TWO members of the New People’s Army were killed while seven soldiers were

wounded when government forces foiled a rebel attack at 12 noon Sunday in Barangay Calabcab, Maco in Compostela Valley.

Lt. Col. Jerry Borja, com-mander of the 71st Infantry Battalion, said members of the 71st IB’s Peace and

Development Team were on their way to conduct a peace and development outreach pro-gram (PDOP) in Brgy. Calabcab when they were met by about 60 armed communist rebels.

Borja said his men despite being outnumbered were able to repel the attack, kill-ing two rebels and seizing two

high-powered firearms.He confirmed that seven

soldiers were wounded but are now in stable condition at mili-tary hospital.

“I commend the heroism and bravery of these seven soldiers who fought with ded-ication and willingness to sac-rifice their lives in order to

keep peace and development in Maco” said Major General Ariel Bernardo, commander of the 10th Infantry Division.

“This act by the NPA is clear-ly out of their frustration to stop the success of Maco in gaining peace and development. They attacked the government forces without considering the pres-ence of civilians who may be caught in crossfire.” he said.

OFFICIALS here hailed the canon-ization Sunday of Beato Pedro Calungsod, the second Filipino

saint next to San Lorenzo Ruiz.Pope Benedict XVI canonized Calung-

sod, the so-called 17th century teen mar-tyr, before throngs of Filipinos in St. Pe-ter’s Square in Vatican City. Cheers went up in the crowd of about 80,000 when Benedict declared Calungsod a saint and worthy of veneration by the entire Cath-olic Church.

The Pope named six other saints Sunday, some of them missionaries like the devout boy who is believed to be from Ginatilan town in Cebu.

“An inspiration to the youth and a

role model to give up his own life for oth-ers,” were the words of Digos City Mayor Joseph Peñas, referring to Calungsod’s canonization.

Rep. Isidro Ungab of Davao City’s third district said that the country is blessed as a nation as we have already two saints.

“This is to show the faith and devo-tion of Filipinos to the Lord Almighty. May their works and deeds inspire and set as examples to the youth of our coun-try,” Ungab said.

Rep Karlo Alexei Nograles of the city’s first district said, “Our country and our people are truly blessed and loved

EDGEP 15.00 • 20 PAGES

www.edgedavao.netVOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

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7 soldiers were wounded but are now in stable condition

FDAVAO, 11

2 rebels killedin Compostela By Anthony S. Allada

AGREEMENT. Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio (second from left sitting) signs a memorandum of agreement for the ground delineation of Davao City watershed areas with (from left) Mary Ann V. Fuertes, executive director of Interface Development Interventions, Inc., Edwin Regalado, Davao City Water District (DCWD) general manager , and Joselin Marcus Fragada, regional exec-utive director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 11. After the signing at City Hall yesterday, IDIS turned over to Mayor Sara some materials and equipment for use in the delineation activities. [LEAN DAVAL JR.]

Davao officials hailCalungsod sainthood

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

FROM a makeshift stage at the Croco-dile Park in Davao

City, Moro National Liber-ation Front (MNLF) chair Nur Misuari, introduced by the emcee as “Pres-ident of the Bangsam-oro Republik,” rattled off his achievements in the Bangsamoro struggle in an introduction of himself written in third person and read by him for 16 minutes and in the next 30 minutes criticized the GPH-MILF Framework Agreement on the Bang-samoro as a product of a “tripartite conspiracy” that reduced the Bang-samoro homeland to “five tiny provinces hardly the size of the Cotabato (Em-pire) of yore.”

Misuari was shielded from the scorching heat of the sun by umbrel-

las and on several occa-sions the crowd could only see umbrellas and a hand flipping the pages of the prepared speech he read from 2:46 p.m. to 3:32 p.m, and which he Vended with an apology: “I am sorry I was so in a hurry because it’s so hot.”

It was, indeed, “so hot” that a woman in black abaya fainted at around 3:27 p.m. and was rushed to a makeshift tent at the roadside.

As Misuari spoke, participants to the “17th MNLF Bangsamoro Grand Summit Gathering” slow-ly thinned out as partici-pants sought refuge from the unbearable heat.

Crowd estimates var-ied from 3,000 to 10,000 but a Manila-based pho-tographer used to cover-

ing rallies told MindaN-ews, “mga 1,500 to 2,000 lang.”

A number of the men in the crowd wore most-ly new camouflage pants and black shirts of differ-ent designs and initials. They gathered in front of the stage when the emcee ordered “formation na” at 2:15 p.m. Misuari, he said, was nearing the Park. Clad in a khaki pinstripe suit, Misuari arrived at 2:30 p.m., with the emcee asking the crowd to give way to the media. Misu-ari delivered his speech in English, reading it haltingly, often repeating words.

There was no podium onstage. The sound sys-tem was erratic, at one moment his voice was very clear at another he was inaudible.

Now in his 70s, Misu-ari described Davao City as the “official capital of the Bangamoro Republik.”

He said the “Bang-samoro Republik” is 44 years old, reckoning its founding to the nine-day vigil “right in front of Malacanan Palace” in the aftermath of the March 18, 1968 Jabidah Massacre in Corregidor, that eventually led to the founding of the Moro Na-tional Liberation Front (MNLF).

The MNLF signed a peace agreement with the Philippine government in 1976 in Tripoli, Libya and a “Final Peace Agree-ment” in Malacanang on September 2, 1996.

Misuari claimed the government has “abro-gated” the 1996 FPA with

THE BIG NEWS2 EDGEDAVAO

IT’S all systems go in se-curity preparations for “Oplan Kaluluwa” on No-

vember 1 and 2, 2012 which covers all public and private cemeteries.

The Davao City Police Office (DCPO) and the Traf-fic Management Center (TMC) will deploy person-nel during the observance of All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

DCPO chief Sr. Supt. Ron-ald dela Rosa said he will deploying 1,000 personnel who will be augmented by elements from the Police Regional Office 11 while 200 traffic enforcers are to be stationed at entrance and exit points in big cemeteries

to ease traffic congestion.Dela Rosa is reminding

Dabawenyos to refrain from prohibited acts inside ceme-teries like bringing in liquor, bladed weapons, firearms, and the playing of loud mu-sic.

He admits that there will be the usual problem of drunken people visiting their dead.

“And we have no law prohibiting them from en-tering cemeteries,” he said.

Dela Rosa cautions res-idents to leave someone to watch over their homes since it would be a long weekend, November 1 and 2 falling on Thursday and Friday.

SUMMIT. Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur P. Misuari (4th from right) graces the 17th MNLF Bangsamoro Grand Summit Gathering at-tended by at least 7,000 Muslims at the Davao Crocodile Park Sunday after-

noon. Misuari uses the event to air his displeasure against the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). [LEAN DAVAL JR.]

DCPO, TMC set for UndasBy Anthony S. Allada

AUTHORITIES admit they remain clue-less on the where-

abouts of Ryan Yu, alias “Baktin”, who reportedly masterminded the car-napping of 21 vehicles last week in Tandag City, Surigao del Sur. All of the vehicles have been recov-ered.

“He is in hiding. We don’t know if he is still in Davao City, Manila or abroad,” Sr. Supt. Ronald dela Rosa, director of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO), told reporters during the Kapehan sa SM Monday morning.

Dela Rosa said Yu could qualify as a big-

time carnapper and has connections not only in Manila but also outside the country.

He said Yu’s group is different from that of an-other alleged car smug-gler, Allan Lynard Bigcas, who despite of facing sev-eral criminal charges, is running for governor of Bukidnon in the May 13, 2013 midterm elections.

Asked if there is a need for the government to put up a bounty for Yu’s head, dela Rosa said it is no lon-ger necessary since his 21 victims are reportedly rich and angry with Yu and that they themselves can raise any amount of

money to run after him.He added that the co-

operation of the public helped to dismantle Yu’s carnapping group that had been operating in the city since November 2011.

Yu’s members, Hermie Tahom, Eddie Lopez, Jer-ry Paulino and Diego Ma-catimpag, were arrested during the operation.

Tahom of Tandag City, Surigao del Sur named his three cohorts in Davao City after his apprehension Monday while aboard a stolen gray Toyota Innova in Tandag.

De la Rosa said the

vehicle was traced by authorities through its global positioning sys-tem (GPS).

He said the group usually operates between 12 midnight and 2:00 o’clock in the morning, and have contacts with a car firm since through its leader, they can eas-ily open target vehicles without breaking car doors and windows.

Mayor Sara Duter-te-Carpio urges victims of carnapping to cooper-ate in the filing of charges against the perpetrators even as she congratulat-ed the police for a job-well-done. [ASA]

Cops clueless on whereabouts of big-time carnap ring bossTHE Gen. Santos City

police nabbed on Sunday another

suspect in the gruesome Nov. 23,2009 Maguindan-ao massacre.

Senior Insp. Lorenzo Henares, chief of police of Makar Police station, identified the suspect as a certain Norhato M. Kami-no, alias Alfiche Banding.

Henares said Kamino was arrested after more than a month of surveil-lance.

“Based on the infor-mation we gathered, he formerly worked in Datu Unsay town in Maguind-anao. Then he transferred residence to Margus in Glan town, Sarangani province,” Henares said.

Kamino reportedly worked in a banana plan-tation in sitio Paopao, T’boli town, South Cotaba-to since June last year.

The police official said local residents tipped them off on the presence of a massacre suspect in the area.

“His facial features

matched that of one of the massacre suspects,” Henares said, adding that the suspect was nabbed by virtue of a standing warrant of arrest issued by a court.

During the raid, Ka-mino tried to escape but the police team caught up with him.

The suspect is under the custody of the Makar Police station awaiting the schedule for his transfer to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, Metro Manila.

In an interview with reporters, Kamino denied any involvement in the massacre.

“There’s God who knows I’m innocent. I have never set foot on the massacre site,” the suspect said in the Visayan dialect.

Today (Oct. 23), is the 35th-month anniversary of the Ampatuan carnage where 58 people, 32 of them journalists, perished in what is considered the single deadliest incident of the murder of journal-ists in history.

Maguindanao massacre suspect nabbed in GSCBy Aquiles Z. Zonio

ONLY the vice may-oralty post is hotly contested

in Kapalong, Davao del Norte in the May 13, 2013 mid-term elections.

Mayor Edgardo Tim-bol, who faced a token candidate in the 2010 elections, is running un-opposed while there are only eight candidates for councilor – all sure win-ners.

Timbol fielded his wife, Maria Theresa Tim-bol, barangay captain of Maniki (Poblacion) and the ABC president, against two-termer Vice

Mayor Romy Estrada, who was the mayor’s run-ning mate in the 2007 and 2010 polls.

Estrada is running as an independent after be-ing junked by Timbol’s group of President Aqui-no’s Liberal Party (LP).

He was a member of the municipal council for three terms and eas-ily won against two vice mayoral rivals while he was still Timbo’s ally.

Timbol’s wife, who is vice president of the Fed-eration of ABC in Davao del Norte, was recently

Kapalong, Davao Norte

Only vice mayor’s postremains to be contested

FONLY, 11 FMISUARI, 11

Misuari on Bangsamoro territory: ‘5 tiny provinces’

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

THE gay community in Mati City, Davao Oriental will have a

grand time in this year’s 12th Sambuokan Festival which will simultaneous-ly be held with the 109th Founding Anniversary of Mati.

City Information Officer Juvy Tanio re-cently revealed that City Mayor Michelle Rabat had allowed the Mati City gay community who bonded themselves into a group called Pink Society, to hold an event dubbed as “Pagkamalipayon, Ipa-dayon” (Let’s continue the happiness ).

Slated on October 30, the event will serve as an extension of the Sam-buokan Festival which will kick off on October 23, and will run until October 29 to celebrate community participation and togetherness.

A convenor of Pink So-ciety, Tanio said the event was designed to recog-nize the participation of the gay sector to further push the development of the city of Mati.

As the major organizer, the Pink Society will feature a fashion show called “ The Evolution of Oyels” refer-ring to gays who have been fondly calling them-selves as “Oyels”.

The fashion show is a presentation of gener-ations of gays as this in-volves the young and the old members of Mati’s gay community, Tanio said

“We are glad of the

acknowledgement that Mayor Rabat is giving to us,” Tanio said.

As a show of community involvement in celebrating the 12th Sambuokan Festi-val, members of the Pink Society will do a volun-teer work as make-up art-ists during the Kasalan ng Bayan which will bind to-gether 100 couples whose wedding will be officiat-ed by Mayor Rabat at the Cultural Center.

Same with the gay event, the Kasalan ng Bayan sa Sambuokan is organized by the City Government of Mati as an added feature of the week-long festival.

“This is the first time it happened in Sambuo-kan. We will be doing a community service for the couples,” Tanio said.

Meanwhile, the Sam-buokan Festival will kick off tomorrow with the activation of Coca Cola Barangay Bingo which will be held at Mati Park and Baywalk. This will be followed on Thursday by the opening of the Sam-buokan Volleyball clash, school band competition and SMB Got Talent com-petition.

Among the event set to enliven the Sambuo-kan on Friday are the 2nd Mayors Cup Shoot-fest, Asenso sa Negosyo Jobs Fair, Children’s Fun Day, Menzi Beach Park launching, Dahican Beach Games, Bugno sa (fight of) Guintong Kamao, film

SUBURBIA3EDGEDAVAO

FMATI, 11

THREE-HOUR TRIP.  Vehicles negotiate a portion of the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan highway still under construction in Gitagum town in Misamis Oriental. Roads under construction are the major cause of delays triggering complaints

from the public. The one-hour trip between Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities now takes more than three hours. [MiNDANEws]

AIMING to produce more skilled Com-valenyos, the pro-

vincial government of Compostela Valley Prov-ince through the Provin-cial Technical Education and Skills Development Committee (PTESDC) spearheads the conduct of a 2-day Bulawanong Kahanas: 5thInterschool Skills Competition and Skills Showcase at the ACN Gym, Nabunturan starting today, October 18 to 19, 2012.

