Edge Davao 7 Issue 209

P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015

THE National Commis-sion on Indigenous People (NCIP) deferred

the selection of the new In-digenous People’s Mandatory Representative (IPMR) to the Davao City Council yesterday due to tension and confusion during the proceedings.

In an interview, NCIP Davao del Sur director Cris-

tito Ingay told reporters that they decided to move the se-lection to January 12 because some “Baragwas” or councils of elders went home because they thought the eight aspi-rants already chosen the per-son who will represent the IPs in the City Council.

The next IPMR is to come from the 37 Kagan communi-

ties since the IP representa-tive rotates among the city’s indigenous tribes.

“Ang ubang mga Barag-wa naguli naman tungod lang pud atong pag-concede sa ubang aspirants. Sigruo, na kondisyon ilang mga hu-na-huna na nag concede sila in favor kay Apadan. Pero naa pa ma’y nabilin na usa (The

other Baragwa went home because of the withdrawal of other aspirants. Maybe their minds had been conditioned that Apadan was their per-son to be the IPMR. Howev-er, there was one who stood up),” Ingay said.

The aspirants are Janor Balo, Macapayao Apadan,

FTENSION, 10

Confusion forces deferment of selectionTENSION OVER IP REPINTENT. An elderly woman (center) listens intently to the speeches of the aspirants for the next Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) to the Davao City Council during yesterday’s selection process at the Davao City Recreation Center. Lean Daval Jr.

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO

By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO [email protected]

SPORTS page 14

INSIDE EDGE

Pagara, Servaniawill be tested

PINOY PRIDE 29IN DAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 20152 EDGEDAVAO

THE BIG NEWS

THE Davao City Police Of-fice (DCPO) seized a to-tal of P440,571,304.87

in illegal drugs in 2014, more than 60 times the amount seized in 2013.

DCPO spokesperson Se-nior Inspector Milgrace Driz said the huge jump was due to the seizure of more than P400 million worth of cocaine in separate operations.

She also said the increase

was due to the higher number of operations conducted by the different police station in the city.

Last year, authorities con-ducted 510 operations and apprehended 726 people, re-sulting in 922 cases filed on court.

In 2013, DCPO conducted only 372 operations and ar-rested 545 individuals, with 556 cases filed on court.

“One factor of the increase of the amount of the recov-ered illegal drugs is that for the year 2014, police recov-ered millions worth of cocaine while in 2013 there was no cocaine recovered,” Driz said.

In 2014, authorities re-covered P417,750,624 worth of cocaine, including more than 60 bricks of the drug recovered from the Sumifru wharf.

Authorities also seized P22,110,188 worth of shabu in 2014, while in 2013 police recovered P6,344,405 worth of the same drugs.

A total of P710,492.87 worth of marijuana was also seized last year, while in 2013 authorities seized P566,065.90.

Driz said the DCPO in-tends to intensify its campaign against illegal drugs this year.

THE Davao City Busi-ness Bureau noted an increase in the number

of businesses that renewed their business permits this year.

In an interview, Business Bureau head lawyer Law-rence Bantiding told Edge Davao that his office noted an increase of more than 2,000 applications compared with last year.

“This simply mean that our taxpayers already know their obligation when to re-new their business permits,” Bantiding said.

Based on daily statis-

tics, the Business Bureau received a total of 6,390 ap-plication from January 3 to 6, 201,5 compared with last year which had 4,352 appli-cations from January 2 to 5, 2014.

Batinding said although his office started earlier last year, it was still able to sur-pass last year’s number of applications.

“We started last 2014 on January 2 which is earlier than this year. That is why even though it was Saturday we started on January 3 to give the taxpayers an ample

BARELY a month after the chaos that marked the holiday travel season

last December, thousands of airline passengers are in for another rough time as airlines announced the cancelation of more than 200 of flights on January 15 and 19 to give way to the arrival and departure of Pope Francis in the country.

In their statements, the airlines cited the limited op-erations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) as announced by the Civil Avi-ation Authority of the Philip-pines (CAAP) as the reason for the cancelations.

Cebu Pacific Air, already in hot water over numerous

flight delays and cancelations last December, said it was can-celing a total of 79 domestic and eight international flights on the two dates. Eight of those flights bound for Davao City.

Philippine Airlines, for its part, canceled a total of 71 do-mestic flights, of which five are bound for Davao City, and 15 international flights on Janu-ary 15 and 19.

Tiger Air Philippines can-celled a total of 16 flights on January 15 and January 19, while Air Asia Philippines said it has canceled a total of 24 flights on January 15, 17, and 19.

Passengers in canceled flights have been advised to

contact their respective air-lines to rebook their flights or refund their tickets. The air-lines have said they will not charge for rebooking if the flights are within 30 days of the original departure.

Miascor Ground Handling Corporation supervisor Bobby Salvalion said Silk Air will not cancel any of its international flights. “Our flight bound for Singapore is not affected be-cause it will not pass Manila but Cebu,” Salvalion said.

CAAP deputy chief for operations Rodante Joya said in an earlier report that there will be disarray in airline flight schedules because of the limit-ed operations at NAIA for the

security of the pope.CAAP, together with repre-

sentatives from different gov-ernment agencies and NAIA, issued a Notice to Airmen (NO-TAM) in a consultative meeting announcing the suspension of arriving flights in on NAIA ter-minals from 2 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. on January 15 and then from 6 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on January 19.

Departure flights, howev-er, will proceed subject to the availability of the aircraft, the report said. Departure flights that arrived before 2 p.m. will be still allowed to take-off be-fore the “no fly” hours.

NAIA’s flight operation will

WITH Pope Francis scheduled visit to the country this coming

January 15 to 19, all units of the Armed Forces of the Phil-ippines (AFP) will be placed on “red alert” status starting this Saturday.

This was disclosed by AFP chief-of-staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang in a briefing with re-porters Wednesday.

Catapang said the “red alert” status, which will last until Pope Francis has safe-ly concluded his visit to the country, is to ensure that “no enemies of the state” can take advantage of the country’s preparations and excitement

for the Pontiff’s visit.He said the number of se-

curity troops tasked to secure Pope Francis in his visit to Ma-nila, Tacloban and Palo, Leyte has now climbed to 37,000.

This can be broken down into 20,000 for the Philippine National Police (PNP) and an-other 17,000 for the AFP.

Catapang said the AFP fig-ures can be broken into 10,000 regular troops, bulk of which will come from Metro Manila, while the remaining 7,000 are from the military reservist units.

He also said that they are still to detect any security

Cops confiscate P440Min illegal drugs in 2014By FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA

[email protected]

By CHENEEN R. CAPONAirlines cancel flights due to papal visitPermit bureau notes

increase in renewalsBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.

[email protected]

FPERMIT, 10 FAIRLINES, 10

FAFP, 10

AFP to be placed onred alert for Francis

WALK THROUGH. Outgoing Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) to the Davao City Council Councilor Berino L. Mambo-o (center) attends the IPMR selection process yesterday at the Davao City Recreation Center. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015 3NEWSEDGEDAVAO

THE Davao City Water District (DCWD) yes-terday announced that

the construction of the pipe bridge crossing between the two Governor Generoso bridges in Bankerohan will be completed on March 28 “un-der normal conditions.”

Speaking in yesterday’s Club 888 media forum at The Marco Polo, Davao, newly-in-stalled DCWD spokesperson Bernardo D. Delima said “nor-mal conditions” means no oc-currence of floods and other calamities.

Delima said the replace-ment of the existing pipes

with a 1,000 millimeter (mm) diameter one started in early December last year.

This after a delay of more than five months because of illegal settlers under the bridge who left only upon the request of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte himself.

“It took as time to relocate the settlers. Naglisud mi kay dili man manghawa. Actually, we had to tap the local gov-ernment just to help us relo-cate the settlers,” Delima said.

The mainline pipe that supplied water from the Du-moy pumps to the downtown

HOW much is your hap-piness worth? If you win Cebuana Lhuilli-

er’s Search for the Hapiest Pinoy, it could be to the tune of P1 million in cash tax-free.

Richard Villaseran, Ce-buana Lhuillier public rela-tions manager, told Davao City reporters at a press con-ference yesterday that the biennial search, which is now on its third run, is looking for the Filipino who possesses three traits: a positive out-look, the ability to rise above life’s challenges, and the abili-ty to impact the lives of other people.

He said this year’s Search for the Happiest Pinoy has a wider scope, new special awards, and bigger cash prizes. “We have made the

effort to make this the biggest search ever,” he said.

The grand prize winner will receive P1 million in cash, tax-free, which is four times the prize in the last search done in 2012.

Nine runners-up will re-ceive P50,000 each. The com-pany will also give special prizes to the Happiest Stu-dent and Happiest Overseas Filipino Worker.

Also new this year are the P10,000 cash prizes for the nominees of each of the nine runners-up and a P50,000 prize for the nominee of the grand prize winner.

Filipinos 18 years old and above and with good moral character can be nominated to the search. Nomination

COMBINED military and police forces have captured a suspect-

ed Urban Terrorist Group (UTG) leader of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) follow-ing a shootout in the nearby town of Sumisip Wednes-day, an official said.

Colonely Eliglen Vil-laflor, Army’s 4th Special Forces Battalion command-er, identified the captured UTG leader as Imran Dai-yong Mijal alias Boh, who

was wounded during the shootout.

Villaflor said the shootout ensued after Mijal “violently resisted” when they served warrant of ar-rest against the UTG leader around 5:20 p.m. Tuesday in Barangay Marang, Sum-isip.

Villaflor said Mijal has a standing warrant of arrest issued by the court for the crime of frustrated murder.

Villaflor said that Mijal

is known to have participat-ed in numerous terroristic activities such as bombing, liquidation, kidnapping, ambush and extortion.

He said the troops who are trained and equipped in Combat Life Saving (CLS) immediately applied first aid to the arrested UTG leader to ensure his surviv-ability.

He added Mijal was hit in the right arm during the shootout that led to his ar-

rest.He said the troops have

recovered from Mijal’s pos-session an M-16 Armalite rifle with several rounds of ammunitions, one rifle gre-nade, and a caliber .45 pistol with ammunitions.

He attributed the suc-cessful arrest of Mijal to the active participation of con-cerned citizens in informa-tion gathering and their sin-cere desire to end lawless-ness in this province. (PNA)

A TOTAL of eight full-time and part time media practitioners in the

Davao region died during the year just ended, two of them violently.

Of those who wrote -30-, Ramon “Ram” M. Maxey, was the oldest at 92. At the time of death from stroke, Maxey was

the editorial consultant and desk editor of the Edge Davao.

The son of an American educator from Massachusetts who married a Mandaya lass in Baganga, Ram was born in Surigao City, where he ac-quired his primary education. In college, Ram studied in the

DCWD pipe bridgedone by March 28

[email protected]

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

FDCWD, 10

FP1-M, 10

F8 MEDIA, 10

Abu Sayyaf suspectcaptured in Basilan

P1-M cash awaits‘Happiest Pinoy’By JON JOAQUIN

8 media workerswrite -30- in 2014

NEW LANDMARK. Davao City Water District (DCWD) spokesperson lawyer Bernie Delima says the Bankerohan Pipe Bridge Crossing will be a suspen-sion-type bridge structure looking like the famous Golden Gate Bridge of

San Francisco which will soon be one of the city’s landmarks. Delima was a guest in yesterday’s Club 888 media forum at The Marco Polo, Davao. Lean Daval Jr.Maxey Gajitos

HAPPINESS. Cebuana Lhuillier public relations manager Richard Villaseran explains the mechanics of this year’s Search for the Happiest Pinoy during yester-day’s media road show at Pinnacle Hotel along Sta. Ana Avenue in Davao City. Lean Daval Jr.


SUBURBIA

EMPLOYEES of the city government of Tagum are headed in full gear

this year with a fresh com-mand from Mayor Allan L. Rellon to exert maximum ef-fort to usher in a new phase of development in order to make 2015 a banner year for Tagum City.

Rellon gave his marching order to department heads and employees during the local government’s monthly

convocation program last January 5.

On the same day, new heavy equipment purchased by the local government were blessed for what May-or Rellon described as a year of the implementation of massive infrastructure proj-ects in the city.

