increase because of emerging industries due to development in Mind-anao by 2018. They said there will be a power shortage by 2020.
“By then, Mindanao will not be capable any-more of rechanneling excess power because there will be a shortage again,” Orig said.
This developed as the NGCP said it is studying new routes for the Vi-sayas-Mindanao grid.
Fernando S. Javier, head for Mindanao Sys-tem Planning of NGCP, told reporters on the sidelines of the Mindan-ao Power Summit at The Marco Polo, Davao that the country’s transmis-sion provider is eyeing either the Cebu- Zam-boanga del Norte or the Southern Negros- Zam-boanga del Norte routes.
“These are the two closest islands in terms of proximity aside from the Leyte- Surigao route which was already re-jected because of techni-cal issues,” he said.
Javier said it is im-possible to install the
submarine cable in the Leyte- Surigao route be-cause of the depth.
“Based on our study, it will be harder because the Surigao Deep is there. It is 1,000 meters below the sea bed. The submarine cable will be at risk,” he said.
He also said an earthquake fault line and volcanoes were found in the route that was first proposed in the study conducted by Japan International Co-operative Agency (JICA) in the 1980s.
There are also bombs from the World War II that did not ex-plode.
“JICA failed to iden-tify these possible haz-ards because when they conducted the study in the 1980s there was still no sophisticated machine or equipment that can identify what’s on the sea bed,” Javier said.
NGCP’s initial study on the new route re-vealed that the length of the submarine cable that will connect the power grid of Mindanao and Visayas will be dou-bled.
“It will probably reach to an estimated of 50 kilometer-long cables because it is a
longer route compared with the 23 kilometers for the Leyte- Surigao route,” Javier said.
He said the estimat-ed cost of the whole project might increase from the original $500 million estimation of NGCP president Henry Sy because of the longer route.
Aside from the sub-marine cable, NGCP will be also installing a new inland overhead trans-mission line.
Javier said it will be up to the Energy Reg-ulatory Commission (ERC) if there will be an increase in transmis-sion rate.
He said NGCP still does not have an idea on how the intercon-nectivity will affect power rates and bills of consumers in the mac-ro and micro levels. He said the ERC has not approved the project yet because it is still in the stage of a feasibility study.
Despite some chang-es in possible routes to be taken, Javier is still positive that the project will be finished by 2018 if it will commence by 2016.
“We are targeting to finish the study this year,” he said.
that there adverse ef-fects of mining in the environment, but he said the city can choose com-panies whose advocacy is responsible mining.
Moncano also point-ed out that if the four congressmen insist on
the bill, “the sand and gravel quarry activities in the city would be also prohibited.”
He added, however, that MGB will respect the measure if it passes into law.
The proposed law
aims to slap a penalty of imprisonment of six to 12 years and a fine of P100,000 to P500,000 at the court’s discretion against violators. Violat-ing corporation will also face permanent revoca-tion of their license to
operate.The measure also
provides that existing mining operations will be given two years to wind down and close operations upon the ap-proval of the proposed Act. ABF
AFTER signing the historic accord in 1979 that brought
peace between Israel and Egypt, President Anwar Sadat commented: “The only matter that could take Egypt to war again is water.”
“The world has got a very big water problem,” says Sir Crispin Tickell, former British ambassa-dor to the United Nations and one of the organizers of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. “It will be the progenitor of more wars than oil.”
Humans use an enor-mous amount of water. “We dam rivers, pump groundwater, and siphon lakes and rivers to grow our food, quench our thirst, spur our indus-try,” writes Jerome Casa-grande, director of Envi-ronmental Innovations Initiative.
“We use our rivers, lakes, and oceans inten-tionally and unintention-ally as dumping grounds for our waste. We fell the forests and pave the land, reducing the soil’s ability to retain water – so more water flows to the sea and become unavailable for irrigation, industrial use or drinking, not to men-tion unavailable to the plants and animals with
whom we share the land,” Casagrande adds.
“Water is the most precious asset on Earth,” points out Dr. Sandra Pos-tel, director of the Mas-sachusetts-based Global Water Policy Project. “It is the basis of life.”
Next to air, water is the element most necessary for survival. Water makes up more than 60 percent of your body weight. Pro-teins make up only 18 percent while fats encom-pass 15 percent, minerals 4 percent, carbohydrates 2 percent, and vitamins less than one percent.
Your brain contains 74 percent water, blood con-tains 83 percent water, lean muscle has 75 per-cent water, and bone has 22 percent water. A lack of water affects every-thing from your digestive tract to your immune sys-tem. It also helps regulate your body temperature.
