P 15.00 • 20 PAGES www.edgedavao.net VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 BIG RODY RALLY EDGE Serving a seamless society DAVAO Supporters to gather 1M crowd in Quirino Grandstand Sept. 15 ‘Crying lady’ trends with 82T views in 20 hours D ON’T look now but a massive rally to convince Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte to change his mind and run for president in 2016 will be staged on Septem- ber 15 at the historic Quirino Grandstand in Luneta. Former Philippine Sports Commission chair William “Butch” Ramirez, now a vol- unteer of Duterte, said they are targeting to gather around one million people during the big rally to be spearheaded by taxi drivers in Manila and Luzon. Duterte himself will attend the rally and is expected to speak before an expected big crowd at the Quirino Grandstand where inau- gurations of incoming Philippine presidents mostly took place. “There’s now a call for People Power in Manila,” said Peter T. Laviña, another volun- teer of Duterte. Ramirez said although people may have been disappointed with Duterte’s announce- P2 By CHARLES RAYMOND A. MAXEY FBIG RODY RALLY, 10
Transcript
P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
BIG RODY RALLY
EDGE Serving a seamless society
DAVAOSupporters to gather 1M crowd in Quirino Grandstand Sept. 15
‘Crying lady’ trends with 82T views in 20 hours
DON’T look now but a massive rally to convince Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte to change his mind and run for
president in 2016 will be staged on Septem-ber 15 at the historic Quirino Grandstand in Luneta.
Former Philippine Sports Commission chair William “Butch” Ramirez, now a vol-unteer of Duterte, said they are targeting to gather around one million people during the big rally to be spearheaded by taxi drivers in Manila and Luzon.
Duterte himself will attend the rally and is expected to speak before an expected big crowd at the Quirino Grandstand where inau-gurations of incoming Philippine presidents mostly took place.
“There’s now a call for People Power in Manila,” said Peter T. Laviña, another volun-teer of Duterte.
Ramirez said although people may have been disappointed with Duterte’s announce-
P2
By CHARLES RAYMOND A. MAXEY
FBIG RODY RALLY, 10
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
THERE will be no back-ing down from the sup-porters of Davao City
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.Despite Duterte’s decla-
ration that he will not seek the presidency, Duterte for Federalism movement head, barangay captain Alimoden “Wating” Usman of Brgy. 23-C said supporters have also their own declaration
of “no retreat, no surrender” until the last day of filing of candidacy.
He added that it is the right of Duterte to declare that he will not run on the 2016 presidential election.
“Karapatan mana niya nga mudeklara siya nga dili siya mudagan. Gani mu-lakaw mi ugma, mu-adto mi sa Manila, sa NCR kay naa
pud uban leader ngadto nga among istoryahon tungod kay nag hulat pud sila sa ato tungod kay musuporta pud sila sa atong mayor (It’s his right to declare he is not run-ning. Tomorrow, we will go to Manila and NCR since there are leaders there whom we are going to talk and who are waiting for us since they are also supporting our mayor),”
Usman said.Usman also said that
they already anticipated that Duterte will announce that he will not run in the 2016 election.
He explained that Dute-rte is not the kind of person who will gamble himself in a thing that does not have any assurance.
THE announce-ment of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R.
Duterte not to run for president in 2016 is just a strategy to boost his campaign, a professor said.
Ramon Beleno III of the Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) said Duterte resorted to such move so that he will be the talk of the town spe-
cifically with the survey period just around the corner.
“Matibay yung timing ng pag-announce kasi itong month is crucial for the surveys. Kapag ikaw lagi ang pinag-uusapan sa time ng September sy-empre tataas ka sa survey. Ito yung binabantayan na survey ng mga kandidato before they submit their
AFTER the announce-ment of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R.
Duterte that he not seeking the presidency in 2016 elec-tion, netizens from different social media are practically pleading him to change his mind.
One of them, twitter user Baybayin Retro, posted on his own account an open let-ter to Duterte with the hope of making him change his mind.
The letter sender said Duterte as the only hope of the country and fellow coun-
trymen.“We really want you to
run for presidency in 2016 & you’re the only hope of our country and fellow country-men,” the letter read.
He also said that Duter-te can be the Asian version of Jose Mujica, the poorest president in the world.
“You said that you want to retire from politics due to your old age and you don’t have enough money for your presidential campaign? Well think again Mr. Duterte,” the letter sender said.
2 EDGEDAVAO
NEWS
FNETIZENS, 10
FADDU, 10 FRODY, 10
THE heartwarming photograph of a lady crying over the an-
nouncement of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte that he is not running for president in 2016 became an instant hit on social media.
The photo, taken by photographer Lean Daval Jr. during Duterte’s whirlwind press briefing Monday after-noon at the Grand Men Seng
Hotel, was a trending topic on EDGE Davao’s Facebook page the moment it was posted.
The photo that was titled “SAY IT ISN’T SO, MAYOR” reached 82,100 people with 331 likes and 468 shares, and drew tons of comments from netizens in just 20 hours. The photo also netted 14,400 post clicks.
The lady, sporting a red
shirt and wearing glasses obviously a staunch Dute-rte supporter, was taking a video of the press briefing through her mobile phone when she started sobbing after hearing the mayor said he is not seeking the presi-dency next year and is retir-ing from politics for good.
Although now crying hard, the lady continued in recording the proceeding
while wiping away her tears with a hanky. Photographers who noticed her started clicking their cameras as Duterte was ending his brief statement.
“After talking to my fam-ily and to all persons who are interested in my career as politician, and also those who are agonizing of wait-ing and who believe in me,
BIG-TIME HIKE. Motorists have their vehicles loaded with fuel at a gasoline station along Quirino Avenue in Davao City yesterday. Oil companies increased the prices of petroleum products by almost P2 per liter yesterday morning. Lean Daval Jr.
By CHARLES RAYMOND A. MAXEY
FTRENDING, 10
Netizens to Mayor Rody:Have a change of heartBy FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA
Duterte announcement just a strategy: professorBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR. Rody supporters remain hopeful
POLICE officers backed by members of the Philippine Army are
now hunting down gunmen who shot dead a village councilor during an am-ateur singing contest in a remote village of President Roxas, North Cotabato on Monday night.
Supt. Bernard Tayong, spokesperson of North Co-tabato police office, told the Philippine News Agen-cy (PNA) that the shooting of Wendell Gaseta, a village councilman of Barangay Ilustre, occurred at past 11 p.m. while he facilitated a local amateur singing show.
Quoting report from
Chief Insp. Romy Castanares, chief of the President Roxas Philippine National Police (PNP), said Gaseta who chairs the village peace and order committee was head-ing for home when gunmen opened fire on him.
Tayong said the victim was hit in the head and body. Responding villagers rushed him to the town cen-ter but was declared dead on arrival.
“Our police in President Roxas are hunting down the suspects,” Tayong said.
Tayong said violence had been haunting the vil-lage after two previous shooting incidents have
been reported the past three weeks.
He said the names of the attackers have been known but he refused to reveal them pending results of fol-low up operations.
As to the motive, Tayong said investigation was still going on.
On Monday last week, Nilo Sintos, project engi-neer of a government proj-ect in President Roxas, was also ambushed in the vil-lage of Ilustre. He was on a motorbike heading toward Arakan town when the sus-pects, on board a separate motorbike, shot him from behind.
Sintos had visited a road project in Arakan Valley De-velopment Complex when waylaid by suspected New People’s Army guerillas.
Tayong said investiga-tors are still determining if the Gaseta killing was re-lated to the murder of the project engineer.
Last month, gunmen also killed Joel Gulmatico, a farmer organization leader in Arakan town.
The Army has deployed peacekeeping forces in the hinterlands of Arakan, Pres-ident Roxas and Antipas not to launch offensives but to push for peace and develop-ment programs. (PNA)
PROVINCIAL Agricultur-ist Dr. Anastacia No-tarte asked the people
of Davao del Norte to con-serve water in order to miti-gate the effects of the El Niño phenomenon.
Even though Davao del Norte is not considered a high risk, the provincial gov-ernment is not taking any chances with the looming dry spell forecast to affect 32 provinces toward the end of the year.
Notarte stressed that ev-ery Dabaonon has a role to play, particularly the farmers, to mitigate the effects of the dry spell.
“One should knowingly take notice how to conserve water. Our rice farmers, in particular, should always be observant if the rice paddies are already full. They should apply intermittent irrigation. They should save water in-stead of disposing the excess water to the rivers,” she said.
The Philippine Atmo-spheric, Geophysical and As-tronomical Services Admin-istration (PAGASA), early this
year, identified the province of Davao del Norte as among those affected by the dry spell.
Notarte cited some mea-sures implemented by her office including ensuring the rice farms and distribution of drought-resistant seeds as well as installation of water pumps that could irrigate 10 hectares of rice land each.
She further explained that farmers should avail of the rice crop insurance given to farmers.
The program is a disas-ter-preparedness program of the provincial government to mitigate the severe effect of El Niño.
The official stressed that insurance is a big help in case rice cropping fails, especially that the indemnity could at least cover part of the losses.
She added that farmers can also utilize the fund to go for substitute crops for food sufficiency.
With the looming El Niño, Notarte now doubts whether the province can still sustain its food sufficiency level.
A man from Maguin-danao reportedly to be a major supplier
of suspected methamphet-amine hydrochloride to South Cotabato towns and in Koronadal City was arrested during a drug buy bust op-eration Tuesday morning, police said.
Chief Insp. Rail Villagra-cia, chief of South Cotabato Police Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force, identified the suspect as Rizalde Malagu-ial, 34 of Barangay Atan, Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao.
A drug buy bust opera-tion was set up early today along Zulueta Street, Bar-nagay Zone 4, Koronadal City that led to Malaguial’s arrest.
Police seized six heat-sealed sachets of suspected shabu and marked money.
Police said Malaguial admitted to investigators he was one of the big time suppliers of shabu to the towns of Banga, Surallah, Polomolok and Sto Nino, all in South Cotabato and in Koronadal City.
A police anti-narcotics agent revealed at a news conference that prohibited substance proliferating in South Cotabato originated in Cotabato City and Maguind-anao.
The biggest shabu hauled by police in South Cotabato was seized from a supplier in Sto. Nino, South Cotaba-to. The suspect admitted he sourced supplies from Ma-guindanao and Cotabato City big time drug pushers.
Charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 are being prepared against Malaguial. (PNA)
FOR MAMA MARY. Catholic devotees offer prayers at the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in time for the celebration of her birthday at San Pedro Cathedral yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.
Army, PNP hunt down suspects in village councilman’s murder
POLICE arrested a big-time marijuana pusher in a buy-bust opera-
tion in Matanao, Davao del Sur Monday afternoon.
The Philippine Drug En-forcement Agency (PDEA) 11 identified the suspect as Crespo R. Genobaga, a 50-year-old farmer from Purok Antolihao, Barangay Kauswagan, Matanao.
Genobaga was nabbed by the joint forces of PDEA 11, Davao del Sur Provincial Po-lice Office (DSPPO) Anti-Ille-gal Drugs Special Operations Task Force, DSPPO Provin-cial Intelligence Branch, Matanao Municipal Police Station and DSPPO Public Safety Company at around 3:00 p.m. on September 7.
