P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO

LOVE TRIANGLE EYEDCops say lawyer’s killing could be crime of passion, businessman invited for inquiry

IMAGINATIVE. An ingenious teenager is unmindful of an ankle-high water brought by Monday evening’s heavy downpour as he uses a stilt to cross a flooded Bangoy Street in Davao City. Lean Daval Jr.

NEIGHBORHOOD BIRD. A ripe sugar-apple (atis) fruit is rel-ished by a yellow-vented Bulbul  (pirok-pirok), a member of the  bulbul  family of  passerine  birds and resident breeder in Southeast Asia like the Philippines, in a neighborhood garden in Sasa, Davao City yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

Davao City Police Office (DCPO) Director Senior Su-perintendent Vicente Danao Jr. told a radio interview yes-terday morning that they are looking at the possibility of a “crime of passion” in the brutal slaying of lawyer Emmanuel “Emman” Ledesma Acuña Jr. on Friday night.

In an interview with DXAB anchor Jun Bersamin, Danao bared that there could be a link between Acuña’s girlfriend, whose name is kept under wraps upon request, and her ex-boyfriend businessman from a nearby city. Danao said the ex-boyfriend of Acuña’s girlfriend could be one piece of the puzzle in the crime.

Danao said in the radio interview that they have sent invitation to the ex-boyfriend, whom Danao refused to iden-

tify, but the latter has not sur-faced. He was described as “a wealthy businessman and a member of an affluent family.

“Hindi pa siya sumasagot. I hope that he will surface to clear his name. Kapag ang tao walang kinalaman, iki-clear niya ang pangalan niya,” Da-nao said. He again reiterated his calls for the unidentified ex-boyfriend to come out in the open and clear his name. Dan-ao warned of the possibility of a warrant of arrest against the unnamed businessman.

“Pwede siya pumunta sa police, pwede rin sa iyo Jun,” the DCPO chief added when asked by Bersamin of the pos-sibilities of the said personality yielding to the police inquiry.

The businessman was said to be in a relationship with

njb@edgedavao.net

By NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO

INVEStIgAtION of the killing of a former Public Attorney’s Office lawyer could lead to an intricate crime of passion, the police

hinted yesterday.

FLOVE, 10

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 20142

WEATHER FORECAST

EDGEDAVAO

THE BIG NEWS INDEPENDENCE DAY. A security personnel is seen walking by an Independence Day promotional signage at the Annex of SM City Davao yesterday. The country will commemorate its 116th Independence Day on June 12. Lean Daval Jr.

THE Department of Edu-cation (DepEd) is com-mitted on addressing the

congestion of classrooms as it aims to broaden the access of students to quality education.

DepEd Assistant Secretary Jesus Mateo stated that the department will continue on implementing measures that will help lessen the incidence of overcrowded classrooms.

“We are committed on in-creasing our investment in the construction of new classrooms and in providing alternative learning delivery modes for our students who are unable

to attend regular classes due to physical, geographic and economic limitations,” Mateo stated in a press briefing held Monday at the DepEd’s Bulwa-gan ng Karunungan in Ortigas, Pasig City.

DepEd constructed 66,813 classrooms nationwide which addressed the backlog of 66,800 classrooms since 2010. These classrooms which range from one-storey structures to multi-floor buildings were con-structed through national and local government funds and do-nations from the private sector.

Also, the department is im-

plementing its Education Ser-vice Contracting (ESC) program which involves coordinating with private schools that have the capacity to accommodate a large number of students.

Tuition subsidies are pro-vided to high school students enrolled on these schools through the Government Assis-tance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) program.

A ‘busing’ system is also implemented wherein stu-dents from congested schools in a certain area are transferred through vans to nearby schools

that have the capability to ab-sorb large number of students.

In Valenzuela City, at least 140 students from Malinta El-ementary School –Pinalagad Annex will be transported daily to Caruhatan West Elementary School in DepEd vans. The lo-cal school board will shoulder the fuel expenses for the entire school year. Similar arrange-ments are being considered in Quezon City and Caloocan City.

Asec. Mateo reiterated that overcrowding in schools is caused by the lack of buildable spaces for new school facilities.

DepEd pursues initiatives to solve classroom problem

FDEPED, 10

THE International Trans-port Workers Federation (ITF) has launched a

new HIV/AIDS manual to allow them to effectively information and relief campaigns against the dreaded disease.

Around 1.2 million sea-farers are serving aboard the international merchant marine fleet.

Of these, 430,000 are Fili-pinos.

The manual provides hands on guidance; best practice ex-amples from affiliates with a long track record of action on the issue; and practical support to unions in dealing with HIV/AIDS in the workplace and their fight against stigma and dis-crimination.

It includes learning activ-ities, a round-up of training methods and techniques, and a summary of basic information about HIV/AIDS.

The publication aims to de-livers further on the ITF’s Con-gress mandates in 2002 and 2006 to strengthen its work on HIV/AIDS and challenge the stigma and discrimination sur-rounding the disease.

“It’s not just a matter of up-dating statistics but of taking on board the evolving dynamics of the epidemic, the progress that has been made in both pre-vention and treatment, and the development of new tools and approaches. ITF affiliates have undertaken major programs and the many achievements to report,” said ITF acting secre-tary general Steve Cotton.

He warned against compla-cency and vowed they would continue to work with its affil-iates “to combat the still very real threat that AIDS presents to the rights, health and liveli-hoods of working people and their families.” [PNA]

TO better strengthen the competitiveness of the local tourism industry,

the provincial government of Davao del Sur will be crafting its own tourism development code patterned after some provisions of existing parallel ordinances in Davao City and Palawan province.

“We will review other city’s and province’s tourism code and will adopt what is ap-plicable for our development,” lawyer Jason John Arciaga Joyce, board of member and head of the provincial tourism committee.

“We wanted to focus on the environmental protection of resources so that it will not be destroyed by any kind of de-velopment but be enhance fur-ther,” he said during the Davao Business Forum at Dermpath in SM City Davao in coopera-tion with San Miguel Foods.

The province is not just known for the height of Mt. Apo but also for a number of hot springs, waterfalls, eco-parks and vast agricultural land.

Last week, Joyce said that the provincial government de-clared agri-tourism as the de-

velopment priority for Davao del Sur while sports and cul-ture will be the main attraction of the newly-created Davao Occidental which will be func-tional after the 2016 elections.

Currently, the provincial government is only allotting P1 million budget for tourism projects and programs.

Joyce said the proposed code will hopefully create a clearer path for the tourism industry of the province know-ing its huge potential in the tourism market.

“We will also include rev-enue measures like imposing

environmental fee and tourism fee that will be used to gener-ate funding for the improvisa-tion of identified tourist spots in the province,” he added.

He said that they are tar-geting to finish crafting the or-dinance this year. The code will be used by both provinces of Davao del Sur and Davao Occi-dental even after its mandated separation by 2016.

“We are focusing on devel-oping all municipalities of the province despite the separa-tion,” Joyce explained.

According to him, by 2016

Davao Sur crafts own tourism code

Seafarers group embarks on new HIV/AIDS manual

crc@edgedavao.net

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

FDAVAO, 10

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 3NEWS

FREED. Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 11 director Joselin Marcus E. Fragada (leftmost) shares a light moment with the five con-tractual DENR surveyors while waiting for the vehicle that will bring them to a downtown hotel after they were turned over by the New People’s Army (NPA) to Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte Monday afternoon. The surveyors, together with their driver, were abducted by the NPA in New Leyte, Maco, Compostela Valley Province last Friday. Lean Daval Jr.

FREE RIDE. A motorcycle passenger carries a bicycle on his shoulder as he and the driver traverse a relatively smooth section of Quimpo Blvd. in Davao City yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

THE Eastern Mindanao Command on Tuesday said that the Department

of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) contractors, abducted last May 30 and re-leased June 2 afternoon, are now undergoing stress debriefing at the agency’s regional office in Davao City.

“They are now at the DENR Regional Office for stress de-briefing,” Capt. Alberto Caber, Eastern Mindanao Command spokesperson, said.

He added that victims along with their drivers were released with the help of Davao City May-or Rodrigo Duterte.

Caber said that the DENR contractors were released in Ba-rangay Panangan-Sangab, Maco town, Compostela Valley.

Released were Kendrick Wong, Nico Lasaca, Chris Favi-la, Tim Sabino and driver Jonas Loredo.

DENR Regional director Joselin Marcus Fragada earlier apologized to the local authori-ties of Maco, Compostela Valley for non-coordination with the local government unit prior to the conduct of the aerial survey in Barangay New Leyte.

Fragada said the activity of the survey inspectors from Ma-nila-based Sky Eye UAV, which was commissioned by the Pro-vincial Environment and Natu-ral Resources (PENRO), was not also coordinated with the DENR XI, thus he only knew that the surveyors were in the area when he was informed of the abduc-tion last Friday.

He also clarified the survey-ors are independent contractors and not part of the DENR. These are young graduates from the Ateneo de Manila who ventured into such business.

Fragada stated that the

THE Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining

order (TRO) against the imple-mentation of a Bureau of Inter-nal Revenue (BIR) regulation on doctors.

During the en banc ses-sion, the SC issued a TRO stopping the BIR from imple-menting Revenue Regulation 4-2014, or the “Guidelines and Policies for Monitoring of Ser-vice Fees of Professionals” on doctors.

Because of this, the doc-tors are not yet obliged to com-ply with the said guidelines mandating the self-employed professionals to do the follow-ing:

• to submit an affi-davit containing their col-lection of service fee;

• to register their books of accounts and books of official appoint-ment in the performance of their profession; and

• to issue a receipt registered with the BIR.

The SC acted on the mo-tion for intervention filed by the Philippine College of Phy-sicians.

The SC had earlier re-strained the enforcement of the BIR Circular as far as it op-erated against lawyers when it issued a TRO on April 22, 2014 on the petition of the Integrat-ed Bar of the Philippines (IBP).

Party-list Alay Buhay Rep. Wes Gatchalian stressed the need to es-

tablish Philippine Heart Center hospital facilities in the Visayas and Mindanao to promote the right of the people to better health services.

“Government must ensure that specialty hospitals (level 3) should be widely and geo-graphically distributed across the country, being an archipe-lagic state, instead of its con-centration in the National Cap-ital Region,” Rep. Gatchalian insists.

He is author of HB 4342 entitled “An Act establishing the Visayas and Mindanao Hospital facilities of the Phil-ippine Heart Center, amending for that purpose President De-cree No. 673, providing funds therefor, and other purposes.”

Section 2 of HB 4342 states: “To carry out the pur-pose of this Act, including the operation of PHC-Visayas and the PHC-Mindanao, the land

acquisition, construction, and the acquisition of hospital equipment, furniture and fix-tures, the sum of One Billion (P1-B) pesos for each hospi-tal is hereby appropriated. Thereafter the expenses of the PHC-Visayas and PHC-Mind-anao shall be provided in the General Appropriations Acts intended for the PHC.”

The PHC, Gatchalian point-ed out, is a specialty and re-search center with the most modern facilities and state of the art equipment for heart and related diseases in the country.

“It has gained the reputa-tion as one of the best Congen-ital Heart Surgery Centers not only in the country but in the ASEAN Region as well. Yet, its location is not as comprehen-sive or accessible to many Fil-ipinos in the Visayas and Mind-anao,” the author stressed.

“Through the establish-ment of public specialty hos-

Freed DENR contractors now undergoing stress debriefing

FFREED, 10

Philippine Heart Center for VisMin area pressed

SC issues TRO vs BIR regulation on doctors

FPHILIPPINE, 10

ACCESS to health in-surance and its corre-sponding benefits will

be made available to about 50, 000 municipal fisherfolk in Davao Region who are set to become members of Phil-Health starting next year.

“This will help the sector which is usually disadvan-taged,” Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources 11 (BFAR 11) regional direc-tor Fatma M. Idris told Edge Davao in an interview after the Kapehan sa Dabaw last

Monday at SM City Annex.“Kung member na sila ng

PhilHealth, hindi matatakot ang pamilya nila na magka-sakit o magpaospital dahil covered na sila ng insurance,” she explained.

Idris said the free Phil-Health membership of fish-erfolk is being pursued in line with the BFAR national pro-gram on municipal fisherfolk registration launched in July last year.

Nine months after its launching in Davao Region,

she said the collaborative ef-forts of BFAR and local gov-ernment units resulted to the registration of about 22,666 fisherfolk as of May this year.

