P 15.00 • 20 PAGES www.edgedavao.net VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015 INSIDE EDGE Rody, aides fly to Manila BALD MEANS YES Duterte to file COC at noon today after getting Sara’s nod? EDGE Serving a seamless society DAVAO THE BIG NEWS Page 2 F ORMER Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte had her hair shavenon Tuesday in an apparent bid to urge her father, Mayor Ro- drigo Duterte, to run for pres- ident. Sara first posted a photo on Tuesday night on her Ins- tagram account showing the back of her head being cut short. She wrote: “#justdoit #Duterte2016 sending #goodvibes to #Digong from #bakukangsaulo #Good- nightkaninyongtanan!” FBALD, 10 By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.
Transcript
P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
INSIDE EDGE
Rody, aides fly to Manila
BALD MEANS YESDuterte to file COC at noon today after getting Sara’s nod?
EDGE Serving a seamless society
DAVAOTHE BIG NEWS Page 2
FORMER Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte had her hair shavenon
Tuesday in an apparent bid to urge her father, Mayor Ro-drigo Duterte, to run for pres-
ident.Sara first posted a photo
on Tuesday night on her Ins-tagram account showing the back of her head being cut short.
She wrote: “#justdoit #Duterte2016 sending #goodvibes to #Digong from #bakukangsaulo #Good-nightkaninyongtanan!”
FBALD, 10
By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 20152 EDGEDAVAO
NEWS
FIVE incumbent Davao City councilors seeking reelection have filed
their respective certificates of candidacy (COCs) before the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
The five were councilors Antoinette Principe and Mary Joselle Villafuerte of the third district, Danilo Dayanhirang and Diosdado Mahipus of the second district, and Nilo Abel-lera Jr. of the first district.
Principe was the first to file her COC on Tuesday after-
noon, followed by Villafuerte and Dayanghirang.
Mahipus and Abellera filed their COC yesterday morning along with their respective families and supporters.
Principe, Villafuerte, Dayanghirang, and Mahipus are running for their second term while Abellera is running for his third and last term.
They are all members of the local party Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod headed by Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte.
In an interview, Abellera
said he did not know who the other candidates for councilor are because as he knew only incumbents were given a cer-tificate of nomination and ac-ceptance (CONA) by the party.
“Wala pa jud ko kabalo kung kinsa ang lain basta sure ko na ang mga incumbent kay natagaan gyud og CONA (I do not know who the other candi-dates are but I am sure all the incumbents were given their CONA),” he said.
Abellera said that there could be other candidates who
were given CONA such as Ba-rangay 5-A chair Edgar Ibuyan Jr.
Councilor Karlo S. Bello also received his CONA. He is running for the position of third district representative.
Duterte had earlier said he would not give a list of Hugpong candidates since it is already the ruling party in the city.
He said anyone who is a member of the party can file his or her COC within the pe-
YOUTH group Anakbayan today called on Davao Mayor City Rodrigo
Duterte to continue pushing for pro-people advocacies even as he announced his de-cision not to run for president in 2016.
In particular, the group acknowledged Duterte’s com-mitment to resuming the now stalled peace negotiations be-tween the Philippine govern-ment (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Phil-ippines (NDFP) and address the root causes of the rebellion in the country.
“His commitment to pur-suing just and lasting peace by addressing the root causes of the armed revolution should be picked up by other presi-dential candidates and should be a major agenda in the 2016 elections,” said Vencer Crisostomo, national chairper-son of Anakbayan.
Crisostomo expressed admiration for Duterte’s au-dacious leadership style and noted his support to the pro-gressive mass movement es-pecially in Davao.
“Mayor Duterte is not
THE Police Regional Of-fice 11 has deployed more policemen to
watch over the conduct of the filing of certificate of candi-dacies in all offices of the poll body in the region.
Superintendent Antonio Rivera, spokesperson of the PRO 11 said their primary concern is to institute order in the conduct of filing the Cocs.
He said policemen make themselves visible to ensure the safety and security of both the candidates and their sup-porters.
“Our primary concern is
to ensure order and the safe-ty of all people who are in the premises of the Commission on Election offices in all cities, provinces and municipalities in the region,” Rivera said.
Chief Inspector Milgrace Driz, spokesperson of the Davao City Police Office said that policemen are instructed to include in their visibility patrol the vicinity of the offic-es of the poll body inside the Ramon Magsaysay Park.
Three poll body offices for the first, second and third dis-tricts, respectively, are located in the park’s compound. (PIA 11-Joey Sem G. Dalumpines)
Anakbayan to Duterte: Supportprogressive platform, candidates
Comelec officessecurity tightened 5 reelectionist city councilors file COCs
ALL indications point to Davao City Mayor Ro-drigo R. Duterte running
for president in the 2016 elec-tion.
A handful of staunch friends and supporters flew to Manila yesterday reportedly to assist the mayor when he files his certificate of candida-cy (COC) for president today (Thursday) at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Intramuros.
Some of the city’s baran-gay captains also flew to Ma-
nila yesterday afternoon in support of the mayor.
Those who took a noon flight to the capital yesterday were former North Cotabato Governor Manny Piñol, Caloy Mercado, Chito Fuentes, Wil-liam I. Ramirez, and Peter Laviña.
Duterte’s close friend Bo-hol Mayor Leoncio “Jun” Evas-co also flew to Manila from Cebu yesterday.
His executive assistant, Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, was reportedly scheduled
to leave for Manila last night.There were reports that
Duterte was also scheduled to leave for Manila last night but this could not be confirmed as of press time.
None of Duterte’s men would also issue statements to the media.
If Duterte files his COC today, it would be a dramatic turn of events from last Mon-day’s press conference when Duterte again officially an-nounced he would not run for president.
During the press con-ference, he cited his family’s opposition, especially from daughter Sara Duterte- Carpio who even wrote him a letter urging him not to seek the presidency.
“Do not run. You do not owe anybody anything,” Duter-te quoted Sara as saying in her letter.
The announcement dashed hopes anew of Duter-te’s supporters who were urg-ing him to run for president,
Rody flies to ManilaBy CHARLES RAYMOND A. MAXEY
SECOND TERM. Davao City councilor Diosdado Mahipus files his certificate of candidacy (COC) yesterday for his re-election bid as third district councilor. Mahipus is running for his second term. Armando B. Fenequito Jr.
#KALBOPARASAPAGBABAGO. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte’s executive assistant Christopher Lawrence Go posts his picture on Facebook yesterday having a haircut as he prepared to go to Manila for the possible filing of certificate of candidacy of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for president. Screenshot from the Facebook account of Christopher Lawrence Go
FRODY, 10
FANAKBAYAN, 10
F5 REELECTIONIST, 10
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015 3NEWSEDGEDAVAO
THE Davao City Regional Trial Court (RTC) has junked the petition for
bail filed by two brothers ac-cused of kidnapping an Indian national after the prosecution presented a strong evidence against them.
Executive Judge Emmanu-el Carpio of RTC Branch 16 de-nied bail for siblings Noel and Bobby Onen as the evidence of the prosecution and testi-mony of the witnesses are “so immense” to deny their appli-cation for bail.
Carpio then ordered the pre-trial conference of the case
on November 16.Assisted by Atty. Michael
Castaños, the Onen brothers earlier argued that the evi-dence against them is insuffi-cient to deprive them of their right to bail.
The Onen brothers are standing trial to the crime of kidnapping along with Indian national Jerry Singh Balbir and Josephine Onas for the abduc-tion of another Indian national Jaspar Singh Malih on April 7.
In their motion, the Onen brothers questioned the claim of the police officers that they
THE chief of the Emer-gency Response Center Central 911 assured the
readiness of the local govern-ment in responding to disas-ters.
Emmanuel Jaldon, chief of the Central 911 said the local government is aware of the risks that might hit the city being at the end of the Davao River Basin.
He said the plans relative to disaster mitigation, pre-paredness and response are based on the risks threatening
the city.“A long time ago, the city
conducted several risk assess-ment and vulnerability assess-ment for all its sites,” Jaldon said.
He said the local govern-ment is also aware that the city is located on a flood plain and is indeed a catch basin.
Jaldon said that the cur-rently the city looks not mere-ly on mitigation but also in crafting new environmental laws to give more power in
THE government will continue its quest for the three foreigners and
a Filipino who were abducted by gunmen in a resort in Samal Island in southern Philippines last September, a Palace offi-cial said Wednesday.
This, even as a video of the victims and their captors was posted online recently de-manding for the government to stop the operations against the group.
“Government’s aim is to ensure their safety and secure their release and all actions emanate from this,” Presiden-
tial Communications Opera-tions Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement.
Authorities have identi-fied the victims as Canadian John Ridsdel, 68; and Robert Hall, 50; resort owner Kjar-tan Sekkingstad,56, a Norwe-gian; and Filipino Marites Flor, Hall’s girlfriend. They were kidnapped last September 21.
The victims were shown on the video sitting on the ground and surrounded by at least eight men who are hold-ing high-powered guns, with
RTC junks bail pleaof kidnap suspects
City gov’t readyfor any disaster
Operations to rescue Samal kidnap victims to continue
#KALBOPARASAPAGBABAGO. Davao City councilors Danilo Dayanghirang (right) and Al Ryan Alejandre join the craze to have their heads shaven yesterday at The Gentleman’s Lounge along Bo. Obrero. Lean Daval Jr.
FRTC, 10
FOPERATIONS, 10
FCITY, 10
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 20154 EDGEDAVAO
The Vote2016
EDGE DAVAO
NEWS
AFTER one of the sus-pects in the 2009 Magu-indanao massacre filed
his certificate of candidacy for mayor of a Maguindanao town on Monday, a star witness to the infamous carnage also filed his candidacy on Tuesday, this time for vice mayor of a nearby town.