The local government is now working double time along with the provincial government of Davao del

Norte ahead of its hosting of the 2015 Palarong Pam-bansa scheduled in May this year.

Six units of heavy equip-ment, all worth P16,192,500, are expected to boost the city government’s infrastructure projects. The units include a skid loader truck, payloader, 12,000-liter capacity tank-er, 8-wheel backhoe, and a dump truck. The local gov-ernment also purchased one

fire truck to be used by the City Disaster Reduction and Management Office.

City Hall employees were also encouraged to continue doing their best in public service, being in the front line of the EAGLE WINGS Program, the ten-point development agenda of the administration.

On the first working day for 2015, the city govern-ment launched the 5S Pro-

gram which is a workplace organization method that uses a list of five Japanese words: seiri (sort), seiton (systemize), seiso (sweep), seiketsu (sanitize), and shi-kutse (self-discipline).

The 5S Program is ex-pected to achieve higher standards of workplace or-ganization and discipline in order to make work easier, faster, cheaper, safer, and more effective towards pro-

moting a positive attitude among workers which will cultivate an environment of efficiency, effectiveness and economy.

“As we face 2015, let us be positive and be pro-ac-tive. Let’s work together amidst the challenges. Let us pray to God that He will pour more blessings to Tagum,” Rellon said in his challenge to the city workers. Louie Lapat of CIO Tagum

DISTRIBUTION utili-ty South Cotabato I Electric Cooperative

(Socoteco I) is building an 11.9-megawatt (MW) bun-ker-fired power plant to aug-ment the growing power re-quirements of industries and residential consumers in parts of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces.

Santiago Tudio, Soco-teco 1 general manager, said Wednesday they have partnered with energy firm Supreme Power Corporation for the construction and oper-ationalization of an embedded power plant that will be run by modular generator sets.

He said the construction of the plant will begin on Thursday in a property owned by the electric cooperative in Matulas, Barangay Paraiso in Koronadal City.

“We’re targeting to com-plete the construction and eventually operate the plant by July,” he said in a radio in-terview.

Citing their initial agree-ment with Supreme Power, he said the company will operate the plant for 15 years using imported generator sets from South Korea.

He said the plant will di-rectly stream its generated power to Socoteco 1, which serves Koronadal City, eight municipalities in South Cota-bato and Lutayan town in Sul-tan Kudarat.

“After 15 years, the power plant will be owned at no cost by the cooperative. We will as-sume full ownership and take charge with its operations,” he said.

Details are not immedi-

ately available regarding Su-preme Power, which is based in Metro Manila.

A document posted at the Department of Energy’s website showed that it issued a “clearance for grid impact study” to the company on May 19 last year.

Tudio said they decided to deal for the building of an embedded bunker-fired pow-er plant to address the con-tinuing supply shortage in the Mindanao grid.

He said the plant will serve as insurance in case the hydropower plants of the National Power Corporation (NPC) in the Lanao provinces and Bukidnon would expe-rience supply shortages and when other power plants in Mindanao will bog down.

He said they are antic-ipating a possible drought this year lasting three to four months that would drastically reduce the generating capaci-ty of the hydropower plants.

Socoteco 1’s peak power requirement increased to as high as 36 MW this year from 33 MW a year ago.

The cooperative mainly draws its supplies from the NPC and Aboitiz Power Cor-poration’s subsidiary Therma South Inc.

It has a backup supply of 12 MW from a diesel-fired power plant operated by Mapalad Power Corporation (MPC), which is controlled by the Alcantara-owned Conal Holdings and Aggreko Plc., in Barangay Morales in Koronad-al City.

Socoteco 1’s supply con-tract with MPC will end in 2016. (MindaNews)

TWO mobile water purifiers from the Metro Manila Devel-

opment Authority (MMDA) arrived from Manila on board a C-130 plane, 8:15 a.m. Tuesday to help ease the water crisis experi-enced by the city at the height of TS “Senyang” fury and even up to this time.

The arrival of the water treatment equipment and the MMDA team to man and operate the mobile water purifying facilities was met at the Bancasi Airport by local government officials, headed by City Councilor Ryan Anthony B. Culima, Chair of the Committee On

Utilities of the City Council.Culima during his priv-

ilege speech before the SP session on Tuesday said that the mobile water puri-fying facilities were sent in by MMDA Chairman Fran-cis Tolentino in response to the request of Butuan City Mayor Ferdinand M. Aman-te, Jr. as among the efforts of the local government to help address the scarcity of potable water experienced here in the city, at the height of TS “Senyang” and until this time as the local water utility here is still in the process of repair and rehabilitation of its water filtration system damaged

by the recent typhoon in Iyao, Brgy. Taguibo.

According to Councilor Culima, each equipment can purify 3,000 liters (or 3 cubic meters) of water per hour. Both equipment can purify 6,000 liters of water per hour, Culima said. He also said that the mobile water purifiers will be placed at the evacuation center where most of the evacuees were housed. The purified waters will not be only consumed by the evacuees but will also be transported to the villages where scarcity of waters are being experienced. He said this will reinforce the

Butuan City Water District scheduled supply of water by district, the operation of its pumping stations and the transporting of potable waters to water-needy ar-eas.

Presently, both mobile water purifying facilities are at the Philippine Ports Authority, purifying waters from Agusan River.

Culima said that the city government has availed of 2 water tankers, one from ADFIL , 2 from the Bureau of Fire Protection and 3 from Equiparco to trans-port purified, potable wa-ters to the areas needing waters. (PNA)

THE provincial govern-ment of South Cotaba-to has linked up with

the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) for the planting of around 75,000 trees this year in various parts of the province.

Forester Jane Manlisis, head of the Provincial Envi-ronment Management Of-fice’s forest and inland water division, said in a statement that they recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with DBP for the im-plementation of a massive tree planting program in three barangays in Banga and

T’boli towns.She said the bank has

pledged a funding of Php2.64 million under its flagship DBP Forest Program to support the project, which will be im-plemented as an income-gen-erating initiative for poor up-land farmers.

The funds will mainly be utilized for the purchase of planting materials, establish-ment of the tree plantations and maintenance, she said.

“The project includes a livelihood component for the beneficiaries,” said Manlisis, the project’s designated focal person.

Under the MOA, she said around 74 hectares of upland areas will be planted with budded rubber and bamboo as the main crops.

She said it will be in-tercropped with high value crops like coffee, cacao, ram-butan and mangosteen.

The boundary areas of the plantation sites will also be planted with forest trees like mahogany and lauan, she said.

Manlisis said they have identified 34 hectares of plan-tation areas for rubber and 15 hectares for bamboo in Sitio Libas of San Vicente as well

as 15 hectares for rubber and three hectares for bamboo in Sitio Lamcot, Barangay Mala-ya, both in Banga town.

In T’boli town, she said around 17 hectares in Sitio Lamlaban of Barangay Sino-lon will be intercropped with various trees.

The tree seedlings and buddings will be supplied by the Linan Nursery in Tupi town, she said.

“The project will start in the second quarter and has a timeline of one year but we’re planning to finish it before the end of the year,” Manlisis add-ed. (PNA)

2015 will be a banner year for Tagum: RellonSIGNED UP. Department heads affix their signatures affirming their pledge of commitment to the 5S Pro-gram of the city government of Tagum. Photo by Kelvin Palermo of CIO Tagum

BLESSING. City officials led by Mayor Allan L. Rellon and employees witness the blessing of six heavy equip-ment units expected to boost the local government’s infrastructure and disaster response services. Photo by Kelvin Palermo of CIO Tagum

Bunker-fired power plantstarts construction in SoCot MMDA gives two mobile water purifiers to Butuan

DBP, SouthCot forge MOA for planting of 75,000 trees

VOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015

NEW FARE. Passengers board a train at the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) station in Pasay City where the new fares are displayed. PNA photos by Gil S. Calinga

5EDGEDAVAO

ECONOMY

MALACAÑANG has appealed for more patience from the

public on the increase in MRT and LRT fares, saying it would mean better services and facil-ities.

In a press briefing in Mala-cañang on Tuesday, Commu-nications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. laid out the proj-ects to be carried out for the improvement of the MRT and LRT and their corresponding

timetables.“Ipinapakita po natin ito

upang ipaliwanag at ipaunawa sa ating mga mamamayan ang konteksto ng pinag-uusapan din ngayon hinggil sa pagba-go ng sistema ng pagsingil na ‘yung pagdadagdag ng singil sa pamasahe, kasabay naman nito ‘yung seryosong pro-grama sa pagpapahusay at pagpapabuti ng mga pasilidad ng MRT at LRT,” Coloma said in a brief presentation.

“Kaya’t hinihiling po natin ang pag-unawa ng ating mga mamamayan sa mga kasalu-kuyang kaganapan.”

Coloma said the most im-portant part of the project is the MRT capacity expansion.

“Simula sa Setyembre ng taong ito, madagdagan ng 48 coaches o bagon ang MRT. Pagkatapos makumpleto ito, dadami ang biyahe at iikli ang panahon ng paghihintay. Binibigyan din ng prayoridad

ang rail installation o pagpa-palit ng riles,” he said.

Also part of the project, he said, is the upgrade of the MRT’s ancillary systems, such as the power substations, de-pot facilities for parking, the construction of the North Ave-nue turn back and Taft Avenue pocket track extension, the up-grade of the signaling system, the overhaul of 25 light rail vehicles and traction motors, and the installation of a new

radio communications system.Most of these will be car-

ried out starting February, while the process of obtaining the necessary services has be-gun, he said.

“Ina-announce pa kasi muna ang pagdaraos ng pub-lic bidding, pagkatapos ang pagdaraos mismo ng bidding, ang proseso ng pag-a-award at publication,” he explained.

The MRT and LRT fares on Sunday were raised by 50 per-

cent to 87 percent. The new base fare is P11, with an addi-tional P1 for every kilometer. End-to-end fare for MRT 3 in-creased from P15 to P28.

The fares for LRT 1 were raised from P20 to P30 for single-journey tickets and to P29 for stored-value cards, while those for LRT 2 in-creased from P15 to P25 for single-journey tickets and to P24 for stored-value cards. (PNA)

MRT, LRT fare hike meansbetter services, says Palace

VOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015EDGEDAVAOTHE ECONOMY6

BEING the center of trade, commerce, and industry in the Min-

danao region, Davao City is bustling with immense ac-tivity on a daily basis. Since it is a renowned tourist des-tination as well, thousands of travelers pass through its international airport hour after hour, and hundreds of vehicles constantly ply its roads, transporting people and goods.

More and more people – Filipinos and tourists alike – are discovering a very attrac-tive living proposition in this nature-rich city, with its lei-surely vibe, safe and secure atmosphere, and affordable cost of living. Thus, choosing a place to call one’s home in Davao City should be able to

take advantage of all these benefits.

Sta. Lucia Land, one of the most trusted and re-nowned real estate compa-nies in the Philippines espe-cially in the field of subdivi-sion development, offers the most advantageous place to live in Davao City with Valle Verde Residential Estates.

The premier, gated resi-dential community is located a mere five minutes away from the Davao Internation-al Airport – spelling utmost convenience and accessi-bility for busy travelers, ex-ecutives, professionals and entrepreneurs who wish to establish business, career or family life in the burgeoning city center.

For discerning

Davaoeños as well, living in Valle Verde Residential Estates places them in the center of everything, making work and play all the more easy and enjoyable.

Valle Verde Residential Estates is sprawled across 13 hectares of prime property in Panacan, accessible along the main thoroughfare of the Philippine-Japan Friendship Highway. Apart from prox-imity to the airport, it is very near schools and academic institutions like the Jose Ma-ria College.

The community offers all the amenities and features to be expected of a first-class subdivision. The develop-ment, first and foremost, is bound by a perimeter wall,

THE government is ad-dressing potential risks to inflation this year

such as the lingering possibil-ity of El Niño occurrence, the impacts of typhoons on ag-ricultural commodity prices, and logistical issues, accord-ing to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

Economic Planning Sec-retary Arsenio M. Balisacan noted this even amid the low average inflation for full-year 2014 at 4.1 percent, within the government’s target of 3 to 5 percent for the year.