The suspect was col-lared after selling five kilos
of suspected dried marijua-na seeds worth P20,000 to a PDEA agent, who acted as poseur-buyer.
Further search by po-lice netted from Genobaga five kilos more of suspected dried marijuana. Drug para-phernalia and the buy-bust marked money were also re-covered from his possession.
Genobaga is now de-tained at Davao City Police Office (DCPO) while the seized suspected marijuana fruiting tops were submitted to PDEA 11 laboratory for examination.
The suspect will face a case for violating the Repub-lic Act 9165 The Compre-hensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 particularly sell-ing and possession of illegal drugs and paraphernalia.
Farmer nabbed for marijuanaBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.
Big-time illegal drug supplier is arrested
Dabaonons told to conserve water as dry spell worsensShe said the 86 percent
rice sufficiency of the prov-ince is expected to drop in case the dry spell prolongs, although Davao del Norte be-longs to the provinces with medium-risk vulnerability to
El Niño.At present, Davao del
Norte is producing 4.47 tons of rice per hectare in all eco-system as compared to the 4.09 tons per hectare in the previous year. (PNA)
CHECKING SCHEDULE. Registrants check out the list of the Commission on Election’s schedules and areas of its satellite registration at the Comelec regional office inside Magsaysay Park yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 20154 EDGEDAVAOEDGEDAVAO
SUBURBIA
THE provincial chief of the Criminal Investi-gation and Detection
Group in Davao del Norte said that Tagum City has a market for the illegal drug shabu being bought by “many buyers” at the price fetching from “P5,000 to P6,000 per gram.”
Police Chief Inspector Francis Sonza apprised the provincial board in session Monday afternoon, adding that shabu is sold in the city at that price range, which is lower than the “P8,000 to P9,000 per gram in Davao City.”
“The lower price of sha-bu in Tagum would mean more supply and demand of it, that’s why dito kami (CIDG) nagko-concentrate. If the price of it increases, then it means there’s lack of sup-
ply,” he explained.He said that despite re-
cent successes of anti-drug campaigns of law enforce-ment agencies, drug trade is still present in the city par-ticularly in a predominantly Muslim area at Barangay Madaum, where he said they have a hard time making pro-filing of those involve with illegal drugs due to lack yet of agents from the local pop-ulation.
“We need to convince drug addicts to work with us as drug dealers would only sell to noted consumers of drugs,” Sonza said, stressing the difficulty of the campaign amid CIDG’s small operation-al budget.
Four other barangays of the city’s 23 barangays are on top of CIDG drug watch list. These are Magugpo
West, Mankilam, Apokon and Magdum.
Last Aug. 29 the CIDG joined in by local police, Highway Patrol Group Re-gion-Davao, and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agen-cy-XI and led by PCI Sonza himself made simultaneous raids on various hideouts of identified top criminals and drug dealers in the city, and in the neighboring Asuncion and Sto. Tomas towns result-ing to death and arrest of 4 and 9 suspects, respectively, seizing of firearms, explo-sives and 241 grams of shabu worth P2.2 million.
Sonza said that the raids’ seizures revealed the inter-play of relationship between the drug dealers to gunrun-ners and gun-for-hire crimi-nals, adding gunrunners are selling firearms to drug deal-
ers and criminals.He also said that the
CIDG is “still on the process of validating” the reports that some politicians, elected and appointed officials includ-ing those in the police force and barangay officials are involved with or protecting the shabu trade or are using shabu.
Sonza batted on an-ti-drug campaigns at the ba-rangay and grassroots levels emphasizing on the need to educate the “future users”, the youths than the present users. “Halos wala na tayong pag-asa sa mga user.”
He said they found out that among the drug users are girls, aged 16 to 20, and a report said that some girls are offering sex just to get drugs. (Cha Monforte, Cor-respondent)
PROVINCIAL Agricul-turist Dr. Anastacia Notarte asked the
people of Davao del Norte to conserve water in order to mitigate the effects of the El Niño phenomenon.
Even though Davao del Norte is not considered a high risk, the provincial government is not taking any chances with the loom-ing dry spell that is fore-cast to affect 32 provinces toward the end of the year.
During the 2nd Provin-cial Organic Agriculture Congress last September 3, 2015, Notarte stressed ev-ery Dabaonon has a role to play, particularly the farm-ers, to mitigate the effects of the dry spell.
“One should knowing-ly take notice how to con-serve water. Our rice farm-
ers, in particular, should always be observant if the rice paddies are already full. They should apply in-termittent irrigation. They should save water instead of disposing the excess wa-ter to the rivers,” Notarte said .
The Philippine Atmo-spheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) early this year identified the province of Davao del Norte as among those af-fected by the dry spell.
Notarte cited some measures implemented by her office, to include insur-ing the rice farms, distribu-tion of drought-resistant seeds, as well as, installa-tion of water pumps that could irrigate ten hectares of rice land each.
The official further explained that a farmer should avail of the rice crop insurance given to farmers.
The program is a disas-ter preparedness program of the provincial govern-ment to mitigate the severe effect of El Niño.
She stressed that the in-surance is a big help in case the rice cropping fails, es-pecially that the indemnity could at least cover part of the losses.
She added a farmer can also utilize the fund to go for substitute crops for food sufficiency.
With the looming El Niño, Notarte now doubts whether the province can still sustain its food suffi-ciency level.
She said the 86 percent rice sufficiency of the prov-
ince is expected to drop in case the dry spell prolongs, although Davao del Norte is belong to the medium-risk vulnerability of El Niño compared to other prov-inces in the country.
At present, Davao del Norte is producing 4.47 tons of rice per hectare in all ecosystem as compared to the previous year that has a yield of 4.09 tons per hectare.
The El Niño phenome-non is an unusual warming of the sea surface tempera-ture across the equatorial Pacific Ocean that results to extreme weather.
This would mean drought for the continents of Asia and Australia, while the other parts of the globe like the US expect more rains.
FIRST district Rep. Cel-so Lobregat has ex-pressed apprehension
that more than 100,000 reg-istered voters may not be able to cast their vote next year due to incomplete data with the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Lobregat disclosed that 27 percent representing 112,440 of the 412,530 registered voters are with incomplete or without bio-metrics at all based on the data of the two local election offices as of September 1.
Lobregat said that 63,187 of the 112,440 reg-istered voters with incom-plete or without biometrics are from the first district and the remaining 49,253 are from the second district.
The first congressional district, which covers 37 of this city’s 98 barangays, has a total of 218,343 registered voters as of July 20 this year.
The second congressio-nal district that covers the remaining 61 barangays has 194,187 registered voters as of July 20 this year.
Lobregat said they will not be able to cast their votes in the 2016 national and local elections following
Comelec’s requirements of “no biometrics, no vote.”
He also doubts that all of the 112,440 who lack data can undergo the validation with the Comelec until Octo-ber 31, this year.
He said there are only 18 days left for this month while there will be no val-idation and registration of voters from October 12 to 16 since it is the period of filing the Certificate of Can-didacy (COC) by the candi-dates.
He said even if the Comelec can accommodate 1,000 people daily still at least half of the 112,440 may not be able to validate their data with the Comelec.
However, Lobregat has strongly urged those with incomplete data to under-go validation process as re-quired by the Comelec the earliest possible time.
“Let us not wait for the last day of the registration and validation,” Lobregat said.
Second district Rep. Lil-ia Nuño said she had been going to the barangays tell-ing the residents to validate their registration with the Comelec. (PNA)
AN inventor yesterday called on the city gov-ernment to put up an
incubation center where the start-ups can turn their ideas into working prototypes.
In an interview, Virgilio Sangutan, president of Davao Inventors Association (DIA), such facility should be built in Davao City to give profes-sional and budding inventors a space where they can do research and development to improve on their ideas.
He said the DIA, which has around 30 active mem-bers, sought the help of the city council two years ago but the local government could not provide a lot for the cen-ter.
Sangutan said the facility would cost at least P10 mil-lion.
He lamented that out of
the P20-billion budget of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) only P2 million to P3 million was al-located for inventors. From research to development, each inventor needs at least P500,000, he said.
The Philippines ranked 100th in the Global Innova-tion Index, he noted.
He said what most inven-tors do is to do the incubation by themselves.
Sangutan said other countries hold their inven-tors in high regard, making them consultants on trans-portation and poverty allevi-ation.
He said it is best to con-struct the facility near the Mindanao Science and Tech-nology Centrum in Bago Os-hiro, Tugbok, this city.
FIRE hits the historic Pedro Colina Hill at the heart of the city
Tuesday morning and damaged at least a dozen houses, fire officials said.
Fire Inspector James Ra, speaking for the Co-tabato City Bureau of Fire Protection, said the fire started from a road-side store just beside an electric post and quickly spread to nearby houses made of semi-concrete materials.
The fire started at about 2:20 a.m. follow-ing heavy down pour, Ra said, adding that 12 hous-es were affected, 10 were razed to the ground with an initial estimated cost of damage of PHP1 mil-lion.
“The fire was con-tained in an hour,” Ra said. “We have difficulty reach-ing the fire scene because of narrow road, vehicles parked made the road narrower,” he said. (PNA)
CIDG bares shabu market in DavNor
Dabaonons told to conserve water
Comelec: 112,440 voters in Zamboanga lack data
Davao City gov’t asked to build incubation center for inventors
Fire hits historic PC Hill in Cotabato
FDAVAO, 10
TARP CLEANUP. Teenagers work hand in hand to fold a huge tarpaulin which they had cleaned up at the seashore near Magsaysay Park in Davao City yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 5EDGEDAVAO
ECONOMYConstruction of incubation center pushed
FCONSTRUCTION, 10
THE Davao Inven-tors Association (DIA) is eyeing
the construction of an incubation center in a portion of a four-hectare area owned by the De-partment of Science and Technology (DOST) at Barangay Bago Oshiro in Tugbok District, Davao City.
This, after the Davao City Council said in a session last year that the city government has no public land where the center can be set up.
The association pro-posed Davao City Busi-ness Incubation and Livelihood Development Resource Center (Build-er) as the name of the center. Councilor Bonifa-cio Militar is the author of the proposal.
“We’re targeting to have the center at the area where it will be nearer to the Mindan-ao Science Centrum,” DIA president Virgilio Sangutan told reporters
at the sidelines of the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Annex.
DOST assistant re-gional director Mirasol Domingo said of the 4- hectare public land property, only 2.5 were developed. The area was donated by the Bureau of Plan Industry (BPI).
“We will look on the proposal,” Domingo said, adding that the proposed incubation center can be connected to the exist-ing center. “It could be constructed on the top of the existing facility so that visitors can directly go to the center.”
Sangutan said the center is necessary for the development of ideas of inventors here and translate it into a product which can be saleable to the market.
Sangutan said that the Builder will serve “as an incubation and development center for researches, inventions, and ideas of Davao-
By CHENEEN R. CAPONbased inventors.”
He said earlier that the incubation center will be comprised of laboratories for experi-
menting. Inventors and researchers working in the center will usually take at least six months in developing their prod-
ucts or inventions.After the product de-
velopment, developed ideas and products of inventors will then be
transferred to the pro-posed Eco-Industrial Davao Economic Export Zone, wherein factories
RICE MEET. Davao Investors Association president Virgilio Sangutan answers queries from members of the media about the upcoming 2015 Regional In-ventions Contest and Exhibits (RICE) slated on October 1 to 3 at NCCC Mall.
