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DAVAOVOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013 P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.net

The‘PABLO’FACTOR

Gloomy in Davao’s labor front

Special labor Day iSSue

EMPLOYMENT UNDEREMPLOYMENT UNEMPLOYMENT

Story on page 3

Photo by Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 20132 EDGEDAVAO

ACHIEVER. LEADER. PASSIONATE PUB-LIC SERVANT.

THESE three quali-ties sum up the person-ality of Bonifacio E. Mil-itar, comebacking former lawmaker who’s running again for city councilor in Davao City’s first district in the May 13 midterm elections.

Is there substance to the glowing descriptions, which are in themselves really claims to fame?

AchievementsLet’s start with his be-

ing an achiever. In his six terms as member of the Davao City Council, al-ternately called Sanggu-niang Panlungsod (SP) City of Davao, Mili-tar, a lawyer since the 70s, can “ v i v i d l y r e c a l l ” h a v i n g authored or spon-sored at least 10 l a n d m a r k ordinances. They are:

P a r k i n g Fee Ordi-n a n c e . T h i s

ordinance designed to establish an orderly parking system in the streets of the city, in ef-fect gave employment to 320 unskilled men and women who were high school graduates, and gave them an opportuni-ty to continue studying and obtained college di-plomas. In addition, this ordinance gave the city an annual average in-come of P8 million.

Trisikad Legalization Ordinance. An ordinance legalizing the operation of trisikads, the poor man’s vehicle. Militar estimated that some 20,000 men in the de-

pressed areas of the city were

given jobs by this or-dinance.

T r i -c y c l e F r a n -chising O r d i -n a n c e .

T h i s measure

c r e a t e d the Davao

City Fran-chising and R e g u l a t o r y

B o a r d

which grants franchis-es to tricycles for hire, thereby giving the city an opportunity to earn more revenues, aside from regulating the oper-ation of tricycles for hire.

Ordinance for IPs. An ordinance protecting the rights of indigenous peoples and preserving their ancestral domain and prohibiting the de-velopment of their lands without prior consent of the IPs.

Ordinance Regulating Fishing. An ordinance prohibiting fishing ac-tivities in the municipal fishing ground within a distance of 15 kilometers from the territorial juris-diction of the city.

Ordinance Banning Firecrackers. Ordinance prohibiting the manu-facture, display and sale of firecrackers and py-rotechnics in Davao City and imposing penalties therein.

Cargo Truck Ban Or-dinance. Ordinance ban-ning cargo trucks from parking in any portion of the shoulder of national roads and imposing pen-alties thereof.

Ordinance Banning Guns in Public Places.

Ordinance prohibit-ing the bringing in of fire-arms in hotels, motels, restaurants and other public places where many people converge penalizing violators with either fine or imprison-ment.

Ordinance on Trans-port of Sand and Gravel. An ordinance requiring haulers of sand and grav-

el to cover their hauling trucks with tarpaulin and canvas in order to prevent their sand and gravel from falling into city streets and highways and hurt people in the process.

Anti-smoking Ordi-nance. A landmark legis-lative measure copied by many cities in the coun-try and elsewhere in the world is the Anti-Smok-ing Ordinance of Davao City. It is by far the most publicized ordinance that Dabawenyos are so proud of, an ordinance designed to improve the health of the city resi-dents.

There are so many other ordinances that Militar has authored or co-authored. These in-clude the City’s Revenue Code, and ordinances that have something to do with the finances of the city.

LeadershipMilitar’s having been

elected eight times as ma-jority leader, two times as minority leader and 12 times as chairman of the committee on finance and ways and means speak volumes about his ability to lead men.

His leadership quali-ties showed early during his student days and lat-er as leader of the Rotary movement.

Passion to serveHis passion for public

service is very evident in Boni Militar’s life story. He had been city coun-cilor for 19 years. Long before this, even as still a working law student he

served as chief of staff of then Vice Mayor and lat-er congressman Cornelio Maskarino, his mentor, for years. As a new law-yer, he had a stint in the National Labor Relations Commission as labor ar-biter.

On the side, he was professor and dean of the college of law of the Uni-versity of Mindanao, his alma mater, for 25 years, and in private law prac-titioner for a total of 35 years.

He believes that law-making is a dynamic pur-suit.

“Every click of a sec-ond, problems crop up in a growing city like Davao, so that new poli-cies should be crafted to address them,” he said.

The executive leader-ship and vision provided by Mayor Rody Duterte would need the support of quality legislation, Mil-itar added.

Once back in the city council, he said he would initiate the revisit of the ordinances on land use and housing and examine why they are observed more in the breach than in compliance. He thinks that strict enforcement of these and other related local laws would unlock the secrets of preventing frequent flooding in the city.

“Still, we should im-mediately amend the ordinances or craft an entirely new one if that is what’s needed,” Militar said.

Rags to riches A STORY I never tire

to tell my children and grandkids is the inspir-ing rags-to-riches saga of Bonifacio Militar.

Not wanting to be condemned to a life of misery and want, he left Iloilo when still in his shorts. His first job was to be a stevedore at the Sta. Ana pier. His determi-nation to improve his life was shown when as a la-borer he finished second-ary education in a night school after five years. His first job after high school graduation was as waiter in a hotel. His se-ries of employment as a lowly worker served as a rich background not only in his practice of law but also in crafting ordinanc-es designed for social jus-tice and equity.

Provider par excel-lence

Widowed in his for-ties, even before he could start his first term in the city council, Boni is like-wise outstanding as pa-dre de familya. He has been able to balance his hectic schedule and tre-mendous pressure of work as politician with family life. With seven children, this is not easy to do for anyone.

Among his five sons and two daughters, there’s an architect, a civ-il engineer, a US airforce officer, a vice president of a bank, a businessman, and an executive in a Ca-nadian manufacturing company. He has now 20 grandchildren and a great grandson.

Indeed, Boni Militar is a candidate like no other.

Bonifacio E. Militar: Candidate like no otherby Antonio M. Ajero

BONI MILITAR. Public service is his passion.

Re-electionist congressman Karlo B. Nograles of Davao

City’s First District is way ahead of closest challenger Luis Bonguyan in voters’ preference, a survey by the Manila-based Social Weather Station (SWS) showed.

The SWS survey re-sults, which were released only yesterday, marked the first time the prestigious polling outfit conducted a local survey and released its results publicly. The re-sults will be posted in the SWS website this week.

The results released by SWS showed Nograles on top of Bonguyan with a whooping lead of 37-per-centage points. Nograles got 66% compared to 29% of Bonguyan, a former vice mayor.

The survey, conducted April 5 to 7 in Davao City, has a confidence level of

95%, according to SWS.SWS also said its sur-

vey on the First District congressional contest had a margin of error of ± 6-percent. This means that at best, Nograles’s lead over Bonguyan could reach 43%, or a high pref-erence rating of 72% for the incumbent compared to only 29% for the former vice mayor. At its worst, Bonguyan could whittle down his deficit to 31% which is still a rather tall figure to surmount.

The SWS survey did not release ratings for the other major positions of Davao City mayor and vice mayor because the candi-dates are unopposed in the May 13 elections. The survey was also limited to the First District, the city’s central district.

The SWS findings practically agreed with the survey conducted by

the Ateneo de Davao Uni-versity. In the ADDU sur-vey released last week, First District congressman Nograles led former vice mayor Bonguyan, 58% to 26%.

SWS, meanwhile, also released yesterday its lat-est findings on the degree of public satisfaction to-wards the country’s top officials.

The survey, conducted last March 19-22, 2013 and first published in BusinessWorld, showed public satisfaction with Vice-President Jejomar Binay sliding from +70 in December 2012 to +62 in March 2013, to snap a run of “excellent” net satisfac-tion ratings.

Similarly, Senate Pres-ident Juan Ponce Enrile also suffered a 17-percent-age-point fall in net satis-faction ratings, from +47 in December to +30 in March.

SWS Davao survey out:

Nograles 66%, Louie 29%

ABSENTEE VOTING. Teachers browse through the list of voters in Monday’s absentee voting. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013EDGEDAVAO 3

DAVAO Region’s la-bor generation forecast is as bad

as the effects of recent ca-lamities.

With the so-called ‘Pablo Factor’ affecting agriculture and other in-

dustries, it couldn’t get any bleaker than this. Em-ployment level dropped, underemployment rate increased, and both em-ployment and unemploy-ment rates are stagnant.

These are bleak indi-

cators in the overall labor situation in Davao region as reflected by labor sta-tistics released April 13 by the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statis-tics (BLES) of the Depart-ment of Labor and Em-

ployment (Dole).According to the BLES

report, the number of employed persons in the region dropped from 1.89 million in 2012 to 1.85 million in 2013, which translates to employment displacement of 41,000 in a years’ time.

The term ‘em-ployed’ refers to persons in the labor force who were reported during La-bor Force Survey (LFS) conducted last January ei-ther at work or with a job or business although not at work.

DOLE regional di-rector Joefrey Suyao at-tributed the scenario to the devastation brought by the typhoon Pablo as many businesses in the

affected areas forced to close shops.

“Whatever gains we have are pulled back to its level. That is perhaps the reason why our employ-ment and unemployment rates stayed at the same level,” he said.

Likewise, employment in the agriculture sector fell sharply by 4.7 per-cent. “This is due in large part to the series of de-structive typhoons in re-cent months affected not only Mindanao but Luzon and Visayas as well,” the report said.

By occupation, the major gainers were offi-cials of government and special interest organi-zations, corporate exec-utives, managers, man-aging proprietors and supervisors, laborers and unskilled workers, ser-vice workers and shop and market sales work-ers.

In contrast, the main losers were farmers, for-estry workers, fishermen and trades and related workers.

“The quality of em-ployment improved on the back of robust expan-sion in wage and salary employment particularly in private establishments. This was accompanied by large decline in self-em-ployment and unpaid family workers. It seems that these persons in vul-nerable employment have moved into wage employ-ment,” the report said.

In the entire country, the employment level rose year-on-year by a moderate 1.6 percent or 606,000 employment generation reaching 57.940 million, far lower that the growth regis-tered last year at 2.9 per-cent or 1.04 million.

Both employment and unemployment rates in Davao Region are stag-

nant at 93.7 and 6.3 re-spectively.

Employment rate re-fers to the proportion of total number of em-ployed persons to the total number of persons in the labor force or the population 15 years old and over who contrib-ute to the production of goods and services in the country.

Unemployment rate, on the other hand, refers proportion of the total number of unemployed persons to the total num-ber of persons in the la-bor force.

Interestingly, the to-tal number of persons in the labor force in the region decreased from 2.02 million in 2012 to 1.97 million in 2013. The labor force participation rate, or the proportion of the total number of per-sons in the labor force to the total population 15 years old and over, also dropped from 66.7 in 2012 to 64.4 in 2013.

Another setback in the latest survey report is the upswing in un-deremployment which reached more than dou-bled from 15 in 2012 to 21.1 in 2013, translating to 392,000 persons.

This means that one in every five employed persons in the region expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or in an additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours.

Nationwide, the LFS report showed that in-dustry employment con-tinued to sustain its ex-pansion last year, grow-ing by 6 percent. Employ-ment growth was also driven by the services sector particularly by the wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage subsectors.

Labor Situation in Davao Region(In Thousands Except Rates)

Indicator 2012 2013 Increment/

ChangeLabor Force 2,023 1,979 (2.1)Labor Force Participation 66.7 64.4 (2.3)Employed 1,896 1,855 44/ (2.2) Employment Rate 93.7 93.7 0Unemployment Rate 6.3 6.3 0Underemployed 15 21.1 6.1

Source: Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES)

THE BIGGER PICTURETHE ‘PABLO FACTOR’

Gloomy forecast in Davao Region’s labor frontBy Greg G. Deligero

Jobseekers check out the lists of jobs posted inside a mall along J.P. Laurel Avenue, Davao City a day before the Labor Day Job Fair slated today in three different malls. Lean Daval Jr.