“We are targeting to have 28,000 more registrants from all over Mindanao this year,” she said, adding that being registered will help fisher-men in getting better access to government projects lined up for the fishery sector.

“Our project beneficia-ries will be based on the list of registrants we have on

hand that is why we are en-couraging all fisherfolks to avail of the registration,” she said.

Idris said that the De-partment of Agriculture has already partnered with government agencies like Philippine Health Insurance (PhilHealth Inc.), Philippine Crop Insurance and Depart-ment of Budget and Manage-ment.

“We will start the im-plementation right after the registration,” Idris said.

BFAR provides health insurance to fisherfolk

crc@edgedavao.net

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 20144TAGUM CITY

Compostela Valley

EDGEDAVAO

SUBURBIA

Jointly organized by the City Government of Tagum and the Diocese of Tagum, this year’s Santacruzan featured elaborately-decorated arcs adorned with flowers, signify-ing another Filipino tradition honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary: Flores de Mayo.

Hundreds of an-gel-dressed children who par-ticipated in the month-long Flores de Mayo in their re-spective Gagmayn’g Kristoha-

nong Katilingban (GKKs) also joined in the festivities.

Santacruzan is a Filipino Catholic tradition that honors the Blessed Virgin Mary and commemorates the discovery of the Holy Cross by Reyna Elena.

“It brings out the best in Tagum,” said Marlene Alastra of the Tagum City Tourism Council, referring to the 21 sa-galas this year.

The sagalas this year

are Arrold Dave Cacayorin (Methuselah), Darren Jeanne Cahucom (Reina Bandera-da), Bianca Igtanloc (Reyna Mora), Katrina Mae Bala-ga (Reyna Fe), Suzie Dawn Rellon (Reyna Esperanza), Melody Rellon (Reyna Cari-dad), Hannah Dianne Moreño (Reyna Abogada), Shiela Mae Arbuso (Reyna Sentenciada), Hannah Faye Nardo (Reyna Justicia), Dannah Jean Dujali (Reyna Judith), Kristine Lara

San Jose (Rey-na Sheba), Jae Ann Sollano (Samaritana), Alyssa Mae Alimpolo (Veroni-ca), Sherilyn Arbuso (Mary of Magdala), Ivy Dianne de Guz-man (Mary Mother of Christ), Corina Emerphy Santiago (Mary Mother of James), Rox-ane Francisco (Divina Pasto-ra), Ma. Althea Loreen Fabular (Reina de las Estrellas), Fran-ces Antheanae Ymalay (Rosa Mystica), Christine Parantar

(Reyna Paz), Julienne Marie Batingal (Reyna de las Prope-tas), Korina Christelle Coquil-la (Reyna del Cielo), Rizalie Bagnol (Reyna de las Vir-gines), Doreleen Que (Reyna de las Flores), Allena Sharm Rellon (Reyna Elena) and Dr. Rae Kara Malbog (Reyna Em-peratriz).

Prior to the procession, a Holy Mass was celebrated at the Parish of the Christ the

Eucharistic King. A shrt program followed

the parade at the Tagum City Trade Center and Cultural Pavilion where children and their parents converged, and where the special awards were announced.

Dr. Malbog’s took home the title as Best Sagala, as well as the supreme award for arc design. [Gleiza Delgado of CIO Tagum]

Scenes taken during the Grand Santacruzan’s procession of the Sagalas held at the main streets in Tagum City last May 31, 2014. Photos by Leo Timogan of CIO Tagum

Tagum City holds Grand SantacruzanTAgumENyOS ended the month of may with an elaborate celebration of the an-

nual grand Santacruzan, this time marked with the highest mark of religiosity and creativity with a late-afternoon parade of 21 beautiful sagalas in the city’s

major streets.

A LOCAL troop of the Girl Scouts of the Phil-ippines (GSP) based

in Pantukan, Compostela Valley was awarded the Pilar Hidalgo Achievement Award last week besting other GSP troops all over the country.

Sta. Teresa Elementary School’s GSP Troop 228 was given the award last May 23 at the Museo Pambata in Roxas Boulevard, Manila. Troop 228 became a na-tional finalist after winning the regional level just two months ago.

The Pilar Hidalgo Lim Troop Achievement Award aims to encourage communi-ty development and ensure that the programs undertak-en by the troop are indeed what the community mem-bers consider important for their locality.

Brienlyn Bano, teacher and troop leader of Troop 228, and Bonifacio Abalayan, purok chairman of Purok Durian, Sta. Teresa, received the award from the GSP.

In her speech, Bano shared the award with the local community of Pantukan and their contributing part-ner -- King-King Copper Gold Project (KCGP).

KCGP is a partnership between Nationwide Devel-opment Corporation (Nade-cor) and St. Augustine Gold &

Copper Ltd. (SAGCL) wherein the two companies are work-ing together to develop the world class King-king Project while partnering with the community to meet the needs of Pantukan.

“This Pilar Hidalgo Lim Award gives us (the troop, the community, & our partner

stakeholder the SASI/NADE-COR-KCGP) an overwhelming recognition from its legacy of promoting leadership among the girls through service for community development,” she said.

KCGP supported the project all throughout for its technical and financial needs.

Pilar Hidalgo Lim Award 1st Place

Comval GSP bags national awardTULUNAN, NorTh CoTAbATo

THE local government here has convinced some 163 families who

fled their homes after armed men harassed their commu-nities to return home as nor-malcy has been restored.

Mayor Lani Candolada of Tulunan, North Cotabato said the displaced families were already extended with re-lief assistance from the local government unit through the town’s social welfare and de-velopment office.

Mayor Candolada said most of the 163 families who fled their homes in the village of Popoyon Sunday after gun-men claiming ownership of vast tracks of lands attacked them, leaving a 12-year-old girl wounded.

“I told them that normal-cy has been restored in Baran-gay Popoyon but some evacu-ees, especially those near the area where harassment oc-curred, returned home at day and went back to evacuation sites at night,” she said.

According to Senior Insp. Ronnie Cordero, Tulunan po-lice chief, the displaced fami-lies fled after gunmen, led by a certain Commander Musa, fired at villages farming in Ba-rangay Popoyon last Sunday morning.

Some civilians who were armed traded shots with the attackers.

“It was a long standing land dispute and we are trying to address it through peaceful means,” Candolada said.

She added previous agreements have been reached but “somehow not implemented on the grounds.”

She said she sought the help of traditional Muslim leaders and all stakeholders were involved in finding a win-win solution,” she added.

Candolada said adding that she was not losing hope the parties involved in the land dispute could come to-gether and reach a lasting agreement. [PNA]

163 displaced families in NorCot return home

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 5EDGEDAVAO

THE ECONOMYDA forges stronger links with SoKor counterpart, investorsFOLLOWING his suc-

cessful five-day visit to South Korea last

week, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala on Monday announced that the Philip-pines has secured a number of trade commitments and agreements with South Ko-rean businesses that could help boost income and live-lihood opportunities to local agro-fishery industries.

The Agriculture chief added that the DA and its counterpart agencies in South Korea had also agreed to expand technical coop-

eration on food safety and sustainable food production systems.

Because of these, Alca-la said the country can now look forward to additional exports of corn silage and other animal feedstock with the signing of a memoran-dum of understanding for “better business efficiency and friendly relations” be-tween Hapchon Livestock Cooperative Union and Filipi-no groups Benacorn Corpo-ration and Ploughshares Inc.

Hapchon is the Korean firm that bought the Philip-

pines’ first-ever exports of corn silage between May and December last year.

“Several South Ko-rea-based firms also ex-pressed strong interest in importing Peking duck meat and fishery products from the Philippines,” Alcala said.

He said that DA officials have already met with of-ficers of these companies – which include Japan Food Corp., TC Foods and Dawon Corp. - on separate occasions while in the Asian country.

“We will link them with local producers now that the

Philippines has an advantage for such commodities. For Peking duck, for instance, the country can boast of its avi-an influenza-free status as a guarantee,” Alcala said.

While there, he said that he also met with his South Korean counterpart, Agricul-ture Minister Lee Dong-Phil, to thank him for South Ko-rea’s approval of the coun-try’s exports of poultry prod-ucts through Bulacan-based Bounty Fresh Inc.

Data from the Bureau of Animal Industry showed that the country shipped some 1,000 metric tons of poultry products valued at USD 37,800 to South Korea from January to February 2014.

Meanwhile, Alcala said that a memorandum of agreement is now being pre-pared with the Korea Food Research Institute (KFRI) on traceability and food safety

management.This was the result, he

said, of his meeting with KFRI chief Inkwoo Choi.

The MOA will focus on the adoption of an alert sys-tem and capacity building on risk assessment as part of DA’s efforts to enhance local food safety standards and boost the attractiveness of Filipino agro-fishery exports in international markets.

“A traceability system will allow the government and Philippine businesses to determine the source of a product or its ingredients af-fected by food safety issues thereby minimizing disrup-tion to trade and any poten-tial public health risks,” he explained.

In the meantime, oth-er agreements or commit-ments secured by DA in South Korea included the ap-proval by the Korean Rural Development Administra-

tion of the agency’s request for technical assistance in the development and dis-semination of sustainable food production techniques, notably low-input, labor sav-ing cropping technologies.

Also included is the partnership with the Ru-ral Research Institute to expand the coverage of an existing memorandum of understanding for the es-tablishment of so-called Multi-Industry Clusters (MICs) to include local gov-ernment units.

Apart from meeting with senior officials and potential investors, the DA secretary and his delegation also led an agribusiness in-vestment roadshow in the city of Daegu to encourage overseas Filipino workers based in the city to invest in food and agriculture-re-lated ventures back home. [PNA]

THERE has been no no-ticeable effect on the business side between

Philippines and China despite ongoing territorial conflict over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) by both countries, said Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Sec-retary Gregory L. Domingo.

“So far, there has been no noticeable effect of the politi-cal (and) security side on the trade and investment side. We continue to see activities, in-creasing activities on business side,” Domingo expressed.

Data of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that in the first quar-ter of 2014, trade transactions with China has jumped by 20 percent to US$ 3.94 billion against trade value of US$ 3.28 billion in the first quarter of 2013.

In terms of export, Chi-na is the third largest export partner of the country in Jan-uary-March this year with export revenue from China amounting to US$ 1.67 billion.

This is 7.6 percent higher than last year’s same period of US$ 1.56 billion.

On the other hand, China is the country’s top imports source in the first quarter of the year with transaction amounting to US$ 2.27 bil-lion -- or 31.64 percent higher than the US$ 1.72 billion re-corded in 2013 for the same period.

DTI Undersecretary for Trade and Investment Pro-motions Group Ponciano C. Manalo Jr. also affirmed that the country’s trade and in-vestment relation with China remains stable.

Manalo mentioned that last April, he received the new commercial officer of China to the Philippines and they had talked about business promo-tions on both sides.

He added that in the in-vestment side, there are two to three Chinese companies that are looking into putting up business in the Philippines.

“Our economical objec-tives are quite clear and differ-

ent from our political issues that are surrounding,” said Manalo.

Aside from trade and in-vestments, Chinese tourist ar-rivals in 2013 also grew from its previous year.

“The biggest increases of tourists are from China. (And) on 2013 from 2012, there was a 60 percent increase in tourists from China,” said DTI Secretary Domingo, noting that this is despite territorial disputes between the Philip-pines and China.

Accounts from the tour-ism department showed Chi-nese tourist arrivals in 2013 reached 426,352 as compared to 2012’s 250,883 Chinese tourists.

Both DTI officials stressed that it is still “business as usu-al” for Philippines and China even with the tension over islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

“Let’s divorce the political issues and business issues as far as China is concerned,” DTI noted. [PNA]

DTI execs: No noticeable effect on PHL, China business amid territorial dispute

5.7% The country’s GDP growth in the first quarter of 2014. The Philippines is the third fastest growing nation among major economies in Asia during this period.

It figures

50.7% Increase in the country’s business con-fidence index for the first three months of 2014, according to a report from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The BSP also said that the outlook on the economy remains favorable and in positive territory.

P45.04 billion Allotment for seven infrastructure projects approved by the National Economic and Development Authority Board last Thurs-day, May 29, 2014. The approved projects are aimed at improving the standards of service in the water, health, and transport sectors.

P7.35 billion Additional amount to be released to the Department of Public Works and Highways for the construc-tion of more classrooms for pub-lic elementary and high schools nationwide. According to Secre-tary of Budget and Management Florencio Abad, the money will be used to build 7,136 classrooms in 4,007 sites.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 20146 EDGEDAVAO

ENVIRONMENT

DECADES of painstak-ing efforts to conserve the Philippine eagle

(Pithecophaga jefferyi) seems to be paying off, but much more needs to be done to pro-tect its fragile population.

