Edge Davao 9 Issue 98

VOL. 9 ISSUE 98 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016

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EDGEDAVAO Serving a seamless society

DEWORMING. City Health Office (CHO) head Dr. Josephine Villafuerte gives Albendazole tablet, a medicine used for deworming, to a Grade 7 student of the Davao City National High School during the kick-off of the National School Deworming Day dubbed Oplan: Goodbye Bulate yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

TEEN PREGNANCY IN PH ALARMING 13.6% of Filipino girls aged 15-19 are pregnant

By ALEXANDER D. LOPEZ adlopez0920@gmail.com

“W

E (Philippines) are highest in terms of number over the decade. The ratio on teenage pregnancy in the country is on the rise.”

This was the impression made by former Gabriela Women’s Party-list Luz Ilagan when asked by reporters during the regular Kapehan sa Dabaw in SM City last Monday on the current rate of the number of teenage pregnancy in the Philippines.

Teenage pregnancy refers to pregnancy of a woman aged less than 19 years of age.

Ilagan said Metro Manila

is leading area where cases of teenage pregnancy are prevalent, including some key urban centers in the country.

Among the factors cited by Ilagan that contributed to the rise of teenage pregnancy are the lack of sexuality education among the young students; insufficient supply of family planning methods and the lack of access to conventional methods of preventing pregnancy.

“We should have age appropriate and correct sexuality. Hindi sex education but sexuality education, para yong mga nasa grade four or grade

five ay alam na nila kung ano yong implekasyon o ano yong consequences ng irresponsible behavior,” Ilagan pointed out.

But sexuality education is not enough, Ilagan continued, stating that supplies of free, affordable and effective family planning methods must be available to them.

Education on sexuality must be implemented in grade four to grade six levels due to the fact that poverty in the country forces some school children to stop schooling in the middle of elementary studies.

“If we wait for high school

to give the education then it’s too late already.”

Ilagan also hit the lack of enough supply of family planning methods in health centers in the country.

The Department of Health (DOH) as the leading agency should allow all the health centers and hospitals to provide the necessary supplies and the Department of Education (DepED) covering both the public and private schools should continue with the mandate that they give appropriate sexuality education to our young people.

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Local execs revisit programs, projects News P2 First Fablab in PH opens in Davao Economy P5

EDGEDAVAO Sports

Duterte happy with Gilas’ effort

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VOL. 9 ISSUE 98 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016

Local execs revisit programs, projects

LEADERS’ IMAGES. Dabawenyos sit below the photographs of the newly-installed vice mayor and city councilors of Davao City at the lobby of Sangguniang Panlungsod yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

Muslims assured of Duterte admin’s efforts towards peace

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Roa Duterte joined members of the Muslim community in celebrating the first Mindanao Hariraya Eid’l Fit’r 2016 held in Davao City.

President Duterte assured the Moro brothers and sisters present, that he will once again bring peace in Mindanao.

He said “tatanggapin natin sa isa’t isa (we should accept among us). Let us build a nation that will be founded on peace and understanding”.

Adding, “ang tingin ko (I think), with the grace of Allah, I might be able to do this within six years. It will not come overnight. Certainly, it will not come next year. Probably, it will be something about two to three years from now. But I assure you that something will change before I end my term,” said President Duterte.

Though pointing out that

he would talk first with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the President said that his administration will create a framework for Federalism, which would solve the violence in Mindanao.

“I’m working overtime with Jun Evasco and the rest to constitute, ready na kami sa aming group sa gobyerno to talk to the MI, MN (our group in the government is ready to talk to the MI and MN).

He urged the brother and sister Muslims to talk before doing anything that would spill violence.

Eid’l Fit’r, also known as the “festival of breaking the fast”, is a religious holiday of Muslims worldwide, marking the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting. (PCOO News Release)

Davao a‘role model’in women, children care

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THER local government units and nongovernment organizations and advocacy groups have signified their interest to replicate the programs implemented by the Integrated Gender Development Division (IGDD) of Davao City.

Lorna B. Mandin, IGDD Chief, said various LGUs and groups have been showing interest to “copy” the best practices of Davao City -- particularly its programs to address violence against women and children.

Mandin’s division was created following the passage

of the Women Development Code, a landmark legislation that not only provided assistance to abused women but also ensured that women’s rights are upheld.

From January to June, IGDD was able to accommodate at least 28 groups -- or about 1,400 individuals -- from different local governments and advocacy groups.

Mandin disclosed that IGDD visitors all wanted to learn from the successful implementation of its programs.

The IGDD received officials from the local government

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OP executives of the provincial government revisited the programs of Davao del Norte to ensure its relevance in today’s fast-changing world.

The department heads evaluated the old processes, systems and undertakings of the province as the new administration embarks on a bid to make Davao del Norte a welfare province.

While bent on securing the vantage position of the province, Governor Anthony del Rosario earlier declared his intention to turn the province into a welfare state “where we are able to provide the basic requirements for the well-being and social support of all the Dabaonon citizens.”

The hands-on governor himself led the discussions and

actively participated in all the activities of the strategic planning workshop for the Capitol officials held at the Seda Abreeza Hotel, Davao City.

While he assured to continue the legacy of his predecessor, the governor stressed the need to stop the implementation of programs that “have already lost relevance”.

Del Rosario, however, assured the continuity of existing programs and projects that have enduring impact.

He further underscored the importance of identifying baseline data and new indicators of success of the new programs, projects and activities that his administration will undertake in the next three years,

in pursuit of his 10-point development agenda BESR PEOPLE. BESR PEOPLE stands for Balanced ecology, Enhanced agri-aquaculture, Sustainable tourism, Transformative leadership, People empowerment; Education and sports; Optimum health and social services; Public-private partnership; Link to the world; Employment and livelihood opportunities.

He directed the streamlining of institutional systems, approaches and activities to keep the relevance of the province in this new era of inclusive growth, peace and prosperity.

“We should do this to remain significant in today’s changing socio-political milieu amid a backdrop of an ever more globalizing world,” Del Rosario said.

sued to some employees.

The audit team further observed that the high-end smartphones and tablets have the same capabilities compared to less expensive brands.

OWWA justified the acquisition of the said gadgets are within the limit by making it clear that the iPhone units were not purchased but are offered “free” as inclusion to the post-paid plans, with 24 months lock-in period, availed by the agency.

OWWA further stressed that these post-paid plans are more advantageous to the government than separate purchases of individual mobile phones.

OWWA has submitted a list of the active units of iPhones and the corresponding users to show that no official was issued with more than one mobile phone.

The iPads, on the other hand, were issued to OWWA key officials because of the necessity to check and transmit

urgent and important e-mail messages when they are outside the office attending interagency meetings and other official functions.

Administrator Calzado ensures the OWWA clientele and the public that the agency stands by its commitment of a transparent and judicious fund stewardship. Furthermore, the agency has been astute in the utilization of its funds by strict adherence to the government procurement process.

HANDS ON. Davao del Norte Governor Anthony del Rosario actively participates in the strategic planning workshop for Capitol executives.

OWWA responds to COA findings on high-end gadgets

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N response to a news article citing the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) on the purchase of high-end mobile phones and electronic gadgets, OWWA Administrator Rebecca J. Calzado said that explanation/ clarification to the audit observation has already been submitted to COA. The news article pointed out that COA questioned the excessive purchase of Apple iPads and iPhones and that more than one gadget is is-

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VOL. 9 ISSUE 98 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016

Bangsamoro arena: from Congress to ConCon

T DEWORMING MEDS. Grade 9 students from the Davao City National High School show Albendazole tablets, a deworming medicine, given by the Department of Health (DOH) during the National School Deworming Day dubbed Oplan: Goodbye Bulate kick-off yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

No pork in House under Alvarez D AVAO del Norte and incoming speaker Rep. Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez on Tuesday said that there will be no pork barrel or lump sum allocations for members of Congress.

He said that lawmakers under his leadership as incoming House speaker will only be allowed to propose projects needed in their districts.

“I never said that members of the House of Representatives ‘will be entitled to their usual district allocations’. The

Supreme Court has already ruled against such lump sum allocations,” said Alvarez.

“What I said was that congressmen will be allowed to propose projects needed in their districts so they can be included in the line budgeting of the General Appropriations Act (GAA),” he added.

The incoming speaker said the function of identifying priority projects was inherent in members of the House of Representatives because “the people go directly to us to tell us what projects

are badly needed by their communities.”

“This is the reason why the framers of our Constitution made sure that budget-setting starts at the House,” he said. “We congressmen are at ground zero, so to speak.”

The House leadership also reiterated that the budget for the projects approved for inclusion in the General Appropriations Act would be given to the government project implementing agencies.

“The Duterte administration has a strong anti-cor-

ruption program. Woe to the lawmaker who will propose a project with the end-in-view of making money out of it in the manner it was done in the past through under-the-table commissions from implementors,” Alvarez pointed out.

According to Alvarez, misimpression may have arisen from the Php80 million cap that had been proposed for each legislative district per year, divided between infra (roads, bridges, school buildings) and non-infra expenditures like medicines. (PNA)

to Bid, advise concerned LGU heads of the project and its labor requirements.

They shall likewise advise them to submit a list of sex-disaggregated, able, qualified and willing laborers, both unskilled and skilled, in their respective localities.

From which listing, the contractor shall select for employment the labor requirements of the project.

The implementing office shall then see to it that the Instructions to Bidders and Trader Documents include a provision for strict compliance with RA 6685 and that its penalty clause provision is included in the conditions of the contract to be entered into.

In the pre-bid conference, the Prequalification Bids and Awards Committee shall discuss and disseminate to all prequalified bidders the provisions of the said law and emphasize that the organization chart for the project under bid, which shall accompany the bid proposal, must indicate the total number of the skilled and unskilled labor requirements of the project, otherwise, appropriate sanctions as provided by

law may be imposed.

Upon award of the contract and after the contractor has accomplished all the requirements for its approval, they shall then inform the Depart-

ment of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) of their manpower requirements for them to provide recruitment assistance. (DPWH-XI)

Contractors urged to employ women in DPWH infra projects

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HE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has recently released Department Order No. 130 that set the guidelines for the implementation of the provisions of RA 6685 and RA 9710, more known as the Magna Carta of Women.