If you are short serving yourself on water, you’re making yourself sick. In his book, Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, Dr. F. Batmanghelidj propos-es a paradigm-shifting theory: Chronic, uninten-tional dehydration is the root of many of your se-rious maladies, including asthma, arthritis, lower back pain, and hyperten-
sion.“Your body maintains
its fluid volume by a sys-tem of electrolytic min-eral exchange in and out of your body’s cells,” ex-plains Dr. Julian Whitaker, an American medical au-thor with extensive expe-rience in the fields of pre-ventive medicine and nat-ural healing. “The miner-al central to this is sodi-um. When water volume is suboptimal, the kidneys reabsorb more sodium, which is followed by a rise in fluid levels in the body. Because adequate hydration is so important, the body is remarkably efficient at maintaining water balance.”
What happens when you drink less water fre-quently? “If fluid losses are too great or water intake chronically defi-cient,” Dr. Whitaker points out, “your body makes adjustments to maintain fluid and blood flow to the areas most crucial for life. Blood is shunted from less essential tissues in the peripheral areas so that the brain, heart, and other vital organs contin-ue to receive enough to meet their basic needs.”
The editors of Super Life, Super Health con-tend our busy body loses 10 to 12 cups of water
every day just from all the normal things we do. When we sweat, urinate, excrete waste, or even just breathe, we’re getting rid of some of the mois-ture. We also lose extra water under special cir-cumstances, such as fever, diarrhea, kidney disease, or diabetes.
The bad news is: the Philippines is facing a wa-ter shortage. Columnist Peter Wallace contends, “A population of 170 mil-lion, a short 30 years from now, will need around 34,000 million liters per day. Metro Manila’s around 12.5 million res-idents need about 2,500 million liters of water per day.”
When there is a short-age of water, the Jekyll-and-Hyde paradox comes alive: from giving life, water turns into a “killing machine.” “I understood when I was just a child that without water, every-thing dies,” Marq de Vil-liers once observed.
“Children, especially those below three years old, are more vulnerable and susceptible to diseas-es caused by disasters like flooding and water short-age,” explains Dr. Marinus Gotink, UNICEF’s chief of the health and nutrition division.
In 24 provinces, one of every five residents quaffs water from du-bious sources, the Phil-ippine Human Develop-ment Report points out. These provinces are: Sulu, Maguindanao, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Masbate, Zam-boanga del Norte and Sur, Negros Oriental and Occidental, Sultan Kuda-rat, Palawan, Camarines Norte, Leyte, Misamis Oc-cidental, Apayao, Quezon, North Cotabato, Bukid-non, Iloilo, Guimaras, Agusan del Sur, Nueva Vizcaya, Ilocos Norte, and Benguet.
Today’s “crisis in water and sanitation is – above all – a crisis of the poor,” says the Unit-ed Nations Development Program study, Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Water Crisis. In Tawi-Tawi province, 82 out of every 100 residents lack safe water. (Compare that with three in Bata-an province and 39 in Capiz.) It is obscene “if people cannot drink wa-ter without courting dis-ease or death,” says Pos-tel, who wrote The Last Oasis.
“You cannot wash filthy water,” the Arab proverb says. Accord-ing to the government’s monitoring data, just
over 36 percent of the river systems in the Phil-ippines are classified as sources of public water supply. Up to 58 percent of groundwater sampled is contaminated with co-liform and needs treat-ment. Approximately 31 percent of illnesses monitored for a five-year period were also caused by water-borne sources, and many areas are expe-riencing a shortage of wa-ter supply, during the dry season.
“Water, water every-where,” wrote Samuel Taylor Coleridge in The Rime of the Ancient Mar-iner, “but not a drop to drink.”
Only 2.5 percent of the water that covers over 70 percent of the earth’s sur-face is considered fresh water. And only 1.3 per-cent is available for hu-man use since most of the freshwater are trapped in glaciers, ice sheets, and mountainous areas. Fresh water is drawn ei-ther from wells (tapping underground sources called aquifers) or from surface flows (like lakes, rivers, and man-made reservoirs).
“Whiskey’s for drinkin’,” Mark Twain once wrote. “But water is for fightin’ over.”
THE Philippine Travel Mart (PTM), the big-gest and longest travel trade exposition that puts dream Philippine holidays “on sale” was recently held last September 5 to 7 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. As it celebrated its 25th anniversary, the Phil-ippine Tour Operators Association (PHIL-TOA) highlighted the diversity of travel op-portunities across the Philippine archipelago as expected by regular travel mart goers.