GOOD things are in the offing for Inday, the trusty househ-

elp.For Elena Sarpido, 43,

a resident of Rosemary Street in Agdao, Davao City, there’s a new day dawning for her and the rest of the estimated 2.9 million domestic workers nationwide.

Elena has worked as a househelp for 12 years. She swears it is only now that she felt some sort of security. When inter-viewed, she told Edge Davao that she was over-whelmed upon learning of the passage of Kasam-bahay Law.

“I was so happy upon hearing that the law was approved by the Presi-dent” Elena said in ver-nacular.

She added that she will no longer pay for her Social Security System (SSS), Philhealth and Pag-

ibig contributions since it is now the concern of her employers.

Part of the law stip-ulates that the domestic helpers have to eat at least three times a day and they must be pro-vided with safe sleeping quarters and have rest days consisting of a total of eight hours a day; con-tinuous 24 hours every week; and annual incen-tive leave of five days with pay.

Sarpido admitted that she doesn’t have any problem on rest days and incentives for she had been serving a good em-ployer.

“I’m just lucky that I have served good employ-ers, what about the other house helpers who land-ed on ruthless employ-ers? This law will surely help them,” she explained.

The law has also set some guideline for house

helpers to enjoy benefits such as to secure medi-cal certificate or a health certificate issued by a local government health officer; barangay and po-lice clearance; National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) clearance; and duly authenticated birth certificate or if not avail-able, any other document showing the age of the domestic worker such as voter’s identification card, baptismal record or passport.

Republic Act 10361 entitled “An Act Instituting Policies for the Protection and Welfare of Domestic Workers” is considered by many as among the mile-stones of the Philippine Congress.

Since its inception in congress up to the debates in its halls and at the time it was inked by President Benigno Aquino III.

Domestic service

workers which include househelp, nannies, laun-drywomen, cooks and family drivers will benefit from a landmark law that will safeguard their inter-ests, benefits and well-be-ing.

The law mandates that house helpers must receive a minimum wage of P2, 500 per month in National Capital Region; P2, 000.00 monthly in chartered cities and first-class municipalities and P1, 5000.00 per month in other municipalities.

Employers are also directed to register all their domestic helpers in the barangay where they reside and must have a written contract of em-ployment with them in the language known to the workers and issue month-ly or bi-monthly pay slips which the employers must keep copies of, for at least three years.

Finally, a law for IndayBy Che Palicte

VASTLY AFFECTED. The copra industry is among the coconut product dependent industry which suffered from the devastation of typhoon Pablo. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 20134 EDGEDAVAOSPECIAL REPORT

WITH a month-ly payslip that fetches close

to P70,000, the men and women behind creative advertising are the coun-try’s highest paid work-ers.

The list released by the Department of La-bor Employment (DOLE) does not include doctors, lawyers and celebri-ties and those making it should raise some curious eyebrows.

Consider this. Geolo-gists, pilots, mining en-gineers, computer pro-grammers, BPO agents, and statisticians, are among those in the list.

The list was released by DOLE to serve as guide for incoming col-lege students to choose their career paths that’s industry-driven. These days, it is better to choose a career that will lead to immediate employment related to the current de-mand in jobs.

DOLE’s top 10 high

paying jobs in the Phil-ippines are based on the latest studies conducted by the BLE or Bureau of Local Employment. The list includes those from banking, aviation, BPOs, cyber services, mining and more. Some of these jobs need a bachelor’s degree, while others need

to have only a high school diploma.

On top of the DOLE list are the art directors who earn up to P69,286 a month. They are fol-lowed by geologists who earn within the range of P64,889.

Ranked third are the aircraft pilots, navigators

and flight engineers who receive P57,789.

Rounding up the top 10 are mining engineers and metallurgical en-gineers with P55,638, computer programmers with P43,573, systems analysts and systems de-signers with P42,112,

production supervisors and general foremen with P36,133, actuarians with P35,480, call center rep-resentatives and custom-er service associates with P35,424 and finally, stat-isticians with P35,010.

According to the DOLE report, the top 10 occupations have been

determined through the identification of median monthly basic pay and median monthly allow-ances of time-rate work-ers on full-time basis in non-agricultural estab-lishments employing at least 20 persons in 65 in-dustry groups within the Philippines.

1. ART DIRECTORAdvertising art di-rectors, often re-

ferred to as ‘creatives’, are responsible for producing innovative ideas for ad-vertising campaigns in all kinds of media, including:• television;• radio;• posters;• press;• direct mail.Art directors will also work in digital/viral mar-keting, which is a huge growth area.A copywriter works alongside an art direc-tor to form a ‘creative team’. Traditionally, the copywriter produces the words to go with the vi-suals created by the art director. These roles are becoming more blurred now though and it is like-ly that both will have an input on the visual and verbal content to produce the right look and feel for the advertising campaign.The advertising art di-rector works on the cam-paign from the beginning and receives details about the client, product, target audience and required advertising message, which helps to shape the advertising campaign. Typical work activitiesThe roles of advertising art directors vary accord-

ing to the agency they work for and the client brief, but typical activities may include:• meeting with the ac-count management team to discuss the client’s re-quirements;• gaining an under-standing of the target au-dience and business that the advert is aimed at;• working closely with the copywriter to gen-erate creative ideas and concepts to fulfil the cli-ent’s brief;• meeting with the cre-ative director before pre-senting ideas to clients;• pitching ideas to cli-ents;• producing sketches or ‘storyboards’ (television) or ‘roughs’ or ‘scamps’ (print) to communicate ideas to the client;• briefing other mem-bers of the creative team;• commissioning pho-tographers, artists or film-makers to work on projects;• visiting and assessing locations for potential shoots;• working on location;• attending meetings at production houses and with other directors;• working in editing suites to oversee the fin-ished product;• advising new cre-

atives, reviewing their ‘books’ and managing new teams on placement with the agency.

2. GEOLOGOSTEngineering geolo-gists are concerned

with the detailed tech-nical analysis of earth material and the risk as-sessment of geological hazards. Their role is to ensure that geological fac-

tors affecting engineering works are identified and provided for.They assess the integrity of soil, rock, groundwater and other natural condi-tions prior to major con-struction projects. They also advise on procedures required for such devel-opments and the suitabil-ity of appropriate con-struction materials.Engineering geologists

are also involved with an-alysing sites and designs for environmentally sen-sitive developments, such as landfill sites. By mon-itoring development ar-eas and analysing ground conditions, they ensure that structures can be se-cure in the short and long term.Typical work activitiesTypical activities cover three key areas:• consulting geological maps and aerial photo-graphs to advise on site selection;• assisting with the de-sign of built structures, using specialised com-puter software or calcu-lations;• collating data and pro-ducing reports;• overseeing the prog-ress of specific contracts;• planning detailed field investigations by drilling and analysing samples of deposits/bedrock;• supervising site/ground investigations and budgets;• making visits to new project sites;• advising on and testing a range of construction materials, for example sand, gravel, bricks and clay;• making recommenda-tions on the proposed use of a site and providing in-

formation;• advising on problems such as subsidence;• managing staff, includ-ing other engineering ge-ologists, geotechnical en-gineers, consultants and contractors;• attending profession-al conferences and rep-resenting the company or organisation at other events.

3. AIRCRAFT PILOT/NAVIGATORAirline pilots fly

passengers and/or car-go on long or short-haul flights for leisure, busi-ness or commercial pur-poses. The aircraft is typically operated by two pilots; one will be the captain who is the pilot in command, while the other will be the support-ing first officer. The pilots will usually take turns to fly the plane to avoid fa-tigue, with one operating the controls while the other speaks to air traffic control and completes the paperwork. In some in-stances, such as long-haul flights, there may be three or four pilots on board so that the necessary breaks from flying can be taken.The captain has the over-all responsibility for the safe and efficient opera-

Top 10 high paying jobS in phL

Creative people are highest paid

So what’s their job description?

FSO WHAT’S, 10

HIGHEST-PAID. Christian San Jose of Creative.ph is one of the country’s most sought after creative artists. He designs for NBA stars Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade, Olympic champion Usain Bolt and popular brand Quiksilver.

By Neil Bravo

A business leader in Mindanao has ex-pressed fear of death

of the local livestock in-dustry if government fails to act on calls to stop the operation of a P300-billion Thai agribusiness compa-ny in the country called Charoen Pokphand (CP).

“If there is no action from the government this will result in the death of the local livestock indus-try,” Teresita Pascual, chair-person of the committee on livestock and poultry industry of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCII), said.

The Thai company started operating its highly mechanized livestock busi-ness in Tarlac last year af-ter the Philippines Board of Investments (BOI) granted the company a six-year year tax holiday on the ba-sis of “pioneering status.”

Large hog associations in Manila have already filed a petition for temporary restraining order (TRO) before the Supreme Court against BOI for granting such the firm a tax holiday last March 5. The petition also sought for the revo-cation of the tax holiday granted to CP, Pascual said.

She said local hogs as-sociations here in Mind-anao are also planning to file a separate TRO against BOI.

Pascual said based on the research conducted by the National Anti-Pov-erty Commission, CP is operating with the use of their own raw livestock products, with the origin of these live stocks known only to them.

And since the firm is highly mechanized com-pared to the local livestock industry, it is indeed a threat to the local livestock industry, she added. Worse, they are employing their own workers, she added.

Engr. Wilfred Teves, vice president for the in-dustry sector of DCCCII confirmed CP has an ad-vantage since it is highly mechanized, thus, “will re-sult to the loss of job of our local farmers.”

He said, “are we that desperate that we give out everything like tariff and tax incentives just to have foreign investors in our country.”

He said that 70 percent of the country’s corn is giv-en to the feed mills. If the local livestock industry is

weakened what will hap-pen to the local farmers, he asked.

He also said the six-year tax holiday granted

to CP is equivalent to P1.2 billion in tax revenues sup-posedly generated by the government from the com-pany.

With the entry of the Thai company, “Filipinos will be eating food creat-ed by foreigners and we don’t know where these

livestock come from, or are they clean or foot and mouth disease-free or bird flu-free,” Pascual said. [PNA]

5EDGEDAVAO

THE ECONOMYVOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013

THREATENED. Tessie Pascual, general manager of Cecilia Farms, urges hogs and poultry farmers to stop Charoen Pokphand from engaging in the production of pork and poultry products in the country during Kapehan sa

Dabaw at the Annex of SM City Davao on Monday. With her is Engr. Wilfre-do Teves of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industries Inc. Lean Daval Jr.

Death of local livestock industry feared with Thai agri-firm’s entry

VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013

WORTH of jewelry collection of Rep. Imelda R. Marcos, former first lady of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, which the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) plans to be put on display this year.

THE Supreme Court has dismissed four Cebu City judges and several Court administrative personnel accused of involvement in civil marriage solemnization rackets and irregularities. Dismissed were judges Anatalio Necessario, Gil Acosta, Rosabella Tormis and Edgemelio Rosales of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Branches 2, 3, 4 and 8.

HONDA Cars Philippines Inc. (HCPI) on Thursday said it is recalling 9,743 units of Honda Civic 2001 to 2002, and CR-V 2002 models because of a faulty inflation device for the front passenger airbag. BusinessMirror, April 12-13, 2013

MISS KRIS AQUINO, youngest sister of President Noynoy Aquino, paid P49.8 million in income tax, making her the No.1 top individual taxpayer in the country, as against the richest Filipino businessmen listed in Forbes magazine.

