Edge Davao 7 Issue 186

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VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

EDGEDAVAO Serving a seamless society

P5 ADDITIONAL COST OF LIVING ALLOWANCE (COLA)

Translates to the increase in the minimum wage of employees in the non-agricultural, and retail and service establishments employing more than 10 workers to P317.00 per day.

COVERAGE DAVAO CITY, DIGOS, ISLAND GARDEN CITY OF SAMAL (IGACOS), TAGUM, PANABO, MATI AND THE PROVINCES OF DAVAO DEL SUR, DAVAO DEL NORTE, DAVAO ORIENTAL, and COMPOSTELA VALLEY EDGE DAVAO Infographics

COMPLY WITH COLA DOLE 11 asks firms to implement additional COLA

INSIDE EDGE

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

T

crc@edgedavao.net

HE Department of Employment and Labor (DOLE) 11 reminded private establishment owners to comply with the implementation of the P5 additional cost-of-living allowance (COLA) which became effective yesterday.

DOLE 11 regional director Atty. Joffrey Suyao said during the Kapehan sa

Dabaw at SM City Annex yesterday that December 1 was the start of the implementation of the second tranche of Wage Order RB-XI-18 which started to take effect last June.

This will translate to the increase in the minimum wage of employees in the non-agricultural and retail and service establishments

employing more than 10 workers to P317 per day.

The new daily minimum wage for the agriculture sector is P307, while for service establishments employing not more than 10 workers it is P286.

The order covers the cities of Davao, Digos, Island Garden City of Samal (Igacos), Tagum, Panabo,

and Mati and the provinces of Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, and Compostela Valley.

According to the DOLE 11 website, the COLA is “given to workers for loss in purchasing power due to inflation at a rate normally pegged at the consumer price index (CPI) and cushion the effects of the

FCOMPLY, 10

FEDERALISM SUMMIT: RUN FOR PRESIDENT, RODY

THE BIG NEWS page 2

2 THE BIG NEWS EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

NOW OR NEVER. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte tells government officials who attended yesterday’s 1st Mindanao Leaders’ Summit on Federalism that they must solve the problems of government right now by changing the country’s form of government to federal – or leave the same problems to the next generation. Lean Daval Jr.

says support RUN, RODY, RUN Solon for BBL is ‘universal’ Federalism summit pushes Duterte to run for President

By Funny Pearl A. Gajunera and Armando B. Fenequito Jr.

A

S expected, yesterday’s 1st Mindanao Leaders’ Summit on Federalism held in Davao City became a venue for supporters of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to push for his presidential candidacy in 2016.

In his welcome address, 1BAP Party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello said the leader’s summit on federalism is a trigger-

ing factor for the pursuit of both federalism and the Duterte for President Movement.

“In order to pursue the movement (federalism) it needs a national leader’s support, and that would be Duterte if he will run as president,” Bello said.

He said it is already a fact that there will be a resistance to federalism coming from some lead-

ers in Luzon, which is why Duterte “must be President” in order to push federalism.

Duterte, however, reiterated his earlier statements that he is not interested in running for the presidency.

“People might think that I am into it (presidency) because federalism is a good cause, baka sabihin sinakyan ko na lang (they

might say I’m using it as a vehicle for my candidacy), so I’d rather belong to the other side where we only advocate for this federalism and not necessarily going into politics,” the mayor said.

Duterte has said many times that federalism is the only solution that would address not just the problem on insur-

frustrated murder and who bolted the Sultan Kudarat provincial jail, was subdued by responding policemen in his home in Barangay Katiko.

Dela Rosa said police in President Quirino were responding to a crime incident when they received a tip that a man who fled the provincial jail had been hiding in the village. (PNA)

HE Philippines is nowhere near the finish line in terms of completing one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations (UN).

Speaking in Monday’s Kapehan sa Dabaw in SM City Davao, Dr. Jordana Ramiterre, head of the Reproductive Health and Wellness Center (RHWC) of the Davao City Health Office, said that “we are not yet

there,” referring to the sixth MDG: to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

According to a UN fact sheet, the sixth MDG has the following targets: to halt and to begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015; and to achieve universal access to treatment for HIV/ AIDS for all those who need it.

All of the UN MDGs, which cover from halving extreme poverty to halting

FRUN, 10

D

ESPITE some concerns, the proposed Bangsamoro Law is receiving overwhelming support from residents in Northern Mindanao, the chair of the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law said.

“I saw the universal support for the proposed Bangsamoro law. It is undeniable,” Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, (2nd district, Cagayan de Oro City) told MindaNews .

Rodriguez said he got a sense of the sentiments after

a round of public hearings in the cities of Marawi, Iligan, and Cagayan de Oro; and in Tubod, Lanao del Norte last week from November 27 to 29.

Rodriguez said he no longer sees any major problem arising from sectors questioning the constitutionality of the proposed Bangsamoro Law. He said despite manifestation from those who oppose the law, he saw only several issues that they would have to fix before submitting their

the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all have a target date of 2015.

“There is no halting happening,” she said. As of September 2014 (the latest available data from the Department of Health), there are a total 1,014 HIV cases in Davao City; 1,220 in the whole Davao Region. These numbers increased from 921 (Davao City) and 1,020 (Davao Region) since June

2014.

In June alone, there have been 27 reported cases of HIV/AIDS in Davao City; there are 36 reported cases of HIV for the whole region that month.

Ramiterre said that the number of cases continue to increase. She put it this way more clearly: in 2007, one case of HIV is reported per day; in 2014, this average ballooned into 15 cases per day.

FSOLON, 10

SK police arrest inmate Phl ‘not there yet’in combating HIV/AIDS who bolted jail in 2011 T P OLICE in President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat province arrested on Sunday a man who bolted the provincial jail here three years ago.

Senior Superintendent Rex dela Rosa, Sultan Kudarat police director, quoted a police report from President Quirino police office that Eulogio Rufino, who was facing

NEWS

EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

Decommissioning of MILF starts January T HE decommissioning of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will start by January next year, a senior official of the group said on Saturday.

MILF peace panel member Datu Antonio Kinoc said the decommissioning or disarmament of the MILF fighters will be gradual and that it could take years to implement.

“This is what I heard from our discussions in the peace panel,” Kinoc said, confirming earlier reports quoting MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal as saying the “ceremonial “decommissioning” will take place in its main camp in Barangay Simuay, Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao by January next year.

Kinoc said a total of 75 firearms including a crewserved heavy machinegun will be decommissioned as “a sign of good faith” by the MILF to the peace agreement.

He said the decommis-

sioning will be done gradually until both the government and the MILF sign an exit agreement that would indicate all provisions in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro have been implemented.

“The firearms that will be decommissioned in January will represent one percent of the total firearms of the MILF. That is our agreement,” Kinoc said.

He said the next phase of the decommissioning of 30 percent of MILF firearms will take place by April 2015 or as soon as the 15th Congress has passed the Bangsamoro Basic Law. He said the third phase of the decommissioning representing another 3o percent of firearms will be done once the Bangsamoro government is installed.

“The final decommissioning of 34 percent of our firearms will be made once the exit agreement is signed by us and the Philippine gov-

FDECOMMISSIONING, 10

P10M lost as fire guts down dept’store in SoCot town

A

N estimated P10 million worth of merchandise and other related items were destroyed in a huge fire that gutted down a department store in Polomolok town in South Cotabato yesterday morning.

Senior Inspector Reginaldo Legaspi, head of the Polomolok fire station, said the fire broke at around 5:30 a.m. at a portion of the Fit Mart department store located along the Dahlia street.

He said they promptly responded to the scene but failed to immediately enter the two-story establishment as it was still padlocked

3

when the fire started.

Aside from the Polomolok fire station, fire trucks from this city and Tupi town in South Cotabato also responded to the fire call.

Legaspi said the fire, which razed the entire establishment to the ground, was declared under control about two hours after it was first reported.

Witnesses said the fire could have started from a bakery located adjacent to the department store.

Bystanders said they initially noticed a spark at an electric post beside the store before the fire broke

FP10M, 10

WHAT WE ARE PAYING FOR EXPANDING ROADS. These two photos show how the newly widened Carlos P. Garcia Highway is being used for roadside business and parking by motorists including a government ambulance unit. While road expansions are ongoing in most parts of the city, they end up used for other purposes like this one.

No term extension in move for federalism

By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.

D

abf@edgedavao.net

AVAO City Rodrigo R. Duterte yesterday gave assurance that the move for charter change for a federal form of government in the country will not be used for term extension of

incumbent officials.

“You can be assured that I am now committing not to agree for any extension for all of us in government,” Duterte told reporters at a press conference after the

Mindanao Leaders’ Summit for Federalism.

Duterte, who convened the summit, said they will still study what would kind of federal government would fit the country today.

In a separate interview, 1BAP Party List Rep. Silvestre H. Bello told Edge Davao that every time there is a move for charter change, the term extension is really the

FNO, 10

BIR padlocks Zoofari

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

K

WE’LL BE BACK. Andrew Worseley, owner of Family Fun Ventures, Inc. which runs Outback Grill Restaurant and Zoofari Adventure, points to the word “temporarily” as he promises to settle his tax obligations and reopen his businesses in Davao City and Tagum City before Christmas. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) 11 issued a temporary closure order on his businesses yesterday due to P20 million in undeclared gross sales. Lean Daval Jr.

crc@edgedavao.net

IDS will have to say goodbye – at least temporarily – to Family Fun Venture’s Zoofari Kid’s Adventure which the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) 11 padlocked yesterday along with Zoofari’s Outback Grill and all branches in Davao City and Tagum City.

BIR 11 officer-in-charge (OIC) regional director Maria Lita Chin said during the Oplan Kandado Operation yesterday that Zoofari, which has been operating for five years in Davao City, was temporarily closed due to tax evasion and underdeclaration of gross sales.

“Based on our one-year monitoring and 11-day surveillance, the company, having seven branches, has a P20-million undeclared gross sales,” Chin said.

A total of seven establishments registered under Family Fun Venture, Inc. owned by British Andrew Worsley were temporarily closed.

BIR 11 padlocked Zoofari Kid Adventure main branch in Bacaca Road, Garcia Heights; and two other branches in Tagum City and SM City Ecoland; Threadz Embroidery and Apparel in

FBIR, 10

4 BIGGER PICTURE EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

What is Federalism?

A

LL of a sudden the buzz word in Mindanao is federalism. But what is it really, and why do its supporters believe it is the answer to the problems of the country?

First a definition. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it is “a political system that binds a group of states into a larger, noncentralized, superior state while allowing them to maintain their own political identities.”

“Certain characteristics and principles are common to all successful federal systems: a written constitution or basic law stipulating the distribution of powers; diffusion of power among the constituent elements, which are substantially self-sustaining; and territorial divisions to ensure neutrality and equality in the representation of various groups and interests,” the dictionary adds.

