EDGEDAVAOPhp 15.00 • 20 PAGES

www.edgedavao.netVOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012

Indulge!Page A1

GamesPage 20

By Jade C. Zaldivar

The two-hour deliberation of the City Council on Tuesday regard-ing the inaccessibility of Central

911 led to the approval of a resolution for the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the local government and the two telecommu-nication companies--Globe and Smart.

Committee on energy, transporta-tion, and communication chair Pilar Braga yesterday said the deliberation cleared ‘many grey issues which were ironed out.’

“The Council will ask National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to require the two telcos to forge a MOA between the city and Cen-tral 911 to formalize protocol,” Braga told edge Davao.

“This is to avoid misunderstanding in the future and to avoid a repeat of the recent fiasco,” she added.

The Council decision coincides with an earlier statement of City May-or Sara Duterte-Carpio last Monday that it would be best for the city to for-mally sign an agreement with the two phone companies.

“Instead of a verbal agreement,

City to sign MOA with Globe, Smart

Faces extinctionPage 14

Serving a seamless society

Yehey, we are

now a daily!

FMAYOR, 13

FCITY, 13

Mayor Sara lauds Bunawan police

CITy Mayor Sara Duterte lauded a police station in Bunawan, Davao City, in reaction to Tuesday’s robbery

and hostage-taking incident in Panabo City.“We’d like to commend the Bunawan

Police for having responded in Panabo. Nakatabang sila ug dako,” Duterte-Carpio said yesterday after her meeting with the City Peace and Order Council at the Public Safety Command Center (PSCC).

A police captain and five others, in-cluding the two suspects, were killed in a shooting incident following a robbery and

hostage taking in Panabo City, Davao del Norte at high noon Tuesday.

One other victim was injured.The mayor said she was ‘relieved’ that

the incident did not happen here.“Good thing wala nahitabo diri sa

Davao, otherwise mabuang na siguro ang atong kapulisan,” Duterte-Carpio said.

REBELYN CODE. On the 3rd anniversary of the killing of Ka Parago’s daughter, Davao City Councilor Karlo Bello explains that the passage of the Rebelyn Code will booster

the local government’s assistance to the victims of human rights violations. [Karlos Manlupig]

2 THE BIG NEWS VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012 EDGEDAVAO

It figures

NUMBER of hospitals controlled by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) after it acquired 56.5 percent of Asian Hospital in Alabang, Muntinglupa. The transaction was valued at P1.46 bil-lion. MPIC also controls Makati Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospi-tal in Sta. Mesa, Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod and Davao Doctors Hospital.

billionAMOUNT earmarked by the government in counterpart funding to help rev up its public-private part-nership (PPP) initiative this year. The amount is higher by 57 percent than the P12.5 billion allotted last year.

NUMBER of Dabawenyos who became millionaires after winning in the Premyo sa Resibo program of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The lucky taxpayers won in the draws of August 2006, August 2007, January 2009, and April 2009.

NUMBER of votes received by Sara Z. Duterte- Carpio against the 160,225 votes of Prospero C. Nograles in the 2010 electoral tussle for city mayor. The Commission on Elections junked the election sabotage case filed by Nograles against Duterte-Carpio.

BUDGET deficit of the govern-ment in 2011, or less than two thirds of the figures the year before. In 2010, the government spent P314.5 billion over the national budget.

NUMBER of branches simultane-ously opened last February 13, 2012 by EastWest Bank, one of fastest-growing banks in the country today. The new branches included one in Tagum City, Davao del Norte and in Toril in Davao City.

6 22P19.6billion P197.8billion388,4654

FCOMELEC, 13

By Jade C. Zaldivar

DAvAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio welcomed the March

5 decision of the Commis-sion on election junking of the ‘electoral sabotage’ complaint filed against her by former house Speaker Prospero Nograles.

Duterte-Carpio said she felt vindicated by the decision.

“I am happy and a lot of people are happy. Finally, nahuman na ang kaso and we won the case. I feel vin-dicated of the accusations made against me and other officials,” she said in an interview yesterday after emerging from a City Peace and Order Council meeting at the Public Safety Com-mand Center.

The mayor said she is yet to officially receive a copy of the Comelec deci-sion, although she had been informed earlier that the election body, in an order last March 5, had junked the Nograles petition for ‘lack of evudence’.

“No doubt could be cast as to the accuracy of the PCOS machine and the credibility of the results of the first automated elec-tions in Davao City. Prot-estant (Nograles) failed to produce solid evidence to justify the annulment of the proclamation of the pro-

testee (Duterte),” the order said , which was reportedly signed by by Comelec Com-missioner Lucenito Tagle.

The order was af-firmed by Comelec com-missioners elias yusop and Augusto Lagman.

In the 2010 elections, Duterte-Carpio routed Nograles by a whopping margin of 228,240 votes (

(388,465 to 160,225) based on the automated counting and transmission of the results of the 1,172 precinct-count optical scan (PCOS) machines assigned to the city.

hurt feelingsThe Mayor, however,

admitted that the case cost her a big sum of money leading to her admission that she bears ill feelings to-wards Nograles as a result.

Asked how much it took to finance her defense against Nograles’ petition , Duterte-Carpio said she spent “not less than a mil-lion.”

“Through the years since the petition was filed against me in 2010 (what I spent) will not go below one million. I have to say honestly,” Duterte said in dialect.

“In the middle of it all, we lost one lawyer who fo-cused on the petition that was heard in Manila, so we had to hire another one. That cost us a lot,” the may-

SECURITY. Davao City Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa presents to Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and to the members of the City Peace and Order Coun-cil the security report for January-February 2012. Dela Rosa reported a major

breakthrough in the arrests of the suspects on the recent holdup incidents in the city. [ KARLOS MANLUPIG]

By Lorie A. Cascaro

IN celebration of the international women’s day, Davao City holds

the first women’s market led by Oxfam Ambassa-dors Cherry Pie Picache and Ping Medina at the Activity Center of NCCC Mall Davao today.

A showcase of wom-en small-scale food pro-ducers, this event runs until tomorrow offering food and wellness prod-ucts produced by women from all over Mindanao.

It is an initiative of Pambansang Koalisyon ng mga Kababaihan sa Kanayunan and Oxfam under its campaign Grow “for better ways to pro-duce food as scarce re-sources are threatened by climate change im-pacts.”

Available products

include fresh fruits and vegetables; root crops; fresh seafoods; luyang dilaw (turmeric); organic rice; fruit jams; tablea; banana chips; rice and corn coffee; gumamela tea; lemongrass and gin-ger granules; coconut sugar; dried boneless bangus and cooked di-lis; vinegar; passion fruit juice; malunggay polvo-ron and suman; embu-tido and bottled bangus pate; homemade peanut butter; and, chili sauce, among others.

These women are beneficiaries of Oxfam Mindanao, an interna-tionally funded organiza-tion that spends P30-40 million a year to sup-port women in Mindanao through development projects, providing them financial and technical supports.

Davao hosts firstwomen’s market

AFTer five years as an armed rebel, a commander of the

New People’s Army (NPA) Front Committee (FC) 18 voluntarily surrendered last Tuesday to Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.

henry Quima, 29-year-old, sought assis-tance from local Tv net-work GMA to assist him to the City Mayor, officially turned himself to the folds of the law at 9 a.m. Tues-day.

Quima said he could no longer take the hard life of an armed rebel and that he has missed his family.

Although the FC 18 is in the boondocks of Davao Oriental, Quima said he preferred to surrender to the Davao City mayor as he feels safe in the city.

“Di na makaya. Sa ka-kapoy, labi na sa kahim-tang. Di na gyud makaya,” Quima said.

Quima was vice-com-mander to Jerry Gesta whom he replaced as com-mander after Gesta sur-rendered back in April of 2011.

Knowing that the mil-itary had made him as a top priority target, Quima decided to turn himself in.

The mayor welcomed Quima’s surrender, saying the local government is willing to assist him in his decision to return to soci-ety. [Jade C. Zaldivar]

NPA rebelcommander surrenders

ACTING Autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao (ArMM)

Gov. Mujiv hataman is pushing for the installation of additional closed-circuit television or CCTv cameras in various strategic areas in Cotabato City in the wake of the recent series of bomb attacks in the area.

hataman said he is co-ordinating with the Philip-pine National Police (PNP) and other government se-curity units in the area for the acquisition and installa-tion of the additional CCTv cameras in areas that were hit by previous bomb at-tacks, especially along the roads leading to the ArMM compound.

“The installation of the CCTvs will help our security and law enforcers in identi-fying the people or groups who might be behind the attacks,” he said in an inter-view over Bombo radyo in Koronadal City on Tuesday.

Last January, the Co-tabato City government initially installed 12 CCTv cameras worth P2 million in various parts of the city to help deter the occur-rence of crime incidents and terror attacks in the area.

The CCTv cameras were reportedly installed covertly by police person-nel to ensure that they

would not be detected by criminal and terror ele-ments operating in the area.

Aside from the instal-lation of the surveillance cameras, hataman said he has asked the PNP’s Direc-torate for Integrated Police Operations (DIPO)-West-ern Mindanao and the PNP-ArMM to study the security arrangements in Cotabato City and come up with a co-ordinated comprehensive security plan.

he admitted that the ArMM leadership has been facing difficulty in terms of implementing security measures in Cotabato City since it is not under their jurisdiction.

“We have a very unique situation in Cotabato City because our ORC (Office of the regional Council) is based there but it is under the AOr (area of responsi-bility) of region 12 and not the ARMM,” the official said.

Last Saturday, two im-provised bombs exploded outside ArMM’s OrC com-pound, injuring a local resi-dent.

The first explosion oc-curred about 100 meters from the ArMM-OrC com-pound’s main gate while the second happened in front of the ArMM regional Ports Management Author-ity office.

A third explosive fash-

ioned from a live 81-millim-eter mortar shell was also recovered by police and military personnel near the blast sites.

Col. Prudencio Asto, public affairs chief of the Army’s Sixth infantry Divi-sion, earlier said the recent attacks could have been staged by groups opposed to hataman’s leadership.

he cited the previous recovery in the some of the blast sites of propaganda materials against hataman that were supposedly is-sued by the Bangsamoro Independence Movement and the Bangsamoro youth Movement.

Although the bomb explosions happened just outside the ArMM OrC Compound along Gov. Gut-ierrez Avenue, hataman said these have not so far affected the regional gov-ernment’s operations in the area.

“It has not affected our regular operations, es-pecially the reforms that we’ve been implementing,” he said.

The official said he doesn’t believe the attacks were directed at him or any of their offices and employ-ees “since they happen al-most on a monthly basis so far and Cotabato City’s local politics is quite complicated at the moment.”

Gov. Hataman wants moreCCTVs near ARMM complex

Comelec junks protest; ‘I feel vindicated’-Sara

3THE BIG NEWSVOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012EDGEDAVAO

REGULATE. Leo Avila, a member of the City Peace and Order Council, proposes that the “habal-habal” drivers be regu-lated and must be transformed into registered motorcycle taxis to curb the motorcycle-related crimes in the city. KARLOS MANLUPIG

By Lorie A. Cascaro

PhILIPPINe doctors are expected to pay a high-er income tax by April

15 this year, the deadline of filing, along with other pro-fessionals like lawyers, engi-neers and contractors.

This according to Law-yer Glen A. Geraldino, OIC-re-gional director of the Bureau of Internal revenue (BIr)—revenue regional 19, Davao City in yesterday’s launching of the 2012 Tax Awareness Campaign at SM City Davao.

The region will be focus-ing its tax collection efforts on professionals, he said, as per directive of Malacañang.

Lawyer Nuzar N. Ba-latero, assistant regional director, said BIr national commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-henares has observed that ordinary employees have been paying higher income taxes than doctors.

“Magaganda naman mga sasakyan nila, pero maliit yung binabayaran na income tax nila,” Balatero said, adding that most doc-tors were paying less than P5,000 in annual income tax.

One way of validating a taxpayer’s declared income, he noted, is to check discrep-ancies between data from Philhealth, SSS, hMO, etc, and the bureau’s record of tax payments.

“Tinitingnan muna na-min ang compliance nila. hindi na isyuhan kung mata-as na ang compliance,” he said, adding that only those

who have less than 30% of compliance are subject to in-vestigation.

however, he noted that the bureau does not have any difficulty in implementing the rules and regulations on professionals. The regional district conducted informa-tion campaign for doctors last January followed by clin-ic visits.

More than 200 doctors from the region attended the BIr’s seminars. Seminars were also conducted for doc-tors’ secretaries because they actually issue the receipts. If a secretary fails to issue a receipt, he or she would be sanctioned, Geraldino said.

Less than 50 letters of authority were issued to pro-fessionals in the region, the assistant director said. “Let-ters of authority are docu-ments issued by the regional director ordering an exam-iner of a revenue district to conduct an investigations on the tax liabilities of taxpay-ers, whether they are juridi-cal or individual taxpayers,” Balatero added.

Aside from padlocking a clinic, one of the options of the bureau on how to sanc-tion a delinquent taxpayer is to file a complaint with the Philippine Professional regulation Commission for the suspension of license to practice.

“So far, nagrerelease na man sila (doctors) ng resibo,” Balatero said, adding that in its history, BIr region 19 has still to padlock any clinic.

Actor Robin visits detained Tulawie, his ‘best friend in peace advocacy’MOvIe actor robin

Padilla visited Tuesday after-

noon detained human rights defender Temogen “Cocoy” Tulawie of Sulu to express his support for his “best friend sa ad-vocacy ng kapayapaan” who, he asserted, could not have done what Sulu Governor Sakur Tan had accused him of doing. The 41-year old Tulawie, whom Padilla also de-scribed as “Pag-asa ng Sulu” (hope of Sulu), is facing charges of mul-tiple frustrated murder and multiple attempted murder for the May 13, 2009 bombing in Patikul, Sulu that injured 12 per-sons including the gov-ernor, an allegation he has repeatedly denied. Citing threats to his life, Tulawie petitioned the Su-preme Court for a transfer of venue of the hearings from the regional Trial Court (rTC) Branch 3 in Jolo, Sulu to Davao City. The high court granted the petition in June but the Sulu court took so long in forwarding the

records to the executive Judge of the rTC here. Tu-lawie was arrested here late evening of January 13 but no raffling of the case could be done by the rTCh in the absence of the court records from Sulu. The re-cords finally arrived last week and the case is now under Judge virginia eu-ropa of rTC Branch 11.

Citing security con-siderations, Tulawie’s lawyers filed a motion in court Tuesday to commit him to the detention cell at the Investigation and Detective Management Branch at Camp Domin-go Leonor where he has been detained since his arrest, instead of the city jail in Ma-a. Governor Tan on January 25 petitioned the Supreme Court for a change in venue of the trial from Davao City to Manila. he said he con-siders Davao City “hostile ground,” claiming Tulawie wields influence in the city.

Tulawie alleged Tan’s petition for change of venue was part of the gov-ernor’s “delaying tactics.”