Signed by former Secretary Rogelio L. Singson, the order urged DPWH regional and district offices, including project contractors and subcontractors to make the minimum percentage of 50% of unskilled labor requirements and 30% of skilled labor requirements equally accessible to both women and men, with women comprising 20% of the required workforce.

Priority shall be recruited from unemployed who are willing and able to work and duly certified residents where the projects are being.

In cases when a project traverses two or more localities, the labor requirement shall be recruited proportionately from the places traversed by the project, the order added.

The implementing office, shall, upon publication of the Invitation for Prequalification

HE political arena for the Bangsamoro will now shift from the 17th Congress to the 2017 Constitutional Convention (ConCon) following President Rodrigo Duterte’s announcement that his peace roadmap would be to push first for the change of political system to federalism by incorporating provisions of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) into the new Constitution but if it is rejected in the plebiscite, “then I am ready to concede whatever is there in the (proposed) BBL.” Duterte made this announcement before hundreds of Moro religious and political leaders attending the Mindanao Hariraya Eid’l Fitr 2016 at the SMX Convention Center here on July 8.

“The arena is moved to the Constitutional Convention,” lawyer Benedicto Bacani, Executive Director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) told MindaNews. He said if federalism is not adopted, “I go for BBL with surgical Constitutional amendments. This is not the BBL version filed with Congress but one that will clearly and unequivocally empower the Bangsamoro minus the Constitutional constraints.”

Bacani said federalism “cannot be the be all and end all just as BBL is not.”

What is needed, he said, is charter change to effectively implement the 2012 Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsmaoro (CAB) that the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed.

“This can be done either through federalism or surgical amendments by the ConCon,” Bacani said, adding the Bangsamoro “must have a strong and common position in the ConCon.” Duterte, the country’s 16th President and the first Mindanawon to lead the nation, said he hopes to have his federalism framework in place by the end of the year.

Resolution of Both Houses No. 1 has been filed in the 17th Congress calling for a Constitutional Convention whose members shall be elected by January 2017. Presumptive House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez had earlier said they are eyeing the midterm elections of 2019 as the plebiscite for the shift to federalism.

“If I could convince my MILF brothers and Nur Misuari of the MN (Moro National Liberation Front), there will be a reconfiguration of the territory and most of them will occupy the regional or state positions” in a federal system, Duterte said.

“But if the Filipino nation in a plebiscite would not want it (federal form of government) then I am ready to concede whatever is there in the BBL,” Duterte said, adding, “we will see to it that it will pass.”

He also added that “in fairness to Nur (Misuari),” the founding chair of the MNLF and his personal friend, “we might also configure his territory of the Tausug nation.”

“Makes sense” Duterte’s proposed roadmap “makes sense, assuming the situation on the ground in ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) can wait,” said former Ateneo School of Government dean Tony La Vina, a former member of the government peace panel in the negotiations with the MILF. “It does not make sense to pass the BBL now for it to be superseded by a federal system of government. We will have more options for a better Bangsamoro under a federal system. I am also open to have two Bangsamoro regions or two Bangsamoro states (in a federal system),” he said.

Professor Rufa Guiam, Director of the Institute for Peace and Development of the Mindanao State University in General Santos City thinks it is “more difficult to push for federalism but relatively easier to pass the

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COURTESY VISIT. Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom) commander Lieutenant General Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero pays a courtesy visit to the city council during yesterday’s regular session at Sangguniang Panlungsod in Davao City. Lean Daval Jr.

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VOL. 9 ISSUE 98 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016

First Fablab in PH opens in Davao

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

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crc@edgedavao.net

N a bid to improve the competitiveness of local designers and small entrepreneurs in Davao Region, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 11 launched the first mini Fabrication Laboratory (mini Fablab) in Davao City yesterday.

Included under DTI’s Shared Service Facility (SSF), the mini Fablab is established with the Mindanao Trade Exposition Foundation Inc (MTEFI) as cooperator.

DTI 11 regional director Maria Belenda Q. Ambi told reporters that that laboratory will help entrepreneurs, designers and students in innovating and improving their products.

Micro, small and medium enterprise and local designers will have access to equipment

like the three-dimensional printer, milling and cutting machine, and a set of IT facilities for teleconferencing purposes.

Ambi said the facility is expected to help in the development of prototypes and designs on metal-based products, wood-based and mixed-media furniture products and textile-and-plant-based materials which can be used as raw materials for other main products.

Coined to be the first mini fablab in the country, Ambi said the facility is expected to assists 25 MSMEs in the region who are into designing and conceptualizing designs.

The beneficiaries, through the facility, can expand their operation, increase their income, and improve competitiveness of their respective products.

DTI holds 3-day service caravan in GenSan

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HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will open today, Wednesday a three-day service caravan for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and consumers in Region 12 or Soccsksargen.

Ibrahim Guiamadel, DTI Region 12 director, said on Tuesday the initiative is part of the agency’s efforts to bring its integrated services and other assistance programs closer to local residents.

Dubbed “Negosyo, Konsyumer ATBP,” he said the caravan will mainly offer focused services and programs that will MSMEs address various challenges in their operations, compliance to government laws and policies, and improve their competitiveness.

Sessions that are aimed to increase the level of awareness of local consumers about their rights and responsibilities will also be held, he said.

“Our program focal persons in Manila will be coming here to help our MSMEs and consumers,” Guiamadel said.

The caravan, which will feature exhibits and showcases of export-quality products from parts of Region 12, will be held at the trade halls of the SM City mall and at the Greenleaf Hotel here.

The region comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and North Cotabato, and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.

Guiamadel said they expect Trade and Industry Secretary Ramin Lopez to grace the event’s opening ceremony on Wednesday.

He said the activities for the opening of the event include the launching of the “Treasures of Soccsksargen” Trade and Travel Exhibit and the Consumer Special Setting, which is a showcase

NDUSTRY output for May this year declined by 1.2 percent compared to the same period in 2015, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Tuesday.

PSA’s Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) for May showed that the decrease in volume of production index (VoPi) was brought by declines in leather products, down by 83.2 percent; chemical products, down by 48.8 percent; petroleum products, down by 31.3 percent; fabricated metal products, down by 24.5 percent; and textiles, down by 19.1 percent.

Value of production index (VaPi) for the same period also dropped, however, on a slower pace.

VaPi in May 2016 registered at -4.9 percent from May 2015’s figure of 8.0 percent.

“Seven of the nine major sectors significantly contributed to the decline,” the PSA mentioned. These sectors include leather products (-83.3 percent), chemical products (-48.8 percent), petroleum products (-36.8 percent), fabricated metal products (-23.7 percent), textiles (-18.2 percent), furniture and fixtures (-17.4 percent), and footwear and wearing apparel (-10 percent).

Meanwhile, average capacity utilization rate in May is at 83.3 percent as 55 percent of major industries operated at 80 percent and above capacity utilization rate. (PNA)

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Industry production slides in May

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Ambi encouraged the foundation to access government support through the Bottoms-Up Budgeting (BuB) to get additional equipment.

She said the laboratory needs additional machineries like embroidery machine, print and cut machine, and large milling machine can complement to the existing facilities of the product innovation and design laboratory.

The DTI started to implement the SSF in 2013 until last year. It aims to improve MSMEs competitiveness through provision of post-harvest facilities to upgrade their operation.

Ambi said the region received a total of P68 million in 2013 and 2014 for the implementation of the 164 SSF projects, of which 140 were already completed.

VENDING TO KIDS. A vendor selling different kinds of beverages prepares iced tea while elementary students are waiting behind the metal fence along Quirino Avenue in Davao City yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

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DLI mulls development of seaside project in IGACOS P

NEDA urges refocusing of export strategies

Lagdameo said Tower 1 and Tower 2 have a total of 326 combined units.

“We’ve seen a steady month-on-month sales,” he added.

The DLI is targeting to open Tower Number 6 for potential buyers by October and sell out the whole unit by the end of the year.

As to the land development, Lagdameo said two seven-storey towers now are being constructed.

DLI is allocating a total of P1 billion for the project for the development of a 2.7-hect-

are property in Sasa, Davao City.

He said four floors of the first tower and third of the second tower are already built. The developer intends top complete the construction of the Tower Number 1 on the first quarter of next year, while the Tower Number 2 will be completed by the third quarter.

The amenities like clubhouse and swimming pool are now being constructed.

“We will showcase the amenities to the public by September,” he added.

HILIPPINE exports continued to dip for the fourteenth consecutive month in May 2016 due to weak global demand, prompting a need to refocus export strategies of firms, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

The Philippine Statistics Authority released that exports declined by 3.8 percent year-on-year in May 2016 to US$4.7 billion as export of all commodity groups decreased.

Exports of agro-based products fell by 29.4 percent, mineral products by 13.6 percent, manufactures by 0.5 percent, forest products by 82.6 percent, and petroleum products by 33.4

ORN farmers of Davao region can now expect a competent increase of their productivity at the same time reducing their production cost.

Department of Agriculture (DA) 11 has conducted a three-day training on testing and evaluating a compact corn mill designed by Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech).

The compact corn mill has a grain recovery rate of up to 64%, a competitive recovery

level for the production of corn grits.

The testing and evaluation of compact corn mill was aimed to reach far-flung areas where farmers can use it in their operation.

“This machinery will encourage farmers as it is manageable to use and give organizations big savings,” said Martinet Roble, DA 11 Corn Program Coordinator.

“This is also one way to attract farmers in rural areas to expand their farms. For operators, it is user friendly because

it is electric driven” Roble adds.

The corn program also desires to train more seed growers in our area especially organizations capable of producing more seeds and encourage them to participate in seed production technology.

Also, DA with its LGU counterparts will continue its monitoring and technical assistance.

“We are determined to continue orienting farmers the new technologies that are available to us for them to be more competent,” said Josefa Mejos, Corn Coordinator of

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

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crc@edgedavao.net

OMEGROWN real estate developer Damosa Land Inc. (DLI) eyes to develop a nine-hectare property in Babak, Island Garden City of Samal (IGACOS) for a seaside project next year.

“It will have a residential and commercial component,” DLI vice president Ricardo “Cary” F. Lagdameo told reporters during the inauguration of the Warehouse Number 1 at the Anflo Industrial Estate on Monday.

Lagdameo said the leisure-tourism- themed project which is still on the pipeline

will be designed to become “a second home.”