Sukarno “Uka” Badal, who was included as among the suspects in the massacre but turned state witness, filed his candidacy for vice mayor in Sultan sa Barongis, as running mate of mayoralty candidate Bobby Katambak, a lawyer who is currently a board mem-
INSPIRED by his No. 6 rank-ing in the latest survey of senatorial preferences,
Juan Miguel ‘Migz’ Zubiri filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for senator as an in-dependent on Wednesday at the Commission on Elections head office, accompanied by his wife, newspaper lifestyle columnist Audrey Tan-Zubiri.
“I’ve been very happy qui-etly living a private life with Audrey and our three kids, and tending to our small busi-ness for more than two years now. I really had no plans to return to politics,” Zubiri said.
“But people have been walking up to me and en-couraging me to run for the
Senate. So here I am, moved and overwhelmed by their support,” Zubiri said.
“As Heneral Antonio Luna said: ‘Negosyo or kalayaan? Bayan o sarili?’ Yan po ang ating Artikulo Uno!” Zubiri said, quoting lines from Hen-eral Luna, the blockbuster 2015 Filipino historical bi-opic film depicting General Antonio Luna’s leadership of the Philippine Revolution-ary Army during the Philip-pine-American War.
In the Sept. 8-14 Pulse Asia Research Inc. survey of senatorial preferences, Zubi-ri emerged as the sixth most favored by voters, after Vi-cente Sotto III, Panfilo Lacson,
Franklin Drilon, Francisco Pangilinan and Ralph Recto, without counting Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has filed his COC for vice president.
“As we embark on a na-tional campaign, we are truly proud to say that the Zubiri name has never been tar-nished by corruption -- not even at the height of the PDAF scam,” Zubiri said, referring to the widespread Priority De-velopment Assistance Fund, or pork barrel rip-off that has ruined dozens of past and in-cumbent lawmakers.
“As an independent can-didate, I am absolutely con-vinced that I will be able to
Former Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri shows his Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for senator as Independent candidate on Wednesday (Oct.14,2015) at the COMELEC Central Office in Intramuros, Manila. Also in photo is his wife Audrey Tan-Zubiri. (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)
EMBATTLED former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority
chairman Francis Tolentino on Wednesday filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for senator as an independent candidate at the Commission on Elec-tions in Intramuros.
Tolentino arrived at the Comelec at past 10 a.m. along with local officials of Cavite province headed by Governor Jonvic Remulla.
He served as MMDA chair-man for more than five years.
“The political storm is over. I hope so. Like any good sol-dier, the battle must be won at all cost. I ask for your support as I embark on a familiar terri-tory,” Tolentino said.
On Sept. 29, Tolentino an-
nounced that he was running for senator in the 2016 polls. He made the declaration in the presence of Cavite leaders from various political parties.
If elected, Tolentino plans to pursue the following plat-form:
Greater empowerment of local government units and establishment of regional clus-ters for increased economic benefits at the grassroots.
Propose amendments to the Local Government Code that will accomplish the fol-lowing:
Increase the allocation of Internal Revenue Allotment based on performance and its automatic release to local gov-ernment units (LGUs);
DOLFO FOR IGACOS MAYOR. Comebacking former Rep. Antonio “Tonyboy” Floirendo Jr. (right) of Davao del Norte’s 1st Congressional District raises the hands of Gov. Rodolfo “Dolfo” del Rosario who filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for mayor of the Island Garden City of Samal (IGaCoS) and reelectionist Vice Mayor Al David Uy. The COC filing of del Rosario and Uy was done in IGaCoS yesterday.
Maguindanao massacre‘star witness’ files COC
Former MMDA chief seeks Senate seat
Zubiri runs for Senate as independent
ber of Maguindanao’s second district.
Both are running under the ruling Liberal Party. An emotional Badal said he never thought he could come back politically after his career was ruined by his inclusion in the list of suspects in the carnage.
The Maguindanao mas-sacre, seen as the country’s worst election-related vio-lence in recent history, claimed the lives of 58 persons, 32 of
whom were journalists. “It was Atty. Katambak who advised and convinced me to surren-der and tell all about the mas-sacre. Now that I am back here, I want to continue serving my people,” Badal said.
Katambak told reporters that Badal’s decision to turn state witness against those behind the massacre was an indication he wants justice to prevail.
It was the reason, Katam-
bak said, why he partnered with the state witness. “Justice for the people of Sultan sa Bar-ongis is our battle cry. We are facing with huge challenges here – peace and order and most especially, access to edu-cation,” he added.
Sultan sa Barongis is among the five towns in Magu-indanao listed by both the po-lice and the military as “areas of immediate concern.” Badal’s FMAGUINDANAO, 10
FFORMER, 10
FZUBIRI, 10
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
The PPI. Or your pie.EDGE Serving a seamless society
DAVAOBlazing the trail in innovative journalism.
“For allowing the readers to arrive with a stand, succeeded in manifesting the conviction of the community members while embodying transparency and excellence in delivering the news to the community.”BEST EDITED COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER (DAILY) 2014
“Demonstrated the highest standards in terms of creativity, quality, utility and style of writing that uphold the highest journalistic standards and tradition. It presents with more consistency a strong and concise community relevant stories. The style of writing is such that even as an article deals on local events it is never myopic and parochial in treatment because its perspective also transcends beyond the locality. As a whole, Edge Davao is a paragon of high quality journalism; a local newspaper that combines, in seamless meld, high quality writing and community value.”BEST EDITED COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 2013
“Actively dedicating regular coverage of environmental reports through news, features, columns and editorials that help promote high degree of environmental consciousness among the public. EDGE DAVAO is mindfully aware of the power of information in molding an environmentally-critical public.”BEST IN ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING 2014
“Precisely exercised its excellence in a community-oriented culture, arts and history articles. It really focused on the preservation, protection and promotion of the cultural practices, local artists and presented to the readers the impact of arts and culture on community life.”BEST IN CULTURE, ARTS AND HISTORY REPORTING 2014
5EDGEDAVAO
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 20156 EDGEDAVAO
ECONOMY
THE state-of-the-art Aeon Towers project of local developer FTC
Group of Companies is set to create architectural trends in this part of the country.
The 33-level skyscrap-er project along J.P. Laurel Avenue will be the first to use aluminum forms on its warped design and UV-pro-tected glass to encase the en-tire building.
“The aluminum forms are here and soon you will get a glimpse of this awesome structure,” said FTC president and CEO Ian Cruz.
Aeon Towers also boasts of fiber optic capability, wi-fi connectivity in common ar-eas and for some units, the Smart Home technology may be availed of. The technology allows one to control major functionalities of his home fixtures from hundreds of miles away.
The Aeon Towers, ac-cording to Cruz, will have four (4) spacious, high speed pas-senger elevators exclusively for condominium use.
Security and protection will also be a main character-istic feature of the building with advance fire protection alarm and sprinkler system and a 24-hour CCTV security camera.
Aeon Towers is also using Green Building Technology – by using UV protected glass for the entire building wall. It will be fitted also with LED lighting system.
Inside every unit, provi-sion of meticulously-selected pieces of complete facilities is in place. The entire build-ing will be managed by NYC Property Management Corp.
Cruz said unit merging will be allowed with a fee and specified layouts for com-bined units. If the buyer or
Aeon Towers to set new trends in building design
THE next host for the national convention of the Association of Tour-
ism Officers in the Philippines (ATOP) in Clark, Angeles City starts planning the 2016 event after the successful hosting of Davao City.
Davao City tourism head Lisette Marquez said, “We have just shown them how Davao handles events, be it domestic or international.”
She said they saw the ea-gerness of the participants in the just-concluded ATOP con-vention to visit not only places but how things are handled here for visitors and tourists although they received good
feedbacks from guests on their Davao experience.
Pampanga provincial tourism officer Arwin Lingat admitted Davao really did a great job and has become a big challenge to them as the next host of the 17th ATOP na-tional convention in 2016.
Lingat said, “We saw a lot of best practices here that must be replicated not only in my area but also in the differ-ent provinces and cities in the country.”
“The over 1,600 tourism officers around the Philip-pines brought home with them doable and worth em-ulating practices that would
strengthen the industry,” he said.
The 17th ATOP nation-al convention will be held in Clark next year, Lingat said, adding that they want to sus-tain what Davao has offered.
Alphonsus Tesoro, ATOP national president, said Davao City is ready in hosting any kind of event, whether do-mestic or international.
He said it speaks well of Davao City as a MICE (Meet-ings, Incentives, Convention and Exhibits) destination.
Tesoro also said that the ATOP convention is always accompanied with tour pack-ages but clarified it is not plain
tour but an activity where tourism officers will be ex-posed to destinations to gain new ideas, knowledge as well as techniques on how tours are handled.
“It is more than a guided tour because there will be in-teraction as well as discussion in the area from policies to strategies and execution,” he said.
He said the familiariza-tion tour is among the much attended activity by the tour-ism frontliners because there will always be new things in the area that could be adopted back in their respective areas. (PNA)
ATOP prepares forClark event in ‘16
ASIA Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) energy ministers have
encouraged member econo-mies to look into the potential of nuclear power to support the region’s goal of cutting car-bon footprint and emission of greenhouse gases.
“We reaffirm the impor-tance of safe and efficient development of civil nuclear power as an option to clean, high-quality and advanced modern energy, which func-tions as a base load power source, to help ensure global energy security and sustain-able development as well as reducing greenhouse gas emis-sions,” the joint statement of the Energy Ministerial Meeting (EMM) read.
APEC energy ministers
have encouraged interested member economies to contin-ue close cooperation such as exchange of information and best practices to improve nu-clear safety performance.
Interested member econ-omies should further collab-orate in emergency response and preparedness mechanisms as well as conducting capacity building and training for safe and peaceful development and use of nuclear power.
“As far as APEC is concern, they are promoting nuclear power,” said Energy Under-secretary Loreta Ayson on the sidelines of a press conference concluding the EMM here.
