P 15.00 • 20 PAGES www.edgedavao.net VOL. 7 ISSUE 255 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, MARCH 13 - 14, 2015 EDGE Serving a seamless society DAVAO DOE-Mindanao: Effects of El Niño unavoidable POWER CRISIS LOOMS INSIDE EDGE M INDANAO is in danger of be- ing plunged into darkness once again as the looming El Niño threatens to affect the supply of pow- er coming from the Agus Hydro Power Plant Com- plexes in Lanao del Norte. Department of Ener- gy-Mindanao Field Office (DOE-MFO) senior science research specialist for re- newable energy manage- ment section Rolando J. Fara-on told Edge Davao yesterday that the capacity of the hydroelectric power plants might suffer from low water levels of Lake Lanao due to the expected drought. “We cannot avoid the effect of El Niño because Mindanao’s power genera- tion mix is 51 percent from hydro,” Fara-on said. He said he is hoping the water in the reservoir will not reach the critical level. Mindanao was hit by power crises in 2010 and 2013 due to drought. At the same time, he said the commissioning of the first 150MW of the Aboitiz-owned Therma South, Inc. (TSI) and the operation of the Mind- anao’s largest coal-fired power plant of Steag State Power Inc. will help ease the power situation. According to the DOE, Mindanao’s peak demand is at 1,300 MW. Government weather station PAGASA had earli- er announced that there is a 60 to 70 percent chance that a “weak” El Niño is expected to start by next month. It will probably result in less rainfall in the next few weeks until July. [email protected]By CHENEEN R. CAPON LENS CLEANUP. Personnel of the Davao City Public Safety and Secu- rity Command Center (PSSCC) clean up the lens of the closed circuit television (CCTV) camera at the junction of San Pedro and Bolton Streets as part of routine maintenance in time for the celebration of the 78th Araw ng Davao. Lean Daval Jr. COCKTAILS and COCKTALES Indulge A4
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P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 7 ISSUE 255 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, MARCH 13 - 14, 2015
EDGE Serving a seamless society
DAVAO
DOE-Mindanao: Effects of El Niño unavoidable
POWER CRISIS LOOMS
INSIDE EDGEMINDANAO is in danger of be-ing plunged into
darkness once again as the looming El Niño threatens to affect the supply of pow-er coming from the Agus Hydro Power Plant Com-plexes in Lanao del Norte.
Department of Ener-gy-Mindanao Field Office (DOE-MFO) senior science research specialist for re-newable energy manage-
ment section Rolando J. Fara-on told Edge Davao yesterday that the capacity of the hydroelectric power plants might suffer from low water levels of Lake Lanao due to the expected drought.
“We cannot avoid the effect of El Niño because Mindanao’s power genera-tion mix is 51 percent from hydro,” Fara-on said.
He said he is hoping the
water in the reservoir will not reach the critical level.
Mindanao was hit by power crises in 2010 and 2013 due to drought.
At the same time, he said the commissioning of the first 150MW of the Aboitiz-owned Therma South, Inc. (TSI) and the operation of the Mind-anao’s largest coal-fired power plant of Steag State Power Inc. will help ease
the power situation.According to the DOE,
Mindanao’s peak demand is at 1,300 MW.
Government weather station PAGASA had earli-er announced that there is a 60 to 70 percent chance that a “weak” El Niño is expected to start by next month.
It will probably result in less rainfall in the next few weeks until July.
ZUMBA FOR HEALTHY KIDNEYS. Chronic kidney disease patients participate in Zumba dance exercise as part of the World Kidney Day celebration held at the Annex of SM City Davao yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.
DAVAO City Council-or Leah Libado-Yap yesterday hit the
temporary release of Sa-jid Islam Ampatuan, son of former Maguindanao Gov-ernor Andal Ampatuan Sr., who was allowed by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 to post bail for 58 counts of murder related
to the 2009 Ampatuan mas-sacre.
In a statement, Libra-do-Yap said this scenario “poses a threat and could be the precedent of a disas-ter as one of the accused in the Maguindanao massacre case was able to go out of jail after posting a bail of P11.6 million pesos.”
Ampatuan reportedly posted P200,000 for each of the 58 counts of murder via Travellers Insurance and Surety Corporation.
“This is blatantly unjust as thousands poor offend-ers all over the country, in-cluding political prisoners who are victims of trumped-up charges could not even
be allowed to post bail as the system has apparently criminalized rebellion. And here comes an Ampatuan, being granted bail, to the detriment of those seeking justice for the victims of the massacre many years ago,” Librado-Yap said.
She said everyone is en-titled to the right to post bail
and in the case of Sajid Am-patuan, he is now allowed to be on temporary liberty, but it should have been consid-ered in terms of the crime committed “and how we are thriving on a culture of im-punity.”
“Clearlythe , Ampatuans are warlords who have ruled it over Maguindanao for the
longest time and we have to be careful as they will again sow terror and ride on the susceptible situation we have in Maguindanao right now. The mere act of grant-ing him liberty is a cause for alarm. It tells us that some-thing is very wrong with our penal and justice systems,” Librado-Yap said.
THE Land Trans-portation and Franchising Board
(LTFRB) 11 had already informed majority of the taxi operators in Davao City of the P10 reduction in the flagdown rate.
In an interview with DXAB Radyo Partol 1296, LTFRB 11 operations di-vision head Edgar Violan said as of last Wednesday, his office has already in-formed the 90 percent of
operators and drivers for the provisional rollback on taxi fare mandated by its national office.
Violan said the order was supposed to have been effective beginning last March 9 but was moved to March 16 in Re-gion 11 because most of the drivers here had not been informed yet.
“Since we are now 90 percent on our informa-tion drive, the less-P10 on
the flagdown rate should be honored,” Violin said.
He said during the in-formation drive he pre-sented a sample 3x4 sig-nage format which will in-dicate that P10 should be subtracted from the fare. The line “per LTFRB or-der dated March 6, 2105” should also be included.
Violan said the sign should be placed near the taxi meter or anywhere that is visible to the pas-
sengers.He said the LTFRB
does not have a budget to make the signs since the flagdown reduction was unexpected and was not included in the annual procurement fund.
He said LTFRB per-sonnel will go to malls and terminals to check if the drivers are following the order to put up the sign. Armando B. Feneq-uito Jr.
THE Davao City govern-ment is studying the possibility of setting
up a rural tourism program as suggested by Israeli Am-bassador to the Philippines Effie Ben Matityahu during his visit to the city early this month.
City Tourism Operations Office head Lisette Marques said her office is in the pro-cess of developing the idea with the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Na-
tional Commission of Indig-enous People (NCIP).
“We have to make sure that whatever the culture is that it would not be adverse-ly affected,” she said.
During his visit, Matitya-hu had suggested that rural tourism be developed to ca-ter especially to backpack-ers.
He said a community can create bed and breakfasts inside homes where tourists
Librado-Yap hits releaseof Ampatuan son on bailBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.
THE Davao City Coun-cil’s committee on appointments and
reorganization is looking to revisit the organization of the offices in the city gov-ernment.
Councilor Rachel Zozo-brado chair of the commit-tee said the plan is due to the requests of the depart-ment heads for the creation of new positions.
Zozobrado said her committee saw the need to revisit the organization because it might lead to ex-cess of some positions. The rules on personal services state that new positions should be only 42 percent, she added.
“Basin katong mga im-portante na dapat ma-cre-ate dili nuon ma-create be-cause kulang na ang budget (The important positions might not be created be-cause of insufficient bud-
get),” she said.Zozobrado said city ad-
ministrator Jesus Melchor V. Quitain issued a mem-orandum directing all the department heads to eval-uate their offices to find out if there is a need to create a new position and to remove old positions.
Zozobrado said the de-partment heads need to justify the need and submit a comprehensive request for reorganization and cre-ation of new positions.
She said her committee has not yet received any requests from the depart-ment heads for reorgani-zation because it might be still on the hands of Human Resources Management Office (HRMO) head Erwin Alparaque.
