P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte yesterday dismissed

speculation that the Septem-ber 21 kidnapping in a resort in the Island Garden City of Samal (IGACOS), Davao del Norte was politically moti-vated and intended to break the clamor for him to run for president next year.

“Wala na (That’s not

true). It is all for money,” Duterte told reporters yes-terday after the Regional Peace and Order Coun-cil (RPOC) meeting at the Grand Men Seng Hotel.

Duterte said it was just a coincidence that the inci-dent happened a few months before election period.

He said with the style of the abduction, it is possible

it was the handiwork of the Abu Sayyaf, which is known for its kidnap-for-ransom activities.

The kidnapping hap-pened at around 11:41 p.m. on September 21. Police said 11 armed men on board two motorized bancas forcibly took the victims from the Holiday Oceanview Resort.

The victims were identi-

fied as Kjartan Sekkinstad, a Norwegian national who is the operations manager of the resort; Canadians John Ridsel and Robert Hall; and Filipina Marithes Flor, the live-in partner of Hall.

Last Monday, Davao City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) head Lisette Marques said it was possible the kidnapping was politi-

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO

RODY: ‘NO POLITICS IN KIDNAPPING’

Gilas avoids the Big 3

EDGEDAVAOSportsP16

FRODY, 10

SURF’S UP. A foreign professional surfer shows his form during the 21st Siargao International Cloud 9 Surfing Cup held at Cloud 9, General Luna in Siaragao on Sunday. Lean Daval Jr.

It’s all for money, Duterte saysBy Armando B. Fenequito Jr.

PEACE TALK. Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte speaks to members of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) yesterday afternoon at the Grand Men Seng Hotel. Armando B. Fenequito Jr.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 20152 EDGEDAVAO

NEWS

THE Davao City Police Office (DCPO) yester-day launched its an-

ti-illegal drug information drive dubbed KATOK, or Katilingban og Kapulisan Kontra Droga.

Speaking in yesterday’s AFP-PNP Press Corps media briefing at the Davao City Police Office (DCPO), city police director Vicente D. Danao Jr. said the campaign aims to make people aware of the existence of illegal drugs in different areas in the city.

“With this campaign, we will prioritize the ba-rangays that are experienc-ing the problem of illegal drugs,” he said.

Danao said the DCPO, in coordination with the Phil-ippine Drug Enforcement

Agency (PDEA) 11, will identify drug personalities and appeal to them to stop their illegal drug activities.

He also said anti-drug stickers will be posted on different homes that do not necessarily belong to sus-pected pushers.

Danao said the cam-paign is similar to those un-dertaken by previous DCPO directors.

In 2003, city police di-rector Conrado Laza led the spray painting of the houses of suspected drug pushers.

The legality of the cam-paign, however, was ques-tioned by then-Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IB-P)-Davao City chapter pres-ident and now Bayan Muna Partyilist Rep. Carlos Isaga-no Zarate.

In 2012, then-city po-lice director Senior Su-perintendent Ronald dela Rosa launched Operation “Tokhang” (toktok-hangyo or knock and appeal) in which the police went to the homes of suspected pushers and asked them to stop their illegal drug activ-ities.

Zarate also questioned the campaign, saying it sub-jected suspected pushers to trial by publicity.

Danao assured the pub-lic that KATOK will not vi-olate the rights of the sus-pects because it will not concentrate to them.

He said in this cam-paign, the DCPO will post stickers in every house and establishment in the city.

He said he has already

ordered all the police sta-tion commanders to coor-dinate with the barangay captains regarding the posting of stickers within their respective areas of re-sponsibility.

“We really want to erad-icate or if not minimize the problems of illegal drugs in the city,” he said.

A DCPO report showed that a total of 670 drug per-sonalities were arrested in 456 operations from Janu-ary to August. A total of 591 cases were filed.

Danao said because of this, the DCPO was award-ed by the Philippine Na-tional Police (PNP) Nation-al Headquarters as the Best Performing City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group for this year.

‘TOKHANG’ REBORNDCPO launches new anti-drug campaign

DAVAO City Police Of-fice (DCPO) director Senior Superinten-

dent Vicente Danao Jr. yes-terday assured the public that the kidnapping incident that happened in the Island Garden City of Samal (IGA-COS), Davao del Norte will not be repeated in the city.

In a press conference, Danao said he has instruct-ed all police station com-manders to take charge of securing the coastline and resorts in their respective areas of responsibility.

He said the station com-manders are making sure all resorts have enough trained security personnel to pro-tect the establishments.

“The station command-ers are the ones personal-ly monitoring the resorts in their different areas of responsibility. They also checked that all resorts have enough trained securi-

ty guards,” he said.Danao made the as-

surance in the wake of the abduction of a Filipina and three foreigners from Holi-day Oceanview Resort in IG-ACOS on September 21.

The victims have been identified as Filipina Tess Flor, Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, and Norwe-gian Kjartan Sekkingstad.

Mayor Rodrigo has said the four have been taken to Sulu, although authorities have yet to establish their presence there.

Danao said Bantay Dagat (sea guard) was also activated by the different station commanders to fur-ther enhance their security forces on the shorelines. Un-der the program, the baran-gay members are trained as the first responders in case of criminalities in the coast-al areas.

A member of out-lawed Bangsam-oro Islamic Free-

dom Fighters (BIFF) was killed in a brief encoun-ter with government forces in Datu Piang, Ma-guindanao Wednesday, the Army and residents here said.

Quoting reports from 2nd Mechanized Brigade, Capt. Joan Petinglay, speaking for the 6th In-fantry Division, said the clash erupted at 6 a.m. Wednesday in Barangay Mayanis when about 20 BIFF members fired at el-ements of the 2nd Mech-anized Battalion of the 2nd Mechanized brigade under Colonel Lemet conducting patrol activi-ties near a school.

After 30 minutes, the gunmen fled to different directions but govern-ment forces recovered several live ammunition 60 mm mortars used by BIFF in manufacturing

improvised explosive de-vices.

The Army halted the manhunt on fleeing gue-rillas to allow civilians to get out of the way.

Residents said they are worried government forces will arrive and re-sume operations against the outlawed BIFF af-ter reports that many of them have been charged in connection with the January Mamasapano en-counter.

But Petinglay said the soldiers were not serving warrants of arrest since it was not their job. The soldiers were patrolling the village while securing a school compound near-by when attacked.

DatuPiang Mayor Genuine Kamaong, quot-ing reports from village officials, said the civilians have returned home al-though may are ready to move out should shoot-ing war resumes. (PNA)

DAVAO City Water District has sched-uled two separate

sets of water service in-terruption affecting some city parts.

First set is on October 1 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM affecting Riverside Proper in Calinan. This water service interrup-tion is needed to give way to the tapping of the newly installed 50mm diameter Polyvinyl Chlo-ride (PVC) pipeline to the existing 50mm diam-

eter PVC pipeline for the mainline improvement at Sunflower Street in River-side, Calinan. Once com-pleted, said project will allow for accommodation of additional service con-nections.

Second set is on Oc-tober 2 from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM that will affect the entire San Pedro Vil-lage in Buhangin. DCWD’s Pipelines and Appurte-nances Maintenance De-partment crew will trans-

Davao secure fromkidnappers: DCPOBy FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA

Water service interruptions in some city parts Oct 1-2

BY ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.

BIFF killed, explosives seized after clash with Army in Maguindanao

FDAVAO, 10

FWATER, 10

KATOK. Davao City Police Office (DCPO) director Senior Superintendent Vicente Danao Jr. posts a “KATOK” sticker on a police vehicle as part of the city’s information campaign against illegal drugs. KATOK stands for Katilingban og Kapulisan Kontra Droga and aims to educate the public on the ills effects of drugs. Armando B. Fenequito Jr.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

the number of solo par-ents in the city has been increasing through the years and they, especially the needy and poor solo parents, need to be also attended to by the city government.

“Solo parents bear the heavy burden of raising the family and providing their children a better future. They single-hand-edly do parental duties in the face of adversity, hardship and poverty,” she said.

Estabillo authored City Ordinance No. 710, which has put to life an old and seems to be ne-glected law enacted way back in 2000, the Repub-lic Act No. 8972 other-wise known as the Solo Welfare Act of 2000.

Estabillo’s measure is an enabling local or-dinance, and hence it assures solo parents to avail of the existing city social services and pro-grams, besides empha-sizing the rights of the solo parents such as their rights to be entitled of a parental leave of 7 days in a year and flexible

working schedule.As soon as an indigent

solo parent has been liv-ing for one year in Tagum City and is registered with the City Social Wel-fare and Development Of-fice (CSWDO), she is enti-tled to receive a financial assistance of P4,500 for

giving birth for the first time, or P5,000 if she re-quires a caesarian opera-tion, and if in case she or her child dies, a P5,000 burial assistance.

Moreover, under the ordinance, solo parents or their children are also qualified to avail of the City Educational Scholar-ship Program (CESPRO), and the City Vocational/Technical Scholarship

3EDGEDAVAO NEWS

DAVAO City Police Of-fice (DCPO) director Senior Superinten-

dent Vicente D. Danao Jr. yes-terday revealed the identity and showed the photograph of a notorious robbery sus-pect allegedly behind a se-ries of holdups of public util-ity vans and delivery trucks in the cities Tagum, Panabo, and Davao.

Danao identified the sus-pect as Fidel Galgo Flores, a resident of Panabo City who he said has five existing war-rants of arrest for different cases and is in the “most wanted” list in Davao City.

Danao said Flores, who leads the Flores robbery group, was positively identi-fied by his victims.

“Ito lang ang sasabihin ko sa iyo Mr. Fidel Flores, huwag ka talagang magpap-ahuli sa akin, ililibing tala-ga kita (This is all I will tell you, Mr. Fidel Flores, do not let me catch you. I will real-ly bury you),” Danao said in yesterday’s AFP-PNP Press Corps media briefing.

He said Flores’ warrants of arrest include robbery cases with rape, murder, frustrated murder, and vio-

lence and intimidation.Danao said Flores was

able to carry out his ille-gal activities because some groups are coddling him in Davao City.

“But I’ve already talk-ed to these groups,” he said without elaborating.

He said Flores operates not just in Davao City but also in other parts of the re-gion.

Danao admitted that it is difficult to stop robbers in the city because of its large area.

“Vulnerable kasi ang city sa mga holdap kasi kahit lag-yan mo pa ng 2,000 police parang hind lang sila naki-kita sa lawak ng Davao (The city is vulnerable to holdups because even if we deploy 2,000 police, the criminals can’t be detected because of the city’s size),” he said.

“I just hope that bago ako ma-relieve makuha ko muna to siya (before I am re-lieved I can arrest Flores),” he added.

Danao said Flores’ group also victimizes delivery trucks in the dark areas of Diversion Road in Buhangin and Maa.

SENATE President Franklin Drilon on Wednesday revealed

that Camarines Sur con-gresswoman Leni Robre-do is the running mate of Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Manuel ‘Mar’ Roxas II in the 2016 elections.

“Most likely. Let’s just say that congresswoman

Leni is already our candi-date for vice president,” Drilon said in an inter-view with ABS-CBN’s morning program Uma-gang Kay Ganda.

Drilon made the rev-elation on the day that LP was reportedly set to hold a meeting at the Club Filipino to make formal announcement

of their vice presidential candidate.

The event has been cancelled and instead set an LP national executive council (NECO) meeting at the party’s headquar-ters in Cubao.

”Based on our con-stitution, the NECO will hold a meeting to nomi-nate our candidates for

president, vice president and senators,” Drilon ex-plained.