“It’s an option, although not all economies are in to nuclear (power). Like in the Philippines, we have a problem
on social acceptability,” added Ayson, who also co-chaired the APEC Energy Working Group Meeting.
She said safety issue re-mains the top reason why peo-ple reject to tap nuclear energy.
“People fear it’s not safe. But come to think of it, latest technology is in place so that safety is always there. But I think our people have yet to be informed. They have to be convinced,” the Energy official noted.
“It’s a clean fuel so it doesn’t emit greenhouse gas or carbon dioxide. It’s a clean and cheap fuel,” she stressed.
Earlier, Ayson said nucle-ar power remains part of the long-term options of the De-partment of Energy and it con-tinues to conduct studies on
nuclear energy.Ayson said that some APEC
economies are increasing the share of nuclear energy to power generation while other member economies are put-ting up nuclear power facilities or exploring to tap the sector.
International Atomic En-ergy Agency data show APEC economies that are using nu-clear energy are Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, and United States.
These economies’ nuclear share to electricity generation in 2014 ranged from 19 to 30 percent.
Ayson noted that neigh-boring countries such as Indo-nesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam are looking into adopting nu-clear resources as part of ener-gy generation. (PNA)
APEC ministers promote use of nuclear energy
WITH a budget alloca-tion for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipi-
no Program (4Ps) amounting to P62.7 billion in the pro-posed 2016 National Budget, the National Government’s flagship poverty alleviation program will be able to broad-en its coverage to include high school students, and thus help more indigent families.
Budget Secretary Floren-cio “Butch” Abad said the 4Ps must not only be sustained, but also widened given that this is one of the most import-ant and effective programs of the National Government that put resources in the hands of the poor and allow them to manage risks.
“Programs that protect the poor cannot be left underfund-ed. We will be able to further reduce the vulnerability of in-digent families if we help them keep their children in school all the way to high school, as well as provide opportunities for employment and liveli-hood,” the budget chief said in the wake of Congress’s approv-al of the 2016 General Appro-priations Bill after a marathon deliberation last Friday.
As the lead implementing agency of the 4Ps, the Depart-ment of Welfare and Social Development (DSWD) will get the sixth highest fund al-location among the various departments in the 2016 Na-tional Expenditure Program (NEP). Of the agency’s budget of P104.2 billion, P62.7 billion is allocated for the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, also known as the 4Ps.
Of the amount allocated for the CCT program, P59.4 billion will benefit 4.4 million poor households registered under the regular CCT program. The remaining P3.3 billion will cov-
er 218,377 beneficiary house-holds under the Modified CCT program. These beneficiaries range from itinerant families, homeless street families, and families in need of special pro-tection due to man-made and natural disasters.
Because a number of the households are set to graduate from the CCT program, the Sus-tainable Livelihood Program will double its budget with P9.6 billion to help a targeted 170,470 families move from subsistence to self-sufficiency through micro-enterprise sub-sidies. The program will bene-fit 208,352 beneficiaries with skills and technical-vocational training to prepare them for future jobs.
Meanwhile, to increase communities’ access and participation in local plan-ning, budgeting, and program implementation, the KALA-HI-CIDSS National Communi-ty-Driven Development Pro-gram will get P10.9 billion to empower 13,357 barangays in 627 municipalities across 58 provinces.
Likewise, the DSWD bud-get is set to implement the pro-vision of the senior citizens’ law—Republic Act 9994, or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010—mandating a P500-monthly pension for all indigent senior citizens na-tionwide. With a budgetary allocation of P7.5 billion, this pension program will target 1,182,941 senior citizens aged 60 years old and above.
The DSWD will also in-crease the budget of their Sup-plementary Feeding Program with an allocated P693 million, for a total budgetary support of P4.05 billion. This amount will help feed 2,150,621 day care children with nutritious meals.
Abad: Programs for poorcannot be left unfunded
buyers avail of this, TCT’s will be consolidated.
Each unit measures a floor to ceiling height of
2.80meters or 9.18 feet.Aeon Towers is a mixed
use real estate project with a land area of 4,574 square
meters. The building’s 33 lev-els will have 473 units with 300 parking slots at the base-ment. It will have a commer-
cial space on the ground floor, a Sky Deck on the 33rd floor and a luxury hotel on the 7th to 10th floors.
Aside from the pedes-trian hustle of the food centres, there are also many quaint spots around Singapore that are less hectic and offer visiting diners a venue to chill out and eat and one of my fa-vourite new spots to dine and recline is at Privé at the newly reopened Chi-jmes. Located at the corner of Victoria Street in down-town Singapore, Chijmes is a complex of buildings that were once a school and which now house various hip restaurants and bars. Its grand Anglo-French Gothic chapel with elaborate wall frescoes and Belgian stained glass windows now serves as a beautiful function hall which hosts events and
weddings. Flanked by green lawns at a corner of the complex is where we found Privé. The vibe of the restaurant is immediately casual and friendly in sharp contrast with the architecture sur-rounding it. Its alfresco area with its low tables and festival lights allow diners to have a view of Chijmes
courtyard. Staying in line with its friendly and approach-able theme, Privé’s menu is simple yet well-made. From its juicy and mouth-watering Wagyu Beef Burger to its Aglio Olio pasta, the dishes are famil-iar yet done with an eye for details and flavour. I ordered Privé’s fa-mous Fish and Chips. The beer battered snapper was light and moist. While the crispy fries were made ex-tra delicious thanks to the extra Truffle Sauce we or-dered. The dinner at Privé was a welcome break from all the Singaporean food I had. Dinner was the high-light of the meal as we ordered Privé’s trademark Sticky Date Toffee Pud-ding. The sweetness of the house made butterscotch paired well with the wal-nuts and the actually pud-ding itself. The decadent dessert also came with a scoop of luscious vanilla bean ice cream which is sure to destroy any dieter’s plan. Aside from regular ala carte meals, I also learned that Privé also offers a Picnic Lunch on its lawn (with prior reservations needed), which is one ex-perience I would want to do when I visit Singapore again. Many thanks to Chef Ian Palma and Katherine delos Santos for showing me around. Follow me on Instagram or on Twitter at @kenneth-kingong fore more travel stories, foodie finds, and happenings in, around, and beyond Durianburg.
FOOD
EDGEDAVAOINdulge!
Chef Ian, Otoi, Kat and I share some mojitos.
Decadent Sticky Date Toffee Pudding.
FOR the food tripper, there are many dining options in Singapore. From the many hawker places to the various food courts located in many of the Lion State’s malls, one can find many things to chow down on.
A chill out dinner at
PRIVÉ
Chijmes’ events hall was once a Gothic church.
Fish and Chips.
The vibe at Privé Chijmes.
Privé’s famous Wagyu Beef Burger.
Aglio Olio with pine nuts.
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
NEVER been one to talk anecdotes and similes but as far as food is con-cern, I can come up with the most unexpected of anecdotes that even I cannot believe to have come from my mouth. September 12 2015 marked a very special day. Not only for me but to the in-dividuals who have taken part in the recently concluded Vi-tarich Cook-Off Challenge held at AISAT. September 12 was when four schools, out of the seven, were judged to take part in the finals. The atmosphere was full of positivity and aroma that you’d end up wanting to taste the dishes in an instant. It was as if we were in the set of a culinary show. The only difference? I was one to seat on the other side of the table…as a judge. I admit, I am not a culinary connoisseur nor someone who has culinary prowess like my culinary superheroes, Chef Gene Gonza-les and Jamie Oliver, to name a few. However, I love food. In general. I love the rich story be-hind every food – from the raw ingredients, concoctions, preparations and cooking, I love how each dish has a story to tell. The contest was sponsored by Vitarich – one of the country’s leading poultry company. With them providing high quality dory fillets, everyone was in a festive mood to cook and present a masterpiece. With seven of the most respected schools in Davao, each team came in prepared and ready to make it happen in-side the kitchen. May I add, AISAT’s kitchen was so tempting – it’s like calling you to whip up a favorite in a snap. Participants were briefed and given pre and during event instructions. They were to bring the ingredients – but nothing pre-cooked – except for the main ingredient to be provided by Vitarich. They were given 1 hour and 30 minutes to prepare, cook and serve their dish-
A2 INdulge! EDGEDAVAOFOOD
Cook’s golden dory cook-off
es. Of course, there were criteria’s to which the qualifiers were chosen. At the end, plated dishes were judged by yours truly, Chef Llerma Javier of Green Rocks Pasty and Sir Dei Endaya, Business/Product De-velopment Manager of Vitarich. The winners were judged based on sani-tation, cooking style, creativity and of course, overall taste.
Admittedly, the dishes were all good. However, it was a matter of who made the flavors work and highlighted the dory in all of its glo-ry. It was not an easy task, having to eat all dishes non-stop and judge at the same time, that is. Still, it was a privilege to have tasted their master-pieces. #TheRoyalChef will forever remember this experience. Thank
you to AISAT and the organizers for the opportunity. Cook’s Golden Dory Cook-Off 2015 Grand Finals took place last September 27, 2015 at the SMX Convention Centre. To the winners, Congratulations! Make #TheRoyalChef your Thurs-day habit. I’m on instagram @her-royalheiress.
