P 15.00 • 20 PAGES www.edgedavao.net VOL. 8 ISSUE 46 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, JUNE 5 - 6, 2015 SARA: NO PLANS YET FOR 2016 INSIDE EDGE ‘I can be a reserve. Find others first before me.’ Fencers strike for PH in SEA Games Landfill almost full: CENRO The BIG NEWS P2 Sports P16 EDGE Serving a seamless society DAVAO Former City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte NBI arrests 3 illegal recruiters The BIG NEWS P2 Duterte to enforce ban vs smoking nationwide The BIG NEWS P4 F ORMER Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Dute- rte-Carpio said she has no plans to return to politics in 2016. In an exclusive in- terview with GMA’s “24 Oras Southern Mindanao” aired on Wednesday after- noon, Sara said although she had learned from me- dia reports that her father, Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte, wants her to run for may- or next year, she is not planning for a comeback. “Ang masulti lang nako sa mga tao na re- serve lang ko. Kumbaga pangita sa mo’g lain na pwede (I can be a reserve. In other words, look for another candidate who can do the job),” she said. Sara said there are many people here who can also run the city well. She said she might support her older broth- er, Vice Mayor Paolo Z. Duterte, if the latter pur- sues his mayoralty bid next year. But she said she could also support a non-mem- By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR. [email protected]FSARA, 10 BIOMETRICS DONE. Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Z. Duterte visits the Commission on Elections (Comelec) 11 office inside Magsaysay Park yester- day to have his biometrics data taken. Comelec is urging the voting public to submit themselves for biometrics registration on or before October 31 so they can vote in the 2016 national election. Lean Daval Jr.
Transcript
P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 8 ISSUE 46 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, JUNE 5 - 6, 2015
SARA: NO PLANS YET FOR 2016
INSIDE EDGE
‘I can be a reserve. Find others first before me.’
Fencers strike for PH in SEA Games
Landfill almost full: CENROThe BIG NEWS P2
Sports P16
EDGE Serving a seamless society
DAVAO
Former City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte
NBI arrests 3 illegal recruitersThe BIG NEWS P2
Duterte to enforce banvs smoking nationwideThe BIG NEWS P4
FORMER Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Dute-rte-Carpio said she
has no plans to return to politics in 2016.
In an exclusive in-terview with GMA’s “24 Oras Southern Mindanao” aired on Wednesday after-
noon, Sara said although she had learned from me-dia reports that her father, Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte, wants her to run for may-or next year, she is not planning for a comeback.
“Ang masulti lang nako sa mga tao na re-
serve lang ko. Kumbaga pangita sa mo’g lain na pwede (I can be a reserve. In other words, look for another candidate who can do the job),” she said.
Sara said there are many people here who can also run the city well.
She said she might support her older broth-er, Vice Mayor Paolo Z. Duterte, if the latter pur-sues his mayoralty bid next year.
BIOMETRICS DONE. Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Z. Duterte visits the Commission on Elections (Comelec) 11 office inside Magsaysay Park yester-day to have his biometrics data taken. Comelec is urging the voting public to submit themselves for biometrics registration on or before October 31 so they can vote in the 2016 national election. Lean Daval Jr.
THE Davao City Envi-ronment and Natural Resources Office (CEN-
RO) urged barangay officials to strictly implement waste segregation in their respective communities to reduce gar-bage being dumped in the san-itary landfill in New Carmen, Tugbok District.
Speaking in yesterday’s I-Speak Media Forum at City Hall, CENRO head engineer Elisa Madrazo told reporters that the landfill is almost full in just a span of five years.
“In our program, the landfill is designed for up to 15 years. But right now the landfill will only last two more years,” she said.
Madrazo said the city
opened the 3.5-hectare sani-tary landfill in 2010 and it was supposed to last until 2020 or 2025.
But she said CENRO col-lects an average of 500 tons of garbage per day, shortening the life span of the site.
Madrazo said because if this, CENRO will penalize ba-rangays that do not segregate their waste.
“Under our ordinance, the residual waste should be the only one collected by CENRO while the recyclables should be collected by the barangay,” she said.
She said she has already fined a barangay captain for open dumping of waste and failure to segregate it. She did
not name the barangay cap-tain, however.
Madrazo said the city gov-ernment has no plan yet to procure another landfill since there is no available land for such a facility.
She also said aside from waste segregation, CENRO will also procure a shredding machine, pulverizing machine, and chipping machine to con-vert other waste to useful substances that can in turn be made into hollow block mix and other materials.
Madrazo said her office al-ready allocated P2 million for the three machines which will be placed in the sanitary land fill. She said she will assign personnel who will segregate
the plastics to be placed in the machines.
She said the procurement is now in the hands of General Services Office (GSO) for bid-ding.
Meanwhile, the city is open for companies that will invest in a “waste-to-energy project” to help reduce the garbage dumped in the land-fill.
She said some investors have expressed intention to invest, such as the Japanese company Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal as well as the Land Bank of the Philippines.
Madrazo said her office advised the companies to con-duct a feasibility study on the project.
THREE female illegal recruiters who had al-legedly victimized thou-
sands of people in MIndanao were arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Wednesday night inside a mall in Ecoland, Davao City
The NBI identified the three suspects as Louisa Palo-ma, Paz Caalim, and Catherine Alacapa.
All suspects were report-edly living in Davao City and
are college graduates.NBI 11 spokesperson law-
yer Archie Albao said the three, along with three other cohorts, victimized over 10,000 people in different areas of Mindanao for a number of years now.
Albao said the NBI had placed the three under surveil-lance starting December 2014 after the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) asked for its help in apprehending them based on
the complaints of around 20 persons.
He said the modus of the three suspects is to pretend they have an office in Manila and outside the country.
They promised their vic-tims work in Japan, South Ko-rea, Italy, Hungary, and Viet-nam.
The victims could choose to work as hotel crew mem-bers at the Hilton Hotel with a monthly salary of $900,000 or
as dairy farm workers at the Kirin Company with a salary of P73,000 per month.
The NBI said the three would pretend to have direct contact with the said com-panies and charge P8,000 to P15,000 as processing fee from the victims.
The NBI said it contacted the companies but the latter denied having ties with the suspects.
THE legal counsel of Su-perintendent Leonardo Felonia filed a motion
for reconsideration for the transfer of custody of Felonia from Camp Crame to Davao City.
This after the court issued an order to transfer the cus-tody of Felonia from the Phil-ippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame to the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) despite the claims of the camp of Felonia that his se-curity is at risk here in Davao City.
Lawyer Caesar Europa said their petition for the
transfer of venue is still pend-ing at the Supreme Court.
Felonia, the former head of Police Regional Intelligence Unit (RIU) 11, is charged with murder by the Davao City Prosecution Office for alleged-ly being the mastermind in the killing of Cebu-based hotelier Richard Lim King on June 12, 2014.
Felonia, who has denied the accusation, had earli-er claimed receiving death threats in Davao City. His claim was reportedly supported by affidavits of people who have knowledge of the threats he
THE Davao City Health Office (CHO) has re-corded a decrease in
dengue cases in the first five months of 2015.
Speaking in yesterday’s I-Speak Media Forum at City Hall, CHO Tropical Disease Control head Elizabeth B. Banzon told reporters that her office recorded 1,170 cases from January 1 to May 31, 2015.
She said this is lower to the 1,960 cases during the same period in 2014.
Of the total case for this year, 457 were recorded in January, 283 in February, 178 cases in March, 155 in April, and 97 in May.
Banzon attributed the decrease of dengue cases to the massive information edu-cation campaign of her office with the help of different me-dia entities.
Banzon, however, warned that even though there are fewer cases this year, the people should not be complacent especial-ly during the rainy season when mosquitoes will breed everywhere.
She said the people should maintain the cleanli-ness of their environment.
Banzon also urged schools to conduct cleanup drivers since most of the
Landfill almost full: CENROBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.
NBI arrests 3 illegal recruitersBy FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA
Felonia files motionvs transfer to Davao
Dengue cases fall
PICKETING KIDS. Lumad children of different ages from the towns of Talaingod and Kapalong in Davao del Norte picketed the regional office of the Department of Education (DepED) along Quirino Avenue in Davao on Thursday. Cheneen R. Capon
MAYOR Rodrigo Dute-rte will likely strictly enforce a smoking
ban throughout the country if he becomes President.
Former councilor Peter Laviña, a volunteer in Dute-rte’s Federalism Movement, told EDGE Davao that he be-lieves Duterte, under whose leadership the city’s Com-prehensive Anti-Smoking Ordinance was crafted and implemented in 2002, will enforce the Tobacco Regula-tion Act of 2003 (Republic Act No. 9211) nationwide.
Among other provi-sions, the Tobacco Reg-
ulation Act “bans smok-ing in public places such as schools and recreational facilities, elevators and stair-wells, hospitals, nursing homes, laboratories, public conveyances and public facil-ities such as airports and ship terminals, train and bus sta-tions, restaurants and confer-ence halls, with the exception of separate smoking rooms.”
Like many laws, however, the Tobacco Regulation Act is not implemented strictly in many parts of the country.
Not many Filipinos also know that June is “National No Smoking Month” in the
Philippines as declared by then-President Fidel V. Ra-mos on May 30, 1993.
In Davao City, the New An-ti-Smoking Ordinance, which amended the original law in 2012, has made smoking more difficult as it bans it “in all accommodation and en-tertainment establishments, workplaces, enclosed pub-lic places, partially enclosed public places, public build-ings, public outdoor spaces and all public conveyances, government-owned vehicles and other means of public transport within the territori-al jurisdiction of Davao City.”
The designated smoking areas have also been moved outside of establishments and are to have no perma-nent or temporary roof or walls. Their size is limited to no larger than five square meters.