This was according to Environment and Natural Re-sources Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje, who urged the public to take part in the observance of the 16th Philippine Eagle Week on June 4-10.

He said this year’s celebra-tion calls for greater aware-ness on the importance of the charismatic and iconic raptor, which is also known as “Haring Ibon” or king of birds.

“Nurturing this unique heritage found only in this part of the world is a gift of the Fili-pino people to the global com-munity,” Paje said.

The environment chief said this year will be extra-spe-cial because three new addi-tions to the eagle’s population were recorded last December, providing a glimmer of hope for the national bird.

He said the Regional Eagle Watch Teams in Regions 9 and 11 of the Department of Envi-ronment and Natural Resourc-es (DENR) discovered one at the Mt. Apo Natural Park in Davao Oriental and reported the birth of two new eagles in Linay, Zamboanga del Norte and Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur, respectively.

“In the midst of the gov-ernment efforts to restore our dwindling forests, the pres-ence of these birds boosts our hope of achieving a thriving forest ecosystem and a con-

stant reminder that wildlife can co-exist harmoniously with humans,” Paje pointed out.

For her part, Director Theresa Mundita Lim of the DENR’s Biodiversity Manage-ment Bureau (BMB) lauded government partners whose efforts to help save the Philip-pine eagle from extinction has been encouraging.

Lim said the most wel-come surprise was the recent documentation of a family of three eagles at Mt. Mingan in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija by the Haribon Foundation after a sighting of a juvenile was first reported by a group of bota-nists in February 2014.

She disclosed that a plan is being hatched by the DENR, the Haribon and the local government of Gabaldon to intensify the protection of Mt. Mingan in order to ensure the perpetuity of the eagles as well as the mountain’s boun-tiful streams that water the town’s farmlands.

Lim also cited the sight-ings of the eagle on Leyte Is-land in February 2013, which led the Institute of Biology of the University of the Philip-pines-Diliman and the Phil-ippine Eagle Foundation to conclude the existence of the Philippine eagle on the island where the raptor was once thought to have been extir-pated.

The BMB chief also as-sured that the bureau re-mains steadfast in saving the remaining habitats of the Philippine eagle, many of which are already being man-

aged as protected areas.“We are continually sur-

veying areas critical for the survival of the Philippine eagle and other threatened species to be conserved in partnership with local gov-ernment units and the com-munities,” she added.

Acclaimed as one of the treasures of the Philippine wild, the national bird is the largest eagle in the world. With its height of one me-ter and a wing span of two meters, the Philippine eagle reigns supreme in the tropi-

cal forest as a top predator. A pair of this majestic bird oc-cupies 7,000 to 13,000 hect-ares of forest territory.

Ironically, the command-ing presence of the Philip-pine eagle has not spared it from human persecution and the pressures of deforesta-tion. With an estimated pop-ulation of no more than 500 hundred pairs in the wild, it remains to be one of the most critically endangered birds in the world.

The annual celebration of the Philippine Eagle Week

is mandated through Presi-dential Proclamation No. 79 issued in 1999.

At the opening of classes this month, DENR personnel are scheduled to give lectures in schools as part of the na-tionwide campaign highlight-ing the role of the youth in na-ture conservation. In Metro Manila, fun learning activities and photo exhibits await park visitors at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City on June 8.

Lim said that this year’s theme -- “Your action, your

future: Empowering the youth for environment con-servation”-- seeks commit-ment from the young genera-tion to conserve the country’s rich biological resources.

“This plea resonates to the very core values to strengthen the Filipinos’ re-spect and care for the envi-ronment. Such determination would allow future genera-tions to admire the beauty of our national bird, protect our national treasure and to pre-serve the Filipino heritage,” Lim said. [PNA]

DENR: More awareness on the Philippine Eagle

SURIGAO CITY -- A con-servation group urged local government units

in the Surigao provinces to impose a ban on the catching of all kinds of sharks.

Vince Cinches, campaign-er for Greenpeace-Philip-pines told MindaNews Friday a ban was needed to prevent the extinction of sharks.

“Shark poaching is not just in Surigao but it’s all over the country and abroad,” he said.

Local fishermen have been lured into shark hunt-ing by the high price of shark fins.

In 2011-2012, local buy-ers would buy shark fins at P11,000 to 14,000 per kilo depending on the type of

shark, its size and moisture. They preferred sun-dried fins.

Current prices, however, have dropped to P5,000 or lower. “The price suddenly went down because buyers in Manila cannot export it to China or other countries,” a local buyer said.

Local buyers here said they continue to buy shark fins even if they know it’s il-legal as no one seems to en-force the law against it.

For their part, some fishermen still hunt sharks despite the drop in prices of their fins because their bod-ies can now be sold.

“Shark body buyers will just meet us in the high seas, they will buy the bodies at

70 per kilo and bring them to Cebu to make fish balls,” a fisherman from Punta Bilar said.

Cinches said the contin-ued capture, sale and trans-port of sharks and their prod-ucts, both in domestic and in-ternational markets, threaten shark populations and have affected the ecosystem.

He said there has been “no national regulation to protect the species 13 years after the enactment of RA (Republic Act) 9147 and 15 years after RA 8550.”

RA 9147 is known as the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act, while RA 8550 is known as the Philip-pine Fisheries Code of 1998. [Roel N. Catoto/MindaNews]

Greenpeace seeks ban on shark hunting in Surigao

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 7EDGEDAVAO

HEALTH

SYDNEY -- Children are overweight because of homework and par-

ents should ban it from their homes, according to a contro-versial child care expert.

Australian author Sharny Kieser urges parents to en-courage their children to en-gage more in outside activities.

“There is no time to waste with new reports showing that the physical activity levels of Australian children are among the worst in the world. Instead of slaving over a computer or books in the few hours of daylight after school, our kids need to be out getting some exercise. Banning homework will produce healthier kids,” she told the Courier Mail.

The warning is included in her new book Fit, Healthy, Happy Kids. It is the ninth book from the mother of four.

“Kids already spend six hours a day exercising their minds. More active kids are more intelligent kids. The body carries the mind,” she said.

Christian Rowan Queensland, president of the Australian Medical Associa-tion, said television and com-

puter use was a major factor in childhood obesity and inac-tivity.

“Reducing rates of child-hood obesity requires a multifaceted approach that educates and encourages chil-dren to be more active and eat healthier. Low rates of physi-cal activity are more likely at-tributed to our increased use of technology for entertain-ment than they are to home-work. Parents should consid-er limiting screen time and encouraging their children to be more active,” he said.

A Department of Educa-tion, Training and Employ-ment spokesperson said schools develop homework policy in consultation with the school community and parents.

“Teachers are best placed to decide the extent and type of homework that suits the individual learning needs of their students. If parents have any concerns with regard to their school ‘s homework policy, they are encouraged to contact the principal to dis-cuss these concerns,” he said. [PNA/Xinhua]

Study says homework makes children fat

WHEN you think of su-perfoods, exotic, hard-to-find ingredients

often come to mind. Acai berry extract? Kelp noo-

dles? Seriously? But superfoods don’t have to be obscure to be, well, super.

Think of the simple lentil, carrying a load of nutritional power in a tiny package, or con-sider the marvel of perfect pro-tein in an egg. Nutritional prow-ess aside, these foods have anoth-er quality that makes them wor-thy of the “super” moniker: They can help you lose weight. That lentil can rev your calorie-burn-ing engine. And eggs help hold off hunger till lunch.

These 11 superfoods pro-vide nutrients you need--while also boosting metabolism, burn-ing fat, or keeping you fuller lon-ger.

tO BOOSt mEtABOLISmBeans

Full of hunger-reducing fiber and protein, beans pack another weight-loss superpower: resis-tant starch. Foods high in this nu-trient (a type of carb that passes undigested through your intes-tine) may force your body to use extra energy to try to break them down. University of Colorado re-searchers found that adults who ate meals with resistant starch

had higher postmeal metabolic rates. Resistant starches may also help control appetite.

Get the Boost: Puree beans with garlic and a bit of oil for a healthy dip for veggies.

Hot Peppers Spicy peppers get their

kick from capsaicin. In 2010, researchers at UCLA gave study subjects a capsule containing a capsaicin relative (called di-hydrocapsiate, or DCT), while others took a placebo. The DCT group burned more calories postmeal than the placebo group. “Eating spicy food may also dull your urge to continue to eat,” says Marjorie Nolan Cohn, M.S., R.D., a New York City nutritionist and author of The Belly Fat Fix.

Get the Boost: Sprinkle cay-enne or chili powder on recipes from casseroles to grilled fruit. Use jalapenos in marinades and salsas.

Lentils These tiny legumes are a

metabolic powerhouse. Like beans, they contain resistant starch and trigger digestive ther-mogenesis, says Cohn. Lentils are rich in iron, and if you’re deficient in this mineral, your body is less efficient at using calories for fuel, says Marlo Mittler, M.S., R.D., a nu-tritionist at North Shore Long Is-land Jewish Hospital in New York.

Get the boost: Add lentils to salads. Make lentil soup a fre-quent lunch choice.

tO BuRN FAt FAStERgrass-fed beef

Not only does grass-fed beef taste better than that derived from corn-fed cows, it has a bet-ter ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids. Most Americans’ di-ets contain too much omega-6 (which can be inflammatory) and too little omega-3 (which is anti-inflammatory), says Cohn. Grass-fed beef has high amounts of a fatty acid called conjugated linoleic acid (or CLA). Your body uses CLA to build muscle--a fat-burning machine.

Fat Fix: Grass-fed beef is pricey. But cutting back on your total meat consumption (and splurging on grass-fed beef when you do eat red meat) is better for your health.

green tea This popular tea gets its

fat-burning boost from EGCG. “This phyto-chemical promotes fat oxidation and thermogenesis,” says Cohn. The effect has been shown repeatedly over the years. In a group of studies reported in a 2013 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, tea drinkers (not just green, but black and white teas, too) burned more calories and fat daily than

nondrinkers. (BEWARE: Not all calories are created equally. Learn the truth about calorie burn to find out why.)

Fat Fix: Swap your second cup of coffee for a cup of green tea. Add unsweetened iced green tea to smoothies, or mix it with your sports drink for a caffeine boost.

Red Wine The skin of red-wine grapes

contains resveratrol, a polyphe-nol linked to many well-known benefits, such as a decreased risk of heart disease. But, says Cohn, resveratrol has also been shown to reduce the production of stress hormones that compel your body to store fat.

Fat Fix: Order that glass of Cab. Just keep your daily con-sumption reasonable: no more than one for women or two for men per day.

Sesame Seeds and Oil A compound in sesame oil

called sesamin has been shown to have a potential fat-burning effect, says Cohn. “It may be that it increases the production of ketones, which helps your body maintain muscle, which in turn burns fat.” In addition, lignans found in sesame seeds help your liver produce the enzymes neces-sary for fat metabolism.

Fat Fix: Use sesame oil in

dressings and to drizzle over fin-ished dishes. Coat chicken or fish with sesame seeds before cook-ing. (And if you’re feeling adven-turous, try cooking with these 6 Heart-Healthy Oils.)

tO FEEL FuLL LONgERAvocados

These creamy green fruits are a rich source of monounsat-urated fat, which is both heart-healthy and satiating. Like any fat eaten as part of a meal, avocados are last in line for digestion, so they stick with you: Overweight people in a recent study at Loma Linda University in California who ate half an avocado at lunch reported a significant decrease in the desire to eat later in the after-noon.

Fill up: Slice half an avocado onto a lunch salad, or smoosh it into a sandwich in place of less-healthy mayo. (These 5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Avocados might teach you a few creative ways to add them to your next meal.)

Eggs “Eggs contain all the essen-

tial amino acids, making them a complete protein,” says Mittler. They make a stick-to-you break-fast because the protein keeps your blood sugar from spiking and then crashing and causing hunger. In fact, studies show that

eating eggs for breakfast can help you lose more weight than eat-ing the same number of calories from carbs.

Fill up: Hard-boil a dozen so you have a quick, easy-peel breakfast all week.

Potatoes Turns out, you can’t dump

these tubers in the same bin as low-nutrient carbs like white bread or white rice. Loaded with resistant starch (not to mention vitamin C and potassium), pota-toes have staying power, keeping hunger pangs at bay two to three times longer than other starches, says Mittler.