15 4 9,743 49.8It figures

MONTHLY AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATE (January 2012-February 2013)

Month 2013 2012 2011

Average 42.23 43.31December 41.01 43.64November 41.12 43.27October 41.45 43.45

September 41.75 43.02August 42.04 42.42

July 41.91 42.81June 42.78 43.37May 42.85 43.13April 42.70 43.24

March 42.86 43.52February 40.67 42.66 43.70January 40.73 43.62 44.17

Stat Watch5.4

4th Qtr 2012

6.8 4th Qtr 2012

USD 3,969.51 million

Dec 2012USD 5,135.46

million Nov 2012

USD -1,585 million

Nov 2012USD -209

millionMar 2012

P 5,171,689  million

Dec 2012

3.6 % Jan 2013P155,308

million Nov 2012

P 5,381 billion 

Nov 2012

P 40.67 Feb 2013

6,242.7 Jan 2013

132.4 Feb 2013

3.4 Feb 2013

3.8 Feb 2013

352,438 Nov 2012

20.9% Jan 2013

7.1% Jan 2013

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/

6

DAvAO By The numBeRsDavao City has

1.13 million household population in

aged 10 years old and over but only

14.56 percent

are academic degree holders.

Source: NSo

THE ECONOMY EDGEDAVAO

THREE-DAY SALE. SM City Davao’s Engr. Nick Santos, assistant mall manager and Jolen Crame, marketing officer, announce the upcoming SM City Davao 3 Day Sale on May 3 to 5, 2013 during Kapehan sa Dabaw at the Annex yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

SINGAPORE-based com-pany DanaTeq Pte. (DTQ), one of the pio-

neers in Dynamic Real-Time Analytic-based Campaign Management Solutions, re-cently signed two extensive service agreements with the Philippine’s major tele-communications companies, thereby establishing a phys-ical presence in the country.

DanaTeq will implement next generation intelligent service networks for the two telecommunication giants for enhanced customer care and better servicing to end users.

“End users will soon feel a change on how these tele-communications companies deal with them. It will be more personal and target-ed. Our system will increase the number of services cur-rently being offered and in-crease the speed at which this service is rolled out to market. It will be revolu-tionary in terms of the local market, which is why exten-sions and new service agree-ments have been made for DTQ for continued develop-ment and consultation,” said Sergey Popov, DTQ’s Chief Technology Officer.

The local telecommunica-tions industry was the first to be tapped by DTQ, but the company is also looking to expand and target various sectors given its network system classified as cognitive software solutions that can easily be made relevant to banking and finance and fast moving consumer goods.

“The local telcos are just a start. We will be talking and making presentations to major banks in the next few weeks. The point is – as long as there is a customer that can be measured, observed and studied in terms of its needs and wants by a par-ticular company or industry, then our solution has rele-vance. Companies can only benefit and draw valuable in-sight from what we offer and this offering only gets better,” said Cody Martinson, DTQ’s Chief Executive Officer.

Recently, DTQ partnered with Hewlett Packard to de-liver a high data

processing solution capa-ble of collecting information, analyzing and executing out-comes in real-time to simpli-fy the complex interaction of telecommunication compa-nies and their subscribers.

Aside from its Philippine operations, which the com-pany considers as a ma-jor market, DTQ is look-ing at Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and North America as other markets to penetrate into.

Founded in 2009, DTQ aims to build the next gen-

eration of intelligent ser-vice networks. It has as-sembled a skilled team of intelligent network archi-tects and engineers to de-velop and deploy Intelligent Service Networks for exist-ing and Greenfield Mobile Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s Operators.

DanaTeq penetrates the PHL Market

MOBILE phone operator Sun Cellular furthers its ongoing efforts for social

development as it backed the re-cent Autism Spectrum Integrated Play Group Seminar attended by special education professionals

and individuals who relate to children with autism and other developmental disorders.

Initiated by the Occupation-al Therapy Association of the Philippines and the Ateneo de Manila University’s Fr. Bulatao

Psychological Center, this semi-nar tapped industry experts and international techniques in the hopes of addressing common communication and socialization needs of children with disorders and of their affected families.

“Given the already challenging nature of molding young minds, we take this opportunity to spark further developments in the field and create a specialized dialogue which will address current issues of our child psychologists, special education teachers and parents of children diagnosed with au-tism,” says Anthony Grecia, Presi-dent of the Occupational Therapy Association of the Philippines.

As its brand continues to stand for unlimited services and customer empowerment, Sun Cellular extends its services to helping various academic and de-velopmental institutions achieve their operational goals through project tie-ups and through its provisioning of best-value mobile solutions.

“Beyond our usual offer-ings, we also make it a point to fulfil our bigger role in bridging distances through reliable com-munications and in fuelling up community building through our strategic partnerships with civic organizations for developmental causes,” relays Reuben Pangan, Sun Cellular’s Official Spokesper-son and Vice President for Cus-tomer Service Operations of Sun Cellular.

Sun Cellular is a member of the PLDT Group.

Sun Cellular backs specialized seminar for special education professionals

7EDGEDAVAO THE BIGGER PICTURE

CATHERINE Marie Cas-tillo breaks gender barriers the moment

she gets off the ground.Known to peers as

Brooke, the tall and athletic Castillo bears the following credentials in her resume: classical pianist, teacher, na-tional athlete and rock band manager.

But the one that sep-arates her like ground to sky distance from the rest is the fact that she flies Air-bus A319s and A320s. From the cockpit, she proudly de-clares she is “destined to fly.”

Castillo holds the dis-tinction as the Philippines’ first female commercial jet captain.

She admits that pilots earn a very competitive salary, and are very much in demand in the booming aviation industry in Asia. “I would encourage students to think about entering the aviation workforce, be it as mechanics, engineers, cab-in crew or pilots, because these skill sets can pave the way for a comfortable living and a dynamic work life,” she told Edge Davao in this exclusive interview.

Looking back, Castillo’s flight was never charted. Being a pilot was not in her radar.

She was born and raised in a wealthy household. Her father was a banker and her mother a casino manager. She grew up with three ath-letic brothers who treated her like one of the boys in an atmosphere of competitive-ness.

She went to school at St. Scholastica College and earned a degree in Business

Administration gradu-ating as cum laude with the University of the Philip-pines.

But it was evident at a young age that Castillo had a passion for excellence in just about anything she tries her hand on. She was a nation-al team member in junior tenpin bowling, taekwondo and basketball. In fact, she is a silver medalist in the Southeast Asian Taekwon-do Championships.

In one interview with Agence France Press, Cas-tillo revealed that she never aspired to be a pilot, but fell into the aviation industry soon after her college days when she accompanied a friend to a testing session for a pilot’s scholarship with national carrier Philippines Airlines.

Castillo passed the tests while her friend did not make it.

In 1996, she became the first woman in the country to fly a commercial jet with Philippine Airlines.

In 2003, she brought her flying skills to rival Cebu Pacific, and became the first woman in the Philippines to captain a jet.

Her most unforgettable experience as a pilot was her first flight as a captain. “My co-pilot and all the cabin crew were women. In this flight, Cebu Pacific’s management allowed me take anyone I chose to be my passengers and spend the night in Cebu. I chose a couple of my best friends and of course, my mother (my father was in the US then) and brother.”

The ‘Brooke Castillo

Phe-n o m e -non’ has since produced for the country 13 other female pilots.

Castillo thinks women had an advantage because they pay closer attention to the smallest details. For the record, a pilot needs to check more than 200 items before an actual flight.

“They say that women are more meticulous and more into multi-tasking. Probably that’s true. In some instances I see it,” she said admitting that the hardest aspect of flying was deciding when to take off and land or abort, which could easily lead to life or death situations.

Castillo recalls her most dangerous mo-ment was as a DC-9 co-pilot nine years ago, when the cabin lost compression in mid-flight. She said her professional train-ing took over and the plane landed safely.

So what else would challenge Castillo?

Asked what the biggest aircraft she has flown, she said it had to be the B747-400 where she was a sec-ond officer.

She admits now her remaining professional ambition is to captain larg-er, wide-bodied Airbus air-crafts.

“I look forward to flying Cebu Pacific’s brand-new Airbus A330 aircraft as a captain when it arrives this

J u n e . We’re very excited about our long-haul services, the first of which will be to Dubai,” she re-

vealed.For now,

there are no bounds in Brooke’s bucket list of challenges to conquer.

Even the skies are not the limit for one who flies above the clouds.

NEIL Bravo: Are wom-en meant to fly air-planes?

Brooke Castillo: Of course. I am fortunate to have been given the op-portunity many years ago to train to become a pilot, and to further develop my career as an Airbus type-rating instructor. In the aviation industry, what matters most is your skills. As long as you are quali-

fied, your gender is not a factor.

NJB: Growing up, who influenced you to be in this profession?

BC: I had a very com-fortable childhood, and I was quite sporty, playing bowling, taekwondo and basketball in international and national competitions. I didn’t exactly aspire to become a pilot when I was a kid. The opportunity fell

on my lap when I accompa-nied a friend of mine after college, to take the exam for a pilot scholarship with Philippine Airlines. I passed. A few years after I transferred to Cebu Pacific, I captained my first com-mercial jet flight. Since then, I have trained with Airbus in Toulouse, France, piloted several maiden flights for new routes and ferry flights for brand-new aircraft, and

conducted stringent train-ing for younger pilots. To-day is another milestone as I just passed the course to become an A330 (wide-body aircraft) captain and instructor. I feel like I am destined for this job.

NJB: What challenges do women pilots face in this male-dominated pro-fession?

BC: As of February 2013, there are 15 women

pilots at Cebu Pacific. Hope-fully, more women will take the plunge and train as pilots. There are so many airlines expanding these days, aside from Cebu Pa-cific, and women can defi-nitely make a significant contribution to the aviation workforce.

NJB: Are women pilots better than men?

BC: They say that wom-en pilots tend to pay more

attention to details and are more into multi-tasking. I have seen this in some instances, but it is not an overall generalization.

NJB: How much do you ear

NJB: How often do you fly? Your usual destina-tions?

BC: I fly a maximum of 100 hours a month to both domestic and internation-al destinations.

Destined to flyBy Neil Bravo

BROOkE CASTILLO:VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013

ONE ON ONE WITH THE COUNTRY’S FIRST FEMALE COMMERCIAL JET PILOTPhotos by Agence France Presse

VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013VANTAGE POINTS EDGEDAVAO8

TYPHOON Pablo has mothered the region’s current labor woes. A high underemploy-

ment rate and a dormant unemploy-ment and employment rates are the siblings of Pablo and other calami-ties that hit the region.

Underemployment went from 15 percent in 2012 to 21.1 percent in the first quarter of 2013. Unemploy-ment rate and employment were steady but that too are indicators of a weak labor profile.

There is also a decrease in the la-bor force participation rate despite the increase of population. This too is kind of intriguing. This could mean two ways. Either more people are disinterested to work, or went elsewhere overseas to work.

Labor force is down by a little over 2 percent, same decrease recorded for labor force participation.

These could be signs of despair as more people are inclined to seek

proverbial greener pastures abroad.Going back to the ‘Pablo Factor’,

the effects of typhoon Pablo and heavy flooding in the region has claimed vast tract of agricultur-al lands, closing down farms and bringing production down. Bagan-ga in Davao Oriental, for example, used to be the country’s coconut capital. After ‘Pablo’ wiped out ev-ery coconut tree standing in Bagan-ga, farmers are forced to relocate and find livelihood somewhere else. Meantime, it will take years to revive the coconut industry there.

