Edge Davao Volume 13 Issue 19 | Sunday-Monday, May 3-4, 2020

EDGEDAVAO DAVAO

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SIGNS OF BOOM BOOM TOUGH JOB VOL.13 19••FRIDAY-SATURDAY, •FRIDAY-SATURDAY, SUNDAY-MONDAY, MAY 3-4, 2020 VOL.12 ISSUE MAY 31-JUNE 1,1,2019 VOL.12ISSUE ISSUE59 59 MAY 31-JUNE 2019

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SPMC chief suspects possible break in protocol as reason for frontliners' infection Applications for building, Applications for building, zoning zoningpermits permitsincrease increase

T T

he Office of the Davao City Planning he Office of the Davao City Planning and Development Coordinator is and Development Coordinator swarmed by applicants for locationalis swarmed by building applicants forother locational clearance, zoning, and perclearance, zoning, building and other permits with at least 500 applications submitted a weekly basis. mitsonwith at least 500 applications submitted on a weekly basis.

The increase in apis an inindiplications The increase apcation of Davao plications is an City’s indibooming cation of construction Davao City’s industry infrastrucboomingand construction ture development, the industry and infrastruccity turenoted. development, the cityAssistant noted. City PlanningAssistant and Development City PlanCoordinator Roy Ryan ning and Development Rigor said theRoy influx of Coordinator Ryan permit applicants Rigor said the influxon of apermit weeklyapplicants basis is very on high, causing delays in a weekly basis is very the issuances of perhigh, causing delays in mits. theRigor issuances of issupersaid the mits. ance of some permits, Rigor saidlocational the issusuch as for ance of some applications, permits, needed such as for locational actual surveys by their applications, needed personnel and this conactual surveys by tributed to the delay.their personnel andreally this con“There are too tributed to the delay.

“There are really too

many applications that we receive and it is not many applications that only limited and to the zonwe receive it is not ing there onlypermits, limited but to the zonare a lot more,” he ingalso permits, but there said. are also a lot more,” he He also underscored said. submission of incomHe also underscored plete sets of submission ofrequireincomments thatof further plete sets requireslows the process mentsdown that further ofslows issuing the the permits. down process cliof “There issuing are the some permits. ents“There whoseare documents some clihave discrepancies, and ents whose documents that causes the delay in have discrepancies, and the issuance of the perthat causes the delay mit. Another example isin the issuance the perwhen the areaofneeds to mit.

Another example be reclassified and thatis when the needsofto needs the area approval be reclassified that the city counciland first,” needs the approval of Rigor said. the city council FSIGNS,first,” P10 Rigor said.

FSIGNS, P10

MINDANAO MINDANAO HERITAGE THROUGH HERITAGEFASHION THROUGH MODERN MODERN ► INDULGE A1FASHION ►INDULGE A1

A grocery worker gets a haircut inside a delivery van parked near a supermarket in Sasa, Davao City on Saturday. Under the enhanced community quarantine in Davao City, majority of establishments including barber shops are not allowed to operate. Edge Davao

RAISING A MILLENNIAL FAMILY IN RAISINGFOREMOST A MILLENNIAL ESDEVCO’S MIND IN FAMILY FOREMOST ► PROPERTY P9MIND ESDEVCO’S ►PROPERTY P9

TOURISM. President Rodrigo Duterte responds to the discussions during the meeting with the President Japanese tourism TOURISM. Rodrigopart-Duterte ners at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan responds to the discussions during the on Wednesday night.the PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO partmeeting with Japanese tourism ners at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday night. PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

2 NEWS EDGEDAVAO

VOL.13 ISSUE 19 • SUNDAY-MONDAY, MAY 3-4, 2020

President Rodrigo Duterte has signed an executive order (EO), which formally allows the implementation of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in high-risk areas and general community quarantine (GCQ) in the rest of the country until May 15 to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country. Presidential Photo

FRONTLINERS RISK C SPMC chief suspects possible break in

Rebel slain after trying to steal SAP cash aid

protocol as reason for frontliners' infection

D

By MAYA M. PADILLO

octors and nurses of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) who were infected while directly treating Covid-19 positive patients might have broken the protocols of handling Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

SPMC chief of hospital Dr. Leopoldo Vega in a text message said this is among the possible reasons why these frontliners are at risk of getting sick with coronavirus.

Two doctors and a nurse of the state-

run hospital were recently tested positive with the virus. The three were added to the previous 12 frontliners infected with Covid-19.

“Might be a break in protocol in handling PPE or they got

it (virus) from outside caused by local transmission,” Vega said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has cited precautions required by health care workers to protect themselves and prevent transmission in the healthcare setting. The precautions to be implemented by health care workers caring for patients with COVID-19 include using PPE appropriately, selecting proper PPE, and being trained in how to put on, remove, and dispose of it.

Vega said SPMC

has tested a total of 519 frontliners with its Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) machine.

According to Vega, as of April 26, SPMC has 15 frontliners who tested positive -- five of them are still admitted but clinically improved and waiting for the next swab test.

Last April 15, Vega announced that an administrative staff of SPMC died due to COVID 19. The patient was the second coronavirus casualty from the hospital’s administrative staff.

OTABATO CITY – A communist rebel was killed while an undetermined number of his comrades were injured in a clash with government troops following a botched plan to steal the cash aid meant for beneficiaries of the social amelioration program (SAP) in Tulunan, North Cotabato on Friday.

Major Jun Napat, Tulunan police chief, said the town’s social workers, escorted by police and soldiers, were to proceed to Barangay Tuburan, an upland community known to be infiltrated by communist rebels, to distribute SAP funds to indigent residents when tipped of the plan of the New People’s Army (NPA).

“The social workers and their escorts were on board separate police and military vehicles when they were told of an impending ambush by the NPA (rebels) and plot to grab the SAP funds,” Napat said in an interview.

A team of 39th Infantry Battalion troopers, part of the reconnaissance patrol, figured in a clash with an undetermined number of rebels at 5:30 a.m.

“They were positioned on both sides of the highway ready for an ambush when foot patrol soldiers saw them,” he said, adding that a 30-minute firefight ensued.

