Edge Davao Volume 13 Issue 1 Supplement | Tuesday, March 10, 2020

VOL.13 ISSUE 1 • TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2020

EDGEDAVAO

Through the years

By HENRYLITO D. TACIO

“C

ommunity newspapers have the power to bring about great good and make a profound difference within their localities. And among the good ones, the ones who endure and even prosper, there is always to be found one common denominator – trust.” – Ray Mosby, editor and publisher of The Deer Creek Pilot in Rolling Fork, Mississippi EDGE Davao joined a group of local newspapers in Davao City 12 years ago.. Little by little, it started to catch the attention of readers with its finely crafted reports, fresh layout and catchy photographs.

Before long, politicians, businessmen, academicians, doctors, sports aficionados, teachers, students, and even the ordinary people were already reading the paper from page one up to the last page, or from cover to cover, so to speak.

They are looking forward for a new copy each day!

What commenced as a local business weekly publication for the Davao Region, EDGE Davao has blossomed into a daily that provides information about local businesses, festivals, events, and news and features that shape the city and the region.

The brainchild of Editor-in-Chief Antonio M. Ajero and General Manager Olivia D. Velasco, EDGE Davao is now one of the country’s most respected community newspapers.

It is no wonder why the Rotary Club of Manila (RCM) Journalism Awards recognized EDGE Davao as the Regional Newspaper of the Year in 2018. Launched in 1966, the award giving body honors outstanding contributions of individuals and papers in the tri-media

(print, TV, and radio) thus encouraging the proper development of Philippine Journalism. It stopped giving awards in 1972 but restored it in 1986.

“The Rotary Club of Manila Journalism Awards has become an immortalized icon in the recognition of the Fourth Estate as a bastion of democracy in the archipelago,” RCM explained in its website. “The importance of a free press and its role in the shaping of a nation cannot be completely undermined."

The RCM Award was not the first recognition it received since it was launched. All in all, EDGE Davao has garnered a total of 13 awards from the Civic Journalism Community Press Awards given annually by the Philippine Press Institute (PPI).

The biggest national association of newspapers, PPI is considered as the oldest professional media organization in the country.

In 2010, EDGE Davao received two awards in the weekly category: Best in Science and Environmental Reporting and Best in Business and Economic Reporting.

Only three years old at that time, the paper topped nearly 200 weekly papers of the country in science and environment reporting for presenting a “holistic approach to the reporting of science and technology coupled with environment.

It presents many feature articles

and news features on health, science, technology and environment.

It is easy to read and grammatically correct and well-written.”

As for the second award, the jurors’ agreed the “coverage of news on the economy and business and trade” of the paper “has more impact on the business community of the region.” It also recognized its two sections: “Agritrends” and “Entrepreneurs.”

Two years later, in 2012, when EDGE Davao became a daily, it was adjudged Best in Science and Environment Reporting “for having a dedicated science and environment section.” The citation reads further: “The paper is outstanding for regularly publishing S and T articles that appeal to majority of its readers” and that it “publishes articles that tackle topics in easy to understand manner and written using popular language.”

EDGE Davao “also gives attention to science news from various parts of the world thus promoting a global mindset and keeping its readers updated on emerging and ongoing issues and developments in the fields of science and environment.”

In 2014, Edge Davao was chosen as the Best Edited Community Newspaper in the daily category.

The paper was cited for “allowing the readers to arrive with a stand, succeeded in manifesting the conviction of the community members while embodying transparency and excellence in delivering the news to the community.”

EDGE Davao didn’t take home only one award but two more: Best in Environmental Reporting and Best in Culture, Arts and History Reporting.

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From Jordan with love: Precy’s recipe for success

Sometimes in life, things don't go the way we originally plan them.

Along the way, we just have to adjust and make the most out of the situation.

That was what Elpidia "Precy" V. Punzalan, a native of Laurel, Batangas, had to do when she decided to try her luck working abroad in 1981.

It was a rather difficult decision considering that she just earned her Accountancy degree from Arellano University, and more so because she had a chance to take her licensure exam shortly afterwards. She could have stayed in the country, but the opportunity to earn more

overseas beckoned. All Precy could think about was how to lift her family from poverty.

She is no stranger to taking the hard, long route to achieve her dreams. When Precy finished high school, she applied for a job in a factory just to finance her own college education.

But this time, it was not only her education that's at stake. The future of her whole family is on the line: her father is a farmer; her mother is a housewife; and Precy is the second of 11 siblings.

If their living conditions were to improve, Precy knew working abroad would be their best bet for financial

success.