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
Solenn Heussaff spills strict diet plan to maintain her physique
INdulge! A3EDGEDAVAOENTERTAINMENT
ABS-CBN’S child actors Louise Abuel, Micko Laur-ente, Jon Michael, Raikko Mateo and Karla Cruz will be the little big stars of the network’s new afternoon offering “Walang Iwanan.” “Walang Iwanan” follows the story of Jose, played by Abuel who played the young Jake Cuen-ca in “Ikaw Lamang,” who is the son of Anita, played by Roxanne Guinoo. His stepfather Kamlon, played by “It’s Showtime” host Jhong Hilario spares the young Jose the affection that a father gives a child since the boy was the fruit of Anita’s past relation-
ship. Laurente plays Boy, the first-born of Anita and Kamlon, who will make life hard for Jose to be friends with his other siblings. His three other siblings include Criscencio (played by Jon Mi-chael), Maribel (Cruz) and Michael (Mateo). While his stepfather doesn’t recognize him, and his step-brothers and sister alienate him, Jose finds solace in his grand-mothers, with whom he grew up with, Ina and Ebe, who shower the boy with the love that he’s missing out on. Their love pre-pared Jose to be strong enough
to be part of a true family. He grows up to be a fine-mannered boy who just wants a family that loves one another. Trouble happens when the kids find their parents missing one morning and had to fend off for themselves. Jose and Boy try to work their differences out for the sake of their siblings as they hope to find out what happened to their parents and be together once again as a family.Other members of the cast are John Estrada, Beauty Gonzales, and Nicco Manalo. For more in-formation, visit ABS-CBN.com for updates.
SOLENN HEUSSAFF shares her tried and tested diet trick to keep her body fit as she joins last Sun-day’s episode of Idol sa Kusina. During her guesting stint, Solenn shared to hosts Chef Boy Logro and Bettinna Car-los that her love for vegetables bloomed in her teenage years. She said, “Actually nung 15 lang ako [nag-start mahilig sa pagkain ng gulay]. Dati puro meat eater ako tapos nung uma-lis ako at pumunta ako sa France to study in college, ‘yun naging vegetable ‘yung favor-ite ingredient ko.” According to the Taste Buddies host, the ease of food preparation is the reason she started to eat vegetables. “Kasi since ‘di ko pa marunong magluto, parang ‘yun ‘yung pinakamadali.” Aside from Solenn’s strict and intense workout plan, she also follows the no carb diet technique to keep her body fit at all times. She revealed, “Usually ‘di ako kumakain ng carbs sa gabi. Zero. Tapos kapag gusto ko ng kanin, dalawang tablespoon lang. Sa umaga lang puwede, afternoon bawal, gabi bawal.”
ABS-CBN’s ‘Walang Iwanan’ kids ready to touch viewers’ hearts
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
PG
R16
PG 12:40 | 3:00 | 5:20 | 7:40 | 10:00 LFS
R-16
THE PRENUP
Jennylyn Mercado, Sam Milby
PG 1:00 | 4:00 | 7:00 | 10:00 LFS
PAN
12:00 | 2:30 | 5:00 | 7:30 | 10:00 LFS
CRIMSON PEAK
Tom Hiddleton, Jessica Chastain
12:40 | 3:00 | 5:20 | 7:40 | 10:00 LFS
Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller
BRIDGE OF SPIES
Tom Hanks, Alan Alda
October 14 – 20, 2015
A4 INdulge!UP AND ABOUT
SOME like their weddings to be the grand-est celebration, regal and majestic in ev-ery detail. Then there are those who like it quaint and intimate. Others, however, pre-fer a scenic affair, a communion with Moth-er Nature.
A wedding celebrates the union of two people, and setting up the per-fect scene for that once-in-a-lifetime moment is important. Sometimes, it proves to be difficult to plan out the perfect wed-ding and find the right vendors without that much effort. Thankfully, a company from Indonesia found a way to give couples a hand
in planning their perfect wedding to every little de-tail. Bridestory helps cou-ples make their dream wedding come true by connecting them to wed-ding professionals across the globe. It has now be-come the leading wedding marketplace in Southeast Asia. The firm targets the younger generation “who
are savvy and prefer to ob-tain information online,” said Kevin Mintaraga, Chief Executive Officer of Bridestory. “Couples that plan their wedding with Bridestory will end up with better, more beauti-ful, more savvy wedding, since we believe that they will make well-informed decision with Bridestory,” he added. To craft a unique and personalized wedding, start with Bridestory. The
platform works both as an inspiration site and a directory for finding wed-ding professionals. Be inspired by a catalogue of works accomplished by wedding professionals from all over the world. And unlike most inspira-tion sites, with Bridestory, engaged couples can eas-ily connect with the ven-dor who has made that inspiration into a reality. After launching their local Philippine website (www.bridestory.com.ph),
Bridestory has a curated list of over 200 local ven-dors. They are grouped based on the type of ser-vices that they offer—in-cluding dress and attire, catering, hair and make-up, flowers, and photog-raphy—in total of over 20 categories. You can easily find vendors based on lo-cation, specialty, colour, and most importantly, budget. Engaged couples can also connect and engage wedding vendors from
top wedding destinations. Over 15,000 vendors from 39 countries, including 12,000 hailing from the Southeast Asian region, have enlisted their busi-nesses with Bridestory. Thus, planning for an overseas wedding or photoshoot can easily be done, let it be a pre-wed-ding shoot in Amanpulo or a wedding in Bali. Moreover, Bridestory also has a blog section, which contains wealth of wedding tips and inspira-tions that help couples to customize their wedding details into a unique con-cept that match their per-sonality. Couples and ven-dors alike can also submit their wedding photos and get a chance to be featured in Bridestory’s interna-tional blog and social me-dia, which are followed by more than 2 million inter-national audiences. Bridestory promises an inspirational, smooth and productive wedding plan-ning experience. With Bridestory you can seam-lessly turn your dream wedding into a reality, at the comfort of your fin-gertips.
Planning the perfect wedding with Bridestory
EDGEDAVAO VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
MATINA ENCLAVES. A view from the basement parking of the construction for Building 1 of The Residences of Matina Enclaves.
THE Matina Eclaves will hold another Open House today at
its showroom at the Genesis Building along Ecoland.
Project head Gerald Garc-es said delectable promo, dis-counts and freebies are to be given away during the Open House which could go as high as P70,000 for a unit.
Garces also gave an up-date of the construction of the first two buildings of The Residences. The first one is already sold out and is under-going vertical progress on its construction while the second
building which will commence construction soon is already 90 percent sold.
Building 1 is currently ongoing preparation for con-creting of the Ground Floor and 1st Residential Floor. The target for building top-off is on January 2016 and the project-ed turnover will be on the last quarter of 2016.
For Building 2, piling is scheduled on November 2016 while the projected turnover is on the third quarter of 2017.
A signature project of homegrown developer Escan-dor Development Corpora-
tion, The Matina Enclaves will soon launch the third building of The Residences which will have six buildings when com-pleted.
According to Garces, Building 3 will be a combina-tion of the old Studio unit with 32 square meter, 2-BR with the original 57-sqm and its new offering which is a 2BR with 45-sqm and 3BR with 65-sqm.
Building 3 is also for the expanding market base for 2-BR buyers by introducing 45-sqm units, which offers same quality finish as earlier
models, but having 1-Toilet. This makes the unit affordable due to smaller area.
“Esdevco has to respond to current public interest on quality affordable condo units. Making it affordable does not mean compromising the look, quality and livability. While maintaining a sizeable area that can accommodate family living, the current units will still be equipped with the same lifestylish finishes that the ear-lier models have,” Garces said.
Building 3 is expected to have a turnover date in the mid 2018.
Matina EnclavesOpen House todayCOOPERATIVE Devel-
opment Authority Re-gion XI Director Elma
Oguis is open to merging or consolidation of cooperatives to strengthen its resources amidst ASEAN Integration.
“After all interventions that we injected, might as well merge or consolidate those micro cooperatives with the large cooperatives,” Director Oguis emphasized.
Oguis revealed that there are 1,901 cooperatives listed in the region as of December 31, 2015 and 79% of it was micro enterprises.
According to Republic Act 9501 or the Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, classification of business is according to its assets for micro, P3-million
and below; small, more than P3-million to P15-million; me-dium, more than P15-million to P100-million; and large, more than P100-million.
She added that only 2% of the cooperatives is large, 4% is medium and 15% is medi-um.
The director also dis-closed that there was only 3% increase in the number of cooperatives from that of De-cember 2013.
“As of September 2015, there were 40 cooperatives registered in the agency,” she said.
Oguis also underscored that their office continues to give training to improve the cooperatives especially on ad-ministration and governance. (PIA11, Michael Uy)
CDA welcomes coops merging
NEW SCHOLARS. Davao Light and Power Co. Community Relations Manager Fermin P. Edillon (6th from left, front) hands over the financial support amount-ing to P25,000.00 to the new college scholars last September 30, 2015 at the
Davao Light Lanang office. This was funded by the Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. in support of the First Semester of SY 2015-2016. This covers the students’ tuition fee, book allowance, school uniform and other school related expenses.
GLOBE Telecom pro-vides the fastest LTE service in the Philip-
pines, affirming the superior-ity of its mobile internet ser-vice and network infrastruc-ture amid intensely competi-tive environment in the local telecommunications industry.
Based on OpenSignal’s State of LTE report for the third quarter of 2015, Globe Telecom’s LTE download speed is at 10 Mbps, double its competition’s LTE down-load speed of only 5 Mbps. Globe Telecom’s LTE down-load speed is comparable to territories/countries like Hong Kong (Smart Tone), In-dia (Airtel), Norway (Telenor, Network Norway), Portugal (NOS), Indonesia (Indosat), which all registered a 10 Mbps download speed, and even higher than the 8 Mbps download speed in Russia (MTS), Malaysia (DiGi) and even US (AT&T, US Cellular, Sprint, C Spire Wireless).
While Globe Telecom’s download speed of 10 Mbps is considered adequate, its competition’s download speed of 5 Mbps dragged down the Philippines’ av-erage LTE download speed to 8Mbps. OpenSignal spe-cializes in mobile coverage mapping by crowdsourcing signal strength, data speed and reliability. In terms of LTE coverage, that of Globe is also superior at 41% against its competitor’s 36%.