There was no reported casualty on the government’s side. ?REBEL, P10

VOL.13 ISSUE 19 • SUNDAY-MONDAY, MAY 3-4, 2020

NEWS

EDGEDAVAO

3

Covid-19 cases among Pinoys abroad now 1,741

Sara slams NPA anew for A attacks during Covid-19

By MAYA M. PADILLO

M

ayor Sara Duterte-Carpio slammed the New People’s Army’s (NPA’s) declaration to end nationwide ceasefire saying it was just in their minds.

Mayor Sara said she didn’t feel there was a ceasefire implementation because the NPA continues to attack government personnel.

It can be recalled that the Philippine

government called for a ceasefire with the NPA amidst the coronavirus pandemic on March 16.

However, on April 30, the NPA announced that it will end the ceasefire and resume offensives against

Meet BHERTs, the frontline warriors in the Covid-19 war

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here had been a lot of stories about the world's new breed of heroes -- the professional health workers who are sacrificing even their lives in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.

As of the latest, roughly about 1,600 or 20% of the country's more than 8,000 Covid-19 cases, are health frontliners.

But little is heard of barangay-based health responders.

The country's Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs) are the frontliners in the fight against the pandemic right in the grassroots level.

On March 2020, the national government ordered the activation of BHERTs in every barangays all over the country to help the LGUs in the monitoring and prevention of the spread of Covid-19.

In Memorandum Circular 2020-018, DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said the BHERTs should visit homes of arriving passengers from a coronavirus-infected country within the locality.

In Mati City, BHERTs have been activated in anticipa-

tion to the Covid-19 pandemic a month before the DILG order. BHERTs have long been tapped by the Mati City Health Office during cases of outbreak of infectious disease like measles.

The City of Mati LGU activated a total of 34 BHERTs in all 26 barangays. Each BHERT is composed of five personnel -- midwives, DOH-HRH, barangay health worker and barangay tanod.

A BHERT member must be a legal settler of the said barangay, healthy with no co-morbidities, non-senior, and oriented on Covid-19 precautions.

They are also made to undergo training on COVID-19 guidelines and management.

BHERTs are tasked for contact tracing, daily monitoring of the PUMs and PUIs in their barangays and reporting the same to the Incident Management Team.

Despite their humongous task, BHERTs subsist on a meal allowance of P1,500. Luckily, in a latest resolution by the City Council and approved by City of Mati Mayor Michelle Nakpil Rabat, BHERTs ?MEET BHERTS, P9

the government forces.

Mayor Sara’s distrust of the NPA has been eminent. In December last year, she asked the the national government to exclude Davao City in its Christmas ceasefire with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPPNPA).

According to the mayor, sincerity is a strange word for the terrorist group to believe given their notorious record.

She also ordered

NPAs should not be given support whether financial, moral, or psychological after the recent attack in Paquibato District.

“Maski pa pila ka libo pa ang namatay sa COVID, they don’t care.

Clearly sa ilang ginabuhat puro ra sila storya ug puro ra kagubot.

Ang capital nila laway ra ug bala para manghadlok sa mga tao,” she said.

“Terrorists do not know the word ceasefire,” the presidential daughter said.

total of 34 more Filipinos abroad tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), bringing the total to 1,741, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported Saturday.

The latest DFA data also showed 10 new recoveries, and five new deaths among those in the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East.

To date, 466 have recovered while 1,069 are undergoing treatment. The death toll stands at 207, with two logged from the Asia Pacific, 69 in Europe, 18 in the Middle East/Africa, and 118 in the Americas.

A review of trends over the past month reveals that on aver-

age, the DFA receives daily reports of 11 new recoveries and six new deaths among Filipinos abroad.

"It is our hope to see more recoveries in the coming days and eventually, zero fatalities among our people here and abroad.

Together, let's beat Covid-19," DFA Assistant Secretary Eduardo Meñez said.

The total confirmed cases are pegged at 373 in the Asia Pacific, 515 in Europe, 368 in the Middle East/Africa, and 485 in the Americas.

The DFA continues to assist Filipinos abroad, particularly on repatriation. As of May 1, a total of 23,729 Filipinos returned to the Philippines amid the Covid-19 crisis. (PNA)

?JORDAN, P10

BHERTs are tasked for contact tracing, daily monitoring of the PUMs and PUIs in their barangays and reporting the same to the Incident Management Team.

4 NEWS

EDGEDAVAO

VOL.13 ISSUE 19 • SUNDAY-MONDAY, MAY 3-4, 2020

Filipino priest in Spain dies of Covid-19 complications T

A

72-year-old Filipino clergy died on Friday in the city of León in northwest Spain due to "complications" from the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

According to an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Phillies (CBCP) news website

on Saturday, Father Gilbert Luis Centina III was buried on the same day at a public cemetery in a ceremo-

Davao City records 146 COVID-19 cases

ny witnessed by his Augustinian community.

Centina was formerly of the Spanish Augustinian Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines before he was assigned to different missions abroad.

In Spain, he first served in the Augustinians houses in Ne-

guri and Loui from April 2013 until July 2019. He was last assigned to the Colegio de Nuestra Madre del Buen Consejo in León.

Centina’s accolades included winning the Palanca Memorial Awards, the country’s highest literary honor, in English poetry in 1975.

Dozens of stranded Dabawenyo students from the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan, North Cotabato and Mindanao State University in Marawi City arrive in Davao City on Friday night. CIO

?FILIPINO, P10

he total number of coronavirus cases in Davao City now stands at 146, according to the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC).

Of the total number, 40 are positive cases separately admitted at the SPMC (20) and the other 20 in Center D. SPMC reported there are four (4) new cases as of 8 a.m

on May 2, 2020.

