ENFORCERS at Comelec (Commission of Elections) checkpoints are limited only to making visual search for guns.

They cannot pry open parts of the vehicle,

must less open gloves and other compart-ments, as this is against the law.

This was the clarification made by Po-lice Superintendent Antonio E. Rivera, head

of the Investigation and Detective Manage-ment Branch (IDMB) of the Davao City Po-lice Office (DCPO) during a speech before

DAVAO DEL SUR Gov. Douglas R. Cagas rejected the creation of the new province of Davao Occidental,

which will be composed of five munici-palities now belonging to Davao del Sur.

“This is GERRYMANDERING – an insa-tiable craving for political and economic control by the Bautista Clan of five (5)

Municipalities – Sta. Maria, Malita, Don Marcelino, Jose Abad Santos and Saran-gani,” Governor Cagas said in a one-page statement to the media he signed.

“We have always opposed this move

and will continue to do so,” Cagas said, adding that the signing by President Aquino into law of the proposed creation of Davao Occidental has not yet created it.

The governor said the law approved by President Aquino “remains a proposal which has yet to undergo a long process.”

EDGEP 15.00 • 20 PAGES

www.edgedavao.netVOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013

Serving a seamless societyDAVAO

FP-NOY 12

FCOMELEC, 12

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Sports

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Page A1Indulge Page A1

Says creation an act of gerrymandering

Cagas rejectsnew province

Dakongburoka ni!

Only visual search for guns allowed

P-Noy okays Davao Occidental

At Comelec checkpoint

By Antonio M. Ajero

By EJ Dominic Fernandez

UNIQUE CLOTHESLINE. Residents hang their soiled clothes on steel barricades along the highway of flooded Carmen yes-terday after rains that caused heavy flood-ing in the Davao del Norte town stopped. [Neil Bravo]

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013THE BIG NEWS2

FBARRICADE, 11

EDGEDAVAO

ThE Department of Social Welfare and Development

(DSWD) provided food packs to the Davao City flood victims through the City Social Services Devel-opment Office (CSSDO).

Assistant Regional Di-rector of DSWD 11 Priscilla N. Razon said in an inter-view yesterday at the Apo View hotel that the food packs given to the families contain 10 kilos of rice, noodles and canned goods which will be enough for a week.

“Last Sunday morn-ing, we instructed the vol-unteers in our depot at the Department of Public Works and highways to

prepare food packs for Davao City, aware that the rain might cause a big problem in some areas of the city,” Razon saidm add-ing that DSWD received 391 bales if clothing and other items from rhe Bu-reau of Customs last Mon-day which we turned over to the CSSDO for distribu-tion among the 15 affected barangays in Davao City.

Razon added that the DSWD would be receiv-ing additional donation of more than 100,000 sacks of rice from the World Food Program (WFP) which she said would be enough to feed Pablo survivors and Davao City flood victims as well.

DSWD sends food to flood victimsBy Che Palicte

CALAMITY SAGA. Flood victims bring their valuables to the nearest evacuation center for safe keeping while they’re still repairing their houses damaged by last Sunday’s flood in Bacaca, Davao City. The path they are traversing was the residential area’s former main road used by hauling trucks in better times. Lean Daval Jr.

ThE Davao City Planning and De-velopment Office

of Davao City is eyeing the revision of its Com-prehensive Land Use Plan, particularly in re-classifying flood-prone areas.

Robbie Alabado, CPDO head, said flood-prone areas as identi-fied in the flood map prepared by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in 2007 will be re-classified from residen-tial zones into parks and commercial zones.

he said the revisions in the city’s zoning ordi-nance will take into con-sideration geo-hazard maps and Geographic Information System to determine areas which are not suitable for resi-dential zones.

Alabado said that in the 1996 revision of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan ordinance they had identified large areas suitable for residential communities.

The January 20 flood-ing brought about by

continuous rains swelled the Davao River which inundated riverside resi-dential areas such as Jade Valley, Gem Village and Matina Gravahan . About 14,000 families (42,000 individuals) were affect-ed by the recent flooding.

Alabado said identi-fied flood-prone areas will be zoned into parks and recreation areas, commercial and indus-trial zones. “As long as hindi tinitirahan ng tao.” (As long as they are not inhabited).

As for existing resi-dential communities in flood-prone areas, Ala-bado said they would re-quire for the areas high-er building standards. he said that most of the residents have already adjusted to the floods in the areas which occur every 10 years.

“Others have left the area, sold their prop-erties or built second floors in their houses.” Alabado said, referring to the residents of the flood-prone areas. [PIA 11/RG Alama]

Davao City looks to revise zoning plan of flood areas

GUN BAN ENFORCEMENT. A Highway Patrol Group officer checks a motorcycle rider’s documents after inspecting its vehi-cle’s compartment for firearms in Lanang, Davao City yesterday.

Law enforcers are strictly implementing the election gun ban imposed by the Comelec). Lean Daval Jr.

ThE Pilipino Banana Growers and Ex-porters Association,

Inc. (PBGEA) calls 2012 “the worst year for banana growers in Mindanao.”

That’s what PBGEA Ex-ecutive Director Stephen Antig during the Club 888 media forum at the Eagles Bar of The Marco Polo Davao yesterday.

“We began the year with the Panama Disease, then in the second quarter came the market crisis in China and Iran, and in De-cember we had Pablo.”

“After Pablo, we thought it was the end of it, but for the last three days we experienced very heavy rain and, as we know, banana trees can’t withstand more than 24 hours of very heavy rain,” he continued.

Some 25 to 30 percent of the banana industry in Mindanao was “greatly” affected by Typhoon Pab-lo, Antig said, adding, “Just this morning (Wednes-day), 400 hectares of ba-nana farm have been af-fected by the heavy rain.”

Despite the bad news, Antig remains optimis-tic, saying, “The positive side is that there will be an increase in the price of bananas in the world mar-ket, but unfortunately, we will not have the volume or supply to deliver to the market (to take advantage of it).”

As for the rehabili-tation of the banana in-dustry in Mindanao, the PBGEA has been talking to several banks, such as the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and

Landbank of the Philip-pines to avail of rehabilita-tion packages.

“The response from these banks is very en-couraging,” Antig said, referring to Landbank’s offer of a rehab package amounting to Php 430,000 per hectare over a period of 10 years at six percent and two years grace on the principal and interest, while DBP is still coming up with their own pack-age.

“These packages are not only open to our grow-ers, but to the big players and the corporations as well, he added.”

PBGEA is also feel-ing upbeat with many of the government agencies which are “very respon-sive” in extending assis-tance to the industry, ac-

cording to Antig. “For example, the gov-

ernment of Tagum has decided to implement the new Real Property Access, while Pag-IBIG and the Na-tional housing Mortgage have also declared a mor-atorium for six months to assist those affected by ‘Pablo’,” he said.

On the matter concern-ing the Sanguniang Pan-glungsod’s rejection of a PhP4.8 million budget for agricultural rehabilitation, Antig thinks that, “It is be-cause they are aware that that amount is not enough for rehabilitation.”

“hopefully, with these gestures, the banana in-dustry will be able to re-cover because we cannot afford to let the banana industry die-- especially in Mindanao, ” Antig said.

2012 worst year for banana industry By EJ Dominic Fernandez

ThE commanding officer of the 10th Civil Military Op-

erations Battalion (CMO) said in an interview at the Apo View hotel yes-terday that the leaders of the recent road barricade in Montevista will final-ly face charges before a court.

“I don’t know if it was yesterday or today, but I’m sure that charges will be filed the case against the people who organized and led the barricade last January 14 in Montevista,” said Major Jacob Thadde-

us Obligado adding that the filing will be in Com-postela Valley province.

he said that a min-imum of five leaders would be facing charges of illegal assembly, grave coercion and alarm and scandal.

“These people should be penalized for deceiving people and exploiting the Typhoon Pablo survivors. They also distorted the is-

sue on the giving of relief goods,” he explained.

Obligado clarified that the leaders are “kulang sa pansin” (want to be noticed) and yet they did not extend help to the vic-tims since Day One of the Pablo tragedy and now all they do is to “make a mess of the ongoing relief oper-ations being undertaken by volunteers.”

They will be facing charges of illegal assembly, grave coercion and alarm and scandal

Barricade leaders to face charges

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013EDGEDAVAO 3

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 20134 EDGEDAVAOSUBURBIA

ThE rain has stopped but the provincial, municipal, and

barangay Disaster Risk Reduction Management Councils in Compostela Valley province remain ready with their respec-tive rescue teams and keep on watch for any sudden change of the weather con-dition.

There were family evacuees in the province as rains poured in since Friday evening (January 18). Per flooding incident official report issued by the

Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Manage-ment Council (PDRRMC) as of 8:00 a.m. of January 21, 2013, there were 2,143 families who vacated for safety to the identified evacuation centers. As of 8:00 a.m. of January 22, the number of families became 441. As the water subsides, those residents of flooded areas which are accessible already have started to go home.

Governor Arturo T. Uy, chairman of the PDRRM Council, earlier issued an

order for the suspension of classes in schools for the safety of the students and teachers considering the flood risks. But today, classes have resumed al-ready.

PDRRM Officer Raul Villocino said that with the experienced weather dis-turbance, the people are advised to stay alert and abide to any issued public warnings and safety mea-sures implemented by the local authorities. [GRACE ALMEDILLA, IDS-COM-VAL]

HELPING. Members of the Compostela Valley Capitol Emergency Response Team together with New Bataan Emergency Action Team assist Purok 1, Purok 1-A, and Purok

4 residents of Brgy. Andap in New Bataan in vacating their flooded areas.  [Albert Dayao/ IDS ComVal]

ComVal DRRMCs remain on watch

ThE Davao del Norte provin-cial government

stayed true to its man-date of providing im-mediate assistance to afflicted constituents when it quickly respond-ed to the needs of thou-sands of residents affect-ed by the massive flood-ing that recently hit the province.

After dispatching the rescue teams from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) at once to assist local rescuers at the height of the flash-floods since Sunday, the province promptly re-sponded to the requests of the flood-hit munic-ipalities for augmenta-tion of relief assistance.

As of January 21,

2013, the province has already distributed some 10,753 family food packs to the flooded municipalities of Asun-cion, B.E. Dujali, Carmen, Kapalong, New Corella, and Sto. Tomas, as well as, Tagum City.

Another 5,500 food packs were sent off to Carmen, B.E. Dujali and Talaingod on Tuesday.

Provincial Social Wel-fare and Development Officer Arlene Semblante revealed the food packs that were distributed by the province were pro-vided by the Department of Social Welfare and De-velopment (DSWD).

The recent deluge caused by the tail-end of a cold front over-shadowed the impact of Typhoon Pablo in the

province, as it affected an initial 18,690 fami-lies or 84,305 persons across the province, ac-cording to the January 22, 2013 report of the PDRRMO.

Two casualties were reported in the torrent that had rendered six major roads in the prov-ince impassable to ve-hicles for a while. Some 58,126 individuals were also evacuated in vari-ous evacuation centers. Local DRRMOs are now assessing the impact to crops and infrastruc-tures.

The PDRRMO add-ed all the evacuees in Asuncion and Kapalong, as well as, those in some barangays of New Corel-la have already returned home.

While the rest of the evacuees in the other flood-affected LGUs re-mained in the designat-ed evacuation centers fearing the possibility of recurring flashfloods and landslides, due to continued rain showers brought about by an in-tertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) affecting the area.

Semblante assured all the flood-stricken families will receive their share of the food packs as more relief assistance are coming from the DSWD.

She revealed the province now has re-ceived over P41-million worth of relief assis-tance from the agency since “Pablo”. [Noel Ba-guio]

WITh its nom-inees to the Tran-

sition Commission (TransCom) already submitted to the Ma-laysian facilitator, the Moro Islamic Libera-tion Front (MILF) called on President Benigno C. Aquino III to appoint them, including their counterparts on the government side.

Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, said Monday the front’s Cen-tral Committee has ap-proved the composition of the MILF TransCom members.

he, however, did not identify the MILF’s nominees to the TransCom, which shall, among others, draft the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

“hopefully, all the TransCom members will be appointed im-mediately so that they can start work next month,” Jaafar said in a radio interview.

The creation of the TransCom comes as a result of Executive Or-der 120 signed by Aqui-no last December 17.

It shall be com-posed of 15 members all appointed by the President in accor-dance with the Frame-work Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) that was signed by the gov-ernment and the MILF in Malacanang last Oc-tober 15.

The TransCom will be composed of eight members from the MILF and seven from the government. As agreed in the FAB, it shall be headed by the

MILF.EO 120 said the

TransCom shall cease operation upon the en-actment by Congress of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

For its operation, the body will have an initial allocation of P100,000,000 from the contingent fund of the Office of the President. Appropriation for suc-ceeding years shall be incorporated in budget proposals under the Of-fice of the President.

Jaafar said they ex-pect the Malaysian fa-cilitator, Tengku Dato’ Ghafar Tengku bin Mohamed, to hand the MILF’s nominees to the TransCom to the gov-ernment peace panel.

The peace panels of both sides resumed amity talks in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

In a statement, Miriam Colonel-Fer-rer, government peace panel chair, said that in this round of talks, they aim to settle the few remaining issues across the four annex-es that together with the Framework Agree-ment will comprise the Comprehensive Agree-ment.

These issues, she said, pertain to juris-diction over natural resources; transporta-tion and communica-tion; the extent of ter-ritorial waters; taxing powers; timetables for decommissioning and demilitarization; polic-ing structures; and the transition authority, among others, [Bong S. Sarmiento/MindaN-ews]

hEALTh authorities in Sarangani prov-ince have declared

the recent occurrence of the mosquito-borne chi-kungunya disease in two of its municipalities as under control even as it continues to monitor oth-er possible cases in sev-eral communities in the area.