Sangutan graced Kapehan sa Dabaw at the Annex of SM City Davao on Mon-day. Lean Daval Jr.
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 20156 THE ECONOMY EDGEDAVAO
THE construction in-dustry in Davao City will continue to grow
by double digits in the next three years, an expert said.
“That’s the trend. I ex-pect that the industry will grow at least 10 percent every year starting next year until 2018,” Davao Constructors Association president Engineer Ramon Allado told EDGE Davao.
Allado said the govern-ment will continue to spend much of its budget for infra-structure as well as the pri-
vate sector like through the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.
“Just the DPWH budget in 2012 naa lang P160 bil-lion. Ngayon P400 billion na. That would translate to construction whether you like it or not,” Allado said.
He said construction activities for various infra-structure projects for res-idential, commercial and industrial of the private sec-tor have been increasing for so many years in the region.
Construction of subdi-
visions, hotels, condomini-ums, and other commercial buildings in Davao City have been growing for the past years, Allado added.
He also projected that construction for low-cost housing projects is among the fastest growing because of the growing demand here in the city.
“There’s a huge market here because of the housing backlog and it will contin-ue to grow because of the increasing number of mi-grants,” Allado said.
The number of BPO cen-ters and building in the city are also growing because of the growing number of investors and players in the ICT industry which the city is known for.
“Investors in the ICT-BPO industry consider Davao City as there next location aside from Manila,” Allado said, adding that the city provide a venue for continuity of operation of various businesses.
“The growth in the con-struction industry and its
allied industries will con-tinue to grow because the city is conducive for such activities,” he said.
Allado said the grow-ing population, peace and order and the cheaper cost of doing business here were among the reasons why in-vestors locate in Davao.
Earlier, National Eco-nomic and Development Au-thority (NEDA) 11 regional director Maria Lourdes Lim said the construction is one of the industries that drive the economy of the region.
She said that in 2014 the construction posted an impressive growth with the infulz of provate construc-tion coupled with increased government spending on infrastructure, including road upgrading and Ty-phoon Pablo rehabilitation projects.
Lim also cited Tamugan Surface Water Facility worth P10 billion enrolled under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP). (CRC/With a report from Mindan-ews)
TWO Mindanao regions are courting Muslim tourists to visit the
region by putting up more restaurants that serve certi-fied Halal foods.
According to Department of Tourism (DOT) regional directors for Davao and Soc-csksargen or simply, Sox, the plan was to gradually make the region more Halal-friend-ly for Muslim tourists as well as residents.
“We’re losing (potential) Muslim tourists because they don’t know where to eat,”
DOT 11 regional director Ro-berto Alabado III told report-ers in an interview.
Alabado pointed out that the lack of halal-certified restaurants in the country somehow dampened Muslim tourists’ desire to visit the country.
Halal, in Arabic means “permissible” or “lawful.”
Data from the Washing-ton-based think tank Pew Research Center showed that as of 2010, 23 percent of the global population, or 1.6-bil-lion people, belonged to Is-
lam.Alabado said that if the
plan were to eventually reach out to Muslim tourists, which he said were a niche arket, the region should push for ef-forts to add restaurants that cater to their needs.
Meanwhile, DOT XII (Soc-cskargen) regional director Nelly Dillera, in a separate in-terview, said that the region was also slowly positioning itself as the center of halal food and tourism in the coun-try.
Soccsksargen stands for
the four provinces and inde-pendent cities in Region XII namely South Cotabato, Co-tabato City, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and General San-tos City.
The local government, however, has adapted the brand Sox as it is easier to pronounce and spell.
Cotabato City is home to the recently-opened and big-gest halal-accredited slaugh-terhouse in the country. Cur-rently, Davao is also pushing for a halal-accredited slaugh-terhouse in the region. (PNA)
Most oil companies en-forced a big-time price hike of Php 1.75 per
liter on gasoline and Php 1.95 per liter on diesel effective yes-terday.
Seaoil Philippines Inc., Phoenix Petroleum Philip-pines, PTT Philippines and Petron Corp. boosted gasoline prices by Php 1.75 per liter and increase diesel prices by Php 1.95 per liter.
Eastern Petroleum Corp., on the other hand, said it would hike gasoline prices by Php 1.70 per liter and diesel by Php 1.90 per liter.
SPI applied the price changes at 12:01 a.m. Tues-day, while Eastern Petroleum, Phoenix Philippines, PTT Phil-ippines and Petron Corp.’s new rates took effect at 6 a.m.
SPI and Petron added they also increased their kerosene prices by Php 1.85 per liter.
Meanwhile, Eastern Petro-leum explained the price hike was caused by the supply cut
from oil exporting countries due to the low demand.
The oil company added analysts are hoping -- that with the latest oil price rebound -- global oil prices had already hit its lowest price. An oil glut has caused the constant de-crease in prices for the past nine weeks, which was mainly triggered by shale oil produc-ers that started last year. (PNA)
“Analysts are hopeful that world oil prices have already seen its bottom price, while maintaining that the volatility in world oil prices would re-main for the rest of the year,” it added.
According to the Energy Department’s oil price moni-tor, diesel prices are currently playing between Php 23.10-26.77 per liter, with a common price of Php 23.95 per liter.
Gasoline, on the other hand, has a price range of Php 35.40-41 per liter. It has a com-mon price of Php 40.20 per liter. (PNA)
Construction sector growth seen
2 Mindanao regions to establish more restos that serve Halal foods
Oil firms implement big-time increase
By CHENEEN R. CAPON
WITH the increasing competition in the ASEAN region to
attract foreign investments, the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) were urged to craft with a new incentives regime that can compete with other Southeast Asian peers.
DOF and DTI met on Tuesday in a meeting with the Committee on Ways and Means at the House of Repre-sentatives and both commit-
ted to come up with the final proposal for the Rationaliza-tion of Fiscal Incentives (RFI) Bill.
The RFI Bill aims to in-crease government revenue by providing other incentives other than income tax holi-day (ITH).
For the part of the Philip-pine Economic Zone Authori-ty (PEZA), its deputy director general Mary Harriet O. Abor-do noted that ASEAN neigh-bors are aggressive in offer-ing perks to attract investors.
Abordo cited the recent approval of Indonesia’s Min-ister of Finance to grant ITH for 20-year period while Viet-nam recently gave 30-year ITH to Samsung.
Currently, PEZA grants four to eight years of ITH to qualified investors and a re-newable 5.0 percent gross income earn (GIE).
She mentioned that for-eign investors are always looking for ITH grants of a particular country before in-vesting.
The DTI, which is the lead investment promotion office of the government, proposed the following for the RFI Bill:
a) having a uniform tax perks for investment promo-tion agencies (IPAs) which is granting of four-year ITH and a choice of either 5.0 percent GIE or 15 percent on corpo-rate income tax (CIT) for 11 years;
b) giving the IPA Boards to renew the 5.0 percent GIE or 15 percent on CIT every 15 years; (PNA)
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Tuesday it has
temporarily suspended the effectivity of the adminis-trative order signaling the execution of the imple-menting rules and regula-tions (IRR) of Republic Act No. 7581 or the Price Act, in relation to agricultural commodities.
Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said he is-sued the suspension order on Administrative Order 7, s. 2015, which was pub-lished last Sept. 2 in order to address several con-cerns raised by several pri-vate groups.
“The IRR is supposed to take effect 15 days from the publication date but it will be now deferred by the suspension order. This will afford stakeholders addi-tional opportunity to raise
their concerns on the IRR,” the DA chief said.
He said that a series of nationwide consultations will be conducted immedi-ately after the publication of the suspension order.
These will be the sec-ond round of consultations as talks had already been conducted prior to the fi-nalization of the IRR in the last quarter of 2014.
“My instructions for the next round of consul-tation activities are for it to be done separately by island region,” Alcala said.
In the meantime, DA Assistant Secretary for Agribusiness and Market-ing Leandro Gazmin said the consultations will fo-cus on contentious areas such as profiteering issues and mechanisms on set-ting suggested retail prices (SRPs). (PNA)
ASEAN-competitive incentives regime pushed
DA defers effectivity of Price Act guidelines
EVENT
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
EDGEDAVAOINdulge!
FELICITAS VILLAROSA MARQUEZ or “Peling” as she is fondly called by her friends and colleagues, is the wife of the late former Bunawan Barangay Treasurer Federico Palines Marquez. She is the only living daughter of the late former Acting Municipal President, Arsenio Villarosa who served his term from year 1924 to 1928 in Old Davao. Her father, Arsenio was married to Eugenia Villa Abrille Villarosa and they had 3 children – Leonides, Benita and the young-est, Peling.
By Marigold Gonzaga
Peling is described by her family and friends as lovable, soft-spoken and a devoted member of the Catholic Women’s League- Bunawan Dis-trict. She recently cel-ebrated her 91st birthday last July 12, 2015 at her sprawling residence in Bunawan. The party was well attended by her fam-ily, neighbors, CWL col-leagues and friends. It was hosted by her seven chil-dren – Teresita Basa, mar-ried to Architect Renato Basa, Emma Marquez, Arsenio Marquez, mar-ried to Catalina Marquez, Former Bunawan District Deputy Mayor Manuel Marquez, Luisa Guy, mar-ried to Engineer Richard Guy, Estela Pasia, married to Renato Pasia and Dra. Lucila Ferrer, married to James Ferrer. Peling cur-rently has eleven grand-children and one great grandchild. At times, she would reminisce and would fondly talk to her children and grand chil-dren about her memories of the “old” Davao.
Peling Villarosa-Marquezturns 91
THE COUNTRY’S number 1 mobile brand and purveyor of the Filipino digital lifestyle Globe Telecom continues to make its presence felt in the music industry to reach out to music-loving Pinoys with its participa-tion in the country’s big-gest concerts, festivals, and music events. Globe has successfully pen-etrated the music industry and took the music experience to a whole new level. With its part-nership with top music stream-ing service Spotify, Globe con-quered the online music space by giving customers access to over 30 million songs anytime, anywhere using an innovative and interactive platform. Globe has also established itself as a consistent supporter of international music festivals and concerts. From Wander-land, Unleashed, KPOP Best of the Best, and KPOP BIG BANG, Globe continues to reach out to its young market and give them an unforgettable concert ex-perience like no other as a true music advocate. Over the next few months, Globe broadband brand Tat-too will conquer the Valkyrie Club and the Palace Pool Club in Bonifacio Global City for a series of music events headlined by top electronic dance music (EDM) DJs Alesso, Steve Aoki and Kaskade, including the much-anticipated Halloween
Ball as the biggest costume and dance party of the year. “As part of our commitment to enabling the Filipino digital lifestyle is our constant presence in engagements and activities that bring our customers closer to their interests, lifestyles, and passions, and one of which is music. With our participation in and support for the country’s biggest music festivals, concerts, and parties, we are able to reach out to our customers and give them exclusive privileges and offers that make their concert experience wonderful,” says Issa Cabreira, Senior Vice President
for Consumer Mobile Market-ing at Globe. The telecom company is set to start 2016 strong with its ven-ture to lead the music lifestyle of Filipinos as it presents Madon-na’s Rebel Heart Tour to Manila at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on February 24 and 25, 2016. The Pop Queen and every-body’s “Material Girl”, who is visiting the country for the first time, is expected to enthrall her Filipino fans with her heart-pumping performance and signature hits that span across many generations. Her constant reinvention of herself has en-
deared her to millions of fans regardless of age, gender, and geographic location. “Together with millions of Filipinos who are ecstatic about Madonna’s first trip to the Phil-ippines for the country’s biggest musical spectacle to date, Globe is very excited to celebrate this big entertainment milestone that will surely transcend fu-ture generations. Bringing a global music icon and superstar closer to her fans is part of our commitment to make music an integral part of the Filipino life-style,” adds Cabreira. Early this year, the seven-
time Grammy Award-winner released her 14-track album Rebel Heart with hit singles “Bitch, I’m Madonna”, “Living for Love”, and “Ghosttown”, to name a few. With household hits such as “Like a Virgin”, “Papa Don’t Preach”, “Vogue”, and “Like a Prayer” among oth-ers, Madonna’s musical career has already breached over 3 de-cades. She has sold more than 300 million records globally and has recently marked a new world record by being the only artist to have 45 number one songs on any chart in Billboard history.
