P 15.00 • 20 PAGES www.edgedavao.net VOL. 8 ISSUE 32 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, MAY 17 - 18, 2015 EDGE Serving a seamless society DAVAO BACK TO BACK EDGE DAVAO celebrates a winning season VICTORIOUS. Edge Davao executives celebrate the back-to-back victory. From left, Director of Sales Jocelyn S. Panes, General Manager Olivia D. Velasco, awards night host David Celdran, Manila office Marketing Manager Angelica R. Garcia, and Editor-In-Chief Antonio M. Ajero. Edge Davao won 3 national awards.
Transcript
P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 8 ISSUE 32 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, MAY 17 - 18, 2015
EDGE Serving a seamless society
DAVAOBACK TO BACK
EDGE DAVAO celebrates a winning season
VICTORIOUS. Edge Davao executives celebrate the back-to-back victory. From left, Director of Sales Jocelyn S. Panes, General Manager Olivia D. Velasco, awards night host David Celdran, Manila office Marketing Manager Angelica R. Garcia, and Editor-In-Chief Antonio M. Ajero. Edge Davao won 3 national awards.
1. Best Edited Community Newspaper: THE MINDANAO CROSS
2. Best Editorial Page: BAGUIO CHRONICLE
3. Best in Business and Economic Reporting: BAGUIO MIDLAND COURIER
4. Best in Environmental Reporting: BUSINESS WEEK MINDANAO
5. Best in Photojournalism: BAGUIO MIDLAND COURIER
6. Best in Culture, Arts and History Reporting: THE BOHOL CHRONICLE
DAILY
1. Best Edited Community Newspaper: EDGE DAVAO
2. Best Editorial Page: SUN STAR CEBU
3. Best in Business and Economic Reporting: SUN STAR DAVAO
4. Best in Environmental Reporting: EDGE DAVAO
5. Best in Photojournalism: CEBU DAILY NEWS
6. Best in Culture, Arts and History Reporting: EDGE DAVAO
FOR the second year in a row, EDGE DAVAO was
adjudged the country’s best community news-paper.
The Philippine Press Institute (PPI) bestowed on the seven-year-old Davao City-based news-paper its most coveted award during the 2014 Civic Journalism Awards at the Diamond Hotel on Friday night.
Aside from the Best Edited Newspaper Award, EDGE DAVAO also won two other awards – Best in Envi-ronmental Reporting, and Best in Culture and Arts Reporting – to emerge as the most awarded publication this year, besting the other finalists in three categories.
EDGE DAVAO Edi-tor-In-Chief Antonio M. Ajero said the latest awards and nomina-tion are “a recognition of the hard work of the tiny team of the paper, which at seven years old is the youngest player in Mindanao’s print media industry.”
“The paper’s team is humbled and tremen-dously inspired by this
WINNERS ALL. The winners of the 2014 Civic Journalism Awards pose with their trophies at the Diamond Hotel on Friday night.
unprecedented mile-stone. We dedicate the trophies and citation to our readers, advertis-ers, and supporters,” he said.
Reelected PPI chair-man and president Atty. Jesus G. Dureza congrat-ulated all finalists and winners for “living up to journalistic standards.” He likewise challenged publishers and editors to make newspapers a catalyst for change. “That is civic journal-ism. We engage com-
munities. We build b e t t e r c o m m u -nities.”
T h e much-an-ticipated awarding rites saw n e w s p a -pers out-side Met-ro Ma-nila, par-t i c u l a r ly M i n d a n -ao, steal-ing the limelight in the a n n u a l competi-tion that aims to recognize outstand-ing jour-n a l i s m a m o n g c o m -m u n i t y n e w s -p a p e r s a c r o s s the coun-try. It is the first and only
awards program of its kind in the Philippines.
As the Best Edited Paper in the daily cate-gory, EDGE DAVAO was recognized “for allow-ing the readers to arrive with a stand, succeed-ed in manifesting the conviction of the com-munity members while embodying transparen-cy and excellence in de-livering the news to the community.”
In last year’s recog-nition as Best Edited Community Newspaper, EDGE DAVAO was cited for having “demonstrat-ed 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 communi-ty 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 journal-ism; a local newspaper that combines, in seam-less meld, high quality writing and community value.”
For the Best in En-vironmental Reporting category, EDGE DAVAO was cited for “actively dedicating regular cov-erage of environmental reports through news, features, columns and editorials that help pro-mote high degree of en-vironmental conscious-ness among the public.
EDGE DAVAO is mind-fully aware of the power of information in mold-ing an environmental-ly-critical public.”
For Best in Culture, Arts and History Re-porting, EDGE DAVAO was cited for having “precisely exercised its excellence in a commu-nity-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.”
EDGE DAVAO now has a total of nine PPI annual awards in its sev-en years of existence. Its other awards are in Best in Science and Environ-mental Reporting and in Best in Business and Economic Reporting.
The Mindanao Cross, winner in the weekly category for Best Edited Newspaper, was recog-nized for its “remarkable approach of conveying concerns in a regional perspective while em-bodying excellence in writing and photojour-nalism which captures a substantial meaning of the situation of the com-munity”.
In the weekly catego-ry, Baguio Midland Cou-rier won two awards: Best in Business and Economic Reporting and Best in Photojour-nalism. Another Bagu-io-based weekly, the Ba-guio Chronicle, received the Best Editorial Page award. The Best in En-vironmental Reporting award went to Business-
Week Mindanao, while the Best in Culture, Arts and History Reporting award was given to an-other weekly, The Bohol Chronicle, the lone win-ner from Visayas.
In the daily catego-ry, another Davao-based daily, Sun.Star Davao, clinched the Best in Business and Economic Reporting award, while two other Cebu-based dailies, Sun.Star Cebu and Cebu Daily News, won Best Editorial Page and Best in Photojour-nalism respectively.
Winners received trophies and cash priz-es. Plaques of Merit were handed out to all 16 fi-nalists from Luzon, Vi-sayas and Mindanao.
The Awards pro-gram is now on its 19th year, having given the first awards to regional newspapers in 1997. It aims to raise the stan-dards of journalism in the countryside and seeks to honor news or-ganizations not only for editorial excellence but also for their role as cat-alysts for community de-velopment.
The awarding was the highlight of PPI’s two-day 51st anniver-sary celebration, which opened on May 15 at Diamond Hotel Ma-nila. The Civic Journal-ism Community Press Awards was supported by Nickel Asia Corpora-tion, Malaya, Business-World, Journal Group, The Philippine Star, Ma-nila Standard Today, and Philippine Daily Inquir-er. Starting next year, the principal partner will be Nickel Asia Corporation.
“The paper’s team is hum-bled and tre-mendous ly inspired by this unprece-dented mile-stone.”
dorsed the presidential candidacy of Mayor Ro-drigo Duterte, his bitter political rival.
This came after his
son, incumbent Davao City First District Rep. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles, said he was supporting Duterte’s bid for the pres-idency.
“Why not?” the young Nograles said in an inter-
view last Friday.“He is from Davao. He
is from Mindanao. It will be pride and joy for us Dabaweyos to see a pres-ident from Davao City,” he said.
The older Nograles,
for his part, told Edge Davao that he backed Kar-lo’s statement.
“Karlo talks for our family now. He speaks for us when it comes to poli-tics,” he said.
Asked if he is burying
Nograles endorses DuterteBy CHENEEN R. CAPON AND JON JOAQUIN
the hatchet with Duterte for the sake of Mindanao, Nograles said there is “no hatchet to bury.”
“Politics is never per-sonal but is about issues, beliefs, programs, and purpose! Davao must be united against others. Ri-valry is purely local,” he said.
Duterte, however, has maintained that he is not interested in running for president.
The former House Speaker has long been a political rival of Duterte’s. He ran against Duterte for mayor in 1992 and 1998 – losing both times.
He also ran against Duterte’s daughter Sara for mayor in 2010 but again lost.
Nograles, however, had a distinguished run as a congressman, ending his career by becoming House Speaker from 2008 to the end of his term in 2010.
Karlo handily won the first district congres-sional seat in 2010 and was reelected in 2013.
In last Friday’s inter-view, Karlo denied that he is eyeing the mayor-
alty race in 2016, saying he still plans to run for a third term as congress-man.
He also expressed his support for a change to federal form of govern-ment which is being en-dorsed by Duterte.
He said this is the possible outcome of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBC) which will create a Bagsamoro territory and will abolish the present Autonomous Region for Muslim Mind-anao (ARMM).
“That’s the test case. I think that’s sort of our in-troduction into a federal state,” he said.
“Because if you look at the way the BBL is structured, they’re giving certain powers that are exclusive to the Bangsam-oro and certain powers retained by the nation-al government, which is akin to a federal form and system of government,” he added.
Karlo said as a Min-danawon, he has been supportive of advocacies pushing for a federalism form of government like FAMILY BUSINESS. A family helps push a cart full of ukay-ukay merchandise which they will sell at the night market along Roxas Avenue in Davao City.
DESPITE the strong op-position of the city gov-ernment, Christians,
Muslims, and Indigenous Peo-ples (IPs) residents of the city declared their firm support for the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and estab-lishment of the Bangsamoro during a Senate public hear-ing held Thursday, May 14.
The hearing and consul-tation was headed by Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., chair of the Senate Committee on Lo-cal Government tackling the proposed BBL.
Abdul Baqui Sandag of the Indigenous Peoples Council of Leaders said during the hear-ing that the IPs of Zamboanga fully support the proposed law.
“We, the IP community of Zamboanga, fully support the implementation of the BBL,” he said, while also articulating several recommendations to better protect the rights and welfare of IPs in the country.