By Kenneth Irving Ong
The 25th Philippine Travel MartA showcase of Mindanao’s colourful and diverse destinations
Delivering a more ex-citing exhibition, the PTM takes its cue from the De-partment of Tourism’s battle cry “Its More Fun in the Philippines” as the en-tire country gets ready for the much awaited ASEAN Integration in 2015 as well as the upcoming Visit Philippines Year 2015. “We’ve been known for being friendly and accom-modating, and we wanted to reinforce and weave these characteristics into this year’s travel mart.” says PTM Chairman
Ceasar Cruz “Tourism is not just about marketing the places where travellers can rest in vacation spots; it is, in fact a holistic busi-ness that involves the cul-ture, the charm, and even the merchandises the lo-cals offer to tourists.” New tourism products were introduced to the travel mart attendees such as tour packages that are offered with as much as a 70% discount for exciting destination such as Bora-cay, Bohol, Cebu, Duma-guete, Ilocos, Bicol, Pala-
wan, and Davao; deals to steal on the country’s best luxury destinations like Bluewaters Resorts, El Nido Resorts, and Huma Island Resort; and the “Twinning” packages that
will allow travellers to mix and match their favou-rite local and Asian des-tinations such as Cebu/Singapore, Bali/Boracay, Coron/Vietnam, Puerto Princessa/Kuala Lumpur
for as low as US$228.
A spotlight on Mindanao This year’s PTM fea-tured the participation of all six Mindanao re-
gions with each region showcasing their colour-ful heritage, attractions, tourist packages, as well as new and up-and-coming
FTHE, A4
IN CELEBRATION of Breastfeeding Awareness Month this August, SM La-nang Premier of-ficially unveiled its Breastfeeding Sta-tion as part of SM Cares Program on Women and Breast-feeding on August 10, 2014. The Breastfeeding Sta-tion at the 3rd Level of the mall is set up to provide an alternative option for mothers to breastfeed their babies in a private and comfortable environment. Breastfeeding, however, is allowed at any location in all SM malls to encourage interaction between moth-ers and their children. Dr. Jack Newman, Ca-nadian physician and Consultant for UNICEF’s Baby Friendly Hospi-tal Initiative, graced the launch. He was joined by Donna Metran Escosora, representative of Coun-cilor Maria Belen Acosta, Angelia Rovie Villareal, Newborn Screening Nurse Coordinator of the De-partment of Health Re-gional Office XI, Chona Dazon, Breastfeeding Pro-gram Coordinator of the Davao City Health Office (CHO), Alex Hao, Presi-dent of Lactation, Attach-ment, Training, Coun-seling, Help (LATCH) Davao, and Jason Molina, Dean of Nutrition and Di-etetics of the University of the Immaculate Concep-tion (UIC). SM Cares led by Elena Horn, Bernadette Velasco and Joanne Colayco and SM Lanang Premier As-sistant Mall Manager Nick Santos welcomed the guests. Apart from the launch of the said Breastfeed-ing Station, a talk by Dr. Newman was also held at the Atrium. It debunked myths on breastfeeding and encouraged partici-pants to support and be advocates of breastfeeding. About 600 moth-ers and barangay health volunteers from nearby communities such as Bu-hangin, Agdao, Sasa, nu-
trition professionals from CHO, nursing and nutri-tion and dietetics students from UIC, participated in the said talk to learn more about breastfeeding. SM’s Breastfeeding Awareness celebration at SM Lanang Premier was
held in partnership with LATCH Davao, a group of very enthusiastic and active breastfeeding advo-cates. The activity was part of SM’s Program on Women and Breastfeeding under SM Cares, the mall-based
division of SM Founda-tion, which undertakes corporate social responsi-bility efforts for the ben-efit of the community. SM aims to foster a nurturing and comfortable breast-feeding environment for mothers.
Postpaid subscriptions with Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) have gotten more rewarding. The wireless services leader is giving away trips, gad-gets, and gift certificates to lucky postpaid sub-scribers who will use its self-care channels to eas-ily and quickly complete various customer service transactions. At stake in Smart’s Life-style Rewards Promo are several units of iPhone 5S and iPad Mini; trips for two to Pearl of the Pacific Boracay, Dahilayan Ad-venture Park in Cagayan de Oro, and Bauan Diver’s Sanctuary in Batangas; and gift certificates from Escolta at Peninsula Manila, The Spa, and S&R. Subscribers of Freedom Plan and other postpaid pack-ages can register to the promo by texting the following to 2213: SLRP <space> NAME/COMPLETE ADDRESS/AGE/AC-COUNT NUMBER. (Example: SLRP Juan Ramos/36 J.P. Rizal St., Dasmariñas, Makati/21/0729107382) Registration is free. They can start earning raffle entries by paying Smart post-paid bills via banks, Smart Money, Pay and Load machines in selected Smart Stores, and other alternative payment
c h a n n e l s (SM, Save-More, Bay-ad Center, 7- E l eve n, ECPay out-lets, LBC,
Cebuana Lhuillier); activating their phone’s MMS, GPRS, or 3G settings using the Customer Support or SIM Settings Menu, which can be downloaded for free by texting MENU to 9888; Using the online customer service portal my.Smart (smart.com.ph/account) to enroll to electronic postpaid statements or pay bills via credit card; or text LIFT to 5438 to continue to enjoy Smart postpaid services even after ex-ceeding their credit limit (subject to Smart’s validation). Smart postpaid subscribers can complete as many trans-actions as they can to earn more raffle entries until the end of the promo period on December 31. Winners will be de-termined via raffle draw on January 19, 2015. For more information about Smart’s Lifestyle Rewards pro-mo, please visit smart.com.ph/selfcare or text Self Care to 888.