“These findings prove our success in continuously expanding our network ca-pacities amid ever-increasing demand for high-speed mo-bile internet access as more and more of our customers build their life and work ex-periences around a digital lifestyle,” said Yoly Crisanto, Globe Senior Vice President for Corporate Communica-tions, noting that about a third of the company’s 48.4
million mobile customers are now using smartphones.
As part of the compa-ny’s aggressive LTE rollout, the Globe network’s mobile ultra-broadband access in Visayas and Mindanao were expanded, utilizing the LTE-TDD and LTE-FDD technolo-gies, Agustin said. Currently one of the most relevant mo-bile network technologies, 4G LTE offers much higher band-width, lower latency even as it increases overall network capacity. This allows custom-ers to use more applications on their mobile devices.
Crisanto said the con-tinuing expansion of Globe network capacities is intend-ed to provide its customers with holistic digital experi-ence as the company con-tinues to offer products and services that enhance the Fil-ipino digital lifestyle. “Globe is committed in providing the right infrastructure support to ensure that the data needs of our customers are served, thus strengthening our posi-tion as the network of choice for smartphone users in the country. When it comes to mobile internet speed, we be-lieve that the Philippines can compete globally but there is a need to distinguish between mobile and wireline,” she added.
Amid ongoing network expansion, Globe capital ex-penditure this year is expect-ed to reach $850 million. As of June this year, capex stood at P11.4 billion, bulk of which were allocated for data-relat-ed projects that include in-vestments for the company’s broadband network, capac-ities for wireless data, LTE, domestic and international transmission facilities. A sig-nificant portion of the compa-ny’s capex for the year were also allotted for its IT infra-structure as Globe continues
Globe beats rivalsin speed, coverage
FGLOBE, 10
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 20158 EDGEDAVAO
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THE notorious Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) finally claimed responsibility for the abduction of a Filipino woman and three foreign nationals at a resort in the Island
Garden City of Samal last month. The bandits showed proof of their crime by releasing a video of the four hostages, with the recording now making the rounds in social media and eliciting grave concern from netizens and the public for this dastardly act.
The video, of course, was still a positive development as it confirmed they are all alive, giving hopes to their families who have been worried about their whereabouts ever since Filipino Marites Flor, Canadians John Ridsdel, and Robert Hall and Norwegian and resort manager Kjartan Sekkingstad were snatched from the Holiday Oceanview Resort on the night of September 21. In the video, the hostages, looking weak and terrified as they were surrounded by several Abu Sayyaf ban-dits, urged the Philippine government not to launch military
operations and to stop the artillery attacks in the hinterlands of Jolo, Sulu where they are being held in captivity.
One of the gunmen in the video was holding a piece of paper supposedly containing a prepared statement and was telling the government to heed the call of the hostages so that nego-tiations for their release can commence. The family of Marites Flor and the governments of the foreign nationals have been in constant communication with the Philippine government regarding the kidnapping for weeks now, but nothing positive has come out from the search and rescue operation that was launched.
Now, that the Abu Sayyaf has finally come forward to admit being behind this latest abduction as the Philippine military has suspected all along, it’s time for government forces to un-dertake a calibrated and precise operation to run after these criminals – but with the safety of the victims as the primordial consideration.
IN our Principles of Economics class, we study why peace is important to the econo-my. We relate the absence of peace to wast-
ing scarce resources such as land (including all natural resources), labor, and capital – the basic factors of production.
Just like what I shared on Facebook a week ago, conflicts in Mindanao are not conflicts borne out of differences in religion as others would depict it. Many conflicts in Mindanao have been caused by land issues.
Incidentally, when our lectures were about “Peace and Order: Basic Need (in an economy)” and “Economics and Land Reform” the news stories on media depicted the Bang-samoro Basic Law (BBL) as dead. The story of Lumad killings in Surigao also hogged head-lines.
So I found it useful to sprinkle our eco-nomics discussion with ounces of history.
Once upon a time, Mindanao, just like oth-er islands in what is now the Philippines, was a vast land occupied by its indigenous peo-ples. Modern historians from Mindanao now point out some aspects that are made vague in history books taught in elementary and high school (and even in college).
In the 1300s, Arab traders brought Islam to the islands, making way for Islamized IPs who thrived largely in southern Mindanao and the islands like Tawi-tawi, Sulu, and Bas-ilan. In the 1500s, the Spaniards came and spread Christianity in the islands. Because many parts of Mindanao had been Islamized,
Christianity spread widely in Luzon, the Vi-sayas and in Mindanao, only in the northern and eastern parts, where indigenous peoples had not converted to being Muslims.
I have to mention this to some students who are confused about the conflicts around them. There are those who do not have any idea what the BBL is trying to address and who care less if it is “dead” in Congress.
I remember Prof. Rudy “Ompong” Rodil, whose many lectures I have had the opportu-nity to listen to. He showed how Manila-cen-tered and colonial-backed Philippine govern-ments imposed policies that marinated the viand of conflict in Mindanao.
Ompong, who was in Bukidnon State Uni-versity in 2008 to explain about the Memo-randum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), showed how policies like Public Land Act 926, passed on October 7, 1903 and Public Land Act of 1919 displaced both Islam-ized and non-Islamized indigenous peoples from their ancestral domains.
The first law declared all unregistered land tracts as public domain and open for home-stead and the second appropriated a maximum of 10 hectares in homestead lots for “Muslim Filipinos” and “wild tribes”, and 24 hectares for “non-Muslim Filipinos”. “Non-Muslim Fili-
pinos” included migrants from Luzon and the Visayas but not indigenous peoples.
Here is a profile of the “resettlement poli-cy” in the country by then:
In 1903, the public land law dictated that a homesteader from Luzon and the Visayas may own 16 hectares of land. There was no pro-vision for “Moros and the wild tribes”. On the other hand, corporations, like pineapple plan-tations were allowed 1,024 hectares.
In 1919, there was already a provision of 10 hectares for “Moros and wild tribes”. But the allotment for homesteaders was also in-creased from 16 hectares to 24 hectares. Cor-porations remained high and mighty at 1,024 hectares (remember this was the American period and the pineapple plantations were owned by Americans.)
In 1936, the provision for homesteaders was reduced back to the original 16 hect-ares. Likewise, provision for “Moros and Wild Tribes” was reduced to four hectares. In eco-nomics parlance, the allotment for corpora-tions “was held constant” or ceteris paribus. Policies like these cause major turbulence in the peace situation.
Some historians refer to the policy of spon-soring the migration to Mindanao of landless families from Luzon and the Visayas as formu-la for conflict.
The settlers came with official titles to par-cels of land. Conflict erupted almost immedi-ately between settlers who claimed their new legal rights and Islamized and non-Islamized
indigenous peoples who resisted such “legal rights”. The former were keen on titles as proof of “ownership”. The latter considered their long-time occupation and stewardship of land from their ancestors as their proof.
“So now, what?” one student asked. “Are we going to send back the settlers to where they came from?” I directed the question to the class. Half of them came from settler ancestors, the other half, Lumad of Bukidnon. The an-swer was either “no need” or “we don’t agree.”
Most people who have studied Mindanao history, including its conflicts, may find this in-formation outdated and probably, an old issue that is being recycled.
But for the youth, including my students in the university, this could mean a lot, this could change a lot.
Peace is a basic need. In fact, it is a major factor of production. Even if business has land, labor and capital, there can never be sustained productivity if there is no peace. No economy grows “well” if peace remains elusive.
In class, we agreed that the preferred course of action is to be able to understand history, accept these circumstances as reality, and live and aspire for a Mindanao based on these realities.
This reality requires that we can talk about how we can co-exist and move on.
(MindaNews contributor Walter I. Balane teaches journalism and economics and manag-es the university radio station of Bukidnon State University.)
Beyond the four walls: Land and conflict
ARE you happy? A friend once asked me. I replied affirmatively. Yes, despite all the struggles in life, the crisis we encounter,
and the trials we face every day, we can still smile and laugh. After all, Filipinos are among the happiest peoples in the world.
Happiness can’t be measured by one’s wealth. A vagabond on the street once said, “I’d be happy if only I had five hundred pesos.” A person passing by who heard him handed the vagabond a P500 bill. The man who received it said, “I should have asked for one thousand pesos.”
Yes, it’s not how much you have money in the bank, what kind of car you’re driving, or the house you are now living. Jane Canfield reminds, “The happiest people are rarely the richest, or the most beautiful, or even the most talented. Happy people do not depend on excitement and ‘fun’ supplied by externals. They enjoy the fundamental, often very simple, things of life. They waste no time thinking other pastures are greener; they do not yearn for yesterday or tomorrow. They savor the moment, glad to be alive, enjoying their work, their families, and the good things around them.”
Live simply. That’s the first rule of happiness. Life is getting complicated these days. Before we only use telephones. Now, we have cellular phones which we can carry anywhere and with so many things you can do. Before, we only had cameras that take pictures; now we have cam-eras that will not only take photos but take vid-eos as well. In the past, I only used typewriters to write my articles; now I am using computer which can accomplish almost anything – from editing to checking wrong spellings.
A lot of peo-ple I know are not happy be-cause they make their lives miser-able by joining the bandwagon of modern liv-ing. They hoard many things that they don’t actually need. The trouble is, they don’t have enough means to pay for their whims. “Live simply, so others may simply live,” someone once said.
Living simply is a philosophy of life. In his book, Voluntary Simplicity, Duane Elgin wrote: “To live simply is to unburden our lives — to live more lightly, cleanly, aerodynamically. It is to establish a more direct, unpretentious and un-encumbered relationship with all aspects of our lives: the things we consume, the work we do, our relationships with others, our connections with nature and the cosmos.”
The next rule: Serve others. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others,” said Mahatma Gandhi. Wilfred Green-fell added, “The service we render for others is really the rent we pay for our room on this earth.”