Others cases are either Persons Under Investigation (PUIs) and Persons Under Monitoring (PUM), of which 89 patients are admitted at the SPMC; 12 in Center A; and, five (5) in Center B. There are no patients admitted in Center C. On the other hand, a total of 63 individuals have recov?DAVAO CITY, P10

5 ECONOMY EDGEDAVAO

VOL.13 ISSUE 19 • SUNDAY-MONDAY, MAY 3-4, 2020

Market vendors clean the mussels they will sell at Bankerohan Public Market in Davao City on Saturday. Edge Davao

Swine producers prepare more pork shipments to Cebu City B

PH financial strength among highest in the world: report

S

wine producers in Gen. Santos City and South Cotabato province on Saturday lauded Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella for lifting the ban on pork shipments from the area.

Ramil Lim, president of the South Cotabato Swine Producers Association (Socospa), said Labella’s order would provide Cebu City with a steady supply of “quality, affordable, and safe” supply of pork products.

In an executive order issued last April 28, Labella allowed the entry of live hogs and pork products from “dark green and green zone areas” into Cebu City.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) had declared this city and South Cotabato as green areas, the label for localities that were confirmed free from the deadly African swine fever (ASF).

“We have been

supplying live hogs and pork carcasses to Cebu City and the province of Cebu for more than 30 years now,” Lim said in an interview.

He said swine producers here were shipping an average of eight to 10 refrigerated vans of frozen pig carcasses a week before Labella issued a ban on hogs and pork products from suspected ASF-infected areas outside Cebu last February.

Each refrigerated van contains 12 tons of pig carcasses that were inspected and certified by the National Meat Inspection Service.

Lim said the pork products from the area

were mainly supplied to restaurants, meat shops, and processors.

Mindanao, which has been disease-free for more than five decades, recorded its first ASF case in Davao Occidental on February 2, prompting the DA to issue a health alert and placed the island under quarantine.

However, he said swine farms here and in South Cotabato, both backyard and commercial remained ASF-free and were recently given a green rating by the DA. The rating allows them to again ship and transport hogs and other pork products to markets outside Mindanao, Lim said.

He assured that Socospa member-producers have been maintaining strict quarantine measures in their farms to keep the livestock industry here free from diseases.

Aside from being

ASF-free, the entire Region 12 or Soccsksargen remains free from foot-and-mouth disease.

The city and South Cotabato have a combined population of at least 45,000 sows and are producing at least 50,000 heads of 100kg. hogs every month.

At least 60 percent of the production is shipped to the Visayas, particularly Cebu and Southern Leyte.

Industry sources here said frozen pig carcasses coming from the city are considered as among supplies entering Cebu City.

Lim declined to give the exact figure but sources said the average bulk delivery price of pig carcass is between PHP135 to PHP145 per kg. before the ban was imposed in Cebu City and Cebu province.

The ban is still in effect in the province of Cebu. (With reports from Edwin G. Espejo/ PNA)

angko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said a report that identified the Philippines as among countries with high financial strength validates the authorities’ belief in a robust economic recovery from the pandemic.

A report from The Economist showed that the Philippines placed sixth out of 66 select emerging economies with a high level of financial strength.

Botswana led the list, followed by

Taiwan, South Korea, Peru, and Russia.

Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, and China rounded out the Top 10, placing seventh to 10th, respectively.

These economies were measured based on the percentage of public debt to gross domestic product (GDP), foreign debt, cost of borrowing, and reserve cover.

Diokno, in a Viber message to journalists on Friday, said the country’s ranking

The Department of Tourism (DOT) has funded seven sweeper flights for some 1,100 stranded domestic tourists from several parts of the Philippines.

The first three flights facilitated on Friday brought 180 people from Puerto Princesa, 60 from El Nido, and 144 from Caticlan to Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, 136 stranded tourists from Butuan, 149 from Iloilo, and 202 from Davao arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on Saturday. The seventh flight is expected to depart Cebu for NAIA on the same day to pick up an expected 177 local tourists but the DOT said it has yet to confirm the number.

?PH FINANCIAL, P10

?DOT, P10

“

6 VANTAGE VANTAGE EDGE DAVAO EDGEDAVAO

EDITORIAL

VOL.13 ISSUEVOL.13 19 • SUNDAY-MONDAY, MAY 3-4, ISSUE 10 • FRIDAY, MARCH 20,2020 2020

There is no provision that allows these sports. You know that tennis is a buddy system...The golfers are the ones complaining because they are playing in a wide open space, but the nature of the sport being very sociable still makes it prohibited at the moment...I am saddened too that I cannot go to the gym and I will gain more weight. I used to go to the gym six days a week and now, I still cannot. Fitness coaches said just do virtual workouts.

Be significant PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESPERSON

With the situation the Philippines is facing amidst the coronavirus threat, it takes everyone’s utmost patience, understanding and compassion to get the country through the hill.

Hence, businesses must first take consideration of their workers rather than their profits or losses. The reason why the community quarantine is not working 100 percent is that the lowly workers are forced to report to work under fear of losing their jobs and not earning their keep. The spectre of having no mey to feed their families is a far bigger threat than dying because of the virus.

In the minds of the ordinary folks: “We will die just the same.”

Only those who have enough food in their pantry, those who can afford to panic shop, and those who can afford to order online for deliveries will survive. But for the bigger chunk of the society, the equation remains “no work, no food.”

Thus, it is a welcome relief that there are initially 10 companies made the supreme sacrifice of to compensate their workers during the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine period. This will greatly help those in Metro Manila where people still go to work

EDGEDAVAO

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ANTONIO M. AJERO Editor in Chief

NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO Managing Editor

MAYA M. PADILLO Senior Reporter

KENNETH IRVING K. ONG ATHENA JILLIAN BRAVO NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN MEGHANN STA. INES FERINA SANTOS Lifestyle

LEANDRO S. DAVAL JR. Photography

ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR. CHRISTIAN JAY H. RAFAL DR. MAURO L. PUYOD CHA MONFORTE Layout/Cartoons Cartoonist Correspondent Columnists: MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • AURELIO A. PEÑA • ZHAUN ORTEGA • BERNADETTE “ADDIE” B. BORBON • MARY ANN C. QUISIDO • LEANDRO DAVAL SR.,TRIA • NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN • EMILY Columnists: ANTONIO V.“ADI” FIGUEROA • HENRYLITO D. TACIO •B.JOHN CARLO • MUJAHID NAVARRA ••FRED C. LUMBA • DENNIS R. GORECHO ZEN CHUA • CARLOS MUNDA Economic Analyst: ENRICO •“GICO” G. S. DAYANGIRANG • JONALLIER GREGORIO G. DELIGERO VIDA MIA VALVERDE • HAROLD CAVITE M. PEREZ

OLIVIA D. VELASCO D. MARATAS RICHARD C. EBONA OLIVIA D. VELASCO JASPERSOLANI V. BACSAL General Manager Finance Advertising Specialist VP Operations General Manager JOCELYN S. PANES Director of Sales

HARRY ROQUE

despite the order.