There are many forms of federalism, with the US model perhaps being the most familiar to Filipinos. It is unclear what yesterday’s Mindanao Leaders’ Summit on Federalism, organized by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, is advocating, but it is useful to remember that in 2008 then-Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. had proposed a resolution that sought to adopt a Federal Presidential Bicameral form of government.

Joint Resolution No. 10, which had the support of 13 senators, would have created 11 autonomous regions and 11 centers of finance and development in the Philippines.

Under the proposal, there would be 11 states plus one federal administrative region – Metro Manila – as the seat of the federal government.

The other states would Proposed administrative divisions

PRIMER. Senator Pimentel in his speech during launch of his book “Federalizing the Philippines: A Primer” on June 25, 2008 explains that federalism does not mean fragmentation of the country. be Northern Luzon (with Tuguegarao as capital), Central Luzon (Tarlac City), Southern Tagalog (Tagaytay), Mimaropa (Mamburao), Bicol (Legazpi), Eastern Visayas (Catbalogan), Central Visayas (Toledo), Western Visayas (Iloilo City), Northern Mindanao (Cagayan de Oro), Southern Mindanao (Davao City), and Bangsamoro (Marawi).

At the House of Representatives, Rep. Monico O. Puentevella filed House Concurrent Resolution No. 15 on May 7, 2008 which supported Senate Resolution No. 10.

One of the staunchest advocates of Federalism,

former University of the Philippines President Jose Abueva, formed the Citizens’ Movement for a Federal Philippines (CMFP) to campaign for a shift to a federal of government. In a paper titled Some Advantages of Federalism and Parliamentary Government for the Philippines (Revised for June 29, 2005), he explained that a proposed Federal Republic of the Philippines would be characterized by “Self-Rule by the people in the proposed 11 States and their local governments and Shared Rule between the Federal Government and the States and their local govern-

There shall be a creation of 11 component federal states out of the existing regions and conversion of Metro Manila into a federal administrative region. (Photo from www.nenepimentel.org)

ments.”

Abueva also listed eight advantages of the federal system:

1. The Federal Republic will build a just and enduring framework for peace through unity in our ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity, especially in relation to Bangsa Moro or Muslim Filipinos and our lumad/indigenous peoples.

2. Decentralization and devolution cannot move further under the old unitary system despite avowed goals expressed in the 1987 Constitution and the Local Government Code.

3. The Federal Republic will empower our citizens by enabling them to raise their standard of living and enhance their political awareness through their participation and efficacy in elections and the making and carrying out of government decisions at the regional and local levels.

4. The Federal Republic will improve governance by challenging and energizing State and local leaders, entrepreneurs, and citizens around the Letter A B C D E F G H I J K M

country to take hold of their destiny. Federalism will release them from the costly, time-consuming, stifling, and demoralizing effects of excessive central government controls and regulation in our traditional Unitary System.

5. The Federal Republic will thus stimulate and hasten the country’s political, economic, social, and cultural development.

6. Federalism, together with parliamentary government, will improve governance by promoting the development of strong, united, disciplined, and program-oriented political parties that are responsible and accountable to the people for their conduct and performance in and out of power.

7. Metro Manila State will have a unified political structure that will integrate its various cities and municipalities under the State Assembly that combines legislative and executive powers and authority. Unlike the State Assemblies of the other States, the mayors in Metro Manila will constitute the Metro Manila State Assembly. The Metro Manila Governor and State

State Northern Luzon Central Luzon Southern Tagalog Mimaropa Bicol Eastern Visayas Central Visayas Western Visayas Northern Mindanao Southern Mindanao Bangsamoro Federal Administrative Region of MetroManila

Cabinet will direct and coordinate the various metropolitan functions and services.

8. Gradually, the Federal Republic and its Parliamentary Government will broaden and deepen democracy.

The CMFP had proposed the holding of a plebiscite early in 2007 to ratify the Proposed Revision of the 1987 Constitution, so that the election in May 2007 would be for the officers in the 1987 Constitution as Revised.

Unfortunately, it was precisely the need for amendments to the Constitution that doomed the proposal.

There was massive opposition to Charter Change (Cha-Cha) because most people believed it would open the Constitution to other amendments – specifically the removal of term limits for elected officials, which would benefit then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. She was then already becoming unpopular because of charges of corruption and of cheating in the 2004 Presidential election, and she was widely believed to be positioning herself to be the country’s leader even after her term’s end in 2010.

Edge Davao

Capital Tuguegarao Tarlac City Tagaytay Mamburao Legazpi Catbalogan Toledo Iloilo City Cagayan de Oro Davao City Marawi Manila

5 ECONOMY

EDGEDAVAO VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

DOLE releases P4.27 million for livelihood projects in Region 12 T

HE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Region 12 released on Monday P4.27-million worth of livelihood grants to various local government units (LGUs) in the region.

Ofelia Domingo, DOLE Region 12 director, said the grants were part of the region’s allocation under the agency’s flagship Integrated Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (DILEEP), Pantawid and the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting (GPB) approach.

She said around P3.45 million was released under the DILEEP for the distribution of livelihood starter kits to parents of child laborers in six LGUs within the region.

The recipients were Malapatan town in Sarangani with P1.505 million; Kidapawan City with P793,569; Barangay Apopong in this city with P383,040; Barangay Pukay Pait in Tantangan, South Cotabato with P370,000; Malungon town in Sarangani with P255,000; and Barangay Tibpuan in Lebak, Sultan Kudarat with P151,807.

“These grants are aimed to provide parents of child

laborers with sustainable livelihood ventures to ensure that their children will stop working and remain in school instead,” Domingo said in a press conference.

The official said the starter kits are worth between P5,000 and P10,000, depending on the projects or ventures that were proposed by the beneficiaries.

Domingo said the livelihood kits are composed of essential equipment, raw materials and initial capitalization.

The approved grants include small ventures such as carinderia or eatery, meat processing, food retailing and welding shop, she said.

Prior to the approval of the grants, she said the beneficiaries underwent various skills and entrepreneurial trainings that were facilitated by the agency.

The DILEEP seeks to contribute to poverty reduction and reduce vulnerability to risks of the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized workers through emergency employment and promotion of entrepreneurship and community enterprises.

The program’s compo-

nents are the Kabuhayan or livelihood program and emergency employment program, which is also dubbed Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced

Workers or TUPAD. Domingo said they are currently processing the release of around P800,000 worth of grants under the DILEEP to selected benefi-

ciaries in various parts of the region.

From January to November this year, the official said they already released around P46-million worth of grants

under the DILEEP. “We’re on track towards meeting our goal for this in terms of grant releases under the DILEEP,” she said. (MindaNews)

SAND AND GRAVEL. Residents of Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao scoop out sand and gravel from the Simuay River. Sand, gravel, and hollow blocks are the most accessible means of livelihood among locals. MindaNews photo by Omar Mangorsi

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THE ECONOMY

EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

fiscal deficit for October De Ocampo forecasts positive Gov’t 2014 contracts to P2.5 billion outlook on Philippine growth T

F

ORMER Finance Secretary Roberto de Ocampo said a 6.5 percent GDP growth rate next year is possible if certain conditions are met.

De Ocampo, who also serves as Chairman for Philippine Veterans Bank, told stakeholders of the Center for Philippine Futuristics Studies and Management Inc. during a forum that Congress should also be in tandem with the executive branch to get these reforms passed and institutionalized.

“First, lawmakers should address the maximum projected shortfall in electricity supply in the Luzon grid from March-July 2015,” he said.

De Ocampo explained that the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) of Meralco would hopefully compensate business establishments that use their own standby generation facilities but emphasized that the government should avoid repeating the mistakes of the past energy

crisis.

He added that energy security is critical to sustain the growth of industries that would generate jobs. The former DOF chief pointed out that the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) placed the Philippines in the upper middle tile for competitiveness.

“Now, we have to maintain a good ranking in the competitive index, but then that can all be dampened by the energy crisis thus in fact rear its ugly head in full force,” he said.

De Ocampo also suggested that Congress build on the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro by passing in the first quarter of 2015 the Bangsamoro Basic Law within the bounds of the 1987 Constitution.

“Lasting peace should bring development to the land of promise which we always thought was Mindanao and according to the Bangsamoro Development

DTI holds ASEAN game plan, industry roadmaps briefing

T

HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Board of Investments (BOI) will conduct a forum titled “Industry Roadmaps and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Game Plan: Regional Roadmaps for Competitiveness” on December 4 in Davao City.

Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo is expected to deliver the keynote address.

The forum will focus on the crucial role of industrial development in the integration process of ASEAN. It will also inform stakeholders of the opportunities and challenges in ASEAN. The AEC aims to establish a single market and production base with free movement of goods, services, and investments across the ten ASEAN member countries.

Other forum speakers include USAID Trade-Related Assistance for Development Project Senior Adviser Dr. Ramon Clarete, DTI Assistant Secretary Dr. Rafaelita M. Aldaba, Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Senior Research Fellow Dr. Roehlano Briones, University of Asia and the Pacific Senior Agribusiness Specialist Florence Sevilla, University of Asia and the Pacific Senior Management Specialist Senen Reyes, and BOI Sectoral Champion Francis Peñaflor.

DTI Assistant Secretary Blesila Lantayona is likewise expected to grace the forum.

Participants from various chambers of commerce, business support organizations, the academe, LGUs,

representatives of various government agencies, NGOs, consumer organizations, and the media are anticipated to attend the forum.

DTI and BOI launched the Industry Roadmap Project (IRP) in January 2012 and it continues to forge strategic partnerships with industry stakeholders, particularly the private sector, in the development of industry roadmaps that defines its vision, goals, and targets, in the short, medium, and long term, assesses the industry’s state and economic performance, identifies the binding constraints to its growth, and recommends strategies for industry upgrading and development.

To date, 30 sectoral roadmaps have been submitted to the BOI, of which, 25 roadmaps have been completed. These sectoral roadmaps are the building blocks of the Manufacturing Industry Roadmap (MIR) and the Comprehensive National Industrial Strategy (CNIS).

The MIR, finalized in 2013, consolidates the roadmaps while the CNIS is envisioned to be the blueprint for the overall industrial development strategy and will cover agriculture, manufacturing, and services.

Due to limited space, participation to the forum is on a first come, first served basis. For details on how to participate in the forum, contact Vedastito Galvez or Julian Loquinario at (082) 224-0511 or email them at r11@dti.gov.ph.

Plan, GDP growth is targeted to reach 6-8 percent in end of 2016 from an average regional GDP growth of 2.7 percent in the ARMM area from 2009-2013,” he said.

De Ocampo said he sees both the timely passing of the National Budget for 2015 to ramp up infrastructure spending and the easing on economic restriction on foreign participation as a good sign for the country to achieve a 6.5 percent growth rate.

“We are still lagging behind our ASEAN neighbors despite the growth of our FDI, it’s only 44 percent of what Vietnam gets, and there’s only one way for us to be able to expand the manufacturing and other sectors to be able to create jobs and that is to also get investments from abroad in order to come up with those manufacturing and other industries that will create jobs,” he noted.