“We’re still finalizing the details of the project,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, Seawind, the mid-rise condominium project of DLI, is getting a steady interest from potential buyers, mostly from provinces outside of Davao City.

Launched last year, Lagdameo said all units in Towers’ Number 1 to 3 were soldout, while units in the Tower Number 4 are 85 percent sold and tower 35 percent soldout.

percent. However, this is a noticeable easing off since the 15.1-percent decline in March 2016.

“The growth of exports is expected to remain muted for the rest of 2016 with the slow recovery of the global economy. Given the soft demand, export-oriented firms may need to refocus their strategies to consider non-traditional markets, which have shown healthier appetites in recent months,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia.

He cited for instance the growth of exports to European countries. Exports to France and Switzerland grew by 37.8 percent and

PAGRI Davao Oriental.

The three-day training also includes: specification and method of test for corn mill by Agricultural Machinery Testing and Evaluation Center (AMTEC), and repair, maintenance and performance evaluation of the PhilMech compact corn mill.

OIC-Regional Director Ricardo Oñate, Jr. of DA-11 said that DA will continue to support the farmers in conducting programs on corn, rice, and high value crops ensuring their success.

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Mixed-use property project ‘New compact corn mill eyed to increase productivity’ of DLI to rise in Panabo City C

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OMEGROWN real estate developer and Anflocor unit Damosa Land Inc. (DLI) is gearing-up for another mixed-use property project in Panabo City, ought to become the “Anflo City.”

“We’re targeting to start basic land development by September this year,” DLI vice president Ricardo F. Lagdameo told reporters yesterday at the sidelines of the inauguration of the Warehouse Number 1 at the Anflo Industrial Estate (AIE).

Lagdameo said agricultural themed-development project will have a total area of 88 hectares and will have different components like residential, institutional, commercial, and tourism.

The project will be covering four barangays in Panabo City, to include Cagangohan, New Pandan, Sto. Niño and San Vicente.

Implemented in phases, Lagdameo said the first part of the construction will include the development of the threephased residential component, getting the half of the over billion pesos investment of the

firm.

“We will be developing the first 10 hectares of the 25-hectare area allocated for residential purpose,” he added.

DLI has been involved in subdivision and condominium development projects in Davao City.

Lagdameo pointed out that DLI also intends to develop a “banana-themed park” in the Anflo City as part of the agri-tourism component and to showcase the main economic growth driver of the area.

“It will include a working farm planted not only to banana but also other crops,” he added.

The youngest of the Lagdameo brothers said around three to four hectares will be donated to University of the Philippines (UP) system for the construction of the UP Los Baños extension campus.

DLI is also eyeing to bring other schools which will offer K to 12 programs as well as other institutions like hospitals.

The company targets to complete the development in 10 years. CHENEEN R. CAPON

DA-XI OIC-Regional Director Ricardo M. Oñate Jr. checks the new compact corn mill which is expected to aid corn farmers in increasing their productivity.

P2.5-M DOLE-funded fishing venture Researchers develop for displaced GenSan workers takes off 6 biopesticides in CLSU A

TEAM of researchers from the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) in Munoz, Nueva Ecija have found six plants possessing botanical pesticide or biopesticide properties, which can be an alternative to commercial pesticides.

Botanical pesticide or biopesticide is a substance derived from plants capable of protecting selected crops against certain diseases and pests.

The researchers used plants that they collected in Region 3 (Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Aurora).

Plant samples were collected from the forests in identified sites. These samples were screened to determine whether they have potential as biopesticide and later on processed into

liquid biopesticide.

Dr. Ronaldo Alberto, the project’s focal person, explained that the biopesticides extracted can be applied to crops as a preventive or curative measure.

However, the preventive approach is more effective based on their microplot trials on selected crops like tomato, pepper, bitter gourd, and onion.

According to the Philippine Council of Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD), an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the screening of indigenous plants as sources of biopesticides for vegetables, such as lettuce, cabbage, tomato, and sugarcane is currently being done in Region 10. (PNA)

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FTER more than a decade of uncertainty being employed in a fishing company, a group of displaced workers in General Santos City recently turned themselves into “bosses” through the P2.58 million livelihood project assistance provided by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Albert Gutib, DOLE Region 12 director, said Tuesday a fishing venture facilitated by the agency for 148 displaced fishing workers in the city finally took off over the weekend with the maiden voyage of three fishing boats that were built through the project.

He said the fishing boats sailed off last Saturday after the beneficiaries, who are members of the United Workers of Citra Mina Group of

Companies Union (UWCMGCU), completed their construction and registration.

It comprise three mother boats and several ‘pakura’ or small boats that will be used for tuna hand line fishing worth a total of P2,583,572, he said.

The boats were named F/B Queen Rosalinda, F/B Queen Rebecca, and F/B Queen Ofelia, as tribute to former Labor Secretary, Labor Undersecretary Rebecca Chato and former DOLE-12 director Ofelia Domingo, who facilitated the release of the grant.

“We want this project to be a big success and become a sustainable source of livelihood for the beneficiaries,” Gutib said.

He added the project will not only provide for the needs

of the UWCMGCU’s members but stable employment as well.

The official said the agency is ready to assist the other needs of the group, especially in terms of social preparation.

The union, which is a beneficiary of the DOLE Integrated Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (DILEEP), is composed of retrenched workers of tuna producer Citra Mina and former crew members of fishing boats that it commissioned for fishing operations.

The workers were retrenched by Citra Mina three years ago after their union was organized. The company figured in another controversy after 43 crew members of a fishing operation that it financed was apprehended and

jailed in Indonesia in August 2014 due to illegal fishing.

The fishermen, who accused the company of abandonment, were repatriated in February last year through the efforts of the Department of Foreign Affairs, DOLE and the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL).

The case is currently undergoing mediation under the single-entry approach handled by DOLE Region 12.

DOLE had tapped the APL in Soccsksargen as accredited co-partner for the implementation of the tuna handline fishing project.

Hand line fishing uses the traditional hook and line method and is considered one of the best means to catch large tuna and other big fishes.

(PNA)

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VOL. 9 ISSUE 98 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016

Philippine forests: Going, going, gone?

Text and Photos by HENRYLITO D. TACIO

“To be poor and be without trees is to be the most starved human being in the world. To be poor and have trees is to be completely rich in ways that money can never buy.” -- Clarissa Pinkola Estés, author of The Faithful Gardener: A Wise Tale About That Which Can Never Die

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T the recent fifth ASEAN Plus Three Junior Science Odyssey held at the University of the Philippines Los Baños in Laguna, Dr. Rodel Castro was quoted as saying: “There’s only a little time left. Your generation will inherit this problem (on climate change) and it is, indeed, your generation who will have to wrestle and seek solutions to this problem.”

If it does not do something drastic now, the Philippines would be the first country in Asia to completely lose its forest cover soon. Cebu is a case in point: It has a “zero-forest cover,” said environment officials.

“Most of the country’s once rich forests are gone,” says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) study entitled, “Sustainable Forest Management.”

“We have lost most of our forest of old over the past 50 years and, along with them, many of the ecological services they provide,” deplores Peter Walpole, executive director of the Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC).

In the 1920s, forest still covered 18 million hectares of 60% of the country’s total land area of 30 million hectares. It went down to 50% (15 million hectares) in the 1950s. In 1963, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization published data that placed forest cover of the country at 40% (12 million hectares).

By 1970s, the forest cover shrunk to 34% (10.2 million hectares).

From 1977 to 1980, deforestation reached an all-time high -over 300,000 hectares a year, according to a booklet published by ESSC. In 1987, the Swedish Space Corporation put forest cover in the country at 23% (6.9 million hectares). “At the end of the 1980s, out of

the 34 major islands that had been very densely forested at the beginning of the century, 24 islands had now less than 10% forest cover,” the ESSC publication said.

In the 1990s, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources reported that the country had only 800,000 hectares (2.7%) primary forest cover. Residual forest was placed at 4.7 million hectares.

“Where have all our forests gone?” asked Roy C. Alimoane, the director of the Davao-based Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC). “Why are we losing our trees at a very fast rate?”

The ever-growing population can be partly blamed. “The most likely causes were the increase in population -- up from about 500,000 in 152 to around seven million in 1900,” the ESSC publication surmised. Today, the Philippines is home to more than 100 million Filipinos.

“This was accompanied by the spread of commercial crops (abaca, tobacco and sugarcane) and by growth of pasture lands for cattle raising as the Philippines became part of the world economy,” the publication continued.

But logging -- both legal and illegal -- is seen as the primary culprit. “An important source of deforestation has been the dramatic expansion of destructive logging,” wrote Robert Repetto in “The Forest for the Trees? Government Policies and the Misuse of Forest Resources.”

The logging boomed in the late 1960s. “Logging concession areas increased from 4.5 million hectares to 11.6 million hectares, covering more than one-third of the entire country,” the ESSC publication reported. “Timber companies owned by the traditional elite, the Philippine

military, and politicians cornered the logging contracts.”

According to Repetto, annual outputs averaging 10 million cubic meters were maintained until 1974, “when depletion, world recession, and competition from other log-exporting countries forced a reduction.”

Declines continued over the next decade, and by 1984 the harvest had returned to the pre-boo level of 3.8 million cubic meters.

“Logging is more than an ecological problem,” the book, “Saving the Earth,” published by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, surmised. “It is a social, political

and economic dilemma as well. At the root of the malaise are stupendous profits and the ease with which they can be raked in.”

Upland migration and agricultural expansion had also contributed to the fast disappearance of the country’s forest cover. “Some 80,000 to 120,000 families cleared an estimated 2.3 million hectares of forest land,” Repetto wrote. “The spread of shifting cultivation largely reflects population growth and the economy’s failure to provide employment alternatives for the country’s rural poor.”

The ESSC believes that had all these factors been

carried out in a manner that contributed to the overall development of the country, “the majority of the people could have been benefited.”

However, historical land classification indicates that only very few people -- less than 500 individuals or corporations -- had held access rights to most of the country’s forest resources. “This figure highlights the injustice,” the ESSC publication points out.

The ESSC thinks the responsibility for the present sad state of the Philippine forest rests with past administrations. “There has been a near total failure on the part of the government to recognize the

sociocultural and ecological values of the forests,” it says, adding that they failed “to recognize any value except shortterm economic gain.”