“you don’t belong here” Wearing tactical

shades, white denim jeans and a white polo shirt on whose left pocket were printed the words “Goodwill Ambas-sador of Peace” of the GOP-UN Act for Peace program, Padilla arrived at the DCPO at around 1:25 p.m., paid a cour-tesy call on the city police director before proceed-ing to the cell where Tu-lawie and six others are detained, shook Tulawie’s hand between the iron bars and said, “hindi ka bagay dito, ‘tol” (you don’t belong here, brother). Pointing to the pocket on his shirt, he told Tulawie in Pilipino: “I deliberately used this shirt because I would not be an Ambas-sador of Peace without your help.”

“Answered prayer,” Tulawie said of the sup-port he has received not only from Padilla but from various individuals and groups around the country and the world. Padilla, a devout Muslim, smiled as soon as he saw

Sister Arnold Maria Noel, who also came to visit Tu-lawie.

Padilla met the nun in Manila last Friday when he hosted an informal fo-rum with the media and Manila-based civil soci-ety representatives on the Tulawie case at the Arya Persian restaurant in Greenhills, San Juan, attended also by Com-mission on human rights chair etta rosales.

There, he said Cocoy is a good man and ex-plained in Pilipino that “I believe many deserve to be jailed in this country but I am certainthat Co-coy is not one of them.” “he is the face of change,” he said. “Chilling effect” Sister Arnold told re-porters that Tulawie did not deserve to be jailed because he was “simply exposing the truth” about the graft and corruption and human rights viola-tions in Sulu. She said his arrest sends a “chilling ef-fect” to the whole nation. Padilla was informed Tu-lawie would be tempo-rarily transferred to the

The Senate commit-tee on trade and commerce chaired

by Senator Manny villar will hold a public hearing on Thursday to check the effectiveness of the law that was envisioned to make affordable essential medicines for the poor.

“Four years after the passage of the law, there is a concern that this law failed to achieve its de-sired effect, and that is to bring down the prices of medicines needed by poor Filipinos,” villar said.

Also the chairman of the Oversight Commit-tee on Quality Affordable Medicine, villar said re-public Act 9502 or the “Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medi-cines Act of 2008,” should be amended to serve its original intention to help poor Filipinos get well through medicines they can afford.

The public hearing will be held at the Manila Tytana College, Macapagal Boulevard, Pasay City at 10 a.m.

expected to attend the hearing are: Gregory Do-mingo, secretary, Depart-

ment of Trade and Indus-try; Madeleine de rosa-vera, assistant secretary, Department of health; Atty. emilio Polig, chief legal, Food and Drug Ad-ministration; Ma. Lourdes Baua, President and CeO, Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC); and Dr. rolando Bautista, CeO, PITC-Pharma.

Also invited are: Atty. Paula Tanquieng, program officer, Ayos na Gamot sa Abot-Kayang Presyo; Joc-elyn Palacpac, associate professor, College of Phar-macy, University of the Philippines Manila; Dr. Art Catli, director, Pharmaceu-tical and healthcare Asso-ciation of the Philippines (PhAP); eufe Tantia, assis-tant vice president, PhAP; Maribel Magsambol, chair-person, national affairs, Drugstore Association of the Philippines; Benjamin Liuson, president, Pacific Pharmaceuticals Gener-ics, Inc.; Ignacio Arnaiz, Botika 1 Corp.; vanessa Gatdula-hilvano, Cham-ber of herbal Industries of the Philippines; and Grace Galindez-Gupana, found-er-vice president, ABS Gen herbs. [pna] 

Villar to hold inquiry into effectiveness

of cheaper med law

The Armed of the Phil-ippines (AFP) and the United States will

conduct another mutual de-fense and disaster response exercises this April 16 to 27.

AFP spokesperson Col. Arnulfo Burgos, Jr. said this year’s “Balikatan” is the 28th of its series that calls for a

more responsive partner-ship with the community focusing on humanitarian Assistance and Disaster re-sponse (hA/Dr) Training.

The third hA/Dr-fo-cused bilateral exercise of the rP-US Balikatan exer-cise 2012 is a joint military exercise based on the 1951

Mutual Defense Treaty. The first exercise was held in 2008 and the second in 2010.

Burgos said the ac-tivity was designed to enhance the AFP and the United States Armed Forces interoperability in the conduct of not only on

traditional military train-ing but also on non-tradi-tional aspects that reach out communities in need of urgent assistance.

It is conducted every year to serve as a venue for joint training between the Philippines and United States armed services. [pna] 

PHL, US to conduct ‘Balikatan 2012’

Doctors expected to payhigher taxes by April 15

FACTOR, 13

4 THE BIG NEWS VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012 EDGEDAVAO

‘MY heart and Cocoy’s are one and that’s to rescue our brothers and sisters from poverty and injustice.’

--Movie actor Robin Padilla after visiting Temo-gen “Cocoy”Tulawie in his Davao City Police Office Detention cell.

Quips

Switching powerinterruptions incity set March 11DAvAO Light and Power

Company will con-duct switching power

interruptions on March 11, Sunday, affecting the custom-ers in portions of Downtown, Matina and ecoland areas.

Corporate Communica-tions Officer ross Luga said that the service interruptions are necessary to conduct a corrective maintenance ser-vicing to its ecoland Substa-tion.

The first set of power interruptions will take place from 2:00 AM to 2:45 AM for the transferring of loads to Ponciano substation and from 11:00 AM to 11:45 AM for the normalization.

Affected by these ser-vice interruptions are the power consumers in the entire Maa, those from Las Terrazas in diversion road up to Langub and Magtuod and those from corner diversion road going to energy FM in Shrine hills.

Juna Subdivision, ecol-and Phases 2 and 4, ecoland Terminal, SIr Matina and Sandawa will also be experi-encing the said outages.

On the other hand,

the second set of switching power outages will be from 2:30 AM to 2:45 AM and from 11:30 AM to 11:45 AM that will affect the customers situated along Quirino Ave. from corner Mabini St. up to Bankerohan bridge, in por-tion of Fr. Selga St. and from Quirino Ave. to corner Anda Magallanes.

Also affected are Gen. Luna and Duterte Sts., part of San Pedro St. from Kusina Dabaw to corner Ilustre St. and Legaspi St., from Davao City Central Convenience Store to corner Legaspi and Magallanes St.

Davao Light apologizes for the inconvenience of these service interruptions but it will exert all efforts to restore electric service as scheduled or earlier. how-ever, there may be instances where restoration may ex-tend beyond the schedule due to unavoidable circum-stances.

To receive scheduled power interruption an-nouncements through e-mail, please send your Davao Light Account Number to davaolight@aboitiz.com.

LUMAD and Moro leaders will meet for two days in a Talaan-

dig village in Lantapan town, Bukidnon for the “historic reaffirmation” of kinship between Lumads and the Moro people, Datu Migketay victorino Saway told reporters here Mon-day.

Saway said reaffirm-ing such kinship is a step towards the resolution of boundary conflicts among Lumad and Moro com-munities in Mindanao and will help restore peace in the island.

There are some 30

ethnolinguistic tribes in Mindanao, including those that have embraced Islam.

Saway admitted that after several meetings they were originally aim-ing for the reaffirmation of the pre-colonial tradi-tional peace pacts.

he noted, however, that this would require the settlement of bound-ary conflicts, which can only be done after the reaffirmation of kinship, the ceremony for which is scheduled on March 7 to 8 in Barangay Songco, Lan-tapan.

he said the peace process between the gov-

ernment and the MILF can benefit from the reaf-firmation of kinship and traditional peace pacts at the ground level. “Maybe the negotiations on the ground can help awaken those above.”

“The traditional peace pacts can move from the unwritten to the written. The understanding be-tween the Lumads and the Moros will have a big bear-ing on the peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Lib-eration Front,” Saway, a leader of Panagtagbo Min-danao, a coalition of peo-ple’s organizations, said.

he said the MILF lead-ership gave their nod to the initiative but opted not to place themselves in the forefront.

he said the Moro rep-resentation in the event includes not only the MILF but also those from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), academe, business and other sec-tors.

Among the highlights of the event are a ritual, testimonies on kinship by the peace pact holders of the Lumad and Moro peo-ples, and an exchange of sug-ut or tokens. [Walter I. Balane/MindaNews]

Lumad, Moro leaders to reaffirm kinship

A JOINT house panel is now crafting a con-solidated bill propos-

ing the creation of a Nation-al Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to promote public safety by effectively dealing with the disturb-ingly growing tragic trans-portation accidents in the country.

There are four bills filed in the house of rep-resentatives seeking to enhance public safety in the transportation sector, namely house Bill 3276 by San Juan rep. Joseph victor ejercito, hB 866 by Muntinlupa City rep. ro-dolfo Biazon, hB 2463 by Davao Oriental rep. Nel-son Dayanghirang, and hB 4000 by Bohol rep. erico Aumentado.

In a recent joint hear-ing, the house committee on government reorganiza-

tion chaired by Zamboanga del Norte rep. Cesar Jalos-jos and the house com-mittee on transportation chaired by Southern Leyte rep. roger Mercado en-dorsed the four measures for consolidation by a tech-nical working group (TWG).

This came after all members of the joint panel and the invited resource persons agreed on the need to create an independent body that shall oversee public safety in the trans-port sector and investigate and render a report to Con-gress and the President on all transportation-related accidents.

Biazon noted that when transportation ac-cidents happen, investiga-tions are normally under-taken by the very same gov-ernment agencies that may have been remiss in their

House joint panel crafts bill creating nat’l transportation and safety board

IN a bid to fast track busi-ness registration in the country, the Philippine

government has launched the Sole Proprietorship New registration (SPNr) module of the Philippine Business registry System (PBrS).

The Philippine Busi-ness registry (PBr) is a government-initiated web-based system that will fa-cilitate business registra-tion-related transactions by integrating all agencies involved in business reg-istration The SPNr allows registration to the Depart-ment of Trade and Industry (DTI), Securities and ex-change Commission (SeC), Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), Bureau of Internal revenue (BIr), So-cial Security System (SSS), home Development Mu-tual Fund (Pag-IBIG), Phil-ippine health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth), Local Government Units (LGUs) and other permit/license-issuing agencies.

It provides a faster process for business regis-tration, thus strengthening the government’s effort of providing quality service

to the people and realizing its commitment to curb corruption and reduce red tape in the bureaucracy.

At present, sole pro-prietorships can already validate existing/regis-ter their Business Names (BNs) from the DTI, get or validate their existing Tax Identification Num-bers (TINs) from the BIr and employer registration numbers from the SSS, Philhealth, and Pag-IBIG through the PBrS.

The PBrS can be ac-cessed via http://www.business.gov.ph .

DTI 11 regional Di-rector Marizon S. Loreto said that this is milestone in business registration that entrepreneurs must take advantage of.

“Since this is a web-based system, this actually serves as a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs who would like to register their business wherein they don’t need to visit these of-fices physically. Thus, busi-ness registration now costs less since transportation cost need not be consid-ered anymore,” she said. [DTI11/Jen Mendoza]

Gov’t launches online business registry system

duties in the first place.For his part, ejercito

said the NTSB shall be pri-marily responsible for the analysis, evaluation and prevention of air, land, and marine transportation ac-cidents, to include railway and pipeline systems, for the effective promotion of safety and prevent loss of life and property.

On the other hand, Dayanghirang noted that recent disasters are testa-ments of the inadequate

response of government towards the prevention of similar catastrophes like the crash landing into the waters of Manila Bay of a Laoag Airlines Fokker plane, killing 14 of its pas-sengers.

The authors acknowl-edged that government has responded to every transportation disaster by forming fact-finding bodies to investigate the cause or causes of an ac-cident.

DEAD. Davao City Police Office reports the shooting down of holdup suspects who resisted arrest in the city. The police also presented the successful arrest of

the suspect on the holdup and killing of Marjorie Kwan. Karlos Manlupig

THE ECONOMY 5Stat Watch

MONTHLY AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATE (January 2009 - January 2011)

Month 2011 2010 2009

Average 43.31 45.11 47.637December 43.64 43.95 46.421November 43.27 43.49 47.032October 43.45 43.44 46.851

September 43.02 44.31 48.139August 42.42 45.18 48.161

July 42.81 46.32 48.146June 43.37 46.30 47.905May 43.13 45.60 47.524April 43.24 44.63 48.217

March 43.52 45.74 48.458February 43.70 46.31 47.585January 44.17 46.03 47.207

3.5%4th Qtr 2011

3.7%4th Qtr 2011

USD 3,342Million

Nov 2011USD 4,985

MillionNov 2011

USD -1,643Million

Nov 2011USD -114

MillionDec 2011

P4,442,355Million

Nov 2011

4.71%Oct 2011P128,745

MillionNov 2011

P 4,898Billion

Oct 2011

P 43.65Dec 2011

3,999.7Sept 2011

128.1Jan 2012

3.9Jan 2012

3.4Dec 2011

284,040Sept 2011

19.1%Oct 2011

6.4%Oct 2011

1. Gross National IncomeGrowth Rate(At Constant 2000 Prices)

2. Gross Domestic ProductGrowth Rate(At Constant 2000 Prices)

3. Exports 1/

4. Imports 1/

5. Trade Balance

6. Balance of Payments 2/

7. Broad Money Liabilities

8. Interest Rates 4/

9. National Government Revenues

10. National government outstanding debt

11. Peso per US $ 5/

12. Stocks Composite Index 6/

13. Consumer Price Index 2006=100

14. Headline Inflation Rate 2006=100

15. Core Inflation Rate 2006=100

16. Visitor Arrivals

17. Underemployment Rate 7/

18. Unemployment Rate 7/

VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012EDGEDAVAO

Cebu Pacific Daily 5J961 / 5J962 5:45 Manila-Davao-Manila 6:15Zest Air Daily Z2390 / Z2390 5:45 Manila-Davao-Manila 6:25Cebu Pacific Daily 5J593 / 5J348 6:00 Cebu-Davao-Iloilo 6:30Philippine Airlines Daily PR809 / PR810 6:10 Manila-Davao-Manila 7:00Philippine Airlines Daily PR819 / PR820 7:50 Manila-Davao-Manila 8:50Cebu Pacific Daily 5J394 / 5J393 7:50 Zamboanga-Davao-Zamboanga 8:10Cebu Pacific Daily 5J599 / 5J594 8:00 Cebu-Davao-Cebu 8:30Cebu Pacific Daily 5J347 / 5J596 9:10 Iloilo-Davao-Cebu 9:40Cebu Pacific Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri/Sun 5J963 / 5J964 9:40 Manila-Davao-Manila 10:10Philippine Airlines Daily PR811 / PR812 11:30 Manila-Davao-Manila 12:20Cebu Pacific Daily 5J595 / 5J966 12:00 Cebu-Davao-Manila 12:30Silk Air Mon/Wed/Sat MI588 / MI588 18:55 Davao-Cebu-Singapore 13:35Cebu Pacific Thu 5J965 / 5J968 12:55 Manila-Davao-Manila 13:25Cebu Pacific Tue/Wed//Sat 5J965 / 5J968 13:35 Manila-Davao-Manila 14:05

Silk Air Thu/Sun MI566 / MI566 18:55 Davao-Singapore 15:20Cebu Pacific Mon/Tue/Wed/Fri 5J507 / 5J598 15:00 Cebu-Davao-Cebu 15:30Philippine Airlines August 15:55 Mani2Mani 16:50Zest Air Daily Z2524 / Z2525 16:05 Cebu-Davao-Cebu 16:45Cebu Pacific Daily 5J967 / 5J600 16:35 Manila-Davao-Cebu 17:05Philippines Airlines Daily PR813 / PR814 16:55 Manila-Davao-Manila 17:45Cebu Pacific Mon/Tue/Thu/Sat 5J215 / 5J216 18:00 Cagayan de Oro-Davao-Cagayan de Oro 18:20Cebu Pacific Daily 5971 / 5J970 18:40 Manila-Davao-Manila 19:10Cebu Pacific Tue/Sat/Sun 5J973 / 5J974 20:00 Manila-Davao-Manila 20:30Cebu Pacific Daily 5J969 / 5J972 20:30 Manila-Davao-Manila 21:00Airphil Express Daily 2P987 / 2P988 20:30 Manila-Davao-Manila 21:00Philippine Airlines Daily except Sunday PR821 / PR822 21:20 Manila-Davao-Manila 21:50Philippine Airlines Sunday PR821 / PR822 22:20 Manila-Davao-Manila 22:50

as of august 2010

By Lorie A. Cas-caro

“We consider the advocacy of pre-serving the envi-

ronment, a valid ad-vocacy. however, what is more important are the lives of the people. Should the lives of the people be less impor-tant than the shrubs and the trees that are there?”

