P 15.00 • 20 PAGES www.edgedavao.net VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015 EDGE Serving a seamless society DAVAO MILF PROBES CLASH T HE Moro Islamic Lib- eration Front (MILF) is forming a Special In- vestigative Commission (SIC) to investigate last Sunday’s deadly Mamasapano, Magu- indanao incident. “Our concern is the truth. There will be a lot of specu- lations as to what happened, and until what happened is established with credibility and integrity, the said inci- dent will weigh down our current efforts to bring peace to our homeland,” MILF chair Mohagher Iqbal said in an official statement on the in- cident. At least 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) of the PNP were killed Sunday in clashes with the MILF and with the Bang- smaoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) when the SAF, apparently without co- ordinating with the local ml- itary and police as well as the peace process mechanisms of the government and MILF’s Coordinating Committees on Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) and Ad Hoc Joint Ac- tion Group (AHJAG), entered Barangay Tukanalipao in Ma- masapano town before dawn Sunday, allegedly to serve the warrants of arrest against the two high-value targets. Iqbal said in order to give meaning to the deaths of the police officers and MILF men, “we must resolve not to let something like happen again.” He said the MILF is con- vening a Special Investigative Commission (SIC) to investi- gate the incident. The SIC will be composed of members of the MILF Central Committee and the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) General Staff. “The mandate of the SIC is to gather as much reliable information and interview witnesses to establish the truth,” Iqbal said. “The SIC is given instruc- tion to come up with a report to the Central Committee as soon as possible,” he added. The incident is appar- ently endangering the peace process, with two senators FMILF, 14 By JON JOAQUIN and ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR. PLAY TIME. Royal Mandaya Hotel K-9 handlers hold on to the dog cords of Princess (left) and Bruno (right) as the two canines play with each other before being deployed to their respective assigned areas at the hotel’s premises yesterday. Some establishments in Davao City have tightened their security after the deadly clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last Sunday. Lean Daval Jr. INSIDE EDGE THEY FINALLY MEET SPORTS page 15 Manny and Floyd exchange phone numbers at Heat game
Transcript
P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015
EDGE Serving a seamless society
DAVAO
MILF PROBES CLASHTHE Moro Islamic Lib-
eration Front (MILF) is forming a Special In-
vestigative Commission (SIC) to investigate last Sunday’s deadly Mamasapano, Magu-indanao incident.
“Our concern is the truth. There will be a lot of specu-lations as to what happened, and until what happened is established with credibility and integrity, the said inci-dent will weigh down our current efforts to bring peace to our homeland,” MILF chair Mohagher Iqbal said in an
official statement on the in-cident.
At least 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) of the PNP were killed Sunday in clashes with the MILF and with the Bang-smaoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) when the SAF, apparently without co-ordinating with the local ml-itary and police as well as the peace process mechanisms of the government and MILF’s Coordinating Committees on Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) and Ad Hoc Joint Ac-
tion Group (AHJAG), entered Barangay Tukanalipao in Ma-masapano town before dawn Sunday, allegedly to serve the warrants of arrest against the two high-value targets.
Iqbal said in order to give meaning to the deaths of the police officers and MILF men, “we must resolve not to let something like happen again.”
He said the MILF is con-vening a Special Investigative Commission (SIC) to investi-gate the incident. The SIC will be composed of members of
the MILF Central Committee and the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) General Staff.
“The mandate of the SIC is to gather as much reliable information and interview witnesses to establish the truth,” Iqbal said.
“The SIC is given instruc-tion to come up with a report to the Central Committee as soon as possible,” he added.
The incident is appar-ently endangering the peace process, with two senators
FMILF, 14
By JON JOAQUINand ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.
PLAY TIME. Royal Mandaya Hotel K-9 handlers hold on to the dog cords of Princess (left) and Bruno (right) as the two canines play with each other before being deployed to their respective assigned areas at the hotel’s premises yesterday. Some establishments in Davao City have tightened their security after the deadly clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last Sunday. Lean Daval Jr.
INSIDE EDGETHEY FINALLY MEET
SPORTS page 15
Manny and Floyd exchange phone numbers at Heat game
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 20152 EDGEDAVAO
THE BIG NEWS
US troops were not in-volved in the operations Sunday to get high-val-
ue targets Zulkifli bin HIr aka Marwan of the Jemaah Islami-yah and Abdulbasit Usman of the Abu Sayyaf, in Mamasapan town, Kurt Hoyer, Press Atta-che and spokesperson of the US Embassy in Manila said.
Hoyer told MindaNews in a text message Tuesday morning that “at the request of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, US service mem-bers serving in JSOTF-P (Joint Special Operations Task
Force-Philippines) responded to assist in evacuation of dead and wounded after the fire-fight in Maguindanao.”
“For details of the oper-ation and its purpose, please check with PNP (Philippine National Police),” Hoyer said.
At least 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police were killed Sunday in clashes with the Moro Islamic Libera-tion Front (MILF) and with the Bangsmaoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) here when the SAF, apparently without
coordinating with the local ml-itary and police as well as the peace process mechanisms of the government and MILF’s Coordinating Committees on Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) and Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), entered Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano town before dawn Sunday, allegedly to serve the war-rants of arrest against the two high-value targets.
Twelve other SAF per-sonnel were reported injured while at least 10 MILF guerril-las were reported killed.
Local Governmetns Sec-retary Mar Roxas told a press conference in Cotabato City on Monday afternoon it was a “legitimate law enforcement action.”
Unseen hand? Two days after the tragedy,
officials have kept mum over who issued the order to send the troops to Mamasapano and why the issuing authority did not coordinate, given the policy of the Aquino adminis-tration on the “primacy of the peace process” and the timing of the operations.
Sunday was a day before the Senate was to conduct a hearing on the questions of constitutionality of the Bang-samoro Basic Law (BBL) and the House of Representatives’ Ad Hoc Committee on the BBL was about to start its executive committee meetings.
The OIC PNP chief him-self, Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina admitted in a press conference Tuesday in Manila that he was not in-formed about the SAF opera-tions in Mamasapano.
Espina’s admission further
bolstered speculations over social media that an unseen hand, referring to the United States government, may have been behind the operations.
Hoyer denied this.Roxas told reporters in
Camp Crame Tuesday that he had no idea why US troops were in Shariff Aguak and Co-tabato on Monday. GMA News TV quoted Roxas as saying, “Baka kasama sa Balikatan, base is 6th ID ng AFP, baka andun sila providing whatever logistical support sa AFP. AFP
EASTERN Mindanao Com-mand (Eastmincom) chief Lieutenant General
Aurelio Baladad yesterday said there is little possibility of a spillover of conflict to other ar-eas of Mindanao after last Sun-day’s deadly misencounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
Speaking to reporters in yesterday’s Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine Na-tional Police (AFP-PNP) press corps media conference at The Royal Mandaya Hotel, Baladad said the possibility of a spill-over or even another encoun-ter is “very minor” because talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Is-
lamic Liberation Front (MILF) are now ongoing.
“There is less probabili-ty that there will be another encounter. In my opinion the arrival of Marines in Cotabato City does not necessarily mean a reinforcement. It may just be routinary,” he said.
At least 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) of the PNP were killed Sunday in clashes with the MILF and with the Bangsmaoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) when the SAF, apparently without coordinating with the local ml-itary and police as well as the peace process mechanisms of the government and MILF’s
Coordinating Committees on Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) and Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG), entered Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano town before dawn Sunday, allegedly to serve the war-rants of arrest against the two high-value targets.
Twelve other SAF per-sonnel were reported injured while at least 10 MILF guerril-las were reported killed.
For his part, 10th Infantry Division Commander Major General Eduardo Año said it would have been better if the operatives had waited for their target to leave the MILF terri-tory to effect his arrest.
“In my view, if you have a target person there that you need to apprehend, you need to wait for the target to go out of the area and apprehend him instead of entering those plac-es,” he said.
He said Mamasapano is part of what the military calls the SPMS (Sharrif Aguak, Pa-gatin, Mamasapano and Salbo) which is a known terrain of the MILF, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter (BIFF), and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
“In the SPMS most of the people residing there are rela-tives, so if you will attack one of them the tendency is they will help each other,” he said.
ONE soldier died in an ambush in the vicinity of a telecommunica-
According to 10th Infantry Division Major General Eduar-do Año, two soldiers under the 69th Infantry Battalion were conducting Peace and Devel-opment Outreach Program (PDOP) at the said place when they were ambushed.
“The two soldiers were specifically heading to the hospital because one of them is suffering an ear infection. While they were passing at the vicinity they were ambushed
by the New People’s Army (NPA),” Año said.
One of the soldiers was killed in the attack while the other one, identified as Corpo-ral Franey Neyra, managed to escape and report the ambush to the nearest detachment.
Año said the rebels be-longed to the Pulang Bagani Command (PBC) 1.
Año condemned the am-bush, calling it”‘obtrusive.”
“I’m asking everybody, in-cluding human rights groups, to join us in the call for justice and make sure that we con-demn the actions of the NPA,” he said. By Funny Pearl A. Ga-junera
We just assisted in evacuationof dead, wounded: US Embassy
AFP allays fears of conflict spilloverBy FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA
Soldier killedin NPA ambush
IN MOURNING. The Philippine flag in front of City Hall flies at half mast as the city government of Davao honors the 44 members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) killed in Mamasapano, Maguindanao by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) last Sunday. Lean Daval Jr.
FWE, 14
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015 3NEWSEDGEDAVAO
THE Davao City Health Office (CHO) gave the Davao Medical Educa-
tion Management Services (DMEMS), the company that operates three dormitories for Indian medical students of the Davao Medical School Foun-dation (DMSF), five days to comply with the structural re-quirement for its commissary.
In an interview, CHO en-vironment and sanitation head Robert L. Oconer told reporters that is DMSF does not comply with the order, “we will recommend to the Mayor for the total closure of the es-tablishment.”
He said the five-day period started last Monday afternoon. The CHO team will return on Friday to see if the manage-ment has complied with the requirements.
He said the structural requirements to keep pests like rats and flies out at the DMEMS commissary at DMS-sF Drive were still at “zero” as of last Monday.
Oconer said the DMEMS
dormitory in Margarita Vil-lage, named Happy Home Dor-mitory, also has a structural vi-olation, while the one along Ja-cinto Street has no violations.
He said sanitation-wise, the three dormitories have no problems because manage-ment has improved them.
Based on the CHO report dated January 14, the garbage bins at Happy Home Dormi-tory had no covers and plastic liners.
Some of the toilet doors had no door knobs and some are damaged. Also, there were no proper fire exits in the building.
The employees also have no health cards, the report said.
The University Park Suites and Residences in Jacinto Street, for its part, has a busi-ness permit but not a sanitary permit to operate. The gar-bage bins have no covers and plastic liners, the report said.
In the commissary at DMSF road, the dormitory has
DMEMS given deadlineto clean up commissaryBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.
LIKE A WALK IN THE PARK. Pedestrians conveniently walk at the side street near City Hall as Traffic Management Center (TMC) imposed stricter parking rules in an effort to address traffic congestion in the area. Lean Daval Jr.FDMEMS, 14
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 20154
EXECUTION. Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom) chief Lieutenant General Aurelio Baladad shows a photo of the body of former rebel Cel-so Villarin, who was allegedly executed by the New People’s Army (NPA),
which was exhumed in Lupon, Davao Oriental. Baladad was a guest of yes-terday’s AFP-PNP press corps media forum at The Royal Mandaya Hotel. Lean Daval Jr.
NEWS
THE Davao City gov-ernment is set to bring the Araw ng
Davao and Kadayawan Fes-tival celebrations nation-wide.
City Council committee on tourism and beautification chair councilor Al Ryan Alejandre said the city will promote the festivals nationwide to bring more visitors in.
“Actually, isa ni sa mga gusto ni Mayor Rody (Rodrigo R. Duterte) na ma abot ta sa Luzon, ma abot
ta sa Visayas, ma abot ta partly Mindanao sa pag-promote nato sa Araw ng Davao and this coming Kadayawan (Actually, Mayor Rody wants it to reach Luzon, Visayas, and other parts of Mindanao in promoting Araw ng Davao and Kadayawan),” Alejandre said.
He said a team has already prepared advertising materials for the Araw ng Davao celebration which will be released in February.
Alejandre said the city
will distribute promotional materials and billboards all over the country telling the people to come and join the city’s celebration and see its beauty.
Meanwhile, Aleajandre said since the election is just a year away, the executive committee is expecting more politicians to join the Araw ng Davao celebration.
“It is probably one of the things that we would also expect, that there are politicians who will join us this year. We do not know
who they are,” he said.Alejandre said the
committee is planning to expand the stage at Rizal Park fronting San Pedro Street because of the expected presence of more politicians.