The 10 firms reported by the Department of Labor to have made the compensation package are Aboitiz, Asian Terminal/Solaire Resort Hotel, Ayala Group of Companies, JG Summit, Jollibee, Lucio ON SPORTS STILL BANNED Tan Group, Manny V. Pangilinan Group, San Miguel Corporation, DURING THE the GENERAL SM and Udenna Group.These firms answered call of President Rodrigo Duterte to take care of their workers and employees during this time ofCOMMUNITY national emergency. QUARANTINE DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III lauded the companies and said their compassion and good example should inspire other enterprises whose source of wealth is the labor of their workforce.

While big companies can take some hit, it is a different story for smaller firms and this is where the government should come in. For sure, there are already some formulation to this effect being done.

For now, the best thing to do for everyone is to try to be significantly helpful instead of adding up to the problem and it all starts with following orders.

SOLANI D. MARATAS Finance

CAGAYAN DE ORO MARKETING OFFICE MANILA MARKETING OFFICE RICHARD C. EBONA LEIZEL A. DELOSO | Marketing Manager Unit 6, Southbank Plaza Velez-YacapinProduct Sts. Development officer Cagayan de Oro City Address: No. 18 Purok 4B, Madelo Street, Lower Bicutan, Taguig City Tel: (088) 852-4894 Mobile number: +63 947 265 2969(smart); +63 916 955 8559(globe)

VOL.13 ISSUE 19 • SUNDAY-MONDAY, MAY 3-4, 2020

EDGEDAVAO

VANTAGE POINTS

7

THE CONTINUING SAGA OF WWII VICTIMS OF SEXUAL SLAVERY AND VIOLENCE It has been two years this week, April 27, 2018 to be exact, since the Lola statue along Roxas Boulevard in Manila was surreptitiously removed by the Duterte administration in order not to antagonize the Japanese government.

“The Japanese has paid early for that. Yung reparation started many years ago. So huwag na lang natin insultuhin,” President Duterte said in justifying the removal stressing that it is not the policy of the Philippine government to offend other nations.

Then Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Cayetano echoed Duterte’s statement saying that the Philippines cannot strengthen its relationship with Japan if it keeps inflaming a matter that is considered “settled.”

In December 2017, Tulay Foundation’s two-meter-high “Lola” statue of an unnamed woman wearing a traditional Filipino dress, blindfolded, with hands clutched to her chest, was installed along Roxas Boulevard.

The Lola statue represented Filipino women’s dignity and stands as “a reminder that wars of aggression must always be opposed, and that sexual slavery and violence should never happen again to any woman, anywhere at any time.”

Four months later, the statue was dismantled under cover of darkness on April 27, 2018, by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), allegedly for a drainage improvement project, but seen as submission to protests from Japan.

Issues of historical revisionism and the government’s submission to Japanese policy were raised by concerned groups led by the Flowers-for-Lolas as they con-

demned the removal of the statue.

The Lola statue was later placed under custody of its artist, Jonas Roces, and which was supposed to be reinstalled at the Baclaran Church last August.

Another Lola statue, a young woman with fists resting on her lap, has been removed on December 30, 2018, from the Catholic-run Mary Mother of Mercy shelter for the elderly and the homeless in San

ors the memory, courage, and resilience of these Filipino women.

The Lola statue is meant to show that there was a war crime in World War II, and that is military sexual slavery. This must not

However, the Lola statue disappeared under dubious circumstances when Roces failed to turnover it on the scheduled date of reinstallation. He told Tulay that the Lola statue was allegedly taken by unidentified men from his art studio in Cainta Rizal.

Roces’ explanation is deemed unacceptable by the Flower-for-Lolas. The statue cannot easily be transferred from one place to another; it took a small crane to remove it from its original location at Roxas Blvd. more than a year ago.

Pedro, Laguna, only two days after its unveiling.

To date, the lifesize statue of two women at Caticlan, Malay, Aklan is the last remaining statue that symbolizes the struggles of the Lolas.

The statue was installed on Feb. 5, 2019, and stands on the property owned by the family of women’s rights activist Nelia Sancho, who accompanied the Lolas in testifying before international venues in the late 1990s.

Even if it is a reminder of a painful past, the Lola statue hon-

be forgotten, especially now when most victims are old, starting to pass away, and with their death, the issue must not die down with them.

Due to their tender age then, it was a painful experience for them to be subjected to sexual slavery, rape and other forms of sexual violence during World War 2. The victims have spent their lives in misery, having endured physical injuries, pain and disability, and mental and emotional suffering.

It has been more than 70 years since the war ended on Au-

gust 15, 1945, and yet the Japanese government refuses to recognize its official accountability to the victims of sexual slavery and violence.

Justice has not been given to women such as Rosa Henson.

The Lolas are dying without receiving a formal apology and legal compensation from Japan.

With the onslaught of the COVID19 pandemic, Flowers-for-Lolas is worried on the health status of the surviving lolas.

Experts noted that older adults and people who have severe underlying medical conditions like hypertension, heart disease, asthma, and diabetes seem to be at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19 illness, perhaps a mark of biological aging and declining immunity.

From their original number of more than 200 in the late 1990s, less than 50 survivors are still alive, highlighting a sense of urgency for them to receive a formal apology and legal compensation from Japan while their voices can still be heard.

Their fight for unequivocal public apology, accurate historical inclusion, and just compensation continues up to this day.

The issue should be remembered and resolved, not buried and forgotten. ***

Kule is the monicker of Philippine Collegian, the official student publication of UP Diliman.

Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices.

For comments, email info@sapalovelez.com, or call 09175025808 or 09088665786).

HUMBLE YOURSELF “Who wants to share knowledge and make contributions to what is shared by another, is humble. On the other hand, who only wants to leave in evidence to another, correcting and asking what already knows, trying to erroneously demonstrate all the knowledge that appears to possess, is simply a haughty one.” – Jasmina Alexander

*** I was reading the book, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff… and It’s All Small Stuff by Richard Carlson, and one of the chapters urged readers to “let others have the glory.” Actually, it’s all about pride and humility.

On pride, the book states: “Our need for excessive attention is that ego-centered part of us that says, ‘Look at me. I’m special. My story is more interesting than yours.’ It’s that voice inside of us that may not come right out and say it, but that wants to believe that ‘my accomplishments are slightly more important than yours.’

“The ego is that part of us that wants to be seen, heard, respected, considered special, often at the expense of someone else. It’s the part of us that interrupts someone else’s story, or impatiently waits his turn to speak so that he can bring the conversation and attention back to himself.”

So, instead of doing so, why don’t share the klieg lights and state with others. Allow others to perform lead roles, too, instead of having them relegated to supporting parts. Doing so would be a humbling experience, figuratively and literally speaking.

Carlson wrote: “Although it’s a difficult habit to break, it’s not only enjoyable but actually peaceful to have the quiet confidence to be able to surrender your need for attention and instead share in the joy of someone’s else glory.”

Now, I remember what one wise man say: If two goats meet each other in a narrow path above a stream or water, what do they do?

They cannot turn back, and they cannot pass each other, for there is not an inch of spare room. Instinctively, they know if they butt each other, both will fall into the water below and be drowned. What would they do?

The moral is that a bit of deflation can help us all at times.

No man is an island, said John Donne. That’s so damned true. You cannot live alone. God made Eve because He knew Adam needed a companion. How boring Adam’s life would be without Eve. But in some instances, those who have more in life look down those who have less in life. Un-

numb. In his wandering, he literally tripped over a poor man who was almost frozen.

The rich man had to make an immediate decision: Should he help the poor man, or should he continue in hopes of saving himself?

In an instant, he made a decision and threw off his wet gloves.

He knelt beside the poor man and

Nature has taught one goat to lie down so that the other can pass over its body; as a result, each goat arrives at its destination safe and sound.

If you still don’t get it, here’s another one. Perhaps you’ve heard of the story of the big truck which gets stuck under a low overhead bridge. Nobody knows what to do until a small boy suggests that they let the air out of the tires. This done, the truck now a couple inches lower, grazes through.

knowingly, those who are poor are oftentimes the savior of those who are rich. Such what came into my mind while reading a chapter of the book, Something to Smile About by Zig Ziglar.

A rich man was hiking in the mountains one December. He was taken by surprise in a sudden snowstorm and quickly lost his way. He knew he needed to find shelter fast, or he would freeze to death. Despite all of his efforts, his hands and feet quickly went

began massaging his arms and legs.

After the rich man had worked for a few minutes, the poor man started to respond and was soon able to get on his feet. Together, the two men, supporting each other, found help.

The rich man was later informed that by helping the poor man, he had helped himself. He numbness vanished while he was massaging the poor man’s arms and legs. His heightened activity had enhanced his circulation and

brought warmth to his hands and feet.

Had the rich man didn’t humble himself and help the poor man, he would have died, too. Whatever the status we have in life – whether you are rich or poor – we are living in the same planet. We exist together, whether we like it or not.

And it came to pass that a stooped old man and a lively young man happened to meet one day.

The young man bragged to the old timer, “Why don’t you walk straight, like me? That’s no way to grow old.

It’s all a matter of habit – at least, that’s what I am told.”

The old man gave him a look of pity and replied, “My dear young friend, have you ever examined a grain field and noticed which heads are bent and which ones stand up straight? If you take a good look as harvest time draws near, you will notice that the heads which are empty are standing tall and high.

But the heads that make a good harvest are the ones that are filled and bending low.”

“Humility is not renunciation of pride but the substitution of one pride for another,” Eric Hoffer once said. Don’t let the pride outpower you. Humble yourself before others and you get your reward you haven’t experienced before.

In Venus in Arms, author Criss Jami reminded: “Sometimes, it takes a lowly, title-less man to humble the world. Kings, rulers, chief executive officers, judges, doctors, pastors, they are already expected to be greater and wiser.”

Allow others to share the glory in order for them to shine also.

Again, here’s a thought from Carlson: “When you surrender your need to hog the glory, the attention you used to need from other people is replaced by a quiet inner confidence that is derived from letting others have it.”

8 AGRITRENDS EDGEDAVAO

VOL.13 ISSUE 19 • SUNDAY-MONDAY, MAY 3-4, 2020

THE MANY USES OF RICE STRAW

By HENRYLITO D. TACIO

R

ice is the staple food of Filipinos. Studies have shown that for every peso spent on food, 20 centavos go to rice. “If we did not have rice, our deepest comfort food, we would probably feel less Filipino,” the late food columnist Doreen Fernandez once said.

It is no wonder why the Philippines is one of the world’s rice producers. “We produce rice as our food regardless of the cost,” said Dr. Santiago R. Obien, former executive director of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice). “We do not produce rice to compete with others – we do not sell rice; we don’t complete in the world market.”

In producing rice, one of the wastes that are left in the open field after harvesting are the rice straw, locally known as dayami.

Rice straw is a rice by-product produced when harvesting paddy. “Each kilogram of milled rice produced results in roughly 0.7 to 1.4 kilograms of rice straw depending on varieties, cutting-height of the

stubbles, and moisture content during harvest,” explains the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

“Rice straw is separated from the grains after the plants are threshed either manually, using stationary threshers or, more recently, by using combine harvesters.”

Globally, roughly 800 to 1,000 million tons per year of rice straw is produced, with about 600 to 800 million tons per year produced in Asia, according to Dr. Martin Gummert, senior scientist at IRRI’s Postharvest Development.

Most of these rice straws are simply disposed of – by burning.