Alparaque is in charge of evaluating the requests before they are submitted
AROUND 2,400 hectares of farmlands in Saran-gani Province have been
devastated due to the impact of a continuing dry spell in the area triggered by the onset of a mild El Niño Phenomenon.
Jonathan Duhaylungsod, Office of the Provincial Agricul-turist (OPAG) chief, said Thurs-day the intense dry weather since January has caused ir-rigation supplies to drop and farmlands in parts of the prov-ince to dry up, damaging vari-ous crops.
He said the affected crops, as reported by the Municipal Agriculture Offices (MAO) of the province’s seven towns, were corn, banana, coconut, rice or palay and palm oil.
“The first crop that real-ly suffered is corn since it is seasonal, followed by banana planted in areas that don’t have irrigation,” he said in an interview over TV Patrol Sock-sargen.
A partial report released by the OPAG noted that the dry spell already damaged some 949 hectares of corn farm-lands, 771 hectares of banana, 452 hectares of coconut, 152 hectares of palay and 112 hect-ares of palm oil.
Hardest hit were farm areas in the municipalities of Alabel, Maasim and Malungon, and with nearly a thousand farmers directly affected.
Duhaylungsod said they conducted a validation earlier
this week of the affected areas along with personnel of the MAOs.
“Our office is currently consolidating the reports that will serve as basis for our in-terventions and mitigation ac-tivities,” he said in a text mes-sage to MindaNews.
He said among the initial interventions that they have identified is the distribution of corn and palay seeds as well as other planting materials and inputs to the affected farmers.
The official said they are targeting to purchase and de-liver such assistance to the beneficiaries in April.
“This will allow the affect-ed farmers to immediately
FARMER Tot Pananggu-lon clasped tightly on the white envelope he
and the others received from Moro Islamic Liberation Front Chair Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim last March 8.
Pananggulon lost his eight-year-daughter Sarah during the clash between the MILF and PNP Special Action Force commandos in Baran-gay Tukanalipao, Mamasapa-no town last Jan. 25.
The envelope contained some money from the MILF for Sarah’s death but Panang-gulon said the financial as-sistance cannot bring back his daughter and the simple future he had dreamt for her.
“Pero matutuwa si Sarah nito (But Sarah will be hap-py with this),” Pananggulon said.
Talking through an inter-preter, Pananggulon narrat-ed he, his wife and two chil-
dren were sleeping in a small nipa hut when the firefight between the PNP SAF com-mandos and the MILF took place.
He said his family was already awake for the morn-ing Muslim prayers when gunshots were heard every-where.
“We ran outside. We just ran and hid. Ran again. I did not even realize that I was
Council committee to revisitorganization of city officesBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.
THE multi-billion banana industry and corn sector of the Davao Region are
in danger starting next month when the long drought sea-son—the El Niño phenome-non--finally takes place.
Southern Mindanao Re-gional Agriculture and Fishery Council chairman Armando Ansingco said although the effects of El Niño have been experienced by farmers and fishermen in the region since the last week of February, the long dry spell will be felt start-
ing in April.Ansingco said the distur-
bance in the climate started “when the rain did not came regularly.”
He, however, said that there’s no recorded damage yet in the region because of the drought unlike in nearby areas like General Santos City and Saranggani Province.
“About 15 to 20 hectares of banana and mango planta-tion along the road going to GenSan were burned down be-cause of grass fire,” Ansingco
told Edge Davao.He had just arrived from
the Regional Management Council meeting in General Santos City when Edge Davao chanced upon him for inter-view.
Ansingco said he also won’t buy the claim of govern-ment’s weather station Pag-asa that the country will only experience weak El Niño this time.
“There’s no such thing as mild or weak El Niño to the ag-riculture and fishery sectors of
Davao Region in the next few months,” Ansingco said.
He identified areas in Davao Oriental and Davao del Sur as more likely to experi-ence the worst effect of the drought season.
“Areas like portion of Mati City and San Isidro in Davao Oriental that have high level of humidity will be the most af-fected in the region,” Ansingco said.
However, it would take long before Davao City can ex-perience the drought season.
“Based on our observation, the weather here is quite bet-ter compared to other areas in the region but this will still worsen in the next few weeks,” he said.
The rice fields in the region are still well-irrigated and can still survive until the harvest season, according to Ansingco.
He added that even the fishery sector will suffer the effects of El Nio,
“The inland fish produc-tion will be the most affected,” Ansingco said, adding that the
dry season will not only affect the source of water for irri-gation but also the supply for fresh water for man-made fish ponds.
Because of this, Ansingco sees a decrease in fish pro-duction, which has suffered a decline the past few years be-cause of climate change and over-fishing.
Ansingco concluded the in-terview by reminding farmers and fishermen in the region to participate in the campaign of the council to conserve water.
El Niño threatens multi-billion banana industry, corn sector
PHILIPPINE Tour-ism Congress pres-ident Rosanna Tu-
ason-Fores urged the pri-vate sector to invest in the establishment of a Pacific coastal highway that will boost the region’s cruise tourism.
Fores, also the chief executive officer of Hijo Resources Corporation (HRC), said the loop can start from the 760-hectare property owned by Tuason family located at Barangay Madaum, Tagum City.
“We want to develop a Pacific Coastal Highway that will connect the heart
of Davao Gulf which is Hijo, all the way to other desti-nations in Davao Oriental and Surigao,” Fores said.
The coastal highway will then proceed to Davao region’s surfing center Mati City, Unesco World Heri-tage’s Hamiguitan Forest and all the way to the tip of Davao Oriental.
Fores said this can ex-tend all the way to Siargao and Surigao since these areas have also beautiful coasts.
“This will boost the cruise tourism and will give more competitive edge to the region given that we’re
closer to BIMP-EAGA (Bru-nei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines- East Asean Growth Area),” she said.
Fores, who graced the opening of Start Min.Up exhibition at Gaisano Mall of Davao last Monday, said this area has a huge poten-tial because more than four tourist destinations will be showcased.
“The creation of the loop is a proposed strategy that will develop further the tourism industry of these areas,” she said.
Development in the tourism industry, Fores said, will create inclusive
growth in the community because it generate rev-enue to the government; and livelihood and employ-ment to people in the com-munity.
As president of the tourism congress, Fores is also advocating for the development of tourism in-dustry in Zamboanga and parts of Tawi-tawi because of long stretches of beaches there.
She said the govern-ment should improve tour-ism infrastructure to boost further the tourism indus-try of the region. Cheneen R. Capon
Private sector urged to investon coastal highway project
THE number of unem-ployed and underem-ployed Filipinos at the
start of the year has slowed down, the Philippine Statis-tics Authority’s (PSA) Janu-ary 2015 Labor Force Survey (LFS) reported Thursday.
LFS data show that un-employment rate declined to 6.6 percent in January 2015 compared to January 2014’s rate of 7.5 percent while un-deremployment rate fell to 17.5 percent this year against 19.5 percent last year.
The National Economic and Development Authority
(NEDA) explained that of the total 62.87 million popula-tion ages 15 years old and above, 40.09 million people are in the labor force in the first month of the year.
The NEDA emphasized that over a year, employed in-dividuals increased to 37.45 million in January 2015 from the same period in 2014 at 36.41 million or an additional of 1.04 million Filipinos ac-quired jobs during the period.
This brought the number of unemployed individuals to drop by 334,000 to 2.6 mil-
Employment rate improves
DAVAO del Norte Gov-ernor Rodolfo del Ro-sario, chair of the Re-
gional Development Council 11 revealed that the National Economic and Development Authority has approved to conduct a feasibility study with a cost of P90-Million to do a study to construct a bridge be-tween the mainland and Island Garden City of Samal.
He said there have been calls for the construction of the bridge but no feasibility study has been conducted to that ef-fect.
Del Rosario said many years passed and nothing con-crete had happened.
“With the approval of this feasibility study, we hope that everything will move fast for the plan to be realized,” he said.
Del Rosario said that the RDC XI needs to know that the bridge project is viable, feasi-ble, economical and timely.
He said that the answers to these questions are positive.