You might think you cannot serve others because you are not famous, you are not mighty, or you are poor. But it’s not all about your status in life that matters but the capacity to serve oth-ers. Someone once asked a famous conductor
which orchestral instrument he considered the most difficult to play.
The conductor thought a moment and an-swered, “Second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists. But to find one who can play second fiddle with enthusiasm – that’s a problem. And if we have no second fiddles, we have no harmo-ny!” You may a second rate personality, but you are still important in the cast.
Og Mandino, the author of The Greatest Salesman in the World, points out: “Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on oth-ers without getting a few drops on yourself.”
Nathan C. Scheaffer asks: “At the close of life, the question will be not, How much have you got? How much have you given? not How much have you won? but How much have you done? not How much have you saved? but How much have you sacrificed? it will be How much have you loved and served, not How much were you honored?”
And you cannot serve others if you don’t share your treasure, talent or time. So when you leave this world, what will people think of you? An e-mail sent to me by a friend has this answer: “What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a last-ing loss when you’re gone. What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you. What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave?”
The third rule for happiness: Trust God. American President Abraham Lincoln once admitted: “That the Almighty does make use of human agencies and directly intervenes in hu-man affairs is one of the plainest statements in the Bible. I have had so many evidences of His direction, so many instances when I have been controlled by some other power than my own will, that I cannot doubt that this power comes from above.”
If you are looking for happiness, why not ask from Him? The Bible promises, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).
Our personal relationship with God must be right, or all else comes to naught. “When we leave God out of our reckoning, difficulties will daunt us, temptations will triumph over us, sin will seduce us, self will sway us, the world will warp us, seeming impossibilities will irritate us, unbelief will undermine our faith, fear will frighten us, and all things will bear a somber hue,” F. E. Marsh reminds.
“But when God is recognized as the One who undertakes for us, then difficulties are opportunities to trust Him, temptations are the harbingers of victory, sin has no attraction, self is denied, unbelief is ignored, service is a delight, contentment sings in the heart, and all things are possible,” he adds.
These are my three rules for happiness. Live simply. Serve others. Trust God. Happiness comes not from having much to live on but hav-ing much to live for.
were arrested in an entrap-ment operation right at their residence in Punta Dumalag, Matina, Davao City on April 10.
“It is unlikely that a crim-inal will agree to receive ran-som money in their own door-step,” Castaños argued.
Malih, a resident of Well-spring Village, Catalunan Pequeño, was snatched by unidentified men in Barangay Ula, Tugbok District, Davao City last April 7.
Balbir, Onas and the Onen brothers were arrested by po-lice authorities on April 10, or three days after the incident.
The group earlier de-manded for a Php20-million
ransom and negotiations on until the ransom was reduced to just Php200,000 but no pay-off happened.
The authorities had re-ceived information that the victim will be transported from Barangay Datu Salumay in Marilog District to the city proper.
Acting on the information, the Task Force Davao immedi-ately set up a checkpoint in Ba-rangay Lacson, Calinan District and intercepted the victim on board a passenger bus.
Police then conducted a manhunt that resulted to the arrest of the four suspects. (PNA)
one also holding a big knife.The foreigners spoke on
the video appealing to the military to stop the operations against the kidnappers.
One of the gunmen also spoke, in English, reiterating their demand.
Authorities maintain that they have not determined the group behind the kidnapping
nor do they know the where-abouts of the victims.
Army’s 602nd Brigade spokesperson Captain Anto-nio Bulao was quoted as say-ing that their operations in Jolo last October 8 was against Abu Sayyaf leader Radul-lan Sahiron, who is in the US government’s terrorists list. (PNA)
the implementation of the climate change advocacy, by mainstreaming the CCA in the disaster risk reduction and management.
“The new laws will add up to give more teeth to the exist-ing laws and will give impact more to the implementation and enforcement,” he said.
Professor Esteban Godi-lano, resident scientist of the Climate Change Congress of the Philippines projected grim scenario of the city in the event of a strong flash flood given its location being on a flood plain.
Reckoning the existing hazard map, he said the city remains under the threat of flashflood in the event a strong downpour occurs on the highlands of Bukidnon and its boundary with Davao
City.An interfaith dialogue
on Climate Change was held here to rally religious leaders to support the government’s Intended Nationally Deter-mined Contribution target of seventy percent reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions in the country by 2030.
First convened in 2010, the IFD had conducted 10 regional dialogues and three national conferences nation-wide. It is convened by the Climate Change Commission, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Phil-ippine Council for Evangelical Churches, Climate Change Congress of the Philippines and the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy. (PIA 11-Joey Sem G. Dalumpines)
Yesterday morning, Sara posted another photo of her face with her hair was being shaven off.
This time, she wrote: “Nagpa upaw na lang ko sam-tang naghulat (I had my head shaved while waiting).”
She posted the hashtags #Duterte2016 #kalboparasa-pagbabago #NohairWecare
“Bisan walay kwarta, bisan way makinarya, bisan mapildi #justDUit (Even with no money, even with no ma-chinery, even if we lose, just do it),” she added.
Mayor Duterte has been saying that one of the reasons for his decision not to run for president is his family’s op-position, particularly Sara’s.
In his press conference
last Monday in which he announced again his deci-sion not to run, Duterte read aloud a letter Sara had sent him discouraging him from running.
“Do not run for president. You do not owe anybody any-thing,” Sara said in her letter.
Duterte said Sara told him he has already done ev-erything for public service and does not need prove himself anymore.
Sara’s posts yesterday apparently showed a change of heart on her part.
Duterte’s spokesperson, former Davao City council-or Peter Laviña, said Sara’s post was “great news from the family This partly answer many people’s prayer.”
and even dismayed some of his closest friends and supporters who were expecting him to fi-nally make the declaration.
A twist happened yester-day morning, however, when Sara posted a photo of herself
on Instagram with her head shaven, with hashtags that seemed to indicate she had changed her mind and is now supporting her father’s bid for the presidency. (See related story.)
riod for filing from October 12 to 16.
Duterte also did not say who the party will endorse for vice mayor but added he could still endorse his son, in-
cumbent Vice Mayor Paolo Z. Duterte.
He has been urging his daughter Sara to run for mayor, a position she held from 2010 to 2013.
someone who settles for emp-ty rhetoric but has matched his talk with action,” said Crisostomo who cited the mayor’s repeated calls for the resumption of the GPH-NDFP peace talks, his condemna-tion of military harassment and killing of lumad leaders as well as his role in the release of various prisoners of wars in Mindanao.
He said Duterte, with youth organizations can push for a “people’s agenda” for
2016 which includes fighting for free education at all lev-els, genuine agrarian reform, living wage and employment for all, defence of national sov-ereignty, basic social services, peace based on justice, and the rights of marginalized sectors.
“Duterte can also help boost the candidacy of Mak-abayan senatorial bet Neri Colmenares and significantly increase the representatives of progressive partylists in con-gress,” he said.
former ally, Sultan sa Barongis Mayor Alidatu Angas, is seek-ing reelection.
Sajid Islam Ampatuan, son of former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. and among the suspects in the massacre, has filed his can-didacy for mayor of Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao.
He is temporarily out on
bail after posting P11-million bail bond.
Esmael Lidasan, Sultan sa Barongis election officer, has appealed to all candidates to contribute in making next year’s election as peaceful as ever by simply obeying elec-tion policies and never engage in guns, gold and goons type of political campaign.
Create a Police Youth Re-serve Corps to help in peace and order and disaster re-sponse;
Establish and support community colleges support-ed by the national government offering courses attuned to the needs of communities where they are located and subsidies for the National Government;
Establish community air-ports in support of tourism;
Create a Philippine Urban Development Commission that will work closely with LGUs to promote the concept of planned cities that will prevent the problems experi-enced in Metropolitan Manila from happening elsewhere;
Propose that the national government allocate funds to a Community Rehabilitation/Recovery Trust Fund for LGUs.
Propose the setting up of a well-planned system for rehabilitating communities adversely affected by natural and man-made disasters, with
the assistance of the private sector, thru appropriate tax in-centives;
Propose the practice of responsible mining coupled with assured revenues for host communities to be used for community development projects;
Propose that tax holi-days be given to environ-ment-friendly companies and enterprises as incentives;
Propose that children in school automatically become-direct beneficiaries of Phil-Health and educational health insurance as an effective way of investing in their future and in the future of our country;
Propose women’s statuto-ry right to wellness and health facilities for their children;
Tolentino was credited for upgrading the salary grade of MMDA employees upgrades, increasing Christmas bonuses, housing and scholarship for permanent employees, and other benefits. (PNA)
humbly serve our people bet-ter in the Senate. The Filipino family and the people will be my party,” Zubiri said.
“As a non-partisan, I hope to serve the country freely and without conditions -- without being weighed down by having to perform any ob-ligations to a political party or faction,” he added.
Zubiri previously served as a senator for four years and as congressman for three consecutive terms represent-ing the third district of Bukid-non.
Zubiri’s father, Jose Jr., is the incumbent governor of Bukidnon. His older broth-er, Jose III, is an independent congressman.
five-year agreement to adopt an additional hectare each and turned-over their dona-tion to DCWD for the first year. These are the Davao Inter-national Airport Cooperative represented by its chairman Albin M. Durano, general man-ager Rossel F. Antonihao, and bookkeeper Leah B. Delmoro, and the Manuel Guianga and Sirib Growers and Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative represented by CEO Agripino L. Flores.
EWPD manager Engr.
Anthony D. Miranda signed on behalf of the water utility. DCWD also received the dona-tions from the Toril Commu-nity Cooperative and JC Work-ers Employees Cooperative, both active adopters.
Witnessing the signing of agreements and turn-over of pledges was Davao City coun-cilor April Marie C. Dayap, chairperson of the Committee on Cooperative Development and People’s Participation and cooperative officers. (Jamae G. Dela Cruz)
to create platform for new products as well as to build on its IT transmission initiatives.
