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iniscent of his earlier statements which caught the attention of the Commission on Human Rights. The CHR said it will conduct a probe on Duterte’s threats. Salvador Panelo, Duterte’s legal counsel, told the mayor to ignore the CHR. Duterte did not waste time pointing to David Tan as the central figure of rice smuggling operation in the country. He confirmed that Davidson Bangayan is the real identity of David Tan which he had been using for years based on intelligence report the mayor gathered. “Everybody knows him… kung sino yung gusto mag import they go to David Tan. Siya yung may linya sa customs (Bureau of Customs) siya yung may linya sa lahat,” Duterte. He said that the picture that provided by the intelligence community to him is the same person inside the Senate. “Pero dito sa Manila alam ng lahat na siya (Bangayan), kaya ang gusto na mag import pupunta sa kanya kasi siya kasi ang naka-establish ng linya sa lahat ng ports. It could be Davao, it could be Cebu, Cagayan Manila sometimes Batangas,” he said. Duterte positively identified Bangayan as David Tan when asked by Senate minority leader Juan Ponce Enrile. He also confirmed that Bangayan has a scrap metal and fertilizer business in Davao City and he only comes to the city once a year. The mayor took note of the libel case against Jesus Lim Arranza, president of Federation of Philippine of Industries, where Bangayan reportedly admitted on his affidavit that he is David Tan. Contempt With the confirmation of Duterte, Senator JV Ejercito seconded the motion of Enrile to cite Bangayan for contempt for lying to the committee. Bangayan was then cited for contempt as the committee felt that Bangayan was lying. However, he was not detained in the Senate since he attended the hearings. Yet, Villar directed the Senate legal team to file perjury charges against Bangayan before Friday. Villar also directed the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and Department of Justice to place him in a watch list and the Department to Foreign Affairs to cancel his passport. It was learned that the National Bureau of Investigation arrested Bangayan after the hearing yesterday not for rice smuggling, but for an earlier charge of power pil-
ferage. Bangayan has a standing arrest warrant issued by the Regional Trial Court of Caloocan City Branch 126 in October 2010 for violation of Republic Act 7832 (Anti-Electricity and Electric Transmission Lines/ Material Pilferage Act of 1994). Suggestion Meanwhile, Duterte suggested that the authority to import rice should be given back solely to National Food Authority (NFA). He said that the importation permit that has been issued by the NFA to a farmer’s cooperatives was sold to the big time traders since the cooperative has no fund to import rice. Earlier, Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares asked for Duterte’s help in addressing the problem of rice smuggling ‘which she said bedevils the port operations in Davao City. Opening statement Duterte’s appearance in the Senate was highly anticipated, including his expected encounter with Justice Secretary De Lima whom he earlier asked to resign over the rice smuggling mess. Although there was no confrontation with De Lima, Duterte had a fiery opening statement. “You and I know the terrible effects that rice smuggling bears. It robs the government of precious income and impoverishes the Filipino farmer. It is economic sabotage at its worst. More than that, rice smuggling erodes the people’s trust and faith in government, particularly in its capacity to enforce the laws – an erosion that cuts deeply into the very foundation upon which government authority rests. Loss of trust and faith is an ailment which our government cannot afford-not at this time, not ever,” said Duterte in his opening statement. Duterte said that he felt the sense of frustration of Henares and immediately met with former Customs District Collector of Davao Samson Pacasum to get the specifics of rice smuggling in Davao City. “Subsequently, upon my call and invitation, I met with officials of the Philippine Port Authority, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Internal Revenue, National Bureau of Investigation, CIDG, Philippine Navy and other agencies, in a brainstorming conference to ferret out the “whos”, “whys”, “hows” and “whens” of rice smuggling in the city” said Duterte.
VOL. 6 ISSUE 228 • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2014
EDGEDAVAO
1st Mindanao Book Festival opens Feb. 4 in Davao City W
years? Come to the Davao City leg of the 1st Mindanao Book Festival on February 4 and 5 at the Ateneo de Davao University and see the collection of old and new Mindanao books, meet authors and listen to lectures and poetry-reading. Last year, at least 37 Mindanao books were
published, bringing the total number of books on Mindanao or written by Mindanawons from 2000 to 2013 at 346. Majority of last year’ harvest is still on history and peacebuilding in the Bangsamoro, the dominant themes since 2000. But the 2013 harvest has three photobooks – two photographic guides to amphibians, reptiles and bats of Mindanao, and a photobook on the other
faces and facets of Sulu. The Mindanao Book Festival is the first ever attempt to exhibit books on Mindanao issues written by Mindanawon and non-Mindanawon authors, and other books written by Mindanawon writers. Aside from Davao City, it will also be held in the cities of Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro and Cotabato, Cebu and Manila, within the first quarter this year.