"Even at a young age, I felt I was already matured and I kept telling myself 'We'll get through this, I shall lift my parents from poverty.' When I was five years old, I was already telling my mother that I'll go abroad to work. But my mother was not enamored with the idea, saying we were too poor to make it happen," she recalled.

Upon the recommendation from a relative, she applied as a saleslady in Jordan. But fate, again, had other plans for her.

"After I finished my college course, my cousin asked me to work abroad as a saleslady. So

I applied here in Jordan.

But I was disappointed when I arrived here as a nanny. I decided to work here to help my parents and siblings to support their studies, so I just accepted it. Eventually, I spent 10 years working as a nanny," she said.

By the 10th year, Precy decided to explore other work opportunities in Jordan. She then worked as a housekeeper for the Spanish ambassador at the Spanish Embassy. Six months into her new job, another opportunity presented itself to Precy.

The Spanish Ambassador referred her for an opening as a cook, even if Precy had zero

knowledge in cooking at that time. The ambassador said that Precy may enroll in Marriot to acquire the needed skills.

She also studied Spanish to further help her in this culinary endeavor.

Since that day, Precy has been working as a chef in Jordan for the last 28 years.

"I was really fortunate with all my employers. I was lucky they're all good and kind to me," she mused.

But her blessings did not stop there. Ever since she started banking with BDO Unibank, she felt a certain level of security and confidence that her hard-earned earnings will be safeguarded and further grow.

"BDO kept my savings safe, and they’ve always ensured my remittances are received on time," said Precy, a BDO Remit client for more than 10 years.

"BDO is very easy to access in the Philippines.

They are very stable, so I know that all my hardearned money is safe.

This made it possible for me to achieve my dreams for my family and for myself. Even my siblings who are over-

seas Filipinos in Europe are loyal BDO customers."

With her savings, Precy was able to uproot her parents and siblings from poverty.

She gave her parents a house and a jeepney for their daily needs, helped her siblings finish their education, and bought properties in Pasig, Quezon, and Batangas for her own family.

In the next five years, Precy is planning to retire and go back to the Philippines to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

"My plan is to get my husband and children to Jordan, then travel around the world. This is my reward to myself as an overseas Filipino for 38 years. I want to own a farm and a piggery," she said. "I believe none of my success would have been possible without the help of BDO. I will always be a loyal BDO customer.

I encourage my fellow overseas Filipinos to open an account in BDO. They have been very significant in my success."

To know more about Precy's inspiring journey, visit BDO Kabayan Facebook page.

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EDGE DAVAO... FROMS1 EDGE Davao accomplished the same feat in 2017, winning three on its four nominations: Best Edited Community Newspaper, Best in Environmental Reporting, and Best in Photojournalism. It was also a finalist in Editorial Page.

Last year, EDGE Davao won two awards of its three nominations. It was adjudged winner in environmental reporting. The citation read: “EDGE Davao had lots of excellent feature stories on the environment and even produced a number of series on the environment. They even have a supplement on Earth Day, something even the national dailies did not even bother to do.

“With its consistent environmental coverage, it has brought green issues of global concern to the consciousness of the local people making them more aware that such issues are interconnected and something that everyone should be of concern and take action even in their own small ways,” the

citation continued.

EDGE Davao was also declared Best in Business and Economic Reporting.

“EDGE Davao has been chosen winner in the daily category for its in-depth and comprehensive coverage of business issues and events and corporate and individual players in its coverage.”

EDGE Davao failed to win the Best Edited Community Newspaper which went to Cebu Daily News.

EDGE Davao has also been a sort of an instrument in winning this author several trophies from various award-giving bodies.

So far, I received five awards from the Globe Media Excellence Awards (GMEA). In 2014, the year I joined EDGE Davao, I was named Columnist of the Year. A year later, I got two more awards: Best Reporter in Print for my story on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and Best Investigative Report in Print for my two-part series on Davao City.

In 2016, the GMEA rec-

RISING... FROMS8 ognized my three-part series on the dwindling fishery resources (“Where have all our fish gone?). The online version of the series was chosen as Best Online Report.

Last year, the online version of my two-part series on HIV story (“Why HIV infection matters”) was adjudged Explanatory/Investigative Story/Documentary of the Year for Digital.

I also won four Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards, three of which were for stories that were written in EDGE Davao. My three-part series on possible solutions for the forthcoming food crisis was chosen as Best Agriculture Feature Story-Regional in 2015.

Another series – “The grass that feeds Filipinos” – was declared Agriculture Story of the Year in 2018.