In partnership with the Technical Education

and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the skills competition and showcase intensifies the awareness of the general public on technical vo-cational education and training, promotion of the importance and impact of technical training to the lives of the people, and the showcasing of compe-tence of the skilled work-ers in the province.

It is one of the ma-jor activities of the Bul-awanong Kahanas Team (referring to the Technical Vocational Education and

Training Stakeholders) advocates to recognize and honor the skills com-petence of the youth, par-ticularly those students of Technical Vocational Institutions.

The major areas of competition include Com-puter Hardware Servicing (assemble and installa-tion), Food and Beverage Servicing, Automotive Servicing (automotive electrical wiring), Health Care Services (bed mak-ing), Commercial Cooking (market basket), and Bar-tending.

Other competitions are the Search for Mr. & Ms. Bulawanong Kahanas 2012, Vocal Solo, and In-terpretative Dance.

The showcasing of skills are on Haircut, Mas-sage, Horticulture (graft-ing), Electronic, Mani-cure, and Pedicure.

This month, 25 train-ees graduated on a 5-day Consumer Electronics (Cellphone Repair Train-ing) leading to NC II of TESDA on October 8-12, 2012 in Montevista. [BOB MiRAsOL, sPU/ GRACE ALMEDiLLA- iDs]

ComVal Province conducts ‘Bulawanong Kahanas’ tilt

Mati City festival to recognize gays

A non-government or-ganization in Cagay-an de Oro City has

threatened to file a Writ of Kalikasan against the city government if it will not do something against the rampant illegal mining ac-tivities in the hinterlands of the city.

Orlando Ravanera, chair of the environment coalition Sulog, said they will give the city govern-ment “ a last chance” to do something about the un-abated mining in the area, otherwise a petition for a writ will be filed against officials.

A Writ of Kalikasan is a legal relief that provides for the protection of one’s right to “a balanced and healthful ecology in ac-cord with the rhythm and harmony of nature,” as en-shrined in Section 16, Arti-cle II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. It is the envi-ronmental counterpart of the Writ of Amparo.

In mulling the filing of a writ, Ravanera said

that people should have learned hard lessons from tropical storm Sendong, the worst calamity that hit the city in decades.

“We should stop the bleeding of the earth and it is our responsibility to hold government to do their role in protecting its people from another man-made devastation,” said Ravanera.

He noted that it has been 10 months since Sen-dong (international code-name: Washi) struck but the city government has yet to implement any seri-ous preventive measures to assure the residents that a similar catastrophe won’t happen again.

In this city alone, Sen-dong claimed at least a thousand lives and a thou-sand more missing until now, feared to have been dead. The estimated dam-age to properties was pegged at P1.6 billion. The floods affected 1,144,229 individuals and swept 14,883 houses. [CONG B. COR-RALEs/MiNDANEws]

THE Department of So-cial Welfare and De-velopment (DSWD)

in Region 12 has strength-ened its compliance and monitoring systems for the government’s conditional cash transfer program to ensure proper implemen-tation in the area.

Juliet Clavel, region-al program coordinator, said the move is part of the strategies adopted by the agency to enhance the continuing rollout of the an-ti-poverty initiative, which is also known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Pro-gram or 4Ps.

She said they recently met with the 4Ps provincial, municipal and city links to set new implementation targets and performance indicators. Clavel said the new regional targets and in-dicators were based on the national targets and direc-tions set by the DSWD cen-tral office. “We need to en-sure that the tasks brought

down to the regional office will be smoothly delegated to our office personnel and program implementers in the field,” she said.

Region 12 compris-es the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, North Cotaba-to and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacu-rong, Kidapawan and Cota-bato. DWSD-12’s coverage area for the 4Ps includes Marawi City, which is part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Clavel said among the key result areas indicated in the performance con-tract of 4Ps implementers were the strengthening of the program’s components such as compliance, com-pletion and monitoring of supply side assessment; the conduct of family devel-opment sessions; the orga-nization of parent leaders; and, the implementation of other program systems.

She said the provincial

links will also be monitored through their supervisory skills and their reporting responsibilities. “One of our program goals is the insti-tutional strengthening. This means that we need to en-sure that our regional, pro-vincial, city and municipal advisory councils are prop-erly functioning,” she said.

Advisory councils con-sisting of local officials, sec-toral representatives and private groups are present-ly involved in the monitor-ing of the program imple-mentation, she said.

“When we perform our tasks, we always see to it that it will be relevant to up-grading the level of well-be-ing of our program benefi-ciaries such that those from survival stage will reach the self-sufficiency stage,” Clavel added. “When our tasks are clear, specific and have a numerical value, we can always measure our achievements and see how far we have gone given our

individual targets,” she said.As of September 30, the

government has released around P1.83 billion to the area’s beneficiaries in the form of cash grants, around P883.53 million of which went to the health and nutrition component and P945.89 million to the education component.

The 4Ps program is a poverty reduction and so-cial development strategy of the national govern-ment that provides condi-tional cash grants to “poor-est of the poor” households to improve their health, nutrition and education, particularly of children aged 0-14 years.

The program provides beneficiaries cash grants of P500 a month for health and nutrition expenses and P300 a month per child for educational expenses. A household with three qual-ified children could receive P1,400 monthly. [Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews]

CDO coalition mulls Writ of Kalikasan DSWD strengthens compliance

and monitoring systems for 4Ps

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

THE gay community in Mati City, Davao Oriental will have a

grand time in this year’s 12th Sambuokan Festival which will simultaneous-ly be held with the 109th Founding Anniversary of Mati.

City Information Officer Juvy Tanio re-cently revealed that City Mayor Michelle Rabat had allowed the Mati City gay community who bonded themselves into a group called Pink Society, to hold an event dubbed as “Pagkamalipayon, Ipa-dayon” (Let’s continue the happiness ).

Slated on October 30, the event will serve as an extension of the Sam-buokan Festival which will kick off on October 23, and will run until October 29 to celebrate community participation and togetherness.

A convenor of Pink So-ciety, Tanio said the event was designed to recog-nize the participation of the gay sector to further push the development of the city of Mati.

As the major organizer, the Pink Society will feature a fashion show called “ The Evolution of Oyels” refer-ring to gays who have been fondly calling them-selves as “Oyels”.

The fashion show is a presentation of gener-ations of gays as this in-volves the young and the old members of Mati’s gay community, Tanio said

“We are glad of the

acknowledgement that Mayor Rabat is giving to us,” Tanio said.

As a show of community involvement in celebrating the 12th Sambuokan Festi-val, members of the Pink Society will do a volun-teer work as make-up art-ists during the Kasalan ng Bayan which will bind to-gether 100 couples whose wedding will be officiat-ed by Mayor Rabat at the Cultural Center.

Same with the gay event, the Kasalan ng Bayan sa Sambuokan is organized by the City Government of Mati as an added feature of the week-long festival.

“This is the first time it happened in Sambuo-kan. We will be doing a community service for the couples,” Tanio said.

Meanwhile, the Sam-buokan Festival will kick off tomorrow with the activation of Coca Cola Barangay Bingo which will be held at Mati Park and Baywalk. This will be followed on Thursday by the opening of the Sam-buokan Volleyball clash, school band competition and SMB Got Talent com-petition.

Among the event set to enliven the Sambuo-kan on Friday are the 2nd Mayors Cup Shoot-fest, Asenso sa Negosyo Jobs Fair, Children’s Fun Day, Menzi Beach Park launching, Dahican Beach Games, Bugno sa (fight of) Guintong Kamao, film

SUBURBIA3EDGEDAVAO

FMATI, 11

THREE-HOUR TRIP.  Vehicles negotiate a portion of the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan highway still under construction in Gitagum town in Misamis Oriental. Roads under construction are the major cause of delays triggering complaints

from the public. The one-hour trip between Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities now takes more than three hours. [MiNDANEws]

AIMING to produce more skilled Com-valenyos, the pro-

vincial government of Compostela Valley Prov-ince through the Provin-cial Technical Education and Skills Development Committee (PTESDC) spearheads the conduct of a 2-day Bulawanong Kahanas: 5thInterschool Skills Competition and Skills Showcase at the ACN Gym, Nabunturan starting today, October 18 to 19, 2012.

In partnership with the Technical Education

and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the skills competition and showcase intensifies the awareness of the general public on technical vo-cational education and training, promotion of the importance and impact of technical training to the lives of the people, and the showcasing of compe-tence of the skilled work-ers in the province.

It is one of the ma-jor activities of the Bul-awanong Kahanas Team (referring to the Technical Vocational Education and

Training Stakeholders) advocates to recognize and honor the skills com-petence of the youth, par-ticularly those students of Technical Vocational Institutions.

The major areas of competition include Com-puter Hardware Servicing (assemble and installa-tion), Food and Beverage Servicing, Automotive Servicing (automotive electrical wiring), Health Care Services (bed mak-ing), Commercial Cooking (market basket), and Bar-tending.

Other competitions are the Search for Mr. & Ms. Bulawanong Kahanas 2012, Vocal Solo, and In-terpretative Dance.

The showcasing of skills are on Haircut, Mas-sage, Horticulture (graft-ing), Electronic, Mani-cure, and Pedicure.

This month, 25 train-ees graduated on a 5-day Consumer Electronics (Cellphone Repair Train-ing) leading to NC II of TESDA on October 8-12, 2012 in Montevista. [BOB MiRAsOL, sPU/ GRACE ALMEDiLLA- iDs]

ComVal Province conducts ‘Bulawanong Kahanas’ tilt

Mati City festival to recognize gays

A non-government or-ganization in Cagay-an de Oro City has

threatened to file a Writ of Kalikasan against the city government if it will not do something against the rampant illegal mining ac-tivities in the hinterlands of the city.

Orlando Ravanera, chair of the environment coalition Sulog, said they will give the city govern-ment “ a last chance” to do something about the un-abated mining in the area, otherwise a petition for a writ will be filed against officials.

A Writ of Kalikasan is a legal relief that provides for the protection of one’s right to “a balanced and healthful ecology in ac-cord with the rhythm and harmony of nature,” as en-shrined in Section 16, Arti-cle II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. It is the envi-ronmental counterpart of the Writ of Amparo.

In mulling the filing of a writ, Ravanera said

that people should have learned hard lessons from tropical storm Sendong, the worst calamity that hit the city in decades.

“We should stop the bleeding of the earth and it is our responsibility to hold government to do their role in protecting its people from another man-made devastation,” said Ravanera.

He noted that it has been 10 months since Sen-dong (international code-name: Washi) struck but the city government has yet to implement any seri-ous preventive measures to assure the residents that a similar catastrophe won’t happen again.

In this city alone, Sen-dong claimed at least a thousand lives and a thou-sand more missing until now, feared to have been dead. The estimated dam-age to properties was pegged at P1.6 billion. The floods affected 1,144,229 individuals and swept 14,883 houses. [CONG B. COR-RALEs/MiNDANEws]

THE Department of So-cial Welfare and De-velopment (DSWD)

in Region 12 has strength-ened its compliance and monitoring systems for the government’s conditional cash transfer program to ensure proper implemen-tation in the area.

Juliet Clavel, region-al program coordinator, said the move is part of the strategies adopted by the agency to enhance the continuing rollout of the an-ti-poverty initiative, which is also known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Pro-gram or 4Ps.

She said they recently met with the 4Ps provincial, municipal and city links to set new implementation targets and performance indicators. Clavel said the new regional targets and in-dicators were based on the national targets and direc-tions set by the DSWD cen-tral office. “We need to en-sure that the tasks brought

down to the regional office will be smoothly delegated to our office personnel and program implementers in the field,” she said.

Region 12 compris-es the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, North Cotaba-to and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacu-rong, Kidapawan and Cota-bato. DWSD-12’s coverage area for the 4Ps includes Marawi City, which is part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Clavel said among the key result areas indicated in the performance con-tract of 4Ps implementers were the strengthening of the program’s components such as compliance, com-pletion and monitoring of supply side assessment; the conduct of family devel-opment sessions; the orga-nization of parent leaders; and, the implementation of other program systems.

She said the provincial

links will also be monitored through their supervisory skills and their reporting responsibilities. “One of our program goals is the insti-tutional strengthening. This means that we need to en-sure that our regional, pro-vincial, city and municipal advisory councils are prop-erly functioning,” she said.

Advisory councils con-sisting of local officials, sec-toral representatives and private groups are present-ly involved in the monitor-ing of the program imple-mentation, she said.

“When we perform our tasks, we always see to it that it will be relevant to up-grading the level of well-be-ing of our program benefi-ciaries such that those from survival stage will reach the self-sufficiency stage,” Clavel added. “When our tasks are clear, specific and have a numerical value, we can always measure our achievements and see how far we have gone given our

individual targets,” she said.As of September 30, the

government has released around P1.83 billion to the area’s beneficiaries in the form of cash grants, around P883.53 million of which went to the health and nutrition component and P945.89 million to the education component.

The 4Ps program is a poverty reduction and so-cial development strategy of the national govern-ment that provides condi-tional cash grants to “poor-est of the poor” households to improve their health, nutrition and education, particularly of children aged 0-14 years.

The program provides beneficiaries cash grants of P500 a month for health and nutrition expenses and P300 a month per child for educational expenses. A household with three qual-ified children could receive P1,400 monthly. [Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews]

CDO coalition mulls Writ of Kalikasan DSWD strengthens compliance

and monitoring systems for 4Ps

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

WHEN the large flowers of Durian tree open at night, the fruit-eat-ing Philippine bats, whose large

eyes allow them to see at night, are hard at work pollinating the flowers – transferring the pollen, from the male part of the plant or stamens of flowers to the female part of the plant, the carpel, to fertilize the flower so that fruits can develop.