In Compostela Valley and Davao del Norte, the banana industry also suffered P11.56 billion in loss-es forcing growers to either shut down operations or lay off work-ers.

The forecast is not all too sunny for Davao Region in terms of labor. Typhoon Pablo may be over but its effects will be felt for a long haul.

OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager

Columnists: MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • AURELIO A. PEñA • ZHAUN ORTEGA • BERNADETTE “ADDIE” B. BORBON • MARY ANN “ADI” C. QUISIDO • LEANDRO B. DAVAL SR., • NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN • NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN • EMILY ZEN CHUA • CARLOS MUNDA Economic Analyst: ENRICO “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG • JONALLIER M. PEREZ

Printed by Zion Accuprint Publishing Inc. Door 14 ALCREJ Building,

Quirino Avenue, 8000, Davao City, PhilippinesTel: (082) 301-6235

Telefax: (082) 221-3601www.edgedavao.net

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CAGAYAN DE ORO MARKETING OFFICELEIZEL A. DELOSO | Marketing ManagerUnit 6, Southbank Plaza Velez-Yacapin Sts.Cagayan de Oro CityTel: (088) 852-4894

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EDGEDAVAOProviding solutions to a seamless global village.

ANTONIO M. AJEROEditor in Chief

OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager

Columnists: MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • AURELIO A. PEñA • ZHAUN ORTEGA • MARY ANN “ADI” C. QUISIDO • LEANDRO B. DAVAL SR., • NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN • NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN • Economic Analysts: ENRICO “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG • JONALLIER M. PEREZ

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Door 14 ALCREJ Building,Quirino Avenue, 8000, Davao City, Philippines

Tel: (082) 301-6235Telefax: (082) 221-3601www.edgedavao.net

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CAGAYAN DE ORO MARKETING OFFICELEIZEL A. DELOSO | Marketing ManagerUnit 6, Southbank Plaza Velez-Yacapin Sts.Cagayan de Oro CityTel: (088) 852-4894

MANILA MARKETING OFFICEANGELICA R. GARCIA | Marketing ManagerBlk. 1, Lot 10, La Mar Townhomes, Apitong St.,Marikina Heights, Marikina City Tel: (02) 942-1503

NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVOManaging Editor

GREGORIO G. DELIGEROAssociate Editor

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RICHARD C. EBONAMarketing Supervisor

SOLANI D. MARATASFinance

EDITORIAL

Mothering labor woes

AQUILES Z. ZONIOStaff Writer

EJ DOMINIC C. FERNANDEZ • CHERRY MAE D. PALICTEReporters

JOCELYN S. PANESDirector of Sales

AGUSTIN V. MIAGAN JRCirculation

(Conclusion)

Austerity debate misses half the point

By Hugo DixonCOMMENTARY

THAT said, the euro crisis was not caused by austerity but rather stemmed from the fact that

many economies became flabby and uncompetitive. Welfare states were too generous, labour had excessive privileges, civil services were bloated, swathes of industry were riddled with uncompetitive practices, judicial systems were sometimes dysfunctional, while tax evasion and corruption were often rife. What’s more, in many countries, there has been an unhealthy nexus between banks and politics.

These problems have been tackled, but only partly. Until they are more fully dealt with, the euro zone will not be able to return to sustained growth; unemployment, especially among the young, will stay unacceptably high; and the debt crisis will remain at risk of returning.

Look at Italy. Mario Monti, the outgoing prime minister, did reform pensions. But he botched his shake-up of the labour market, making it harder for young people to get jobs. He also failed to do much to liberalise services markets and did nothing to clean up politics. The best that can be hoped of Letta, who shouldn’t count on holding power for more than a few months, is that he will reform the electoral system.

Things are a bit better in Spain, where labour liberalisation seems to be working. But Madrid is still being too vague on what will be in its next batch of reforms.

Meanwhile, Greece has been drinking bitter medicine for three years but has still to crack its problem of rampant tax evasion. Nor is it clear that Antonis Samaras, the Conservative prime minister, really wants to tackle vested interests in the business community.

Last but not least, France under Francois Hollande has only taken baby steps to restore its competitiveness. Public spending and taxes are too high, sucking vitality out of the private sector. Labour practices are too rigid.

More generally, right across the euro zone, banks have resisted coming clean on their bad loans. National and European policymakers have often connived in this denial, partly because the banks are well-connected and partly because doing so might require taxpayer-funded bailouts. But this is another drag on the economy.

Europe is over-dependent on a broken bank system. It should be emulating the United States which relies much more on capital markets to fund industry and households. But Brussels is deeply suspicious of markets. Indeed, its misconceived financial transactions tax will gum up financial markets, which is exactly the opposite of what is needed.

Austerity and structural reform are not the same. But they are often confused, because they both cause pain. With reform, the pain is mainly felt by well-entrenched vested interests. If the euro zone is going to have a healthy future, it must now tackle these with vigour – even as it goes easy on austerity.

VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013

THE IDEALS OF UNIONISM ARE FAST DIMINISHING – On the occa-sion of Labor Day, the government

sector, working classes and urban poor sectors will celebrate the more than hun-dred years of the country’s labor move-ment and honor the founding fathers, living and dead who have accomplished their historic and heroic task. But many things have changed. Unlike in past cel-ebrations, the mainstream labor classes commemorated the annual event with healthy elements of trade unionism such as devoted collective bargaining agree-ment for higher wages, security of ten-ure and other fringe benefits. It is rath-er unfortunate that the ideals of trade unionism are fast diminishing nowa-days, instead thousands of members of militant labor organizations waving red flags swarmed over rally sites in differ-ent parts of the country.

In retrospect, trade unionism in the Philippines began on February 12, 1902 when Isabelo delos Reyes organized in Manila the Union Obrero Estivadores de Filipinas (UOEF), which recruited the dockhands at the Manila waterfront and the workers in the cigarette factories of the city. In the modern sense, society recognized the country’s existing labor groups notably the Trade Union Con-gress of the Philippines (TUCP), Catho-lic-oriented Federation of Free Workers (FFW), National Labor Union (NLU), Katipunan ng Manggagawang Pilipi-no (KMP) which evolved into the pres-ent-day TUCP, and movement represent-ing the peasant sector such as the Feder-ation of Free Farmers (FFF) and the An-

iban ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultu-ra (AMA).

T h e n again, there has always been an ideo-logical divi-sion between the two mainstreams of the labor m o v e m e n t . Even before World War 11, the Socialist Party represented the Left tendencies while other moderate groups pride themselves on dominance in fair labor practices. Even so, the Ki-lusang Mayo Uno (KMU) is popularly considered the labor arm of the Com-munist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Trade unionism likewise spawned sev-eral lesser known labor wings, which is extant only in some areas. For over a century, trade unions fought for the right to self-organization, and collective bar-gaining, basic rights guaranteed under the Constitution and the conventions of the International Labor Union (ILO). Often they risked their life and limb to organize the workers in industrial and commercial enterprises as well as the sugar plantations, vast agricultural es-tates and later on in the banana industry.

Their sustained struggles fostered a culture of industrial and commercial peace based on justice. Without the struggles of the trade unions proba-

bly the dignity of labor and the dignity of human life at work would be largely worthless. The ideals and objectives of trade unionism took hold up to this day. These days, the mainstream labor fronts and its practices are called “business unionism” on the model of the American AFL-CIO. Official ceremonies commem-orating Labor Day will be remembered throughout the country on May 1. It was therefore right to honor the pioneers of the Philippine labor movement during the memorable occasion. As always, the motley group of progressive or is it prob-lematic (?) labor groups and militant workers who are continuously waging a socialist labor concept will bring about the inevitable march and protest rallies nationwide during the celebration.

Thousands of its members, although over bloated based in different esti-mates, are expected to wave red flags, anti-government placards and slogans, swamped over the different venues all over the country. The passage of the years had not erased this shameless outlook for we were brought up to be-lieve that an important celebration such as Labor Day has to be observed with respect and dignity even among bitter adversaries in a civilized society. But even then sneakiness is not for avowed gentlemen. Unless, of course, leaders of the different progressive movement and militant labor groups have a hidden per-sonal agenda aimed at promoting their vested interest – a reason that I have more respect for politicians, of course desirable and diligent, than for these thick-faced and guileful characters.

IT’S evening in America. That is the worrying news from the latest Heart-land Monitor Poll, conducted quar-

terly and sponsored by the insurer All-state and National Journal.

The researchers made a striking finding: The U.S. middle class, long the world’s embodiment of optimism and upward mobility, today is telling a very different story. The chief preoccupation of middle-class Americans is not the dream of getting ahead, it is the fear of falling behind.

The poll found that 59 percent of its respondents – a group of 1,000 people selected to be demographically rep-resentative of the United States as a whole – were afraid of falling out of their economic class over the next few years. Those who described themselves as lower middle class were even more scared than the overall group – 68 per-cent feared they could slip even lower down the economic ladder.

This wary vision of the future went hand-in-hand with a diminished idea of what it meant to belong to the mid-dle class. More than half of the people polled – 54 percent – said that being middle class meant having a job and being able to pay your bills. Fewer than half – just 43 percent – took the more expansive view that membership in the middle class was a passport to financial and professional growth, buying a house and saving for the future.

“The key finding is that the middle class in America is more anxious than it is aspirational,” Jeremy Ruch, a senior di-rector at the strategic communications practice of FTI Consulting and one of the people who led the polling, told me. “Some of the traditional characteristics of middle classness are not seen as real-istic. They have been replaced by an anx-iety about the possibility of falling out of their economic class.”

Even more arresting was the extent to which things that used to be the un-questioned trappings of middle-class life have come to be seen as upper-class lux-uries. Nearly half – 46 percent – of the respondents who described themselves as middle class said that being able to pay for children’s college education was possible only for the upper class. For-ty-three percent thought that only the upper class had enough savings to deal with a job loss, and 40 percent believed only the upper class could save enough to retire comfortably.

For the land of opportunity, this is a seismic shift. America was created as a country where the middle class could prosper - Thomas Jefferson crowed that America had no paupers and few who were rich enough to live without labor.

This was supposed to be the place where, as Bill Clinton liked to put it, if you worked hard and played by the rules, you could get ahead. And Yanks gloried in the fact that the world’s hud-dled masses regularly demonstrated their belief in the American dream by voting with their feet.

The respondents to the Heartland poll know the world has changed. Nearly two-thirds of those who described them-selves as middle class said their genera-tion had less job and financial security than their parents. More than half said they had less opportunity to advance.

The academy can be sniffy about the economic instincts of ordinary folk, but in this case Joe Public seems to have gotten it right. The respondents were on target when asked to estimate the income of the typical American mid-

dle-class family: They said between $60,000 and $65,000 per year. Accord-ing to U.S. Census data from the Current Population Survey, median income for a family of four is $68,274.

And most economists think the anxi-ety articulated in this poll is a reaction to a real and new peril.

“I don’t blame them,” Erik Brynjolfs-son, a professor at the Sloan School of Management at the MassachusettsIn-stitute of Technology, told me. “They are falling behind, so it is not surprising that they are feeling anxious.

“The disappointment and the anger of the middle class is not just whining, it is based on real economics,” Bryn-jolfsson said. “The job security and the income of the middle class is declining, and so is social mobility.”

The saddest paradox revealed in the poll is that ordinary Americans agree with the elites about what it takes to get ahead, or at least to stay afloat, in the 21st-century United States. Half of the respondents said that college was the best way to earn and maintain mem-bership in the middle class. But almost half – 49 percent – thought that only the upper class could afford to pay for their children’s higher education.

