P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 2016

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO

22-percent increase observedBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.

abf@edgedavao.net

RABIES CASES ON THE RISE

njb@edgedavao.net

By NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO

THE Royal Mandaya Hotel was recently named Top Choice Classy Hotel in the annual Philippine Top Choice Awards

for Excellence held at the Solaire Resort and Casino last April 23.

“It is the hotel’s foundation that made its guests recommend and vote us for this award,” said The Royal Mandaya Hotel gen-eral manager Benjamen Banzon. “We thank the organizers for this award.”

Banzon received the award along with MIS manager Megzyl Rose Jolejole and sales manager Elvie Buquiron.

“We accept this award with humility as it inspires us to work even harder to give

THE number of ra-bies infection cases in Davao City has

increased from last year according to records re-leased by the City Health Office (CHO).

This was bared by CHO Anti-Rabies Section head physician Dr. Annali-za Malubay in yesterday’s I-Speak Media Forum.

Malubay said her of-fice recorded a total of 1,906 cases of rabies in the first quarter of 2016 which is 353 cases or 22 percent higher than the

1,553 cases recorded in the same period last year.

“The rise in number of cases could be a positive indication that more peo-ple bitten by dogs or cats are already aware that this should seek immediate medical attention to pre-vent any person from dy-ing due to rabies,” she said.

She said most the ra-bies cases in 2016 came from dog bites 1,275 cases while cat bites numbered 631.

Malubay said that this quarter’s record is still

lower than the 2014 data which was a total of 2,031 cases.

She said that for this year her office recorded one rabies victim bitten by stray dog died somewhere in Marilog district.

Malubay said that the city has recorded a total of four deaths in 2015, lower compared to six deaths in 2014.

She said, however, despite the decrease in number of deaths, it is still alarming because all people who are infected

with rabies will eventual-ly die, if they do not go to an Animal Bite Center im-mediately for anti-rabies medication.

Malubay said there was a school teacher who died last year after he was bitten by cat that he tried to save.

She said the teacher was advised to get an an-ti-rabies injection but he just told the health worker that he was busy with the exams of his students.

“After six months, the

The Royal Mandaya Hotel cited Top Choice Classy Hotel

F THE ROYAL, 14F RABIES, 10

STEEL BARRIERS. A worker sets his sight on the newly-installed steel barrier he is painting at the center island along R. Castillo Street in Davao City. The city government installs steel barriers at the center islands of the city’s main thoroughfares to secure the safety of pedestrians and motorists alike. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 20162 EDGEDAVAO

NEWS

CLOSE to 200,000 regis-tered voters or almost 14 percent have participated

in the Overseas Absentee Vot-ing (OAV) since the polls start-ed two weeks ago.

According to the Commis-sion on Elections-Office for Overseas Voting (Comelec-OFOV), a total of 191,427 Filipi-nos abroad representing 13.9 percent have cast their votes in the OAV. There are a total of 1,376,067 registered overseas voters.

“This surpasses the 13.4 percent turnout in 2010, and the 7.12 percent turnout in 2013 for the first 18 days of voting,” said Comelec–OFOV head Commissioner Arthur

Lim.With this, the poll body

is optimistic that the number will double and reach about 400,000 by the end of voting period on May 9.

On the other hand, Lim re-ported that majority of the re-ported incidents to the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) in posts abroad are taking “self-ies” by voters.

The reports were recorded from Dubai, Hong Kong, Vien-tiane, Madrid, and Singapore.

“In the interest of transpar-ency, majority of the reported incidents are voters taking self-ies with their ballots,” said Lim.

He reminded that taking

A HEADLESS body, be-lieved to be those of Ca-nadian John Ridsdel, was

recovered in Talipao, Sulu early Wednesday morning.

The remains were found at the vicinity of Bud Samin, Ba-rangay Gata, of the above-men-tioned locality, said Western Mindanao Command spokes-man Major Filemon Tan.

The body was recovered by joint elements of the Talipao Police and Special Action Force (SAF) with the help of Tali-pao Barangay Police Auxiliary Team.

Another report said that at 10 a.m. Wednesday, one Abejari Sahemari, a municipal council-or, reported to the Talipao po-

lice the discovery of a body of a Caucasian-looking man at Sitio Tibangaw in Barangay Gata.

Immediately, a police scene of the crime (SOCO) team ac-companied by explosive ordi-nance disposal (EOD) person-nel and two mobile teams were sent to the area.

The policemen reached the area, which is approximately 10 kilometers away from the Talipao Municipal Police Sta-tion, around 12 noon.

The body was found sprawled at a dried creek in the mountainous area of Sitio Tibangaw.

“The cadaver was dumped in the creek by... the ASG,” the

FINAL VOTERS’ LIST. An employee of Commission on Elections (Comelec) 11 compiles the final list of registered voters for the May 9 general election at the Comelec office inside Magsaysay Park in Davao City yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

Close to 200,000 voters in overseas absentee voting

Body of John Ridsdelrecovered in Sulu?

Group pushes for kids’welfare to next leaderBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.

abf@edgedavao.net

A YOUTH group in Davao City urged presidential aspirants to include chil-

dren’s welfare in their govern-ment programs once elected.

Nagkahi-usang Kabataan Aron Katungod Matagamta-man (NAKAMATA) convener Maribeth Cabbas said in yes-terday’s I-Speak Media Forum, the group wants the next pres-ident to focus also on the need of their sector.

“The government should not only focus on giving edu-cation but also the implemen-tation of children’s rights,” she said.

Cabbas said the incoming

administration should pro-mote the four basic rights of children such as survival, pro-tection, participation and de-velopment.

She said all children need to survive by providing them the basic necessities of food, shelter, clothing and education.

For her part, NAKAMATA co-convener Princess Bai Gui-ana said their group has the Bata Muna (Children First) campaign urging not just the politicians but also the voters to chose their candidate who has a program for children’s welfare.

Guiana said the next gov-

ernment should ensure the safety of children wherever they go as part of their rights.

She said the government should involve children in such vital issues as peace process and their rights and participa-tion in nation-building.

“The government should ensure our rights even if a child gets pregnant or violated any law,” she said.

Guiana said the authorities should build schools up to the remotest areas of the country so that all children will have access to free education.

Non-government orga-nization (NGO) Tambayan

Center youth leader Charlene Nadong said, their group came up with this call because they noticed that the previous and present administrations did not really address the prob-lems of the children.

“Kung makita nato karon, daghan gihapon ang mga ka-bataan na naga-latagaw sa kadalanan (At present, there are still many children who are loitering aimlessly in commu-nities),” she said.

For instance, Nadong said she has observed that there is an increasing number of chil-dren who are involved in pros-

AN estimated 14 Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandits were believed

to have been killed in the lat-est military offensive against the brigands in the hinter-lands of Patikul and Jolo towns, Sulu, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) public affairs office chief Col. Noel Detoyato said on Thursday.

Most of these ASG mem-bers were killed by howitzer and aerial bombardment which started last April 23 and still ongoing as of this posting, he added.

The AFP stepped up its attacks on the ASG after the bandits beheaded Canadian hostage John Ridsdel in Sulu last April 25 after the lat-ter’s family and government refused to give in to their Php300-million ransom de-mand.

“The Western Mindanao Command received reports from civilians in the area that there is an estimated 14 ASGs who were killed as a result of the bombardments,” Detoya-to said.

Operations are still on-

going and the AFP is mak-ing headway as government troops are now occupying grounds formerly held by the bandits and recovered the al-leged headless body of Rids-del on Wednesday.

No casualties were in-curred by government forces in the ongoing operations, the AFP public affairs chief said.

At the same time, Detoya-to said they are still to receive reports that the ASG is plan-ning to conduct retaliatory attacks in Metro Manila.

“We are still to receive reports about that,” he added.

The AFP public affairs office chief said advancing forces are still to sight any of the three hostages who were kidnapped together with Ridsdel last year.

The former, along with fellow Canadian Robert Hall, Marites Flor, Hall’s girlfriend, and Norwegian Kjartan Sek-kingstad were kidnapped by the ASG last Sept. 21 from Ocean View Resort in the Is-land Garden City of Samal, Davao del Norte. (PNA)

14 ASG bandits killed in ongoing military offensiveF GROUP, 10

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VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 2016 3EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 20164 NEWS EDGEDAVAO

FOREIGN Affairs Assistant Secretary Charles Jose en-couraged all Filipinos, in-

cluding Negrenses, to be aware of the national government’s policies and actions on the country’s maritime claims on the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

“The issue should concern all Filipinos. Those in Negros, just the same. The people of Negros should be concerned. The issue affects our sover-eignty and territorial resourc-es,” said Jose in a press confer-ence here Wednesday.

Jose, who is also the spokesperson of the Depart-ment of Foreign Affairs (DFA), said they are conducting a na-tionwide campaign to raise the level of awareness of the Filipi-nos on the country’s rights and measures to gain possession of the much-disputed territory, which China also claims as its own.

The Philippine territory in-cludes the maritime zones de-fined by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Jose also reiterated the government’s “dual track” po-sition, which includes diplo-matic and legal tracks that con-stitutes the Philippines’ rules-based approach to the issue.

As part of the awareness campaign, Jose will speak be-fore a multi-sectoral forum Thursday at the Sugarland Hotel here to discuss the core issues of the WPS dispute, Chi-na’s activities in the area, and principles underpinning the Philippines’ position on the issue.

It will be attended by rep-resentatives from national government agencies, local government units, business, academe, students, religious, media, farmers, and fisherfolk.(PNA)

A NUISANCE candidate on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court (SC)

to order the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to con-duct a credible election, if not, postpone the May 9 national elections.

The petition was filed by Justino Arandia Padiernos, the founder of the People’s Free-dom Party.

In his petition for man-damus, filed through his le-gal counsel Atty. Manuelito Luna, he also asked the SC to allow the House of Represen-tatives to elect a president or vice president from the pres-identiables and the declared “nuisance candidates” if there would be no proclamation due

to the rigging of the elections.The petitioner believes

that the conduct of a peaceful and credible election will be compromised following the hacking of the website of the Comelec which resulted to data leak that disclosed the person-al information of millions of voters.

Padiernos argued that the situation of the election now is unbelievable since many of the qualified candidates for presi-dent were declared as nuisance candidates.

He further argued that if the elections will be rigged, the Congress cannot proclaim a president and vice president which may put the country into a crisis. (PNA)WALKING SKILLS. Two boys practice their handstand and hand walking skills at the vacant lot inside Sta. Ana wharf in Davao City yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

Nuisance candidate asks SC to reset May 9 polls

DFA official: All Filipinos should beconcerned with West PH Sea issue

YOUTH AGENDA. Non-government group Tambayan Center youth leader Charlene Nadong along with Nagkahi-usang Kabataan Aron karungod Matagamtaman (NAKAMATA) conveners Maribeth Cabbas and Princess Bai

Guiana urge the next president to inlcude the implementation of the four basic rights of children such as survival, protection, participation and development in their government platform once elected. Armando B. Fenequito Jr.