“I think it is viable and fea-sible at this time considering the traffic that you see along Sasa to wait for the ferry where a lot of time is wasted,” Del Ro-sario said.
Even then, the governor
thanked for the presence of the ferry which provides access to the island for land transporta-tion.
However, he stressed that the current situation demands that a bridge must be con-structed not only to speed up the movement of people but also in hastening the develop-ment of IGACOS.
“I like this bridge to be a tourism bridge, just like what the Golden Gate Bridge does to San Francisco, California,” Del Rosario said.
He also mulled to sit with the consultant on the bridge construction, taking into con-sideration other links aside from Sasa, Davao City like Panabo City, Davao del Norte.
Del Rosario said that in the past, the government was able to construct a bridge connect-ing Samar and Leyte.
He said that it is not far that a bridge can be construct-ed between Panabo City and IGACOS, both belonging to Davao del Norte.
“We rather seek the bridge for ourselves and not Davao City to avoid conflict,” Del Ro-sario said.
He said that the ferry op-
IGACOS-mainland bridgefeasibility study approved
ARAW NG DAVAO UPDATES. City Tourism officer Lisette Marques gives updates on the activities of the 78th Araw ng Davao celebration and the upcoming Visit Davao Fun Sale during yesterday’s I-Speak media forum at City Hall. Also in photo is Kadayawan sa Dabaw Foundation, Inc. executive director lawyer Rollie Dumalag. Lean Daval Jr.
LEADING property de-veloper Sta. Lucia Land, Inc. (SLI)—known for
its portfolio of premium sub-division developments, world-class golf courses, and vertical communities in suburban Metro Manila—has brought its real estate expertise to the Southern Philippines with a masterplanned township where business, comfortable living, and leisure meet.
Covering 60 hectares of prime land in the area of Ma-a in Davao City, Riverfront Cor-porate City is poised to be-come the paragon of quality living in the premier capital city of Mindanao—merging work, rest, and play seamless-ly, and providing a prestigious residential address for individ-uals who want to take root in this renowned tourist destina-tion.
Conveniently located along the Ma-a diversion road and situated just a few kilometers from the Davao International Airport, River-front Corporate City enjoys unparalleled advantage in providing the most accessible and easily enjoyable leisure, entertainment, hospitality and commercial establishments, all housed in a five-hectare tourism center.
Also within the vicinity are additional tourist attractions such as the Crocodile Park, Davao Butterfly House, and Tribu K’ Mindanawan Cultural Village.
At the core of Riverfront Corporate City is the 40-hect-are business park envisioned
to further drive the booming local economy. With the emer-gence of Davao as the center of trade, commerce and indus-try in Mindanao, investments are expected to continuously pour in, creating a demand for prime business lots.
For foreigners and locals alike who envision the laid-back yet bustling idyll of Davao as a permanent way of life, Riverfront Corporate City’s 10-hectare residential sub-division is the best choice for exclusive, secure and comfort-ably daily living. Homeseekers who uphold traditional fam-ily values will appreciate the convenience of a prestigious academic institution, St. Paul’s College, integrated within Riv-erfront.
In order to create a wealth of bonding memories with the family, residents can also limit-lessly enjoy the amenities and facilities at the exclusive Ran-cho Palos Verdes Sports and Country Club—the pioneer-ing one-stop sports and rec-reation center in Davao, also developed by Sta. Lucia Land.
The sports and country club is a complement to the pi-oneering Rancho Palos Verdes residential golf enclave, lo-cated nearby in the areas of Mandug and Indangan. Racho Palos Verdes is the very first development of Sta. Lucia Land in Davao, successfully establishing its reputation for quality property develop-ments in the region.
With Davao City fast evolving as another vital me-tropolis in the Philippines, its
Riverfront Corporate City:
Pioneering CBD in Davaoreal estate sector has been on an uptrend as well. With the number of property develop-ers staking claim in this lu-crative market, homeseekers, business owners, and tourists can only trust seasoned and experienced companies such as Sta. Lucia Land in provid-ing business, commercial and residential solutions that will grow in value together with the progress of the locale.
To know more about Riv-erfront Corporate City, call (82) 221-9442 or 9444, or visit the website of Orchard Property Marketing Corpora-tion, the exclusive sales and marketing arm of Sta. Lucia Land at www.opmc.ph.
A ZAMBOANGA del Norte-based coopera-tive engaged in cassava
production has received more than P400,000 in financial grant from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) through the agency’s Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP).
SETUP is a nationwide strategy to encourage and assist small and medium en-terprises (SMEs) to adopt technological innovations to improve their operations and thus boost their productivity and competitiveness.
DOST Regional Director Brenda Nazareth-Manzano said Thursday the recipient of the P413,000 financial grant is the People’s Officials, Employ-ees and Community Multi-Pur-pose Cooperative (POEMCO) of Polanco, Zamboanga del Norte.
Manzano said the cooper-ative has about 160 hectares area planted with cassava and sells their raw products to San Miguel Foods, Inc. (SMFI),
which then process the cassa-va into various products, espe-cially animal feeds.
Manzano said the financial grant to POEMCO will be used to purchase cassava process-ing equipment, such as cassava flour mill, hammer mill, feed mixer and electric bag closer.
With the grant, Manzano said the cooperative is ex-pected to achieve the follow-ing: production of standard quality cassava flour, food safety compliant processing facility, improvement of pro-duction operations through equipment upgrading, and productivity improvement of workers through trainings on good manufacturing practices and equipment operation and maintenance.
She said the cooperative is also expected to be able to pro-duce at least 60 bags of cassava flour monthly, supply the de-mand of the six target market outlets, penetrate at least 10 existing bakeries in Polanco, and generate additional em-
DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s “Listening Tour” shifted momentarily to a “Listen to us” call as we brace ourselves for the fallout of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
BBL’s doom is inevitable. The national angst over the Mamasapano incident, the questionable constitutional issues and the people’s fears once the BBL is passed could all be the final nail on the coffin for the controversial law.
Mayor Duterte’s question to the national government in not con-sulting Mindanao leaders on the BBL mirrors the same sentiments of most Mindanao leaders who are in the best position to understand the Mindanao situation and the cultural uniqueness of the different ethnicities in the island.
“Why were we not consulted?”“Why don’t you talk to us, Mr. President?”These are the questions hurled by Mayor Duterte while in his Lis-
tening Tour in the Visayas. Politics aside, Mayor Duterte, like the rest of Mindanao’s leaders, deserves to be consulted on the future of Mindan-ao being one of those who really know Mindanao by heart.
The way it stands now, the BBL is likely to be rejected in Congress and even in the High Court should constitutional issues be brought
there. These include the questionable provisions in the proposed law like the establishment of an almost independent police and security force in the Bangsamoro territory. With the spectre of rejection loom-ing in the horizon, Duterte thinks the national government should come up with a fallback plan in order to prevent an outbreak of vio-lence.
Problem is, the national government is acting like they know Mind-anao better and apparently closing its ears on Mindanao leaders.
We are not surprised at all. The President has a reputation to listen only to the men around him and men like suspended PNP chief Alan Purisima whom he knows from way back. He did say he listened to sacked SAF chief Getulio Napenas in the Mamasapano operation and paid dearly for being led on by the latter.
Mayor Duterte and the leaders of Mindanao are not the kind who will lead the President on. Afterall, the high stakes of this Mindanao imbroglio fall on the shoulders of the mayors and governors of Min-danao, and the brunt of repercussions, if at all, shall cascade on the people of this island.
Mindanao is an issue unique best understood by its very own peo-ple. The President has long been led on by his own warped belief.
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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ONCE Again, Senator Alan Cayetano has spoken. Fulmi-nating as usual, he has suc-
ceeded through his privilege speech in creating more discord and confu-sion and raising more misconcep-tions about Mindanao than PNoy. His words against Mindanao have rattled many cultural sensitivities in what Tagalogs call “pahaging,” a deeper meaning underneath the words.
It seems he has made a crusade out of questioning the peace pro-cess he once supported. He is ob-viously impatient and wishes to obtain more than his fair share of the limelight in support of his own desire for constant exposure.