In addition, De Ocam-

G

po is urging support for the Public-Private Partnership Center by introducing amendments to the B u i l d - O p e ra te -Tra n s fe r (BOT) law. He said these amendments will raise the threshold cost of the projects subject to NEDA board’s approval, facilitate right of way acquisition, extend the period for swift challenges to six months from the present 60 days, define projects of national significance, ensure strict compliance to bidding procedures, and ensure incentives to infrastructure investors.

The former Finance Secretary likewise wants to see the enactment of a competitive law by next year as part of the country’s commitment to foster a culture of fair competition in ASEAN. He also hopes that a bill rationalizing fiscal incentives to move in Congress, adding that these incentives could be estimated to be the equivalent of 1-2 percent of GDP.

HE national government (NG) registered a P2.5 billion fiscal deficit in October, 77 percent lower than the amount posted in the same period last year as expenditures continued to grow at a slower pace than revenues.

In a statement, the Department of Finance (DOF) said total revenues for the month amounted to P152.3 billion, recording a growth of 13 percent compared to the same month last year. This brings year-to-date collections to P1.6 trillion, 13 percent higher over the comparable period last year.

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collections continued its year-on-year growth although at a lower increment, raising P101.8 billion for the month, 7 percent higher than last year’s level. Total BIR collections as of end-October amounted to P1.1 trillion, up by 11 percent from the same period last year.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) sustained its monthly double-digit year-on-year growth with a 23 percent

increase in actual collections for October amounting to P34.2 billion. Year-to-date BOC revenue has increased by 19 percent year-on-year, registering at P299.9 billion.

Total Bureau of Treasure (BTr) income contributed the highest year-on-year increase among NG’s sources of revenues with a P5.8 billion inflow in October, up by 62 percent from the previous year.

The DOF said the sharp increase is largely due to the higher interest income earned on NG deposits with the BSP. Cumulative Total BTr Income grew by 21 percent year-on-year with the January to October actual collections of P87.1 billion already exceeding the fullyear target of P56.2 billion.

Collections from other offices also posted a significant year-on-year growth of 44 percent, with P10.5 billion for the month. On a year-todate basis, collections have reached P92.0 billion, indicating an 11 percent or P8.9 billion improvement over the same period last year.

in more cost efficient manner,” Sazon said.

Technology-based business tools, also called enablers offered by Globe myBusiness include mobile POS system Globe Charge, cloud-based productivity suite Google Apps for Work, internet-based monitoring solution Globe myBusiness CCTV, GadgetMax postpaid plans, Globe myBusiness Broadband, Globe Education Solutions, among others.

According to Globe Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Business and International Markets Gil Genio, SMEs

comprise the backbone of our economy with 99 percent of registered businesses and almost two thirds of employment coming from this sector.

In this light, Globe myBusiness encourages and supports entrepreneurship as a pillar for nation building.

During myBusiness Day, employees were given a wide array of franchising investment opportunities from over 20 local franchise exhibitors from the food, retail, and service industries.

Paired with exclusive offers such as discounts on franchising packages, additional

marketing promotions and collaterals, additional inventories, as well as free gift certificates, Globe myBusiness guaranteed employees of the best deals, which propelled them to get started with their dream businesses.

Completing the cycle of the one-stop shop were learning sessions held by notable franchise experts Armando Bartolome of GMB Franchise Developers, Richie Cuna of Fiorgelato, and Joseph Ismael Cruz of BPI Ka-Negosyo, and Tess Ngan Tian of Lot’s A Pizza as well as exclusive consultation with AFFI Board of Directors.

Globe holds first my Business Day

LOBE myBusiness sparked inspiration and empowers entrepreneurs and micro small and medium enterprises (mSMEs) through its first “myBusiness Day” held last November 26, 2014 at The Globe Tower in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

In partnership with the Association of Filipino Franchisers Inc. (AFFI), Globe myBusiness turned the venue into a city of franchising opportunities called “Globeville,” a one-stop shop for business start-ups built especially for Globe employees.

From franchising opportunities and business enablers exhibited all throughout the day, to informative business talks from experts in the evening, myBusiness day was an affair set to enlighten and ignite the Filipino entrepreneurial spirit.

“All our campaigns to inspire entrepreneurship and success are not only an external drive, but are also what we practice within Globe as well,” Senior Vice President and Head for Globe myBusiness Martha Sazon said.

“Through myBusiness Day, we give Globe employees the first-hand opportunity to become entrepreneurs and arm them with all information they need to get started with their dream businesses. As a trusted business advisor, Globe myBusiness also equips entrepreneurs with enablers that help run their businesses more smoothly, improve cash flow, and promote them

MY BUSINESS. (From left) Globe Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Gil Genio, AFFI Corp Sec and Fiorgelato President Ricardo Z. Cuna, Acquasuisse Franchiser Jelyn Chung, AFFI Treasurer and Peanut World President Josie C. See, AFFI Vice President and Lots’ A Pizza President, Teresita L. Ngan Tian, AFFI Incoming President and Franchiser of Ink All You Can Jerry Neil C. Ilao, AFFI President and Big Apple Express Spa Victor M. Fernando, Senior Vice President for Globe

myBusiness Martha Sazon, AFFI Incoming Director and Ferino’s Bibingka President Sonny Francisco, AFFI Member and Generika Drugstore President Teodoro Ferrer, (behind Ferrer) Aquabest VP and AFFI Incoming Directo Paul S. Tan, Globe myBusiness Ambassador and Mercato Co-Founder RJ Ledesma, and (behind Ledesma) Andrew Que, AFFI Member and CEO of Happy Haus Donuts.

EDGEDAVAO

SCIENCE

VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

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ENDING HUNGER Controlling soil erosion Text and Photos By HENRYLITO D. TACIO

T

HE Holy Bible, in Genesis 41:55-57, recorded a famine: “So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, ‘Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, you shall do.’ When the famine was spread over all the face of the earth, then Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians; and the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. The people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth.”

Famine may occur again, no thanks to the growing population and destruction of the ecosystems that support life.

Lester R. Brown, in an article which appeared in World Watch, raised this concern: “We could be heading for unimaginable trouble if we continue to strip the planet of its forest cover, to erode its cropland, overgraze its rangelands, overpump its aquifers, deplete its oceans, pollute its air, pump excessive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and destroy the habitats of our fellow creatures.”

Environmentalists and scientists see different outcomes of all these. “But globally, it is food scarcity that may soon become the principal manifestation of continuing population growth and environmental mismanagement,” Brown pointed out.

Food insecurity may lead to war in most parts of the world. But the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) Foundation, Inc., a non-government organization based in Kinuskusan, Bansalan, Davao del Sur, is waging a different kind of war: soil erosion.

But Filipinos are not paying attention to it. Unknowingly, soil erosion is serious threat to any country.

“Soil erosion is an enemy to any nation – far worse than any outside enemy coming into a country and conquering it because it is an enemy you cannot see vividly,” said Harold R. Watson, an American agriculturist who received a Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1985 for peace and international understanding. “It’s a slow creeping enemy that soon possesses the land.”

Watson knows. He is the former director of MBRLC; he is now retired and back in his hometown in Mississippi. He came to the Philippines in the 1960s and during that time, he sounded the alarm of deforestation and soil erosion.

But people laughed at him.

They told him, “We’re never

going to run out of trees!” That was before several presidents, other Asian governments, the United Nations – and countless farmers – recognized the value of his insights.

When Ferdinand Magellan “rediscovered” the Philippines in 1521, forests blanketed 95% of the country. When the Ormoc City, Leyte tragedy – which left 8,000 people dead – happened in 1991, timber cover was only 18 percent.

In 1971, Watson opened to the public the MBRLC, a research and demonstration farm. In the beginning, it floundered. “When I got here, I had no idea what the problems were up in the hills,” said the American who spent almost half of his life in the Philippines.

“Farming looked pretty good on the surface.”

Soon, Watson discovered that the problem was the surface: It was washing away.

Loggers – both legal and illegal – were hauling trees out of the once-lush mountains, leaving behind denuded hillsides. Tribal people and migrants were using “slash and burn” methods (kaingin) to clear and farm the uplands, and topsoil was disappearing faster than could be replenished. The result: low production, hunger, and hopelessness.

“Most of these farmers don’t have a vision to see five or 10 years down the line,” Watson said. “Most live for one more day, and don’t lift their head up. They’re not thinking about erosion. It’s ‘What can I get out of the land today, right now?’”

Soil scientists claim 58 percent of the country’s total land area of 30 million hectares is susceptible to erosion.

“For one, the magnitude of soil erosion in cultivated sloping areas has reached an alarming proportion,” said Angel C. Alcala, former Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and also a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee.

Soil erosion is not a new phenomenon. Archaeological sites of civilizations, studies showed, were undermined by soil erosion. The fertile wheat-growing lands that made North Africa the granary of the Roman Empire are now largely desert. The lowlands of Guatemala that once nourished a thriving Mayan culture of five million people were drained of their fertility by soil erosion.

“Without soil, there would be no food apart from what the rivers and the seas can provide,” pointed out Edouard Saouma, former director-general of the

(First of Three Parts)

An example of gully erosion UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). “The soil is the world’s most precious natural resource. Yet it is not valued as it should be. Gold, oil, minerals and precious stones command prices which have led us to treat soil as mere dirt.”

Soil, aptly described as “the bridge between the inanimate and the living,” consists of weathered and decomposed bedrock, water, air, organic material formed from plant and animal decay, and thousands of different life forms, mainly microorganisms and insects. All play their part in maintaining the complex ecology of healthy soil.

In the humid tropics, starting from a sandy base, a soil can be formed in as little as 200 years. But the process normally takes far longer. Under most conditions, soil is formed at a rate of one centimeter every 100 to 400 years, and it takes 3,000 to 12,000 years to build enough soil to form productive land.

“This means that soil is, in effect, a non-renewable resource,” says a FAO publication.

“Once destroyed, it is gone forever.”

Although soil erosion does occur naturally, the process is slow. However, man’s intervention has increased the rate of natural erosion. According to David Pimentel, an agricultural ecologist at Cornell University, exposed soil is eroded at several thousand times the natural rate.

“Under normal conditions, each hectare of land losses somewhere between 0.004 and 0.05 tons of soil to erosion each

year – far less than what is replaced by natural soil building processes,” one study reported.

Several studies, however, have shown that on lands that have been logged or converted to crops and grazing, erosion typically takes away 17 tons in a year in the United States or Europe and 30 to 40 tons in Asia, Africa, or South America.

On severely degraded land, the hemorrhage can rise to 100 tons in a year.

“No other soil phenomenon is more destructive worldwide than is soil erosion,” wrote Nyle C. Brady in his book, The Nature and Properties of Soils.

“It involves losing water and plant nutrients at rates far higher than those occurring through leaching. More tragically, however, it can result in the loss of the entire soil.”