This after the headline inflation declined to 2.7 per-cent in December 2014 from 3.7 percent in the previous month, pulled down by cut-backs in the prices of petro-leum and electricity with lower increases in the price of most food items.

“Given the lingering pos-sibility of El Nino occurrence in the first quarter of 2015, we should intensify efforts to implement programs that will

help the areas that are highly and moderately vulnerable to the adverse impact of a dry spell,” Balisacan said.

He noted that logistical issues also continue to pose inflation risks.

“While the easing of the truck regulation in Manila’s ports may have possibly con-tributed to the moderate in-flation outturn, it is critical to continue exploring a more lasting solution to the conges-tion problem to avoid future disruptions in the domestic supply chain that could re-sult in higher transportation costs,” he explained.

The NEDA chief also iden-tified other possible inflation risks, such as pressures as-sociated with higher water rates at the start of 2015 and the impact of destructions brought by typhoons “Ruby” and “Seniang” on prices of ag-ricultural commodities.

Meanwhile, Balisacan said electricity rates were lower in December 2014 due to a de-cline in generation and trans-

mission charges on the back of improved availability of power plants and lower cost of fuel.

Meralco charges were down anew in December 2014 by 13 percent, equiva-lent to a reduction of PP0.73 per kilowatt hour.

Moreover, the sharp de-cline in Dubai oil prices, which fell to its lowest levels since 2010, translated to lower do-mestic petroleum prices.

Year-on-year food infla-tion in December 2014 also slowed to 5.5 percent from 6.5 percent in the previous month despite the holiday season.

“The absence of new ma-jor economic shocks, which could considerably affect food supply, as well as the normal-ization of supply chain of other food products in part resulting from the augmentation of rice stocks from imports and the lifting of the expanded truck ban in September 2014, may have also contributed to the decline in inflation in Decem-ber 2014,” added Balisacan. (PNA)

AT least two parties ex-pressed interest in the price challenge being

conducted by the Bases Con-version and Development Au-thority on the management, operation, and maintenance of the 94-kilometer Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.

San Miguel Corporation and an undisclosed client rep-resented by the law firm of Aguirre Abaño Pamfilo Paras Pineda and Agustin attended the pre-selection conference conducted by the BCDA Tues-day. Both parties bought the bidding documents.

“We are pleased with the turnout and we are confident of the project’s viability,” the BCDA’s price challenge se-lection committee chair Atty. Nena D. Radoc said.

“Healthy competition should bring about better ser-vice for motorists and the best deal for government,” Radoc said.

The BCDA is bidding out the rights, interest, and obli-gations in the management, operation, and maintenance of the SCTEX under a business and operating agreement for a period of 28 years or ending in 2043.

The SCTEX is a four-lane divided expressway traversing the provinces of Bataan, Pam-panga and Tarlac and is direct-ly linked to the North Luzon Expressway.

Manila North Tollways Corporation (MNTC), which was also present during the conference, will have the right to match the highest bid for the project.

The BCDA and MNTC signed a business operating agreement on the SCTEX sub-ject to the approval of the Pres-ident of the Philippines. As a condition for the approval, Malacanang ordered the price challenge in the interest of transparency. (PNA)

FITCH Ratings has given a “BBB-“ rating on the Phil-ippines’ planned US dol-

lar-denominated global bond due 2040.

In a statement, the ratings agency said rating of the debt watcher “would be sensitive to any changes” in the country’s long-term foreign currency issuer default (IDR) rating, which is also at “BBB-.”

The government said part of proceeds of the soon-to-be

issued debt paper will be used to pay the bonds that would be offered for swap.

It has offered to swap 15 existing bonds due from Janu-ary 2016 to 2034.

Settlement of the bond is expected to transpire on Jan. 20, 2015.

The government has tapped Citigroup Global Mar-kets Inc., Credit Suisse Securi-ties (USA) LLC, Deutsch Bank Securities Inc., Goldman Sachs

(Asia) L.L.C., The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Cor-poration Limited, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Morgan Stan-ley & Co. International plc, Standard Chartered Bank and UBS AG, Hong Kong Branch as joint lead managers for the issuance.

The last time the Philip-pine government issued dol-lar-denominated global notes was in January 2014 amount-ing to USD 1.5 billion. (PNA)

FINANCE officials hailed the successful-ly concluded liability

management transaction, as the Philippines marked its return to the interna-tional capital markets with a showing consistent with its now emergent sterling reputation.

“It took courage and conviction to pursue stra-tegic transaction in the midst of global market vol-atility,” Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said in a statement.

“Strong economic fun-damentals and track re-cord of well placed deals

allowed the Philippines to be the first issuer in the global dollar market and to execute a $2 billion 25-year bond at an all time low coupon of 3.95 per-cent for the 25-year dollar bond,” he added.

Purisima said this fig-ure is of particular note as 3.95 percent is a welcome decrease from the last time the Philippines issued a 25-year bond, in 2012, at a coupon of 5 percent.

“This is reminiscent of the award-winning 1-day Accelerated Switch Tender Offer conducted on Janu-ary 10, 2014, hailed by Fi-

nanceAsia to be an innova-tive case of proactive liabil-ity management,” he said.

“As the reputation of the Republic of the Phil-ippines gains steam in the international markets, we are proud to be the first to issue global bonds in the dollars space,” he added.

Treasurer of the Phil-ippines Rosalia de Leon reported on the success of the transaction, saying cash orderbook reached $7.9 billion or 15 times oversubscribed, while lia-bility management order-book reached $6.1 billion in market value terms.

“The size of the fi-nal deal is $2.0 billion, of which $1.5 billion were used to switch and retire old bonds $500 million in new money will be used for funding the budget,” de Leon said.

“Notably, we attract-ed new name investment grade-only investors in this transaction. This robust response from the interna-tional markets reflects that our manifest confidence in the strength of the Philip-pine economy and liability management strategy is very well placed,” she add-ed.

Phl blazes trail inint’l capital markets

[email protected]

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

Proposed 25-year globalbond gets ‘BBB-’ rating

Gov’t addressing risks toinflation for 2015: NEDA

2 entities express interestin SCTEX price challenge

FLIVING, 10

Living with prime accessibilityin Davao City

Valle Verde Residential Estates is arguably the most accessible exclusive residential enclave in Davao City, being a mere five minutes away from the Davao International Airport.

The community offers all the amenities and features to be expected of a first-class subdivision.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015 7EDGEDAVAO

ENVIRONMENT

NEARLY 270,000 tons of plastic, which is enough to fill more

than 38,500 garbage trucks, are floating in the world’s oceans. This is based on a study done by 5 Gyres In-stitute, an organization that aims to reduce plastic in the oceans.

According to a news dispatch released by Asso-ciated Press, the research-ers dragged a fine mesh net at the sea surface to gather small pieces to gather data. “Observers on boats count-ed larger items. They used computer models to calculate estimates for tracts of ocean not surveyed. The study only measured plastic floating at the surface. Plastic on the ocean floor wasn’t included,” the news agency reported.

Bits greater than about 8 inches (20 centimeters) ac-counted for three-quarters of the plastic that the research estimated is in the ocean. The plastic is broken up into more than 5 trillion pieces, said the study which was published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.

The recent finding is com-parable to an earlier study done by researchers in Spain who used different method-ology. That said study esti-mated “there was 7,000 to 35,000 tons of plastics this size floating in the ocean.”

“Once thought to be so vast and resilient that no lev-el of human insult could dam-age them, the oceans are now crying out for attention,” not-ed a report released by the

Washington-based World-watch Institute.

“The world’s oceans are in danger, and the enormity of the challenge is bigger than one country or organization,” said World Bank president Robert Zoellick during the World Oceans Summit held in Singapore some years back.

“We need coordinated global action to restore our oceans to health. Together we’ll build on the excellent work already being done to address the threats to oceans, identify workable solutions, and scale them up,” he added.

The Philippines, which faces the Pacific Ocean, is not spared. In 2012, the results of the Ocean Health Index ranked the Philippines 105th out of 117 territories, making it among the most deteriorat-ed marine ecosystems in the world.

The Index focuses not only how pristine the ocean is but how it can sustainably deliver benefits for the people within its territory. It uses 50 distinct indicators such as the sustainability of methods of seafood harvesting and coast-al protection.

Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, pointed out: “The Ocean Health Index is a new kind of yardstick be-cause it measures how well our oceans can continue to de-liver the needs of our growing population. It recognizes peo-ple as a legitimate component of ocean health. And based on the recent results, it is clear that the health and socio-eco-

nomic value of our oceans will continue to deteriorate if we do not innovate our strategies towards their conservation.”

The recent assessment re-port by the Intergovernmen-tal Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has confirmed that indeed the world’s oceans are under serious threat. It noted that as a direct result of increased carbon intake, acid-ification has increased, which has a direct correlation to the overall health and balance of oceanic ecosystems. Further-more, sea levels are predicted to rise in 95 percent of ocean area.

Professor Alex Rogers of Somerville College, Oxford, and scientific director of In-ternational Program on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) said: “The health of the ocean is spiraling downwards far more rapidly than we had thought. We are seeing greater change, happening faster, and the effects are more imminent than previously anticipated. The situation should be of the gravest concern to everyone since everyone will be affect-ed by changes in the ability of the ocean to support life on Earth.”

Senator Legarda agrees. “The destruction of our ma-rine ecosystems will not only lead to the extinction of thou-sands of species but will also be detrimental to tourism, food supply, and sustenance and livelihood of our fisher-folk. This makes our respon-sibility over protecting our oceans even greater,” she pointed out.

Among the assessments of factors affecting ocean health, the panel identified the following areas as of greatest cause for concern:

• De-oxygenation: The evidence is accumulating that the oxygen inventory of the ocean is progressively de-clining. Predictions for ocean oxygen content suggest a de-cline of between 1% and 7% by 2100. This is occurring in two ways: the broad trend of decreasing oxygen levels in tropical oceans and areas of the North Pacific over the last 50 years; and the dramatic increase in coastal hypoxia (low oxygen) associated with eutrophication. The former is caused by global warming, the second by increased nutrient runoff from agriculture and sewage.

• Acidification: If current levels of carbon dioxide re-lease continue we can expect extremely serious conse-quences for ocean life, and in turn food and coastal protec-tion; at carbon dioxide con-centrations of 450-500 ppm (projected in 2030-2050) erosion will exceed calcifica-tion in the coral reef building process, resulting in the ex-tinction of some species and decline in biodiversity overall.

• Warming: As made clear by the IPCC, the ocean is tak-ing the brunt of warming in the climate system, with di-rect and well-documented physical and biogeochemical consequences. The impacts which continued warming is projected to have in the decades to 2050 include the

following: reduced seasonal ice zones, including the dis-appearance of Arctic summer sea ice by ca. 2037; increasing stratification of ocean layers, leading to oxygen depletion; and increased incidence of an-oxic and hypoxic (low oxygen) events.

• The ‘deadly trio’ of the above three stressors - acid-ification, warming and de-oxygenation - is seriously effecting how productive and efficient the ocean is, as tem-peratures, chemistry, surface stratification, nutrient and oxygen supply are all impli-cated, meaning that many or-ganisms will find themselves in unsuitable environments. These impacts will have cas-cading consequences for ma-rine biology, including altered food web dynamics and the expansion of pathogens.

• Continued overfishing is serving to further undermine the resilience of ocean sys-tems, and contrary to some claims, despite some improve-ments largely in developed re-gions, fisheries management is still failing to halt the decline of key species and damage to the ecosystems on which marine life depends. In 2012, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization determined that 70% of world fish populations are unsustainably exploited, of which 30% have biomass collapsed to less than 10% of unfished levels.

“From afar, aliens might see the obvious: the sea is Earth’s life-support system,” wrote marine biologist Sylvia A. Earle, former chief scientist

of the U.S. National Oceano-graphic and Atmospheric Ad-ministration. “The services provided are so fundamental that most of us who live here tend to take them for granted.”

“The earth’s great sea is the heart of the hydrological cycle – nature’s solar-driven water pump,” explained Don Hinrichsen, an award-win-ning environmental journalist and author of Coastal Waters of the World.