The ESSC also fears that this “short-term economic gain” thinking may also be “repeated in the drive to adopt mining as the answer to our economic development.” In the Philippines, mining operations are oftentimes located in ancestral land, forest land, and even prime agricultural land.

But the destruction caused by deforestation are already written on the wall. “Deforestation has left upper watersheds unprotected, destabilizing river flows, with significant effects on fish population and agriculture,” Repetto wrote. “The implications for hydroelectric projects and irrigation facilities have already become apparent in Luzon, where anticipated lifetimes of important reservoirs have been cut in half by sedimentation.”

In The World for World is Forest, Ursula K. Le Guin wrote: “A forest ecology is a delicate one. If the forest perishes, its fauna may go with it.” Forest is home to some of the most ecologically-fragile flora and fauna.

“More than 400 plant and animal species in the Philippines are currently threatened with extinction, including the Philippine eagle and the tamaraw,” the Washington D.C.-based Population Reference Bureau reported.

The Philippine Eagle Foundation said that a pair of Philippine eagle needs at least 7,000 to 13,000 hectares of forest as nesting territory. “The Philippine eagle has become a critically endangered species because the loss of the forest had made it lose its natural habitat,” explained Dennis Salvador, PEF’s executive director.

According to Dr. Lasco, deforestation is one of the leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions. “Ten billion to 12 billion tons of carbon dioxide are released per year due to deforestation, that is loss of forest, as well as through agriculture, such as livestock, soil and nutrient management,” he pointed out.

That’s why Filipinos are urged to plant a tree -- even at the end of the world, so goes a saying. American President Theodore Roosevelt once reminded: “A person without children would face a hopeless future; a country without trees is almost as helpless.”

8 VANTAGE EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 9 ISSUE 98 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016

EDITORIAL

S

Mere speculation is not enough

ENATOR Leila De Lima was a former Justice Secretary and for that she should know the law.

Speculation, for whatever its worth, is not admissible in evidence and could not be a basis for an investigation.

After a spate of killings related to anti-drug operations last week, Sen. De Lima immediately pushed the button and is calling for a legislative investigation.

Looks like the new lawmaker is very eager to get into action without having even warmed her seat in the office. De Lim believes that the manner in which the drug suspects were killed (because they grabbed a policeman’s gun) is suspicious. She said this excuse may be abused by law enforcers in their overzealousness to enforce the marching orders of President Rodrigo Duterte to go all out against illegal drugs.

However, mere suspicion of abuse in the arrest of suspects or service of warrants, is not a basis for a complaint nor a

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ground for calling for an investigation. The numbers of drug suspects killed in a short period of time may have falsely alarmed the Senator but had she realize the enormous number of those involved in drugs, even those numbers of slain suspects would pale in comparison to the collective figures in the national scale.

Didn’t President Duterte said it will be bloody? He even joked this is going to be heyday for those in the funeral parlor business.

It will indeed be bloody because the involved personalities are just too many. And at the rate the administration is going, they are not just going after the small fishes but are nipping it from the bud.

De Lima may instead draw her attention to General Garbo and the erring police officials instead of dampening the morale of lowly law enforcers.

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EDGEDAVAO

9

Three realities and two hopes

T

HE slogans of “Invest Philippines” may sound impressive, and so will the high GDP numbers and better credit ratings after PNOYs 6 years. So will the 5 million tourists that visited us in 2014. The truth, however, is that is much of it really has not trickled down to the land of promise, and and honest question is how much of these actually translated to jobs and opportunity on the poorest island? Here are three major facts that characterize the PNOY administrations agenda vis-à-vis the 22 million strong Mindanao economy.

The first fact is that the past administration failed to capitalize on Mindanao as a source of new growth. Much of this growth remained centered in Mega Manila, seen as a low hanging fruit and the capital of Filipino discontent that needs to be pleased. Metro Manila has become an even darker concrete jungle, with traffic jams getting longer. Most BPOs and manufacturing companies still managed to locate in the CALABARZON and metro manila suburbs. Even the vaunted

A

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VOL. 9 ISSUE 98 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016

public private MY TWO CENTS’ partnerships were locked in favor of that regions investment sites.

Fact 2: Mindanao is an agricultural island. It is the largest John Tria producer of many agri- ecisouth@gmail.com cultural commodities such as coconut, cacao, coffee and corn. This lends itself to the fact that growing conditions for these crops are almost ideal. Reality, however, is that conflict and underdevelopment such as poor infrastructure has kept many areas from deepening and expanding these opportunities. Thus, any drive at inclusive economic growth must start with agriculture. It is where our rural poor are, which is half of the total living below

the poverty line. Improve their lot with opportunity and poverty is automatically reduced.

The third fact is that none of the age old conflicts were meaningfully addressed. What peace negotiations took place were political discussions with one group that did not include others who either stand to be affected, or threaten to be left out. The reality of Mamasapano and the Lumad killings, even the unsolved Maguindanao massacre are what kept countrywide Mindanao’s image as a violent jungle. Conflict zones would have been great growth areas where employment and opportunity would have thrived. Alas, none of these really took place apart from areas that have already seen development before PNOYs term.

Nonetheless, two hopes springing from the events in the last few months give us reason to rejoice.

For one, the recent surge in investor inquiries provide a respite from years in the doldrums. The drive shown by people like Romeo Montenegro of the

Mindanao development Authority, and Gil Dureza of the Board of Investments is recognized. As frontliners, they have done a great job at presenting their home to the world as a zone of opportunity.

Secondly, new crops like Cacao have already begun downstreaming into finished products. What we started in 2012 – 2013 in mainstreaming Cacao production not only increased the hectarage of the heavenly crop, it also gave birth to an emerging confectionery industry.

Already, brands like Malagos, Cacao de Davao and Coco Dulce of Freefood are giving the world a taste of homegrown Chocolate candies. There are also products like Cacao nibs and Tableya for hot chocolate drinks regarded by ancient Latin Americans as worthy of the Gods.

As the new government spreads its wings, and the President promises to pour resources on the island, we nonetheless refresh our hope for the day that Mindanao fulfills its promise to the many peoples that call it home.

give us our FAST BACKWARD independence in the shortest possible time and to expel every vestige of Americanism in the Philippines].

We are now a Republic, Antonio V. Figueroa and I have been chosen to head the Government of that Republic. I need not tell what I feel about this new responsibility. For my life has been an open book; and, whatever I may have accomplished, I have had only one motive—namely, to serve the interests and the well-being of the Philippines and of the Filipinos. Conscious of this, I am not ashamed of whatever I have done; and I am not afraid of anyone.

“I have heard many of our countrymen say that this is not the Republic of our dreams—that this cannot be a real Republic, because the Japanese are still here. But, my countrymen, our Republic is still young. It is only five months old. It is only a baby, and you cannot expect a baby five months old to walk fast and to be as strong as a full-grown boy.”

He told his audience to nurture the young republic, and every Filipino was called to give his share in taking care of it until it attains maturity, saying that only when the Japanese-sponsored government has reached adulthood that an assessment can be made whether it has responded to the Filipino dream or not.

Laurel added:

“Real freedom has to be striven for.

It is not something that can be given to us on a silver platter by an outsider.

We have to fashion it slowly, carefully, patiently, with our own hands. And this will take time. When we plant a seed, we do not expect to harvest the fruit the very next day. The same may be said of our Republic.

“The Japanese forces are still in our midst, it is true; but it is only because Japan is still at war with America and Britain. Japan wants to be sure that this country remain independent of any Occidental power. And it is fighting for the independence of China, Burma, India, and Manchoukuo, as well as the Philippines.

“Because the war makes it necessary for the Japanese to stay in this country, it has been thought imperative that there should be a Japanese representative in Davao who is intelligent, sympathetic, and heartily in favor of the Filipino cause…”

Of course, Laurel, when mentioning of the intelligent Japanese was referring to Gen. Nagasaki, who was reassigned in Davao after being credited for having brought peace to Baguio and, as a result, was well loved by the people there. The Japanese, upon arrival in the city, worked with Gen Paulino Santos, who was the commissioner of Mindanao and Sulu. The president called the Santos-Nagasaki cooperation as “a perfect combination” that could “bring about mutual understanding between the Japanese and the Filipinos.”

Laurel said the appointment of Gen. Santos as commissioner was due “his ability as an administrator, his intelli-

gence, and his patriotism”, his familiarity with people of and conditions of Davao City and the entire Mindanao and Sulu.

His optimism on the capability of the Filipino general was highlighted when his discoursed turned to food sufficiency and peace and order.

“In a way, therefore, he will be the eyes and the ears of the Republic. And I call upon you to pool your efforts with his and help him make our misled brothers see the light of truth and realize that this is our own government, not a government imposed upon us by another power… Nobody will feed us except ourselves. Nobody will put us back on our feet except ourselves. If we do not cultivate our own lands, who will go hungry?... The Filipinos, for sure!

“But we cannot cultivate our lands, we cannot plant our crops, unless there is peace and order. By all means, therefore, let us have peace and order. It is senseless to hate one another, fight one another, and kill one another. For we are not strangers to one another. We are not enemies, but we are friends. We are brothers in blood and ideals.

“And the greatest of these ideals is, or should be, the establishment of a free Republic—strong and stable and enduring.

If, in this enterprise, it be necessary to shed, not only sweat, but blood, then let us pay the supreme sacrifice with a smile on our lips and a song in our hearts.”

That should put a stop to the doubts that Laurel, being a Japanese-appointed president, was kowtowing to the desires of the invaders; rather, he was protecting the interest of Filipinos who, in their time of despair, needed assurance from a strong Filipino leader.

Quezon’s 1944 discourse in Davao

T a time when World War II was at its height in the Philippines, with the Japanese having near total control over the archipelago, wartime President Jose P. Laurel made two visits to Davao City. The first was in the third quarter of 1943 where he was accompanied by National Assembly Speaker Benigno Aquino Jr. and other high officials from Manila.

Unexpectedly, this was followed by another visit on March 19, 1944 where he made an extemporaneous speech at a public meeting held in the city’s public square. This took place after the Japanese colonial administration had declared the creation of a Philippine republic.