Fill up: Bring the baked pota-to back into dinner rotation. Top it with a drizzle of coconut oil or a sprinkle of Parmesan--not piles of sour cream, butter, and bacon.

Soup Consuming a bowl of soup

has been shown to curb your subsequent calorie intake. The effect is twofold, says Mittler: First, it fills you up. But soup’s satiating effects also have to do with warmth: “Warm liquids have a greater psychological ef-fect on fullness than cold ones.”

Fill up: Ordering a starter when you’re out to eat? Scan the menu for broth-based soups, which are usually lower in calo-ries than creamy ones.

The 11 best superfoods for faster weight loss

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 20148 EDGEDAVAO

VANTAGE

Regional woes

OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager

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EDITORIAL

SOME key regions of the Philippines are expect-ed to contribute less to the country’s gross do-mestic product (GDP) after suffering the prob-

lem of inadequate power supply.This was cited in a report of the Bangko Sentral ng

Pilipinas which likewise delved on climate change as the other top challenges of the regions. They are Mimaropa (Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), Bicol, Zambo-anga, Northern Mindanao and Soccsksargen.

Majority of the regions (10 out of 17), the BSP said, cannot be said to be really ready to face the destruction they will face when disasters like ty-phoons come. One of the 10 identified regions is Davao.

The BSP report also noted the statement of Dr. Renato Solidum, director of Phivolcs (Philippine In-

stitute of Volcanology), that raised the possibility of a major earthquake hitting the country in 2014.

Aside from climatic challenges, other problems threatening the country are El Nino phenomenon, lack of appropriate infrastructure for roads and ports.

Given what we have suffered in the wake of super typhoons Pablo and Yolanda and the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Cebu and Bohol, the prospects are indeed scary.

These realizations ought to make our leaders and people in the country and the local government units to be always on their toes.

Yes, indeed, how ready are we for natural calam-ities? Have we learned enough from our experience so as to be truly prepared the next time they befall us?

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014

AQUILES Z. ZONIOCorrespondent

VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO

Proliferation of loose firearms alarming

More Questions than Answers

Part 1 of 2

By Patricio P. Diaz

MIND DA NEWS

By Hugo Dixon

COMMENTARYPRACTICAL SOLUTION INSTEAD OF RE-

SORTING TO “STOP-GAP” SOLUTION – Opinions and responses were mixed with

regard the unabated shooting incidents in many parts of the country despite a widespread call for stricter gun control. Peace advocates and movements against crime and violence were alarmed by the rising criminality not only in the urban areas but also in the countryside. They at-tributed the surge in criminality to irresponsible gun owners and drugs because most gruesome crimes are committed by people who are under the influence of prohibited drugs.

Concerned groups and terrified citizens noted the indiscriminate firing of guns during the Christmas and New Year’s revelries where a number of innocent bystanders were hit by stray bullets. One serious incident sometime last year resulted to the death of a 7-year old girl and police probers are having difficulties in deter-mining who the real culprit is. Another hideous occurrence is a shooting spree involving a sus-pect who is believed to be under the influence of illegal drugs and killed seven people including children.

The critical problem doesn’t end there. Still and all, the Philippine National Police (PNP) leadership should conduct a no non-sense probe into the proliferation of loose firearms. It its recent report, there were at least 600,000 registered firearms nationwide, but the sad thing is that about the same number are report-ed to be unregistered or loose firearms, which include modern and high-powered weapons. Suggestions about imposing all sort so restric-tions likewise vary.

Some lawmakers recommend that authori-

ties should strict-ly conduct a full inventory of all registered fire-arms to deter-mine who actual-ly the legitimate gun owners are. Meanwhile oth-ers proposed that lawful au-thorities should start posthaste an all-out campaign aimed at confiscating loose firearms and in the same way impose more stringent penalties or file appropriate charges against violators.

Well, it’s easier said than done. Past leader-ship exerted time and effort and tried hard to do away with loose firearms including the pro-liferation of illegal drugs, which is often related to horrible crimes, but miserably failed to do so and instead resorted to “stop-gap” solution. Al-though some thoughtful observers felt that Pres-ident Benigno Aqunio III’s reaction about the critical issue was rather nebulous, his spokes-persons and close advisers thought otherwise.

Some political detractors and adversaries including the myopic type even speculated that the President’s alleged callous treatment on the issue has something to do with his fondness of guns. Being a legitimate gun owner and enthusi-ast, the President reportedly conducts regularly a weekly shooting practice in order to remain fit and ease out stress.

But before speculations were made about

the President’s reaction and stand on the issue about loose firearms and drugs, his fair-haired boys and girl at the Palace quickly came to the rescue and stated the President has also been disturbed by the widespread conjectures that despite allegations of being too lenient in deal-ing with the problem, he really has no intention or purpose to fail people in their expectations.

Palace people even expressed pride of the President saying that he had defied many neg-ative perceptions and public misconceptions in previous occasions about his ability to govern the country. What President Aquino has got to do as Commander-in-Chief in the prevailing sit-uation is to direct the PNP leadership with his “favorite pet” on the helm toward a practical res-olution on the brewing issues while following the principle of transparency and accountability.

The ball is now on the court of the PNP hi-erarchy, the lead agency task to maintain peace and security in the communities. It should per-form far more than their traditional functions in running after criminal elements. The PNP should conduct thorough research and in-depth investigations as in the case of unregistered firearms and illegal drugs or any issue involv-ing peace and order in the localities so they can come up with valuable and tangible results.

This might probably be the best move un-der such circumstances. Well, we cannot solve the ongoing problem overnight by just looking for the right patsy upon whom to fix the blame. With this consideration, we firmly believe that the vigilant public should likewise take up its role in our collective effort to maintain peace and quiet and restore our country to its rightful dignity.

THE European Union needs more non-bank finance. Banks are on the back foot. On their own,

they won’t be able to fund the jobs and growth the EU is desperate for. Non-bank finance needs to take up the slack.

The European Central Bank and Bank of England have made a good start by identifying the importance of reviving securitisation – the process of packaging loans into bond-like securi-ties which can then be traded on the market. The two central banks have just published a joint paper describing blockages in the system which have all but killed EU securitisation since the financial crisis.

But securitisation is only one piece of the non-bank finance landscape. Similar leadership is needed to invigo-rate venture capital, equity investment, bond issues for small companies, shad-ow banking and so forth.

Following the financial crisis, se-curitisation – in common with other types of market-based finance – has had a bad name. This is only partly de-served. Securitisation certainly shares the blame for the U.S. subprime crisis that triggered the global credit crunch. Banks didn’t just originate mortgage loans and sell them off to third-party investors – something sometimes de-scribed as “plain vanilla” securitisa-tion. They engaged in increasingly ex-otic and wild practices.

Not only did the banks lend to bor-rowers who were unable to service their loans. They constructed opaque financial instruments – sometimes se-curitisations of securitisations – in the hope of jacking up promised returns.

What’s more, the institutions that bought the securities often weren’t suitable owners. Sometimes, they were highly-leveraged short-term investors who were only able to buy these in-struments because the banks selling them the paper were effectively acting as lenders of last resort. Sometimes, banks hung onto the securities them-selves. As a result, when the subprime market exploded, the banking industry was dragged down too.

Securitisation was supposed to di-versify risk away from banks. It did nothing of the sort. Why then, one might ask, are the ECB and the BoE keen to revive these weapons of mass financial suicide? Partly because the EU securitisations have been declared guilty by association with the United States. In fact, they are largely inno-cent. Default rates on EU consumer se-curitisations between 2007 and 2013 were only 0.05 percent, according to Standard & Poor’s. The equivalent for the U.S. was 18.4 percent.

It is ironic, given this comparative record that the U.S. market has re-bounded while the EU one is virtually dead. But the state of EU banks, par-ticularly those in the euro zone, makes it important to breathe life into the market. As a consequence of the credit crunch and the subsequent euro crisis, banks are rightly being more tightly regulated. They are also shrinking.

THE “Luy Files,” the 2002-2012 trans-actions of the JLN Corporation of Jane Lim-Napoles kept in computer hard disk

by whistleblower Benhur Luy, appears to have lost much of its evidentiary value to pin down the accused in the plunder of the Priority De-velopment Assistance Funds (PDAF) or pork barrel in corroboration with the audit reports of the Commission on Audit (COA. Then viewed as having the vital answers to the pork barrel scan-dal, it is now besieged by damning questions.

The disk was given to the Philippine Daily In-quirer on April 27, 2013 and, later, to the Nation-al Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on January 27, 2014. Shortly after receiving the disk, the PDI exposed the scam and last month, in a series of special reports, much of the content of the Files, particularly listing the senators and House rep-resentatives implicated in the scam.

Napoles, known as the brain of the PDAF scam, came out with her own versions of the scam – one in Pilipino, the other in English -- to-gether with a list of participants from the Con-gress, the Cabinet, the local governments and private sectors. But the Files, as exposed by PDI, has remained credible. Napoles’ version and list, as admitted, are based on recollections; the PDI exposé from the Files is documentary.

But the NBI copy of the Luy disk submitted to the Senate last Wednesday, May 28, and re-leased to the media, to the Congress and the Pal-ace immediately after, showed deletions which the NBI was able to retrieve and restore. To defend the integrity of its exposé, the PDI pub-lished the deletions which it had found intact in its own copy. Who deleted the files and why? For nine months after PDI had copied it, the disk was in Luy’s possession until given to the NBI and for four months with the NBI until submitted to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.

The deletion could have happened inadver-tently, as explained by Luy’s first counsel, lawyer Levito Baligod. But, questions on the integrity of the disk cannot just be dismissed by this possi-bility. They can create the doubt enough to ac-quit the accused from the Sandiganbayan.

Many of the deleted files were irrelevant to

the scam. However, PDI has shown deletions which could pin down the three senators now facing plunder charges before the Sandigan-bayan but for one flaw: authentication – letters unsigned; no proof of the accused having re-ceived kickbacks

With the release of the NBI copy of the disk to media, The Philippine Star published re-trieved and undeleted files which also suffer the flaws shown in the PDI publications.

Both the PDI and the NBI copies of the Files reveal the PDAF scam as established in the COA audit reports. However, those implicated have claimed their signatures on official documents presented by the COA had been forged. They question the veracity of the projects and the corresponding appropriations from their PDAF allocations. And they deny receiving kickbacks.

Yet, the Files does not tie up the loose ends or provide the missing links.

But the Files affirms an intricate network of conspiracy since 2002, though since 2000 ac-cording to Napoles, robbing the people’s mon-ey in the guise of development. The conspiracy could have been still intact and flourishing had trust between Napoles and Luy, his most trust-ed finance officer, not broken down. As it turned out, Luy had loyal co-employees. With the Files in their possession they blew the whistle on Na-poles.

In reality, as seen in the Files and their sworn statements as state witnesses, Luy and the other whistleblowers are as guilty as Na-poles and her loyal allies. Napoles alone could not have steered smoothly the JLN Corporation, their conspiratorial boat, without Luy and his group. In trying to extricate herself from the Files and the whistleblowers’ testimonies, Na-poles can only hit the rocks harder and sink to-gether with Luy and the other whistleblowers.

To recapitulate, hundreds of senators, House representatives, cabinet officials, local

government officials, other private persons and members of the media have been implicat-ed in the raid of government coffers according to the Files and to Napoles’ sworn statements resulting in the loss of billions of pesos. The COA confirmed the raid -- the misuse of PDAF allocations. But the lawmakers have challenged the COA audit reports and the Files and Na-poles, already lacking the evidence that can stand in court, have undermined each other’s credibility.

Could PDAF allocations have been appro-priated for projects without the knowledge and consent of the lawmakers concerned?

Luy and the other whistleblowers are master forgers according to their sworn state-ments. They must have forged signatures in re-quest and endorsement letters and in project proposals. Could the forgeries have been unde-tected for 14 or15 years that the DBM (Depart-ment of Budget Management) had issued the SARO (Special Allotment Release Order) and the NCA (Notice of Cash Allotment) to consummate the raids?

Napoles must have had well-embedded co-conspirators in the Congress and in the DBM. Who? How was she able to maintain with impunity such inside connection for a decade and a half?

These are questions the Files has not an-swered.

In a PDI report, May 31, Sen. Aquilino Pi-mentel III considered the Files as “useless non-sense, not evidence” and suggested to disregard it. Instead, to build airtight cases against those implicated in the scam, collate official docu-ments. In a later PDI report, June 1, Sen. Francis Escudero urged the Department of Justice and the Ombudsman should begin filing charges against those responsible for the P10-billion pork barrel scam to stop all the speculations.