He said thee committees will set guidelines for the politicians to speak, adding they are only allowed to speak during the Civic Parade.
Alejandre said the committee is yet to convene to discuss the events of the celebration.
AN official of the Davao City Planning and Devel-opment Office (CPDO)
said Manila-based Mega Har-bour Port Development Corp. is planning to build a coastal road running from R. Castillo Avenue to its proposed port in the reclamation area in Bu-cana.
“The CPDO came up with a recommendation that the investor should build a completely separate road if it will pursue its port operation because based on our assessment, the operation of the port will have an impact on our traffic situation,” CPDO plans and programs division chief Engineer Jose Froilan T. Rigor said in an interview yesterday.
Rigor said the operation of the port will bring in more cargo trucks and trailer trucks that might cause traffic
congestion in the downtown area.
“The size of the Quimpo Boulevard is not big enough to cater to more vehicles. That’s impossible,” he said.
Rigor said the proposed road has an estimated cost of P200 million.
He said Mega Harbour is currently revising its plan due to its impact on traffic as well on settlers along the coastal area of the city.
“Hopefully, they can do better,” he said.
Rigor said the 200-hectare reclamation project might expand up to 400 hectare instead of the original plan to make a reclamation project which is 150 meters away from the mainland.
The original proposal of the group was to start the project from Magsaysay Park
THE Sangguniang Pan-lalawigan of Davao del Norte has tasked its legal
committee to tap the provin-cial legal officer to find all legal remedies available to reopen provincial roads that had been closed last year by the Davao del Norte Penal Colony and Farm (Dapecol) management for fear of the Panama disease.
During the SP session Monday, provincial engineer Raul Mabanglo reported to the provincial board that his engineering team could not yet pass the road to construct barrier canals, fences, tire baths, and other structures deemed vital for the reopening of the El Canto road in Barangay Bobongon and La Libertad road in Barangay
Balagunan, Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte.
The closure of the roads has caused inconvenience to thousands of people in at least six barangays located within the plantations of Tadeco and private growers as they were deprived of shortcut roads leading to other barangays and the national highway.
Dapecol management closed the roads early last year reportedly on request of Tadeco, the country’s largest banana firm, which its management subsequently denied. Dapecol prison superintendent Venju Tesoro later owned up to the closure following advice from higher officials of Bureau of
TAGUM City Mayor Allan Rellon and suppliers are both girding for
court battle on the termina-tion of contracts on the deliv-eries of materials to the new City Hall amounting to more than P200 million.
City legal counsel Arman Seras said Rellon is “ready for the expected legal issue” that would arise following the final termination of contracts of the questioned deliveries.
He said the affected suppliers had received the final termination letters of the city government two weeks ago.
This developed as the office of Mayor Rellon bared that a total of P612 million have so far been spent on the project.
Seras said Rellon’s decision to terminate the contracts has the “full support” of the advisory
committee created for the completion of the new City Hall. The advisory committee is composed of the mayor, City Vice Mayor Geterito Gementiza, the City Council’s infrastructure committee chair, and representatives of the Commission on Audit (COA) and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).
In earlier interview, Rellon had said he will not be paying for the slightly over P200 million worth of deliveries of materials that suppliers had claimed had already been used for the construction of the still unfinished new City Hall during the time of former Mayor Rey T. Uy.
Rellon said the deliveries were “questionable” and “had not been delivered” for use by the new City Hall in
City to bring Araw ng Davao, Kadayawan fests nationwideBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.
Tagum City Hall, suppliersgetting ready for court battle
SECURITY SITUATION. Police Regional Office (PIO) 11 public information officer Superintendent Antonio Rivera talks about the security situation in Davao City following the deadly clash last Sunday between the Philippine National Police
Special Action Force and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and Moro Islam-ic Liberation Front in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. Rivera graced the AFP-PNP press corps media forum at The Royal Mandaya Hotel yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.
FPORT, 14
FDAVNORTE, 14
FTAGUM, 14
EDGEDAVAO
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015 5EDGEDAVAO
ECONOMY
THE Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) 11 will imple-
ment a moratorium on the issuance of license and other clearances on commercial fishing vessels and fishing gears starting this June and for the next three years.
BFAR regulatory divi-sion chief Jose Villanueva on Wednesday said the mora-torium is needed to reduce the number of fishing vessels and fishing gears used in the Davao Gulf and other bodies of water surrounding the re-gion.
The increasing number of fishing vessels, he said, have caused exploitation of the marine life.
“The moratorium will not be only implemented in the region but also in other region. Based on our studies most fishing grounds in coun-try are marked “red” because it’s already over-exploited and there’s presence of heavy fishing effort,” Villanueva said.
Based on the BFAR ad-ministrative Circular No. 253 series of 2014 dated October 8,2014, the moratorium was
arrived at after result of a study in 2008 by the National Fisheries Research and De-velopment Institute showed there was “heavy exploitation rate in nine of major bays and gulfs attributed to unabated fishing pressure and destruc-tive fishing practices.”
A study also by the Na-tional Stock Assessment Pro-gram (NSAP) of the Depart-ment of Agriculture-National Fisheries Research and Devel-opment Institute (DA-NFRDI) revealed that “exploitation levels of most if not all com-mercial pelagic species for the last five years have exceeded estimates of potential yield.”
Villanueva said that aside from the studies, the Article 192 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea which Philippines is a signee mandated the bureau to protect and preserve the marine environment.
He added that article 7.2.8 of the Code of Conduct for Re-sponsible Fisheries (CCRF ) that urge the state “to take measures to prevent or elim-inate overfishing and excess fishing capacity and to ensure
that levels of fishing effort are commensurate with the sustainable use of fishery re-sources.”
In view of these prem-ises and as part of precau-tionary approach to fisheries management, BFAR will im-plement the moratorium on issuance of clearances and permits on commercial fish-ing vessels and gears.
Commercial catcher fish-ing vessel, as describe in the order, are “any boat, ship or other watercraft 3.1 gross tons and above, equipped to be used for taking fishery spe-cies.”
Gears, on the other hand, may include surrounding nets, seine nets, trawls, gill nets, scoop nets, liftnets, fall-ing gear, traps hook and line, drive-in nets and dredges.
The moratorium will ap-ply to any commercial fishing vessel utilizing all types of nets and gears whether active or passive; conversion of pas-senger or cargo vessels into fishing vessels; to owners of unregistered and unlicensed commercial fishing vessels
BFAR 11 to implement moratoriumon issuance of fishing vessel licenses
COMMITMENT FOR AGRICULTURE. Finance Secretary Ce-sar V. Purisima meets with Her Majesty Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, who serves as the United Nations Secre-tary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for De-
velopment (UNSGSA) on January 22. Secretary Purisima and HM Queen Maxima discussed Philippine efforts on financial inclusion and promoting SMEs, with a focus on increasing commitments to supporting the agriculture industry.FBFAR 11, 14
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015EDGEDAVAOTHE ECONOMY6
A NEW hotel will rise on the site where the mothballed
Durian Hotel is located along J.P. Laurel Avenue in Bajada, Davao City.
It will have a total of 600 rooms, making it the biggest hotel in the Davao Region.
This was learned
from a source in the hotel industry who request-ed anonymity for lack of authority to speak on the matter. The source added that construction of the hotel will start in June this year.
At present, the big-gest hotel is Marco Polo Davao with 250 rooms.
Being built still along J.P. Laurel Avenue (also known as Davao-Agusan Highway) this time in Lanang, near SM Lanang Premier, is a 300-room hotel tentatively called JTC Tower Hotel (after the name of its reported owner, Mayor Jose T. Cuy-os of Rosario,Agusan del
Sur, a mining town.)The Durian Hotel and
site were reportedly ac-quired by its new owners from the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company at a price of some P400 million. The new own-ers also reportedly ac-quired a portion of land near the Victoria Plaza,
the city’s oldest and first mall, which will become the new entrance of the hotel.
The entrance of the old Durian Hotel was lo-cated along J. P. Laurel Avenue, which was not ideal because it was so close to the street.
Also an unconfirmed
report said that the hotel will actually be a complex of three buildings.
Once the hotel is com-pleted, Davao City will have a total of 9,000 ho-tel rooms, according to Ms Eden L. David, chief tourism operations offi-cer of the Department of Tourism in Region 11.
New Durian Hotel to have 600 rooms
DIFFERENT tribes that comprise the Indig-enous peoples and
cultural communities here engaged in arts and crafts cum livelihood project for Indigenous People.
The project, a joint un-dertaking funded by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the City Government of Tagum, was implemented under the Grassroots Par-ticipatory Budgeting Pro-cess (GPBP).
The GBPB is a budget-ing process implemented by the national government
to make governance and public resources allocation more responsive to local needs, thus contributing to poverty reduction and in-clusive growth.
The project has a total amount of P250, 000.00, twenty percent of which is being shouldered by the City Government of Tagum.
The city, through the Tribal Affairs Office, iden-tified 40 members of the indigenous tribes from the different barangays as beneficiaries of the project. These tribe members, who are residents of Barangays
Nueva Fuerza, Pagsaban-gan, Canocotan and Ma-gugpo East, had a training on tribal dress making and beadworks making.
The Public Employ-ment Services Office facili-tated the training and will also coordinate with other Tagum-based peoples or-ganizations which were granted funds through the GPBP.
The training was con-ducted in accordance with Mayor Allan L. Rellon’s de-velopmental thrust on ed-ucation, employment and culture, and is likewise es-
poused in the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997, which prescribes the recog-nition, respect, and protec-tion of the rights of IP/CCs to preserve and develop their cultures, traditions, values and institutions.
The ongoing activi-ty-training, which formally started on January 21 at the Tribal Museum, had its opening ceremony on Jan-uary 20. The training will end on February 10, which will also be the gradua-tion ceremony of the rain-ees. (Richi D. Gulle of CIO Tagum)
Indigenous peoples engage in livelihood project
DSWD 11 seeks partnership with private sector, CSOs for livelihood program implementation
IN a bid to fast track the im-plementation of projects under its flagship Philip-
pine Rural Development Pro-gram (PRDP), the Department of Agriculture (DA) is planning to establish a special process-ing unit for the initiative.
Agriculture Undersecre-tary Emerson Palad, PRDP national project director, said they are currently studying the mechanisms for the pro-posed special unit, which will mainly handle the processing of requirements for sub-proj-ects that will be covered by the program.
“We’re looking at creat-ing a separate processing unit in the central office that will have a dedicated staff who will exclusively cater to PRDP projects,” he said in a press conference here on Monday afternoon.
Palad, who was here for the Mindanao leg of the World Bank’s review mission for the PRDP, said the bank already endorsed the move as a strat-egy to further fast track the implementation of the P27.5 billion program.
The official said they pushed for the creation of the special unit to help speed up the processing and approval of various requirements involv-ing PRDP projects.
He said the move is also
aimed to facilitate the early release of funds and the imple-mentation of the projects.
Palad acknowledged that a number of projects have been facing delay in terms of imple-mentation due to the failure of their proponent local govern-ment units in complying with the requirements.
He said among them was the municipal government of Isulan in Sultan Kudarat prov-ince, which proposed for nine farm-to-market road projects worth around P213 million.
Isulan officials earlier said it took them about year to comply with the requirements of their sub-projects that in-cluded detailed engineering designs, feasibility studies as well as social and environmen-tal impact studies.
“We’re hoping to address these concerns with the estab-lishment and activation of the proposed processing unit,” he said.
Palad said they are pres-ently waiting for the comple-tion of the DA’s rationalization program to allow the proper assignment of personnel to the new unit.
He said the implementa-tion of the plan is currently ongoing and they are specifi-cally filling up vacancies in the agency’s major unit with regu-lar workers. (MindaNews)
Processing unit for PDRPprojects under study
THE Department of So-cial Welfare and De-velopment (DSWD) in
Region XI sought partnership anew with various govern-ment agencies, private sector, non-government organiza-tions and civil society organi-zations in the implementation of the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) this year.
In a partnership forum held Tuesday in the city, DSWD-XI has called on the support and commitment of the agencies and organizations from all over Davao Region for a strengthened and successful execution of the initiatives and
projects under SLP. Rebecca Santamaria,
DSWD-XI assistant regional di-rector for operations, said the agency engages with partners and takes direction from the framework “Bantay, Gabay, Tu-lay at Kaagapay” that ensures transparency and capabilities enhancement for the program implementation.
Santamaria bared that the agency has allocated a budget amounting to P291 million for the SLP this year, saying “With this big budget, we need help from partners to tightly watch over the implementation of projects.. We need stewardship
for (this) government money.”She said that an agency or
organization could help DSWD in monitoring and evaluating the progress of a project, or could share the expertise for skills and knowledge enhance-ment for a project under SLP.