“We are here, despite the distance, to declare our sup-port for the BBL,” Sultan Rico Pelandoc of the Iranon Sultan-ates League of the Philippines also affirmed.
“The BBL we support could realize the dreams and aspirations of the people of Mindanao--and that is the original BBL submitted by the BTC or at least the substance of the BBL they submitted,” Pelandoc added.
If there should be changes, Pelandoc said, it should lead to “an enhanced but not a wa-tered-down BBL.”
Msgr. David Alonzo, speak-ing on behalf of the Archdio-cese of Zamboanga, said the Church “continually advocates peace and the coexistence of Christians along with other religious groups in the country, including our Muslim brothers and sisters.”
“We are with the gov-ernment of the Republic of the Philippines in its quest for national unity and peace, recognizing its importance in building a strong, stable, and prosperous nation,” he added.
“As an advocate of peace, the Archdiocese of Zambo-anga is not interposing any objection to the creation of the Bangsamoro on the condi-tion that the provisions of this Bangsamoro is in conformi-ty to the fundamental law of
the land or the Constitution,” Alonzo said.
Earlier during the hearing, Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco gave the position of the city government on the proposed BBL, saying “the city of Zam-boanga and all of its 98 baran-gays and sitios should never be included in the Bangsamoro, now or ever.”
A member of the audience, however, pointed out that the stand of the city government on the proposed BBL does not reflect the stand of its res-idents, especially the Muslims.
“The voice of city govern-ment is not the voice of Zam-boanga. We have thousands of Bangsamoros here who sup-port the BBL,” Macksu Magang of the civil society organization SIAPAHAN said.
After a two-day hearing in Mindanao, Marcos is set to conduct two more hearings on the proposed law before a committee report on the BBL is finalized. A hearing on the 18th will be held to consult the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), while another on the 25th will be held to consult the sultanates and royal houses. (PNA)
LAWMAKERS in the House of Representa-tives are still confused
as to what version of the proposed Bangsamoro Ba-sic Law (BBL) will be up for voting on Monday during the committee level meet-ing.
“We still don’t know whether it will be section by section voting on the proposed amendment. Whether or not that will push through, abangan na
lang natin sa Monday (we will find out on Monday),” Davao City first district Rep. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles told reporters last Friday.
Nograles said there have been rumors that some legislators will be pre-senting their own version of the bill during the voting.
“Rumors have it that meron daw ipapakitang version. Some congress-men might be proposing a different version and
we might vote on it. The chairman Rufus Rodriguez has also distributed to the members of his own ad hoc committee his own version. When you say a version, that means every amend-ment has been ironed it and carried by the chairman,” he said.
He also said there have been rumors that a con-gressman will be moving for the adoption of a new version.
“We still don’t know what will happen on Mon-day because we’re getting a lot of mixed signals here,” he added.
Nograles said there is still no assurance that legislators will vote on the adoption of recommended changes on some provi-sions made by the Peace Council which was formed to assess the constitutional-ity of the bill.
Despite all the mixed
signals, Nograles gave as-surance that legislators are all one for peace in Mind-anao.
“The law that will ush-er peace in Mindanao, as a concept and as a principle, is you know something that we all agree in. We just have to be careful so that our ef-forts would not be wasted if the law is questioned be-fore the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court strikes it down as unconstitution-
al,” he said.He said the Lower
House is taking all mea-sures to ensure that the BBL will pass the test of constitutionality.
“We don’t want to be embarrassed later on. If we pass a law, we don’t want it to be struck down by the Supreme Court as unconsti-tutional. Otherwise people will say we don’t know how to make laws,” Nograles said.
THE number of crimes in the Davao del Norte decreased
during the Palarong Pam-bansa 2015.
Police Provincial Direc-tor Senior Superintendent Samuel Gadingan revealed during an interview re-cently that the volume of crimes declined during the biggest national sporting competition as security forces converged and be-came more visible in the whole province.
According to the data from the Davao del Norte Provincial Police Office (DNNPO), only 78 crimes were reported from May 4 to 10, which was lower than during the previous
weeks. Out of the crimes reported, 48 were in-dex crimes and 30 were non-index crimes.
The data also showed that from March 30 to May 3, the weekly crime volume ranged from 103 to 141.
Gadingan said the vis-ibility of the police with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and lo-cal force multipliers like the barangay police auxil-iaries and civic organiza-tions caused the decrease in crime rate.
He said Joint AFP-PNP Action Centers (JAPAC) were placed in all the roads going to the billeting areas and playing venues.
(PIA11, Michael Uy)
Crime rate down in DavNor during Palaro
BBL versions have lawmakers confusedBy CHENEEN R. CAPON
Zambo City tri-peoplesshow support for BBL
SCAVENGE HUNT. A group of young boys waits for Davao City’s garbage collectors to finish sorting out the trash so they can scavenge scrap items along R. Castillo Street in Davao City last night. This is a reality that Dabawenyos need to address. Lean Daval Jr.
three others were wound-ed as military and police units swooped down on an ASG improvised explo-sive device (IED) factory in Sitio Project, Barangay Tuburan Proper, Hadji Mohammad Ajul, Basilan Thursday.
In the operation, one soldier was killed while six others were hurt, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) public affairs office
chief Lt. Col. Harold Cab-unoc said.
Also seized were 20 IEDs, he added.
Cabunoc said the clash was triggered af-ter troopers from the 3rd Scout Ranger Battalion, 4th Special Forces Battal-ion and Hadji Mohammad Ajul PNP encountered ASGs under Ustadz Abbas Alam at 8: 25 a.m. in Baran-gay Tuburan Proper.
He also said that a Ma-laysian Jihadist identified as Mohammed Najib Bin
Husein alias “Abu Anas/Abraham” was part of the group which was engaged by the soldiers.
The troops incurred one dead and six wounded during the intense firefight. The injured soldiers are now in stable condition.
Government forces ac-counted for three ASG dead and three others wounded.
One of the fatalities was identified as Apotoh Aman.
Pursuit operations are still ongoing. (PNA)
Three Abu men,one soldier killed
HANDMADE JEWELRY. A vendor tries to entice a lady to buy his handmade jewelries with prices ranging from P20 to P500 at Magsaysay Park in Davao City yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.
This, after sisters in law Tina and Iya Lagdam-eo brought Manila’s Plana Forma craze to the city with the opening Friday afternoon of their first regional branch of Plana Forma at the second level of Felcris Centrale.
Graced by no other than Sabado night model
Ms. Ina Raymundo, one of Plana Forma celebrity clients, the opening of the establishment marked another symbol of growth of the city.
“For the past five years, Davao City blos-somed into a thriving economy and we saw that Davao City is ready for it,” Tina Lagdameo said after the ribbon-cutting cere-mony.
Iya Lagdameo said they have decided to bring down Plana Forma here not just because of the city’s growing econo-my but also of the fact that people here are becoming more fitness conscious.
“Plana Forma tech-niques are now the hot-test bar techniques in Ma-nila,” Iya said.
She said they started the business four years
ago and now have two branches in Manila.
According to Iya, Pla-na Forma techniques are those that were created by an injured ballet dancer.
“We discover that it is a workout that can be of-fered to the public not just for injured ballet dancers. Compared to other fitness techniques, Plana Forma is more of interval training with a lot of stretching in
between. We use bars for stability,” she said.
Tina said Plana Forma technique is a combina-tion of ballet, yoga, danc-ing and pilates.
She said the Plana Forma in Davao City has a niche studio which can cater up to 24 individuals.
“We will have six to seven classes daily. We have two instructors for Davao and 16 in Manila,”
Tina added.The two ladies said
there are no further plans yet for expansion.
The two owners of Plana Forma are both planning to partner with diet companies and es-tablishments here for pos-sible crafting of a fitness program, which is now being implemented in the branches of Plana Forma in Manila. CRC
Plana Forma craze reaches DavaoBy CHENEEN R. CAPON
PREPARATIONS for the forthcoming Asia-Pacific Eco-
nomic Cooperation Struc-tural Reform Ministerial Meeting (SRMM) in Sep-tember will be high on the agenda when the National Economic and Develop-ment Authority (NEDA) hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC) Economic Com-mittee meeting today at the Shangri-La Hotel on this island. Policy discus-sions on inclusiveness, the role of services in structural reform, and structural policies and in-novation are also expect-ed to take up the morning session of the one-day EC meeting.
“With the gradual reduction in tariffs and
other at-the-border bar-riers in the Asia-Pacific region, behind-the bor-der barriers, or structural policy impediments, have become the more import-ant obstacle to economic integration,” said NEDA Deputy Director-General Emmanuel F. Esguerra, who also serves as the leader of the Philippine delegation to the APEC Second Senior Officials’ Meeting.
“These barriers may come in the form of poor infrastructure, unclear property rights, complex licensing procedures, weak enforcement of con-tracts, excessive regula-tion of some industries, or an inadequate legal framework for competi-tion,” he added. THE Bureau of Fish-
eries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)
11 is eyeing to increase fish production by five percent with the imple-mentation of the closed fishing season from June 1 to August 31 this year.
BFAR 11 regional di-rector Fatima Idris said the five percent target fish yield for 2015 would
be around 78,442 metric tons (MT).
The bureau started implementing the three-month fish ban last year from July to August after the signing of a joint ad-ministrative order be-tween BFAR 11 and the Department of Interior and Local Government, Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Na-
tional Police maritime group.
The closed season aims to increase produc-tion of small pelagic fishe bullet tuna or pirit, frig-ate tuna or tulingan, big-eyed scad or matambaka, round scad or galunggong and sardines, among oth-ers.
The order also bans the usage of fishing gears,
namely bagnets, fine mesh nets and ring nets in fishing because these tools can catch even the small growing fishes.