Are these the answers to the unanswered questions and will they put a closure to the PDAF scandal?

[Author’s Note: Mind da News, the alternate of COMMENT, is a comment on current news. The author may be contacted at patponcediaz@yahoo.com.]

EU needs more non-bank finance

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 201410 NEWSLove...

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NOtICE OF LOSSNotice is hereby given by LOyOLA PLANS

CONSOLIDAtED INC. that CERtIFICAtE OF FuLL PAymENt No.(s) 1002361 under LOyOLA PLAN Contract No.(s) 295328-1 issued to REyNALDO m. mILAN was lost. Any transaction entered into shall be null and void.

6/4/11/18

FARM TO MARKET. Fruits and other farm produce are delivered by farmers atop a public utility jeepney from the hinterlands of Davao City to Bankerohan Public Market yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

Acuña’s girlfriend for 13 years. Danao said they are look-

ing at the connection between the businessman and the unidentified suspect. Acuña was shot by a still unidenti-fied gunman last Friday night at BPI parking area, near SM Lanang Premiere. Acuna died in the hospital Sunday after-noon.

“Is he capable of hiring a gunman?” Bersamin asked Danao to which the police director answered in the affirmative judging on his financial status and the cir-cumstances. However, Danao clarified that the business-man is not yet a suspect in the case pending further in-vestigation.

Earlier, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, who is also the chair of the Union of Peoples Lawyers in Mind-anao (UPLM), has inssued a statement condemning the killing of Acuña.

“This is yet another proof of the continuing state of im-punity that still bedevil and plague our society,” said Za-rate. “We register our stron-gest condemnation of this act! We demand no less than a speedy investigation from the authorities, bring to the bar of justice the perpetra-

tors!”Acuña, who worked for

the Public Attorney’s Office in Davao Region, is an Ateneo de Davao law school alumnus. He was also a former campus journalist for Atenews, the campus publication of ADDU.

The Ateneo community called for justice for the slain alumnus.

ADDU President Fr. Joel Tabora said the whole Ateneo community is grieving over the death of Acuña.

“May he rest in the Lord’s peace! Thank you, Atty. Em-man, for working for justice for the poor, and paying the price! Your Alma Mater sa-lutes you!” said Tabora.

PAO regional head Atty. Francis Calatrava also called on the police to solve the kill-ing of Acuña.

Calatrava, in an interview with Newsdesk Asia, said the lawyer’s killing “is plain mur-der.”

“Who perpetrated it is a police matter. Determining the motive is likewise a po-lice matter,” Calatrava said in the report.

The Police admitted hav-ing the difficulty reviewing the CCTV footage which cap-tured the incident because of poor visual quality.

“Congestion is an urban problem. Some schools in the NCR have distribution problem because of the upsurge of late enrollees. Schools in provinces, on the other hand, have lower than average ratios and wide campuses,” he said.

Thus, the DepEd is appeal-ing to the local government units to donate or allocate va-cant lands that can be used for the building of school facilities.

Nevertheless, the depart-ment was able to reduce the number of highly congested schools in the National Capital Region.

From 120 highly congest-ed schools in school year (SY) 2011-2012, DepEd was able to

trim it down to 20 schools for SY 2013-2014.

On the other hand, the de-partment was able to improve the number of schools that are implementing triple shifting classes.

From 192 schools in SY 2011-2012, only Tangos Ele-mentary School in Navotas City implements three shift classes for Grade Four students.

“We attribute these pos-itive developments because of our increased budget for classroom construction and our strong partnership be-tween the local government, private sector and other key stakeholders,” Mateo said. [PNA]

pitals, particularly the PHC in Visayas and Mindanao, we can address the needs of less fortunate citizens who are face with the additional burden of travelling to Metro Manila,” he added.

HB 4342, among others, provides that the PHC shall be administered by a Board of Trustees, composed of seven (7) members, to be appointed by the President of the Philip-pines which shall be the gov-erning Board of all the PHC

Hospital wherever situated. The Executive Director of the Center shall be appointed by the Board of Trustees.

The Hospital Director for Visayas and Mindanao facili-ties shall be appointed by the Board of Trustees on the basis of search process for a period of six (6) years and until their successors shall have been appointed and qualified with a reappointment.

The Executive Direc-tor of the PHC shall serve as

Vice-Chairman of the Board and shall act as chief execu-tive officer of the PHC, with authority, among others, to appoint, remove, and fix the compensation of the person-nel thereof, subject to the ap-proval of the Board of Trust-ees.

Gatchalian’s move pro-motes the intent of the Con-stitution to “protect and pro-mote the right to health of the people and instill health con-sciousness among them.”

In particular, Art. XIII, Sec. 11 states that “The State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development which shall endeavor to make essen-tial goods, health and other social services available to all the people at affordable cost. There shall be priority for the needs of the under-privileged, sick, elderly, disabled, women, and children. The State shall endeavor to provide free med-ical care to paupers.” [PNA]

group was commissioned main-ly for aerial survey to validate the National Greening Program (NGP) tree plantation imple-mented by the government three years ago.

The NGP is one of the flag-ship programs of the national government to have 1.5 million hectares planted to trees. In the region, a total of 33,000 hect-ares were already planted with different tree species, including cacao, coffee and Falcata.

Under the NGP program, the DENR is required to produce geo-tag photos from the ground.

And they also need to match these photos with an aerial/sat-ellite surveillance to make sure that tree plantations really exist and to check survival rates of the tree seedlings.

He said the use of drones is one way to get an aerial surveil-lance.

Fragada pointed out there was no malicious intent in the use of drones. He, however ad-mitted there were lapses in the area of coordination that even DENR XI has no knowledge of the group’s presence in the area. [PNA]

Davao del Sur will have Digos City as its capital and will have nine municipalities including Sta Cruz, Matanao, Bansalan, Magsaysay, Sulop, Kiblawan, Hagonoy, Malalag, and Padada while Davao Occidental will cover the municipalities of Sta Maria, Malita, Don Marcelino, Jose Abad Santos and Munici-pality of Saranggani.

He also said that while the tourism code is being formu-lated, the provincial council will also introduce amendment to the current Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) to adapt to the changing time and land-

scape of the city brought by de-velopment.

Efforts from the municipal level are also being exerted to help promote the province as tourist destination.

The five municipalities of Hagonoy Matanao, Padada, Ki-blawan, Sulop and the city of Digos combined to promote its proposed ecopark at Kiblawan.

Municipal councilor Vic-toria M. Diodican of Kiblawan said that they will be launching the ecopark as “Ecotourism in the Edge” during the provincial ecotourism summit at Kibla-wan Gymnasium on June 13.

“We will be promoting the waterfalls and ecopark in Ki-blawan and our organic farms in New Sibungan,” Kiblawan municipal councilor Archie S. Awing added.

Diodican said that the identified areas are already designated as tourism devel-opment area (TDA).

“We are getting support from the provincial govern-ment and national agencies like Department of Tourism,” she added.

Awing said that they are planning to put hanging bridge, pavilion, zoo, and zip line in the

ecopark by 2016.“We have invited archi-

tects that will do the design and master plan of the pro-posed TDA,” he said adding that it should be first approved by the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).

“As of now, we don’t re-ceive funding from the nation-al government but if it will be approved then maybe we can have an allocation,” he said as he also cited the huge alloca-tion of funds for the develop-ment of the T’boli cultural vil-lage in Sta. Cruz town.

THE Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) will deploy a pa-

trol boat to monitor the soon-to-be implemented commer-cial fishing ban in the Davao Gulf.

According to BFAR Re-gional Office XI director Fat-ma Idris a patrol boat will be deployed from Manila to complement the three patrol boats of BFAR during the fish-ing ban.

Marine assets from the Philippine Navy, Coast Guard the Philippine National Po-

lice Maritime Group will also assist in the monitoring. The Davao Gulf Management Council will oversee the im-plementation of the ban.

The fish ban covering Davao Gulf will involve com-mercial fishers using bag net and ring net methods. The du-ration of the ban will be three months from June to August.

Idris, who guested at Kapehan sa SM Davao media forum last Monday (June 2) said the ban is not yet imple-mented pending the publica-tion of the order in newspa-

pers of general circulation.The ban is covered by the

Joint Department Administra-tive Order (JDAO) between the Department of Agriculture of which BFAR is an attached agency and the Department of Interior and Local Govern-ment.

The period is identified as the spawning season for small pelagic fishes.

Idris said that based on study by the BFAR on Davao Gulf fisheries, the Gulf has al-ready reached the maximum level of decline and would

need immediate conservation measures.

Covered in the ban are fishing vessels weighing 301 to 150 tons. Penalty for violat-ing the ban is P100,000.

BFAR is also planning to distribute 300 boat engines to affected fisher folks. The bureau is asking the fisher-men to register either online or submit it thru commercial fishing operators.

Only hook and line fishing method is allowed during the fishing ban period. [PIA/RG Alama]

BFAR boats to monitor fish ban in Davao Gulf

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 11EDGEDAVAO

BIGGER PICTURE

ONE will often see her during Pantawid Pam-ilya activities in Ki-

blawan, Davao Del Sur. She sometimes gets mistaken as a “municipal link” since she is always visible in all program undertakings.

She is an advocate, a lead-er, a follower, a counsellor, a friend, a mother and a wife rolled into one. 44-year old Velma Paglinawan of Baran-gay Panaglib, Kiblawan would have never thought she would be all these and more.

Velma and her husband Eldie, 43, are your typical rural folks. Both, however, have al-ways been involved in commu-nity activities in their purok. Velma served as a Purok Lead-er for six years, while Eldie served in the same position for 11 years.

Eldie also volunteered as a Barangay Tanod since 2008, receiving a meager income of only 200 pesos a month. With such a small honorarium, Eldie had to work two jobs – a Sky-lab (motorcycle) driver and a farm labourer.

To help her husband, Vel-ma peddles homemade pan-cakes and other native delica-cies in their neighbourhood. “Nagahimo pud ko og bag, bay-ong, kurtina ug uban pa dayon ibaligya para sa pag-eskwela sa among mga anak (I also make bags, baskets, curtains and other household items and sell these for our children’s school-ing).”

“Lisod gyud kaayo sa una kay daghan kayo amoang hu-na-hunaon ug kinahanglan ati-manon, gikan sa inadlaw nga pagkaon sa amoang panimalay hangtod sa baon ug galastuhon sa eskwelahan sa akoang mga anak. Sa una wala gyud intawn na nagatumar og vitamins akoang mga anak kay wala mi ikapalit (Our life before was really hard, there were a lot of things that we had to consider and to take care of -from our daily meal budget up to our children’s school allowances and school fees. Our children were not able to take vitamins before since we really did not have the budget for it),” Velma recounted.

The municipality of Ki-blawan became a Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program recipient in 2010. Though she heard a lot of negative opin-ions about the program, she always had high hopes on the services of the Department of Social Welfare and Develop-ment (DSWD).

“Daghan moingon nga 666 daw ni ug dautan daw ang pro-grama apan akoang gi-esplikar sa akoang mga silingan nga tungod kay programa man ni sa gobyerno, maminaw lang ta ug dili magsige og pandaot. Mo-attend ta kung aduna silay ipatawag nga mga orienta-syon aron makasabot ta (A lot of them said that the program is a 666 scheme, that it is evil.

I explained to them that since this is a government program, we have to learn what it is all about first and not spread negative rumors. Let us attend their orientation to under-stand the program),” Velma shared.

Huwarang Pamilya In 2012, the Paglinawan

Family beat 48 families in the entire region and was named as the first-ever Huwarang Pamilyang Pilipino winner.

“Wala gyud mi magdahom nga mapilian mi. Dili man mi makaingon nga perpekto gyud mi nga pamilya. Ginabuhat lang namo ang amoa tanan nga makaya aron makatabang sa amoang mga anak ug sa komunidad. (We really did not expect to win. We do not con-sider our family perfect. We only do our best to assist our children and help out in the community),” Velma grinned.

The Search for Huwarang Pamilyang Pilipino is open to all family beneficiaries who have religiously followed the co-responsibilities in the pro-gram, as well as, recognize families who embody and demonstrate strong family ties.

Aside from being a par-ent leader, Velma is the pres-ident of the Barangay Chil-dren Association to Protect Children Against Child Labor since 2004, mediator of the Barangay Justice Advocates since 2004, the appointed Provincial Vice President for KALIPI (Kalipunan ng mga Liping Pilipina), a PARB Multi-purpose Cooperative member, a Barangay Agrarian Reform Community member, Parents-Teacher Association President, a church lector, and a choir member.