Drilon said they have 15 names who will vie for the 12-man senatorial lineup of the ruling party.

”We will discuss which is, or who is the best one we can present to the people,” Drilon added. (PNA)

AUTHORITIES seized some Php 1-million worth of carnapped

motorcycles and illegal drugs during a simultane-ous raid held Wednesday in two villages of Kaba-can, North Cotabato.

Operatives of the North Cotabato Police Provincial Office (NCPPO) and Criminal Investiga-tion and Detection Group swooped down on the vil-

lages of Kayaga and Cris-lam on Wednesday dawn and confiscated the size-able amount of drugs and stolen vehicles together with four suspected drug dealers.

Sr. Supt. Alexander Tagum, provincial police director, identified the arrested suspects as Ar-nold Gonsang, Badrodin Gonsang, Edgar Gonsang,

A lawyer councilor and herself, a solo parent, has cham-

pioned the rights of solo parents in Tagum City by successfully authoring

and working for the pas-sage of an enabling ordi-nance for the sub-sector by the City Council.

Councilor Eva Lor-raine Estabillo said that

ESTABILLO

Danao pinpointsrob gang leaderBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR. and FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA

Drilon: Leni is our VP

Tagum councilor pushes rights of solo parents

N. Cotabato raid yields P1-M worth of stolen motorcycles, illegal drugs

FN. COTABATO, 10

FTAGUM, 10

GANG LEADER. Davao City Police Office (DCPO) director Senior Superintendent Vicente Danao Jr. shows a photo of Fidel Galgo Flores, alleged leader of the

Flores robbery group responsible for a series of holdups of public utility vans and delivery trucks in the cities Tagum, Panabo, and Davao. Armando B. Fenequito Jr.

THROUGH THE CRACKS. Two boys maneuver a bicycle through the huge cracks on the jetty at Sta. Ana wharf, which obviously needs immediate repair before anything untoward happens. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 20154 EDGEDAVAO

ECONOMY

MINDANAO has a huge potential for the de-velopment of solar

energy projects aside from biomass and hydroelectric power projects, the Depart-ment of Energy (DOE) said

Engr. Fortunato Sibayan, division chief for the solar and wind energy manage-ment division of DOE’s Re-newable Energy Bureau, said Mindanao has the “best solar sites” that are scattered all over the island.

Sibayan graced yester-day’s regular Club 888 me-dia forum at the Marco Polo Davao.

As of August 31 this year, the DOE has already award-ed a total of 23 solar power projects with a potential ca-pacity of 363.32 megawatt (MW).

Among these solar pow-

er projects that are locat-ed in Davao Region are the 29.58 MW Digos Solar Pow-er Projects of the Enfinity Philippines Renewable Re-sources Fourth, Inc. in Digos City in the province of Davao del Sur. The first phase of the project has a potential capacity of 10 MW, while the second phase has 19.58MW.

There is also a solar power project awarded to Sun Option for Livelihood Alternative Resources, Inc., for the Davao Oriental Solar Power Project in Mati City in Davao Oriental.

Other awarded solar power projects in Mindanao are the 20 MW Kirahon Solar Powe Project by rge Kirahon Solar Energy Corporation in municipality of Villanue-va in Misamis Oriental; the 10.49MW Kibawe Solar Pow-

er Project of Asian Greenen-ergy Corp. in Kibawe, Bukid-non; 20.00MW Laguindin-gan Solar Power Project of the Cagayan Electric Power & Light Company, Inc. in Laguindingan, Misamis Ori-ental; the 60.00MW Claveria Solar Power Project of The Ark Green Dynamic Resourc-es Corp. in the municipality of Claveria in Misamis Ori-ental, and the Misamis Ori-ental Solar Power Project of the Astronergy Development Mindanao, Inc. in Balingasag.

The Astronergy Devel-opment Dipolog Inc. is also developing the Zamboanga del Norte Solar Power Proj-ect in the municipalities of La Libertad and Dapitan in Zamboanga del Norte.

The SunAsia Energy Inc. is also awarded with service contract of DOE for the pre

development of the 2.50MW Midsayap Solar Power Proj-ect in Midsayap, North Cota-bato.

Among the 10 projects for Region 12 are Philippines Solar Energy One, Inc. is de-veloping the 6.25MW Cen-trala Solar Power Project in Surallah, South Cotabato; the 10.00MW City General San-tos City 1 Solar of the Power Project of the Enfinity Philip-pines Renewable Resources Inc. in General Santos; and the South Cotabato Solar Power Project of the Astro-nergy Development GenSan Inc.

Awarded solar project for Region 12 are the 88.00 MW GenSan Solar Pow-er Project Phase I and II of the Del Sol Energy CGS, Inc. in South Cotabato; the

DOE: 23 solar projects get service contracts

THE Department of Ag-riculture (DA) in Re-gion 12 is working on

the opening of “alternative” palay production areas in a bid to offset the projected reduction in local harvests due to the impact of the looming strong El Nino Phe-nomenon.

Amalia Jayag-Datukan, DA Region 12 executive di-rector, said on Tuesday they are currently evaluating some irrigated farm areas in parts of Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato prov-inces for the planting of palay within the next few weeks.

She said the targeted farmlands are located in portions of the Liguasan Marsh that are covered by the two provinces.

“We are continuously looking for alternative pro-duction areas so we can sustain our production tar-gets,” she said.

Based on the DA-12’s forecasts, the region’s palay harvests could drop by a total of 98,473 metric tons (MT) this year as a result of the onslaught of the El Nino, which was predicted to be-gin next month and last un-til February next year.

It expects the area’s to-

tal palay harvests to reach 1,316,809 MT by yearend or about seven percent lower than its 1,415,282 MT target under its Food Self-Sufficiency Program.

In terms of palay pro-duction area, the agency ex-pects a reduction of 17,679 hectares or from its tar-get of 358,567 hectares to 340,888 hectares due to the El Nino.

Despite such projection, Datukan said they are not expecting any rice shortage in the region in the coming months.

She said the region re-mains rice self-sufficient and they anticipate enough rice supplies in the local markets during the El Nino period.

“We will still be 120 per-cent rice self-sufficient so that will not likely affect the availability rice supplies in the markets,” she said.

In 2014, Region 12 produced a total of 1.364 million MT of palay and a self-sufficiency rating of 128 percent.

The figure was equiv-alent to 31.68 percent of Mindanao’s rice production and 7.1 percent of the entire country.

DA explores ‘alternative’ palay production areas

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

INTERNATIONAL Con-tainer Terminal Ser-vices, Inc., (ICTSI) the

largest port operator in the Philippines, has rolled out the online booking system Terminal Ap-pointment Booking Sys-tem (TABS) at the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT).

An electronic platform for booking containers at the MICT and other inter-national ports in Manila, TABS was specifically de-veloped to minimize road traffic and prevent con-tainer build-ups especial-ly with the approach of the holiday season.

The new system will

ensure a more organized flow of containerized cargoes in and out of the MICT while providing re-al-time information on container status.

Booking an appoint-ment can be done within minutes through three simple steps. After log-ging in, port users need to upload their container details in the system. The next step is to search for available booking slots within the given time zones, with users hav-ing 15 minutes to select their desired zones for each container. Once all the details have been reviewed and finalized,

users can then proceed to confirm their appoint-ment.

Booked slots further facilitate service levels and all but eliminate truck queues because the container terminal con-trols the flow of trucks to and from the termi-nal. This eliminates the current peaks created by road congestion, truck bans, and other external factors while giving im-porters and exporters a transparent view of when their trucks are meant to process transactions.

Three days prior to the launch, ICTSI con-ducted a two-day train-

ing to introduce port us-ers to the functionalities and features of TABS. The system was also soft-launched for select user groups early in Septem-ber for pilot testing.

With container vol-ume expected to increase heading into the Christ-mas season, TABS’ imple-mentation addresses the unpredictable surge of trucks that ply the city’s roads.

TABS was made pos-sible through the col-laborative efforts of the Philippine supply chain stakeholders and Austra-lia’s 1-Stop Connections Pty. Ltd.

ICTSI rolls out online container booking system

FDA EXPLORER, 10

FDOE, 10

BULK WATER PROJECT. Aboitiz Power 1st vice president for Mindanao Bobby Orig presents updates on the Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc.’s Davao City bulk water supply project during yesterday’s Club 888 media forum at The Marco Polo, Davao. Lean Daval Jr.

THE P12-billion Davao City Bulk Water Proj-ect to be undertaken

by the Davao City Water Dis-trict and the Apo Agua Infra-structura Incorporated will protect the city’s groundwa-ter.

According to Atty. Ber-nard Delima, DCWD spokes-person, said there are in-dications that Davao City’s groundwater supply is being over extracted.

“There is really a need to rest our groundwater.” Deli-ma said.

The project entails DCWD buying water from Apo Agua who are obligated to deliver about 300 million liters of water per year at a buying price of P12.25 per cubic meter.

The Tamugan River will be utilized as source of the surface water for the project. P10-billion will be spent on part A of the project which will involve the develop-ment of the treatment plant and other facilities in the Tamugan River while P2-bil-lion to be undertaken by DCWD will be spent on part B which will establish the reservoir.

Delima said that Ta-mugan’s water is of good quality, likening it to Dumoy aquifer because of its clarity and taste. Dumoy water has been dubbed as the world’s

second best water. Apo Agua is a joint ven-

ture between the Aboitiz Equity Ventures and J.V. An-geles Construction Corpora-tion.

Bobby Orig, first vice- president for Mindanao of Aboitiz Power said the plant is the first in the country to have a power plant con-structed for the treatment plant. The two megawatt hydro power plant will just be enough to power the fa-cilities.

He also said that the water will flow to the pipes through gravity, rather than being pumped by pump-ing stations. DCWD is pay-ing P400 million per year in power costs majority of which is consumed by the pumping stations.

“In case of brown-outs, the plant will still deliver water.” Orig said.

He also added that the project will only entail about 1% of the conservation area of the Talomo watershed.

According to Delima, they are finalizing the key points being agreed with the Watershed Manage-ment Council before it will be passed to the Davao City Council for approval.

The bulk water project is planned to be operational by 2019. (PIA/RG Alama)

Bulk water project to protect aquifers

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015 5

For the love of chocolateTEXT and PHOTOS By HENRYLITO D. TACIO

When life throws you lemons, make some pie.

Us, we change the game.The only thing constant in this world is change.

That said, EDGE Davao is consistently pushing itself to ride the winds of change. With this young organization’s battlecry “Change the game”, we are again blaz-

ing the trail amidst the autobahn speeds of developing technology by going to the social media platform to advance our coverage.

Two weeks ago, we posted the “Crying Lady” photo on our Facebook page and it generated nearly 200,000 views in 24 hours. On Monday, as we took to the social media our coverage on the much-anticipated “Announcement II” of Mayor Rodri-go Duterte, a series of posts reached over 100,000 in a matter of minutes leading up to the press conference. In sum, over 200,000 were reached in those hours of “Announcement II” where Mayor Duterte reiterated he is not running for Presi-

dent and is considering reelection for Mayor if his daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio decide not to run.

The numbers speak for the reach of this coverage from our print copy to our on-line content and we intend to intensify our push towards the optimization of our

news reach in the social media platform where the battle has shifted.

These days, most news organizations are taking their content to the social media which has proven to be the most accessible vehicle for news content.

Let’s face it, the game has shifted.

If one has to be in the thick of the fight, one’s presence in this platform would spell the difference. This is where the real demographics are measurable and

tangible, not to mention relevant and not limited to a few respondents only of a particular segment.

It’s a no-brainer. Hundred thousand views can’t be wrong.