OMBUDSMAN Conchita Carpio Morales has up-held the indictment of

former Davao del Norte (1st District) Rep. Arrel Olaño for malversation of public funds, violation of Section 3(e) of Re-public Act No. 3019, or the “An-ti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act”, and direct bribery for the misappropriation of his 2007 Priority Development Assis-

tance Fund (PDAF) totaling PHP7.97 million.

In a 27-page order re-leased on Thursday, Morales ordered the filing of charges against Olaño before the San-diganbayan for 3 counts of malversation, 3 counts of graft and direct bribery.

Likewise indicted are Technology Resource Center (TRC) officials Antonio Ortiz,

Dennis Cunanan, Maria Rosa-linda Lacsamana, Francisco Figura, Marivic Jover, Maurine Dimaranan and Consuelo Es-piritu, Department of Bud-get and Management (DBM) officials Mario Relampagos, Rosario Nuñez, Lalaine Paule and Marilou Bare, Philippine Social Development Founda-tion, Inc. (PSDFI) President Evelyn de Leon, Countrywide

Agri and Rural Economic De-velopment Foundation, Inc. (CARED) President Mylene Encarnacion, together with Janet Lim Napoles and Eulogio Rodriguez.

In upholding the charges, Morales said that there is no merit in the motions for re-consideration (MRs) as the grounds raised do not warrant PRESIDENT Benigno S.

Aquino III here Wednes-day visited a pre-Labor

Day Job and Career Fair, which offered Cebuanos nearly 18,000 jobs.

The President arrived at the Mandaue Sports Complex and Cultural Center at about 4:30 p.m. and was joined by several national and local offi-cials.

In an interview with re-porters, Labor Secretary Rosa-linda Baldoz said 14,000 over-seas jobs and more than 3,000 local jobs were being offered at the fair.

Secretary Baldoz also said that on Labor Day on Sunday (May 1), job and career fairs will be held in five venues in Region 7, and in 43 other ven-ues in the country.

She noted that labor unions will not join the tradi-tional Labor Day events this year, having begged off so they could hold their respective ral-lies for the presidential candi-dates they support.

However, labor unions will participate in a pre-Labor Day event on occupational safety and health on Saturday (April 30), she said, adding that the result of this event will become the final output for a manifesto on the labor unions’ proposed agenda that will be presented to the next administration.

Baldoz further said that under President Aquino’s lead-ership, her department was able to increase protection for the vulnerable labor sector, give labor groups wider rep-resentation, increase the num-ber of workers receiving better wages and benefits, resolve la-bor cases quickly, improve job placement, and provide work-ers with higher wages and oth-er benefits.

The job fair here was or-ganized in coordination with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), labor groups, employers, and vari-ous government agencies.

The participating indus-

Raps filed vs. ex-Davao Norte solon for PDAF misuse

President Aquino visitsjob fair in Mandaue City

PRESIDENTIAL candidate Rodrigo Duterte said he is open to ‘toning down’

the Constitution to accommo-date foreigners interested to own and establish businesses in the Philippines.

“I will open the economy to foreigners,” said Duterte Wednesday after his appear-ance at the presidential dia-logues hosted by the Makati Business Club and the Man-

agement Association of the Philippines.

In February, Duterte said he is ‘comfortable’ with up to 70 percent foreign owner-ship. The Constitution only allows foreigners up to 40 per-cent ownership.

But Duterte said he will let Congress decide on which industries will be opened for foreigners.

“I will tone down the Con-

stitution for foreigners,” Dute-rte said. “But I will leave it to Congress to decide.”

Duterte, however, clarified that he is opposed to foreign-ers owning lands in the Philip-pines.

Earlier, Duterte said he doesn’t have problems with leasing our lands to foreign-ers. He reiterated this position Wednesday, saying lands can be leased out up to 60 years.

Duterte, who is running under an anti-corruption and anti-criminality agenda, said he will consult his financial and foreign relations manag-ers on this.

The Mindanawon pres-idential candidate, who also traces his roots in the Visayas, advocates federalism to re-place the unitary-presidential form of government of the Philippines.

Rody: No to ownershipof lands by foreigners

F RAPS, 10

F PRESIDENT, 10

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 2016 5EDGEDAVAO

ECONOMY

SWIMSUITS FOR SALE. A lady walks by a stall selling a wide array of knock off but cheap swimsuits and other ready-to-wear merchandise along Rizal Street in Davao City. Business owners selling swimwear are enjoying brick sales during this time of the year. Lean Daval Jr.

3 cacao roadmaps to be integrated into 1crc@edgedavao.net

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

THE Department of Ag-riculture (DA) will take the lead in the harmoni-

zation of three roadmaps into one for the development of the cacao industry in the country.

Edwin Banquerigo, nation-al cacao industry cluster coor-dinator of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), said the integrated roadmap will be presented during the National Interagency Convergence in Cebu slated on May 25.

“The existing roadmaps for the cacao were crafted by the DA, Board of Investments, and private stakeholders of the industry,” Banquerigo, who is also the assistant regional di-rector for DTI 11, told report-ers recently.

Banquerigo said the road-map will focus on the expan-sion of areas planted to cacao and improvement of farm pro-ductivity.

He said the integrated roadmap will allow the syn-chronization of programs for cacao industry implemented by different national govern-ment agencies.

Currently, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) and the DA have its own respective programs for cacao seedling dispersal.

The national government has been encouraging farmers to plant cacao in the last five years as the potential of cacao a in the global market arena for cacao grow stronger.

Increasing the nation’s ca-cao production will allow the Philippines to have a sizeable portion in the multi-billion dollar global industry of cacao which will face supply shortage by 2018, as projected by those

F 3 CACAO, 10

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 2016

“PANAHON na para sa matapang na solusy-on upang tapusin ang

ilang dekadang paghihirap ng mga Pilipinong magniniyog.”

Vice presidential bet and Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said this as he assured coconut farmers in Quezon province that if elect-ed, he and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte will exercise political will in ensuring that the coco levy funds will finally reach its intended beneficia-ries.

The senator made this assurance during his recent “Ronda-Serye” listening tour with coconut farmers in Lu-cena City on Thursday (April 28). During the dialogue,

the farmers voiced out their long-standing plight regarding the delayed distribution of the multibillion-peso fund.

Cayetano, for his part, stressed that the government’s continuous inaction in giving back the money to the farm-ers has become “criminal.” He further lamented how previ-ous administrations failed to recover the shares that went to Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr.’s San Miguel Corporation (SMC).

“If many candidates are afraid of Danding Cojuangco, Mayor Duterte and I are not. And while they keep on mak-ing promises they can’t keep, Mayor Duterte and I will just

6 EDGEDAVAOTHE ECONOMY

UNLOADING TUNA. Medium-size tunas from General Santos City are being unloaded by dealers from a fish car onto the Bankerohan Public Market in Davao City yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

A REPORT by banking gi-ant HSBC discounts big risks on the Philippine’s

economic outlook vis-à-vis the upcoming national polls on May 9, citing that investors’ prefer continuity of current policy, which they see on most of the candidates.

Entitled “Philippine elec-tions 2016: Beyond the cam-paign noise”, the report said that “the candidates’ platforms suggest a low risk of significant policy reversal.”

It said markets’ reaction on campaign news was subdued “given the strong similarities between candidates’ platforms, particularly concerning eco-nomic issues.”

“Of course, what ultimate-

ly matters is not the campaign platforms but their imple-mentation and the quality of governance, which President (Benigno) Aquino (III) has painstakingly improved during his tenure, earning him plaudits from investors and credit rating agencies alike,” it said.

The report stressed that what matters was how the new government sustain infrastruc-ture spending, which would support the economy over the next decade.

“But over a much longer time horizon, the development and maturity of the nation’s institutions are equally import-ant, and this is what investors should focus on for the long

Poll risks remain small vis-à-visPHL economic outlook: HSBC

LOCAL pharmaceutical company United Labo-ratories (Unilab) brings

four global medical experts for the 2016 Experts’ Conver-gence for Health Outcomes (ECHO) Summit here on Thursday.

The ECHO Summit, which Unilab started in 2015, is a continuing medical education conference to maintain the competence of local medical practitioners and learn about new developments in the field of medicine.

Unilab’s LRI-Therapharma Division Medical Director Ma. Rosario C. Sevilla, MD said the summit would discuss topics such as women’s health, de-pression and anxiety, heart disease, and diabetes.

“Four seemingly diverse topics will be brought togeth-er to be appreciated by the ex-pected audience of internists, family, general, and industrial medicine practitioners. The integration of that knowledge can then be utilized in the proper medical management of their patients,” said Sevilla.

Among the world’s

top-level practitioners in the field of medicine who will grace the 2nd ECHO Sum-mit include Dr. Bertram Pitt, known worldwide as an ex-pert on heart failure; Dr. Wil-fred Fujimoto, who led the team that conducted The Jap-anese American Community diabetes Study in Washington, USA from 1983 to 2001;

Dr. Nassir Ghaemi, a pro-fessor at the Department of Psychiatry in Tufts University School of Medicine, will dis-cuss treatment of depressive or anxiety symptoms in per-sons at risk of cardiovascular disease; and Dr. Amos Pines, the co-founder of the Israel Menopausal Society and an Associate Professor of Sackler Faculty of Medicine in Tel-Aviv University.

Sevilla said about a thou-sand medical practitioners would attend the ECHO Sum-mit this year.

The 2015 ECHO Summit is supported by Unilab’s Spe-cialty Cluster Therapharma Inc., LR Imperial Inc., Medi-chem Pharmaceuticals, and Biofemme. (PNA)

Unilab brings global med experts for ECHO Summit

MORE than 33,000 local and overseas jobs will be up for grabs in the

2016 Labor Day job fair in four malls in the Davao region.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) 11 records showed that job vacan-cies for both local and overseas employers have now reached a total of 33, 927 as of Thursday, April 28, 2016.

Of the figure, 7,963 are lo-cal job vacancies while 25,964 are overseas vacancies.

The Job Fair in line with the 114th Labor Day Celebration of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) bearing the theme “Kinabukasan Sig-urado sa Disenteng Trabaho,” has a total of 123 participating employers consisting of 93 lo-cal and 28 overseas.

The top 10 occupations with most number of vacancies for local employment include:

call center agents, production workers, sales personnel, office staff/ admin clerks, accoun-tants, cashiers, customer ser-vice representatives, machine operator, waiters/waitresses, and technicians (electronic, computer, auto, production, ECG, HVAC).

Top ten occupation va-cancies for overseas employ-ment include: hotel restaurant service workers, household service workers, laborers, technicians (electronic, hull, telecom, auto, and physiother-apy), cleaners, delivery man, sales personnel, and machine operator.