But while he believes Duterte will enforce a nation-wide smoking ban, Laviña said the mayor will also con-sider the plight of tobacco farmers who will be affected.
“He would also need to provide alternatives for the tobacco-producing areas,” Laviña said.
THE proposed Bang-samoro Basic Law (BBL) will address
the weaknesses and imper-fections of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Governor Mujiv Hataman said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Hataman issued the statement after he appeared before the Senate Committee on Local Government chaired by Sen. Ferdinand BongBong Marcos Jr.
The current regional gov-ernment’s structure has not been responsive to the needs of the people, he said, noting this has an adverse impact on efforts aimed at uplifting the lives of ARMM residents. Those imperfections, he add-ed, led to the rising incidence of poverty, and unstable peace and order.
“We are supporting the passage of BBL as we under-score the need for a Bang-
samoro that is stronger than the ARMM, a new govern-ment that will bring our peo-ple a life of greater opportuni-ties and deliver the promises of a lasting peace,” he said.
Hataman underscored how the government’s gains in recent years including those achieved by the peace negotiations have not been effective in the autonomous region’s governance due to the system’s limitations in ad-dressing Bangsamoro issues.
Hataman, however, noted how peace and order in the ARMM, promoted largely by strides in the southern peace process, yielded positive results in the region’s gov-ernance. It should be noted that after the government pursued the peace agree-ment with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, there was no major breakout of conflict in the region and other parts
THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA-Reg. XI) under
Regional Director Emerson Rosales, the provincial govern-ment, and other agency repre-sentatives led the burning of 21,942.70 grams of Marijuana at the provincial capitol on June 1.
Valued at P767,994.50, the activity is pursuant to the order of destruction signed by PDEA Undersecretary Arturo Cacdac Jr. where the recovered Marijuana fruiting tops is the result of the joint clearing op-eration by the personnel of the 28th IB, 10th ID of the Philip-pine Army (PA).
In a short program held for the purpose, Gov. Arturo Uy commends the continued ef-
forts of the PDEA, PA, and PNP in pursuing its anti-illegal drug campaign. He also cites the ac-tive involvement of the baran-gay officials and other private citizens who tips him via SMS or text messages.
The burning of Marijua-na is also witnessed by PDEA Assistant RD Joel Plaza; Com-val Police Director PS/Supt.Ignatius D. Ferro; Prosecu-tor Atty. Linalou Veloso; Atty. Behn Joseph Tesiorna; Board Members Tyron Uy, Randy Opisan, Moran Takasan, and Paul Galicia; RTC representa-tive Ma. Cristina Allanena; PAO Rep. Atty. Janess Manipes, Ka-balikat Rep. Gil Indino, Media Rep. Monnie Camay, and other guests. (Fe F. Maestre/IDS Comval)
GOVERNMENT and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front continue to move
forward towards normal-ization by spearheading the “Brigada-Eskwela,” program in the former war-stricken camps in Central Mindanao.
Brig. General Carlito Gal-vez, chair of the government’s Committee on Ceasefire and Cessation of Hostilities is joined with his counterpart in the MILF, police and the Department of Education to prepare the public schools for the new school-year, in Camps
Duterte to enforce banvs smoking nationwide
IF HE BECOMES PRESIDENTOVITRAP. Davao City Health Office’s (CHO) Tropical Disease Control Head Elizabeth B. Banzon demonstrates the use of the ovitrap to reporters present in yesterday’s I-Speak Media Forum. Banzon said the ovitrap could be used to kill mosquitoes and their larvae. Armando B. Fenequito Jr.
A DIFFERENT BRIGADA. A “Brigada Escuela” like no other happened in Rajah Muda, Pikit, North Cotabato last Wednesday. It was a joint activity of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) under Deputy Commander Aldulkadir Manebpel and the Armed Forces of the Philippines under Brig. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. of the Committee on Cessation of Hostilities. Also present was Brig. Gen.
Noel Clemente of the 602nd Philippine Army Brigade. The collage shows a soldier and an MILF combatant fixing the roof of the school, a boodle fight among participants, teachers and school children, children helping themselves to the boodle table, two lady media workers with MILF combatants and a selfie. EDITH T. ISIDRO/Philippine Information Agency 11
THE agriculture sector will have to come up with new technologies
if it wants to become more competitive with the rest of the member-economies of the Brunei, Indonesia, Malay-sia and Philippines-East Ase-an Growth Area (BIMP-EA-GA).
The organizer of the 3rd Davao Agriculture and Live-stock Expo (DALE) which opened at the SMX Conven-tion Center of SM Lanang Premier Thursday posed this challenged to industry play-ers, saying new technology is necessary amid tight compe-tition.
“Application of innova-tions and new technology to farming and livestock-raising will enable farmers and pro-ducers to move up the value chain,” CMB Events Manage-ment events manager Celia B. Maliwat said during the opening of the three-day ex-position which showcased the newest technology in the industry.
She said these new tech-nologies are needed not only by producers and farmers in the Davao Region, but to the rest of Mindanao.
“We have different exhib-itors who came from Luzon and Visayas just to showcase the latest trend in agriculture and livestock industry,” Mali-wat said. “These technologies will increase their production and make stakeholders more competitive.”
Maliwat said DALE will benefit local farmers and pro-ducers.
A total of 60 exhibitors from Luzon and Visayas are participating in ther event, mostly manufacturers and distributors of agri products.
Among the exhibitors for this year’s exposition are San Miguel Corporation, BMeg, Planters Products, Sagrex Corp., Julu Enterprises, Enson Laboratories, Chemvet, Rojun Industrial, Payo Manufac-turing, Plastech Corp., Mars Agri Ventures, Manly Plastics, HarbestAgri Products, Honda Philippines, Exceed Enter-prises, Inca Plastics;
Asuki Weighing Scale, Natures Bio Organic, Bounty Food Corp., Inavet Nutrition, Proline Group of Canada, Tractorco Company Inc., Valco, KSI Rising Yuera, Ma-harlika Agro Marine Ventures Corp and Farmbook, among
others.Maliwat said products
displayed in the expo are feeds, seeds, crops, animal nutrition, fertilizer, pesticides and latest technologies and equipment on farming.
Aside from exhibitors, there are also free seminars to be conducted on organic farming, livestock-raising, an-imal healthcare, swine breed-ing and piglet management.
Maliwat said that having
the biggest land area, the ag-riculture sector as well as the poultry and livestock indus-try have a very bright future because of its potential mar-ket locally and international-ly.
“The Davao Region is generally into agriculture. Compared to Luzon and Vi-sayas, it has more contribu-tion to the supply of agricul-ture products like fruits and vegetables,”she said.
NOW OPEN. Consul General Abdulah Zawawi Tahir (left) of Malaysia and regional technical director for National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) of the Department of Agriculture Dr. Mario Bonifacio Canillas (second from right) lead the cutting of the ribbon to mark the opening of the Davao Agriculture
and Livestock Expo 2015 at the SMX Convention Center yesterday. Witnessing the ceremony are CMB Events Management project manager Celia B. Maliwat (rightmost) and Nature’s Bio Organic president and founder Victor Cabral. Lean Daval Jr.
VOL. 8 ISSUE 46 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, JUNE 5 - 6, 20156 THE ECONOMY EDGEDAVAO
THE Mindanao Devel-opment Authority (MinDA) is planning to
launch the 1.2 billion Cacao Double-Up program in 10 Mindanao areas planted with coconut trees.
“Among the areas were the municipality of Nawaan in Misamis Oriental, Agusan, North Cotabato, Saranggani Province, Sultan Kudarat, Lan-ao del Norte and Davao Orien-tal,”MinDA executive director Janet M. Lopoz said.
These are the localities were the local government units (LGUs) initially submit-ted areas that can be suitable for the implementation of the Cacao Double-Up Program, which will be launched any-time this month.
“These areas were chosen based on the preparedness of the area for planting. The criteria were set by a tech-nical working group (TWG) composed of MinDA, PCA, De-partment of Agriculture and
Department of Trade and In-dustry,” she added.
Lopoz also said these ar-eas have organized farmers associations and cooperators which will be the beneficiary of the program.
However, she said the TWG are continuing the as-sessment of the application of other LGUs who also submit-ted proposal to MinDA.
Lopoz, meanwhile, said the initial 10 areas will be the beneficiary of the first P600
million funding from the Phil-ippine Coconut Authority, while the other half of the total budget for the program will be from the Department of Bud-get and Management (DBM).
The funding will be uti-lized for procurement of cacao seedlings and other planting materials like fertilizer.
According to the Facebook page of Minda, “the project aims to help Mindnao scale up its current cacao production capacity that will benefit small
holder farmers and communi-ty-based enterprises.”
MinDA secretary Luwal-hati Antonino earlier said during the Mindanao Cacao Summit and Inter-Agency Convergence that the program is like a buy-one-take-one sys-tem where a farmer can get a free cacao seedling for every seedling he purchase.
The project was also con-ceptualized to help Mindanao attain its 100,000 metric tons (MT) of cacao production by
2020, which will be used to at least supply the 10 percent global deficiency of 1 million MT.
Data from MinDA showed Mindanao is the biggest pro-ducer of cacao in the country, supplying almost 90 percent of the country’s total cacao production.
The Davao Region, mean-while, gets the biggest chunk in Mindanao share with more than 90 percent coming from cacao production areas here.
MORE than 60 compa-nies are participating in this year’s three-
day Davao Agriculture and Livestock Expo (DALE) 2015 at SM Lanang Premier’s SMX Convention Center.
“Sixty percent of our ex-hibitors are mostly from Lu-zon and Visayas, while the rest are from Mindanao,” events manager Celia B. Maliwat told Edge Davao during yester-day’s opening
Organized by the Man-daluyong-based CMB Events Management and already on its third year in Davao City, DALE is bigger this year since the number of participants increases by 20 percent com-pared to last year’s expo.