An organization could also propose to DSWD a viable and appropriate project for a spe-cific community beneficiary, she added.
The SLP is one of DSWD programs that aims to provide a source of additional income for the poor families listed un-der the agency’s Listahanan or the National Household Tar-
geting System for Poverty Re-duction (NHTS-PR), an infor-mation management system that identifies qualified benefi-ciaries for the social protection services.
Santamaria said the Listahanan has registered 272,000 poor households in Davao Region during the first round of assessment in 2009, adding that the listed poor families are targeted to be served until 2016.
DSWD-XI has already served 77 per cent of the total poor households in the region, she added. (PIA-11/Carina L. Cayon
THE National Eco-nomic and Develop-ment Authority is
host to five related meet-ings of the Asia Pacific Eco-nomic Cooperation First Senior Officials’ Meeting (APEC SOM1) from Janu-ary 31 to February 7, 2015 in Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga.
The NEDA serves as fo-cal agency to the meeting of the Economic Commit-tee (EC), EC Workshops on the APEC New Strategy for Structural Reform (AN-SSR), Joint EC- Group on Services (GOS) Meeting, and the Seminar on Unit-ed Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law Instruments.
Deputy Director-Gen-eral Emmanuel F. Esguerra serves as the convenor of the GOS, and as chair of the meeting of the APEC Policy
Support Unit (PSU) Board.“The turnout of the
GOS meeting is something to look forward to because there are potential gains that the Filipinos can en-joy from this industry as we move toward a greater regional economic integra-tion,” said Esguerra.
Meanwhile, the Eco-nomic Committee and its related workshops and activities will focus on the committee’s contributions to the APEC 2015 priori-ties, structural reforms and their implementation.
DDG Esguerra is the Vice Senior Official of the Philippine delegation to the Senior Officials’ Meet-ings while Economic Plan-ning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan will speak on the Philippine experience in structural reform at the ANSSR workshop on Feb-ruary 2.
NEDA gears up for APECSenior Officials’ meeting
By Antonio M. Ajero
The indigenous peoples community of Tagum engage in dressmaking and beadworks craft-making skills with the help from the Department of Labor and Employment and the City Government of Tagum. (Leo Timogan/CIO Tagum)
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015
HOME to Mt. Leon-ard Kniazeff, one of the 22 active
volcanoes identified by PHIVOLCS, the town of
Maco in Compostela Val-ley teems with geological attractions that will sure-ly entice those who seek a unique eco-adventure
experience. One of these is the Mainit Sulfuric Hot Spring.
Unlike most hot spring resorts where warm waters are contained in manmade or natural pools, Main-it Sulfuric Hot Spring is a waterfall with cascading warm waters. This unique destination is located at the hillside of Barangay Mainit, so accessible and a walking distance from the highway.
When we got to Mainit Sulfuric Hot Spring, it was the steaming view of the cascading waters that first took my interest. It was a new sight to me seeing hot steaming waters free-ly flowing from different geological formations. Hot springs are among my fa-vorite places to bathe or swim in. There is healing
power and rejuvenating effect every time I soak my body in one. But bathing under the hot cascading waters is something I have never tried in the past.
In my desire to experi-ence it first hand, I rushed to the hot waterfall base only to realize the waters were really hot. I had to soak my feet first in the gushing warm waters for a few minutes to adjust to the temperature. When I was done, I ran to the cascading waters trying to test if I can brave its warmth but to no avail. I told myself to wait until dusk so it wouldn’t be that warm. And so I con-tented myself going around scrutinizing every inch of this fascinating place that was a new sight to my eyes.
There are many in-
teresting things I noticed about Mainit Sulfuric Hot Spring. Geological forma-tions where the hot waters cascade are all yellowish in color. This is mainly be-cause of the sulfuric con-tent of the water flowing on it.
Mainit Sulfuric Hot Spring is a favorite place for locals living nearby. In fact, some of them would just come to bathe and then leave. Others would stay longer to enjoy the healing waters of the hot spring. People come and go. Aside from being a better place to relax, everything here is cheap. Entrance fee is sur-prisingly at P5 per person. Cottages are available for rent at very cheap rates. There is also one store at the side selling basic com-
modities. For overnight stay, rooms can be rented for P300 a night.
Maco’s Mainit Sulfuric Hot Spring is one unique geologic attraction in Davao Region that eco-ad-venture lovers should not miss. The fact that it is a hot spring and at the same time a waterfall is some-thing one should see and experience – indeed one unique destination to visit.HOW TO GET THERE:
From Tagum City Over-land Terminal, take a pas-senger jeep or bus that plies the Tagum-Massara Route. Tell the bus driver to drop you off at Mainit Sulfuric Hot Spring in Ba-rangay Mainit. The place is popular among locals. A huge sign bearing its name is placed along the side.
7
By OLAN EMBOSCADO/THE TRAVEL TELLER
One unique destination
EDGEDAVAO
BIGGER PICTURE
MACO’S MAINIT SULFURIC HOT SPRING
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 20158 EDGEDAVAO
VANTAGE
A winning warEDITORIAL
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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MEGHANN STA. INES NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN
Lifestyle
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“HOPE springs eternal in the human breast,” goes an idiomatic expression taken from an essay by Alexander Pope, which means it is man’s nature to be optimistic and hopeful that a
bad situation will get better in the future.That is exactly what is happening in the continuing war against
graft and corruption in Mindanao. As can be gleaned from the latest report of Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao Rodolfo Elman, more than the natural tendency to be optimistic, there is statistical data to back a claim that the fight against corrupt government men and their accomplices (partners in crime, if you please) is winning.
In a speech before investors, business executives, and professionals who are members of the Rotary Club of East Davao last week, Elman reported that only last year, the office dismissed a total of 42 government factotums found guilty of committing different violations of the law. This is an average of three dismissals a month, the highest so far in a given year. Indeed, it is an impressive record in a country where it takes forever to get a verdict on a court case.
We were able to successfully meet our target of disposing all administrative and criminal cases docketed in 2010 and earlier,
said Elman happily, adding that as of December 12, 2014, the Mindanao Ombudsman disposed a total of 1,109 cases, leaving only 979 pending cases, the lowest since 2000, he said.
Elman, who became Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao in March last year after more than 20 years of working in that office rising from the ranks, also painted a rosy picture of the nationwide performance of the Office of the Ombudsman.
“Case disposition has been gaining momentum with the Ombudsman surpassing the 6,691 cases resolved in 2013, with no backlog cases docketed in 2010 and below,” he told the Rotarians.
At the start of his report to the club, Elman quoted Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, as saying “The year 2014 has not been good ….to those who failed to live up to the high standards of public service. A Deputy Ombudsman was indicted. Three incumbent senators and five ex-congressmen were indicted as well. A number of Cabinet and local government officials met the same fate. A senior fire officer and a senior city prosecutor were caught in flagrante delicto in separate extortion attempts.”
If we have more Elmans under the leadership of a Morales, there is reason to hope Filipinos will win the war against corruption.
THE loss of fellow Mindanaoan MJ Lastimosa in the Ms. Universe pageant only serves to prove what
a great brand the Philippines has become in international beauty competitions. I’m a fan of beauty, but not a terribly big fan of beauty competitions myself, but that’s another story. Over the last decade Pinays have made it to the inner circle of winnables in such beauty contests, with-in the same league as Argentina, Yugo-slavia, or Russia in international basket-ball- always within striking distance of the championship, and ever the strong contender. Over all it’s a good, respected place to be.
Perhaps the same is true with our Fil-ipino products as they compete within the Asia Pacific region. Brands like Jol-libee with several outlets all over the Asia Pacific and the united States and Oishi of Liwayway manufacturing. Davaoeño agribusiness exponent Rolando Dy of the University of Asia and the Pacific’s
Center for Agribusiness talks about L i w a y w a y being able to open 12 manufactur-ing plants in China and one each in I n d o n e s i a and Myan-mar. Such a feat con-s i d e r i n g that they started simply as Oishi prawn crackers which I used to buy for less than a peso each in the 1980s. San Miguel Beer has been brewed and sold in Viet-nam, Hong Kong, China, and a few other Asian countries. Jack ‘n Jill snacks are part of every Malaysian and Singaporean child’s growing up years for more than two decades. ASEAN integration and the
lowering of trade barriers within Asia as a whole forces us to build even better brands.
Brands are vital to sustaining market-ability of products especially with the en-try of competition. Weak brands are eat-en up by competitors, but strong brands endure. You can be a smaller company but have a stronger brand. Oriental Bat-tery’s acquisition of the Motolite Brand is one such case. In the 1990s the parent company of Oriental Batteries acquired CC Unson Manufacturing, which made Motolite Batteries. It was determined then that Motolite was a stronger brand and could help them sell more batteries. True enough, they killed the Oriental Battery Brand and strengthened the Mo-tolite brand’s position. This eventually led to their near dominance of the local Battery market, nearing 80 percent. On top of that, it sells almost a third of all car batteries in Malaysia and has a good chunk of the Australian battery market.
Strong brands represent the great-ness of your product, creating customer loyalty and keeping that customer base strong despite the entry of cheap imi-tations or competitors. Just recently, we visited Lola Abon’s durian candies and their main competitor, Apo ni Lola across the street. Both stores vie for visi-tors, making their street in Lanzona Sub-division a tourist mecca of sorts, spur-ring the entry of other establishments. Between the Lola and the Apo I saw a wellspring of creativity that pushed the boundaries of durian candy making. Ice cream, baked products, accessories, and other merchandise – the backyard busi-ness has become an SME.
It is hoped that as we grow and diver-sify our businesses, we build a Filipino brand that’s more than just be skindeep beauty of our Ms. Universe bets, but an inner strength and power beyond Moto-lite, Oishi, Jack ‘n Jill, San Miguel, the Lola, and the Apo.
LIFE can be compared with the Olym-pic Games, according to Pythagoras. There are a few men and women who
“strain their muscles to carry off a prize.” There are those who “bring trinkets to sell to the crowd for a profit.” There are also those who “seek no further advantage than to look at the show and see how and why everything is done.”
If you ask me in which category most people belong to, I would pick the third one. They would rather see what’s going on with the lives of other people who are going to the top. They are those who would say, “How I wish I had his opportunities in life.”
The thing is, all of us are given opportu-nities in life. We just don’t harness them to the fullest. We don’t want to discover our talents. We allow others to carry our bur-dens instead of solving them. We want suc-cess to be offered in a silver platter.
But such is not the case in reality. Life is a constant struggle. Life is a matter of choice. “The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn,” David Russell once said. Either you choose to become successful or a failure.
Don B. Owens, Jr. also said, “Many peo-ple fail in life because they believe in adage: If you don’t succeed, try something else. But success eludes those who follow such advice. Virtually everyone has had dreams at one time or another, specially the youth. The dreams that have come true did so be-cause people stuck to their ambitions. They refused to be discouraged. They never let disappointments get the upper hand. Chal-lenges only spurred them on to greater ef-fort.”
Remember British Prime Minister Win-ston Churchill? It took him three years to get through the eighth grade because he had trouble learning his own language. But what is interesting about Churchill is the fact that years later, the Oxford Universi-
ty requested him to deliver a commence-ment address. He accepted the offer and as usual, he arrived for the event with his usual props – a cigar, a cane, and a top hat.
With dig-nity, Churchill settled the crowd as he stood confidently before his admirers. When it was time for him to speak, he stood up and went to the plat-form. Then, he removed the cigar and carefully placed his top hat on the lectern. Looking directly at the eager audience and with authority ringing in his voice, he de-clared, “Never give up!”
Several seconds passed. He rose to his toes and shouted again, “Never give up!” His words thundered across the audience. There was profound silence as Churchill then reached for his hat and cigar, steadied himself with his cane, and left the platform. His address was finished.
Norman Vincent Peale seems to agree with the philosophy of Churchill. “Lots of people limit their possibilities by giving up easily,” he said. “Never tell yourself this is too much for me. It’s no use. I can’t go on. If you do, you’re licked, and by your own thinking, too. Keep believing and keep on keeping on.”
When I visited the United States for the third time, I bought a copy of Reader’s Digest in an airport while waiting for my plane bound for Columbus, Ohio. One of the articles that caught my attention was the one saying, “Yes, I Can!” It featured seven stories of people who proved the naysayers wrong.
Who doesn’t know the award-winning film director Steven Spielberg? He is the man behind these box-office hit movies: Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., The Color Purple, Schindler’s List, and War of the Worlds.
What most people don’t know is the fact that he was no scholar and his class-mates even teased him. In his article, Fran Lostys wrote: “In his sophomore year of high school, (Spielberg) dropped out. But when his parents persuaded him to return, he was mistakenly placed in a learning-dis-abled class. He lasted one month. Only when the family moved to another town did he land in a more suitable high school, where he eventually graduated.”