However, last year’s fish production did not in-crease despite the imple-mentation of the closed fishing season.
According to BFAR’s own data, it was not able
THE K+12 basic educa-tion program now be-ing implemented in the
Philippines can further boost its human capital, Makati Business Club (MBC) Execu-tive Director Peter Perfecto said.
“Amidst criticism over the K+12 program, we expect K+12 implementation over the medium term to turn low-skilled and unskilled work-ers to at least become me-dium-skilled workers,” said Perfecto.
On Wednesday, the World Economic Forum reported that the Philippines ranked 46th in its Human Capital Index 2015 jumping by 20 notches from its 66th position in the 2013 Report.
The Report now shifts
measuring human capital to learning and employment outcomes from assessing the human capital through four pillars including education, health and wellness, work-force and employment, and enabling environment in its previous report.
The 2015 Report mea-sures education and econom-ic participation on five age groups: Under-15 Age Group, 15-24 Age Group, 25-54 Age Group, 55-64 Age Group, and 65 and Over Age Group.
Among age groups, the Philippines is the most com-petitive in Southeast Asia in 15-24 Age Group as the coun-try ranked 20th among 124 countries worldwide. Singa-pore was closest at 22nd.
However, the country’s
lowest ranking is in Under-15 Age Group which it only placed 73rd.
“More work, however, needs to be done especially in the Under-15 Age Group where we rank 73rd (5th in ASEAN). Again, it will be im-portant that we do not reverse or delay K+12 implementa-tion,” Perefecto stressed.
“The results also under-score the need for government and private sector to imple-ment the K+12 basic education program to improve education outcomes in the Under-15 Age Group,” he added.
He said the government should continue the Condition-al Cash Transfer (CCT) Pro-gram in order to significantly reduce incidence of child labor.
“Aside from the high qual-
ity of our education system to meet the needs of a com-petitive economy, businesses can also rely on the country’s edge on the quality of business schools, and availability of re-search and training services,” Perfecto said, on the other note.
Meanwhile, in World Economic Forum’s Report, the Philippines has the sec-ond most competitive human capital in ASEAN only next to Singapore which rank 24th; Malaysia at 52nd; Thailand at 57th; Vietnam at 59th; Indo-nesia at 69th; Cambodia 97th; Lao PDR at 105th; and Myan-mar at 112th.
The Philippines is more competitive in human capital than China which only ranked 64th in the Report. (PNA)
THE country’s agricul-ture sector grew by 1.78 percent in the first
quarter of 2015, bannered by improved performances in the crops, livestock and poultry subsectors, the Phil-ippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Friday.
However, the fisheries subsector posted a decline during the period.
The PSA said that at current prices, agriculture grossed Php 380.1 billion, lower by 1.65 percent than last year’s record.
The first quarter of 2015 saw the crops subsector expanding by 1.65 percent - sharing 54.30 percent in to-tal agricultural production.
The total gross value of crop production amounted to Php 218.5 billion at cur-rent prices which was 3.26 percent lower compared to last year’s level.
Palay and corn produc-tion increased by 1.41 per-cent and 3.97 percent, re-spectively.
Output gains were also registered by banana, cassa-va, garlic and onion.
Meanwhile, the livestock subsector, which accounted for 15.66 percent of the total agricultural output, grew by 3.23 percent during the first quarter of 2015.
Except for goat, all com-ponents of the subsector registered output incre-ments.
At current prices, the subsector grossed Php 59.2 billion, or 3.10 percent high-er than the 2014 gross earn-ings.
The poultry subsector came up with a 5.42 per-cent increase in output and shared 14.98 percent in the total agricultural produc-tion. (PNA)
Phl agri growsby 1.78% in Q1
BFAR eyes 5% incrise in fish production
NEDA gears up for Apec meeting
K+12 program boosts Phl’s human capital
PLANA FORMA IN DAVAO. Celebrity and Sabado Nights model Ina Raymundo and Marga Nograles led the ribbon cutting of Plana Forma Davao City branch located at the second level of the Felcris Centrale on Friday. (Cheneen R. Capon)
THE DAY WAS PERFECT – more so, was the night. Today, the world rejoices with the Benedicto family as they celebrate the 18th birthday of their eldest daughter, Cindy Pauline at the Mactan Hall of the Grand Regal Hotel and Casino Davao.
It was a festive and col-orful Alice in Wonder-land Madhater Tea Party that welcomed everyone last February 21. The vibe was young, spirited and overflowing with love. With everyone dressed
for the occasion, guests, family and friends came in their most beautiful and handsome couture that made the night extra special. Surprise numbers from her proud family
and guests gave a sneak peak on the life of the debutante. As messages and well wishes filled the hall all throughout the night, everyone can-
By Bai Fauziah Fatima Sinsuat Ambolodto Photos by Richard Padillo
WITH a handful of successful businesses, you would think her five children are spoiled to boot.
AIRASIA PHILIPPINES, the Filipino Low Cost Carrier that flies hand in hand with AirAsia, voted the World’s Best Low Cost Carrier for six consecutive years, is of-fering a brand new service that makes boarding your flight much faster and eas-ier. AirAsia’s “E-Boarding Pass” is a paperless board-ing pass that allows guests without check-in-baggage to proceed straight to the boarding gate without having to queue at the check-in counter or desk at the airport. Guests with check-in-baggage, howev-er, are required to proceed to bag drop counter first before going to the board-ing gate. To enjoy this conve-nience, guests have to download the AirAsia Mo-bile App in their smart-phones and use this ap-plication to check-in and
receive their e-boarding pass in their mobile phones. Upon boarding, guests will use their mo-bile phones to show their e-boarding pass instead of the traditional paper tick-ets. Joy Cañeba, Chief Ex-ecutive Officer of AirAsia Philippines commented, “With E-Boarding Pass, time spent queueing is significantly reduced with guests avoiding the has-sles of crowded counters especially during peak season.”
AirAsia Group intro-duced the use of Self Check-In (SCI) option in 2009 where guests are able to check in via the web, and subsequently expanded the option to include mobile check-in as well as via the Self Check-in kiosks at the airports. These services were made available in the Philippines in 2011 with SCI via kiosks in airports of Manila, Ka-libo, Davao, Cebu, Taclo-ban, Palawan and Tagbi-laran installed in February 2014. AirAsia was also the
first airline in the world to collaborate with INTERPOL to integrate the I-Checkit system to screen the pass-ports of all its prospective passengers against infor-mation contained in the world police body’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database. “We are constantly in-vesting in technology and innovation to make flying easier, more enjoyable and comfortable for our guests. We have more exciting ser-vices and new products for mobile devices and online enhancements coming your way,” Cañeba added. E-Boarding Pass is ini-tially available for domestic flights from Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Air-port Terminal 4 to Kalibo (Boracay), Cebu, Tagbilaran (Bohol), Tacloban, Puerto Princesa (Palawan) and Davao and is limited to one guest in one booking num-
But Cathy Binag’s suc-cess was hard-earned, col-ored by a story of struggle against a life of poverty and abuse. “My father came from a family of professionals while my mother was illit-erate,” she said in an inter-view. “When I was around 12 years old, my parents separated. That’s when I and my brother experi-enced being homeless — we went around, lived in our friends’ place. I guess that’s how I learned the value of money.” This forced Cathy to try everything to survive; she offered to clean hous-es and do other people’s laundry for money, sell-ing sweets and accepting dancing gigs. They were never enough, though, she said. “I am not ashamed of this because it failed to de-stroy me, my personality, my integrity or my char-acter,” she said. And ashamed she’s not — even sharing the story of how she was sexually molested. “I turned it as my in-spiration to be a stronger person and a woman,” she said. “The dark past, the pain, they became my ‘vitamin’ to keep me going and strive harder.” She became a mom at 20. Her first relationship failed and later, she found love in a Chinese busi-
nessman. They had three children — a boy and two girls. Years later, the relationship crumbled again. She found another love, this time in another Chinese businessman, the father of her youngest daughter, Ella. The rela-tionship also failed. “Even after what I’ve experienced as a child, I could never say it was a hard life because hard-ship was the only thing I knew of. But when you have your own child, your own children, that’s when you will truly know pain,” Cathy said. These days, her inspi-ration are her children. However, it would seem that they are also her kryptonite. “The only fear I have as a mother is if my children get hurt and they can’t bear that pain,” she said. “That’s why I teach them to give whatever they can give in life, but to never expect anything in return. At least, they won’t regret it and say ‘what if?’” Cathy trained her chil-dren to always work for something that they want, never giving them the world on a silver platter. “I went through a re-bellious phase after High School,” said Cathy’s eldest child, Bianca. “I couldn’t go out with friends with-out her permission and she didn’t give me every-thing I needed that time,
and I could not under-stand why because we had money. It came to a point when I thought she was neglecting me.” Later on, Bianca real-ized that her mother was prompting her to become independent. “I realized then why she was doing that — by not giving me everything I wanted and by not giv-
ing me what I needed right away, that’s when you know who your real friends are.” Bianca said. “That time, she (Bian-ca) thought I was tortur-ing her, but I was actually only teaching her to value money, time and life,” Cathy said. Now financially well-off with her beautiful fam-ily beside her, Cathy is still
constantly reminding her children three important things that can never be taken away, for richer or poorer: to love uncondi-tionally, to be God-fear-ing, and to avoid material-ism. “More than money, these things, you can make it your own invest-ment in life. In the sense that no matter how bad
life gets, no one can break you. No matter how bad your past is, you define who you are and who you will become in the future,” Cathy said. “It’s not easy to be a parent. A lot of times, you have to sacrifice things to be a better person for them,” she added. “But it will always be worth it.”
By Joanna Paola Realista Garado
Cathy (left) with her kids Ella (center) and Bianca.