The job fair will be held in four malls in Davao Region namely SM City Davao, GMall Davao, GMall Tagum and GMall Digos. Job fair for GMall Davao will run until May 2.

Pre-registration started last Tuesday, April 26 and con-

tinue on Saturday, April 30 for SM City Davao, GMall Davao and GMall Tagum. Interested participants in Davao del Sur may pre-register in the nearest municipal Public Employment Services Office (PESO).

Mini job fairs are also being simultaneously held in SM City Davao and GMall Davao.

As of Wednesday, April 27, a total of 227 applicants have pre-registered and 34 have been hired on the spot (HOTS) for the mini job fairs.

Pre-registered applicants will be prioritized and will fall in line on a different lane during the actual job fair.

Requirements for both the pre-registration and the actual Labor Day job fair are bio-data, resume, and supporting docu-ments such as school creden-tials, training certificates and employment records.

DOLE 11 regional Director

Joffrey M. Suyao encouraged all interested job seekers especial-ly the fresh graduates.

“Grab the opportunity this coming Labor Day because this is the chance that you can ac-quire the skills and beef-up our resume for a better opportuni-ty in the future,” Suyao said in a press statement furnished to Edge Davao last Thursday.

A One-Stop Shop will also be available on May 1 in all malls wherein Government Agencies such as Social Secu-rity System (SSS), PAG-IBIG, Philhealth, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), National Bu-reau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Depratment of Educa-tion (DepEd) and DOLE 11’s Regional Coordinating Com-mittee members will be pres-ent to offer services not only for the applicants but will also accommodate walk-in clients.

33,000 vacancies involved in 4 Davao job fairs: DOLE

crc@edgedavao.netBy CHENEEN R. CAPON

SOCIOECONOMIC Planning Secretary and National Economic and Develop-

ment Authority Director Gen-eral Emmanuel F. Esguerra expressed optimism that the Philippines will remain one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, with its GDP growth targeted to reach 6.2 percent in 2017.

Dr. Esguerra issued the statement when was keynote speaker during the second Mindanao Shipping Confer-ence at the Waterfront Insu-lar Hotel in Davao City last Wednesday.

He said that this vibrant view on the Philippine econ-omy is also shared by the pri-vate sector which forecasts real GDP growth to reach 5.8 to 6.3 percent by 2017.

“The growth-enhanced

fiscal space has allowed major investments in infrastructure, with spending on public infra-structure more than tripling. The bulk of investments are slated for transportation, cov-ering 43 percent of total infra-structure investments from 2013-2016 and beyond which is estimated to reach more than 7 trillion pesos. This shall be complemented by private investments in public infra-structure amounting to about 1.5 trillion pesos based on the status of PPP projects as of April 2016”, he said. The Secre-tary likewise shared the imple-mentation of the Three-year Infrastructure Rolling Program (TRIP) by July 2016, which tightens the link between in-vestment programming and budgeting, ensuring the fund-ing of ongoing programs and

projects during the life of the project’s implementation.

He also mentioned some issues on Mindanao sea trans-port sector which included the limited capacity of Mindanao seaports (berthing structure, transit/cargo shed area for no-containerized cargo, con-tainer yard for containerized cargo, and passenger terminal building) and the need to re-duce domestic cargo rates giv-en the more expensive rates in Mindanao compared to foreign cargo rates. Further, with Min-danao playing a critical role in the ASEAN Economic Commu-nity, the following sea linkages need to be established or im-proved: Zamboanga-Sandakan (Malaysia), Davao/General Santos-Bitung, Manado (In-donesia), Zamboanga-Muara (Brunei), and Tawi-Tawi-Tara-

kan (Indonesia).The event, which was

organized by PortCalls, the Philippines’ only shipping and transport guide, and the Phil-ippine International Seafreight Forwarders Association, Inc. (PISFA), convened cargo and forwarding transport industry representatives and stake-holders from the Mindanao area. Other resource persons include representatives from the Mindanao Development Authority, Bureau of Customs, Davao International Contain-er Terminal, Maersk-Filipinas, Inc., PISFA, and the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and In-dustry, Inc.

The Socioeconomic Plan-ning secretary was keynote speaker of the First Visayas Shipping Conference in Cebu City yesterday, April 28.

NEDA chief sees 6.2 % growth rate in 2017

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DuCay to act on coco levy fund

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 2016 7EDGEDAVAO

AGRITRENDSDon’t burn rice strawText and Photos by HENRYLITO D. TACIO

NOT too many Filipino farmers are aware that burning rice straw, lo-

cally known as “dayami,” can contribute to the warming of the world.

“Rice production also con-tributes to global warming as it emits methane,” said Dr. Constancio Asis, Jr. supervising science research specialist at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

After carbon dioxide, methane is the second most important greenhouse gas, which is responsible for trap-ping the heat from the sun at it radiates back into space. Methane is created naturally as a waste product of anaero-bic bacteria (living with little or no oxygen). These bacteria produce methane gas in wa-terlogged soil and wetland, but also in human-produced envi-ronment such as rice paddies.

Scientists explain that long-term flooding of the fields cuts the soil off from atmo-spheric oxygen and causes an-aerobic fermentation of organ-ic matter in the soil. During the wet season, rice cannot hold the carbon in anaerobic condi-tions. The microbes in the soil

convert the carbon into meth-ane which is then released through the respiration of the rice plant or through diffusion of water.

It wasn’t until in 2001, when the United Nation’s In-tergovernmental Panel on Cli-mate Change (IPCC) submitted its report that methane was given much attention. “One of the most potent greenhouse gases on Earth,” the report said.

“Methane absorbs heat 21 times more than carbon di-oxide and it has 9-15 year life time in the atmosphere over a 100-year period,” says Dr. Asis, Jr., a recipient of the 2011 Nor-man E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Tech-nology Fellowship Award.

The Journal Science report-ed that atmospheric concen-tration of methane has more than doubled during the last 300 years and is increasing at an annual rate of about 1% each year.

Although atmospher-ic methane levels declined during 1983-99, they re-mained relatively constant during 1999-2006, according to a new report released by the Washington, D.C.-based World-

watch Institute. “And they have been increasing since 2007,” it said.

Growing rice is one of the main culprits in why the world has become inhospitable to living, according to a paper re-leased during the Economics on Climate Change in South-east Asia in Siem Reap, Cambo-

dia two years ago.The Philippines, being of

the world’s top producers of rice, is a biggest contributor. “From 2006 to 2010, the Phil-ippines harvested around 16 million tons of rice each year on average,” said the policy brief paper published by the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA). “Most of the coun-try’s production (57%) came from the wet season harvest.”

“Rice is a plant that grows best in wet soil, with its roots flooded,” explains L. Hartwell Allen, an American soil scien-tist at the Crops Genetics and Environmental Research Unit in Gainesville, Florida. “But flooded rice crops emit sub-stantial amounts of methane to the atmosphere.”

In fact, rice fields are one of the major contributors of methane in the atmosphere. “An estimated 19 percent of world’s methane production comes from rice paddies,” ad-mits Dr. Alan Teramura, a bot-any professor at the University of Maryland. “As populations increase in rice-growing areas, more rice – and more methane – are produced.”

Oftentimes, Filipino farm-ers burn rice straw to discard them from the rice fields. Do-ing so, as stated earlier, is not good for the environment, ac-cording to the PhilRice experts.

“Burning of rice straws, generally practiced during the harvest season, causes air pol-lutants such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen ox-ide, and sulphur dioxide,” the government rice agency says. “If continually done, it will de-crease soil’s nitrogen, 25% of phosphorus, 20% of potassi-um, and 5-60% of sulfur. The practice also damages food re-sources of beneficial insects in the rice field.”

In addition, burning rice straw is unhealthy. “Rice straw burning is also known to emit particulate matters and oth-er chemicals such as dioxins and furans that have negative impact on human health,” the paper said.

The Philippines produces 15.2 million tons of rice that leave 11.3 million tons of rice straw every year.

To minimize postharvest waste, PhilRice urges farmers to use rice straws as organic fertilizer and primary materi-al for mushroom production. Rice straw and other biomass from farm by-products can help farmers save expenses from chemical fertilizer inputs.

Recycling farm wastes can also keep their environment clean and free of pollutants. “When straws are scattered in the field during land prepa-ration, they maintain soil’s nutrients and moisture,” said Evelyn J. Javier, supervising science research specialist of PhilRice’s Agronomy, Soil, and Plant Physiology Division.

According to Javier, every 5 tons of rice straws can in-crease soil’s nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassi-um, sulfur, silicon, and carbon. They also preserve the biodi-versity of microorganisms that helps in nutrient cycling and efficient fertilizer utilization.

Rice straws can also be used as mulch to protect the roots of the plants from heat and cold and reduce the evap-oration rate, the PhilRice ex-perts say. They also prevent weeds to grow in the paddy field.

On the other hand, Rizal G. Corales of PhilRice’s Palaya-manan Plus recommended the use of rice straws as substrate for oyster mushroom (Pleuro-tus spp.) production.

“Bulk of the rice biomass

produced is still being dis-posed indiscriminately despite its many known uses. Using rice straw as mushroom sub-strate is economically profit-able for farmers and people engaged in agribusiness,” Corales said.

“The waste from mush-room production is also the main substrate for vermicom-posting, one of the best organic fertilizers produced,” Corales added.

With such negative effects, farmers in the Philippines are encouraged to stop burning rice straw and adopt more environmentally-friendly rice straw management practices.

Meanwhile, a study head-ed by Cheryll C. Launio, also of PhilRice, found out that early incorporation of both stub-ble and straw into the soil is “the most cost-effective way of disposing rice straw.” More importantly, it can help reduce GHG emissions.

The study was done in the rice growing areas of Cen-tral Luzon, Western Visayas, Cagayan Valley, and Ilocos re-gions, where around 30% of farmers burnt their rice straw. The rest of farmers adopted any of the following practic-es: scattered it in their fields, incorporated it into the soil during land preparation, or just left it in their threshing areas for incorporation in the next cropping season.

Based from the study, it was found that incorporat-ing stubble less than 30 days before crop establishment is responsible for the largest con-tribution of GHG emissions. But incorporation rice stubble more than 30 days before crop establishment and incorporat-ing composted rice straw into the field “yielded the lowest cumulative levels of methane FAGRITRENDS, 10

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 20168 EDGEDAVAO

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EDITORIALWhat is Trillanes up to?

VICE presidential tailender Sen. Antonio Trillanes, poorly wallow-ing in the cellar of the electoral race, created ripples with his ac-cusation against presidential frontrunner Mayor Rodrigo Duter-

te.Trillanes whipped a storm accusing Duterte of an undeclared wealth

amounting to P211-million deposited in a joint account with daughter Sara Duterte in 2014 in a bank in Ortigas.