On the other hand, other bats, the insec-tivorous kind, which do not pollinate the Durian flowers, “are insect control agents. They are primarily nocturnal insect eaters or predators of night flying insects that in-clude crop pests that damage the rice, corn and other plants.” Thousands of these Asian Ghost Bats (Megaderma spasma) in attics eat “50,000 insects every night,” including “moths that feed on corn or rice, saving farmers substantial” amounts of money from buying pesticides.

These are two among the reasons that the Filipino people need to understand why they should help in the conservation of bats and other wildlife species of the Philippines that are being threatened with extinction.

Nina R. Ingle, Ph. D., told this reporter over the phone that she has been a con-servation ecologist for over 25 years in the Philippines but she has still a lot to learn about the bats and other vertebrates num-bering about a thousand, over 600 of them are endemic or can only be found in the Philippines.

“Without bats (cave fruit bats called Eonycteris spelaea), how will Durian (Durio zibethinus L.) tree bear fruits? As you know Durian is a growing industry in Davao and other parts of the southern Philippines. Where are they going to get the fruits, the ice cream, candies and other by-products of the tree?” Dr. Ingle (pronounced “single” without “s”) asked. She is currently a cur-riculum consultant of her alma mater the Ateneo de Davao University High School, where she integrates environmental con-tent and research into academic studies. Durian fruit contributes US$120 million to economies in Southeast Asia each year, ac-cording to Wikipedia.

The 46-year-old conservation academi-cian and researcher was in town to receive the prestigious Parker/Gentry Award in recognition of her commitment to biodi-versity conservation through research, management and education.

The Parker/Gentry award is given an-nually by the Chicago, Illinois-based Field Museum of Natural History to honor an outstanding individual, team or organiza-tion, whose efforts have had a significant impact on preserving the world’s rich natu-ral heritage and whose actions can serve as a model to others. Dr. Ingle is the 17th and first Filipino and the second Asian to re-ceive the award with a modest cash amount from an anonymous donor. The other Asian awardee was a Chinese.

A Filipino British dual citizen, Dr. Ingle’s commitment to biodiversity conservation exemplifies the spirit of the Parker/Gen-try Award. Early in her career, she chose to focus on bats, fascinated by their diversity and their role in forest ecology as seed dis-persers, pollinators, and insect predators.

She was born in London, England to a Filipino mother, Lydia Rivera, who worked as a clerk at the Philippine Embassy in

London. Dr. Ingle’s mother met her father, David Ingle, an electrical and mechanical engineer, in London.

70 species of bats identifDr. Ingle co-wrote the first identification key to the 70 species of bats then known from the Phil-ippines with Field Museum mammal cu-rator Lawrence R. Heaney, Ph.D., in a study entitled, “A Key to the Bats of the Philippine Islands,” in Fieldiana, Zoology, 1992.

She said that the heaviest bat in the world, the endangered Golden-crowned Flying Fox (Acerodon jubatus) is only found in the Philippines. About 40 species of Philippine bats live in caves, where they can form colonies in the hundreds or thou-sands and even over a million.

Dr. Ingle said she was fascinated by the bats because of their roles in the forest and in agricultural areas. “They eat insects, pol-linate plants, and eat fruits while bringing seeds to new locations that grow plants and serve as reforestation agents.”

She clarified there are no blood-sucking or vampire bats in the Philippines, saying there are only three species of blood-suck-ing bats in the world out of the more than

1,000 bat species. Vampire bats are only found in South and Central Americas.

“Bats are like people and have only one baby at a time, once or twice a year. This means that their numbers don’t increase rapidly.” Dr. Ingle added.

Dr. Ingle said she is honored to get the Parker/Gentry award named after two out-standing field biologists who died in the field in an aircraft accident while doing re-search in Latin America.

Contributions from PHL wildlife conservation

“The award represents the collective contributions from the Philippines for wildlife conservation, particularly by members of the Wildlife Conservation Society of the Philippines that we founded 21 years ago. I›ve come to increasingly value the importance of environmental education in conservation. It is important to work with local communities on conservation through education in the public schools in every barangay. It is an opportunity for others to learn how rich is the Philippines in wildlife resources. We have more than 1,000 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles, and over 600 of those are found only in the Philip-pines like the Philippine Eagle and Cloud Rats. More species, previously unknown to science, are being discovered every year.”

Dr. Ingle has worked closely with Dr. Lawrence Heaney, curator of Mammals at the Field Museum of Natural History. Dr. Heaney said he took “interest in primary research in the Philippines in the study of evolution and ecology and conservation because unlike the Galapagos Island in Ec-uador made famous by Charles Darwin, Galapagos has only four native species of mammals while the Philippines has more than 200 and to study the biological and geologic history of the Philippines is won-derful and interesting.” He co-wrote Van-ishing Treasures of the Philippine Rainfor-est with Filipino botanist Jack Regalado, Jr. (http://archive.fieldmuseum.org/vanish-ing_treasures/), published in 1998.

In her presentation during the Park-er-Gentry awarding event, Dr. Ingle said that although the Philippines used to be almost completely covered by tropical rain-forest, only 20% of the land area remains forested. This threatens all forest depen-dent plants and animals, and also threatens the watersheds on which all Filipinos de-pend. She said that local communities are key to wildlife conservation. (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)

4SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENT EDGEDAVAO

PHL bats cited for role in durian industryBy Joseph G. Lariosa

DURIAN FLOWERS CLOSED BY DAY. This is a photo of Durian flowers from Wikipedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian)

FILIPINA-BRITISH WINS PARKER/GENTRY AWARD. Dr. Nina R. Ingle (second from left) is shown holding the 2012 Parker/Gentry Award during ceremonies held last Oct. 11 in the reception hall of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. Looking on from left are Field Museum President and CEO Richard  Lariviere, Philippine Consul General Leo M. Herrera-Lim and Mrs. Jan Lariviere. The award bears the names of the late Theodore A. Parker III and Alwyn Gentry, ardent conservationists and leading naturalists. Parker, an ornithologist, and Gentry, a botanist, died in 1993, while surveying hill forests of western Ecuador. Parker and Gentry worked closely with Field Museum scientists on several joint efforts, including rapid inventories for conservation. (jGLiPhoto courtesy of the Philippine Consulate General’s office in Chicago, Illinois)

DR. NINA R. INGLE, who earned M.S. and Ph. D. degrees at Cornell University, Natural Resources, in Ithaca, New York. (jGLiPhoto courtesy of Dr. Nina R. Ingle.)

INSECT-EATING BAT OF LUZON. This common  Asian Ghost Bat (Megaderma spasma) helps rural farmers eats  the insects, like moths that feed on rice and corn. Without this bat, farmers will have a hard time keeping up with the damage caused by moths and other in-sects to their plants. (jGLiPhotograb by Joseph G. Lariosa from  http://fieldmuseum.org/explore/synopsis-philip-pine-mammals)

FRUIT BAT OF LUZON. This cave fruit bat found in Luzon called Eonycteris spelaea is the same species that polli-nates Durian (D. zibethinus) flowers at night in southern Philippines. The process (pollination) enables the flowers to develop into fruits. It was reported that in a study in Malaysia in 1970s, Durians were pollinated almost exclu-sively by cave fruit bats (Eonycteris spelaea). However, a 1996 study indicated two species of Durian, D. grandiflo-rus  and  D. oblongus,  were pollinated by spiderhunters (Nectariniidae) and other species, D.  kutejensis, was pollinated by giant honey bees and birds as well as bats. (jGLiphotograb by Joseph G. Lariosa fromhttp://fieldmu-seum.org/explore/synopsis-philippine-mammals)

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012 5EDGEDAVAO

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012THE ECONOMY

FUCPB, 11

6 EDGEDAVAO

MONTHLY AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATE (January 2009 - December 2011)

Month 2012 2011 2010

Average 43.31 45.11December 43.64 43.95November 43.27 43.49October 43.45 43.44

September 43.02 44.31August 42.42 45.18

July 42.81 46.32June 43.37 46.30May 42.85 43.13 45.60April 42.70 43.24 44.63

March 42.86 43.52 45.74February 42.66 43.70 46.31January 43.62 44.17 46.03

Stat Watch5.8%

1st Qtr 2012

6.4 %1st Qtr 2012

USD 4,931million

May 2012USD 4,770

millionApr 2012USD -135

millionApr 2012USD -209

millionMar 2012

P 4,580,674 million

Apr 2012

4.1 %May 2012P131,403

millionMay 2012

P 5,075 billion

Apr 2012

P 42.78Jun 2012

5,091.2May 2012

130.1 Jun 2012

2.8 Jun 2012

3.7 Jun 2012

349,779Apr 2012

18.8 %Jan 2012

7.2 %Jan 2012

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/

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

LOOKING closely at the lush green leaves of the small, growing cacao

seedling was enough to con-vince Rene Dalayon that the sprawling two-hectare cacao seedling farm here in this small town of Asuncion, was ready to supply the needs of thousands of banana farmers who want to plant cacao between the rows of their banana plants.

“Looks good---they all look healthy and ready for distribu-tion to our fellow banana farm-ers here in Davao del Norte who want to join us in the inter-crop-ping of banana plants with ca-cao,” Dalayon broke into a smile, as he passed the cacao seedling to his plant technicians for fur-ther inspection.

Dalayon, who heads the Fed-eration of Banana Cooperatives or FEDCO as its chief executive officer, said they had been look-ing for ways to help banana farmers cope with two big cri-sis that had almost devastated

their banana farms--- the China crisis, which banned Philippines bananas from the Mainland due to quarantine problems and the spreading danger of a banana disease called Panama Wilt which had already damaged thousands of hectares of banana plantations.

“We saw the great potential of cacao and what it can do to help uplift the lives of our farm-ers and other stakeholders in the banana industry,” Dalayon said, looking across the thousands of cacao seedlings growing robust under the fishnet serving as a protective filter from the blister-ing heat of the sun.

Just over the weekend, Da-layon and his FEDCO executive staff sat down with officials of the ACDI-VOCA to sign another grant agreement of P3.2 million to set into motion the Cacao Ba-nana Agri-Enterprise Develop-ment (CBAED) involving over 2,000 farmers in selected towns and villages of Davao del Norte

province.ACDI-VOCA is an interna-

tional non- profit organization setting up the CococoPal Farm-ing System project in Mindan-ao, with funds coming from the United States Department of Ag-riculture (USDA).

This project, according to Nicholas Richards, chief of par-ty in the Philippines, is to work closely with small farmers and small agri-companies as well as government agencies, local governments and agriculture schools in Mindanao.

A CBAED center, ac-cording to Richards, has five parts--- training, demo farms, post harvest processing, organic fertilizer and cacao seedling pro-duction and distribution. This center, put up by FEDCO, will have a cacao nursery, organic input facility, demo farm show-ing bananas growing together with cacao, and a post-harvest facility.

Farmer leaders had

been trained in mid-September on farm planning, farm deci-sion-making, farming as a busi-ness, and technical training on cacao production.

“All these years we’ve always stick to just one goal--- to help rice farmers, banana farmers, coconut farmers, cacao farm-ers become more productive to earn more income and produce more food for their families,” Richards said.

Dalayon is one with his FED-CO executive staff in expressing so much optimism on the future growth of a new emerging cacao industry in the Davao region over the coming years.

“We see this cacao industry as a new ray of hope for all our banana farmers who had been suffering all these years from low buying prices and

millions in unpaid debts. This time around, they can final-ly stand up and face a brighter future,” Dalayon said. [Philpress Features]

BRACELET. Joey Ayala, one of the most recognized home-grown talents from Davao City, seeks the help of a lumad lady whom he bought a native bracelet at the Philippine Eagle Center in Malagos, Calinan yesterday. [LEAN DAVAL JR.]

UCPB Savings Bank has launched three initia-tives as it continues to

develop its service delivery network particularly in areas where large commercial banks are not in operation or those that do not have ATM (auto-mated teller machines) pres-ence.

UCPB Savings Bank, the thrift banking arm of the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), has unveiled five branches af-ter receiving approval from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The five new branches are in Batac, Ilocos Norte; Lin-gayen, Pangasinan; Caramoan Island; Catbalogan, Samar; and Metro Cebu. Batac and Lingay-en are primarily agricultural areas, Caramoan Island is a fa-mous tourist destination while Catbalogan and Metro Cebu are commercial hubs. The five additional branches bring the

Cacao:

A new ray of hope for banana farmersBy Aurelio A. Pena

UCPB Savings Bank expands service delivery channels

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012 7EDGEDAVAO MOTORING

2013 Hyundai Santa Fe: Born in Gangnam

Ko r e a n culture is taking the

entire world by storm. ev-erything from food to pop music to soap operas is en-joying tremendous success, catapulting them to main-stream culture. The latest one to cross the oceans from Seoul to the rest of the world is PSY and his addictive song, “Gangnam Style”.

Gangnam refers to a district in Seoul where people are generally con-sidered trendy, hip, and classy. You can liken it to their version of Beverly Hills in the US or Bonifa-cio Global City here. Cool and chic as the people are from Gangnam though, they never proclaim that they are, hence the come-dic value of the song. In that sense, the all-new 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe is a true citizen of Gangnam. It’s not a luxury pretender. It’s cool and classy, down to its die-sel-fed soul.