A2 INdulge! VOL. 7 ISSUE 125 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7-8, 2014EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT EVENT
BABY COMPANY DIAPER DEALS IS ON! Get great deals from your facvorite diaper brands: Mamy Poko, Drypers, EQ, Cooshies & Huggies and save more than P100 pesos on select diapers. Plus, exclusive to Mom Card members, get a Free ‘Watch Me Grow’ photo clock. Just purchase P2,000 minimum single-receipt of any diaper and toiletries brand. So visit Baby Company now and stock up on your favorite diaper brands now until September 30 only. Per DTI FTEB SPD Permit No. 2295 Series of 2014
Canadian physician and Consultant for UNICEF’s Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative Dr. Jack Newman (center) leads the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the launch of the Breastfeeding Station at SM Lanang Premier on August 10. Joining him are representatives from Department of Health Region XI, Davao City Health Office and SM Executives.
Bernadette Velasco, SM Cares Program Director for Breastfeeding, stresses on the importance of breastfeeding.
Dr. Jack Newman signs his name on one of the breastfeeding awareness posters displayed at SM Lanang Premier’s Breastfeeding Station at the 3rd Level.
UNICEF Consultant Dr. Newman talks about the bottle feeding mentality and breastfeeding myths propagated in our society.
Karen Musni-Lamorena of breastfeeding support group LATCH Davao encourages participants to be breastfeeding advocates at the event held in the Atrium, SM Lanang Premier.
Smart offers trips, gadgets, and more in postpaid promo
Jack Newman visits SM Lanang PremierSpreads breastfeeding awareness and advocacy
GMA Network calls on aspiring beauty queens from all over the country to file their Miss World Philippines 2014 appli-cations as the General Screening will be held on September 9. Miss World Philippines 2014 opens this oppor-tunity to single Filipinas from 17 to 24 years of age, at least five feet and six inches tall, possessing good moral character, charm, poise, and pleas-ing personality to join this year’s prestigious pageant. Applicants must fill out the Official Contestant Entry Form and bring the original and photo-copy of their documents (passport or NSO certified birth certificate). Upon submission of the entry form, they are also re-quested to bring three re-cent copies of 5R colored
photographs: one close-up facial shot (taken with minimal make-up) and two full-body shots. On the General Screen-ing, aspiring beauty queens are required to bring their casual wear, swimwear, long gown, and high heels. Qualified applicants will proceed to the Final Screening, which will be held on September 10. Last year, the Philip-pines made a significant milestone as Ms Megan Young was the first Fili-pino to be hailed Miss World. The Filipina who wins this coveted crown will be a shining example of the heart and soul of Filipino womanhood. The win-ner and her court will put her beauty to good use by caring for the margin-alized women and chil-dren of the Philippines
through various charities. The 2014 Miss World Philippines Pageant will be held in Octo-ber and viewed na-tionwide in GMA Network. View-ers all over the world may catch it through GMA Pi-noy TV.