Trillanes is rating very poorly in the surveys with only three percent and dead last in the latest results. And with only two weeks left in the campaign, it is more likely Trillanes will end up the doormat in the VP race.

On the other hand, Duterte has widened his lead to 12 percentage points in the latest surveys.

With Trillanes’ P211-M account spin, Duterte’s foes also have launched relentless attacks in an attempt to stop him from becoming President.

Trillanes as an accuser at this point is understandable. He desperate-ly needs a storm to awaken his sagging hopes. He will also benefit from

this spin as Duterte’s rivals will have to thank him for that.But the move is classic Trillanes, a frustrated coup plotter twice over.Trillanes presented alleged list of deposits in 2014 in a joint account

that Sara Z Duterte and Rodrigo Roa Duterte kept in the Bank of Philip-pine Islands branch on Julia Vargas.

The documents purportedly were obviously not official bank docu-ments but simply a computer listing of alleged deposits.

Likewise, Duterte and his vice presidential running mate Alan Peter Cayetano have in fact publicly signed a manifesto waiving their bank secrecy right and allowing people to ask for the details on their bank accounts. The manifesto also called on all candidates for President and Vice President to sign a bank secrecy waiver. No other candidate took the challenge.

It is now incumbent upon the accuser Trillanes to back up his allega-tions and prove the same. In Duterte’s case, he does not owe Trillanes a second of his precious time. If he does, it will only benefit his rivals who would be grinning from ear to ear watching him parry the bullets from a desperate hitman in Trillanes.

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 2016 VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO

WHILE traveling to Tokyo, I eaves-dropped in conversation between a skeptic American and a Korean min-

ister. In speaking of the Bible, the American guy said it was quite impossible these days to believe in any book whose authority was un-known.

The minister asked him if the compiler of the multiplication table was known. “No,” he replied without much ado. The Korean imme-diately articulated, “Then, of course you do not believe in it.” The skeptic’s reply: “Oh, yes, I be-lieve in it because it works well.” To which the minister retorted, “So does the Bible.”

It is commonly known that the Bible, in its hundreds of different translations, is the most widely distributed book in human history. Moreover, in all its forms, the Bible has been enormously influential, and not only among the religious communities that hold it sacred. The literature, art, and music of Western cul-ture in particular are deeply indebted to bibli-cal themes, motifs, and images.

Translations of the Bible, such as the Au-thorized Version (or King James Version, 1611) and Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible into German (first completed in 1534) not only influenced literature but also shaped the devel-opment of languages. Such effects continue to be felt in emerging nations, where translations of the Bible into the vernacular help to shape language traditions.

Statistics assure us that the Bible is still the world’s bestseller, but evidence of biblical liter-acy is not encouraging. The late Bruce Barton was too painfully near the truth when he enti-tled his book about the Bible, The Book Nobody Knows.

The term Bible is de-rived through Latin from the Greek biblia, or “books,” the diminutive form of byblos, the word for “papy-rus” or “paper,” which was ex-ported from the ancient Phoe-nician port city of Biblos. By the time of the Middle Ages the books of the Bible were considered a unified entity.

If you were to open a Bible for the first time, the thing that might immediately attract your attention is that there are two major di-visions in it: “Old Testament” and “New Testa-ment.” The wordtestament means “covenant” or “agreement.” As Henrietta C. Mears explains in her book, What the Bible is All About: “The Old Testament is the covenant God made with man about his salvation before Christ came. The New Testament is the agreement God made with man about his salvation after Christ came.”

The order as well as the number of books differs between the Jewish Bible and the Protes-tant and Roman Catholic versions of the Bible. The Bible of Judaism is in three distinct parts: the Torah, or Law, also called the books of Mo-ses; the Nebiim, or Prophets, divided into the Earlier and Latter Prophets; and the Ketubim, or Writings, including Psalms, wisdom books, and other diverse literature.

The Christian Old Testament organizes the

books according to their type of literature: the Pentateuch, corresponding to the Torah; his-torical books; poetical or wisdom books; and prophetical books. The Protestant and Roman Catholic versions of the Old Testament place the books in the same sequence, but the Protestant version includes only those books found in the Bible of Judaism.

The New Testament includes the four Gos-pels; the Acts of the Apostles, a history of early Christianity; Epistles, or letters, of Paul and oth-er writers; and an apocalypse, or Book of Rev-elation. Some books identified as letters, par-ticularly the Book of Hebrews, are theological treatises.

“The Bible has given us the most marvelous record of family life of any civilization on earth,” points out historian Edith Deen. “The Bible nev-er grows old. We grow old. Our houses grow old. Our businesses become outdated. Our wardrobes change quickly. But the Bible, a study of man’s relationships to God, never changes. That’s why the way of life of the family of Israel has survived the centuries. Faithful records of the family life of other civilizations contempo-rary with the Bible – the Babylonian, the Hittite, even the Greek – have perished, but the family record of Israel is alive and vital today.”

Dwight Moody shares: “The Bible is a store-house of whose contents no one can afford to be ignorant. It repays reading and study whether it be approached merely because of its literary value, or its ethical teachings, or its practical bearing on everyday life.”

According to Billy Graham, the Bible is old, yet it is never new. “It is the most modern book in the world today,” he declares. “It speaks to our immediate social, political, and spiritual needs

right now. It is God’s message about Himself and His redemptive love – written to each one of us.”

Graham further states: “The message of the Bible is the message of Jesus Christ who said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’ It is the story of salvation: the story of your redemption and mine through Christ: the story of life, of peace, of eternity.”

Politicians, beware! “The Bible is a very dangerous book for dictators,” Christianity To-day reminds. “Hitler knew it, and so did many other totalitarian rulers. If they are to remain in power, repressing liberties and keeping their subjects ignorant, they should use every means possible to keep the Bible out of the hands of their people.”

Many say, “The Bible is so great. I don’t know where to commence and don’t know how to go on.” This is often said quite earnestly and sincerely. And it is true that, unless we have some method, we shall assuredly lose the very best results, even though we may spend much time upon the Book.

Campbell Morgan once made the statement: “The Bible can be read from Genesis 1 to Revela-tion 22 at pulpit rate in 78 hours.” A lawyer chal-lenged him on that. Morgan told him to go on and try it before he challenged. The lawyer went home and read the Bible in less than 80 hours.

William A. Ward reminded us: “It is not enough to read the Bible; we must let it speak to us. It is not enough to let it speak to us; we must believe it. It is not enough to believe it; we must live it.”

E. Paul Hovey contends, “Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself but be-cause it contradicts them.”

Amen.

FROM all appearances, Mar Roxas, the ad-ministration bet, is hanging on to dear life, like a rat in a capsizing pirate ship in

the Caribbean. His allies are slowly but surely abandoning the Liberal Party ship.

He very obviously picked on Rodrigo Duterte during the third and last Comelec-or-ganized presidential debate held in Dagupan City, hoping the latter would bite. Duterte, sensing the snare, used grandmaster tech-niques to escape the Roxas gambit.

Roxas dared Duterte, now the clear front-runner in the latest surveys by both the So-cial Weather Station (SWS) and Pulse Asia to withdraw from the race if the former is able to prove that Davao City residents benefitted from the Philhealth program of the govern-ment.

Duterte pooh-poohed Roxas’ claims, say-ing people do not believe him because if they do, Roxas would have been leading the sur-veys, thus irking the latter.

Roxas has stopped training his guns on VP Jojo Binay and Grace Poe because he wouldn’t gain ‘pogi’ points as much as he would if he traps Duterte into accepting his dare.

A former DILG chief, Roxas couldn’t shake

off the hand-icaps he wit-tingly bears. His staunch advocacy to carry on with the Daang Matuwid put him under the shadow of Pres. Noy-noy Aquino, who is, more than anything else, described as a laid-back, if not lazy, swivel chair executive who heads an inexperienced student council government.

But the confidence that Mar exudes de-fines the determination in his eyes. Despite this positive character trait, his elitist forbear-ance he could not hide, which alienates him from the scores of millions of the poor, suffer-ing Pinoy ‘masa’.

His language is so decently damn perfect Roxas could not find identification with the poor that is so unlike the proletarian street lingo that Duterte uses without pretension which, as you have seen on the boob tube,

the crowds relished hearing from the tough talking Davao City mayor.

The Filipino electorate have suffered bad-ly enough from the abnormal incompetence of the PNoy government that Roxas declares to duplicate if he becomes president. Below are some of the Aquino admin’s major booboos.

Pres. Noynoy appeared three hours late after a lone hostage taker killed eight visiting foreign tourists at the Luneta in Sept. 2010. Had the president promptly taken the bull by its horns, the gunman, a retired cop, would have surrendered and thus prevented the tragedy from happening.

The Mamasapano (Maguindanao) mas-sacre where 44 members of the elite PNP Special Action Force were mercilessly slain in a covert mission to capture Marwan, a noto-rious foreign terrorist. The preparations for the said mission were even kept secret from Roxas who was then sitting as DILG secretary. A loyal friend, Roxas even protected Aquino, saying it was the President’s judgment call. Really? Wasn’t Roxas clearly sidestepped by PNoy in favour of Gen. Purisima?

The much-delayed Yolanda rehabilita-tion and mismanagement. Three years after

the strongest typhoon wreaked havoc, killing thousands of people and destroying billions in properties in Leyte, Samar and other outlying provinces, the Aquino government has not completed its programmed rehabilitation, this despite the billions of assistance in cash and in kind donated by foreign sectors.

Is Mar Roxas then proud to claim these failures as part of his Daang Matuwid plat-form? Will he, like Don Quixote, attack the “windmills” and defend Pres. Noynoy up to the last drop of his blood?

Roxas is trailing Duterte by 13 big points as the campaign period comes to a grind 10 or so days from now. In NBA parlance, it is the last two minutes.

Roxas is no Kobe Bryant or Lebron James, two of the NBA’s superheroes expected to turnaround a losing game. Even if he were ei-ther of the two, Roxas can only hope against hope that the game goes into overtime.

Unfortunately in presidential elections such as this, there are no game-tying points available to produce a deadlock at the buzzer.

Mar Roxas is a goner. (Email your feed-back to fredlumba@yahoo.com.). God bless the Philippines!

Henrylito D. Taciohenrytacio@gmail.com

THINK ON THESE!

The book of books

Mar is a goner

Fred C. Lumba

SPECKS OF LIFE

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 201610 EDGEDAVAONEWSRABIES... FROM 1

Group... FROM 2

Close... FROM 2

3 cacao... FROM 5

AGRITRENDS... FROM 7

Astronauts... FROM 13

Body... FROM 2

President... FROM 4

DuCay... FROM 6

Poll... FROM 6

Raps... FROM 4

in the private sector as a result of increasing demand.