Among the exhibitors for this year’s exposition are San Miguel Corporation, BMeg, Planters Products, Sagrex Corp., Julu Enterprises, Enson Laboratories, Chemvet, Rojun Industrial, Payo Manufac-turing, Plastech Corp., Mars Agri Ventures, Manly Plastics, HarbestAgri Products, Honda Philippines, Exceed Enterpris-
es;Inca Plastics, Asuki Weigh-
ing Scale, Natures Bio Organic, Bounty Food Corp., Inavet Nu-trition, Proline Group of Can-ada, Tractorco Company Inc., Valco, KSI Rising Yuera, Ma-harlika Agro Marine Ventures Corp and Farmbook, among others.
Government agencies’ Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) have also set up booths in the three-day expo that will last until June 6, Saturday.
“Products to be displayed in the expo are feeds, seeds and crops, animal nutrition, fertilizer and pesticide, and the latest technologies and equipment on farming,” Mali-wat said.
She added that organizers are expecting the exhibitors to generate almost P100 million on site sales and post-event sales or orders.
“The increasing number of sales as well as the increas-ing number of participants
Agriculture expobigger this year
THE Department of Agri-culture (DA) in Region 12 played down fears
of a possible rice shortage as a result of the onslaught of the mild El Nino Phenomenon that already left around P944 million in losses to crops and livestock in the area.
Amalia Jayag-Datukan, DA Region 12 executive director, said Tuesday the region has enough palay harvests and standby rice stocks to cater to the requirements of its four provinces and five cities.
She acknowledged that the dry spell has slowed down the area’s palay production in the last three months but not-ed that the affected farm areas are now starting to recover due to the occasional rains since last month.
“The dry spell delayed the start of our palay planting sea-son but our overall production remains at the surplus level so
we don’t expect any shortage or dramatic increase in rice prices in the coming weeks,” she said in a press conference in Koronadal City.
According to data re-leased by DA-12, the dry spell has affected a total of 44 mu-nicipalities and cities in the region.
It specifically ravaged some 233,555 hectares of corn, 157,328 hectares of pa-lay and 1,357.94 hectares of high-value crops production areas as well as 6,564 heads of livestock.
The dry spell directly af-fected a total of 24,824 corn farmers, 9,530 palay farmers and 1,220 high-value crop farmers.
In terms of value, the agency listed production and opportunity losses of P571.128 million for corn, P259.882 million for rice, P101.55 million for high-val-
ue crops and P11.52 million for livestock.
Hardest hit is North Co-tabato with estimated losses of P570.16 million, followed by South Cotabato with P200.484 million, Sultan Kudarat with P96.55 million and Sarangani with P76.88 million.
Citing data from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronom-ical Services Administration (PAGASA), Datukan said the dry spell started to affect the region in early February and eventually intensified last March as shown by the de-crease in the area’s rainfall volume to 40 percent below the normal level.
But the area’s rainfall volume improved to the mid or near normal level by April and almost normal level by May, she said.
For this month, the offi-
cial said PAGASA projected the area’s rainfall condition to return to the normal level and even above normal, es-pecially in parts of Sarangani Province.
With the onset of the reg-ular rains last month, Datukan said palay and corn farmers in the region have already start-ed replanting for the year’s second cropping season.
In May, she said some 21,612 hectares of palay pro-duction areas in the region were planted and 32,047 hectares for corn.
For this month, she said they expect an additional 48,570 hectares of palay to be planted and 3,890 hectares for corn.
Datukan added these crops could result to poten-tial harvests of 315,819 met-ric tons (MT) of palay and 107,811 MT of corn. (Min-daNews)
DA-12 assures no rice shortage despite El Niño
AS a major component of infrastructure develop-ment, the growth of the
local iron and steel industry is a crucial support to the coun-try’s attainment of its national development goals and initia-tives, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
“With an improved and revitalized iron and steel sec-tor, we are confident that we will be at par with neighboring countries and be able to keep up with the rising demands of our fast-growing econo-my,” said NEDA Deputy Direc-tor-General Rolando G. Tung-palan at the opening ceremony of the 2015 Southeast Asian Iron and Steel Institute (SEAI-SI) Conference and Exhibition
on May 25, 2015 at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Manila.
Thus, the NEDA official said that the Philippines can anticipate a possible rise in the demand for locally-produced steel products as the country’s real estate sector continues to grow, the shipbuilding indus-try is starting to emerge, and the implementation of govern-ment infrastructure projects is continuing to roll-out.
“The ongoing reconstruc-tion and rehabilitation of di-saster-affected areas and ret-rofitting works for disaster-re-silient infrastructure are also expected to increase the de-mand for iron and steel in the coming years,” said Tungpalan.
As the Philippine econo-
NEDA cites role of ironand steel sector in dev’t
BONGBONG IN DAVAO. Sen. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (second from right) graces the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry General Membership Meeting at The Royal Mandaya Hotel last week. Marcos was the guest of honor during the event and briefed the Chamber of the latest
development about the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL). Also in photo are (from left) DCCCII president Antonitio dela Cruz, chairman of the board John Y. Gaisano and trustee and chair of the committee on corporation communication Antonio M. Ajero.
THERE is a mantra that says “All work and no play is not good for the soul.” At Waterfront Insular Ho-tel Davao, this is firmly be-lieved in and practiced as the management of the property spent the very last day of summer enjoy-ing the sand, sea, and fresh air. May 31, 2015 was truly made special for the hardworking leaders as it was the time and opportunity for them to relax and unwind, which was their reward for their exceptional service and dedication to the company. Island hopping in style was arranged courtesy of RC Hobbyshop and Aqua-sports, the provider for water sports activities at the hotel. Other fun rides and activities were also provided to them, like Banana Boat ride, diving, and snorkeling, to chase away the stress and worries from the office. All the activites can
also be arranged for any inter-ested guest. With all the fun and excitement, a hefty lunch was expected and lavishly prepared when they docked in Paradise Island Garden Re-sort. The host resort was very gracious and accommodat-ing; it is no wonder they are at the top of every tourist’s list. Indeed, the pressures of the hospitality industry can be very demanding and chal-lenging, but the benefits and appreciation shown for their hard work and dedication by the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao make it all worthwhile. For updates on events, pro-mos, and culinary offerings, contact the hotel at (082) 233 2881 to 87 or 300 8881 or visit their website at www.water-fronthotels.com.ph. Like them also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/waterfront.davao and follow them on In-stagram and Twitter at Water-frontDavao.
Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao’s last summer hurrah
THIS back-to-school sea-son, stay fashionable with a bag which suits your per-sonality. Bratpack provides a wide range of options for every discerning individual.
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ries built to withstand the rigors of daily life – for the busy commuter as for the seasoned traveler. Bel-gian innovative fashion timeless designs embody the energy of a city with clever features, stylish
structures and a casual European flair.
Herschel Based on the concept of the general store, Herschel Supply Co. was founded in 2009 in Vancouver. Today, it is known as the manufac-turer of reliably robust backpacks, bags and accessories. Fusing city with country, past with present, Herschel’s range of offerings has since been turning the heads of savvy urbanites. The brand reso-nates with the same can-do spirit required to move one’s family to a foreign land. The brand is essen-tially inspired by travel. Gear up for your everyday ad-venture. Visit Bratpack at the Ground Floor of SM City Davao Main Mall.
A2 INdulge! VOL. 8 ISSUE 46 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, JUNE 5 - 6, 2015EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT
THE Ateneo Lady Eagles, the women’s volleyball team of the Ateneo de Manila University and the two-time women’s volleyball champions of the University Athletic Association of the Philip-pines (UAAP), delighted Davao’s sports fans when they graced Abreeza Mall’s Activity Center on May 29 for a meet-and-greet activity. A full house met Alyssa Val-dez, Denden Lazaro, Jia Morado, Bea de Leon, Amy Ahomiro, and the rest of the Lady Eagles along with Coach Tai Bundit and As-sistant Coach Parley Tupaz at Abreeza Mall. The athletes were overwhelmed by the attention showered by their Davao fans, who filled the Activity Cen-ter with deafening shouts and cheers.
The Lady Eagles’ Abreeza Mall appearance was for the benefit of The Generous Soles Project, an initiative launched by Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles basketball player Kiefer Rav-ena and Ateneo de Davao Uni-versity Athletics Director Noli Ayo with the goal of providing shoes to athletes in schools in the provinces. The first 200 donors to donate a secondhand pair of athletic shoes at the event got the chance to pose for a picture with the volleyball stars. Later that same day, the Lady Eagles defeated the Lady Agilas, the Davao City college selection volleyball team, in Heart Strong, a charity game held at the Uni-versity of Southeastern Philip-pines Gymnasium. Abreeza Mall gears up to bring Davaoeños more exciting events this June, beginning with the Philippine Independence
ADMU Lady Eagles meetand greet fans at Abreeza Mall
Gear up with back-to-school bags from Bratpack at SM City Davao
PCCB, Smart award top Clash of Clans teams in PHAFTER battling it out for almost six hours straight, local gaming team Pinoy Playhouse emerged as the champi-ons of the 2015 Clash of Summer, the country’s first organized grand tournament for Clash of Clans, one of the world’s most popular mobile games. An engaging strategy game, COC requires players to build their own village and army to either defend their territory or wage a bat-tle with other online play-ers. These players may band together to form a clan that competes with other clans in a race for trophies, loot and prestige. Spearheaded by the Philippine Clash of Clans Battleground (PCCB) in part-nership with Smart Com-munications, Inc (Smart), the Philippine e-Sports Orga-nization (PeSO) and Mega-world Corporation, the 2015 Clash of Summer gathered hundreds of COC players and enthusiasts in one of the biggest e-Sports events of the year.