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the prenuptial video for her wedding with hus-band Yan Asuncion. Yeng is currently seen as a regular on “ASAP 20” and formerly hosted the musical variety show “Music Uplate Live.” In “The Voice Kids” Season 2, Popstar Royal-ty Sarah Geronimo, Rock Superstar Bamboo, and Broadway Diva Lea Sa-longa return as coaches to search for the most brilliant voices in the country.
Whose voice will prove the strongest? Who will follow in the footsteps of Season 1 grand winner Lyca Gai-ranod? Don’t miss the pre-miere of “The Voice Kids” Season 2 this June on ABS-CBN. For updates on the program, visit thevoice.abs-cbn.com, like www.facebook.com/thevoiceabscbn, or follow @thevoiceabscbn on Twitter and @abscbn-thevoice on Instagram.
AS the second sea-son of “The Voice Kids” premieres this year, a new voice will show-case the heart and stories behind the voices of the kid-die artists – pop rock princess Yeng Constantino, who will join the show as host. Yeng will team up with one of the premier TV hosts in the country, Luis Manzano, and re-ality star-turned-host Robi Domingo in the vo-cal competition for kids, which returns this June. Before being named the Grand Star Dreamer of “Pinoy Dream Acad-emy,” Yeng also used her voice and story in hopes of getting into the music industry, just
like the kiddie artists in “The Voice Kids.” She has since made a mark as a multi-platinum re-cording artist, with five studio albums and a live album under her belt. But more than having a powerful voice, Yeng is even more known for being an award-win-ning singer-songwriter who pours her heart and emotions into every song she writes, what-ever its theme may be. As such, Yeng’s com-positions have also become instant hits, such as “Hawak Ka-may,” “Salamat,” “Pag-ibig,” “Lapit,” “Time In,” “Jeepney Love Story,” and “Chinito.” Her latest single “Ikaw” proved to encapsulate the state of her heart, and its music video even served as
DANIEL PADILLA and Kathryn Ber-nado’s “She’s Dat-ing the Gangster” and Inigo Pascual and Sofia Andres’ debut film, “Relaks, It’s Just Pag-Ibig” are both showing on two consecutive Sundays for Cin-ema One’s “Block-buster Sundays.” On May 17, catch the Sofnigo-helmed film, “Relaks, It’s Just Pag-Ibig” that follows teen-age girl Sari (Andres) who discovers a love letter penned by a man named Elias for his lover,
Salome. Fueled by her curiosity to meet Elias and Salome during a blue moon at a beach in Leyte, Sari embarks on a journey with Josh (Pascual), a guy from her school who doesn’t believe in love and her best friend Kiko (Julian
Estrada), who is secretly in love with her. Meanwhile on May 24, relive the ‘kilig’ in “She’s Dating the Gangster.” The KathNiel hit chron-icles the story between Athena Dizon (Bernardo), who plays a trick on bad boy Kenji de los Reyes
(Padilla). As luck would have it, Athena and Kenji become involved in a pretend game, wherein Athena has to pretend to be Kenji’s current flame to make his ex-girlfriend jealous. How will love find its way in these two roman-tic-comedy films and pull together two peo-ple who are complete opposites? Find out on Cinema One’s “Block-buster Sundays.” For more informa-tion, visit Cinema One’s official Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Cinema1channel).
THIS SUNDAY in Let’s Fi-esta, host and comedian John Feir continues his journey across Bicol Re-gion in the capital town of Camarines Norte—Daet. Like most parts of the province, the small coastal town of Daet has retained its simplis-tic beauty and idyllic charm, making it an ide-al destination for travel-lers who want to experi-ence a peaceful but fun vacation. Daet may not be very popular in the tourism map, but it has already gained quite an audi-ence among Filipino and foreign surfers. One of its known surfing sites is the Bagasbas Beach where John tries out
surfing and kite board-ing. He also tours some of Daet’s historical land-marks and tastes its local cuisine. John heads to the Mu-nicipality of Mercedes to take part in the celebra-tion of the Bantayog
Festival. He then goes on a cruise along one of the cleanest rivers in the entire Bicol Region. In Mercedes, John also visits a tinapa factory and learns how to make homemade sardines. Don’t miss Let’s Fi-
esta’s exciting travel ad-venture in Daet this Sun-day, May 17, from 7:00 am to 8:00 am, in all nine GMA regional stations in Ilocos, Bicol, Dagupan, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, GenSan, and Cagayan de Oro.
PG
R13
R16 12:00 | 2:30 | 5:00 | 7:30 | 10:00 LFS
R-16
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult
PG 12:00 | 2:30 | 5:00 | 7:30 | 10:00 LFS
PARA SA HOPELESS ROMANTIC
12:25 | 2:20 | 4:15 | 6:10 | 8:05 | 10:00 LFS
MAGGIE
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Abigail Breslin
12:00 | 2:00 | 4:00 | 6:00 | 8:00 | 10:00 LFS
Nadine Lustre, James Reid,
Julia Barretto, Inigo Pascual
PITCH PERFECT 2
Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson
May 14-19, 2015
A4 INdulge!
not help but be proud to be a witness of how she evolved into the lady that she is now. Everyone close to Cin-dy left a mark that night. From her 18 candles, 18 treasures, 18 bluebills and 18 flaming shots, the debutante was radiat-ing with gratitude to see, hear and feel the love all around. The most awaited Co-tillion de Honor was a surprise for all. The tran-sition from traditional to upbeat was a most unex-pected that made every-one up on their feet. To make it extra spe-cial, music that depicts Cindy’s love for life kept everyone excited all night long. A live band – singing hits after an-other -- serenaded the guests in between meals and presentations. In ad-dition, a delectable lav-ish feast and overflow-ing cocktail drinks kept everyone in heightened spirits. Truly, it was a night to remember. It was beyond perfection – a reflection even of who Cindy is, inside and out. As she turns a year older, may she be filled with love, prosperity and happi-ness as she seek to live the life that she always wanted. Again, happy birthday, Cindy!
I RECENTLY had the oppor-tunity of visiting Sagada, a fifth class municipality. It
is considered “Mountain Prov-ince’s Pride.” It is about 275 kilometers away from Manila and 140 kilometers from Ba-guio. It is adjacent to Bontoc, the provincial capital.
I have heard of Sagada be-fore but it was not until I saw That Thing Called Tadhana, a romantic comedy directed by Antoinette Jadaone that I be-came intrigued by it. Starring Angelica Panganiban and JM de Guzman, the quaint town was featured heavily and seemed to suggest that it is a good place to soul-search and mend a broken heart.
Sagada seems to have it all: limestone caves and moun-tains, historical sites and build-ings, and a cold weather which reminds you of spring or au-tumn in the United States. You have to wear a jacket in the af-ternoon when the sun starts to set. And yes, there is fog in the
early morning.During our trip, one of the
most breathtaking scenery was the rice terraces on our way to the famed Sumaguing Cave. Since most of my com-panions have never been to Banaue -- where the world’s famous rice terraces is locat-ed -- we had to go down from the van we were riding just to capture the beauty and color of the rice terraces that was before our eyes.
It was already 5:30 in the afternoon when we arrived at Sumaguing Cave and trekking is no longer allowed. There are several caves in the town but Sumaguing Cave is the best known attraction. We were told it was not an easy task.
One visitor who did it wrote this in his blog: “Before we enter the cave, I thought it was easy until we went inside. We did some crawling and climbing using ropes. Some-times, we had to crawl to a very tight hole.”
Another one wrote: “It is very dark in the deeper parts of the cave and you will be heavily reliant on your guide (who carries a lamp) for di-rections and the proper foot holds. It could take from two to three hours to finish the entire route.”
But it was the second day in Sagada that was most mem-orable. That was when we went to the hanging coffins, of which the town is famous for. In one of the episodes of “The Moaning of Life,” English trav-el host Karl Pilkington visited Sagada to see the local com-munity’s Cliffside burial tech-niques.
In going there, you have to pass first the St. Mary’s Church, the first Anglican church es-tablished in Sagada. Then, you have to walk up and when you see the town’s cemetery, it means you are already half-way. You walk further and get to what they called as Echo Valley.
Standing in the edge, you get a glimpse of the town and when you look down, it is eas-ier for you to see the hanging coffins. To get to see the coffins up close, you have to go down, following a steep trail.
Once you are down, be sure to follow your guide as you might get lost. It is a for-ested area and there are lots of pathways. Stay as close as possible to your companions -- or you may wander through the woods.
The hanging coffins are made of hollowed logs. The dead bodies are placed inside, and left hanging in the cliffs. It may be a bizarre tradition to some but it is their way to put their loved ones closer to heaven.
Unfortunately, not every-one is qualified to be buried this way; among other things, one had to have been married and had grandchildren. In ad-dition, only those who die of natural causes can be placed
Text and Photos by HENRYLITO D. TACIO
inside hanging coffins.According to the website
filipiknow.net, the Igorots hung the coffin first. Once the coffin was properly suspend-ed, the body wrapped in cloth would then be placed inside the coffin. They believed that the person who would get a drop of blood while the wrapped body of the deceased was being passed towards the coffin was considered lucky. The blood, it is said, symbol-ized good fortune.
We left Sagada at 10 in the morning. We were all exhaust-ed with all the walking, climb-ing, and catching our breaths. But it was more fun than we thought. We bade goodbye and
we were on our way to Baguio and then to Manila.
Too bad, we didn’t find out “tadhana” (destiny) while we were there. But the trip brought out the best in all of us. We had to rely on each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We didn’t talk about other people’s lives but instead shared our
own stories. We had to laugh at one’s
slip of the tongues or faux pas. We ate food beyond what our stomach could take. It was ca-maraderie at its best. The trip transported us into a new kind of friendship that may last for quite some time because, after all, there is no forever.