The Philippines is one of the exporters of cacao, but with only 0.2 percent share. More than 90 percent of the country’s supply is produced in Mindanao, with Davao as the

topnotcher.Last year, the region only

produced 12,000 metric tons of cacao beans from 21,000 hectares of areas planted to cacao per record by the Cacao Industry Development Associ-ation of Mindanao (CIDAMI).

rabies virus manifested in his body and later on he died,” she said.

Malubay said rabies can be prevented if victims will im-mediately seek medical help.

She said the city has five

animal bite and treatment centers which are located in Magsaysay Park, Tugbok Dis-trict Health Center, Paquibato District Hospital, Toril Health Center and Southern Philip-pines Medical Center.

titution.There are children are ex-

posed to abuse not just in the community and inside their homes.

Nadong said many chil-dren are involved in gangster-

ism because most of them are having domestic problems.

She said financial problem in the family is the most com-mon reason that pushes chil-dren to join gangs and worse, prostitution and illegal drugs.

“selfies” are prohibited and stated in the General Instruc-tions for BEIs.

“We will have it investigat-ed by our Law Department to determine whether there is probable cause, and to deter-mine whether we have juris-diction over it,” Lim added.

He noted that there were only two incidents of discrep-ancies in the actual votes and those printed in voting re-ceipts.

“There were only two inci-dents of the voter receipts not reflecting the votes out of the 191,427 ballots cast... in Seoul and Dubai,” Lim said.

There have been claims made over the social media on alleged discrepancies in the voting receipts, wherein the vote of a voter for a particular candidate was counted for an-other bet.

The Comelec had already asked those making claims of discrepancies to substantiate their claims by filing formal petitions.

In a related development, vice presidential aspirant Sen-ator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. revealed on Wednes-day that another incident was reported to them this time in California, USA which involved the tearing of a vote receipt af-ter a voter reported a discrep-

ancy on the receipt.“May isang case sa Cali-

fornia, kung saan nung sinabi nung voter sa BEIs na may reklamo siya sa resibo, ay pinagalitan tapos pinunit yung resibo tapos pinaalis daw sya sa polling center,” he said in an interview.

The lawmaker noted that they are collating information and documents from the com-plainants after which they will submit it before the Comelec for their immediate action.

“Inaalam namin, magbigay sila (ng) impormasyon kung sino sila, saan nangyari, affida-vit nila at ito ay ibibigay natin sa Comelec,” he said.

Marcos added that what worries him is that all the re-ported incidents only involves him as the votes for him are given to other candidates.

“The worrisome part is that ako lang ang nawawalan ng boto hindi pa nangyari na nawala ang boto ng ibang tao at napunta sa akin. Lahat ng report ay nawawalan ako ng boto napupunta sa ibang kan-didato kaya’t you will not be surprised na nababahala ako,” he explained.

It was Marcos who report-ed the alleged discrepancies after receiving reports from Filipinos in Dubai, Kuwait and Japan. (PNA)

RABIES INCREASE. Davao City Health Office (CHO)- Anti-Rabies Section head physician Dr. Annaliza Malubay bares the increase of rabies cases in the first quarter of 2016. Armando B. Fenequito Jr.

report said.The troops then secured

the area for possible presence of the ASG bandits, while SOCO personnel processed the scene.

“There was no indication that the victim was beheaded in the area due to the absence of blood stains in the scene,” ac-cording to the report.

After the SOCO examina-tion, the body was turned over to the Marine Battalion Land-ing Team 11 and was sched-uled to the airlifted to Zambo-anga City.

The recovery of the body came two days after the ASG beheaded Ridsdel as their ran-som demand was not met.

The ASG demanded Php300 million ransom each for Ridsdel and his fellow cap-tives Robert Hall, Hall’s Filipi-no girlfriend Marites Flor, and Norwegian Kjartan Sekkings-tad.

The victims were seized by the ASG last Sept. 21 from Ocean View Resort on the Is-land Garden City of Samal, Davao Del Norte. (PNA)

tries included IT-BPM, food and beverage, aerospace, semi-conductors, automotive, health and wellness, and tour-ism.

The job fair, which also featured career ambassadors, aimed to assist young individu-als in making career decisions. (PNA)

a reversal or modification of the assailed resolution consid-ering that “the allegations in the complaint, testimonies of complainants’ witnesses and

the 2009 COA Report suffice to lead a person of ordinary cau-tion and prudence to believe that the crimes charged were indeed committed.” (PNA)

haul,” it said.It noted, however, that re-

cently, “foreign investors have started to pay more attention to campaign developments.”

This as former frontrun-ners Senator Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay have been surpassed by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in recent surveys, even after the Supreme Court (SC) issued a final ruling last April 5 revers-ing a Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruling cancelling Poe’s certificate of candidacy due to citizenship and residen-cy issues.

The HSBC report said Dute-rte’s rise in latest surveys was “the most interesting develop-ment” recently because of his stance against corruption and crime, with the latter he vows to eradicate in the first six months in office.

Duterte’s popularity soared even with issues such as his comment on the murder and rape of an Australian mission-ary in Davao in 1989.

The report said Davao City, the country’s third largest city and which Duterte reigned for more than 22 years, experi-enced economic growth after Duterte, dubbed as the coun-

try’s “Dirty Harry” because of his crime-busting stance, ad-dressed the high crime rate, caused partly by insurgency.

“This paved the way for Davao to undergo an impres-sive economic rehabilitation – attracting significant foreign investments, particularly in the outsourcing and business pro-cessing sectors,” it said.

The report said Davao Re-gion, which Davao City belongs in, has surpassed the national gross domestic product (GPD) by a small market in recent years.

In terms of the impact on the Philippine peso, the report said the elections was not seen to have significant effect right after the polls.

”Although the PHP has been under some downward pres-sure recently, as the focus on the election intensified, some of the potential volatility that we an-ticipated has been cushioned by other factors,” it said.

On the over-all economy, the elections is seen to have “little risk” since the output continues to enjoy the backing of remittances, which in turn supports private consumption; credit growth, and trade data, among others. (PNA)

and nitrous oxide.”However, “simply shifting

from the baseline approach of late stubble incorporation and straw burning to early incor-poration of both stubble and straw also gave good results and led to reduction in GHG emissions of around 80%. This was mainly due to reduc-tions in methane emissions.”

The researchers’ conclu-sion: “Shifting from rice straw burning to rice straw incorpo-ration will not necessarily re-

duce global warming potential if straw is incorporated less than 30 days before cultiva-tion, especially in flooded con-ditions.”

In terms of monetary ben-efits, early incorporation of both stubble and rice straw into the soil more than 30 days before cultivation is more profitable. “This option gave a net benefit of P21 or around $0.50 per ton of carbon diox-ide equivalent reduction,” the paper said.

by nine Filipino engineers who were stationed in Japan to undergo an extensive course about microsatellite. The team had almost a year to finish the assembly and testing of Diwa-ta-1.

It weighs 50 kg and is about the size of a “balikbayan box.”

The development of Di-wata-1 was made possible through DOST’s flagship proj-ect called the PhilMicrosat Pro-gram, which was implement-ed by several departments in University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman and DOST’s Ad-vanced Science and Technolo-gy Institute (ASTI).

The agency has also part-nered with Tohoku and Hok-kaido universities in Japan to develop Diwata-1.

The country’s first micro-satellite is expected to be in orbit for about 20 months and will be imaging the country twice daily.

Diwata-1 has four cameras that would continuously take pictures of the Philippines. These images will be used for research and in remote sens-ing.

David had earlier cited that the pictures taken by Diwata-1 can also be used for tourism, as the agency will pick an image of the day and will share it to the public.

David told PNA that right after Diwata-1’s release in the orbit, it would take images.

However, he admitted that the imaging system might need some calibration (e.g. there’s a need to adjust the focus).

After a day in the orbit, the image taken by Diwata-1 will be shared to the media. “If we will not be able to give an im-age within the weekend, some-

thing might have gone wrong,” David said.

Meanwhile, Diwata-2 is scheduled to be built within the year, and David said the planning stage has already started.

He added that the govern-ment targets to launch the Di-wata-2 in 2018.

According to David, Diwa-ta-2 will be a little more so-phisticated than Diwata-1.

”Maybe we could put in some communication com-ponent in the Diwata-2m” he cited.

The PCIEERD executive director said the government has allocated Php 800 million for the PhilMicrosat Program. That includes the budget for developing Diwata-1 and Diwata-2, development of a receiving station, and scholar-ship for the engineers.

The same team of engi-neers will create Diwata-2. The two engineers who resigned will be replaced, and David said DOST might add two more engineers to the team.

Originally, PCIEERD planned to have a good micro-satellite data storage facility in Subic. David said the receiving station, which will be tasked to receive Diwata-1 imagery as well as from selected commer-cial satellites, will be in UP-Dili-man instead.

Construction of the receiv-ing station in UP-Diliman will be finished by mid-May ac-cording to David.

For the meantime, the images from Diwata-1 will be received by those in Tohoku, Japan.

”They will send the images to us. That will be the scenario for the first two weeks,” David said. (PNA)

do it, we will just get things done for our poor farmers,” Cayetano said.

The tandem earlier signed a three-point manifesto, which aims to end what they de-scribed as “a systemic oppres-sion of small coconut farm-ers.” They vowed to distribute the funds to the beneficiaries during the first 100 days of their term. They will do this by pushing for a legislation that will create a perpetual trust fund for coconut farmers.

Aside from the coco levy fund, Cayetano said they will also tap P1 billion from the national budget to serve as a Coconut Modernization Fund,

to be used for the development of the country’s coconut indus-try. The tandem also vowed to work on pursuing all unrecov-ered shares from the assets acquired through the fund, in-cluding the 20-percent shares awarded to Cojuangco by the Supreme Court in 2011.

“Kaytagal nang nagtiis at naghirap ng ating mga mag-niniyog. Hindi nila kailangan ng pangako mula sa mga kandida-tong protektor ng mayayaman at maimpluwensya. Ang kailan-gan nila ay mga lider na may political will at lakas ng loob na lumaban para sa kanila. Ito ang inaalok namin ni Mayor Duter-te,” Cayetano said.

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 2016 11EDGEDAVAO

COMPETITIVE EDGE

WITH its pursuit in making lives better, the Anflo Group of

Companies continues to ini-tiate projects for health, edu-cation, and many other advo-cacies. Today, hundreds are alums and beneficiaries of the different programs of the Cor-porate Social Responsibility of Anflocor.

With a strong passion to-wards community-building, the company started a project called Summer Trabahunters Program, an annual opportu-nity for the direct dependents of ANFLOCOR’s employees. This program lets the youth gain real-world experiences, meet new acquaintances, and earn.

The 30-day program be-gan in April of 2015 where 15 dependents were given the chance to experience clerical and administrative tasks in-side the ANFLOCOR. It was ini-tiated by the Human Resource and Social Services Depart-ment (HRSS).