KAPUSO stars Camille Prats, Kiko Estrada and Martin del Rosario inked exclusive contracts with GMA Network last Sep-tember 2 at the GMA Network Center. Present in the con-tract signing were GMA Senior Vice President for Entertainment Lilybeth G. Rasonable, GMA Vice President for Entertain-ment Marivin T. Arayata, GMA Assistant Vice Presi-dent for Drama Cheryl C. Sy, GMA Senior Assistant Vice President for Alter-native Productions Gigi S. Lara, GMA Artist Cen-ter Assistant Vice Presi-dent and Head for Talent Imaging and Marketing Unit Simoun F. Ferrer and manager Arnold Veg-afria. Kapuso actress and host Camille Prats ac-knowledged the chal-lenging projects that the Network has been giv-ing her and she’s look-ing forward to work and grow more as an actress in GMA. “Happy kasi ever since naman po, I’ve been very happy with my home network, and happy din ako sa mga shows
na they’ve been giving me, most of them are really very challenging, especially itong Second Chances na I had to cut my hair short for this role. I took it as a really good challenge. I’m working with Direk Laurice Guillen and a really, really good ensemble cast, so very very happy, and excited. Tsaka ngayon parang ang sarap din sa feel-ing na you’re still part of the network where I’ve been staying for the past years. So I’m very happy talaga where I am now, and I’m glad na mayroon ulit akong pagkakataon
na magawa ‘yung gusto kong gawin which is act-ing,” shares Camille. Upon signing the con-tract, promising young star Kiko Estrada men-tioned that he’s very pleased to be back in GMA. “I’m really thankful to GMA because they gave me a new project, Straw-berry Lane, right away. I’m back and I’m happy. So I’m going to work harder because I want to be one of the best actors someday.” Meanwhile, actor and endorser Martin del Ro-sario assured the Net-
work that he will be com-mitted in giving his best in every project that the management will give him. “Masaya po ako dahil matagal ko nang hinihin-tay ang araw na ito. Ngay-on po, official na Kapuso na ako. I’m very excited sa magagandang proyekto na ipagkakatiwala sa akin ng GMA and I will give my best para maipakita na pi-nahahalagahan ko ang ti-walang ibingay nila,” says Martin. Rasonable shared that she is very happy that Camille, Kiko and Martin inked exclusive contracts
with GMA and noted that they are good addition to GMA Network’s stable of talents. “Kaya naman na-tin piniling mapunta sila sa atin or i-renew in the case of Camille, kasi alam natin na makakadagdag sa ating stable of talents na magagaling sa drama.” She added that the three stars will be given drama projects to show-case their knack for act-
ing. “Si Camille, she’s already doing Second Chances na talagang you’ll see a different Ca-mille this time that will test her acting prowess talaga. And then si Kiko also, is doing primetime soap, Strawberry Lane. Si Martin, he just did a very impressive Magpakailan-man, and we’re preparing a soap for him. So lahat ‘yan, drama.”
Camille, Kiko and Martin sign exclusive contracts with GMA
Miss World Philippines 2014 screening set on September 9
events and destinations. The booth of the Au-tonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao was a crowd-drawer with its co-lourful woven mats called baluy as well as other handicrafts. The photos of Tawi-tawi and Sulu’s pris-tine beaches also helped charm the crowd. Highlighting their re-gion’s unique culture and strong Spanish heritage, Region 9 offers tours and experiences that are rich in history such as Rizal’s shrine in Dapitan and Fort Pilar in Zamboanga City, but also that of na-ture such as Sta. Cruz Is-land’s pink sand beaches. Culture and eco-adven-ture was the theme of the Province of South Cota-bato’s pavilion, the home province of Lake Sebu and the T’boli tribe whose dream weavers are re-sponsible for the creation of T’nalak. The province is introducing new and more exciting tourism products such as ATV tours, adven-ture trails, and zip lines. Region 12 where South Cotabato is part of is also developing parasailing as a new adventure tourism product that is available all-year long. Offering adventures from the sea, the Caraga region is the home of the famous Cloud 9 which challenges local and inter-national surfers as well as the blue-green waters of Surigao’s Enchated River. Beyond the mainland, one can also visit the hidden paradise of the Britania Is-lands or Bukasgrande Is-land where one can swim with stingless jellyfish. The Dahilayan Eco-park as well as river raft-ing adventures are the lat-est offerings of Northern Mindanao with the region aiming to host their first international river raft-
DOT Assistant Secretary Art Boncato (second from left) together with Mutya ng Dabaw 2014 Franchesca Enriquez, DOT-XI’s Eden David and Hiyas ng Kadayawan 2014 Susan Batawan pose in front of the Davao pavilion.
Models show off the colorful fashion creations inspired by the many different provincial festivals of Northern Mindanao at the Philippine pavilion.
Caraga’s presentations included colourful tribal dances.
PTM Chairman Ceasar Cruz and DOT Asec Art Boncato.
Western Mindanao showcased their unique culture through dances that highlight their strong Spanish heritage.
ARMM’s awe inspiring pavilion drew a huge crowd of visitors.
The contingent from the province of South Cotabato.
ing competition by 2015. Bukidnon’s Kaamulan Festival is also expected to draw visitors thanks to its rich and colourful celebra-tion. Aside from the Kaday-awan Festival, the Davao Region offered various tour packages in con-junction to the holding of Davao City’s second Visit Davao Fun Sale, the first and only city-wide sale in the Philippines. Also highlighted are the re-gion’s natural beauty and bounty from the islands to the highlands with eco-tourism, sports tourism, and food and agri-tour-ism.
Qualifications:- At least high school graduate, not more than 30 years old
- Physically and mentally fit- Can handle minor repairs of the machine
- Has the ability to be cool under pressure of deadlines and complex projects
- Experience of at least one year
EDGEDAVAO
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and Holy Cross of Mintal scored contrasting wins to both advance into the semifinals of the high school boys basketball of the DACS Sportsfest last Friday at the UIC Bajada gym.