About 430,000 cubic kilometers of water evapo-rate from the oceans every year. “Of this amount, around 110,000 cubic kilometers fall as freshwater precipitation over land, replenishing sur-face and ground waters and eventually completing the cycle by returning to the sea,” Hinrichsen reports.

The ocean is also the en-gine that drives the world’s climate, storing huge quanti-ties of solar energy in the pro-cess. “The ocean absorbs and stores carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,” says Hin-richsen. “Since this invisible gas is one of the main agents of climate change, the ocean is an important sink that helps to modify human impacts on global climate.”

Ocean currents, the blue planet’s super highways, transfer enormous quantities of water and nutrients from one place to another. The Gulf Stream, for instance, pushes more water from the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean across the Atlantic into north-ern Europe, than is carried by all the rivers on earth.

Oceans crying out for help

Text and Photos by HENRYLITO D. TACIOEarly morning while crossing the ocean from Davao to Cebu.

Oceans are now fished to the limit.Taken during a tour at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.


VANTAGE

Worth the disruptionEDITORIAL

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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Columnists: CARLOS MUNDA • HENRYLITO TACIO • MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • AURELIO A. PEÑA • MARY ANN “ADI” C. QUISIDO • LEANDRO B. DAVAL SR., • NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN • VIDA MIA VALVERDE • Economic Analysts: ENRICO “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG • JONALLIER M. PEREZ

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MEGHANN STA. INES NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN

Lifestyle

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RICHARD C. EBONAMarketing Supervisor

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AQUILES Z. ZONIOFUNNY PEARL GAJUNERA

CHA MONFORTE Correspondents

ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.CHENEEN R. CAPON

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PHILIPPINE PRESS INSTITUTEthe national association of newspapers

THE preparations for the visit of Pope Francis to the Phil-ippines are understandably gargantuan in scale, we be-ing the only Catholic country in Asia. Pope Francis, after

all, is not just the political head of the Vatican but the spiritual leader of every Roman Catholic in the world, and in many ways that has more significance to Filipinos than their own patriot-ic position. This is especially true these days as government becomes less and less popular due to numerous scandals and cases of corruption, while the pope endears himself to the en-tire world – not just to Catholics – because of his radical stand on many issues, even those against his own contemporaries in the church. As an extremely popular pontiff, it behooves upon the administration to do all it can to protect him, especially since crowds numbering in the millions are expected to want to be near the pontiff.

There are, of course, concerns that the preparations are too much for one person. It is being pointed out, for example, that cancelling more than 200 flights on January 15 and 19 – days when the pope will travel by air – is an extreme measure since

it affects thousands upon thousands of travelers who, it is safe to say, really do need to get to where they are going. Canceling the flights throws off many schedules, and we will never know how many lives would be disrupted by such a drastic move. Another problem is the closing of major roads leading to the airport and other venues, a decision that has already led to the declaration of a holiday in Manila over the duration of the pope’s visit.

It must be pointed out as well, however, that the papal visit is a historic event, one that does not happen very often es-pecially in a country like the Philippines. We can either com-plain about the hassle or take the opportunity to renew not just ourselves but our country as well. The presence of the pope could very well be the spur that we need to finally lick the perennial problems that have bogged us down for so long. Pope Francis has shown himself to be a different pontiff, and his example and his blessing may well set us on the path of positive change. If that happens, then the disruption we will go through next week would be more than worth it.

IN 1989, heartthrob Tom Cruise deliv-ered one of his finest performances in Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of

July (which was partly shot in the Phil-ippines). In fact, he received an Oscar nomination for his tour de force portray-al of a Vietnam War veteran.

The movie came to mind when I was thinking of the title of today’s column. I think (and you may agree or disagree with me on this) it’s but fitting to use it. But since I was not born on the day Americans celebrate Independence Day, I had to change some words to make it more appropriate for my situation.

Yes, last January 5, I celebrated my birthday. I don’t believe in Chinese horo-scopes but tracing the years of my birth date, I was supposed to have been born in the year of the Ox. In the year I was born, the Ox started on February 15, 1961 and ended on February 4, 1962.

I consulted The Handbook of Chi-nese Horoscopes by Theodora Lau and it gives this description of the Ox personal-ity: “A person born during this year will be dependable, calm, and methodical. A patient and tireless worker, he sticks to routine and conventions. Although he is generally fair-minded and a good lis-tener, it is difficult to make him change his views as he is stubborn and often has strong prejudices.”

Here’s an additional piece of informa-tion: “Beneath his somewhat modest but neat appearance, the Ox shields a reso-lute and logical mind. His intelligence and dexterity is hidden by the reticent and undemonstrative front. But in spite of being basically an introvert, his force-

ful nature can turn him into a command-ing and elo-quent speaker when the oc-casion arises.”

In terms of love affairs, here’s what the handbook states: “The Ox can be terribly naïve about affairs of the heart. He cannot fully compre-hend the entrapments of love, much less employ enticing strategy and other al-lures to plead his romantic cause.”

Well, I am in a good company. Among the famous Ox leaders are two American presidents (Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford), British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Japan’s Emperor Hirohi-to.

From the entertainment side, among the famous Ox celebrities are Robert Redford, Vanessa Redgrave, Dustin Hoffman (all three are Academy Award winners), singer Sammy Davis, Jr., Brit-ish actors Richard Burton and Peter Sell-ers, Greek actress Melina Mercouri, and the famed Walt Disney.

Other famous personalities who are members of the Ox club are Willy Brandt, Vincent van Gogh, Eisaku Sato, Boris Spassky, Gore Vidal, Carlo Ponti, Charlie Chaplin, Archbishop Makarios, and Nehru.

January 5 was the first day of work

of 2015 and most of my friends would not have come if I had celebrated on that day. So I decided to have a small gath-ering for them on January 3, a Saturday.

Among those who came one after an-other (but not necessarily in the order) were: Dr. Dante Comedido, Wilfredo Rodolfo III, Rudolph Ian Alama, Wilson Catingub, Armand Mortejo, and Darrel Blatchley. Rogelio Canales and his friend joined us later in another venue.

In my Facebook account, the first person to greet me -- although he sent the message privately -- was Jesus “Jess” Dureza. “Advance birthday greetings para ugma Henry!” wrote the former Press Secretary and how head of Phil-ippine Press Institute. “Maayo ni nauna kay ugma daghan na!”

He was right. I received several birth-day greetings from my family, relatives, friends, and even acquaintances. Last year, I totaled 235 messages. But it was broken this year with almost 300 mes-sages. A record, so to speak.

But one of the messages that really touched me were the words of my friend, Dr. Jun Ruiz, a physician trained in the United States and the only Filipino au-thor who has written a chapter in the Merck manual.

After reading his greetings, I wrote back that it was great meeting him again after more than a decade of not seeing each other. And despite his busy sched-ules, he still had time to bring me to a Thai restaurant in Makati.

What I was not expecting was his re-ply. “You are always welcome Henrylito,” Jun penned. “You are the epitome of a

genuine and sincere friend that we need to treasure. Enjoy your day.”

When I posted his statement in my wall, Jun wrote another memorable lines below it: “That came from the heart. I am sure your family is proud of all your achievements. Always remember God takes care of his children who take care of themselves and their loved ones.”

I also received several text messages. But the most interesting message was from my friend Judd Salas, who works with the Aboitiz Equity Ventures. “Hap-py birthday, my friend,” he wrote in his first text message. Then he followed it with these words: “I thought that maybe an SMS greetings is more personal than a Facebook greeting. But if the inner (message) is the same, I guess it doesn’t matter.”

I texted back: “Thank you, thank you. Ang babait mo.” After reading those words, he replied: “Lolz. I could hear you sing. Ha ha ha.”

Thanks to birthday leave, I didn’t have to go back to work on January 5. Instead, I was at home. When my sister Evangeline T. Capuno asked me what I would prepare for my birthday, I replied, “Something new.”

So, instead of the usual lechon, we had sinugbang isda, sinugbang baboy, tinolang manok, and chicken adobo. Although there was the usual rice, my mother also cooked corn (which I ate with much gusto). We had fun eating to-gether as it was a family affair.

My nephews and nieces had fun time eating the birthday cake, too (courtesy of Dr. Comedido).

Born on the fifth of JanuaryVOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015 VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO

Henrylito D. [email protected]

THINK ON THESE!

SINCE 1916 when the region was first represented in the legislature, Davao had only one assemblyman

or its equivalent. The same arrangement was adopted until the war, and later as part of Davao del Sur until 1972. During the Interim Batasang Pambansa the city was represented by three legislators but they were under the larger territory known as Region XI. When the regular Batasang Pambansa was created, two as-semblymen-at-large were elected. It was only in 1986 that the city was divided into three congressional districts.

In 1997, Davao City councilor Aris-teo Albay, a lawyer, personally commis-sioned a study that would recommend the redistricting of the city four districts. The result of the initiative was submitted to Rep. Manuel M. Garcia (2nd District, Davao City) in order that a correspond-ing bill could be filed in the House but the lawmaker advised against it because the proposal amounted to amending the 1986 Constitution.

Aside from filing a resolution in the City Council, Albay also discussed the matter with Rep. Prospero C. Nograles whose district and Garcia’s were the

ones directly affected by the proposal. Under the redistricting plan, barangays Poblacion and Agdao, which was still un-divided, would be placed under District I to comply with the population requisite, while the rest of District II would com-prise the second legislative district. The constituents in Talomo up to Toril were to be placed under District III, while the new fourth district would comprise basi-cally the regions west of the city, at the boundary of Bukidnon.

Actually, there is nothing in the post-1986 Charter that needs amendment in order to push through with the redis-tricting. Article VI, Section 5 (1) states that the House of Representatives shall be composed of not more than 250 mem-bers “unless otherwise fixed by law,” and Section 5 (3) stipulates that each legis-lative district “shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous, compact, and adjacent territory” with a population of at least 250,000. The 1995 survey shows the city with 1,006,840 inhabitants, and in the 2011 census, 1,530,365 residents.

The real reason for the lack of enthu-siasm to redistrict the city was largely political. Incumbent city mayor Rodrigo Duterte was not supportive of the idea, and there was an unfounded apprehen-sion the creation of a new congressional district would result in the di-vision of Davao into two cities, an idea the City Hall was strongly against.

Nearly a dozen years later, the redis-tricting issue was revived again in the Sangguniang Panlungsod. City Coun-cilor Danilo Dayanghirang, who want-ed the creation of two more legislative districts, passed a resolution in 2008

supporting the original Albay initiative, and followed it up with another similar proposal the following year. Central to the Dayanghirang resolution was the additional P100 million in development funds per year (which was increased lat-er to P70 billion for each congressman in 2010) that the city could get for its de-velopment efforts if the two new districts were legalized.

Meanwhile, during the 12th Congress (2001-04), Rep. Manuel E. Zamora (1st District, Compostela Valley), as author, with Rep. Prospero S. Amatong (2nd Dist., Compostela Valley) as co-sponsor, filed on July 17, 2001 House Bill 1081, which sought to rename the province of Compostela Valley to Davao de Oro. The bill was contained in the Report No. 1957 of the Committee on Local Government submitted on January 5, 2004. The fol-lowing month, on February 3, the House approved the bill on third reading with a vote of 166 ayes with no objection or ab-stention. Two days later it was transmit-ted to the Senate but was received only on Feb. 9, 2004. Being an election year, the bill did not get the upper chamber’s attention.

Redistricting and renaming

BY THE ARCHIVIST

FAST BACKWARD

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Bobby Mohammad, Jafar Pandadagan, Larry Cabaguio, Joel Bustamante, Lito Lapi-tan, and Halila Sudagar

During the presentation of the aspirants, four of them – Mohamad, Pandadagan, Cabaguio, and Bustamante – withdrew their candidacy in favor of Macapayao Apadan.

Lapitan expressed sup-port for the decision of his co-aspirants but firmly said he was not withdrawing his candidacy.

Sudagar, who was the Sa-ngunniang Kabataan Federa-tion president of the city from 2007- 2010, also opted not to quit the race.

In the presentation, Su-dagar said she believes she also had the capability to rep-resent the IPs in the city.