Dr. Arvin Alejandro, Sarangani assistant pro-vincial health officer, said Wednesday they have not monitored new cases of the critical viral disease in parts of Kiamba town where it initially emerged last month.

At least 12 of the ini-tial 39 suspected chiku-ngunya cases that came out in the area have ear-lier turned out positive based on results of labo-ratory analysis on blood samples submitted by the

Sarangani health office to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

The provincial epide-miology and surveillance unit said the confirmed chikungunya cases came from communities situat-ed within the boundaries of Kiamba and Maitum towns.

“We have so far con-trolled it in the sense that no new cases have emerged recently in areas where it was first moni-tored,” Alejandro said in an interview with a local television station.

But the health official said they are continu-ously monitoring several communities in the two municipalities due to oth-er possible cases of the disease.

he cited communities

in Barangay Tablao in Kiamba, specifically those situated near the Pangi River.

The Sarangani health office sent to the RITM additional blood samples of residents from the area who had exhibited sus-pected symptoms of chi-kungunya, he said.

A fact sheet released by the World health Orga-nization described chiku-ngunya as a viral disease that is spread mainly by Aedes mosquitoes, which are known carriers of the deadly dengue virus.

The disease, which is not usually fatal and most-ly affects adults, shares some clinical signs with dengue such as fever, se-vere joint pain, muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash.

The Department of health (DOh) had report-

ed recent outbreaks of chi-kungunya in Albay prov-ince and in the regions of Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Western Visayas, North-ern Min-danao, Davao and Caraga.

In Sarangani, Gov. Mi-guel Rene Dominguez said the disease first emerged sometime last month with around 30 initial cases.

“We immediately sent the blood samples to the DOh and (some of them) turned out positive,” the governor said.

Based on information they gathered regarding the disease, Dominguez said the areas considered susceptible to the spread of the chikungunya were communities or villages that have high cases of the malaria disease. [Allen V. Estabillo / MindaNews]

MILF urges P-Noy to nameTransCom members asap

Mosquito-borne ‘chikungunya’ now under control –health execs

DavNor provides quick aid

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013

ThE proposed $5.9-billion Tam-pakan copper-gold

project of foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc. continues to suffer a set-back locally after the Sangguniang Panlalaw-igan of South Cotabato stood pat on the prov-ince’s controversial ban on open-pit mining.

The provincial board reiterated its stance Mon-day in a resolution main-taining the validity of Section 2 Paragraph B of the Environment Code, which prohibits the open-pit mining method in the province.

The resolution ap-proved by the plenary puts the issue of lifting the open-pit ban in the hands of the court.

Until such time that the court decides that it is illegal or unconstitu-tional, the open-pit ban enjoys the presumption of validity, the gist of the resolution showed.

“Our stand is only a court of law can declare whether the ban on open pit mining is valid or not,” Vice Gov. Elmo Tolosa said in a text message Wednes-day.

In an order issued on May 22, 2012, lawyer Anselmo Abugan, De-partment of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) assistant sec-retary for legal affairs, rejected the appeal of Sagittarius Mines for the reconsideration of its re-jected application for an

environmental compli-ance certificate (ECC).

The junking of the ap-peal was anchored on the open-pit ban imposed by South Cotabato, the same reason cited by Environ-ment Secretary Ramon Paje in rejecting on Janu-ary 3, 2012 the firm’s ECC application.

“We are returning herewith the application documents with instruc-tion to deny the same, without prejudice to re-submission, until the is-sues and concern on the use of open-pit mining method shall have been clarified and resolved by the company [SMI] with the provincial govern-ment of South Cotabato,” Paje said in his memoran-dum.

Sagittarius Mines has elevated its appeal to the Office of the President but no decision has been an-nounced so far.

John Arnaldo, Sagittar-ius Mines external com-munications and media relations manager, said in an emailed statement last year that “the legal process is not a preferred option of the company” in settling the open-pit min-ing ban imposed by South Cotabato.

Earlier, Tolosa, the provincial board’s presid-ing officer, stressed that “the arguments of the provincial government on the primacy of local au-tonomy, referring to the ban on open-pit mining, have been valid along the

way despite opinions on the contrary.”

For his part, South Co-tabato Gov. Arthur Pingoy Jr. also said the open-pit ban remains in effect un-less the court nullifies it.

The prohibition on open-pit mining meth-od was approved in June 2010 before then South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance Fuentes stepped down from power. She is now the representative of the Second District of South Cotabato.

Last year, four Catho-

lic bishops in the region issued a joint statement urging the stay of the province’s open-pit ban.

Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, former president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez of the Diocese of Marbel, Bish-op Guillermo Afable of the Diocese of Digos and Bishop Romulo dela Cruz of the Diocese of Kidap-awan have petitioned the Sangguniang Panlalaw-igan of South Cotabato

to refrain from amending the open pit mining ban contained in its environ-ment code.

The bishops filed their petition to the SP with the attached sig-natures of about 30,000 residents from the four dioceses to maintain the prohibition on open-pit mining.

In September 2010, the Regional Mineral Development Council, chaired by Constancio A. Paye Jr., also the region-al director of the Mines

and Geosciences Bureau, filed a petition before the provincial board for the review and lifting of the open-pit ban, saying it is against Republic Act 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995.

Sagittarius Mines will employ the open-pit min-ing method in its Tampa-kan project to excavate an estimated 15 million tons of copper and 17.6 million ounces of gold, the company said. [Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaN-ews]

5EDGEDAVAO SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENT

South Cotabato lawmakers standpat against open-pit mining

ThE Department of Environment and Natural Re-

sources (DENR) in Re-gion 12 is pushing for the creation of a spe-cial regional body that would handle the settlement of conflict-ing land claims and the harmonize various land administration concerns affecting the area.

Elmer Mercado, DENR-12’s land manage-ment division chief, said Wednesday they have started discussions with government agencies involved in the issu-ance of land tenuri-al instruments for the establishment of a re-gional committee that would directly deal with various issues and con-cerns regarding conflict-ing land claims within the region.

he said the talks in-

volved key officials and personnel from the Department of Agrar-ian Reform (DAR), National Commis-sion on Indigenous People (NCIP) and the Land Registration Author-ity (LRA).

“Our main goal is to harmonize various issues involved in the issuance of land titles and oth-er tenurial instruments. This way, we can avoid coming out with conflict-ing issuances that could cause problems among claimants,” Mercado said.

Region 12, which is also known as the Soccsk-sargen Region, comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kuda-rat, Sarangani, North Cotabato and the cit-ies of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.

In a dialogue held

in this city last month, he said officials of the four agencies agreed to initially create a region-al-level committee as a working mechanism for the Joint DENR-DAR-NCIP-LRA Administrative Order (JAO) No. 1 issued in January last year.

Mercado said they also agreed to create pro-vincial-level committees that would address specific concerns with-in the region’s four provinces and their com-ponent or attached cities.

JAO No. 1-12 specif-ically provides for the clarification, restatement and interfacing of the respective jurisdic-tions, policies, programs and projects of DENR, DAR, NCIP and LRA “to address jurisdictional and operational issues be-tween and among the agencies.”

DENR 12 pushes creation of special body to settle conflicting land claims

SENATOR Loren Le-garda has filed Sen-ate Resolution 928,

seeking inquiry into the reported grounding of the USS Guardian in the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP), the coun-try’s prime marine pro-tected area and World heritage Site.

Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said that there should be full disclosure and account-ing of the total damages arising from the incident which will help strength-en existing mechanisms to prevent a future simi-lar occurrence.

“This incident high-lights the need to ensure full protection of the Phil-ippines’ marine resourc-es by all vessels, foreign or domestic, within ter-ritorial waters amidst

geo-political develop-ments in the region,” she stressed.

On January 17, after completing its port of call in Subic, Olongapo City, the mine countermea-sures ship USS Guardian reportedly ran aground on Tubbataha reef while en route to its next port of call in Indonesia.

Even as its ship re-mained aground with-in the protected area, the park rangers of the Tubbataha Protected Area Management Board (TPAMB) were reported-ly barred by the US Navy ship commander from assessing the situation by deploying armed per-sonnel on the dock of the ship.

“We have received re-ports that the personnel of the US Navy ship failed to coordinate closely

with the personnel of the protected area even as their ship had already destroyed an estimated 10 meters of corals,” Le-garda noted.

“A full investigation should be conducted by concerned agencies in order to strengthen ex-isting mechanisms for protecting the World heritage Site. Republic Act 10067, the Tubba-taha Reefs Natural Park Act, clearly states that any damage to the reef shall subject the respon-sible person or entity to the payment of admin-istrative fines set by the TPAMB based on current valuation standards, as well as the cost of resto-ration. As such, those re-sponsible for the damage on the Tubbataha Reef should own up and pay up,” she concluded.

Legarda seeks inquiry on Tubbataha Reef damage

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 20136 EDGEDAVAOObama should engage China in a new way

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By Tian yingCOMMENTARy

EDITORIAL

Don’t “toy” with guns

DID you know that the ban on fire-arms during this year’s election season includes toy guns? Yes

siree, toy guns, in fact, all replicas of deadly weapons, are covered by the pro-hibition stipulated in Comelec (Commis-sion of Elections) Resolution 9561-A.

The resolution was extensively dis-cussed Tuesday with members and guests of the Rotary Club of East Davao by Police Supt. Antonio E. Rivera, chief of the Davao City Police Office Investiga-tive and Detective Management Bureau (IDMB).

Rivera said that under existing laws, rules and regulations, the definition of firearms “shall include airguns, airsoft guns, replicas/imitations of firearms in whatever form that will cause an ordi-nary person to believe they are real.”

Section 1 of the same Comelec Res-olution 9561-A states that “no person shall bear, carry or transportfirearms or deadly weapons outside residence or business,” and that “no candidate for public office, including public officers seeking election, shall employ or avail of bodyguard.”

The gun ban covers the election pe-

riod from January 12,2013 to June 12, 2013.

The gun ban is coupled with OplanKa-tok which the Philippine National Po-lice is implementing to check on loose firearms, including those whose licens-es have expired but whose owners have failed to apply for renewal. “Katok” (knock) involves the visitation by po-lice enforcers of homes of gun owners who have failed to renew their license to possess firearms has expired.

The ban may be able keep in check improper use of some 12,000 firearms in Davao City as proven by localized gun bans during Araw ng Dabaw and Kadawayan festivals.

Davao City’s history is bereft of elec-toral violence that resulted in gunfights. By and large, Dabawenyo politicians are peace-loving, it is reasonable to ex-pect that they would not engage in any-thing more than verbal violence. how-ever, there is still the danger of visitors bringing in guns–licensed or not--and committing crime in the city. how to prevent this from happening is not an easy task. More vigilance by enforcers will, hopefully, do the trick.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who was sworn in for his second term Monday, can history not only by vir-

tue of his status as America’s first black president, but also by forging a new rela-tionship with China.

Although Obama is busy grappling with domestic issues, such as economic re-covery, medical reform and gun violence, China’s rise means that getting along with the country should be on his agenda.

Xi Jinping, the new general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, suggested creating a “new type” of bilateral relations while visiting the U.S. in February 2012, when he was still China’s vice president.

Such relations are intended to feature win-win cooperation, mutual trust and fa-vorable interaction, as opposed to histori-cal antagonism.

The U.S. side responded by saying it welcomes the peaceful rise of China, stat-ing that the United States and China can prove to the world that the two heavy-weights will not tread routes previously taken.

U.S. Secretary of State hillary Clinton also suggested writing “a new answer to the age-old question of what happens when the established power and the rising power meet.”

“We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully...because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear,” Obama said in his inaugural speech.

U.S. engagement with China has marked a historical breakthrough in com-parison to previous efforts to contain Chi-na. It has led bilateral ties to a point where both sides have established multiple dia-logue mechanisms and become major bi-lateral trading partners.

however, despite changes in Washing-ton’s approach to China, bilateral relations have yet to see major change, and there have been signs that the Obama adminis-tration is not interested in engaging China in a new way.

A series of protectionist moves direct-ed at China were launched during Obama’s first term. Now, challenged by a weak eco-nomic recovery and high debt, Washing-ton is looking inward more than ever.

Frequent China-bashing during last year’s presidential campaign demonstrat-ed the popularity of scapegoating China for domestic woes in the United States.

The U.S. government has also made moves to bolster its presence and influ-ence in the Asia-Pacific region, such as an-nouncing a plan to deploy 60 percent of its warships to the region by 2020.

Shi Yinhong, a professor of U.S. studies at Renmin University of China, said the U.S. strategy is designed to help the U.S. com-pete with China by weakening China’s in-fluence in the region.

however, such a strategy may prompt Washington to blindly pursue national interests at the expense of justice. Recent U.S. meddling in China-Japan affairs justi-fies such worries. Clinton stated last Fri-day that the Diaoyu Islands are under the administrative authority of Japan, adding that the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty there-fore applies to the islands.

The islands have been the subject of a sovereignty dispute between China and Japan.

As Obama’s second term commences, he should consider dealing with China from a new perspective in order to set a precedent for the future of Sino-U.S. rela-tions.

Domestically, his administration should loosen restrictions on exports of high-tech products to China, welcome Chi-nese investment, avoid protectionism and refrain from shirking its responsibilities by scapegoating other nations.

When handling world affairs, the Obama administration should respect his-tory and prevent national interests from prevailing over justice. [PNA/Xinhua]

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013 ICT HUBAmerica has

multiple deficits

ON Saturday, General Santos City Mayor Darlene Antonino Custodio led city officials and families of fish-

ermen in honoring those who perished and went missing during the height of su-per typhoon Pablo.