This was posed by vicente T. Lao, presi-dent of the Mindanao Business Council said yesterday during Club 888 Forum at Marco Polo Davao.

“you don’t really need to choose be-tween mining or food. I should say ‘mining and food’ because there are interventions in mining operations that you can provide liveli-hood program and still provide livelihood for food production,” he said.

Lao mentioned about mining areas where communities have not benefited from the programs of the government. “This is the first time that people go in and try to give benefits to the community such as scholarship, employ-ment and livelihood interventions,” he said.

In rehabilitating the mining area, Lao said instead of plant-ing trees for the for-est, which is the only way allowed by the Department of envi-ronment and Natural resources, cacao and other food crops can be planted instead of trees.Collateral damages

he pointed out that in any industry, there are collateral damages and mitigat-ing the risks is signifi-cant in order for the industry to continue.

“These have been the reasons of the anti-mining advocates on why we should not be continuing the indus-try,” he said. But Lao has a different view, stating that the acci-dents could be viewed as lessons on how to

stop them in the future so that we can move on.

he further said that there are already safety measures that should be in place as required by law under the Mining Act of 1995, such as setting aside fund for final mine rehabilitation and de-commissioning plan.

Lao said, “These were the loopholes of the old mining law. Un-der the regulated envi-ronment, it will be very difficult for large-scale miners not to be doing their business respon-sibly. But, the small-scale mining permit by governors and mayors these are not regulat-ed. These are the prob-lems.” Regulate small-scale miners

A lot of problems encountered by the industry now are basi-cally coming from un-regulated small-scale miners, he continued.

“They have to be regulated, that’s a fact because under an unregulated environ-ment, it will be very difficult to police them. They are the ones who are really destroying the environment,” he said.

Saying that small-scale mining can be al-lowed to operate, Lao noted his pro stand on large-scale mining, saying that large-scale mining companies are much regulated under the Mining Act of 1995. For one, they are re-quired to set aside en-vironment protection fund; social develop-ment fund for the live-lihood of the communi-ty; and, rehabilitation and reconditioning of the area by the end of mining operations.

On the contrary, a group of small-scale miners of Compostela valley has been urging the government to leg-islate the pro-people Mining Act that will help the development of local miners.

Four days ago, some 100 miners from the Federation of Small-Scale Miners

of Compostela valley rallied in front of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) regional office here calling on the government to stop taking side on foreign mining corporations.

emelinda Bala, general secretary of the federation, said that since the passage of Mining Act of 1995, small-scale miners never received help that will develop the local mining industry.

She added that the government launched a campaign to stifle small-scale mining, cit-ing the closure of min-ing areas in Pantukan, Compostela valley.

Last January, the mining sites in Pantu-kan. Compostela val-ley were hit by land-slides killing more than 50 people.

She said the gov-ernment has a double-standard policy; forc-ing them to close their tunnels while allowing the exploration of for-eign and large-scale mining corporations in Compostela valley.

Meanwhile, Lao said that mining in-dustry in Mindanao should be given a chance. “At the end of the day, I believe that the industry can pro-vide substantial ben-efits to this island. I would like to support the industry. There will always be risks in any industry. We just have to mitigate them, he said.”

Biz leader: No need to choose between mining and food

IN a bid to fast track business registration in the country, the

Philippine government has launched the Sole Proprietorship New reg-istration (SPNr) module of the Philippine Business registry System (PBrS).

The Philippine Busi-ness registry (PBr) is a government-initiated web-based system that will facilitate business r e g i s t r a t i o n - r e l a t e d transactions by integrat-ing all agencies involved in business registration The SPNr allows registra-tion to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Securities and exchange Commission (SeC), Coop-erative Development Au-thority (CDA), Bureau of Internal revenue (BIr), Social Security System (SSS), home Develop-ment Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG), Philippine health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth), Local Gov-ernment Units (LGUs) and other permit/license-issuing agencies.

It provides a faster process for business reg-istration, thus strength-ening the government’s effort of providing quality service to the people and realizing its commitment to curb corruption and reduce red tape in the bu-

reaucracy.At present, sole pro-

prietorships can already validate existing/regis-ter their Business Names (BNs) from the DTI, get or validate their existing Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) from the BIr and employer registration numbers from the SSS, Philhealth, and Pag-IBIG through the PBrS.

The PBrS can be ac-cessed via http://www.business.gov.ph .

DTI 11 regional Di-rector Marizon S. Loreto said that this is milestone in business registration that entrepreneurs must take advantage of.

“Since this is a web-based system, this actu-ally serves as a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs who would like to register their business wherein they don’t need to visit these offices physically. Thus, business registra-tion now costs less since transportation cost need not be considered any-more,” she said.

Loreto added that registration has also be-come convenient because it can be done anywhere there is internet access like internet cafés, DTI of-fices with designated PBr kiosks, or even right at their homes/offices.

Online biz registry system launched

MINING. Mindanao Business Council Chairman Vicente Lao explains that the government must police the players of both the large-scale and small-scale mining industry. He added that the advocacy on mining is a val-id advocacy. Karlos Manlupig

The regional Devel-opment Commit-tee (rDCom) of the

National economic and Development Authority (NeDA) Board created a Special Committee for Mindanao Power, in light of the need to put in place a sustainable power sup-ply for Mindanao.

Socioeconomic Plan-ning Secretary and rD-Com Chair Cayetano W. Paderanga, Jr. said that the special committee is tasked to formulate rec-ommendations to address energy issues, particular-ly the limited generating capacity and dependency of Mindanao on hydro-power.

‘The rDCom dis-cussed Mindanao›s power supply and demand out-look to come up with con-crete recommendations to avert a power shortage

in the near future,” Socio-economic Planning Sec-retary Cayetano W. Pade-ranga Jr. said, adding that the outlook prompted the creation of the special committee.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, who chairs the rDCom Area Commit-tee for Mindanao, was se-lected to head the special committee and organize its membership.

At a recent rDCom meeting, it was reported that Mindanao’s power demand is expected to grow at an annual rate of 4.56 percent from 2011 to 2030. Demand is pro-jected to exceed existing generation capacity by 2014 unless additional

power generation capac-ity is installed.

It was also pointed out that Mindanao’s heavy dependence on hydro-power sources, which constitute half of the gen-eration mix in the region, makes its power supply vulnerable to droughts and decreasing water lev-els in watersheds.

“Mayor Duterte cited in the meeting the ex-ample of the decreasing water level in Lake Lanao, whose hydroelectric pow-er plants already have low operational capacity, and suggested that the Departments of energy (DOe) and environment and Natural resources (DeNr) study the viabil-

ity of co-management of the watershed,» Paderan-ga said, who is also Direc-tor-General of NeDA.

Paderanga also said that according to DOe there are already com-mitted and indicative projects that address con-cerns on the required ad-ditional supply, at least in the short term.

As one of the seven interagency committees under the NeDA Board, the rDCom is chaired by Paderanga and com-posed of the Secretaries of the Departments of Budget and Management, and Interior and Local Government, the chairs of the rDCom Area Com-mittees for Luzon, visayas and Mindanao, and four regional development experts representing the private sector and aca-deme.

6 THE ECONOMY VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012 EDGEDAVAO

NEDA creates special body for Mindanao energy issues

n Mindanao’s power demand is expected to grow at an annual rate of 4.56 per-cent from 2011 to 2030

SCIeNCe and Tech-nology Secretary Mario G. Montejo is

strongly supporting the initiatives to develop the halal industry and make it a national program due to its huge potential to help the country’s economy, a top regional official said yesterday.

Dr. Zenaida P. hadji raof Laidan, DOST-12 director, said in a recent meeting with the regional directors of the Depart-ment of Science and Tech-nology (DOST), the secre-tary emphasized the need to strengthen the halal industry in consonance with the National Science and Technology Innova-tion Plan.

“I recognize that halal is an important industry and I support it. We will make it a national pro-gram and we will start in Mindanao,” he told the re-gional directors.

Dr. Laidan added that she was also instructed by Montejo to continue with the initiatives to make ha-lal a stronger industry in the country.

“Secretary Montejo considers it important to support the development of the halal industry be-cause it is rapidly grow-ing due to the strong de-mand for halal-certified products especially in the foreign market,” she said.

President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III ear-lier identified the halal industry as one of the key investment areas that the government wants to give focus owing to the vast global market.

In the last few years, Laidan said the DOST-12 has been working to de-velop the halal industry through its Philippine Science and Technology Program for the Develop-ment of the halal Indus-try. She added that it is important for the Philip-pines to establish integ-rity and credibility with its halal industry given that the nation is a non-Muslim country.

“That, we can do through science- and technology-based ap-proaches alongside the religious requirement,” Laidan said.

Currently, the DOST-12 operates a halal labo-ratory in Cotabato City. It is also building a larger state-of-the-art labora-tory facility that shall be called the Philippine Na-tional halal Laboratory and Science Center in Ko-ronadal City, the seat of government of Soccskar-gen region (region 12). The center was concep-tualized to become the clearinghouse of halal products coming in and out of the country.

DOST wants dev’t of halal industry

IT is only now that bits and pieces of talks about the sale

of the airline company are coming out. If you would believe the news-feeds, the two conglom-erates are still in negoti-ations. But if you would listen to our sources, and knowing the strat-egies used by the busi-nessman before, the airline company has ac-tually been sold as early as December last year.

The previous own-er and the current own-er have sworn to the confidentiality of the deal, but not everyone around them is as quiet as they hope.

It comes as no sur-prise that the spokes-

persons of the two will give an outright denial when asked about the issue, but one thing is for sure – the brand of drinks being served by the airline will definite-ly change, especially the bottled water.

***

We all know that a house is not a home if there

is no one living in it. But for a government offi-cial to ask for plane tick-ets from people dealing with the office just so her son can come home on a regular basis is absolutely outrageous. Be careful, your home might become a house if you end up in jail for your misdeeds.

Behind Closed Doors

Signed, Sealed, and will be Delivered

The Philippines has achieved impressive gains in expanding access

to higher education among Fili-pinos but there remains a need for suitable skills that will en-able the nation’s workforce to become more competitive and help bolster economic growth, according to World Bank Lead economist emanuela di Gro-pello.

Speaking before par-ticipants of a higher education workshop organized by the Commission on higher edu-cation (CheD) and the World Bank (WB) at the edsa Shangri-la hotel in Mandaluyong City, di Gropello cited the increasing importance of building skills in science, technology, engineer-ing and mathematics—the “STeM” disciplines—in raising workforce productivity and ca-pacity for innovation essential to overall economic expansion.

“employers in both man-ufacturing and services in the east Asia and the Pacific region including the Philippines are looking for problem-solving, communications, manage-

ment and other skills that will support higher productivity. yet employer perceptions and wage skill premiums point to gaps in these skills in newly-hired professionals” di Gropello said when she presented the highlights of a recent WB study titled “Putting higher educa-tion to Work: Skills and re-search for Growth in east Asia.”

The report says that the Philippines—along with oth-er low- and middle-income countries in the east Asia and the Pacific region—has start-ed climbing the technology ladder and assimilated impor-tant technologies by becoming more open, developing infra-structure and improving its manufacturing industry. Nev-ertheless, the country needs to further improve its capac-ity for innovation in order to sustain its climb in the income ladder.

The report added that skills gaps are particularly large in the service industry, export sector, and technologically-intensive sector representing a very serious bottleneck for

innovation and productivity in the Philippines. employers and employees alike find these gaps to be particularly severe in creativity, leadership, and problem-solving skills, the re-port says.

“The evolving links be-tween higher education sys-tems and the business sector are becoming a major focus of policy as the role of technology in development expands. Not only do they impart education, but universities are viewed more and more as sources of industrially valuable technical skills, innovation, and entre-preneurship,” Prateek Tandon, World Bank economist, and co-author of the report said.

According to Dr. Patricia B. Licuanan, CheD Chairper-son, the government is cur-rently pursuing important reforms to make the country’s higher education system more responsive to the country’s de-velopment requirements.

These reforms include rationalizing higher education through measures such as a moratorium on new colleges

and universities, improving quality and standards by phas-ing out and closing substan-dard programs, complying with international standards, as well as developing research and development centers and world-class universities.

“CheD is also developing student financial assistance programs as well as poverty alleviation scholarships for poor but deserving students to promote greater social equity in the country,” Licuanan said.

“There is no question that Philippine universities and other tertiary institutions have been key channels for economic and social develop-ment,” World Bank Country Director Motoo Konishi said. “Around the region, there is an increasing recognition that higher education is criti-cal for sustained growth. It can lift productivity and com-petitiveness by providing the high level skills demanded by the labor market and also by launching the kind of re-search needed for innovation and growth.”

Reforms in education needed: WB

“The likes of Angel Guira-do and Lexton Moy should be given lessons on respect and decorum…young boys look up to them and their actions do not set a good ex-ample.” --Luz Ilagan, Gabri-ella Partylist representative.

Quips

The Bureau of Internal Revenue-Region 11 sets up a mobile help desk in SM City Davao to assist the public in complying with their tax responsibilities. BIR recently launched its 2012 tax awareness campaign. Karlos Manlupig

7GAME CHANGERSVOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012EDGEDAVAO

Sculpting landscapes, changing streets

But dermatologist Neil Oropeza did not see it that way. Just as he would see the beauty in every person, he saw the traits of Claveria Street that no other developing areas in Davao City has been able to replicate.

“Only someone who has lived in Claveria can understand and see its beauty today,” Oropeza said. “Claveria is where I grew up, no one under-stands the place better than we do. When ev-eryone was giving up on Claveria, I can still see its beauty.”