When he was still a kid, he used to run around with an 8 mm camera, shooting homemade movies of wrecks of his Lionel train set. So, after graduating from high school, he enrolled in a traditional film-making school. He was denied so he opted to enroll in English at California States Col-lege at Long Beach.
In 1965, he visited the Universal Stu-dios and met Chuck Silvers, an executive in the editorial department. Silvers liked Spielberg so he invited him back some-times to visit. And that was he did the fol-lowing day.
Lostys wrote: “Without a job or securi-ty clearance, Spielberg (dressed in a dark suit and tie, carrying his father’s briefcase with nothing inside but ‘a sandwich and candy bars’) strode confidently up to the guard at the gate of Universal and gave him a casual wave. He was in.”
What happened next was sort of lifted from the movie, The Secret of My Success. In an interview, Spielberg recalled: “For the entire summer, I dressed in my suit and hung out with the directors and writers (in-cluding Silvers, who knew the kid wasn’t a studio employee, but winked at the decep-tion). I even found an office that wasn’t be-
ing used, and became a squatter. I bought some plastic titles and put my name in the building directory: Steven Spielberg, Room 23C.” It paid off for everyone.
I was reminded of a poem given to me by a friend when I was still in college. It goes this way: “If you think you are beat-en, you are. If you think you dare not, you don’t. If you like to win, but you think you can’t, it is almost certain you won’t.
“If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost. For out of the world we find: success begins with a person’s will. It’s all in the state of mind. “If you think you’re outclassed, you are. You’ve got to think high to rise. You’ve got to be sure of yourself before you can ever win a prize.”
The poem ended with this statement: “Life’s battles don’t always go to the stron-ger woman or man, but sooner or later the one who wins is the one who thinks, ‘I CAN!’” How true, indeed. To get through the hardest journey, we need to take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping.
An unknown poet says it well: “When things go wrong as they sometimes will, when the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, when the funds are low and the debts are high, and you want to smile, but you have to sigh;
“When care is pressing you down a bit, rest if you must, but don’t you quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns, as every one of us sometimes learns, and many a failure turns about when he might have won had he stuck it out.
“Don’t give up though the pace seems slow – you may succeed with another blow. Success is failure turned inside out – the silver tint of the clouds of doubt, and you never can tell just how close you are, it may be near when it seems so far.
“So stick to the fight when you’re hard-est hit – it’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.”
The power of determinationVOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015 VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO
APPLE had anoth-er blowout quarter thanks to its new plus-
sized iPhones, which helped the company smash sales re-cords for the holiday season.
Apple said Tuesday that it sold 74.5 million iPhones during the three months that ended Dec. 31, beating an-alysts’ expectations for the latest models of Apple’s most popular gadget, introduced in September.
The surge in iPhone sales drove the company’s total revenue to $74.6 billion, up 30 percent from a year earlier.
CEO Tim Cook said on a call with analysts that demand for the phones was “staggering,” and noted that results would have been even higher if not for the impact of the strong dollar on overseas sales. Net income rose 38 percent to $18 billion, as Apple report-ed earnings of $3.06 a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting earnings of $2.60 a share on revenue of $67.39 billion.
Apple also forecast rev-enue for the current quarter between $52 billion and $55 billion. The midpoint of that
range is just below the aver-age analyst estimate of $53.6 billion for the period ending in March, when sales typi-cally fall from their holiday season peak. Apple Chief Fi-nancial Officer Luca Maestri said in an interview that reve-nue for the current period will increase between 14 and 20 percent from a year ago, de-spite the strong dollar, which has forced other companies such as Microsoft to lower their forecasts.
“We feel very good about the March quarter,” Maestri said, while calling the Decem-
ber results “pretty amazing.”Apple has set records
with each new version of its iPhones. By comparison, the company sold 51 million smartphones during the hol-iday quarter in 2013, when its iPhone 5s and 5c models were new on the scene. Big-ger screens are one reason for the popularity of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Apple had resisted when other companies such as Samsung began introduc-ing smartphones with bigger screens. But its iPhone 6 has a 4.7-inch screen, measured diagonally, while the 6 Plus
screen m e a -s u r e s 5 . 5 inches. T h a t c o m -p a r e s to a 4-inch screen on iP-hone 5 models.
“ I t t o o k A p p l e a long time to c o m e to grips w i t h the fact
that the market did want the bigger screen,” said Gartner tech analyst Van Baker. “They finally closed the gap on a fea-ture they were missing, which their competition had capital-ized on.”
The surge in sales of Ap-ple’s signature smartphones helped make up for an ex-pected decline in sales of iPad tablets. The company sold 21.4 million iPads, down 22 percent from a year earlier. Sales of Mac computers rose 9 percent, and Apple saw overall revenue gains in all geographic regions.
The new models also helped Apple increase its share of the China market. Apple doesn’t break out iP-hone sales by country, but a report issued Tuesday by re-search firm Canalys estimates that Apple sold more smart-phones in China during the last quarter than any other maker, including South Ko-rea’s Samsung and the Chi-nese companies Huawei and Xiaomi.
Still, some experts worry that Apple’s strength could become a weakness. Apple makes more money from iP-hones than any other prod-uct, including its iPods, iPads and Mac computers. That could leave it vulnerable as the overall smartphone mar-
ket shows signs of slowing growth, warned Colin Gillis, a tech stocks analyst with BGC Partners. He notes that Apple depends on iPhones for near-ly two-thirds of its revenue.
“Selling north of 70 mil-lion of anything is fantastic. But what’s going to happen a year from now?” he asked. “The strength today has po-tential to become a weakness down the road.”
Maestri downplayed those concerns. “We are growing our portfolio in many ways,” he told The AP, citing the upcoming Apple smart-watch, which will ship in April, and the recent launch of Apple Pay, the company’s mobile payments system. He also said iPad sales were “a bit better than we were expecting” and added that new apps for business users, produced in partnership with IBM, should help iPad sales in the future.
Apple shares closed Tues-day at $109.14, down 3.5 per-cent, but rose over 5 percent in after-hours trading on the report. The stock has gained more than 50 percent over the last year, making Apple the world’s most valuable company with a market cap-italization of $651 billion. BRANDON BAILEY, AP Technology Writer
NO storm selfies, hookups, status updates. With
Facebook and Instagram down for nearly an hour overnight, what were le-gions of users to do?
Turn to Twitter, of course. To talk about Face-book. The hashtag “#face-bookdown” generated a cascade of tweets, includ-ing an image of a T-shirt with the words “I survived #facebookdown.” Com-panies such as Coca-Cola took it as a viral marketing opportunity.
Of course companies that depend on Facebook and Instagram to reach their customers, like the dating app Tinder, had to wait. More than 7,500 websites had services af-fected by the Facebook outage, according to Web tracking firm DynaTrace.
For most, though, it was just a blip. While Facebook certainly has be-come an important com-munications tool for some 1.35 billion people world-wide, a temporary shut-down does not have the same crippling effect as the loss of electricity, wa-ter, the Internet or a city’s public transit system. It’s also a lesson, perhaps, in what happens when we rely heavily on a free ser-vice that, while very sta-
ble, cannot promise 100 percent uptime.
“Kind of like the snow-storm that was supposed to cripple New York City, this didn’t have much of an impact on Facebook,” said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst with research firm eMarketer. “It was over quickly, it was easily fixed and life came back to nor-mal fairly quickly.”
It’s possible that com-panies that rely on Face-book’s login tool to let people access their sites and apps lost a “little bit of traffic” or a tiny bit of ad revenue, she said, but it’s unlikely to have had a big effect given the brief nature of the outage.
“Life will go on, I think we’ll all survive,” William-son said.
At midday in Asia, us-ers of PCs and Facebook’s mobile app reported they lost access. Facebook and Instagram also were down simultaneously in the United States, Australia and the U.K. After Face-book was restored, some users reported that the site was loading slowly or not functioning fully. On its website for developers, Facebook said the “major outage” lasted one hour.
Facebook says an in-ternal technical change affected its configuration
10 EDGEDAVAO
ICT HUBWhat???!!! Facebook’s down???
Record iPhone sales drive blowout quarter for Apple
DISASTER. The Facebook outage saw cartoons like this, from 2014, being reposted by many users on Twitter.
systems and denied that it was hacked. Lizard Squad, a group notorious for at-tention-seeking antics on-line, had claimed respon-sibility on Twitter for the outages.
Guillermo Lafuente, a security consultant at MWR InfoSecurity, said a technical fault is more plausible than a hack. A denial-of-service attack would have made the sites unreachable rather than accessible with an
error message displayed, he said. Facebook’s use of multiple data centers also meant an attack on one would have affected one region; this outage was global.
Also, restoring ser-vice would be a matter of reversing the technical changes, which matched with the brevity of the out-age, LaFuente said.
The temporary loss of service may be Face-book’s biggest outage
since Sept. 24, 2010, when it was down for about 2.5 hours. Outages were more common in the site’s ear-ly years, when its backup systems and data cen-ters were not as robust as they are now. These days, the Menlo Park, Califor-nia-based company rou-tinely tests its infrastruc-ture and sometimes even takes down part of it in-tentionally to check its re-silience.
The outage came a day
ahead of Facebook report-ing its quarterly earnings.
Lizard Squad on Mon-day claimed it had defaced the Malaysia Airlines web-site and would release data from the airline. Its previ-ous hacking claims have been mostly aimed at gam-ing or media companies such as Sony’s PlayStation network and Microsoft’s Xbox. YOUKYUNG LEE and BARBARA ORTUT-AY, AP Technology Writ-ers
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015 11EDGEDAVAO
CULTURE & ARTS
ONE thing that sets the Philippines apart from other countries is its
cinema. Most of the produced films -- from the past to the present -- give us a glimpse of the culture of how Filipinos live and change through the times. They are actually the mirror of Filipinos and the country itself.
Film directors, who some-times serve as script writers themselves, are the instru-ments in making these movies possible. Perhaps one of the most important people who exerted a lot of influence on Philippine cinema was Edgar Romero.
Romero’s career spans three generations of filmmak-ers. Wikipedia noted some of these films that brought the culture and arts of the Phil-ippines: “His 1976 film Gani-to Kami Noon…Paano Kayo Ngayon?, set at the turn of the 20th century during the revolution against the Span-iards and, later, the American colonizers, follows a naïve peasant through his leap of faith to become a member of an imagined community. Agila situates a family’s story against the backdrop of the country’s history.
“Kamakalawa explores the folklore of prehistoric Phil-ippines. Banta ng Kahapon, his ‘small’ political film, is set against the turmoil of the late 1960s, tracing the connec-tion of the underworld to the corrupt halls of politics. His 13-part series of Noli Me Tan-gere brings Philippine national hero José Rizal’s novel to a new generation of viewers.”
When asked what got him into the showbiz, Eddie Rome-ro – also known as Eddie S. Romero, Edgar F. Romero, E.F. Romero, Edgar Romero, En-rique Moreno, and Edgar Sinco Romero – replied: “I fell into the film business.”
Along with Gerry de Leon, Lino Brocka, Ishmael Bernal, and Fernando Poe, Jr., Romero was honored as National Art-ist by the National Commis-sion for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). His films, the citation states, “are delivered in an ut-terly simple style – minimalist, but never empty, always calcu-lated, precise and functional, but never predictable.”
Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino’s Agustin Sotto called Romero “a filmmaker of sub-stance.” In an article, he wrote: “Eddie Romero is that rare in-dividual in Philippine Cinema: a man of erudition and con-summate artistry working in conditions inhospitable to the tasks of general excellence.
“While the industrial mode of Philippine Cinema may be typified as crass com-mercialism and unmitigated sensationalism, Eddie Romero is counted among the very few artists who have managed to overcome the centrifugal me-diocrity of popular concerns and produce works of great impact and astonishing origi-nality.
“As one of Philippine Cine-ma’s leading scriptwriters and directors, he has a few peers. He is also an indefatigable in-
dustry and cultural leader as well as a pioneer in the field of international co-productions.”
The critics circle bestowed Romero a Gawad Urian for directing “Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon?” released in 1979. This film was selected as the country’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 49th Academy Awards.
Romero also received five screenplay awards from the Film Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) for the following films: “Buhay Ala-mang” (1952), “Aguila” (1980), “The Passionate Strangers” (1966), “Durugin si Totoy Bato” (1979), and “Ang Padri-
no” (1984).Perhaps not too many Fil-
ipinos know that Hollywood award-winning director Quen-tin Tarantino has drawn upon Romero’s film “Twilight Peo-ple” (1972) as an inspiration for his “grindhouse” homages.