“Before Anflocor, I was assigned in TADECO. We have a program called Special Pro-gram Employment for Stu-dents or SPES where the LGU and TADECO would team up to give jobs to the youth. I ap-plied in ANFLOCOR what I did in TADECO. The program is for the direct dependents of our employees this time,” HRSS Assistant Vice-president Nor-man L. Clemente said.

Clemente further ex-plained that the Summer Trabahunters Program is an avenue for the dependents to work in the company and ap-preciate the value of work.

“They see their parents leaving home for work every day to sustain their educa-tion. If the dependents will do the same, they will realize the value of work and the proper attitude towards it such as discipline, commitment, and professionalism,” Clemente explained.

According to Gerard dela Cruz, officer-in-charge and co-ordinator of the program, the Trabahunters Program is also aimed at fostering bonds.

“The goal of the man-agement is to form bonds

Going beyond the salary

3/17. Three of this year’s recipients of ANFLOCOR’s Summer Trabahunters Program namely (L-R) Tricia Morales, Dana Samson, and Lemuel Remolar smile for the camera.

between the parent and the child-- they go to work togeth-er, have lunch together and bond during break times,” dela Cruz said.

Aside from being direct dependents of Anflocor em-ployees, Trabahunters must be between the ages of 15 and 21.

The summer program is also an avenue for its recip-ients to gauge their interest and align their prospect career to its actualization.

Roberto dela Cruz, who works for the Anflo Securi-ty Section, encouraged his daughter to join the said pro-gram. Cairo dela Cruz, 17, is currently taking up BS in Hu-man Resource. She is assigned to ANFLOCOR Recruitment Division.

This year, there are 17 Trabahunters. One of them is Lemuel Remolar, 16, an incom-ing Grade 11 student. Lemuel is the son of House of Travel Liaison Officer Victor Remo-lar. Currently, he is assigned to ANFLOCOR’s Human Resource Department.

“I plan to take up Accoun-tancy,” Remolar answered when asked about his desired college degree. He added that if ever, he would consider work-ing in ANFLOCOR as an ac-countant because, for him, the work environment is very nice.

“The experience is fun. We have responsibilities and they are very enjoyable,” Remolar shared.

Another Trabahunter, Tri-cia Morales, 18, already expe-rienced the program last year. According to her, Trabahunters Program lets her experience the tasks being done in the offices especially that she was assigned to the Legal Depart-ment last year. This time, she is assigned to the AOF Foun-dation, giving her a lot of expo-sure in the field.

“Of course, sometimes I feel tired,” Morales said.

Despite that, she would still like to encourage her fel-low youth to join these kinds of summer youth programs.

“I want my fellow youth to experience the corporate world and prepare them for the future. I encourage joining because we are learning a lot of things. It is also an avenue for us to see the work of our parents. Besides, the program teaches us things like budget management and many more,” Morales stated.

Positive changes are evident to the Trabahunt-ers already. Alfred Samson, Vice-president for Finance, said that the program is ba-sically about discipline. Sam-son’s daughter, Dana, 18, is currently assigned to ANFLO-COR’s Human Resource De-partment.

“Dana wakes up early—that’s the first change that I see. She even wakes up earlier than me. She even prepared for the interview,” Samson said jokingly.

Aside from discipline, Samson expects that his daughter will learn the value of money. He said that this pro-gram is one way of preparing his child to the real world. He believes that the program is one way of knowing what life is after school.

“I always tell my children that after college, they will be on their own. They have to look at the future already and should be on their way for them to know how to live. I always tell them that the more prepared you are, the better your life is,” the Vice-president expounded.

Samson also reminded her daughter that in order to suc-ceed, one must start from the bottom before earning a posi-tion. He reminded that there is no promotion if there is no learning. One should be pas-sionate about his chosen field to achieve excellence.

This year’s Summer Pro-gram is expected to end on May 20. The Trabahunters will rotate in the different depart-ments of the Anflo Group of Companies in Damosa, Davao City, giving them the chance to meet new people, gain new learnings, and earn at the same time. BY RAPHIL VINCE SA-GUAN

The Anflo Management and Investment Corporation (ANFLOCOR) is the manage-ment and investment company of the Anflo Group of Compa-nies.

DAVAO City Water Dis-trict advises that all ar-eas served by Line 1 of

Dumoy Water Supply System (WSS) will experience low wa-ter pressure to no water from 11:00 PM of April 30 until 11:00 AM of May 1.

Specific affected areas are: entire Talomo, Ulas, Bangkal, Matina Aplaya, Matina, Lan-gub, Bucana, Ecoland Phases 1 to 7, Downtown, Pampan-ga, Sasa and Bo. Obrero and some areas along Matina Pangi Road (from Matina Crossing to corner C.P. Garcia National Highway), Agdao (Wilfredo Aquino, Gov. Vicente Duterte, Leon Garcia Sr., R. Castillo, Ub-alde, Lapu-Lapu, San Antonio and Centro), Bago Aplaya (Gulf View Executive Homes, Versa-ri Village, Castro Village and Sto. Niño Village), Ma-a (from NCCC Mall to Emerald Village), Lanang (Ramos Village, Lizada Village, Villa De Davao Subd., Lanang Beach Club and Insular Village II) and Panacan (Philip-pine Naval Forces with Dumoy WSS connections only).

Some DCWD production wells under Line 1 of Dumoy WSS will be affected by Davao Light and Power Company’s scheduled power interruption on said date which is needed to facilitate the re-conductor-

ing of primary lines from its Puan Substation to Talomo Barangay Hall. Although the power cut is shorter in dura-tion, DCWD needs additional time for re-switching on of the affected facilities, pressure build up and line delivery, thus the longer duration of water service interruption.

DCWD general manager Edwin V. Regalado asks for the understanding and coopera-tion of would-be affected cus-tomers. He also advises them to store enough water prior to the scheduled water inter-ruption. Water supply may be restored earlier if work goes smoothly or later if unforeseen problems arise.

The general public may visit DCWD website (www.davao-water.gov.ph) and of-ficial 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 daily water updates. They may also call / text 0927-7988966, 0925-5113293 and 0908-4410653 for other up-dates, complaints, queries and matters pertaining to DCWD services. (Katrina Belen M. Roble)

Low water pressure to no waterin some city parts April 30 - May 1

“LET us remain apo-litical and create an environment

that will allow the people to choose our leaders free-ly without intimidation”

This was the statement of the cting Chief of Staff Armed Forces of the Phil-ippines (ACSAFP) Lt. Gen.

Glorioso V. Miranda during his visit at Headquarters Eastern Mindanao Com-mand in the morning of April 28, 2016.

The ACSFP was accom-panied by the Command-ing General of the Phillip-ine Army Lt Gen. Eduardo Año and other AFP top

brass. They were recieved by

Lt Gen Rey Leonardo Guer-rero and were accorded with military honors.

The ACSAFP further encouraged Team Eastmin-com to continously enliven the “Bayanihan” Spirit.

“Continue the team-

work and harmony of our efforts with other stake-holders to win the peace. Miranda said.

Lt Gen Miranda was the former Commander of Task Force Gen San and Bde Commander of 1002nd Bde based in Malungon Sa-rangani Province.

Miranda to soldiers:Remain Apolitical

LEADING telecommunications company Globe Telecom joins the US Embassy Manila,

US Agency for International De-velopment (USAID), and mobile content marketing firm Tone in staging the first Fishackathon in the Philippines on April 23-24 at Globe Valero Telepark in Makati City in an effort to develop usable technology solutions that will ad-dress the worldwide problem of overfishing.

The two-day activity, which will be staged simultaneously in 43 host cities worldwide, expect to bring together developers, de-signers, as well as representatives from government and non-gov-ernment organizations who will #codeforfish, find innovative ways to collect and analyze data, and find solutions to the world’s fish-eries and oceans issues.

“It will be exciting to see effec-tive and useful apps emerge at the Fishackathon 2016 Manila. We at Globe Labs, are proud to serve as a partner again with the US gov-ernment in looking for ways for information and communications technology to be used in address-ing issues that plague the world,” said Glenn Estrella, VP for Digital Ventures. Globe Labs partnered with the US government in host-ing the TechCamp Hackathon two years ago.

Fishackathon 2016 is also in line with Globe Telecom’s sustain-ability advocacy to create a #Won-derfulPH through positive societal impact with the use of modern technology. Globe has ongoing eco-tourism efforts which include communities involved in fisher-ies and aquatic resources such as the following: PUSOD on pro-tection and enhancement of Taal Lake in Batangas ecosystem; Save Philippine Seas on protection of thresher sharks through engage-ment and education of commu-nity stakeholders in Malapascua, Cebu; Sangkalikasan Producers Cooperative on the establishment of an environment hotline center

in Boracay, Malay, Aklan; and Casa San Miguel on livelihood oppor-tunities for those living along the coastal barangays of San Antonio, Zambales.

Fishackathon was launched in 2014 in response to overfishing which harms the marine environ-ment and diminishes the already meager income of small scale fish-ermen. Participating teams need to choose one of the nine available problem statements to work on for the entirety of the hackathon. The official text of the problem statements will not be available until after the event is officially opened to ensure that all teams are on a level playing field when the hackathon begins. A group of marine experts will be on hand to advise all participants about fisheries management and marine biodiversity conservation in the Philippines.

For Fishackathon Manila, a grand prize valuing approximate-ly Php 35,000 as well as smaller runner-up and second runner-up prizes, will be awarded. Each team will be asked to do a five- minute presentation of their solution, fol-lowed by two minutes of Q&A by the panel of judges and two min-utes of Q&A by the audience.

The presentations will be judged based on the quality of idea or innovation, impact, and in-terface. The winning team will up-load their presentation to be en-tered into the global competition. The global winning team will be announced on World Oceans Day on June 8, 2016 and will receive a $10,000 cash prize. In addition, one team’s creation will be further independently developed through a US government contractor.

Follow @usembassymanila, @USAID_Manila @withtone @Globelabs @fishackathon @GPatState on Twitter for updates on Fishackathon Manila 2016. For further information on the Fishackathon partnership and this weekend’s events, please visit fishackathon.co. #codeforfish.

Globe joins US Embassyin addressing overfishing

Anflocor’s Trabahunters Program:

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 201612

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO GENSAN PARTNERS

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO PARTNER ESTABLISHMENTS

CLASSIFIEDS EDGEDAVAO

EVENT

EDGEDAVAOINdulge!

CATERING TO THE CHANGING DE-MANDS AND ASPIRATIONS OF THE FILIPINO FAMILY, Alsons Development and Investment Corporation (Alsons Dev), a homegrown real estate developer best known for its premier property developments,  in-troduced its newest brand, Nurtura Land & Home last April 14.