It was an emotional voyage for all who joined the ceremony.

The city mayor was so distraught she reportedly shed tears.

For the families still hoping their loved ones are still alive, it was a voyage to even-tuality.

Yes, all 352 fishermen still listed as missing may have already died in the open seas that ironically sustained them in life.

They were part of the 378 fishermen from General Santos City alone who were caught in the middle of a perfect storm – one that nobody from their class could have imagined. Except for the 18 survi-vors who lived to tell their harrowing or-deals.

When Pablo violently raced through the Pacific Ocean and headed to the east-ern coasts of Mindanao, the owners of the fishing vessels hoped their fishing crews were able to find refuge and seek shelter from the destructive wrath of the super typhoon.

When all was over, all they could lo-cate was their vessels’ last known GPS lo-cations based on last radio contact.

One fishing company owner recalled

how their base operator had heard hoarse and fainting voices from f i s h e r m e n frantically cry-ing for help be-fore these were followed by complete radio silence.

In the after-math, veteran journalist and former New York Times re-porter Mort Rosenblum asked why these vessels could not be tracked when they are supposed to be equipped with ves-sel monitoring system (VMS) as required by the convention on conservation mea-sures (CCM) of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).

The Philippines is a member of WCP-FC.

Rosenblum was at the 9th WCPFC meeting in Manila on December 2 to 6 when tragedy struck.

Pablo hit landfall in Davao Oriental on December 3.

Rosenblum went straight to Gener-al Santos City after the meeting only to be aghast why these vessels do not have VMS equipment when they are supposed to have one to comply with the WCPFC

rules and policies.Dino Barrientos, executive director of

the Umbrella Fish Landing Association (UFLA), admitted all 51 fishing vessels that went missing were not equipped with VMS although he said they have a complement of communications equip-ment such as VhF-UhF, single side band and citizen’s band radios and GPS kit.

These communication equipment are however vulnerable to weather elements and could conk out when washed out in sea water. A break and malfunctioning of the antenna could cut them off from their home bases.

Costly lessonsBarrientos said a VMS costs anywhere

between P100,000 to P180,000.“For the two-way system. It does not

include air time fee,” Barrientos said.ROM Communications said its ROM-

TraX VMS-9601 units’ pricing starts at US$1,374, excluding backup battery module.

“(B)ut can be higher if additional fea-tures are chosen. Savings can be achieved with volume purchasing,” its website said.

To register, a fishing company has to pay US$50 per month for each unit for the base plan only. For hourly position-ing, a vessel owner will have to shell out US$85 per month. If one wants a 15-min-ute reporting, the vessel owner will have to cough up US$160 per month.

POTENTIALLY LEThAL – Storms were named alphabetically and after name of persons when it en-

tered the Philippine Area of Responsibil-ity (PAR). The last to batter the country the previous year was named “Pablo,” the terrific weather disturbance, but he might as well have been called “Killer Pablo” for all the tremendous damage that he did to the country. The footprints of the kill-er typhoon were all over a broad path of devastation that cut across the provinc-es of Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, South Co-tabato, Sarangani, including Davao City and other parts of Mindanao and Visayas. And the thousands of people trapped for days in the flow of debris – rocks, stones, mud, logs and air and water – how does one evacuate such vast affected areas? – felt a growing sense of desperation.

Of course, killer typhoon “Pablo” had a lot of help from other circumstances. Ty-phoons of his level would have done just their usual mischief – messing around, moving in unusual directions, delivering powerful gusty wind and dumping too much rain here and there. That could have been damaging enough, of course, but it would have passed quickly from memory. Then December 2012 would simply have been remembered as a month when the weather turned freaky. No, people had also a hand in making that period a ‘time of the greatest misfortune’ in the catego-ry of another killer typhoon “Sendong” that devastated most parts of Region 10 in 2011. That is why, many, various envi-ronmentalist groups in particular labeled it not just a natural disaster but a man-made environmental catastrophe.

These dif-ferent groups summed it this way: “The land in baldy affect-ed areas had turned brown, filled with de-bris, submerged in murky waters, many people have died and survivors are crying for help.” They acknowledged that the biggest “culprits” are illegal logging, small and large-scale mining and quarry-ing operations. Even that would probably not have been more than an irritant until the powerful typhoon came deluging the areas where businesses, legal or other-wise, which are inimical to the environ-ment conduct their trade with impunity. Before long, people in disaster-prone areas were just watching how unscru-pulous entrepreneurs operate, with the same awful feeling likewise watching of-ficials who are remiss on their jobs and instead look at the opposite direction for obvious reasons.

Various environmentalist movements assert that small and large-scale mining, illegal logging and quarrying operations are deemed potentially lethal to the en-vironment, pointing out that one of its ill effects is constant flooding. At the height of the damaging storms government im-mediately declares a state of emergency – closed schools and other public facil-ities to give way to thousands of evac-uees. hospitals and public clinics are filled with people mostly children who

are suffering from water-borne diseas-es and respiratory ailment. Those with the means fled the affected areas seek-ing cleaner and higher grounds. But still thousands of residents remained stuck, coping as best they could with relief as-sistance.

Most of the suffering actually was in Davao Oriental especially in Cateel, Bos-ton, Baganga and other coastal towns. Small towns like Compostela and New Bataan in ComVal Province joined the na-tion’s datelines as journalists descended to put human face on the environmental disaster. Spurred into action by the trage-dy, friendly neighbors in the Asian region, the US and some European communities immediately sent relief assistance nota-bly food items, blankets, clothing, tents and medicines to battle hunger, sickness and weather patterns. The nation and the world responded to the grim images of children and adults alike crying for atten-tion in time of despondency.

helpful perhaps, but as some quarters put it: “This is just mucking about, isn’t it? There are guys destroying the environ-ment on one side of the road even as gov-ernment, relief organizations and various helpful entities were exerting all effort trying to save and protect people from environmental destruction.” At first, envi-ronment officials denied the existence of mining, logging and quarrying operations in flood-prone remote towns in the dif-ferent provinces, but belatedly acknowl-edged the presence of some companies or groups suspected to be undertaking such kind of endeavor. So far they haven’t made certain arrest – especially if those involved are of the “untouchable” variety.

VANTAGE POINTS

Not just a natural disaster

Hindsight: They could have been saved( 1st of two parts)

By Lawrence SummerSANAlySIS

SINCE the election, American public policy debate has been focused on prospective budget deficits and what

can be done to reduce them. The concerns are in part economic, with a recognition that debts cannot be allowed, indefinite-ly, to grow faster than incomes and the capacity repay. And they have a heavy moral dimension with regard to this gen-eration not unduly burdening our children. There is also an international and security dimension: The excessive buildup of debt would leave the United States vulnerable to foreign creditors and without the flexibility to respond to international emergencies.

While economic forecasts are uncer-tain, the great likelihood is that debts will rise relative to incomes in an unsustainable way over the next 15 years without further actions beyond those undertaken in the 2011 budget deal and the end of year agree-ment that averted a fall over the “fiscal cliff.” So even without the risk of self-inflicted catastrophes — like the possible failure to meet debt obligations or the shutting down of government — it is entirely appropriate for policy to focus on reducing prospective deficits.

Those who argue against a further con-centration on prospective deficits on the grounds that – contingent on a forecast that assumes no recessions – the debt to gross domestic product ratio may stabilize for a decade counsel irresponsibly. Given all uncertainties and current debt levels, we should be planning to reduce debt ratios if the next decade goes well economically.

Reducing prospective deficits should be a priority – but not an obsession that takes over economic policy. This would risk the enactment of measures such as pseudo-temporary tax cuts that produce cosmetic improvements in deficits at the cost of extra uncertainty and long-run fis-cal burdens. It could preclude high-return investment in areas such as infrastructure, preventive medicine and tax enforcement that would, in the very long term, improve our fiscal position.

Economists have long been familiar with the concept of “repressed inflation.” When concern with measured inflation takes over economic policy and drives the introduction of price controls or subsidies to hold down prices, the results are per-verse. Measured prices may not rise and so the appearance of inflation is avoided. But shortages, black markets, and enlarged budget deficits appear. The repression is unsustainable. When it is relaxed, mea-sured inflation explodes, as in the case of the Nixon price controls in the early ’70s.

Just as repressing inflation is misguid-ed, so also repressing budget deficits can be a serious mistake. As with corporate managements judged only on a single year’s earnings take perverse steps that are ultimately harmful to shareholders, gov-ernment officials in the grip of a budget ob-session repress rather than resolve deficit issues. When arbitrary cuts are imposed, government agencies respond by deferring maintenance leading to greater liabilities later. Or compensation is provided in the form of promised retirement benefits that are less than fully accounted for, with the ul-timate burden on taxpayers increased. Or measures like the recent Roth IRA legisla-tion are enacted, encouraging taxpayers to accelerate their tax payment while reduc-ing their present value.

EDGEDAVAO 7

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013

Making Nutrition Improvement her Life’s Goal

Maria Digna Tayong or Digna decided to commit her life as a Barangay Nutrition Scholar since 2009. She is a mother of three children, two of whom are of impressionable ages 5 and 7 years old. Digna became a BNS because she wanted all children in her barangay to be well-nourished and she wanted to help mothers know how to do that. She views being a BNS is a lifelong commitment, and being the BNS of her barangay is a decision that she has not regretted ever since.

Shy of a year in finishing her college degree, her first experience as public servant started when she served as Purok Secretary of Barangay Mainit. Then she was appointed as BNS of Barangay Mainit. Her previous experience as Purok Secretary helped her gain skills in records filing system and documentation of her day-to-day activities. As a volunteer cathechist in the community, she used her confidence in her BNS work, approaching members of the barangay nutrition committee and other local officials whenever she needed support, funding or otherwise, for nutrition activities she thought would benefit the barangay.

Three years later, BNS Digna with her unyielding commitment and with the collaboration and support of the Barangay Mainit Nutrition Committee led by its able Punong Barangay Alfredo Abenales, the number of underweight preschool children in Barangay Mainit has decreased from 10 (0.8%) children in 2009 to 6 (0.5%) children in 2011.

One of the activities implemented by BNS Digna that contributed to the improved nutritional status of the children was the supplementary feeding given during lunchtime at the barangay nu-trition center. A nongovernment organization engaged in mining donated Php10,000.00 which BNS Digna and the BNC used to buy the food commodities allotting P12.50 per child for 120 feeding days. BNS Digna with the help of the BHW and mothers of the malnourished children prepared and served the meals.

To generate funds for nutrition activities, BNS Digna spearheaded the collection of recyclable plastics and cans in the barangay for sale to recycling centers. She also made flowers and home decors from recycled materials and sold them to implement planned nutrition activities.

Along promotion of nutrition messages, BNS Digna did not settle for the usual nutrition classes that gave priority to the pregnant and lactating mothers and the families with underweight children. She led the conduct of the Search for Little Mr. and Ms. Nutrition of Barangay Mainit, an aware-ness-raising activity on the importance of nutrition highlighting the theme of the 2011 Nutrition Month on exclusive breastfeeding.

8 EDGEDAVAO

REGIONAL NUTRITION AWARDING CEREMONY

NATIONAL NUTRITION COUNCIL XI

January 24, 20139:00 a.m.

Grand Regal Hotel, Lanang, Davao City

MARIA TERESA L. UNGSON, RND, MPSRegional Nutrition Program Coordinator

NATIONAL NUTRITION COUNCIL XIMy warm greetings to all! We have so many reasons to be

thankful for. We are recognizing once again all those who con-tributed to the good performance of region XI in the implemen-tation of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN). Over the years, the LGUs and Barangay Nutrition Scholars of region XI has been receiving national acclaim for their good program performance, innovative approaches, good practices, and their commitment and dedication to the program.

Davao del Norte has once again garnered three major award categories based on the results of the annual Moni-toring and Evaluation of Local Level Plan Implementation (MELLPI). I would like to congratulate all the provinces and cities of the region for their continued support to the nutrition program. All our Local Government Units, in their own way, has contributed to the achievements of the Davao Regional Nutrition Program. Much has been done by each LGU... by the men and women who lead them to provide for a basic human right…NUTRITION.

Our regional winners for CY 2012 are considered future national winners. My congratulations to all our winners. I would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to Governor Rodolfo P. Del Rosario, Governor Corazon N. Malanyaon, Mayor Aniano P.Antalan, Mayor Nestor L. Alcoran and Mayor Evalina J. Jampayas for going the extra mile for the nutrition program. Our thanks to all who participated in the MELLPI (Monitoring and Evaluation of Local Level Plan Implementation) visits.

I would like to congratulate ROBNS Digna Tayong of Bgy. Mainit, Nabunturan, Compostela Valley for being awarded 2nd Placer in the National Outstanding Barangay Nutrition Scholar last December 19, 2012 at the Philippine International Con-vention Center (PICC).

I would also like to commend BNS Enone dela Cueva of Bgy. A.O. Floirendo, Panabo City and BNS Joy A. Lumaad of Bgy. Panacan, Davao City for being endorsed by the SOV Regional Evaluation Committee as Regional Outstanding Volunteers for CY 2012. And to add to that, BNS Lumaad has also been elected last year as the President of the National Federation of Barangay Nutrition Scholars.

I would like to enjoin everybody to join the bandwagon of winners and achievers of the nutrition program. I do believe that Davao Region has what it takes to lead. Let us soar high together and give our best for a healthy future of the country. More power to all the LCEs and LGUs of region XI! Let us con-tinue to work together in addressing nutrition challenges in the region.