In their book, Soil Erosion: Quiet Crisis in the World Economy, author Brown and Edward C. Wolf said soil erosion threatens food production: “The loss of topsoil affects the ability to grow food in two ways. It reduces the inherent productivity of land, both through the loss of nutrients and degradation of the physical structure. It also increases the costs of food production.”

The two authors continue: “When farmers lose topsoil, they may increase land productivity by substituting energy in the form of fertilizer. Farmers losing topsoil may experience either a loss in land productivity or a rise in costs (of inputs).

But if productivity drops too low or costs rise too high, farmers are forced to abandon their land.”

A recent study by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution concluded that approximately 30 percent of the world’s arable crop land has been abandoned because of severe soil erosion in the last 40 years.

“When soils are depleted and crops are poorly nourished, people are often undernourished as well,” Brown and Wolf contend. “Failure to respond to the erosion threat will lead not only to the degradation of land, but to the degradation of life itself.”

Fortunately, the MBRLC discovered a sustainable farming system that helps curtail soil erosion. It is known as Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT). “The principle of SALT is the same as that used by the Ifugao tribes,” explains Roy C. Alimoane, the current MBRLC director. “All we are doing is suggesting using nitrogen-fixing trees and shrubs instead of rocks.”

The SALT system still requires careful management of the space between the rows of trees and shrubs. A combination of permanent, semi-permanent, and annual crops is recommended so as to rebuild the ecosystem and maximize yields while enabling farmers to organize their work time efficiently.

In the SALT farm, one finds a mix of permanent crops (cacao, coffee, banana and other fruit trees), cereals (upland rice, corn, or sorghum), and vegetables (bush sitao, winged beans, sweet pepper, tomato, eggplant, etc.). Every third strip of available land is nor-

mally devoted to permanent crops. A combination of various cereals and vegetables are planted on the remaining two strips of land. Each has its own specific area so that there can be a seasonal rotation.

“Crop rotation helps to preserve the regenerative properties of the soil and avoid the problems of infertility typical of traditional agricultural practices,” Alimoane says of the importance of regular rotation of crops.

And yes, SALT helps control soil erosion. Its study showed that a farm tilled in the traditional manner erodes at the rate of 1,163.4 metric tons per hectare per year. In a SALT farm, there is still erosion but minimal – 20.2 metric tons per hectare per year.

The rate of soil loss in a SALT farm is 3.4 metric tons per hectare per year, which is within the tolerable range.

Most soil scientists place acceptable soil loss limits for tropical countries like the Philippines within the range of 10 to 12 metric tons per hectare per year.

In comparison, the nonSALT farm has a soil loss rate of 194.3 metric tons per hectare per year.

“Soil is related to the earth much as the rind is related to an orange,” commented an American geologist. “It is the link between the rock core of the earth and the living things on its surface. It is the foothold for the plants we grow.

Therein lies the main reason for our interest in soil.” (TOMORROW: THE LIMITS OF FISHERIES)

8

EDGEDAVAO

VANTAGE

VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

EDITORIAL Know Federalism first before anything else

T

HERE is currently a snowballing movement to a change in the form of government from Democratic to Federalism.

No less than Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is among those prominent local government leaders pushing for change.

While we are talking about Federalism here, the fact remains that we actually do not really know what it is and how it works. Our knowledge is limited only to the concept of federalism and how it worked for some countries.

A quick visit to Wikipedia defines Federalism as “a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant (Latin: foedus, covenant) with a governing representative head. The term “federalism” is also used to describe a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units (such as states or provinces). Federalism is a system

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based upon democratic rules and institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and provincial/state governments, creating what is often called a federation.”

Yes, we know the concept in general terms. However, what may be good to Juan is not necessarily good for Pedro, so to speak. Meaning, we just cannot swallow a concept without knowing what we are putting in our mouths. We need to get a course on federalism and be schooled of its complexities and implications. Remember, changing the form of government is not like changing clothes. It’s not the outside that we can see. It’s what is inside that we need to know.

It is important to push for what we believe is best for us but at the same time it also exacts in each of us the relative responsibility to know a system well before we admit it.

Let’s not hurry about federalism. Let’s got to know more about this guy.

ANTONIO M. AJERO Editor in Chief

NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO Managing Editor

AGAPITO JOAQUIN JR. Associate Editor

KENNETH IRVING K. ONG ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR. CHENEEN R. CAPON BAI FAUZIAH FATIMA SINSUAT AMBOLODTO Reporters MEGHANN STA. INES AQUILES Z. ZONIO NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN LEANDRO S. DAVAL JR. FUNNY PEARL GAJUNERA Lifestyle Photography CHA MONFORTE JOSEPH LAWRENCE P. GARCIA Correspondents ARLENE D. PASAJE Contributing Photographer Cartoons MUNDA • HENRYLITO TACIO • MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO AURELIO A. PEÑA • MARY Columnists: CARLOS MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • AURELIO A. PEÑA • ZHAUN ORTEGA • BERNADETTE “ADDIE” B. ANN “ADI”• C. QUISIDO • LEANDRO B. DAVAL SR., • NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN • VIDA MIA VALVERDE • Economic Analysts:• ENRICO BORBON MARY ANN “ADI” C. QUISIDO • LEANDRO B. DAVAL SR., • NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN • NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN EMILY “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG • JONALLIER PEREZENRICO “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG • JONALLIER M. PEREZ ZEN CHUA • CARLOS MUNDA EconomicM. Analyst:

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I

VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

9

The BBL deserves to live and flourish!

have just read the House version of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law in its entirety. Offhand, I would have to say it is a fine piece of legislation. With some refinements, I believe it basically does justice to the historic claims and entitlements of our Mindanaon brothers and sisters.

Much as I deplore the hand of Imperial Manila in manipulating the peace process over the years—with minimal input from non-Moro Mindanaons, with “asymmetrical” participation of other regions (e.g. Northern Mindanao wasn’t in the loop), the panels on both sides of the table, along with Congress, should be congratulated for translating the complex issues into policy and actionable provisions.

Moreover, although I begrudge the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for obtaining the comprehensive agreement on which it is based at the point of a gun, I salute their success in causing the center to yield to the periphery and cede substantial power, authority, and control.

As for the Central Government, ceding such sweeping powers, authority, and control in favor of an insurgent movement bespeaks a splendid brand of statesmanship rarely shown by any administration—not even by P-Noy’s mother when she and her cabinet were niggardly towards the Moro National Liberation Front during the failed 1987 Peace Talks. ***** No doubt there are doubters, but it is ed-

P

VANTAGE POINTS

HILOSOPHER and naturalist Henry David Thoreau once said, “Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.” In one of his writings, he explained: “I have learned this at least by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

American president Thomas Jefferson admitted that he liked “the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”

Denson Franklin pointed out: “When you let your dreams die, something dies within you.”

The New American Desk Encyclopedia considers dreams as “fantasies,” which are usually visual and “experienced during sleep and in certain other situations.” Until the 19th century, dreams were regarded as supernatural, often prophetic; their possible prophetic nature has been examined by, among others, J.W. Dunne.

According to Dr. Sigmund Freud, dreams have a latent content (the fulfillment of an individual’s particular unconsciousness wish), which is converted by dreamwork into manifest content (the dream as experienced). In these terms, interpretation reverses the dreamwork process.

Of course, we often hear someone saying that his or her dreams were coming true.

Who are we to contradict them? But then, somebody once commented: “No dreams come true until you wake up and go to work.”

The Book of Lists scanned the yellow pages of history and came up with a list of people who put their dreams to work.

One of them was British poet Samuel Tay-

ifying to find it affirming and reinforcing the principles of autonomy and subsidiarity to guide public administration in no uncertain terms.

In other words, I believe the provisions of this draft BBL are basically sound, although I do have misgivings about the possibility that empowering features of the Local Government Code (R.A. 7160) may be watered down or removed altogether by superseding legislation.

Misgiving No. 1:I rather think most Mindanaons and Bangsamoro people will find certain terms or usages in this proposed law exotic or even strange and unfamiliar—especially “parliament” referring to its legislative governing body, or “parliamentary system” to differentiate it from the presidential system familiar to all.

These terms wouldn’t be sounding new or exotic today if the DILG and others had bothered at the outset to explain the nature of barangay governance—which is in fact parliamentary. No one has pointed out that the Barangay Assembly is in fact a local parliament with similar although not identical powers as the regional Parliament.

Few today are familiar with the meaning or usage of these terms, let alone the functions or powers inherent in them. It would

have helped to explain that even as the Bangsamoro Parliament enacts laws for the entire Bangsamoro Region, the Barangay Assembly below initiates ordinances for the immediate community or barangay. ***** In other words, there’s nothing new about a parliament or the parliamentary system in our political order. It was supposed to have been in place and in operation ever since the Local Government Code of 1991 became law.

But the poor record of compliance by barangays all around, plus its lousy enforcement, has rendered these terms unfamiliar and virtually unknown.

Hardly anyone knows, for example, that a parliamentary system is characterized by the blending of the powers of the three branches of government under one office: the prime minister’s or chief minister’s; under the presidential system, the three powers are held separate and exercised by separate officials, constituting a built-in mechanism for checks-and-balances.

Thus, in the Bangsamoro Government, the three branches—executive, legislative, judicial—are headed by one and the same official, the Chief Minister, which makes him a very powerful official. The same goes for the government below, where the Barangay Chairman is chief executive, chief legislator (sanggunian chair), and chief adjudicator (lupon chair).

Because there is no separation of powers, there is no built-in mechanism for ensuring transparency and accountability in the parliamentary government. The three branches

cannot check each other or stop one another’s abuses. And that’s where the Parliament comes in. ***** In the barangay, the parliament is the Barangay Assembly with an all-inclusive membership; meaning, the people themselves oversee the decisions and acts of their local government. Collectively, they are the check-and-balance mechanism, which is why people should actively participate in their Assembly.

But if the people don’t know this or are inattentive and apathetic, too bad; their resources will be misused, their money misspent or stolen, and their government turned into a family enterprise.

And this should be a fair warning to the BBL crafters. The empowering features of the Local Government Code should be integrated into it, and there should be lots of information, education, and communication programs to capacitate Bangsamoro people for their role as participants and collaborators, watchdogs and quality controllers, of their own government starting below upward. More next time.

Manny is former UNESCO regional director for Asia-Pacific; secretary-general, Southeast Asia Publishers Association; director, development academy of Philippines; member, Philippine Mission to the UN; vice chair, Local Government Academy; member, Cory Govt’s Peace Panel; awardee, PPI-UNICEF outstanding columnist. He is president/national convenor, Gising Barangay Movement Inc. valdehuesa@ gmail.com

lor Coleridge.

THINK ON THESE! History’s most celebrated episode of dream inspiration occurred on an English summer day in 1797, when the young poet dozed off while Henrylito D. Tacio reading a histohenrytacio@gmail.com ry book about Kublai Khan.

An opium addict, Coleridge was probably in a pleasantly drugged state when the immortal verses came to him.