The event started early in the morning with the blessing and official open-ing of the model houses of Nurtura Land & Home’s maiden project, Narra Park Residences at Baran-gay Tigatto, Buhangin, Davao City and was fol-lowed with a grand exhib-it at the Atrium of Gaisano Mall of Davao. According to Eric de la Costa, Vice President and General Manager of Al-sons Dev, the introduction of Nurtura Land & Home

is Alsons Dev’s continuing initiative to provide qual-ity residential options for Filipino families. “This is a significant

step in  the  corporate growth  of  Alsons Dev. Through the introduction of this new brand, we are diversifying our corporate offering.  Nurtura Land & Home  will be  a continu-ing reflection of Alsons Dev’s lasting commitment to quality, design and sus-tainability. We are looking forward to providing best-in-class homes and com-munities that are within reach of the modern Fili-pino family.” The four-day event at Gaisano Mall allowed guests visiting the ex-hibit  to learn more about Narra Park Residences as well as gain design inspira-tion and insights through the exhibit’s interac-tive apps,  helping guests choose and design a home that’s perfect for their life-style and personality. Narra Park Residences is a community inspired by modern Asian design

and is outfitted with first-class leisure and recre-ational facilities, includ-ing a pool and cabaña for social and community gatherings,  and two large parks at Phase 1. Complete street lighting, perimeter fence, and guard houses are also installed for the

safety and security of the homeowners. And with Alsons Dev’s over 50 years of experience and an established track record of quality, there is no doubt that homeown-ers are sure to find the per-fect community at Narra Park Residences.

Narra Park Residences is a community inspired by modern Asian design and is outfitted with first-class leisure and

recreational facilities

Alsons Dev launches NUTURA LAND

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 2016

A2 INdulge! EDGEDAVAOEVENT

UCPB GEN, PEF launch partnership

Phl representatives for AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search 2016 Grand Finale revealedTHREE YOUNG ASPIRING DESIGNERS HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO REPRESENT THE PHILIPPINES at the Grand Finale of AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search 2016 which will be held in Kuala Lumpur this August. The Top 3 were selected from the Philippines leg of the Asean-wide designer search auditions held recently in Best Western Antel Plus Hotel in Makati City. The auditions will continue in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok subsequently to look for the Top 3 young designers to represent each country. This designer search, which has entered its second year-running is part of AirAsia’s continuous efforts in developing talents and empowering youth across the region and will be a platform for young aspiring designers across the region to catapult their careers in the fashion industry. Mary Camille Veloso and Bea Samson from Slim’s Fashion and Art School and Ron Xavier Santos from Fashion Institute of Design and Arts in Davao went through two rounds of

judging and were selected based ond design creativity and originality, consistency of their collection, adherence to the Asean team, practicality and stage presentation. The panel of judges consists of Anthony Cesar Ramirez, Filipino fashion designer; Patrick Galang, Fashion Editor of L’Officiel Manila; Captain Rolando Ching, Chief Pilot for Training of Philippines AirAsia; Andrew Tan, Founder of Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week Ready to Wear and Vivy Yusof, Founder of FashionValet. Captain Rolando Ching, Chief Pilot for Training of

Philippines AirAsia said, “This designer search is a good platform for our young, up-and-coming Filipino designers to showcase their capabilities on an international scale. It was not easy for us to narrow down to the Top 3 finalists from the hundreds of submissions that came in online as we saw diverse and outstanding sketches displayed today at the audition here in Manila. The Top 3 Filipino finalists will be developing their collection for the runway during the Grand Finale in August and we wish them all the best!” The Top 3 representing the

Philippines at the prestigious runway of KL Fashion Week Ready to Wear 2016 will stand a chance to walk away as ‘AirAsia’s Most Promising Young Designer 2016’ and prizes worth almost P4 Million including a confirmed show segment to showcase his or her full collection at KLFW RTW 2017; mentorship from the KLFW RTW team; P250,000 sponsored by FashionValet to produce a capsule collection and sold on fashionvalet.com; 150,000 AirAsia BIG Points sponsored by AirAsia BIG, AirAsia or AirAsia X flights, and more prizes to be revealed

soon. AirAsia is also KLFW RTW 2016’s Preferred Travel Partner and will be flying in fashion designers throughout the AirAsia Group’s extensive route network including from Singapore, India, Indonesia, China, Australia and South Korea to be featured on the KLFW RTW 2016 runway. Experience KLFW RTW 2016 this August by flying with AirAsia and earn BIG Points. Follow AirAsia’s Youtube Channel (youtube.com/user/AirAsia) for webisodes featuring the journey of all participants for the region-wide AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search 2016, or follow the hashtag #AirAsiaRunway on other social media channels such as Facebook (facebook.com/AirAsiaPhilippines) and Twitter (twitter.com/AirAsiaPH).

THE NON-LIFE INSURANCE COM-PANY UCPB GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, INC. (UCPB GEN) OFFI-CIALLY LAUNCHED ITS PARTNER-SHIP WITH THE PHILIPPINE EAGLE FOUNDATION (PEF) through a ceremo-nial turnover of support to the foundation at the Philippine Eagle Center in Malagos, Baguio District, Davao City on Tuesday, March 15.

The event was attended by UCPB GEN execu-tives including President Isabelo Africa and branch managers from the cit-ies of Makati, Davao, General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, and Cebu. The highlight of this partner-ship is UPCB’s adoption of Philippine Eagle Magi-las, which began last year. Their annual donation of Php 125,000 to PEF will be used for the food and veterinary care of their adopted eagle. The adop-tion covers a period of 5 years. Magilas is a 13-year-old male captive-bred eagle hatched on January 16, 2013. Last year, he was introduced to his pair. Through UCPB Gen’s sup-

port, the PEF is working on the success of this pair towards producing a fer-tile egg. It is possible that Magilas will attempt cop-ulation with his pair in the next breeding season. He and his pair play a crucial role in PEF’s conservation breeding initiatives. “We are glad that UCPB GEN, like its business, saw the strategic importance of saving resources or sav-ing the natural capital for the benefit of future gen-erations,” said PEF Execu-tive Director Dennis Sal-vador. Meanwhile, President Africa said they will con-tinue to strengthen their partnership with PEF by conducting other similar initiatives in the future.

Winners of the Philippine leg of AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search 2016 are (2nd from left) Mary Camille Veloso, Ron Xavier Santos and Bea Samson. They will be competing against chosen designers from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore for the grand finals of AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search 2016 to be held in Kuala Lumpur in August. Veloso and Samson are graduates of Slim’s Fashion and Art School while Santos is from Fashion Institute of Design and Arts in Davao.

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 2016

INdulge! A3EDGEDAVAOENTERTAINMENT

GMA Network brings home 4 New York Fest medals

Lexi Fernandez reveals reason why she quit showbiz in blog

‘Doble Kara’ cast thanks fans for show’s success

IN A BLOG POST POSTED ON APRIL 20, former “Tween Hearts” actress Lexi Fernandez explains the reason why she took a step back from the spotlight. She opened her letter with the question many ask her to this day; “Why did you quit showbiz?” Lexi cited that while working as an actress, she was secretly suffering from two mental disorders, namely anxiety and depression. “During the three years I was working, I was already secretly battling anxiety and depression, but it wasn’t until 2013, while I was working on my last soap, that I could no longer handle it. I just exploded.”. Due to her undiagnosed condition and strong desire to be liked, Lexi admitted that her personality took a turn for the worst. “I pushed myself to change into someone I was very uncomfortable with just to fit in with the rest of the crew. Little did I know that doing so would just make me all the more prone to conflict. You see, being the way that I was, I would try very hard to make a relationship with everyone that I often times, put myself in a very dangerous place.” The last straw came for Lexi while she was working on her last project. “Nevertheless, put two and two together, secretly struggling with anxiety and depression as well as problems of a

teenage girl, it wasn’t long before I could no longer handle it. After about a year, while working on “Kakambal ni Eliana,” I suffered from a fatal asthma attack. After that, I took it upon myself to take a break to just focus on working on me.” Fortunately for her, taking a step back from the spotlight was exactly what she needed to really get to know herself and figure things out. “Three years after taking a step

back from the spotlight, being 21-years-old, I

looked back and just laughed at what I used to think was the end of the world for me. The problems I considered the biggest, most difficult situations are not even close to what one c o n s i d e r s an actual problem! There are much more i m p o r t a n t

things in life than to worry

about what others think of you.” Lastly, Lexi

ended her blog post by leaving

a message to all the people she’s worked with in the industry such as her “Tween Hearts” batch mates Barbie Forteza, Bea Binene, Derrick Monasterio, and Alden Richards.

GMA NETWORK PROUDLY TOOK HOME 4 WORLD MEDALS AND 5 FINALIST CERTIFICATES at the 2016 New York Festivals, which also had Kapuso broadcast journalist Kara David as one of the award presenters at the awards ceremony held in Las Vegas April 19. GMA was the only Philippine company with medal winners this year. The network’s News and Public Affairs Group was responsible for the 4 medalists in various categories. I-Witness, the country’s longest running documentary program, won the bronze medal in the Community Portraits category for “Dorm 12”, where David featured aging and forgotten inmates at the Correctional Institute for Women. Investigative news magazine Reporter’s Notebook won a bronze award in the Social Issues category for tackling urban migration in its “Hikahos sa Lungsod” episode, reported by Maki Pulido. Front Row’s “Maestra Salbabida” took home a bronze in the Community Service Programs category, depicting a teacher in Mindoro who crosses rivers using a makeshift floating device to reach the barrio where she teaches. GMA News TV’s Reel Time, on the other hand, earned the bronze award inthe Human Concerns category for its “Isang Paa sa Hukay” documentary on small-scale mining operations in Camarines Norte. David, meanwhile, was the only media professional from Asia named as one of this year’s award presenters, which include prominent international media executives, talk show hosts and content creators. On the other hand, three GMA News and Public Affairs programs received finalist certificates: Philippine TV’s first-ever bayaniserye Ilustrado, Bawal ang Pasaway kay Mareng Winnie and Brigada while two projects from the network’s Program Support Department were also shortlisted: Ilustrado’s opening billboard and GMA News TV’s Father’s Day plug.

DON’T MISS JULIA MONTES AND THE REST OF THE CAST of the top-rating afternoon series “Doble Kara” as they visit Bulacan and Cavite and thank their fans for their unwavering support. Bulakenyo fans will get the chance to meet and bond with Julia along with Alora Sasam and Markki Stroem this Friday (Apr 29) at SM San Jose Belmonte at 1pm. Julia, meanwhile, will be joined by Alora, Maxene Magalona, Edgar Allan Guzman, and Anjo Damiles in bringing good vibes to their Cavitenyo fans on May 13 at SM Trece Martires. “I really felt the journey of my characters and the support of

the viewers for the past eight months,” said Julia. “There’s still a lot to watch out for now that the twins are going to have their own

children.” More exciting scenes are set to surprise viewers as Kara and Sara will officially become mothers. However, while Kara lives happily with her husband Sebastian (Sam Milby) and daughter Hannah, Sara was left alone by Edward (Edgar Allan Guzman) and solely raises her daughter Becca. Will their families help mend their relationship as sisters or will their rivalry still continue? Witness the newest chapter of the top-rating afternoon teleserye “Doble Kara,” weekdays after “It’s Showtime” on ABS-CBN or on ABS-CBN HD (SkyCable ch 167). Catch up via iWanTV or skyondemand.com.ph for Sky subscribers.