The net effect of his tirades is not new legislation that pro-gressively moves us forward to peace but rather ac-cusations, mistrust, and ill will that set us back. As he plays on the fears and lack of information of the mostly Manila audience, it disturbs the paranoia and breeds a bad mistrust that only complicates the situation even fur-ther for those of us in Mindanao.
Evacuations in the tens of thou-sands of disrupted lives still cannot satisfy the Manila Senator and those who follow him. Essentially, he and his supporters don’t care about who gets hurt as long as they are heard.
Against the backdrop of the po-litical circus spawned by the unfor-tunate incident comes Archbishop Ledesma, the sober and soft spoken shepherd of the Catholic flock of the Cagayan de Oro Archdiocese. As a religious leader, his words carry the reflective weight of those who per-haps, by reason of presence, know Mindanao better than any Mani-leño Senator can. The call of Mind-anao is clear, a Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is needed, and one that
builds a just and lasting peace for all concerned. His recent statement reflects the calmness needed to ad-dress a situation where almost 2 million need to be spent on increas-ing evacuations from the worsening conflict.
Cayetano’s inability to be sensi-tive to a significant portion of the Philippine populace makes him a biased and belligerent legislator not worth the salary we pay him. Then again, perhaps the fear and para-noia Cayetano engenders reflects his own personal bias and paranoia against us who are from Mindanao. If that is the case, then it would be wise and prudent for him to stop being a senator.
MY father quit smoking five years ago. “I don’t care anymore,” he replied when
told about the sin tax bill, which make cigarettes and liquors more expensive. “But that’s good news,” he added.
He is now in his early 70s but he still works – as a mechanic. “I feel so tired when I stop working,” he said. In fact, when he quit smoking, he also started bicycling – as a sort of hobby.
My mother is four years young-er than my father and she’s still going great – although she walks slowly these days. Thank God she’s healthy – she doesn’t have diabe-tes, hypertension, or Alzheimer’s disease. Her form of exercise: just walking two times a day from the house going to the public market, which is about half a kilometer away.
Mamie Rearden of Edgefield, South Carolina, died in January 2013. She was considered “the old-est living American citizen.” She died at the age of 114.
Rearden was more than a year younger than the world’s oldest person, 115-year-old Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which verifies age information for Guinness World Records.
“If only , when one heard / That Old Age was coming / One could
bolt the door, / An-swer “Not at home” / And refuse to meet him!” This poem, writ-ten in Ja-pan in 905, shows that a v o i d i n g old age has been a common goal among people the world over for centuries.
Ponce de Leon’s quest for the mysterious fountain of youth led him to discover Florida. With its sunny weather, beautiful beach-es, and palm trees, Florida in it-self is a kind of fountain of youth. Many Americans today who retire to Florida do seem to recover their youthful energy and vigor.
In 1808, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote of a 14th century al-chemist, Faust, who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for a youth-re-storing potion. As expected, Faust came to an unpleasant end.
The Bible recorded the oldest living man through these words: ‘When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. And after he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 872 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Methuselah
lived 969 years, and then he died” (Genesis 5:25-27).
No one lives forever, for sure. But this fact doesn’t stop doctors and scientists from searching for ways to live longer. “Aging is the progres-sive accumulation of changes with time associated with or responsi-ble for the ever-increasing likeli-hood of disease and death which accompanies advancing age.” That statement comes from Denham Harmon, one of the leading experts in the field of anti-aging research.
In recent years, people are liv-ing longer – thanks to science. This is particularly true in the Philip-pines. A press statement released by the Department of Science and Technology said the country is now home to around 6.8 million senior citizens. This figure is expected to reach 12 million by the year 2040.
Most of those senior citizens are females. According to the Wash-ington-D.C.-based Population Re-search Bureau (PRB), life expec-tancy of women in the country is 72 years old while those of men is 65 years old. For both sexes, the life expectancy is 69 years old.
As of mid-2012, the Philippines had about 96.2 million people, PRB reports. The number is expected to increase to 117.8 million by mid-2025 and further to 154.5 million by mid-2050.
The country’s births per 1,000
population is 25. In comparison, the deaths per 1,000 population is only 6. As expected, the percent-age of those in the age bracket of 65 years and older is 4 while those from 15 years old and below is 35.
“Age is an issue of mind over matter,” wrote American humorist Mark Twain. “If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
But it does! In fact, a range of degenerative diseases accompany aging, such Alzheimer’s disease, a disorder that causes the gradu-al loss of brain cells. There are an estimated 200,000 senior Filipinos suffering from this kind of disease, but very few are diagnosed because many families do not consult a doc-tor and dismiss the ailment as for-getfulness that comes with old age.
“Alzheimer’s disease is chronic and progressive, and it takes its toll economically and socially,” remind-ed neurologist Jacqueline Domin-guez of the St. Luke’s Memory Cen-ter.
She encouraged vulnerable groups – 65 years old and above – to engage in activities that stim-ulate mental exercise like cards, bridge, scrabble and domino. If your parents like videoke singing, don’t stop them. Doing so makes the brain works as it requires read-ing the lyrics and remembering the tunes while the old folks are enjoy-ing themselves.
There are good reasons for such be-lief. “Unlike wealth, education can never be stolen,” said a mother of four. “We are not rich but with good education, I know that my children can find a good job later on,” another one explained.
Good education is one of the best ways to get out from poverty. A lot of peo-ple became rich because of the education they got from prestigious schools and uni-versities. It also means getting connected with the right people.
But in these days of economic crunch, a lot of students have no option but stop schooling altogether. In its 2011 Economic Policy Monitor titled “Education Develop-ment” released in April this year, the gov-ernment think tank Philippine Institute for Development (PIDS) said: “Economic issues facing families (such as high cost of education and the need to work) are perceived to be factors hindering children from attending school.”
“There’s no recourse but to stop schooling for this year,” said Mary Jane, who is supposed to be a second year high school student. “My father is sick and it’s only my mother who is working. In fact, I have to help my mother to make both ends meet. There are four of us children.”
In modern society, receiving system-atic college education seems a necessary way for success. Those who graduate from first-class university may always get more opportunities than others.
What about the dropouts, or those who quit schooling? What does the future hold for them? Will they always end up as losers in life? As one saying puts it, there is always an exception to every rule. With perseverance, hard work, and determina-tion, there are those who excel in life even without finishing college.
Lack of formal education isNO HINDRANCE TO SUCCESS
“EDUCATION never fails.” That was the theme of a recent high school graduation. To most Fili-
pino parents, education is the only inheritance they cangive to their children.
Although his father was a famous ac-tor, Roland Allan Poe dropped out of high school to work in the Filipino film industry as a messenger boy. Later on, he was given acting roles. He started as a stuntman and finally was given his first starring role in Anak ni Palaris at the age of 14. The movie was not a big hit.
But he was determined to hit the big time in Philippine cinema. In 1957, he fi-nally became a star in his own right when he starred in Lo Waist Gang. From there on, Fernando Poe Jr. (using the screen name to capitalize on his father’s popu-larity) became one of the country’s most in-demand actors and even earned the moniker, Da King. He was named last year, although posthumously, as National Artist.
Joseph Ejercito was born in Tondo, an urban district of Manila. His family later
moved to the wealthy suburb of San Juan. He was kicked out during his primary studies at the Ateneo de Manila Univer-sity and subsequently enrolled on an engineering course at the Mapua Institute of Tech-nology in an effort to please his father, but dropped out.
He changed his name to Joseph Estrada (as his mother objected to his chosen career and his decision to quit school-ing) and became an actor, earn-ing several acting awards. He joined politics: first as mayor, then senator, then vice-presi-dent, and finally as president of the country. He is currently the mayor of the city of Manila.
There are those who quit schooling while still in high school. But it didn’t stop them from becoming rich and fa-mous. Take the case of Quen-tin Tarantino, writer and film director who is best known for his movies Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2, Reservoir Dogs, From Dusk Till Dawn and many more. Although he dropped out of high school, Quentin went on to become one of the most successful movie/writ-ers in Hollywood today.