For starters, the all-new Santa Fe wears Hyundai’s new “Fluidic Precision” design concept—a more refined, more mature take on the original “Fluidic Sculpture” language. It isn’t as swoopy and cur-vaceous as say an elantra or Sonata; rather it’s more streamlined, tauter than before. It’s a move upward from pair of Uniqlo jeans to a well-pressed Hugo Boss suit. Up front, the large hexagonal grille is more upright, flanked with large headlamp and fog lamp clusters. The head-lamps feature interesting LeD accent lighting while squared-off projector lights are nestled inside project-ing a bluish tinge at night thanks to HID headlamps on the 4WD model.

From the side, a strong

char-acter line extends along the body from the front wheel well and ta-pers off just before the rear door handle, but then picks up just before the C-pillar and integrates nicely into the wraparound tail lamps. Meanwhile, the glass area themselves incorporate an upward rake in the rear communicating a sense of drama so lacking in the mid-sized crossover seg-ment. The all-new Santa Fe ramps up the style even further by having standard 18-inches on the 2WD and then moving up to 19-inch-es on the 4WD.

at the back, the Santa Fe has stylized tail lamps featuring a thin line of brightwork through the lens cap. The lamps them-selves are illuminated by LeDs giving the Santa Fe a unique glow at night. a strong U-shaped character line connects the far ends of the tail lamps down the middle of the tailgate which ties the Santa Fe to the rest of the Hyundai line-up.

Inside, the Santa Fe plays a very familiar tune, especially if you’re famil-iar with Hyundai’s newer product offerings. The hex-agonal grille is mimicked front and center on the dash with large angular vents sandwiching the integrat-ed entertainment system. Both the 2WD and 4WD models carry a multitude of connectivity options from MP3 to USB to Bluetooth, but the 4WD goes further with a 4.3-inch LCD touch screen eliminating some center stack clutter. The center stack gets narrower as it flows down towards the transmission tunnel where the dual-zone cli-mate control (the rear occu-

p a n t s get an extra manual blow-er with vents on all rows) is housed and operated by a set of clearly organized buttons.

The materials used in-side the Santa Fe don’t take a backseat with high-qual-ity leather (cloth on the 2WD) and soft-touch plas-tics enveloping the entire cabin. The color scheme is a unique two-tone brown affair with a small amount of aluminum and carbon fiber dotting the cabin. as a whole, the cabin feels truly upscale; everything from the leather used on the steering wheel to the plastics on the door trim to even small details like the window switches and stalks are all top-notch. Plus, the entire look feels welcoming and warm than other mid-sized crossovers. It’s a quiet cabin too. even with the sunshade retracted on the standard panoramic sunroof on the 4WD, there was very little wind noise to speak of. and the road noise from the tires is virtu-ally unnoticeable.

Behind the front seats is a 40/20/40 split bench seat with ample amounts of both head- and legroom. They also fold and slide fore and aft allowing ac-cess to the third row seats which feature a 50/50 split. With all the seats up, the San-ta Fe offers genuine seating for seven adults with three-point seat belts for everyone. With both rows fold-ed, it presents a cavernous loading bay enough to fit a decent

amount of balk-

bayan boxes.For the 2013 model,

Hyundai asia resources, Inc. has simplified the en-gine line-up to just one: a 2.2-liter 4-cylinder com-mon rail direct injection diesel with 197 horsepow-er and 428 nm of torque. Largely carried over from the previous generation Santa Fe, this engine still manages to eclipse the competition not just in terms of power, but also in smoothness and quietness. Indeed, it shames even the Germans. It can be mated to either front-wheel or all-wheel drive architecture, but the sole transmission is a six-speed automatic with the H-matic manual over-ride feature. The new addi-tion is active eCo which modifies the shift points for better fuel economy.

on the road the Santa Fe feels sweet and refined whatever the driving envi-ronment. In a more crowd-ed setting like urban areas, the earth-shattering low-end torque is your ally in darting in and out of traf-fic with the 4,690 mm length feeling much smaller than it re-ally is. as t h e

roads open up, the Santa Fe never feels underpowered or overworked; the engine and transmission feeling well suited to each other. This shows in the Santa Fe’s remarkable fuel econ-omy figures of 9.52 km/l in the city for the 4WD and 10.4 km/l for the 2WD. These figures easily go up to as high as 23 km/l on the highway. These fig-ures are achieved with the active eCo on and nothing else; no feath-ering of the throttle and such.

The engine isn’t the only part of the Santa Fe

that deserves praise. The revised suspension with MacPherson struts upfront and multi-links at the back give this crossover excel-lent road manners. The overall ride is comfortable yet confident. The 4WD shows impeccable balance and control through any sort of terrain, while the 2WD just manages to chirp its front tires due to torque steer, but the addition of standard traction control limits this. The Santa Fe is also the first locally-avail-able Hyundai to offer the company’s new driver-se-lectable three-mode steer-ing dubbed “Flex Steer-ing”. This on-the-fly rack adjuster is a nice touch en-abling you to set the desired effort level. Most of the time, it will be left in “nor-mal” mode, but “Sport” is excellent for tackling twisty roads while “Comfort” is perfect for those with less than ample arm strength.

Compared to other mid-sized crossovers, the Santa Fe is far more maneuver-able in tight spots thanks to more manageable exterior dimensions and excellent visibility. Plus, parking as-sist sensors is standard in all models with the 4WD

getting a standard back-up camera with built-in guide lines as an added bonus.

Priced at P 1,768,000 for the 2WD and a cool P 2,228,000 for the 4WD, the 2013 Santa Fe is more expensive than the previ-ous model. But before you balk at the price increase, you have to go beyond the mere sticker price to appre-ciate the all-new Santa Fe. In what could be a killer move, Hyundai has priced and equipped the Santa Fe to battle on two fronts. The 2WD is destined to steal sales from the ubiquitous Montero Sport and Fortun-er thanks to a solid range of standard features from Smart Key keyless entry with engine start/stop to a full range of safety features. Plus, the ride is plusher and more car-like. Meanwhile, the 4WD does battle against the explorer and comes with much more standard tech such as 19-inch rims, a panoramic sunroof, pow-er front seats, and even an electronic parking brake with auto hold as standard. and the real world fuel consumption is much better than a gasoline-fed engine. In short, the Santa Fe comes in with guns blazing, ready to outdraw the competition.

The all-new Hyundai Santa Fe is exciting, revolu-tionary, and ready to take on the world. In just three gen-erations, it has managed to catapult itself from obscuri-ty to the mainstream. While the song “Gangnam Style” talks about pretenders and wannabes, the Santa Fe is nothing like that. This is one crossover that exudes class and refinement from the in-side out. It truly is a well-en-gineered, well-designed, and well-priced product. It seems that the Korean cul-tural invasion has finally crossed over to automobiles

as well.

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

( 1st of two parts )

8 EDGEDAVAO

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VANTAGE POINTS

EDITORIAL

The teenage saint

By John C. ABellCommentary

The tracks of my fears

PEDRO CALUNGSOD, the second Filipino to be canonized, the first being St. Lo-renzo Ruiz, met his martyrdom when he

was just a minor.St. Pedro Calungsod, said to be from Cebu,

was a teen missionary, who was killed by pagan natives of Guam and thrown to the sea along with a Jesuit priest, Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores, on April 2, 1672. Not quite one of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) that we know them today, San Pedro Calungsod was a teenage lay Catholic who served the Jesuit missionary in that foreign land as catechist and helper and was probably the youngest martyr of the Catholic faith at the time of his killing in 1672.

On that fateful day, Calungsod was with San Vitores at a village in Guam baptizing natives, when two incensed villagers hacked them to death. The young catechist tried to prevent the assailants from harming Fr. Diego, but was killed instead. The priest was in turn killed like him.

Not a few Filipinos are saying that San Pedro

Calungsod would be a good role model for the young in our country. There is no gainsaying the fact that we have a surfeit of wayward teens who are leading a life of immorality and crime due to various factors which were not there during his short life.

Indeed, the supreme heroism of San Pedro Calungsod is worthy of emulation by those of his countrymen who have embraced the faith. But the young Pedro Calungsod, being pure of heart and possessed of dauntless courage, perhaps it would be too much to ask, nay, even expect our present day youth to aspire for, much less attain his greatness.

The world has changed so much from the young Calungsod’s time in terms of circumstances that were extant then and those that mark our 21st century, that only another miracle of faith could produce a third Filipino saint.

But who knows? Miracles do happen. And when that time comes, you and I won’t be around to savor the same feeling and inspiration he has bequeathed to our generation.

ADVERTISERS say that if they can’t track you online, your favorite websites will die. They’re wrong.

There is lots of bad TV, and lots of bad Internet. Reducing either would be a public service of incalculable pro-portions. But just as some broadcasters raise the possibility of Armageddon if ad-avoiding tech like TiVo proliferates, online marketers are now making the same empty threatsabout the Internet. They say that rich Internet “content” would disappear if something called Do Not Track became the standard.

Do Not Track isn’t the default set-ting of any major Web browser, even though all offer the option to “opt-in” to a private life — to send a signal to ad-vertisers that, on this occasion, in this window, at this time I don’t want you to make use of my surfing behavior to pro-file me for the sole purpose of creating ads that marketers think have greater personal appeal and are more valuable.

Opting in is going to be the default in the next version of Microsoft’s ubiq-uitous Internet Explorer Web browser, due out any time now. Many thought Microsoft would be our best hope to change the balance of power (how the tables have turned!), of not having to take extra precautions to prevent an intrusion to which we really should not be subjected. But Microsoft’s bull-headedness (on behalf of users for a change) has prompted the advertising community to decide to ignore Inter-net Explorer 10’s “do not track” signal. This means, ironically, that IE 10 will be worthless as the pioneering stealth browser it was meant to be.

That the advertisers are pushing back, declaring what amounts to ther-monuclear war in the privacy campaign, might raise the profile of a critical issue. Until now it’s been so far under the ra-dar that most people a) don’t know that they have privacy controls on their browsers and b) don’t know they need them.

The Do Not Track debate comes down to this: Unless you take precau-tions (or the browser maker does), where you go and what you do can be used to, among other things, allow mar-keters to follow you around with ads they think are highly relevant to you. Making Do Not Track voluntary means that (because we are lazy, easily dis-tracted humans) there will be more people being tracked. Making it oblig-atory means advertisers would have to convince the general public that being spied on is worth it. It’s laundry they are desperate not to air in public, be-cause, given such a simple choice, few would opt for living in a glass house.

Browsers have different ways of giv-ing you control — Google Chrome al-lows you to create “incognito” sessions. Apple’s Safari has an option for “Private Browsing,” as does Mozilla’s Firefox. You have to know they are there, and choose them.

The 800-pound gorilla is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which owns half of the world, and which decided to show some spunk on behalf of the little guy, for a change. It created shockwaves by signaling, by default, that every brows-ing session in its new browser is meant to be hands-off. This was a big freaking deal. Proof: The advertising community got upset, claiming that getting rid of tracking would get rid of the Web. Sites wouldn’t be able to afford upkeep with-out the personal-data-filled ads that keep them in business.

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

Wreck of ‘world’s largest battleship’ in PHL waters

Don’t disparage Nur Misuari

( 1st of two parts )

General Santos City

Comparison is odious

By JeSS G. DurezA aDVoCaCy minDanoW

By PriAm nePomuCenoSpeCial Feature

VANTAGE POINTSEDGEDAVAO 9

“SIN TAX” ENTAILS MORE PROB-LEMS – It is perhaps more un-derstandable that there has

been a rash of press stories about cer-tain individuals proclaiming that a “lobby money” might be among the rea-sons of the big tax proposal discrepancy between the House and Senate versions. The tobacco industry, such stories say, are stampeding to lower the tax rates under HB 5727 or the so-called “sin tax.” In truth, the Senate version of the “sin tax”, which proposed a P15 billion annu-al revenues expectedly face a less cordial reception in the consumers market.

The overall adverse impact is likely to be relatively tremendous because fun-damentally the House edition proposed an annual tax ceiling of P30 billion compared to the Senate’s P15 billion. Well, comparison is odious. The incon-sistency prompted the taxpaying public to raise critical questions and the more concerned people divulge it in the open that eventually led for some quarters to suspect that, indeed, “lobby money” is stealthily in the works.

Does it mean a genuine bargaining exist especially for the multinationals seeking to dominate the cigarette mar-ket in the country? Senator Ralph Rec-to, the proponent of the Senate version actually is actually under pressure and could no longer stand the heat, which ultimately resulted to his abrupt resig-nation as chair of the committee on fi-nance. Now it is the turn of the Senate membership to face the throbbing, be they members of the majority or minori-ty bloc and to clear their names from the serious accusation of having benefited from the alleged “financial tribute.”

But what is really the root cause of the highly controversial “sin tax” issue? Six months ago, members of the Philip-

pine Tobacco Insti-tute (PTI) decried HB 5727 or the “sin tax” bill and described it as an-ti-local industry. The logic of their common interest suggests that the legislative mea-sure, if fully imple-mented will greatly affect the country’s tobacco industry. There are indications that the PTI is unimpressed because un-der the proposed “sin tax,” all improved brands will increase only by 6 percent while tax on low-priced brands will in-crease by as much as 1000 percent. The PTI members added that implementa-tion of the new tax would mean exces-sive and unprecedented and no other country in the world has increased that much.

In their opinion, it is somewhat like government regulators have a commit-ment to raise tax collection in order to hit their desired target, but when it comes to a plan on what to do first, it’s less clear. The PTI members therefore urged Congress to urgently address their main concerns citing the negative impact of HB 5727 to the local tobacco industry. In addition, local cigarette manufacturers argued that local brands will be greatly unaffordable for many Filipino smokers and consumption will likewise be great-ly reduced because smokers will switch to cheaper, non-regulated black market tobacco products.