In his public address, Laurel talked of ‘an independent Philippines’ the Japanese had promised when they took over the country after defeating the Americans in a surprise multicity raids that led to the fall of Bataan and Corregidor in less than six months. The gist of the message was a throwback to the same speech he made during his first visit. He said: “I stood in this very place [where I had been few months ago] and called your attention to the desire of the entire Filipino people to establish a government of Filipinos, by Filipinos, and for Filipinos. I wanted to call your attention to our hope as a people to realize the dream of Rizal and our other heroes and martyrs of 1896 and 1898, which is also the dream of the 50,000 martyrs who have just laid down their lives, not for America nor against Nippon, but for an independent Philippines…

“Japan has fulfilled that promise [to

10 NEWS TEEN... FROM 1

In Davao region, the Commission on Population, in its recent findings said 17 percent of young girls aged 15-19 are already childbearing.

A 2013 data from the commission added that 38.5 percent or 370,000 of the youth in the area are already engaged in pre-marital sex without any form of protection thus putting them in direct danger from sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.

On Monday, as the world observed the World Population Day 2016, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) also commented on the rate of teen pregnancy in the country.

UNFPA Country Representative Klaus Beck, in his message described the rate as “alarming despite the passage of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) law.

Data provided by Beck revealed 13.6 percent of Filipino girls aged 15 to 19 years are either pregnant or already have a child.

UNFPA’s data also noted that one of three Filipino youths have already engaged in early sex while 78 percent of young Filipinos were also found to have had their first sexual engagement unprotected from the risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

As a result, beck said most of teenage pregnant usually drop out of their studies and never finished school or college.

The UNFPA representative also called for the government to ensure the full implementation of the RPRH Law of Republic Act No. 10354.

The law was signed last December 21, 2012 by then President Benigno S. Aquino III. The law, Beck emphasized, will help Filipino families and the country in general to achieve the full potential of the youth population and empower them to drive economic and social development and boost per-capita incomes.

BBL.” Duterte, she told MindaNews, “can use his persuasive and coercive power to push for BBL.” Guiamel Alim, executive director of Kadtuntaya Foundation and a member of the Council of Elders of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, asked: “Shouldn’t it be the reverse? If he is committed to CAB and the way to do it is much easier than overhauling the Constitution, why make conditionalities?”

For lawyer Camilo “Bong” Montesa, former Assistant Secretary for Peacemaking and Peacekeeping at the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process from 2008 to 2010 said “the practical consequence will be a ‘hiatus’ of 35 months as the plan would require the MILF to wait patiently for the results of the plebiscite in June 2019.

He told MindaNews that Plan B or BBL will only be initiated in case of the failure of Plan A so “the design challenge must provide answers to the question: ‘What will the GPHMILF peace process do in the next 35 months?’

“What mechanisms will

secure stability on the ground, the accelerated delivery of basic services, normalization, etc.?” Montesa asked.

What about FPA? Randolph Parcasio, spokesperson of MNLF founding chair Nur Misuari, said “ok sa federalism” but if it is rejected in the plebiscite, “asa na FPA?” (what about the FPA)?

Parcasio was referring to the Final Peace Agreement (FPA) the MNLF signed with government in 1996 which has not been fully implemented.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the 57-member nation pan-Islamic body that brokered the 1976 and 1996 peace agreements between government and the MNLF, had initiated the setting up of the Bangsamoro Coordination Forum (BCF) comprising the MILF and the factions of the MNLF so they can move forward in “harmonizing the tracks of the peace agreements they signed separately with the Philippine government.”

Muslimin Sema, secretary-general to the MNLF when it signed the 1996 FPA and now chair of one of the factions of the MNLF, told MindaNews

fluence Cloud adoption among Filipino organizations and institutions through evangelization, enablement, and empowerment.

Valmonte added that community members encouraged to ‘evangelize the non-believers’ to try and trust the Cloud, and adopt a Cloud-first mindset and enable entrepreneurs and start-ups to launch quickly with the right Cloud-based business tools and best practices and eventually empower businesses to achieve goals and spur swift growth using the Cloud.

Digital transformation has proven to be essential for achieving business success

in today’s connected world.

Competition is fierce everywhere and only organizations that are able to display agility will survive. CloudComPH can help open eyes to vast opportunities through cloud computing practices and could serve as a catalyst to spark change in the way businesses are run, allowing enterprises to achieve business goals faster and expand horizons wider.

CloudComPH aims to work hand in hand with the industry and the government to encourage organizations to achieve goals through cloud computing. According to Valmonte, by joining the community, members are able to

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units of Panabo City, Cotabato City, Quezon City, Makati, Angeles City, the autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Cebu and groups such as the UP Diliman Women Center.

For the first and second quarters of 2016, IGDD handled 477 cases involving abuse and violence committed against women and children.

“Majority of these cases are economic and physical abuses in nature,” said Mandin, adding that “90 percent of these cases have gone through family conferences to facilitate the provision of financial support for spouses and children.”

IGDD was created by virtue of the Women Development Code of Davao City on October 14, 1997. It operates directly under the Office of the City Mayor.

The unit acts as the coordinative, regulatory and monitoring body of the Local Government of Davao City, focusing on gender-sensitive projects and activities. It complements gender-related functions of other agencies of the local government.

Davao City has been recognized as a Gender and Development (GAD) Local learning Hub in the Philippines. (CIO)

of products with Philippine Standard or PS and Import Commodity Clearance or ICC certifications.

The other activities are: the Sustained, Upbeat, Protected, Empowered and Responsible or S.U.P.E.R. Consumers Forum; Standards Blitz; Food Safety Regulations Seminar; Business Ethics and Entrepreneurship Training; “How

to Start a Business” Seminar; Product Design Development Training; Investment Opportunities in Agribusiness Seminar and Business Matching; Catapulting Business for the Global Market Seminar; Halal Business Opportunity Seminar; and, Briefing on Business Resiliency Program and the Green and Gender Advocacy Program. (PNA)

DTI... FROM 5

that their expectation of the Duterte administration was that it would implement first the peace agreements signed with the Moro fronts.

“That’s the reason we initiated with the MILF the convergence and harmonization of the peace tracks so it would be easy for the new administration to move on. The background and result of the peace agreement the Moro fronts signed with the government is far different from merely decentralizing administration. So implementing this agreement ahead of the federalization plan might be better part of wisdom rather than let it wait until federalization is decided,” Sema explained.

“So many people had been involved in finding peaceful solution to the century-old problem in Mindanao and we found it at last. The compromises accepted by the Moro fronts must be honored and respected,” he said.

“Template” MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim last month told MindaNews that the draft BBL submitted to Congress in 2014 will be “improved” through a con-

contribute to society by sharing their time and knowledge about the Cloud and ICT in general, paving the way for start-ups and small businesses to flourish. “The success of every Filipino business bolsters economic growth and nation-building, resulting in better lives for every Filipino”, he stressed.

Community engagement will be done both online and face to face. The online forum which is accessed through cloud.com.ph promotes daily conversation and engagement among members. Membership registration is also done through this portal, and face to face activities such as general

vergence of the 2014 CAB and the 1996 FPA before it is presented to the 17th Congress.

He expects the “convergence” to be done through the BCF. Like Sema, Murad also expected that the BBL would be passed first and made the template for federalism as Duterte promised during his visit to the MILF’s Camp Darapanan on February 27 this year.

Duterte told the MILF Central Committee then that he would work for the amendment of the 1987 Constitution to change the system of government into federalism but “if it takes time, and if only to defuse tension, in my government I will convince Congress to pass the BBL then make it as a template for federal states.”

In his inaugural address on June 30, Duterte said his administration is “committed to implement all signed peace agreements in step with constitutional and legal reforms.”

“I am elated by the expression of unity among our Moro brothers and leaders, and the response of everyone else to my call for peace,” he said. Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews

assemblies, training sessions and seminars are likewise announced through here.

“Whether you are a cloud computing tech expert, or a business person looking to make the digital pivot, we encourage you to become a member of the Cloud Community of the Philippines today, and open doors to growth opportunities, continuing education, and an entire network of new contacts, while contributing to the shaping of ICT in the Philippines”, Valmonte concluded.

To register as a member of the Cloud Community of the Philippines, visit cloud.com. ph.

VOL. 9 ISSUE 98 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016

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their products at an affordable price.

“We are extremely happy with Shopify because it is very user-friendly. It also has a great design interface with customizable templates, easy report generation, and automatic reply features that anyone can use,” shared Sambalido.

Shopify’s technology bundled with the Globe myBusiness portfolio of innovative services can give small and medium enterprises like Renegade Folk a reliable package as they build their own online store, showcase their brand, and at the same time efficiently manage the back-end processes through capabilities such as tracking orders and customer data, managing inventory, monitoring sales, viewing analytics information, and much more. Business owners can start their online business using Shopify for as low as P599 a month with no transaction fee.

“We aim for Shopify and Globe myBusiness to provide better and more meaningful Republic of the Philippines Department of Transportation and Communication LAND TRANSPORTATION FRANCHISING AND REGULATORY BOARD Regional Office No. XI Davao City

Petition for Renewal of a Certificate of Public Convenience to operate a PUJ DUAL Ordinary Regular Service

Case No. 2014-XI-00117 JERALD JOY G. GOMEZ, Petitioner

x- - - - - - - - - - - - - - --x

tools for SME customers. We help SMEs compete in the marketplace through alternative distribution channels and cost-efficient solutions to keep their business growing, thus realizing returns on investment faster,” said Barbie Dapul, Vice President at Globe myBusiness.

Founded in 2006, Shopify currently powers 275,000 online stores globally in approximately 150 countries. It is a cloud-based, multichannel commerce platform designed for small and medium business. Online sellers can use it to design, set up and manage, from any laptop or mobile device. The platform also provides merchants with a powerful back-office and a single view of their business.

Launch your ready to open online store with Shopify today! Sign up at www. shopify.com.ph. For more information, visit the website powered by Shopify at www.renegadefolk.com. Get to know Globe myBusiness by visiting www.mybusiness. globe.com.ph.

