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EDGEDAVAO
VOL. 9 ISSUE 167 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, OCTOBER 16 - 17, 2016
www.edgedavao.net
Serving a seamless society
CAROLING. A young Badjao boy performs a Christmas song by beating an improvised drum set made from recycled PVC pipes before asking for loose coins from motorists near the traffic light along E. Quirino Avenue in Davao City over the weekend. Lean Daval Jr.
JESS: ALL MUST SHARE TO ACHIEVE PEACE By TIZIANA CELINE S. PIATOS
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O highlight the role of various groups in achieving long lasting peace, the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Peace Process (OPAPP) conducted a “National Peace-building Conversations” at the Royal Mandaya Hotel on Saturday, October 15. The activity will open “new tables” for multi-sectoral groups to participate in the on-going peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), OPAPP secretary Jesus Dureza said. The GPH and NDFP concluded the second round of their talks on Monday, October
10 in Oslo, Norway. Peace advocates and various groups in the country lauded the outcomes of the second round of talks especially in reaching on the common drafts for the framework and outlines of the substantive agenda on socioeconomic, political and constitutional reforms, and the end of hostilities and disposition of forces. “We want to see the development coming from the ground as we want to see inclusive work,” Dureza added. He said that the GPH wants to address the concerns of everyone as a group to monitor and act on the problems one step at a time. He also mentioned that they will meet the Indigenous
People (IPs) and other Bangsamoro communities in the country. Dureza emphasized that both GPH as a whole and the NDFP must respond to the needs of all the sectors involved as people empowerment is important. He also encouraged everyone to do their own share to make sure that the roadmap, frameworks and mechanisms agreed in the peace talk will succeed. “Everyone cannot oversimplify peace talks because it [process] is not an easy task,” he explained, as implementation part is the most difficult part of the process. On the other hand, OPAPP has tapped the National Com-
mission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) to implement things a little bit faster. NCMF Chief Executive Yasmin Busran-Lao said people’s participation is very important in peace process. Busran-Lao is confident that genuine and lasting peace in Mindanao will be achieved under Duterte’s administration. “It is important not to lose the momentum of peace process from the previous up to the present administration,” she explained in Tagalog. Busran-Lao pointed out that nothing will happen if people will not follow rules and agreements and that peace comes from the hearts of the people.
PH coffee has declined through time, DA moves to save industry By JERMAINE L. DELA CRUZ
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HE Department of Agriculture (DA) is now crafting key strategies to combat the issues that are confronting the coffee industry in the country. Undersecretary for High Value Crops Evelyn Lavina told the coffee growers and other stakeholder that DA has included coffee as one of the top priorities of the agency. Lavina, who served as the keynote speaker during the opening of the National Coffee Summit at the SMX Convention Center in SM Lanang
last Wednesday said that DA is has also made coffee as one of the country’s “golden crops” alongside cacao, corn, coconut and rice. The undersecretary traced back to1800s when Philippine coffee was one of the best in the world in terms of quality and one of the largest producers and exporters. “It was even uplisted in 1950s,” said Lavina. However, the she stated that in 1990’s to 2000, coffee production was reduced due to price depression in the
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