Close call “It was a very close call,” said Pinoy Playhouse leader Nathan, who insisted he be called only by his first name.
“We have been playing to-gether since our formation in October 2013, but our opponents here were really good. We were on our toes the whole time.” Pinoy Playhouse trumped nine other COC clans by gathering the most num-ber of trophies at 2,891. They were followed Filipino Champs with 2,664 trophies and El Filipino with 2,634 trophies. The top three teams took home cash priz-es of P20,000, P10,000 and P5,000, respectively. “We never expected to win to be honest. We joined the tournament because we just wanted to have fun and to test our skills and our teamwork,” Nathan said. “This definitely helped bring us closer as a team.”
Convenient gaming Aside from the main com-petition, the jampacked event also offered exciting prizes for winners of the Best Clan Shirt and COC Cosplay. COC enthusiasts also learned how they can level up their games conve-niently by buying COC gems using their Smart prepaid load and postpaid account through Smart’s direct car-rier billing on Google Play – eliminating the need for debit or credit cards.
PCCB Administrator Gwen Magalona said that the event was organized to pro-vide COC players with a ven-ue where they could express their support for the game. “While we have been or-ganizing COC tournaments before, those were merely done online. So we thought of putting up a tournament where players can partici-pate as well as interact with each other in person,” said Gwen Magalona, PCCB Ad-ministrator. “We thought such an event will help more Filipinos to appreciate the game and respect the high level of discipline and strat-egy that it requires to be a top COC player.” At par with the world’s best“Smart has always been a big supporter of eSport tournaments in the country because these provide ven-ues for our gamers to realize that, with the right mind-set and discipline, they can also compete with the best of the world,” said Lloyd Manaloto, Head for Strategic Innovations and Value-Add-ed Services at Smart. “Even if there are lots of different groups or clans, we are united when it comes to our aim of getting Filipino gamers worldwide recogni-tion,” Magalona added.
structures and a casual European flair.
Herschel Based on the concept of the general store, Herschel Supply Co. was founded in 2009 in Vancouver. Today, it is known as the manufac-turer of reliably robust backpacks, bags and accessories. Fusing city with country, past with present, Herschel’s range of offerings has since been turning the heads of savvy urbanites. The brand reso-nates with the same can-do spirit required to move one’s family to a foreign land. The brand is essen-tially inspired by travel. Gear up for your everyday ad-venture. Visit Bratpack at the Ground Floor of SM City Davao Main Mall.
John Lloyd urges viewers to be critical thinkers in digital eraJOHN LLOYD CRUZ reminds viewers the value of criti-cal thinking in to-day’s digital era as the cast of “Home Sweetie Home” highlight various situations that re-quire people to be cautious about scams and other deceitful acts on-line for Saturday’s episode (June 6). “Home Sweetie Home’s” episode covers internet material authen-ticity, social media pri-vacy, and text scams that the cast will take part of. This week, Romeo dis-covers that Gigi’s (Miles Ocampo) crush, Mark (Marco Gumabao) is asking for sexy and dar-ing photos to be sent to their online chat. Furious at Mark, Romeo warns Gigi about how hackers infiltrate social media for bad motives. At work, Romeo gets shocked at Lino’s out-burst after Sir Paeng (Ogie Diaz) reprimanded the whole team. When Sir Paeng demanded for Lino’s apology, Lino an-
nounces that he will re-sign because he received a text from his uncle that he will be given a large sum of money, but he needs to deposit P 2,000 first. Knowing that it is a text scam, Romeo alerts Lino and tells him to take
back his resignation and apologize to Sir Paeng. Meanwhile, Rence (Clarence Delgado) at-tempts to create a vi-ral video with Mang LA (Mitoy Yonting), Eric (Eric Nicolas), and Obet (Jobert Austria) that will feature an incredible yet
SUPERSTAR coach-es and performers Sarah Geronimo, Bamboo, and Lea Salonga will once again search for kiddie artists with big voices in the second season of the top-rating and Twit ter-trending “The Voice Kids” starting this Satur-day (June 6). This season, the coaches are more ag-gressive than ever, using new tricks to convince an artist to join their re-spective teams in the Blind Auditions – the first stage of the competition. “What we’re really looking for are kids who can sing better than our Season 1’s Top 4. And I think we found them,” said coach Lea. Coach Sarah, who mentored Season 1 grand winner Lyca Gai-ranod, shared, “It’s hard to find really unique voic-es. It’s where we come in as coaches to help them
improve as artists.” As in the first season, each coach must have signed up 18 kiddie art-ists for their teams by the end of the Blind Audi-tions. “Yes, voice is the de-fining thing. With kids, there’s a whole lot more involved. I have a good feeling this season I’ll find somebody special,” said coach Bamboo. The pilot episodes features a fashionista, a football heartthrob, an artist who likes to imper-sonate other singers, a kid who will make coach
Lea teary-eyed, and a boy who will proudly represent his tribe in Bukidnon. Who will impress the coaches? What are the stories behind the voices of the first three- chair turners of the season? Don’t miss the pre-miere of “The Voice Kids” Season 2 this Saturday (June 6) 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.
Day celebration in partnership with the Armed Forces of the Philippines Eastern Mindanao Command from June 11 to 14 at the Activity Center. For Abreeza Mall’s rockstar-themed Father’s Day celebration, On Any Sun-day Riders Club brings in their awesome big bikes for an exhibit from June 18 to 21; participating restaurants offer buy one, take one rolls through the Rockin’ Rolls Dining Promo from June 19 to 21; and rock ‘n’ roll band The Bloomfields performs dads’ favorite hits at the Activity Cen-ter on June 21. For inquiries and updates on Abreeza Mall news and events, please visit the Main Concierge at the ground floor or call (082) 321-9332. Stay updated by liking www.facebook.com/AbreezaMall and following @abreezatweets on Twitter and @iloveabreezamall on Instagram.
ADMU Lady Eagles meetand greet fans at Abreeza Mall
ENTERTAINMENT
fake basketball shot trick. How will Gigi react to-wards Romeo’s advice? Will Lino listen to Ro-meo? What will happen to Rence’s video? Find out in this Satur-day’s episode of “Home Sweetie Home!” Catch the Kapami-lya comedy shows and
make weekends com-plete with “Banana Split: Extra Scoop,” “LUV U,” and “Goin’ Bulilit.” Catch up on full episodes and past episodes of “Home Sweetie Home” through ABS-CBNmobile. For more information, please go to www.abscbnmo-bile.com.
Blind auditions of ‘The Voice Kids’ Season 2 kick off this Saturday
Gear up with back-to-school bags from Bratpack at SM City Davao
Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson / *George Clooney, Britt Robertson
INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 3
Dermot Mulroney, Stefanie Scott
June 5 – 9, 2015
A4 INdulge!FOOD
WHENEVER I visit Cebu, it would normally be for work, and work usually entails hours of meet-ings as well as spending time away from explor-ing the city. Just recently, however, I was able to take some time out from the dregs of boredom thanks to a call from The Freeman’s former Life-style Editor, Marlinda Angbetic Tan, whose first words were “Would you like to go to Cebu’s fa-mous French restaurant?” I of course said yes and off we went to La Maison Rose.
LA MAISON ROSE: Cebu southern eclectic
house along Gorordo Av-enue halfway to uptown Cebu. “The restaurant oc-cupies the lower portion of the house while the Al-liance Francaise de Cebu hold office on the upper floor” said Tita Marlinda. The Alliance Francaise de Cebu regularly holds French language classes as well as French film and music festivals. As I entered the restau-rant, I was struck by the restaurant’s eclectic yet stylish interior which fea-tured various chinoiserie art, parasols, lamps, and furniture. Aside from the house’s pink exterior, the attendants also wore pink uniforms to match the
look of the place. Ordering was done on iPads which was fun but took a bit of getting used to. And so after fidgeting a bit, we finally made our orders. I decided to have their Smoked Malasugue Salad followed by a Black Pepper Steak while tita Marlinda decided on a Sunny Vegetable Salad and Beef Tenderloin with Blue
Cheese Sauce. The beef was properly medium rare, just the way I like it, although I would have wanted a punchier pepper crust on it. For dessert, we had a Creme Brûlée and a Man-go Tart. Tasting the food in the eclectic surroundings, plus great company over some wine made for an en-joyable meal.
La Maison Rose’s ecclectic interior.
La Maison Rose is a cozy French restaurant that is situated in an old
VOL. 8 ISSUE 46 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, JUNE 5 - 6, 2015 7Growing blackpepper for profit
BLACK pepper (”Pip-er nigrum” Linn), known locally as “pa-
minta,” is one of those ne-glected crops grown in the Philippines. It is used exten-sively by food manufactur-ers as a seasoning agent in the preparation of both ex-quisite and everyday dish-es. As a spice, it makes food taste better. It is essential in local dishes like “kilawin,” “lauya,” “mami,” “pansit,” “adobo,” “mechado,” and many other preparations.
Unknown to many Fili-pino farmers, black pepper -- being a tropical plant -- can be grown profitably in many areas of the coun-try where the soil is well-drained and fertile.
It grows better under partial shade than in an open field, a characteristic that makes the plant good for backyard farming. It can also be grown between coffee and cacao trees. Most black pepper farms are found in Batangas, Laguna, Quezon, Negros Occidental, Zamboanga and Davao.
“There are four variet-ies of black pepper,” says the Davao-based Mindan-ao Baptist Rural Life Cen-ter (MBRLC) Foundation,
referring to large-leafed, small-leafed, tall, and short. “You can plant any of these varieties in your farm or backyard.”