Waking up, Coleridge began to write feverishly. He had reached the fifty-fourth line – one-sixth of the poem as he envisioned it – when the infamous “person on business from Porlock” interrupted him. An hour later, when his visitor had left, he had forgotten the rest of the poem.

Another case was that of Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. He read entire imaginary books in his sleep and traveled to distant places, but most important, he received visits from what he called his “little people.” They dictated stories to him, “piece by piece, like a serial,” especially when he needed money.

Sometimes, Stevenson dreamed stories without their help. According to his wife, Fanny, “In the small hours of one morning, I was awakened by cries of horror from Louis.

Thinking he had a nightmare, I awakened him. He said angrily, ‘Why did you wake me? I was dreaming a fine bogey tale.’” The

bogey tale turned out to be the classic The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Here are more cases, as culled from the lists book. Although his beloved brother Robert died in 1787, English poet and artist William Blake believed that Robert continued to advise him from beyond the grave – in dreams and waking visions. While William was seeking a less expensive method of engraving his illustrated songs, his brother “appeared to him in a dream and explained the process of copper engraving, an alternative to the ordinary method of intaglio painting.” The following morning, Mrs. Blake went out with all their money (half a crown) and spent it on the materials needed to conduct the experiment. The technique was successful, and Blake produced numerous magnificent illustrations using this method.

In 1921, the night before Easter Sunday, German-American physiologist Otto Loewi awoke from a dream and “jotted down a few notes on a tiny slip of paper.”

In the morning, he couldn’t read his handwriting. The next night, at 3:00 a.m., the idea returned. “It was of the design of an experiment to determine whether or not the hypothesis of chemical transmission that I had uttered 17 years ago was correct.

I got up immediately, went to the laboratory, and performed a simple experiment on a frog heart according to nocturnal design,” he recalled.

Dr. Loewi’s experiment proved that it is not nerves but the chemicals they release that directly affect the heart. This discovery was a breakthrough, which led to his winning the Nobel Prize in 1936.

Professor Hermann V. Hilprecht had one of the most extraordinary dream breakthroughs ever recorded. In 1893, the German archaeologist was trying to decipher the cuneiform writing on two small fragments of agate, which he thought were Babylonian finger rings found in temple ruins. The fragments were housed in separate cases in an Istanbul museum, and he was working with facsimiles.

One night, Prof. Hilprecht went to bed around midnight, and dreamed that “a tall, thin priest of the old pre-Christian Nippur… led me to a treasure chamber of the temple,” he recalled. The priest told him that the two stones were not rings but rather a votive cylinder that had been cut into three pieces, two of them serving as earrings for the statue of the god Ninib. The priest then told Hilprecht to put the pieces together and explained what the inscription would read. When Hilprecht woke up, he told his wife the dream, examined the fragments, and found it all to be true, including the reference to Ninib.

When he visited the original pieces in Constantinople, they fit together perfectly.

The 3,000-year-old cuneiform tablet the Hilprecht deciphered, if you care to know, came to be known today as the Stone of Nebuchadnezzar.

Finally, here’s the concluding case. For years, German chemist Fredrich A. Kekule had tried unsuccessfully to find the molecular structure of benzene. One night, in 1865, he fell asleep in front of the fireplace and dreamed of atoms swirling in long chains. In his dream “everything was moving in a snake-like and twisting manner,” he recalled. “Suddenly, what was this? One of the snakes got hold of its own tail and the whole structure was mockingly twisting in front of my eyes. As if struck by lightning, I awoke…”

As a result of this “vision,” Kekule realized that the structure of benzene is a closed carbon ring, a discovery that revolutionized modern chemistry. Announcing his breakthrough at a scientific convention in 1890, Kekule told his colleagues, “Let us learn to dream, gentlemen, and then we may perhaps find the truth.”

What a fitting line to end this piece.

THE WORM’S EYEVIEW

BY MANNY VALDEHUESA

Dreams do come true

10 NEWS

Run...

EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

SEASON OF HOPE. SM Prime Holdings, Inc. senior vice president for marketing Elizabeth T. Sy (right), Park Inn by Radisson Davao general manager Pavan Kakar (left), House of Hope for Children with Cancer head Dr. Mae Con-

cepcion J. Dolendo (second from left), and a child from House of Hope lead the ceremonial lighting of the hotel’s Christmas tree on Saturday evening.

Lean Daval Jr.

rapid price increase of basic commodities.”

“All workers and employees in the private sector receiving the minimum wage in Davao Region are entitled to receive the new COLA of P5 for the second tranche of the new wage order to coincide with the holiday season,” the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productive Board (RTWPB) 11 said.

The RTWPB, however, said domestic workers covered by Batas Kasambahay (R.A. 10361), family drivers,

persons employed in the personal service of another, and workers of establishments registered under the Barangay Micro Business Enterprises (BMBE) Law are not covered.

Suyao said the labor department has already visited 4,024 out of 45,000 private establishments in the region to check their compliance with the first tranche of the wage order which was issued last June.

He said DOLE 11 has to collate all reports until next

year to come up the compliance rate of business establishments in the region.

Suyao also said that as of yesterday, RTWPB has not received any petition for wage increase next year.

In a statement, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)- Southern Mindanao Region (SMR) said the P5 increase is not enough to address the daily expenses of workers.

“Kung idugang and P5 sa kasamtang suhulang karun, dili gihapon papaigo o layo lang gihapon ang suhulan sa

nagkataas nga family living wage karon nga mukabat na sa P1,086 matag adlaw (If you add P5 to the current wages, it will still not be enough for the daily needs of a family which is now P1,086 per day),” Carlo Anthony Olalo, president of the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Masters Port Services Inc. (NAMMPSI), said in a text message.

Olalo said KMU-SMR is urging government to increase the minimum wage to P615 per day, or equivalent to P16,000 monthly. CRC

Abreeza-Ayala Mall and Miners Café.

Chin said the British-owned company also failed to register as Value Added Tax (VAT) payer and also did not pay tax.

VAT payers are required to pay monthly and quarterly sales taxes equivalent to 12 percent of their gross sales.

“The company has to pay P2.4 million before the closure order will be uplifted,” Chin said.

Chin also said the company failed to comply with

the Revenue Regulations No. 18-2012 which says that all persons, whether private or government, engaged in business shall secure or apply from the BIR an authority to print principal and supplementary receipts or invoices.

“Our surveillance officers were able to confiscate unregistered receipts,” Chin said.

“I would like to encourage tax payers to register as VAT payer and file and pay your VAT then issue receipts and

invoices to all your tax payers so that we can contribute the government before the years ends,” she added.

In a statement issued during the signing of the closure order, Worsely said he takes “full responsibility for areas of our business that we have failed to comply with and also take accountability of our unknowing of certain requirements that were necessary to operate properly.”

Worsely said the company is “working closely with the BIR to rectify the situ-

ation quickly so that it can continue to serve the people of Davao as the company is doing for five years.”

Worsley, who is married to a Filipina, said he is targeting Zoofari branches and Outback Grill to be back to commercial operation before the holiday season begins.

Revenue District Officer for West Ricardo Espiritu said he is monitoring another establishment in his area that will be next in the Oplan Kandado before the year ends.

CRC

primary issue for the people.

“You cannot prevent people from suspecting that this may be a ploy to extend the term of some incumbent officials, especially in the executive branch of the government,” he said.

Bello said the move for charter change for federalism has been studied carefully since it is a new concept of governance.

He said the move will

undergo a long process of study and this will also have a long battle in the House of Representative because there are some politicians who are not in favor of federalism.

“Especially, politicians who are from Luzon might resist. As you remember the word Imperial Manila because they see that Manila has the only right to lead.

That is why we might have

some difficulties,” he said.

Bello said he is hoping that these politicians will be convinced to adopt the system which will be very beneficial especially to those who are in the countryside.

He said he will bring the movement to Congress as soon as the plan is finalized.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said in a separate interview in the sidelines during the event that term

extension will be the first thing that the people will really ask when there is charter change.

“People distrust Congress. People think that the congressmen are always thinking of term extension or the presidency,” Osmeña said.

But he said the term extension will be easily detected when federalism is discussed in Congress.

final draft to the Senate by January next year.

The major issue they have to resolve, according to Rodriguez, is the question of inclusion of some towns and barangays into the new Bangsamoro region through a pleb-

iscite.

He said they have to study the issues raised by Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat and former Iligan Mayor Lawrence Cruz that the Constitution does not allow any province, city, town or barangay to be divid-

ed, merged with or its boundaries altered without conforming with the requirements provided for under the Local Government Code of 1991.

The core territory of the proposed Bangsamoro includes the five-province, two-

city Autonomou Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the six towns in Lanao del Norte and 39 barangays in North Cotabato that voted for inclusion in the ARMM in the 2001 plebiscite. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)

FFROM 2

gency in Mindanao but also the long-deplored wealth sharing disparity between Luzon and the Visayas and Mindanao.

He also said the creation of Bangsamoro entity in Mindanao could help in the Mindanao peace but added that for real development to come in, federal states must be created in other areas where other ethnic groups reside.

Last September, Duterte met with former mayors and governors in an initial effort to revive calls for a federal form of government. The group, which called itself Mindanao Council of Leaders, made their position public after an informal caucus.

Present during the September meeting were Bukidnon Governor Jose Maria Zubiri, former Cagayan de Oro Mayors Reuben Canoy and Vicente Emano, former Rep. Romeo Jalosjos from Zamboanga del Norte, and former Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez.

A month later, Duterte was in Cebu City and met with Cebu officials.

The event was sponsored by the Federal Movement for a Better Philippines and coincided with the induction of its new set of officers held at the Sacred Heart Center in Cebu City.

In attendance were in-

cumbent and former officials of Mindanao and the Visayas, including former governor Lito Osmeña, retired general Alex Bacalla, and Southern Leyte Governor Roger Mercado.

Earlier, Senator Teofisto “TG” Guingona III said he will start working on Charter change to shift the country’s system of government to a federal form by 2016.

Guingona said the federalist movement is the “unintended consequence” of the proposed creation of the Bangsamoro state, which became “a wake-up call to the Mindanaoans” while the negotiations about the Bangsamoro Basic Laws (BBL) continues.

He said if the government can give to the Bangsamoro government an automatic 75 percent of the revenue from its natural resources, there is no reason the same cannot be done for other places in Mindanao outside the Bangsamoro state.

Guingona said under a federal government, the people of Mindanao can mold their own future themselves instead of having a central government do it for them.

He said he is hoping this will materialize by 2016 but added it could go beyond that year since 2016 is an election year.

out.

“We’re still investigating the cause of the fire and we could not yet give any definitive conclusion as of now,” Legaspi said in a radio interview.

He added that they expect the damage figures to increase once they complete their ongoing investigation

and assessment of the incident.

Fit Mart-Polomolok is part of a chain of a chain of department stores owned by a businessman based in Koronadal City.

The department store has branches in this city as well as in Tacurong City and Koronadal City. (PNA)

ernment,” Kinoc said.