The NCIP tried to pursue the selection process be-tween Sudagar and Apadan. But they were not able to proceed because only a few Baragwa remained inside Davao City Recreation Center.

Ingay said they were

supposed to continue the se-lection process on Monday between the Apadan and Su-dagar but Lapitan objected, saying he did not withdraw his candidacy and so must also be included in the selec-tion.

After Lapitan’s motion to include his name in the list of selection, the other aspirants who had already withdrawn their candidaces also said they wanted their names in-clude in the list.

The NCIP then decided to include all the name of aspirants, but Lapitan again objected, saying they had al-ready conceded.

With tension high, Ingay said they might not be able to follow the City Council’s timeline to have a represen-tative of the Kagan tribe to assume the position of out-going IPMR councilor Berino Mambo-o Sr.

He said the position might remain vacant until they settle the problem in the selection process.

time to renew their business-es,” he said.

Bantiding also attributed the high turnout of applica-tions during first four days to information dissemination through the help of the me-dia.

“We are hoping that we will hit our target of 30,000 renewal applications before the deadline,” he said.

Bantiding reminded business owners who have not yet renewed their per-mits to renew them before January 20 to avoid penalties.

“In order for them (tax-payers) not be penalized, they should renew within

the first 20 days of January. They should not wait after the deadline because we will really impose a 25 percent surcharge if they will renew their permits on 21,” he said.

The Business Bureau has already issued 821 permits during the first four days of the renewal period.

Last year, the Business Bureau issued 50 permits in the same period.

Bantiding said the Busi-ness Bureau will still accept new applicants even beyond January 20 because under the tax code of the city, every business should have a per-mit first before it operates.

be also limited on next Sat-urday January 17 when Pope Francis flies to visit Tacloban City from 7:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. and from 5:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. for the Pope’s arrival.

Joya said almost 43,000 passengers will be affected by the cancelation of some domestic and international flights.

He said that it would be

better for passengers to con-tact their travel agencies of air-lines for rescheduling of their flights.

This would also incur eco-nomic loss to regional airports.

An official of CAAP-Davao, who requested anonymity, said the airport stands to lose millions of pesos because of limited operation in NAIA. [CRC]

threats saved for the “tempera-ment of the crowd” who might take this opportunity to get as near to the Pontiff as possible.

Catapang further revealed that no drones will be allowed to fly in the path of Pope Fran-cis’ convoy.

The AFP chief also dis-

closed that a team of 100 snip-ers, mostly from the Special Forces units, will be deployed in the buildings along Roxas Boulevard to ensure the safety of the Pontiff against groups or individuals that may attempt to harm him during the sched-uled event in the area. (PNA)

forms can be downloaded from www.happiest-pinoy.com and are available in any of Cebuana Lhuillier’s more than 1,700 branches nation-wide.

Accomplished nomina-tion forms can be mailed together with supporting documents to: SEARCH FOR THE HAPPIEST PINOY SEC-RETARIAT, PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies, Inc., 2/F Annex 2, PJL Corporate Centre, 1782 N. Garcia cor. Candelaria Sts., Makati City 1209.

Scanned copies of the accomplished nomination forms and supporting doc-uments can also be emailed to [email protected]. Nominations can be submitted from Octo-ber 24, 2014 until March 31, 2015.

Villaseran urged nomina-tors to make their presenta-tions stand out as these will be used by the company to fil-ter the entries before the final 20 or 30 nominees are given to the judges.

The board of judges is composed of CNN 2009 Hero of the Year Efren Peñaflorida, Camarines Sur 3rd District Rep. Maria Leonor Robredo, McCann-Erickson Chairman

Emeritus Emily Abrera, As-sistant Secretary Anne Cor-ominas, Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions (CLIS) General Manager Jonathan Batangan, Happiest Pinoy grand winners Winston Max-ino and Rommel Arellano, in-spirational speaker and cor-porate trainer Francis Kong, and broadcast journalist Lu-chi Cruz-Valdez.

Villaseran said the search was launched in Manila in October last year and has since garnered almost 10,000 nominations. He said the company targets to get as many as 30,000 nominations this year, more than double the 13,000 nominations in 2012.

The Search for the Hap-piest Pinoy was launched in 2009 and has awarded two grand winners.

Winston Maxino, a corpo-rate executive who was diag-nosed with Ankylosing Spon-dylitis, a degenerative and incurable bone disease, was declared the first Happiest Pinoy grand winner in 2010.

Rommel Arellano, a guid-ance counselor who was afflicted with polio at age 1, was declared Happiest Pinoy in 2012.

area up to Sasa area was bro-ken in December 2012. The pipe was replaced with two smaller ones with a diameter of .725 meter.

“We will replace the two existing pipes which has a diameter of .725 meter with a bigger pipes that has a diam-eter of 1.785 meters,” Delima said.

Delima said the new pipe has a higher water holding capacity of 8 percent, en-abling the DCWD to reach more clients suffering from limited to no water supply.

“It will address the low water pressure in high areas in the central business dis-trict of the city,” he said.

Delima said the existing water pipe located in the Gov-ernor Generoso bridge is part of the Line 1 supplying water to 45,000 commercial or res-

idential clients from Bangkal to Sasa.

The construction of the new pipe bridge has an es-timated cost of more than P115 million.

It will be constructed by the consortiums of RD Poli-carpio & Co., Inc., Allado Con-struction Co., Inc., and TGV Builders Inc.

Delima gave assurance that the construction of the new mainlines will not cause further water interruptions in the some parts of the city because DCWD already in-stalled two temporary pipes that transport water to its clients.

Delima said DCWD and DPWH both agreed that temporary facilities will be removed once DCWD finish-es the project by the end of March.

Padre Faura St. Manila campus of the University of the Philip-pines taking up foreign stud-ies with intention to become a diplomat. His studies were rudely interrupted by World War II which forced him to join the guerilla movement against the invading Japanese Imperi-al Forces. He and his brother were captured and incarcer-ated. Later, upon release, they rejoined the resistance move-ment.

When WWII ended, Ram returned to Manila to resume his studies. Due to the transfer of many courses to the newly opened UP Diliman campus in Quezon City, he opted to enroll in journalism at the Far Eastern University and upon graduation joined the post-war Evening News as sports reporter. Later, he settled in

General Santos City and estab-lished a local newspaper and then later came to Davao City to work here.

Despite his sight-straining job, Ram did not wear eye-glasses.As sort of reward for the role that he played in the anti-Marcos “Yellow Friday Movement,” Ram was appoint-ed press secretary of the late OIC Mayor Zafiro L. Respicio, who also died last year. He is the father of sportswriter Charles Maxey.

Samuel “Sammy” Oliverio was a nightclub singer who joined broadcasting after older brother Emmanuel or “Don-don” suffered a massive stroke and was unable to go back to radio work. Last year, after be-ing a virtual of the wheelchair for close to two decades, “Don-don” finally died. A few months

after that, Sammy was shot dead in Digos City where he had been a hard-hitting radio announcer.

The other media practi-tioner who died a violent death was “Sonny” Garcia whose real name was Ramon Teodoro Yuvienco (TY) Garcia. “TY”, who owned “Nanay Bebeng,” a chain of restaurants special-izing in native dishes, wrote a column for the Mindanao Times. He was abducted and killed allegedly by an umbrel-la girl and her boyfriend, her alleged accomplice, now being detained while being tried for murder.

Other mediamen who wrote -30- in 2014 were Roge-lio J. Flaviano, publisher-editor of the People’s Daily Forum and part-owner of the Mindan-ao Daily Mirror; Rogelio Israel,

long time anchorman of the popular “Dangpanan” public service program of station DXDN of the University of Min-danao Broadcasting Network in Tagum City; award-winning columnist, literary writer and English college instructor Re-nato “Rene” E. Bartolo Sr.; and Rodrigo “Ody” Gajitos, col-umnist, author, retired school teacher, table tennis (ping-pong) champion and retired employee of the Philippine Ports Authority.

Aside from being a well-lis-tened to broadcast and radio station manager, Israel was a multi-awarded Rotarian and Jaycee leader, a positive fac-tor in politics. He got elected as a member of the Davao del Norte provincial board sever-al times. He was married to a lady judge.

STUNTBOY. Ignoring the possibility of breaking his bones, a young boy eager to gain the admiration of his playmates jumps from atop a fence at the Roman Catholic cemetery in Madapo Hills, Davao City yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015 11

WHEN one is stuck at work doing the same boring, repet-

itive things, one tends to look at the latest vacation pictures and wishes time can be turned back and be there instead of here.

That is exactly what I am doing – looking at pictures of the short vacation I took in Siargao before Christmas and wishing I were right there right now, chilling on the rat-tan hammock under the nice hut while listening to the waves crash on the beach wall.

It was my first time in Siar-gao and it definitely will not be my last.

The tiny island on Surigao del Norte is one of the best places to just laze around and enjoy the day as it passes by. Unilke Boracay, Siargao is not filled with tourists, although there are a not a few “eye can-dies” that you can feast on. The best part is because it is not as com-

mercialized as other tourist destinations, you won’t have to rob a bank just so you can have a good time.

What I love about the is-land is that it is perfect for an adventurer like myself. There are so many body ache-induc-ing activities that you can do.

Siargao is best known for its waves, therefore it would be a shame if you go to there and not learn how to ride them big waves. Just tell the front desk receptionist of the resort you are staying in that you want to take surfing lessons and they will gladly hook you up with an instructor. An hour of surf-ing lesson costs P500.

You have to try surfing. The exhilaration of being able to stand up on the board and actually glide with the waves is worth the soreness you will feel the next day. Plus, you’ll get to brag to your friends how you rode the waves, even if you just did it once after a hundred

tries. I did it four times. I’m a natural.

Siargao is dotted by a lot of small islands and there are island-hopping tours that will take you to some of them. I was able to go to Naked Island, a small sand islet that you can walk around in five minutes. The islet constantly changes its shape depending on how the waves decide how it will look. There are days when it looks like a small hill, and some days it is as flat as your floor.

I also got to visit Daku Is-land, so called because it is the biggest of the small islands. It is where tourists take a break for lunch. You can sit on its beach and watch expert surf-ers do their thing a few hun-dred meters away and wish you were as good as they are.

The third and last island I went to is called Guyam. It reminded me of Waniban Is-land in Mati. One side of the

EDGEDAVAO

BIGGER PICTURE

SIARGAO ON MY MIND

By DIANA LHYD SUELTOPhotos by Amyssa Ocariza

island is rocky and the other side is sandy and you can walk around it in just a few minutes.

Siargao is also the perfect place to go on a relaxing mo-torcycle rides. There’s no traf-fic congestion and the roads are long and smooth. It is also the best way to discover what the island hides, such as the empty, ghostlike Bayud Resort

which is just beside the overly expensive Dedon Island Resort (a night’s stay will have you coughing out P34,000).

Motorcyle rides will also allow you to see the island’s other beauties, like its old houses, rice paddies, seaside boulevards, and church. If you are lucky enough, you might be able to pass by a fisherman un-

loading his fresh catch.How I wish I were in Siar-

gao right now…Shoutout to the Depart-

ment of Tourism, for arranging the trip and to Siargao Adven-ture for making sure I had a great time, and for Amyssa for being such a fun travel com-panion. Until our next adven-ture.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 201512 CLASSIFIED

Call: 224-0733 • Tionko St., Davao City

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Alwood Wick, who came to Davao City last Janu-ary 2014. They are half-siblings as both have the same mother. Like Paler-mo, Wicks and his family are also considering set-tling in Davao for good. Although she never had formal schooling on cook-ing – except for the train-ing she went through re-


EDGEDAVAOINdulge!

WHEN my View editor-in-chief, Joseph Cortes, asked me to write something for the food issue of the magazine, I paused for few seconds (while thinking of a food street lo-cated in the city).

FOOD

Nacho salad. Burger ala Edgar all in.

Panacotta.Swedish meatballs.

The author with Juliana Palermo.