HON. RODOLFO P. DEL ROSARIOGovernorProvince of Davao del Norte

Regional Green Banner Awardee-2nd Maintenance(Provincial Level Category)

Davao del Norte strived for global competitiveness. The provincial government’s guiding vision is anchored on People Empowerment, Edu-cation, Optimum health and Social Services, Public-Private Partnership, Linking to the World and Employment and Livelihood Opportunities (PEO-PLE). This vision contributed to the province’s conferment as the Regional Green Banner Awardee-2nd Maintenance.

The Provincial Nutrition Committee of Davao del Norte, chaired by honorable Governor Rodolfo P. Del Rosario exerted efforts and full support to achieve the reduction of malnutrition in the province.

The deployment of 253 Barangay Nutrition Scholars provincewide facilitated the delivery of basic health and nutrition services to identified households with vulnerable groups. The BNSs are instrumental in the ef-fective and efficient implementation of the Health and Nutrition programs at the grassroots level. The province maintains its good performance in the delivery of comprehensive basic services thus contributed to the im-provement of health and nutrition condition of the populace.

The implementation of the Micronutrient Supplementation Program through distribution of vitamin A, iron, and multivitamins to all under-weight and severely underweight pre-school children and low birth weight infants, pregnant women and lactating mothers reduces the incidence of anemia, infections, diarrhea, and malnutrition among children and moth-ers. The establishment of Gulayan sa Paaralan, Puroks at Kabahayan pro-vided food security to all households. Livelihood programs were also giv-en to individuals without work, the promotion of healthy lifestyle through continuous diet counseling, smoking cessation, sportsfest and advocacies on Nutritional Guidelines for Filipinos in all barangays reduces the inci-dence of degenerative diseases among adults.

Other notable accomplishments of the province include the implemen-tation of infant and young child feeding program, establishment of breast-feeding room and corner in provincial capitol, municipal hall, private malls, Banana plantations and Barangay health Stations, these strategies helped promote good health and nutrition to young children.

Capability development among Nutrition Committee members at various levels on Nutrition Program Management, food production, liveli-hood skills development, micronutrient supplementation, healthy lifestyle, smoking cessation, BNS training, CGS training strengthened the nutrition program.

The Provincial Nutrition Committee’s efforts contributed to the reduc-tion of the prevalence rate of malnutrition among preschool children from 6.66% in 2011 to 5.66% in 2012.

Through good governance and strong leadership of Governor Rodolfo P. Del Rosario the quality of life of the people in Davao del Norte has im-proved.

HON. NESTOR L. ALCORANMayorNew Corella, Davao del Norte

REGIONAL GREEN BANNER AWARDEE(MUNICIPAL LEVEL CATEGORY)

There is nothing sweeter for New Corella than to receive Regional Green Banner Award for the second time around. The town seized such award in the municipal level category during 2011 regional nutrition awarding ceremony held at Garden Oases Resort and Convention Center, Davao City. In 2010, it received the same award as Mayor Nestor “Bebot” Alcoran was recognized as green banner awardee.

Its compass to become Davao Del Norte’s cartel for nutrition excellence was the executive thrust coined as Alleviating Life by Creating Opportunities and Rendering Accessible Network of (ALCORAN) Services. This propelled the Municipal Nutrition Committee (MNC) to streamline government resources and forge partnership with various stakeholders.

The committee ensured the efficient implementation of health and nutrition program through legislation and other related services. It activated barangay nutri-tion committees (BNC) in 20 barangays to mobilize its volunteers like brgy. nutrition scholars (BNS), brgy. health workers (BhW) and brgy. extension workers (BEW) with the help of the Council of Women, Brgy. Captain’s Spouses Association, Women’s Sun-rise Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Lapanday, Doña Luisa Foundation, Sumifru and other socio-civic organizations.

This convergence has sustained “Gulayan sa Kabahayan” to bring healthy food in the family table by enormous planting of malunggay and other green leafy and yellow vegetables in the backyard of households, schools and purok centers. It also facilitat-ed the achievement of other programs that includes nutrition education, micronutri-ent supplementation, food fortification, supplementary feeding, and nutrition essen-tial in maternal and child health care services, among others. Provision of technical skills and livelihood trainings such as carpentry, masonry, driving, computer hard-ware servicing, food processing, meat processing, animal production, handicraft and soap making harmonized the nutrition activities. The trainings generated income development for families with malnourished children.

The establishment of dairy processing plant in New Corella strengthened the efforts of the government to combat malnutrition. Geared towards the vision of Mayor Alcoran that every child will drink a glass of milk daily, MNC integrated milk drinking to supplementary feeding for pre-schoolers. The committee guaranteed food sufficiency through vegetable and goat production. This has been monitored in the regular conduct of evaluation on “Gulayan sa Barangay”. Production of Bio-N and organic fertilizer complemented also its implementation. Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (KALAhI) projects like potable water system, rubber nursery production and other infrastructure development contributed to the reduction of malnutrition. Parallel to said contribution was the construction of Farm-to-Market Roads (FMR) under Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP) and Growth Equity in Mind-anao (GEM) Program.

For better focus on nutrition services, MNC Chair Mayor Alcoran shared the re-sponsibility with the barangay by organizing Brgy. Nutrition Action Officers (BNAO) to coordinate with the MNAO.

True to his commitment to uplift New Corellahanon families, Mayor Alcoran reported that the prevalence of severely underweight (SU) and underweight (UW) pre-schoolers had reduced from 7.86% to 6.59%; and of schoolchildren, from 7.4% to 6.7% in 2010-2011.

“This significant rate of reduction only tells that we are consistent in our dream to have healthy, happy and intelligent children in the 21st century,” expressed the mayor.

he lauded too the untiring works of the MNC members and the convergent ef-forts of stakeholders that raised New Corella as the Regional Green Banner again.

MESSAGE

Maria Digna D. TayongBarangay Mainit, Nabunturan, Compostela Valley2nd Runner-up, National Outstanding Barangay Nutrition ScholarRegional Outstanding Barangay Nutrition Scholar

Program of ActivityINVOCATIONNATIONAL ANTHeM ACkNOWLeDGMeNT Of GueSTS WeLCOMe AND OPeNING ReMARkS

Ma. Teresa L. Ungson, RND, MPSRegional Nutrition Program Coordinator

National Nutrition Council XI

PReSeNTATION Of AWARDSRD Abdullah B. Dumama

and RNPC Ma. Teresa L. Ungson

• Green Banner Award• LGU Placer• Pag-Asa Award• Kaugmaon Award• National/Regional Outstanding Barangay Nutrition Scholar• Certificate of Recognition and Appreciation• MELLPI Areas (national & reg’l level)• Outstanding National/Provincial & City BNSs• National/Regional BNS President Jocelyn A. Lumaad• Search for Outstanding Volunteer (SOV)• Special Awards (LCE/GO/NGO/Media)• Regional Nutrition Committee

INTeRMISSION NuMBeR

Davao City BNS Federation Officers

ReSPONSe fROM AWARDeeS

GReeN BANNeR AWARD Hon. Rodolfo P. Del Rosario

GovernorDavao del Norte Province

Hon. Aniano P. AntalanMayor

Island Garden City of Samal

Hon. Nestor L. AlcoranMayor

New Corella, Davao del Norte

kAuGMAON AWARD Hon. Evalina J. Jampayas

Mayor Mawab, Compostela Valley

ReGIONAL OuTSTANDING Maria Digna D. TayongBARANGAy NuTRITION Brgy. Mainit, NabunturanSCHOLAR Compostela Valley

keyNOTe MeSSAGe Dr. Abdullah B. Dumama, Jr., CESO III

Regional Director, DOh-ChD XI

MeSSAGe Of THANkS Ma. Teresa L. Ungson, RND, MPS

Regional Nutrition Program CoordinatorNational Nutrition Council XI

MR. ARNOLD ALINDADAMaster of Ceremony

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013 9EDGEDAVAO

REGIONAL NUTRITION AWARDING CEREMONY

NATIONAL NUTRITION COUNCIL XI

January 24, 20139:00 a.m.

Grand Regal Hotel, Lanang, Davao City

HON. NESTOR L. ALCORANMayorNew Corella, Davao del Norte

REGIONAL GREEN BANNER AWARDEE(MUNICIPAL LEVEL CATEGORY)

There is nothing sweeter for New Corella than to receive Regional Green Banner Award for the second time around. The town seized such award in the municipal level category during 2011 regional nutrition awarding ceremony held at Garden Oases Resort and Convention Center, Davao City. In 2010, it received the same award as Mayor Nestor “Bebot” Alcoran was recognized as green banner awardee.

Its compass to become Davao Del Norte’s cartel for nutrition excellence was the executive thrust coined as Alleviating Life by Creating Opportunities and Rendering Accessible Network of (ALCORAN) Services. This propelled the Municipal Nutrition Committee (MNC) to streamline government resources and forge partnership with various stakeholders.

The committee ensured the efficient implementation of health and nutrition program through legislation and other related services. It activated barangay nutri-tion committees (BNC) in 20 barangays to mobilize its volunteers like brgy. nutrition scholars (BNS), brgy. health workers (BhW) and brgy. extension workers (BEW) with the help of the Council of Women, Brgy. Captain’s Spouses Association, Women’s Sun-rise Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Lapanday, Doña Luisa Foundation, Sumifru and other socio-civic organizations.

This convergence has sustained “Gulayan sa Kabahayan” to bring healthy food in the family table by enormous planting of malunggay and other green leafy and yellow vegetables in the backyard of households, schools and purok centers. It also facilitat-ed the achievement of other programs that includes nutrition education, micronutri-ent supplementation, food fortification, supplementary feeding, and nutrition essen-tial in maternal and child health care services, among others. Provision of technical skills and livelihood trainings such as carpentry, masonry, driving, computer hard-ware servicing, food processing, meat processing, animal production, handicraft and soap making harmonized the nutrition activities. The trainings generated income development for families with malnourished children.

The establishment of dairy processing plant in New Corella strengthened the efforts of the government to combat malnutrition. Geared towards the vision of Mayor Alcoran that every child will drink a glass of milk daily, MNC integrated milk drinking to supplementary feeding for pre-schoolers. The committee guaranteed food sufficiency through vegetable and goat production. This has been monitored in the regular conduct of evaluation on “Gulayan sa Barangay”. Production of Bio-N and organic fertilizer complemented also its implementation. Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (KALAhI) projects like potable water system, rubber nursery production and other infrastructure development contributed to the reduction of malnutrition. Parallel to said contribution was the construction of Farm-to-Market Roads (FMR) under Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP) and Growth Equity in Mind-anao (GEM) Program.

For better focus on nutrition services, MNC Chair Mayor Alcoran shared the re-sponsibility with the barangay by organizing Brgy. Nutrition Action Officers (BNAO) to coordinate with the MNAO.

True to his commitment to uplift New Corellahanon families, Mayor Alcoran reported that the prevalence of severely underweight (SU) and underweight (UW) pre-schoolers had reduced from 7.86% to 6.59%; and of schoolchildren, from 7.4% to 6.7% in 2010-2011.

“This significant rate of reduction only tells that we are consistent in our dream to have healthy, happy and intelligent children in the 21st century,” expressed the mayor.

he lauded too the untiring works of the MNC members and the convergent ef-forts of stakeholders that raised New Corella as the Regional Green Banner again.

HON. ANIANO P. ANTALANMayorIsland Garden City of SamalRegional Green Banner Awardee(City Level Category)

The Island Garden City of Samal is the center of tourist destination in Mind-anao region. The white sandy shore around the entire island is home of beaches and resorts that sprout like mushrooms. The splendored beauty of the island equates the strong leadership of the honorable Mayor Aniano P. Antalan whose flagship program is directed to human development as an important element to economic growth and development.

The City Nutrition Committee spearheaded by the honorable mayor has im-plemented various programs and projects in strong coordination with different stakeholders from the government, private and business sector. The identified nutrition programs are geared toward the improvement of the nutrition condi-tion of the vulnerable groups primarily the preschool children, school children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

Food production is being implemented in the island to provide addition-al food to the family and augment family income through selling of extra home grown vegetables and livestock other than fishing. To ensure wide coverage of food production, the City Agriculture’s office distributed assorted vegetable seeds and seedlings to 109 households prioritizing families with malnourished children. On the other hand, 51 schools have also established school gardens and spent its proceeds for the school feeding program. The maternal and infant health and nutrition are also prioritized to ensure good nutrition for both moth-er and infant. The preventive measures established for attaining good health and nutrition is through periodic supplementation of micronutrients specifical-ly vitamin A, iron, and zinc. This is integrated with nutrition education among mothers with young children, pregnant and lactating women through Pabasa sa Nutrisyon, Infant and Young Child Feeding counseling session and the conduct of symposia highlighting topics that promotes healthy lifestyle and promotion of good nutrition. The local government of IGACOS in partnership with Antonio Floirendo Foundation and Land O’Lakes Foundation conducted a 120 days sup-plementary feeding program targeting underweight children. The same feeding activity is also conducted in school targeting children who are wasted. These are short term interventions to improve their nutrition condition. Livelihood programs are also strengthened to sustain family income. Among the livelihood activities conducted are animal dispersal, financial assistance in the form of soft loans and money lending through eligible cooperatives and association in the barangays. This activity is closely monitored by the concerned sector for sus-tainability and replication to other barangays. Capability development is also conducted among the health and nutrition workers at the city level and baran-gay level to equip them with pertinent knowledge on health and nutrition for effective delivery of services and implementation of programs.