Then another series – “Major export crop of Filipino farmers” – was handpicked as Best Agriculture Feature Story-Regional in 2019.

I also received three Binhi Awards – given the Philippine Agricultural Journalists,

Inc. – for my features that appeared in Edge Davao: Environment Story of the Year, Agricultural Journalist of the Year (third) and Environmental Journalist of the Year (third).

In addition, I took home three awards given by Jose Burgos Biotech Journalism Awards. Last year, I was elevated to the Hall of Fame by the same award-giving body for winning four awards already.

Online versions Now on its 12th year, EDGE Davao continues to serve the people not only in Davao City, but also the whole Davao Region, the island of Mindanao, the whole country and even those living in other parts of the world. You can access its website by clicking: https:// www.edgedavao.net. EDGE Davao has an e-paper which publishes online all the editions of the newspaper from cover to cover. The e-paper can be accessed by clicking https://issuu.com/edgedavao.

CID: Building brands that last Brands come and go but the truly great ones leave a mark etched in culture and ingrained in the collective consciousness of the nation. For pioneering Public Relations firm CID Communication, a business is not a brand without the defined advantage of strategic corporate equity.

CID defines equity as the power of a good business name. It is translating a company’s product or individual’s solid performance and attributes into positive values that are properly communicated over time to form a positive perception. CID has helped many brands build their corporate equity from scratch or build upon their existing persona with outstanding communication projects and programs for all stakeholders.

“Fifty percent of your life, business professions, and projects is communication. To be successful at it, you have to ensure that you are communicating the right things at the right time, which can only be done through strategic planning and conceptualization,” CID Chairman Luis Morales said.

Proprietary Communication Tools

Since its establishment in 1992, CID has helmed an elite roster of clients from varying industries, helping them build their corporate equity through carefully planned and executed PR strategies. Over the years, CID has identified key communication areas that helped it guide brands. For one, CID’s Communication Loop, a reinvention of the classic communication loop that exhibits the dynamic relationships between Source, Message, and Receiver, is a handy guide that determines how to think, plan, and execute an area of communication need.

Using this model, CID was able to develop various corporate communication tools that propelled many brands to prominence. While some agencies choose to focus their service on a single business sector, CID has built a solid practice in various industries, from tech to retail to banking and everything else in between. This variety in experience enriched its practice and proved that CID is the go-to expert, which believes that the tenets of communication apply well across the board and that the recipe for building equity constitutes the same elements.

Given the dynamic nature of communication in the digital age, building a brand must involve an integrated approach to marketing communications.

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“The very essence of PR is to deliver a single cohesive message in a seamless manner, one that appeals to the hearts and minds of the target audience and eventually guides them to making an informed decision as a consumer. At CID, we are guided by the virtue of collaboration, which we exercise not just within the organization but more importantly, with our clients and media partners,” Morales said.

The most efficient and successful programs have always involved a process called “blue sky session,” a form of brainstorming where participants are encouraged to let their imagination run free – with no barriers to the ideas that can be put forward. Taking off from these sessions, CID team members weave together the most relevant and appropriate tools of communication to develop a program that suits the needs and requirements of a client ─ be they for a product, service, destination, idea, or even persona management.

ConsistentQuality Service

Whatever strategy is most appropriate for a comms project, CID makes it a point to support it with consistent service and monitoring to see to it that plans are working and objectives are achieved. An open communication line with key contacts helps align progress and guides adjustments should they be necessary.

LPVMD CID Communication is a full-service communication agency based in Makati City. It specializes in equity-building through various PR tools such as Thought Leadership, Corporate Communication, Tactical Publicity, Celebrity Management, Key Opinion Leader Management, and Media Tour Management, to name a few. To be always updated about what’s going on at CID, visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook. com/CIDCommunication/

John Carlo B. Tria believes all of these disruptions are temporary and that Davao’s business sector will keep growing nonetheless by increasing food supply to keep inflation low so that even if other sectors are hit, it will continue expanding since demand and supply will still be stable.

For Tria, lowered inflation projections are good time to examine the food policy because keeping food prices low for consumers is what keeps inflation low, and will ensure long term growth and poverty reduction.

“We will also need to patronize our businesses and local tourist spots,” he said.

Tria also mentioned that the challenge of today's disruptions is not to avoid them but to deal with them, contain the disruptions as quickly as possible, and if there are opportunities emerging from them, take advantage and keep moving on the growth path, learning valuable lessons and applying them to the next disruption.