A2 INdulge! EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT
Opens 2016 with a big bang as presentor of Madonna’s Rebel Heart Tour in Manila
The AirAsia one-centavo seat sale is back!AIRASIA PHILIPPINES’ most anticipated one-centavo* seat sale is back with promo seats up for grabs for domes-tic and international destinations at www.airasia.com. AirAsia Philippines, a member of the AirA-sia Group that has been awarded the world’s best low cost airline for seven consecutive years by Sky-trax, offers flights to/from Manila, Kalibo (Boracay), Cebu, Tagbilaran (Bohol), Puerto Princesa (Palawan), Davao and Tacloban with international flights to/from Hong Kong, Macau, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinaba-lu and Incheon (Seoul). The promotional all-in-fares are from as low as P16.81 inclusive of ap-plicable taxes and fees for
one way only. These pro-motional seats are available for booking at www.airasia.com from 7 to 13 Septem-ber 2015, for the travel pe-riod from 1 March to 29 Oc-tober 2016. Gerard Peñaflor, Com-mercial Head of AirAsia Philippines said, “Our leg-endary one-centavo seat
sale is back and we hope to see more people taking this opportunity to travel and discover new places here in the Philippines and across AirAsia’s massive network in the whole of ASEAN re-gion and extending as far as China, India and Korea. This is a great time for our guests to plan out their
holidays and travelling for next year.” The AirAsia Group is also offering promo seats to over 100 destinations across 20 countries includ-ing Asia and Australia dur-ing the same period from 7 to 13 September 2015 for travels from 1 March to 29 October 2016 with over 3 million promo seats on sale for flights operated by AirA-sia in Thailand, Malaysia, In-donesia, Singapore, India, China, Japan, India and sev-eral others. The one-centavo base fare promotion is available online at www.airasia.com and also via AirAsia’s mo-bile apps on iPhone and Android devices, and also AirAsia’s mobile site at mo-bile.airasia.com. Just search AirAsia on the respective app stores to download
and start booking! AirAsia is continuously looking into making the booking experience as smooth and fast as pos-sible for guests. The air-line’s website airasia.com now provides an enhanced booking system with fea-tures that enables faster payment (Xpress booking), easier navigation with pre-views of details and add-ons for your booking, as well as the ability to pick up from your last search! For more information about the new website features, and a simple step-by-step booking guide, visit airasia.com today. Keep updated with AirA-sia’s latest promotions and activities via Twitter (twit-ter.com/AirAsiaPh) and Facebook (facebook.com/AirAsiaPhilippines).
Globe Telecom brings world-class artists to PH for a wonderful experience
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
INdulge! A3EDGEDAVAOENTERTAINMENT
Derrick Monasterio goes sexy at the Cosmo Carnival
SAMYG, Michelle Gumabao, Dani Barretto to join eventChalk launches campus tour
THE Kapuso hunk walked for the sexi-est boyfriend buffet event of the year - the Cosmo Carnival 2015 last weekend. The ripped actor revealed the secret on how he achieved the perfect body for the sizzling event. “More on exercise. Actu-ally ‘di ako nagda-diet. Kain lang ng normal tapos sini-siguro ko lang na nagwo-workout ako.” “May kaunting pasabog. ‘Yung theme kasi nila car-nival eh. Feeling ko magsu-suot sila ng clown outfit,” Derrick jested. As a first timer, he re-vealed that he is rather anxious for the event. He said, “May pressure pero kasi nakaka-intimidate din kasi ‘yung mga kasama ko veteran na sa Cosmo and they’re much older than me talaga so ako yata ‘yung
pinakabata so medyo naka-kakaba.” Derrick also mentioned that he is hoping that the guests will be thrilled with the show. “Sana naman mag-enjoy sila kasi actually Cosmo is not just getting half naked. It’s about showing your body [and] how fit you are. Art din ‘yan eh kumbaga. How you project yourself to a lot of people.” He added, “Sana ma-ap-preciate nila ‘yung art, hindi lang ‘yung paghuhubad.” The former Tween star remarked “No limitations! (laughs)” was the sole an-swer of Kapuso hunk actor Derrick Monasterio when he was asked if there are any limitations when showing skin. “This is the first step in changing myself and chang-ing my character din so ngayon ready na ako mag-bago ng image like mature [and daring] roles.”
RADIO and on-line personality SAMYG together with UAAP volley-ball star Michelle Gumabao and top fashion student blogger Dani Bar-retto join forces for Chalk magazine’s first of three cam-pus tours begin-ning on Septem-ber 9 (Wednesday). In line with Chalk’s Bright Young Manila Campus Hottie cam-paign, Chalk brings to-gether the expertise of SAMYG, Michelle Guma-bao, and Dani Barretto in inspiring college stu-
dents in acing both school and real life, dealing with inti-mate and personal matters, and look-ing good. Chalk’s Campus Tour will kick-off in
San Sebastian-Manila on Wednesday and will head to the Polytechnic University of the Philip-pines this September and the University of Santo Tomas in Octo-ber.
Aside from Chalk’s speakers, attendees will also meet the 15 fi-nalists of Chalk’s Bright Young Manila: Campus Hotties who hail from top colleges and uni-versities in the metro in-
cluding representatives from UP, Ateneo, DLSU, FEU, TUP, San Beda, and Miriam College, among others. Chalk is a leading youth magazine in the country and is one of the titles published every month by ABS-CBN Publishing. Its Sep-tember Fashion Issue
with Fil-Am top model Kelsey Merritt on the cover is now available nationwide and at The ABS-CBN Store (ABS-CBNStore.com). For more informa-tion about Chalk’s Bright Young Manila: Campus Hotties Edi-tion, visit chalkmaga-zine.abs-cbn.com.
Mazda Philippines marketing and sales director Japhet Castillo (leftmost) poses in front of the all-new MX5 together with Maribel Chua, MMMI-Mazda Davao and Cagayan de Oro vice president, Joe Marc Tac-an, MMMI -Mazda Davao and Cagayan de Oro brand general manager, and Paul Frederick Esguerra, Mazda Davao’s branch head.
Mazda launches CX5, BT50Mazda Motorshow DavaoMAZDA PHILIPPINES together with Mazda Davao recently held a three-day auto exhibit featuring the latest models of Maz-da’s award-winning cars. From September 4 to 7, motor enthusiasts were treated to an all-access Mazda experience at the Activity Center of the Abreeza Mall. On exhibit were Mazda’s latest line of cars and SUVs includ-ing the CX5 as well as the company’s award winning BT50 pick-up truck. The company also launched two all-new vehicles which complete the line-up of vehicles. Designed to redefine the entry level car mar-ket, the all-new Mazda2 SKYACTIV draws on the experience of Mazda’s critically acclaimed and award-winning Mazda3, Mazda6, CX-5 and MX-5 to create a sub-compact car that redefines every driver’s expectation com-
pletely. Combining the full-range of SKYACTIV Technology; composed of a highly efficient engine, efficient and responsive transmission, and lighter body with a more rigid chassis; and the KODO Soul of Motion design philosophy, the all-new Mazda2 promises to de-liver high performance, fuel-efficiency and driving pleasure without compro-mise The 1.5 litter Mazda2 comes in SKYACTIV R, SKYACTIV V, and SKY-ACTIV S trims for the sedan and in SPEED and SKYACTIV V trims for the hatchback model. The real head turner of the show was the all-new Mazda MX-5, the newest generation of the world’s
best-selling, multi-award-ed two-seater sports car. The latest generation of Mazda’s Miata embraces the company’s break-through SKYACTIV Technology while raising the level of the Mazda’s “Jinba Ittai” spirit in ev-ery drive, connecting the driver to the MX-5, the
way the rider becomes one with his horse. “We at Mazda try to empower Mazda owners by providing them cars which speak to the driv-ers,” says Japeth Castillo, Mazda Philippines’ mar-keting and sales director “when you drive a Mazda, you are confident that it
will go where you want it to go much like how a rid-er is riding his horse, man and machine as one.” Available locally in both six-speed manual or automatic transmissions, the new MX5 is lighter, more nimble, and an ab-solutely great drive. The dynamic KODO:Soul of
Motion design gives a splash of sophistication to this stunning roadster and sleek convertible. Aside from top-notch handling, sleek design, and the latest technology for comfort, all Mazda cars come with Mazda’s Yojin3 Total Care package which gives new Mazda car owners peace of mind. “Mazda’s Yojin3 Total Care is included for every new Mazda you purchase at no extra charge and provides, for free, three years or 60,000Km peri-odic maintenance service which includes parts, oil and labor,” said Mazda Davao’s brand general manager Joe Marc Tac-an “we also provide three years roadside assistance and concierge services.” For more information or to view any of Mazda’s award winning cars, one can visit the Mazda’s Davao showroom is locat-ed at Lanang, at Km 7, J.P. Laurel Avenue.
From left: Mazda Philippines marketing and sales director Japhet Castillo, Maribel Chua, MMMI-Mazda Davao and Cagayan de Oro vice president, and Joe Marc Tac-an, MMMI -Mazda Davao and Cagayan de Oro brand general manager pose in front of the new Mazda2 sedan.
The Mazda Davao team together with the MX5 roadster.
MMMI -Mazda Davao and Cagayan de Oro brand general manager Joe Marc Tac-an.
Mazda Philippines marketing and sales director Japhet Castillo.
EDGEDAVAO VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 7
IMAGINE when you want to send an urgent message, but your mo-
bile phone does not have a load. It is frustrating as well as irritating.
This was what pushed Eric Clark Su, president and chief executive offi-cer of Twidl Inc., and his five-member team to de-velop HopChat, a revolu-tionary way of sending a text message even with-out a mobile load or In-ternet connection.
Two months ago, Su, whose 15-member com-pany is behind the addict-ing photograph-sharing social media network Lifebit, started research-ing for a new platform that will address the is-sue.
In his research, he came to know about Fire-chat, an application which was popular during the Hongkong protest this year as it was easy to send messaging within a com-munity.