The concerted efforts of the City Nutrition Committee led to the rehabilita-tion of underweight preschool and school children, wherein, 6.27% prevalence rate of undernourished preschool children in CY 2010 went down to 5.25% in 2011 while 9.24% prevalence rate in SY 2010 of wasted and severely wasted school children went down to 8.13% in SY 2011

The improvement of nutrition condition among the vulnerable children through collaborative efforts of the City Nutrition Committee and allied sectors enable the city to achieve the Regional Green Banner Award for CY 2012. Oth-er than that, the city government also received the Seal of Good housekeeping Award with financial assistance amounting to Php 25 Million given by the De-partment of Interior and Local Government. The said financial assistance shall be spent for the construction of farm to market roads, school buildings and school rehabilitations and improvement.

For the Island Garden City of Samal, the challenge of overcoming malnu-trition can be overwhelming but with team work and community participation, dedication and commitment among the City Nutrition Committee through the leadership of Mayor Aniano P. Antalan there is no barrier that will keep them from achieving their goal of a healthy and well nourished populace.

HON. EVALINA J. JAMPAYASMayorMawab, Compostela ValleyKaugmaon Awardee

The milestones of nutrition program in the municipality of Mawab evolved in 1974 with the existing structure equipped with manpower. The rehabilitation center of malnourished children known as “Nu-tri-hut” at that time was established where severely malnourished chil-dren are being treated.

Nutrition programs was sustainably implemented until the pres-ent administration spearheaded by the active and energetic Local Chief Executive in the person of honorable Evalina J. Jampayas, who is also a medical doctor by profession. It was during the term of Mayor Evalina J. Jampayas where the spacious nutrition building was established be-side the Mawab municipal building. health and nutrition is close to the heart of the honorable Mayor as she readily supports every aspect of the nutrition program implementation through the Municipal Nutri-tion Committee. This can be manifested through increased allocation of nutrition budget to 26% in CY 2011 for program interventions and number of policies passed supporting to health and nutrition.

The deployment of 17 Barangay Nutrition Scholars in 11 baran-gays enabled the delivery of basic services up to the far flung barangays. Regular health and nutrition services are being administered including micronutrient supplementation of vitamin A, iron and zinc; household visitation and counseling among child bearing age women, pregnant and lactating mothers. The BNSs along with BhWs are closely monitor-ing the child’s weight through the use of measurement tools like the salter scale. Based on the Monitoring and Evaluation of Local Level Plan Implementation conducted, 95% of infants have normal birth weight. This can be attributed to the quality of maternal care given to pregnant women through packages of intervention.

The municipality of Mawab has a number of good innovations when it comes to food production as they adopted the organic farming technology and production of vermi-culture. households were also giv-en seeds and seedlings to establish their own home grown vegetables. The presence and support of the Council of Women in the municipality of Mawab is also visible. This can be manifested through the livelihood skills development introduced among women in the form of craft and beads making.

The dedication, commitment and selfless efforts of the members of the Municipal Nutrition Committee through the Chairmanship of hon-orable Mayor Jampayas had helped in the reduction of the prevalence of malnutrition among the preschool and school children.

As of CY 2011, underweight and severely underweight preschool children has a prevalence rate of 2.22% which is lower than the region-al prevalence rate of 6.2%. On the other hand, the prevalence rate for wasting and severely wasting among school children is 5.22% on SY 2011.

The municipality of Mawab is one of the outstanding LGUs in Com-postela Valley province. The LGU is also a recipient of major awards at the provincial level and regional level. In 2011, municipality of Mawab was adjudged as 3rd placer outstanding municipality in the region and has been a recipient of Sandugo Award at the national level and Good Governance Award.

Through continued support and strong linkages among line agen-cies, non government organizations, socio- civic groups, total health and nutrition development is within.

MASTERLIST OF AWARDEES FOR THE REGIONAL NUTRITION

AWARDING CEREMONYMAJOR REGIONAL AWARD OF

REGION XIREGIONAL GREEN BANNER AWARD - 2nd MAINTE-NANCE (Provincial level category)• Province of Davao del Norte

REGIONAL GREEN BANNER AWARD – City level category• Island Garden City of Samal

REGIONAL GREEN BANNER AWARD – 2nd MAINTE-NANCE (Municipal level category)• New Corella, Davao del Norte Province

REGIONAL MELLPI RANKING

2nd Best Municipality in the Region• Carmen, Davao del Norte

3rd Best Municipality in the Region • Mawab, Compostela Valley Province

KAUGMAON AWARDEE• Municipality of Mawab, Compostela Valley Province

PAG-ASA AWARD• Provincial level – Davao Oriental Province CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION(National and Regional MELLPI Participants)

National level (National Search for Outstanding BNS)• Nabunturan, Compostela Valley• Barangay Mainit, Nabunturan, Compostela Valley

Regional level:

Province:• Compostela Valley Province• Davao del Norte Province

City:• Island Garden City of Samal

Municipality• Carmen, Davao del Norte• New Corella, Davao del Norte• Maco, Compostela Valley• Mawab, Compostela Valley• Mabini, Compostela Valley• Hagonoy, Davao del Sur• Banaybanay, Davao Oriental

CERTIFICATE OF RECOGNITION FOR Local Chief Executives (LCEs)

Green Banner Awardee – Provincial level category• Governor Rodolfo P. Del RosarioProvince of Davao del Norte

Green Banner Awardee – City level category• Mayor Aniano P. AntalanIsland Garden City of Samal

Green Banner Awardee – Municipal level category• Mayor Nestor L. AlcoranNew Corella, Davao del Norte Province

Regional Outstanding BNS• Barangay Captain Alfredo B. AbenalesBarangay Mainit, Nabunturan, Compostela Valley

OUTSTANDING BARANGAY NUTRITION SCHOLARS:

Maria Digna D. TayongRegional Outstanding Barangay Nutrition Scholar Brgy. Mainit, Nabunturan, Compostela Valley

Luz F. Duot (2nd Place)Brgy. Caganganan, Banaybanay, Davao Oriental

Mercedita F. Mole (3rd Place)Brgy. Magsaysay, Carmen, Davao del Norte

Sherwin C. AbellanizaBrgy. Magugpo East, Tagum City

Charlotte Y. AgangBrgy. Tagakpan, Tugbok DistrictDavao City

Ester M. ArgandaBrgy. Sinayawan, hagonoyDavao del Sur

Magdalena S. BorresBrgy. San Antonio, Babak District Island Garden City of Samal

2012 SEARCH FOR OUTSTANDING VOLUNTEER (SOV)

BNS Maria Enone dela Cueva Bgry. A.O. Floirendo, Panabo City

BNS Jocelyn A. LumaadBgy. Panacan, Davao City

PLAQUE AND CERTIFICATE OF RECOGNITION

Jocelyn A. LumaadCharter PresidentFederation of Barangay Nutrition Scholars Association of Region XI/BNS Onse PresidentNational Federation of Barangay Nutrition Scholars

CERTIFICATE OF RECOGNITION FOR MEDIA PARTNERS:

• The Edge Davao• DXRP• GMA Network

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013

BANANA companies are hinting on possible down-sizing amidst the series of

challenges experienced by the banana export industry since the first quarter of 2012.

Export earnings last year were badly affected by the de-crease in production volume brought about by several natu-ral and man-made catastrophes. “Total export volume in 2012 was down by more than seven per cent (7.25%) compared to 2011 figure. The industry was caught in a quagmire as a result of the market crises, intermit-

tent weather conditions, the onslaught of Typhoon Pablo in December 2012, and now the se-ries of flooding that intensified the risk of the spread of plant diseases including Fusarium wilt popularly known as Pan-ama Disease”, Stephen Antig , executive director of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association, Inc. (PBGEA) bared.

According to Antig, the reha-

bilitation of banana plantations damaged by Typhoon Pablo will run for at least nine months. Considering the size of the area that will have to undergo soil analysis and treatment, it will take some time before banana bunches can be harvested again. “We are talking of more than 14,000 hectares of which not all may be fit for banana produc-tion anymore”, Antig added.

The PBGEA director said that while the rehabilitation of farms is on-going, the activities in the production areas and packing plants will decrease hence the need to rationalize the workforce. he said this move is mulled over to minimize the losses incurred by the banana companies in 2012 and to pre-vent further shortfalls in 2013.

“It is a real fact. Banana growers have been hurting for long. The continuous apprecia-tion of the peso has been making our situation more difficult. We have no other recourse but to resort to cost-cutting measures and minimize operation costs including payments for salaries and wages and the accompany-ing compulsory contributions, benefits and incentives intended for the workers”, Antig said.

The spokesperson of the largest and most organized as-sociation of banana growers and exporters in the country is, however, optimistic that the retrenchment of workers that some member-companies may be forced to undertake would be temporary until such time that operations in production areas will be normalized. “Of course, we will be doing this in accor-dance to Philippine labor laws”, Antig added.

In 2012, the Philippine ba-nana export industry directly and indirectly provided jobs to more than 300,000 people with an estimated annual pay out of PhP38-Billion for salaries and wages.

10 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/Sat MI588 12:55 Davao-Cebu-Singapore 09:05Cebu 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 Mon/Sat MI588 / MI588 18:55 Davao-Singapore 13:35 Silk Air Wed/Sun MI566 / MI566 18:55 Davao-Singapore 15:20Silk Air Thurs MI551 / MI551 15:45 Davao-Singapore 12:05Cebu 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

THE ECONOMy

LIVESTOCK. A man can be seen untying his goats which he will later display outside the Sta. Ana Wharf where purchasers usually wait for livestock and other farm products from Island Garden City of Samal and nearby areas. Lean Daval Jr.

ThE Federation of Coop-eratives in Mindanao (FEDCO) will provide

market for the harvests of small banana-cacao growers who underwent trainings on its ba-nana-cacao intercropping proj-ect.

Flordelyn Saavedra, marketing head of FEDCO said the farmers enrolled with FEDCO’s Farmer Field School (FFS) on ba-nana-cacao intercropping have expressed concern on market accessibility, a problem they are facing as small farm-ers.

Small farmers from Sto. To-mas, Davao del Norte raised the problem in one of their FFS ses-sions recently.

Ponciano Andamun, farm-er beneficiary of FEDCO’s FFS has already started planting cacao under his banana trees. he said the new farming system is quite promising. however, he is worried on where to market

his upcoming harvests. Based on previous experience, Anda-mun said due to lack of market accessibility his bananas find its way to the wet markets in Sto. Tomas at a very low price. Worse, those that were not sold perished, he lamented.

“Nindot kaayo ni nga proyekto para sa among gag-may nga mang-uuma, pero ng-utana lang ko bahin sa kasigu-ruhan sa pagapil namo aning banana-cacao intercropping, basig mangalata lang ni among produkto kay wala miy kabalig-yaan (this is a very good project for us small farmers, but I will just ask on the guarantee that our products will have a market otherwise they might just rot because we don’t have buyers),” Andamun said at the session.

Saavedra who was present at the session assured the farm-ers that FEDCO will help them by consolidating their pro-duce and will provide the de-sired market. She said FEDCO

is aware of the small farmers’ problem on market accessibil-ity.

however, in the case of ca-cao, Saavedra is confident it would not be difficult to market the product given its current demand.

Citing a study of the De-partment of Agriculture (DA), Saavedra said the country cur-rently needs about 35,000 met-ric tons (MT) of cacao annually. however the current produce is only at 6,000 MT. The huge ca-cao supply lack is an assurance that the produce of the small farmers who are now into ca-cao growing will find a market, Saavedra said.

FEDCO ventured into ba-nana-cacao intercropping proj-ect in the wake of the problems confronting the banana indus-try among others, pest infes-tation that resulted to stricter quality requirements from ex-port markets. FEDCO members included big and small banana

growers. FEDCO partnered with

ACDI/VOCA an international organization currently imple-menting CocoPal Farming Sys-tem project in Mindanao in its banana-cacao intercropping project called Cacao-Banana Agri-Enterprise Development (CBAED).

First phase of the CBAED covers the establishment of a cacao nursery to sustain the project while the second phase involves the training of the small farmers through FFS. The project is targeted to end next month benefiting a total of about 2,000 small farmers.

FEDCO’s nursery project in Barangay New Katipunan, Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte covers 1.8 hectares planted with about 4,000 cacao trees. The project started in April. At present, about 1,800 trees are already fruit bearing, Benjie Lumiguid, FEDCO’s nursery in-charge said.

FEDCO to provide marketfor small farmers’ produce

Amidst 2012 income deficits and possible Q1 shortfalls

Banana companies may resort to retrenchment

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III is kicking off his foreign trips

this year with a journey to Switzerland, where he is seen to cite Philippine reforms in a global forum.

Aquino is expected to “highlight the adminis-tration’s anti-corruption campaign and make a pitch on the Philippines’ readiness to receive more investments,” Execu-tive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. said in a state-ment Wednesday.

The government has earmarked P49 million for the trip, the statement added.

The amount includes the delegation’s chartered flight to Switzerland, ac-commodation, transpor-tation, food and equip-ment and telecommu-nications requirements, among others.

The President will fly to Davos late Wednesday to attend the World Eco-nomic Forum, which is flocked by global business and political leaders.

he is set to deliver a keynote address on the fight against corruption at the WEF “Partnering Against Corruption Ini-tiative” which will be held on January 24, the Palace

said.Aquino’s trip will last

until Jan. 27. Aquino is also expected to meet the Filipino community in Zu-rich Jan. 26 before flying back to Manila.

“President Aquino’s participation in the WEF is an important oppor-tunity for us to let the world know of our deter-mination to institution-alize good governance in our country as one of the principal pillars of fiscal reform,” Ochoa said.

Last year, Aquino had nine trips abroad, includ-ing state visits to the Unit-ed States and the United Kingdom.

Also among his no-table 2012 trips abroad are to Vladivostok, Russia for the 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in September and to Phnom Phen, Cambo-dia for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in November.

For his first 2013 trip abroad, the President

will be accompanied a 63-member delegation composed mostly of pub-lic officials.