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAOBlazing the trail in innovative journalism.

EDGE DAVAO EDITORIAL, SEPT. 23, 2015

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 20156 EDGEDAVAOTHE ECONOMY

MINDANAO con-tinues to lord it over the rest of

the country in terms of coffee production, with Region 12 or the Soccsk-sargen region remaining the top regional coffee producer of the country.

Jennifer Remoquillo, Department of Agricul-ture (DA) national co-ordinator for High Val-ue Crops Development Program, said Mindanao accounts for 77 percent of the country’s coffee production.

Trailing far behind in coffee production is Lu-zon at 17 percent and Vi-sayas at six percent, she added.

In terms of area planted to coffee, 67 per-cent is in Mindanao, 23 percent in Luzon, and 10 percent in the Visayas.

Citing data from Phil-ippine Statistics Author-ity’s Bureau of Agricul-tural Statistics (BAS), Remoquillo said that a total of 117,451 hectares were so far planted with coffee across the coun-try.

Of this, 26,434 hect-ares are in Soccsksargen region, added Remoquil-lo, who was among the speakers of the 2nd Re-gional Coffee Congress, hosted by the DA Region 12 office, which opened Monday.

She said coffee pro-duction in the country last year dropped by 4.04 percent to 75,454 metric tons.

Remoquillo attribut-ed the drop in coffee production last year to the cutting and pruning of old trees and the ef-fects of heavy rains and strong winds during fruit development in Sul-tan Kudarat, the coun-try’s top provincial cof-fee producer.

In Davao City, she said there was a shift to banana and in Cavite, coffee farms were con-verted to pineapple.

There was also lower production in Batangas

due to the long dry sea-son during the flowering stage and also due to the infestation of scale in-sects, she said.

Amalia Jayag-Datu-kan, DA director for Re-gion 12, said they con-ducted the second re-gional coffee congress, which will end Tuesday, to help the industry achieve further growth.

This year’s con-gress carried the theme “Kape-yapaan: Susi sa Matagumpay at Maunlad na Pamayanan Tungo sa ASEAN Integration.”

Region 12 last year produced 28,000 MT of coffee, said Datukan, adding the regional Ag-

riculture office contin-ues to work to increase the region’s coffee pro-duction.

Remoquillo noted that among the factors that hamper the growth of the country’s coffee industry is the lack of quality seedlings.

“We have insufficient knowledge in coffee nursery production, (re-sulting in) the problem of quality planting ma-terials,” she said.

Viable coffee farming requires good planting material, Remoquillo added.

In the Philippines, coffee farming is domi-nated by small farmers

with an average farm size of one to two hect-ares. The most common variety is Robusta which accounted for over 70 percent production, fol-lowed by Arabica, Li-berica, and Excelsa, it added.

Remoquillo said some other challeng-es facing the country’s coffee industry include pest and disease control and marketing.

For the marketing challenge, she noted that the market requires producers to deliver consistent quality and sufficient quantity of coffee beans. (Bong S. Sarmiento/MindaNews)

Mindanao still top coffee producer

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is developing a roadmap

that aims to ensure food security and improve the country’s competitiveness in the global market.

The department has been crafting a roadmap that will have three pillars: value chain analysis, bench-marking, and private sector ownership, Agriculture Un-dersecretary Segfredo Ser-rano said.

Explaining the first pil-lar, Serrano said the road-map must be based on val-ue chain analysis, because through this, DA experts could identify and address the constraints in the var-ious stages of the value chain.

The role of the govern-ment and the function of the private sector must also be identified, he said, noting that the government must create a favorable environ-ment that would enable pri-vate businesses to thrive.

He said the govern-ment’s strengths include building infrastructure -- fishing ports, farm-to-market roads, transport systems, and cold chain sys-tems -- as well as playing a major role in funding re-search on new technologies, especially for small farmers.

On the second pillar, Serrano explained the im-portance of benchmarking for the country’s import and export commodities to en-sure the competitiveness of local products.

“If we continue on sub-sidizing or imposing pro-tection on commodities that are not competitive, even at the border, it will redound to higher cost for our con-sumers and higher support and protection cost for the government,” he said.

“We have to be able to strategize and plan how we can increase our market share by being much more competitive and presenting attractive products in the

specific export markets.”He underscored the

need to strengthen the country’s export potentials, since exports have a multi-plier effect on the economy.

If the origin of the ex-ports is the agriculture sec-tor, it would benefit from that multiplier effect in terms of employment and income, he said, adding that sending high-quality export products would also be a good motivation for Filipino farmers.

“The roadmap cannot just be a roadmap. It must be the subject of an exten-sive national consultation with our stakeholders so that the elements of this roadmap, including the timelines, the measures, are the ones that are acceptable to the public,” he said.

“We want a roadmap that will have the owner-ship and the political sup-port of our stakeholders.”

With an agricultural roadmap supported by the

people, the DA can easily go to Congress for funding sup-port, he said.

Serrano further said that they are setting a new target to complete the road-map by the end of the year.

The DA was supposed to finish it two years ago but the department is hav-ing problems with available data, he pointed out, adding that they are working on establishing real data for a specific commodity corri-dor to have a true picture of a particular value chain in the country.

With this analysis, agri-culture experts can see the problems in the value chain, Serrano said.

“We want a more specif-ic value chain analysis that will become the basis of the roadmap,” he said.

“What we want are real numbers, real commodity corridors, and real parts and elements of the value chain.” (PNA/PCOO News Release)

Roadmap to make agriculture sector more competitive, ensure food security

THE Davao tourism in-dustry sector is part-nering with airline

companies to strengthen the hosting of MICE (Meet-ings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) here next month, assuring participants of reduced airline fare rate.

Davao City Tourism head Lisette Marquez said the MICE is one of Davao’s prior-ity programs and “we contin-ue to innovate so that MICE participants enjoy several perks when they come here”.

According to Marquez, the signing of agreement with Air Asia for a special arrangement for MICE par-ticipants will be held on Sep-tember 30. There will also be agreements to be signed be-tween Cebu Pacific on a later date, she said.

She also said that the perk would also include an easier arrangement with no

fee if the ticket holder wants the fare be upgraded or re-booked.

Marquez meanwhile said that hosting the MICE will al-low us to show to the visitors how we host events and con-ventions here.

“This will be our bench-mark by showing to them how Davao handles the events,” she said.

In fact, she said Depart-ment of Tourism (DOT) as-sistant secretary Art Bon-cato told them to make sure that they offer the best and everything must come seam-less.

Marquez said, “we have done several hosting of events for both local and international events but we must not put our guards down as we must be ready at all times to be able to serve our guests well with satisfac-tion”. (PNA)

Tourism sector, airline firms tie up for MICE conference

MARKET SCENE. A young boy watches his father prepares standard cut of meat they sell at their stall inside the meat section of Agdao Public Market yesterday morning. Lean Daval Jr.

TOURISM players from Mindanao will be attend-ing a seminar on Islamic

or Halal Tourism on the second day of the four-day 16th Nation-al Convention of the Aaocia-tion of Tourism Officers of the Philippines, Davao del Norte provincial tourism office Noel Daquioag said.

Slated on October 1 to 4 at the SMX Convention Center in Lanang, Davao City, Daquioag told reporters at the Club 888 media forum at the Marco Polo Davao said there’s a need to de-velope the Halal component of Mindanao’s tourism industry.

“We need to have tour-ism-related establishments that offer services on Halal,” Daquioag told EDGE Davao in an interview.

He said there are only a

few establishments in the Min-danao that are Halal accredit-ed. “For instance, many Muslim tourists find a hard time in finding Halal restaurants here.”

Daquioag said Mindanao has a huge potential for the multi-billion Halal industry because of its proximity to Asian Muslim countries and some nations that are part of the Brunei, Indonesia,Malaysia and Philippines- East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

Mindanao could further promote its tourist destina-tions to the Muslim commu-nity if it will be able to have establishments like hotels and restaurants that are Halal ac-credited, according to him.

Meanwhile, the seminar will be facilitated by Malaysian

Halal seminar in ATOP confabBy CHENEEN R. CAPON

FHALAL, 10

LAST WEEK marked the celebration the Mid-Autumn or more popularly known as the Moon Festival. The most important Chi-nese holiday in the lunar calendar after the Lunar New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated by families and friends coming together for a good meal and a quick game of dice to win much-coveted mooncakes as well as other prizes. Normally I would attend my Chi-nese family association’s celebration as well as a celebration on the eve of Mid-Autumn itself at the Lotus

C o u r t of the Marco Polo Davao. This year, I was given an extra special Moon Festival this as I happened to be at Xiamen to do help so some research for an upcoming coffee table book on Chinese-Filipinos by Cebu’s University of San Carlos Press. Xiamen is a city located in the southeast coast of China and is where my grandparents, and where most ancestors of Chinese-Filipinos hail from. I cannot help

but feel that my “homecoming” to the Xiamen of my ancestors was perfectly timed for the season. One destination I visited and was most excited

about was the South Putuo Temple. A Buddhist temple founded in the Tang Dynasty, the Bud-

dhist temple is located at the southern hills of Xiamen near the University of Xiamen

and is where the Bodhisattva Guanyin is mainly worshipped. The architecture of

the temple is simply breathtaking with beautiful wooden eaves and posts as well as impressive tiles swallow-tail roofs. While impressive, it was what was for lunch served at a nearby vegetarian restaurant located with-in the temple’s grounds that really completed my Buddhist temple ex-perience. While normally, a Mid-Autumn Festival feast would be composed of a rich and festive as-

sortment of meat and seafood dishes my Mid-Autumn temple meal was

meat and guilt-free. The vegetarian

feast started with a plate of Mashed

Yam, Carrot, and Seaweed.

The dish was nutty and rich,

with the crispy fried seaweed add-ing texture as well as a briny flavour to the dish. Since fortifying soups and stews are de rigueur in any Xiamen banquet,

FOOD

EDGEDAVAOINdulge!

While normally, a Mid-Autumn Festival feast would be composed of a rich and festive

assortment of meat and seafood dishes my Mid-Autumn temple meal was meat and guilt-free.

Stir-fried Arrowroot.Mashed

Taro.

Vegetarian Duck Soup.

Roof of South Putuo Temple’s main hall.

URBANISSIMO A1

moon,temple,vegan feAst

THE

A

AND A

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

salsa lovinG

A2 INdulge!FOOD

SALSA or sometimes called “red sauce” is widely used as a condi-ment in Mexican and Southwestern cuisines in the US. Ever since, the world has taken that leap and has since embraced the salsa as part of one’s gastro-nomic cravings. In truth, salsa is one of the simpliest recipes to make. You just need to combine tomatoes, onions, cilantro, lime juice, spices and you are good to go. Also, you can al-ways adjust the level of chil-lies you put. A definite win-win situation for anyone. Personally, I’m not that of a big fan but I can munch on salsa anytime. At times, it gets way too spicy or bland. Never the perfect mix. Un-til I discovered Tita Rosita’s Meaty Salsa during the Off-Price Show at the Davcon. I bought a jar and let me tell you, I have been eating more than a tablespoon every single night. I add the salsa to my rice, pour it over fastfood fried chicken and even with fried vegetables. Yes, that’s how addictive their salsa is. Tita Rosita’s Meaty Salsa is made from fresh beef, to-matoes and spices. It has no preservatives hence you can truly taste the goodness of tomatoes and spices in every single bite. I love how simple yet complex their flavour and texture is. You can truly bite into the juicy tomatoes and savor the mixture of spices and meat. Now, this is the

kind of salsa I want on my meals. Salsa and chips? Sure, they’re the perfect pair. How-ever, there is more to salsa than just a dip. Here’s how I turned my Tita Rosita’s Meaty Salsa into a whole new salsa-licious experience.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken My dad and mama loves this! Because it’s your birth-day Mama (Bai Rowena FSinsuat Ambolodto), this is for you. Sending you my love, kisses, hugs and well-wishes. Love you mama -- to the moon, galaxy and back! I love you!