Republic of the Philippines Department of Transportation and Communication LAND TRANSPORTATION FRANCHISING AND REGULATORY BOARD Regional Office No. XI Davao City

Petition for Renewal of a Certificate of Public Convenience to operate a PUJ DUAL Ordinary Regular Service

Case No. 2011-XI-00482 MERVIN JAY L. COLLI, Petitioner

x- - - - - - - - - - - - - - --x

NOTICE OF HEARING

NOTICE OF HEARING

Petitioner is a grantee of a Certificate of Public Convenience issued in this case authorizing the operation of a PUJ-DUAL Ordinary Regular Service on the route: MATINA and for cargoes as dual service from said route to any point in Region XI with the use of ONE (1) unit, which Certificate will expire on September 26, 2016.

In the petition filed on June 29, 2016 petitioner request authority to extend the validity of said certificate to operate along the same route with the use of the same unit previously authorized.

Petitioner is a grantee of a Certificate of Public Convenience issued in this case authorizing the operation of a PUJ-DUAL Ordinary Regular service on the route: CIRCULATION ROUTE 2 and for cargoes as dual service from said route to any point in Region XI with the use of ONE (1) unit, which Certificate will expire on April 1, 2017. In the petition filed on June 29, 2016, petitioner request authority to extend the validity of said certificate to operate along the same route with the use of the same unit previously authorized.

At least, TEN (10) days prior to the above date petitioner shall publish this Notice once in a one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Mindanao

At least, TEN (10) days prior to the above date petitioner shall publish this Notice once in a one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Mindanao

This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documentary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive additional documentary and/or oral evidence.

This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documentary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive additional documentary and/or oral evidence.

NOTICE, is hereby given that this petition will be heard by this Board on JULY 25, 2016 at 09:20 a.m. at this office at the above address.

Parties opposed to the granting of the petition must file their written opposition supported by documentary evidence on or before the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the petitioner, and may if they so, desire appear on said date and time.

WITNESS the Honorable BENJAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Regional Director, this 30th day of June 2016 at Davao City.

TERESITA DELA PEÑAYÑIGUEZ Chief Transportation Development Officer

NOTICE, is hereby given that this petition will be heard by this Board on JULY 26, 2016 at 9:30 a.m. at this office at the above address.

Parties opposed to the granting of the petition must file their written opposition supported by documentary evidence on or before the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the petitioner, and may if they so, desire appear on said date and time.

WITNESS the Honorable BENJAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Regional Director, this 30th day of June 2016 at Davao City.

TERESITA DELA PEÑAYÑIGUEZ Chief Transportation Development Officer

INdulge!

About

FACE Photos courtesy of Alaiza Malinao.

DAVAOEÑA MODEL, ALAIZA MALINAO, IS TAKING OVER MANILA RUNWAYS IN A STRIDE. This twenty-two year old has long been making the cut for fashion shows for international labels and celebrated designers.

She has landed some big gigs here and there, making a big splash in various ad campaigns, catalogues, broadsheets and glossies.

At one point, Alaiza made an appearance on reality TV and in notable pageantries --- shining moments which became her claim to fame.

That success, however, is not an easy story that came to be. Underneath that chiseled face is a strong character who has learned to be comfortable in her own skin and braved society’s reservations on “morena” models.

“I was never shy, even during my growing up years,” shares Alaiza.

“Maybe it’s because I was into different kinds of sports and outdoor activities. I just learned to be aggressive and goal-oriented. This, later on, helped me develop a thick skin to just shrug off disappointments and criticisms and nothing could get my spirits down.”

While studying in Davao, Alaiza was welcomed into Glam Model Management through which she has signed up work for photo shoots and runway shows. She stayed with the agency for four years, before taking the big leap after finishing a degree in psychology.

“I took my chance at the casting call for the Century Tuna Superbods competition, a brand campaign which landed on billboards, magazines, TV and newspapers. I was lucky that I made it to the final cut, and eventually bagged the 1st runner up title. It was because of this exposure and experience that I caught the eye of a top artist and modelling agency in Manila. They

METRO MOM A4

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Rock and Rola at Chimes

FITFLOP, THE FOOTWEAR BRAND LOVED BY MILLIONS OF WOMEN EVERYWHERE—returns to Davao with a new style to rock your world. The star of FitFlop’s 2016 Autumn/Winter collection, the ROLA was launched last July 8, 2016 at Chimes Boutique in Felcris Centrale, SM City Davao. Coming in Black, Bronze, and Hot Cherry colors, these styles are exclusive to the department store’s branches in Felcris Centrale, Abreeza, and Governor Sales.

The exclusive event, titled “Rock n’ ROLA,” was attended by guests coming in their best rock n’ roll-inspired attire. The ROLA’s three colors make any wearer stand out with edgy style. Four gorgeous, glossy balls decorate an uber-slim, foot-flattering toe-post, using rich leather uppers and ergonomic Microwobbleboard midsoles that help diffuse pressure with every step to provide maximum comfort.

The afternoon got off to a fun start as Invitees were divided into three groups and competed

in an OOTD challenge, wherein each group dressed up a mannequin using Chimes Boutique apparel to complement the Rola pair assigned to them. The winning group was awarded one free pair

of Rola per member. The attendee sporting the best rock n’ roll-inspired outfit was also awarded a free pair of Rola.

“FitFlop has been, and still is, the favorite footwear brand of many Filipino women since it was first introduced,” said Edilyn Yu, FitFlop’s brand manager, “We believe the Rola, which is a Chimes Boutique exclusive, will quickly be loved by Dabawenyas who love both fashion and comfort.”

Created in 2006 with

a mission to create the most comfortable footwear in the world. FitFlop was founded in the UK by Marcia Kilgore, she collaborated with two biochemists and created the triple density Microwobbleboard midsole. Some iconic styles include the sporty-gorgeous WALKSTAR, the Swarovski-studded ROCK CHIC, and fanfavorite CHA CHA. Now, the ROLA is the newest addition to the line of sandals loved by millions of women all over the world.

FitFlop believes that feet shouldn’t get in the way of one’s dreams; that life is too short to not choose great shoes, and that having the right ergonomics underfoot can totally make one’s day. Every pair made is based on world-class biomechanics, because it’s FitFlop’s brand philosophy that it’s cool to be comfortable.

FitFlop is the footwear for the modern-day superwoman.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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Sinungaling Mong Puso premieres this July IN LOVE, what will you choose: the love that is right or the love that is real?

Beginning July 18, GMA Afternoon Prime offers the TV adaptation of the 1992 blockbuster movie, Sinungaling Mong Puso.

Now considered a classic, the Maryo J. Delos Reyes masterpiece makes a big comeback with a modernized version that shows a woman’s discovery of her self-worth and the sacrifices she makes in her relentless pursuit of true love.

Notably portrayed in the film by Ms. Vilma Santos, Gabby Concepcion, Aga Muhlach, Aiko Melendez, the television remake of Sinungaling Mong Puso has been given an equally compelling cast led by Rhian Ramos, Rafael Rosell, Kiko Estrada, Jazz Ocampo.

The story revolves around Clara (Rhian), the abused wife of the womanizer Roman Aguirre (Rafael) who came from an influential political clan. Instead of giving in to the agony of her plight, she chooses to hope and remain resilient for the sake of her family. Until she accidentally meets Jason (Kiko), a man who will love her for real. However, he is ten years younger than her. He, like Clara, is unhappily married to Hannah (Jazz) who

is pregnant with their child.

In spite their efforts to keep their rapport amicable, friendship draws them closer together resulting into a romance that then turns into a passionate love affair. But when their secret is discovered, it becomes the greatest threat to their lives.

Rhian, who will portray the challenging role of Clara first played by Ms. Vilma Santos, said she feels challenged to portray The Star for All Seasons’ former character.

“Pressured ako since it’s Ms. Vilma, pero kasi the advice given to me is do it on my own way and hopefully people will find appreciation in the kind of labor I’ll be doing on it.”

On the other hand, Rafael said playing the role of Roman, originally played by Gabby, makes him anxious and thrilled at the same time. “I am very excited and nervous kasi hindi ko alam ang magiging take ko, may pagka-sociopath kasi si Roman, so dun ko lalaruin ang character.”

Portraying his most mature role to date as Jason, Kiko admits feeling the pressure for his latest TV assignment.

“I watched clips pero I don’t want to copy Sir Aga’s performance kasi I want to

bring myself into it, parang ako, yung character ko rito marami siyang gusto i-prove.

Nandoon siya dun sa age na eager to prove something.”

For Jazz, she looks at playing the role of Hannah as an eye-opener for her career growth. “Masaya ako na malaki ang binibigay na improvement sa akin ng show kasi dito, I learned how to

open myself to my co-actors since kailangan all-out ako dito.”

Completing the cast are Michael de Mesa as Mayor Moises Aguirre, Roman’s corrupt father who wants him to keep his political power within their family; Glydel Mercado as Raquel, the perfect trophy wife of Mayor Moises; Cheska Diaz as

Helen, Jason’s understanding mother, Sherilyn Reyes as Liza, Hannah’s controlling mother; Stephanie Sol as Camilla, Roman’s mistress; Gee Canlas as Jillian, Clara’s confidante and best friend; JC Tiuseco as Jolo who does everything to please Roman; Gab de Leon as Vin, the right hand man of Roman.

Sinungaling Mong Puso is under the helm of acclaimed actor-director Ricky Davao and behind this riveting drama is the creative team composed of Creative Director Roy Iglesias; Creative Block Head Jake Tordesillas; Creative Consultant Aloy Adlawan; Creative Unit Head Denoy Navarro Punio; Headwriter Renei Dimla; Writers Ana Levita Macapugay and Liberty Trinidad; Brainstormers Christina Samson-Velasco and John Kenneth De Leon.

Managed by the GMA Drama group, Sinungaling Mong Puso is supervised by the SVP for Entertainment TV Lilybeth G. Rasonable; VP for Drama Redgie A. Magno; AVP for Drama Cheryl ChingSy; Program Manager Hazel F. Abonita and Executive Producer Lani Feliciano.

Sinungaling Mong Puso premieres on July 18 and will air Mondays to Fridays after Magkaibang Mundo on GMA Afternoon Prime.

Minute To Win It returns this July 18 ONE DOES NOT NEED A SPECIAL TALENT or extraordinary intelligence to be a millionaire, because in “Minute to Win It,” only a certain level of skill is required to win a cash prize and change your life.