This includes Foreign Affairs chief Albert Del Rosario, Finance chief Ce-sar Purisima, Trade chief Gregory Domingo, Bud-get chief Florencio Abad, Socio-Economic Planning chief Arsenio Balisacan, Cabinet Secretary to the President Jose Rene Al-mendras and Presidential Communications Secre-tary Ricky Carandang.

ChINA’S capital Bei-jing will strengthen measures to com-

bat pollution, state media reported Tuesday, amid public anger over the dan-gerous air quality in the sprawling metropolis.

Acting mayor Wang

Anshun told the city’s legislature that steps will include removing old ve-hicles from roads, shutting down coal-fired plants and planting more green-ery, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

“Beijing will complete

afforestation of 66,000 hectares (163,020 acres) to make the city’s forest coverage hit 40 percent or above” over the next five years, Wang said.

“Its total emissions of major pollutants will con-tinue to be reduced.”

Wang’s comments came after dense smog engulfed large areas of northern China, including the capital, earlier this month, sparking public anger and media criticism.

At the height of the pol-lution, Beijing authorities said readings for PM2.5 -- particles small enough deeply to penetrate the lungs -- hit 993 micro-grams per cubic metre, almost 40 times the World health Organisation’s safe limit.

Experts quoted by state media blamed weak winds, saying fog had mixed with pollutants from vehicles and facto-ries and had been trapped by mountains north and west of Beijing. Coal burn-ing in winter was also a factor.

Wang said Beijing would retire 180,000 old vehicles and encourage the use of clean-energy autos in government de-partments.

NATION/WORlD11EDGEDAVAONATION BRIEFS

Not revoked

Several months af-ter the assault vid-eo went viral, the

Land Transportation Office (LTO) thinks re-voking Robert Blair Carabuena’s license is just too much. Carabue-na’s offense is now a “mere traffic violation which does not mer-it the harsh penalty of revocation,” the Metro Manila Development Authority quoted LTO as saying.

Carabuena was also not found guilty of “op-erating or using a mo-tor vehicle in, or as an accessory to, the com-mission of any crime or at which endangers the public,” the LTO added.

Setback

Time is running out for the Freedom of Information

(FoI). Or so it seems as the house of Represen-tatives failed to spon-sor the controversial measure for the second reading following an early suspension of ses-sions Tuesday.

The FoI bill is the implementing measure people’s right to infor-mation on matters of public concern and the state policy of full pub-lic disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest.

Won’t regulate

Does the Com-mission on Elec-tions’ rules on

candidates’ media in-terviews violate press freedom? Poll chief Sixto Brillantes doesn’t think so, as he noted that “prior restraint” is not Comelec’s intention when it comes to me-dia interviews but only “prior notice.”

“We cannot regulate the interview,” Brillan-tes said. “We will just have to monitor the interview and check whether it will fall un-der propaganda or a legitimate interview on issues or a legitimate cause,” he added.

Arrested

Manuel Amalilio, head of a com-pany implicated

in a multi-billion peso investment scam, has been taken into custo-dy of Malaysian immi-gration for “possession of fraudulent Malaysian passport and identifi-cation cards,” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Wednesday.

Amalilio flew to Ma-laysia late last year af-ter his company, Aman Futures Group Philip-pines Inc., was linked to a P12-billion scam that allegedly victimized hundreds of investors.

Fined

The Philippines has fined the US Navy for “unauthorised

entry” after an Ameri-can minesweeper went aground on Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in the Sulu Sea.

The Tubbataha Pro-tected Area Manage-ment Board, of which WWF-Philippines is a member, was poised to send out the Notice of Violation informing the US government of its transgressions, in-cluding penalties, on Tuesday afternoon, said Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan, WWF-Philippines vice chairman and chief executive officer.

WORLD TODAYMental problem

Britain’s Prince har-ry, who compared shooting insurgents

in Afghanistan to playing video games, has probably developed a mental prob-lem, the Taliban said Tues-day.

“There are 49 coun-tries with their powerful military failing in the fight against the mujahideen, and now this prince comes and compares this war with his games, PlayStation or whatever he calls it,” Tal-iban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP.

Complication

China said on Wednes-day that a request by the Philippines for a

U.N. tribunal to intervene in its longstanding South China Sea territorial dis-pute with China would only complicate the issue, and denounced Manila’s “illegal occupation” of is-lands there.

Manila has asked the tribunal of the U.N. Con-vention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to order a halt to China’s activities that the Philippines says violates the Southeast Asian nation’s sovereignty.

Sanctions

The UN Security Coun-cil ordered expand-ed sanctions against

North Korea for a banned rocket launch, triggering a defiant pledge by Pyong-yang to bolster its nuclear deterrent.

The Security Council on Tuesday added North Ko-rea’s state space agency, a bank, four trading compa-nies and four individuals to the UN sanctions list, and threatened “significant ac-tion” if the North stages a nuclear test.

No peace

Russian Foreign Min-ister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday

there could be no peaceful resolution of the conflict in Syria as long as opponents of President Bashar al-As-sad demand his exit from power and refuse to nego-tiate with his government.

Lavrov’s comments at an annual news conference signalled no shift in the po-sition of Russia, which says Assad’s exit must not be a precondition for a deal to end 22 months of violence in which more than 60,000 people have been killed.

Final bow

hillary Clinton will make one of her last major appear-

ances as US secretary of state when she testifies to lawmakers on Wednesday about a deadly militant attack on a US mission in Libya.

Despite keeping a de-cidedly low profile after a long period of ill health in her final weeks in office, Clinton is keen to draw a line under the deadly September 11 Benghazi assault, which triggered a political storm in the US.

President Benigno S. Aquino III during the International Conference on Retail Marketsat the Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria in Que-zon City. [Photo by the Malacañang Photo Bureau]

Aquino to spend P49Mon trip to Switzerland

Pedestrians wearing masks wait to cross a road in severe pol-lution in Beijing on January 12, 2013. China’s capital Beijing will strengthen measures to combat pollution, state media

reported, amid public anger over the dangerous air quality in the sprawling metropolis. [AFP]

Beijing vows efforts to fight pollution

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 201312 EDGEDAVAO

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“We will wait for what happens next,” Cagas added.

“Dili katuohan nga SCARED o NAhADLOK ang mga Bautista sa kan-didatura ni Marc Cagas pagka Gobernador ug ni Bong Parcasio pagka Congressman sa District 2 (It is unbelievable that the Bautista clan is scared of the candidacy of (incumbent congress-man) March Cagas for governor and of (Ran-dolph) Bong Parcasio for congressman of District 2, ” the governor said.

What is clear, Cagas charged, is that the Bau-tistas abandoned their candidates for vice gov-ernor, board members, mayors and councilors of the nine municipal-ities of Malalag, Sulop,

Kiblawan, Padada, hago-noy,Magsaysay, Ban-salan, Matanao, Sta. Cruz and the city of Digos.

In contrast, Cagas said, whatever happens, his and his group’s will continue supporting all their political allies in Davao del Sur, especially those who are in Saran-gani, Jose Abad Santos, Don Marcelino, Malita and Sta. Maria.

Earlier, the governor said that despite the ap-proval of the creation of Davao Occidental will push through consider-ing that there is no lon-ger time for the process to be completed.

Saying the approv-al of the law came late, and there is no longer time for the election of a new set of officers, since

time has run out for the required printing of the ballot appropriate for election in the new prov-ince.

Only in his second term as governor, Cagas has decided to give way to his son, Congressman Marc, to run for gover-nor and instead, filed his certificate of candidacy for mayor of Digos City. his wife Didi is running for congresswoman of the First District.

Former congressman Claude Bautista, who lost to the elder Cagas for governor twice, is running again for gover-nor.

DODO CAGAS

businessmen and profes-sionals who are members of a local Rotary club.

Rivera addressed the Rotary Club of East Davao at The Marco Polo Davao Tuesday. he said that Comelec Resolution No. 9588, Section 8, let-ter B, which states that a warrantless checkpoint search can be made “as long as the vehicle is nei-ther searched nor its oc-cupant/s subjected to a body search, and the in-spection of the vehicle is merely limited to a visual search.”

Warrantless searches can also be made in cas-es of moving vehicles and the seizure of evidence made in plain view, if the occupant or occupants of the vehicle look ner-vous, suspicious or show an unnatural reaction, if the officer conducting the search has reason-able and probable cause to believe that the occu-pant or occupants are law offenders or “that the in-strumentality or evidence pertaining to the com-mission of a crime can be found in the vehicle to be searched; or On the basis of prior confidential in-formation which are rea-sonably corroborated by

other attendant matters.”Comelec Resolution

No. 9588 is a guideline on the establishment and op-eration of Comelec check-points in connection with the May 13, 2013 Auto-mated Synchronized Na-tional, Local and ARMM Regional Elections.

The Resolution states that there must be at least one Comelec checkpoint in every city and munici-pality, however, addition-al checkpoints may be es-tablished at the discretion of the highest ranking of-ficial of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) or the Philippine National Police (PNP) in that cer-tain city or municipality.

Locations of check-points must only be in places which are well-lighted, if certain places have no electric lights available, artificial lighting shall be provided as stated in the resolution.

Every Comelec check-point must have a sign-board measuring three feet by four feet to clear-ly identify the place as a Comelec checkpoint from a reasonable distance, and must bear these words on both sides: “Stop, Comelec Check-point, please bear with

us, thank you for your co-operation,” with the name and address of the elec-tion officer and the name of the commanding offi-cer and team leader.

Personnel who man Comelec checkpoints must be led by a regular member of the AFP or the PNP with a rank of at least lieutenant for AFP and Inspector for PNP, and the PNP and the AFP personnel manning the checkpoints must be in complete uniform and shall not be under the in-fluence of liquor or drugs, according to the resolu-tion.

It is also stated in the resolution that any search at any Comelec check-point must be made only by members of the unit designated to man the location and it should be done in a manner which will impose minimum inconvenience upon the person or persons searched, to the end that civil, political and human rights of the person or persons are not violated.

As a rule, a valid search must only be authorized by a search warrant duly issued by an appropriate authority, the resolution states.

Meanwhile, Col. Leopol-do Galon Jr. group command-er of the 5th Civil Relations Group Armed Forces of the Philippines said in an inter-view that Juland Suazo, lead-er of Panalipdan Mindanao, an organization that was also involved in the Montevista barricade, had been spread-ing malicious “tweets” on a social network.

Galon said Suazo appar-ently directed his tweets at

the United Nations Popula-tion Fund (UNFPA), World Food Program (WFP), United Nations high Commissioner for Refugees (UNChR) and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to de-ceive them into believing that it is the organizers of relief operations who benefitting from disasters and using the victims to enrich themselves (volunteers).

Galon said the activist

groups mentioned are cre-ating the crisis wrought by Typhoon Pablo as an oppor-tunity to consolidate and expand their ranks and to in-tensify the mass movement in advancing collective strug-gle for social justice, mean-ingful change and genuine development.

“Juland Suazo is a pa-thetic ideologue who is truly irrelevant in these times,” Ga-lon said.

ThE 8th Mindan-ao Media Summit will include stu-

dents and school profes-sors to bridge the gap between the different practices of the school and mainstream media, according to Amalia Cabusao, the summit convenor.

In announcing the 8th Mindanao Media Summit---which will be held at the Royal Man-daya hotel on Friday and Saturday---during the Club 888 media fo-rum at the Eagles Bar of The Marco Polo Davao yesterday, Cabusao said said that students and college professors are among those invited to the Summit to bridge the wide gap between what is practiced in the school and in main-stream media.

Some of the schools which are expected to send participants to the summit are the Universi-ty of Mindanao, Univer-sity of the Philippines in Mindanao (UP-Min), holy Cross of Davao Col-lege, Ateneo de Davao University, Philippine Women’s College, and the Intercity College of

Science and Technology. With this year’s

t h e m e - - “ R e p o r t i n g Governance and the Elections 2013”--local editors and radio/TV station managers will convene at the summit to discuss and learn how to properly manage news, especially those concerning the election of local officials only a few months away.

The Summit aims to equip media practi-tioners with skills on re-porting and monitoring governance by leaders, design and distribute templates for media practitioners on effec-tive reporting, and to involve campus journal-ists in the regional me-dia conference.

The summit is ex-pected to produce media practitioners, including campus journalists in Mindanao, who are ad-vocates of transparency and accountability of elected officials to help the people decide whom to vote for into office.

To speak about the subject on “Mid-term Elections and the Role of Media” is Marshall Mcluhan Awardee for

2012, Lynda Jumilla of ABS-CBN; Lighthouse Communicaions CEO Carlos Munda who will talk on how to look at political spins; Dr. Ma. Linda Arquiza, UM In-stitute of Public Opin-ion, will talk on how to appreciate and un-derstand political sur-veys; Dr. Ma. Diosa La-biste will be tackling “Technologies and the Mid-term Election: A critique on social me-dia, news media, and technologies of partici-pation.”

There are many oth-er speakers included in the summit, such as Ja-mie Christoff, Political Counsellor Embassy of Canada; Adroel Alcober, ABS-CBN news director, Jon Joaquin, managing editor, Mindanao Daily Mirror; Luke Martin, US Embassy Manila; Ellen Tordesillas of Vera Files; Vince Lazatin, executive director of Transpar-ency and Accountabili-ty Network; Derf Maiz, GMA anchor; Ching Amor, news director of TV 5; ASEC. Romeo Mon-tenegro, MINDA, and lawyer Danilo Balucos, CEO Mindanews.

Mindanao Media Summit to include students, profsBy EJ Dominic Fernandez

Four more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) returned

from Algeria Wednesday, five days after a bloody hostage-taking incident that killed at least 80 peo-ple, including six Filipinos in a remote gas facility in Algeria.