Chop the onion and 2 cloves of garlic. Set aside. In a bowl, mix 3 table-spoons of tepid water, chopped onion and garlic, 3 tablespoon jam (I’ve used

apricot and strawberry -- apricot is best), jalapeno salsa and salt.Mix well. Make some slits on your chicken breast. Best to take the skin off. In a deep pot, add the sauce. Add the chicken breasts until submerged. With a spoon, pour some of the sauce over the chicken to coat. Turn your stove to low/medium heat. Cover the pan and continue to pour sauce over the chicken. Flip the chicken to evenly coat the same. When done, the sauce should not be too watery.

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas THIS IS MY FAVORITE! Indulge with this delec-table 4-ingredient dish and have an instant Tex-Mex theme party on any night.

You can swith the chicken with beef or fish. Steam your chicken -- re-move the skin and pull into chunks. Set aside. In a bowl, add 1/2 cup of salsa (I used Tita Rositas), 3/4 cup cheese and chicken chunks. Mix well. Spread 1/2 cup of salsa onto the bottom of a baking dish. Spoon 1/4 cup of the meat mixture onto the centre of tortillas. Roll the tortillas (folds down) and line baking dish until done. Spread more salsa and cheese on top. Bake for 20 minutes or un-til cheese starts to melt.

Beef Fajitas Im a cheat cook -- I don’t like a grandeur of ingredients for a meal. I want to keep it simple yet flavorful until the

last bite. This is perfect. Just like the enchiladas, the dish does not require you to be a scientist. In a deep pan, combine beef strips (you can use beef steak strips too), ground cumin, fresh lime juice and jarred salsa (I used the jala-peno variant). Cook on low and and serve in tortillas. You can add shredded cab-bage, carrots and onions. And cheese -- don’t forget the cheese. Tita Rosita’s Meaty Salsa accepts orders. You can call them at 0923-303 2931. For that latest on their sal-sa-licious products, browse and like their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TitaRositasSalsa Make #TheRoyalChef your Thursday habit. Tag me on instagram @herroyalheiress for your delicious food finds!

EDGEDAVAO VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 •THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

Madlang people relate to ‘Pastillas Girl’s’ story

Cast of ‘Sunday All Stars’ meet for a reunion

INdulge! A3ENTERTAINMENT

MORE than just finding new love, the story of Pas-tillas Girl that the madlang people witness every day in “It’s Showtime” is about a woman hoping to have an-other chance at life. Just like any other woman who is in pain, Pastillas Girl, whose real name is Angelica Yap, only wants to pick up the pieces and believe in love once again. Before laying out her life on na-tional television, she shot to online fame after she posted a video of her describing the process of making pastillas while dropping some “hu-got” lines, with angst and spunk that could only be the result of a real heartbreak. After voluntarily asking for love advice from Madam Bertud in the “Advice Ganda” segment of “It’s Showtime,” she little by little shared her story with the madlang people, who saw her as a relatable charac-ter whose painful experiences mir-rored their own. And in opening her heart to the public, she piqued the interest of three men – one from the studio audience and two from Twitter – who wanted get to know her better and help her ease her heartache. Pastillas Girl’s story took an unexpected turn when her ex-boyfriend, Enzo, bravely faced her last Saturday (Sep 19) to apologize for breaking her heart, answer all the questions about their breakup, and formally get closure from their failed relationship. “Pasensya ka na rin. Hindi ko naman intensyon na kumalat ang video. Hindi ko intensyon na mag-viral. Hindi ko plinano na andito

ako ngayon. Tandaan mo na sa mga nangyari sa atin, wala akong pinagsisisihan,” said an emotional Pastillas Girl during her trending confrontation with Enzo. While she has gained fans and admirers for being true to her feel-ings, she has also had to endure messages from bashers. “Totoong tao ako. Hindi po ako artista, Bago po ito lahat sa akin. Sana kilalanin niyo muna ako bago niyo ako i-judge. Lahat ng tanong niyo kaya kong sagutin, binuksan ko po yung buhay ko para po dito,” she said in an episode last Sept 17. On social media, netizens con-stantly tweet about how they can relate to her experiences via the segment’s interactive live tweet component. “Halos pareho yung nangyari sa akin. I can relate to her feelings. I wanna hug her,” said @dina_terbio. “Meron din ako. Habang kami e may iba na siya… kababata ko pa.

Kaya relate ako kay #PastillasGirl,” @iamjiroh tweeted. “Ba’t ba sobra akong naapektu-han dun sa pagkikita ni Pastillas Girl at yung ex niya? Super relate kasi ako noon one year ago,” @el-lasogorg shared. What’s next in Pastillas Girl’s journey to finding her Mr. Pastillas? Meanwhile, “It’s Showtime’s” most awaited sixth anniversary kick off show dubbed as “It’s Show-time Kapamilya Day: The ANIM-versary Kick Off” is happening this Saturday (Sep 26). Joining this grand celebration are loveteams KathNiel, JaDine, LizQuen and KimXi, Kapamilya Gold and Primetime Bida stars, “The Voice Kids” finalists, “PBB 737” Teen Big Four, the cast of “Eti-quette for Mistresses” and Prime-time King Coco Martin. For more information, follow “It’s Showtime” on Facebook and Twitter (@ItsShowtimena).

RESONANT of their friendship go-ing beyond work, the performers of the now defunct show ‘Sunday All Stars’ reunited last weekend. Steven Silva, Mark Herras, Rocco Nacino, Kris Lawrence, Wyn Marquez, Enzo Pineda, Lovi Poe, Aicelle Santos, Jay-R, and Mark Bautista were among the attendees of the gathering. The ‘Tikis,’ the name which they call their group, consider each other as family and make an effort to stay in touch even if they’ve gone their separate ways. “Great last minute Tiki night last night. Nice hanging with everyone. It [has] been a long time,” Jay-R wrote. Last month, Kyla and her husband Rich Al-varez also hosted a gathering for the group. “Nagkikita parin kahit hindi na magka-kasama sa work. #realfriendship,” Wyn not-ed.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 •THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015 EDGEDAVAO

G

PG/R13

R16/R16 12:00 | 1:35 |3:10 LFS|4:45 |6:30 |8:15 |10:00 LFS

R-16

HOTEL TRANSYVANIA 2

Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez

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

RESUREKSYON/ATTACK ON TITAN 2

12:20 | 2:55 LFS |5:30 | 7:45 |10:00 LFS

EVEREST/HENERAL LUNA

Jake Gyllenhaal, Keira Knightley/

John Arcilla, Epy Quizon

12:00 | 2:00 | 4:00 |6:00 |8:00| 10:00 LFS

Paolo Avelino, Isabelle Daza /

Haruma Miura, Kiko Mizuhara

THE INTERN

Anne Hathaway, Robert De Niro

September 24, 2015

a Vegetarian Tongui Duck Soup followed. The soup was fragrant and flavourful thanks to Chi-nese herbs and spices, yet does not overwhelm the palate. With a texture similar to jicama yet with a slightly more starchy flavour, the Stir-Fried Vegetables with Arrowroot was crisp and fresh. The celery stalks and black fungus add additional texture as well as flavour to the dish. It was at this point that I realised that I am already three dishes in yet still not craving for a morsel of meat. A braised mushroom and a sweet and sour tofu dish completed my vegetari-an spread at the temple, all downed with a cups of piping hot local tea. I admit that I am a total meat eater, but surpris-ingly, I was satisfied with the meal and did not miss my steak too much. I guess it is because of how the vegetables were creatively prepared, seasoned, and processed or maybe its because of the inspiring temple surroundings. Another result of my vegetarian feasting is that far from being bloated and

tired after a huge meal, I was light, energetic, and ready to explore Xiamen City some more. Follow me on Insta-gram or on Twitter at @kennethkingong for more travel stories and foodie finds in, around, and be-yond Durianburg.

A4 INdulge!FOOD

URBANISSIMO A4

One of South Putuo Temple’s vegetarian restaurants.

Sweet and Sour Tofu.

A braised fungus dish.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 2015EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015 7EDGEDAVAO ENVIRONMENT

FBAMBOO, 10

In the Philippines, par-ticularly in the rural areas, bamboo abounds. Mostly, bamboos are found along river banks. Our folklores tell us that our supposed descendants -- Malakas (strength) and Maganda (beautiful) -- came out of bamboo. Of course, everyone knows that.

But what most Filipinos don’t know that what used to be known as the “poor man’s timber” is now gracing many high-end homes, hotels, and offices around the world. Yes, the humble bamboo has gone a long, long way.

“The global market for

bamboo products amounts to US$12 billion, and much of this is for the engineered bamboo sector,” the Forest Products Research and De-velopment Institute (FPRDI), a line agency of the Depart-ment of Science and Tech-nology (DOST), reports.

Engineered bamboo, de-signed to be a replacement for wood, is a low-cost prod-uct manufactured from bam-boo. It has been used as pan-eling, vehicle beds, concrete formworks, lightweight building construction. It was even used for shelters after the 2004 tsunami.

In comparison to the

woods that have been tra-ditionally used, a number of benefits and drawbacks have been identified with engi-neered bamboo. Lower cost, especially when replacing wood that would otherwise have been imported, is a key advantage. Further benefits include greater hardness and shape retention, espe-cially in high temperatures.

One of the primary draw-backs of engineered bamboo is that it is not as resilient as most woods. In addition, it will decay more rapidly than other woods if not treated with preservatives.

“We are happy to say

that the Philippines now has its own engineered bamboo industry,” says Dr. Romulo T. Aggangan, FPRDI director. “Although still immature and bugged by various problems, it is also blessed with a lot of strengths, and given enough support from concerned groups, can be expected to grow strong, and in time be able to meet the needs of lo-cal clients or even capture a slice of the global market.”

Currently, about 10 companies are making en-gineered bamboo products. “Most of them are small-scale enterprises producing items on a per order basis,” said a press release circulat-ed by DOST.

Among the most common species used for engineered bamboo are “kawayan tinik” (Bambusa blumeana), giant-bamboo (Dendrocalamus asper), “bolo” (Gigantochloa levis), “botong” (D. latiforus) and “bayog” (B. merrilliana).

In the Philippines alone, there’s a big demand for engineered bamboo. “Since 2010, it has been mandated by law that 25% of all school desks and furniture in the country’s public schools should be made of engi-neered bamboo,” said Dr. Rico J. Cabangon, a FPRDI official.

About 10,000 hectares of plantations -- using the right

bamboo species -- is needed to meet the projected annual demand of 312,000 school desks and other saleable products such as panels, flooring, décor, and high-end furniture.

Indeed, the future of en-gineered bamboo is bright. “The world market for en-gineered bamboo can reach US$20 billion by 2020,” Dr. Cabangon said.

In an interview with Ma-nila Times, Director Senen Perlada of Department of Trade Industry’s Bureau of Export Trade Promotion, said: “Engineered bamboo can provide Philippine fur-niture manufacturers the competitive edge over ASE-AN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) competitors.”

For centuries, the beau-ty and durability of bamboo have been known among Asians. In China, for in-stance, bamboo is one of the four noblest plants (the three others are the orchid, the plum tree, and the chry-santhemum). It is also one of the three multi-purpose plants grown in thousands of Indonesian villages today, the other two being banana and coconut.