Johnny Depp is known for his TV show 21 Jump Street and many movies like Edward Scissorhands, Secret Window, Blow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and many more. At age 16, his parents divorced and shortly after Johnny dropped out of high school. The first time he was out of his coun-try was when he came to the Philippines to appear in Oliver Stone’s Platoon.
There are those who are destined for fame – like Christina Aguilera. Early in
high school, her mother pulled her out of school to homeschool her be-cause other kids were jealous of her new found fame. Christina has now moved on through life making a ton of number one songs on the charts and selling over 25 mil-lion records worldwide.
Other actors who find fame after quit-ting high school include heartthrob Tom Cruise,
comedian Jim Car-rey, Oscar-nominated
John Travolta, Canadian ce-lebrity Michael J. Fox, Matrix star Keanu Reeves, Academy Award winners Jack Albertson and Nicholas Cage, comedi-an Chris Rock, and Italian Joe Pesci.
Other famous high school dropouts are the following: scientist Albert Einstein, co-median George Carlin, sing-er Billy Joel, Kodak founder George Eastman, Australian songwriter and singer Peter Allen, country music sing-er Randy Travis, composer George Gershwin, news an-chor Peter Jennings, photogra-pher Ansel Adams, songwriter
Bryan Adams, British actress Julie Andrews, and fashion de-signer Miguel Adrover.
Here are more high school dropout: chef Ferran Adria, ac-tor Danny Aiello, billionaire In-dian businessman Dhirubhai Ambani, publisher and editor Walter Anderson, British art-ist Edwin Apps, jazz musician and singer Louis Armstrong, author and philanthropist Brooke Astor, country singer Chet Atkins, singing cowboy Gene Autry, and photographer Richard Avedon.
There are also those who attended college for some reasons, they quit – without finishing a degree. Playwright Edward Albee dropped out of Trinity College after three semesters. Actor and screen-writer Ben Affleck left the Uni-versity of Vermont after one semester; then dropped out of Occidental College to pursue acting.
Paul Thomas Anderson, director of such movies as Boogie Nights and Magnolia, attended film school at New York University but quit after two days because one profes-sor hated Terminator 2 and another gave him a C for a writing assignment.
Woody Allen – Oscar-win-ning screenwriter, actor, di-rector, and producer – was thrown out of New York Uni-versity after one semester for poor grades. He also dropped out of City College of New York. As he admitted, “I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics final. I looked within the soul of the boy sit-ting next to me.”
Other Oscar winners with-out degrees include Clint East-wood, James Cameron, Robert Redford, Michael Moore, Sid-ney Pollack, George Clooney, Hilary Swank, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Steven Spiel-berg (who completed a degree in 2002).
Maya Angelou has re-ceived many honorary doc-torates but never attended college to learn her craft. She’s in good company with many other great American writers, such as Gore Vidal, August Wilson, Mark Twain, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Frost, Joseph Brodsky and Harper Lee.
Of course, everyone now knows the story of Steve Jobs, who dropped out of Reed Col-lege. Since the days of Henry Ford, many business leaders got their starts without the benefit of degrees, including Larry Ellison of Oracle, Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Mic-rosoft, Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz of Facebook, Michael Dell of Dell Comput-ers, Brian Dunn of Best Buy, Anna Wintour of Vogue, John Mackey of Whole Foods, David Geffen, Ralph Lauren and Ted Turner.
Now, you may wonder:
why make a list of famous suc-cessful dropouts? Is it meant to discourage anyone from getting a formal education? Not of course; there are many advantages to going to school and getting degrees, particu-larly if one wants employment in certain fields.
However, one author puts three reasons why an article such as this should be pub-lished. For one, it reminds peo-
ple that there are many ways to educate oneself besides the formal route. For another, it is a good reminder that success – however it is measured – is not always a matter of “follow-ing the rules.” Finally, it can en-courage those without much formal education to pursue their goals.
Now, who says you can’t be famous if you have not graduated from college?
Johnny Depp (from Wikipedia)
Fernando Poe Jr. (from the net)
Billy Joel (from Wikipedia)
Hilary Swank (from Wikipedia)
VOL. 7 ISSUE 255 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, MARCH 13 - 14, 2015 11Davao... FROM 2
Council... FROM 4
Vast... FROM 4
Money... FROM 4
IGACOS... FROM 6Employment... FROM 6
Zamboanga... FROM 7
can stay. This would mean additional income to the communities.
Marques, however, said the program should be sen-sitive to the culture of the
communities. “If the com-munities are the ones being influenced, then we are not being sensitive to them and the program will be a fail-ure,” she said.
DATU BAGO AWARDS. Datu Bago Foundation member Pilar C. Braga (left) accompanied by Marina Ruivivar (center) and Dr. Ma. Iris Melliza, promotes the forthcoming Datu Bago Awards slated on Saturday at The Royal Mandaya Hotel during yesterday’s I-Speak media forum at City Hall. Lean Daval Jr.
to the City Council.She said as of the mo-
ment, her committee has three separate requests from City Agriculturist Office (CHO), City Health Office (CHO), and City Tourism Operations Office
(CTOO).She said the CAO re-
quested for an Agricultural Engineer, the CHO request-ed for medical technicians, and the CTOO wants to cre-ate new position which she did not specify.
plant in the next cropping or after the dry spell ends,” he said.
The Philippine Atmo-spheric, Geophysical and As-tronomical Services Adminis-tration (PAGASA) confirmed earlier this week that the coun-try is already experiencing a mild case of El Niño.
It said a short dry spell may persist in some parts of the country and may prolong the usual dry season.
El Niño is a phenome-non caused by the abnormal warming of the central and eastern Pacific waters, gener-ally manifests in a dry spell, or below normal rainfall, usually following wet conditions.
PAGASA officials had iden-tified Sarangani and other parts of Region 12 as among the most vulnerable areas in terms of the adverse impact of the El Niño. MindaNews
running naked. The gun-fire was very frightening,” Pananggulon narrated.
Pananggulon said that as he was running, he held on to Sarah, who had a deaf-mute disability.
“I wanted Sarah to have a bright future, but that night, that dream died,” he said.
Pananggulon said their family hid in the edge of the river in an effort to escape from the hail of flying bullets.
He said he left his family to get some help as the fight-ing continued.
“I do not know how it happened but I got separated from my family,” Pananggu-lon continued his narration.
When he and his family reunited that same day, he learned Sarah was hit by a stray bullet and died.
“Sarah died that day but my younger son will not accept his sister is already gone,” Pananggulon said.
He was also wounded when a bullet grazed his right shoulder.
Last March 8, MILF of-ficials led by Chair Murad Ebrahim gathered the wid-ows of the 18 fighters killed in the Jan. 25 Mamasapano clash in Camp Darapanan, Simuay, Sultan Kudarat town.
Sammy Al-Mansoor , the chief of staff of the MILF armed wing , Bangsamoro Is-lamic Armed Forces (BIAF), said they gave P70,000 each for the 18 widows of the MILF fighters who died.
Mansoor said they also gave P40,000 financial assis-tance to the 25 of their com-batants who were wounded
in the clash.He said they did not also
forget to give assistance to the families of Sarah and three other civilians who were killed in the crossfire at P40,000 each, and to the five civilians who were wounded, at P20,000 each.
“They are Bangsam-oro and they are part of our struggle,” Mansoor said.
The total amount distrib-uted was P2.5 million.
Mansoor said the mon-ey came from contributions of supporters like those in Marawi City who collect-ed P50,000 for “our Sha-sheed (martyrs)” during a pro-Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) rally last Feb. 10.
Murad told the widows, the wounded and the rela-tives of the slain civilians and wounded that the MILF con-soled itself that those who died attained an honorable death.
“Death is a certainty. But as human beings, it is but nat-ural to still grieve for the loss of loved ones. However, for those of us who struggle for a cause, we console ourselves in the thought that they at-tained an honorable death in defense of their communi-ties,” Murad said.
“We envy them for we are uncertain if we will be gifted with an honorable death; one that is in defense of our communities and in pursuit of the principles that we are fighting for,” he said.