Humans have always been good at fo-cusing on the immediate threat, and the nonstop media cycle has only exacerbat-ed that trait: One week it is Hurricane Sandy, the next it is Cyprus, and then it is the Boston Marathon explosions.

For the Western industrialized countries, however, the really big sto-ry is the slow, inexorable decline of the middle class. Watching it happen is about as exciting as studying paint as it dries or a frog as it boils. But the pain is now being felt even in perennially op-timistic America. There are still a few hours left before midnight – let’s hope we can act in time.

VANTAGE POINTSEDGEDAVAO 9

Peeved in Cagayan

Remembering Labor Day

Twilight of the middle class?

I like Cagayan. It’s been a while since

I last visited and I was quite pleased to see how much it has grown over the years. It has become a bus-tling city with new hotels, c o m m e r c i a l and shopping centers, restau-rants, branches of popular chains and other major locators.

These are signs of a city in bloom. But does it really deliver an experience that would make one say Cagayan has indeed arrived?

I find that it’s the little experiences you have in a place you’re visiting that count the most, especially when it involves people. So that after a significant encounter or two from the locals, one normally leaves with a vivid impression of the place.

As Cagayan is one of my favorite desti-nations in Mindanao, I hope there won’t be a repeat of the not so pleasant encounters I’ve recently had in this city.

Taxi disservice. At Centrio Mall, I asked the taxi driver to pass by my hotel so I could get my luggage and proceed to another ho-tel. He parked on the other side of the street across the hotel and told me we were there, which meant I would have to lug my lug-gage across the street.

Since I was the one paying after all, I asked him to park in front of the hotel so I won’t have to drag my things under the heat of the midday sun. In fairness to him, he acquiesced, but the surly look on his face told me he was not happy with me at all.

I guess I’m just so used to the courte-sy that taxi drivers in Davao give to their passengers, like saying good morning or afternoon the moment you enter their cab, turning down the car stereo if you’re mak-ing a call, or delivering you right at your doorstep.

Tough love at Divisoria. I love my regu-lar massages in Davao, and I hoped for the same kind of pampering after a long land trip to Cagayan. But the way the blind mas-seuse at Divisoria handled me made me feel like a piece of meat that was being ten-derized. And she kept at it like she couldn’t wait to finish it.

The massage also stopped ten minutes earlier than agreed. Maybe I should have also paid less than what was agreed, but I just couldn’t. I stood up silently and left feel-ing just a little bit manhandled.

Dour service at the hotel on the hill. I love flowers, so I naturally gravitated to-wards the blooms that decked the cen-trepiece of the tables in the hotel confer-ence hall. Alas, they were either wilted or droopy, and had definitely seen better days. But it wasn’t just the flowers that had a bad look that day.

A female staff served lukewarm water at our table, so I asked if I could have some ice. She came back with a pitcher of almost cold water. I asked again for some ice and this time she scowled and told me their ice were at the bar, like she meant she couldn’t bring me some because it was at the bar.

So I told her she could just put some ice in a glass and she could bring the glass to me. After about five minutes, a male server arrived with the ice in a glass. I guess she didn’t want to give me some ice after all.

A few good men. My Cagayan experi-ence during this trip is not all unpleasant; there are a few that made up for the lack-lustre service.

A waiter in a downtown hotel was more than happy to supply me with all the Splen-da I wanted for my coffee. Another one in the hotel on the hill also happily obliged to my request to deliver coffee and a few small tubs of jam to my table at breakfast. Both rendered their service with a courteous nod and a smile.

The taxi driver, waiter, and masseuse are Cagayan’s service frontliners, and how they treat visitors is critical in building the city’s reputation. I hope my sad little expe-riences do not repeat itself. I like Cagayan too much to be known as a place of boorish service.

Open-air massage at Divisoria, anyone?

By CHryStia FreelanD COMMENTARY

VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 201310 EDGEDAVAO

FFROM 4So what’s...

THE BIGGER PICTURE

HE is born and raised in the Phil-ippines, and proud

of that. Christian San Jose is the brains and the cre-ative hand behind Cre-ative.ph who is behind the social media campaign of basketball superstars Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade and popular brands Quiksilver and Adobe Sys-tems, Inc.

San Jose started his ca-reer as an Art Director at the country’s renowned

Team Manila Graphic De-sign Studio in 2007. Soon after, he transferred his focus to freelance illustra-tion, and within a year set out to build an incredible body of work that empha-sizes on colorful imagery and playful characters. In that span, he took his tal-ents overseas and collab-orated with clients such as Adobe Systems Inc., Co-bra Starship, Paramore, and Quiksilver. His illus-

tration piece titled “Me-cha-Labaw”, bagged the top prize in the 2009 De-sign By Humans $10,000 contest.

In 2011, he founded Create.ph, where leads a team of designers and developers as they craft simple and thoughtful solutions with the digi-tal medium. The studio creates, develops, and

maintains the branding, official websites, and so-cial media presences of several high profile ath-letes, including Kobe Bry-ant, Dwyane Wade, Albert Pujols, Jimmy Rollins, and Brian Wilson. Create.ph has also previously worked with Def Jam Re-cordings, G.O.O.D. Music, FremantleMedia, The Coca-Cola Company, and Nike Inc.

THE EXPERT’S AD-VICE: Start your career by putting your work out there

“Whether it’s just doodles you do, person-al stuff, just keep post-ing your stuff online. It doesn’t matter if you’re

the best designer in the world. If nobody sees (your work), how will they know?” said 22-year-old Create.ph founder San Jose.

“I put my work on De-viantArt, and it helped me get exposure and turn my personal work into something that made money,” San Jose contin-ued. “Clients approached me through my website and through DeviantArt, and eventually, I got to work with Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Usain Bolt, Usher, Nike, Quicksilver, and Design By Humans.”

Hydro74, aka Joshua M. Smith, agrees. His cli-ents now include Nike,

Adidas, Lucas Films, Le-vis, Harley Davidson, but “It wasn’t until I upload-ed two or three projects to a site called Geocities that a couple of record companies set me up,” he shares. “That’s how I got involved in design in the first place.”

Another successful Pi-noy art director is Bradley G. Munkowitz, or Gmunk, the visionary artist who worked on the concept, design and execution of holographic content for the film Tron: Legacy. Gmunk got that gig after “publishing (his) proj-ects, going to conferences, and putting the work out there.”

tion of the aircraft includ-ing crew and passengers.Prior to the flight, pilots check flight plans, ensure that the aircraft’s controls are operating efficient-ly and calculate the re-quired fuel for the flight. They are also responsible for checking the weather conditions and briefing cabin crew.Typical work activitiesThe job of a pilot comes with heavy responsibili-ty and personal commit-ment. Stringent training courses have to be passed followed by recurrent training every six months in order to maintain the relevant licence required for the job.There is more to the role than just flying the plane, which has to be done safely and economically, and tasks can typically in-clude:• ensuring all informa-

tion on the route, weather, passengers and aircraft is received;• using that informa-tion to create a flight plan which details the altitude for the flight, route to be taken and amount of fuel required;• ensuring the fuel lev-els balance safety with economy and supervising the loading and fuelling of the aircraft;• ensuring all safety sys-tems are working proper-ly;• briefing the cabin crew before the flight and maintaining regular con-tact throughout the flight;• carrying out pre-flight checks on the navigation and operating systems;• communicating with air traffic control before take-off and during flight and landing;• ensuring noise regula-tions are followed during

take off and landing;• understanding and in-terpreting data from in-struments and controls;• making regular checks on the aircraft’s technical performance and posi-tion, on weather condi-tions and air traffic during flight;• communicating with passengers using the pub-lic address system;• reacting quickly and appropriately to envi-ronmental changes and emergencies;• updating the aircraft logbook and writing a report at the end of the flight noting any incidents or problems with the air-craft.

4. MINING ENGI-NEERA mining engineer

ensures the safe and eco-nomically sound develop-ment of mines and other

surface and underground operations. The role com-bines an understanding of the effects of these structures on their sur-rounding environment, technical knowledge and management skills.Mining engineers are in-volved at all stages of a project. Before a new site is developed, they assess its viability and assist with planning the mine’s structure. They also man-age and oversee mining production processes and are involved in the final closure and rehabilitation process.

There are opportuni-ties in the UK in mining consultancy, minerals, tunnelling and quarrying but, due to the nature of the industry, mining engi-neering is an internation-al career and the majority of opportunities are over-seas.

Typical work activitiesWork activities vary ac-cording to the nature of the mine or site, but tasks typically involve:• assessing the com-mercial viability of new mining ventures;• undertaking feasibili-ty studies;• modelling/designing potential mine sites;• preparing plans for mines, for example tun-nels and shafts for under-ground mines;• working with special-ist PC software to support planning programmes;• overseeing major con-struction projects and ensuring that operations are functioning smooth-ly;• monitoring activities underground;• overseeing staff activ-ities, either in one site section or throughout an entire mine;

• ensuring the safety of mining equipment and assessing mine equip-ment supplies;• costing and schedul-ing supplies;• establishing ex-traction systems;• overseeing the health and safety of the site, particularly in relation to issues such as ventila-tion;• planning for transi-tion from surface to un-derground mining oper-ations;• learning new skills as required, such as drilling and blasting;• providing consultancy and advice on mining and mineral extraction proj-ects;• filling in disused mine shafts;• reclaiming mine sites;• managing monthly budgets and keeping de-tailed records.

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VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013 11EDGEDAVAO SPECIAL REPORT

ONE of the arm-chairs electorates in Davao City will

be using in the May 13 elections could be one built by persons with dis-ability (PWD).

That’s one thing Ra-chel Biado, board of di-rector of the Association for the Differently-Abled Persons Multi-Purpose Cooperative (ADAP-MPC) wished to share.

The Department of Education (DepEd) ear-marks 10 percent of their

annual budget for PWDs for producing school fur-niture, and ADAP-MPC is its recipients. 90 percent of this budget goes to companies in the private sector producing school furniture.

According to Biado, the National Federation of Cooperation of Person with Disabilities NFCP-WD) goes through the required bidding process for the 10 percent, and when they get the allo-cated budget it will be

disseminated to different PWD cooperatives in the Philippines.

ADAP-MPC received P8 million last year and PWDs from ADAP Village with 20 skilled workers have been producing a huge number of school furniture such as arm-chairs, and tables which were delivered to differ-ent elementary and sec-ondary public schools all over Mindanao.

According to ADAP president Redendo Mar-

tinez, this is a big oppor-tunity for PWDs in Davao to earn.

He cited an example saying, “one of the skilled PWD workers in ADAP Village is a welder who has one arm, he did not stand a chance to be hired in the private sector for his condition, but I saw how good he is at produc-ing school furniture as he was trained to be a weld-er in Japan.”

Another is that there is a village in Indangan,

Buhangin that has pure-ly PWD residents, and is the only PWD village in the Davao Region, called ADAP Village. There are 40 houses in the ADAP Village and the residents are members of ADAP-MPC.

“Another is a comput-er engineer who topped the entrance examination in a big mall in the city, but he was not hired after the interview because of his physical appearance as he has disability with

his legs,” Martinez said. Biado said, the PWD

sector of Davao City would like Dabawenyos to know that they (ADAP-MPC) have skilled work-ers who specialize in steel works and can create high quality furniture.

“We tried to bid in 2009 for the 10 percent allocation of the local DepEd, we got the alloca-tion, but we never got the funds, because the deal went sour when private sectors came in,” he said.

That chair you are sitting on may be built by a PWDBy EJ Dominic Fernandez

THE Institute of Pop-ular Opinion con-ducted has released

its survey of the forth-coming 2013 elections. The survey was conduct-ed from April 15-24 to 1200 randomly chosen respondents from the three congressional dis-tricts using a 3% margin error.