As usual, the Migs-Solitaria-mentored Ate-neo squad displayed its unstoppable running game and dominated the boards to rout St. Peter’s College of Toril, 75-50.
The Blue Knights
again started with an-other big run, 22-9 in the first quarter then widened its lead by 18 points, 60-42 midway in the final half. Fran-cis “Ep-Ep” Escandor led Ateneo with 13 points as the Blue Knights re-mained undefeated in five games.
It was a different sto-ry for the HCM Marians as they had to escape only in the last one min-ute to beat Holy Cross College of Sasa, 68-62.
The game was still tied at 62-all in the fi-
nal 1:42. But the Mari-ans were able to execute more on their defense and fastbreaks for the win.
Meanwhile, Ateneo barged into the finals of the high school girls di-vision with an easy walk-over win over a no-show Assumption Academy of Penaplata last Friday.
Ateneo will vie for the title against Assump-tion College of Davao, which eliminated Holy Cross of Davao College, 75-49.
In high school girls’
volleyball, Ateneo de Davao University, As-sumption College of Davao, Holy Cross Col-lege of Sasa and Univer-sity of Immaculate Con-ception beat separate rivals in the quarterfi-nals.
Ateneo whipped Stella Maris Academy, 25-7, 25-10 while ACD walloped Holy Cross College of Calinan, 25-3, 25-15. HCCS downed St. Paul College of Davao, 25-2, 25-12 while UIC trounced St. Peter’s Col-lege of Toril, 25-8, 25-9
IT’S all systems go for the 8thAteneo de Davao University
(AdDU) Beach Volleyball Festival on September 7, 2014, Sunday, at Blue Jaz Resort and Waterpark, Is-land Garden City of Samal.
Speaking at the Fast Fridays media forum held at SM Lanang Premier on Friday, event organizer Mae Bornillo of the Par-agon Productions said everything is already in place, including the play-ers, beach goers and ven-ue.
“The players are good to go as well as the ven-ue… we are expecting at-least 500 people to come”, Bornillo said.
Spikers’ Island 2014, the official name of this year’s beach volleyball event, is an inter-division volleyball competition with 10 opposing teams from the different divi-sions and faculty of AdDU.
The pirate-themed beach volley competition will also feature activities for non-players including parlor games, foam party and avail resort’s ameni-ties.
Tickets are sold at 350 pesos, inclusive of back and forth boat fare, entrance fee, lunch meal, foam party and one free pass at Starr.
Also, the said event is a fund raising activity that aims to help
two community-based beneficiaries namely the Galon Elementary School and SAKADAB GawadKa-linga Village.
Galon Elementary School is located at Si-tio Coog, Brgy. Mandug, Davao City, about an hour-drive away from the city proper. It currently has 250 students with one classroom assignment per year level.
The school lacks a clean water supply since the area is not yet con-nected to the city’s water district.
Meanwhile, SAKAD-AB (Samahan ng may iba’t ibang kakayahan sa Dabaw) Gawad Ka-linga Village at Brgy. Los Amigos, Tugbok, Davao City is home to 27 differ-ently-abled persons, 23 are in wheelchairs while 4 are in stretchers.
Despite their condi-tion, they want to have a wood shop in their com-munity, wherein they are going to create and sell wooden crafts such as wooden toys, accessories and the like.
All proceeds will be given to these beneficia-ries.
The Paragon Produc-tions is the official pro-duction team of the senior mass communication stu-dents of Ateneo de Davao University.
DEFENDING cham-pion Ateneo de Davao University
boy’s football team re-tained yesterday its title via a clean sweep in this year’s Davao Associa-tion of Catholic Schools (DACS) Sportsfest held at the Tiongco grounds.
The Albert Ryan Lim-mentored Ateneo-booters blanked Holy Cross of Mintal, 8-0 in the championship game to again earn a slot to the DACS Regional Meet. Ateneo is also the reign-ing champion in the Davao City Athletic As-sociation (DCAA) and
Davao Regional Athletic Association (DAVRAA).
Philippine Little Az-kals member Jed Dia-mante led the Blue Knights with four goals all made in the first half – 6th, 9th, 18th and 25th. In the second half, Anton Lopez converted from on top of the box in the 55th for a 5-0 lead.
John ReyLagura then added two markers in the 79th and 89th be-fore Joshua James Valdez scored the final goal in the dying seconds.
“The boys were pre-pared and inspired to play,” said coach Lim,
who revealed that his team have been training since June.
Philippine Women’s College beat University of Immaculate Concep-tion, 3-0 to cop third place.