“Kusog ko mag-volunteer, kanang pagserbisyo nga uban sa paghigugma. Ang akong bana supportive pud kaayo (I always volunteer, the kind of service that is imparted with love. My husband is also very supportive),” Velma said.

“Malipayon ko nga makapartisipar sa mga ingon niani nga kalihokan kay maki-ta jud nako unsa ang mga ka-bag-uhan nga nahimo niini sa mga lumulupyo sa Kiblawan ug sa komunidad pud. Exam-ple ani kaning amoang project sa KALIPI diin gitagaan mi og Php 50,000 provincial fund para sa piglet dispersal nga giapod namo sa tibuok 2,128 disadvantaged women mem-bers sa KALIPI. Malipay ko nga magtan-aw nga ang mga babaye nga anaa lang sa balay sa una, karon makalihok na ug maka-income na og ginagmay para makatabang sa pamilya (I am pleased to be able to participate in these endeav-ours because I could witness first-hand the positive chang-es the different programs have brought to the residents of Kiblawan, as well as to the community. For instance, our piglet dispersal project in KA-

LIPI wherein we were given Php 50,000 provincial fund. We distributed the piglets to all 2,128 disadvantaged wom-en-members of KALIPI. I am delighted to see these trans-formed women who before were just content in the four corners of their homes, but now have learned to earn to be able to help their family),” Velma joyfully exclaimed.

All of Velma and Eldie’s five schooling children excel in school. Their eldest, Rem-brandt is a full scholar for Sag-ittarius Mines and is taking up Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP).

Second child Sheirne is in 3rd year college, also at USEP studying Education. She is an LGU scholar.

Younger children Ian Dave, 11; Gwen, 9; and Jay Paul, 6, are in the top five of performing students in their respective classes. In 2012, Ian Dave was chosen as pro-vincial representative for the Exemplary Child Search and participated in the National Children’s Congress in Metro Manila.

“Amoang ginapaning-kamutan nga mahatag ang mga panginahanglanon sa amoang mga anak. Grabe ang grasya nga gihatag sa Ginoo kay ang amoang mga anak pud kay disiplinado kaayo, pag panahon sa klase moesk-wela gyud na sila. Wala mi TV sa balay busa inig human sa ilang guimbuhaton sa balay, mag-study dayon na sila (We do our best to provide for our children. God has blessed us so much for He gave us very responsible kids who are ac-tive in school. We don’t have a TV set, so when they are done with their household chores, my children immediately at-tend to school tasks),” Velma said with pride.

When asked what her el-dest son Rembrandt’s dreams are for his family, he tearfully replied “Daghan ko’g pan-gandoy sa akoang pamilya. Gusto nako masuklian ang tanan sakripisyo sa akoang ginikanan. Ang gabii himuon na nilang buntag aron maha-tag ang amoang mga pangi-nahanglan. Dako akoang pasalamat sa Ginoo nga sila akoang ginikanan (I have a lots of dreams for my family. I want to repay all the sacrifices of my parents. They worked even during night time just to be able to provide for us. I am very grateful to God that they are my parents).”

Onward to progress “The municipality of Ki-

blawan started off the Munici-pal Transition Planning (MTP) in 2013. I can firmly say that the projects and services that we prioritized and initiated were implemented. We, at Kiblawan, can confidently say that because of close coordi-

nation and good communica-tion among stakeholders, we were able to smoothly imple-ment our priority projects,” reported Ms. Alma Amido, Municipal Social Worker and Development Officer for Ki-blawan.

Kiblawan aims to reduce poverty incidence by 50% in 2015.

To achieve this, the LGU employs stakeholder partic-ipatory approach, unity and convergence in targeted areas, capacity building, strengthen-ing institutional mechanisms, unleashing entrepreneurship and increasing access to cred-it, and mobilizing the private sector support to scale up in-vestments and provide social protection programs for the poor and vulnerable groups.

For fiscal year 2015, Kiblawan will prioritize po-table water system, upland irrigation system, construc-tion of multi-purpose drying pavement/solar drier, con-struction of health centers, riverbank rehabilitation, provision of medical equip-ment and supplies, organic fertilizer production facility, CSO capability building, sus-tainable livelihood programs for out-of-school youths, ca-cao seedlings production, vegetable production, organic tilapia production, and cattle restocking.

A total amount of P 19 M is earmarked for these priori-tized projects and services.

good intentions As a parent leader, Velma

sees to it that her members

learn the value of coopera-tion, participation and sense of ownership. Velma and her 32 cluster members cultivate a community garden which is planted with vegetables.

“Naka-harvest mi tong niagi og batong nga amo-ang gikonsumo ug ang uban amoang gibaligya. Ang halin amoang gibutang sa amoang savings account (Recently, we harvested string beans which we distributed to members. We also sold some of the pro-duce. The money we earned was deposited in our savings account),” Velma narrated.

The group’s savings is now Php 50,000 with an in-terest of almost Php 4,000. The members can also access emergency loan from the sav-ings.

On May 2014, Velma and 60 other program ben-eficiaries attended a sev-en-day training on basic sewing. DSWD through the Sustainable Livelihood Pro-gram (SLP) spearheaded the training and issued seven new sewing machines to the

group to start up a small in-come-generating enterprise.

Today, Velma continuous-ly pours her time and effort for her co-beneficiaries in Ki-blawan.

“Motabang gyud ko sa abot sa akoang makaya sa tanang kalihokan sa DSWD. Gusto nako ipaambit ang akoang mga nakat-onan aron kami tanan makakat-on. Para sa akoa, ang makita ang akoang mga kaubanan nga makahibalo na mo-istorya para sa programa ug molihok aron sa kalamboan sa ilang panimalay ug katilingban, dako na kaayo na nga ka-bag-ohan (I will help in any way I can in all DSWD under-takings. I want to share what I have learned so everyone will be capacitated. It is inspiring to watch my co-beneficiaries telling people about the pro-gram and striving for the im-provement of their family and community).

Truly, Parent Leader Vel-ma is learning much while serving more. [DSWD 11/She-ryll Jane B. Sanico]

A Pantawid parent leader finds joy in serving family, community

Velma proudly showcases her newly-produced T-Shirts.

Pantawid Pamilya Parent Leader Velma Paglinawan, 44, of Brgy. Panaglib, Kiblawan, Davao del Sur applies her newly acquired-sewing skills from a seven-day training conduct-ed through the DSWD Sustainable Livelihood Program.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 201412CLASSIFIED

INdulge! VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014

EDGEDAVAOWOMEN

SpeakerS blasting electronic dance music, a roster of talents in at-tendance (plus a couple of surprise cameos and performances waiting), droves of people in long queues, LeD light streaming through moving heads, an impressive visual display flashing on digital media... each el-ement is calculated, every track follows a well planned repertoire and coupled with back up alternatives in case of some glitches. The stage is set and kat Dalisay is determined to bring life to it, one event at a time. Her name brings to mind danceable tunes and good looking DJ’s, both home grown and those flown in from Manila. Music festivals are not only kat Dalisay’s forte but also her claim to fame. They say necessity is the mother of invention. Manic Nightnings production, the group behind Carte Blanche and the many other eDM events that gathered at least 1,000 party goers, is actu-ally the brainchild of kat, a true blue mom herself. The production outfit was born out of the need for a party revolution - a movement which was aimed at elevat-ing Davao’s party experi-ence far from the ordinary

and norms the locals were used to. Think Coachella with electronic beats. How did it all start?Twenty-six year old single mom, kat, considers two

pivotal points in her life: Her entry into motherhood and Carte Blanche, the first eDM festival she produced last November 2013 that paved the way for new proj-ects to come. Single-handedly, kat ral-lied to make Carte Blanche attention-worthy with social media and clout as her stron-gest allies. Not to discount her constant yearning for new means and knowledge which would nurture her “baby” project, kat also had to delve deep into what she believes the locals are look-

Kat Dalisay:The party starter mom

FKAT, A4

HOW good it is to have an amazing device and this time to ASUS’ most portable transformer notebook, the Transformer Book T100! You can take it to anywhere, anytime with its detachable tablet and keyboard dock. Equipped with Windows 8.1, now only to a more affordable price of only P22,995! Transformer Book T100 is always the best when it comes to portability and performance, with Intel Atom Bay Trail Z5740 Pro-cessor (1.33 Ghz) and 2 GB of RAM, it can handle all of the office applications ( Word, Powerpoint, Excel) without sacrificing the battery life. Be more productive with ASUS Transformer Book T100 because of its incredible11 hours of battery life! Thanks to its 8060 mAh of battery. Its portability is maximized with pre-installed Micro-soft Office 2013, you can transfer huge amount of files in blazing speed with USB 3.0, compare to its previous USB 2.0, you will save a lot of time in transferring your data. Detach the unit via clip on type during presentations and safely put it back without any wor-ries unlike the magnetic hinge that feels like less secured when on dock. Also, store your files to additional storage of 500GB on its keyboard dock. It is also equipped with SonicMaster speaker, great for watching movies and listening to your favorite music.

A2 INdulge! VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT EVENT

Before the summer ends, get the ASUS Transformer Book T100 now

afTer having Ty-phoon Yolanda de-stroy their means of making a living, over a hundred fish-ermen in Iloilo can once again look for-ward to a brighter tomorrow. They now own brand new fish-ing boats courtesy of Sun Life financial – philippines founda-tion, Inc. The ceremonial turn-over of the fishing boats was held recently in Ba-ranggay Bito-on in Carles and in Baranggay em-barkadero in Batad. a to-tal of 120 fishermen from 14 different barangays from the municipalities of Batan, Batad, Carles, ajuy, and estancia ben-efitted from the program, which was facilitated by the assisi Development foundation, Inc (aDfI). “Sun Life foundation remains steadfastly com-mitted to helping our fel-lowmen who are still try-ing to rebuild their lives after the typhoon,” Sun Life foundation execu-tive Director Joub Mira-dora said. “They are defi-nitely not forgotten.” Husband and wife ro-lando and angelita dela Cruz of Carles, who were among the beneficiaries, expressed gratitude for Sun Life foundation’s help. “Hindi namin alam kung paano kami baban-gon pagkatapos ng bagyo. Wala kaming mapagku-hanan ng kita dahil yung inaasahan naming bang-ka ay nasira,” rolando shared. “Salamat sa Sun Life foundation, unti-unti na kaming makakaahon.” This sentiment was echoed by another couple, eduardo Jr. and Jane Bil-lena of Batad. according to Jane, they did not even have their own fishing boat and merely relied on her father’s boat for their livelihood. “Ngayon ay may sarili na kaming bangka na magagamit para sa kabuhayan na-min, kaya mas panatag na ang pakiramdam ko,” she said.

The program ben-eficiaries were identi-fied through an intensive screening by aDfI, which prioritized fishermen whose monthly income was as low as p1,000. aDfI is an accredited arm of Tabang Visayas a coalition of non-govern-ment organizations, civil society organizations, and international aid agencies. Sun Life foundation Trustee karen Casas ex-plained that the goal was to provide more than just short-term relief assis-tance. “The best way to help is through sustain-able rehabilitation efforts,

and that explains why we support this program,” she said. Miradora and Casas were joined in the cer-emonial turnover of the boats by Chaya Go and Ma. Victoria Borres of aDfI, as well as the ba-rangay captains of the beneficiary barangays. Staff of Sun Life’s Iloilo office, headed by branch managers erlinda Buena-flor and Jocelyn Sucero, also attended the event. Sun Life financial - philippines foundation, Inc. is the philanthropy arm of Sun Life of Canada (philippines) Inc.

Sun Life of Canada (philippines), Inc. is a member of the Sun Life financial group of com-panies, a leading inter-national financial services organization providing a diverse range of protec-tion and wealth products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Sun Life financial and its partners have operations in key markets world-wide, including Canada, the United States, the United kingdom, Ireland, Hong kong, the philip-pines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Ma-laysia and Bermuda. as of December 31, 2013, the Sun Life financial group of companies had total as-sets under management of $640 billion. for more information, visit www.sunlife.com. Sun Life financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSe) and philippine (pSe) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLf.

Sun Life Foundation turns over new boats

to Iloilo fishermen

PAY YOUR BILLS WHILE YOU SHOP AT THE SM STORE. We know you’re busy. That’s why while you’re shopping, The SM Store also offers the convenience of the following government services like NSO, PRC License Renewal, payments for SSS, Pag-ibig, Philhealth and other governments agencies. That’s not all! The SM Store also now accepts Bills Payments for many partners like credit cards and airlines. Visit The SM Store Bills Payment Counter / Business Services at the Ground Floor.