While he is more pop-ular for being one of the city’s top dermatologists, even creating his own sk-incare brand, Oropeza is now also gaining popular-ity for his investments in some of the most unlikely of places in the city.

reviving an aban-doned hotel building along Magallanes Street near the “bagsakan” of Bankerohan Public Mar-ket, Oropeza successfully revived the hotel and even expanded it under its new name, Oroderm hotel. This was followed by his acquisition of an-other abandoned building on the corner of Claveria and rizal Streets, a bank building which he turned into a medical bay com-plete with laboratories and an x-ray machine. The upper floors of the build-ing were turned into a budget hotel named Blue velvet hotel.

Now he is busy with his latest business ven-ture, and the grandest by far, a 3,000 square meter property that is set to be initially completed by April this year. The com-plex is set to change the landscape along Claveria Street as the complex boasts of two three-sto-rey buildings, a four sto-ry building, and a seven story building that will house banks, restaurants, a hotel, offices, and retail outlets.

While naysayers have criticized his invest-ments, Oropeza is stead-fast in realizing his proj-ects. “If you believe in

something, you have to make it work. It doesn’t matter what other people say, what is important is that you are happy,” Oro-peza said.

Aside from being the place where he grew up, Oropeza sees that Clave-ria Street remains to be the most walkable street in the city. “Not even Bajada or ecoland is as pedestrian friendly as Claveria Street.”

In a couple of months Oropeza will open Oro-derm City to the public, but right now, he is al-ready looking for a new building, a new location, or a new business that he can venture into.

“I always think in the long term. Whenever I make investments, I en-vision it for the next five years. What may be ugly today, can be the most beautiful the next day,” Oropeza said.

Considered as one of the city’s most eligible bachelors, Oropeza is content spending his time with work. “My first love is work. And it has taught me a very impor-tant lesson: you cannot grow in business and in life if you cannot forgive.”

Aside from person-ally overlooking the con-struction of Oroderm City, Oropeza still con-tinues to hold clinic in the afternoon, run his two hotels, oversee their ad agency, manage their 3 banks, and their con-struction company.

“When I was young, I always wanted to be an architect, but given an-other chance, I will still choose to be a doctor,” Oropeza said. “Looking back, I am pretty happy with how things turned out for me.”

Suddenly, Oropeza’s Nokia 1220 mobile phone buzzes. It’s his secretary telling him that his after-noon appointments at his clinic are already waiting for him. After a few me-ters walk from the con-struction site, Oropeza shifts from beautifying a dying street to making persons feel more beauti-ful about themselves.

A few years back, Claveria or now known as C.M. recto Street, was doomed to die as development moved out of “down-

town”. Like most streets in downtown Davao, Claveria was already dark, gloomy, dotted with a number of abandoned, boarded up buildings littered with vagrants and other shady characters.

By Carlo P. Mallo

Dr. Neil Oropeza at the construction site of Oroderm City

8 VANTAGE POINTS

The carnage in Panabo City last Tues-day afternoon that wasted the lives of six people showed among others how

desperate criminals have become these days.riding a motorcycle in tandem, the sus-

pects, both armed with caliber .45 pistols, barged into a store in barangay Cagangohan owned by the couple Leo Apalie Lai and rea Lai and declared a holdup. The suspects fled with P900,000, but not before killing securi-ty guard edgar Mocusi and store driver Allen Jones Polo. They also shot the owner’s wife, Rea, who is five months pregnant and then commandeered the storeowner’s Pajero ve-hicle, taking as hostage, Irene Zamora, rea’s 16-year-old niece.

Unfazed by being grossly outnumberedby the police, the robbers were determined to fight and shoot it out with the responding lawmen who were later joined by elements of the Bunawan (Davao City) police station. The suspects reportedly continued firing at the police officers even when they were al-ready wounded and down on the ground. When the gunsmoke cleared, the two rob-bers lay dead in a pool of their own blood.

Unfortunately, Chief Inspector rene Angelo Alampay, who led the responding police offi-cers, was also killed with a bullet to the head. Also dead inside the Pajero getaway car was Zamora, the 16-year-old niece of rea, who is still fighting for dear life with her unborn baby in the hospital.

As we commiserate with the relatives of the slain victims, especially the heroic Chief Inspector Alampay, we can’t help but worry about the brutality shown by the sus-pects in that incident. The level of savagery is almost the same with the other crimes against property and person reported in other parts of the country, wherein the vic-tims are cut-up, placed inside drums of ce-ment or buried alive. We also take note that many victims of these heinous crimes are women. We think that crime-fighters should take a long and harder look at the changing psychology of criminals and discover what is behind their abominable behavior. Who knows the police will find new ways to deal with criminals and eventually win the good-versus-evil fight most of the time, if not all the time.

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VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012 EDGEDAVAO

By Kavi ChongkittavornAnalysis

Investing a dubious future in ASEAN

(First of 2 Parts)

The April by-elections will either serve as a catalyst to further ease sanctions, or drum down Burma’s reform efforts.

The remaining weeks ahead of the polls are pivotal. President Thein Sein has yet to send a strong signal regarding the kind of elec-tion his government wants to see—anything short of a free and fair vote would not augur well with the current high expectations.

At a recent meeting with Thein Sein in Naypyidaw, ASeAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan was succinct in urging Burma to conduct the upcoming election in a free and fair manner, given how closely the world is now watching. During the general election in November 2010, the diplomatic community inside Burma was invited to monitor the elec-tion. While the ASeAN diplomats took up the invitation, other Western missions refused to join, and as a result the international com-munity widely condemned the election as a sham. Nonetheless, it paved the way for for-mer prime minister Thein Sein to enter office and show his mettle and vision as the coun-try’s president.

however, this time around, Surin also urged that his government should go a little bit further by inviting the ASEAN officials from their capitals directly to observe the polling stations, as “it will boost transparency, which will add to international goodwill.” As the case may be, each ASeAN member can dispatch its own officials, if so desires, with or without local media corps, to observe the polls.

After Surin’s recent trip to Burma, the Burmese government and the opposition party leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, have further strengthened engagements with him and the Jakarta-based ASeAN Secretariat. For nearly two years after Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 140,000 people and devastated the Irrawaddy delta, Surin and the secretariat worked together with Burmese and interna-tional organisations to rehabilitate the affect-ed region and assist cyclone victims. Of late, Naypyidaw has been more forthcoming with the role that the ASeAN Secretariat played in the wake of the cyclone.

For Suu Kyi, the meeting with Surin served as an ice-breaker between her and the bloc which had turned against her for nearly two decades. however, her spirit of reconciliation with the Thein Sein govern-ment has benefitted ASEAN as well. Suddenly, it was no longer taboo to hold a meeting with her. When Surin called on Suu Kyi for the first time in February, she confirmed her wish of seeing Burma further develop over the com-ing decade. If that is the case, Suu Kyi needs to get acquainted with ASeAN affairs and its relevant activities. Surin told reporters after his latest Burmese trip that he was impressed by her intelligence and vitality. “She is the re-gion’s political icon,” he said, referring to Suu Kyi’s popularity inside and outside Burma. “ASeAN can serve as a bridge between Bur-ma and the outside world.”

If she wins her parliamentary seat, she will also have ample opportunity to travel within the region and connect with ASeAN politicians, thereby further engaging in vari-ous ASeAN activities and programs.

In the case that the Thein Sein govern-ment does decide to invite ASeAN diplomats from their capitals directly, it would be a mile-stone in ASeAN-Burma relations. First of all, it further strengthens ties that have often felt the strain of Naypyidaw’s non compliance, as well as setting precedence for the next gen-eral election in 2015. Secondly, it would be the first time that Burma has sought out elec-toral assistance from ASeAN. In 2000, Indo-nesia bypassed the ASeAN principle of non-interference by inviting individual ASeAN members to dispatch troops to east Timor, which comprised international peacekeep-ing. Former President B J habibi preferred to ASeAN peacekeepers on board than interna-tional peacekeepers.

What is clear is that Thein Sein wants the outcome of the April by-elections to be posi-tive enough for the US and eU to end sanc-tions, but this is still a tall order. So far, ASeAN has been consistent in urging its dialogue partners to get rid of sanctions against Bur-ma.

TO understand the significance of the presidential election this weekend in russia, read a book

by two U.S.-based academics that is be-ing published this month. Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James rob-inson, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and harvard University, respectively, is a wildly ambitious work that hopscotches through history and around the world to answer the very big question of why some countries get rich and others don’t.

Their one-word answer, as Acemog-lu summed it up for me, is ‘‘politics.’’ Ac-emoglu and robinson divide the world into countries governed by ‘‘inclusive’’ institutions and those ruled by ‘‘ex-tractive’’ ones. Inclusive societies, with england and its Glorious revolution of 1688 in the vanguard, deliver sustain-able growth and technological innova-tion. extractive ones can have spurts of prosperity, but because they are ruled by a narrow elite guided by its own self-interest, their economic vigor eventually fades.

‘‘It is really about societies that have a more equitable distribution of political power versus those that don’t,’’ Acemo-glu told me. ‘‘It is about societies where the elite, the rich, can do what they want and those where they cannot.’’

For many of us, that is a welcome conclusion. It may also seem to be an obvious one. But Acemoglu pointed out that academics, policymakers and busi-ness leaders have often advanced quite different views. One perspective is that all that matters is economic growth and the right technocratic mix of policies

necessary to deliver it. This approach, implicit in the prescriptions of so many International Monetary Fund missions, is that if countries can get richer, every-thing else will fall into place.

A version of this view, which has gained particular currency since the col-lapse of the Soviet Union, is that the key is private property. establish property rights, the reformers in Warsaw, Mos-cow and Beijing believed, and economic and social success will inevitably follow.

But Acemoglu and robinson argue that if an extractive regime is in charge, neither wealth nor private property can save a country from eventual decline. The russia of today, they believe, is a textbook extractive regime, and that is what makes the vote this weekend, and the unexpected protests that preceded it, so significant.

‘‘russia is ruled by a narrow clique,’’ Acemoglu said. ‘‘The only thing that is keeping it going is a big boom in natural resources and a clever handling of the media.’’

The point, Acemoglu argues, is that wealth in and of itself doesn’t lead to sustained growth: ‘‘Saudi Arabia can get a lot of growth, but that is not the right

growth. Take away the oil and Saudi Ara-bia would be like a poor African coun-try.’’

A crucial argument Acemoglu and robinson make — and one foreign aid donors and policy advisers too often miss — is that the leaders of extractive regimes don’t implement policies that stifle sustainable growth out of igno-rance. They aren’t stupid; they are mere-ly and rationally pursuing their own self-interest. The real ignorance is that of outsiders who fail to appreciate that in an extractive regime, the interests of the rulers and the ruled do not coincide.

‘‘When you think of somebody like Chávez, you will see that his objective is not to enrich venezuela,’’ Acemoglu said, referring to President hugo Chávez. ‘‘he is not letting markets work because his goal is something else.’’

Acemoglu and robinson’s analytical framework helps to make sense of one of the seeming paradoxes of the past 12 months — the prosperous middle-class people who have taken to the streets in the Arab world, in India and in russia to protest crony capitalism. If you believe that economic growth today is a suffi-cient condition for long-term prosper-ity, these affluent agitators are puzzling. That leads observers to search for softer grievances, like the quest for dignity.

But Acemoglu and robinson believe that dignity and long-term prosperity are intimately connected. The protest-ers, who put the demand for political rights ahead of everything else, are right; the academic consensus that ar-gues they should simply focus on the correct economic policies is wrong.

GONe Are the days when you could go

to Samal anytime and take a dip in its pristine waters without anyone telling you that you can’t get to any of its beaches without paying an “entrance fee”.

In other words, I miss those days when it was Free to go to any of Samal’s white beaches with my family and enjoy a swim whenever I felt like going there. I still can im-agine myself just floating on my back on the crystal clear sea water and staring at the blue sky and my kids playing with their little toy boats nearby.

Now, to me at least, Samal island has become a kind of “fortress” of commercial beaches, many controlled by foreigners and Manila-based property developers who have been buying up every square meter of this beautiful island. I still can’t accept the fact to this day that it’s called “Island Garden City of Samal” by politicians who have nasty ideas of turning the island into another urban city like Singapore.

From our vantage point at Nova Tierra village in Lanang, we can see clearly the dark green mass of trees that crown the small mountain range of Samal. The greens are beginning to disappear and being replaced by spreading patches of home subdivisions. Goodbye, beautiful beaches of Samal!!

years from now, you’ll see nothing else in Samal except thousands of houses and beach resorts covering practically every inch of the mountains on this supposedly South Pacific paradise.

If there are people we should blame for the decline of this beautiful island, it would be all the stupid policy makers in the local and national governments who allow Samal to be swallowed up by greed.

Although I was excited at first about the plan of the government to build a bridge con-necting Davao City to Samal, I’ve come to real-ize that would be a very big mistake if pushed through. That would even hasten the death of Samal to all the property developers and beach resort owners who wants to sell or rent every square inch of beachland to anyone who comes along. That’s what’s happening to Mactan beach in Cebu these days.

even that new plan by private investors to put up a giant cross on an islet beside Mali-pano island fronting the Pearl Farm can be a fatal mistake. To keep and protect Samal’s beauty, it’s far better to keep the island un-touched and kept in its original “virgin” state.

Whether we like it or not, once beautiful Samal is today like a beautiful woman who has lost her virginity. It’s allowing itself to be used for big money it needs to fund its devel-opment. The island is just like a woman al-lowing herself to be used to send her children to school and live like a rich matron.

It’s a sacrifice not worth the beauty, pride and dignity of Samal island.

(Comments? email : tradingpost_davao@yahoo.com)

9VANTAGE POINTS

Samal ‘virgin’

no more

Monkey Business

VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012EDGEDAVAO

By Chrystia FreelandCommentary

Prosperity, autocracy and democracy

(First of 2 Parts)

‘I don’t know why it’s even under Renato Corona’s name because it should have been under BGEI’s account.I don’t know what to say about that. We’re here really to try to get answers because we have not been able to obtain any kind of accounting for BGEI (Basa-Guidote En-terprises Inc.) and as to where the money went. The cash advance surprised us. We didn’t bring this out. We only found out during the impeachment trial because it was in the SALN.

--Ana Basa in an interview reporter Cynthia Balana published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on March 7, 2012.

‘DON’T believe her lies.She and her branch of the family have been uttering and repeating those lies for the past 30 years.’

--Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, reacting to Ana Basa’s statements to the PDI.

FaceOffOn the cash advance of P11 million

‘THE court has arrived at a decision and ruling that it will deny the motion to suppress and accept the evidence for the con-sideration of the court in con-nection with Article 2 of the articles of impeach-ment.’

--Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile on the Senate’s acceptance of Chief Justice Re-nato Corona’s bank accounts as evidence.

Quips

10 COMMUNITY SENSE

“We really want more share for the govern-ment…I would love a 50-percent share for the government.”

--Cesar Purisima, Finance Sec-retary

Quips

VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012 EDGEDAVAO

HELPING YOU MAKE INFORMED BUSINESS DEcISIONS.