According to the MBRLC, black pepper is a creeping plant. “The plant needs posts to climb on,” the center states. Com-monly used support trees - which are planted ahead of time - include “ipil-ipil,” “madre de cacao,” and “dap-dap.” The supports must be at least three to four meters high, 2.5 meters between rows.
Here are more tips from the MBRLC on how to grow black pepper:
Black pepper can be propagated with cutting or with seeds. The latter is not recommended for commercial purposes. But either way, it’s necessary to have a propagation bed where the cuttings can be rooted or the seeds germi-nated and nursed to trans-planting age. The seedling bed should be of fine, rich soil and should be located in a shaded area. It should be kept constantly moist - not too wet and not too dry - at all times until the plants are ready for transplanting.
harvested later on. In commercial plantation however, to facilitate harvesting, the operation should be delayed until almost all fruits on a bunch are matured. Then the whole bunch could be gathered in a sim-ple operation instead of picking the individual fruits one by one as they mature.
After harvesting, dry the berries immediately under the sunlight un-til they become black and wrinkled. The ideal remaining moisture con-
tent of black pepper is 12 percent. Properly dried berries can be stored for long periods of time.
Unknowingly, black pepper is sold in the market in two forms -black and white. If the latter is de-sired, select the best and ripest ber-ries and submerge them in water for one to two weeks to let them soften. After soaking, allow the berries to ferment before removing the outer hull. After doing so, grind them and presto-you have the white pepper!
For seed propagation, har-vest only the berries that are orange or red in color. Pick only from vigorous, disease-free plants of the desired variety. It is a common practice to place the seeds in a cloth bag and soak this in water for two to three days before sowing. Sow the seeds in the bed six inches apart in rows and cover with fine soil about two inches thick.
The seedlings are ready for transplanting when these are about one-year old. In trans-planting, it is advisable to retain as much of the soil clinging to the roots as possible. A reminder: “Plants raised from seeds grow more slowly and require more care than plants grown from cuttings,”MBRLC reminds.
Cuttings for propagation should be taken from vigorous, heavy-yielding plants which are below the node and 20 inches or more in length with plenty of roots at their joints. “Remove side branches,” MBRLC advices, “because they don’t climb but sprawl.”
Insert the cuttings into the soil of the bed in a slanting po-sition with half their length bur-ied. Cuttings are ready for trans-planting when they show vigor-ous growth and are fully rooted. In transplanting, the seedlings should be “balled” or provided with plenty of soil clinging to their roots.
Black pepper can also be propagated by means of mar-cotting. Here are the steps: From the tip of a black pepper branch, look for the node with whitish aerial roots that is less than a centimeter long. Enclose the node in a container. Tie it se-curely to the support. A tin can, waxed paper cup, or a plastic bag can be used as container.
Fill the container with fine, dry humus or sandy loam soil. Pour in a little at a time until it reaches the length of the in-ternode just above the node to be marcotted. Water the mar-cot lightly. Don’t press the soil against the delicate roots.
After a month, cut the young marcot from the mother plant. Cut the stem very close to the container using sharp pruning shears or a knife. Place the new-ly cut marcot in a bigger contain-er such as a clay pot or a plastic bag. Do not disturb the delicate roots. Then, harden the marcot by placing it in a partial shade for three to four months. Don’t water it excessively.
Transplant the rooted seed-lings at the start of the rainy season. Plant two or three seed-lings a few centimeters away from the base of each support tree. Before placing the plants in the prepared holes, carefully remove the plastic bags holding the plants and soil.
Black pepper should not be allowed to grow tall. As the vines climb the supports, the tops should be pulled down as they reach the desired height of two
to three meters. Every three months, apply ma-nure or compost to each hill to maintain plant growth. In addition, be sure to control pests and diseases attacking the plants. Weeding must be employed, too
Black pepper starts to bear fruit as early as the first year after plant-ing. The fruits are green at first, turning yellow and then red and then black when they ma-ture. Generally, the first harvest of blackberries - which varies from one-half to one kilogram per plant - is on its third year. Full production comes in the sixth or seventh year (the yield is approxi-mately 1.5 kilograms per plant) and the plant produces continuously for 15 or more years.
The fruits on a bunch do not all mature at the same time. In backyard growing, har-vest only the matured ones and leave the green immature berries to be
WHAT does it take one to understand his rights and at the same time respect others?
A group of protesters purportedly representing the lumads of Talaingod and Kapalong are crying for their right to ed-ucation. The issue stemmed from the closure of a school catering to indigenous people and the impending solution to recommend the deployment of military personnel with degrees in education to serve as para teachers in those areas.
In the midst of the uproar from the lumads of the area, the De-partment of Education (DepEd) has given assurance that no mil-itary para-teachers will be tapped to teach in the communities of Ata-Manobo tribe in Talaingod and Kapalong in Davao del Norte. However, the two schools cannot operate for the simple reason that they failed to re-apply for a government permit.
The recommendation to deploy military para-teachers in the ar-eas was made by DepEd Davao del Norte Schools Division super-intendent Dr. Josephine Fadul to DepEd regional director Alberto Escobarte. The recommendation would have affected the Salug-pongan Tatanu Igkanogon Community Learning Center (STTICLC), Inc. in Talaingod and MISFI Academy in Kapalong. The temporary
closure of the indigenous schools was based on the order of the Talaingod Municipal Council of Tribal Leaders “and the reinvesti-gation, reinspection, and reevaluation of the said school in terms of performance in providing efficient, quality and relevant education-al services consistent with DepEd and National Education policies, plans and standard.”
Yesterday, the protesters marched to the DepEd 11 regional of-fice. They flashed placards and shouted for their rights. However, when photographed by EDGE Davao, one of the protesters told this paper that taking photos is not allowed. Not even for media.
Whaaat?Here are people crying for their rights, exercising their right to
assembly and expression. How in the world can one of them tell us that the media is not allowed to take pictures of them? So what is the protest for if they intend to keep it private anyway?
We find it ridiculous because the group has already appeared in media fora and interviewed by media. If they can cry for their rights, they should also understand and respect the rights of others.
Unless, some of these people in their ranks are not legitimate lumads from these areas.
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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PHILIPPINE PRESS INSTITUTEthe national association of newspapers
ALTHOUGH he was known mostly as Health Secretary and senator, Dr. Juan M. Flavier was also an author. In fact, he
was one of my favorite Filipino authors.He used to be with the Silang-based Inter-
national Institute of Rural Reconstruction. Too bad, when I worked there in the late 1990s, he was no longer around. But he did come when one of the new IIRR buildings was inaugurat-ed.
As an author, he wrote as if he were talking to you. And one of the things he was famous for was his parables. Here’s one of those which I consider my favorite:
The farmer had a series of misfortunes in fairly close succession. It started with the loss of his work animal, one of the best carabaos in the village and the envy of many other farmers. The thieves ruthlessly and recklessly butchered the carabao and only got the thighs. The body was left to decay and was eventually found due to the foul smell.
The loss of his carabao caused the farmer’s yield in his rice farm to dwindle drastically as he had to borrow carabao from other farmers. Then, a bad drought completely wiped out his already meager crop.
At midyear, his only son was caught in pos-session of prohibited drugs. The boy was also confirmed to be a drug dependent. His daugh-ter then eloped with the son of his arch-enemy. “Anyone else except that family,” he moaned to himself. As if to inflict the unkindest cut of all, his wife ran away with the town policeman.
The farmer knelt in quiet desperation and prayed in his small hut. “Lord, I have had it. I cannot take it anymore. This is just too much for me. I can no longer carry the cross,” he pleaded.
A blinding light blazed upon the farmer as a kindly voice boomed: “I understand how you feel, my son. If you cannot bear your cross anymore, then come enter the room of crosses. Leave your cross and select one whose weigh you feel you can bear.”
Immediately, the farmer saw a door open before him. He entered the brightly lit room and left his cross by the door. He saw before him all sorts of bulky crosses – all much larger and heavier than his.
There was even bloodied cross which tow-ered so high he could not discern its top. There were crosses made of narra, yakal, and even solid iron. One after another, he tried but could barely lift the crosses. Finally, he saw a small cross which appeared manageable. He heaved it upon his shoulders where it rested comfortably. “Lord, I like this one,” the farmer announced.
The Lord replied, “My son, that is the very same cross you brought in. Take it and go in peace.”
Sometimes, we thought our sufferings are too much to bear. Unknowingly, compared with others, ours may be miniscule. Italian poet, novelist, and translator Cesare Pavese once pointed out: “Suffering is by no means a privilege, a sign of nobility, a reminder of God.
Suffering is a fierce, bestial thing, com-monplace, uncalled for, natural as air. It is in-tangible; no one can grasp it or fight against it; it dwells in time -- is the same thing as time; if it comes in fits and starts, that is only so as to leave the sufferer more defenseless during the moments that follow, those long moments when one relives the last bout of torture and waits for the next.”
Remember what Jesus said before? “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-34). “No cross, no crown,” William Penn thundered.
Science tells us that a pearl is formed by a grain of sand getting into a mussel shell. It irritates and causes pain. The inner part of the mussel sends tears which congeal around the grain and sand and make a beautiful pearl. So our sufferings and tears and irritations make
pearls.Barbara Bloom shares this information:
“When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a histo-ry it becomes more beautiful.”
“Why did this happen to me?” We have no right to ask this question when sorrow comes, unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way. How right were the words of John A. Simone, Jr.: “If you’re in a bad situation, don’t worry it’ll change. If you’re in a good situation, don’t worry it’ll change.”
Sufferings are part of our lives. No one can escape from it. “If I had a formula for bypass-ing trouble, I would not pass it round,” Oliver Wendell Holmes said. “Trouble creates a ca-pacity to handle it. I don’t embrace trouble; that’s as bad as treating it as an enemy. But I do say meet it as a friend, for you’ll see a lot of it and had better be on speaking terms with it.”