The MILF leader said the decommissioning was scheduled for Nov. 17 but was cancelled for still unspecified reasons.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) estimated that the MILF had 12,000 armed fighters before Commander Ameril Umra Kato broke away from the group to form the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) sometime in 2010.

Kato’s unit launched attacks in 2008 after the Supreme Court declared the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOAAD) as unconstitutional.

The rebels have high-powered assault rifles like M16 and M14 rifles as well as a number of crew-served machineguns like the 50 caliber Browning in their arsenal.

Decommissioning is one of the provisions in the government-MILF peace pact.

Former Iligan City may-

or Lawrence Cruz raised the issue of decommissioning during the House public hearing on the Bangsamoro Basic Law in Iligan on Friday.

Cruz, who opposed the MOAD-AD, said he was wary because the mechanics of the disarmament are not clear in the proposed Bangsamoro law.

“This is very dangerous because the disarmament issue is not clearly stated in black and white in the proposed law. What we have are side agreements which are not official,” he said.

He said disarming the MILF rebels until an exit agreement is crafted and signed by both parties was worrisome for the entire Mindanao.

“Will the MILF combatants be free to roam side by side with the Bangsamoro police force and the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines?”

Cruz asked. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)

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VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

11

Ford Everest 2015 unveiled A

FTER countless teasing, the all-new production Ford Everest has finally been revealed and it’s undoubtedly going to be the benchmark by which every mid-sized SUV would be measured against. Built from the ground up to be a smart, rugged, and refined SUV, the all-new Everest promises to blend rugged off-road capability with exceptional on-road ride quality and dynamic handling.

Engineered to tackle the most inhospitable environments, the all-new Everest is deemed to be “one of the toughest” in its segment with exceptional torsional strength. It features a new intelligent four-wheel drive system, an active transfer case with Torque on Demand, and Terrain Management System (ala Ford Explorer). It features a 225-mm ground clearance and 800-mm water wading capability. Underneath, the Everest uses front and rear coils spring suspension with a Watt’s linkage at the back.

This gives it a comfortable and stable ride while returning agile and predictable handling.

The 2015 Ford Everest wears the brand’s newest design DNA with the inverted trapezoidal grille. The muscular hood, integrated headlamps with signature LED daytime running lights, and bulbous bumpers contribute in creating a visually strong SUV. At the back, it features LED tail lamps.

Integrated aerodynamic elements such as “kickers” improve the co-efficient of drag to a class-leading 0.389.

Inside, the Everest fea-

tures a modern and refined interior with features including a power liftgate, large moon roof, and 30 cleverly designed storage spaces. It also has a fold-flat second and third row that electronically folds. The horizontal design theme is reminiscent of Ford’s North American SUV offerings.

In terms of technology features, the Everest comes packed with premium features such as the brand-new SYNC 2 which lets drivers use natural voice commands to control the car’s entertainment system, climate control, and connected mobile devices. SYNC 2 also boasts of an 8-inch touchscreen with color-coded corners for easy menu navigation.

Other segment-first features of the Everest include: Curve Control which is designed to help maintain control when approaching turns too quickly; Lane Departure Warning and Lane Keeping Aid; and Blind Spot Information System or BLIS. The Everest also offers Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Alert with Collision Mitigation, Roll Stability Control, and an Electronic Stability Program. Active Park Assist is also an available feature.

Finally, to improve interior sound insulation, the Everest comes with Active Noise Cancellation.

Underneath, the Everest carries a family of powerful and fuel-efficient engines.

For the first time, the Everest is available with a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder EcoBoost with a twin-scroll turbo for excellent torque, power, and refinement. For heavy-duty

towing, the 3.2-liter Duratorq 5-cylinder turbo diesel engine is available. It’s been upgraded with an updated exhaust gas recirculation system to boost efficiency. Finally, the latest generation 2.2-liter Duratorq

4-cylinder engine is also available. These engines are mated to a 6-speed manual or 6-speed automatic transmission.

The all-new Ford Everest is now certainly the new standard in the mid-sized

SUV segment and utilizes Ford’s global design and development expertise. It certainly goes far beyond customer expectations. It will be manufactured at AutoAlliance in Thailand for ASEAN markets.

12 CLASSIFIED

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VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

EDGEDAVAO

The colours of Phuket TRAVEL

IMAGES of the island playground of Phuket has always been extremes of bright and gaudy parties and idyllic beaches, but a side trip to the south east quadrant reveals a more historical side of Thailand’s largest island.

Once a tin ore mining centre in the early 1900’s, Old Phuket town was a

thriving hub of activity with settlers coming from all parts of Asia. Growing

Phuket’s Old Town is a blast from the past.

Pubs can also be found along Thalang Road.

A Chinese shrine.

rich from the tin boom, many of Phuket Town’s residents built extravagant shophouses which have been lovingly preserved even up to this day.

Walking down the old town, I found myself being transported back over a hundred years, with each corner of the old town revealing even more details and colours waiting for the adventurer in me to explore. No wonder this town has been referred to as Thailand’s Heritage Town.

At the heart of Phuket’s Old Town is Thalang Road which was once the commercial centre of Phuket.

Today, various intricatelydecorated and colour-

Many interresting nooks can be found in the area.

Many shophouses have been converted into quaint boutique hotels.

Inside one of the shophouse hotels.

ful shophouses flank the sides of the road featuring Sino-colonial architecture which can be found all over the trading routes of the early late 18th and early 19th centuries. Although the tin boom is gone, the shophouses of Old Phuket

are still buzzing with activity thanks to the many quaint coffee shops, art galleries, pubs, and boutique hotels that have now taken up the spaces yet still retaining the old charm of the original buildings.

Any heritage traveller

will definitely want to add Old Phuket Town on their bucket list.

Follow me on Instagram or on Twitter @kennethkingong for more travel stories, foodie finds, and happenings in, around, and beyond Durianburg.

EDGEDAVAO

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UP AND ABOUT

ASUS introduces Transformer Book T100 Christmas Gift bundle THE No. 1 hybrid device just a got a little better with the new Yuletide season gift bundle that lets you have a Brother HL-1110 Printer every time you purchase an ASUS Transformer Book T100. Experience great portability of the T100 with up to 11 hours of battery life and storage of up to 628GB. Not only that, it also comes with the full version of Microsoft Office 2013 so that you’re always up-to-date with your documents wherever you go!

A 10.1-inch device with a performance of a notebook, the ASUS Transformer Book T100 has the new p owe r- e f f i ci e nt processor, the Intel Z3775 that clocks in at 1.47 Ghz and up to 2.39GHz under turbo boost mode along with 2GB of RAM, you can do and run multiple tasks without slowing down. Transfer large amount of files in blazing speed with USB 3.0 and save a lot of time. You can store your pictures, documents, movies and music in the tablet with up to 64GB eMMC Storage, plus up to 64GB via micro SD Card and 500GB HDD in its keyboard dock. Detach the unit via clip-on type during presentations and safely put it back without any worries unlike the magnetic hinge that feels like less secured when on dock. All ASUS device is equipped with SonicMaster stereo speakers, great for watching movies and listening to your favorite music.

ASUS Transformer Book T100 price starts at Php 19,995 available nationwide at ASUS authorized re-sellers.

Globe extends smartphone ownership to prepaid customers with GoGadgets IN ANOTHER pioneering move, Globe Telecom is boosting smartphone penetration in the country with an innovative offer that allows prepaid customers to avail of discounted devices and get rebates with GoGadgets.

GoGadgets is the first-of-its-kind prepaid service that allows customers to create their own prepaid bundle by choosing a gadget from a menu of discounted Android phones ranging from as low as P2,699 to P7,899.

To complete their prepaid bundle, customers just need to choose their promo combo (texts to all networks or unlimited calls), the validity period of the promo (7, 15 or 30 days) and the registration period (6, 12, 18 or 24 months), with no need to submit any requirements. Customers can earn their money back via GCash every time they register to any GoGadgets promo, which allows them to get their devices almost free.

Devices that can be availed from GoGadgets include CloudFone Excite 400dx, a smartphone that comes with interchangeable batteries and has 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB of internal storage and long-lasting battery which can last up to 1 day of heavy use and 2-3 days on regular usage and Samsung Trend Lite which sports 4-inch screen powered by 1GHz processor and 3-megapixel rear camera.

“We continue to provide game-changing experiences to our customers through the introduction of innovative and first-in-market products and services. With GoGadgets, prepaid customers get the latest devices and get their money back while enjoying the flexibility of prepaid promos, enabling them to fully enjoy their digital lifestyle,” says Issa Cabreira, Senior Vice President, Globe Consumer Mobile Marketing.

Globe Prepaid customers can register by dialing *143#, choosing GoSakto and selecting Choose a gadget.

GoGadgets is already available in select Metro Manila Globe Stores (Glorietta, Market! Market!, Robinson’s Manila, SM Aura, SM Mall of Asia, SM Megamall, SM Southmall, and Trinoma) and in select provincial Globe Stores in Luzon (San Fernando La Union, SM Calamba, SM Olongapo, LCC Iriga, and Central Mall Cavite) and Visayas (Robinson’s Tacloban, Boracay, and Gaisano Island City Mall Bohol).

To know more about Globe Prepaid GoGadgets, text GadgetINFO to 8888 for free.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

EVENT

Smart continues support for Sendong survivors via livelihood project THREE YEARS after Tropical Storm Sendong ravaged southern Philippines, wireless services leader Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) continues to partner with a group of survivors in Cagayan de Oro City for a livelihood project empowering female members of the community.

The women of the Xavier Ecoville community recently launched a collection of trendy bags made from used tarpaulin through a runway show and weeklong exhibit held at the Limketkai Center.

The tarps used to create the bags had been donated by Smart and other supporters like Primavera Residences and Xavier University.

The bags are being sold under the social enterprise called PagBAG-o Project which was organized in 2013. The enterprise started with a collection of katsa or cloth bags featuring inspirational quotes.

“This project was established to ensure the sustainability of the sewing enterprise of the 30 women in Xavier Ecoville.

Pagbag-o Project connotes change, change not just in economic status or lifestyle, but also a change in perspective - a perspective of hope of providing a better life for their families,” said Bobby Flores, Xavier Ecoville’s project coordinator.

Last August, the women of Xavier Ecoville received training on tarp bag making from female members of a Smart-supported Gawad Kalinga community in Iloilo. The GK Sooc community has been empowered by Smart to turn the company’s used tarpaulin materials into a livelihood source under a program called Project Zero.

“Through Project Zero and our support for the Pagbag-o Project, Smart is able to help disaster sur-

Smart and Xavier Ecoville representatives visit the tarp bag production room in GK Sooc, Iloilo City to learn more about tarp sewing.

GK Sooc Nanays, Herminia Pineda and Babes Platon share their skills in sewing tarp bags with the women of Xavier Ecoville.