Although often listed as a “minor” forest product, bamboo is fast regaining its rightful place these days. Ac-cording to an article, which

appeared in Reader’s Digest, bamboo “is delicate enough to be used in phonograph needles, yet strong enough to be used in bridge con-struction.” As such, bamboo can replace or indirectly de-crease consumption of three critically scarce resources: wood, metal and oil.

Bamboo is also indis-pensable in the fishing and banana industry. In Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, people use bamboo as material for making rafts, fishing rods, outriggers for bancas and for fish pens. In saltwater areas, bamboo is used as stakes in the culture of mussels and oysters.

In Davao City and near-by municipalities, bamboo poles are used as props to support fruit-bearing banan-as.

Bamboo is also used in the manufacture of musi-cal instruments like horns, clarinets, saxophones, flutes, piccolos, xylophones and drums. The world famous bamboo organ at the Roman Catholic Church of Las Piñas is a historic example of the importance of bamboo.

There are also sophisti-cated uses of bamboo -- char-coal for electric batteries, liquid diesel fuel obtained by distillation, and enzymes and media for shoot ex-

Bamboo: no longer poor man’s timberTEXT and PHOTOS By HENRYLITO D. TACIO

Bamboo chai

Fish pens made of bamboo.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 20158 EDGEDAVAO

VANTAGE

EDITORIALWar vs illegal drugs

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

OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager

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EDGEDAVAOProviding solutions to a seamless global village.

ANTONIO M. AJEROEditor in Chief

Columnists: CARLOS MUNDA • HENRYLITO D. TACIO • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • ATTY. EMILY ZEN CHUA • GREGORIO G. DELIGERO • JOHN CARLO TRIA • VIDA MIA S. VALVERDE • Economic Analysts: ENRICO “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG

LEANDRO S. DAVAL JR. PhotographyARLENE D. PASAJE

Cartoons

KENNETH IRVING K. ONGBAI FAUZIAH FATIMA SINSUAT AMBOLODTO

MEGHANN STA. INES NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN

Lifestyle

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PHILIPPINE PRESS INSTITUTEthe national association of newspapers

THE Davao City Police Office (DCPO), in its continuing efforts to eradicate illegal drugs in the metropolis, launched another program aimed at intensifying the campaign starting in the

barangays. Dubbed KATOK or the Katilingban og Kapulisan Kontra Droga, the program is an information drive centered in the baran-gays as the DCPO and other law enforcement agencies step up their campaign to reduce, if not totally eradicate, illegal drugs in the city.

“With this campaign, we will prioritize the barangays that are experiencing the problem of illegal drugs,” city police director Se-nior Superintendent Vicente Danao Jr, said in yesterday’s AFP-PNP media forum at the DCPO. He said the campaign aims to make peo-ple aware of the existence of illegal drugs in different areas in the city.

Following the media conference, Danao and heads of other gov-ernment agencies like the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 11 and City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (CADAC) proceeded to the DCPO grounds to officially launch KATOK, a program that in-volves the posting of anti-drug stickers in police cars, public utility vehicles, government offices, establishments, and homes that do not necessarily belong to suspected pushers.

The DCPO is not about to sit on its laurels especially in the fight against illegal drugs. It was recently named by the Philippine Na-tional Police (PNP) national headquarters as the best performing City Anti-Illegal Drugs Operations Task Group (CAIDSOGT) in 2015 for its numerous accomplishments that reduced activities involv-ing illegal drug trade and resulted in the arrest of several big-time drug dealers. Instead of basking in the glory, it is intensifying its drive against the drug menace specifically in the barangay level.

There have been several serious campaigns by past DCPO direc-tors – f om spray-painting houses of suspected drug pushers to vis-iting houses and telling suspected pushers to stop their activities – but Danao’s approach is a little bit different as his program centers on information campaign in the city’s villages. How effective the DCPO director’s campaign is remains to be seen, but he may have come up with an excellent strategy to combat illegal drugs with this information drive.

But, then again, the fight against illegal drugs is every well-mean-ing citizen’s concern and not just by Danao or other law enforce-ment agencies. We again call on the public to be very vigilant against pushers and even users if we are to win the war.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015 VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO

The days of our lives

A leader to make us better than we are

Henrylito D. Taciohenrytacio@gmail.com

THINK ON THESE!“I have found life an enjoyable, en-chanting, active, and sometimes ter-rifying experience, and I’ve enjoyed

it completely. A lament in one ear, maybe, but always a song in the other.” This state-ment, comes from the mouth of Sean O’Ca-sey, summarizes what life is all about.

Life, as defined by biologists, is “the metabolic activity of protoplasm.” But there are times when it seems even worse than that. “My dear,” a father once told an impatient daughter, “if you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you.”

Jerold Savory said it all: “We may not prefer a world in which sorrow always seems to be so close to joy; in which heart-break always seems so close to happiness; in which doubt always seems to be so close to faith. But this is the kind of world we’ve in.”

All of us came into this world, courtesy of our father and mother. The father sup-ports while the mother cares and loves. To most parents, a baby is more than just a part of their lives. The world, it seems, re-volves around the newborn.

Then, the baby grows and starts learn-ing about his or her surroundings. He or she wants to know more. That’s where education comes in. “What you learn with just the mind is quickly forgotten; what you learn when you are emotionally in-volved remains imprinted in the nervous system and the first task of education is involvement, not mere learning,” Sydney Harris said.

Clifton L. Hall has this advice: “It is easy – even natural – to think of educa-

tion as some-thing that ends when one fin-ishes school, or graduates from college, or is decorat-ed with a doc-torate. But it might be near-er to the truth to say that real education be-gins when for-mal education ends. I frequently recommend books to graduate students ‘to be read when you stop taking courses and begin to get an education.’”

Oftentimes, education is what a per-son needs to get real work. We are not put here on earth to play around. “Life is real,; life is earnest,” Henry Wadsworth Longfel-low pointed out. We are not here to “have fun,” which seems to be the chief ambition of so many. There is work to be done.

Walter Hoving advices: “Find a job that’s suited to your talents and then do a lot more work than you’re paid for. In time, you’ll be paid much more for what you do. Workers who get what they can, as fast as they can, as easily as they can, are bound to be disillusioned. Such people fail to make progress simply because they aren’t profitable to the people who hire them.”

Once you have work, marriage would just be around the corner. “For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and

be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh,” Genesis 2:24 stated. “Marriage is not for a moment; it is for a lifetime,” Gina Cerminara said. “It requires long and serious preparation. It is not to be leaped into, but entered with solemn steps of de-liberation. For one of the most intimate and difficult human relationships is that of marriage.”

God, through His servant Paul, also in-structed what husband and wife must do to have a successful marriage. “Wives, sub-mit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife… Also, wives should submit to their husbands in everything... Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies… Wives must respect their husbands.”

The general society holds that normal people are either married or wish to be – but single status is an appropriate option to marriage. “Singles should be accepted,” urged Mark Lee. “All persons live for a time as singles – so it must be a normal state.”

Those who get married become par-ents. “Parents are prone to give their chil-dren everything except the one thing they need most. That is time: time for listening, time for understanding, time for helping, and time for guiding,” reminds Emma K. Hulburt. “It sounds simple, but in reality it is the most difficult, and the most sacrifi-cial task of parenthood.”

The Hebrew word for parents is horim, and it comes from the same root as moreh, teacher. “The parent is, and remains, the first and most important teacher that the child will ever have,” Rabbi Kassel Abelson reminds.

And it came to pass that days become months and months become years. And before you know it, you are given your re-tirement benefits by the company you are working for. “I’m against mandatory retire-ment,” declared Sam Ervin. “It ought to be left to individuals. It is a shame to assume that all fools are old fools. I’ve found that there are more young fools than old fools. Nature has a way of getting rid of old fools.”

Frankly, my dear, people retire. “If re-tirement is a part of your future, no matter how far in the future it may be, plan now to retire not from something but to some-thing,” advises Betty Zachow. “It’s a state of mind, and there are extra years of zest ahead.”

Retirement may not be mandatory but no one can escape death. “People are always serious about death,” observed Bob Harrington. “I never met what you call tough people when they were dying.” Tell that to Woody Allen. “It’s not that I’m afraid to die,” the Hollywood actor said. “I just don’t want to be there when it hap-pens.”

Whether you’re handsome, beautiful, fat, thin, or anything, all have the same destination – to face our Creator. “I’m not afraid to die,” declared Ethel Waters. “I’m kind of looking forward to it. I know the Lord has His arms wrapped around this big fat sparrow.”

As you exit this world, be sure to leave it with a big bag. As one sage puts it, “When you were born, you cried, and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a manner that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.”

WHAT is often said in corporate circles is that when searching for a CEO, companies must find

that balance of intellect, experience, and excitement. Crucial is the choice when the company faces the need to sustain growth and market share, or achieve new heights in performance, profitabil-ity, or both.

In the same way these three quali-ties are needed by a CEO to sustain the good performance of a corporation, these same three qualities are required in pushing the performance of an econ-omy that just yesterday was reported to be going up the competitiveness ladder.

According to the World Economic Forum in its Global Competitiveness Re-port 2015-2016, The Philippines ranked 47th out of 140 economies this year – up from 52nd out of 144 previously – in 12 “pillars of competitiveness” that build growth and productivity. This puts us in the upper third of countries in terms of competitiveness, reflecting a consistent improvement in ranking since 2007.

This rise is cause célèbre, but not a laurel worth resting on. These rankings need to rise further if we are going to be within striking distance of Singa-pore, our close neighbor, which stands

at number 2 in the world, and Malaysia (18th), Thai-land (32nd) and Indone-sia (37th). Major factors that weigh against con-tinued rise in these rankings in-clude com-plex and changing tax regulations and an inefficient bureaucracy. These make the set of new investments difficult. Lit-tle wonder why we also fall behind the previously mentioned four neighbors in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI).

We need a leader with the intellect to deal with complex situations and take the lead in finding creative solu-tions to resolve these issues. A perspec-tive that all his or her men will need to marshal efforts and will to work as a team. A sense of history, and a capacity to understand, grapple with, and turn over issues in an efficient and effective manner. We definitely cannot stomach

a leader who depends on advisers for this. Perhaps the men and women of her court are useful in bounding ideas around and validating options, bit not taking initiative. The leader must have that sense of initiative and desire to car-ry things through. The challenges are formidable: the boundary issues with neighbors, sustaining a 6% GDP, a high tax rate, a third of our citizens poor and hungry, and the need to ensure enough food and resources to make living in the Philippines “more fun.” The leader needs to look deep within him or her-self to find that mix of leadership qual-ities we need to create the conditions that everybody else “gets with the pro-gram.”

We need a leader who has the ex-perience. Like a coach for the Gilas, we need a leader who knows not only what it takes to win, but what its like to win. This is someone who has won, and knows how to stay in the winning circle, who no longer has butterflies in his stomach or cringes at the thought of confronting adversities considered insurmountable. How can we be guid-ed by a greenhorn in politics, a proven failure in implementation? Would you trust a man with experience limited to

a small city which not he, but affluent businessmen built, which is not even a quarter of Davao City’s population? The experience we need is that of someone who has been there, who has done that, and knows, and has done what it takes to do it better, and make it happen. All of these, while driving excellence when engaging us and the rest of the world to be at our own best.

A leader with excitement is not just a bonus but a must. Our people have grown weary, lethargic and disappoint-ed at leaders who have failed to inspire them to have faith in government and encourage them to be productive, effec-tive Filipinos. The post-EDSA brand of leadership has thus far not increased the social capital of governance. Thus, most people are cynical about govern-ment and other institutions, often seen as inefficient and corrupt.