Joel Fritz tells this story: “I remember a crippled man in the hospital when I was a chaplain for few years. He was unbelievably disfigured. His body was twisted like a cork-screw and all h e could do was sit in bed, day and night. If someone came to visit him, he could not even turn his head enough to make eye contact.
“Whenever I came around to visit him, my standard greeting would be, ‘Well, how are things today?’ And his answer was always the same: ‘Just fine, thank you.’
“Now, deep down in my own heart, I knew that if I were answering for him, I could truth-fully have said each time, ‘Well, things are a lot worse with me than with you,’ and I could have understood. But seeing this man suffer-ing and hearing him answer so lightheartedly, always did something to me: I always left the room both humble and joyful.”
To end this piece, allow me to quote the words of Rose F. Kennedy. “Birds sing af-ter a storm; why shouldn’t peo-ple feel as free to delight in whatever re-mains to them?” she asked.
HERE’S something we Dabawenyos take for granted: June is “National No Smoking Month” in the Philip-
pines, declared so by the cigar-chomping President Fidel V. Ramos on May 30, 1993. In signing Proclamation No. 183, FVR said there was “a need to focus national atten-tion to the dangers of smoking.” The decla-ration was made as part of the awareness campaign on the ill effects of cigarette smoking, and it was the Department of Health (DOH)’s way of joining the World Health Organization in the annual celebra-tion of the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) which falls on May 31 each year.
In Davao City, of course, there is no such thing as a “no smoking month” since smoking is banned year round through the Comprehensive Anti-Smoking Ordinance enacted in 2002 by Mayor Rodrigo Dute-rte. Interestingly, Duterte had confessed then that he smoked, but said he did so only inside his bedroom and in the bath-room of his house. He would never let him-self be seen smoking in public, and he ad-vised government officials to do the same. I have personally never seen Duterte (ei-ther personally or in photos) holding a lit
cigarette, and I think many people be-lieve he was never a smok-er. He’s appar-ently kicked the habit, though: for-mer councilor Peter Laviña, who is now a volunteer in Duterte’s Fed-eralism Movement, confirmed to me that he doesn’t smoke anymore. “Maybe (he smoked) when he was younger,” he said.
Back to the Davao CIty smoking ban: The already strict guidelines of the origi-nal ordinance were made even more strin-gent in 2012 when the city government, under then-Mayor Sara Duterte, amended it into the New Anti-Smoking Ordinance and made smoking an even more difficult endeavor to undertake. There is now hard-ly a place in the city where a smoker can light up: smoking is banned “in all accom-modation and entertainment establish-
ments, workplaces, enclosed public plac-es, partially enclosed public places, public buildings, public outdoor spaces and all public conveyances, government-owned vehicles and other means of public trans-port within the territorial jurisdiction of Davao City.”
The only places to smoke in public are the designated smoking areas, but even these have changed. From being defined as enclosed spaces within establishments, they are now open outdoor spaces with no permanent or temporary roof or walls. They have also been moved from inside the premises to outside (10 meters away from the entrances) and their size limited to no larger than five square meters. If you want to smoke, you’ll have to do it outside.
And of course, the ordinance now pro-hibits e-cigarettes, shishas, and the like. There was an initial opposition to this, but recent studies on the ill effects of e-cigs (you can Google this) have apparently si-lenced them. I’m not sure if this is being enforced, though, because I see e-ciga-rettes being sold. But then again, selling them is not against the law. (TO BE CON-TINUED)
K-to-12 ex-panded educa-tion program of the Aquino gov-ernment?
Not the par-ents, because it means addi-tional expenses for two years.
Not the teachers, because it is an un-sound reform program and they have not been thoroughly, adequately, and effectively trained, oriented, and prepared.
Not the students, because they do not know what K-12 is all about.
So, who badly wants the K-12? Only P-Noy and K-12 architect Arwin Luistro -- for the wrong reasons. Both Noynoy and Arwin are products of elitist, ultra expen-sive schools which, by the way, explains why they have a myopic understanding of our public school system. And so, they want to ram down our throats their twisted logic in support of K-12. It’s pathetic that we have a kakistocratic president.
Okay, I may seem sardonic, but I cannot help interpreting the letter K in K-12 to mean Kennel.
Why? Well, it’s because when this ill-con-ceived and indecently fast-tracked reform program is fully implemented, our country will unceremoniously go to the dogs.
Here are several valid and compelling reasons:1) ACT (Alliance of Concerned Teachers)
calls K-12 “another disaster in the edu-cational system.” It plans to ask the Su-preme Court to totally suspend the pro-gram.
2) The Suspend K-12 Alliance has filed a petition urging the Supreme Court to de-clare Rep. Act 10533 “unconstitutional and invalid.”
3) The Alliance said “Far from advocating national development, the K-12 program will prioritize global competitiveness which is a euphemism for the contin-uation of the 30-year old labor export policy as proven by senior high school courses aligned with foreign needs such as caregiving, food and beverage services, housekeeping, welding, and slaughter-ing.”Speaking during the DepEd “Kayang-
Kaya Sama-Sama” affair last May 29 P-Noy boldly declared, “We are ready for K-12”.
That’s what he thinks. But Luistro’s teachers say they are not ready. So, who is telling the truth? Who should we believe? Who knows the situation better?
------000-------THE BEST ARGUMENT AGAINST K-12Say I’m cynical, but to my mind, the best
argument against the K-12 program is col-lectively Mr. Aquino, Mr. Luistro, the Aquino cabinet, the entire membership of Congress and the Judiciary, and all the professionals in the country – engineers, doctors, lawyers, educators.
Why? Simply because all of them never went through a K-12 program. They all had the decades-old 10-year basic educational system which produced outstanding Filipi-nos like Jose Abad Santos, Manual Quezon, Manuel Roxas, Claro Recto, Camilo Osias, Raul Manglapus, Ramon Magsaysay, Jovito Salonga, Ferdinand Marcos, Sergio Osmena, Jose Laurel, Carlos Romulo.
------000-------GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESSK-12 advocates say that the program will
enable Filipinos to compete globally.That’s nonsense. For decades, Filipinos
have been competing with foreigners and have been outstanding.
Filipino talents are all over the six conti-nents on earth – engineers, doctors, nurses, physical therapists, educators, skilled work-ers, technicians.
And this is the crowning glory of Fili-pinos: The Philippines is the most literate country in the whole of Asia.
‘No smoking month’? Not in Davao City (Part 1) Who wants K-12?
VOL. 8 ISSUE 46 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, JUNE 5 - 6, 201510 NEWSSARA... FROM 1
Felonia... FROM 2
Duterte... FROM 4
Dengue... FROM 2 NBI... FROM 2
Hataman... FROM 4
GPH... FROM 4
Agriculture... FROM 6
NEDA... FROM 6
EDGEDAVAO
ERRATUM
That in the Edge Davao issues of May 18, 25 and June 1 , 2015 a Notice of Loss for the Certificate of Full Payment No. 1003156 under contract No. 31696-6 issued by Loyola Plans Consolidated, Inc. the middle name of VICKY P. ASENTISTA was inadvertently misspelled it should be VICKY R. ASENTISTA. Our Apologies. The Editors
received.In an order dated May 29,
2015, Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 16 Judge Em-manuel Carpio took note of Felonia’s claim and ordered that he be detained not at the Davao City Jail but at the DCPO detention center.
Felonia was detained at his mother unit in Camp Cra-me after he submitted him-self to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) last year after his name came out as
the brain behind the killing of King.
He surrendered in March this year after the court issued a warrant of arrest against him.
King was shot dead inside his office in Bo. Obrero, Davao City on June 12, 2014. Self confessed triggerman Paul Dave Molina Labang and his cohorts, brothers Rommel and Rodel dela Cerna, pointed to Felonia as the brain of the kill-ing. Funny Pearl A. Gajunera
ber of the family.“It doesn’t necessarily
follow that if the mayor is a Duterte then the next may-or should also be a Duter-te. Pwede naman pud lain basta siguraduhon lang na katong tawhana to naay kapa-sidad and there is a heart na moserbisyo sa siyudad (It can be anyone, but just make sure the person has the capacity to lead and has the heart to serve the people of the city),” Sara said.
Mayor Duterte had earlier said he wants Sara to run for her old post, which she held from 2010 to 2013.
Duterte also confirmed
talking with his son Paolo about their political plans but said they did not fix any plans for 2016 yet.
He is widely believed to be eyeing the presidency, while Paolo has already said he would run for mayor if his father runs for President in 2016.
Duterte stressed, however, that the issue is not about his son or daughter but the public trust and interest.
Duterte said he wants his children to continue what he has started by protecting the city and its people. With a re-port from Funny Pearl A. Ga-junera
dengue-carrying mosquitoes come from schools.
She said plastic contain-ers filled with water should be emptied because these
are breeding grounds for the Aedes aegypti mosquito which is the carrier of the dengue virus. Armando B. Fenequito Jr.
The POEA also confirmed that the three do not have a li-cense to recruit people to work outside the country.
“Sa over 10,000 ka mga na-biktima, walay nakagawas sa nasud (Out of the 10,000 they victimized, not one was able to leave the country to work),” Albao said.
Albao also said they re-ceived a complaint that there are a hundreds of victims
stranded in Manila with no money to return to their homes.
The three will face cases of Large Scale Illegal Recruit-ment and Estafa. The NBI is currently working for the ap-prehension of the three other suspects.
EDGE Davao tried to in-terview the three suspects but they refused to answer ques-tions.
of Mindanao.“The condition of peace
provided the people a respite from the never-ending cycle of violence, giving them the time to start their lives anew, dream, and hope once again, he said.