Two years ago, on May 28, Romero died of cardiopulmo-nary arrest. He was 88. Mala-cañang issued this statement: “His work spanned genera-tions; Mr. Romero influenced numerous filmmakers, both here and abroad, to tread the same path and to aspire for the same sweeping ambitions that he held dear. His accomplish-
ments form the legacy that Mr. Romero has undoubtedly left Philippine and global cinema.”
Romero was born on July 7, 1924 in Dumaguete City and grew up in a charged atmo-sphere of literacy and political engagement. His mother, Pilar Sinco, was a schoolteacher while his father was a Secre-tary of Education and a Con-gressman. His uncle, Vicente Sinco, served as president of the University of the Philip-pines before the war. “Given this background, it is not sur-prising that he exhibited pre-cocity in the literary arts,” Sotto wrote in his article.
Indeed, Romero himself admitted that writing was his
first and foremost passion. “I have been writing since the early age of seven or eight,” he said. When asked by a report-er about his writing and how he creates stories, he replied that it comes to him naturally. He explained that one doesn’t have to push himself to write: “If you do that, it’s hard. You have to go through a lot of learning.”
Lena S. Pareja, who wrote a short biography of the film di-rector, says Romero had been a writer ever since he learned to read and write. When he was in high school in 1936, he sold his first short story to
“Philippines Free Press,” a na-tional magazine then run by its American founders.
His transition to filmmak-ing, however, started when movie director Gerardo “Ger-ry” de Leon asked him to write a movie (that was after de Leon read some of his stories). According to Romero, he was scared at the opportunity, as a career in Filipino movies was not in his plans – much less writing in Tagalog.
So, Romero told de Leon that he could write one in En-glish, but not in Tagalog, since he was Visayan. “And he said, go ahead and write it. I speak Tagalog, so I can do the trans-lation,” Romero recalled. It was through this invite that Rome-ro’s first screenplay, “Ang Mae-stra” was born.
All in all, Romero made 51 films – either as scriptwrit-er, producer, and/or director. Sampaguita Pictures gave him his big break when he was in his early 20s. In 1947, he directed his first film, “Ang Kamay ng Diyos.” It topbilled Gerry de Leon (as himself), Carmen Rosales, and Leopoldo Salcedo.
In 1951, Romero became the first recipient of the Maria Clara award for best director for “Prinsesa at Pulubi,” an ad-aptation of “The Prince and the Pauper.” In 1953, his film “Ang Asawa Kong Amerikana” won for Luciano Carlos the best screenplay award at the Asian Film Festival.
In 1957, Romero – to-gether with his mentor, Gerry de Leon – started producing films for the foreign B-film market. The first movie he did was “The Day of the Trumpet.” While the film was shown in the United States, he encoun-tered Burgess Meredith, who wanted to work with him. They did and the output was “Man on the Run” (1958).
“After this successful ven-ture,” Sotto wrote, “Romero set up Lynn-Romero Productions with Kane Lynn, a retired Lt. Commander of the American Navy who had connections with the Texas oil people and who had a yen for filmmak-ing. Lynn was in charge of the finances while Romero took over the production side. Among the films they pro-duced were ‘The Scavengers’ with Vince Edwards, a film set in China about the search of an American fighter pilot for his estranged wife and ‘Terror is a Man,’ a horror film that re-ceived good reviews from the ‘New York Times.’”
When Lynn-Romero Pro-ductions was dissolved in the early sixties, Romero set up Hemisphere Productions which continued the co-pro-duction ventures. Among those he produced and co-directed were “The Walls of Hell,” “The Passionate Strangers,” “Manila: Open City, “The Brides of Blood Island,” and “Mad Doctor of Blood Island.”
In the seventies, his pro-duction company turned out exploitation films for Roger Gorman’s American-Interna-tional. To name a few: “Twi-light People,” “Woman Hunter,”
“Black Mama, White Mama,” “Beast of the Yellow Night,” “Beyond Atlantis,” “Savage Sis-ters,” and “Sudden Death.”
In 1975, realizing that he had been living in the United States for so long, he returned to the Philippines and made “Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon?” The film was set at the turn of the 20th century during the revolution against the Spaniards and, lat-er, the American colonizers.
Romero followed it with “Sinong Kapiling? Sinong Ka-siping?” (1977), “Banta ng Kahapon” (1977), and “Agila” (1979). The 1980s saw him directing “Palaban” (1980), “Kamakalawa” (1981), “Desire (1982), and “Hari sa Hari, Lahi sa Lahi” (1987)
In 1992, his 13-part series of “Noli Me Tangere” brought the country’s national hero José Rizal’s novel to a new gen-eration of viewers. He also did “A Case of Honor” in 1991.
In 2008, Romero made “Teach Me to Love,” the last full-length feature he did. During a break, a reporter asked Joey Romero, who served as the film’s executive producer, to talk about his father’s longev-ity and artistry. “My father’s body of works has made him a National Artist,” the younger Romero was quoted as saying. “Until now, ‘Aguila’ and ‘Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngay-on?’ don’t look dated. They continue to move and affect viewers. His films are time-less!”
EDDIE ROMERO:By HENRYLITO D. TACIO Portrait of National Artist as Film Director
Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Transportation
and CommunicationLAND TRANSPORTATION
FRANCHISING AND REGULA-TORY BOARD
Regional Office No. XIDavao City
Petition for Approval of Sale and Transfer of a Certificate of Public Convenience to operate a PUJ-Dual Ordinary Regular Service
Case No.2015-XI-00018(2002-XI-01916)
ALBERTO G. ANIB,Petitioner-Vendor
LOYD S. ANIB,Petitioner-Vendee
x- - - - - - - - - - - - - - --x
NOTICE OF HEARING
Petitioners request author-ity for the Approval of Sale and Transfer executed by ALBER-TO G. ANIB in favor of LOYD S. ANIB of a Certificate of Public Convenience with Equipment issued in this case authorizing the operation of a PUJ-Dual Or-dinary Regular service on the route MANUEL GULANGA and for cargoes as dual service from said route to any point in Region XI with the use of ONE (1) unit, which Certificate is still valid and subsisting up to September 26, 2017.
NOTICE, is hereby given
that this petition will be heard by this Board on FEBRUARY 11, 2015 at 09:50 a.m. at this office at the above address.
At least, TEN (10) days pri-or to the above date petitioner shall publish this Notice once in a one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Mindanao
Parties opposed to the granting of the petition must file their written opposition supported by documentary ev-idence on or before the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the petitioner, and may if they so, desire appear on said date and time.
This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documen-tary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive addition-al documentary and/or oral ev-idence.
WITNESS the Honorable BENJAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Re-gional Director, this 15th day of January 2015 at Davao City.
TERESITA DELA PEÑA-YÑIGUEZ Chief Transport Development
Officer
Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Transportation
and CommunicationLAND TRANSPORTATION
FRANCHISING AND REGULA-TORY BOARD
Regional Office No. XIDavao City
Petition for Renewal of a Cer-tificate of Public Convenience to operate a PUJ DUAL Ordi-nary Regular Service
Case No.2000-XI-01067
EDGARDO A. CALIBJO,Petitioner
x- - - - - - - - - - - - - - --x
NOTICE OF HEARING
Petitioner is a grantee of a Certificate of Public Conve-nience issued in this case au-thorizing the operation of an PUJ-DUAL Ordinary Service on the route: TUGBOK and for car-goes as dual service from said route to any point in region XI with the use of ONE (1) unit, which certificate will expire on September 11, 2015. In the pe-tition filed on January 7, 2015, petitioner requests authority to extend the validity of said certif-icate to operate along the same route with the use of the same unit previously authorized.
NOTICE, is hereby given that this petition will be heard by this Board on FEBRUARY 11, 2015 at 09:10 a.m. at this office at the above address.
At least, TEN (10) days pri-or to the above date petitioner shall publish this Notice once in a one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Mindanao
Parties opposed to the granting of the petition must file their written opposition supported by documentary ev-idence on or before the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the petitioner, and may if they so, desire appear on said date and time.
This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documen-tary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive addition-al documentary and/or oral ev-idence.
WITNESS the Honorable BENJAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Re-gional Director, this 7th day of January 2015 at Davao City.
TERESITA DELA PEÑA-YÑIGUEZ Chief Transport Development
Officer
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 201512 CLASSIFIED
Call: 224-0733 • Tionko St., Davao City
Billiard Supplies
Phone Nos. Cell Nos.
There’s abetter wayto getattention.Advertise with
EDGEDAVAO
CLASSIFIEDS
EDGEDAVAO
NOTICE OF LOSSNotice is hereby given by LOYOLA PLANS
CONSOLIDATED INC. That CERTIFICATE OF FULL PAYMENT No.(s) 66293 under LOYOLA PLAN Contract No.(s) 297821-4 issued to MARIETTA A. KIMPO was lost. Any transaction entered into shall be null and void.
1/22/29,2/5
NOTICE OF LOSSNotice is hereby given by LOYOLA PLANS
CONSOLIDATED INC. That CERTIFICATE OF FULL PAYMENT No.(s)66294 under LOYOLA PLAN Contract No.(s) 297823-6 issued to PATERNO KIMPO was lost. Any transaction entered into shall be null and void.
1/22/29,2/5
DEED OF EXTRA-JUDICIAL SETTLEMENT OF ESTATE
Notice is hereby given that the estate of the late EDUARDO TUDIJA MANZANO has been the subject of an EXTRA-JUDICIAL SETTLEMENT executed among his heirs per Doc. No.485; Page No. 97; Book No. XXIV; Series of 2015, of the NOTARY PUBLIC RICHARD D. TUMANDA
1/29,2/5,12
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015
EDGEDAVAOINdulge! FOOD
A p o p u l a r s a l t w ater fish, Tuna is a table
staple that everyone loves and enjoys. Be-lieved to live up to 50 years, tuna can be a good source of omega-3 (approx. 300 milligrams per serving). Also, a good source of pro-tein for a leaner and fitter body. In the Philippines, Davao in particular, tuna and its many delicious servings abound in the metro. From simple dish-es to the most gourmet and extravagant of them all, tuna is a certified craving satisfier. Any tuna dish is perfect anytime, anywhere. Kusina sa Subli is the brainchild of someone who loves to explore fla-vors and of course, who loves to eat. Located at a subdivision, you not only taste an array of afford-able and delicious dishes but also have a grand time minus the hustle and bus-tle of urban noise. What’s more, the place is a relax-ing haven perfect for a nightcap or a munching session with family and
Buntot ng Tuna at Kusina sa Subli.
Tuna overload atKusina sa Subli
Hot off the grill Stuffed Squid is perfect any time of the day.Paella Negra
Grilled Tuna Panga
friends. Their menu is simple and their food is a dif-ferent story. The smell of freshly grilled tuna is in-vigorating. Cooked juicy and served hot off the grill, you can verily taste the freshness of the fish with every bite. Mix and match sauces to fit your palate and explore the fla-vors of the sea. I person-ally love the Grilled Tuna Belly – sweet, juicy, and charred to perfection. They also serve a vari-ety of appetizers, soups, and soon on their menu, sweet desserts to compli-ment a meal of savory fla-vors. More so, they have an array of drink choices perfect for an explosive tuna feast. Now, retreat-
ing to a quiet sanctuary of sweet and savory is pos-sible with Kusina sa Subli. Make every day a rea-son to celebrate! Head to Kusina sa Subli and expe-rience a most gastronomic time with your family and friends. For reservations, call them up at 0943 497 8165 or (082) 297 0237. Like, share and follow them on facebook https://www.facebook.com/kusi-nasasubli and instagram http://instagram.com/kusinasasubli for updates and food must-try! Make #TheRoyalChef your Thursday habit! Email me at [email protected] (subject:RoyalChef) or tag me on instagram (her-royalheiress) for your deli-cious pics and food finds!
Grilled Tuna Belly
PLANNING a sweet escape with your sweetheart this Valentine season? Book Park Inn by Radisson Davao’s Romance Package and de-light your loved one with a num-ber of treats to add sparkle to your overnight stay. This package for Standard Room accommodation is priced at only Php4,500.00 net per night. Aside from the compli-mentary bottle of wine and break-fast for two, you also get to enjoy a special couple’s dinner in the ho-tel. Guests who are checking in on February 14 get to partake in RBG’s Valentines dinner buffet, while those who are staying on other dates (from today until February 28) will have a 4-course candlelit dinner at either the Pool Lounge or the RBG Al Fresco area. Special
limited offer from January 22 to February 28, 2015. Book through the website page http://www.
parkinn.com/hotel-davao/hotel-deals/romance-package-2013 or call +63 82 272 7600.