I couldn’t think of any. There are some good res-taurants and eateries in the city but they are not situated in one area only. They are scattered all over the city. So I told him that I couldn’t write the assign-ment since Davao City has no such thing as a food street here. But it was only a few days ago that I learned the city has one, after all. It’s situated in the Circum-ferential Road. There are several out-of-the-way res-taurants, which very few Dabawenyos know of. In the past, you could only find Sea Green Café and Lifestyle Shop and Rumah Kari. As the city boomed, eateries have also sprouted like mush-rooms. Consider these two additions: Siggy’s Davao Lechon Liempo and Cait-lyn’s Dimsum and Special-ty House. The most recent to open a restaurant in the area is no less than Juliana Pal-ermo. Yes, the former Miss Kadayawan who made her first movie screen appear-ance in Tikoy Aguiluz’s “www.XXX.com.” Her other movies in-clude the following: 2004’s “Panaghoy Sa Suba,” 2005’s “Lisensyadong Ka-mao,” 2006’s “Kaleldo,” 2006’s “Mourning Girls,” 2007’s “Faces of Love,” 2007’s “Agent X44,” and 2006’s “Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo” and its sequel “Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo” (2007). Palermo never dreamed of becoming a movie star. After winning the Miss Kadayawan in 2002, she went to Manila and joined the Ponds Facial Wash Ms. Soft Skin Search. With a brown complexion, she was beaten by the Jaboom

Twins (Jaja Gonzales and Boomboom Gonzales). But Aguiluz saw her. She was given the lead role in www.XXX.com, which earned her an acting award. According to her, she joined the movies to support her then 15-year-old brother who was blind and had autism. After years of making several movies, she went abroad and worked there. Last September, she re-turned to Davao. “I want my son to have his own culture, instead of grow-ing in various places of the world,” she said. Palermo – a screen name given to her by Agu-iluz after a holiday spot – said Davao is the best place for her son to grow up and learn about life and living. At first, she had a hard time figuring out the kind of business she would en-gage in that could sustain her and her son in the city. Then she saw the ad that Chef Edgar Arvidsson’s Western Express Food was up for sale. Thinking of having a restaurant business, she bought it. She and some of her chosen staff under-went an extensive training with the Swedish chef. As if it was a destiny, she also found a place in Circum-ferential Road at Marfori Heights Subdivision cor-ner Mabini Street, where the J. Palermo Diner is now located. “Actually, it was my brother who gave me an idea of opening a restau-rant,” said Palermo, who is actually Alvi July S. Juanico in real life. “He is a Christian missionary and if there are meetings and gatherings, they can actu-ally use the restaurant.” Palermo is referring to

cently – Palermo has been cooking since she was still a teenager. “I grew up in the United States, where my mother was working as a nurse,” she recalled. “Every time I came home from school, my mother wasn’t home yet. But since I was already hungry, I just cooked my own.”

Last January 3, we – Al-wood, my friend Rudolph Ian Alama, and myself – had the opportunity of tasting the food Palermo prepared herself. The first we tried was cured salmon, which was served with salad and hard-boiled eggs. Next was beef bourguignon (a classic French beef cas-serole served with roasted potatoes). We had not consumed everything yet when the Thai chicken curry came along. “Are you ready for a sur-prise?” Palermo asked us. The surprise was burger ala Edgar “all in.” This mind-boggling burger is served with two beef pat-ties, garlic sauce, and salsa. Rudolph and I had a hard time figuring out on how to eat the burger. The next two servings were my all-time favorites: Swedish meatballs (served

Finding comfort at J. Palermo’s Diner

with mashed potatoes and gravy) and nachos salad. The ceviche was also good. For dessert, we were given the panacotta with berry sauce. Aside from those served to us, J. Palermo Diner also offers tacos, Caesar salad, pasta carbonara, spaghetti Bolognese, burger steak, and French onion soup. Just like the other food we tasted, they are as mouth-watering. “I only cook what I like to eat,” she said. Don’t worry about prices. The food is reason-ably priced, from as low as P80 to as high as P295 per order. Drinks cost from P40 to P50 while alcoholic prices range from P55 to P150. Palermo doesn’t only cook, she also sometimes serves the food herself. And if she’s not so busy, you may be lucky to have your pic-ture taken with her.

By HENRYLITO D. TACIO

FOR TWO WEEKS and a day, Pearl Farm Beach Resort had been the holiday retreat that homed guests from both lo-cal and foreign roots. Lined-up events and activities turned ev-ery day into merri-ment. Starting off with the annual Lighting of Parola last December 16, the re-sort embraced the spirit of fellowship and solidarity with the theme One Love for Christmas. It was led by General Manager Josu Mikel Villaverde, who was accompanied by ANFLO-COR Vice President for Cash & Bank Susan Ma-tus, in lighting the iconic Parola. Guests from AN-FLOCOR, public and pri-vate sectors, travel agen-cies, and media graced the event. Captivating every-one’s soft spots, UP Min-danao Koro Kantahanay performed acapela Christ-mas songs throughout the evening. Up ‘til Christmas Eve, the resort was filled with soulful holiday songs sung by duet Chinky Amparo and Lyra Arriola, USeP Harmonia Polifonica Chorale, San Pedro Col-lege’s Coro Expressivo, and the Choristers of Sa-cred Heart of Jesus Parish - Obrero. Toys and treats were

given to the children of Brgy. Adecor, Kaputian on Christmas Day as a way of giving back to the community. December 26 featured Dabawenyo Magikero Gino Alonzo Janducayan who show-cased comical tricks of magic and ventriloquism. The following day, a Min-danaoan theme enveloped the night with authentic Mindanaoan cuisines and a special number from the Kalumon Performing Ensemble. On December 29, a Videoke King from the guests was hailed as a karaoke contest was held during dinner. Then guests flocked the face painting booth the next day. Cocktails, bingo and movie night were consec-utively done from the 27th to the 30th. The New Year Count-

down was jam-packed with guests coming from more than ten countries, who were entertained by the ZySix Band and Utopia Band. The Spiral Firedancers exhibited fire-poi dances that instantly wooed the crowd. Guests had their ala torotot festi-

val as they blew their toro-tots right before the splen-did, multi-hued fireworks display. For two decades and more, Pearl Farm Beach Resort has been the blissful retreat for all. Visit www.pearlfarmresort.com for more resort details.

ONE of its executives shared that the networking of ma-chines and devices are already evident in everyday living, connecting and enabling a vast array of equipment - from enterprise servers to everyday products - to obtain data and insights about the status of an asset. He shared these facts as the ICT arm of Globe Telecom recently sponsored confer-ences in the Philippines which were attended by heads and managers of supply chain, purchasing, logistics, materials, procurement and warehousing. “In 2008, the number of people on earth was ex-ceeded by the number of things connected to the Internet. And by ‘things,’ we mean more than just smartphones and tablets. By 2020, there will be about 50 to 75 billion connected devices around the world,” said JD Montelibano, Globe IG Head of Product Man-agement for Business Ap-plications. He added that, “these numbers are spurred by the expanding wireless network coverage world-wide, providing necessary bandwidth for everything to be connected and creating a critical mass of mainstream use. For Globe, the new rule for the future is that, anything that can be connected will be connected. Thus, we are ushering in a new era of ‘Telco 2.0’ by providing industries with best-in-breed solutions beyond our core services, such as M2M.” M2M regional demand: “Asia, where the Philippines is an emerging player, is the largest regional M2M market accounting for 42% of global M2M connections, followed by Europe at 28%; North America at 18%; Latin America, 8%; Africa, 4%; and Ocea-nia, 1%;” he said, quoting the GSM Association or the GSMA which represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. As a telco company, Globe is a founding member of Bridge Al-liance, the region’s largest machine-to-machine alliance today, a one-stop-shop experience for M2M deployment across the Asia Pacific region and the center of excellence for M2M services and solutions. Montelibano commented that, “with Philippine orga-nizations now operating in a global setting, especially with the onset of the Asean Economic Cooperation, they can hurdle the challenges of blurred geographical advantages, compromised proprietary technologies and increasing difficulties in break-through innovations in products and services.” Montelibano also noted that, as key supply chains become more complex, companies and SMEs face a myriad of challenges involving data handling, delays and inefficiencies, as well as hu-man limitations. They now contend with various measures to keep up with the pace of their businesses, which may compro-mise productivity, cost and safety of assets to name a few. “M2M is all about taking more control over assets, as it enables remote surveillance, 24/7 support and reducing costs as well as operating expenses. But above and beyond these, its greatest benefit is providing the competitive advantage to companies as well as SMEs in terms of business analytics, spanning standard access and reporting, to analytics, which allow statistical analysis, forecasting and extrapolation, predictive modeling, and until op-timization,” told Globe Vice President for IG Rey Lugtu. Globe advantage on M2M: The wide mobile and broadband network of Globe, he pointed out, makes it possible for businesses to maximize the three key features of M2M, which is optimization through real-time monitoring and maintenance, transitioning from “preventive” to “predictive;” efficiencies by eliminating de-lays, excessive overtime charges and accident-related incidents; as well as security through proactive alerts and faster reaction time to theft and pilferage. “The entire degree of intelligence runs the gamut of analytics which will be the key to supply chain optimization. Customers can harness data into information, which can lead them to insight and action,” Lugtu emphasized. He also asserted that the Globe ap-proach to M2M is “holistic,” involving the user, subscribed M2M devices, its modernized network and state-of-the art Network Operations Center. These are all backed by the telco’s stamp of credibility on accessibility, storage capability, flexible plans and 24/7 managed services. For more information on Globe IG’s M2M solutions, visit m2msolu-tions.globe.com.ph or send an email to [email protected].

A2 INdulge! VOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT

Globe IG boosts companies, SMEs’ competitive advantage with real M2M solutions

The holidays at Pearl Farm

L-R: ANFLOCOR AVP for Systems & Audit Mr. Richard Go, VP for Cash & Bank Ms. Susan Matus, GM Mikel Villaverde, Senior AVP for Finance & Admin Ms. Elisa Estanislao, AVP for Cash & Bank Ms. Lillian Castillo, AVP for Finance Ms. Pamela Pasinabo, Asst. Resort Manager Heartwell Gutierrez.

New Year’s countdown at Malipano Island.

The Parola Bar by night.

EVENT

BEGINNING Janu-ary 12, a compelling and encouraging series will captivate the hearts of the Ka-puso viewers as GMA Network presents an emotionally engag-ing primetime dra-ma program Second Chances. The series is a story about heartache and the love that heals it which topbills Jennylyn Mer-cado, Camille Prats, Ra-fael Rosell, and Raymart Santiago. It will dramati-cally narrate how an op-portunity can change someone’s life and will also provide a powerful response to viewers’ de-mand for validation that indeed, we all deserve a second chance. Fresh from her success at the recently concluded 2014 Metro Manila Film

Festival, Best Actress and one of Kapuso prime leading ladies Jennylyn Mercado once again de-livers an unquestionable performance as Lyra Ber-

mudez. Her life suddenly changes when a tragedy befalls her family and she loses both her husband and son in an instant. All set to show a new

dimension to her acting ability is Camille Prats who will portray the character of Rebecca Vil-lacorta, the childhood friend of Lyra. A bipolar who became addicted to drugs as she pines for the son she lost. Returning to prime-time is sought-after lead-ing man Rafael Rosell as Jerome Padilla. He is a lawyer who has always loved Lyra even before she married her late hus-band. Seasoned actor Raymart Santiago breathes life to the char-acter of a single father and widower, Bernard Castelo. He finds the meaning of life and how to love again when he meets Lyra. Under the helm of

KAPAMILYA teen star Jairus Aquino will in-spire young viewers to strive hard for their dreams amid challeng-es in the upcoming “Maalaala Mo Kaya” episode this Saturday (January 10). Jairus will portray the character of Andre who has always lived life hap-pily despite having dif-ficulty walking because of a rare muscle disease called Muscular Dystro-phy. He grew up to be an optimistic student, and his father Rodolfo (to be played by Dominic Ochoa), was always at his side to lift his spirits up

with constant love and encouragement. How will Andre deal with life’s challenges when his ultimate source of strength, his father, suddenly leaves his

side? Will he succumb to hopelessness, or will he continue to reach for the dreams that his father envisioned for him? Also starring in the up-coming “MMK” episode

are Lara Quigaman, Eliza Pineda, Angelo Ilagan, and JB Agustin. The epi-sode is directed by Raz de la Torre and written by Mary Rose Colindres. “MMK” is led by busi-ness unit head Malou Santos and creative manager Mel Mendoza-del Rosario. Capturing the hearts of Filipino viewers all over the world for the past 23 years, “Maalaala Mo Kaya” has legions of fans from different generations who cried, laughed, fell in love, and got inspired through the real-life narratives of the show’s letter-senders.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015 EDGEDAVAO INdulge! A3