EDEN NATURE PARK OFFERS DISCOUNTED ROOMS. Take some days off for relaxation and rejuvenation at the Eden Nature Park. Take advantage of Eden’s discounted room rates and get breakfast for free! For bookings, call (082) 299-1020, 299-0313!

AN AFTERNOON OF JAZZ AT CAFE MARCO. Catch renowned Las Vegas-based jazz pianist and musician Boy Katindig at Marco Polo Davao’s Lobby Lounge this Thursday, June 5th at 7:30pm. Come and enjoy with no cover, no minimum, just pure fun! For inquiries and more info, call 221-0888 local 7608 or (0922) 890-7038.

ABS-CBN, the country’s larg-est and leading multimedia conglomerate, bagged a Grand Stevie Award at the prestigious Asia-Pacific Ste-vie Awards, making it the only Filipino company to receive the highest honor given to five companies in the region during its gala awards banquet in Seoul, South Korea recently. The Grand Stevie Award not only brought honor to ABS-CBN, but also put the Philippines in the regional spotlight. It was presented to the highest-scoring en-tries from the five nations from which the award-giving body received the most entries this year. Other Grand Stevie Award winners are companies from Austra-lia, Indonesia, South Korea, and Singapore. The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards recognized ABS-CBN’s business achieve-ments in the past year, most especially its efforts to provide public service to Filipinos by launching the “Tulong Na, Tabang Na, Tayo Na” campaign that included initiatives such as the sell-ing of Tulong shirts and the

star-studded Tulong fund-raising concerts to help the victims of typhoon Yolanda, and conducting relief and rehabilitation efforts for the victims of typhoon Pablo, Zamboanga crisis, and the Bohol quake. “As a service-oriented company, ABS-CBN has been in the forefront of pub-lic service for over 60 years by bringing news and con-tent that inspire, empower, and nurture our audiences in traditional and new plat-forms. That has always been and always will be our mis-sion, our reason for being – to always be in the service of the Filipino wherever

they are in the world,” said ABS-CBN president and CEO Charo Santos-Concio, who also shared the honor with “the men and women in ABS-CBN who heeded the call of public service.” At the banquet, San-tos-Concio also person-ally received the Gold Stevie Awards for ABS-CBN in the Services Company of the Year category for the Philip-pines and the Woman of the Year category for all Asia-Pacific nations (except Aus-tralia and South Korea). “I am honored to be rep-resenting the hard-working and accomplished women in my country and to be in

distinctive company with fellow women leaders and awardees. I am truly grate-ful that I get to do what I do, and even more proud to lead ABS-CBN, a 100 per-cent Filipino company that puts a premium on innova-tion, quality of content, and ease of access on products and services to connect bet-ter with our fellow Filipinos around the world, and pro-vide help to those in need,” she said. Santos-Concio was cited for leading ABS-CBN into supremacy in terms of TV ratings and box office sales for Star Cinema, revenue increase, groundbreaking

KC Concepcion finally broke her silence regarding the pregnancy rumours that have been hounding her. The Kapamilya actress stressed on Instagram on Monday, June 2 that “I am not pregnant. I have never been pregnant in my whole entire life.” she also add-ed that if ever she will be blessed with a baby in the future, she wouldn’t hesi-tate to announce it. “When the time comes that I would be blessed with a beautiful baby I will be the first one to proudly

announce it to my family, friends, supporters, loved

ones. Although I don’t want to be rushed, I honestly

can’t wait for that day,” she added, alongside a photo of herself working out Kapamilya actor Paulo Avelino, who is also close to KC also denied that the US-based actress is pregnant. “I think it is not true. Hindi naman. It’s not. Kumbaga nagpo-post naman sya ng kung anu-ano (sa social media). She’s also seeing a lot of Filipinos (too),” Paulo told reporters at the press conference of ABS-CBN’s newest teleserye “Sana Bu-kas Pa Ang Kahapon” on Thursday, May 29.

Fil-Am model John Spain-hour is the country’s repre-sentative to Mister World 2014, CQ Global Quest an-nounced Thursday, May 29, at Glorietta 5 in Makati City. The 26 year-old 2012 Cen-tury Tuna Superbods win-ner left for England tomor-row last May 30 in time for the international pageant on June 15. The 6-foot-1 model was a trained sniper in the U.S. military and was assigned to Iraq for five years before

arriving in Manila in 2011. Meanwhile, 23-year-old Filipino-Japanese-Persian model Sam Ajdani, was an-nounced to represent the country in the U.K.-based pageant next year. It was in 2012 when Fili-pino-British athlete Andrew Wolff won first runner in Mister World. CQ Global Quest, Inc., a Cory Quirino-led organi-zation, is also the official licensee of Miss World Phil-ippines.

INdulge! A3VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014EDGEDAVAOENTERTAINMENT

business ventures such as ABS-CBNmobile, theme park Kidzania Manila, and TV home shopping channel O Shopping, and its public service initiatives. The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are the first busi-ness awards program to recognize achievement in business in all 22 nations of

the Asia-Pacific region. They are the newest of the Stevie Awards programs, which are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards, conferring recogni-tion for achievement in the workplace in programs such as The International Busi-ness Awards for more than a decade.

Abs-cbn wins grand stevie Award at Asia-Pacific stevie Awards

Paulo and KC deny pregnancy rumours

John spainhour is Phl’s Mister World 2014 representative

GP

PG 13

PG 13 /

*PG13 12:00 | 2:30 | 5:00LFS / * 7:30 | 10:00 LFS

R-16

X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST 2D / *EDGE OF TOMORROW 2D

(Sneak Preview)

12:40 | 3:00 | 5:20 | 7:40 | 10:00 LFS

MALEFICENT 2D

Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence /

*Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt

Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning

GP1:30 | 4:00| 6:30 | 9:00 LFS

MALEFICENT 3D

Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning

12:00 | 2:30 | 5:00 | 7:30 | 10:00 LFS

MAYBE THIS TIME 2D

Sarah Geronimo, Coco Martin

A4 INdulge! VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014EDGEDAVAOWOMEN

ing for. pre-event parties gave everyone a preview of what to expect in the main event itself, thereby making it trend and increase its fol-lowing in numbers. Soon, support came from differ-ent talents and individuals who now identify them-selves and express loyalty to Manic Nightnings pro-duction. With such a well mounted plan and proper execution, the impossible happened and Carte Blanch made its mark as the biggest music festival Davao has seen, boasting of a crowd of 4,000 people. Its unbeat-able success earned raves not only from young party goers, but also from differ-ent cross-sections of the so-ciety. Offers to do mall and club events came right after, which catapulted the events

group to the top and forti-fied a reputable name in the entertainment scene. even kat’s roster of DJ’s continue to receive invitations for out of town events, something she takes pride on and de-votedly campaigns across regions. kat believes passion and patience are the main ingre-dients to her success. Bring-ing with her some learnings from her previous experi-ence as a real estate broker, she puts so much value in relationships and face to face encounters with clients and suppliers as these are the very core of brand de-velopment, sales and mar-keting --- tasks which kat spearheads and handles for all her events. a day in the life of kay is what she calls an organized chaos, just like her events --- countless of surprise ele-ments coming from left and

right, depending on what the day and clients orders, including her daughter. She wakes up to the constant prodding from her 5 year old Heaven, whose curiosi-ty fuels up more than twen-ty questions on “why is the world like this.” Heaven considers her mom the coolest and both maintain an open communication. In between errands, she visits the gym and meets up with suppliers and cli-ents. Her job requires her to be her natural “party girl” self, which is kat’s strongest quality. Motherhood may have humbled her down and taught her to be more mindful of her actions, but it doesn’t stop her from en-joying life as she knows it. “Life is a party. We just have to learn to dance to differ-ent kinds of music. My goal is to make Davao a party destination and our music artists known across the country, if not the globe. I am confident that together, we can rise to this challenge and show the rest of the world why it is more fun in Davao.” for more information and inquiries on special events and club parties, please log on to http://www.facebook.com/manicnight-ningsprods. You may also contact 09158984189 or email manicnightning-sproductions@yahoo.com.

Now opeN

For inquiries, please call:

(082) 221-5355

EDGEDavao Davao Partners

Address: Tionko Street, Davao City

Call: 09178739767

Catering services for all occassions

Service Offered:

Kat...FFROM A1

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 13EDGEDAVAO

COMMUNITY SENSE

General Santos Drive, Koronadal City, South Cotabato 9506Tel. No. 083-228-2511 ; Fax No. 083-228-2654

WANTED FOR IMMEDIATE HIRING!

BUS DRIVER

Qualifications:

1. Male, 28 – 40 years old2. At least high school graduate3. With 5 years driving experience (bus, trucks)

Requirements:

1. Driver’s License with Official Receipt2. 2 x 2 I.D. picture (2 pcs.)3. Certificate of Employment or clearance from previous employment

May apply in person at Human Resource Department, YBLI Office, General Santos Drive, Koronadal City.

General Santos Drive, Koronadal City, South Cotabato 9506

Tel. No. 083-228-2511 ; Fax No. 083-228-2654

WANTED FOR IMMEDIATE HIRING!

BUS DRIVER

Qualifications:

1. Male, 28 – 40 years old2. At least high school graduate3. With 5 years driving experience (bus, trucks)

Requirements:1. Driver’s License with Official Receipt2. 2 x 2 I.D. picture (2 pcs.)3. Certificate of Employment or clearance from

May apply in person at Human Resource Department, YBLI Office, General Santos Drive, Koronadal City.

TEACHING resiliency to disasters is what floods and super typhoons has

imprinted in our minds today. After all experience is the best teacher.

Thus, Davao Light and Pow-er Co., an AboitizPower subsid-iary, embraces the Department of Education’s (DepEd) “Making our schools safer”, the theme for this year’s Brigada Eskwela.

Last May 24, 2014 around 300 employees of the local distribution utility partici-pated in the annual Brigada Eskwela activity as part of its corporate social responsibility program. The activity was held in two public schools namely the Crossing Bayabas National High School (Crossing Bayabas

NHS) and Sindaton National High School (Sindaton NHS) in Toril District and Panabo City, respectively.

Apart from the cleaning and painting classrooms, disas-ter preparedness was the main focus of this worthy endeavor.

“This year’s Brigada Esk-wela is much more different than the previous years be-cause we don’t only refurbish the classrooms for beautifi-cation purposes but also to prepare them when disasters strike. It’s just sad to note that it has to take one super Yolan-da for us to realize the impor-tance of disaster preparedness especially in schools which are utilized as evacuation centers during a natural disaster.” said

Fermin Edillon, Community Relations Manager.

The most common natu-ral hazards both in Davao and in Panabo is flooding. Mostly affected are the schools which result to suspension of classes in most affected areas. Hence, it is important to give full atten-tion in making schools a safer place to be.

The schools’ principals, Ev-elyn Magno of Crossing Baya-bas NHS and Gabriel Alfonso of Sindaton NHS were also pres-ent to grace the event.

“We are happy that our school has been chosen to be one of the recipients of Davao Light’s Brigada Eskwela activ-ity. We will make sure that we will maintain the refurbished classrooms in good shape.” said Principal Magno.

“Our heartfelt thanks to the Management and Staff of Davao Light for their full sup-port during the Brigada Esk-wela 2014 at Sindaton NHS. I’m sure that our students will be excited to come to school this June with the improve-ment that the employees have done in their classrooms.” add-ed Principal Alfonso.

Brigada Eskwela or the National Schools Maintenance Week is an annual nationwide voluntary effort of the commu-

nity participated in by various organizations. This is to help all

public schools in the country in refurbishing and cleaning

classrooms for the upcoming school opening.

Davao Light employees help one another paint and clean classrooms of Crossing Bayabas National High School in Toril, Davao City and Sindaton National High School in Panabo City during the company’s Brigada Eskwela activity last May 24.

Davao Light: More than brooms, dustpans is disaster resilience for Brigada Eskwela

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 201414 SPORTS

WINNER AND LOSERS. Eugenie Bouchard (left) will advance to the quarters while Ajla Tomjlenovic (right) and Roger Federer (below) are out of the French Open.

COLUMBIA Football Club and the Hooligans scored contrasting wins at the

opening of the PSC-DFA Chal-lenge Cup held Sunday at the Tionko grounds.