“I realized that even without (mobile phone) load, messages can be sent through wifi (wire-less fidelity) connection and even Bluetooth con-nection even without pairing the devices,” said Su, the main designer of the company.
The idea became a reality when Su and his
team joined the Angel-hack Davao on August 15 to 16, an event that was sponsored by mobile leader Smart, through the Smart Developer Network, and its parent company PLDT, as part of their efforts to help spur innovation in the country and improve the lives of Filipinos through mean-ingful and innovative dig-ital services.
“When Angelhack came around, the concept became a reality,” Su said, adding that what the ap-plication can do is send a message which “hops across devices” until it reaches a destination.
The group is still fine-tuning the applica-tion as it will not even depend on wireless fidel-ity technology as it could piggyback on Bluetooth even without pairing the devices for as long as they have downloaded the ap-plication.
The application is rely-ing on the mesh network, a network where a mes-sage can hop from one device to another until it reaches its destination through nodes, or points, within the network.
He said to entice us-ers, the group has also developed a “Hopcoin,” an imaginary currency that can eventually be trans-
ICT HUB
Revolutionary way of sending text message
lated into a real-valued currency like Bitcoin to motivate them to use the application. The concept behind developing Hop-coin is to prevent “cheat-ers from taking advantage of the application because they will not have any motivation to do so,” he explained.
Because the appli-cation needs to have a business model, Su said, business establishments
can establish their nodes and become part of the network where they can send their advertise-ments to their desired cli-ents and pay his company for including them in the network.
“This is revolutionary as well as disruptive,” he said of his application which impressed the five judges of the event that awarded it the grand prize which will allow the team
to get mentored in the exclusive 12-week Hack-athon program which will eventually bring them to San Francisco, California in the US where they can do the sales pitch in front of venture capitalists for possible funding.
John Bailon, chief ex-ecutive officer of Satoshi Citadel Industry, was so impressed with the appli-cation that he found time to huddle with Su even af-
ter the awarding. “Impressive app,” said
Bailon who, together with four others, served as judge of the event. Oth-er judges were Simplicio Jison Jr., president and chief executive officer of Accelerate Desk; Alexis V. Pantola, IBM Philippines Inc. - Cloud Ecosystem technical manager; Lyle Sanots of gamesandgiz-moz.net; and, Joe Mariste-la, Katalyst.ph advisor.
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 20158 EDGEDAVAO
VANTAGE
EDITORIALTrending
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
Printed by Zion Accuprint Publishing Inc. Door 14 ALCREJ Building,
Quirino Avenue, 8000, Davao City, PhilippinesTel: (082) 301-6235
CAGAYAN DE ORO MARKETING OFFICELEIZEL A. DELOSO | Marketing ManagerUnit 6, Southbank Plaza Velez-Yacapin Sts.Cagayan de Oro CityTel: (088) 852-4894
RICHARD C. EBONAAdvertising Specialist
SOLANI D. MARATASFinance
EDGEDAVAOProviding solutions to a seamless global village.
ANTONIO M. AJEROEditor in Chief
Columnists: CARLOS MUNDA • HENRYLITO D. TACIO • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • ATTY. EMILY ZEN CHUA • GREGORIO G. DELIGERO • JOHN CARLO TRIA • VIDA MIA S. VALVERDE • Economic Analysts: ENRICO “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG
LEANDRO S. DAVAL JR. PhotographyARLENE D. PASAJE
Cartoons
KENNETH IRVING K. ONGBAI FAUZIAH FATIMA SINSUAT AMBOLODTO
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Lifestyle
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FUNNY PEARL GAJUNERACHA MONFORTE
Correspondents
ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.CHENEEN R. CAPON
Reporters
OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager
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PHILIPPINE PRESS INSTITUTEthe national association of newspapers
USING photographs in their purest form is a car-dinal rule in journalism. So when we used a pho-tograph of a crying lady during Monday’s “The
Announcement” episode of the Mayor Duterte for Pres-ident saga, we did not figure it will be a trending pho-to. Afterall, the photo landed on the second page of the News section “only.”
The photograph, taken by Edge Davao lensman Lean Daval Jr. during Duterte’s whirlwind press briefing Mon-day afternoon at the Grand Men Seng Hotel, became a trending topic on EDGE Davao’s Facebook page the mo-ment it was posted.
The photo that was titled “SAY IT ISN’T SO, MAYOR” reached 82,100 people with 331 likes and 468 shares, and drew tons of comments from netizens in just 20 hours. The photo also netted 14,400 post clicks.
The lady, sporting a red shirt and wearing glasses ob-
viously a staunch Duterte supporter, was taking a video of the press briefing through her mobile phone when she started sobbing after hearing the mayor said he is not seeking the presidency next year and is retiring from politics for good.
Although now crying hard, the lady continued in re-cording the proceeding while wiping away her tears with a hanky. Photographers who noticed her started clicking their cameras as Duterte was ending his brief statement.
Unexpectedly, the trending photo showed the reach and readership of a newspaper that is verifiable and quantifiable, hence the attention and interest it generat-ed from netizens and readers unlike, say, a photograph manipulated for effect.
Indeed, random moments bring out the creativity in people in its purest form.
SEEING Grace Poe’s tears as she pushed for easier rules to adopt children might be admirable to
some, and disgusting tp others. Some ask: How can a senator like her use adoption of minors as a means to pro-mote herself ? Others lament this a stunt to gain popularity amid mount-ing pressure to resolve basic issues on her citizenship, allegiance and how she supposedly panders to the sec-tarian political interests of the pow-erful Iglesia ni Cristo. All these ques-tions can be dismissed as mere sour questions of cynical people. But How can we blame the cynical? We only need to see the popularity ratings of the Senate and House of Representa-tives as an Institution to help us judge whether they are worthy of our trust. The people mistrust politicians like Grace Poe, as there is a growing dis-dain for what some call the showbiz political elite.
Showbiz politics born in 1987The Showbiz political elite are the
class of politicians who supposed-ly have gained power through their emotional influence on the electorate via their showbusiness popularity. In this we take together actual movie and TV actors and personalities, in-cluding those, like Noli de Castro, Sol Aragones and Ted Failon, who read to us the news.
S h o w b i z politics was born in 1987 when Joseph Estrada sur-prised the nation by being one of only two op-position can-didates from the Grand Alliance for D e m o c r a c y (GAD) to win a Senate seat dominat-ed by the administrations’ Lakas ng Bayan slate. It began its rise in 1988 when the likes of Tito Sotto ran for Quezon City Vice Mayor, setting off a sort of political tradition where a good number of that Citys councilors are current or former showbiz per-sons or retired sportspeople. Since then, all major cities in Metro Ma-nila have elected one or two showbiz or news personalities in their local councils, or congress. At present, our current and former national capital is led by actors. Four of our current Sen-ators are of showbiz lineage, of which one is Grace Poe, who once played a few roles as a child star in the 1970s, and practically inherited the popular-ity of her famous father, Fernando Poe Jr. The showbiz political bug has also
bitten established politicians like Chiz Escudero, and Mar Roxas, who are showbiz politicos by marriage.
Many pundits and social scientists have opined that the rise of the show-biz politician is a result of the peo-ples general mistrust of politicians, which is why they, rather than the tra-ditional politicians are voted into of-fice. The main questions I have had is: If after almost 30years of this show-biz elite rule, what meaningful change have the showbiz politicians fostered in governance? Or, has their presence changed our view of the office they hold? Have they regained the peoples trust in public office in general? Have they become the politicians they were supposed to replace?
Tears of Grace on a vaudeville stage
At this point in our nations political history, all tears, even those of show-biz poplitios like Grace Poe, come from crocodiles, and all laughter is seen as being used to deflect our at-tention from the issues that matter: the high cost of food and electricity, education and health, infrastructure and connectivity, continuity of our economic growth. So on and so forth. It has also, unfortunately, turned the political arena into a realm of pop-ularity. It matters less what you ac-complish for the voters, and becomes
more about how popular you are per-ceived to be.
The senate, in particular, is al-ready pictured as a vaudeville stage where anybody wishing to gain atten-tion only has to give an impassioned speech and show emotions to be no-ticed. Having no direct constituents, senators are expected to think and act for the nation as a whole, which elected them at large. Extra effort is therefore needed to capture votes. Indeed, all emotions are perceived to have the effect of creating sympa-thy, which breeds popularity. At that point, you can call all our detractors haters and build even more sympa-thy and gain votes. Little wonder why name recall, or the names of parents put certain senators at an advantage during elections. Take all these fac-tors, and you have the tears of Grace.
In a political culture of mistrust and cynicism, It boils down to who the electorate trusts to deliver on campaign promises and help effect the meaningful change so hoped for. Unfortunately, the space on which politician’s credibility stands is razor thin. Performance and the ability to actually deliver performance ought to be the basis for the public paying taxes After all, isn’t public service a public trust?
VOL. 8 ISSUE 111 • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2015 VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAOHeroes are made, not born
Tears of Grace and the curse of showbiz politics
LAST year, he was in Manila. This year, he was in Tagum City.
Last year, Randy Halasan went to Manila to receive the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award (touted to be the Nobel Prize of Asia) for Emergent Leadership.
This year, he came to Tagum City in Davao del Norte to speak as guest speaker during the National Heroes Day celebration.
I was supposed to go with Randy but due to some “unavoidable circumstances,” I wasn’t able to come.
Although I failed to hear him speak, I was given the opportunity of receiving what he told the audience. Allow me then to share some bits and piece of his speech.
When he got the invitation, he was com-pletely surprised. After all, he is not from Tagum. He was trying to figure out what was the reason of being the guest speaker of one of the city’s most important events.
Maybe, he though, they wanted him to share I “how an ordinary public school teacher gives light and hope to the Matigsa-log tribe in Pegalongan, the farthest place in Davao City.”
Randy then began to tell his story. “My college life was an uphill battle,” he said.
It didn’t stop him from going to college when his father died. “I had to pursue my ed-ucation by working part time,” he admitted. His dream of becoming a lawyer or a doctor was no longer possible “due to limited finan-cial resources.”
Randy had no other option but to take education as his professional career. “Now looking back on my life, I get to know the rea-son for my career choice. I was meant to be with the Matigsalog tribe.”
He re-membered the date well: Jan-uary 8, 2007. That was the time when he was appoint-ed as a public school teacher. “I was sent to P e g a l o n g a n E l e m e n t a r y School, the farthest school in all of Davao City.” He de-scribed the place as “inaccessible, poor, and isolated from any communication.”
At that time, there were only two teach-ers handling all grade levels. “Imagine this: to reach the school, we have to ride almost two hours in a bus, another three to four of continuous hiking in a mountainous and steep roads and crossing two treacherous rivers (Simod and Davao),” he said.
Randy was from Davao City and life in Pegalongan was very different from what he used too. “I told myself I had to transfer im-mediately,” he recalled, “I knew I would not be happy there.”
All Randy wanted was to become a sim-ple teacher, get married and raise a little fam-ily on his own. “But all of that changed when I saw the poverty in the community,” he said. “When I saw in their eyes and gestures that they needed me, I began to love them and their simple way of living.”