Just like the CEO, the Philippine president is the man or woman who, in the final analysis, pushes us to be better than we are, to achieve goals we may never have thought attainable. At this point in our history, where the pres-idency and governance is a fishbowl seen through by almost everyone, we deserve no less.

John Triaecisouth@gmail.com

MY TWO CENTS’

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 201510 EDGEDAVAODavao... FROM 2

Water... FROM 2

Tagum... FROM 3

N. Cotabato... FROM 3

Safer... FROM 16

Rody... FROM 1

DA explorer... FROM 4 Halal... FROM 6

DOE... FROM 4

“I’ve asked all the sta-tion commanders to acti-vate the Bantay Dagat. They could be a big help for the police and for the commu-nity,” he said.

Danao said all closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the shorelines have been checked to make sure the areas are continu-ously monitored.

fer the 150mm diameter check valve at said affect-ed area for preventive maintenance purposes.

DCWD general manag-er Edwin V. Regalado asks for the understanding and cooperation of would-be affected customers. He also advises them to store enough water prior to the scheduled water inter-ruptions. Water supply may be restored earlier if work goes smoothly or later if unforeseen prob-lems arise.

The general public may visit DCWD website

(www.davao-water.gov.ph) and official Facebook page (www.facebook.com/davaowater) or call the Central Information Unit / Call Center through the 24-hour hotline 297-DCWD (3293) and press “1” on their phone dial to listen to latest dai-ly water updates. They may also call / text 0927-7988966, 0925-5113293 and 0908-4410653 for other updates, com-plaints, queries and mat-ters pertaining to DCWD services. (Jamae G. Dela Cruz)

Program (CIVOTESPRO), the Sulong Dunong edu-cational assistance pro-grams, Kaagapay medical program, and the city’s low-cost housing proj-ects.

Estabillo’s solo par-ents ordinance mandated an annual funding of P1 million from the general fund to be appropriated annually with the CSW-DO as the implementing department of the city government.

Solo parent is not only referred to a female solo parent. He can be male as long as he is liv-ing solo and has in his custody his child or chil-dren.

Under R.A. No. 8972, a solo parent can also be any other person who

solely provides paren-tal care and support to a child or children, or any family member who assumes the responsibil-ity of head of family as a result of death, aban-donment, disappearance or prolonged absence of the parents or solo par-ents, for a period of at least one year.

The law also cites cir-cumstances why a per-son becomes a solo par-ent such as giving birth as a result of rape, death of spouse, detention of a spouse due to criminal conviction for at least 1 year, legal or de pacto separation, annulment of marriage, abandon-ment of spouse, and oth-ers. - Cha Monforte, Cor-respondent

Based on rainfall data released to DA-12 by the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astro-nomical Services Adminis-tration, some parts of the region already posted “way below normal” levels as of the end of August.

It said the rainfall level in the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato will drop to below normal and in Sarangani to way below normal starting the end of

the month.Datukan said the prov-

inces of Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat and South Cotaba-to will experience dry spell this month that will intensi-fy to drought from October to February.

She said North Cotabato will experience dry condi-tion starting this month un-til January and dry spell by February.

Dry spell was described as three consecutive months of below normal or 21 to 60

percent reduction from av-erage rainfall conditions or two consecutive months of way below normal or more than 60 percent reduction from average rainfall con-ditions.

Drought was defined as consecutive months of way below normal or more than 60 percent reduction from average or five consecutive months of below normal or 21 to 60 percent reduction from average rainfall condi-tion.(PNA)

15.00MW Alabel Solar Pow-er Project Solar of the Pacific Energy Corporation in Ala-bel Saranggani; and the Mag-pet President Roxas Solar Power Project of the Energy Development Corporation in North Cotabato.

The DOE awarded only one service contract in Re-gion 12 which is the devel-opment of the 10MW Butu-an City 1 Solar Power Project of the Enfinity Philippines Renewable Resources Inc. in Agusan del Norte.

The Saguiaran & Marawi

City Local Government Unit of the Islamic City of Marawi is also awarded with service contract for the develop-ment of the 35MW ICOM Solar Power Project in Tago-loan II, Saguiaran & Marawi City in Lanao del Sur.

The SunAsia Energy Inc. will also develop a 2MW Bukidnon Solar Power Proj-ect in Bukidon.

Sibayan said that there are still eight pending appli-cations for development of solar power project in Min-danao.

and Fatima Onding Encar-nacion,

All suspects belong to the police’s list of big-time drug dealers operating in Kabacan and nearby towns of North Cotabato.

Recovered from the suspects were 100 grams of shabu, drug money worth Php 90, 000; one fragmentation grenade,

four pistols, dried mar-ijuana leaves and more than 100 motorcycles be-lieved to be also used in their illegal activities.

The suspects are cur-rently detained at the Kabacan police headquar-ters while appropriate cases are being readied against them. (PNA)

RENEWABLE ENERGY TRAINING. Department of Science and Technology (DOST) 11 director Anthony C. Sales (left) promotes the ongoing three-day Southeast Asia Regional training program on renewable energy resource

assessment and mapping. At right is Technology Transfer APCTT-ESCAP coordinator Dr. Krishnan Srinivasaghavan. The two were guests in yesterday’s Club 888 media forum at The Marco Polo, Davao. Lean Daval Jr.

ing the squad at the last minute.

All in all the Middle East team, once handled by current Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin, has won only a total of two games — against Chinese Taipei and Jordan.

In a report by sports portal Spin.ph, Baldwin and his coaching staff was seen staying on at the Changsha Social Work Colleges gymnasium to watch and scout the Leb-anon-Jordan game.

“Now the games are tough, all the oppo-nents are tough. We just have to prepare and get ready, the players will have to prepare them-selves physically and the coaching staff will do the mental prepara-tion,” said Baldwin in an interview with Spin.ph. “We will have to bring it all together and work as a team, which is what

we’re supposed to do, and I think we’re doing better and better as we progressed.”

China, unbeaten in all of its six games so far, meets lightweight India (2-2), which finished No. 4 in Group E, with Qatar (No. 2 in Group F) battling Japan (No. 3 in Group E) in another knockout pairing.

The host country came away with an 89-65 rout of the Qataris (3-2) late Tuesday night, while early in the day India lost to Gilas, 99-65, but advanced in the playoffs over Palestine by virtue of the winner-over-the-other rule

Not unless India comes up with the moth-er of all upsets, China is expected to breeze to the semifinals against the survivor of the Iran-South Korea sud-den-death match.

cally motivated and intend-ed to destroy the image of Davao City.

Marques told reporters the kidnapping could have been staged because there is a growing clamor for Duterte to run for the pres-idency in 2016.

“We hope that the peo-ple behind this will not deceive the people. I hope this does not have political motivation,” she added.

In yesterday’s inter-view, Duterte said he is still waiting for the word from Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chair Nur Misuari regard-ing his request for help to solve the case.

“I have yet to hear (from) Nur but the person I asked, his lieutenant, is still talking to Nur until now,” he said.

Duterte said he just wants the negotiation to be done immediately.

“Hindi naman natin kontrolado ang motiviation nila (We don’t control their motivations) but I will be very happy if the hostages will be released,” he said.

Duterte had earlier said he will not meddle in the search for the abduc-tors and the victims since the incident happened in Davao del Norte and not Davao City.

Right now, however, the mayor is working on the case because the Canadian and Norwegian embassies have asked him for help.

Marques had earlier the tourism sector cannot stop foreign embassies from issuing travel advi-sories because it is their responsibility to take pre-

cautionary measure to protect their citizens.

“We do not say that their advisories are wrong but some of the advisories are sometimes being ex-aggerated. However, we cannot do anything,” she

said.Marques said the only

way to counter the advi-sories is to strengthen the promotional campaign. “Word of mouth is still ef-fective in promoting tour-ist destinations,” she said.

Islamic Tourism Centre direc-tor Yuhaini Yusoff.

Daquioag also said the De-partment of Tourism might be also launching its newest pro-gram that will assist Mindan-ao’s Halal industry.

There will be also discus-sions in topics like Strength-ening Policy and Practice in Protected Area Management and Biodiversity Conservation: Mt. Apo Natural Park Success; Greening the Tourism Value

Chain: Ensuring Resiliency for a Sustainable Future; and Desti-nation Marketing: Imaging and Promotion.

The four-day event will be joined by more than 1,200 tourism officers from the coun-try. This will be the first time that Davao City will host the event.

Participants will be also visiting various tourist destina-tions in Davao City and in the Island Garden City of Samal for

bench marking on the third day.There will be also tour on

other provinces of the Davao Region like Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley, Davao del Sur and the rest of Davao del Norte.

Among the destinations for bench marking were the tour on Davao City including the D’ Bone Collection, Public Safety and Security Command Center, Central 911, Crocodile Park, and Tribu K’Mindanawan. CRC

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015 11CULTURE AND ARTSRepublic of the Philippines

City of DavaoOffice of the Sangguniang Panlungsod

17th City Council17th Regular SessionSeries of 2015

PRESENT:Councilor Rene Elis C. Lopez - Temporary Presiding OfficerCouncilor Nilo M. Abellera Jr.Councilor Victorio U. Advincula Jr.Councilor Bernard E. Al-agCouncilor Al Ryan S. AlejandreCouncilor Leonardo R. Avila IIICouncilor Joanne M. Bonguyan-QuilosCouncilor Danilo C. DayanghirangCouncilor April Marie C. DayapCouncilor Jimmy G. DurezaCouncilor Leah A. Librado-YapCouncilor Diosdado Angelo A. Mahipus Sr.Councilor Bonifacio E. MilitarCouncilorMyrna G. L’ Dalodo-OrtizCouncilor Antoinette G. Principe-CastrodesCouncilor Marissa P. Salvador-AbellaCouncilor Halila Y. sudagarCouncilor mary Joselle D. VillafuerteCouncilor Rachel P. Zozobrado

ON OFFICIAL BUSINESS:

Councilor Ma. Belen S. Acosta – Palarong Pambansa, Tagum CityCouncilor Karlo S. bello - Manila

ABSENT:

Vice Mayor Paolo Z. Duterte - On Vacation LeaveCouncilor Louie John J. Bonguyan – On Vacation leaveCouncilor January N. Duterte - On Sick LeaveCouncilor Edgar R. Ibuyan Sr. - On Domestic Emergency LeaveCouncilor Tomas J. Monteverde IV – On Sick Leave

ORDINANCE NO. 0333-15Series of 2015

AN ORDINANCE ALLOWING DESILTING OPERATIONS IN THE RIVERS AND STREAMS IN THE WATERSHED AREAS OF DAVAO CITY, AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE ORDINANCE NO. 0310-07, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE WATER-SHED CODE OF DAVAO CITY

Be it ordained by the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Davao City in session assembled that:Section 1. TITLE- This ordinance shall be known as “AN ORDINANCE ALLOWING DESILTING OPERATIONS IN THE RIVERS AND STREAMS IN THE WATERSHED AREAS OF DAVAO CITY, AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE ORDINANCE NO. 0310-07, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE WATERSHED CODE OF DAVAO CITY”;

Section 2. PURPOSE-This Ordinance amends the Watershed Code of Davao City in order to allow desilting operations within the watershed areas, to address the heavy siltation problem in the rivers and streams which could result to the overflowing of water and flooding during rainy seasons;

Section 3 , DEFINITION OF TERMS- Article 5 of Ordinance No. 0310-07 shall be amended to include the definition of DESILTATION, thus:

ARTICLE 5. DEFINITION OF TERMS`a. x…x…x…;b. x…x…x…;c. …;…1.x…x…x…;m.”DESILTATION” - the process of removing the sand, gravel and rocks in rivers and streams.