Nanay Maritess of Xavier Ecoville shares Project PagBAG-o designs with Nanays from GK Sooc, Iloilo City. vivors manage a sustain- dents to effectively man- tional livelihood opporable livelihood that also age their livelihood and tunities, geared towards helps the company reduce market their products. social change and envithe impact of its merchanDuring the training, ronmental conservation,” dising materials on the the GK Sooc women Bobby Flores said. environment,” said Smart shared with their trainSmart’s support for community partnerships ees how Project Zero has Xavier Ecoville can be head Darwin Flores. helped their community traced back to 2012, when Aside from donating get additional income. it partnered with the Philused tarp which are upcy“With the help of Smart ippine Business for Social cled into bags, tents, and and GK Sooc in Iloilo, Progress to conduct sesother materials, Smart Pagbag-o Project started sions on cooperative manalso provided funding to producing trendy bag de- agement for the Xavier the GK Sooc community signs made of tarpaulin. Ecoville Multi-Purpose and helped train the resi- This helps provide addi- Cooperative (XEMPCO).

VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

EDGEDAVAO

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ENTERTAINMENT

Megan Young talks about being Miss World, future plans in Metro Holiday Fantasy Issue MEGAN YOUNG is living every girl’s fantasy – being a Beauty Queen and being crowned Miss World 2013.

In the span of one year, Megan has transformed from the queen that has wowed the crowd to the queen that has captured the hearts of many. In Metro Magazine’s Holiday Fantasy issue, Megan Young takes a trip down memory

lane and shares all the beautiful experiences she has collected as Miss World before she takes her final bow.

Beyond the glamour that comes with being Miss World, Megan also tells us how the title allowed her to inspire and touch more lives by living up to the lifestyle of “Beauty with a Purpose.”

Our queen also reveals the career oppor-

tunities heading her way such as talks of getting into Hollywood and Bollywood.

Metro Magazine also dishes out exciting gift ideas for the holiday season and gives you a guide on acing that Holiday #OOTD. Aside from looking good this merry season, Metro’s Holiday Fantasy issue gives its readers a closer look on the young

designers to watch as well as an exclusive preview on Dior’s Peter Philips’ Paris Fashion Week offering.

The Metro December Issue is out in bookstores and newsstands nationwide for only P150. Like Metro Magazine on Facebook (www.facebook. com/Metro.Magazine) and follow Metro on Twitter and Instagram (@MetroMagPH).

Yeng sings ‘All About Love’ in new album BEFORE she walks down the aisle on Valentine’s Day next year, multiawarded singersongwriter Yeng Constantino will take music fans to her heart’s journey of love via her sixth album under Star Music tited “All About Love.”

The Pop-Rock Princess considers her newest album a “labor of love” as all the original tracks in it are created by her, her friends, and her future husband, Victor Christian “Yan” Asuncion.

Yeng has two compositions in the album, namely, “Dance Without the Music” and her carrier single “Ikaw,” which is currently the number one song in the country and the most-viewed local music video on YouTube with almost 10 million views.

Meanwhile, among

the songs composed

by Yan are “Shining Like

the Sun (Baby are You Ready),” “Your Love Is My

Relief,” and “What’s Up Ahead.”

Other love songs featured in “All About Love” are “Dito Ka Lang Sa Tabi” composed by Toto Sorioso, “Feels Like” by Gus Abarquez, “So Beautiful” by Jonathan Manalo, “Ferris Wheel” by Jed Dumawal, and “Una’t Huling Pag-ibig” by Ebe Dancel.

Also part of the album is the instrumental of “Ikaw.”

Yeng’s album is now available at leading record bars nationwide for only P350. Digital tracks can also be downloaded via online music stores such as iTunes, Mymusicstore.com.ph, and Starmusic.ph.

For more information, visit Starmusic.ph or follow Star Music’s official social media accounts at Facebook.com/starrecordsphil, Twitter.com/ starrecordsph and Instagram.com/Starmusicph.

GMA unveils cast of Christmas Special GMA Network unveils the cast of its upcoming Christmas musical drama special Himig ng Pasko, which will air for two consecutive Saturdays this December.

Leading the cast of this much-awaited musical treat is no less than Asia’s Songbird Regine Velasquez-Alcasid. Joining her is Kapuso homegrown artist Julie Ann San Jose.

Himig ng Pasko also revives the team up of Regine and award-winning actor Ariel Rivera who last worked together in the Telebabad series Forever in my Heart, which aired on GMA7 ten years ago.

Also in the cast are art-

ists Kapuso artists Rita de Guzman, Gerald Santos, and Jeric Gonzales together with award-winning performer Rachel Alejandro and theatre artist Joey Paras.

Himig ng Pasko tells the story of an OFW who returns to her hometown to fulfill her three wishes – that is to get closer to her daughter, to revive the family’s parol-making business, and to rekindle an old flame.

Plus, with all cast members being well-rounded performers, viewers should not miss the singing showdown among the artists.

‘Himig ng Pasko” airs this December on GMA7.

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson PG 13

12:00 | 2:30 | 5:00 LFS

PAST TENSE Kim Chiu, Aiai Delas Alas, Xian Lim GP

12:00 | 2:30 | 5:00 LFS

PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR / * GRACE OF MONACO Tom McGrath, Chris Miller / *Nicole Kidman, Tim Ruth, Paz Vega

R-16

GP/ *PG 13

11:25 | 1:15 LFS | *3:05 | 5:00 LFS

OUTPOST 37 / *DUMB AND DUMBER TO R 13 / *R 13

Adrian Paul, Reiley McClendon / * Jim Carey, Jeff Daniels, Carly Craig 11:20 | 1:10 LFS |*3:00 | 5:00 LFS

EDGEDAVAO

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EVENT

VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

Seda Abreeza launches a golden Christmas

By Kenneth Irving Ong

IT WAS a bright and glittery evening as Seda Abreeza kicked-off their Christmas holiday celebrations with a fabulous Christmas lighting ceremony last November 28.

Leading the ceremony was Seda Abreeza’s general manager Kennedy Capulong who together with Seda’s hunky Santa Claus and helpers dressed in gold pressed the button to turn on the hotel’s light display.

Seda Abreeza’s director of sales Andres Hipolito was more than excited to reveal Seda Abreeza’s holiday offerings and events which include Nine Mornings Early Breakfast Set

Meal from December 1 to 31 from 5 to 10 AM, Noche Buena Buffet on December 24 from 6 PM to 12 midnight, Media Noche Dinner Buffet on December 31 from 6 to 10 PM, and a New Year’s Eve Countdown Party also on December 31 from 10:30 PM to 1 AM. “There will also be events which can be enjoyed by everyone such as the Carols at the Lobby on

December 24 at 6 to 8 in the evening and a special meet and greet with Santa at the lobby on December 15 from 9 in the morning until 12 noon” adds Kennedy Capulong.

For guests who want to have a staycation during the holidays, Seda offers a Holiday Cheers room package which includes a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine per stay, daily breakfast buffet for two at Misto restaurant, complimentary WiFi access, and complimentary use of gym and swimming pool.

The Christmas tree lighting ceremony was capped off with songs performed by Seda’s hotel staff choir who added cheer to the already festive evening.

For more information or reservations, interested parties may call Seda Abreeza’s reservations office or email Seda Abreeza at dvo@sedahotels.com.

COMMUNITY SENSE 13

EDGEDAVAO VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

Koronadal Xmas bazaar showcases products by ‘poorest of the poor’

T

HE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region 12 opened in nearby Koronadal City over the weekend a Christmas bazaar featuring products and ventures of beneficiaries of the national government’s conditional cash transfer program in the area.

Bai Zorahayda Taha, DSWD Region 12 director, said the initiative is mainly aimed to showcase the successes of the continuing implementation in the region of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps and its Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) component.

She said they tapped beneficiaries of the 4Ps and the SLP as product concessionaires of the bazaar, which is dubbed “PaskoJuan Festival, Bazaar, Salo-Salo sa Pagbabago.”

“We are appealing to our residents to shop and patronize the products being offered at the bazaar. Join us in helping the beneficiaries succeed in their lives,” she said during its formal opening on Sunday.

The agency established a number of kiosks at the bazaar site, which is located along the national highway here.

Taha said the initiative is part of a nationwide showcase led by the DSWD central office for the 4Ps and SLP beneficiaries.

In Manila, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said in a statement that buying even just an item or two will greatly add to the income of the beneficiaries and provide hope for them.

Koronadal City Mayor Peter Miguel, who attended the opening of the bazaar, said they are working closely with the DSWD to uplift the lives of marginalized people in the region.

The DSWD had launched the SLP to provide livelihood opportunities to 4Ps beneficiaries, who are composed of the country’s “poorest of the poor.”

SLP is a community-based capacity building program that seeks to improve the socio-economic status of program participants or the beneficiaries.

It is implemented through the Community-Driven Enterprise Development approach, which engages program participants or beneficiaries to actively contribute to production and labor markets by making use of available resources and accessible markets.

The program aims to enable 4Ps beneficiaries to manage sustainable micro-enterprises or link them to locally available jobs that will enhance their access to basic social services and improve their standard of living. (MindaNews)

Smart trains teachers on tablets as tools for learning T

oday’s teachers have access to a wealth of materials that they can use to improve or supplement their classroom strategies and to make learning more fun for their young students.

In the case of more than 40 early childhood educators from Cebu City’s public elementary schools, they learned that

tablets can serve as effective teaching tools during a one-day workshop, Tap&Learn: Tablets for Education, organized by Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart).

The workshop is part of a nationwide series under Smart’s community partnerships for education.

Liezl L. Jurado, who

handles the pre-school class of San Nicolas Elementary School, discovered a number of mobile applications that come in the form of games but are designed to teach early grade-schoolers a range of subjects—from numbers to alphabets to basic concepts.

Jurado was able to download a promising

app that she thinks will come in handy when she introduces animals to her students.

“We teachers can’t imitate animal sounds correctly. Using new technology, kids can hear the correct sounds animals make.

They also learn what animals, even those not found in their locality, look like,” she explained.

TAP&LEARN. Grade school teachers from Cebu City’s public schools are exposed to the array of mobile applications that they can use to help enhance learning to their young students during the one-day workshop organized by Smart Communications dubbed Tap&Learn: Tablets for Learning.

14

SPORTS

EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

THIRD PLACE FINISH. Ateneo de Davao University Blue Knights high school basketball team coached by Miggy Solitaria (extreme right) finished a strong third in the recent Jesuit Athletic Meet (JAM) at the Ateneo de Naga. Below, slotman Francis Escandor shoots from behind the arc in one of the action during the tournament. FB photo

Blue Warriors rule Nat’l MDK tourney

By ATHENA JILLIAN BRAVO

D

AVAO City’s Blue Warriors Club reigned as over-all champion of the 45th National Moo Duk Kwan Soo Bahk Do Cup Classing Championship Tournament held at NCCC Mall Davao last November 23, 2014.