He could not forget the first graduation ceremonies that happened. “It was so mem-
orable,” he said. “I saw happiness in their eyes. The students and their parents were ecstatic. The Matigsalog elders even cried when they witnessed the program; they had never imagined the children would be able to finish elementary as their place was remote and isolated.”
While being with the pupils most of the
time, Randy observed first hand poverty. He surmised that the poor academic perfor-mance of the pupils, their poor attendance and the prevalence of the malnutrition were all related to the poverty the community was facing.
He wanted to do something for the com-munity. He had already helped the pupils, so he extended his service to the community. He urged them to use their ancestral lands to become productive.
In 2012, Randy organized the Pegalon-gan Farmers Association. “We have no mon-ey,” he recalled, “so I linked the association to the government agencies and some non-gov-ernment organizations to have a strong part-nership to help me in my vision to uplift the lives of the Matigsalog tribe.”
As a result of what he had started, the community has now rice and corn mills, cof-fee grinder, coffee roaster, and multi-crop sheller and husker. Its 70 hectares is now under the government’s National Greening Program.
A sitio high school up to Grade 10 was set up, where it benefits not only those from Davao City but also those from Bukidnon who are living in the far flung communities. There are now nine classrooms and a home economics classroom is being built. A sitio
hall is also being constructed. But impor-tantly, a hanging bridge that crosses Davao River will start its constructing this month.
“I am really touched by the determina-tion of the Matigsalog tribe to improve them-selves despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges facing them,” Randy said.
Randy said he is doing all these because he believes each has to do something good for our country. “It is our responsibility to help our fellow Filipinos to make their dreams into a reality,” he said, citing eradi-cating poverty as one of those dreams.
“Despite all the problems that we en-counter each day, I know we can make a dif-ference by changing the lives of other peo-ple,” he said. “It is just a matter of leading and to have a big heart.
“I have realized that many Filipinos are left behind because we have failed to unify ourselves in finding ways to solve the prob-lems that beset our society. Rather than helping others, we do things that satisfy our own needs and attain our personal goals.
“It’s not too late to do something best for this country,” he added. “Never forget the sacrifices our heroes did just to achieve the freedom we are experiencing now. But we can be a hero in our own way by extending help to others and being compassionate, es-pecially those who are in need.
Randy concluded his speech with these words: “We can make some initiatives and be resourceful to find solutions. This is our re-sponsibility: to build a strong nation without relying much from the government. We can extend support in other ways. Each one of us has abilities and capabilities to make our county develop and become progressive.”
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 201510NEWS EDGEDAVAO
Big Rody Rally... FROM 1 Trending... FROM 2
Netizens... FROM 2
AdDU... FROM 2
Rody... FROM 2
Davao... FROM 4
Construction... FROM 5
DOST 11 is reviving the centrum. It was opened in 1986 until mid-2000 when it started getting few visi-tors.
“This kind of establish-ment helps teachers impart science and math. We rely too much on books and tele-vision,” Sangutan said.
DOST 11 is holding the Science on the Go on Sep-tember 23 to October 23 at the centrum. The exhibit will feature 31 interactive exhib-its for young students.
“The exhibit aims to ex-cite young minds to learn more about science and how it works in order to improve the quality of life,” the DOST said in a statement.
DOST 11 also announced that it is accepting entries for the Regional Invention Contest and Exhibit 2015 until September 28, 2015.
There are six categories; Outstanding Invention (Tuk-las Award), Outstanding Unit Model, Outstanding In-dustrial Design, Outstanding
Creative Reasearch (Likha Award), Outstanding Stu-dent Creative Research (Si-bol Award) for high school students, Outstanding Stu-dent Creative Research (Si-bol Award) for college stu-dents.
Cash prizes also await winners of RICE 2015 in all six categories.
For Outstanding Inven-tion, 1st placer will take home P50,000, second plac-er P30,000, and third placer P20,000.
Winners of Outstanding Utility Model and Outstand-ing Industrial Design will bag P25,000 for 1st place, P10,000 for 2nd place, and P5,000 for 3rd place.
Winners of Outstand-ing Creative Research, Out-standing Student Creative Reaserch for High School and College will receive P20,000 for 1st place, P10,000 for 2nd place, and P5,000 for 3rd place. (An-tonio L. Colina IV/MindaN-ews)
Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Transportation
and CommunicationsLAND TRANSPORTATION
FRANCHISING AND REGULATORY BOARDRegional Office No. XI
Davao City
Petition for Renewal of a Certificate of Public Convenience to operate a PUJ DUAL Ordinary Regular Service
NORMAN A. TULABAN,Case No.2000-XI-00166-1 Petitioner
x- - - - - - - - -- - - -----xNOTICE OF HEARING
Petitioner is a grantee of a Certificate of Public Convenience issued in this case authorizing the operation of a PUJ-DUAL Ordinary Regular Service on the route: BA-GUIO DISTRICT and for cargoes as dual service from said route to any point in Region XI with the use of ONE (1) unit, which cer-tificate will expire on August 24, 2015. In the petition filed on Au-gust 20, 2015, petitioner requests authority to extend the validity of said certificate 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 SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 at 09:20 a.m. at this office at the above address.
At least, TEN (10) days prior to the above date petitioner shall publish this Notice once in a one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Mindanao
Parties opposed to the grant-ing of the petition must file their written opposition supported by documentary evidence on or be-fore the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the 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 additional documentary and/or oral evi-dence.
WITNESS the Honorable BENJAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Re-gional Director, this 1st day of September 2015 at Davao City.
TERESITA DELA PEÑA-YÑIGUEZChief Transportation Development Officer
Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Transportation
and CommunicationsLAND TRANSPORTATION
FRANCHISING AND REGULATORY BOARDRegional Office No. XI
Davao City
Petition for Renewal of Certificate of Public Convenience to operate a PUJ Ordinary Regular Service
REYNALDO L. ROBLEDO, Case No.2001-XI-01519 Petitioner
x- - - - - - - - -- - - -----xNOTICE OF HEARING
Petitioner is a grantee of a Certificate of Public Convenience issued in this case authorizing the operation of an PUJ Ordinary Regular Service on the route: CIRCULATION ROUTE 10 with the use of ONE (1) unit, which certificate will expire on July 31, 2016. In the petition filed on September 2, 2015, petitioner requests authority to extend the validity of said certificate 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 SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 at 09:50 a.m. at this office at the above address.
At least, TEN (10) days prior to the above date petitioner shall publish this Notice once in a one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Mindanao
Parties opposed to the granting of the petition must file their written opposition supported by documentary evidence on or before the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the petitioner, and may if they so, desire appear on said date and time.
This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documentary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive additional documentary and/or oral evidence.
WITNESS the Honorable BENJAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Regional Director, this 2nd day of September 2015 at Davao City.
TERESITA DELA PEÑA-YÑIGUEZChief Transportation Development Officer
for the manufacturing of the products will be lo-cated.
Sangutan said it is important to develop local technologies and products develop by in-ventors here since they are important to the eco-nomic backbone of the
city. “If we do not have de-
velopment in our local products and technolo-gies then there will be little to no development in our city’s economy,” he said.
However, Sangutan said support from the
DOST is still another challenge that the inven-tors in the country face.
“The DOST only allo-cated P3 million fund-ing as its support for inventors and this is not enough,” he added.
The Philippines will continue to rank down
if it will not support re-search and development activities as well as sup-port local inventors, ac-cording to Sangutan.
The DOST, mean-while, admitted that it has little support for in-ventors because of its limited budget. CRC
ment on Monday that he is not seeking the presi-dency in 2016, support-ers remain hopeful the extremely popular may-or will have a change of heart.
He said it will be the people who will matter in the end for Duterte whether he really decides to run for president or not.
“The people now have this feeling of hope-lessness because of cor-ruption, criminality and other kinds of problems besetting the country to-day,” Ramirez said.
Aside from the Quiri-no Grandstand rally, Dute-rte will have a series of speaking engagements in Manila this week and next
week. In fact, after Duter-te’s brief press briefing on Monday at the Grand Men Seng Hotel, he immedi-ately left to catch a flight to Manila.
Before the September 15 rally, Duterte will visit Divisoria together with former President Fidel V. Ramos.
Duterte had met Ra-mos last week in Manila and reportedly got some advice on how to run the country.
Duterte will also speak at the Jose Rizal Universi-ty (JRU) in Mandaluyong on September 16.
Laviña said Duterte was in Navotas and Mal-abon Tuesday and will be in Tuguegarao today. On Thursday, Duterte will
have a media interview with TV 5 and Philippine Star editors.
Laviña, a former Davao City councilor, said Duterte was just be-ing consistent in his pro-nouncements when he announced on Monday he is not going to run for president.
But, he believes that it will be the people who will make Duterte change his mind at the end of the day.
“He loves his family, but he has a bigger family in the Filipino people who need him,” Laviña said.
Councilor Diosdado Mahipus said: “He is not the property anymore of his family. He is now the property of the people.”
I categorically state now, I will not run for presidency,” Duterte said.
The photo attracted mixed reactions from neti-zens, with some of them ex-pressing their disbelief and others saying they respect the mayor’s decision.
Most of them, however, shared the crying lady’s grief and have not lost hope. They
see the touching photo as motivation in pushing hard for Duterte to change his heart and run for president in May next year.
“I feel you ate…,” netizen Princez Inocencio Trinidad said.
“I am not going to vote anyone else. Unless Mayor Duterte will run i will pick his name, the only name i
choose for change...,” said netizen Mimi Panizales Lab-rador Bazan.
“Bakit pati ako naiiyak Anu bayan paanu na tau ngayun nd na siya matuloy lalo pa taung mga OFW...,” Lindly Ern Crystalvoice said.
Netizen Maria Fema Duterte has this to say: “A Million March to Luneta for Mayor Rodrigo Duterte!!!”
“I’m gonna tell you a president who could still run for that position despite of his old age and he doesn’t need money in order to pur-sue his position and to serve his country as president., his name is Jose Mujica, the for-mer president of Uruguay,” he added.
Mujica became the pres-ident of Uruguay at the age of 75 and was named as the poorest president in the world since 90% of his monthly salary has been do-nated to the charities.
He ended his term last March 1 at the age of 80.
The letter sender add-ed: “You said before that if the crime here in our coun-try will become much worst than expected, it will become the next Mexico, and we don’t want to be like that.”
Many of Duterte’s sup-porters also declared they will not give up in convincing the mayor until the last day of filing of candidacy.
During the Run Duterte Run Caravan last August 29, Duterte promised his sup-porters that he will talk to his family with regards to his
possible presidential candi-dacy.
However, on Monday, Duterte officially announced that after talking to his fami-ly, he will not seek the pres-idency.
Despite his announce-ment, Duterte’s schedule appearance nationwide will still be pushed through.
On September 15, Dute-rte’s supporters were to oc-cupy Luneta Quirino Grand-stand in hope of convincing the mayor to run as presi-dent on 2016.
certificate of candidacy (COC) next month (The timing of announcement is really strong because this month is crucial for the surveys. It is because if you are being talked by the people this Sep-tember, of course, you’re ratings in survey will also increase. This survey is being anticipated before they submit their certif-icate of candidacy next month),” Beleno said in a radio interview with DXAB 1296 Radyo Patrol yesterday.