Section 4. Article 11 of Ordinance No. 0310-07 shall be amended to include the provision on de-silting operations, thus: ARTICLE 11. PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION MEASURES – x…x…x…

(a)x…x…x…; (b)x…x…X…; … (g)x…x…x…; (h) DESILTING OPERATIONS – the Davao City Government, through the City Engineer’s Office as its lead office, shall be solely responsible for all desilting operations in all rivers and streams within the watershed areas where such operations are needed.

i. TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP – In order to better facilitate the process, a technical working team shall be created, for this purpose, with the City Engineer’s Office as its lead office: it shall be composed of 1) the City Engineer’s Office (CEO) , 2) the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), 3) the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) , 4) the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (DENR-MGB), and 5) the Davao City Mining Regulatory Board (DCMRB).

ii. This team shall be responsible in determining the need for the desilting operation, the amount or volume of materials to be extracted during the desilting process; determine a private entity to conduct the desilting operations, in the event that the local government lacks the necessary equipment and manpower to conduct the de-silting operation.

iii. Where a government project is undertaken by any government agency, a government gratuitous permit must first be secured in accordance with RA 7944, otherwise known as the Philippine Mining Act of 1995.

iv. However, when the desiltation operations shall be undertaken by a private entity, the latter shall be allowed to be compensated with 50% of the materials extracted to compensate for the logistical expenses incurred in the operations: provided, however that it shall deliver the other 50% of the extracted materials to a pre-agreed site or stockyard for the use of the government in its projects.

Section 5. EFFECTIVITY- This Ordinance shall take effect five (5) days after publication in a newspaper of general circulation in Davao City;

ENACTED, May 05, 2015, by a majority vote of all the Members of the Sanggunian present, there being a quorum. CERTIFIED CORRECT: CHARITO N. SANTOS Secretary to the Sangguniang Panlungsod

(City Government Department Head II)

ATTESTED:

RENE ELIAS C. LOPEZ City Councilor Temporary Presiding officer Cns/mvbm

ATTESTED:

ATTY. JESUS MELCHOR V. QUITAIN City Administrator

THE opening in Davao City of the first legally rec-

ognized house of pros-titution, also known as the brothel, predates the 1918 banishment of over 170 commercial sex workers (as it is termed today) from Manila to the city. It was established in 1910 but “prostitution did not begin to flourish until the business boom of 1917, when thirteen brothels were in opera-tion.”

Statistics from the “Consular Population Sur-vey of Expatriate Japanese by Occupation” found in the Diplomatic History Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan present interesting facts hardly known to many researchers, indicating that for the period 1918-21, there were already 70 prostituted women in Davao. The figures did not change the following year, but dropped to 40 in 1920 and to 14, in 1921. The decrease in the num-ber of prostituted women was attributed to the drop of the price of abaca in the world market which, by extension, affected the productivity of the broth-els.

In 1920, Japan opened its consular office in Davao, which coincided with the issuance of an anti-prostitution order. Despite this event, “four or five brothels registered under Filipino names and about three Japanese restaurants (operating as prostitution fronts)” were recorded in 1923, two years before the new gov-ernor of Davao, Sebastian T. Generoso, took a strong stance against prostitu-tion. Fearing this devel-opment would result in anti-Japanese sentiment from local residents, the local Japanese Soci-ety decided to eliminate prostitution, which led to the closure of Japanese restaurants serving as

fronts of prostitution.Five years earlier, or

three years before Scot-tish bacteriologist Alex-ander Fleming discov-ered penicillin in 1928, Davao was already re-garded as the ‘gonorrhea capital’ of the country. The rise of this sexual-ly-transmitted disease was attributed to the 1918 exile of over 170 prostituted women of Gardenia, a house of plea-sure in Manila opened in 1910 and frequented by American servicemen, to Davao. The event became one of the most celebrat-ed cases in Philippine jurisprudence. A 1919 government report said it all:

“The arrival of the prostitutes from Manila also increased the inci-dence of gonorrhea. Out of a total of 130 cases reported in the Province of Davao, 126 occurred in the town of Davao. Once free from medical super-vision, these girls began to spread around the province and with them the infection. This remit-tance was likened to an intravenous innoculation [sic] of the Province of Davao, with pathogenic organisms which spread all over its blood vascu-lar system of transporta-tion… Davao is especially prone to react to such a remittance because of the lack of women, and the use the men make of registered prostitutes. Of [the] 1,952 laborato-ry specimens in Davao, 1,765 were uterine dis-charges from the prosti-tutes.”

The closure of Gar-denia on Oct. 16, 1918, the day the women were rounded up and placed under house arrest, also led to the decline in sex-ually transmitted diseas-es (STD) in the old city. Dr. Jose Fabella, then the public welfare com-missioner, in his ‘Memo-randum on Prostitution’

address to the mayor of Manila, declared:

“I have been able to obtain statistics showing the prevalence (based on admission) of ve-nereal diseases among the enlisted men in the Philippine Islands from 1898 to 1922,” [and the] “significant… drop of ve-nereal diseases in the [United States] Army co-incided exactly with the deportation of several hundred diseased prosti-tutes to Davao. The small increase since 1918 may be in part due to the fact that many of these wom-en have returned to Ma-nila and are spreading their infection without molestation. There is no law against prostitution, and there is no farm to which these girls can be sent.”

Prostitution start-ed to become a social issue with the arrival of the Americans. As early as 1900, Dr. L. F. Barker, professor of Pathologi-cal Anatomy at the John Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, when asked by the Schurman Commission on the most prevalent disease in the islands, was quick to respond that syphilis was not the most common venereal disease but “soft chan-cres and gonorrhea… be-cause a great many who have a mild attack do not go up for treatment. They appear at sick roll and ask treatment locally.”

The rise of gon-orrhea cases in Davao encouraged the gov-ernment to conduct a serious study on the po-tentials of native herbs as treatment, with ap-plications ranging from decoction to intravenous. In 1918, according to an official report, Davao also recorded five (5) cases of syphilis, aside from the ten cases of pregnancy complication resulting from gonorrhea.

HISTORY OF DAVAO (7th of a Series)

Rise of prostitution and STDsBy ANTONIO FIGUEROA 08.06.2015

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 201512 EDGEDAVAO

GENERAL SANTOS CITY MARKETING OFFICEEDMUND D. RENDONMarketing Specialist

Mobile: (Smart) 0909-424-7990

DAVAO CITY MAIN OFFICEJOCELYN S. PANES

Director of SalesDoor 14 ALCREJ Bldg.,

Quirino Ave., Davao CityTel: (082) 224-1413

Telefax: (082) 221-3601

MANILA MARKETING OFFICEANGELICA R. GARCIA

Marketing Manager97-1 Bayanbayanan Ave.,

Marikina Heights, Marikina City Tel: (02) 654-3509

CLASSIFIED

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015 13

ZION ACCUPRINT PUBLISHING, INC.

MACHINE OPERATOR (Printing Press)

HR SupervisorZION Accuprint Publishing, Inc.

Door 14 Alcrej Building, Quirino Ave., 8000 Davao City, Philippines

E-mail: marketing@edgedavao.netzion_publishing@yahoo.com

Telefax: (082) 2213601Website: www.edgedavao.net

Qualifications:

Send application letter & resume to:

Is in need of:

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Bamboo... FROM 7

EXTRA JUDICIAL PARTITION WITH DEED OF SALE

Notice is hereby given that the estate of the late QUINTIN DOYOHOY has been the subject of an EXTRA-JUDICIAL SETTLEMENT WITH SALE executed among his heirs per Doc. No.253; Page No.51; Book No. XI; Series of 2015, of the NOTARY PUBLIC ARNOLD L. BARCENILLA

tracts used for culturing dis-ease-causing bacteria. The white powder produced on the outer surface of young culms for the isolation of a crystalline compound is me-dicinally useful.

Bamboo can also fight hunger. The young bamboo shoots are a good source of vitamins and minerals. In Thailand,bamboo salt seasoning and bamboo salt soybean paste can be bought in public markets. In the Philippines, bamboo shoots are cooked with saluyot and shrimps sautéed with coco-nut milk.

Bamboo shoots emerge during the wet or rainy sea-son. About 7-17 days after emergence, they may be har-vested for food. The shoots are harvested using a sharp bolo or hatchet. To harvest, a sharp crowbar may be used.

But there’s more to bam-boo than its contribution to the economy. Unknowingly, it can also be used as weap-on against climate change. It has been said that a hectare of bamboo is capable of iso-lating or removing up to 12 tons of carbon dioxide every year.

“It’s a pity that we have neglected this important crop for so long,” says Roy Alimoane, the director of the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center, a non-government organization based in Kinu-skusan, Bansalan, Davao del Sur.

But it’s never too late to plant bamboo now!

Black bamboo

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 201514 COMPETITIVE EDGE

Search for next chancellor of UPMin on

SHELTER AID. Vircelina E. Suarez, [3rd from left] a DSWD program beneficia-ry of Barangay Ilang, Davao City receives on Monday her P70,000.00 shelter cheque from DSWD Director Priscilla N. Razon [3rd from right]. Some 129 families of Barangay Ilang are the latest recipients of the DSWD Modified Shelter Assistance Program in partnership with Holcim Philippines, City

Social Services and Development Office and BLGU Ilang. Also in photo are [from left] Holcim CSR and Administrative Manager Basilia M. Devilleres, Il-ang Barangay Chair Arnolfo Ricardo B. Cabling, DSWD Assistant Director for Operations Rebecca A. Santamaria, and DSWD Assistant Director for Admin-istration Ma. Vilia L. Vigil. (DSWD)

UNIVERSITY of the Phil-ippines President Al-fredo Pascual issued a

memorandum dated Septem-ber 21 instituting a search process for the next chancel-lor of UP Mindanao.

The memo states, “The term of office of the Chancel-lor of UP Mindanao will end on 28 FEBRUARY 2016.

This Memorandum is hereby issued to commence a search process for the next Chancellor of UP Mindanao pursuant to Section 18 of RA 9500 which provides that: ‘The Chancellor of the con-stituent university shall be elected by the Board upon nomination of the President of the University, following a process of consultation with the constituents of the con-stituent university based on standards and guidelines set by the Board.’”

The timetable for the search process were set down as follows: Nominations to the Search Committee, 6-16 October 2015; constitution of the Search Committee, 21-23 October; last day to submit nominations for Chancellor, 6 November 2015; submission of the report of the Search Committee to the President, 27 November; Meeting of the Board of Regents to choose the next Chancellor, 28 Janu-ary 2016.

Regarding the Search Committee, the memo states, “Crucial to the process is the creation of a Search Com-mittee whose members shall consist of men and women of unquestionable, unassail-able integrity who enjoy the respect of their constituents and maintain the highest re-gard for the interests of the University.

The Search Committee is not a Comelec whose job is to count votes. It is a fact-finding body whose job is to gather all relevant information for the President and the Board of Regents.

The Search Committee shall consist of two (2) senior faculty members (Associate Professor/Full Professor/University Professor/Emer-itus Professor); and one (1) junior faculty member (As-sistant Professor/Instructor); one (1) Reps; one (1) admin-istrative staff; one (1) student; and a representative of the UP President (from outside the constituent university).

Nominations for mem-bership in the Search Com-mittee may be made by any individual, group or groups in each constituent university (faculty, students, REPS, ad-ministrative personnel, and alumni).