A2 INdulge!UP AND ABOUT
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015EDGEDAVAO
BBC’s ‘Earthflight’ airs on GMA
Romantic getaway at Park Inn by Radisson Davao
Sing your heart out and enjoy the latest flicks with Smart, Deezer, and Blink
THIS JANUARY, take a breathtaking flight on the wings of birds across six conti-nents and experience its great-est natural spectacles from a bird’s-eye view, as GMA airs BBC’s “Earthflight”. Each episode explores a differ-ent continent, with birds providing a dramatic narrative of their jour-neys across it. In North America, snow geese and bald eagles struggle
from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. In Europe, grey cranes dodge gal-loping horses of the Camargue and barnacle geese get lost over London. In South America, the condor and brightly coloured macaws travel through mountains and rainforest. Other episodes take in the astound-ing landscapes of Africa, Asia and Australia. Using an array of devices - on-board cameras, drones and birds
TV’s most compelling love story begins this February 9
ENTERTAINMENT
WHETHER it’s mov-ies or music that you like, wireless services leader Smart Commu-nications, Inc. (Smart) is bringing you an ‘entertainment for all’ package that powers your mobile lifestyle needs with the help of mobile entertain-ment apps Deezer and BLINK. If you’re one of those who often mishears the lyrics of your favor-ite songs, global music streaming service Deezer has good news for you: now you can sing along to your favorite tracks with lyrics baked right into Deezer’s mobile and Web apps. And to make things even sweeter, Smart is throwing in an added treat for users who subscribe to its Deezer music packs by way of a FREE mov-ie through BLINK, the country’s premier movie and TV series streaming app. Simply subscribe to the Deezer 250 Flexibundle as an add-on to your cur-rent postpaid plan and enjoy full and unlimited access to Deezer’s 35 mil-lion tracks, thousands of playlists, FREE 250 of all-network texts and now one free movie via BLINK accessible via its Web, An-droid, and iOS apps. “Smart is bringing ‘en-tertainment for all’ to its subscribers so they can have fun and fulfill their enjoyment needs anytime,
whether it be music from Deezer or movies from BLINK,” said Kathryn Carag, Postpaid Market-ing Head at Smart. “This latest promo from Smart will surely give users a worry-free way to enjoy the hottest tracks and the latest flicks powered by the country’s largest net-work.” Movies, Music and Lyrics With over five mil-lion Google searches performed for song lyr-ics every day, music fans’ thirst for getting the words right is bigger than ever. Deezer’s unique Lyrics feature now makes access to lyrics even more simple – and much more fun. Deezer partnered with LyricFind, the world’s leader in legal lyrics solu-tions to offer the first-ever implementation of syn-chronized lyrics from a major streaming service. “Our team of transcrib-ers has been capturing and time-stamping lyrics liter-ally for years,” said Lyr-
icFind CEO Darryl Bal-lantine. “We are excited to be launching this with a brand that is as interna-tional as we are. This is a huge day for music fans.” To instantly enjoy the latest feature of Deezer, simply download the app on your iOS or Android phones or visit www.deezer.com. Using your Smart Postpaid account, subscribe to the Deezer 250 Flexibundle by dialing *121# to avail. Subscribers can enjoy music anytime, anywhere with no addi-
tional data charges when they subscribe to Deezer Flexibundles. BLINK is a new and innovative mobile app that lets them watch Hol-lywood blockbusters and TV shows on their mobile phones, with access to the latest movies such as The Equalizer, The Fault In Our Stars, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and 22 Jump Street, among many oth-ers. To enjoy your FREE BLINK movie, log in or create an account on www.blink-now.com and watch your movies via the BLINK iOS or Android apps. The Deezer and BLINK promo is part of Smart’s ‘Internet for All’ commit-ment to its subscribers, which promises to bring not only affordable ac-cess to the Internet, but the most complete suite of apps and content services for all their needs as well. This promo is valid until March 31, 2015. For more details, visit smart.com.ph/postpaid/seasons.
IN LIFE, we all expe-rience pain when people dishonor what is right and dignify what is wrong: a struggle that can only be won when love tri-umphs over all else. This February, GMA Network presents this human struggle in the most dramatic interpre-tation via its newest af-ternoon series KAILAN BA TAMA ANG MALI. The series will take the audience through the challenging journey of choosing what is right or wrong when it comes to love. This provocative and intriguing soap opera stars sought-after lead-ing man Geoff Eigen-mann as Leo, a sweet, loving but possessive man; Kapuso lead-ing lady Max Collins as Amanda, the wife of Leo, a breadwinner, career-oriented and respon-sible woman; versatile actor Dion Ignacio as Oli-ver, Amanda’s boss, who will eventually fall in love with her; balik-Kapuso actress Empress Schuck as Sonya, a woman who falls in love with Leo in spite of his marital status. Kailan Ba Tama ang Mali revolves around the intertwined lives of Amanda, Leo, Oliver and Sonya. It will push viewers to go through the exercise of choos-ing - a decision-making process narrated in lev-els so emotional, rivet-ing, and engaging. Each and every episode will leave viewers feeling vindicated or incrimi-nated, making the series more unpredictable and
at the same time making it a reflection of one’s personal struggles. In the story, estranged couple Amanda and Leo re-
spectively found new love in the arms of Oliver and So-nya; with Leo begetting a love child with Sonya. How-ever, an illness incapacitates
THE Manila Pavil-ion Hotel proudly announces a fresh chapter in its series of room renova-tion projects with the completion of its newly renovated Superior Rooms. With a design that boasts soft-toned and Zen type vibe to increase natu-ral daylight in each room, the newly transformed Superi-or Rooms of the Ma-nila Pavilion feature interior design that celebrates harmony and functionality from furniture ar-rangements to floor patterns. The fully-renovated Su-perior Rooms are spacious guestrooms that feature sophisticated furnishings with warm and inviting color palette to create a dis-tinguished yet comfortable ambiance. With a choice of king, twin, and family, the new Superior Rooms allow guests to relax in total com-fort. Its rustic-chic design creates a fresh and vibrant
atmosphere ideal for recre-ation or business travel.In addition, to meet guests’ business and entertain-ment needs, all rooms have been equipped with the latest technology and facilities, such as compli-mentary wireless Internet access, spacious work desk, and flat screen televisions, among others. Dramatic upgrades to Manila Pavilion’s new Su-perior Rooms identify the mid-century origin of the property with warm wood tones, stylish and function-al furniture with enhance-ments to guest bathrooms. The promised convenience of this metropolitan haven makes it a great option for family time or attending one of the city’s conven-tions, leisure tours, or sport-ing events. Apart from en-joying the spectacle of the sea, being situated at the heart of the city has pinned the Manila Pavilion Hotel firmly at the commercial and business centers’ map while making relaxation and entertainment sites in close proximity.Visit the Manila Pavilion
Hotel at United Nations Avenue corner Maria Orosa Street in Manila. Log on to www.waterfronthotels.
com.ph or call 5261212, for inquiries and reservations; Like or Follow @Waterfront-MNL, for regular updates.
from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. In Europe, grey cranes dodge gal-loping horses of the Camargue and barnacle geese get lost over London. In South America, the condor and brightly coloured macaws travel through mountains and rainforest. Other episodes take in the astound-ing landscapes of Africa, Asia and Australia. Using an array of devices - on-board cameras, drones and birds
trained to fly right alongside micro-lights - the series takes us over the planet’s most incredible landscapes and wildlife spectacles, and reveals what it’s like to fly like a bird. Narrated in Filipino by news an-chor and environmentalist Raffy Tima, this stunning, aerial ad-venture will air on GMA every Wednesday and Thursday night, after Saksi, starting on January 29 on GMA7.
TV’s most compelling love story begins this February 9
spectively found new love in the arms of Oliver and So-nya; with Leo begetting a love child with Sonya. How-ever, an illness incapacitates
Leo, a tragedy that realigns their lives and forces them to dignify what they believe is right, no matter how wrong it may be for other people. Is it right for Leo to fall for Amanda again despite hav-ing a child with Sonya? Is it right for Amanda to think of leaving Oliver after every-thing he’s done for her? Is it right for the common-law wife to get in the way of the rekindling love and happi-ness between the husband and the lawful wife? Under the direction of Gil Tejada Jr., Kailan Ba Tama ang Mali also stars Shamaine Buencamino as Auring, the doting mother of Amanda; Ryza Cenon as Rita, the car-ing sister of Sonya; Chariz Sol-omon as Bianca, the liberated friend of Sonya; Ash Ortega as Angeli, the younger sister of Amanda; Ervic Vijandre as Joseph, the best friend of Leo; Ken Alfonso as Thomas, the best friend and business partner of Oliver. The creative team is com-posed of Creative Director Roy Iglesias; Creative Head Dode Cruz; Creative Consul-tant, Concept Creator, and Headwriter Denoy Navarro-Punio; Writers John Kenneth De Leon and Anna Levita Macapugay; and Brainstorm-ers Renei Patricia Dimla, Tina Velasco and Liberty Trinidad. KAILAN BA TAMA ANG MALI, created by the GMA Drama group, is headed by Executive-in-Charge of Pro-duction Lilybeth G. Rason-able; VP for Drama Redgie A. Magno; AVP for Drama Cheryl Ching-Sy; Program Manager Ali N. Dedicatoria; and Execu-tive Producer Joy Lumboy-Pili. TV’s most compelling love story KAILAN BA TAMA ANG MALI premieres February 9 and will air Monday-Friday on GMA Afternoon Prime.
LEFT PHOTO: The Matimco Team at the launch of the showroom at SM Lanang Premier: (from left) Ian Torralba, Sales Director; Billy Arrienda, Marketing Director; Charlie Liu, President and CEO; Gary Cayco, Operations Director; and Edwin Cleofe, Retail Channel Manager.TOP: Matimco President and CEO Charlie Liu addresses the guests at the launch of House of Wood.
Engr. Pia Borromeo and Engr. Gerald Borromeo.
Archt. Jim Villagomeza and colleagues from Makati Development Corporation-Davao attend the opening of House of Wood.
Matimco Retail Channel Manager Edwin Cleofe, Project Manager Alvin Sebastian, and Retail Store Manager Alan Lugo join the wood specialists of House of Wood, SM Lanang Premier..
Davao-based architects/designers Arch. Reyval Crisologo, Arch. Vanessa Crisologo, and Arch. Ericson Europa at the cocktails held at the event.
THE COUNTRY’S leading provider of quality architec-tural and structural wood products – Matimco, Inc. – has recently opened its showroom, “House of Wood,” at the 3rd Level of SM Lanang Premier. Matimco CEO President and CEO Charlie Liu led the said launch with Davao-based architects and engineers in attendance. The Matimco House of Wood, a showroom that is designed to promote appreciation and love for wood, lets customers see and experience first-hand superior quality wood products such as trusses, doors, mouldings, flooring, and other processed struc-tural and architectural wood products. Wood specialists are available to an-swer customers’ queries as well. Founded in 1963 at Mandaue City, Cebu, Matimco caters to a diverse mar-ket of contractors, design professionals, homeowners and various institutions looking for the finest wood products. Matimco is the first and only ISO-certified wood processing and treat-ment plant in the country. Its various brands – Matwood, Weatherwood, PCW, Muzu, nuwood, gudwood and Trusswood – have been widely used in the most luxurious and elegant homes, resorts, and hotels nationwide. Interested parties may visit Matimco House of Wood at the 3rd Level of SM Lanang Premier or call (082) 295-0670. They may also check Matimco’s web-site at www.matimco.com.
Matimco opens showroom atSM Lanang Premier
EVENT
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015 13EDGEDAVAO
ZION ACCUPRINT PUBLISHING, INC.
MACHINE OPERATOR (Printing Press)
Door 14 Alcrej Building, Quirino Ave., 8000 Davao City, Philippines
Qualifications:- At least high school graduate, not more than 30 years old
- Physically and mentally fit- Can handle minor repairs of the machine
- Has the ability to be cool under pressure of deadlines and complex projects
- Experience of at least one year
Account Executives (2)- Male / Female, not more than 30 years old- Candidate must posses a Bachelor/ College Degree in any Business field.- Willing to work under pressure, flexible, persuasive, can speak fluently and computer literate- A team player- With Basic Salary, Transportation, Communication, allowance + Commission
For interested applicants, you may send your resume to:
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015EDGEDAVAO14 NEWS
and gears who fail to avail of the grace period which start-ed last November of last year until May of 2015.
However, the moratorium will not apply to the renewal of existing vessels and gears, “provided, that should there be an increase in the gross tonnage of the commercial fishing vessel subject of the application for renewal” but not exceeding 250 gross tons.
The moratorium will not also cover the issuance of construction or importation clearances and licenses for the “replacement of sunk-en, destroyed or de-com-missioned registered and licensed commercial fishing vessel provided that should there be an increase in gross tonnage of the replacement vessel.”