The four OFWS ar-rived from Doha, Qatar at 3:50 p.m. on board Qatar Airways Flight QR 646 at the Ninoy Aquino Inter-national Airport Terminal 1.

The four identified as Larry Villariza, Crisosto-mo Carabia, Mario Catiis and Ramon Tortosa were accompanied by Takakura Ishikaro, representative

of their company Japan Gas Corporation.

Officials from the Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration were present to assist the OFWs but they refused the assistance.

”They don’t want to accept our offer to as-sist them. We cannot do anything about it be-cause they were brought home by their employer,” OWWA officer Nestor Bu-rayag said.

The OFWs refused also to answer questions from the media.

In a press statement, DFA spokesman Raul hernandez said the four

OFWs were not take hos-tage although they are working for JGC at the In Amenas Gas facility when the hostage-taking hap-pened last week.

”They were not taken hostage and were thus unharmed,” hernandez said.

Last Sunday, a total of 39 OFWs returned home after being sent home by their employer in Algeria due to security fears fol-lowing the hostage-tak-ing.

The 39 returnees worked for a British en-ergy facility hundreds of kilometers from the gas plant. [PNA]

4 more OFWs return from Algeria

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VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013 13EDGEDAVAO SPORTS

ThE Philippine na-tional men’s football team hopes high-

ly-touted Filipino-Spanish striker Javier Patiño can boost the Azkals’ campaign in the 2014 Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup qualifiers slated in March.

Patiño, who plays for Cordoba CF in the Span-ish second division league, was supposed to arrive this week to obtain his Philip-pine passport, but his trip was postponed due to com-mitments with his club.

“As of now, Javier is co-ordinating with his club for him to leave Spain on Sun-day,” Azkals liaison officer and staff member Rafa Gar-cia said. “he was supposed to be here tomorrow, but the return flight will not make him reach his prac-tice session at Cordoba which was the agreement.

“When he arrives here, we will fix his passport for his eligibility. he, too, is do-ing all he can to come here and play for his mother land.”

Born to a Filipino moth-er, Patiño played in vari-ous clubs in Spain before joining Cordoba in 2011. he has scored 11 goals in 62 appearances with the squad.

Patiño is expected to provide more attacking options for the Azkals, eas-ing the scoring burden off strikers Phil Younghusband and Angel Guirado.

The Azkals aim to top their group, which features Brunei Darussalam, Cam-bodia, and Turkmenistan, in the qualifiers on March to advance to the 2014 Challenge Cup, where they look to surpass their third-place finish in last year’s edition of the tournament.

LOS ANGELES — Com-ing off a loss two nights earlier in Denver, the Okla-homa City Thunder were more interested in bounc-ing back with a win than making any statements against the Clippers.

Kevin Durant scored 32 points, Russell Westbrook added 26 and the Thunder won 109-97 on Tuesday night (Wednesday, Ma-nila time) in a matchup of teams with the two best records in the NBA.

“We’ve got 82 games and we want to play well every night,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “We don’t put more em-phasis on any one game. We know the Clippers are one of the best teams, and with Chris Paul in or out, they’ve still got a great team.”

Serge Ibaka added 17 points before fouling out late while helping the Thunder improve to a league-best 33-9 and expand their lead in the Western Conference stand-ings to one game over the Clippers, who were with-out All-Star Paul. They fell to 32-11.

“They were missing Chris Paul, which is a huge piece, but they were still good in his absence,” Du-rant said. “We wanted to come in here and get a good road win.”

Blake Griffin had 31 points and 11 rebounds, and Jamal Crawford add-ed 14 points off the bench.

Eric Bledsoe scored 12 points starting in place of Paul, who missed his fourth game because of a bruised right kneecap. he missed three road wins last week, then played the next two games but it was obvious Paul wasn’t him-self so he was held out Tuesday.

After the game, coach Vinny Del Negro said, “Chris is going to be out. hopefully, we get him back soon. It’s a day-to-day thing.”

The Clippers play 10 of their next 11 on the road.

“Chris is the orchestra-tor. he’ll organize every-thing out there,” Crawford said. “There’s no way to replace him, but collec-tively we’ll get it together.”

The Clippers had won four straight at home against the Thunder, and they led much of the first quarter before giving up the lead for good early in the second.

“They’re a good team at home, and right now we’re two of the best teams in the NBA,” West-brook said. “It was a big win for us. We made some big shots and guys made the right plays.”

Los Angeles made a run to start the fourth, with Grant hill and Craw-ford combining to score seven in a row and close to 82-75. That was as close as the Clippers came in losing their second straight.

Thunder beats Clips

AZKALS GET BOOST

A striker from Spain

Fil-Spaniard Javier Patino (right) of CF Cordoba will be reinforcing a retooled Philippine Azkals.

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 201314 EDGEDAVAOClASSIFIEDS ADS

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(Edge 1/23,30, 2/06)

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013

EDGEDAVAOFOOD

The interiors of Picobello harken back to classic Italian bistros.

Picobello’s pizza’s are thin, crisp and delicious.Light and tasty tomato mozarella salad. The wood-fired oven of Picobello ensures beautifully baked pizzas.

One of my personal fa-vourites for many years already is Picobello Ris-torante Italiano located at the 5th level of the Gai-sano South Citimall. With it’s rustic Tuscan interiors and menu that highlights the use of what used to be Davao’s only wood-fired oven, Picobello brings back many good memories of lunch and dinner with friends and family. Fast forward to today

and the mall management and owners may have changed but Picobello still

I belIeve that there are restaurants that are trendy and there are restaurants that go beyond the trend and establish themselves as in-stitutions where the urbanite has a comfy, comfortable, and familiar space to enjoy a meal.

Picobello: An old Italian favoriteserves up delicious meals like its Pollo al Forno, and Costine Picobello on a daily basis, but what makes the restaurant popular to urbanites is it’s daily buy-one-take-one wood-fired pizza offerings from two to five in the afternoon. One can pick two pizzas from their extensive list of tra-ditional Italian-style pizza and need only pay for the more expensive one. My favourite pizzas would be Picobello’s Pizza Con Salsicce, which is meaty, salty and savoury, and their Quattro Fromag-gi, a pizza with four differ-ent kinds of cheeses. Of course for those who plan to skip the pizza, Picobello offers lighter fare like their Tomato Mozarel-la Salad and their Ceasar Salad, which in my per-sonal opinion, is still one of the best Ceasar Salad I have ever tasted. Yes, things in Durian-burg may be changing but I’m glad the food at Pico-bello Restorante Italiano stays true to itself, with food that is comforting and familiar.

INdulge!

GSM Blue will be having its annual search for the FLAIR IDOL among HRM students early part of this year. The search is on its 6th year, battling for the title of the best in cocktail mixing and flair tending. This is the last leg of of GSM Blueniversity’s Mixology, which is a seminar program designed to educate students in becoming more com-petent, confident and knowledgeable in the field of Bartending and Cocktail Mixing. This project also aims to strengthen the promotion of Responsible Drinking among young and legally aged consumers

Area eliminations will be on January 25 in Matina Town Square in Davao City; February 7/8 in Harrison Park/ Fuente Osmeña in Cebu City (TBC); February 15 in Balibago Service Road, Angeles Pampanga; Febru-ary 22 in Old Calamba Plaza in Calamba Laguna. Fifteen finalists will also be having a Flair Camp in preparation for the grand finals on March 23 in Rajah Sulayman in Roxas Boulevard, Manila. Witness the fun and get awed with those extraor-dinary skills as HRM students make their way to be crowned as the 6th GSM BLUE FLAIR IDOL School Year 2012-2013. For more details and announcements, check out and like GSM Blue’s official Facebook ac-count at www.facebook.com/bluegin and GSM Blu-eniversity’s official fanpage at www.facebook.com/gsmbluniversityofficial.

IT’S A DATE at Trust Home Depot from January 28 to February 10, 2013! Get a chance to win a free overnight stay at the Pearl Farm Beach Resort or the Marco Polo Hotel Davao, a CBTL single serve coffee machine or free dinners at select restaurants around Davao.

IT’S TIMe to pack away the dull and drab patterns and prints in your ward-robe as a fresh pal-ette of colors are in for 2013. Abreeza Mall, in partner-ship with the Davao elite Fashion Group (DeFG), presents A NeW HUe, AbRee-ZA FASHION PRe-vIeW 2013 on Janu-ary 27, 2013, 6 pm at the Abreeza Mall Activity Center. This year’s fashion show will feature creations of ten of Davao’s most talented designers, namely Aztec barba, Dodjie batu, emi englis, edgar buyan, Popoy barba, bamba limon, Junnie Ar-tajo, Tzardy Tombo, Windell Mira and egay Ayag, as well as new lines from the collection of leading brands such as el-lesse, Tretorn, bau-haus, Promod, Par-fois, Nike Athletic Club, Debenhams, Soul, Artwork, Mags, Nautica, Sneaker Club, bambu and blue, Inc. Taking the cue from global fashion trends, this years color scheme takes on a new direction with a mix of dynamic brights and novel neutrals to cre-ate a harmonious balance. Dubbed as Pantone’s Color

of the Year, the eye-catch-ing emerald, the color of elegance and beauty, will stand out through perfectly matched outfits and foot-wear to express a sense of well-being, balance and harmony. Other color shades of the year include Tender Shoots, a vibrant yellow-green; Grayed Jade, a subtle, hushed green with a gray undertone; exotic African violet; exuberant Poppy Red,; Nectarine, a bright, effervescent citrus orange; cheerful lemon Zest; Dusk blue; warm, neutral linen and classic Monaco blue. To mix and match these colors will be a balancing act between the light and bright, the classic

and new. The fashion show will showcase these promi-nent hues of the season in the runway with the latest offerings of Abreeza’s top fashion brands, uniquely styled by Davao’s elite Fashion Group (DeFG). The Davao elite Fashion Group (DeFG), composed of thirteen of the city’s most established fashion design-ers, shall reveal the fashion forecast for this year in the upcoming fashion show. Fresh from their successful stints last year at the To-ronto Men’s Fashion Week, Manila Wear at Manila F.A.M.e, Philippine Fash-ion Week and Mindanao Fashion Summit, the group has partnered with Abreeza

Mall to bring forth yet an-other exciting event to stir up Davao’s fashion scene. In line with the upcom-ing fashion soiree, Abreeza Mall will also host the 2013 Fashion bazaar from Janu-ary 28 – February 1, 2013 at the Activity Center. Get the first pick of the latest trends from the racks of Abreeza’s prominent brands like Soul, Accessorize, Ideal vision, Sneaker Club, Maze, Rob-insons Department Store, Gems & Design, Res Toe Run, XOXO, WAGW, Isis, Sugar and Spice, Tretorn and ellesse. For more information, visit Abreeza Mall on Face-book and Twitter or call the Concierge at 321-9332.

A2 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT

GSM Blue Flair Idol search now on its 6th year

A New Hue for the New YearAbreeza Mall’s 2013 fashion preview

Trust Home Depot unveils valentines promo

For every single pur-chase of P1000 to P4999, the customer is entitled to draw from the P1000 to P4999 category. Major prizes for the category are P500 Gift Checks from Hukad, Basti’s Brew, Teri-yaki Boy, Kangaroo Cofee, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Cecil’s Snack Inn, and La-chi’s with heavy duty eco bags, portable flashlights, mugs, button mirror keychains, and light duty

eco bags as minor prizes. For every single pur-chase of P5,000 and above, the customer is entitled to draw from the P5,000 and above category. Major prizes in this category include an overnight stay with free meal for two at Pearl Farm Beach Resort or Marco Polo Hotel Davao, CBTL Single Serve Cof-fee Machine, a P500 gift check from Tiny Kitchen

and two Beef Pepper Rice Meals from Pepper Lunch, or a P1,000 Gift Check from Cellar, Tsuru and Coco’s Grill. Minor prizes include heavy duty eco bags, portable flash-lights, mugs, button mir-ror keychains, and light duty eco bags Visit Trust Home Depot today to grab these fabu-lous prizes! You may call 295-3588 for inquiries or more details.

FACE IT, folks. A lot of live performanc-es aren’t so live sometimes, espe-cially the ones that the whole world is watching that really need to go off with-out a hitch.But it appears that Be-yoncé’s backing band at yesterday’s presidential inauguration is now back-ing off a previous asser-tion that the pop-R&B star lip-synced the national anthem during Barack Obama’s public swearing-in ceremony.“The Presidential Inau-gural Committee (PIC) requested that the Ma-rine Band accompany Beyoncé Knowles-Carter in the performance of the ‘Star-Spangled Ban-ner’ at the 2013 Inaugural Ceremony,” United States Marine Corps. media offi-cer Capt. Gregory A. Wolf said in a statement today to E! News.“However, there was no opportunity for Ms. Knowles-Carter to re-hearse with the Marine Band before the Inau-guration so it was deter-mined that a live perfor-mance by the band was ill-advised for such a high-profile event. Each piece of music scheduled for performance in the Inau-guration is prerecorded for use in case of freezing temperatures, equipment

failure, or extenuating cir-cumstances.“Regarding Ms. Knowles-Carter’s vocal perfor-mance, no one in the Ma-rine Band is in a position to assess whether it was live or prerecorded,” Wolf concluded.The director of the Ma-rine Band, Col. Michael J. Colburn, had explained to NBC News they pre-record all of their music if there’s a chance of in-clement weather and that Beyoncé, not having time to rehearse with them, had opted for her prere-corded track of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” But, as new No. 1 Beyoncé fan Piers Morgan points out, she still sang the na-tional anthem, and got the approving nod from first lady Michelle Obama all the same.“Whether she lip-synched or not, #Beyonce still sang the American national

anthem better than any-one I’ve ever heard. Fact,” Morgan tweeted this af-ternoon. Facing a little backlash from the twit-terverse, he reiterated, “Beyonce still SANG it, ev-eryone. It was HER voice.”She just didn’t sing it the way Kelly Clarkson sang “My Country Tis of Thee,” that’s all. (Her rep con-firms to E! News that Clarkson performed live yesterday. Meanwhile, we don’t want to speak for James Taylor, but...Has he ever been asked in his entire life about lip-sync-ing?)“Whitney lip-synched her amazing ‘91 Superbowl anthem performance—who cares? It was still her voice, and still incredible,” Morgan added.But, just in case, he bet-ter be prepared to play a little more defense after Beyoncé’s Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 3.