“It also allowed the re-gional government to focus its attention on building roads, bridges, classrooms, farm facilities, community health centers, markets, and homes,” Hataman added.
Resources spent for infra-structures and services these past years, he noted, would have been used to buy med-icines, food, as well as build-ing makeshift homes for peo-ple displaced by the conflict had the peace process not moved forward.
“ARMM extends its sin-cerest appreciation to Pres-ident Benigno Aquino III for
his trust and confidence,” Ha-taman said. The region’s re-cent achievements, including passing Good Governance Conditions, are proof that re-forms are felt by the people and that Moros govern well.
“We are also thankful to the members of both the Sen-ate and House of Representa-tives for sharing our vision for the region.
In 26 years, for the first time in history, ARMM re-ceived its biggest budget of P24.3 billion.”
“The increase in budget meant more projects and projects with greater and wider impacts. As it did in the past three years, the bud-get is being spent well for projects that truly promote peace and development and responsive to the needs of the people,” the governor said. (PNA)
Data from the Nation-al Tobacco Administration (NTA) data show that the tobacco industry “provides direct and primary source of livelihood to 43,960 farm-ers and about 300,000 other members of their families.”
“In addition, it provides a living for about 1.56 million other industry workers and dependents,” the NTA said.
Duterte is widely believed to be eying the presidency, although he has repeatedly denied it.
makes the DALE sustainable,” Maliwat said, adding that al-most 10,000 attendees and visitors are expected in this year’s expo.
With the goal of dissem-inating the latest informa-tion and technologies in ag-riculture, Maliwat said free seminars on organic farm-ing, livestock raising, animal healthcare, swine breeding and piglet management will be available to exhibitors and
visitors of the event.For next year, Maliwat
said a bigger DALE will be or-ganized by CMB. DALE started in 2013.
“We will definitely hold this event next year because we always wanted to recog-nize the importance of agri-culture. We will always do our best to promote and support the best that the industry can offer,” she said. CHENEEN R. CAPON
my continues its high-growth path and the ASEAN integra-tion takes place by the end of 2015, the government expects a surge in developments with-in and outside Metro Manila, in addition to the many key infrastructure projects that are already on stream and in the pipeline.
“Iron and steel are a ma-jor catalyst for national devel-opment. The growth of local iron and steel production will
support and further stimulate future infrastructure develop-ment initiatives,” he said.
Tungpalan emphasized that infrastructure develop-ment is a crucial determinant of the growth and competitive-ness of the country because it facilitates connectivity and mobility, strengthens resil-ience among people and com-munities, and reduces poverty through creating quality em-ployment.
Mader and Camp Abubakar in Barira, Maguindanao Thurs-day.
He said the Brigada Esk-wela was initially launched Wednesday in Camp Rajamu-da, Buliok Complex, Pikit, North Cotabato and Camp Bus-ra in Lanao del Sur, conflict-af-fected areas in the war during 2003.
Galvez said the last venue of the activity will be in Camp Bilal in Lanao del Sur.
“Government and the MILF have agreed to convert these camps into social enti-ty by transforming them into progressive communities,” he said.
Galvez said the Brigada Eskwela in the MILF camps reaches out three schools per camp.
He said 20 skilled-car-penters from the military and 20-MILF counterparts are participating in conducting repairs of the school-buildings while the respective local gov-ernment units and representa-tives from the DepEd conduct medical-dental activities on school-children and the imme-diate residents in the area.
Galvez explained that with
the eventual decommission-ing of the MILF forces, their respective camps will receive social packages for them to im-prove the quality of life.
He said the Bangsamoro will be provided with live-lihood training, individual and community competence building to pursue life anew, equipped with the precise means to pursue life.
Galvez said the govern-ment spends P100-Thousand per school, while the MILF provides 20 to 50 additional skilled workers.
“I am glad to be back here. This area was a war-front in the conflict back in 2000s,” he said.
Abdulkadir Manimbal, deputy commander, national guard brigade of the MILF wel-comed the new cooperation between the government and their organization.
He said the activity sends the sign of peace especially for the immediate families who aspire that their children go back to school.
Manibal affirmed that a fire razed the school during the 2000 conflict. (PIA 11-Joey Sem G. Dalumpines)
FERTILIZER. A staff member of Senator Cynthia Villar hands over a sack of organic fertilizer to Consul General Abdulah Zawawi Tahir (left) of Malaysia during the opening of the Davao Agriculture and Livestock Expo 2015 at the
SMX Convention Center yesterday. The organic fertilizer, which was given away to farmers for free, is a product of the Las Piñas Kitchen Composting Project, a joint program of Las Piñas Barangay Councils and Villar Sipag. Lean Daval Jr.
AS part of its corporate social responsibility, EDGE Davao conduct-
ed a Basic Journalism Semi-nar-Workshop for officers and employees of Brokenshire In-tegrated Health Ministries. Inc. At the Brokenshire Hotel-Re-sort and Convention Center last Tuesday.
EDGE Davao managing editor Neilwin Joseph Bra-vo shared his knwledge on Trends in Newspaper and Newsletter Publication, Pho-tography, Newswriting, Fea-ture Writing and Editorial Writing.
Rev. Ruben dela Cruz, Chief Executive Officer of BIHMI, led
the attendees composed of the publication staff.
“We are glad to have been invited by BIHMI to do a sem-inar-workshop and we can only hope that at the end of the day, we all grow together in this eternal process of learn-ing,” Bravo said.
Rev. Dela Cruz thanked
EDGE Davao for the semi-nar-workshop. Ofelia Mos-quida, BIHMI project officer, presented Bravo a plaque of appreciation.
EDGE Davao marketing head Jocelyn Panes distrib-uted the certificates to the attendees at the end of the seminar.
EDGE Davao conducts Basic JournalismSeminar-Workshop for Brokenshire staff
IN honor of the late patri-arch of the EDC Holdings, Col. Emilio Escandor, an
outreach program was recent-ly held in Purok 5, Baracatan, Toril in Davao City.
Led by The Royal Man-daya Hotel general manager Benjie Banzon, department heads and staff of TRMH and sister company Davao Allied Security and Investigation Agency (DASIA) along with school and barangay officials embarked on a “Brigada Esk-wela” in Baracatan Elementa-ry School in time for the open-ing of the new school year.
The activity, which is un-
der the Emilio Escanndor Community Outreach Pro-gram (EECOP), was held last May 30.
The TRMH and DASIA teams repainted the class-rooms, cleaned the campus, conducted feeding program and donated school supplies to the community.
The EECOP Adopt A School Program has Baracat-an Elementary School as ben-eficiary.
“It is our way of sharing the blessings to the commu-nity and in keeping with the legacy of generosity of Col. Escandor,” Banzon said. (NJB)
DR. Annie I. Rodriguez was conferred Out-standing Australian
Alumnus Award by the Phil-ippine Australian Alumni Association (PA3i) in a cere-mony held last May 30, 2015 at Marco Polo, Ortigas. Dr. Ro-driguez has been a teacher at Philippine Science High School Southern Mindanao Campus for 23 years now. Currently, she is also the Chief of the Curricu-lum and Instruction Services Division of the school. The PA3i presented her this award “for her exemplary achievement in the field of Education thereby making immeasurable positive impact to Filipinos and to the country in general, and for em-bodying the characteristics of an international ambassador of Australian education.”
Throughout her years in the academe, Dr. Rodriguez has received various recogni-tions as a teacher and civil ser-vant. In 2013, she received the Gawad Bayaning Mindanaoan from the Asian Institute of Humanitarian Development. In 2012, she was also award-ed Most Oustanding Teacher by the Metrobank Foundation and was named Oustanding Digoseño by the Digos City Council in Davao del Sur for her exemplary work as a pub-lic secondary teacher.
In Philippine Science High School SMC, Dr. Rodriguez has consistently been recognized as one of the top performers based on the school’s work performance standards. In her continual efforts of bringing
excellence as an English teach-er and in handling supervisory positions, she pursued and finished her PhD in Applied Linguistics at the University of Immaculate Conception in 2010 where she received a Merit Award by the Secretary of Department of Science and Technology. Back in 1999, her dedication towards excellence in government service was recognized by the Civil Service Commission by bestowing her the Ulirang Kawani Award.
Dr. Rodriguez was nomi-nated to the 2015 Outstanding Alumni Awards of the PA3i be-ing an alumna of Victoria Uni-versity in Melbourne, Australia where she obtained her degree in MA Education and Training in 2002. This year, out of the 10 alumni recognized with a certificate of nomination, Dr. Rodriguez was one the 5 awarded with a plaque. In the words of Mr. Arvin Yana, PA3i National President, “Dr. Rodri-guez has persistently blazed her own trail as a dedicated educa-tor, lifelong learner who loves exploring innovative ways of learning and teaching.”
The Philippine Australian Alumni Association (PA3i) is a national network for Austra-lian alumni in the Philippines. It is the umbrella organization of all graduates of formal and informal training programs offered by Australian univer-sities and training institutions. The association serves as a platform for the alumni to give back and contribute remark-able impact in varied fields.
BASIC JOURNALISM SEMINAR. EDGE Davao managing editor Neilwin Joseph Bravo (6th from left) accepts the plaque of recognition from Brokenshire Integrated Health Ministries Inc. chief executive officer Rev. Ruben dela Cruz (7th from left) and his staff.
Pisay Davao Teacher AwardedOutstanding Australian Alumnus
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas underscored the importance of pursu-
ing financial inclusion strategy in the country, as this would provide greater access for all Filipinos to financial services.
BSP deputy governor Diwa Guinigundo said finan-cial inclusion expands access to financial services especially for the unserved and under-served, hence provides “better opportunities for people to save, invest and contribute to greater productive activities across the Philippines.”