“IF you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If
you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
This should be one of the more memorable quotes from Sun Tzu’s Art of War and it applies so squarely to two of the country’s controversial personalities – Vice President Jejomar Binay and boxing superstar slash congressman Manny Pacquiao.
The two are in troubled waters despite having built a legion of followers in their own separate environments – VP Binay for his empire in Makati and Pacquiao for boxing.
The Vice President is embroiled in the latest of a string of controversies with the freezing of his assets by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and the many revelations that come with it, including the reported transactions made by an alleged
“dummy.” Binay has cried foul and attributed it to a “demolition job” by his political rivals from the administration.
The Vice President has snapped back at his rivals and the AMLC, saying even the latter is concocting issues against him.
Over at the Manny Pacquiao camp, the people’s champ again claimed that he won against Floyd Mayweather last May 2 in Las Vegas in what was billed the Fight of the Century. Manny had claimed shortly after the verdict was announced that he thought he won. He repeated that two days ago.
Manny’s rants against the decision has not been met with support and approval. Same goes with VP Binay.
If at all, the two know themselves well. Behind everything, only these two men know the truth. And if they do and accept that, they should not fear the results of a hundred battles. If they do not know it or just play blind to the truth, they are bound to succumb in every battle.
Columnists: MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • AURELIO A. PEÑA • ZHAUN ORTEGA • BERNADETTE “ADDIE” B. BORBON • MARY ANN “ADI” C. QUISIDO • LEANDRO B. DAVAL SR., • NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN • NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN • EMILY ZEN CHUA • CARLOS MUNDA Economic Analyst: ENRICO “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG • JONALLIER M. PEREZ
OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager
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WHEN Spain issued a law that eases up on abortion in 2010, the world was shocked. Abortion, the law said, can be
done on individuals as young as 16 or 17 years old “without restriction” – for up to 14 weeks of pregnancy.
In the Philippines, the news stirred a ruckus. After all, it was Spain who brought Christianity into the country. Many Catholics in the country were surprised why Spain legalized abortion.
Since 1930, abortion has been a crime un-der Philippine law. The 1987 Philippine Con-stitution further underlines this when it stated that the State “shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from concep-tion.”
“The Philippine law on abortion is among the most restrictive in the world, as it contains no express provision for any kind of exemption from criminal liability,” one lawyer commented. This silence of the law on any exception has a chilling effect to medical practitioners and thus imperils women’s lives.
Recently, an in-depth feature on the subject which came out in Rappler caught my attention. “Isn’t it time to legalize abortion in the Philip-pines?” asked author Fritzie Rodriguez.
Although abortion is illegal in the country, many Filipinos still resort to it under “unsani-tary conditions using outdated techniques,” to quote the report of the Guttmacher Institute, an international non-governmental organization. As much as 1,000 Filipinos die each year from abortion complications, according to the 2013 report made by Guttmacher.
According to studies, 90% of the women in the Philippines who have abor-tions are Catho-lic. It added that about 70% of those who un-dergo abortions have some high school educa-tion.
Rodriguez said that legal-izing abortion, for some people, “will always be immoral and dangerous.” This understanding, she added, obscured “the science behind the procedure, the woman’s right to her life and body, and the reality of unsafe abortions in the Philippines.”
She quoted Bing Parcon of the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights, who said: “Abortion is a medical procedure. If done by professional and experienced healthcare providers, it’s a very safe procedure. It becomes unsafe when done by yourself when you know nothing, or by hilots who are non-experts, or if you drink things that further harm you.”
Actually, there are two types of abortion: therapeutic and selective. In medical parlance, therapeutic abortion means terminating the pregnancy of a woman if it threatens her life, and the fetus is not viable ex utero.
Therapeutic abortion is done is any of these
situations: when there is a risk of maternal sur-vival caused by the embryo and when the preg-nancy impairs maternal life.
“One situation that I can think of wherein the life of the mother is in danger is ectopic preg-nancy,” says Dr. Nelly Quintin-Dela Cruz, a con-sultant in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Manila Doctors Hospital. “This may endanger the life of the mother especially if it ruptures inside and cause profuse internal bleeding.”
Selective abortion, on the other hand, is ter-minating a pregnancy due to the fetus having undesirable characteristics. The reasons for the abortion are due to: fetus being defective, fetus is product of a rape, the parent is not ready to have a child, and cultural reasons (like in soci-eties where having a girl is frowned upon, com-pared to having a boy).
The United Nations considered therapeu-tic abortion as acceptable, but the Philippines stands firm in its anti-abortion stand. Articles 256, 258 and 259 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines mandate imprisonment for the woman who undergoes the abortion, as well as for any person who assists in the procedure, even if they be the woman’s parents, a physician or midwife. Article 258 further imposes a higher prison term on the woman or her parents if the abortion is undertaken “in order to conceal (the woman’s) dishonor.”
There is no law in the Philippines that ex-pressly authorizes abortions in order to save the woman’s life; and the general provisions which do penalize abortion make no qualifications if the woman’s life is endangered. It may be ar-
gued that an abortion to save the mother’s life could be classified as a justifying circumstance (duress as opposed to self-defense) that would bar criminal prosecution under the Revised Pe-nal Code. However, this has yet to be adjudicated by the Philippine Supreme Court.
Because abortion is criminalized, a culture of stigma and impunity prevails. “I refused to be taken to the hospital,” explains Josie, an abortion survivor. “I was afraid that I would get impris-oned. I bled for more than a week.”
In April 2015, the United Nations advised the Philippines to amend its laws. It urges the country “to legalize abortion in cases of rape, incest, threats to the mother’s life or health, and serious malformation of the fetus.” It also recom-mended decriminalizing “all other cases” where women undergo abortion.
“Unsafe abortion is a very serious public health issue, a silent scourge,” commented a health officer, who oversees the monitoring of abortion cases and maternal deaths for the health department. He explained that there were attempts to address unsafe abortion through initiatives like more vigorous family planning but is almost always opposed by the church and anti-abortion groups.
Unknowingly, a woman undergoing abor-tion is sort of a hell. “When she squeezed, it was so painful I wanted to kick her,” said one mother who had an abortion done by a hilot. “I bit the blanket. I wanted to cry but I felt I had to contain myself. The pain was worse than childbirth.”
THE essence of federalism is local autonomy or self-government. In other words, it starts with the peo-
ple; not with those who initiate it or invest in its establishment so they can cash in on it.
It should start with real people, cit-izens who constitute the dynamo of gov-ernment in the community.
By that is meant the taxpayers and thoughtful citizens who make it possible to have a free, democratic, and progres-sive society.
Citizens committed to freedom, equal-ity of opportunity, and democracy know more or less how to govern and how to participate in the governing process. It is they who really and truly want good governance; so they must be the starting point.
*****Unless federalism is anchored upon
such type of citizens in the community, its chances of serving the interests of society is bound to be impaired.
In fact, the barangay’s role is central to the establishment of the federal system, being the historic foundation of our soci-ety and the basic unit of our Republic.
The spirit and processes of autono-my must dwell and be exemplified at this foundational level of our nation, making of every Filipino community a bulwark of democracy and people power.
Any move to establish the federal system, therefore, should be founded on awareness of its empowering spirit among the constituents of the 42,000 barangays.
*****This awareness is important to moti-
vate people to assert their sovereignty, with confidence in their authority over their public servants, which will boost their expectations of good governance.
It is in wielding their sovereign power that citizens govern, exemplify autonomy, and invigorate democracy. Active partici-pation and affirmative action empower a citizen.
And there is nothing more empower-ing than being engaged in the processes of self-governance. Empowered citizens are the best guarantee that the initiatives and
programs of government truly benefit ev-eryone and not just a few.
Thus, it makes sense to promote di-rect, hands-on involvement in the govern-ing process in one’s community in order ripen the political maturity of Filipinos.
*****Confidence derived from the satisfac-
tion of active, productive involvement in government is a decisive factor in commu-nity development.
From such confidence arises realiza-tion in a citizen that a) it is he or she who in fact establishes government, and b) that it is his or her decision (during elec-tion) on who governs at every level of the Republic that really determines the legiti-macy and conduct of government.
Such realization projects to individual citizens and community at large the mes-sage that an illegitimate vote elects ille-gitimate officials and illegitimate officials establish illegitimate governments.
Seeing this cause-and-effect relation-ship between one’s vote and the quality of governance in vivid terms induces a thoughtful seriousness that makes a vot-er circumspect and discriminating in his election choices.
*****It is when such awareness is general-
ized in the community that a federal sys-tem of government becomes truly desir-able. For then it would be founded on the power of the people below, not dictated by the desire of an official or group above.
In other words, federalism evolved the “pinatubo” way (grown from below) is preferable to the “pinatulo” or trick-led-down way.
And it is best to introduce it when there is effective citizen participation in government at the grassroots.
Thus, proponents of federalism should start by promoting the idea to people, so they’ll understand its dynamics and their role in it.
(Manny is former UNESCO regional director for Asia-Pacific; secretary-gener-al, Southeast Asia Publishers Association; director, development academy of Philip-pines; member, Philippine Mission to the UN; vice chair, Local Government Academy; member, Cory Govt’s Peace Panel; awardee, PPI-UNICEF outstanding columnist. Author of books on governance, he is chairman/convenor ofGising Barangay Movement Inc. [email protected])
to achieve its intended goal of increasing fish catch even after imple-menting the closed sea-son from Davao Gulf’s entrance at Talagotong Point in Don Marcelino in Davao del Sur to Cape San Agustin in Governor Gen-eroso town in Davao ori-ental with a total area of 3,087 square kilometers.