Ateneo entered the finals after whipping PWC, 6-0 in the semifi-nals while HCM blanked UIC, 2-0. Ateneo started its title-retention bid by routing Assumption Col-lege of Davao, 22-0, and later demolished Holy Cross of Babak, 11-0. In the quarter-finals, Ate-neo drubbed HC Calinan, 8-0 to top its bracket.
The other Ateneo players are Enzo Magno, Javi Romero-Salas, Patric Pineda, Joshua Lim, Luke Amoguis, Gabriel Lay-so, Rafael Pilapil, Kyron Pamisa, ChioUy, Rafael Lagon, JJ de Luna, Martin Antipuesto and Vincent Lascano.
Alex Adolfo is the assistant coach. The event was officiated by the Davao Football As-sociation with Melcho-rAnzures as the tourna-ment coordinator.
Meanwhile, the swimming competition will be held on Sept. 20 at the DMMA pool.
DACS SPORTSFEST SPIKERS ISLAND
Ateneo, HC Mintalenter semifinals
Ateneo eleven retains DACS title
All set for 8th AdDU Beach Volley FestivalBy VINCENT RELL GONZAGAIntern
FAST FRIDAYS. Mae Bornillo (center) explains the me-chanics of Spikers Island as his co-organizers Kai del Corro (left) and Khrist Maestre (right) await their turn to answer
queries during the FAST Fridays forum at Archipelago 7107 by Barrio Fiesta at SM Lanang Premier. Lean Daval Jr.
its support behind the Phil-ippine national men’s bas-ketball team regarding the eligibility of naturalized center Andray Blatche for the Asian Games in South Korea this September.
Blatche has been dis-qualified from the Asian Games after organizers demanded proof of the NBA center’s residency of at least three years in the Philippines. He was grant-ed Filipino citizenship un-der a special law signed by President Benigno Aquino last June.
In a letter obtained by InterAksyon.com ad-dressed to the Asian Games Organizing Committee, FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann said that Blatche should be allowed to suit up for the Philip-pines.
“We have been in-formed that you are in
charge of entering and accrediting the various athletes for the upcoming Asian Games in Incheon and have just been in-formed that you have del-isted from Entry one of the basketball athletes for the Philippine delegation,” Baumann wrote.
“We would like to in-form you that the Interna-tional Basketball Federa-tion establishes the eligi-bility criteria for all basket-ball athletes worldwide for the purpose of their par-ticipation in national team competitions in official basketball competitions organized or sanctioned by FIBA.
“The player that you have prohibited Entry plays is registered in FIBA’s eligibility system as a play-er for the Philippines and has, in fact, just played sev-eral games this past week at the 2014 FIBA Basket-ball World Cup in Spain for that country. It is quite
confusing to hear that he is now not allowed to com-pete for the same team just a few weeks later.”
Baumann added that FIBA establishes the el-igibility for players who represent their respective national teams, and that rule should be followed in all international competi-tions, including the Asian Games.
“You may not know, but – probably similar to other sports – FIBA’s eli-gibility rules apply, as an example, for all FIBA World Championships and for the Olympic Games. Also as an example, during an event like the Asian Games, FI-BA’s International Referees officiate the Games and ap-ply the Official Basketball Rules as edited by FIBA.
“I am sure therefore that there must be a mis-understanding and I would kindly request that you review your decision and apply FIBA’s regulations on
eligibility for all teams par-ticipating in the basketball tournaments at the Asian Games and re-enlist the Filipino player. This would certainly be fair for the athlete concerned and his country.
“Equally, if the same set of eligibility rules, namely that of the International Federation, is being ap-plied to all international basketball events for na-tional teams across the world, it ensures clarity for the media and the fans alike and credibility for the sport.”
Apart from Blatche, Asian Games organizers are also questioning the eligibility of Gilas Pilipinas wingmen Gabe Norwood and Jared Dillinger.
After its return to the World Cup after 40 years, the Philippines is looking to end its 16-year medal drought in the basketball competition of the Asian Games.
CAN Gilas Pilipinas be considered as one of the best teams to
represent Philippines in the FIBA World Cup?
If the performance and the average losing margin will be used as basis, the answer is yes.
“The mere fact that they’re already playing in the World Cup and played every game as if they have a chance of winning each time makes them as one of the best ever,” former national team coach Yeng Guiao told online sports website InterAksyon.com.
Gilas Pilipinas became the first team since the 1974 Philippine squad to qualify for the World Cup of Basketball.
Although the win-loss record of the Philippine team 40 years ago was a lot better than this edition’s national squad, Gilas Pilipi-nas was able to play com-petitive each game, push-ing its rivals to the limit. The Filipinos lost four of its five games in the group stage matches by just an average of less than six points.