Unknowingly, not too many Filipino farmers are aware that burning rice straws can contribute to global warming, experts claim.

“Burning of rice straws, generally practiced during the harvest season, causes air pollutants such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and Sulphur dioxide,” the Nueva Ecija-based PhilRice said in a press release. All those pollutants are considered greenhouse gases (GHGs), which are responsible for trapping the heat from the sun at it radiates back into space.

As such, burning rice straw is not en-

vironment-friendly.

In addition, it is also unhealthy.

Studies have shown that rice straw burning is also known to emit particulate matters and other chemicals such as dioxins and furans that have negative impact on human health.

“Many of us are not aware, but the common practice in the rural areas, particularly in rice fields, or burning rice straw and other waste from the farm contributes more to air pollution

than the gases emitted by motor vehicles, if measured collectively,” said Jose Dayao, who was the regional executive director for Bicol of the Department of Agriculture, when he said those words.

A study conducted by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said that uncontrolled open burning, the highest percentage of which entailed burning of agricultural waste like rice straws, is the highest source of car-

cinogenic dioxins and furans – which are emitted during the combustion process.

Based on estimates by the DOST’s Industrial Technology Development Institute, 250 kilograms of rice are burned per ton of rice produced. In addition, burning straws in the open field decreases soil’s nitrogen, 25% of phosphorus, 20% of potassium, and 5%60% of sulfur, PhilRice claims.

If not burnt in open fields, farmers

VOL.13 ISSUE 19 • SUNDAY-MONDAY, MAY 3-4, 2020

use these rice straws by incorporating them in the soil in wet condition during ploughing, which causes the emission of methane, another greenhouse gas.

“Rice production contributes to global warming as it emits methane,” according to Dr. Constancio “Tony” Asis, Jr., who was then PhilRice supervising science research specialist when he said those words.

Rice fields are one of the major contributors of methane in the atmosphere. “An estimated 19 percent of world’s methane production comes from rice paddies,” admits Dr. Alan Teramura, a botany professor at the University of Maryland.

“Methane absorbs heat 21 times more than carbon dioxide and it has 9- to 15-year life time in the atmosphere over a 100year period,” says Dr. Asis, a recipient of the 2011 Norman E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship Award.

U n k n o w i n g l y, there are several uses of rice straw, according to PhilRice. “To minimize postharvest waste, rice straws can be used by farmers as organic fertilizer and

primary material for mushroom production,” it suggests.

Rice straw and other biomass from farm by-products can help farmers save expenses from chemical fertilizer inputs. Recycling farm wastes can also keep their environment clean and free from pollutants.

“When straws are scattered in the field during land preparation, they maintain soil’s nutrients and moisture,” said Evelyn J. Javier, PhilRice’s supervising science research specialist of Agronomy, Soil and Plant Physiology Division.

According to Javier, every 5 tons of rice straws can increase soil’s nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, silicon, and carbon.

They also preserve the biological diversity of microorganism that helps in nutrient cycling and efficient fertilizer utilization.

Rice straw can also be used as mulch to protect the roots of the plants from heat and cold and reduce the evaporation rate. They also prevent weeds to grow in the paddy field.

At the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC), a non-government or-

EDGEDAVAO

ganization in Kinuskusan, Bansalan, Davao del Sur, rice straws are used as mulching materials for the vegetables they produce.

These are placed under the growing tomatoes, sweet pepper, eggplants, cucumbers, and ampalaya.

Another profitable use for rice straws is in mushroom production. “Rice straw can be used as the basic material for mushroom cultivation,” said the website, businessdiary.com.ph. “Mushroom are capable of breaking down organic material that other microorganisms cannot decompose.”

Rice straw can be used as the main substrate. However, the rice straw must be composted first. To improve the nutrient content, rice straws are mixed with chicken manure, rice bran, urea, and gypsum. For each ton of dry rice straw, 100 kilograms of chicken manure, 50 grams of rice bran, 1215 kilograms of urea, and 10 kilograms of gypsum are added.

Growing mushrooms on rice straw can help break down the straw making it more suitable for anaerobic digestion, says Craig Jamieson, a bioenergy expert. Anaerobic digestion, he

adds, produces biogas, which can in turn be used as an alternative energy source for cooking, generating heat for drying, and producing electric power.

The waste from mushroom production is also the main substrate for vermicomposting, one of the best organic fertilizers produced. At the Lao Integrated Farm, Inc. in barangay Eman in Bansalan, Davao del Sur, rice straws are utilized as “feed” for the earthworms that turn them into vermicompost.

Rice straw can also be used as silage for cattle feed. “Rice straw has too few nutrients to be used as the only source of food for cattle but is a good feed additive and can also be treated to increase the supply of energy and protein,” said Dr. Gummert.

“In general, the daily recommendation maximum intake of rice straw by ruminants is 1 to 1.5 kilograms per 100-kilogram live-weight per day,” he continued.

“Urea-treated straw (rice straw is ensilaged with 2-3% urea) can increase intake and digestibility of this rice straw-based feed.”

Meanwhile, a study headed by PhilRice’s

AGRITRENDS

9

Cheryll C. Launio found out that early incorporation of both stubble and straw into the soil is “the most cost-effective way of disposing rice straw.”

More importantly, it can help reduce methane emissions.

The study was done in the rice growing areas of Central Luzon, Western Visayas, Cagayan Valley, and Ilocos regions, where around 30% of farmers burnt their rice straw. The rest of farmers adopted any of the following practices: scattered it in their fields, incorporated it into the soil during land preparation, or just left it in their threshing areas for incorporation in the next cropping season.

Based from the study, it was found that incorporating stubble less than 30 days before crop establishment is responsible for the largest contri-

bution of GHG emissions. But rice stubble incorporation more than 30 days before crop establishment and incorporating composted rice straw into the field “yielded the lowest cumulative levels of methane and nitrous oxide.”

However, “simply shifting from the baseline approach of late stubble incorporation and straw burning to early incorporation of both stubble and straw also gave good results and led to reduction in GHG emissions of around 80%.