Guinigundo recently head-ed a consultation meeting with stakeholders from the public and private sector in Davao City, to present and discuss the draft National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) proposed by an inter-agency committee that BSP convened in 2014.
The BSP official said the committee composed of 13 agencies, considered NSFI an “ideal platform where the public and private sector can cooperate and coordinate to make financial inclusion, and eventually, inclusive growth, a reality.”
He further emphasized the need of the country for a finan-cial inclusion strategy, saying this would allow Filipinos “to take advantage to productive
opportunities to reduce vul-nerabilities to financial stress, financial risk, debt accumula-tion and eventually poverty.”
“Many among our people have limited access to financial services,” Guinigundo stated, citing a statistics that 36 per-cent of the 1,634 cities and municipalities in the country (or 15% of the population) do not have banking offices, as of end of December 2014.
He said only four out of ten Filipino adults put aside mon-ey to save, and 68% of those who save money keep their savings at home which he said “is very dangerous.”
Guinigundo added that 38% save in banks, 7.5% in co-operatives and 2.6% in group savings or paluwagan.
For access to credit, BSP stated 47% of Filipino adults are borrowing, most of the loans come from informal sources such as family, rela-tives and friends (62%) and informal lenders (10%).
BSP’s data further showed that only few obtained credit from formal institutions such as lending/financing com-panies (12%), cooperatives (10.5%), microfinance NGOs (9.9%), and banks (4.4%).
Guinigundo bared that about 39% of households re-ceiving overseas Filipinos re-mittances allocate a portion of
remittance to savings.In terms of insurance, also
a financial product that pro-vides financial risk protection for the people, Guinigundo said that only 32.45% of the population has life insurance coverage in 2013.
“These numbers clearly established the imperative of a national strategy for fi-nancial inclusion. Financial inclusion even becomes more compelling if we consider the poor and their number, the unserved and underserved,” he said.
Among the objectives set in the NSFI framework is to attain the presence of a wide range of financial products and services that serve different market segments.
Another aim is the assur-ance of a relevant, responsive and quality of said products and services, and the presence of a wide variety of strong, sound and duly authorized financial institutions utilizing innovative delivery channels.
Guinigundo said BSP ex-pected to complete consul-tations on the draft NSFI last month to be able to pursue the launching and signing of Mem-orandum of Agreement in June this year.
He said NSFI is targeted to be finalized and approved by July. (PIA-XI/Carina L. Cayon)
HARLENE Raguin won her Women’s Fencing Individual Epée quar-
terfinal game against another Filipino, Hanniel Abella, at the 28th Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.
With the win, Harlene has already assured herself of at least a bronze medal, and will face Singapore’s Rania Ra-hardja in the semifinal round scheduled later yesterday.
Still in fencing, the Philip-pines’ Emerson Segui lost to Indonesia’s Dennis Ariadinata Satriana at the Men’s Individu-al Foil Round of 16.
Indonesia’s Satriana ad-vanced to the quarterfinal round against Philippines’ very own Nathaniel Perez scheduled yesterday.
Perez won his Men’s Fenc-ing Individual Foil quarterfi-nal game against Indonesia’s Dennis Ariadinata Satriana and has already assured him-self of at least a bronze medal. He now goes to the semifinal round against Vietnam’s Minh Quang Nguyen scheduled late yesterday.
Netball Team end their cam-paign on the 28th Sea Games with a lost to Team Brunei (32-56) and with a record of 0-5 after the Group Stage.
The PH Netball squad is composed of Teresa Aquino, Remia Buenacosta, Daniela Castañeda, Ana Thea Cenaro-sa, Maricar Convencido, Mi-chelle Datuin, Leanne Espina, Loraine Angela Lim, Kristine Marie Teo, and Maryanne Yabut.
TABLE TENNISRichard Gonzales won his
last match in the group stage by defeating Muhamad A.H. Muhamad R. of Malaysia (3-0) in the Men’s Table Tennis Sin-gles Event Group C.
After the group stage, Gonzales had a record of 4-0 and now OFFICIALLY advance in medal round. He will face 19-year old and world no. 175 Clarence Chew Zhe Yu of Sin-gapore.
lan Lariba also won over Novita Oktariyani of Indonesia (3-0) in the Women’s Singles Event Group C.
After the group stage, Lar-iba with a 1-2 record ranked third in her group and failed to advance in the medal round. Thai Suthasini Sawettabut ad-vance in the semis after upset-ting world no. 4 Feng Tianwei of Singapore.
Ryan Rodney Jacolo lost to Lat Thet Ko Ko of Myan-mar (3-2) of the Men’s Table Tennis singles event group A. After the group stage, Jacolo had a 0-3 record and failed to advance in the medal round. Padasak Tanviriyavechakul of Thailand topped his group and advance in the Semis.
CEREMONIAL TEE OFF. Imee Garcia of Apo Golf and Country Club hits the ceremonial ball in the 2015 WGAP ladies tournament at the Rancho Palos Verdes last Wednesday. Boy Lim
SEA GAMES ROUNDUPTwo PH fencers
assured of medal
Hot Curry spices Warriorsbid to end title droughtWITH Stephen Curry
taking NBA Most Valu-able Player honors
and rookie coach Steve Kerr setting the tone, the Golden State Warriors are on the verge of their first title since 1975.
The Warriors led the league with a 67-15 record, setting a team record for wins, and used deadly 3-point shooting, skilled passing and persistent defense to ignite a moribund team.
Golden State had not won more than one round in the playoffs since taking the title in 1975, and their 40-year gap be-tween trips to the NBA Finals is a league record.
But none of that will matter if the Warriors can conquer the Cleveland Cavaliers, led by four-time NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James, in the best-of-seven championship series that opens Thursday in Oakland, where Golden State is 46-3 this season, including a 7-1 home mark in the playoffs.
“We’ve got home-court ad-vantage that we need to capital-ize on,” Curry said. “It’s going to be a battle and it’s going to be fun. This is what every player dreams about when you come into the league, playing for a championship. You’re four wins away from your goal, and we’re excited about it.”
Kerr, 49, was a shooting guard on three Chicago Bulls NBA championship teams from 1996-1998 then helped the San Antonio Spurs win their first NBA crown in 1999 and anoth-er in 2003.
The Warriors had reached the playoffs only once in 17 sea-
sons before prior coach Mark Jackson arrived and when Kerr was hired a year ago, he built upon what Jackson had started.
“We feel like we are build-ing something that will be spe-cial for the next decade,” Kerr said.
Curry has averaged 29.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 6.4 assists in the playoffs, his abil-ity to score in spurts and from 3-point range simply baffling defenders.
Curry, whose father Dell was an NBA star, made 286 3-pointers this season, 14 more than the former NBA record he set two seasons earlier. Golden State’s Klay Thompson was sec-ond in the NBA, 47 3-pointers behind.
The Warriors made 883 3-pointers, the third-most in NBA history. And Curry already has made an NBA one-playoff record 73 3-pointers.
So how do you stop him?“Same way you slow me
down,” Cleveland’s James said. “You can’t.”
Curry averaged 23.8 points during the season, when he raised his game from im-pressive to elite and lifted the performance of those around him, as Thompson averaged 21.7 points, forward Harri-son Barnes averaged 10.1 and Draymond Green averaged 11.7 — all career highs.
In addition, the Warriors led the NBA with 27.4 assists a game.
“That’s the secret to this team, the unselfishness,” Barnes said.
That’s also the key to de-
fending him, says Cleve-land guard Kyrie Irving.
“It’s a total team ef-fort,” Irving said. “I will be starting it off. What-ever happens during the game, we’ll see. But it’s a total team effort to limit his touches. He’s a tough player. He knocks down shots. It will take a total team effort.”
Curry becomes the first NBA first-team All-Star to face the other four members of the select squad in the playoffs, having already dispatched Anthony Davis of New Orle-ans, Marc Gasol of Memphis and James Harden of Hous-ton with James yet to come.
Golden State has no players with NBA Finals experience. Not since the 1991 Chicago Bulls has such a team won the title. James alone has played in five NBA Finals, includ-ing the last four in a row with Miami, win-ning two of those.
“He has been here plenty of times before,” Curry said. “We’ve got to bring our ‘A’ game if we’re going to beat a great team and a great player like that four times.
“We’re excited about the challenge. He had to win his first one at some point, and nobody on our team has experi-enced that, so we’re going to be fight-ing like crazy every night.”
Nathaniel Perez (in file photo) won a bronze in men’s foil.
THE Philippines barged into the medal tally of the Southeast Asian
Games as fencer Justine Gail Tinio bagged silver in the women’s individual foil on Wednesday night.
Tinio bowed to Singa-
pore’s Wenying Wang, 15-7, to settle for second place and give the country its first med-al in the 28th SEA Games.
She qualified for the gold medal round after beating Thi Hoai Thu Nguyen in the semifinals, 15-6.
Tinio started her cam-paign with a 15-13 victory over Myanmar’s May Tinzar Kyaw in the round of 16, and then followed it up with a win against Vietnam’s Thi Anh Do in the quarterfinals, 15-11.
Nathaniel Perez settled
for the bronze medal in the Men’s Fencing Individual Foil quarterfinal game losing to Vietnam’s Minh Quang Nguy-en in the semifinals yester-day.
Harlene Raguin also moved to at least a bronze
medal finish on Thursday after winning her Women’s Fencing Individual Epée quarterfinal game against an-other Filipino, Hanniel Abel-la. With the win, Harlene has already assured herself of at least a bronze medal, and will
face Singapore’s Rania Ra-hardja in the semifinal round scheduled later yesterday.
Still in fencing, the Philip-pines’ Emerson Segui lost to Indonesia’s Dennis Ariadina-ta Satriana at the Men’s Indi-vidual Foil Round of 16.