Furthermore, the controversial “sin tax” would undermine the public health objective of the tax reform, government revenue objectives will be undermined by smuggled and faked cigarettes that do not pay taxes. Tobacco growers and

small local cigarette manufacturers which produced only low and mid-priced brands will be threatened in their exis-tence and livelihood of the 2.9 million Filipinos who depend on the tobacco in-dustry will be badly affected. Predicting that HB 5727 will affect their business, PTI members should interest to support a passage of a law which provides for the current multi-tiered structure as well as regular and moderate tax measures.

In any case, the curious consuming public expressed diverse views and most are negative relative to cigarette smok-ing. There is an almost infinite demand for higher tax on cigarettes and other to-bacco products to prevent smokers from indulging too much with the risky habit. The worried consuming public says that cigarette manufacturers should not pan-ic in the face of a new tax scheme. Pro-ducers always have to bear in mind that smokers don’t buy smuggled or non-reg-ulated cigarettes to do unscrupulous traders a favor. Smokers patronize them because they like the taste and besides they know full well that the price is much cheaper compared to the local brands.

Right now, the debate for all of us, particularly for anti-smoking groups and health buffs is how sure there’s an alleged “financial tribute” circulating around notably in the premises of the Senate aimed primarily for its mem-bers to favor the lowering of tax rates proposed under the “sin tax” bill. Why is there a big difference in the amount, gentlemen? Does the question pose a risk for the Senate leadership who is now hell bent to invite prominent gov-ernment figures to shed light on the con-troversy? That is only the initial step to clear the names of each member from any involvement in the crucial issue.

NOT many people know the wreck of the world’s largest battleship, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s bat-

tleship Musashi, was sunk in battle with US carrier aircraft at the Sibuyan Sea, on Oct. 24, 1944.

The action was part of the Battle of Leyte which lasted from Oct. 23 to 26 that year during the liberation of the Philippines by Allied troops under Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

The Philippines will mark the 68th anniversary of this battle, considered by naval experts as the world’s most largest and conclusive sea engagement.

The combat was in response to the US and Allied efforts to retake the Phil-ippines from Japan which began with the amphibious assault on Leyte on Oct. 20, 1944.

The liberation of the country includ-ed an amphibious landing in Lingayen Gulf on Jan 9, 1945, 16 months before Philippine independence was restored.

Musashi was the second ship of the Yamato-class, then the largest and heavi-est naval craft in commission.

The ship displaced 72,800 long tons (74,000 regular tons) fully-loaded and armed with nine 18.1 inch (46 centime-ters) main guns, considered the most powerful in their time, according to offi-

cial documents.Constructed from 1938–1941 and

formally commissioned in the summer of 1942, Musashi served as the flagship of Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto and Mineichi Koga in 1943.

The ship also served as the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

Musahi and several Japanese ships were attacked and sunk by US aircraft while attempting to reinforce Japanese naval units fighting against the US and Allied navies in Leyte Gulf.

The ship and its fleet were spotted entering the Sibuyan Sea around 8 a.m. on Oct. 24 and constantly bombed and torpedoed by carrier aircraft from the US 3rd Fleet.

Musashi eventually exploded and sank around 7:30 p.m. that day, taking down with it thousands of crew and of-ficers.

The wreck’s location is estimated at 12°50′N 122°35′E and 1,000 meters un-derwater.

The destruction of the Musashi and other heavy Japanese ships by naval air-

craft marked the beginning of the end of the battleship’s myth of invisibility in the seas.

Aside from this, losses incurred by the Imperial Japanese Navy from its Leyte Gulf campaign virtually decimated it.[PNA]

‘Musahi and several Japanese ships

were attacked and sunk by US aircraft

while attempting to reinforce Japanese naval units fighting against the US and

Allied navies in Leyte Gulf.’

As I wrote this column yesterday, thou-sands of MNLF (Moro National Liber-ation Front) followers started flocking

to the popular Crocodile Park outside the Davao City poblacion area at the Diversion Road for a “Summit” which I can call a “show of force”. When I passed by the highway early Sunday morning for a fun drive to Tagum City with the Davao Classic Sports Cars Club, the number of vehicles coming from all over Min-danao already filled up all the parking spaces inside the sprawling park area into the high-way strip.

The arrivals started descending on the area even the night before, endlessly coming throughout the whole night and into the day. I can’t accurately make an estimate of those in attendance yet but Nur’s MNLF definitely is “not a spent force” -- as some of us want to believe.

It is a big mistake to drop MNLF Chair Nur Misuari from our radar screen and rel-egate him to the wayside as a “has been”, as some sectors are now saying just because we all want to give prominence and importance to the MILF Framework Agreement for peace. Last Sunday, he gathered again his followers in Davao City to rally them behind his cause.

“Maas” Nur, for all his faults, is still an icon to MNLF and non-MNLF alike, due to the per-sonal sacrifices he gave to the Bangsamoro struggle -- although many of them may no longer believe in his cause today.

He is still a respected Muslim leader in the eyes of the leaders of the Islamic world. I saw this for myself during our foreign trips and meetings, although this was a few years back. He earned it well in his steadfast fight for the Muslims in this part of the world.

My unsolicited advice: we must re-en-gage, NOT DISPARAGE, him.

SECRET MISSION --- I recall I was Chair of MEDCO in Mindanao in 2001 when President GMA called me and said: “You are a friend of Nur. Go fetch him from Malaysia”. Even during the Ramos administration, I was already handling Mindanao affairs and Nur and the MNLF were part of my coverage. Nur was de-tained then in Malaysia when he attempted to escape through the “backdoor” and was ar-rested by Malaysian authorities for his alleged involvement in the failed attack on AFP forces in Sulu. This was during the early stage of the Arroyo administration.

To make the “special ops” covert and se-cret, I left on a C-130 big plane at midnight from Villamor Airbase. That ride was unfor-gettable. For about five hours, the old but re-liable giant of a plane, humped and bumped. The cluttering noise of the “off and on” air conditioning motor even drowned out, from time to time the sound of the four engines. Notable about that special flight were the executive seats that were temporarily in-stalled so I did not have to stand up along the way clinging to a harness as I did in past rides on the C-130 in my Mindanao work (next to coffins, at times). We had a cooler on board with drinks and snacks for the quick trip. A military lady nurse and a case officer were also on board. ‘GOING HOME” --- When we landed at a military airbase in Malaysia, I was immediately whisked to a receiving area and waited for a while. Then the door swung open and there emerged Chairman Nur Misuari, with a Muslim Imam who was arrested with him, as his constant compan-ion even at the detention area. He was heavily escorted by Malaysian authorities. He was surprised to see me. He did not expect to see me. “What are you doing here, Jess?” I simply answered: “I’m bringing you home, Nur.”

Evidently, he did not know that he was being brought out of his detention cell that night for a trip back to the Philippines. He was merely told that they were going somewhere and he did not even know that he was at the military airport as I assumed there were no flights at night for him to suspect otherwise. Except my C-130 landing still at dawn. Nur was not dressed for a return trip to his coun-try and he looked to me as if he was attired to go to bed for the night. Someone in my party, a Muslim police officer, had the foresight to bring him fresh clothes. We were sensitive to a situation of having a noted rebel leader looking disheveled on his return trip home. The scenario of a surprise “pick up” evidently took that contingency into account.

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 201210 EDGEDAVAOCOMPETITIVE EDGE

ABOITIZ-owned elec-tric utility Davao Light & Power Co.

and the local government of Panabo City broke ground last October 15, 2012 to signal the start of the con-struction of a P1.2 million multi-purpose center.

The project which will rise right at the back of the new Panabo City Hall is a one-storey structure with tiled floors and collapsible

divider to allow a bigger crowd to use the facility. As the name implies, the facili-ty will give the constituents of Panabo City venue for activities that include train-ings and seminars, pro-grams and meetings.

Davao Light Panabo branch manager and Asst. Vice President Engr. Reyn-old Felix and Mayor Jose L. Silvosa of Panabo led com-pany and LGU officials in

the ground breaking rites. The project is offered

by Davao Light through its Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (AFI) to the LGU of Pana-bo City after it was mani-fested by the local officials that one of the most press-ing needs of the city is a multi-purpose center. This need was confirmed by the electric utility’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) unit.

The company is donat-ing the 70 percent of the project cost while the LGU commits to raise a 30 per-cent counterpart as agreed in the Memorandum of Agreement entered into by the partner entities.

Davao Light hopes to complete the multi-pur-pose center project in less than two months time and turn over the same before the end of the year.

TIME CAPSULE. Panabo City Mayor Jose Silvosa (second from right), City Engineer Glenn Olandria (right), Davao Light Panabo Branch Manager Reynold Felix, Panabo Branch Supervisor Mark Sam Banluta and Community

Relations Dept. Supervisor Fermin Edillon help each other in lowering the time capsule for the new multi-purpose center building soon to rise at the new Panabo City Hall complex.

Davao Light, Panabo City break ground for multi-purpose project

PART of the plans and programs of Davao City Water

District is to implement projects for the improve-ment of water supply systems. Currently, the utility is reconstructing the pumping facilities of Dumoy Production Well Number 8 and 12. Over 70% of the project was already done and its es-timated time of comple-tion will be in November.

Both productions wells supplies water to Talomo Sump 1 that serves to following ar-eas: Gulf View Subdi-vision in Bago Aplaya, Talomo, Bangkal, Mati-na, Ecoland, some areas in Ma-a and J.P. Laurel Avenue, entire down-town areas including Bo. Obrero and Agdao.

Likewise, the utility is now undertaking the construction of facilities Tugbok PW # 6 in Sitio Basak in Mintal, River-side PW # 1 in Brgy. Riv-erside and PW # 2 locat-ed at Brgy. Los Amigos and; Lubogan PW # 2 in Brgy. Bankas. The instal-lation of pumping facil-ities will be completed within first quarter of 2013. It will supply wa-ter to areas served by Tugbok WSS, Riverside

WSS and Lubogan WSS respectively.

Relatedly, the con-struction of facilities in Cabantian PW #2 which cost 6,544,447.86 pe-sos and Toril PW # 2 is costing 9,746,445.64 pe-sos were completed last year.

The Cabantian Well # 2 which situated in Brgy. Cabantian is now serving the residents of Holy Trinity Subd., Emily Homes Subd., Countryville Executive Homes, Emilia Homes Subd., Deca Homes, BACAHOA Village, Ce-cilia Heights and Green-land Village Phase II.

Toril PW # 2 in Brgy. Lubogan in Toril District supplies water in por-tions of Lubogan and Marapangi, entire Cross-ing Bayabas, Toril and Daliao including Kristina Homes II, Nakada Vil-lage, Don Lorenzo Subd. Phase 1 & 2, Marapangi Resettlement Area, Sa-mantha Homes, Kalam-buan sa Katawhan Vil-lage, Gutierrez Village, Doña Manuela Subd., B.B. Homes, Davao Hous-ing Subd., Ilocano Vil-lage, Prudential Village, Toril Executive Village and Rovical Village. (syLViA MAy L. VOsOtROs)

DCWD installs facilities on completed production wells

ME T RO P O L I TA N Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank)

partners with the Philip-pine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) for the Build-a-Classroom proj-ect, which aims to con-struct classrooms in public schools nationwide. The initiative was spearhead-ed in line with the com-

memoration of the 50th anniversary of Metrobank.

The Build-a-Classroom project aims to construct 24 classrooms in 10 public schools located in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao over a two-year period and will cost of P23.4 mil-

lion. Construction of the Metrobank-sponsored classrooms begins in Janu-ary 2013. What makes the Build-a-Classroom project more meaningful is that Metrobank employees are donating a portion of their salaries for the project.

Metrobank employees help boost PH public education

Metrobank, represented by its President Fabian Dee (second from left) and Executive Vice President Vivian Tiu (left), join forces with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), led by its Executive Director Rafael Lopa (second from right) and Director Fe Chua for the bank’s Build-a-Classroom project.

The fund-raising drive is spearheaded by the Pur-ple Hearts Club, the bank’s employee volunteers’ group.

“The Build-a-Class-room project is our way of serving the needs of the community and to give back to the communities we do business in. Educa-tion development has al-ways been a core advoca-cy of the Metrobank Group but what makes this even more special is due to the personal contributions being made by employees of the bank, regardless of rank and position, to raise part of the cost needed to build the classrooms. It’s truly a legacy that Metro-bank can be proud of,” said Fabian Dee, President of Metrobank.

Recent estimates from the Department of Edu-cation show a classroom shortage of about 68,000. Textbook and classroom chairs shortages, on the other hand, are at 60 million and 2.5 million, respectively. The govern-ment has been encourag-ing the private sector to engage into Private-Pub-lic Partnerships (PPPs) to stem the gaps in the public education system.

Metrobank partners with PBSP to build class-rooms

SM Lanang Premier brings Halloween celebration to the

wild this year with its safari-themed Halloween 2012, starting off at 3PM of October 28, 2012 with an Animaland Kids Party, packed with fun games, a parade of kids and their Animaland stuffed toy, and a kung fu panda wushu demo. Plus, kids who come in their cutest animal costume will get a chance to win a special prize from Animaland.

Kids ages 12 years and below clad in their best Halloween costume may also join in the mall-wide

trick-or-treat on October 31, from 10 AM to 12 PM, and from 2 PM to 6 PM. Registration is free, and the first 250 registered kids in the morning and the afternoon’s trick-or-treat paradewill get a free Krispy Kreme Halloween donut. All tenants of SM Lanang Premier will be preparing sweet treats for trick-or-treat participants, plus other surprises. In the afternoon, kids can get spookier with the free face painting for every P1000 single-receipt or accumulated purchase from any of the mall tenants.