The country’s most excited game show is back on Monday (July 18) to serve up fun and exciting challenges that will surely be enjoyed by every Filipino family via a competition-centric edition called “Last Man Standing,” where the fittest survive and get the biggest cash prize.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, seven players – different celebrities and personalities from different fields and even ordinary Kapamilya Players – will clash in a series of five challenges with no time limit, using only ordinary objects that can be found at home.

The player who is last to accomplish or cannot finish the challenge will be eliminated after each challenge, until only two players remain.

These players will go straight to the Head-to-Head Challenge on Tuesdays and Thursdays, where they will again battle it out in five nerve-wracking challenges. The competition will be kicked up a

notch because each challenge is timed at one minute and has a corresponding cash prize.

The player who gets the bigger amount of cash will play the Ultimate Challenge, where he or she will be given the chance to win the P1 million-jackpot prize.

The lucky winners from Tuesday and Thursday will also get to raise more money as they will face off in another thrilling Head-to-Head Challenge on Friday.

The player who emerges victorious will be named the “Ultimate Last Man Standing.” And in a single week, one lucky player can get as much as P2 million if he successfully fulfills two Ultimate Challenges.

Playing in the game show’s pilot episode on July 18 and 19 are Richard Yap, Jericho Rosales, Maja Salvador, Coleen Garcia, Melai Cantiveros, Eric Nicolas, and Kapamilya player Marjan Nassiri.

Bringing in the thrill on July 20 and 21 are Arci Munoz, Daniel Matsunaga, Joey Marquez, Denise Laurel, Baron Geisler, Negi, at Rachel Daquis.

Who among them will be declared the “Ultimate Last Man Standing”? Will one of them win P1 million?

The return of the exciting game show is made even bigger by ABS-CBN because of the success of its first season that aired from 2013 until 2014.

The Philippine edition scored a number of firsts in the history of the franchise around the world, including being the first version to air daily and being the first version to air for more than a year.

The Philippines’ “Minute to Win It” also made waves as its mix of regular, head-to-head, and junior editions were replicated by other countries such as Cambodia.

Don’t miss “Minute to Win It” beginning July 18, Mondays to Fridays on ABS-CBN. For updates on the program, visit www. facebook.com/minutetowinitPH.

July 13-14, 2016

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DAVAO PARTNER ESTABLISHMENT

METRO MOM A1 taught me the all the rudiments of the fashion industry and helped me bring out that unique character from within.”

Alaiza says it wasn’t until she joined the Binibining Pilipinas beauty pageant that she really worked hard to improve her modelling skills. “At that time, I learned that it was not all about the walk. It’s how you carry and present yourself, the manner you speak and how you engage with your viewer and gain their attention. I learned how to do my own hair and makeup, style my own wardrobe, and walk and talk with confidence and conviction.”

While she didn’t make the final cut in the pageant, she was able to

get the attention of talent scouts and designers who then casted her for ad campaigns and fashion festivals. Eventually, doors opened for her to be part of a reality TV show, Asia’s Next Top Model, which was aired across the region. She stayed on for a few episodes, and, while she did not come out as winner, the experience warranted a lot of work waiting for her.

Alaiza admits that, during her early years as a model, she was a bit wary of how she would fair in the industry capital. She said she was fortunate that as her career bloomed, many influential shows have been mixing their lineups to sprinkle in more models of color and welcome diversity of culture and background.

“Some have said that I

have this authentic Filipina presence and air, which could adapt to any kind of look. They consider me as the dark-skinned chameleon, which, to them, make me a unique one.”

Alaiza now resides in Manila, a big move which did not come easy. “I’ve always been independent but this is the first time I am living alone. I had my crying moments when I’d get lonely. Eventually, I made friends with the other models and talents in the industry. I felt less homesick and more attuned to the beat of this profession. I guess, after all, that is what modelling is all about --- versatility to any kind of role or environment you are in. I am happy where I am now, where my path has led me. I am determined to keep working until I reach

my goals and have enough to start a business of my own. Some opportunities are disguised as challenges, and, I believe, it’s all in the manner of how we face and handle them. I’m thankful for that strong foundation and support from my family, which help me brave through anything that may face me. “

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Tagum Coop brings GASA to Davao schools T

AGUM Cooperative recently distributed school bags and supplies to elementary school children in the provinces of Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley under its advocacy dubbed as “Gasa alang sa Eskwela” (GASA).

GASA is an annual advocacy campaign of Tagum Cooperative aimed to support the back to school program of the Department of Education (DepED) in Davao region.

The support to school pro-

gram is implemented in line with the 7th principle of Tagum Cooperative – the Concern for Community.

Around 700 school bags and school supplies that include notebooks, pads of paper, pencils, and crayons were given to five elementary schools from during the series of distribution activities conducted from June 28 to 30 this year.

Recipient schools in Compostela Valley province include the Langtud Elementary School

in Laak town and Mayaon Elementary School in Montevista municipality.

In Davao del Norte, schools who received the assistance include the Clementa D. Royo and Vislumino Y. Tamondong Elementary Schools in Kapalong town; and the Concepcion Elementary School in the municipality of Asuncion.

Tagum Cooperative chair Monica L. Salido led the distribution of the school supplies with the support of Directors

Fe J. Adlawan and Eduardo C. Amoguis.

Schools Division Superintendent Josephine L. Fadul of DepED Davao del Norte and District Supervisor Sarah Cubar joined the distribution of school supplies in Kapalong town.

DepED officials in both provinces expressed gratitude to Tagum Cooperative for the support it provided to the elementary school children in the area.

IPC Launches Cloud Community of the Philippines for biz and tech enthusiasts

Local business Renegade Folk expands and flourishes through e-commerce platforms P B USINESS success stories usually start with an inspiration. For Regina Sambalido and her business partners, the idea of making affordable yet lovely-looking leather sandals available to

Filipinos came during a trip abroad where they stumbled upon several stores selling beautiful leather footwear.

They were so taken with the sandals that they decided to bring a couple of pairs home

and offer them online. This started their love affair with footwear and the birth of Renegade Folk.

Regina and her three siblings together with Bibay Puyat initially offered a vari-

ety of quality leather sandals with the best material. The sandals can be worn by people of any age, which is what Renegade Folk is after. Most of their footwear now comes from the local manufacturing industry, which also benefit from Renegade Folk’s loyal online customers not only in the Philippines but also in Singapore, Australia, and Canada.

With their growing portfolio of everyday sandals, Renegade Folk has to strengthen its online exposure to expand its business, prompting the store to tap Shopify as its e-commerce platform. Shopify provides Renegade Folk with a portal for customers to see, appreciate and purchase

F LOCAL, 10

IONEER cloud services provider IPC (IP Converge Data Services, Inc.), launched the first ever Cloud Community of the Philippines (CloudComPH) during the recently held 2016 Philippine Cloud Summit at the SMX Convention Center in SM Aura Premier, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

A vendor-agnostic forum, CloudComPH was created by IPC to serve as a venue for the sharing of ideas and best practices, whether technical or operational, among individuals who build, develop, maintain and use cloud computing infrastructure, platforms, and applications in the Philippines.

IPC upholds its being a carrier and vendor neutral organization since its inception and underscores this by spearheading the CloudComPH initiative.

“We envision a bustling Philippine economy powered by the Cloud”, said Niño Valmonte, director of product management and marketing at IPC. “Because our country is still an emerging market for enterprise Cloud services, we felt that there is a need for a venue where Filipino businessmen, entrepreneurs, and ICT enthusiasts can learn the true benefits of the Cloud from one another and apply these learnings into their respective initiatives. We want the community to be a catalyst for business transformation and growth, leading to economic progress”, he added.

The community’s mission is to be the trusted source of cloud computing insights, information and best practices in the Philippines, and to in-

F IPC, 10

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EDGEDAVAO PARTNER ESTABLISHMENTS Serving a seamless society

EDGEDAVAO GENSAN PARTNERS Serving a seamless society

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NEDA... FROM 6

72.0 percent, respectively, for the first five months. On the other hand, exports to traditional markets such as Germany and the Netherlands declined by 18.8 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively.

“It would also be important to increase the flexibility of export firms to cater to the domestic market, given robust domestic demand.

We also need to keep government spending on track to ensure that domestic demand continues to provide a cushion to mitigate the

impact of the country’s weak exports growth,” said Pernia, who is also NEDA Director-General.

In terms of export markets, Japan (22.1%) remains on top in May 2016 with exports growing by 1.5 percent for the month and averaging 1.3 percent for the first five months.

Meanwhile, among seven selected Asian economies, only Vietnam posted positive export growth of 4.9 percent in May 2016, although lower than the previous month’s 7.5 percent. (NEDA)

13 10-minute power interruption on July 14 in Sasa and Bunawan EDGEDAVAO

D

AVAO Light and Power Co. will conduct a 10-minute power interruption on July 14, Thursday, anytime between 4:00AM to 5:00AM affecting customers in the northern part of the franchise.

This service disruption will be necessary to

facilitate the normalization or return of loads back to Davao Light’s Don Ramon Substation after recently being transferred to nearby lines to conduct upgrading works on the said substation.

Customers affected by this power interruption are those from PLDT Sasa up to

Bunawan including DPWH Office, Panacan Proper, Tibungco, and along Diversion Road up to Jose Maria College.

Davao Light apologizes for the inconvenience of this scheduled power interruption. But it will exert all efforts to restore electric service as scheduled or

earlier. However, there may be instances where restoration may extend beyond the schedule due to unavoidable circumstances.

Please contact our emergency service at 229-3572 for any power interruption that will fall outside the given indicated schedules.

JASKIN PAWNSHOP

Notice of Auction Sale All Jewelry and other items pawned at Jaskin Pawnshop San Perdo Street, Davao City during the months of January to February 2016 if not redeemed or renewed will be sold to the public on July 27, 2016 at our pawnshop premises.

July 11,12,13, 2016

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As quiet as he came, Duncan quietly retires

RETIRED. After 19 NBA seasons, Tim Duncan of San Antonio has decided to call it a career.

T

IM Duncan spent nearly two decades as the quiet storm in the middle of the San Antonio Spurs franchise, putting the team on his broad shoulders and carrying it to heights unseen in modern American sports.

With Duncan as the focal point, the Spurs won five championships, made the playoffs in all 19 of his seasons and cemented themselves as one of the most successful franchises in all of sports.