Beleno said the sur-vey coming up with the filing of certificate of candidacy drawing near will be the barometer of every candidate. If their ratings and ranking are higher, they will most likely run.
“As what we common-ly say in political science, nothing is certain in poli-tics,” Beleno said.
He asked that if Dute-rte is not running for president, why does he still has a scheduled trav-
el in Luzon, which is an indication that his an-nouncement was not re-ally final.
Beleno said that with Duterte’s words last Monday, he noted that there was the sense of fi-nality. But, with the activ-ities the mayor have, peo-ple could still hope that Duterte will still change his mind and will run as president in 2016.
Duterte, he said, still have time to change his mind because there is still more than a month before the filling of COC.
“One month is very long and there are lots of things to happen,” he said.
Beleno said that if Duterte will decide to run on the last minute, it could be beneficial for him because his an-nouncement could be a talk of the town and it will remain on the mind of the people.
He said it already hap-pened during the past two elections where for-
mer presidents--Gloria Macapagal–Arroyo and Benigno S. Aquino III--filed their COCs on the last minute.
Beleno said Arroyo had said before she will not run for president in 2004, but because she had been talked about by the people she ran and won the presidency.
This is also the same pattern with Aquino.
Beleno said Aquino already declared not to run in 2010 but because of the death of his moth-er, former president Corazon C. Aquino, his ratings surged and these became the factor to run as president.
With Duterte’s an-nouncement, his ratings will spike and that will be the deciding factor for him to run for president, according to the profes-sor.
Beleno said that Dute-rte might be looking for the numbers that could really convince him to gun for the presidency.
“Wa gihapon mi matarog sa among gibati nga isulong gihapon namo ang among gibati nga mahimong pres-ident ang atong mayor (We remain strong in our faith to advance what we have start-ed and that is to make our mayor president),” Usman said.
Meanwhile, a support-er of Duterte from Basilan, Mavic Ramos, said that he is still hoping the mayor will change his mind.
She explained that if Duterte had announced his candidacy, there will be peo-ple who will try to put him down.
Some of Duterte’s sup-porters were seen crying after he made the announce-ment Monday. (FPAG)
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 11EDGEDAVAO
ENVIRONMENTEDGEDAVAO
ENVIRONMENT
Water scarcity inevitable
“It’s simply a question of survival. Thirst for water is an ignition to violence.”
-- Meir ben Meir, former Is-raeli water commissioner
In 25 years, the Philip-pines will experience water scarcity. That’s according to a news report which ap-peared in Rappler.
The report, written by Pia Ranada, quoted a study which predicts the country undergoing a “high” degree of water shortage in 2040. Out of the 167 countries, the Philippines was ranked 57th.
The study, conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based World Resources Institute (WRI), defines water stress as “the ratio between to-tal water withdrawals and available renewable surface water at a sub-catchment level.”
According to Ranada, “countries were given a score from 0 to 5, with high-er scores corresponding to greater competition among water users given limited sources of water.” For its part, the Philippines got a total score of 3.0, which in-dicated “high” level of water stress.
During the first World Water Forum held in Mar-rakech, Morocco, an alarm was sounded that a water crisis will likely happen in some parts of the world.
But no one seems to heed the warning. All over the world, because of overuse, waste, and neglect, freshwa-ter resources -- lakes, rivers, and aquifers -- are being exhausted or polluted at an alarming rate. Demand for water -- for industrial, agri-cultural, and domestic uses -- continues to rise rapidly as the global population and economy keep growing.
“Over the last three cen-turies, the growth in the
volume of water withdrawn from freshwater sources for human use has been much more rapid than the growth in population,” reports the Geneva-based World Health Organization.
This is true in the Phil-ippines which, despite being surrounded by bodies of wa-ter, is home to more than 100 million people.
In the 1950s, the Philip-pines had as much as 9,600 cubic meters of clean water per person, according to Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero, former head of the Philippine Coun-cil for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development. Four decades later, Filipinos must make do with little more than a third for that volume – 3,300 cubic meters per capita.
Recently, the Philippines ranked second from the low-est among Southeast Asian countries in terms of per capita water availability per year with only 1,907 cubic meters, according to a World Bank report. Thailand was at the bottom, with 1,854 cu-bic meters. Vietnamese had more than twice what Filipi-nos get: 4,591 cubic meters.
In most parts of the country, growing population is straining water resources. During the time of Mauricio Domogan as the mayor of Baguio, the city’s water dis-trict reportedly could only supply one-fifth of the city’s population of half a million. In reality, the city can only accommodate 25,000 resi-dents.
“But because of the growing number of tran-sients and the invasion of squatters resulting from the closure of several mining companies, the population has grown considerably,” Do-mogan was quoted as saying.
The Philippines is not yet
what hydrologists call a “wa-ter stressed nation.” That label applies when annual water supplies, drops be-low 2,740 liters, per citizen. Among the countries which are listed as such are sub-Sa-haran nations like Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
While the country is still not “water stressed,” it has already areas suffering from “water scarcity.” Four river basins -- Pampanga, Agno, Pasig-Laguna, and the island of Cebu -- are experiencing water scarcity.
During summer months, many residents of Metro Ma-nila -- home to more than 10 million people -- are coping with a “water supply crisis.” The cities of Cebu and even Davao have already experi-encing the same “status.”
The three major cities -- along with six others (Ba-guio, Angeles, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro and Zambo-anga) -- were identified by a study done by Japan Interna-tional Cooperation Agency in 1991 to be “water-critical areas.”
In Handbook Philip-pines, contributing author Sandra Volpp wrote: “There are ample freshwater re-serves all over the country. One-third of the available freshwater is sufficient to cover demand nationwide. But many of these reservoirs are contaminated or pollut-ed.”
More than 400 rivers and streams have been identified in the Philippines, but “only 36% are suitable sources of potable water supply, while 60% of the groundwater is contaminated with coliform bacteria, mostly from gar-bage dumps,” Volpp penned. “This has led to an increase in water-borne diseases, such as cholera, diphtheria, typhoid fever, dengue fever,
TEXT AND PHOTOS By HENRYLITO D. TACIO
and amoeba infections.”The problem is even
greater in large cities. “A large number of households are not connected to canal-ization, so their wastes are directly channeled into riv-ers and the sea,” Volpp not-ed. “This problem is exacer-bated in the big cities.”
Volpp also wrote: “Wa-ter services remain inade-quate in many areas, which is why many people revert to deep wells. This leads to a sinking groundwater lev-el, to increased salinity, and ultimately, to a shortage of potable water.”
Water crisis is inevitable as forests are fast disappear-ing. “We cannot talk of pro-viding sustainable water to the people unless we protect the sources of the commod-ity -- the watersheds,” said Elisea Gozun, who used to be the head of the Depart-ment of Environment and Natural Resources.
In a report a couple of years ago, the environment
department said that 90% of the 99 watershed areas in the country were “hy-drologically critical” due to their degraded physical con-dition.
Massive destruction of the once-productive forest-ed watersheds by loggers -- both legal and illegal -- and uncontrolled land use from mining, overgrazing, agricultural expansion, and industrialization have con-tributed to water depletion.
“Land use and vegeta-tive cover in the watershed are very important because they affect water flow and water quality,” explains Pat-rick Durst, senior forestry officer of the regional office of the Food and Agriculture Organization in Bangkok, Thailand.
Changing weather pat-terns worldwide also con-tribute to the crisis.
“Of all the social and natural crises we humans face, the water crisis is the one that lies at the heart of
our survival and that of our planet Earth,” surmised Koi-chiro Matsuura, former di-rector-general of the United Nations Educational, Scien-tific and Cultural Organiza-tion.
“Water isn’t just a com-modity. It is a source of life,” says Sandra Postel, director of the Massachusetts-based Global Water Policy Proj-ect. Ideally, a person should have at least 50 liters of wa-ter each day to meet basic needs – for drinking, food preparation, cooking and cleaning up, washing and personal hygiene, laundry, house cleaning.
Postel believes water problems will trail climate change as a threat to the hu-man future. “Although the two are related, water has no substitutes,” she explains. “We can transition away from coal and oil to solar, wind and other renewable energy sources. But there is no transitioning away from water to something else.”
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 201512
GENERAL SANTOS CITY MARKETING OFFICEEDMUND D. RENDONMarketing Specialist
Mobile: (Smart) 0909-424-7990
DAVAO CITY MAIN OFFICEJOCELYN S. PANES
Director of SalesDoor 14 ALCREJ Bldg.,
Quirino Ave., Davao CityTel: (082) 224-1413
Telefax: (082) 221-3601
MANILA MARKETING OFFICEANGELICA R. GARCIA
Marketing Manager97-1 Bayanbayanan Ave.,
Marikina Heights, Marikina City Tel: (02) 654-3509
CLASSIFIED
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 13COMMUNITY SENSE
THE Social Security System (SSS) has partnered with the
Department of Transpor-
tation and Communica-tion (DOTC), Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) and the Presidential Com-
mission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) for the SSS coverage of job order and contractual personnel
SSS extends coverage to 3 gov’t agencies
from the said government offices.
SSS Senior Vice Pres-ident for Account Man-agement Judy Frances A. See said job order and contractual workers in state-run institutions are excluded from the man-datory coverage of the Government Service In-surance System (GSIS). A total of 357 workers na-tionwide -- 220 of which are from DOTC, 50 from LCP, and 87 from PCUP -- are expected to benefit from these SSS partner-ships to date.
“The GSIS mandate applies only to regular employees in the pub-lic sector. Hence, the SSS aims to fill in this gap in coverage through linkag-es with government offic-es to enable these work-ers to gain access to social security benefits even while hired as contractual or job order personnel,” See noted.
The job order and con-tractual workers are cov-ered as self-employed SSS members, with no obliga-tion on the part of their employer to remit coun-terpart contributions. Aside from SSS benefits, the workers can earn eli-gibility for SSS loan priv-ileges such as salary and housing loans.
“Payment of contribu-tions and loans is facili-tated under an automated salary deduction scheme to make it easier and more convenient for these workers to maintain an active SSS membership. As part of the agreement, SSS has also committed to provide them with in-formation seminars and on-site enrollments for the Unified Multipurpose Identification or ‘UMID’ card,” See noted.
The DOTC, LCP and PCUP accounts are han-dled by the SSS Manda-luyong, SSS Diliman and
SSS San Francisco del Monte branches, respec-tively. The supervising branches are tasked to coordinate with the des-ignated liaison officers of DOTC, LCP and PCUP to address their SSS con-cerns.
Other state-run or-ganizations with similar agreements with the SSS include the Department of Social Welfare and De-velopment, Metro Manila Development Authority, Manila International Air-port Authority, and the Department of Interior and Local Government for the local government units.
“We urge other gov-ernment institutions to likewise take the initia-tive to help their own job order and contractual personnel benefit from the social protection of-fered by an active mem-bership in the SSS,” See said.
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015COMPETITIVE EDGE1414
AEON TOWERS. An artist interior perspective design of master’s bedroom for the 2-bedroom suites unit at the much-awaited Aeon Towers building project by FTC Group of Companies. The project is expected to be completed by December 2016.
MEMBERS of the Asia-Pacific Eco-nomic Coopera-
tion (APEC) are strength-ening their cooperation to effectively fight pandemics that could impact heavily on their economies if such threats go out of control.