BFAR will coordinat-ed with Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), Na-
tional Telecommunication Commission (NTC), Philip-pine Coast Guard (PCG) and Philippine Fisheries Devel-opment Authority (PFDA) and local government units (LGUs) for the implementa-tion of the moratorium.
Violators will be sub-jected to administrative penalties that may include: “inclusion in the unreport-ed and unregulated fishing (IUUF) List of fishing vessels and persons involved in IUU fishing” and “suspension of the issuance of catch cer-tificates, health certificates, registration or relevant BFAR approvals or market accredi-tation.”
Judicial penalties include imprisonment for six months and fine equivalent either to the value of catch if the commercial fishing vessel is caught in the act of fishing or P10,000.
BFAR 11... FFROM 5
MILF...FFROM 1
Port...
DavNorte...
Tagum...
DMEMS...
FFROM 4
FFROM 4
FFROM 4
FFROM 3
– Alan Peter Cayetano and Joseph Victor Ejercito – with-drawing their authorship of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) bill.
In the House of Represen-tatives, Davao del Norte sec-ond district Rep. Antonio F. Lagdameo Jr. clarified that he did not withdraw his support of the passage of the BBL.
In a statement, Lagdam-eo said what he wants are an-swers. “We need to know and understand what happened and why,” he said.
Lagdameo said the inci-dent should be answered by authorities so that similar tragedies may be prevented in the future.
Iqbal, for his part, reit-erated the MILF’s “full com-mitment to the peace process with the Philippine govern-ment.”
“An enduring peace and justice remain to be our pri-mary objective. In this regard, all actions and pronounce-ments of our political and military units of the MILF should advance and adhere to this primary objective as much as possible and with due regard to the safety and security of our people and communities,” he added.
Iqbal, however, indicated
that the incident happened because the protocols that had been established were not followed.
“The MILF have been in negotiations with the Philip-pine Government for some time now. During this time both parties have established protocols, ways of proceed-ings
and mechanisms which support and keep the peace. Adherence to these mecha-nisms have created a peace-ful environment and lessened actual hostilities through the years.
It is unfortunate but not entirely surprising that when parties do not follow established protocols lives are placed in harm’s way. We therefore recommit ourselves to follow these processes and protocols,” he said.
Iqbal said the incident was “unfortunate” and ex-pressed his “deepest sympa-thies to the families and fiends of those who died in the armed encounter.”
“The emotions of loss and pain are not alien to us Bang-samoro and Mujahideen. Nevertheless, respect and solidarity are due to all, irre-spective of which side they belong,” he said.
We...FFROM 2is part of recovery.”
On Monday, US military troops in civilian clothes were seen assisting local police in airlifting the wounded on board a non-military helicop-ter from the PNP provincial headquarters in Shariff Aguak to the Army’s 6th Infantry Di-vision’s Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat.
The presence of US troops fueled speculations of US par-ticipation in the operations to get Marwan, a Malaysian na-tional on the list of the US gov-ernment’s most wanted ter-rorists and who was reported killed three years ago in what was media reports described as a “US-backed airstrike” in Jolo, Sulu.
Marwan’s remains, how-ever, were not found in the af-termath of the dawn operation that left at least 54 persons dead.
$5 million + $1 millionThe United States’ Nation-
al Counterterrorism Center in its website said Zulkifli, 49, an engineer trained in the United States, is believed head of the Kumpulun Mujahidin Malaysia (MM) allegedly a terror group, and a member of the Jemaah Islamiyah’s central command.
“Since August 2003, he has been present in the Phil-ippines, where he is believed to have conducted bomb-mak-ing training for the Abu Sayyaf Group,” the NCTC website said.
Zulkifli carries a $5m (220
million pesos) reward for any-one who could provide infor-mation leading to his arrest, the NCTC said.
Abdul Basit Usman, de-scribed by the NCTC as a Fili-pino citizen, a “bomb-making expert” with links to the Abu Sayyaf and the JI, carries a mil-lion dollar (44 million pesos) reward.
Evergreen MindaNews asked Hoy-
er why the American troops were in civilian clothes and why the helicopters were not US military helicopters. When followed up mid-afternoon, Hoyer said he was “still work-ing on it.”
MindaNews sources in the Philippine military said the civilian helicopters that were used on Monday are Evergreen helicopters based in Zamboan-ga City, where the JSOTF-P is also based.
Zamboanga-based jour-nalist Frencie Carreon, who covered the US military there from 2000 to 2010 said the Evergreen helicopters “belong to an Alaska-based US private contractor subcontracted by the US military and deployed in the Philippines to help the US soldiers or their partners or beneficiaries, sometimes for medical evacuation, espe-cially when there are persons in medically critical situa-tions.”
Hoyer, in a text message late Tuesday evening, said
the JSOTF-P “uses contract ci-vilian helicopters to support its efforts to train and assist Philippine security forces in Mindanao.”
He said these helicopters “are flown by civilian pilots and provide 24/7 support to the JSOTF-P and when re-quested (by) our partners.” Examples of requested sup-port, he said, “include casualty evacuation of security force personnel and occasional emergency humanitarian as-sistance support.”
Hoyer said this year alone, the helicopters “have support-ed AFP and PNP casualty evac-uation operations from both Basilan and Sulu, for example,” and Mamasapano.
“All JSOTF-P support oper-ations and specifically helicop-ter flight operations are coor-dinated with the AFP and the Philippine air traffic control services,” Hoyer said.
He failed to answer why the soldiers were in civilian clothes.
JSOTF-PAn Associated Press re-
port on June 27 last year said the US was disbanding the JSOTF-P. US troops returned to the country in January 2002, through the Balikatan military exercieses, just a few months after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States, purportedly to “help ill-equipped Filipino forces con-tain a bloody rampage by Abu
Sayyaf gunmen.”The AP report said “US
backed Philippine offensives whittled the militants’ ranks from a few thousand fighters — mostly drawn from des-perately poor hinterland vil-lages — to about 300 gunmen who survive on extortion and kidnappings for ransom while dodging military assaults.”
It quoted Hoyer as say-ing “our partnership with the Philippine security forces has been successful in drastically reducing the capabilities of domestic and transnational terrorist groups in the Philip-pines.”
Hoyer was also quoted as sayin the success had led U.S. military planners in coordi-nation with their Philippine counterparts “to begin work-ing on a transition plan where the JSOTF-P as a task force will no longer exist.” The AP report said “about 320 Amer-ican military personnel left in the south,” citing Hoyer as the source.
A Philippine Star report on July 4, 2013, Lt. Gen. Rusti-co Guerrero, chief of Western Mindanao Command (West-mincom) said the JSOTF-P will remain inside the camp of Westmincom to continue to assist and provide support to the local military.
“What I know is that it (JSOTF-P personnel) was just reduced,” Guerrero said. (Car-olyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
no business and sanitary permit to operate.
The report also noted a lot of flies and some rats in the kitchen area. The pres-ence of domesticated ani-mals such as dogs and cats was also observed.
The report said the food preparers were not wearing proper sanitary suits and protective gar-ments. The entire prepa-ration area was very filthy and full of stains, the report added.
up to Bucana, but because of CPDO’s recommendation it might start from R.Castillo.
Rigor said that it will be a mixed-use development project that will have an area for government center, industrial, commercial, residential, and port operation.
Affected settlers identified by the CPDO will be relocated
to tenement housing in the reclamation project where they will be also employed.
Rigor said CPDO is also accessing the possible environment and economic impact of the reclamation project which almost similar to the reclamation project implemented in Cebu and Metro Manila.
Corrections.Dapecol has long been in
partnership agreement with Tadeco on banana production in which eligible inmates work as laborers and earn income.
The construction of tire
baths and other quarantine facilities was earlier considered by Dapecol officials as requisites for the re-pening of the roads.
Board Member Alan Dujali sounded the urgency to
resolve the row over road right of way even as he informed colleagues of another being closed leading to Tanglaw village in BE Dujali town as he was informed that passersby were already being notified by
Dapecol guards.Mabanglo said there
is a need to forge a right of way agreement between Dapecol and the provincial government. Cha Monforte, Correspondent
Apokon, Tagum City.“There were POs
(purchase orders) but there were no deliveries as certified by the city engineer’s and general services offices,” he said in an interview.
Four POs for various construction materials claimed to be procured were dated as early as 2011 while the latest was dated May 2013, which were not within his incumbency, he said.
Four suppliers are affected by the contract
termination but only three responded to the letters of termination sent late last year. These are the Ashlee General Merchandise Wansee Company, Inc., Durian Center, and Robins Home Depot.
Their supposed payment would be sourced from the P231 million loan that the city government availed itself of during Mayor Uy’s time from DBP.
Expenses and cost including the P231 million for the new City Hall total to
over P800 million already. The mayor said the
concerned contractors had responded to his letters of termination and cautioned him that they would file several cases against him.
This reporter tried but failed to contact Mayor Uy for comments.
But councilor Dr. Oscar Bermudez, in defending Uy, said Rellon and other executive officials should “prove beyond reasonable doubt” in court that the deliveries were non-existent
“or he must be prepared to face the consequences.”
Bermudez said Rellon had allegedly spent about half a million pesos covering the P1,500-per-day fee for the five engineers hired as COA’s third-party evaluators and assessors for the technical audit of materials that went to the new City Hall.
Rellon, for his part, said he is determined to complete the new City Hall “before the end of December 2015.” Cha Monforte, Correspondent
THREAT. Elected Indigenous People’s Mandatory Representative (IPMR) Halila Sudagar threatens to file a case against National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) if she is refused her seat in the City Council. Photo taken during the selection process for the Indigenous People’s Mandatory Representative (IPMR). Lean Daval Jr.
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015
FLOYD Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao have finally met — in
person.And now talks might get
serious about them meeting in the ring.
The fighters were both sit-ting courtside, directly across from one another, at a Mi-ami Heat game on Tuesday night. Mayweather went over to Pacquiao at halftime, the men shook hands and chat-ted briefly, then exchanged phone numbers.
“He gave his number to me and said we will commu-nicate with each other,” said Pacquiao, adding that he had never before met Mayweath-er in person.
Asked to clarify if the ex-change meant the two would negotiate directly about meeting in the ring, Pacquiao said that was the case.
Mayweather did not re-spond to a question asked by an AP reporter. “Not now,” one of his security guards said, as Mayweather fiddled with his phone.
A bout between the two would almost certainly be the richest ever in boxing, po-tentially grossing as much as $250 million. Mayweather’s take alone could exceed $100 million.
Mayweather said last
month that he’s ready to make the fight happen May 2. Asked Tuesday if that date can finally be the one, Pac-quiao — who has said it’s time to give boxing fans what they want — nodded and said “yes.”
When Mayweather said he wanted the May 2 fight to happen, he said Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum had been the main obstacle for it not coming together in the last five years. Mayweath-er repeated his old charges about Pacquiao not wanting to do blood tests prior to the fight for it not happening five years ago.
He also has no doubt that he could beat Pacquiao.
“I know that he’s not on my level,” Mayweather said last month.
Pacquiao has a similar confidence, saying on Twit-ter recently that “I can easily beat @FloydMayweather, I believe that.”
It appears to be happen-stance that Mayweather and Pacquiao were together on Tuesday.
Pacquiao has been in Miami for several days, after serving as one of the judges in the Miss Universe pageant at Florida International Uni-versity. He was supposed to leave Tuesday night but said
his flight was canceled — as many were in South Florida because of the crippling ef-fects felt nationwide by the havoc a winter storm caused in the New York and Boston areas.
So Pacquiao decided to come to the Heat-Milwaukee Bucks game. He’s a noted basketball fan and has a good relationship with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who is of Fili-
pino descent.Mayweather has been a
regular courtside attendee at Heat games for several years.
And it just so happened they picked the same game. Pacquiao said he didn’t ex-pect to see Mayweather — who had a seat just a few feet from Spoelstra’s spot on the side of the court where the Heat have their bench.
Spoelstra met with Pac-
quiao before the game and said he was “totally shocked” to see Mayweather on the same night. If the fight hap-pens May 2, it would occur somewhere around the end of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
“I hope we’re extreme-ly busy at that time, May 2,” Spoelstra said, “and I hope they’re very busy as well.”
Mayweather, the WBA
and WBC welterweight champion, hasn’t lost in 47 fights. Pacquiao, the WBO welterweight titleholder, is 57-5-2 in his career.
Even the Heat in-game marketing arm weighed in on the buzz surrounding the potential fight. They put pho-tos of both fighters on their video screens during a first-half stoppage in play, with the caption “Coming in 2015?”