Nominations to the Search Committee shall be sent through fax, e-mail, mail or messenger to the Office of the Secretary of the Universi-ty, University Hotel, Guerrero St. Cor. Aglipay, UP Campus, Diliman, Quezon City not later than 5:00 pm on October 16.

The UP President shall appoint the members of the Search Committee on or be-fore Friday, 23 October 2015.”

Regarding the nomina-tion process for the Chancel-lorship, the memo states, “a nominee must possess the following qualifications: Com-mitment to academic freedom and the values and ideals of the University; Distinction in the nominee’s chosen field of expertise coupled with a generalist view and an appre-ciation of other disciplines; a Filipino citizen with a strong nationalist commitment; a demonstrated observance of the principles of collegiality and democratic process; with unquestionable moral integri-ty; with academic leadership and administrative skills; and a willingness to serve as Chan-cellor on a full-time basis for the full term of three years.”

Also, “the nominee need not be presently connected with the University. He/She, however, must have previous ties with the university (e.g., as a graduate or former facul-ty member).”

Regarding who may nom-inate, the memo states, “any person or a group in the uni-versity is encouraged to sub-mit their nomination.”

The memo proceeds to enumerate the documents required of the nominee and details of the search process.

Finally, “The nomination papers must be submitted to the Office of the Secretary of the University, University Ho-tel, Guerrero St. Cor. Aglipay, UP Campus, Diliman, Quezon City or to the Chair of the Search Committee not later than 5:00 pm, Friday, 6 No-vember 2015.”

Copies of the full memo and nomination forms may be availed upon request from <raestremera@up.edu.ph>.

ACCORDING to startup firm Carmudi, car loans in the country will con-

tinue to grow at a double-digit rate with 25-percent increase in the first quarter of 2015.

In a recent Whitepaper event, the company report the growth of car financing in the Philippines as well as other emerging markets. The survey provides an outlook into cur-rent and future state of flour-ishing car financing and how consumer attitudes towards credit have transformed in re-cent years.

According to Carmudi, “The car demand in the Phil-ippines continues to grow as more sellers offer attractive rates coupled with very low downpayment from financial institutions.”

In 2010, car loans reach-es to P436 billion pesos with more attractive products and low interest are being offered by leading banks. However, global auto finance witnessed the decline in 2012 due to earthquake and tsunami in Ja-pan and flooding in Thailand, resulting in supply shortages

from most Japanese manufac-turers.

In 2013, local auto sales gained its full recovery when the country received its first-ever investment credit ratings along with steady GDP consumer auto financing sus-tained a 16-percent growth.

The online portal also re-vealed that in the first quarter of 2015, local auto industry set another milestone with a record-breaking of 21-percent growth. Passenger car sales dramatically increased by 30-percent due to new models

launched by manufacturers. Subir Lohani, managing di-

rector of Carmudi Philippines, said, “Car financing has always been an option that consumers in the Philippines look at when buying a car, and data shows that the demand for auto loans in the country continues to in-crease.”

Meanwhile, auto loans in Indonesia forecast to reach between 13 to 15-percent due to rising foreign direct invest-ment, flourishing consumer spending, and improved credit ratings.

CONVERGYS, the coun-try’s largest private em-ployer, is launching the

“Time to Dream” recruiting promotion as its hires 7,800 call center agent positions for its sites in Baguio, Clark, Met-ro Manila, Laguna, Bacolod, and Davao for the remainder of the year.

With “Time to Dream,” 1,000 lucky new hire Agents will win Casio G-Shock watch-es! Each Agent hired from October 1 to December 15, 2015 at the abovementioned

locations automatically earns a raffle ticket for a chance to win said prize. To learn more about this promotion and how to apply, job applicants may visit Convergys Phil-ippines’ accounts on Face-book: www.facebook.com/ConvergysPhils, Instagram, and Twitter. They may also apply directly at any Conver-gys recruitment center in the abovementioned locations.

“Convergys’ continued growth enables us to provide new jobs as well as career

growth opportunities to the talented Filipinos nation-wide. The 7,800 open agent positions, which the compa-ny will fill in Q4 include new clients as well as expansions across existing customer service, technical support and sales work, and we are pleased that these opportu-nities are spread across our many locations. As the larg-est group in our workforce, an Agent job paves the way to multiple career options in the long-term, whether it is

in operations management, recruiting, training, or our other support services. At least 80% of our leadership positions today are promot-ed from within the company, many of whom started as Agents,” shares Ivic Mueco, Senior VP and Country Man-ager for Convergys in the Phil-ippines.

In addition to “Time to Dream,” Convergys is also run-ning a “Famillion” promo par-ticularly for its 4,000 Agent hiring in Cebu, also in Q4.

Convergys’ supports hiring of 7,800 agents

Auto loans in PH faces bright future: Carmudi

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015 SPORTS 15

BEST IS YET TO COMETerrence Romeo is getting better each game

Go saves day anew for CMO, Sen. Alan joins friendly match

1st Nat’l Inter-Clergy hoops in Tagum City

TERRENCE Romeo had his best game with Gilas Pili-

pinas in the Fiba-Asia Championship as he finally got his rhythm going in the team’s 99-65 shellacking of India at the end of the preliminary round on Tuesday.

The prolific shoot-ing guard exploded for 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting while add-ing three rebounds, four assists, and three steals in the win that formally clinched for the Philippines the top spot in Group E going into the quarterfinal phase of this Olympic qualifying tournament.

But even in the aftermath of his best performance yet in the biennial meet, Romeo said he’s far from being satisfied and is looking forward to even getting better beginning in the knock-out stage on Thursday.

“Kailangan hindi ako makuntento dito. Para sa akin, hindi pa rin ito ‘yung totoong game ko,” said the 22-year-old Gilas stal-wart out of Far Eastern University, who caught the fancy of Asian bas-ketball fans following his scintillating perfor-mance in last month’s Jones Cup in Taipei.

Romeo admitted

EXPLOSIVE. Terrence Romeo exploded with 20 in the game against India.

THE 1st National In-ter-Clergy Basket-ball Tournament

sponsored by the Catholic Bishop Conference of Phil-ippines-Caritas Manila is slated to be held in Tagum City on October 19-23.

The tournament will be composed of a field of 16 teams from Luzon, Vi-sayas and Mindanao.

The week-long hoop-fest for dribbling priests in the country dangles a top prize of P1 million

which will be given in the form of Church project, according to Fr. Emerson “Fr. Em-em” Luego, Caritas Manila project director for Visayas and Mindanao.

During the five-day tournament, Caritas Ma-nila- Tagum social action office will also launch medical mission and tree-planting activities with the participating priests, religious leaders and laymen. (Cha Mon-forte)

CALL it a hard habit to break but since it has effectively produced

the wins, City Mayors Of-fice do not hesitate to turn to its ace gunner Christo-pher “Bong” Go when the game is on the line.

Almost every time, the clutch sweet-shoot-ing aide of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte never failed his team with epic perfor-mance time and again.

For yet another time, Go bailed out his team with his game tying three

pointer in the closing seconds to hold the Bank of the Philippine Islands to a 94 – 94 standoff in their friendly game with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday night at the Davao City Recreation Center.

Amid pressure-packed situation, Go calmly hit a catch and shoot right corner triple, knotting the game at 94-all, with 13.5 seconds remaining.

BPI had the chance to win the thrilling game but

the Art Lopez heave went overhead the board as the time expired.

Go did the remark-able shot by curling at the high-post screen, took a pass and launched a high-arching and well-de-fended trey that swished off the net.

He shot 10 triples to finish the game with 50 points, including fifteen in the pivotal final period. It was his third 50-plus out-put of the month.

Sen. Cayetano, who

announced his vice pres-idential bid before the game at local hotel, shared the spotlight with his 17 points performance for the CMO.

J. Perez top scored with 20 points for the bankers who fought hard against the City Hall exec-utives all game long.

CMO dictated the tem-po of the match early es-tablishing a near double digit lead behind the first period outburst of Go and Cayetano.

BPI surged in the sec-ond period behind its fast plays anchored by Erick-son Baranda, Carl Tech and Stun Apurada to keep the game close.

Michael Peloton hit a bank shot at the buzzer to give the City Hall drib-blers a lead at the end of the first half.

Joel Aberilla and War-ren Cloribel put up signif-icant contribution in the second half for the CMO.

Go also took the spot-light few weeks back with

his implausible trey that sent the CMO-Anflocor friendly match to a 103-103 draw.

He scored 52 points on that game capped with a three pointer that save the CMO in the brink of defeat.

The sweet-shooting executive did it by tak-ing a pass at the top of the circle, dribbled his way to the right wing and launched a quick shot that swished off the net. (Rico Biliran)

FRIENDLY MATCH. Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano with his teammates from CMO squad led by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s executive assistant Bong Go. Armando Fenequito

having to adjust playing in the Fiba Asia that it took him a while before finally coming through with a breakout game.

That is not lost to coach Tab Baldwin.

“Terrence kinda had a silent tournament in the first round. But he certainly came to life against Iran, and today

again he helped us out in the first half,” said the Gilas coach, noting how Romeo had 11 points in the first half to keep Gilas afloat at the break, 42-36, following a slow start.

Romeo later joined forces with Calvin Abue-va, Marc Pingris, Andray Blatche, and Gabe Nor-wood as they sparked Gi-

las’ second half breakaway on the way to registering the team’s fifth straight win after losing its open-ing game against Pales-tine.

His confidence some-how boosted, Romeo said he still has a lot to show.

“Alam ko may maipa-pakita pa ako,” said the

Globalport star.

Still, he was quick to acknowledge the big help he got from his team to finally showcase his true game.

“Team effort pa rin ito. Hindi naman ako makakapaglaro ng gani-to kung hindi dahil sa mga teammates ko,” he said.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 131 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 201516 EDGEDAVAOSports

GILAS Pilipinas, rid-ing high on the perks of its huge

win over Iran and its con-quest of India, is headed to a rather safer route in the Fiba Asia Champion-ship in Changsha, China.

It’s a ‘safer route’ be-cause there won’t be Iran, China and Korea in the horizon. Thanks to that victory over Iran followed by the dominating win over India which vault-ed the Philippines to the top of Group E at the end of the preliminary round Tuesday night.

With that, Gilas avoid-

ed a possible semifinal collision with host Chi-na, which emerged No. 1 in Group F going into the knockout stage of the qualifier to the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics.

Still, it won’t be easy.Gilas will play Leba-

non (No. 4 in Group F) today, while Iran faces Group F No. 3 team South Korea in an interesting crossover quarterfinal match up. The Gilas-Leb-anon game will be played at 9:30 p.m. at the Chang-hsha Social Work College gymnasium.

Gilas relegated the de-

fending champions to No. 2 in its group, owing to its stunning 87-73 win on Monday despite the two countries finishing tied with similar 4-1 records.

The seedings gave the Gilas a favorable po-sition which eradicated collisions with defending champion Iran, host Chi-na or nemesis Korea until the finals.

If Gilas wins over Leb-abon, they will face ei-ther Qatar or Japan in the semifinals in its quest for a first Asian champion-ship since 1986.

Lebanon clinched

the last berth to the next round after edging out Jordan in a do-or-die match, 80-76. The Leba-nese and Jordanians had identical 2-3 marks, but the former made it via the winner-over-the other rule.

The win clinched Lebanon (2-3) the No.4 spot in Group F.

Lebanon is play-ing in the tour-nament with-out national team star Fadi El-Khatib who begged off from join-

SAFER BUT NOT EASYGilas takes a safer route to Finals without the Big 3 as roadblocks

JAYSON CASTRO

By NEILWIN JOSEPH BRAVO

FSAFER, 10