PG 13

PG 13 / *R 13

PG 1312:00 | 2:00 | 4:00 | 6:00 | 8:00 | 10:00 LFS

R-16

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM:

SECRET OF THE TOMB

Ben Stiller, Robin Williams

PG 13 1:00 | 4:00 | 7:00 | 10:00 LFS

SEVENTH SON

12:00 | 2:00 | 4:00 LFS / * 6:00 | 8:00 | 10:00 LFS

THE AMAZING PRAYBEYT BENJAMIN / * LOVE ROSIE

Vice Ganda, Richard Yap /

* Lily Collins, Sam Claflin

12:40 | 3:00 | 5:20 | 7:40 | 10:00 LFS

Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE

OF THE FIVE ARMIESMartin Freeman,Ian Mckellen,

Richard Armitage

January 8, 2015

ENTERTAINMENT

GMA Network brings viewers a step closer to their second chance

Jairus plays physically challenged teenager in “MMK”

critically-acclaimed di-rector Laurice Guillen, Second Chances also stars Roi Vinzon, Miriam Quiambao, Gerard Pizar-ras, Frencheska Farr, Miggs Cuaderno, Joshen Bernardo, and Chynna Ortaleza with special par-ticipation of Luis Alandy, Jackie Rice, Glenda Gar-cia, Ayen Laurel and Mr. Ricky Davao. The creative team is composed of Creative Director Roy Iglesias; Creative Head for Prime-time, Concept Creator and Headwriter RJ Nue-vas; Writers Des Severino,

Lobert Villela, and Onay Sales; and Brainstormers Nehem Dallego and Ken-neth Enriquez. Second Chances, cre-ated by the GMA Drama group, is supervised by the Executive-in-Charge of Production Lilybeth G. Rasonable; VP for Drama Redgie A. Magno; AVP for Drama Cheryl Ching-Sy; Program Manager Helen Rose S. Sese; and Execu-tive Producer Carol Galve. Don’t miss the much-awaited telecast of Second Chances beginning Janu-ary 12, Monday to Friday on GMA Telebabad.

A4 INdulge!FOOD

PASTA is a staple food. Of course, it is rooted from traditional Italian cuisine that has won our hearts since we can remember. Mostly, pasta is commonly used to refer to a wide variety of pasta dishes. From what we know, anything that has pasta, sauce and cheese is a dish in itself.

In the Philippines, we like ours sweet while in some parts of the world, they like it differently. From alfredo to bolo-gnaise, we have our ver-sion that we love and crave for. But, did you know that for every pasta variety there is a sauce to match? Simple sauce like pesto is best for long and thin strands of pasta. Tomato sauce, on the other hand, is best with thicker pastas. For chunkier sauces, such are best with holed, short and tubular pasta. The ratio of the sauce to the pasta varies – mostly depending on one’s pref-erence and texture. Tra-ditionally, the sauce need not overpower the whole dish. In short, it should be “just right” – something that we truly not know how to measure. Agree? I think so too. DID YOU KNOW

Leftover favourites:Going loco for pasta

THAT... Both dried and fresh pasta are categori-cally used in 3 kinds of pasta dishes – PASTA AS-CUITTA (cooked pasta served with complemen-tary sauce or condiment), PASTA IN BRODO (pas-ta served soup like) and PASTA AL FORNO (pas-ta is incorporated with another dish)? Now, that is versatility! Let’s get into the PAS-TA vibe and explore! Here are 3 easy to make and budget friendly pasta

sauces that will blow your taste buds away.

Easy Breezy PastaIn a pan, warm ¼ cup ol-ive oil. Add 1 cup halved fresh tomatoes (use the cherry variety), sliced 3 garlic cloves and a bunch of fresh basil leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried basil). Let simmer. When the tomatoes are soft, add your pasta and add some cheese and season to taste. Serve hot with a slice (or two) of garlic melba toast.

On the Go Pasta

Before you add pasta to the boiling water, gently slide in some diced veg-gies (zucchini and car-rots). Cook for a few min-utes, until crisp-tender, and then scoop out with a slotted spoon. Cook your pasta. Heat your all pur-pose cream, garlic paste and mushroom sauce in a sauté pan. Add cooked vegetables and pasta; toss

well.

Toss and EatI love it light, quick and fragrant! In a pan, sauté chopped garlic until translucent. Add chopped fresh ba-sil and roughly chopped nuts. Add cooked pasta and toss. You can add some sun dried tomatoes, pitted and chopped olives

and even some roasted red bell pepper. Drizzle with olive oil before serv-ing.

Make #TheRoyal-Chef your Thursday habit! Email me at lee-b a y 4 5 7@ y a h o o . c o m (subject:RoyalChef) or tag me on instagram (her-royalheiress) for your deli-cious pics and food finds!

VOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015 13EDGEDAVAO

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VOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 201514 SPORTS EDGEDAVAO

SAN Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker start-ed but played just 13

minutes Tuesday night in a loss against the Detroit Pis-tons in his third attempt to get back on the court after straining his left hamstring.

Parker had missed 13 games total since initially suffering the injury Dec. 5 at Memphis. Parker had missed

five straight games since aggravating the injury for a second time Dec. 25 against Oklahoma City.

“It’s been very frustrat-ing,” Parker said. “It’s never happened to me before for that long, but it happens. Hopefully it’s behind me and the last treatment I did is hopefully the good one and now I can put it behind me

and just get back to playing and playing good basketball.”

Parker was 0-for-3 shoot-ing and had just two assists, not playing in the second half, but he did not appear to aggravate the injury — great news for the defending NBA champion Spurs. The Pistons beat the Spurs 105-104 on a last-second shot.

Parker did not talk to the

media after the game.Coach Gregg Popovich,

when asked if his point guard was OK, said, “Yeah, he’s healthy.”

“He wanted to play, but I’m being conservative,” Popovich said. “He had 13 minutes. That’s good after sitting out as long as he did; make sure he doesn’t reinjure the thing.”

IN other tennis action Tuesday, at the Bris-bane International, sec-

ond-ranked Maria Sharapo-va opened her 2015 season by winning nine straight games in a 6-0, 6-1 win over Yaroslava Shvedova.

The Russian had a bye in the first round at the season-opening WTA event in the sub-tropical east coast city, where Williams won the title in 2014 but skipped this year in favour of the Hopman Cup.

Third-seeded Angeli-que Kerber advanced earli-er Tuesday with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Daria Gavrilova.

In a men’s first-round upsets, Lukasz Kubot of Po-land beat fifth-seeded Kev-in Anderson of South Africa 7-6 (3), 6-4 and Sam Groth beat defending champion Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-2 in a night match. Seventh-seed-ed Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine advanced over Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 6-2, 6-3.

Venus advances in Auckland

At the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, third-seeded Venus Wil-liams made short work of her first match of the new year by sweeping past Jana Cepelova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-0 in 52 minutes.

The seven-time major winner reached the final of the Auckland hard-court tournament last year.

“I was welcomed when I came on the court and I felt like I left off right from last year,” Williams said. “I felt comfortable right away.”

Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki had to work hard to subdue qualifier Julia Glushko of Israel 6-3, 6-2.

Urzula Radwanska beat former French Open champion Francesca Schia-vone 6-4, 7-5 and another qualifier, Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic, top-pled fifth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4

Pagara, Servania will be tested

Spurs bow to Pistons

PINOY PRIDE 29 IN DAVAO

Sharapova startsstrong in Brisbane

TWO of the more prom-ising boxers from the ALA Promotions stable,

light welterweight Jason “El Nino” Pagara and super ban-tamweight Genesis “Azukal” Servania, will be tested when they face-off against tough Mexican opponents in the 29th edition of the hugely suc-cessful “Pinoy Pride” series in Davao City on February 7.

The 26 year old Pagara who has a record of 34-2 with 21 knockouts is coming off a suc-cessful

fourth title defense of his WBO International title against resilient Mexican Ma-rio Meraz, scoring a TKO with one second remaining in the 4th round when referee Dan-rex Tapdasan called a halt de-spite the fact that Meraz beat the count, raised his hands and indicated he was ready to continue last June 21,

Pagara won the title with a smashing 6th round TKO in a rematch with menac-ing-looking Rosbel Montoya who had won a unanimous

ten round decision to grab the WBO Asia Pacific Youth

title on September 10, 2011.

Pagara will battle 27 year old Cesar “El Dolar” Chavez who has a record of 23-7 with 11 knock-outs.

Chavez is coming off a rousing 3rd round knock-out of Javier Gallegos last October 3 and had ear-lier won the

vacant Mexican Pacific Coast light welterweight title with a 5th round TKO of Fernando Hernandez on December 29, 2011 but lost by a 4th round knockout to Roberto Ortiz in a WBC Silver title fight on Feb-ruary 4, 2012.

The undefeated 23 year old Servania who has a record of 25-0 with 11 knockouts ap-parently faces a tougher chal-lenge than Pagara when he battles the 32 year old “Black Pearl” Juan Luis Hernandez who sports a record of 17-3-1 with 9 knockouts.

After a layoff of more than three years Hernan-dez returned to the ring and scored what Mexican media described as a “difficult vic-tory” over Pedro Palma last November 14 winning by a unanimous decision with judges Franco Esteban scor-ing the fight 58-56 whike Car-los Briones and Antonio Villas turned in identical scorecards of 59-56.

From the opening bell Palma came with everything in search of victory and three punches from all angles while Hernandez connected with far more effective punches.

In a clash for the WBC International super flyweight title, Hernandez engaged Car-los Rueda in an epic ring war that was considered Tijuana’s “Fight of the Year” in which the “Black Pearl” dropped Rueda twice in round two but was himself dropped in round seven and lost by TKO.

Boxing writer Felipe Leon of Fight News report-ed that with Box Latino and

PM Promotions planning for a rematch, Hernandez was matched against Alejandro “Timon” Martinez (12-1-1, 8 KO’s) of Puerto Rico.

Leon said Martinez “be-gan the bout relaxed and quicker to the punch as he counter punched Tijuana’s Hernandez easily developing a mouse under the right of Hernandez by the end of the first stanza. Hernandez took control in the second as he at-tacked the body trying to slow down the come forward style of Martinez. Near the end of the round, Hernandez lands a right hand that gets Mar-tinez’s attention and “Perla Negra” tries to finish the night early attacking furiously until the bell but to no avail. Her-nandez begins to slug it out in the third hoping “Timon” had not recouped from the last round. Martinez begins to box as he tries to keep the at-tacking Hernandez at bay. By mid round, Hernandez hurts Martinez again and speeds up his assault but only to leave himself open for a left hook that makes his knees buckle. In the third round, Hernandez slowed down considerably as he began to breathe thru his mouth.”

In its continuing descrip-tion of the fight Felipe Leon reported “The fight moved to the center of the ring for round four as both fighters were content to make it a phone booth war and began to exchange upper cut from either fist. Hernandez seemed to have the upper hand. Her-nandez began to box for the

beginning of round five, using the ring and m o v i n g a r o u n d its perim-eter. De-spite Mar-tinez not being as skillful on the inside as Hernan-dez, standing a w k wa r d ly at close range, “Timon” decided to force the action once again to the proverbial phone booth and at-tacked the body of Hernandez. In the sixth and seventh, a stronger and fresher Martinez stalked Hernandez around the ring as the Tijua-na favorite looked worse for wear and boxed around the ring trying to stay away from his attacker.

Early on in the eighth Mar-tinez rocks Hernandez with a hard right hand and seconds later lands a left hook to the body that drops “Perla Neg-ra” to the canvas wincing in pain. Suprinsingly, Hernandez beats the count and goes on the counter attack and wins the round. Presumably behind on the score cards, Hernandez begins the ninth boxing from the perimeter but then thinks against it and invites Martinez into the phone booth in the middle of the ring again and

goes after the mid section of the Cosa Rican trying to end the night early. Martinez gets hit with pot shots as Hernan-dez although seemingly wind-ed is still able to box in the tenth round. As Martinez tries to gain real estate coming in with his hands down, Hernan-dez meets him with jab/right hand combinations through out the tenth and final round.