The Mindanao News and Information Center Service Cooperative (MindaNews Co-op) envisions the bookfest to be an annual exhibit and gathering of Mindanawon authors. This year’s theme is “Writing Mindanao, Righting Mindanao.” The Davao City leg is in partnership with AusAID and the Ateneo de Davao University’s Department of Literature. [MindaNews]
Starcraft International Trading Corp, the NFA petition said.
The plaintiff argued that NFA only filed the urgent motion without
attaching the copy of the pleading-in-intervention attached to the motion
which is a violation of Section 2 rule 19 of the 1997 Revised Rules of Court.
added that the centers will showcase livestock. She will propose the construction of centers in Paquibato and Marilog. There is a 7-hectare city government owned land in Marilog where a five hectare facility can be established. Aside from developmental trainings, the committee is also planning to make the centers trading areas of the farmers. “This will lessen trans-
portation costs of the farmers.” Speaking during the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Annex yesterday, the councilor said that the centers will be managed by the Upland Management Board. Abella said that her is drafting a proposal that will create the board and will be proposed to the council before the end of this year’s first quarter. The board will be head-
ed by the city mayor himself while the members will be officers from the city agriculture office (CAO) and city environment and natural resources office (Cenro). The board will be in charge of developing upland farming and focus on improving the status of high-value crops produced by the city, cacao and coconut, adding that these have high demand in the local and international market. On cacao alone, she said
that farmers in the city have a high chance of improving their lives. Of the 40,000 tons (MT) demand in the local market only 10 percent or 4,000 tons is supplied. “There is a deficiency of 36,000MT in the local market,” Abella said. CRC The councilor, meanwhile said that her committee is now finishing the city’s Agricultural Development Plan that will be used in the next three years. [CRC]
capitalization will grow by 5 to 10 percent by the end of this year because of new investments. A steel smelting company that will be established in Bunawan district recorded the biggest investment among new business
applications with a capitalization of about P975 million. Other establishments with high capitalization were banks. The capitalization will continue to grow as business permit renewal and
application continue. He said the taxpayer’s lounge at the Sangguniang Panlungsod is still crowded because of more business applicants. This year’s business renewal period recorded a total of 30,080 renewed
business permits. This is higher compared to the same period last year with 29,837. He said that most renewals were in the retail industry, while application for new permits decreased from 850 (January 2-31, 2013) to 549 this year.
group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is involved in peace efforts with the government. Last Jan. 25, the government and the MILF signed
an annex that would pave the way for a comprehensive peace agreement. Meanwhile, Valte reiterated the government’s appeal to critics to give the
peace efforts, including the annexes and the upcoming comprehensive peace agreement, a chance to succeed. “Let’s look at the annex-
es. Let’s look at how beneficial (the peace agreement) will be to our brothers and sisters in Mindanao,” she said. [PCOO News Release]
of P7.2 billion including other technology- and election-related services for the 2010 presidential polls. The poll body had acquired the PCOS after exercising its “option to purchase” in the amount of P1.8 billion. The machines were used in the 2013 mid-term polls. However, he noted that purchasing the PCOS machines was not put into waste even if they decide not to use in the coming polls. The poll body official explained that the Comelec’s decision was the best option at the time factoring in the budget allocation given
by Congress. “(In 2010), Smartmatic lowered the price to P7.2 billion. It was very aggressive in bidding for the project and they delivered everything we asked from them… (In 2013), they offered P1.8 billion. That is cheap compared to others… if it is good we can buy it. So we bought it,” Jimenez added. On the other hand, he noted that technology-wise, he believes that the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) feature of the PCOS machines was a good choice for the Comelec. “With regards to the
software, the concept of having paper ballots being read digitally with the digital results the ones being consolidated in order to come up with the voting results, we have no problem with that. It was a good decision (by the Comelec),” said Jimenez. Meanwhile, he said they will just be waiting for the evaluation of the Comelec Advisory Council (CAC) on whether the PCOS machines will still be used in the next polls. “Any fine-tuning of the system, it has to be discussed by the CAC since it covers a wide range of
discussions. That is why we are not rushing on this… the CAC has the responsibility to come-up with the review of 2013 and to recommend for 2016. So we are waiting on that,” said Jimenez. Under the Poll Automation Law, the CAC is mandated to recommend “the most appropriate, secure, applicable and cost-effective technology” to be used by the Comelec during elections. Jimenez added that the CAC has already met several times and may come out with their recommendations by the end of the month. [PNA]
ANT to have a preview of Mindanao through the
David...FFROM 2
Councilor...FFROM 3
Davao... FFROM 3
Amid...FFROM 3
Comelec...FFROM 3