SM Lanang Premier’s Halloween goes wild

SIMPLY true to its mean-ing, PAMBATO is the leader in cargo for-

warding in the Philippines today. From its humble be-ginning in 1979 servicing only the cities of Manila and Cagayan De Oro, PAMBATO has grown into a nationwide network throughout the provinces of the Visayas and Mindanao, Including Manila. The Luzon region is serviced with trucking. Whether it is a shipment from Manila to the provinces or vice ver-sa, to an isolated region, or transhipment between branches, PAMBATO will get it door to door.

For the past thirty three (33) years, PAMBATO has always endeavored to do

its task with great concern always remembering that service to its customers is of paramount importance. PAMBATO continues to improve service to its cus-tomers by expanding into customs brokerage, local de-livery, and hauling. To date, the company operates 16 branches nationwide cov-ering 23 ports and a total of 21 areas off ports manned by highly trained and expe-rienced workforce of over 400 personnel all together and linked by fax machines, cellular phones, and inter-net for easier and efficient monitoring. This allows PAMBATO the capability of handling any product at any given time.

Pambato cargo giving service since 1979

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012 11EDGEDAVAO

FFROM 1

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total current number to 41 UCPB Savings Bank branches.

“The branch expan-sion will target small- and medium-enterprises (SME) and individuals. Our new customers could expect similar services that large commercial banks provide, this is what we would like to be known for in the areas we serve,” says Joseph C. Justiniano, president of UCPB Savings Bank. “We are providing banking products and services to the target market such as payroll service, and we handle remittances of the modern-day Filipino heroes – the OFW (Over-seas Filipino Workers),” he adds.

In addition to the ex-pansion of the branch network, UCPB Savings Bank has rolled out sev-en online ATMs in areas that list agriculture as their major economic ac-tivity namely, Calauag, Quezon; Lucban, Quezon; Goa, Camarines Sur; Pili,

Camarines Sur; Libman-an, Camarines Sur; Sta. Ignacia, Tarlac; and Lam-itan, Basilan. Calauag is more popularly known as the Communications and Transport Capital with four public transport companies and a commu-nications firm headquar-tered in the municipality.

The seven ATMs went online early October; tar-get in 2013 is to provide all UCPB Savings Bank branches with ATMs.

“We are aggressively expanding the bank’s ser-vice delivery network – our branches and ATMs– not only to generate low-cost funds but help pro-mote financial activities in these communities which are not usually served by other commercial banks,” Justiniano says.

UCPB Savings Bank, a subsidiary of UCPB, like-wise plans to open four new lending offices by 2013 to augment the two existing offices. The sites for the four new lending offices will be in Calbayog,

Samar; Tacloban, Leyte; Butuan; and Toril, Davao City. Justiniano states that the bank’s expansion mode is anchored on the commitment by the par-ent company, UCPB, to build on its extensive ser-vice delivery network to reach a wider public na-tionwide.

UCPB Savings Bank registered significant improvements in its fi-nancials for the first 9 months of 2012. Loan portfolio expanded by 22 percent to P6.22 billion from P5.10 billion in De-cember 2011. Deposits grew by 20 percent to P5.25 billion from P4.38 billion. Interest income went up by 12 percent to P524 million to P629 mil-lion while non-interest income increased by 50 percent, from P107 mil-lion to P161 million. Net income also registered a hike of 12 percent to P231 million vis-à-vis the P206 million posted on December 31, 2011. END

showing, masquerade ball and variety show.

Sambuokan week-end events are the CFC Youth Regional Confer-ence, concert of the youth, body building compe-tition, games, fun-run, street-dancing, and the

Search for Sambuokan King and Queen.

To cap the week-long celebration on Monday (Oct. 29), the city govern-ment of Mati has orga-nized the 109th Found-ing Anniversary Program slated at Pelaez Covered

Court. Events that will be simultaneously held on the same day are the Indigenous Peple’s Day Dental-Medical Mission, Sangguniang Kabataan Inter-Barangay and Pop Dance Challenge.   [PiA 11/ JEANEViVE DURON-ABANGAN]

by God for calling as his saint our brother St. Pe-dro Calungsod. “May St. Pedro’s canonization in-spire and strengthen our faith even more so that as a people, we all can be shining examples of love and fidelity to our Lord God,” he said.

Former North Cotaba-to Governor Emmanuel Piñol said the life story of San Pedro Calungsod is the perfect portrait of the Filipino’s courage and fortitude.

Piñol said Calungsod’s martyrdom speaks of his devotion to his religion and great faith in God.

“The sainthood of San Pedro today is a mean-ingful message to the Fil-ipinos of today. We must have the courage and fortitude to stand up and even offer our lives for what we believe in,” he said.

Davao City Councilor Edgar Ibuyan said “as a Filipino and Christian, I am truly proud that an-other Filipino has become a saint.”

“May his ways become

the epitome of the many so that we may live in the way that God wants it to be,” Ibuyan said.

Former seminari-an Jeffrey Franca, who is working as a public school teacher, said that it was an amazing grace for every Christian Catholic who has a steadfast faith in God, in the person of San Pedro Calungsod.

Laywer Elbert Rosau-ro, regional officer of the National Labor Relations Commission 11, and also a former seminarian, said the canonization of San Pedro Calungsod is a milestone of our Catholic faith and as a Filipino na-tion.

“This should give us all the more reason to believe in the essence of charity, self-sacrifice for the greater glory of God. At the same time when we have lots of workers (living heroes) work-ing in foreign lands. the life and deeds of San Pe-dro Calungsod can be a source of inspiration and strength who like them worked and was mar-

tyred in Guam,” Rosauro said.

He said our OFWs are martyrs too who sacrifice themselves for their fam-ily and country, adding “it is my prayer that San Pedro Calungsod would continually intercede for them for God’s protection and guidance.”

Eduardo Fernandez, former Brother of the Sa-cred Heart of Jesus and now a book author, inspi-rational speaker and jour-nalist, said that Calung-sod’s canonization is to remind us of our mission to love God and the ordi-nariness of our life and to inspire the young to give their lives to God and to prayer and not to materi-al things of this world. (AsA)

appointed to replace Vin-cent Floirendo, who re-signed two weeks ago as barangay captain of Ade-cor, Island Garden City of Samal and concurrentlty

FABC president which qualified him as member of the provincial board.

The incumbent mu-nicipal councilors of Kapalong are Rowell Se-

lim, Alan Quezon, Helar-io Caminero, Dominador Cruda III, Rebecca Baling-gao, Freddie Pentacase Sr., Chichina Faye Lim, and Porferio Tuna. [ASA]

the signing last Monday of the Framework Agree-ment on the Bangsamoro by the Philippine gov-ernment and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). He described the latter as the “fragmentary remnant of the MNLF.”

Then MNLF vice chair Salamat Hashim broke away from the MNLF to form the “New MNLF” in the late 1970s, later re-naming it to MILF.

Hashim in a 2000 in-terview told this report-er that during the Tripoli talks in the mid-1970s, he pushed for autonomy in Moro-dominated areas only but Misuari wanted autonomy for the entire Mindanao, eventually set-tling for 13 provinces and

nine cities.“The conspiracy in

Malacanang Palace that afternoon of October 15 and the signing was like signing figuratively, their own death sentence,” Misuari said.

MILF chair Al Haj Murad and the MILF he said, were “duped and ensnared” and had “fallen along the way, ending up joining traitors to their cause.”

He said the MILF lead-ers had become “pure and simple puppets and pawns” of the Philippines and Malaysian “colonial powers.”

Malaysia facilitat-ed the talks between the government and the MILF. “Murad and compa-

ny have agreed to get only five tiny provinces, which, combined together, is hardly the size of the Co-tabato (Empire) of yore,” Misuari said.

Reacting to Misuari’s statement, MILF peace panel chair Mohagh-er Iqbal said Misuair is “no longer rational. The Framework Agreement speaks of its quality. Out of 13 he only got five provinces and one city?” Iqbal said.

Misuari called on the audience to “join me to continue our efforts to re-claim Sabah and the rest of North Borneo.”

There was no reaction from the crowd. [Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews]

HUMAN rights group KARAPA-TAN-SOCSKSAR-

GEN is urging Mayor Marivic Diamante of Ki-blawan town, Davao Del Sur to stop acting as the mouthpiece both of Xstra-ta-SMI and the military.

Zadrach Sabella, Karapatan-Socsksargen spokesperson, said Dia-mante doesn’t know what she’s ranting about.

Sabella assailed Dia-mante for saying that B’laans may wage a “pan-gayaw” against govern-ment forces due to the death of Dagil Capion’s wife and three children.

Sabella also rebuked Diamante for labeling

Dagil as a bandit not an anti-mining activist.

In a statement sent to Edge Davao, Sabella said “Dagil and his group have been waging a pangayaw for almost two years now because of their opposi-tion to Xstrata-SMI’s op-eration.

Sabella said many lumads would be dis-placed from their ances-tral lands once Xstra-ta-SMI starts its full-blast operations.

“They want that their lumad culture and rights over their ancestral land be respected. They take up arms when their plea fells on deaf ears,” Sabella said.

He said Diamante’s claim that Capion was a bandit smacks of insensi-tivity.

“She is downgrading Dagil’s resolute stand in defending his ancestral land against the onslaught of a foreign mining com-pany which is widely opposed but enjoys the wholehearted support of the Kiblawan mayor,” he said.

KARAPATAN-Socsk-sargen is calling for an indepth and impartial investigation of the inci-dent and the pullout of all military and paramilitary forces from the mining area.

Kiblawan mayor rappedfor anti-B’laan standBy Aquiles Z. Zonio

A sales representative of smart chopper entices passersby to purchase his product by demonstrating its functions along San Pedro St. yesterday. [LEAN DAVAL JR.]

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VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

SP O R T S W R I T -ER-on-leave Moses Billacura emailed me

last weekend from wher-ever he is across the globe. Actually, it was a forward-ed email from Mr. Ronnie Tabudlong of Blue Knight Chess Club of Davao.

The email contained clarifications from the Na-tional Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) particularly Grandmas-ter Jayson Gonzales, the NCFP Executive Director. The NCFP is the national sports association govern-ing the affairs of chess in the Philippines. It is cur-rently under its President former Surigao governor Prospero Pichay.

Here’s the content of the attached email of Mr. Gonzales purportedly ad-dressed to Mr. Tabudlong:

To: Ronnie TabudlongThis is to clarify the

details of the Mindanao Leg of Batang Pinoy chess tournament on November 7-10,, 2012 and the press release in Sun Star on Octo-ber 11, 2012:

1. The host of Mindanao Leg has been transferred to Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte.

2. The technical guide-lines for all sport disciplines is that “The tournament is

open to all Filipino players (boys and girls) aged 15 years old and below, duly certified by their respective LGU’s.

3. The format of the chess tournament in the Mindanao Leg of Batang Pinoy is Open - 15 years old and below in both catego-ries (Boys and Girls).

4. The tournament which is being organized by James Infiesto on Oct. 20-21 is not coordinated with NCFP and, therefore, it is not sanctioned by NCFP.

5. James Infiesto is not the recognized NCFP Re-gional XI coordinator nor NCFP Regional Director as allegedly stated in the press release. There is no position of Regional Direc-tor in the organizational chart of NCFP.

For your information and guidance.

Best regards,GM Jayson GonzalesNCFP Executive Direc-

torI would like to stress

items 4 and 5 of Mr. Gon-zales’s email which should be a problem area for sports here in Davao. I have heard of this con-flict in the past and I have seen chess grow despite the differences. But it has never been as disturbing

as this that a tournament organized for choosing the city’s representatives to a national competition or-ganized by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) is being disowned by the chess governing body.

For starters let us draw the landscape for this con-flict. Mr. James Infiesto, the acting assistant chief of the city sports develop-ment office, has said time and again that he is the re-gional director for NCFP in Davao. He has organized several tournaments—na-tional and local—under the color of that authority.

Mr. Ronnie Tabudlong, meantime, maintains that he is the official NCFP rep-resentative for the region. He has also organized chess tournaments under the color and authority of the NCFP.

Tabudlong maintains that he is the NCFP region-

SPORTS14 EDGEDAVAO

FTHIS, 15

This chess stalemate

AJ `Bazooka’ Banal is asking for only one thing and nothing else after his shocking ninth-round technical knockout loss to Pungluang

Sor Singyu of Thailand in their world bantamweight championship fight on Saturday night--an immedi-ate rematch.

As soon as possible.That may be asking too much, but for a big-heart-

ed loser, that’s just quite a natural thing to do, or ask.“Rematch…na,” said the 23-year-old Banal in be-

tween sobs inside the Filipino’s funeral-like dugout at the Mall of Asia Arena.

His lovely wife Junbeth tried to comfort him, and later on ALA Promotions president Michael Aldegu-er, all to no avail.

Banal came just short of blaming veteran refer-ee Tony Weeks for prematurely stopping the fight at the 1:45 mark of the ninth round even if the Thai had already floored him twice behind a barrage of solid punches.

For Banal, that cost him his bid to win the World Boxing Organization 118 lbs. title.

“Kaya ko pang bumangon. Siyempre, mag-stop ako (after the knockdown) para mag-focus ako sa laban tapos bigla ini-stop ng referee,” said Banal with his head bowed.

Beaten Banal looks for rematch

NEW YORK—Danny Garcia stopped Erik Morales at 1:23 of

the fourth round Saturday night to retain his WBC and WBA super lightweight titles in the first boxing event at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Garcia (25-0) beat Mo-rales for the second time this year, though this one was much easier than the unani-mous decision he won from the 36-year-old in Houston on March 24. After a quiet opening two rounds, Garcia began getting the best of Mo-rales with a series of body blows in the third.

Garcia continued fir-ing blows at Morales in the fourth and ended it quickly it for his 16th career knock-out. He hit Morales on the right side of the head with a sharp left hook, and climbed the ropes in triumph while awaiting the official an-nouncement.