Columbia head coach Abing Lim relied on both his young and veteran players in whipping PCT-Medvil, 2-0 for its first win in the four-team league sponsored by the Phil-ippine Sports Commission and Davao Football Association.

Seventeen-year old War-ren Ravanes, an incoming sophomore criminology stu-dent of the Rizal Memorial Colleges, broke the ice in the 32nd minute after receiving a pass from Aldrin Tiburon at the middle some 13 meters away from the goalkeeper.

After several missed at-tempts in the first half, Mi-chael Jay Fernandez scored Columbia’s second goal in the 84th minute from another cross pass by Tiborun.

The league’s oldest play-er Melchor Anzures, 47, also played for Columbia FC.

“Bale siya ang coach sa

loob ng laro,” said Lim.Lim and Anzures are both

licensed Class A coach of the Asean Football Confederation.

The Hooligans, on the other hand, showed too much firepower in demolishing the KMMPC, 5-0 in the second game.

Juven Benitez made a hat trick with goals in the 18th, 30th and 47th while Jerard Bi-eneza (46’) and Allan Rey Fer-nandez (76’) each contributed one marker.

DFA president Edward “Chaya” Lam said the champi-on of the double round robin tournament will represent Davao to the SMART Interclub Cluster eliminations.

Tournament commission-er Erwin Protacio said the games will resume on June 8 featuring PCT-Medvil against KMMPC at 2 p.m. and Hooli-gans versus Columbia FC at 4 p.m.

The first round ends on June 12 pitting Colum-bia vs. KMMPC at 2 p.m. and PCT-Medvil against Hooligans at 4 p.m.

NONITO Donaire made his triumphant return to the Philippines. He

left for Macau with his bags light. He returned with his bags much heavier as he is now the proud owner of the WBA featherweight title from his technical decision victory over South Africa’s Simpiwe Vetyeka Saturday evening.

Upon his return, Donaire participated in a press confer-ence arranged by ABS-CBN. He sported a gash on his eye-brow but the new five-division world champion was in a jolly mood.

Fans of Philippine box-ing and scribes present in the event wanted to see more of the new and improved

Donaire. As the bout against Vetyeka was halted in the opening seconds of the fifth round, people were eager to know when Donaire will make his in-ring return.

“Bob [Arum] told me that tentatively, I’ll be fighting in November,” said Donaire who will be resting for a while as the wound would take some time to heal. “The stitches will be taken out in six or seven days. It will heal in two months but for it to heal completely, it will take three months,” he added.

November is also a month that Top Rank Promotions re-served for eight-division world champion and reigning WBO welterweight king Manny Pac-

quiao which led many to con-clude that Donaire would be fighting in the undercard for the fight penciled for Macau.

Donaire was apologetic to the crowd for the fight’s abrupt ending. He wished nothing more but to have a strong finish to the fight as he knew Vetyeka was in deep trouble after the fourth round.

“If it continued I knew from there na wala na yung legs niya,” Donaire said. “Alam ko na mas mabilis ako, alam ko na mas malakas ako. I just needed to stay away from his movement kasi baka ma-head butt ako ulit. Mabilis yung foot work ko. Wala pa akong gaanong combinations pero mas mabilis na yung right

hand ko.”“Nung nag-decision ako to

take control of the fight, that was it for him.”

An all out attack in the fight’s opening round was not part of Donaire’s game plan. However, he had to adjust be-cause of the cut.

“I’ve had cuts before but not like this. This one talaga 11 stitches,” Donaire continued. “There was a lot of pressure kasi di ko nakita na may signal na accidental head butt. Akala ko pag hininto nila yun, matat-alo ako. I felt na kailangan tal-agang manalo ako kaya I just kept on trying to win the fight.”

After the win, Donaire ad-mitted that he was buzzed and possibly concussed.

UNITED Football League squads Loyola Meralco Sparks

and Global FC went separate ways in their respective campaigns in the 2014 Singapore Cup last weekend.

Loyola thrashed SHB Cham-pasak FC of Laos, 7-1, last Sun-day, while Global suffered a 7-nil beatdown at the hands of Brunei DPMM FC last Saturday at the Jalan Besar Stadium in the city-state.

The victory helped Loyola advance to the quarterfinals for the third straight time in the tour-nament. On the other hand, Glob-al was knocked out early after its semifinal appearance last year.

Fresh from their Asian Foot-ball Confederation Challenge Cup campaign in the Maldives,

brothers Phil and James Young-husband led the Sparks in the vic-tory. James scored a hat trick with three goals, while Phil chipped in one.

Freddy Gonzalez also nailed two goals, while an own goal by the opponent accounted for the other goal for Loyola, which pulled away in the second half af-ter grabbing a 1-nil halftime edge.

Unlike Loyola, Global didn’t enjoy the presence of its national team members as the squad fell to Brunei DPMM, which broke loose in the second half after nil-nil tie at halftime.

The Singapore Cup is an annual invitational tournament featuring clubs from the S.League and abroad, mostly from South-east Asia.

SIX young football play-ers will have a rare op-portunity to play with

former Manchester United stars in the upcoming third edition of the CLEAR Dream Match slated on Saturday at the University of Makati football field.

From a pool of 32 hope-fuls, six players got the nod of Manchester United Soc-

cer Schools coaches Kevin O’Connel and Jamie Fitzpat-rick during their three-day training camp in Manila last April.

Apart from teaming up with Philippine football stars Phil and James Younghus-band, the chosen amateurs will also play alongside for-mer Manchester United stars Paul Scholes and Andy Cole.

CHAMPIONS. The Columbia Football Club led by skipper Edwin Giganto Jr. (2nd from right with trophy) won the Open division in the Jose "Sensei" Te Me-morial Football Cup held recently at the Tionko grounds. Columbia FC is now seeing action in the on-going PSC-DFA Challenge Cup.

5-DIVISION CHAMPION. Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire took his fifth division world title after his win over Simpewe Vetyeka last Saturday in Macau.

VICTORY. Loyola Meralco Sparks players celebrate a goal in Singapore.

Columbia, Hooligans take opener

Donaire could fight in Pacquiao undercard

Loyola drubs Laos in Singapore Cup

6 amateurs in Dream Match

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014 15SPORTS

PARIS (AP) — Maybe, just maybe, Rafael Nad-al was a tad vulnerable,

the thinking went before this French Open.

He had lost three times on his beloved red clay already this year, more defeats than he ever had on the surface before heading to Roland Garros.

Then came an admission, after the Grand Slam tourna-ment’s third round, that his back was bothering him and

slowing his serves.Well, leave it to the eight-

time French Open champion’s upcoming quarterfinal oppo-nent — 2013 runner-up David Ferrer, one of the men who beat Nadal on clay this spring — to set the record straight.

“Rafael,” Ferrer said, “is al-ways the favorite.”

Nadal certainly looked the part in the fourth round Mon-day, when he won 18 points in a row during one stretch en

route to beating 83rd-ranked Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 for a record 32nd con-secutive victory at the French Open. That broke Nadal’s own mark of 31 and moved him a step closer to a fifth straight title in Paris.

The No. 1-ranked Nad-al, now 63-1 for his career at the tournament, has won all 12 sets he’s played in Paris in 2014, dropping a total of 23 games. He was asked wheth-

er he would have preferred a more taxing encounter by now.

“You never know what’s better,” replied Nadal, whose audience at Court Philippe Chatrier included musician Prince. “But, in theory, the theory says that it’s better (to) win like this than win longer matches.”

And his back? The one that flummoxed him during a loss in the Australian Open final in January, and then acted up

Saturday, leading to an average first serve of 102 mph (165 kph) and top speed of 114 mph (184 kph)? It didn’t appear to be as much of an issue against Lajovic: Nadal averaged 107 mph (173 kph), with a high of 119 mph (192 kph).

“My back can be pretty unpredictable,” said Nadal, who wore thick vertical strips of athletic tape under his shirt. “I’m not lying. It’s totally unpredictable. I don’t want to

speak too much about it.”OK, then.Now he takes on No. 5

Ferrer, who eliminated No. 19 Kevin Anderson of South Afri-ca 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1.

Last year’s French Open final is one of 21 losses for Ferrer in 27 matches against fellow Spaniard Nadal. But Ferrer won their most recent meeting in straight sets, on April 18 at the Monte Carlo Masters.

THE Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters bucked some foul trouble to their im-

port but still got the job done against Air 21, 102-91, to grab a share of the lead in the stand-ings of the PLDT Home Telpad Governors’ Cup on Monday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

With their local crew click-ing offensively yet again, Talk ‘N Text picked up its fourth vic-tory in five games this confer-ence, tying the San Mig Coffee Mixers atop the leaderboard.

Ranidel De Ocampo scored 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Tropang Texters while their point guard duo of Jayson Castro and Jim-my Alapag added 19 and 16 respectively.

Kelly Williams also fin-ished with 11 points and Har-vey Carey chipped in with 10.

With reinforcement Rod-ney Carney getting sporadic minutes in the second half due to foul trouble, it was up to the locals to take over for Talk ‘N Text as they built leads of as

high as 20 points.They led by just four

points, 52-48, early in the third quarter before De Ocampo and Alapag sparked a big 18-5 run that gave Talk ‘N Text a whop-ping 17-point edge, 70-53.

Castro then took over late in the third, scoring nine of the team’s last 11 points as they held off Air 21 to lead, 83-67, heading into the final period.

In the fourth, the Tropang Texters built their largest lead at 95-75 after Alapag complet-ed a three-point play and De Ocampo added two more from the charity stripe.

Air 21 tried to make one last charge after Joseph Yeo knocked down back-to-back three-pointers from the same spot to spark a 9-0 blast for the Express.

But Talk ‘N Text made a gem of a play after De Ocampo suckered in the defense to set up a wide open alley-oop jam for Kelly Williams to restore the lead to 12 points, 99-87, with a little over a minute re-maining.

SSHHH. While Maria Sharapova (top, left) and Andrea Petkovic (bottom) celebrated victories with emphatic grunts, Sara Errani (right) elects to take it quietly.

ANOTHER WIN. Rafael Nadal strikes a forehand return en route to another quiet win in the French Open.

INVULNERABLENadal rocks on despite injury

TNT grabs share of PBA lead

VOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 201416 EDGEDAVAOSports

AFTER finishing a strong second place in the recent St. Stephen’s

Basketball Invitational Tour-nament, the Ateneo de Davao University Blue Knights is gearing up for the new school season ahead with fresh hopes of achieving their targets.

A stint in the National Fi-nals of the coveted Milo SBP and Passerelle championships and an international tourna-ment overseas are on the ra-dar of the Blue Knights after they completed their summer training camp in Manila with coaches Miggy Solitaria and Mark Bonifacio.

“We are in high spirits going to the new season and we are hopeful our new-found confidence will pull us through the tournaments ahead of us this year,” said Sol-itaria during a break in prac-tice at the Fr. Martinez Gym in ADDU recently.

Three of the Blue Knights stalwarts—Dariel Manliguez, Francis Escandor and Jeu Bi-noya—shared their exploits in Manila during their recent guesting in the “Let’s Get It On” sports talk show on 105.9 Balita FM last Saturday.

“We learned a lot from the tournament. We were up against bigger opponents but we fought with our hearts and that made the difference,” said the 15-year old Escandor who

battled with bigger boys in Manila in the 18-under tour-nament.

Manliguez, who carried Ateneo in the pulsating semi-finals against Chong Hoa High School, said he mixed prayers

with big plays and came up with the heroics. “Siyempre mahirap at masyadong pres-sured. Kailangan marelax kaya I say a little prayer before tak-ing my shots,” said Manliguez in the weekly sports talk show

hosted by veteran sports jour-nalist Neil Bravo.

Binoya commended their intense training for their new-found confidence. “Iba ang training naming ngayon.”

Bonifacio, for his part,

said the boys’ performance far exceeded their expecta-tions. “When we left Davao our modest target is to gain experience. We did not think of winning. But when the boys played well and it looked like

they could hold their own, we tried to play our best in every game,” Bonifacio said.

Ateneo hopes to win the Milo title this year and pos-sibly play in a tournament in Guam.

LET’S GET IT ON. Ateneo Blue Knights coach Mark Bonifacio (second from right) with players (l-r) Dariel Manliguez, Francis Escandor and Jeu Binoya during the “Let’s Get It On with Neil Bravo” sports talk show at 105.9 Balita FM last Saturday. (BJ Lagang)

Fresh hopes for Blue KnightsVOL. 7 ISSUE 57 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2014