This was mainly due to reductions in methane emissions.” xxxxThe researchers’ conclusion: “Shifting from rice straw burning to rice straw incorporation will not necessarily reduce global warming potential if straw is incorporated less than 30 days before cultivation, especially in flooded conditions.”

are included in the P150/day hazard pay for the next six months while the LGU is fighting the pandemic.

On their health security, one PPE is given to every BHERT to be used only by the midwife who will conduct the interview of a

suspected patient.

Working since February, about five members of the BHERTs have already suffered flu-like symptoms while performing their job. Luckily, none of them tested positive of Covid-19.

(CIO MATI)

MEET BHERTS from 3

10

EDGEDAVAO

VOL.13 ISSUE 19 • SUNDAY-MONDAY, MAY 3-4, 2020

REBEL from 3 Citing information from village officials, Napat said one rebel was slain but his body was taken by his companions.

He identified the NPA leader who was to lead the ambush and robbery as Eusebio Cranzo of the NPA Guerilla Front 72.

Police and soldiers recovered bloodied spent shells for an AK-47 rifle, the rebels’ signature firearm, and also empty shells for an M-203 grenade launcher and an M16

rifle.

Local social work officials decided to postpone the distribution of the SAP and were studying the possibility of conducting it in a nearby and safer village.

The NPA, together with the Communist Party of the Philippines, is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA)

At least seven buses were chartered by the DOT-National Capital Region to bring home the tourists mostly residing in Metro Manila, regional director Woodrow Maquiling Jr. earlier said.

Complementing the chartered buses are three vehicles from the Philippine Coast Guard and five e-jeepneys from the Department of Transportation.

Meanwhile, nonNCR residents will be transported by their respective local government units.

The assistance came after the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) recently

approved the funding of sweeper flights for qualified stranded local tourists from other regions to the NCR. Since the enhanced community quarantine was imposed in several parts of the country, DOT has assisted over 20,000 people, mostly foreigners, and—in cooperation with Overseas Workers Welfare Administration—more than 12,500 returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) aboard 83 sweeper flights from various domestic gateways and 29 repatriation flights mounted by foreign governments, which transited through the NAIA Terminals. (PNA)

DOT from 5 Market goers gather around a large pile of fresh eggs at an outlet at Bankerohan Public Market in Davao City on Saturday. Edge Davao

PH FINANCIAL from 5 on the list “is consistent with what we’ve been saying all along: the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic hit the Philippines from a position of strength.”

“The Philippines before the Covid-19 crisis was on the road to A-rating. We’re not saying that the Philippines has not suffered from this crisis, together with the rest of the world.

But our relative position among emerging economies gives us confidence that the Philippines would have a U-shaped

bounce-back once the pandemic fades,” he said.

Diokno traced this strength to the current administration’s “well-crafted economic plan, the close coordination and competence of President (Rodrigo) Duterte’s economic team, and the President’s strong leadership in getting the much-needed legislation passed by Congress.”

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) show that the national government’s total outstanding debt as of the end

of March reached PHP8.177 trillion, the bulk, or 67 percent, of which is accounted for by domestic debt while 33 percent were sourced from external fund sources.

The proportion of the country’s debt-to-domestic output also stood at 44.2 percent as of 2019, down from as high as 78.3 percent in 1986.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier traced this to continued sound fiscal management by the administrations since that period.

Dominguez said

teams, they all beat him. They just did.

“What separated Jordan from all of us was he was the first one to three-peat. But he didn’t three-peat against Magic, Larry and Dr. J.” Let’s parse this a bit.

Absent of any context, sure, Jordan’s Bulls were not as dominant in the 1980s as they were in the 1990s. It would have been quite a feat, considering Jordan was still a high school senior in 1981.

Jordan is 13 years younger than Julius Erving, six years younger than Larry Bird and three years younger than Magic Johnson. To draw parallels between them is a little disingenuous.

Erving won his lone title before Jordan was drafted in 1984. Jordan was in year three of his career when Bird won the last of his rings and a fifth-year player when Johnson won the last of his championships.

Thomas won the first of his two titles at age 27 in 1989. Detroit’s playoff rotation featured two other future Hall of Famers and two more multiple-time All-Stars.

At that point, Jordan was the lone All-Star on Chicago’s roster.

Scottie Pippen did not make his first AllStar appearance until 1990, when the Pistons eliminated the Bulls in a seven-game conference finals set, and Horace Grant would not play in his

lone All-Star Game for another four years.

They played two years together in the 1980s.

Jordan won the first of his six titles at age 27 in 1991, sweeping a 29-yearold Thomas’ Pistons and winning a fivegame Finals series against a 31-year-old Johnson’s Lakers in the process. That Jordan’s best Bulls teams never faced the best of Erving’s 76ers, Bird’s Celtics and Johnson’s Lakers is a matter of timing, not definitive evidence that one player was any greater than the other.

And yet, Thomas offered this list to Reiter of the best five players he competed against, in order: 1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

JORDAN from 11

excluding guarantees, the country’s actual debt-to-GDP ratio was at 41.5 percent last year.

Relatively, BSP data show a preliminary figure of a record-high USD89 billion for the county’s gross international reserves (GIR) as of end-March.

This amount provides 7.9 months’ worth of cover for imports of goods and services and payments of primary income, higher than the international standard of a three-month cover. (PNA) 2. Larry Bird 3. Magic Johnson 4. Michael Jordan 5. Julius Erving

For the record, Bird called Jordan “the finest athlete he’d ever witnessed or opposed” as early as 1985, and Johnson declared Jordan “the best ever” by 1993 — in the same interview Thomas said, “It would have been interesting to see how our team would have fared against this Bulls team. When you’re talking about this Bulls team, you’re really only talking about Michael Jordan.

You can’t really say that our team would’ve beat them or the Lakers would’ve beat them, because nobody has really found out a way to stop this guy.”

DAVAO CITY from 4

ered from the disease adults, and one (1) and 20 deaths (19 child). CIO

FILIPINO from 4

In 1983, he also received the Focus Magazine literary award in English poetry. His first novel, Wages of Sin, written under a pseudonym, was published in Honolulu in 1988.