SHAKIRA has birthed a bouncing baby boy! The Colombian-born singer and her man, Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué, welcomed a son tonight in Barcelona, their first child together. The proud mamá re-vealed his name, Milan Pi-qué Mebarak, in a tweet, and then her camp help-fully filled us in on the meaning! “The name Milan (pro-nounced MEE-lahn), means dear, loving and gracious in Slavic; in An-cient Roman, eager and laborious; and in Sanskrit, unification,” read a state-ment on Shakira’s web-site. “Just like his father, baby Milan became a member of FC Barcelona

at birth. The hospital con-firmed that the couple’s first child weighed ap-proximately 6 pounds, 6 ounces, and that both mother and child are in excellent health.” “I’d like to ask you all to

accompany me in your prayers on this very im-portant day of my life. Shak,” Shakira had tweet-ed this morning, in both English and Spanish, be-fore her and Piqué’s son arrived at 9:36 p.m.

INdulge! A3VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013EDGEDAVAO

Did Beyoncé lip-sync national anthem?Marine corps admits band wasn’t live

Shakira welcomes baby boy!

AS PROMISeD, January is PANTRY month as we come up with new and pal-ate explosive dishes that would soon be part of our simply to extravagant parties. From last week’s easy to prepare dishes to this week’s time con-suming but worth ev-ery nanosecond dish, the pantry is indeed one of the most mys-terious places to be in. Inspired by the colors of the kaleidoscope, I opted to make something that is as colorful as my nail pol-ish collection. I wanted something to brighten up the plates and a pasta recipe that could be tweaked as to fit anyone’s desire. Get your pans ready and let’s start cooking.

Pantry Inspired Filipi-no Style Spaghetti Who doesn’t love any-thing pasta? Honestly, I love experimenting with the sauce that comes with it.

Ingredients:500 grams Pasta cooked according to package500 grams Ground Chicken½ cup Shrimp ballsvegetable OilNative Shallots, mincedNative Garlic, minced2 pieces Red bell Pepper, Char grilled, Peeled and Minced½ cup All Purpose Cream 1 kilo Filipino Style Spa-ghetti Sauce 1 bar Dark Cheddar Cheeses, gratedSea Salt and Freshly cracked black Pepper2 teaspoon Raw Sugar, packed light Cheddar Cheese grated for Topping

Method: Cook pasta according to package instruction. Keep wet with a bit of pasta wa-ter. Set aside. Season thawed ground chicken with salt and pep-per. In a heavy pan skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Sauté minced onion until translucent. Follow with onion and cook for anoth-er minute. Add quartered

shrimp balls and cook. Sauté ground chicken until brown. Stir while sau-téing. Add char grilled bell pepper and spaghetti sauce. Mix thoroughly. Add raw sugar. Stir occasionally to incorporate all flavors. Sim-mer for at least 5 minutes. Once bubbles are formed, add grated cheese and stir. let cheese melt before adding the all pur-pose cream. Once added, mix well. let sit for another minute before turning the heat off. Season as you go. Serve according to your preference. I like mine cold (pasta is hot while sauce is not) Single Fruit Shots Salad ever wondered what to do with those canned fruits and jelly powder in your pantry? Stop with the cream based desserts turned mundane and imag-ine even further. Imagine colored jelly shots, individ-ually molded and bursting with different flavors. Yes, tedious but all worth it. The best thing about this? Your friends would not know what flavor they would get!

Ingredient:Colored Powder Jelly Mix

(I used Orange, Grape and Strawberry) 6 cups tepid water lemon grass, white part only and bruisedThumb sized ginger, pounded2 tablespoons ginger ale drink (Salabat)3 bags of green tea6 tablespoonfuls confec-tioner’s sugar1 canned fruit preserved, drainedIce molds

Methods: In a deep pan, simmer 2 cups of water, lemon grass and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Simmer. Set aside. Once cooled, transfer to a bowl. In another pan, sim-mer 2 cups of water, gin-ger, ginger ale drink and 2 tablespoons sugar. Simmer and set aside. Once cooled, transfer to a bowl. In another pan, simmer remaining water, remain-ing sugar and bag of green tea. Simmer and set aside. Once cooled, transfer to a

bowl. In another separate pan, pour flavored water and 1 tablespoon powder jelly mix. Mix until powder is completely dissolved. Re-peat on other flavors. Use different jelly colors to have a whimsical effect. Place fruit pieces in molds and pour colored mixtures. Chill and set. Serve in a chilled bowl.

*** belated Happy birth-day to one girlfriend I am always thankful for. More blessings to come Atty. Kristine Jane Pague. Il-oveyou and hope to see you soon. Happy 2013 to my TauMu 2005b batchmates. Misses you much. . . Do you want to be a part of Davao’s Thursday hab-it? Send me your recipes, questions, suggestions and comments and be featured. If you are interested, then email me at leebai@che-froyale.com or visit www.chefroyale.com for more recipes. Happy Cooking!

A4 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013EDGEDAVAOFOOD

From the pantry to the plate: Part 2

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013 SPORTS 15EDGEDAVAO

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Serena Williams’ dominating run at the

majors ended in a painful loss to American teenager Sloane Ste-phens.

After the biggest victory of her life, the 19-year-old Stephens is headed to the semifinals of the Australian Open.

Williams hurt her back in the eighth game of the second set, slowing down her serve, restrict-ing her movement and causing her obvious pain.

Stephens kept her compo-sure, blocking out the injury is-sue on the opposite side of the net, and rallied for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory on Wednesday - by far the most significant in her seven Grand Slams.

The gravity of it didn’t hit Stephens until she was warming down, and even then the victory had an unreal feeling.

‘’I was stretching, and I was like, ‘I’m in the semis of a Grand Slam.’ I was like, ‘Whoa. It wasn’t as hard as I thought.’ But it’s pret-ty cool,’’ she said. ‘’To be in the semis of a Grand Slam is definite-

ly I say a good accomplishment. A lot of hard work.’’

It was Williams’ first loss since Aug. 17, ending a run of 20 consecutive wins.

The 15-time major winner hadn’t lost a match at a Grand Slam tournament since the French Open, where her first-round exit sparked her resur-gence in the second half of 2012 that included titles at Wimble-don, the London Olympics, the U.S. Open and the WTA Champi-onship.

After winning her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, Stephens next plays defending champion Victo-ria Azarenka.

In the men’s draw, U.S. Open champion Andy Murray moved into the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 win over unseeded Jere-my Chardy of France.

The No. 29-seeded Stephens had been given barely a chance of beating Williams, who lost only four matches in 2012 and was in contention to regain the No. 1 ranking at the age of 31.

Williams’ latest winning streak included a straight-sets win over Stephens at the Bris-bane International earlier this month.

And Stephens wasn’t even sure that she could beat Williams, until she woke up Wednesday.

‘’When I got up, I was like, ‘Look, Dude, like, you can do this.’ Like, ‘Go out and play and do your best,’’ she said.

It wasn’t until after losing the first set and being broken in the first game of the second that she really convinced herself she could.

She started hitting winners, cutting down on the errors, and pushing the injured Williams around the court.

Williams walked around the net to congratulate Stephens,

who then clapped her hand on her racket and waved to the crowd, a look of disbelief on her face.

She then went to her tennis bag, pulled out her phone and started checking for any text messages from her mother.

‘’I was hoping she had texted me right away. I thought maybe she was texting me during the match,’’ Stephens said. ‘’I’m sure my grandparents are like freak-ing out.’’

Stephens has said she had a photo of Williams up in her room when she was a child, and had long admired the Williams sis-ters.

Williams was up a set and a break before Stephens settled in. In the eighth game of the sec-ond set, Williams was chasing a drop shot to the net when she appeared to hurt her back. She needed a medical timeout after the set, and then slowly started to regain the speed in her serve.

She said her back ‘’just locked up’’ on her.

‘’I couldn’t really rotate af-ter that,’’ she said. ‘’It was a little painful, but it’s OK.’’

There were times when she barely concealed the pain, and had to bend over or stretch out her back. Yet the thought of retir-ing from the match only crossed her mind ‘’for a nanosecond.’’

It didn’t mean she wasn’t frustrated. Williams smashed her racket into the court in the third set, breaking the frame and then flinging it toward the chairs on the side of the court. She looked to the sky occasionally and yelled at herself.

The racket abuse cost her $1,500 in fines.

Azarenka, with her most fa-mous fan sitting in the crowd wearing a shirt reminding her to keep calm, overcame some early jitters to beat Svetlana Kuznetso-va 7-5, 6-1 in the earlier quarter-final at Rod Laver Arena.

After dropping serve in a long fourth game that went to deuce 10 times, Azarenka recovered to dominate the rest of the match against Kuznetsova, a two-time major winner who was floating dangerously in the draw with a No. 75 ranking as she recovers from a knee injury.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Teen beats idol

ME L B O U R N E (Reuters) - Andy Murray

ruthlessly dismissed unseeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-4 6-1 6-2 to reach the Austra-lian Open semi-finals for the fourth year in a row on Wednesday.

The third seeded Briton had spent just over seven hours on court in his previous four matches and only needed another 111 minutes to complete a one-sided hammering of the world number 36.

Chardy had won the last meeting between the two in Cincinnati in August but another upset was never on the cards and the U.S. Open champion wrapped up victory when the Frenchman ballooned a forehand into the sky on Rod Laver Arena.

Murray, runner up at Melbourne Park in 2010 and 2011, will play the winner of the final match of the day between Roger Fed-erer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-fi-nals.

Murray strollsinto semis

Serena fallsLi Na ousts Radwanska, faces SharapovaMurray faces unknown French in semis

Sloane Stephens (left) upset her idol Serena Williams (below) in the quarterfinals. Right, Maria Sharapova also arranged a semis duel against China’s Li Na.

VOL.5 ISSUE 231 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013

DAVAO CITY golf teams are raring to get down into action

when the annual Philippine Airlines Interclub returns to the Queen City of the South next month.

Davao will be represent-ed by Apo Golf and Country Club, Rancho Palos Verdes, and Davao City Golf Club in the 66th edition of the tournament which begins February 21. The Davao-based clubs will be entered in both the Seniors and Reg-ular Men’s Interclub.

Davao teams, however, have yet to release their of-ficial line-ups.

host Cebu Country Club will eye back-to-back ti-tles in the regular division as four courses will be employed for the very first time in tournament history.

Cebu, which hosts the unofficial national golf team championship for the first time in 12 years, has the luxury of the hometown advantage as its confidence was boosted after winning last year’s title over Del Monte in Davao.

This year’s host un-ravels four golf courses for the event, hence the theme “4 at the Fore.”

Canlubang will de-fend the seniors’ title it narrowly won last year in

Davao in this year’s edi-tion set February 21-24 at the Alta Vista Golf and Country Club and Club Filipino de Cebu Golf Club. A record 100 teams, including 53 from abroad, were entered in the seniors event.

Cebu Country Club and Mactan Island Golf Club will host the regular Interclub set February 26 to March 2. More than half of the 78 squads in the regular Interclub are from overseas.

Presented by PAL, the event is sponsored by Mareco Broadcasting Network (Crossover), So-lar Entertainment, Plan-tation Bay and Media Five. It is also backed by major sponsors Ma-nila Broadcasting Corp., Philippine Broadcasting Network, Stargate Me-dia and Radio Mindanao Network.

Corporate sponsors in-clude Shangri La ho-tel Mactan, Boeing International Corp., Radis-son Blu hotel and Phil-ippine Daily Inquirer. Minor sponsor is Ginebra San Miguel.

Last year, Lloyd Go contributed 70 points in two days to carry Cebu Country Club to an eight-point win over Del

Monte in the Regular Interclub.

The Cebuanos fin-ished the four-day, five-to-play, four-to-count event with 507 points. Third place went to Alabang Golf with 493 points. Wack Wack won the Founders division with 476 points as the M a n d a l u y o n g - b a s e d

team edged Orchard (461) and Negros (445). The Sportswriters class went to Camp John hay (411) followed by Eagle Ridge (388) and Mt. Malin-dang (387).

In the Friendship divi-sion, Austral-Asian (303), Fil-Am hawaii (284) and PGA British Co-lumbia (282) finished

in the top three in that order.

Competition was stiff in the seniors’ tourna-ment as Canlubang rallied in the final round to edge old rival Luisita, 571-568. Cebu Country Club landed a strong third with 566 points.

Manila Golf Club nipped Apo Golf, 524-523, to

win the Founders crown while Fil-Am hawaii came home with the Sports-writers plum with 479 ahead of Davao (473) and Chamorro (472).

Club Intramuros bagged the Friendship class with 442 with Fil-Am Florida (389) and Southbay (384) at second and third, respectively.

16 EDGEDAVAOSPORTS66th PAL INTERCLUB

Davao clubs raring to goBy Neil Bravo

China’s Li Na will face Russian Maria Sharapova in the semifinals of the Australian Open. Story on page 15.