The fish harvest re-corded from January to October last year reached only 2,508.50 MT, lower compared to the 2013 total fish production of 3,468.79 MT.
BFAR 11 fisheries and regulatory law enforce-ment division chief Jose Villanueva said the drop in production was also experienced in regions like Zamboanga, where closed season was also being implemented.
Despite the drop in fish catch, the BFAR 11 recorded a positive ef-fect of the ban after it de-tected presence of tuna hatchlings which had
been absent for years.For this year, BFAR
will be using four 30-foot patrol vessels and two 18-footer vessels pa-trolling the Davao Gulf.
Idris said the amend-ment in the Republic Act 10654, or the amend-ment to the Fisheries Code or RA 8550 might affect the implementa-tion of the banning sea-son because of the revi-sion on the definition of “active fishing gear” by removing “gear move-ment” as a characteristic of the fishing devises.
“The amendment could mean that bag nets, which are prohibit-ed municipal waters, are no longer part of the list of active fishing gears,” according to the BFAR report.
Idris said the regional bureau is still waiting for the Implementing Rules and Regulation of the amended law which is expected to be completed by the end of May. CRC
of Mayor Duterte’s “since day one.”
“We always advo-cated that Mindanao has been feeding the rest of the country. Most the re-sources came from Mind-anao, and yet in Mindan-ao you’ll find among the poorest provinces and cities of the country,” he said.
“It’s like the irony of ironies. Tayo na nga ang nagpapakain pero tayo rin ang nagugutom (We are the one feeding them but we end up being hungry),” he added.
Karlo said under the current presidential form of government, the income of all local gov-
ernment units (LGUs) proceed to the national government and only a portion of the income will come back to local gov-ernment.
“Under a federal form and system of govern-ment, whatever income of a locality or a federal state will stay with the local government and a portion is given to the national government,” he said.
“We’re dependent of the national government for our share but under the federal form of gov-ernment baligtad yan. Somehow, the national government is the one who is dependent on us (LGUs),” he said.
GLOBE Charge, pow-ered by G-Xchange, Inc. (GXI), a whol-
ly-owned subsidiary of Globe Telecom, has become the leading mobile point-of-sale (POS) solution in the country with its cus-tomer base growing by 60 percent in 2014.
Globe Charge is de-signed for merchants of all sizes, especially the micro, small and medium enter-prises, to enable them to accept MasterCard and Visa-branded credit and debit cards as payments, therefore increasing their customer base and grow-ing their businesses.
Since its introduction, Globe Charge has been used by small and medi-um business owners that include medical practi-tioners running their own clinics, bazaar partici-pants, enterprises with mobile sales force, and event organizers.
The most innovative payment solution to date, Globe Charge also bagged the award for Best Mobile Payment Implementation in the recently held Smart Awards Asia 2015 at the Cards & Payments Confer-ence in Singapore, besting out 10 other finalists from across Asian markets. The annual event, organized by Terrapin, is designed to identify, recognize, and award companies who have demonstrated the greatest ability in innovation with new products, continually setting the standards of ex-cellence.
As GXI President and CEO Xavier Marzan said,
“Innovations like Globe Charge remain our prior-ity as we continue to fo-cus on solutions that help business owners address their broader challenges through technology. We are proud to be a leader in this type of service and aim to continue improving on our current services. We also look forward to expanding our customer base further with Globe Charge.”
An easy-to-use device, Globe Charge can be at-tached to any Android- or IOS-based smartphone or tablet, turning them into credit card terminals. It currently enables busi-nesses to accept Master-Card and Visa-branded credit and debit cards. With over 800,000 busi-ness enterprises in the Philippines, Globe Charge has successfully equipped MSMEs with an afford-able payment acceptance solution to tap the carded segment, expanding their sales, and ultimately grow-ing their business.
Unlike traditional cred-it card terminals offered by banks, Globe Charge does not require a minimum transaction volume or monthly lease, with a very affordable retail price of only P999. It also provider faster settlements and low-er rates compared to banks. It can also be bundled with postpaid lines and free mobile phones starting at P499. Globe also offers an easier application process compared to banks – just visit www.globecharge.com.ph or download the app and register.
The Globe Charge team led by G-Xchange, Inc. (GXI) President & CEO Xavier Marzan and G-Xchange Inc., Marketing Director Franchette Chingcuanco-Cardona (second to the right) receive the award for Globe Charge as Asia’s Best Mobile Payment Implementation. They are joined by Stefano Diemmi COO of goSwiff (rightmost), and Anne Karumo, Head of Communications and Marketing, goSwiff (second to the left)
Globe Charge user base grows by 60%Cements leadership in mobile point-of-sale solutions
THE Department of the Interior and Lo-cal Government XI
recently turned over the completed two (2) LeveI III Potable Water Supply System projects, Monday, to the recipient-barangays Poblacion and Tibanban in Governor Generoso, Davao Oriental.
The rehabilitation of Barangays Poblacion and Tibanban Potable Water System is worth P2.6M and 1.3M respectively under the DILG’s Bottom-Up Budget 2013 Project, which con-forms to the thrust of the present administration’s “Kayo ang boss” initiative to achieve community em-powerment by encouraging citizens to take active roles in the community by way of
articulating their needs to the government and deter-mining what projects are re-sponsive to their needs.
“Ito po ay ginawa ng boss niya [Pres. Noynoy Aquino] at tayo po ang boss. Through BuB, the projects are decided and recom-mended by the grassroots. Dili ni siya dictated. This is identified and recommend-ed by the people nga gitu-tukan sa atong gobyerno,” said DILG XI OIC-Regional Director Wilhelm M. Suyko, CESO IV.
In Barangay Poblacion, 473 households in five (5) Puroks will benefit the said project. This adds up to the 4,624 households with ac-cess to the existing two (2) well development of the ba-rangay.
DILG turns over Potable Water System to Gov. Generoso, Davao Oriental Punong Barangay Jerry
Padohinog, Sr. said, in an interview, in 2013, 65% of the total households of the barangay have access to po-table water; it remarkably increased to 85% with this new project.
“Sabi po ni [SILG. Sec. Mar Roxas] ang tubig po ay importanteng commodi-ty na hindi po natin dapat balewalain. Lumilibot po siya sa buong bansa, tinityak na ang patubig na pinadaan po sa department ay talag-ang existing at mahusay at maayos ang pagkagawa,” re-marked Suyko.
He added that said projects promote shared responsibility between the Local Government Unit and the national government in providing water supply sys-tems to waterless areas by awarding national govern-ment grants and local gov-ernment funding.
Meanwhile, in Brgy. Ti-banban, 589 households will benefit from the project; 192 in Purok Dahlia 1; 176 in Dahlia 2; and 221 in Purok Bougainvillea. Currently, a total of 888 households of the total population of the barangay have now access to safe and potable drinking water.
One of the beneficiaries of the project, Rogelio Ju-bahib, 69, emphasized the importance of water, saying “Naa man mi bomba pero dili mainom. Gapalit lang mi ug tubig. Ang uban magbaktas pa og layo para makakuha og tubig. Lisod gyud inig walay tubig,” adding that this new
water supply system will be very beneficial to the com-munity and that they will no longer be spending money to purchase bottled water.
“Nagapasalamat gyud mi ug daku sa gobyerno, DILG, ug sa among kinakusgang Mayor ug mga barangay offi-cials nga kanunay nga gasu-porta alang-alang sa among paglambo. Amo gyud ning ampingan,” he added.
Said water systems complete the P5,175,000M allocation for water system projects in Gov. Generoso FY 2013 under the BuB ap-proach, including the Level II Potable Water Supply Sys-tem in Brgy. Tamban which was turned over last March, this year.
“Kaning proyekto nga BuB, project ni siya gikan sa katawhan. So, gikan sa inyo-ha, kamo pud magpahimulos ani og gamit. Maong taban-gan nato og amping ni,” said Provincial Director Yvette Tolentino-Sunga.
According to Sunga, a to-tal of P5M was allotted for all the BuB projects in Gov. Gen-eroso for 2014 and P6.5M for 2015.
Also gracing the turn-over ceremony were Munic-ipal Mayor Vicente Orencia, Municipal Vice Mayor Ka-trina Joy Orencia, MLGOO Jessica Itil, PB of Poblacion Jerry M. Padohinog, Sr., PB of Tibanban Lilia Corcino, Municipal Engineers Oscar Masilliones and Marcelino Teves, P/SI Renante Doldol, LGOO Jem Sacapaño and other barangay functionar-ies. [DILG XI-C.P.Naig]
THE Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU), in partnership with the
Department of Education (DepEd), will inaugurate on May 22, 2015 a pilot project that implements a culturally sensitive Senior High School (SHS) for T’boli students in Lake Sebu, Surallah, South Co-tabato.
As a developmental and experimental project that will formally open in June of this incoming School Year (SY, 2015-2016), it will have a one year head start from all the other education providers of SHS covered under the new K-12 educational reform law.
The rest of the SHS imple-menters all over the country
will formally open theirs in June of SY 2016.
As an educational en-terprise, this joint project of DepEd and AdDU exemplifies a public-private partnership that seeks to address the im-portant aspect of an inclusive education, specifically one that empowers indigenous peoples (IPs) and other vul-nerable communities.
The fruition of this proj-ect, therefore, is considered a labor of love for it sealed the strong commitment of the two entities (both as a gov-ernment agency and as a pri-vate educational institution, respectively) in championing the cause for change and edu-cational reform.
But the third and import-ant party to this partnership is the T’boli community itself. All throughout the prepara-tion of this project, the T’bolis in Lake Sebu asserted their rights as an empowered com-munity by demonstrating co-hesive leadership and partic-ipatory dialogue.