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Gen. Santos Drive, Koronadal CityTelefax No.: (083) 520-0816Mobile No.: 0922-843-9427

email: manggorio09@yahoo.com

AIrASIA is set to fur-ther heat up compe-tition in the local air-

line industry as it opens the country’s first flight from Clark to Davao on March 28 and unveils the second phase of its all-in fare promo.

Philippines AirAsia’s flights to Davao celebrates the 75th founding anniver-sary of Davao and the sister city agreement between Davao and Clark.

The Clark-Davao daily flights provide central and northern Luzon residents easy access to Davao’s Pearl Farm, the Philippine eagle Sanctuary and experience other exciting outdoor ad-ventures in Mindanao.

“We are thrilled and ex-cited to offer an opportunity for both local and interna-tional tourists to experience and explore Davao, one of the most alluring gateways to the Philippines, by offer-ing daily flights from our hub in Clark at all-in low fares,” said Marianne hon-tiveros, Chief executive Of-ficer of AirAsia Inc.

Barely a week after launching its revolutionary all-in fare promo from Clark to Davao and Kalibo, Philip-pines’ AirAsia is offering a P599 Clark to Kalibo and a P799 Clark to Davao all-in fare, one of the lowest offers in the market.

Philippines’ AirAsia’s

newest all-in offer of P599 from Clark to Kalibo and P799 to Davao includes base fare, fuel surcharge, aviation security fee, processing fee and vAT.

“The reaction to our all-in fare revolution promo is overwhelming. We are currently the only local car-rier that offers all-in promo fares. For greater transpar-ency, we inform our guests what are they are actually paying for when availing of our promo seats. We do not want to disappoint them with hidden charges and misleading promotions,” said hontiveros.

The P599 Clark to Ka-

libo and the P799 Clark to Davao promo will be open from 5 –18 March 2012, and guests will be able to travel from 28 March 2012 to 31 January 2013. These all-in fares are available online at www.airasia.com and also available via mobile at mo-bile.airasia.com as well as via AirAsia apps for Black-berry, iPhone and Android phones. The apps are avail-able for download at Black-berry App World, iTunes App Store and Android Mar-ketplace by searching for the keyword AirAsia.

The Filipino Low Cost carrier will begin servicing daily flights from Clark In-

ternational Airport to Kalibo International Airport and Francisco Bangoy Interna-tional Airport in Davao on March 28, 2012.

To complement the flight bookings, passengers may also tap AirAsiaGo which will be offering ho-tel packages from as low as P3,289 for a 4D/3N hotel stay with return flights in Davao and Kalibo. The spe-cial deal is available only on www.AirAsiaGo.com. In a partnership with expedia, AirAsiaGo has over 145,000 hotel partners worldwide, and provides guests with a wide variety of options for tours and activities as well.

AirAsia’s amazing promo: P799 Clark-Davao

IBM WINS ANVIL. IBM Executives (3rd from left) Chestnut Andaya, Country Manager for Marketing, Communica-tions and Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs;

Mariels Almeda Winhoffer, President and Country General Manager; and Dod Peralta, General Manager for IBM Solu-tions Delivery receive the Anvil award.

experience the best sound, sights and tastes of Davao City in Tunog, Tan-aw, Takam Fair from March 10-18, 2012 at Kadayawan hall, NCCC Mall Davao.

“The fair will highlight different products the city is known for including vari-ous flora and export quality accessories and souvenirs,” says rio Linda rendon, project manager.

She added that the week long event will also feature local delicacies and fruits as well as some of the city’s homegrown restaurants like Japanese Tunnel, Bulcachong, Bontee Toasted Siopao, Toryano’s, Davao Tower yema, Jaltan, and Baraka Grill and Cater-ing Services.

A star-studded week awaits you this 75 th Araw ng Dabaw at the Activity Center starting off with the Grand Kapuso Mall Tour featuring Mark herras, Kris

Bernal and the cast of Biri-tera on March 15 .

On Friday, erich Gon-zales will groove with fel-low dabawenyos during the finals of the Davao Dance Showdown at 5pm.

Jodi Sta. Maria will be at the Activity Center on March 17 for Dungog Da-baw, a cultural presentation of Davao history. On March 18, Davao’s up and coming designers namely Walter Quijada, Joao Tarepe, ramir Togonon, ronan Opina and reymundo Quitain take center stage at the Kaday-awan hall with DCinyo Da-baw.

If you’re a proud Da-bawenyo, visit trivia exhibit featuring Davao City facts and figures at the mall’s ground level.

Great discounts are in store for shoppers during the mall’s midnight sale on March 16 and late night sale on March 17-18.

Tunog, Tan-aw, Takam Fair showcase Davao City’s best

San Miguel Pale Pilsen brings back its trademark event, the Battle of the Bands, in this year’s Sarap Mag Babad’s “Taste of Sum-mer” event.

San Miguel Brewery Inc.’s Battle of the Bands through Pale Pilsen in the early 90s resulted in the mushrooming of vari-ous band competitions all across the country which tremendously resuscitated the band and music scene back then.

“Musical talents abound in our country, and SMB believes that our as-piring local bands deserve a shot at showing their tal-ents and being rewarded for their passion,” says SMB President roberto N. huang.

Interested band of three to seven members each may audition at the San Miguel Pale Pilsen Bat-tle of the Bands at any of the seven Sarap Mag Babad venues on March 2,9, 16, 23, 30, and April 13,20, and 27, 2012. Sarap Mag Babad venues in various areas in the country include Super Six Grill in Malate, Manila; valdez Center in San Nico-las, Ilocos Norte; Manokan Country in Bacolod City; Ormoc Food Park in Ormoc City; Tagbilaran Port in Tag-

bilaran City, Bohol; Matina Town Square in Davao City; and Osmena St., in Tagum Davao del Norte. Semi-fi-nals will be held on May 4, 2012 where winners will advance to the Grand Finals on May 11. Bands playing pop, acoustic or reggae mu-sic are invited to join.

A total of at least P535,500 await the win-ners during the elimination and final rounds.

registration forms can also be downloaded from the San Miguel Pale Pilsen website www.san-miguelpalepilsen.com.ph, San Miguel Pale Pilsen Facebook account www.facebook.com/sanmiguel-palepilsen or the radio Mindanao Network (rMN) website www.rmn.ph.

SMB’s Battle of the Bands back at MTS

By Rodielyn A. Manugas

eNDOWeD with their most colorful outfit, capitol ground of

the province almost over-flowed as the contingents for the drum line and drum and bugle competi-tion were marching on to showcase and showdown their most practiced mas-terpiece.

Drum line competi-tion is usually played by a marching percussion featuring a minimum of 40 musicians/instrumen-talists and a minimum of 15 dancers. each entry played the musical in-struments such as brass drums, snare drums, cymbals and xylophone as a front ensemble or a stationery instrument.

Drum and Bugle Corps competition is a showdown performance which includes the play-ing of musical instru-ments such as drum, bugle, lyre and agong. Competing teams are not allowed to use fireworks effects or electronic in-struments.

Competing entries for drum line competition were Monkayo National high School, Camanlan-gan National high School, Montevista National high

School, Nabunturan Na-tional high School and Compostela National high School.

Nine elementary schools also compete for the drum and bugle corps competition from Montevista elementary School, Maco Central el-ementary School, Laak el-ementary School, Nuevo Iloco elementary School, Camanlangan elementary School, Pasian elemen-tary School, Don William hemperli elementary School,Manat elemen-tary School and Compos-tela Central elementary School SPeD Center.

Contingents and their performances were scru-tinized by a group of com-petent jurors who were experts in the field of music, arts and choreog-

raphy chaired by Deped XI regional education Program Supervisor Ms. Jeselyn B. Dela Cuesta.

Completing the day 2 is the final competition of the top 10 finalist of the Talentadong COMvALe-ÑO, another showcase of variety of astounding performances from sing-ers, dancers, actors, musi-cians, comedians, contor-tionists, impressionists, jugglers, and magicians. This follows the format of Talentadong Pinoy seg-ment shown every week-end at Tv 5. The grand prize is P30,000.00 and the grand winner will be endorsed to Tv 5 for the national qualifying rounds and will have the chance to be known and be seen in the national television. (rodielyn a. Manugas-ids CoMval)

11SUBURBIA

“If ever that will become a possi-bility, the govern-ment will have to step in and accept the oil for us and pay us in negotiable currency.”

--stephen antig, pBgea exeCutive

direCtor

Quips

VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012EDGEDAVAO

By Noel Baguio

DAvAO del Norte’s convergence ini-tiative will be

expanding its available health services to poor and distant barangays, with more funds coming from the office of 1st Dis-trict Congressman Antho-ny G. del rosario.

The representa-tive assured to provide P800,000 in order to provide the needed assis-tance for cancer patients, including resources for the screening procedures for breast cancer, prostate cancer, and cervical can-cer.

Del rosario, who is a cancer survivor him-self, announced his com-mitment when he joined the conduct of the third convergence outreach in Barangay Igangon, San Isidro town last March 1, 2012.

“Nalipay kaayo ko ani mao nga kami sa (I am so happy with this program that is why we at the) con-gressional office have de-cided to join in and help out by providing funds,” del rosario said.

Joining the congress-

man were vice Gov. victo-rio Suaybaguio, Jr., 1003rd Infantry Brigade Com-mander Col. Lysander Suerte, Mayor rosebella Abelita-Nana, and the var-ious department heads of the Capitol.

Del rosario also started providing assis-tance for persons with disabilities, by handing out a pair of crutches to Dino Caso, who was born with physical deformity.

The congressman also inaugurated the ba-rangay water system funded by his P1-million per barangay program, under his priority devel-opment assistant fund (PDAF).

he also assured to provide funds for the ex-pansion of the water sys-tem, completion of the ba-rangay terminal, as well as, electrification of some puroks.

he further bared an additional P70 million will be available this year for the on-going elevat-ing and concreting of the 25-kilometer Zero, Asun-cion road going to Laak, Comval Province, which passes through Barangay Igangon.

AGR supports DavNor convergence program

Day 2 of 5th Bulawan Fest: Drum Line & Drum and Bugle Contingents Color Capitol Ground

FLOWING WATER. 1st District Congressman Anthony del Rosartio leads the inauguration of the barangay water system of Igangon, San Isidro, Davao del Norte. Noel Baguio.DavNor PIO

12 NATION /WORLD VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012 EDGEDAVAO

NATION BRIEfS WORLD TODAYNo politics

LT. Gen. Jessie Dellosa, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)

Chief of Staff, has urged troops to shun politics.

”Let us let them be. We should not get in-volved since politics are for politicians and we opt to follow the chain of command,” Dellosa told troops during his first visit Tuesday to the AFP Central Command (Cent-com) in Camp Lapu-Lapu, Lahug, Cebu City, adding that rumors about a de-stabilization plot are just part of a disinformation campaign against the ad-ministration.

Monitor

PreSIDeNTIAl Ad-viser on the Peace Process Teresita

Quintos-Deles said the super-NGO (non-govern-ment organization) be-ing mulled by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) is not a threat to the established gov-ernment as it will only monitor the reforms and development programs in the Autonomous re-gion in Muslim Mindanao (ArMM).

Deles made the clari-fication in response to a published report that the MNLF, headed by its founding chairman Nur Misuari, is mulling the es-tablishment of a “parallel government.”

Exports

MALAySIA’S exports reportedly rose a weaker-than-ex-

pected 0.4 percent year-on-year in January owing to a sharp fall in demand from major markets in-cluding China and europe.

The trade ministry said overseas shipments, the main engine of the country’s economy, came in at posted 55.07 billion ringgit ($18.1 billion), with petroleum, and iron and steel providing most support.

Complicated

rOBerT King, the US envoy on human rights in North Ko-

rea, said Wednesday en-suring food aid to North Korea reached the most vulnerable was “compli-cated”, ahead of talks with Pyongyang officials in Bei-jing to finalise plans for as-sistance.

North Korea said last week it would suspend its nuclear tests and uranium enrichment programme in return for US food aid, fol-lowing talks with the Unit-ed States less than three months after the death of leader Kim Jong-Il.

DIED

eAST Timor’s first and shortest-serv-ing president Fran-

cisco Xavier do Ama-ral died on Tuesday after a long battle with cancer, a presidential spokesman said.

The popular veteran of the nation’s resistance struggle against Indone-sia’s brutal 24-year occu-pation died aged 74 in a hospital in the capital Dili.

BAN

WOMeN’S groups expressed out-rage Tuesday

after Indonesia’s parlia-ment said it would draft rules banning female lawmakers from wear-ing “provocative” cloth-ing such as miniskirts to work and claimed such dress invited rape.

“We know there have been a lot of rape cases and other immoral acts recently, and this is because women aren’t wearing appropriate clothes,” house of repre-sentatives speaker Mar-zuki Alie said.

CAMPAIGN

PR O - d E M O C R A C y leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged members

of Myanmar’s powerful military Tuesday to sup-port her opposition party in April by-elections as she campaigned for votes on the regime’s doorstep.

In a sight almost un-thinkable until recently, several thousand people turned out each time the National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader delivered a speech in areas on the fringes of the showpiece capital Naypyidaw.

SeNATOr Loren Legarda today emphasized the need to prepare citi-

zens for the occurrence of earthquakes as a 5.2-mag-nitude temblor jolted Mas-bate, Albay and Sorsogon on Tuesday, exactly a month after the province of Negros Oriental was devastated by a 6.9-magnitude tremor.

“In the event an earth-quake occurs, the primary in-stinct is to ensure one’s sur-vival. And as a principal man-date, the government must guarantee the protection of the country’s citizens,” Le-garda said.

“Thus, it is important that people are aware of what they must do, which means how they can protect them-selves in the event a disas-ter occurs, and must be in-formed of the government’s disaster preparedness plans, meaning, citizens should know where to go to and what are the assistance avail-able to them,” she added.

Noting the recent earth-quake drill that was conduct-ed simultaneously in select areas in the country and was led by the National Disaster risk reduction and Manage-ment Council (NDrrMC), the Senator said that baran-gay leaders should already be mobilized to conduct di-saster preparedness training such as quake drills, which must be done at least twice a year in all communities na-

Legarda urges to mobilize community leaders for earthquake preparedness

tionwide.Likewise, regular earth-

quake drills must be conduct-ed in schools and hospitals, where the most vulnerable citizens are, so that school-children and the occupants of health-care institutions, their administrators, opera-tors and personnel would know the proper response and actions to take in cases of

temblors and other hazard-ous phenomena.

“We need to tap our lo-cal leaders who have more knowledge on the vulner-ability of their communities and are likely able to enjoin their neighbors to take part in emergency preparedness efforts. Local leaders will also be able to determine the safest refuge—in the in-

stance of tremors, to locate open spaces and suitable evacuation centers. We can-not prevent the occurrence of natural hazards, but we can prevent the loss of lives and damage to livelihood and properties if we make our communities prepared against earthquakes or any kind of disaster,” Legarda concluded.