The OpenSignal data is collected from real consumer smartphones and is recorded under conditions of normal usage. Rather than approxi-mate the user experience, it is directly measured from the users of OpenSignal smart-phone application, which can be freely downloaded on both iOS and Android devices, and thus it is able to constantly monitor the true network experience that users are get-ting on those devices.
Through the app, Open-Signal is able to observe the network exactly as the end
user experiences it. Such customer-centric approach allows OpenSignal to mea-sure the true end-to-end experience of the mobile network. It isolated the net-works in the Philippines by extracting all those points sent with network IDs corre-sponding to the brands op-erational there and then per-form a geographical query to isolate only those data points that have been captured with-in the region. The different brands have been identified by investigating the network names associated with the SIM in the reporting device and the network which is serving the device.
Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Transporta-
tion and CommunicationLAND TRANSPORTATION
FRANCHISING AND REGULATORY BOARDRegional Office No. XI
Davao City
Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience to operate a TOURIST CAR TRANSPORT SERVICE
Case No.2015-XI-00920
RONALD C. GO,Petitioner
x- - - - - - - - - - - - - - --x
NOTICE OF HEARING
Applicant requests authori-ty for a Certificate of Public Con-venience to operate a TOURIST CAR TRANSPORT Service for the transportation of passengers and freight on the route. WITH-IN DAVAO CITY AND FROM SAID PLACE TO ANY POINT IN THE ISLAND OF MINDANAO AC-CESSIBLE TO MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC AND VICE VERSA with the use of FIVE (5) units.
NOTICE, is hereby given that this petition will be heard by this Board on OCTOBER 27, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. at this of-fice at the above address.
At least, TEN (10) days pri-or to the above date petitioner shall publish this Notice once in a one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Mindanao
Parties opposed to the granting of the petition must file their written opposition supported by documentary ev-idence on or before the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the petitioner, and may if they so, desire appear on said date and time.
This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documen-tary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive addition-al documentary and/or oral ev-idence.
WITNESS the Honorable BENJAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Re-gional Director, this 6th day of October 2015 at Davao City.
TERESITA DELA PEÑA-YÑIGUEZ Chief Transportation
Development Officer
Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Transporta-
tion and CommunicationLAND TRANSPORTATION
FRANCHISING AND REGULATORY BOARDRegional Office No. XI
Davao City
Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience to operate a TH FREIGHT TRUCK Service
Case No.2015-XI-00906
ARNOLD D. NAVALES,Petitioner
x- - - - - - - - - - - - - - --x
NOTICE OF HEARING
Applicant requests author-ity for a Certificate of Public Convenience to operate a TH FREIGHT TRUCK SERVICES for the transportation of freight on the route. WITHIN DAVAO CITY AND FROM SAID PLACE TO ANY POINT IN THE ISLAND OF MIN-DANAO ACCESSIBLE TO MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC AND VICE VERSA with the use of ONE (01) unit.
NOTICE, is hereby given that this petition will be heard by this Board on OCTOBER 28, 2015 at 09:40 a.m. at this of-fice at the above address.
At least, TEN (10) days pri-or to the above date petitioner shall publish this Notice once in a one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Mindanao
Parties opposed to the granting of the petition must file their written opposition supported by documentary ev-idence on or before the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the petitioner, and may if they so, desire appear on said date and time.
This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documen-tary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive addition-al documentary and/or oral ev-idence.
WITNESS the Honorable BENJAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Re-gional Director, this 2nd day of October 2015 at Davao City.
TERESITA DELA PEÑA-YÑIGUEZ Chief Transportation
Development Officer
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015 11EDGEDAVAO
AGRITRENDSPili nut: A potential dollar earnerText and Photos by HENRYLITO D. TACIO
IF there’s another tree in the Philippines that should be named as a
national symbol, it should be the pili nut. If waling-waling – a native of the Mount Apo forests – has been elevated as the country’s second flower icon (after sampaguita), pili nut should get the distinc-tion, too.
After all, half of the word “Pilipinas” is “pili.” Besides, pili nut (scientific name: Ca-narium ovatum) is native to the Philippines. Although it is grown heavily in Bicol, pili can be grown anywhere in the country. However, they abound most in Southern Tagalog, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Southern Mindanao, and Caraga.
“Pili nut is one econom-ically important tree that deserves attention not only from the government offi-cials but also from farmers,” says Roy C. Alimoane, the director of the Davao-based Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) Foundation, Inc. “Although it is native to our country, there is still no commercial planting of the crop.”
In some Asian countries, pili nuts are also grown but mostly as ornamental. De-spite the fact that it has no pili nuts plantation to speak of, the Philippines is the only country that produces and processes pili nuts commer-cially. “As such, pili nut has the possibility of becoming a major dollar earner and source of income for our farmers,” Alimoane points out.
“Pili nuts possess the characteristics to become among our country’s most valuable export commodity. Categorically, they can com-pete with cashew, almond, and macadamia in terms of texture, taste, and extracted micronutrient yield,” said a study conducted by a team of biotechnologists, who urged the current administration to
support the pili industry. In 1977, the country re-
portedly exported some 3.8 tons of pili preparation to Guam and Australia. Before World War II, pili nuts were exported to Hawaii, Germa-ny, France, Great Britain, and Japan, according to the Plant Industry Digest published in 1970.
Today, however, the larg-est buyers of pili nuts are in Hong Kong and Taiwan, where the kernel is used as one of the major ingredients in one type of the famous Chinese festive desserts known as the “moon cake.”
“The current status of the pili is equivalent to that of the macadamia some 30 years ago,” says Richard A. Hamil-ton, a macadamia breeder at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. “It has great poten-tial to develop into a major industry.” (The expensive macadamia nuts are in de-mand in Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Austria.)
Pili trees are attractive symmetrically shaped ever-greens, averaging 20 meters tall with resinous wood and resistance to strong wind. It prefers deep, fertile, well-drained soil, warm tempera-tures, and well-distributed rainfall.
The immediate concern in pili production is the dif-ficulty of propagation. Re-frigeration of seeds at 4°C to 13°C resulted in loss of viabil-ity after 5 days. Seed germi-nation is highly recalcitrant, reduced from 98-19 percent after 12 weeks of storage at room temperature; seeds stored for more than 137 days do not germinate.
According to experts, asexual propagations using marcotting, budding, and grafting are too inconsistent to be used in commercial production. Young shoots of pili were believed to have functional internal phloems, which rendered bark ringing ineffective as a way of build-
ing up carbohydrate levels in the wood.
There are three pili cul-tivars grown in the Philip-pines: “katutubo,” “mayon” and “oas.” Most of the pro-duction in the Philippines are from trees that developed from seedlings and are high-ly variable in kernel qualities and production. Harvesting is from May to October, peaking in June to August, and re-quires several pickings.
Most pili kernels tend to stick to the shell when fresh, but come off easily after be-ing dried to 3-5 percent mois-ture. Properly dried shelled nuts can be stored in the shade for one year without deterioration of quality.
The kernel is the most important product from pili. When raw, it resembles the flavor of roasted pump-kin seed; when roasted, its mild, nutty flavor and ten-der-crispy texture is superior to that of the almond. In early days, emulsion from crushed kernels were used by the na-tives as substitute for infant’s milk.
Nutritionists claim the kernel is high in calcium, phosphorus, and potassium. In addition, pili nut is rich in fats and protein. Scientists from the University of Guelph in Canada reported that pro-teins in pili are as important as the proteins found in com-mercially important oilseeds.
“I love its tender-crisp texture, the smooth exterior, the subtle sweet flavor,” com-mented one consumer. “It has the highest oil content among all edible nuts and that’s what probably accounts for the soft yet crunchy feel.”
The young shoots and the fruit pulp are also edible. The shoots are used in salads, and the pulp is eaten after it is boiled and seasoned. When boiled, the pili pulp resem-bles sweet potato in texture but oily (about 12%). It is considered to have food value similar to avocado.
Pili nuts for sale
Pili nuts
Among the entire world’s nut, pili reigns supreme in oil content – over 70 percent. The pulp oil – highly prized for its lanoline content – can be extracted and used for cooking or as a substitute for cottonseed oil in the man-ufacture of soap and edible products.
“Chemical and nutrition-al analyses of pili pulp oil are very similar to olive oil,” the Department of Science and Technology reported. “How-ever, pili pulp oil has more be-ta-carotene, a known vitamin A source, and carotenoids, which makes it more nutri-tious than olive oil.”
It’s no wonder why in Bicol and other parts of the country, the pili pulp oil is used in treating skin diseases such as scabies and de-worm-ing capability for livestock such as pigs and chicken.
There are several other uses. The stony shells are ex-cellent as fuel or as porous, inert growth medium for or-chids and anthurium. The sap of the trunk is a valued ingre-dient for perfume-making and the wood itself, after the fruit-bearing life of the tree, is good for making furniture.
Growing pili nut is eco-nomically feasible. A three hundred hectare pili farm with 60,000 sixty thousand pili trees was established in
Pili nuts for saleNegros Occidental by the ECJ and Sons Agricultural Enter-prises. They started planting seedlings in 1992. By 1996, they realized that almost half of the population they plant-ed were male. On the same year, they started grafting the male trees with scions from trees selected from the 20 or so thousand trees that were already producing fruits. Since then, the company has been processing pili into sev-eral products and also selling raw nuts to processors.
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 201512CLASSIFIED
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
EDGEDAVAO
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
THE National Grid Corpo-ration of the Philippines (NGCP) shared its best
practices in real time power sys-tem operations and dispatching when it hosted a technical tour of its state-of-the-art System Operations - National Control Center for the ASEAN region’s top engineers and industry ex-perts on 9 October 2015.