Team PNoy senatorial bets Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero and Alan Peter Cayetano are the early frontrunners. The poll survey revealed that 8 ad-ministration candidates have statistical probabil-ity to obtain seats in the senate, while opposition could muster 4 senators. Three (3) independent candidates, who are con-sidered guest candidates of the administration par-ty, have high statistical probability to earn the Davao votes.

Philippine election is a mixture of party poli-tics, popularity, and party affiliation. As the survey reveals, Legarda (65%), Escudero (64%) and Cay-etano (63%) are statisti-cally tied on top spot. The first two are independent candidates who survived bickering and mudsling-ing in the campaign and instead used it to their advantage. Cayetano, on the other hand became a favourite newbie against the old-timer Enrile.

Following closely in the second spot are Poe (60%) and Binay (58%) who though both neo-phytes able to make good use of each family’s polit-ical legacy. Three (3) can-didates shared third spot, two from the opposition and one from the admin-istration party. Enrile (57%) and Ejercito Es-trada (56%) also enjoyed the benefits of being chil-dren of political figures, though they themselves were making names in their own respective dis-tricts which Bam Aquino cannot claim; his is ben-efit of namesake of the President.

Jamby (47%) is se-cured in the fourth spot while two (2) administra-tion candidates, Trillanes (43%) and Pimentel (43%) share the fifth (5th)

spot while Migs (40%) of UNA is contended by Hontiveros (40%) on the sixth slot. Angara (37%) and Villar (36%) both of Team Pnoy secure the 7th , and finally by Bro. Eddie (29%) clinging on the 8th spot.

One striking feature of the top three senatorial candidates is their ability to tag along each other in the votes for senators. It was noted that those who would vote for Chiz would vote for Allan and would vote for Loren. Lo-ren’s imprint on the wom-en afforded her equal size of popular vote with the two.

It was noted that 17 for every 100 female would vote for Loren. She is also most popular among ages 36-42 years old. Loren is endeared by those who have obtained high school education and are unten-ured at their work. She is also popular to low in-come class; 33 out of 100 would chose her.

Chiz is most popu-lar to male voters like-ly between 30-35 years old. He is also seen as champion of the cause of the untenured work-ers. Meanwhile Cayeta-

no is as much popular to males. These men are more likely between 36-42 years old, untenured and obtained secondary education, and earning below five thousand pe-sos a month.

By district analysisDistrict 1Chiz is the favourite

candidate of the district 1 voters. Ejercito Es-trada and Binary of the opposition party, and Angara of Team Pnoy are statistically tied on sec-ond spot. While 2 inde-pendent candidates, Poe and Legarda, and 3 ad-ministration candidates, Villar, Aquino and Cay-etano are competing for the third spot. Maceda impressed for the fourth spot statistically sharing the slot with Madrigal and Hontiveros. Jack En-rile holds the fifth rank; Pimentel on the sixth and COnjuangco on the 7th. Magsaysay and Honasan are vying for the 8th spot.

District 2 Chiz had an im-

pressive mark on district 2 as the number 1 sena-torial bet with 8 of every voter rooting for him. Legarda followed with a statistical gap and Cay-

etano on the third spot. While Ejercito Estrada, Enrile, Pimentel, Poe and Binay sharing the fourth spot. Aquino still tag the magic 12 by securing the 5th spot; Madrigal sliding to 6th slot and Trillanes on the 7th. Meanwhile, Villar and Hontiveros from of the Team Pnoy now statistically share the 8th spot with Zubiri. Angara dropped to 9th spot while Honasan and Villanueva on the 10th.

District 3District 3 has a dif-

ferent political format from the other two dis-trict as indicated by the survey. Cayetano able to unlodged Chiz and Legar-da from the number one spot, while Trillanes able to compete with Poe and Legarda on the second place. Enrile secures the third, while Binay, Zubiri and Aquino are statisti-cally tied on the fourth; Estrada is still a viable player for the 12 sen-atorial seats. Madrigal further slid to 10th spot ahead of Chiz and Hon-tiveros for 11th and 12th place respectively.

LOCAL ELECTIONSThe congressional

seat for district 1 is a

captured position by Nograles (67%) while Bonguyan comes in the far next (29%) and Pam-atong even farther (6%).

M e a n w h i l e , Acosta, Militar are statis-tically tied on rank 1-2; Librado and Culaste for rank 2-4. Quitain on the 5th spot; while Avila, Gali-cia and Camingawan are statistically tied for 6-9 spots, while Ibuyan on the 10th place.

District 2 revealed an interesting election. Garcia (49%) is followed closely by Bian (41%). The later is putting up a good fight against the in-cumbent congresswom-an. For councilors, Dure-za and Alejandre share the 1-2 spot; Bonguyan, Dayap and Monteverde for 3-5 slots; Cabling and Mahipus are statistically tied at 6-7 spot while Sal-vador on the eight slot.

For district 3 council-ors, Al-ag remains on top of the race, while Advin-cula follows on the 2nd rank, and Bello on the 3rd. Dalodo, Villafuerte and Lopez are statistically tied on ranks 4-7, while Dolor on the 8th rank and Zozobrado on the 9th spot.

The Davao voters psy-che

Using exploratory fac-tor analysis, four dimen-sions were found to de-scribe the Davao voters psyche: personality fac-tor, achievement factor, physical factor and the communication factor.

The personality factor entails that a voter would vote for a candidate as principled, easily seen, accommodating, cordial, service-oriented, intelli-gent, humble, pro-poor, merciful, future-oriented, fair, honest, takes care of the government’s wealth, has concern for environ-ment, is family-oriented, religious, has high degree of education, has talents, is rich and a member of a political family.

The achievement fac-tor is the desire of the voter to root for a can-didate who has received many awards, being sup-ported by his/her family (financing a candidacy), and have a good name/reputation of his own.

The physical factor describes the desire of a voter to choose for a can-didate who is physical-ly-fit and good-looking.

And finally, the com-munication factor is the expectation of the voter for a candidate to stand courageously and able to articulate the candidates position or opinion even if it is against the popular views.

Who are the IPO re-spondents?

Our respondents were systematically chosen among the population. Of the 1200 respondents 52% are males and 48% females who are likely to be between 30-49 years old (77%). Of these 37% are untenured, 31% are self-employed while 14% are unemployed. Half of the respondents fin-ished high school (55%) while only 24% obtained college education and 9% have graduate and post-graduate educa-tion. Of these, 54% of the respondents belong to low income class, 31% are on the upper low in-come class and only 0.3% of the respondents be-long to high income class.

Loren, Chiz, Allan top UM poll survey

HALALAN 2013. Director Dr. Maria Linda Arquiza of the Institute of Popular Opinion explains the methodology of Halalan 2013, a political survey for the upcoming May 2013 mid-term elections, during her presentation on Tuesday at the Seda Hotel along J.P. Laurel Avenue, Davao City. Lean Daval Jr.

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VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013 13EDGEDAVAO COMMUNITY SENSE

THE Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of Davao Inc.,

under the leadership of Pres. Leoncio Villa-Abrille, and San Pedro College under Sister Nanita Han-dugan, O.P., SPC President, thru its Community Exten-sion Service (CES), jointly launched a free Operation Tuli on April 20, a Saturday, at the YMCA Multi-Purpose Hall along Villamor Exten-sion, Barangay 11-B, Davao City. The partnership with SPC-CES started in 2007.

In addition to the health & medical team

from San Pedro College, Barangay 11-B, led by Ba-rangay Chairman Darrell K. Birondo, and Don Cesareo Villa-Abrille Foundation, Inc. were the other YMCA’s partners-in-service in this medical project.

Both 1st Vice President Jose Custodio and 2nd VP Fernando Ongkingco Jr. led the other officers – that included Past Pres. Antonio Partoza Jr. and PP Vicente Bañes Jr. - in over-seeing the entire outreach activity.

As co-sponsors, the Villa-Abrille Foundation

provided the meals and the snacks for the volun-teer doctors and nurses including the YMCA staff while the Barangay was tasked in inviting parents to bring their young chil-dren, at least 7 years old to the YMCA clubhouse. But other boys as young as 5 years old who were willing and ready to be cir-cumcised also came.

The registered nurses and health volunteers un-der OIC Reymark Mortalla of San Pedro College-CES assisted the doctors and the other medical profes-

sionals. The YMCA vol-unteers and staff helped out as well. At the end of the day, 68 patients were served – exceeding the expected 50 boys at the most.

Reckoning from the past, Operation Tuli has already benefited an aver-age of 700 boys in the last 14 years. And it has been a major YMCA summer ac-tivity every year in Baran-gay 11-B, and in the com-munity within the vicinity of the Clubhouse since 1999. [Frances Marian V.A. Castana]

OPERATION TULI. Past President Antonio Partoza Jr., PP Vicente Banes Jr. and Elinor Marcelino, R.N. (right) help out in comforting the boys while vol-unteer nurses Karen Eve Mirafuentes, Edelaine Mayon & Candace Santos do the operation. YMCA Davao has been conducting this major summer activity in Barangay 11-B every year in partnership with San Pedro College Com-

munity Extension Service for 6 years now since 2007, with the support of Barangay Chair Darrell Birondo and Don Cesareo Villa-Abrille Foundation. At the end of the day, 68 patients were served – way beyond the expected 50 boys at most.

YMCA Davao offers free circumcision

THE University of Mindanao (UM) continues its bet-

ter performance in the March 2013 Licensure Examination for Teach-ers (LET) and April 2013 Criminologist Li-censure Examination (CLE).

UM recorded 73.58% passing rate in LET – Elementary Lev-el against the national passing rate of 27.28%, while the performance of the university in LET – Secondary Level has reached 83.05% against the 39.61% national passing rate.

According to Dr. Marilou T. Lozarita, Dean of College of Teacher Education, “Passing the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) is a turning point in every student’s life. Realizing the importance of this examination, the Col-lege of Teacher Educa-tion is leaving no stone unturned to give its stu-dents the best training, coaching, and unique and ensuring ways to crack the board exams. This has led to obtain-

ing consistent higher passing percentage and producing two 10th placers in the recent LET conducted in March 10, 2013, namely: Ms. Joy A. Soylon – Bachelor of Elementary Educa-tion – preschool educa-tion, and Mr. John Carl S. Aunso – Bachelor of Elementary Education – generalist”.

On the other hand, the performance of the University of Mindanao in CLE this year is better compared the previous examination. UM re-corded 91.25% passing rate against the 42.28% national passing per-centage. The University ranks first in the entire Davao Region.

The University of Mindanao is one of the leading universities in the country today rec-ognized by CHED as Center of Excellence in Teacher Education. It is also the premier and the biggest Criminology School in Davao Region and the first Criminolo-gy school in Mindanao granted PACUCOA ac-creditation.

UM scores anew in LET and criminology exam

VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 201314 EDGEDAVAOSPORTS

YOU’VE probably heard that Knicks forward Carme-

lo Anthony dropped 90 points in his past two games, leading his club to victories over Miami and Atlanta. Only mild sur-prise there: the focal point of the Knicks’ offense all season, Anthony ‘s 28.1 points per game trails Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durantfor the league lead by a just a whisker.

Except, Anthony isn’t Durant. Despite making about $2.7 million more this season, he isn’t even close. Durant gets his points taking four fewer shots per game than An-thony does (18 vs. 22). He shoots 50.5% from the floor to Anthony’s 44%. Durant averages 4.4 as-sists per game compared to Anthony’s 2.6, and 7.9 rebounds to Anthony’s 6.4.