“I noticed when I was backing him up with the jabs a little bit and when I was in the pocket hit with a hook one time,” Garcia said. “My dad was like, ‘You slapped him with a hook.’ So the sec-ond time I was backing him up. He was trying to take me to the body so I just stood in

the pocket. I just turned my whole body. I hit him with a perfect left hook and it land-ed.”

Garcia remained unbeat-en despite connecting on 26 percent of his 220 punches thrown. He dominated in power punching, by landing 47-of-91, including nine of his final 13 that led to his lat-est win.

The 24-year-old Phila-delphia native had his sec-ond fourth-round knockout in three months. On July 14, he stopped Amir Khan in his first title defense, win-ning that fight with the same punch that stopped Morales.

Garcia decks Morales

MOSCOW (AP) -- Caroline Wozni-acki won her

20th career title Sunday, beating Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in the final of the Kremlin Cup.

The former top-ranked Dane has fallen to No. 11 but is showing signs of returning to her best af-ter also winning in Seoul in September for her first title of the year.

Andreas Seppi rallied to beat Thomaz Bellucci 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 to win the men’s final.

Wozniacki dominat-ed early against Stosur

but then looked to be in trouble after the Austra-lian leveled the match and then broke to love in the first game of the third set. But Wozniacki fought back to level at 3-all, and broke again in the last game when Stosur sent a back-hand wide on Wozniacki’s second match point.

‘’At the right times I managed to win the right points,’’ Wozniacki said. ‘’I tried to stay aggressive and stay close to the line and just dictate. But she played well and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.’’

Stosur felt she was unlucky at times in the

match.‘’I certainly put myself

in too much of a hole to be allowed to get out of it,’’ she said, ‘’I feel like I went for the right things and missed by a couple of inches.’’

Stosur was playing in her second final this sea-son after also being a run-ner-up in Doha, and is 3-12 in WTA finals.

Wozniacki has not qual-ified for the season-ending WTA Championships in Istanbul, but can return to the top 10 in the rankings if she wins the Tournament of the Champions, which starts Oct. 30 in Sofia, Bul-garia.

Wozniacki wins Kremlin Cup

TENNIS BEAUTIES. Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber, Petra Kvitova, Sara Errani and Na Li pose for photographers during the draw ceremony for the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships held at the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul, Turkey.

IT’S NOT THE DRESS. Den-mark’s Caroline Wozniacki in action in winning the final match over Australia’s Sa-mantha Stosur at the Krem-lin Cup tennis tournament in Moscow, Russia, Sunday. Wozniacki’s outfit created a stir in the internet when it was criticized for being plain ugly. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)

CHAMPS. The Holy Trinity College Wildcats of Gen. Santos City recently won the 2012 PCCL Mindanao eliminations to book themselves a ticket to the Nationals. The 2012 PCCL is sponsored by Phoenix Petroleum. (PhOENix PhOtO)

Hong Kong may be known for its wonderful shopping and gastronomic de-lights but its many colorful alleys and boroughs harbor some of the best par-ty places in Asia. You have observatory road at Tsim Sha Tsui that has tapas bars and restaurants that are just meters away from residen-tial condos. There is also Soho with the trendier restaurants and brunching plac-es. but my favorite alley would be the famous Lan Kwai Fong, that is locat-ed just a short walk from Central MTR station. Populated with wine bars, clubs, and restau-rants right beside each other. Lan Kwai Fong is the best place in Hong Kong to grab a drink and

INdulge! EDGEDAVAOTRAVEL

The lights and vibe of Lan Kwai FongExploring the alleys of Hong Kong’s nightlife

a jiggy or two. The drinks are cheap by international standards and the club-bing goes from the sunset to sunrise. For the ones who are on a shoestring (like me) you might want to try to grab some drinks from the near-by 7-11 convenience store (Hong Kong has no short-age of convenience stores, having the most number of them per square kilo-meter than anywhere else in the world) where ready-to-drink cocktails and beer are more affordable as compared to ordering one at a bar. In fact, some drinks can be bought at a discount whenever you

purchase two bottles or more, so try to read the prices on the shelves for the offers. Being that you ARE at a 7-11 that means cannot just make a fool of yourself and dance on the street, but at least you can take in the vibe and energy of the place. Aside from the main Lan Kwai Fong strip, there are other smaller alley-ways on the side that lead to more, less-crowded trendier bars where the locals choose to drink and party. one such side street would be Pottinger Street. Far from the craziness of Lan Kwai Fong and its annual beer festival, Pot-

tinger Street is relatively quiet except that this is the place to be for the ever present expect commu-nity of Hong Kong to chill out and relax. I suggest a visit to Linq bar, where the DJs are friendly, the vibe is good, and the drinks are heavenly. To get to Lan Kwai Fong, you can take the MTR to Central Station and find the D2 exit, turn left towards Theatre Lane and up beyond the Coach store. A warning for those night owls who stay be-yond 1am though, the MTR closes at one in the morning and opens at six, just in time for a breakfast.

The view down Pottinger Street .

The lights of Lan Kwai Fong.

Not to be left behind. San Miguel Beer is taking Hong Kong by storm.

An impromtu street performace at three in the morning.

One of the many alleys leading out from Lan Kwai Fong.

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

PARTy Ani-mal Pro-ductions to-gether with Red Bull and Fahr-enheit Cafe celebrates H a l l o w -een with the Stigma Halloween Ball on Oc-tober 26 at the Fahren-heit Cafe. Dance the night away with DJ yancy, DJ Big and DJ Zacky. Come in your scariest costumes and win as much as P5,000 pesos in prizes. Tickets to the Stigma Halloween Ball are at P150 with bottomless drinks from 8 pm to 10pm, get a 50% dis-count if you come in a costume. For tickets or reserva-tions, call 09267063888.

A2 INdulge! EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT EVENTS

Stigma Halloween Ball on October 26

Alodia graces Mindanao Cosplay Summit at SM Davao Annex, Oct 28

MX3 joins Dumaguete’s Buglasan Festival 2012

Campaigns & Greyre-brands Davao officeHolds private exhibit, sale of fine art works

THE biggest and grandest cosplay gather-ing in the region rolls out the carpet on Oc-tober 27-8 for the 2012 Mindanao Cosplay Summit at the city’s hippest hub, SM City Davao The Annex! Buckle up for the MCS Extreme battle among the best cosplayers in Mindanao. Elimination for the Davao leg is on October 27 while the final bout for GenSan, Cagayan de Oro and Davao will be on October 28. Inter-ested parties may visit Ambox Events on Facebook for registration guidelines. Plus, meet and greet Animax-Asia ambassador and VJ Alodia Gosiengfiao on Sunday. VIP passes will be given away to 150 lucky mall-goers with a single or ac-cumulated receipt/s of P1000 for Oct 27-28. Do not miss this epic cosplay event. For inquires, call 297.6998 local 126. Life SM City Davao on Facebook or follow @smcitydavao on Twitter for event and promo updates. The Cyberzone event is also made possible by the, ACLC, Brother, KCEI Davao, Lucky Me!, Tadakuma, Pizza Hut, Green Windows, DanPro, Blinque, Mocha Produc-tions, World of Fun, Mendez and Picture City.

Known by its people as the City of gentle People, Duma-guete City recently celebrated the Buglasan Festival. named after “Buglas”, the tall reeds that were predominant in the area the Bulgasan Festival is the larg-est festival of Dumaguete City and has evolved into a “Festival of Festivals.” Participated by different neighbor-ing municipalities of the province of negros oriental, the Festival was a celebration to the many colors of the city with the participants showcasing their passion and artistry. with loud and happy music, food, and culture; MX3 was in sight min-gling and joining the festive celebra-tion. As one of the major sponsors of the Buglasan Festival, MX3 partnered

with gMA Kapuso in a night full of fun and excitement. The people of Dumaguete enjoyed an evening with their favorite Kapuso stars as prizes were given away. As fun escalated to its fullest, MX3 did not forget its Christian mission

when Christian CDs were also dis-tributed to remind the people that the celebration was not a mere celebra-tion but much more a thanksgiving to our goD the Father for his con-tinuous blessing to the gentle people of Dumaguete.

By Kenneth Irving Ong

CAMPAIgnS & grey, one of the top ten advertising agen-cies in the country, recently rebranded its Davao office for-merly known as Campaigns Davao to Campaigns & grey Davao after global advertising network grey group acquired a majority stake in Campaigns & grey. Launched last octo-ber 16 at the woodlane clubhouse, Campaigns & grey Davao also held a private exhibit and sale of fine art by renowned artists from all over the country. Proceeds of the sale will help fund for the agency’s student awards program, which aims to reward Davao City’s most talented graduating Ad-vertising and Fine Arts students.

Marivi and Bam Laurel.

Michelle Seng, Tobi Ang, and Carlo Lorenzana. Ross Luga.

Managing director of C&G Cebu and Davao Zen Pastoriza talks about the exhibit and silent auction mounted by the agency to raise funds for a student awards program.

C&G Davao account director Marga Rey , C&G strategic planning director Chuck Nitorreda, Philippine Women’s College of Davao VP & COO Amelia Bonifacio, C&G group chairperson Yoly Ong, PWC fine arts program head Brenda Barba, and PWC fashion design program head Emi Alexander Englis

Campaigns and Grey Group chairperson Yoly V. Ong (3rd from left) with C&G strategic planning director Chuck S. Nitorreda, managing director of C&G Cebu and Davao Zen E. Pastoriza, C&G Davao account director Marga N. Rey, C&G Davao associate art director Melissa M. Arborante, C&G Cebu VP for client service Vicki I. Pastoriza, C&G SVP for business development Jev G. Ramos and C&G account director Raymond Lapena.

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

GEORGE Clooney continued his quest last night to stop the atrocities occurring in Sudan. “We hear these slogans and say them a lot—”not on our watch,” “never again”—but the truth is that when it comes to innocent people being slaughtered, it always hap-pens on our watch,” the Oscar-winner said at last night’s Carousel of Hope Ball, where he was hon-ored with the Brass Ring Award. “It happens again and again and again.” Clooney said he is dedicated to helping end President Omar al-Bashir’s horrific reign over Sudan. “The truth is…were go-ing to have to find lots of ways to make life miser-able for people who make lives miserable,” he said. “And more importantly…we have to continue to make life bearable for those whose situation has become unbearable.” One of Clooney’s most impressive endeavors is financing a satellite that focuses on Sudan. “It’s an area that jour-nalists can’t get into,” he said. “There’s a good rea-son they can’t get in is because the president of Sudan Omar al-Bishir is consistently and con-stantly killing innocent

civilians.” Clooney said Bashir, who has been charged with war crimes against humanity, has publicly complained about the satellite. “President Bashir posed the question, ‘How would Mr. Clooney like it if everywhere he went cameras were following him?’” Clooney said as the crowded ballroom erupt-ed in laughter. The actor added with a smile, “It sounds terrible.” “you can’t make people do the right things,” Cloo-ney said, “but you can make it harder for them to do the wrong things.”

The event, held at the Beverly Hilton, benefits the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes. Clooney’s girlfriend Stacy Keibler was by his side. They sat at a table with Sidney Poitier, Jane Fonda, Quincy Jones, David Fos-ter, Clive Davis and CAA honcho Bryan Lourd. American Idol star Jes-sica Sanchez performed “And I’m Telling you I’m Not Going.” “I just want to dedi-cate this song to George Clooney,” the 17-year-old singer said before belting out her jaw-dropping ren-dition of the Dreamgirls song.

OH, we can only imagine what lullabys this baby will get to hear! Singer Adele and her beau Simon Konecki wel-comed a bundle of joy into the world, delivering a baby boy on Friday ac-cording to People. The 24-year-old first an-nounced her pregnancy via her blog, sharing with fans: “I’m delighted to an-nounce that Simon and I are expecting our first child together.  I wanted you to hear the news di-rect from me, obviously we’re over the moon and very excited but please respect our privacy at this precious time.” Adele and her 36-year-old boyfriend were first spotted out together back in January 2012 and

have continued to  shoot down numerous engage-ment rumors, even caus-ing Adele to clarify her status by taking to her

own Twitter and tweeting: “I’m not married.” Hmm, well we still won-der if now baby makes for a ring?! 

INdulge! A3EDGEDAVAOENTERTAINMENT

George Clooney: We have to “make life miserable” for president of Sudan

Adele & Simon Konecki welcome baby boy!

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

THERE is nothing better than licking your fingers for the remains of a spec-tacular meal. And spectacular is just the word for Claw-daddy’s concoctions, most especially their mastery of serving the best of seafood cuisine. Boasting a comprehen-sive menu that includes the best of Cajun seafood cooking, their extensive offerings also include top quality steaks, delectable ribs and generous offer-ings of tasty appetizers soups and crisp salads. However, outstanding among their mouthwa-tering choices, are their delectably irresistible Boiling Bags. Found no-where except in the supe-rior kitchen of Clawdaddy, these boiling bags offers an array of seafood choic-es such as shrimp, prawn, mussels, and clams cooked in a Cajun spices. Included in their quality seafood of-ferings are various types of crabs such as Typhoon Crab, Butter ginger and Sand of the Beach. The choices for these luscious Boiling Bags vary to suit their beloved cus-tomer’s preference. Their Seafood Boil in a Bag is a Seafood feast of Crabs, fresh water prawns, South Pacific clams, green mus-sels, Manila clams, An-douille sausage potatoes and corn. Their All Shrimp boil-ing bag, is composed of a scrumptious selection of Baby shrimp and fresh water prawns, Andouille sausage, corn and pota-toes. The Shellfish Boiling Bag is teeming with South Pacific clams, giant white mussels, Manila clams, green mussels, Andou-ille sausage, potatoes and corn. The Maryland Crab Boiling keeps it simple with Fresh water crabs, Andouille sausage, pota-toes and corn And finally, as the name suggests the Louisiana Crab and Shrimp boiling bag is composed of fresh water crabs and prawns, Andouille sausage, pota-toes and corn. For all these the choices for the flavoring include garlic butter, creole Ca-jun and the home grown clawdaddy spice. Choos-ing as well between mild or spicy. Characteristic of their commitment to fine din-ing, and in commemora-

tion with the celebration of the opening of their Davao branch, their bril-liant kitchen has created a menu that will include the best of the seafood that Davao has to offer. Mak-ing their boiling bags all the more enticing, they are thrown in with tuna tails, giant white mussels and pacific clams, just to name a few of the many gifts of Davao that will be added to their stellar recipes. Clawdaddy offers more than great food, it provides an opportunity to bond with the people close to your heart over bibs, buck-ets of shells and most im-portantly an unforgettable cuisine that offers the best that the sea has to offer.