Judge Juan Carlos Pelayo scored it 95-94 for Hernandez while Monique Rendon saw it the other way for Martinez also with a 95-94 tally while the tie breaking judge Juan Jose Ramirez scored it 96-93 awarding a split decision for Hernandez.”

JASON PAGARA. The 26 year old Pagara who has a record of 34-2 with 21 knockouts is coming off a successful fourth title defense of his WBO International title against resilient Mexican Ma-rio Meraz.

GENESIS SERVANIA. The undefeated 23 year old Servania who has a record of 25-0 with 11 knockouts apparently faces a tougher challenge than Pagara when he battles the 32 year old “Black Pearl” Juan Luis Hernandez.

STOPPER. Marco Belimelli shoots one for the Spurs.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 209 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015 15SPORTSEDGEDAVAO

SURPRISINGLY easy.That’s the way to best

describe Euegenie Bouch-ard’s first ever win over world no. 1 Serena Williams after the crowd favourite from Quebec glided through a 6-2 6-1 win at the Hopman Cup on Tues-day.

The comely Canadian mastered the ferocious Wil-liams with a wide-ranging menu of shots that dotted the corners of the ocean blue court of Perth Arena leaving the highly-favored American gasping by the second set.

Surprisingly, it was Wil-liams who wilted down the stretch, mysteriously soften-ing on her serves and looked loaded on her legs.

The win came after Bouchard’s opening day loss

to Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic and Williams’ blow cold-blow hot win over Italy’s Flavia Penetta which drew trending in the internet after she ordered coffee from the sidelines to perk her up after losing the first set 0-6.

This time though, there were no quick espresso shots for Williams and Bouchard, jokingly acknowledged that af-ter the match saying her rival could have needed the “mira-cle coffee” to perk her up.

“Maybe she needed an-other coffee,” said Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., who had never previously beaten Williams. “I know she didn’t play her best. I’m happy I just stayed with it and held my nerve. It’s a good way to start the year — gives me some

confidence.”The wake-up shot—either

from a cup of espresso sold at the arena or her vaunted arsenal of shots--never came for Williams as she dropped the match without much of a fight from the fifth game on-wards of the second set. Even her serves went from a high of 198 to a low of 130, her power obviously deserting her like a weakened battery.

The end came after only 50 minutes.

With Canada up 1-0, Vasel Pospisil got the boost he need-ed in the men’s singles and he quickly responded with a 6-3 7-4 win over ard-serving John Isner 6-3 7-6 (4) to put the Canadians on top 2-0 in the three-match singles-sin-gles-mixed doubles tourna-

ment format.Williams, who arrived

in Perth in Saturday, again appeared lethargic and later complained of fatigue.

“It’s weird. I can’t get my body to move. I feel like I’ve got no energy,” Williams said. “It’s a little frustrating because I know I can play 2,000 times better.

“I’ve just got to get my feet moving. I have to figure it out.”

Williams later returned to the court and teamed up with the gun-serving Isner, who towers at 6-foot-10, to salvage wounded pride. Williams and Isner made it a 1-2 loss to Can-ada after they took the mixed doubles 6-3 6-4.

The Czech Republic beat Italy 3-0 in the other Hopman Cup match.

WORLD No.6 Eugenie Bouchard will con-sider joining the su-

per coach bandwagon as she attempts to snare a maiden grand slam and become No.1 in the world.

Bouchard is currently without a coach after ending her eight-year partnership with Nick Saviano last Novem-ber.

In the meantime, 35-year-old former hitting partner Di-ego Ayala has joined up with the Bouchard camp to help her through the Australian summer.

Bouchard is in no rush to line up a full-time coach, but said she would consider fol-lowing the leads of Agnieszka Radwanska (Martina Navra-tilova) and Andy Murray (Amelie Mauresmo) by hiring a tennis legend down the track.

“That would be an in-teresting option for sure. A lot of the players are start-ing to do that a bit,” Bouch-ard said.

“I think a voice of some-one that has been there be-fore is definitely helpful.”

Bouchard enjoyed a breakout year in 2014, with the 20-year-old reaching the final of Wimbledon, as well as the semi-finals of the Australian Open and French Open.

Despite the suc-cess, Bouchard felt the time was right to part ways with Saviano.

“I felt like I needed to go in a differ-ent direction and I need some new voice to get my game to a higher level,” she said.

“My ulti-mate goal is

RAFA Nadal’s season got off to a miserable start as his comeback from

injury and illness stalled in the Qatar Open first round with a 1-6 6-3 6-4 defeat by German journeyman Michael Berrer on Tuesday.

The Spaniard, who en-dured a stop-start season during the latter half of 2014 after suffering from a wrist in-jury and appendicitis, looked on track for a promising win when he took the first set at the warm-up event for this month’s Australian Open.

However, 127th-ranked Berrer came out firing winners to all corners of the court to pull off his first victory over a top five player.

“These things happen after a long time without being on the road... being in competition. I was playing with more nerves because after a long time away I wanted to win,” world number three Nadal told reporters.

“My motivation and my hunger to keep doing things

well is still the same.”Although the 34-year-old

German achieved the remark-able feat in his final season on tour, he did not get too carried away by the result.

“It’s really unbelievable,” said Berrer, who until Tues-day had won just four games against the former world num-ber one.

“Losing 1-6 felt like the oth-er matches against him so I had to do something. It’s my last season, I’m going for it, I have nothing to lose, I’m enjoying it here so why not.

“It’s one of the matches that will stay in my memory but, let’s be honest, it was the first match for Rafa after many months of injuries, so we have to be realistic. But for me great.”

Nadal had three break points to level the third set at 5-5 but despite jitters from Berrer, who served two dou-ble faults trying to close out the win, the German hung on to watch his opponent whip a service return wide on match

point.While 14-times grand slam

champion Nadal must turn to plan B to get ready for the sea-son’s first major, having pro-

duced 32 unforced errors, there were no such problems for No-vak Djokovic who polished off fellow Serb Dusan Lajovic 6-2 6-1.

WORLD No.1 Serena Williams was left searching for answers

after her mystery tiredness continued during her shock 6-2 6-1 Hopman Cup loss to Canadian Eugenie Bouchard on Tuesday night.

Williams, who needed a mid-match coffee hit to get over Italian Flavia Pennetta on Monday, again looked flat in her second match of the year.

The 33-year-old battled to hold serve throughout the 50-minute contest, and appeared lethargic in her at-tempts to chase down balls.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m so tired,” Williams said after the match.

“It’s weird. I can’t get my body to move. I feel like I’ve got no energy.

“It’s a little frustrating be-cause I know I can play two thousand times better.”

Williams arrived in Perth from America on Saturday, but she doesn’t think the fatigue is purely due to jetlag.

“I’ve been trying to rest up,” Williams said.

“I did a little gym work, but I just felt depleted. I don’t know why. I don’t know how to describe it.

“I’ve just got to get my feet moving. I have to figure it out. Hopefully I can do better in the next match.”

Bouchard, who had lost her previous two encounters to Williams, capitalised on her opponent’s lethargy with some sharp ground strokes.

“I know she didn’t defi-nitely play her best,” Bouchard said.

“Maybe she needed an-other coffee. I know she can serve amazing. But I’m happy I stayed with it and held my nerve to the end.”

Canada secured the tie win when world No.56 Vasek Pospisil notched an upset 6-3 7-6 (7-4) win over big-serving American John Isner.

“He’s one of the best serves in the world right now,” Pospi-sil said.

“You’ve just got to go with your instincts.

“I’d won our last meeting and I knew what to expect.”

Williams perked up for the mixed doubles, combining with Isner to secure a 6-3 7-5 win.

The US must beat the Czech Republic on Thursday night if they are to secure a spot in Saturday’s final.

Bouchard makes quick work of Serena in Hopman CupEASY FOR GENIEBy NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO

Wanted: Supercoach for Bouchard

Nadal bows to German foe

IMPRESSIVE WIN. Eugenie Bouchard of Canada plays a backhand to Serena Williams of the United States in the women’s singles match during day three of the Hopman Cup at Perth Arena on January 6, 2015 in Perth, Australia.

Mysterious tiredness hounds Serena

to win a grand slam and to be number one in the world.

“I felt like I needed to change and at the moment I am working with someone that I have worked with in the past and that is where it is at for now.

“It’s going good so far.”Bouchard started 2015 in

poor fashion, losing 6-0 6-4 to veteran Lucie Safarova at

the Hopman Cup.But she re-

bounded strongly against Sere-na Williams

on Tuesday n i g h t , thrash-ing the w o r l d

No.1 6-2 6-1 to re-

vive Cana-da’s hopes of

winning the mixed-teams tournament.

B o u c h -ard’s next as-signment is against Ital-

ian Flavia Pennetta

on Thurs-day.

SUPERCOACH FOR EUGENIE? Eugenie Bouchard is shopping around for a “Supercoach.”

RAFA LOSES. Rafael Nadal plays a return in his first-round match, Qatar Open, Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, Doha, Qatar, January 6, 2015.


OPENINGTHE SEASON

16 EDGEDAVAOSports

THE Association for the Advancement of Karatedo (AAK)

Davao will be sending 13 players to the prestigious 3rd Adidas International Cup karatedo tournament on January 16-18 at the SM Mall of Asia in Manila.

The team is composed of veterans and newcom-ers led by 2014 So Kim Cheng Sports Awards Athlete of the Year Gabriel Quinones. The team will also parade four-year old Atsuko Kaiyel Tan, daugh-ter of AAK Davao head instructor Rommel Tan, who will be campaigning for the first time in kata.

“I hope we can bring more medals with these 13 players,” said Tan at this year’s inaugural edi-tion of the weekly SCOOP Session of The Royal Man-daya Hotel last Tuesday.

The veteran Quiñones, 16, a freshman college student at the University of Immaculate Concep-cion, who won 1 gold and 1 bronze last year, is again the best bet for the AAK Davao karatekas with former medal winners Kyzzhia Navarro (1 gold), Sofia Agullo (1 gold), Jam Ramirez (1 silver) and Seth Michael Navarro (1 bronze).

The Navarro siblings and Agullo are also all UIC s t u d e n t s w h i l e Ramirez, 14 is from the Precious In-

ternational

School.Asked about her

daughter’s coming out tournament, Tan said: “Kaiyel will play in the Kata competition for girls 6 years old and below.”

Kaiyel, a Nursery 1 pu-pil of the Davao Christian High School, is the young-est member of the squad.

“We want her to start early in karate,” said Tan, a former member of the PH national team and varsity of the Ateneo de Davao University.

AAK Davao sent only six players last year but still won three golds, four silvers and two bronze medals.

Also included are John Paul Ponce, 10 of Pre-cious; Darlene Maramara, 14 of Davao City National High School; Airina Kawa-no, 10 of SPED Rizal, Mit-suki Kawano, 12 of Holy Child College of Davao, and Emmanuel Bayugo, 15, of UIC; Craig James In-fiesto, 12 of APO Learning Village and Marcus Arel-lano, 6.

Some of the parents of the players are also leaving on Feb. 15 to give support to the team in Manila.

“Five foreign coun-tries have already been confirmed,” said Tan.

They are Uzbekistan, Singapore, Malaysia, In-donesia and Japan.

Japan will be head-ed by former PH and Ja-pan national coach Shin Tsukii, who will also be giving free training to all the participants before the tournament proper.

AAK Davao to send 13 bets to3rd Adidas International Cup

DEADLY KICK. Gabriel Quinones (left) shows why he is one the finest karatekas in the country today. Dong Bacalla

FINE FORM. Miguel Ramirez (right) of AAK Davao connects in this bit of action. Dong Bacalla

YOUNGEST BET. Four-year old Kaiyel Tan (3rd from left) will see action in the 3rd Adidas International Cup on January16-18 at the SM Mall of Asia. Dong Bacalla

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