Participants from Malay-sia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand were in Manila with their Filipino counterparts from September 28 to October 9, 2015 to attend the ASEAN Residential School in Electric Power Engineering (ARSEPE) – an annual two-week program of the Heads of ASEAN Power Utilities Association (HAPUA) Working Group No. 5 (Human Resources).
The program, with the theme “Turbocharging the Elec-tric Power Distribution Sector Beyond the ASEAN Power Grid,” provided an overview of the existing and emerging technol-ogies of the energy and power
industry in the Philippines and promoted the exchange of best practices among the member utilities.
Highlighting the training program was the visit of local and foreign delegates to NGCP’s National Control Center which serves as the nerve center of power grid operations for the entire country. This is where monitoring and controlling the operations of the grid and bal-ancing of power supply and de-mand are done.
NGCP is a privately owned corporation in charge of operat-ing, maintaining, and develop-ing the country’s power grid. It transmits high-voltage electric-ity through “power superhigh-ways” that include the intercon-nected system of transmission lines, towers, substations, and related assets.
Apart from organizing the guided technical tour of the National Control Center, NGCP also hosted the closing cere-monies of the ARSEPE training program.
NGCP showcases National ControlCenter at ASEAN training program
DCWD takes part inCooperative MonthDAVAO City Water Dis-
trict (DCWD) partici-pated in the Cooper-
ative Month celebration last October 3 at Matina Town Square by presenting the up-dates of the Adopt-a-Site proj-ect to its partner cooperatives.
Presenter was water-
shed management chief Engr. Lorna M. Maxino of the Envi-ronment and Watershed Pro-tection Division (EWPD), the implementing arm of DCWD’s Adopt-a-Site project.
She said through the Adopt-a-Site project, various groups are able to take part
in the rehabilitation of Mt. Talomo-Lipadas Watershed through their annual donation of P6,000 for five years for ev-ery hectare of land adopted.
Many cooperatives have been supporting this project hence every year, and DCWD takes the Cooperative Month
celebration as an opportunity to keep the cooperative part-ners abreast of the develop-ments.
In the same event, two cooperatives that have recent-ly completed their five-year commitment signed another
Davao City cooperatives continue support to DCWD’s Adopt-a-Site project. Environment and Watershed Protection Division manager Engr. Anthony D. Miranda (fourth from left) receives the monetary donation from the cooper-
ative adopters with councilor April Marie C. Dayap, chairperson of the Com-mittee on Cooperative Development and People’s Participation (second from right) witnessing the turnover.
NGCP’s System Operations-National Control Center serves as the nerve center of power grid operations in the Philippines.
FDCWD, 10
13EDGEDAVAO
COMMUNITY SENSE
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 201514 EDGEDAVAOSports
OLYMPIC DREAM IS ALIVEPBA bares 17-man pool for Rio Qualifiers
THE PBA on Wednes-day announced the 17-player pool of
the Philippine national men’s basketball team in its campaign in the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament next year.
Part of the list are reigning back-to-back MVP June Mar Fajardo and Marcio Lassiter of San Miguel Beer; Greg
Slaughter, Japeth Aguilar and LA Tenorio of Baran-gay Ginebra San Miguel; Paul Lee, Jeff Chan and Gabe Norwood of Rain or Shine;
Jayson Castro, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, Troy Rosario, Ranidel De Oc-ampo and Ryan Reyes of Talk ‘N Text; Marc Pingris and Ian Sangalang of Star; Calvin Abueva of Alaska
and Terrence Romeo of GlobalPort.
The list was released after the PBA Board of Governors held a spe-cial meeting to discuss the league’s involvement with the national team that is hoping to keep its Olympic dream alive in next year’s wildcard qual-ifier.
Meantime, the PBA
on Wednesday agreed to make changes to its calen-dar to accommodate the Philippine national men’s basketball team in its quest to bring the country back to Olympics.
The league announced that its season-ending conference, the Gover-nors’ Cup, will be moved after the conclusion of the 2016 FIBA World Olympic
Qualifying Tournament that is slated from July 5 to July 11 next year.
The tournament, where Gilas Pilipinas and fellow runners-up from different continents have qualified, offers three tickets to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The PBA also said that the players included in the 17-man Gilas Pilipinas
pool will be allowed to at-tend national team prac-tices once a week starting this November.
Gilas Pilipinas fell short of clinching an out-right berth in the Olym-pics after settling for sil-ver in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship.
The Filipinos haven’t reached the Olympic bas-ketball stage since 1972.
IS HE GOING TO PLAY? Junmar Fajardo
has been named to the pool.
GILAS 3. The PBA has cleared its schedule for the national team to play in the Olympic qualifiers.
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015 SPORTS15EDGEDAVAO
FOUR collegiate teams and two high school squads will battle it out
for supremacy in the Royal Mandaya Hotel Cup basket-ball tournament set to start on Saturday at the Genesis Gym in Ecoland.
Collegiate Division 2 var-sity teams Philippine Wom-en’s College, University of the Immaculate Conception, San Pedro College, and Holy Cross
of Davao College will battle with the top two high school varsity squads in Assumption College of Davao and Ateneo de Davao University.
The tournament, sanc-tioned by the Samahang Bas-ketball ng Pilipinas Region 11 under regional director Regi-no “Boy” Cua, will fire off at 9:30 a.m. after a brief opening ceremonies.
“This is going to be a good
venue for our local players to enhance their God-given tal-ents in preparation for future national tournaments,” said TRMH president Glenn Es-candor who is also the city’s sports consultant.
Ateneo and Assumption are two of the top high school squads in the city today and should not see any problem competing with the Division 2 collegiate teams.
6 teams in Mandaya Cup hoopfest
TEAM Tin 24 defeated City Mayors Office, 96 – 75, in Game 3
of their best of five semi-fi-nal series to move one win away to the finals of the DENR RD Cup on Tuesday night at the Davao City Rec-reation Center Almendras Gym.
Team Tin 24 broke away from a tight game in the sec-ond half behind the timely shots of Jan Lumogda to
take a 2-1 series lead.Lumogda, the reigning
AFP-PNP hoopfest MVP, finished the game with 24 points for Team Tin 24 which got enough support from its supporting cast.
Christopher Jatico chipped in 14 points as Robert Namuag provided 10 for the Ondo Conda men-tored squad.
Christopher “Bong” Go and Weng Farochillen paced
the City Hall dribblers with 13 points each. Bob Ilanga and JR De Guzman also had double digit scoring in the losing cause with 12 apiece.
Team Tin 24 tries to close out the series in Game 4 as of press time and ar-range a titular showdown with Goldstar Hardware.
For its part, CMO will not leave any stone un-turned to force a rubber match Game 5.
ALBERT Pagara, the younger of the fight-ing Pagara brothers,
is eager to impress fans with a win in his US debut against one-time world ti-tle contender William Gon-zalez in the main featured bout of ALA Promotions’ first US event, Pinoy Pride 33 - “Philippines vs. the World”, at the StubHub Cen-
ter in Carson, California on Oct. 17.
“I’m in great condition. Yes, I’m very excited. My opponent is also good. I should not take any chances because he is tough. I will show my best performance above the ring,” Pagara said.
Pagara, 21, was very im-pressive in his first interna-tional contest, knocking out
Jesus Rios in just a single round at the World Trade Center in Dubai last August.
“Somebody is going down in this fight. But I will leave talking inside the ring,” said Albert Pagara, who has stopped five of his last six opponents.
Albert is 24-0 with 17 knockouts, while Gonzalez is 27-5 with 23 knockouts.
Albert’s older sibling, Jason (36-2, 22 KOs), is also seeing action in the show against veteran Santos Be-navides (27-5-2, 19 KOs).
Another highly-touted prospect Mark Magsayo (11-0, 9 KOs) is also slated in the undercard against undefeated Mexican Yard-ley Suarez (13-0, 8 KOs). (PNA)
RIVALRY. Assumption College of Davao and Ateneo led by Francis Gabriel Escandor (18) will renew their rivalry in the 2015 Mandaya Cup. Lean Daval Jr.
Tin 24 tops CMO in Game 3
Younger Pagara eager to impress fans
Zhou Qi played a key frontcourt role for the Chinese team that won the FIBA Asia Championship title against Gilas Pilipinas. FIBA Asia photo
Chinese teener nowan NBA prospectCHINESE player
Zhou Qi ranked 14th on the
2016 NBA mock draft list, according to the US basketball site draf-texpress on Tuesday.
Zhou played a key frontcourt role for the Chinese team that won the FIBA Asia Cham-pionship title against Gilas Pilipinas. As the new starting center, he produced outstand-ing performances and earned the best cen-ter title of the tourna-ment.
“He will have a great career,” said Chi-na head coach Gong Luming. “Everybody knows his talent, po-tential and the ability to handle pressure.”
The 19-year-old Zhou, who averaged 9.9 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks in the Asian championship, is also rated first among the international bas-ketball players born after 1996.
He is a teammate of Gilas Pilipinas nat-uralized player Andray Blatche at Chinese club Xinjiang Flying Tigers.
Against Gilas Pil-
ipinas in the final, Zhou scored 16 points and 14 p o i n t s and proved to b e difficult
to beat inside t h e p a i n t
in Chi-na’s ti-
tle-clinching 7 8 - 6 7 win.
On its outlook on Zhou, draftexpress wrote: “One of the most talented interna-tional prospects in the 1996 class. Extremely gifted 7-footer with tremendous versatil-ity and an advanced offensive game for his age. Shows good tim-ing defensively. Very productive at the ju-nior level.
“Mental makeup is a bit of a question
mark. Doesn’t show great pas-sion for the game. Some-times looks like
he’s playing because he’s
tall and talented, not be-cause he e n j o y s it. Still
extremely young both
age-wise and physically, so has
plenty of time to continue to devel-op.”
Apart from Zhou, China’s Wang Zhelin also ranked 99th on the list.
VOL. 8 ISSUE 141 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 201516 EDGEDAVAO