This SHS is the first of its kind in the whole Philippines, for it is crafted according to the needs and aspirations of the indigenous peoples (IPs), with a curriculum that is not only anchored on the educa-tional framework of the K-12 law, but one that is strongly grounded in the culture, his-tory, arts, and heritage of the T’boli tribe.
ENVOY’S VISIT. His Excellency Roberto Bosch, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Argentine Republic (seated, center), paid a courtesy visit to the University of the Philippines Mindanao on May 14 to get acquainted with developments in UP Mindanao and to expand the mutual knowledge between the University and the Argentine Republic. Ambassador Bosch was received by UP Mindanao Chancellor Sylvia Concepcion (seated, left of Ambassador Bosch), with Assoc. Prof. Pedro Alviola IV of the School of Management, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Karen Cayamanda, together with (standing) Mr. Julius Neil Piala of Dept. of Humanities, Mr. Albert Francis Ramos of Dept. of Human Kinetics, Asst. Prof. Erwin Protacio of the Office of Extension, Asst. Prof. Ana Raissa Trinidad of the Office of Student Affairs, Dean Maria Stella Salazar of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dean Annabelle Novero of the College of Science and Mathematics, and Mr. Jealmer Phoenix Delgado (4-BA Communication Arts). Ambassador Bosch was accompanied by Davao City Tourism Officer Lisette Marquez.
AdDU, DepEd to open T’boli SHS in Lake Sebu
NO RULES? Tibungco is still part of Davao City but motorcycle riders in this area intentionally ignore and violate traffic laws such as wearing of helmets and shoes as well as the maximum allowed number of riders. These same rules are strictly implemented by traffic enforcers in the downtown area. Lean Daval Jr.
VOL. 8 ISSUE 32 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, MAY 17 - 18, 2015 13EDGEDAVAO CLASSIFIEDNOTICE OF LOSS
Notice is hereby given by LOYOLA PLANS CONSOLIDATED INC. that CERTIFICATE OF FULL PAYMENT No.(s) 1003156 under LOYOLA PLAN Contract No.(s) 31696-6 issued to VICKY P. ASENTISTA
was lost. Any transaction entered into shall be null and void.5/18,25;6/1
IF you are looking at find-ing your own place in the tallest skyscraper of
Mindanao in the very near future, you are not reaching literally for the skies.
FTC Group of Companies, the homegrown developer of Aeon Towers, is offering P10,000 reservation fee in the residential units of the 33-level mixed use develop-ment that’s expected to be completed by 2016.
For only P10,000 reser-vation fee, one can be a step closer to that dream unit in the sky.
This marvelous sky-scraper will house 473 resi-dential units, a four-star ho-tel, office spaces, retail mall, and basement parking.
For people who wish to know more about Aeon Tow-ers, the project can be ex-perienced at its Showroom or at SM Lanang Premier’s main atrium and at SM City Davao where ongoing exhib-its are mounted. Real-time updates of construction can also be viewed.
Facebook users may also access the Aeon Towers page and see the latest promos and construction updates.
Meantime, Aeon Towers will hold its regular Inves-tors Night on May 23.
GLOBE Telecom con-tinues to post record numbers during the
first three months of 2015, registering an impressive financial performance, high-lighted by solid top-line growth, and EBITDA and NIAT at all-time high fig-ures.
In its latest disclosure during the First Quarter Analysts’ Briefing, Globe officials revealed that the company generated P26.2 billion consolidated service revenues, 13% higher than 2014, while EBITDA level was at P11 billion, up 25% year-on -year. Its core net income was at P4.2 billion, a 25% rise compared to last year.
The telco also saw a 13% increase in its number of mobile customers, which now stands at 46.1 million, while broadband subscrib-ers also reflected the same
upward trend by breaching the 3 million mark, 41% higher than the same period in 2014.
The company attributed its sustained growth tra-jectory due to “impressive gains across all business segments, the rapid custom-er base expansion of both mobile and broadband, the continued strong mobile data adoption, as well as in-creasing smartphone pene-tration and the introduction of innovative products and services most relevant to Globe customers.”
“Despite an intense competitive environment, we were able to sustain our growth momentum from our banner year in 2014. We have established ourselves as the preferred telco brand in the country as manifested by our solid growth revenue and robust performance in data, mo-
bile and broadband, and we take that as a good sign of our continued dominance in the market,” said Albert de Larrazabal, Chief Finan-cial Officer of Globe Tele-com.
According to de Larraz-abal, the strong top line of Globe built on the growth of its EBITDA and core net income reflects the compa-ny’s true performance for the first quarter of 2015. EBITDA margin was at 42% from January to March 2015, up 38% against the same period in 2014. It also showed quarter-on-quarter improvement from 36% last quarter to 42% on the same period. Meanwhile, its core net income was 25% higher against the same pe-riod in 2014 which stood at P3.4 billion, driven by the record level of EBITDA, de-spite an increase in depre-ciation expenses and higher
non-operating charges rec-ognized during the period.
Globe also spent around P4.9 billion in capital ex-penditures in Q1 2015 to support its growing cus-tomer base and comple-ment their demand for data and content. The company also started the deployment of its USD 500 million LTE network to serve both mo-bile and household data re-quirements, building a foot-print of around 5,000 sites over the next two years on FDD1800 and TDD2600. Likewise, the recent col-laboration with Huawei Technologies to fire up its SingleSON or self-organiz-ing network technology to continuously heighten mobile user experience. So far, the telco has a total of 25,820 base stations, with over 15,900 4G facilities to support its customers’ bur-geoning digital lifestyle.
Globe leads telecomindustry performanceQ1 net income up 43% YoY
P10K reservation at Aeon Towers
AIRASIA Philippines, the Filipino Low Cost Carrier that flies
hand in hand with AirAsia, is offering a brand new ser-vice that makes boarding your flight much faster and easier.
AirAsia’s “E-Boarding Pass” is a paperless board-ing pass that allows guests without check-in-baggage to proceed straight to the boarding gate without hav-ing to queue at the check-in counter or desk at the air-port.
Guests with check-in-baggage, however, are re-quired to proceed to bag drop counter first before going to the boarding gate.
To enjoy this conve-nience, guests have to download the AirAsia Mo-bile App in their smart-phones and use this ap-plication to check-in and receive their e-boarding pass in their mobile phones. Upon boarding, guests will use their mobile phones to show their e-boarding pass instead of the traditional paper tickets.
“With E-Boarding Pass, time spent queueing is significantly reduced with guests avoiding the hassles of crowded counters espe-cially during peak season,” Joy Cañeba, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia Philip-pines, said.
AirAsia Group intro-duced the use of Self Check-
In (SCI) option in 2009 where guests are able to check in via the web, and subsequently expanded the option to include mobile check-in as well as via the Self Check-in kiosks at the airports. These services were made available in the Philippines in 2011 with SCI via kiosks in airports of Manila, Kalibo, Davao, Cebu, Tacloban, Palawan and Tagbilaran installed in February 2014. AirAsia was also the first airline in the world to collaborate with INTERPOL to integrate the I-Checkit system to screen the passports of all its pro-spective passengers against information contained in the world police body’s Sto-len and Lost Travel Docu-ments (SLTD) database.
“We are constantly in-vesting in technology and innovation to make flying easier, more enjoyable and comfortable for our guests. We have more exciting ser-vices and new products for mobile devices and online enhancements coming your way,” Cañeba added.
E-Boarding Pass is ini-tially available for domestic flights from Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Air-port Terminal 4 to Kalibo (Boracay), Cebu, Tagbilaran (Bohol), Tacloban, Puerto Princesa (Palawan) and Davao and is limited to one guest in one booking num-ber only.
STEPHEN Curry prac-tices tough shots every day. The MVP came up
with a third-quarter buzz-er-beater his coach calls the play of the game.
For Golden State, rank it among the Warriors’ best shots in decades and it helped put them in their first Western Conference fi-nals since 1976.
Curry scored 32 points with that 62-footer among eight 3-pointers, and the Warriors beat theMemphis Grizzlies a third straight game, 108-95 on Friday night.
‘’In a close-out game like that, that’s a big turn-ing point and the moment’s magnified,’’ said Curry, the NBA’s MVP. ‘’I made one in college like that. That’s the last I made anywhere past
half court and same kind of shot: Loose ball, grab it, throw it up and knock it down.’’
First-year coach Steve Kerr called this a beautiful team win and a big moment for the Warriors. He said Curry was amazing, espe-cially with that shot as the Grizzlies tried to make a run in the third quarter.
‘’It wasn’t quite a close-out shot, but it was the play of the game,’’ Kerr said.
The Warriors advanced with some of the best shoot-ing in the NBA postseason since 1985, becoming the first team since that year to hit 14 or more 3s in three consecutive playoff games. Curry was 8 of 13 from be-yond the arc as the Warriors knocked down their play-off-best 15 3-pointers.
Curry, who had 10 assists for his first dou-ble-double this postseason, hit the shot of the night af-ter Andre Iguodala blocked Jeff Green’s shot near mid-court. Curry grabbed the loose ball and beat the buzzer from the Grizzlies’ 3-point line for a 76-68 lead.
Klay Thompson had 20 points for Golden State and Draymond Green added 16, Harrison Barnes 13 and Shaun Livingston 10.
Memphis coach Dave Joerger said he hadn’t seen the replay of Curry’s shot. Grizzlies guard Mike Con-ley said he thought Green was fouled and that his teammates stopped playing, waiting for the call and then Curry threw up the shot.
‘’It was tough to realize and kind of grasp it all in the
same time,’’ Conley said.The Warriors will play
the winner of the Los Ange-les Clippers-Houston Rock-ets series in the conference finals. That series will start Tuesday night at Golden State. Curry says the oppo-nent does not matter.