15SPORTSEDGEDAVAO
Manny and Floyd exchange phone numbers at Heat gameTHEY FINALLY MEET
IF the Manny Pac-quiao-Floyd Mayweather megafight won’t happen as
I have the hunch to believe it is going nowhere, allow me to make a suggestion.
This one is addressed to EA Sports or Xbox. The brains at Sony could also get a hint from this one for its Playsta-tion 5 edition.
We need these computer guys to make the fight happen if Bob Arum can’t.
So why don’t these video games developers make the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd May-weather megafight the biggest computer game in history.
This crazy idea ain’t new, I tell ya.
It has been done before.Mayweather is not the
only champion in history who could go down without a loss
in his career. Before him, there was Rocky Marciano.
The legendary Marciano (born Rocco Francis Mar-chegiano) was World Heavy-weight Champion from Sep-tember 23, 1952, to April 27, 1956.
Marciano had a record of 49-0 with 43 knockouts.
Mayweather is 47-0 with 26 Kos.
Long after Marciano re-tired, the next heavyweight star was Muhammad Ali who built his empire in the 60s to-wards the 70s.
Now, would you imagine Marciano and Ali battle each other in a megafight? Naah. It’s just not possible.
Not only because Marcia-no retired at the prime of his career. Not only because Mar-ciano would have been in his
40s and Ali in his 20s. Not only because they existed in two different boxing eras.
There was no way it could happen because Marciano died on a plane crash in Au-gust 31, 1969.
Which leads us back to the question: Why would an undefeated champion retire early or avoid challengers just
to keep their record clean?I am not saying Marciano
avoided the best in his career. He fought Roland La Starza (37-0) twice and he fought Joe Louis. He just retired too soon at age 32.
To this day, it intrigues me why.
So here’s Floyd May-weather at 47-0 and once retired, apparently avoiding Manny Pacquiao and keep his unblemished record.
That too, intrigues me why.
So if Floyd is not interest-ed, let’s go back to our video game proposal. Let them fight in a video game with simulat-ed moves and characteristics. Let the video game freaks in us decide this megafight.
As I have said, this ain’t new.
Marciano and Ali fought in a videogame entitled The Su-perfight: Marciano vs. Ali. The geniuses of videogames then made it more interesting by coming up with two versions.
One version had Marciano winning. Another version had Ali winning.
That was late July 1969, and according to boxing histo-rians shortly before his death, Marciano participated in the filming of the fantasy The Su-perfight: Marciano vs. Ali.
How the heck the guys did it? Simple. The two box-ers were filmed sparring, then the film was edited to match a computer simulation of a hy-pothetical fight between them, each in their prime. It aired on January 20, 1970, with one version having Marciano win-ning and the second version
having Ali winning. The two fighters had
memorable words of the vid-eogame.
Marciano said when asked if he could have defeated Ali in a real fight: “I’d be conceited if I said I could, but I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t.”
For his part, Ali jokingly dismissed the results as racist, saying “That computer must’ve been made in Mississippi.”
Now, for the Pacquiao vs. Mayweather megafight, the two fighters could leave it all to us to answer the question who is the best boxer in the planet.
Oh, I’d love to play this game.
And to make it a little more realistic, throw in Mommy Di-onesia in the audience please. Life powers and energy boost included.
One crazy idea for one crazy fight
Neil Bravo
LET’S GET IT ON
MADISON Keys con-tinued her dream run through the
Australian Open on Tuesday, this time defeating one of her childhood idols en route to the semifinals. It took three sets, but unranked Keys beat No. 18 Venus Williams, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Trailing 4-1 in the second set, Keys needed a medical timeout to receive treatment on her left thigh. It seemed to do the trick, as she then came back and broke Venus’ serve twice to even the score at 4-all. But Venus had some fight left in her, as she an-swered with her own break and served out the set.
In the third, Venus
jumped out to a 3-1 lead, seemingly in control of the match. But Keys again ral-lied back. She earned three straight breaks to close out the win. Overall, Keys had 34 winners and 45 unforced er-rors; Venus had 10 winners and 38 unforced errors.
“It’s amazing, you just have to embrace the mo-ment,” Keys said after the match. “And I get to en-joy another moment next round.”
To advance to her first Grand Slam final, Keys will have to beat No. 1 Serena Williams, who advanced to the next round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Dominika Cibulkova.
LEBRON James came leaping in to try to stop Jodie Meeks as the De-
troit guard drove to the bas-ket during the final seconds of the third quarter.
After colliding with Meeks, James put his hands out to break his fall before sliding across the floor on his stomach.
‘’I was scared, because I broke my wrist on a fall like that in high school,’’ James said. ‘’I was either going to land on my face or break the fall with my hands, but when I hit, both my arms went numb. I’m OK now - it was just something like a stinger - but I wasn’t sure at first.’’
James barely missed any game time after that anxious moment, and he finished with 32 points to help the Cleveland Cavaliers to their seventh straight vic-tory Tuesday night, 103-95 over the Pistons. Kyrie Irving matched his season high with 38 points.
The Cavs never trailed in the second half, but when James hit the deck and didn’t immediately get up, that was plenty to be concerned about.
‘’That is obviously a time of worry, which is the under-statement of the year,’’ Cleve-land coach David Blatt said. ‘’In a situation like that, you
are just hoping he is OK.’’James quickly came
back in the game, and his two-handed breakaway dunk early in the fourth put Cleve-land up 80-68.
Greg Monroe had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Pistons, who pulled with-in eight and had the ball late in the fourth quarter, but Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was unable to connect from 3-point range. James drew a foul at the other end and made both free throws to make it 88-78 with 2:56 to play.
Caldwell-Pope was fouled by James while shoot-ing a 3-pointer with 2:00 re-
maining, and that trio of free throws made it 90-83. The Pistons got the ball back, but Andre Drummond missed a layup, and Irving connected from beyond the arc.
The Cavs avenged a 23-point home loss to Detroit late last month. That game was part of a seven-game winning streak for the Pis-tons, but now Detroit is struggling to overcome the loss of Brandon Jennings, who ruptured his left Achilles tendon last weekend and will miss the rest of the season.IRVING’S BIG NIGHT
Irving was 6 of 10 from 3-point range. The rest of the Cavs went 3 of 24.
Keys upsets Venus in Australian Open Irving, James help Cavs push win streak to 7
Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. were both sitting courtside at Tuesday’s Bucks-Heat game in Miami, on opposite sides of the court.
VOL. 7 ISSUE 224 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015
“This Palaro will not only glorify sports but will unify all Mind- anaoans
in rallying the support of the whole country for the passage of the BBL. So we can finally attain the elusive peace in the island,” he said.
The official logo depicts the dominant image of an artistic dove that carries with it an olive branch hav-ing 17 leaves representing the regions of the country.
Three flaming tails of the dove stand for the tri-people diversity of the Palaro dele-gations, emblazoned with elaborate designs of the Muslim artwork okir, fishes that portray Christianity and the beadworks of the indige-nous people.
Literally underscoring the logo is the banana leaf
that aptly represents Davao del Norte, as the ‘Banana Capital’ of the Philippines.
Del Rosario bared the banana also
embodies t h e resil-ience
o f t h e
D a -b a -
onon peo-ple, who have constantly emerged stronger and bet-ter from natural calamities, “just like the ever-enduring banana plant.”
The governor was seen lately personally supervising the heavy preparations for the country’s largest sports conclave, which will be held on May 3-9, 2015 in Tagum City, this province.
“I want to make sure that everything is moving according to schedule,” he stressed, while checking the finishing works at the Davao del Norte Sports and Tour-ism Complex.
UNITING PEOPLEPalarong Pambansa 2015 to advance peace in Mindanao
DAVAO del Norte, Jan-uary 28, 2015 – The Palarong Pambansa
2015 will showcase sports as a universal language that has the power to break down barriers, unite people and foster peace.
The Organizing Commit-tee of the event unanimously approved on Tuesday the
peace-themed official logo of the Philippine Nation-al Games, with the slogan, “Sports: Breaking Borders, Building Peace.”
Governor Rodolfo del Rosario, Chair of the Palaro Executive Committee re-vealed the body chose peace as the main theme of the games, since it has always
been the perpetual issue in the Mindanao region.
He said the Committee drew on the inimitable pow-er of sports in promoting the ideals of harmony, brother-hood, solidarity and toler-ance.
“Through this year’s Palarong Pambansa, we will show to the world how
sports could be a powerful tool in achieving peace,” del Rosario said.
In a separate engage-ment, the governor hailed the sporting event as a gold-en opportunity for the people of Mindanao to pull together as one in rallying behind the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
16 EDGEDAVAOSports
THE world-class boxers from the ALA Boxing Sta-
ble will be holding a public workout on Jan-uary 31 at 5 p.m. at the SM City Davao to pro-mote the Pinoy Pride 29 slated on Feb. 7 at University of Southern Philippines Gym in Bo. Obrero.
Head trainer Edito Villamor said that the five prized fighters are reigning WBO Inter-national junior welter-weight champion Jason
“El Nino” Pagara, WBO Intercontinental junior featherweight champi-on Genesis Servania, WBO and IBO Inter-national junior ban-tamweight champion “King” Arthur Villan-ueva, promising boxers Mark Magsayo and Ar-jan Canillas.
Pagara (34 wins-21 KOs, 2 loses) will defend his title against Mexi-can challenger Cesar “El Dolar” Chavez (23 W, 11 KOs, 7 L) for 12 rounds in the main event while
the undefeated Servania (25 W, 11 Kos) stakes his crown against another tough Mexican Juan Luis “Perla Negra” Her-nandez (17W, 9 KO, 3 L, 1 D).Villanueva, also undefeated in 26 fights with 14 KOs, gets his big-gest challenge against former WBO world fly-weight champion Julio Cesar “Pingo” Miranda (38 W-29 KO, 11 L, 2 D) in a 10-rounder.The 19-year old Magsayo (9 W, 7 K0) takes on Suk-kasem Kiethyongyuth
of Thailand in 10 round 126 lbs. bout while Ca-nillas fights Stevi Feri-nandus of Indonesia for 8 rounds (137 lbs.).
Pinoy Pride, the tele-vision’s mega boxing series is a partnership of ALA Sports Promo-tion International Inc. together with the Philip-pines biggest television network ABS-CBN. ALA Promotion’s first Pinoy Pride in Davao City was the 19th edition held April 20, 2013 at the USEP gym. – LDR
CITY Mayor’s Office played steely confi-dence and implausi-
ble composure to mount a last second surge en route to a pulsating 68 – 67 victo-ry over IBP Davao on Mon-day night in their Basketball Friendly Series at the Davao City Recreation Center.
Eric John Flores made the game winning shots at the foul line with 8 seconds remaining in the game after he was fouled going to the basket.
F l o r e s ’ f reebies c a p p e d an im-
p r o b -a b l e r u n
down t h e
stretch as the CMO w i d e n e d the series lead, 36 – 10.
Downed by 9 under the final two minutes of the game, the City Hall drib-blers relied on the clutch plays of Flores, Christopher “Bong” Go, Joel Aberilla and Warren Cloribel to pull ahead and seal the win.
Go, the sweet-shooting trusted-aid of Mayor Ro-drigo Duterte, scored game-best 29 points as Flores and Cloribel made 13 and 12 re-spectively.
The game was far from over after the Flores free throws that came after IBP’s Armand Dioso missed two gift shots with the door still open for the resilient Davao lawyers.
IBP Davao muffed two opportunities that could have turn the game around with ChokCadiogan missing a second chance attempt to allow CMO escape on the jaws of defeat.
Caiogan led IBP Davao with 17 as Dioso and Gil Ci-udadano had 16 apiece.
The win completed a sweat retaliation for the CMO’s 82 – 74 loss in their first encounter of the year last week.
The series of games were part of the IBP Davao’s build up on its title reten-tion bid in the 2015 Nation-al Convention for Lawyers Basketball Tournament set on March in Cebu.
IBP Davao topped the Mindanao leg last Novem-ber in Tagum City. (Rico Biliran)
by Noel Baguio/DavNor PIO
CMO outlasts IBP Davao ALA boxers to hold public workout Jan. 31
WBO International junior welterweight champion Jason “El Nino” Pagara (2nd from left), WBO Intercontinental junior featherweight champion Genesis Servania (2nd from right), WBO and IBO International junior bantamweight
champion “King” Arthur Villanueva (right), promising boxers Mark Magsayo will be holding a public workout on January 31 at 5 p.m. at the SM City Davao to promote the Pinoy Pride 29.
Christopher “Bong” Go of the City Mayor’s Office puts up a shot against IBP Davao. Lean Daval Jr.
Palarong Pambansa 2015 Executive Committee Chair Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario, center, gestures as he pushes peace to be the apt main theme of the national games on May 3-9 in Tagum City, Davao del Norte. noel baguio/davnor pio