As the new breed of statistical analysts like to point out, a primary scor-er using extra shots to get his points means few-er shots for others (and hence fewer chances for additional points for the team). Assists lead direct-ly to points, and every re-bound gives your team a possession, which means a chance to score. Durant, in short, is an efficient player whose numbers translate into wins for his club. The same is true for LeBron James, Chris Paul and Tim Duncan. But not for Carmelo Anthony. And that’s why, at a 2012-13 salary of $19.4 million, Anthony tops our list as the NBA’s most overpaid player.

Following closely behind: Charlotte Bob-cats’ guard Ben Gordon ($12.4 million; -2.1 wins produced), Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Johnson ($19.75 million; 1.5 wins produced) and Orlando Magic guard Helo Turk-oglu ($11.8 million; -0.6

wins produced). The pat-tern is pretty clear: scor-ers that don’t do other things well and that don’t shoot a solid percentage from the field tend to be overvalued. For the flip-side, see our rundown of the NBA’s Most Under-paid Players.

TheNBAGeek.com, a website run by Patrick Minton that features the work of Southern Utah economics professor Da-vid Berri, attempts to translate players’ efficien-cies into what’s known as wins produced – largely how many possessions a player gains for his team during a typical game, and how many of his own scoring opportunities he’s cashing in. The model probably isn’t perfect, but the gist of it makes sense – a player taking a lot of shots to score while doing little in the way of passing or rebounding isn’t help-ing to win many games.

A note on making judgment calls for hurt players: we general-ly didn’t include strong players that have missed significant time with in-juries recently, like Der-rick Rose or Amare Stou-demire. But we did in-clude those that have has trouble staying healthy for extended periods (at some point you need to show you can stay on the court), or whose perfor-mance had been fading for awhile anyway (like Hedo Turkoglu).

Anthony certainly had the efficiency num-bers going in his two re-cent big games, shooting 18-for-26 against Miami and 17-for-27 against Atlanta. But just as com-mon were two other re-cent games: an 11-for-28 night with zero assists against Charlotte on March 29, preceded by a 10-for-30 night with one assist against Boston on March 26.

OVERPAID. Injury-prone Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks is one of the most overpaid players in the NBA.

The NBA’s most overpaid players

INdulge! VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013

EDGEDAVAOWOMEN

SoundS cheeSy, but I can’t think of a better title for this story. If I were to change it, I’d just simply have it as (hashtag) #opetlovessandy. Believe it or not, this made a little noise in the newsfeed, be it on Instagram or Twit-ter. Friends and relatives of the newlyweds hashtag-ged every post related to the big day: from pre-wedding happenings up to the unveiling of the “official” photos on the internet. Such efforts made the topic trend across social media, and I’d like to keep it at that respect by adding one more post

Photos by Orange Studio

about this happy occa-sion. “everyone was just so happy and excited for both of us,” gushed the newly pronounced Mrs. christo-pher “opet” dicdiquin. Formerly Alessandra “Sandy” San Pedro, baker and co-owner of coffee at the yellow hauz, the bride is the type who perks up one’s morning not with coffee, but with a hearty and genuine laughter. ever cool, fun-loving, quirky, and affable, Sandy can jolt up energy in any boring room with her animated stories on hot issues and showbiz updates. Such op-timism is so evident with the way she shared her story with me, even add-ing humor into a couple of unhappy memories in her own book of love. “opet is older by 4 years. We’ve been together for 8 years, and half of that long stretch was spent long dis-tance. you see, he works

in canada for Bell Mobil-ity. Apart from that brief period when he was as-signed in Manila to set up the company’s call center, I only saw him once a year

when he flies home to visit me and his family. dis-tance was really a big chal-lenge. It came to a point that I got so frustrated with our setup. Well, it was a

good thing he proposed to me before things could get even more difficult. It was all about timing. By then, we were both ready to set-

Opet loves Sandy

FOPET LOVES SANDY, A4

Club Carlson commits to a global carbon offsetting initiative

A2 INdulge! VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT HEALTH

CLUB CArLsON, the hotel rewards program for Carlson rezidor Hotel Group, announces that it has become the first hotel loyalty program to commit to a global meetings and events carbon offsetting initiative. Club Carlson will purchase carbon cred-its to offset the estimated carbon footprint of 100 percent of Club Carlson for Planners meetings and events globally, across the group’s six brands total-ling 1,077 hotels in operation worldwide. The carbon offsetting – a free service for the meeting planners – will be managed through Carlson rezidor’s new partner, Carbon Footprint Ltd. Carbon credits will be pur-chased and invested in renewable energy in India and with the planting of one tree for every ton of carbon offset in the Great rift Valley in Kenya. Any of the 10 million Club Carlson members globally will also have the opportunity to redeem their Gold Points®, in various increments, to these projects on an ad-hoc basis. “Carlson rezidor takes sustainability seriously. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization-United National Environment Program (UNWTO-UNEP), hotels gen-erate about 20 percent of tourism’s total carbon footprint. This innovative offsetting solution is a unique service of Club Carlson, and will help to reduce our hotels’ and our custom-ers’ carbon footprint”, said suzanne riesterer, chief commer-cial officer. “In addition to Club Carlson for Planners members, individual Club Carlson members will have the opportunity to redeem their Gold Points to help offset the carbon of their personal travel and to support the wind farms in India and the tree planting in Kenya.” “Our company is passionate about the environment that it operates in. We are committed to reducing our negative im-pact on the environment and contributing positively to the local communities. Through these latest eco-friendly initia-tives, we will be able to do just that. At the same time, we are encouraging our guests to join us in mitigating the impact of global travel,” commented Lucinda semark, executive vice president, revenue Generation, Asia Pacific, Carlson rezidor Hotel Group. This initiative was launched near the end of 2012 at radis-son Blu hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and led to 433 tons being offset and 433 trees planted in Kenya. It is part of Carlson rezidor’s award winning responsible Busi-ness Program focusing on a reduced negative impact on the environment, health and safety for employees and guests, and respect for social and ethical issues within the company and community.

GET sweet and savoury this summer at the Wa-terfront Insular Hotel Davao. Explore a world of fla-vors as Cafe Uno features global au-thentic cui-sines of delec-table choices, for only Php 650.00+ or get cozy with our Caramel Coconut Vel-vet. A feath-ery, fluffy and chewy caramel and Malibu co-conut velvet with a base of Oreo crust, only at Php 215.00 nett. For more information or reservations, call the Wa-terfron Insular Hotel Davao at (082) 233 2882.

Waterfront’s sweet and savoury summer treats

The best way to eat for your ageThe nutrients your body craves change as you get older, meaning what fueled you at 20 won’t nec-essarily do the trick at 40. nosh on these life-stage-appropri-ate foods to boost your physical and mental health.

In your 20’s: Salmon your 20’s aren’t always about fun times, but luck-ily, chowing down on this cold-water fish may help prevent or treat depres-sion, a condition that women are nearly twice as likely to experience as men. Sadly, quarter-life crises are all too common: Studies show that depres-sion is most likely to first develop between the ages of 15 to 34. But salmon is jam-packed with ome-ga-3 fatty acids, which may stabilize your mood by boosting levels of feel-good serotonin. “In your 20’s, you are likely work-ing hard and socializing and may not have time to cook, so eat one pre-cooked pouch (two serv-ings) of salmon a week,” says Ruth Frenchman, Rd, author of The Food is My Friend diet. “Toss it on a salad or mix it with low-fat mayo for a lunchtime sandwich - you don’t even need a can opener.”

In your 30’s: Eggs and spinach These are your prime baby-making years, so if you’re breastfeeding, preg-nant, or even just thinking about creating a mini-me, serve yourself a spinach omelet - yolk and all - each morning. egg yolks and spinach both contain cho-line, a nutrient that helps babies’ brains develop properly. The Institute of Medicine recommends getting 425 mg of cho-line at all times, 450 mg if you’re pregnant, and 550 mg if you’re breastfeeding. one large egg will supply you with about 145 mg of the stuff, and a half-cup of spinach will give you roughly 240 mg. Spinach gets bonus points because it contains yet another important nutrient for expectant moms: folate,

which helps prevent birth defects. one half-cup of the slightly-cooked green provides about 130 mcg of folate, about one-third of what the national In-stitutes of health advises women in this age range to get. When pregnant, aim for 600 mcg, and when lactating, for 500 mcg. If you’re not reaching those levels through your diet, ask your doctor whether taking a supplement is a good idea.

In your 40’s: Lean beef and broccoli Burger lovers, you’re in luck. Lean beef is high in iron, a nutrient that helps make red blood cells, sup-ply oxygen to the body, and keep energy levels up. The federal government recommends 18 mg per day for women in their 40’s - and 27 mg during pregnancy and nine mg when lactating. A 4-ounce patty will provide you with about 4 mg of iron. But since the American Insti-tute for cancer Research recommends limiting red meat intake to 18 ounces

per week - more can mess with heart health and can-cer risk - also seek iron from other sources, such as shrimp, pumpkin seeds, or fortified, whole-grain cereals. In your 40’s, it’s also critical to eat lots of cruciferous vegetables - such as broccoli - as they may reduce the risk of breast cancer.

In your 50’s: Non- or low-fat yogurt you’ve heard about the myriad benefits of low- or non-fat yogurt - and not without good reason. “estrogen holds calcium in your bones, but after menopause, you start los-ing estrogen - so you start losing calcium and, there-fore, bone strength,” says Joan Salge Blake, Rd, au-thor of nutrition & you. yogurt provides roughly 300 mg, or one-quarter of your daily calcium. For the rest, drink non-fat milk and calcium-forti-fied orange juice, and eat reduced-fat cheese. To help your body absorb the calcium, talk to your doc-tor about taking a vitamin

d supplement that con-tains at least 600 Iu - you can get some vitamin d through foods and sun-light, but it’s tough to get enough naturally.

In your 60’s: Beans you remember the first part of the song from el-ementary school: “Beans, beans, they’re good for your heart.” Guess what? It’s true. Beans of all kinds - lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, pinto beans, lima beans, white beans, soy-beans - are high in potas-sium, meaning they help lower blood pressure, a known risk factor for heart disease. These tiny wonders are also rich in fiber, which helps you feel full and maintain a healthy weight. counteracting obesity and high blood pressure is important in your sixties, because wom-en over age 55 are twice as likely to have a heart attack as younger men and wom-en. But if you find yourself remembering the second part of that old song, you may have, uh, reached your bean limit.

JANE FONDA’s career in Hollywood is set in cement. After more than 50 years in show business, the 75-year-old actress was surounded by friends and fans while being honored with a hand and footprint ceremony at the iconic TCL Chinese The-atre (formerly known as Grauman’s Theatre and Mann’s Theatre) early sat-urday morning. Fonda left her imprints (and a peace sign to jazz things up) next to her fa-mous father Henry Fonda, who earned his spot on the Walk of Fame in 1942. “I swear I was begin-ning to think that the only way Hollywood was go-ing to give me this oppor-tunity was if the city laid a new sidewalk in front of my house,” Fonda joked.

“What is particularly meaningful to me is that I’m going to be right next to my dad right over there and I can feel his presence right now and he used to say to me, ‘Jane, don’t let this town walk all over you.’ Well dad, right now the town can walk all over

both of us forever.” some guests at the ceremony included Fon-da’s brother Peter Fonda, her son and Gangster squad star Troy Gar-ity, Jim Carrey, Eva Long-oria, Maria shriver and Fonda’s Nine to Five co-star Lily Tomlin.

HOLy adorable. Ben Affleck and Jenni-fer Garner couldn’t have been any prouder of little seraphina sunday! The famous parents (and big sister Violet, 7) cheered on the 4-year-old girl as she made her way to the finish line at the track in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Dad Ben, 40, put both his fists up in the air as he cheered for seraphina, while mom Jen, 41, cap-tured the moment on her phone. Violet stood be-tween her parents watch-ing on, looking adorable in her wayfarers.