‘’We’ll obviously be watching on Sunday to fig-ure it out,’’ Curry said of the Clippers-Rockets Game 7. ‘’I feel like if we do what we’re supposed to do in the next round, we’ll be all right.’’
Marc Gasol led Memphis with 21 points and 15 re-bounds. Vince Carter added 16 off the bench, Zach Ran-dolph had 15, Courtney Lee 12 and Conley 11.
Curry finished the se-ries with 25 3-pointers, one more than the Grizzlies managed as a team. When
he beat the buzzer with that long 3, he celebrated by bumping chests with Ig-uodala and David Lee. He then added 11 points in the fourth quarter to finish off the Grizzlies.
‘’It’s just one of those special moments,’’ Grizzlies guard Tony Allen said of Curry. ‘’He’s a special kind of guy. They make those kind of shots.’’
That stellar shooting helped the Warriors win a second series in the same postseason for the first time since capturing the ti-tle in 1975, and they never trailed in this game.
The Warriors outshot, outrebounded and simply did everything better than Memphis early, looking like the team that dominated the NBA regular season.
Golden State led 32-19 by the end of the first quar-ter and Memphis had one more field goal (7) than the Warriors had 3-pointers (6). The Splash Brothers outscored the Grizzlies by themselves combining for 22 points.
But Curry and Thomp-son got plenty of help with teammates taking turns knocking down shots.
‘’I think what you see with their team is I think that they really grew up,’’ Joerger said. ‘’They real-ly grew through the battle of this series and matured to the point where I think that will help them, unfor-tunately, in the future being able to take the hits that they took and the physi-cality that I think we are known for.’’
Warriors advance
KYLE Korver was the Atlanta Hawks’ clos-est defender as Paul
Pierce shimmied to his left and launched a 3-point try, hoping to extend the Washington Wiz-ards’ season by forcing over-time in Game 6 of the teams’ second-round series.
The shot swished, appar-ently tying the score at the buzzer. Pierce raised his arms; both teams began thinking about OT. Then, though, the play was reviewed, showing the clock expired before Pierce released the basketball.
‘’It went in and it’s just like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. That did NOT just happen,’’’ Korver said, shaking his head. ‘’I thought he got it off. I was getting ready for overtime. And then ... you’re like, ‘Heeeeyyyy! All right! We’ll take it!’’’
Long time coming, too, for Atlanta, which made it to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time. The Hawks
edged the Wizards 94-91 on Friday night, thanks in part to a fraction of a second - and DeMarre Carroll’s playoff ca-reer-high 25 points, including two layups in the last minute off assists from Jeff Teague.
After Al Horford of the Hawks went 1 of 2 from the free throw line for a three-point lead, the Wizards in-bounded the ball with 6.4 sec-onds left. They got the ball to Pierce, who won Game 3 on a banked-in buzzer-beater, then put Washington briefly ahead late in Game 5 with a corner 3.
‘’I was about to cry,’’ Carroll said. ‘’I said, ‘Not again.’ ... But the basketball gods were on our side.’’
Pierce, who indicated af-terward he might not come back for an 18th NBA season, said: ‘’A lot of times I deliver, (a) lot of times I didn’t. But I’m al-ways willing and ready.’’
After trailing 2-1 in the best-of-seven series, the No.
1 seed Hawks won three straight games. Now Atlanta will host LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the conference finals Wednesday.
It’s the Hawks’ first trip to a conference final since the NBA realigned into conferences in 1970-71. The team had not won two playoff series in a sin-gle year since moving to Atlan-ta for the 1968-69 season.
Teague and Paul Millsap both added 20 points for At-lanta, which won 60 games during the regular season but was about a .500 team for part of the postseason.
‘’I still feel, and I know our guys feel, we should have won this series,’’ Wizards coach Randy Wittman said.
Playing with a broken left hand that forced him out of Games 2, 3 and 4, John Wall attacked the rim as if complete-ly healthy and finished with 20 points, 13 assists and six
rebounds. He began Friday’s game with a beige bandage on his left wrist and black padding on the top of that hand. But in the second half, the black pad-ding was gone.
Asked what he thinks might have happened if he had stayed healthy, Wall replied: ‘’Only God knows how different it would have been.’’
Bradley Beal scored 29 points, including a baseline jumper to cap a 9-0 stretch and give Washington an 88-87 lead with a little more than 3 1/2 minutes left.
‘’It’s frustrating. It’s de-pressing. It’s sad,’’ Beal said. ‘’It’s probably every synonym of ‘sad’ you can think of.’’
Atlanta’s last two field goals came off Teague-to-Car-roll connections on what were supposed to be pick-and-roll plays involving Horford - the sort of teamwork the Hawks displayed at their best in the regular season.
Hawks hold on to eliminate WizardsTHE City Mayors Office
dispatched Central 911, 88 – 68, in their
semifinal duel yesterday to barge its way to the finals of the 2015 DACHEA Sportsfest Open Basketball Tourna-ment at the Davao City Rec-reation Center Almendras Gy
Christopher “Bong” Go rained with eleven booming treys to finish the game with 41 points and lead CMO ar-ranged a titular showdown with the City Administra-tors Office.
Go opened his scoring spree with three triples in the first period to give the Mayors men a 23 – 10 lead at the end of the opening canto.
The sweet-shooting ex-ecutive assistant of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte shot an-other three baskets from
behind the arc in the second frame that enabled the CMO to break away for good with a 47 – 26 lead at the half.
JR De Guzman added 18 points so did Dindo Pastor who had 10 for the CMO which made a return trip to the finals.
Central 911 never re-covered the rest of the way doomed by lowly defense and poor shooting from the field.
John Bentula paced Cen-tral 911 with 16 points.
Central 911 had a re-markable run in this year’s tournament topping the Group A elimination. CMO finished second-seed in Group B behind CCRO.
City Admin defeated City Civil Registrar’s Office to earn the first ticket to the finals.
PEERLESS Angelo Que pounced on the front-runners’ meltdown in
scorching heat and tremen-dous pressure and stroked his way to a dramatic finish with a new course record eight-un-der 64, beating Tony Lascuña by three to capture the ICT-SI Anvaya Cove Invitational crown at the Anvaya Cove Golf and Sports Club here yester-day.
Que finally solved the Sea-side Nine puzzle that stymied his third round charge Friday, ramming in six birdies, includ-ing four straight to close out a sizzling backside charge of 30 that lifted him from sixth place, six behind Jay Bayron, to the winner’s podium with a nine-under 279 total.
Not only did Que, a three-time Asian Tour winner who went winless last year, re-set the 66 posted by young Mi-cah Shin of the US in the sec-ond round of the P3.5 million event sponsored by ICTSI. But he also snatched the top P650,000 purse to re-take the Order of Merit lead with a P1.572 million total after five legs of the ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour.
“It was a perfect game. Everything was in place, in-cluding my irons and putting,” said Que, who received the check and trophy from event manager Luigi Tabuena and Anvaya Golf operations man-ager Steve McDonald during
awards rites.Unmindful of Que’s fiery
windup three flights behind, Lascuna rallied to within one with birdies on Nos. 13 and 15 but blew his bid with back-to-back closing bogeys, finishing with a 71 for second at 282 worth P430,000 while Cassius Casas, the third man in the fi-nal group who remained in the hunt with a two-under card af-ter 15 holes, likewise wavered at the finish with two bogeys in the last three holes for a 72 and ended up third at 284 and took home P240,000.
Que, who preserved a bo-gey-free round by saving pars in three times that he went out of regulation, hardly loomed as a threat despite birdies on Nos. 3 and 6. But back-to-back birdies from No. 10, includ-ing a 30-footer on the 11th, sparked hopes of a big come-back for the big-hitting shot-maker, who after three pars from No. 12, ripped it off with four straight birdies.
He thus became the first player to win on the two-year old layout carved out in the Bataan mountains near the boundary of former US naval base in Subic and built inside the 470 hectares land owned by the Ayala Land Corp. where long-time golf patron operates his container business.
It was also his second win in the young season after hold-ing off Miguel Tabuena at the ICTSI Manila Masters at Eas-
tridge Golf Club last month.While Que basked in glory
from a flawless game, Bayron rued his backside meltdown.
“I just had a bad game and unluckily, it came in the final nine holes of the final round, “ said Bayron. “But that’s golf, it’s all about consistency.”
With Bayron falling with a thud with a closing 44 and a 79, Lascuna took the chal-lenger’s role, gunning down birdies on Nos. 13 and 15 to threaten with one off Que, who was cooling down at the club-house after that scorching 64.
But the reigning three-time OOM champion fell back with a costly bogey on the par-4 17th which he birdied the previous round, virtually handing the championship to Que, who was actually bracing for a playoff after Lascuna came to within one with three holes left.
In disgust, Lascuna also bogeyed the final hole and wound up with a second 71 and remained winless after racking up five victories in a dominant campaign last year.
Mars Pucay rallied with a 68 and Tabuena, winner at ICTSI Splendido, fought back with a 70 as they shared fourth place at 286 and split the com-bined purse of P350,000. Jay Bayron tumbled to joint sixth at 288 after that 79 with broth-er Rufino Bayron and Frankie
Minoza, who carded 70 and 72, respectively. Each got P116,666.
Miñoza, who played alongside Que, praised the 36-year-old pro for his remarkable game, saying: “He’s a good player and I’ve played with him in the same flight many times over.”
Angelo Que beams as he holds his trophy after copping the inaugural ICTSI Anvaya Cove Invitational crown with a closing course-record 64 at Anvaya Cove in Morong, Bataan for a three-shot win over Tony Lascuña.