“We are actually form-ing networks. A network is important and I think they are trying to look at measures on how they can improve the surveillance of diseases,” Chairperson of the APEC 2015 Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM), Laura del Rosario, said.
Member economies, she said, are studying
how they could improve response and recovery systems for public health emergencies, even with-out pandemics spreading across the Asia-Pacific re-gion.
“They also try to ad-dress non-communicable diseases, like disabilities, including mental illness,” she said, adding that the Philippines has tried to call attention to these is-sues.
The fast-paced growth and rapid urbanization create certain maladjust-ments among the popu-lation that some people become psychologically
incapacitated, she ex-plained.
Diseases and illnesses affect the productivity of a country, del Rosario point-ed out, citing studies that show health issues affect a big percentage of produc-tion in the region.
“Definitely, a person who is sick is not produc-tive and at the same time, the illness adds to the burden of the family, so it is a double whammy,” she said.
“For instance, if your father gets sick, you lose an income-earner and at the same time, you have to take care of him. So, it is a
double loss for a family.”Del Rosario further
said that ongoing talks in the APEC try to encourage collaboration in research and innovation in health systems, as well as boost public-private partner-ship tie-ups to address health-related issues.
She observed that there is strong public-pri-vate cooperation among APEC member economies because they know that not every government could handle their prob-lems alone and that even rich countries have to rely on the private sector. (PCOO News Release)
BAGS FOR HOPE. Convergys Country Manager Ivic Mueco (front row, second from left) and the Clark site leadership team joining the Give A Bag of Hope closing celebrations.
CONVERGYS Country Manager Ivic Mueco (front row, second
from left) and the Clark site leadership team join-ing the Give A Bag of Hope closing celebrations
MANILA, Philippines – The country’s largest private employer, Conver-gys, recently concluded its project “Give A Bag of Hope”, a nationwide em-ployee-driven program which donated bags filled with school supplies to elementary students of selected partner schools across the country.
Convergys employees donated a total of 17,123 ‘bags of hope’ filled with notebooks, pad papers, pencils, sharpeners, and crayons to primarily Grades 1 to 3 students
in 26 public schools and communities. The pro-gram was a way to help address one of the main causes of school drop-outs, which is the lack of school supplies.
Launched in May and completed in August by its 34 sites, Convergys and its 60,000-strong workforce was able to generate P8.21 Million through monetary dona-tions, direct school supply contributions, employee referrals, and volunteer work. Employees also spent 8,450 volunteer hours in visiting partner schools in Baguio, Pam-panga, Bulacan, Metro Manila, Laguna, Cebu, Ba-colod, and Davao to hand out the ‘bags of hope’ to schoolchildren.
REGION 11 posted an unemployment rate of six percent or around
122,000 of its labor force of 2.036 million as of April this year, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) 11 said.
The region also posted an underemployment rate of 16.6 percent which is equiv-alent to 318,000 workers.
U n d e r e m p l o y m e n t means a condition where individuals are employed in jobs that don’t fully use their skills, or when they are em-ployed part-time or in a sea-sonal manner even if they can render full-time work.
Citing the IT and Busi-ness Process Association of the Philippines, DOLE’s
consolidated report on labor market JobsFit 2015 said Davao City’s Information and Communications Tech-nology industry employed over 30,000 workers.
It added the most in-de-mand jobs in the industry are animator, back office processing/ accounting/ admin clerk, hardware tech-nician, technical support, IT specialist, software develop-er, and customer service.
Among the hard-to-fill jobs are computer program-mer/service developer, web developer in all platforms, web designer, graphics de-signer, animator, and tech-nical support engineer. (Antonio L. Colina IV/Min-daNews)
APEC economies address threats posed by pandemics
Convergys completes nationwide drive with over 17,000 donated ‘Bags of Hope’
Region 11 posts 6% unemployment rate
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 15SPORTSEDGEDAVAO
ANDY Murray crashed out of the US Open in the fourth round, mak-
ing his earliest Grand Slam exit since 2010 to end his run of 18 consecutive major quarter-finals.
South African 15th seed Kevin Anderson stunned the British third seed 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/0) to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final.
Not since a third-round exit in the 2010 US Open had Murray been eliminated so early at a Grand Slam tourna-ment.
Anderson, 1-5 in prior matches against Murray, end-ed an 0-15 career hoodoo against top-10 opponents
and an 0-7 hex in fourth-round Slam matches to book a last-eight date with Swiss fifth seed Stan Wawrinka, the reigning French Open cham-pion.
“I’m just so excited to be through,” said Anderson. “Beating a guy like Andy, I re-ally feel like I’ve taken a step forward. It’s amazing. I feel like it’s a great accomplish-ment.”
Wawrinka defeated US left-hander Donald Young 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
He dropped his first set of the tournament but reached an eighth quarter-final in his past nine Grand Slams, de-nying 68th-ranked Young his first Slam quarter-final.
SOMEONE here is obviously lying. The sponsor or the
city sports official?After we ran a col-
umn on the controver-sial Davao City Colle-giate League (DCCL) regarding its funding, we surprisingly got a quick response from the City Sports De-velopment Office offi-cer-in-charge and for-mer Chairman of the Philippine Sports Com-mission (PSC) William “Butch” Ramirez.
According to Ramirez, in a story pub-lished here last week, the city government did not spend a single cen-tavo in the DCCL.
We appreciate the immediate response of
Mr. Ramirez to our que-ry after we have been apparently ignored in all the events related to the DCCL.
The categorical an-swer from Mr. Ramirez that the city government did not spend money in an event publicized as “a sports development program of the City Sports Development Of-fice under the City May-or’s Office” only leads us to one thing—that the DCCL is funded by a private sponsor.
In short, Mr. Ramirez wants us to believe that a government program is being funded by a private sponsor minus any budget taken out of public funds. Meaning, from the officiating fees,
to the trophies, priz-es, operating expenses, snacks, collaterals and other incidentals, Mr. Ramirez is telling us that Smart Telecommu-nications shouldered them all.
Based on these premises, Smart is en-tirely funding a city gov-ernment sports project. If that is the case, Smart
must be the title spon-sor or presentor of the event and it is just fit-ting that the event be called Smart DCCL.
We recalled that in a media forum, I-Speak, organized by the City Information Office (CIO), the 2nd DCCL was formally announced. In the same forum, a representative from Smart and two sports coordinators from the University of Mindanao and Holy Cross of Davao College sat in the panel.
Suprisingly, no one from the City Sports Development Office (CSDO) sat on behalf of the city government.
Now, here’s the con-flict.
The Smart represen-
tative told the reporters present that the tele-communications giant did not give money to the DCCL as sponsor-ship. They only gave “in kind.” He mentioned prizes and giveaways. They also gave some tarps as collaterals which is customary for an event with a corpo-rate sponsor.
Now, if we mone-tize the sponsorship of Smart, it is nowhere in the vicinity of a presen-tor or a title sponsor if we translate that into advertising values. If it is true that Smart only gave trophies and tarps.
Therefore, it all boils down to who is telling the truth and who is ly-
ing.Mr. Ramirez said the
city did not spend any single centavo. Smart also said it did not cough up money but only gave items “in kind.”
My question is, who paid for the referees, table officials, and my good friend barker?
Do Mr. Ramirez and Mr. Smart want me to believe a tournament is being run on “in kind” stuff only?
If that is so, I would recommend this DCCL thing for government best practices award. But if someone here is lying and someone made money, pray tell me you are scot clean.
Oh dear, why can’t people tell the truth?
PBA team Talk ‘N Text has agreed to be
the fourth team in the inaugu-ral edition of the MVP Cup, a tour-nament that will serve as the final buildup of the Philippine nation-al men’s basket-ball team for the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship.
MVP Sports Founda-tion executive Chot Reyes thanked Talk ‘N Text head coach Jong Uichico for coming in as a late replacement team after Lebanon unexpectedly withdrew from the com-petition last week.
Several members of
the Tropang Texters are part of the Gilas program, including Jayson Castro, Ranidel De Ocampo and No. 1 pick Moala Tautuaa. Gilas coach Tab Baldwin is also a consultant for the PBA team.
Gilas Pilipinas will take on Talk ‘N Text, the Chinese Taipei nation-
al team and New Zealand club Welling-ton Saints in the four-team pocket tour-nament slated from Septem-ber 11 to Sep-tember 13 at the SMART-Ara-neta Coliseum.
The MVP Cup will serve as Gilas Pilipi-
nas’ final tournament before competing in the FIBA Asia Championship slated on September 23 in Changsha, China. The Filipinos are hoping to win the FIBA Asia crown to book a prestigious spot in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
TNT joins Gilas in MVP Cup
GANGED UP. Ateneo de Davao University guard Raprap Framcisco is ganged up by defenders from As-sumption College of Davao even as teammate Dariel Manliguez moves in to help. The ACD Warriors beat Ateneo in the finals of the 2015 DACS boys basketball tournament played at the UIC Gym. Lean Daval Jr.
UPSET. Andy Murray of Great Britain stretches out for a backhand return. South African 15th seed Kevin Anderson stunned the British third seed 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/0) to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final.
Neil Bravo
LET’S GET IT ON
Who is telling the truth on DCCL?
Murray crashes out
VOL. 8 ISSUE 115 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
ONE IN GENSAN16 EDGEDAVAOSports
JOHNNY Arcilla got back at Casey Al-cantara to claim the men’s crown, while Khim Iglupas kept her fine
form and pocketed her second straight women’s plum in the Palawan Pawn-
shop-Palawan Ex- p r e s s Pera Padala Tuna
Festival Open at the Gen. San-
tos Tennis
Court in Gen.
Santos City Sunday.
The second seeded Arcil- la recalled his fierce form and dominated Alcantara, scoring an em-phatic 6-3, 6-2 victory and avenging his semifinal round setback to the Cagayan de Oro bet in the recent Olivarez Cup.
But the top seeded Iglupas continued to dominate the distaff side, although she needed an extra set this time to turn back No. 2 Edilyn Balanga, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, and score a follow-up to her straight set romp over Marian Capadocia in the Olivarez Cup.
“It was a big confidence-boost for Ar-
cilla after bowing to Alcantara the last time they faced. But it only showed the level playing field in men’s play with no particular player dominating,” said Phil-ippine Tennis Association president and Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez.
Arcilla, a many-time PCA Open cham-pion, actually completed his title romp
in the event sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop through COO Bobby Castro
and backed by Technifibre as official ball without dropping a set, threatened only by Vicente Anasta, whom he repulsed, 6-2, 7-5, in the semis.
But he started out strong against Al-cantara in the finals and sustained his charge in the second set with a dominant all-around performance, never giving his 23-year-old rival a chance to mount a comeback.
Iglupas, on the other hand, broke Ba-langa once in the opening set, lost her rhythm in the second but recovered her bearing in the decider where she out-played her rival with a solid baseline game.
Arcilla and Iglupas capped their big week by teaming up to capture the mixed doubles plum, trouncing PJ Tierro and Christine Patrimonio, 6-4, 6-1.
CHAMP. Johnny Arcilla hits a forehand in this file photo.
Arcilla gets back at Alcantara to win Tunafest singles title