LAUNCHING. “Climate-related risks should be considered as an integral part of city and regional planning. City-specific solutions combining infrastructure investments, zoning, and ecosystem-based strategies are required. I commend the Manila Observatory and the Ateneo de Manila University for this undertaking—the Coastal Cities at Risk Project—which will give Metro Manila leaders and development planners the guidance they need to prepare for the worst hazards,” Senator Loren Legarda chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change said when she

was invited as guest speaker by the Manila Observatory. Also present during the launch aside from Ms. Toni Yulo Loyzaga, Executive Director of the Manila Observatory were Fr. Jett Villarin, President of Ateneo de Manila Univer-sity and Dr. Emma Porio, Department Chair of Sociology and Anthropology. Senator Loren gifted them with seed-lings of fruit bearing trees along with her book on climate change, including the Disaster Preparedness and First Aid Handbook prepared by the Senate Committee on Climate Change which she chairs.

The five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Moroc-

co met behind closed doors on Tuesday to discuss a U.S.-drafted resolution urg-ing an end to the Syrian government’s crackdown on demonstrators, a text some Western envoys said was too weak.

It remains unclear whether the U.S. draft reso-lution, which follows two earlier proposed condem-nations of Damascus that russia and China vetoed, has any chance of success in the 15-nation council, which has been deadlocked over Syria’s military opera-tions against pro-democra-cy protesters for almost a year.

The U.S. draft, obtained by reuters, demands “un-hindered humanitarian ac-cess” and “condemns the continued widespread, systematic, and gross viola-tions of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities and demands that the Syrian government immediately put an end to such viola-tions.”

It also would have the council demand Syria re-lease “all persons detained arbitrarily” and withdraw the military.

U.N. ambassadors from the United States, Britain, France, China and rus-sia, along with Morocco,

the sole Arab state on the 15-nation Security Council, avoided detailed comments when they left a 1-1/2 hour meeting on the draft.

“We have just begun today preliminary discus-sions ... about whether there is any possibility of reach-ing agreement,” U.S. Ambas-sador Susan rice said in a statement to reuters.

“These discussions are just beginning and will continue,” she said. “If and when, it seems there is a basis for a meaningful and viable text, we will pro-pose one to the full Security Council.”

One diplomat said pri-vately there would be “no swift vote” on the draft, if it came to a vote at all.

Another Western dip-lomat who defended the U.S. text said such a resolu-tion could signal to Assad that his support from Mos-cow and Beijing is not un-limited: “We do think there is utility to having the rus-sians and Chinese sign up to something that indicates that they ... take issue with Syrian behavior.”

Indian Ambassador hardeep Singh Puri did not take part in the meeting but said the council should not take any step until af-ter it hears back from U.N. humanitarian chief valerie Amos and the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi An-nan, both of whom are due

Big powers gather to discuss Syria draft

FBIG, 13

13FfROM 1

FfROM 2

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Actor..Mayor...VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012EDGEDAVAO

Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Transportation and Communications

MARITIME INDUSTRY AUTHORITYRegional Office XI

Case NO. DMRO 12-013-A Application for Amendment of Certificate of Public Convenience (CPC)

NEREIDS INC. Applicant

ORDER

Before us, is the Application for thew Amendment of Certificate of Public Conve-nience of above –named applicant, specially for the addition of the vessel MBca FLY-ING SQUID to its fleet and to operate the same in a passenger island tour service on a deregulated schedule, from 6;00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. daily in the route: From Sta. Ana Pier, Davao City to any point within the Island Garden City of Samal and vice versa.

Notice is hereby given that the said Application will be heard by this Authority on March 19, 2012 at 10:00 A. M. at the Marina-RO XI Conference Room,

2nd Floor Tan Bldg. Monteverde Ave., Davao CityThe Applicant shall publish this Order once in a newspaper of general circulation,

or shall post said Order in the MARINA website, at least ten (10) days prior to the above date.

The Applicant shall likewise furnish a copy of its Application and this Order to the affected parties.

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

The Applicant shall submit a written Formal Offer of Evidence (FOE) during the hearing of five (5) days thereafter.

WITNESS, the Honorable Administrator, EMERSON M. LORENZO, this 22nd day of February 2012 at Davao City, Philippines.

(SGD) MARIANITO D. MENDOZA, CESO V Regional Director

to visit Syria in the coming days.

‘VERY WEAK’Several Western diplo-

mats expressed disappoint-ment with the U.S. draft, saying it fell far short of an appropriately stinging con-demnation of the govern-ment of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his nearly year-long clamp-down that the United Na-tions says has killed over 7,500 civilians.

“The text on the table is very weak,” a senior West-ern diplomat said on condi-tion of anonymity.

The senior diplomat and several others, howev-er, said that the europeans and Arabs would support the draft, despite their mis-givings, if it is put to a vote.

“If we’re going to get a council resolution on Syria, this is the kind that could pass,” a diplomat told re-uters. he added that the draft echoed a council state-ment on Syria that all 15 members, including russia and China, supported last week.

“Of course, russia and China may want to veto it anyway,” he said, add-ing that the U.S. delegation might prefer to withdraw the resolution if Moscow and Beijing planned to block it.

Syria’s staunch ally russia also criticized the text.

“The new U.S. draft U.N. Security Council reso-lution on Syria is a slightly renewed version of the previous vetoed document. It needs to be significantly balanced,” Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Monday on Twitter.

The draft resolution stops short of endorsing an Arab League plan that calls for Assad to transfer pow-ers to his deputy to prepare free elections as european and Gulf Arab nations want.

russia and China said the main reason they ve-toed a council resolution backing the Arab plan last month was because it was an attempt to push Libya-style “regime change” in Syria.

A provision of the U.S. draft that has annoyed Saudi Arabia and others, diplomats said, is a call for “the armed elements of the Syrian opposition to refrain from all violence immedi-ately” after the government ends its military operations.

Western and Arab diplomats do not want to equate the violence by the opposition with that of the much-stronger govern-ment security forces.

Some diplomats said Washington would like to have a final draft ready by Monday, when the Security Council will hold a minis-terial debate on the “Arab Spring” uprisings in the Middle east and North Afri-ca, including Syria. Another diplomat said Monday was not a target date and suc-cess was far from certain.

British Foreign Sec-retary William hague and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe are among those who have confirmed that they will attend Mon-day’s debate, which is aimed at taking stock of the pro-democracy uprisings that have toppled govern-ments in countries includ-ing Libya, egypt and Tuni-sia.

mas maayo they should come to me and sign a formal agreement,” Duterte-Carpio said at a press conference.

During plenary, vice Mayor rodrigo Duterte told representatives of Globe and Smart that he expects ‘normalization of 911 accessibility in a week’s time.’

“The telcos prom-ised to make 911 acces-sible thru proper proto-col by putting their act together and setting in place a system for in-forming the public and government at all times,” Braga said.

She added that a technical working group will be created under the NTC “to work out the de-tails of the MOA between the city and the telcos.”

911 inaccessible to smartphones

During the plenary, both Globe national car-rier relations head Mel-vin Santos and Smart Communications regula-tory head Anthony Fer-nandez said their com-panies would look into the problem.

Fernandez said that Smart had conducted tests on the problem which revealed that it is easier for simple mobile phones to access 911 but difficult for mobiles of more recent models.

he said that when

the agreement was reached in 2004, mobile phones were simplier and did not have cam-eras and other advanced features.

he added that, un-like simple phones, smart phones owned by multi-national com-panies have assigned ‘world-accepted vanity numbers for emergency’ such as ‘000, 112, and 911’ which disturbs the codes used in transfer-ring the calls from Smart or Globe to PLDT to which the Central 911 is subscribed.

Failure to informvice Mayor rodrigo

Duterte and members of the Council, however, stressed that although they are communication companies “they failed to inform both the city and the people.”

“This problem as you said has been hap-pening for years. you knew about this but at the end of the day you went home without tell-ing the local government and the people about it,” Duterte said.

Although he had been venting his ire t the telcos for weeks, the vice mayor also apologized to the representatives of the communications companies, stressing that his feelings were brought about by the

however, she stressed that should a similar inci-dent happen here, she ex-pects the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) to be able to handle the situation.

“We expect our police to perform at their best,” Duterte said.

Carrying caliber .45 pistols, the two suspects broke into the yidong Agri Supply store, which sells bananas and agricultural supplies, on Park Avocado, Kilometer 31, Cagangohan village at about 12:15 p.m. that day and declared a holdup. The establishment is owned by Filipino-Chi-nese couple Leo Apalie Lai, and rea Lai.

Southern Mindanao regional police Senior Insp. Gretchen Cinco said secu-rity guard edgar Mocusi, who was on his first day of duty, was the first to die at the hands of the robbers. The gunmen then barged into the warehouse and shot dead Allen Jones Polo, 22, the store owner’s driver. The gunmen next shot rea Lai, who is five months

pregnant. She is receiving medical attention in a hos-pital for a gunshot wound in the stomach.

The robbers took some P900,000 in cash and boarded a Pajero ve-hicle, taking with them as hostage Irene Zamora, 16, niece of rea Lai.

responding police-men led by P/Sr. Inspector rene Angelo Alampay of the Panabo City Police Of-fice engaged the robbers, who were about to escape, in a shootout, killing both. Alampay hiom,self was shot in the head and was declared dead on arrival at the Davao Doctor’s hospital in Davao City.

When the shooting stopped, the young Zamora was found dead inside the Pajero.

InvestigationDCPO director Col.

ronald dela rosa said the case investigation is now being handled by the Davao del Norte police.

“As to who caused Zamora’s death, this is still under investigation,” dela

rosa said in an interview at the PSCC. he, however, added that the responding policemen “did not know there was a hostage inside the getaway vehicle.”

The DCPO director said the police had no choice but to return fire because the two wounded suspects on the ground “were still firing back.”

“Talagang they were determined to fight un-til death. Nagkaroon nga kami ng collateral damage,” dela rosa said, referring to Alampay’s death . he also said that Davao City may have benefitted from the killing of the two suspects who, if alive, would have been able to cross the bor-der between the two cit-ies and commit crimes in Davao City.

Initial investigation showed that the two rob-bers were “formerly active in Davao City” whose lead-ership has declared the city “off limits to criminals.”

Unfortunately for the two, Panabo City seems to be of like mind. [Jade C. Zaldivar]

Investigation Division of-fice nearby so they could properly talk.

Before proceeding there, he shared with re-porters how he became friends with Tulawie, how he and his children would stay in Tulawie’s house in Sulu as Tulawie and his children would also stay in his house in Fairview, Quezon City. he said Tulawie could contribute much in the ongoing reforms in the Autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao. After the interview, Padilla entered the Investiga-tion Division office where he spent the next hour talking with Tulawie, his wife Musa and sons Iman, 17 and Amir, 13, interrupted only by re-quests by police person-nel for souvenir photos. “hold your head up high” To Amir, he said, “maram-ing tatay dyan na walang ipinaglalaban. Itong tatay mo may pinaglalaban. Itaas mo noo mo,” (there are many fathers out there who are not fighting for a cause. your father is fighting for a cause. hold your head up high). Padilla said that if it’s possible for Tulawie to be placed under house arrest, he would serve as guarantor. he said he has nothing against Gover-nor Tan, and that in fact his wedding godfather is Nabil Tan, the governor’s brother. Addressing the governor, he said, “ang pakiusap ko lamang po sa ating mahal nakapatid ay hindi po ako naniniwala na magagawa ni Cocoy yun. Partner ko ito eh.. Nanini-wala kami sa mapayapang rebolusyon. hindi kami naniniwala sa rebolusyon na magpatay ng tao. Luma na yan eh. Pinaglumaan na ng panahon yan eh…(my message to our beloved brother is I do not believe Cocoy could do what you accused him of doing. he’s my partner… We believe in peaceful revolution.

We do not believe in a revolution that kills people. That’s pas-sé). he said a real Mus-lim “fights for his rights and the rights of other people but not to the point of killing a person where dialogue is still possible.” reacting to Padilla’s mes-sage, Tan told MindaNews: “why should I listen to him? What does he know? Who are his friends?” At around 2:50 p.m., Padilla escorted Tulawie back to his cell, even entering it to shake the hands of his friend’s cellmates. he posed for souvenir pho-tos and, recalling his four year- imprisonment for illegal possession of fire-arms in the 1990s, con-versed with them about life in jail. [Carolyn o. arguillas/Mindanews]

or said.Asked whether she

still bears hurt feelings, she replied, “Oo, naman. hurt kaayo, hurt kaayo.”

“Sakit siya sa buot after the elections nga nay accusation ug katong nag-file siya ug case sakit siya sa bulsa which nag-dungag sa sakit sa buot,” Duterte-Carpio said.

Comelec decisionThe Comelec order

detailed that early during

the manual recount of the ballots, Nograles failed to establish substantial re-covery that would justify the continuation of the re-count in the remaining 90 percent of the contested precincts.

The electoral body commissioners said that while there were ‘techni-cal glitches’ encountered in the transmission of results from the precinct level to the respective

boards of canvassers, the situation ‘was not exclu-sive to Davao City’ as it was recorded in many other parts of the coun-try.

In his 14-page peti-tion, Nograles asked the Comelec to nullify the proclamation of Duterte-Carpio and ‘direct her to immediately vacate the position and to cease and desist from discharging the duties and functions of that office.’

Nograles alleged that massive fraud transpired in all 1172 clustered pre-cincts of the city during the May 10 elections. he questioned the deploy-ment of employees from the city mayor’s office to the local Comelec offices which local Comelec-Davao regional Attorney Danillo Cullo in 2010 explained was the local government’s augmenta-tion to the minimal work force that the national agency could afford..

Nograles also ques-tioned the reconfigura-tion of compact flash cards and alleged that there were 17,000 ‘zom-bie’ voters, and cited a report from the Parish Pastoral Council for re-sponsible voting which allegedly found at least 40,000 ‘zombie’ voters in the Comelec’s list.

companies’ failure “to consider that 911 is very vital to the people as it may at any point mean being saved from fire, criminals, and other emergencies.”

14 SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENTVOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012 EDGEDAVAO

“Bumblebees in the wild are under the constant risk of predators, such as spiders, so the question we wanted to answer is how such a threat might modify their foraging behavior.”

he explains that veloc-ity - speed in a given direc-tion - is the key to how bees stay safe when seeking food.

“The way the velocities change with time during a flight is characteristically different under predation threat,” says Dr. Klages.

With spiders present, the researchers found that the bees turned more of-ten, deviating from their

usually straight paths.Special set-upThe experiments were

carried out in controlled conditions, with “artificial spiders created” in the form of a trapping mechanism that grabbed the bumble-bee for two seconds

The 3D flight trajecto-ries of 30 bumblebees were tracked by two high frame-rate cameras.

“The bumblebee flies in a small box, going in one side and there are artificial flowers where the bee can search for food,” says PhD student and study author Friedrich Lenz.

“What we look at is the

data from the two cameras in there, and how the bee’s behaviour changes when artificial spiders were in-troduced.”

Friedrich Lenz says the team hope to look at bumblebees in the wild as well and compare the re-sults.