The Maguindanao dialect was spoken throughout the ceremony in Camp Darap-anan. MindaNews
eration will still go on between IGACOS and Davao City with the alternative like the bridge between IGACOS and Panabo City.
Compostela Valley Vice Governor Manuel Zamora, committee on infrastructure chair of the RDC 11 said the IG-
ACOS-mainland bridge might cost P17-Billion to be con-structed in five years.
He said that with the ap-proval of its feasibility study worth P90-Million, the plan will be realized eventual-ly. (PIA 11-Joey Sem G. Dalump-ines)
lion.Likewise, population of
underemployed or those who are working but wanted more work decreased to 6.5 million in January this year from 7.1 million in the previous year.
Meanwhile, 54.6 percent of the total employed popu-lation are working in the ser-vices sector mostly in whole-sale and retail trade or in the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; 29.5 percent are in the agriculture sector; and 15.9 percent are in the indus-try sector.
“From employment gains
to reductions in unemploy-ment and underemployment, the labor market is becom-ing robust, and we hope that this will continue and further benefit the poor, especially as the economy grows faster at a higher trajectory,” Socio-economic Planning secretary and NEDA director general Arsenio M. Balisacan said.
“The government must continue its efforts to create a more supportive business environment, allowing the private sector to create more and better jobs,” he added. (PNA)
ployment opportunities in the community.
She said that cassava flour is now widely used in bake-shops in Zamboanga del Norte instead of wheat flour.
Cassava is a tuberous edi-ble plant from which cassava chips and flour, breads, a laun-dry starch, delicacies and even an alcoholic beverage are de-rived.MindaNews
LABOR Secretary Rosalin-da Baldoz called on tuna industry players here
to pursue critical reforms in their labor practices and make sure that they are aligned with international standards.
Baldoz issued the call as she warned that the country’s inclusion of its tuna products in the European Union’s (EU) Generalized System of Prefer-ences Plus (GSP+) list could be jeopardized by the prevailing questionable labor practices in the tuna industry.
In a consultation-dialogue with members of the Socsksar-gen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries, Inc. here on Tuesday, she said it is import-ant for local tuna companies to be compliant with the labor laws to avoid possible prob-lems later on with the EU.
She said they should specifically put an end to the prevailing contractualization schemes in the operations of companies in the industry, es-pecially the “cabo” system that is prevalent in tuna fishing op-
erations.The Labor Code of the
Philippines defines “cabo” as “a person or group of persons or a labor group which, in the guise of a labor organization, supplies workers to an em-ployer, with or without any monetary or other consider-ation whether in the capacity of an agent of the employer or as an ostensible independent contractor.”
Under such scheme, Bal-doz said fishermen are main-ly paid on a sharing scheme based on the total sales and in proportion to the catch rather than fixed wages.
“This sometimes lead to uncertainties whether a fish-er receive the fair share of his hard work and the worth of being away from his family for a long period,” she said.
Fishermen contracted un-der the scheme are not usually covered by health insurance from the Philippine Health In-surance Corporation or Phil-Health as well as membership with the Pag-Ibig Fund and
the Social Security System, she said.
Baldoz said such situation increases the vulnerability of the fishermen to income risks associated with old age, illness, disability, work-related injury and unemployment.
“That primarily push-es them more into poverty,” she said during the consul-tation-dialogue called by the agency.
Baldoz said the EU has been closely monitoring the la-bor situation in the city’s tuna fishing and its allied industries.
She earlier emphasized that the industry needs to align its labor practices with global standards as the EU GSP+ in-volved the ratification and ob-servance with 27 international conventions on human and la-bor rights, including the eight International Labor Organiza-tion’s core conventions.
“The issue of labor rights, when it comes to the GSP+ privileges, is a serious mat-ter. (The EU) can suspend or withdraw them in case of vio-
lations,” she said.She said the tuna indus-
try should not allow the GSP+ privileges to be put to waste as it greatly benefits from it.
“We should find solutions where we can help each other,” she said.
EU’s GSP+ mainly grants zero duty or tariff to over 6,000 eligible exports from the Philippines to its mem-ber-states.
It covers processed and canned-tuna products caught by 100-percent Philip-pine-registered vessels.
The city, which is home to six of the country’s tuna can-neries, is dubbed the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines.”
The industry generates annual export receipts of around $350 million and di-rectly employs about 20,000 workers.
Industry sources said the inclusion of the country in the EU GSP+ will mean at least ad-ditional $15 million, or P660 million, in revenues for tuna exporters.
Labor Secretary Baldoz wants tunaindustry to improve labor practices
Participating exhibi-tors include leaf artist Mishael Pueblas, Artlink composed of pen and ink artists Arnel Villagas and friends, young pen art-ist Tanya Gaisano-Lee, abstract painter Mik Gil Bumanlag, students and faculty members from the School of Fine Arts
and Design of the Philip-pine Women’s College of Davao, and Tabula Rasa composed of veteran art-ists, Bai Manginsay, Bong Perez, Brando Cendeño, Daryl Escallar and Dinky Munda. The Davao Art Market at SM Lanang Premier runs now until March 15.
LAST MONDAY saw the opening of the Davao Art Market showcasing the works of local Da-bawenyo visual artists at the Atrium of SM Lanang Premier. With the aim of promot-ing Dabawenyo arts, the Davao Art Market is a platform designed for homegrown artists to make their creations accessible to the market.
By Kenneth Irving Ong
PIONEERS paving the way for progress. Ordinary folks achiev-ing feats of brilliance. A company professing its commitment to a nation on the verge of attaining its full po-tential. Grand themes that flow through the veins of a legendary tale forged under the magnificent sun. Legacy: The Sun Life Story weaves through de-cades of how the country’s first and longest-stand-ing life insurer stood by Filipinos throughout a resplendent history. It tells of an enduring love spanning over a century: from the Spanish colo-nial days to the birth of independence, from the pains of war to the joys of rebuilding and, from the attainment of democracy to recent cataclysmic and challenging events that
bring us to a present filled with hope for a future that is brighter than ever. Written with mas-tery by Palanca award-winning playwright Floy Quintos and brought to life by veteran actors Rob-ert Seña and Isay Alvarez, this groundbreaking mu-
sical play will unfold in front of Sun Life employ-ees, advisors, and clients. It also has play dates in key cities where the brand holds presence such as Manila, Central Luzon, Cebu, and Davao. Taking inspiration from the romance of the
past and the groove of the modern times, this origi-nal musical celebrates the journey of those who have paved the way and con-tinue to play a part in Sun Life’s mission to provide brighter lives to its be-loved Filipinos. By honor-ing and revisiting bygone
Glaiza de Castro and Marc Abaya portray Gabriela and Diego Silang in Wagas
An MXtraordinary event hits Hong Kong with MX3
FOR the first time in Wagas, viewers get the chance to know the love story behind Philippine heroes Gabriela and Di-ego Silang. In 1872, both Gabriela and Diego were prisoners. She, trapped in an unhappy mar-riage; and him, a slave and a captive after surviving a ship-wreck. When they met, both felt what freedom was like. Their first meeting was in a church, where it was love at first sight for Diego after see-ing Gabriela, who was then wearing a black veil. It took
GRAND celebrations mean even grander stars. That’s why the Kapuso Network sees no reason not to send its premier stars to this year’s celebration of the Araw ng Dabaw. This Sunday, March 15, the unforgettable duo of Kapuso drama king Den-nis Trillo and sought-after leading man Tom Rodri-guez takes Davao City’s Gaisano Mall Atrium for a Kapuso Mall Show begin-ning at 4PM. TomDen fans are sure to eat their hearts out with thrilling perfor-mances from the two. March 16, Monday, wel-comes the recently wed couple and GMA prime-time royalty Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera at the Activity Center of Abreeza Mall starting at 3PM. Dingdong and Mar-ian, who each top bills
upcoming primetime se-ries Pari ‘Koy and The Rich Man’s Daughter, respec-tively, treat Dabawenyos to an afternoon of excite-ment and even romance. On the same day, Asia’s Songbird Regine Velas-quez-Alcasid takes SM City Davao for a 5PM Kapuso Fans’ Day at the Annex. Supporters of “Ate”, as
EVENT ENTERTAINMENT
A love story 120 years in the making
days, Sun Life compels the present to become more meaningful. It reaf-firms its commitment and upholds the legacy that has been built for over a century, radiated by a love that can withstand the travails that time may bring. Because what is love but an enduring promise in a world of uncertainty and insecurity; an exchange of vows transcending death and human frailty; gener-ations coming together to break a cycle of despera-tion and desolation. It is with true love and the sincerest of inten-tions of Sun Lifers from yesteryears to today that this masterpiece has been crafted. May it rouse in ev-eryone a determination to carry on its noble mission and to continue building a brighter Philippines, one brighter life at a time.