ENTERTAINMENTFOOD

A4 INdulge!

Clawdaddy’s opens 7th restaurant at SM Lanang

Louisiana Crab and Shrimp Boil

Seafood Ciopinno Pasta

Oysters Rockefeller

EDGEDAVAO VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012 SPORTS15EDGEDAVAO

FFROM 14This...al representative and that fact was attested to by Mr. Gonzales, the NCFP Ex-ecutive Director. Infiesto, for his part, maintains he is the Regional Director of NCFP and according to him his appointment comes from Pichay him-self and that can only be revoked in writing and by the President himself.

To be fair with Mr. In-fiesto, I texted him to ask about the imbroglio and he promised to send me immediately his reply via email. And so I held in abeyance my comments to this issue and waited for Mr. Infiesto’s email. The following day, I received three emails from him.

The first email con-tained a letter dated Oc-tober 12, 2012 from Mr. Gonzales calling Mr. In-fiesto’s attention to the unsanctioned tournament and asking him to explain within 48 hours why he should not be sanctioned for the improper news an-nouncement and the ap-parent misrepresentation of NCFP.

Mr. Infiesto wrote Mr. Gonzales a letter as his re-ply. The letter goes:

Dear GM Gonzales, First, I am thankful of

your letter dated Oct. 12, 2012 to clarify our press release in Sunstar For our Batang Pinoy Elimination.

1. Above is the official press release that I sent to all sports editors and writ-ers. The same details were also posted in my wall of my Facebook dated Octo-ber 7, 2012. If you notice, I never mentioned NCFP. I have no control of the ac-tual release per newspa-per. I can also furnish you with the release of Mind-anao Daily Mirror dated

October 13 and Sunstar SuperBalita dated Octo-ber 12. You will also notice that their angle and pre-sentation of story are dif-ferent which are based in my email. The reason I will be conducting a city-wide elimination is to discover new youth talents from in-school and out-of-school and give a chance to all qualified youth players. This upcoming elimina-tion is also in support of the program of PSC which will be facilitated by NCFP. I decided to conduct this tournament after I, be-ing the recognized chess leader in our city, was tasked by our Sports De-velopment Division-City Mayor’s Office, under our City Mayor Sara Duterte, to submit names of qual-ified youth chess players per age-category. I was informed that our Mayor approved the budget for a maximum of 12 youth chess players to represent our city.

2. I have an official ap-pointment as NCFP Region XI Director signed by our NCFP President Prospero A. Pichay, Jr. dated May 8, 2006. It clearly states that it cannot be revoked ex-cept in writing and my un-derstanding that only the NCFP President has the right to revoked it. There-fore, as of today, I am still the NCFP Region XI Direc-tor and had never misrep-resented myself.

When you took over as NCFP Executive Direc-tor last 2011, I remember that I in our conversation in Tagaytay City during the Asian Zonal Tourney, Me and NM Wilfredo Neri, expressed our full support in your leadership. In re-turn, you recommended

and supported our inclu-sion in RP Youth Team for 2011 ASEAN Age-Group in Tarakan, Indonesia. To which until now we are very grateful. You even discussed to us your plans that we as NCFP Regional directors should be re-warded and be given in-centives since we are not receiving any allowance or salary from NCFP and PSC. And, we are spending our own money and are using our own resources in pro-moting NCFP and chess programs in our regions. You even promised us that all NCFP affiliated events should be coordinated through us if it will be held in our jurisdiction. Also as recognition of my designa-tion as NCFP Region XI Di-rector, you authorized me to organize the PACE-NCA-NCFP Age-Group Mindan-ao Leg last September 30 to Oct 2, 2011 which was held in NCCC Mall Davao.

Regarding your re-minder that I need to co-ordinate first with NCFP any event or tournament that I will organize, I clearly remember that in our conversation with our President Pichay in his office last 1st week of May 2012, that the tourna-ments that need clearance from NCFP head office are the following: interna-tional, national and open tournaments that involves International Masters and Grand Masters. Hence, our city-wide elimination for 15 years old and below doesn’t need permission from your office.

It is in this connection that I would like to appeal to our honourable presi-dent, Prospero A. Pichay, Jr. and your good office as NCFP Executive Director

that no disciplinary action should be imposed on me for the reason that up to this point I didn’t receive any document revoking my appointment. And, in fact, I received a text mes-sage from our President Pichay dated April 2, 2012 that stated, “Congrats for a job well done”. This re-ferred to my continuous effort in promoting chess in my region. Message such as this from our president inspires me to continue my role as a vol-unteer partner of NCFP in my region.

I would also declare that I had been a loyal subordinate of our pres-ident Pichay since 2006 up to the present. There had been pressures from our local politicians that I should stay away from our President Pichay since he is in “hot seat” in the Aquino government. But, as a loyalist and true gentleman in CHESS who believes in his leadership, I opted to continue to serve NCFP and chess as a whole in my region.

Lastly, I would like to remind you that there was no previous agree-ment that I will apologize to you to resume work-ing relationship. When i obliged to the request of our President Pichay to settle misunderstanding with you in the 1st week of May 2012, I flew to Manila against the will of my wife since I am still recuperating from stroke. Before we were given the time to talk alone , there was no condition imposed by our President Pichay except that we need to be united and moved on for the sake of NCFP. And in last week of August 2012,

with the intervention of GM Eugene Torre, I went again to Manila to meet you and NM Neri, with the intention of showing our sincerity for recon-ciliation. It was only you who insisted that I should apologize and defied the order of our president. The reason that I refused to rectify any blogs and articles is because I didn’t write any blogs and arti-cles nor I have knowledge with the blogs and arti-cles written against you in the chess portal or any website as you alleged in our 1st re-conciliatory talk. Also, “Pinoy Chess Addict” is not a website. It is a Facebook chess group where chess play-ers openly post anything, from chess updates to chess issues. If my memo-ry served me write, I only gave my opinion on issues which were not initiated by me and in that discus-sion I never curse you or call you bad names. If you will ask me today, my opinion will still be the same. That’s how it works. If we accept high positions in any organiza-tion, we should be open to criticisms. We may differ in opinions or principles but I hope and pray that we move on and we will be one again in support-ing the leadership of our President, Prospero A. Pichay, Jr. for the sake of CHESS!

Sincerely,James InfiestoDirectorNCFP Region XIFinally, upon instruc-

tions by Mr. Pichay for James, the latter issued this apology on October 17, 2012.

October 17, 2012

GM Jayson GonzalesExecutive DirectorNational Chess Feder-

ation of the PhilippinesDear GM Gonzales,I would like to extend

my apology for whatev-er i had said or written against you that had hurt your feelings.

I was only giving my personal opinions on chess issues that involve our chess community. But, I never mean to disrespect your position as Executive Director of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP).

With this, I am again declaring my full support in your position and to the leadership of NCFP pres-ident, Hon. Prospero A. Pichay Jr. And, will follow the rules and regulations and promote our federa-tion to the best of my abil-ity.

FA James InfiestoI thank James for the

clarifications and for be-ing a gentleman in this crazy situation. In the same way, I thank Ronnie for bringing up this mat-ter and standing up for what he strongly believes. Also, my good buddy Mo-ses Billacura for leading me to this issue.

Now that James and Jayson are about to fix their own misunder-standing, I leave it all up now to our good friends James and Ronnie to come up and talk. I can buy you guys a cup of coffee at any of your favourite cof-fee shops and solve this matter once and for all. For the good of the sport you both love so much—chess.

Let’s stop this stale-mate. I tell you, that’s the best move.

WORLD super bantamweight champion No-

nito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire is not actively seeking a boxing match against his compatriot, Filipino fight king Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao.

Donaire and Pacquiao are both included in the top five of most pound-for-pound rankings, with Pacquiao considered as one of the two best fight-ers in the world aside from unbeaten American Floyd Mayweather Jr.

But Donaire has been steadily climbing the pound-for-pound lad-der, and his latest victory against top Japanese box-er Toshiaki Nishioka has led some analysts to be-lieve that he is closing in on Pacquiao’s pound-for-pound rank.

In an interview, Donaire stressed that he

is not in any way seeking a fight against Pacquiao, es-pecially as they campaign at different weight classes anyway.

“He’s like five divisions higher than I am,” Donaire said.

Pacquiao fights at the welterweight division, with a weight limit of 147 pounds. The super bantamweight division has a weight limit of 122 pounds.

“As a fighter, we are not afraid to fight anyone. But we are friends, and it has to be mutually agreed. But we don’t seek for it, and it’s not in my head,” Donaire emphasized.

Donaire said that in-stead of looking for a fight with Pacquiao, he wants to “fight the best in this divi-sion.”

Still, “The Filipino Flash” is honored to be compared to Pacquiao.

“That’s another step to where I want to be. You’re being compared to one of the top guys, one of the top guys in history,” he said. “That means I’m doing something good.”

Donaire said being compared to Pacquiao is similar to a basketball player being compared to Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant.

“That’s the exact same feeling, the feeling of ‘I think I’m making it,’” he said.

Donaire is hoping that he and Pacquiao will con-tinue to inspire Filipinos to take up boxing, especially after watching the Pinoy Pride event at the Mall of Asia Arena last Saturday.

“There’s so much talent in the Philippines in terms of boxing, because of Man-ny, Gerry Peñalosa, who inspired me as well to keep trying,” he said.

Donaire not seeking fight against Pacman

VOL.5 ISSUE 166 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 201216 EDGEDAVAOSPORTS

CHINESE Taipei beat the Philippines for a place in the second

round of the qualifiers for the 2013 AFC Women’s U-19 championship with a 1-0 victory last night at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.

Pan Yen-Hsin let loose a looping long shot that sailed beyond the hands of Phl keeper Inna Pala-cios in the 35th minute as the Taiwanese (six points

on 2 wins and a loss) took runner-up honors behind unbeaten Myanmar (nine points on three wins) in Group C of Qualification Round 1.

Myanmar, which com-pleted a sweep of the four-nation Manila qual-ifiers with an 8-0 white-wash of Hong Kong in the first game, tows Taipei to the Qualification Round 2 alongside seeded Vietnam and Thailand. PH U-19

wound up third in the qualifiers with three points while winless HK ended deadlast.

“Good fight, we gave it our all. But this isn’t the end for us. Everything we’re doing is all for the progress of women’s foot-ball. Even if we didn’t qual-ify for the second round, our programs continue,” said PH goalkeeping coach Melissa Marquez.

Pan scored the

game-winner in a counter off a 1v1 situation bungled by the hosts. PH tried in vain to score the equalizer, stymied by lack of finishing and poor quality of passes.

“We’re having prob-lems with finishing. The goal was a result of mis-communication and mis-matching in defense. But overall, their (Taipei’s) possession was good, es-pecially from the back,” Marquez said.

Chinese Taipei edges Philippine XIWITH a major mo-

ment of truth for his legacy only

hours away in Europe, doping-disgraced US cy-clist Lance Armstrong cheered on 4,300 bik-ers Sunday morning at a charity race in his home-town.

Embattled Armstrong spoke for about 90 sec-onds before the start of the Livestrong Chal-lenge, a 100-mile cycling event to benefit the can-cer-fighting foundation he created 15 years ago.

Armstrong stepped down as Livestrong chair-man on Wednesday in the wake of detailed revela-tions about his role at the heart of a doping ring that helped him win seven Tour de France titles from 1999-2005.

“I’ve been better, but I’ve also been worse,” Armstrong said. “Obvi-ously it has been an inter-esting and difficult couple of weeks.”

A record turnout of riders raised $1.7 million for Livestrong on the eve of a decision by the In-ternational Cycling Union (UCI) on whether or not it will follow through on punishments imposed by the US Anti-Doping Agen-cy (USADA).

“We’re so grateful even more people (than expected) are here to sup-port the mission,” Lives-trong spokesman Kather-

ine McLane said.USADA released 1,000

pages of testimony and evidence 12 days ago about why it imposed a life ban on Armstrong in August and stripped him of his Tour de France vic-tories and other results when he refused to fight doping charges.

Since then, major sponsors have distanced themselves from Arm-strong, and he stepped down from his leadership role at Livestrong in hopes it would not be damaged by the controversy swirl-ing around him.

In submitting the re-port to the UCI, USADA chief executive Travis Tygart called the doping scheme centered on Arm-strong “the most sophis-ticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.”

While the cycling world awaited Monday’s announcement in Geneva, Armstrong kept the focus on the cancer-fighting foundation during his ap-pearance in Austin, Texas.

His t-shirt was black rather than Livestrong’s signature yellow, a nod to the yellow jersey worn by Tour de France leaders.

“This is truly an honor to be here. I’m truly hum-ble,” Armstrong said. “We have had a lot of lucky breaks along the way, but it has been a special ride.

Armstrong cheers riders while awaiting his fate