The losing margin is the lowest ever for any Philip-pine squad to play on the world stage, even better than the 1954 squad ban-nered by basketball legend Caloy Loyzaga, whose team finished third place in the tournament — the highest for any Asian team in the World Cup’s history.
But Guiao clarified that doesn’t take away what the 1954 squad achieved despite Loyzaga and com-
pany dropping a couple of lopsided games en route to a bronze medal finish. Gilas Pilipinas, despite its close games, failed to advance to the Round of 16.
“You can have one bad night and lose by 50 and then win by two or three points, that’s a very bad av-erage for a losing margin,” added Guiao. “The basis would still be depend on what you’ve finished and how you competed each game.”
“In terms of compet-ing each game, Gilas has done that so well, so I be-lieve pwede na natin sil-ang ma-consider as one of the best Philippine teams to play in the world level,” said Guiao.
After Gilas Pilipinas’ performance, Guiao said that the Filipinos wouldn’t be ignored anymore by more fancied teams.
“Dati, hindi nila tayo iniintindi. They’re not even including us in their scout-ing report. This time, hindi na pupuwede yung hindi nila tayo i-scout kasi alam nila tatalunin na natin sila,” said Guiao.
“Not only that we earned the respect of ev-eryone in the World Cup, we’ve played each game where we had a chance of winning.”
Blatche, Fajardo, Ala-pag top performers for Gi-las
Andray Blatche, Jimmy Alapag and June Mar Fa-jardo were some of the top performers for the Philip-pines’ five-game campaign in the FIBA World Cup.
FIBA: Blatche is eligible Gilas: Among the best in World Cup
ELIGIBLE. Andray Blatche is eligible to play for the Phil-ippines in the Asian Games according to FIBA.
SLIPPERY. LA Tenorio tries to squeak past NBA veteran JJ Barea of Puerto Rico.
16 EDGEDAVAOSports
A STAR IS BORN
LAST year he was an almost forgotten role player in the FIBA
Asia campaign. This year, he’s a big reason why the Philippines has ended an almost four-decade-long wait for victory at the FIBA worlds.
On Thursday 24-year-old June Mar Fajardo came up large in the 81-79 over-time victory against Sene-gal. Coach Chot Reyes em-ployed Fajardo as half of a twin-towers attack along-side Andray Blatche. The gambit worked as Fajardo scored fifteen points on five-for-ten shooting from the field.
Fajardo narrowly missed a double-double as he grabbed nine rebounds against the towering Afri-cans, second-best on the team to Blatche’s 14. Fajar-do only turned the ball over once in 32 minutes of play. Only Alapag and Blatche logged more time.
The Pinamungajan, Cebu native also chipped in a pair of assists and, star-tlingly, a couple of steals as well.
The 6’11” center has been getting lots of praise for being the FIBA World Cup’s second-most efficient player after Spain’s Pau Gasol. And on Thursday he backed up that reputation with an efficiency score of 20, two more than the next efficient Gilas player, Blatche, and four more than Jimmy Alapag.
There were plenty of other moments for Fajar-do in the game. With two minutes to go in the fourth, the Senegalese defense was
caught napping, leaving the Cebuano alone on the baseline. Blatche spotted Fajardo with a perfect bul-let pass and the big fella finished the play with a co-lossal two-handed dunk for a vital 62-61 lead.
Fajardo is not known for his prowess from the free throw line, averag-ing around 67%. But in the overtime period there would be no Hack-a-Krak-en. With just under a min-ute to play Fajardo blood-lessly drained two charities to give the Philippines the all-important two-posses-sion lead at 75-71.
The Beerman finished with a 71% clip from the line, five from seven.
Most Pinoys were watching the game on TV 5 but those tuning in on Basketball TV heard FIBA’s English-language commen-tators gush over Fajardo’s sparkling play and how he manned up against the Sen-egalese bigs like Hamady Ndiaye and Timberwolf Gorgui Dieng. In previous Gilas games, the commen-tators even wondered aloud why Fajardo wasn’t getting much playing time, adding they wanted to see the Kraken play alongside Blatche more.
Fajardo finishes the World Cup with averages of 6.6 points per game and 4.2 rebounds per game, a huge improvement from the re-cent FIBA Asia Cup, where he only normed 1.8 points and 2.2 boards per outing.
No doubt June Mar caught the eye of one pun-dit, who is used to towering above opponents herself.
STEPPING UP. Junmar Fajardo, shown here defending against NBA veteran Georghi Dieng of Senegal, stepped up for the Philippines after Andray Blatche fouled out. FIBA.com photo
RETIRING. Jimmy Ala-pag of the Philippines has made a grand exit in his international basketball career. FIBA.com