The Blue Warriors took home 29 golds, 1 silver and 3 bronzes followed by the Black Cat with 7 golds, 5 silvers, and 3 bronzes and the Black Cat Fighters who placed third with 5 golds, 1 silver and 1

bronze.

Some players who joined in the event travelled all the way from Cotabato, Panabo and Gensan. Cotabato Moo Duk Kwan team bagged 2 golds and 4 silvers. The Hedojar team took home 2 golds and 1 silver while the Valiant Lord got 2 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze.

Others also showed what they got in martial arts like Kangaroo which garnered 2 golds and 2 silvers, Lion with

1 gold and 2 silvers and the INB Force with 1 bronze medal. The expat-laden Korean Martial Art also took home a gold medal in the event.

Everyone worked their sweat out for the new revolving trophy prepared by the Philippine Moo Duk Kwan Soo Bhak Do Incorporated.

There were about 100 players who joined in the competition from different regions in Mindanao.

Ten members from the ex-

YNDON Sombilon bested a huge field of 110 players to emerge as champion in the 1st Metro Davao Open Rapid Chess Tournament over the weekend at the NCCC Mall.

Sombilon amassed 5.5 points in the 8-round Swiss System tournament to win the coveted trophy and the P4,000 prize money that goes with it. Sombilon actually tied with veteran Henry Lopez and youthful Albert Diolola Jr. with 5.5 points apiece at the end of the tournament but the former won on tiebreak. Lopez finished second and bagged P2,250 while Diolola took third place and P1,000.

Diolola, a standout of University of Mindanao, won the tournament’s best junior player award, Irish Yngayo won best female player award, Carol Zirex Sato took the best kiddie award, NCFP regional head James Infiesto won best executive and blind woodpusher Aldrin Pana was best PWD. The tournament was sponsored by Ret. Col. Robert Espina and backed up

by NCCC Mall Davao, Davao City Mayor’s Office-CSDO and NCFP. SPO4 Clementino Lansam acted as tournament director while Alfred Moulic was chief arbiter with Joseph Gener Palero and Jimmy Bacorro as arbiters. (NJB)

Final Ranking (Top 20): Rank Name CITY Pts 1 SOMBILON Lyndon DVO 5½ 2 LOPEZ Henry Roger Panabo 5½ 3 DIOLOLA Alberto Jr. Gensan/UM 5½ 4 MAAMO Harrison DVO 5 5 UMAYAN Vincent DVO 5 6 NM MACALA Macacuna DVO 5 7 REYES Nofre DVO 5 8 ASUNCION Gino Angelo DVO 5 9 ORBETA Sherwin DVO 4½ 10 YNGAYO Irish DVO

winner Andy Murray of Britain, who is playing for the home team with Sharapova, fell short to Croatian tennis star Marin Cilic, 6-5, in the finale’s men’s singles contest.

The duo of Murray and Sharapova also dropped in the mix doubles against Mladenovic and Zimonjic, 6-4, en route to the hometeam’s loss to UAE Royals in Day One. Also suiting up for the Manila Mavericks is French tennis

star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who went up at the SkyBox of the MOA Arena to visit Duterte’s group.

“We were really surprised by his visit,” said Mayor Duterte’s Executive Assistant Christopher “Bong” Go of Tsonga who is ranked No. 12 in the world.

Aside from the Manila Mavericks and UAE Royals, two others teams – Singapore Slammers and Indian Aces - are competing in the event that will

swing next in Singapore (December 2-4), India(December 6-8), and Dubai (December 1113) for its next three legs.

Duterte’s presence at the IPTL came days after watching Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao dismantled American Chris Algieri to retain his World Boxing Organization welterweight title at the Cotai Arena in Macau.

It was reported that the celebrated mayor was mobbed

hibition team also performed 45 minutes of arnis, judo and jiujitsu and combat in the event.

The Philippine Moo Duk Kwan were also preparing for next year’s golden anniversary as they planned to come up with fund-raising events. The next event will be held this summer as the students will be trained as early as January to become better players and enhance their fighting skills through martial arts.

Sombilon wins Metro Davao chessfest L Rody... FFROM 16

4½ 11 BAYRON Perkins DVO 4½ 12 SOLAIMAN Palao DVO 4½ 13 HARAYO Ardy Jr. DVO 4½ 14 GIMONY Bhing Joel DVO 4½ 15 EBAO Randy DVO 4 16 NM LUPIAN Alexander DVO 4 17 INFIESTO James DVO 4 18 SATO Carl Zirex DVO 4 19 BORINAGA Daniel Rome DVO 4 20 RECOSOSA Napoleon DVO 4

by a large Filipino crowd, who displayed a great admiration on his leadership style, on his way to the arena.

IPTL, the first of its kind, is employing a unique format where teams will play against each other in five single-set matches of men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles, and past champion singles. The team that wins the most games wins the match. (Rico Biliran)

VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

EDGEDAVAO

SPORTS 15

CROWD FAVORITES. The Manila Mavericks, playng the final game without Maria Sharapova (third from left), defeated the Singapore Slammers. Playing for the home team are (l-r) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Treat Huey and Andy Murray. (Getty Images)

Mavericks whip Serena, Slammers T

he Manila Mavericks spoiled the International Premier Tennis League debut of Serena Williams and bucked the absence of Maria Sharapova, fashioning out a 26-19 victory over Williams and the Singapore Slammers as the groundbreaking tennis tournament’s Manila leg came to an end Sunday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Williams flew in early Sunday to join her Slammers teammates as the team sought their first win in the tournament. But the Mavericks, playing without Sharapova who only committed to play two nights, finally gave the hometown crowd something to cheer for after also going winless in their first two matches.

The Mavericks also had a new player as surprise substitute Mark Philippoussis made an auspicious IPTL debut, beating compatriot and former Davis Cup teammate Pat Rafter, 6-2, in the legends’ set.

“We know each other’s game inside out,” said Philippousis. “He’s the best server-volleyer ever.”

Philippoussis flew in to replace Carlos Moya, who suffered a groin injury Saturday night. It proved to be worth the trip.

“I took advantage of it because the atmosphere is amazing,” he said. “The crowd is incredible.”

With a four-game lead, the Mavericks looked to pull away and nail their first win.

The task fell in the hands of team captain Treat Huey and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who engaged Lleyton Hewitt and Tomas Berdych in a thrilling

men’s doubles set.

With the set deadlocked 4-4 and the Mavericks leading 30-0 in the eighth game, the Slammers made a substitution in hopes of shaking things up, sending in Nick Kyrgios for Hewitt. But the Mavericks broke serve to take a 5-4 lead. The Slammers, though, broke right back to send the set into a five-minute shootout.

The Slammers took an early 2-0 lead in the shootout, but the Mavericks won the five of the next six points to seize a 5-3 lead with 1:10 left. In a desperation move, the Slammers called for a happiness power point in hopes of tying it up.

But the Mavericks won the point to take an insurmountable 7-3 lead with under a minute to go. They would go on to win it 7-4 to take the set 6-5 and up their overall lead to 12-7 as the crowd roared in approval.

“It’s just an honor to play with Treat. Did you see how he played today?” Tsonga asked the crowd, which responded enthusiastically.

Williams then made her IPTL debut, teaming with Hewitt in the mixed doubles set against Kirsten Flipkens and Andy Murray. Flipkens, who was also making her IPTL debut after sitting out the first two days to give way to Sharapova, proved to be an effective sub as she and Murray easily dispatched the Slammers, 6-1, to pad their lead to 18-8.

World no. 1 Williams struggled as she apparently was still adjusting to the court. For Murray, it was a sweet win after he and Sharapova dropped their mixed

doubles sets on Friday and Saturday.

“I’ve known (Kirsten) since we were 13 or 14, and she’s a great player,” he said.

But Williams showed her class in the women’s singles set, brushing off a brief challenge from Flipkens to win 6-3 and cut the Mavericks’ lead to 21-14. The American kept Flipkens running from side to side with punishing ground strokes and neutralized the Belgian’s serve with pinpoint returns to dominate the set.

In the final set, Murray capped off a thrilling three days of world-class tennis, topping Kyrgios 6-5 after winning an exciting five-minute shootout 6-5. Murray appeared to have the shootout wrapped up after racing to a 4-0 lead, but Kyrgios won the next three points to make it exciting. Murray then won the next two games for a 6-3 lead, but Kyrgios just wouldn’t go away, cutting it to 6-5 with around 40 seconds left.

But Murray played it safe and ran the clock down with a rally as Kyrgios failed to make a move. Afterwards, the former Wimbledon champion expressed his appreciation for the crowd’s support.

“It shows that people here love tennis,” he said.

“They don’t really have the opportunity to watch. I hope we can come back next year and do it again.”

The Mavericks thus earned four points to pad their total to seven heading into the Singapore leg. The Slammers limp home with just four points but can take solace in the fact they will be playing in front of a home crowd in the next leg.

TENNIS FAN. Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and his executive assistant Christopher "Bong" Go with French tennis star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the opener of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) Manila Leg. Tsonga is playing for the home team Manila Mavericks along with Russia's Maria Sharapova and Britain's Andy Murray.

Serena gives IPTL a boost S

erena Williams emerged from a month-long lay-off Sunday to beat Kirsten Flipkens at the debut tournament of the International Premier Tennis League, a fastpaced, television-friendly new version of the sport.

The American world number one broke Flipkens on her

first service game and then went on to systematically attack the Belgian’s second serve and triumph 6-3.

“It was fun. She played really well and she made it really entertaining for the crowd and I was happy to be there.

The crowd was pumped. I was pumped,” Williams told re-

porters.

Williams and Lleyton Hewitt, playing for the Singapore Slammers team, earlier lost their mixed doubles match against Flipkens and Andy Murray of the Manila Mavericks team 1-6. But the powerful American got into her rhythm as the evening wore on.

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VOL. 7 ISSUE 186 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014

Rody is a big tennis fan too A

VIEW FROM THE SKY. From the Skybox, Mayor Rody Duterte takes a look at the tennis court put up inside the MOA Arena for the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) Manila Leg.

T one time, he was rooting for Manny Pacquiao in Macau. At another, he was watching Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray blast tennis balls inside the MOA Arena.

And oh, not to mention one boxing night last month where he stayed from 6 o’clock in the evening to a lhalf past two the following morning at the Alemendras Gym in Davao.

So who says Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is not a sports lover?

At the Manila leg of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) kicked off last Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena, Mayor Duterte was among the thousands in attendance to watch the biggest tennis event to date in the country.

Duterte joined the sea of spectators who showed up in the opening of the three-day event, dubbed as the festival of tennis, where the games’ superstars battling it out on a breakthrough style. And boy, he was mobbed too. But that’s another story.

Once seated at the Skybox, the mayor didn’t hold back his elation on the epic come from behind victory of Russian superstar Maria Sharapova of Manila Mavericks team over United Arab of Emirates Royals standout Kristina Mladenovic in a shootout, 7-3, in the women’s singles match.

But the mood changed later in the night as Duterte’s “idol” Two-time grand slam

FRODY, 14