The Afflecks are clearly big time in Hollywood, but it’s their kids (includ-ing 1-year-old son samu-el) that take center stage in real life. Case in point? Before Ben accepted his Academy Award, he was cheering on Violet at her spelling bee! “I was more nervous at the spelling bee than I am now, I don’t know what that says,” the proud dad revealed, prior to Argo’s win. “”There was a lot of words. Let me tell you something, you and me might have been in trouble. We belong in the

stands.” Oh, sweet Ben, you be-long everywhere!

THE Italian stallion’s gonna fly now—all the way to Broadway! rocky the musical, a stage adaptation of syl-vester stallone’s 1976 Oscar-winning classic about a beloved Philadel-phia fighter, will open on the Great White Way next spring, it was announced sunday. sly and his fellow pro-ducers confirmed the tuner will begin previews at the historic Winter Gar-den Theatre in February 2014 before curtains rise officially in March. rocky the musical had its world premiere in Hamburg, Germany and was an instant critical and commercial hit as it told the story of the beloved underdog boxer who

gets a once-in-a- l i fet ime shot in the ring with the heavy-weight champ Apollo Creed while find-ing love with everyone’s fa-vorite spinster, Adrian. Alex Timbers (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jack-son) will direct from a book by stallone and Thomas Meehan, who won a Tony for co-writing The Producers. stephen Fla-herty and Lynn Ahrens wrote the score, which, natch, will feature songs and music from the mov-

ie including Bill Conti’s “Gonna Fly Now” theme and survivor’s rocky III anthem “Eye of the Tiger.” Lets hope it’s a knock-out!

Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner and Violet cheer Seraphina to the finish line

Rocky musical bound for Broadway

Jane Fonda leaves her peaceful imprint at TCL Chinese Theatre

INdulge! A3VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013EDGEDAVAOENTErTAINMENT

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Robert Downey, Jr. , Gwyneth Paltrow

Robert Downey, Jr. , Gwyneth Paltrow

A4 INdulge! VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013EDGEDAVAOWOMEN

tle down.” “I am, by nature, a love-aholic, and I was sort of ex-pecting him to have a huge plan when he’d propose to me. I was thinking so far ahead and I even tried to check on his things, in search of an engagement ring.” “The way he proposed was totally spontaneous and out of the blue. We were in the middle of a dVd marathon when he grabbed something from his laptop bag and out popped The BoX. I was teary eyed for a moment there, until he was about to put the ring on my right finger and we realized that we really didn’t know which finger it should be slipped on. Right or left? We were laughing out loud as we searched for the right answer on Google.” Sandy’s sister, April, was the first to know about the good news. “My sister is like my best friend. Given that she has great eye and talent for designing prints, it was just right that I sought her help in concep-tualizing my wedding. The thought of me leaving and living with opet in canada made her sad, and yet she still gave all out support when it came to the prepa-

rations.” “opet and I had a civil wedding first just so he could start processing my Visa for canada. It was a quiet ceremony with just a handful as witnesses. coming from a religious family, the civil ceremony still didn’t serve excuse for us to stay together in one bed,” Sandy chuckles. “We have always wanted an intimate church wed-ding. So, we kept the guest list and entourage with just our immediate family and close friends. We wanted everyone to feel comfort-able mingling around and socializing with people they can relate to.” “Aside from my sister, I

got extra help from Flor-ence Alejandre of occa-sions. She helped style the event and put together all the important aspects of my wedding. She made ar-rangements with La Porto-flora, who flew in import-ed flowers for my wedding. My invites and other print-ed décor were made by Artisan Paperie, my sister’s design studio. Those were personally made by April, and she even surprised us with a very touching audio-visual presentation. orange Studio and The Green Tomato captured every magical moment that day, all of which I still smile and laugh to every time I review our album.”

“I also put my skills to good use. I made our wedding cake, plus the souvenir cookies and cheesecakes for guests and sponsors.” “The wedding was just simple and cozy, and it turned out the way we dreamed it would be. What made it so special were the company and my husband. everyone was so game with our ideas. We opted to have a fun and unconventional prosperity dance to enter-tain our guests. After the wedding, I received a lot of emails and text messages saying they had the best time at our wedding and that it was one of the best they’ve attended.”

FFROM A1Opet loves Sandy...

VOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013

Davao boy Tarranza makes it15EDGEDAVAO SPORTS

ADVANCED metrics show that in the NBA, scoring is

overvalued. Stats com-piled by David Berri, economist and author of “Stumbling on Wins,” rates players’ contribu-tions to wins not only by scoring but shooting percentage, assists, re-bounds and turnovers, all measured against opportunities to accu-mulate those stats (a faster paced game with more shots equals more rebound opportunities, etc.). Here are the ten players whose 2012-13 salaries are most out of whack with win contri-bution. Note: we omitted injured players like Am-are Stoudemire, Derrick Rose and others, but not those who have played most of the season (Dirk Nowitzki) or whose per-formance has been in de-

cline for awhile anyway (Hedo Turkoglu).

Carmelo AnthonyNew York KnicksSalary: $19.4 millionWins produced: 0.7Big time scorer who

can really get on a roll at times - just very inef-ficient. Anthony shoots 44% and gets fewer than three assists per game. Forget LeBron James and Kevin Durant, Anthony doesn’t even measure up to former Knick Zack Randolph, who makes $3 million less playing in Memphis.

Ben GordonCharlotte BobcatsSalary: $12.4 millionWins produced: -2.1 Career 43% shooter

(41% this year) whose scoring has declined dra-matically since leaving the Bulls after the 2008-09 season.

Joe Johnson

Brooklyn NetsSalary: $19.75 millionWins produced: 1.5Looking to load up

on a couple of big names for their big move, the Nets traded for John-son and marketed him with Deron Williams as “Brooklyn’s Backcourt.” The team is having a solid year, but Johnson’s scoring average (16.4 a game) is his lowest since 2004, as he shoots just 42.3%. And he doesn’t rebound or pass much.

Hedo TurkogluOrlando MagicSalary: $11.8 millionWins produced: -0.6Only 11 games this

year due to injury, nor-mally a qualification for some slack. But Turko-glu has been fading for awhile since averaging 19.5 points a game in 2007-08. Averaged just 11 points last year on

41% shooting.Dirk NowitzkiDallas Mavericks Salary: $20.9 millionWins produced: 3.3An obvious Hall of

Famer, and yes, he was hurt earlier this season. But Nowitzki’s numbers have dipped for a cou-ple of years now as he pushes age 35. The stats say he’s worth about $13 million at this point of his career.

Corey MaggetteDetroit PistonsSalary: $10.9 millionWins produced: -0.8Another whose re-

cent injury doesn’t give him a pass: Maggette has never played a full 82-game season in his 14-year career. He can score, but with career averages of 4.9 rebounds, 2.1 as-sists and 45% shooting, he’s just not a premium player.

DAVAO’S Mahloney Tarranza of As-sumption College

of Davao joined seven boys from Manila, one from Pampanga, and one from General Santos City as top selection in the Jr. NBA Philippines 2013.

The 14-year old point guard made it to the best of this year’s batch of Jr. NBA aspirants who went through a very tough se-lection process.

Tarranza’s mother Nenita Arcillas Tarranza congratulated her son on a facebook post announc-ing his selection. “Con-gratulations Alney Tar-ranza, (we) are so proud of you.”

Also making it were Marvin Sario, Vince Jansel Ferrer, Samuel Abujihleh, Gian Robert Mamuyac, Ricci Paolo Rivero, Chris-tian Tyler Tio, Miguel Alejandro Fortuna of Ma-nila, Pawandeep Singh of Pampanga, and Anthony Sistoza of General Santos City. The new batch of Jr. NBA All Stars will be re-warded with an authen-tic NBA experience and the opportunity to play against a counterpart Jr. NBA team abroad.

Phoenix Petroleum marketing supervisor Neb Bulaclac also com-mented, “It was a good fight for the Jr NBA play-ers from Davao. Mahlo-ney Tarranza of Assump-tion College and Anthony Sistoza of Holy Trinity College made it to the Jr NBA Philippines Allstar Team. Jose Frederic Anti-porda, Paolo Coquilla, Lo-

renz Viajar made it only up to the top 20 slot.”

The Jr. NBA is pre-sented by Alaska on its sixth consecutive stag-ing in the country whose passion for basketball is considered legend.

Fortuna and Ferrer are the younger siblings of collegiate players Jeric Fortuna and Kevin Ferrer, both of the University of Santo Tomas.

The boys, aged 13 and 14 were the top achiev-ers in the three-day boot camp that put togeth-er the best 50 players culled from the Regional Selection Camps held in Dagupan, Davao, Luce-na, Metro Manila and the Alaska Power Camp in March and early April.

JR. NBA ALL STAR

They make way too much

Carmelo Anthony. $19.4 million

Joe Johnson. $19.75 million Ben Gordon. $12.4 million

JR. NBA ALL STARS. Meet the 2013 Jr.NBA All-Star Team led by Davao’s Mahloney Tarranza (6th fron left) and Gen. Santos City’s Anthony Siztosa (4th from right). Others who made it are from

left: Tyler Tio, Gian Mamuyac, Marco Sario, Ricci Rivero, Pawandeep Singh, Miguel Fortuna, Vince Ferrer and Sam Abuhijleh. Below, Jr. NBA alumni play in an All-Stars exhibition match.

16 EDGEDAVAOSportsVOL. 6 ISSUE 33 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 01, 2013

MANUEL Vincent Sumog-oy of Phoenix Cyclo-

max-Suzuki V-Man Racing Team ruled two divisions in the 2013 Suzuki-Phoe-nix Raider Breed Wars “Battle of the Kings” at the Tagum City Hall grounds over the weekend.

Sumog-oy first topped the Scooter 130cc class besting teammate Jerry de Leon and Jeasar Melendres of GRT-Davao. He came back later to dominate the Suzuki Underbone 115 class over Johnnel Man-dapat and Ralph Castillo of MBRD-BARDAHL who finished 2-3.

Ariel Magralos of Da-vaeno Racing Development won the Suzuki Underbone 150 besting Manuel Gas-con of Jetron Racing and Anthony Ociones of Zafratt.

Marianne dela Cruz, head of Suzuki Philip-pines motorcycle division, awarded the prizes to the winners.

Sumag-oy and Magralos, crowned Kings of Tagum City, will advance to Manila on December to represent Davao in the 2013 Racing Breed Wars National Finals.

The Raider Breed Wars powered by Phoe-nix Cyclomax Motorcyle Oils, now on its fourth year, exemplifies Suzuki Philippines’ commitment to bring excitement to its customers without com-promising rider and spec-tator safety. Sharing its commitment are sponsors Talk N Text and Denso Sparkplugs.

The RBW is a free drag racing event sanctioned by the National Motorcy-cle Sports and Safety As-sociation ( NAMSSA). It provides the proper ven-ue and safety gears to all participating riders and drag racing enthusiasts. It is being organized with Racing Line as its race and media partner.

Kings of TagumPhoenix rider wins

By Neil Bravo

TO THE FINISH. This rider crouches to push down his motorcycle while hit-ting the top speed during the Underbone 115cc category of 2013 Suzuki Raider Breed Wars at the New City Hall of Tagum Sunday afternoon. Lean Daval Jr.

FAST AND FURIOUS. Action was fast and furious during the Underbone 115cc category of 2013 Suzuki Raider Breed Wars at the New City Hall of Tagum Sunday after-noon. Lean Daval Jr.