IT was a hazy cold morning in Hongkong last March 8, but thousands of our kababayans trooped to Sin Yin Catholic Secondary School to be part of ABS CBN Concert with artists Jo-vit Baldovino and Marcelito Pomoy & hosted by the wacky tandem of Chickee Boom boom & the hilarious Jayhoo! The event coincides with the 25th celebra-tion of The Lord’s flock Catholic Charismatic Ministry opening it with deep prayer of heal-ing & evangelization. The venue roar with happiness when our kababayans raise their Mx3 envelopes con-taining samples of capsule, tea and coffee. It’s like winning lotto when they got Mx3 gift bags out of selected envelopes stamped with either M-X-3! The chaos exploded when forty contestants swamped the stage to play MX3 Q&A portion where six were left to take the “longest breath “ challenge of saying “ Be Mx traordinary with Mx3!” The grand winner receives grand prize bag of assorted Mx3 products. This is another success for Mx3 extending to Asia bringing good news of wellness! A warm start for all our kababayans in their cold hazy day!
Glaiza de Castro and Marc Abaya portray Gabriela and Diego Silang in Wagas
Marian, Dingdong, Charice, and Bianca Gonzalez at Abreeza Mall for Araw ng Davao weekend
him five long years before he finally won the heart of Gabri-ela. Despite the Spanish occupa-tion, their love freely endured. Together, they fought for their fellowmen in Ilocos, ig-nited by their love for their country. Still, this was not the only battle that put their love to the test. This Saturday, March 14, witness the first of two parts of the Gabriela and Diego Si-lang love story as portrayed by Kapuso stars Glaiza de Cas-tro and Marc Abaya in Wagas, 7PM on GMA News TV.
DAVAOEÑOS, expect nothing less than a star-studded long weekend as Abreeza Mall brings you its Araw ng Dabaw 2015 event lineup! To kick off the festivities, Pinoy Pride, Charice Pempengco will perform in a free concert at the Abreeza Mall Activity Center on March 14, Saturday at 6pm. Ex-clusive meet and greet passes are in store for the first 60 shop-pers who can present a receipt worth P300 from any Abreeza Mall store or P500 from Robin-sons Supermarket dated March 11 to 14, 2015 at the Main Con-cierge at the Ground Floor. On March 15, Sunday at 3pm, TV personality and newly-mint-
ed book author Bianca Gonzalez will grace the Activity Center for the Davao leg of book signing for her national bestselling book, Paano Ba ‘To: How to Survive Growing Up. Readers and fans who present a copy of Paano Ba ‘To at the venue can get up close and have their books signed by the author herself. Culminating the Araw ng Da-baw celebration on March 16, Monday, the GMA Kapuso Mall Show will bring an afternoon of free entertainment to Davaoe-ño fans at the Activity Center at 4pm. The show will be headlined by no less than the newly-mar-ried ultimate showbiz couple, Marian Rivera and Dingdong Dantes.
The three-day series of ce-lebrity events caps off Abreeza Mall’s week-long Araw ng Dabaw celebration, which launched on March 9 with the mall-wide Araw ng Dabaw 2015 Sale. Ongoing until March 16, the sale also of-fers customers more shopping enjoyment this weekend with extended mall hours of up to 10pm on March 13, Friday and March 14, Saturday. For inquiries and updates on Abreeza Mall news and events, please visit the Main Concierge at the ground floor or call (082) 321-9332. Stay updated by liking www.facebook.com/AbreezaMall and following @abreezatweets on Twitter and @iloveabreezamall on Instagram.
upcoming primetime se-ries Pari ‘Koy and The Rich Man’s Daughter, respec-tively, treat Dabawenyos to an afternoon of excite-ment and even romance. On the same day, Asia’s Songbird Regine Velas-quez-Alcasid takes SM City Davao for a 5PM Kapuso Fans’ Day at the Annex. Supporters of “Ate”, as
Regine is fondly called, get to witness her sing her hits and participate in amusing games and surprises. GMA Network’s Head for Regional Strategy and Busi-ness Development (RSBD) Division and AVP for Re-gional TV Oliver Amoroso shares, “Davao is a favorite place when it comes to our artists primarily because of
the warmth the Dabawe-nyos extend to them. The Network highly values the relationship it has with the city and its people that’s why it’s only appropriate that as they celebrate the Araw ng Dabaw, they be accorded the gratitude they deserve by bringing over GMA’s brightest stars to rejoice with them.” Highlights of the Net-work’s participation in
this year’s Araw ng Da-baw can be seen via Let’s Fiesta! on April 19 airing in all nine GMA regional stations in Ilocos, Bicol, Dagupan, Cebu, Iloilo, Ba-colod, Davao, GenSan, and Cagayan de Oro. To know more about the latest updates on the Net-work’s regional events, fol-low GMA Regional TV on Twitter and Instagram via @GMARegionalTV.
PARK INN by Radisson Davao’s poolside was abuzz with tongue wag-ging and laughs as the hotel introduced their Cocktales mix-ology cocktails. “Here at Park Inn by Radisson Davao, we not only give you a fine se-lection of drinks, we also thrill you with some trivia and flairtending action,” explains General Man-ager Pavan Kakar during the hotel’s social gather-ing with media friends and long staying guests. “’Cocktales,’ as we call it, is our series of cocktail specials at the Pool Bar, offered daily from 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM. Every month, we highlight a certain drinks and share with you the secrets and
juicy details of how they were concocted. You see your drink mixed in front of you as our bartender ‘pours’ out the ‘hard’ truth of what you sip. You might even chance on getting some tips and do side-by-side mixing with our bartenders,” added Mr. Kakar Urbanites can look forward to an eclectic list of featured drinks this month of March such as the Bloody Mary, Mar-garita, Mojito, and Caipir-inha. Also featured is the hotel’s signature cocktail, the RBG WooWoo, which is served in all Park Inn
hotels across the world. I loved the sweet and punchy Caipirinha as well as the fresh and minty fin-ish of their Mojito. What bowled me over though was the RBG WooWoo which was light and re-freshing with a sweet peach-flavoured finish. The cool air around the Pool Lounge and the gath-ered crowd completed the weekend evening. For reservations and in-quiries, call 63 82 272 7600. Follow @parkinndavao on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to get updates on new offers and special pro-motions.
NOTICE OF LOSSNotice is hereby given by LOYOLA PLANS
CONSOLIDATED INC. that CERTIFICATE OF FULL PAYMENT No.(s)
1005316 under Loyola Contract No(s). 32680-2/NNN 130001030 issued to ANTONIO,MANILITA E.
Plan Application Form No. OO-236051 issued to EMELY S. ADLAON
were lost. Any transaction entered into shall be null and void.3/13,20,27
EDGEDAVAO
FIVE Mindanawon cadets made it to the Top 10 of the
Philippine Military Acad-emy’s (PMA) 2015 batch with two Zamboangueños placing second and eighth and a female cadet from Sarangani as the lone woman topnotcher, plac-ing fifth.
Cadet First Class Gen-esis Salvador Dizon of Sta. Maria, Zamboanga City placed second and will re-
ceive the Vice Presidential Saber from Vice President Jejomar C. Binay Sr. Dizon is joining the Army.
Dizon’s townmate Ste-ven Gabica Tali of Baran-gay Lower Calarian placed eighth. He will join the Navy.