Former Mindanao Business Council chair and business leader Joji Ilagan- Bian said with the local government leading the way in partnership with the local business community there is no reason why Davao businesses cannot mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 and all economic impediments which are all beyond control.

Bian said what the business sector can do amidst these “short term” crisis which the rest of the world is being besieged too is to take calculated steps in doing business especially those that are directly affected like tourism and the services sector which also has indirect effect on manufacturing.

“Davao has a history of a resilient economy grounded on strong and responsive private sector.

We had hurdled many challenges in the past which did not seemed to have a sustainable solution. Personally I remain 'bullish and optimistic' in all of my outlook,” she said.

On his end, Antonio Peralta, chairman of European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP)-Southern Mindanao Business Council cited that the twin events of the Taal Volcano eruption and the emergence of the Covid-19 in the country have affected business sentiments.

According to him, these developments will definitely affect economic growth forecast in the country. He said that the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has adjusted the growth forecast from 6.3 percent to about 6 percent.

He said the impact of COVID-19 in western economies has also led to rate cuts in order to jump start the economies and this has directly affected consumer confidence as seen from the less number of people in shopping malls.

“Supply chains have been disrupted and factories have suffered production decline. Goldman Sachs predicts that most companies have declared zero earnings for the year given the uncertainty of the outcome of Covid-19,” Peralta said.

He said that in the Philippines, the impact of Covid-19 has affected the tourism and transport industry with an estimated losses of P2.9 billion as of February 29 as per Department of Tourism (DoT).

“Airline flights have had experienced to lose a third of passengers from the usual full bookings that they have had this time of the year. Most hotels here in Davao have experienced reductions in hotel bookings and cancellation of bookings. Banana exporters also faced cancellation of shipments to China but this eventually has been restored,” he said.

However, given these developments, Peralta said the business sector has started to look at the domestic market to fill in the slack of export markets caused by Covid-19 concerns.

He said the business sector has continually maintained a cautious approach to the situation but nonetheless hopeful for a successful rebound from the losses earlier incurred from the impact of COVID-19.

Peralta cited Bio Grow Substrates, a new company, as example that expressed optimism on the opening of its coconut processing plant in Davao del Sur despite the occurrence of the COVID-19. He said the company see this situation as temporary and eventually will be resolved by pharmaceutical companies.

“The hope for a vaccine to be commercially ready for the public weighs heavy on most people as they continually hope for a conclusion to this unfortunate situation,” he said.

Arturo Milan, regional governor of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said one industry that is greatly affected by Covid-19 is the region’s tourism industry as numerous conferences and conventions are being cancelled due to Covid-19.

Milan said stakeholders should stop cancelling events such as conventions and conferences and continue to encourage local travels and eat out to patronize local restaurants and eateries, however, all precautions should be strictly implemented in all hospitality facilities.

“We cannot continue cancelling conventions or conferences or refrain from going out eating outside or else our economy will collapse. Many will lose their jobs and many stores will close. We need to stand and fight this virus by not shying away from our regular routine but doing what we are supposed to do for as long as we implement the necessary protocols,” Milan said.

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S8 EDGEDAVAO Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) regional governor Arturo Milan

ANNIVERSARYSpecial European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP)-Southern Mindanao Business Council chair Antonio Peralta

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Former Mindanao Business Council chair and business leader Joji Ilagan- Bian

Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) president John Carlo Tria

Rising to the challenges of disruptions

By MAYA M. PADILLO he Philippines, with special mention of Mindanao and Davao Region, is on its way to never-before seen economic prosperity when all of a sudden it hit a stumbling block.

T

It took a new coronavirus virus, first codenamed NCOV before renamed to Covid-19, to stop a high-

speed train the country's economy is fast shaping up into.

And with the threat of

Covid-19 taking its toll on just about every aspect of the people's daily lives in the whole world, the business community is forced to rethink and transform its global supply chain model.

The virus has exposed the vulnerabilities of many businesses, especially those which have a high

dependence on China for their supply of raw materials or finished products.

China’s dominant role as the world’s biggest manufacturer means that any major disruption puts global supply chains at risk.

In fact, the lockdown being instituted by China in most of their key cities to prevent the spread of the

virus, heavily affected not only Davao City but Davao Region’s importation and exportation of raw materials and finished goods as well.

Yet, business leaders are optimistic that the business sector in Davao City and the region will bounce back and will continue to thrive as these disruptions

are just temporary.

They urged businesses to revisit their products and processes and to look outside the traditional enterprise walls for innovative approaches to cope up with the challenges.

Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII) president

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