“We are in a very spe-cial set-up, and the prob-lem is it’s much harder to do it outside,” he says.

The sensory percep-tion, memory, and indi-viduality of the bees may also be factors that could change the outcomes of foraging theories, the re-search found.

FOrAGING bumble-bees change their fly-ing patterns to avoid

predators, researchers have found.

The animals are known for their straight forward travel: inspiring the phrase “to make a bee-line”.

But scientists at Queen Mary, University of London used artificial spiders to test the flight paths of bees collecting nectar.

The bees travelled straight from flower to flower when spiders were absent, but made more turns when faced with them.

Bees often systemati-cally visit multiple flowers in one single area to collect nectar and scientists refer to this method as a “Levy flight”, named after French mathematician Paul Pierre Levy.

But the latest study suggests bees respond to the presence of predators in a more complex way than previously thought, says one of its authors, Dr. rainer Klages from Queen Mary’s School of Math-ematical Sciences.

Dr. Klages says: “In mathematical theory we treat a bumblebee as a ran-domly moving object hit-ting randomly distributed targets.

Predators disturb bees’ flight paths

UP to 900 species of tropical land birds around the world

could become extinct by 2100, researchers say.

The finding is mod-elled on the effects of a 3.5C earth surface tem-perature rise, a Biological Conservation Journal pa-per shows.

Species may struggle to adapt to habitat loss and extreme weather events, author Cagan Sekercioglu says.

Mountain, coastal, restricted-range, and spe-cies unable to get to high-er elevations could be the worst affected.

Depending on future

habitat loss, each degree of surface warming could affect between 100-500 species, says Mr Sekercio-glu, assistant professor of biology at the University of Utah.

“This gives us a clear big picture. The problem is most species in the world are highly sedentary... the public perception is most birds are migratory and so climate change is not a problem for them,” he says.

Mr Sekercioglu says tropical mountain species are among the most vul-nerable. he says bird spe-cies will need to be able to adapt physiologically

to changes in temperature and be able to move to higher altitudes if they are to survive.

he says cooler, more humid forests could re-cede higher up mountains and combined with hu-man settlements at higher altitudes, forest habitat could “get pushed off the mountain”.

This would create “an escalator to extinction” he says.

“Coastal species are also vulnerable - as coast-al forest can be sensitive to salinity, and these for-ests can get hit harder by hurricanes and typhoons, and these events are also

expected to increase.”Birds in extensive

lowland forests with few mountains in places such as the Amazon and Congo basins - may have trouble relocating, while tropi-cal birds in open habitats such as savanna, grass-lands, scrub and desert face shrinking habitats.

Tropical birds in arid zones are assumed to be resilient to hot, dry condi-tions, but they could suffer if water sources dry out.

Mike Crosby, senior conservation officer in Asia at Birdlife Interna-tional says: “We know that quite a lot of tropical birds are not very good at dispersing so this could be a big issue in the future if the suitable climate moves several hundred kilome-tres or even tens of kilo-metres, some of the birds might not be able to move their ranges sufficiently quickly in response to that.

“We might have to take novel conservation measures in the future such as translocation of birds from one site to an-other.”

Up to 900 tropical bird species could ‘go extinct’

n That there are around 250 species of bumblebee around the world?

n That they can visit flowers up to 2km away from their colonies, to feed on nectar and gather pollen?

n That different species have certain flower preferences: The great yellow bumblebee has a long tongue and forages in flowers where nectar is harder to reach?

n Some bumblebee species are «cuckoos», where females take over another nest instead of making their own. The cuckoo evicts or kills the queen and uses the workers to rear its own offspring?

A JAPANeSe research-er has used thou-sands of strands of

spider silk to spin a set of violin strings.

The strings are said to have a “soft and profound timbre” relative to tradi-tional gut or steel strings.

That may arise from the way the strings are twisted, resulting in a “packing structure” that leaves practically no space between any of the strands.

The strings will be de-scribed in a forthcom-ing edition of the journal Physical review Letters.

Shigeyoshi Osaki of Japan›s Nara Medical Uni-versity has been interest-ed in the mechanical prop-erties of spider silk for a number of years.

In particular, he has studied the «dragline» silk that spiders dangle from, quantifying its strength in a 2007 paper in Polymer Journal.

Dr Osaki has perfect-ed methods of obtaining large quantities of this dragline silk from captive-bred spiders and has now turned his attention to the applications of the re-markable material.

«Bowed string instru-ments such as the violin have been the subject of many scientific studies,» he writes.

«however, not all of

the details have been clari-fied, as most players have been interested in the vio-lin body rather than the properties of the bow or strings.»

Dr Osaki used 300 female Nephila macula-ta spiders - one of the spe-cies of «golden orb-weav-ers» renowned for their complex webs - to provide the dragline silk.

For each string, Dr Osaki twisted between 3,000 and 5,000 individ-ual strands of silk in one direction to form a bundle. The strings were then pre-pared from three of these bundles twisted together in the opposite direction.

he then set about measuring their tensile strength - a critical factor for violinists wishing to avoid breaking a string in the midst of a concerto.

The spider-silk strings withstood less tension be-fore breaking than a tradi-tional but rarely used gut string, but more than an aluminium-coated, nylon-core string.

A closer study using an electron microscope showed that, while the strings themselves were perfectly round, in cross-section the strands had been compressed into a range of different shapes that all fit snugly together, leaving no space between them.

Spider silk spun into violin strings

Bumblebees do not just journey from A to B.

The wire-tailed manakin faces an uncertain future.

‘THERE is a need to revisit the Mining Act be-cause of the proliferation of small mines, some of which may no be operating properly. But we have no plans to ban mining.’

--House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

Quips

FOOD

INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

BIKINI-CLAD bodies and the scorching hot temperature of our tropical country aside, there is no better way of celebrating summer than by having a taste of what it’s like under the Tuscan sun, or in the summer palaces of Marseilles, or the dusty arenas of toreros, or playing amidst

the sun-baked whitewashed structures of Santorini. But you don’t have to start packing your luggage just yet, or applying for a Schengen visa.

By Carlo P. Mallo

Dressing, and the Zuc-chini Parmesan & Pinenut Salad, could very well be the secret diets of the gods to keep their bodies in per-fectly sculpted shapes. If English is the stan-dard language understood across countries, then des-sert is the food accepted no matter in what part of the world you are, regard-less of the season. Indulge your sweet tooth in Tira-misu, Apple Tart Tatin, Mediterranean Pavlova, Mint Cheesecake, Cata-lan Cream Cake, Pumpkin Pie Flan, Fig Tart with Or-ange Flower Custard, and French Pastries on Terraces Glass.

To complete the Medi-terranean feel of your din-ing experience, bring the whole family – the bigger, the better, the more, the merrier – as there’s nothing like eating a hearty meal with the whole family.

A2 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012EDGEDAVAOFOOD It’s as simple as heading

over to Café Marco at the Marco Polo Hotel for a taste of the Mediterranean. Start your meal with the scrumptious Bouillabaise, which hails from the south-ern province of France. But a warning, it can be pretty filling. If you can tell a per-son’s character by who his friends are, you can tell the origin of the food by simply looking at its ingredients. Ok, more of what its name says. While the whole se-lection are from the Medi-terranean, it is bordered by a lot of countries with pe-culiar cooking styles. The Daube of Beef Provencale or Braised Beef in Red Wine Sauce is clearly French, as well as the Coc Au Vin or Braised Chicken in Red Wine with Bacon, and the Prawn and Scallop St. Tropez. Could anything be more French than Dauphinoise Potato and Ratatouille, or potato gratins and mix stewed vegetables respectively? If chorizo reminds you of Ilocos, in Europe, it’s a telltale sign that its from Spain, like the Rolitos or Breaded Pork Rolls and Potato and Chorizo Torti-lla. The Rabo de Toro, or Andalucia Oxtail Stew, is of Spanish origin as well. And load up on your car-bohydrates with the Paeilla Alicante from Spain. Let out your carnivo-rous side and indulge in the Cordero Asado with Pormesco Sauce or Leg of Lamb, the Roast Prime Ribs with Thyme Jus, or with the Cochinillo Asado with Cinnamon (Roasted Suckling Pig), all of which have origins in southern Spain While we all know that Tuna Nicoise Salad is of Greek origin, there are four other salad choices with recipes tracing back to the land of gods and god-desses. The Haricot Vert and Grilled Mushroom Salad, Capsicum, Salami and Feta Cheese Salad, the Artichoke and Mozzarella Salad with Garlic Basil

Start your meal with the scrumptious Bouillabaise, which hails from the southern province of France. But a warning, it can be pretty filling.

Marco Polo Davao Director of Food and Beverage Danilo Herrera and Director of Sales and Marketing Emelyn Mauhay

Marco Polo Davao Executive Chef Ed

Apple Tarte Tatin

Cordero Asado with Pormesco

Roast Prime Ribs with Thyme Jus

Prawn and Scallop St. Tropez

Capsicum, Salami and Feta Cheese Salad

Paella Alicante

Tiramisu

Pumpkin Pie FlanMint Cheesecake

A3INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012EDGEDAVAOENTERTAINMENT

BOOKS

Hunger Games sequel is almost completeTHIS year’s most

anticipated movie, Hunger Games

doesn’t hit theaters for an-other couple of weeks, but E! Online reports that the script for the second movie of the trilogy is almost fin-ish. “I just finished the first draft, literally a few days ago,” screenwriter Simon Beaufoy told E! Online at last night’s L.A. premiere of his new film, Salmon Fish-ing in the Yemen (out on Friday). “I’m waiting to see what everyone thinks.” Beaufoy said he’s work-ing closely with Collins on Catching, which will see the return of Jennifer Law-rence, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson. They’ll be sticking to the book for the most part, but there will be some tweaks

here and there. “Things always do have to change otherwise there’s always something very flat about very faithful adap-tations,” he said. “But on the other hand, there’s an extremely loyal fan base and readership and you

just have to be careful of how many liberties you do take. “So fortunately Suzanne is here to help me,” he con-tinued. “She’s reading this draft at the moment and she’ll tell me, ‘You can’t do that. You must do this.’ Be-

cause there are some things that are sacrosanct to her readers and she knows them very well and she’ll let me know.” Lionsgate has an-nounced that Catching Fire is set to hit theaters on Nov. 22, 2013.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly CloseBy Jonathan Safran FoerNine-year-old Oskar Schell has embarked on an ur-gent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York. His goal is to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his fa-ther, who died in the World Trade Center on the morn-ing of September 11.

The Lucky OneBy Nicholas SparksAfter U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman buried in the dirt during his tour of duty in Iraq, he experiences a sudden streak of luck. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photo-graph-- his lucky charm.

The DescendantsBy Kaui Hart HemmingsFortunes have changed for the King family, descen-dants of Hawaiian royalty and one of the state’s larg-est landowners. Matthew King’s daughters are out of control, and their char-ismatic mother  lies in a coma after a boat-racing accident.

HELPING YOU MAKE INFORMED BUSINESS DECISIONS.

Jose Abad Santos St., CornerArellano St., Tagum City

8100 PhilippinesTel. No.: (084) 216-3003Cell No,: 0939-243-8539

You can now buy your weekly paper fill of in-depth business news and features from any of these

establishments still at Php 15.

T h e B u s i n e s s P A P E R

Tagum

THEY say you haven’t been to Macau until you visit Senado Square and take a walk up it’s famous food street. So there I was on a cold February day enjoying the sights and look-ing for restaurants to eat thinking that food street was lined with restaurants, and was I ever so wrong. So after fumbling my way around the vast square, I finally find the directions to get to food street which also conveniently leads towards the famous, Ruins of St. Paul. It turns out that Macau’s food street is named so because of the vast number of food stores and small stalls selling food lining both sides of the street and going all the way up to the top of the hill. While I slowly walked up the hill with the ruins in my head, samples of every available pastry, sweet, and roast meat were offered free for everyone to taste. I liked the puff almost pastry that reminds me a bit of a baklava sans the excessive sweetness. There were also many different cakes and cookies available and ready for the tasting, but I really have to reserve space for what I really crave for back home, and that is Ma-cau’s famous egg tart. I know a lot of places try to serve these precious tarts back in Duri-anburg but these egg tarts are just heads and shoulders above the typical egg tart. Maybe its because it has more custard or maybe its because the crust is genuinely flakier? All i know is that there tarts have my self of ap-proval. I was also able to try Macau’s famous Fried Pork Cutlet Sandwich which consists of a nice and juicy breaded pork cutlet sandwiched in a crusty bun which was crisp on the outside yet soft on the inside. No wonder people say you really should not think of dieting when you visit Macau. Honestly, I think eating good food SHOULD be the main reason why one goes to Macau. Because seriously, I would not mind getting lost along food street.

A4 INdulge!FOOD

MACAU’S bacalaoALONG Food Street

PORK cutlet sandwich

SMILES after tasting Macau’s egg tart EGG tart heavan

LOST in translation?

VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012EDGEDAVAO

Lost in Macau’s food street

15SPORTSVOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012EDGEDAVAO

SCORES

TAGBILArAN CITy-– The Bornea broth-ers of General Santos

City, Jake and Jade, pulled off contrasting wins Tuesday to lead the charge of the former Dadiangas town to the gold medal bouts in the semifinals of the PLDT-ABAP National Amateur Boxing Champion-ship at the Cogon gym here.

Jake Bornea pummeled the fancied Samboy Lao of Misamis Oriental, 21-9, in the 48-kilogram junior boys light flyweight class, while Jade required a last-second flurry to edge another MisOr bet, Klemen earl Cabahit, 11-10, in the 50kg boys flyweight category, assuring the twins of silver medals.

In other silver medal fights, GenSan opened its penultimate day surge with regel Lou Alde downing Aglayan’s robert Paradero, 13-6 (48kg jr. boys pin-weight); Cebu City’s Junrel Jimenez edging Cabadba-ran’s Jilnar Libranza, 9-7 (46kg jr. boys pinweight); Mandaue’s Bryan remedio outclassing Negros’ Fele-ciano Santiago, 7-2 (48kg jr. boys light fly); Davao del Norte’s Charnie Jun Magsayo defeating Tayabas’ Jeric Fer-rer, 15-10 (50kg jr. boys fly); Negros’ Jossa Santisteban nipping Tayabas’ Angelica eleazar, 11-10 (56kg jr. girls pinweight); Leyte’s Aira vil-legas clobbering GenSan’s Alexcel Dar Gantes, 18-10 (46kg jr. girls pinweight); and Tagbilaran B’s Daniel Banol hammering Manolo Fortich’s Melvin Jerusalem, 23-10 (46kg boys pinweight).

The losers will take home bronze medals.

“It’s one of the best or-ganized tournament’s we’ve

ever had, and we credit [Tag-bilaran] Mayor [Dan Neri] Lim and his staff for its suc-cess,” said ABAP president ricky vargas, also the presi-dent of Maynilad Water and recently chosen Philippine Sportswriters Association’s executive of the year.

“The fact that we’ve seen so many good boxers here should bode well for ABAP,” he said.