His works include five poetry collections: Getxo and Other Poems, Triptych and Collected Poems, Somewhen, Glass of Liquid Truths, and Our Hidden Galaxette.

The Augustinian

friar was also the former school chaplain of Colegio San Agustin-Makati and pastor at San Jose Parish in Iloilo City.

Last March, Filipina Benedictine nun, Sr. Maria Gratia Balogot also died of Covid-19 in Spain.

The 71-year-old nun superior of their community in India, contracted the virus while on a short visit to Spain to renew her visa. (PNA)

and sports enthusiasts to allow non-contact sports as a way of promoting a healthy lifestyle.

He cited among those being considered are those sports that practice physical distancing.

NOT from 12

11 SPORTS EDGEDAVAO

VOL.13 ISSUE 19 • SUNDAY-MONDAY, MAY 3-4, 2020

Player agents, executives call for NBA to cancel season

N

BA executives and player agents are calling on the league to cancel the remainder of the 2019-20 season due to health concerns over the novel coronavirus outbreak, CNBC reported on Thursday.

Even as many states in the U.S. begin to ease stay-at-home restrictions and open up the economy, cracks are beginning to show in the NBA's resolve to complete the campaign and crown a champion, according to CNBC. Talking to executives and agents, CNBC said team owners are concerned with liability issues and are conflicted about whether or not to give up on the current season.

The NBA and National Basketball Players Association (NBAPA) has agreed to withhold 25% of players’ pay starting next month.

With that issue resolved CNBC reported that many owners have

no desire to return because other sources of revenue are down and despite a massive media rights deal, teams are still reporting losses.

One person told CNBC a western conference team has already lost roughly $50 million this season and doesn’t have much incentive to restart the campaign.

“What (owners) are saying is, ’If we return, where is the revenue that is going to justify the additional cost of returning?'," one team executive said.

“They are looking at the cost side versus the revenue side. What revenue comes in now?”

Despite the reservations, the NBA has given every indication it plans

to complete the current campaign.

The league announced this week it would soon unveil rule changes that will allow teams to open their practice facilities for players to take part in treatment and limited workouts.

There is no set date for when facilities can open, though the league advised teams that it is targeting no earlier than May 8. The NBA was the first of North America's major sports to suspend play after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for the coronavirus on March 11.

The decision created a domino effect with many league and sports quickly following the NBA lead and cancelling or postponing seasons.

A number of scenarios of how the NBA might be able to restart have been floated, including centralizing teams in Las Vegas or the Bahamas and playing games in empty arenas. (Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto, Editing by Ed Osmond)

Michael Jordan (left) faced Isiah Thomas (right) in several playoff matches.

Jordan is 4th-best player I ever faced: Thomas

I

f the long-held grudge between Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas had any hope of softening in the decades since their Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons met in four straight NBA playoff series from 1988-91, “The Last Dance” documentary has all but solidified them taking their beef to the grave.

In an extensive interview with CBS Sports writer Bill Reiter, Thomas said he was “definitely surprised” to hear Jordan call him “an a--hole” in the documentary for not shaking hands after the Bulls swept the Pistons in the 1991 Eastern Conference finals. The way the much-maligned Hall of Fame point guard tells it, Jordan had never directly been so blunt, instead exchanging pleasantries with Thomas and his son each time they have

The much-anticipated battle between the Los Angeles teams for supremacy in the West and eventually, the NBA title, has been stalled with the NBA shutdown.

crossed paths in the years since their on-court rivalry.

“I don’t have anything against him,” Thomas told Reiter after Sunday night’s airing of parts three and four of the 10-part ESPN documentary, “and I definitely admire him as a basketball player.”

As a basketball player.

Then, Thomas proceeded to diminish Jordan’s accomplishments for the rest of Reiter’s piece.

“When you put Jordan and his basketball team in the ’80s, they weren’t a very successful team,” he says. “They just weren’t.

When you talk about Jordan and his team dominating, they dominated the ’90s. But when you put him with those Lakers teams and those Pistons teams and those Celtics ?JORDAN, P10

12 SPORTS

EDGEDAVAO VOL.13 ISSUE 19 • SUNDAY-MONDAY, MAY 3-4, 2020

Even if the game of golf covers a wide open space where players are not in contact with each other, or where an umbrella girl wears a face mask, GCQ provisions still prevent it from being played. File photos by Boy Lim

NOT TOO FAST Non-contact sports still no no-no under GCQ, says government

B

ack to tennis or golf? Not too fast.

Presidential

spokesperson Harry Roque clarified on Saturday that under a relaxed regime of

general community quarantine (GCQ), non-contact sports or sports where players

are not in close contact with each other are still not allowed.

Roque told a radio interview that under the GCQ provisions, there is nothing that says sports competitions or activities can now resume. Among the sports he mentioned were tennis, golf and swimming where players are in considerable distance from each other.

“Wala pa pong probisiyon na pinapayagan ‘yan. Alam nyo naman na barkadahan system ang mga nagte-tennis (There is no provision that allows these sports.

You know that tennis is a buddy system),” explained Roque to DZMM in an interview. “Ang mga golfer sila ay nagrereklamo dahil wide open space naman iyan, pero ang nature ng sport ay very sociable sport, so [hindi pa puwede]

(The golfers are the ones complaining because they are playing in a wide open space, but the nature of the sport being very sociable still makes it prohibited at the moment).”

Roque also added that fitness gyms will remain on shutdown to avoid the spread of the virus in the facility. Gyms are considered prone to spread of virus because of equipment sharing and sweating.

“Ako rin ay nalulungkot, lalo akong tumataba dahil hindi nakakapag-gym. Dati anim na araw, isang

linggo [akong nagji-gym], ngayon hindi pa rin. Sabi ng coach sa gym mag-virtual training na lang (I am saddened too that I cannot go to the gym and I will gain more weight. I used to go to the gym six days a week and now, I still cannot. Fitness coaches said just do virtual workouts),” he said.

Earlier, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said they are studying whether to allow non-contact sports under the GCQ. Año’s statement came at the heels of a clamor from fitness ?NOT, P10