“Zamboanga City is very proud to have two of its sons included in the Top 10 of the Sinag-Lahi PMA Class,” said Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Sala-
5 Mindanawon cadets make itto Top 10 of PMA Class 2015
zar. She expressed hope that their accomplish-ments will serve as in-spiration to other young Zamboangueños to always aim for the best in every-thing they do.
Cadet First Class Car-oline Jhoy Ramirez Nacio-nal of Maitum, Sarangani placed fifth and will be joining the Army.
Other top Mindanawon cadets are Brian Salise Vil-lanueva of Lagao, General Santos City (9th) and Re-geric Rex Rivas Fuentes of Mlang, North Cotabato (10th). Both are joining the Army.
Salazar noted that the life stories of the two Zam-boangueño PMA cadets are very inspiring.
Dizon, class salutatori-an, was motivated to join the military by his father
who served the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for many years.
Dizon was on his sec-ond year taking up nurs-ing at the University of the Philippines (UP) when he passed the PMA entrance examination. He finished elementary at the Zion Evangelical School and high school at the Region-al Science High School (RSHS) in this city.
Tali is the proud son of a humble fish vendor, who single-handedly sent his four children to school after his wife left him sev-eral years ago.
Tali was on his second year at the Western Mind-anao State University tak-ing up criminology when he passed the PMA en-trance test. He went to the John Spirig School for his
elementary and later at the Zamboanga National High School (ZNHS)-West.
Lt. Gen. Oscar Lopez, PMA Superintendent, said this year’s graduating class is composed of 155 males and 16 females with 82 males and 7 females joining the Philippine Army, 39 males and 6 fe-males joining the Philip-pine Navy and 31 males and 3 females joining the Philippine Air Force.
“The distinction of this class from the other class-es before are most of these cadets were scholars and top students in their pri-mary and secondary edu-cation prior to becoming cadets in the Academy,” Lopez stressed.
The class valedicto-rian of the 171-member Sinag-Lahi (Sundalong
Isinilang na may Angk-ing Galing at Lakas na Handang Ipaglaban ang Bayan) Class 2015 is Ca-det First Class Arwi Chi-day Martinez, 21, of Ba-guio City. Martinez is also joining the Army.
Martinez, will receive the Presidential Saber from President Aquino during the graduation rites on Sunday, March 15, at the PMA’s Borromeo grounds.
The rest of the cadets in the Top 10 are John Paul Atanacio Bacsain of Pili, Camarines Sur (3rd); Paolo Dominic Mantaring Regis of Calapan City, Ori-ental Mindoro (4th); John Denver Salinto Bambico of Naguilian, La Union (6th); Jan Klyde Blair Tendero Danganan of Irisan, Bagu-io City (7th). MindaNews
FILIPINO champion Manny Pacquiao oozes confidence as he and his American rival
Floyd Mayweather Jr. held press conference to launch countdown to the May 2 superfight expected to rake in close to $500 million.
It’s being billed as the “biggest fight in history” - and the world’s two best pound-for-pound boxers officially came face-to-face for the first time to declare “the wait is over”, writes Chris Bucktin in Los Angeles.
Putting the movie world’s re-cent Oscars to shame, unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Manny Pacquiao provided fight fans with a taste of the razzmatazz they can expect when they step into the ring in seven weeks’ time.
After taking more than an hour each to walk the red carpet, the two welterweights met on the stage of the Nokia Theatre in downtown LA in their only conference before the week of the fight.
Pacquiao said: “I’m 100 per cent confident I will win. The world has waited a long time to see us fight and finally the time has come.
“Training is going incredibly. I have an amazing team around me. The best there is. There will be fire-works for sure but only one winner.
“I don’t care which way the vic-tory comes, but it will be mine.”
The pair will meet in the long-awaited bout, which is all but certain to break boxing’s revenue records, on May 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Experts have conservatively predicted the fight’s worth to be around £165million. However, with lucrative pay-per-view rights, some promoters believe it could net more than £330million - al-most half a billion dollars.
Already, a reported $18 mil-lion battle has broken out between Sky Sports, BT Sport and specialist fight channel BoxNation for the UK rights - on which Mayweather will have the final say.
Mayweather, who places his current WBC and WBA welter-weight belts on the line against Pacquiao’s WBO version of the title, will take home the lion’s share of the purse.
The Pac-Man’s camp agreed
to a 60/40 split to ensure the bout finally took place - a move which could see the American take home a staggering £130m for his night’s work.
Already, as the world’s highest paid sportsman, Mayweather is said to be worth in excess of £232m - and often displays his wealth on social media.
The 38-year-old has begun training at his Las Vegas gym under the watchful eye of his father, Floyd Mayweather Snr.
For Pacquiao, 36, sparring will not commence for perhaps anoth-er 10 days, although he has begun his endurance training after mov-ing to Los Angeles.
Trainer Freddie Roach is cur-rently attending to Chinese fighter Zou Shiming in Macau, leaving the Pac-Man to train under Buboy Fer-nandez and Justin Fortune.
Roach however attended Wednesday’s conference, and said: “When I heard the fight was on, I was the happiest guy in the world.
“We have had two training days and I am happy with where everything is.
EDGEDAVAOSports
Manny assures: I’m 100% that I’ll winANY WHICH WAY I CAN
How much does a megafight ticket cost?THE countdown to the
Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather superfight
is on. That’s exactly seven weeks. Yes buddies, seven weeks to heaven.
This fight needs no hype. It can even do away with a promotional tour. Even a presscon. Just the same, they did one on Wednesday and I can only guess the main pho-tos of practically all major dai-lies in the Philippines and in America today.
The media interest on this fight was reflected in the 600 media people who attended Wednesday’s Los Angeles press conference between the two boxers—biggest crowd ever in a sporting presscon.
If you dream to watch the
fight live, you have to start fat-tening that bank account now and save extra unless you have plenty to spare.
How much does a ticket to the fight?
Oh, brace yourselves for this.
Tickets to the superfight is estimated to cost between $1,500 and $7,500, organiz-ers said, but no assurance how many will go on sale to the public. Meaning, grabbing a ticket is like racing with a herd of raging bulls.
From what I heard, the cheapest could be $4,000. That’s around P180,000. This early, Manny had made it clear. No free tickets. Sorry, but buy your own this time.
Given that cost, looks like
seats at the May 2 bout in Las Vegas are going to be one of the hottest tickets of the sporting decade. For the re-cord, the MGM Grand capacity is limited to only 16,800 peo-ple.
So where does the first
wave of tickets go? Oh defi-nitely not to the ordinary buyers. Many tickets are ex-pected to be distributed to high-rollers of the gambling capital and the A-list celeb-rities wanting to be seen at a fight billed hyperbolically as the biggest ever in boxing history. Even bigger than the Ali-Frazier or the Tyson-Holy-field fights.
This means too that the number of tickets going to the general sale is going to be rel-atively few.
Now, with the cost of the seats and the rarity of tickets available for general admis-sion, I can anticipate how much would the pay-per-view cost in local television carriers would be.
I am pretty sure that’s not gonna come cheap. Even the Live Viewing would be more expensive this time—wheth-er there’s food to go or none. I don’t know if we will have free public viewing too if the cost will be too high.
That’s the expected downside. But we hope there is something we can share about and that’s free public viewing for the millions of Pi-noy fight fans.
In the US, cable net-works are expected to charge around $100 per household for access to the bout. That’s around P4,500 for a pay per view. We usually shell out P400 to P1,000. This time, it should fetch more.
Ken Hershman of HBO
Sports gave the fight a very apt description calling it as the “single largest boxing event of all time.” That, I couldn’t ques-tion.
Veteran fight promoter Bob Arum couldn’t have said it any better than this.
“I would say that Joe Frazier is turning over in his grave, and Muhammad Ali is looking on in disbelief.”
I am starting to drool over this one. A seat at MGM Grand in a dream coverage of a lifetime. This dream chair of mine costs no ticket at least.
Notes: Listen to “Let’s Get It On with Neil Bravo” at 105.9 Balita FM every Saturday 8 am to 10 am. You may write the author at [email protected].