Among those who wit-nessed the semifinal bouts was Kazakhstan’s Aziz Ko-shambetov, executive direc-tor of the Asian Boxing Fed-eration.

GenSan’s assault began in Day Two of the culmina-tion of a year-long talent search program Monday, with its fighters claiming the scalps of five opponents at the Maribojoc gym.

Overshadowed some-what was Gov. Oscar More-no’s Misamis Oriental stable which nonetheless raised its victory record in the four-day event to nine after sending to the next round six of its bets.

Cebu City and Mandaue were not short in triumph after seeing off four each of their boxers closer to the medal bouts on Wednesday.

Davao del Norte, which came out smoking in the opener in chilly Carmen town 59 kilometers of mostly winding roads up north from the provincial capital Sunday, hurdled two of its assign-ments to bring its number of wins to five.

Fifteen other teams representing provinces, cit-ies or municipalities all over the country, including host Tagbilaran A and B, had one boxer moving up the ladder.(pna)

GenSan pugs advance

Davao del Norte Gov. rodolfo P. del rosa-rio Karatedo team

got six golds at the re-cently concluded 1st PNP Transformation Karatedo Tournament in Surigao City.

Four of the eight ath-letes composing the team bagged the golds from ka-rate kumite and kata.

Kevin Jay Galupan, 17, won two golds in the 16-17 year old bracket. Aara Fernandez, 21, also snatched two golds in the -59 kgs category as well as a bronze medal in the women’s open weight di-vision.

The team also scored in the 14-15 year old bracket and +65 kgs cat-egory with roxette Ortiz,

15, garnering gold in kata and silver in kumite; and with Serg Saymon Jayson, 19, winning gold in ku-mite, respectively.

head coach ernesto Tacay, who is also the Pres-ident of the Southern Min-danao Shotokan Karatedo Association, described the young athletes’ perfor-mance at the Provincial Sports Center, Surigao City as “totally good.”

Tacay said the ath-letes showed more than what he expected during the tournament.

“They are prepared for the coming national tournament,” said Tacay, referring to the Philippine National Games on May 26-June 3 this year in Du-maguete City. (Mera gaCe apuya)

RDR Karatedo Team captures six golds

By Neil Bravo

The country’s biggest ba-nana producer is now creating a new reputa-

tion as among the country’s latest athletes producer.

Tadeco, who has been known for its sporting tradi-tion in softball, is now start-ing to reap the products of its sports development pro-gram in more events than one.

Archie Capoy, Tadeco’s sports development pro-gram coordinator, an-nounced the breakout per-formances of their camp in taekwondo, tennis and bas-ketball.

Appearing in the weekly DSA Forum at the Tower Inn, Capoy said their taekwondo team harvested 9 golds, 5 silvers and a bronze on their way to winning the overall

title in the recent regional Taekwondo Championships held in Davao City.

Tadeco also produced two champions and one runner-up in the Slazenger-Mayor Inday Sara Duterte Age Group Tennis Tourna-ment in GSIS heights which served as among the events of the forthcoming raw ng Dabaw.

Khrizzian Dumlao topped the girls 14-under while Gil Molina took the boys title in the same class. With the recent wins, Dum-lao is expected to move up in the Phita rankings from no. 38. Molina is also tipped to improve from no. 79. Laster Llandino placed first runner-up in the boys 14-under los-ing to Molina, 4-10, in the all-Tadeco finals.

In basketball, the A.O. Floirendo National high School also stomped its class

by taking home the presti-gious 15th JS Gaisano Cup basketball tournament in Tagum City, besting 11 other squads in the province.

It was a rousing de-but for the AOFNhS squad which entered the tourna-ment for the first time. They swamped the field with 10 wins in 11 outings and took home the title over Tagum Trade School 79-58.

Capoy, who was joined in the Forum by basketball coach Bebot Gloria, tae-kwondo coach Joel eroy and tennis coach Prospero Palma Gil, said they are currently developing athletes in 12 disciplines including football and boxing.

In the past decade, Tadeco has been known to be a pillar in softball sending teams to the National Open during the glory days of the sport in Davao.

Tadeco athletes reap honors

NO. 1. Anne Clarice Patrimonio, the country’s top women’s tennis player, will banner the cast in the forthcoming 2012 Mayor Inday Sara Cup National Open Tourna-

ment at the Woodridge Park. The daughter of former PBA star Alvin recently won Brunei ITF and placed runner-ups in the Phinma-ITF-PHL and ITF-Thailand tournaments.

A high-speed water race competition in time for the celebration of the

75th Araw ng Dabaw, awaits Dabawenyos and their visi-tors in the waters of Davao Gulf just off Sta. Ana Wharf on March 18.

The event, dubbed “Bangkathon sa Davao Gulf 2012” is ‘water –bustle’ adventure aimed at gather-ing banca riders using fast-charged 16.5 and 7 horse-power Mitsubishi engines.

The competition will draw participants from fish-erfolks coming from Davao City, Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and even as far as General Santos City, Surigao, Saran-gani, among others.

Organized by One ra-

dio 102.7 NewsFM, Ang radyo ni Juan, the new-est FM station in town, to-gether with SeACom Inc., (exclusive distributor of Mitsubishi engines) and the City Government of Davao, Bangkathon sa Davao Gulf 2012 is more than just a water-sports event; it also hopes to raise people’s awareness of the need to preserve coastal and ma-rine resources as well as protect the welfare of fish-erfolks in the region.

For registration, par-ticipants may visit One ra-dio 102.7 NewsFM Office at Door3A-2, Anda Corporate Center, Anda Street, Davao City or go to SeaCom, Inc. Km.5, J.P. Laurel Ave, Davao City. [pr]

Bangkathon sa Davao Gulf 2012 slated

MANILA-- Make no mistake about Dennis “robocop”

Orcollo, the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) Player of the year and Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Athlete of the year.

Inspired by the two awards he received lately, Orcollo on his own turf is carefully gearing up to beat Taiwanese Chang Jung Lin in the Philippine Bigtime Billiards (PBB) Face Off Series come March 10 at the Pagcor Airport Casino in Parañaque City.

What is even nicer is that Chang has a healthy respect for the former fisherman from Surigao when the Taiwanese ace said Orcollo was a very tough opponent through an interpreter.

The non-english speaking Chang was re-sponsible in Team Asia’s going into a 2-1 lead against Team Philippines in the Philippine Bigtime Billiards that has a new fresh format this year.

World No. 6 Orcollo will also spearhead the Philippines’ bid in the forthcoming 2012 Mayor Antonio Calixto Interna-tional 10-ball Cup on April 26 to 29 in Cuneta Astro-dome, Pasay City.

his buddy, chess Inter-national Master (IM) Mar-lon Bernardino told PNA that Orcollo told him he would avenge World No. 2 Lee van “The Slayer” Cor-teza’s defeat to Chang in this year’s Feb. 17 World 8-ball championship in Fujairah, United Arab emirates.(pna)

Orcollo vows to beat Chang

Eastern Conference Standings

Atlantic Philadelphia Boston New York Toronto New Jersey

Central Chicago Indiana Milwaukee Cleveland Detroit

Southeast Miami Orlando Atlanta Washington Charlotte

Western Conference Standings

Southwest San Antonio Memphis Dallas Houston New Orleans

Northwest Oklahoma City Denver Minnesota Portland Utah

Pacific LA Clippers LA Lakers Phoenix Golden State Sacramento

ResultsATLANTA 101INDIANA 96

ORLANDO 84CHARLOTTE 100

HOUSTON 92BOSTON 97

NEW JERSEY 78MIAMI 108

LA LAKERS 85DETROIT 88

NEW YORK 85DALLAS 95

W 22 20 18 12 12

W 32 23 15 13 13

W 29 25238 5

W 25 22 23 21 9

W 30 22 20 1918

W 22 23 17 1512

L 17 17 20 26 27

L 8 14 23 23 26

L 9 151529 31

L 12 15 17 18 29

L 8 17 19 1919

L 14 15 20 2026

IS Jeremy Lin for real? I am sure you have also asked yourself this bally-

hooed question. But the an-swer is already a foregone conclusion now that NBA’s current sensation has out-lived the questions of both critics and fans whether or not he is for real.

yes, Jeremy is for real. Never mind that he has no nicknames yet. Never mind if he does not have his own shoes yet. Never mind that his greatest contribution to basketball is adding the word Lin-sanity to the eng-lish language.

Let me tweak the ques-tion a little bit. Until when will Lin-sanity continue to amaze the world?

That is the question.I came across an inter-

esting article from thepost-game.com and it unravelled some intriguing numbers. yes, the article is about numbers. Numerology to be exact.

To begin with, Jeremy is born on the year of the Dragon (1988). According to numerology, Those born on the Dragon year are like-ly to shine on the next Drag-on year (this year, 2012).

Gary Grinberg, also known in the sports circles as Gary The Numbers Guy, revealed in the same ar-ticle that Jeremy’s break out season is the result of num-bers. he was plucked out of the D-League by the New york Knicks on January 23, incidentally the official New year’s Day of the year of the Dragon.

From then on, Jeremy has everyone’s numbers.

But will the splash hold until the rest of the Dragon year or will it stay longer and beyond?

Not quite says The Numbers Guy. The num-bers say that this won’t go on beyond the Dragon year, or at least until April that it. That’s a month from now.

Is this Numbers Guy a god? Of course not. he could be wrong. But thus far, he seems to have the numbers game in sports. he believes that great play-ers are those whose num-bers total 1 or 11.

hmmm, how is that. you add all the digits in your birthday. For ex-ample, Kobe Bryant is August 23, 1978. That’s 8 + 2 + 3 + 1 + 9 + 7 + 8 = 3 8 . 3+8=11. Michael Jordan is February 17, 1963. That’s

29. 2+9=11. The other 11s or 1s are:Dwyane Wade 1-17-1982: 1+1+7+1+9+8+2=29 --> 2+9=11 Kobe Bryant 8-23-1978: 8+2+3+1+9+7+8=38 --> 3+8=11 Dominique Wilkins 1-12-1960: 1+12+1+9+6+0=29 --> 2+9=11 Kevin Garnett 5-19-1976: 5+1+9+1+9+7+6=38 --> 3+8=11 Amare Stoudemire 11-16-1982: 1+1+1+6+1+9+8+2=29 --> 2+9=11 Carmelo Anthony 5-29-1984: 5+2+9+1+9+8+4=38 --> 3+8=11 LeBron James 12-30-1984: 1+2+3+0+1+9+8+4=28 --> 2+8=10 --> 1+0=1 Shaquille O’Neal 3-6-1972: 3+6+1+9+7+2=28 --> 2+8=10 --> 1+0=1 Kevin Durant 9-29-1988: 9+2+9+1+9+8+8=46 --> 4+6=10 --> 1+0=1

Jeremy Lin is not an 11. he’s a three (8-23-1988). But one coincidence here is that Jeremy has the same birthday as Kobe (August 23). Oh, speaking of same birthdays, The Numbers Guy leaves us with this—Tiger Woods (youngest golfer to win golf’s Grand Slam) and Lebron James (youngest NBA player to score a triple double) cel-ebrate the same birthday on Dec. 30.

I’ll save the best for last. The best player in NBA history and the best player in NFL history are both born on Feb. 17.

Michael Jordan and Jim Brown.

Amazing? yes. But for now, Lin is in.

16

Tulip Drive, Ecoland, Davao City

You can now buy your favorite Business Paper from any of these

establishments still at Php 15.

T h e B u s i n e s s P A P E R

F. Torres St., Davao CityTel No. 227-3773 - (72)

Fax: 295-3485

Davao

HELPING YOU MAKE INFORMED BUSINESS DEcISIONS.

SPORTS VOL.5 ISSUE 4 • MARCH 8, 2012 EDGEDAVAO

Lin’s splash until April only?IS Linsanity beginning to fade? Against the defending

champs for the second time this season, Jeremy Lin had 14 points and sev-en assists, solid numbers but only half of what he had nearly 2 1/2 weeks ago when the Knicks won at home against Dallas. he had 28 points and 14 as-sists in that game before the All-Star break that ended a six-game winning streak for the Mavericks, and started a stretch of six losses in eight games before Tuesday night.

The Knicks are 2-4 since then, and have con-secutive losses for the first time since Lin be-came a starter a month ago.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points as the defend-ing champion Dallas Mav-ericks beat New york 95-85.

Amare Stoudemire led the Knicks with 24.

elsewhere, Kobe Bry-ant replaced the clear

mask for a dark one and the result was just that—dark.

The Masked Mamba sent the game into over-time with a 19-foot fadea-way jay over Tayshaun Prince but couldn’t du-plicate it in the dying sec-onds of the extra period as Detroit handed the LA Lakers an 88-85 road loss.

Bryant and Metta Word Peace tried two desperation treys but could not sink it. Bry-ant had 22 and the Lak-ers got 30 points and 14 rebounds from Andrew Bynum in a losing stand that dropped the Lakers record to 23-15. rodney Stuckey paced Detroit with 34, six coming in overtime.

In Miami, the heat got back on winning ways with a 108-78 drubbing of New Jersey. Lebron James had 21, Cris Bosh returned with 20 and Dwyane Wade had 13 for the heat who improved to 29-9.

A huge field of over 3,000 is expected to hit the roads of Davao

for the Araw ng Dabaw Phoenix Marathon this March 11, Sunday. runners from Davao and from as far as Bukidnon, Cagayan De Oro, Gensan, Tagum and Manila will join the race.

registration has been extended to March 9 to ac-commodate late registrants.

The marathon dubbed as “Takbo Para Sa Kina-BOOKasan” will support the Phoenix Philippines Foundation, Inc. in provid-ing books to elementary students. The five school beneficiaries are the Davao City Special School (SPeD-Bangkal), Corcuera elem. School., Quezon elemen-tary School, Sta. Ana elem. School, and Lapu-Lapu elem. School.

roxas Avenue will be the start and finish venue. The categories are 500-me-ter, 5K, 10K, 21K and 42K, with winners each for men and women. The Phoenix Marathon will use innova-tions like the use of timing chips for the 10K, 21K and 42K categories.

Other fun events in the

Phoenix Marathon include the Biggest School, NGO/Corporate and LGU delega-tions. There will also be a carbo-loading party for the 42K runners on March 9, 2012.

42K first-placers will receive a grand prize of P30,000 in cash. Champi-ons of the 21K category will bring home P15,000. P5,000 and P3,000 in cash will also be given to the 10K and 5K 1st placers. A cash prize of 800 will also be given to the 1st place win-ner of the 500-meter cat-egory. Finishers of the 42K and 21K will each receive a finisher’s kit and a finisher’s medal.

registration is ongoing

at Adidas Shop – 2nd Floor Gaisano Mall of Davao. The first 3,000 registrants will receive a race tee.

entry fees are P150 for the 3K and P200 for the 5K run inclusive of singlet, race bib, light meal and finisher’s certificate. Fee for 10K is P350 and for 21K P450 in-clusive of singlet, race bib, timing band and finisher’s certificate. 21K finishers will also receive a medal.

All set for the Araw ng Dabaw Phoenix Marathon on Sunday