And now, the tireless and reluctant superstar is finally calling it a career. The 40-yearold Duncan announced his retirement on Monday, marking the end of an era for the Spurs and the NBA. “The greatest power forward ever,” the Los Angeles Clippers’ Jamal Crawford said Monday, as the tributes to Duncan’s career began coming.

Few would dare argue.

Duncan was the No. 1 overall pick in 1997 and teamed with coach Gregg Popovich, point guard Tony Parker and shooting guard Manu Ginobili to turn the Spurs from a

Nietes fights Estrada Sept 24

E

VEN though the result of the Pagara-Juarez fight was not the one he had hoped to achieve, for ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer, the show must go on.

Aldeguer will motor to Los Angeles Monday, away from the scene of Saturday’s nerve-wracking battle at San Mateo Event Center, to meet with Zanfer Promotions people Tuesday to try to finalize the Nietes-Estrada world flyweight title fight on September 24 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California on Pinoy Pride 38, that, if it pushes thru, will become one of the biggest fights in the lower weights in recent years. Estrada is the current WBO and WBA flyweight champion while Nietes is the WBO and Ring junior flyweight champion.

“We are in serious negotiations right now. The Zanfer people will drive from San Diego to Los Angeles where we meet to iron out the details of the fight,” Aldeguer told Philboxing earlier.

Nietes, the Philippines’ longest reigning world champion in history and has WBO super champion status, has been mandated by the WBO to fight for the third time Mexico’s Moises Fuentes who has become his mandatory challenger. Nietes and Fuentes fought to a draw the first time they met but Nietes had an emphatic victory over Fuentes in their rematch on May 10, 2014 when he decked Fuentes three times en route to a 9th round stoppage.

A lot of people felt there’s no point for a third fight. Nietes himself felt the same.

“Nietes came to my office one day, and as usual in his humble self, politely begged me to make the Estrada fight instead,” Aldeguer narrated. “I told him I’ll try.”

Since both Fuentes and Estrada are being promoted by Zanfer Promotions, Fernando

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Beltran, Zanfer CEO, was open to the idea and asked Estrada if he wanted the Nietes fight to which Estrada himself answered in the affirmative.

Aldeguer then wrote to WBO president Francisco Valcarcel asking permission to grant Nietes the privilege to fight for Estrada’s belt and if he wins, Nietes will have the option which belt to retain but if he loses, Nietes can continue to defend his old belt as has been done in similar situations.

Valcarcel told Michael he saw no problem with the request, especially since Nietes is a WBO super champion which certainly earned him such privilege.

“But it’s not a done deal yet,” Aldeguer cautioned. “If the deal pushes thru, it will be our biggest budgeted promotion ever.

So I’m talking to some people including ABS-CBN’s [chairman] Gaby Lopez and also there are a lot of details that we have to iron out with Zanfer.”

Aldeguer, however, felt that this fight has to be made. “All the work I’ve done the past six years was to ultimately to make these kind of fights. I wanted to make the biggest fights out there for our Filipino boxers. And this opportunity is there now.”

But a specter is always there: What if Nietes loses to Estrada? Will it not affect unfavorably the promotions especially that Nietes is the ALA flagship boxer?

“Boxing is not like organizing a concert event,” Aldeguer told Philboxing once. “In a concert, your only risk is if your singer loses his or her voice. But basically you already see what you’ve got even before the concert has started. In boxing, it’s different. You don’t really know what you’ve got until the hand of the winner has been raised at the very end.”

But for Aldeguer, win or lose, the show must go on.

solid franchise that could never quite get over the hump into one of the league’s superpowers.

The unassuming Duncan won two MVP awards and was one of just four players to be named NBA Finals MVP at least three times. He was a 15-time All-Star, a member of the AllNBA first team 10 times and is one of only three players — joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Parrish — to win at least 1,000 games in his career. He is fifth on the NBA’s career list in blocks, sixth in rebounds and 14th in scoring.

“The constant staple of their franchise,” Cleveland’s LeBron James said earlier this year.

Duncan was never one for big endorsement deals or look-at-me press conferences, which is why he was often overshadowed in the public eye by more outsized personalities like the James and Kobe Bryant, who also retired this year after 20 seasons, all with the Los Angeles Lakers. But he leaves this game as one of the league’s true giants, perhaps the best power forward to ever play and one who left as indelible a mark on his franchise as any player to come before him.

“For us as players, we just enjoy and appreciate each other,” Bryant

said earlier this season. “It’s not a matter of who’s better or who’s greater. You just accept the careers that you’ve had. I appreciate his career, and vice versa.”

The announcement comes two months after the Spurs were upset by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals, a six-game exit that immediately had people wondering — yet again — if it was Duncan’s last hurrah.

Turns out, it was.

And like everything else Duncan did in his career — aside from win — he retired quietly, with a statement from the team. There will be no victory lap for Duncan, no farewell tour like the one Bryant had this season.

Popovich would be available to address Duncan’s decision on Tuesday, the Spurs said.

The last time Duncan spoke to reporters was on May 12, when the Spurs had just been eliminated by the Thunder in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals. After being ineffective for most of the series, Duncan scored 19 points and teamed with fellow 40-year-old Andre Miller to trim a 26-point lead to nine in the fourth quarter before Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant closed out the series.

Huey says Grand Slam doubles title is near T

REAT Huey is optimistic the elusive Grand Slam will finally be his after reaching as far as the semifinals of Wimbledon men’s doubles with partner Max Mirnyi.

Huey and Mirnyi came close to reaching the finals but lost to Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, in the semifinals.

Huey, however, remains optimistic the Grand Slam title could soon come his way based

on how his partnership with Mirnyi has been working the past few tournaments.

“It was a good run to the semifinals. Max and I had a good year getting the Australian Open quarterfinals. But getting to the Wimbledon is our best result.

It’s something that is very good.”

“Hopefully, in the next few months, we get better and get a shot at the US Open,” said Huey on Monday.

The 30-year-old Huey, currently in town for the Davis

OLF waited 112 years to get back into the Olympics. The top four players in the world are waiting a bit longer.

Jordan Spieth delivered the final blow on Monday when he told the International Golf Federation he would not be going to Rio next month, leaving the sport without its four highest-ranked players who have

captured six of the last eight majors.

IGF President Peter Dawson said Spieth cited his concern over “health issues” for withdrawing.

All have indicated support for 2020 in Tokyo.

Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy previously withdrew, all citing the Zika virus. Day and Johnson have said

DD Daisuke Sato to the list of Filipino booters who have decided to take their talents overseas.

After OJ Porteria, the Davao-born Sato has taken his act to Europe, signing with Romanian side CSMS (Clubul Sportiv Municipal Stunetesc) Iasi after playing two years with Global FC. “I have done all I could for the club. And for me, now is the time to leave and go to the next stage,” the Sato posted on his Instagram post on Monday night. “It will be a big challenge for me.”

Sato was instrumental in Global’s UFL league conquest in 2014, debut campaign in the Asian Football Confederation Cup last year, and its recent UFL Cup conquest that clinched another AFC Cup berth for next year.

The 5-foot-7 left-back/ winger now joins a Southeast European side that’s seeking to qualify for the Europa League in the net UEFA season.

The half Pinoy, Japan-raised booter, 21, is still expected to continue playing for the Azkals in future tournaments.

Spieth to skip Rio too G

Cup tournament this weekend, felt they had their chances in the match against Herbert and Mahut, the world number one men’s doubles team in the rankings.

“We had some chances in the semis. We lost a five-set match. It’s something that we can learn from. We played well.

We were up two sets to one.

We had a small chance to break serve in the fourth but we didn’t get it. They showed they are the number one team in the world,”

they plan on having more children, while McIlroy is engaged and said he would soon be starting a family.

Eighteen eligible men, based on Monday’s world ranking, withdrew from the Olympics.

The women only had one player withdraw, Lee Anne Pace of South Africa, due to Zika concerns.

The men will have eight of the top 15 in the world in Rio. The women will have the top nine in the world; Ha-Na Jang at No. 10 is not eligible because

said Huey.

Huey felt winning the Wimbledon men’s doubles crown was doable had they reached the final. Herbert and Mahut lost to unseeded Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin for the Grand Slam crown.

“It’s a good match (semifinals) but looking back, I would have love to win the final because I believe we had a chance to winning the final. You’ll never know,” said Huey, now ranked No. 18 in the men’s doubles.

South Korea already reached its maximum of four players.

“There is no doubt that the number of withdrawals hasn’t shed golf in the best light, and we have to accept that,” Dawson said. “But we do understand why these individual decisions have been taken. Personally, I think there’s been something of an overreaction to the Zika situation, but that’s for individuals to determine, and there’s certainly a great deal of concern about this issue inside the game of golf, no doubt about that.”

Davao-born Azkal joins Romanian club A

ROMANIA-BOUND. Daisuke Sato will be taking his acts overseas but is still expected to suit up for the Philippine men’s football team.

16 EDGEDAVAO Sports

VOL. 9 ISSUE 98 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016

Duterte happy with Gilas’ effort P

RESIDENT Duterte is satisfied with the way Gilas Pilipinas played against France in the just concluded FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, according to Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William ‘Butch’

SUPPORTIVE. President Duterte’s interest for sports could spell positive changes in the country’s sports programs.

Ramirez.

Duterte was at the Mall of Asia Arena for the national team’s opening day game against Les Bleus where he did the ceremonial toss before the match. He went on and stayed to watch the entire game, which Gilas lost, 93-84.

Ramirez said Duterte was very satisfied with the team’s performance, based on his decision to stay on and watch the entire game.

“Kung hindi maganda, baka hindi na tinuloy ni Presidente (‘yung panonood). Tinapos niya,: said the PSC chairman, who based his observation in the past when Duterte would only watch the first half of the game of its annual basketball competition while he was still Davao City mayor.

“Sa aming annual games sa Davao, first and second quarter lang siya, pero eto tinapos niya,” added Ramirez, a close friend of the President.

Even Ramirez was satisfied with the effort put up by the national team as he also watched the game along with Duterte.

“Sabi niya, ‘Mananalo ba tayo?’

Sabi ko, panalo tayo nito because even if we win or lose, we unite the country. It’s a game of tall players pero eto, lumaban tayo,” said Ramirez.

Ramirez said the President’s body language is a good sign he supports Philippine sports.

“It’s a good indication that the President is really into sports,” he added.