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 2016

PG/*PG

PG 12:00 | 3:00 | 6:00 | 9:00 LFS

THE JUNGLE BOOK /

*THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER'S WAR

11:00 | 1:10 | 3:20 LFS / *5:30 | 7:45 | 10:00 LFS

Scarlett Johansson, Idris Elba, Bill Murray/*Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR 3D

Chris Evans , Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson

April 27 – May 3, 2016

PG 1:00 | 4:00 | 7:00 | 10:00 LFS

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

Chris Evans , Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson

PG 11:00 | 2:00 | 5:00 | 8:00 LFS

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

Chris Evans , Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson

A4 INdulge!UP AND ABOUT

ABREEZA MALL PARTNERS WITH BONIFACIO GLOBAL CITY-BASED NON-STOCK, NON-PROFIT SCIENCE MUSEUM THE MIND MUSEUM to bring to Davao City an immersive, interactive exhibit that will showcase the astounding beauty of marine life and educate people on the importance of its conservation. Taking place at the Abreeza Mall Activity Center from April 30 to May 4 is “A Glass of the Sea: An Exhibition on the Coral Tri-angle,” presented by The Mind Museum in collaboration with the California Academy of Sci-ences (CAS) and supported by the United States government. Entrance to the exhibit is abso-lutely free; group viewing reser-vations for groups of as many as 50 heads are also welcome. First launched on July 16, 2015 at The Mind Museum, “A Glass of the Sea” features the biodiversity in the Coral Tri-angle—consisting of the Philip-pines, Malaysia, Indonesia up to Papua New Guinea—particu-larly the Verde Island Passage, which is dubbed the world’s “center of the center of marine biodiversity.”

According to The Mind Mu-seum curator Maria Isabel Gar-cia, the exhibit was inspired by a scientific study in 2014 that stated that if you scoop a glass of water from the ocean and ex-amine its content, you will know the variety of life present in that ocean. “For A Glass of the Sea which we nicknamed AGoS, it meant figuring out how a rela-tively miniscule space with a few exhibits can do justice to the

enormity of its source and sci-ence going on in there,” Garcia continued. A Glass of the Sea can be ex-perienced through three con-nected “stories”: the story of the sea, the story of the science of the sea, and the story of your role in the sea. The story of the sea is shown through stunning underwater footage taken from the CAS expeditions in the Coral Triangle area, the story of

the science of the sea can be ex-perienced through educational interactive games and original exhibits where physical objects melded with sensing technol-ogy allow you to get to know specific creatures individually, and the story of your role in the sea is told through intriguing sculptures that compel you to think of your relationship with the seas. This project is supported

by the U.S. Embassy Manila’s United States Agency for Inter-national Development (USAID) under the Partnerships for En-hanced Engagement in (Sci-ence) Research or PEER Science Grant. The grant enabled The Mind Museum’s Maria Isabel Garcia to partner with Dr. Ter-rence Gosliner of CAS to work together on achieving ecosys-tem resilience. “The U.S. Government is pleased to be part of this ex-hibit which aims to showcase the wealth of the Philippines’ biodiversity and more impor-tantly, to raise awareness on the need to conserve the Coral Triangle to support marine re-sources and the coastal com-munities that depend on them. Strengthened natural resources and environmental manage-ment contributes to our shared goal of broad-based and resilient growth in the Philippines,” US-AID Mission Director Gloria D. Steele said. For exclusive group viewings of A Glass of the Sea, please con-tact the Main Concierge at (082) 321-9332 to reserve a timeslot. For more updates, like www.facebook.com/AbreezaMall and following @abreezatweets on Twitter and @iloveabreezamall on Instagram.

The Mind Museum brings exhibit to Abreeza MallEDGEDAVAO VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 2016

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 2016 13EDGEDAVAO

NOTICE OF LOSSNotice is hereby given by LOYOLA PLANS CONSOLIDATED INC. that CERTIFICATE OF FULL PAYMENT No.(s)

under Loyola Contract No(s). 10319903-9 issued to MARIA LIANITA YUDIET38017 under Loyola Contract No(s). 895612-0 issued to WILFREDO L. ENRIQUEZ

were lost. Any transaction entered into shall be null and void.4/29;5/6/13

NEWS

We are now hiring for the ff. job vacancies:

1. CUSTOMER SERVICE OFFICER (C.S.O.)Scope of Work:• Handling of customer services (e.g. inquiries, complaints, scheduling

of services)• Preparation of quotation for clients• STARTING SALARY: P12, 000 (BASED ON PRIOR EXPERIENCE)

2. TECHNICAL ENGINEER (T.E.)Scope of Work:• Installation/Programming/Configuration for the ff. products*CCTV, PABX, PABGM, INTERCOM, BIOMETRICS, ACCESS CONTROL,

FIRE ALARM • STARTING SALARY: P13, 000 (BASED ON PRIOR EXPERIENCE)

3.ACCOUNTS MANAGER (A.M.)Scope of Work:• Sales & Marketing for New Clients• STARTING SALARY: P15, 000 UP (BASED ON PRIOR EXPERIENCE)

4. STORE SUPERVISORScope of Work:• Responsible for daily store operation • Handling of manpower

Please email your resume to: sales@vmtech.com.ph or marcxtian@yahoo.com

For walk in applicants, you may call the ff. branches:Cebu Office: (032) 2380912

Globe: 09173293471 • Sun: 09255014723

Davao Office: (082) 2212789 Globe: 09177952469 • Sun: 09322448030

DIWATA-1, the Philip-pines’ first microsatellite, is set to be deployed in

the outer space on Wednesday night.

In an interview with Phil-

Astronauts to release Diwata-1 in outer space Wednesday night

ippines News Agency (PNA), Carlos Primo David, executive director of Department of Science and Technology-Phil-ippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Tech-nology Research Division (DOST-PCIEERD), said Diwa-ta-1 would be released in orbit between 7:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., Philippine Standard Time (PST) this Wednesday.

As of this writing, Diwa-ta-1 is still in the International Space Station (ISS), and Da-vid said that astronauts there would put the microsatellite in the space, in its proper orbit.

He was hopeful that the re-lease won’t fail.

It may be recalled that Di-wata-1 was officially launched to the ISS last March 23 at around 11:05 a.m. (PST).

The Filipino-made micro-satellite was among the 3,395 kilograms (7,485 lb) of science gear, crew supplies and vehicle hardware cargo that Cygnus spacecraft lift off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, USA, at 11:05 p.m. of March 22, East-ern Standard Time (EST).

At the ISS, Diwata-1 was housed in the Japanese Ex-periment Module (JEM), nick-named “Kibo.” The JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) is set to release Diwa-ta-1 into space at an altitude of 400 kilometers from the earth’s surface.

Diwata-1 was assembled FASTRONAUTS, 10

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 201614

DAVAO PARTNER ESTABLISHMENT

GENSAN PARTNER ESTABLISHMENT

NEWS EDGEDAVAO

our guests the hospitality and services they deserve,” said TRMH president Glenn Escandor.

The Royal Mandaya Ho-tel was described in the cita-tion as “Nestled in thel heart of the city, the Royal Man-daya Hotel , boasts an ideal location aimed at both busi-ness and leisure for a short-term stay in Davao. A total of 182 appointed guest rooms and suites are designed for comfort with customized furnishings and amenities. Where a balance of culture and contemporary design and unobtrusive yet intu-itive service complement warm and friendly Davao hospitality.”

The Philippine Top Choice Award chose The Royal Mandaya Hotel for being synonymous with in-dividualized services. “Rooms are designed for relaxation and at the same time offer the perfect base for the busy business traveller with desk areas and free WiFi in all ar-eas, exclusive 24-hour but-ler service, spa experiences informed by a philosophy of wellness that works, dream weddings and other import-ant life events delivered with great attention to detail and a high degree of personaliza-tion, and a menu of delectable cuisines crafted so that guests might make deeper and more meaningful connections with the destination,” the cittation read.

The award-giving body also cited the Escan-dor-owned hotel as having “core values like home, care, honest, helpful, hospitality and service designed to ex-ceed the expectations and needs of the contemporary business and leisure travellers define the Mandaya team and they will help make you stay a memorable experience.”

The Royal... FROM 1

TOP CHOICE. The Royal Mandaya Hotel general manager Benjamen Banzon (second from left), sales manager Elvie Buquiron (third from left), and MIS manager Megzyl Rose Jolejole receive the Philippine Top Choice Top Classy Hotel award.

The Royal Mandaya Hotel general manager Benjamen Banzon (center), sales manager Elvie Buquiron (left), and MIS manager Megzyl Rose Jolejole (right) pose with the Philippine Top Choice Top Classy Hotel award.

The Philippines Top Choice Top

Classy Hotel award given to the Royal

Mandaya Hotel.

The Philippines Top Choice plaque.

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 2016 15

DRAYMOND Green is going to tell it like it is, and he insists these Golden State

Warriors have few issues when it comes to confidence.

Even playing without in-jured superstar Stephen Curry.

“We’re still very confident. If I sat here and told you our confi-dence level is the same without Steph, that’s a lie,” Green said after Tuesday’s practice. “I think our confidence level with Steph is through the roof. It’s beyond high. Without Steph, it’s still out the roof. We’re not losing much confidence. We still believe in ourselves. We still think it’s very possible for us to make a run. We’re going to hold it down `til he gets back.”

Sure, losing Curry for like-ly two weeks or more is a sig-nificant blow to the defending champions. It stings to see the NBA’s MVP go down in the middle of the playoffs after a record-setting regular season in which he became the first player to make 400 3-pointers.

“The great thing with Steph is I think he’s got perspective built in just from his family,” newly crowned NBA Coach of the Year Steve Kerr said. “He knows what’s important. His health is extremely import-ant but in the grand scheme of things, he’s healthy, he’s happy, he’s got a great wife and kids and family. He’s probably going to be back playing basketball in a few weeks. It’s just a little bump in the road.”

An MRI exam on Curry’s injured right knee Monday showed a Grade 1 sprain of the MCL. Warriors general manager Bob Myers is estimating at least two weeks for the recovery peri-od, but that’s merely a guess at this stage.

“His spirits are high. He’s good,” Green said of Curry. “It seems like he’s moving a little better than he was yesterday.”

Kerr reminded his team during film study Tuesday that “there’s no guarantee of any-thing,” using injuries to the Clip-pers’ Chris Paul and Blake Griffin as examples.

At a minimum, Golden State would likely be without Curry – and his 30.1 scoring average – for the initial four games of the second round if the Warriors advance. They play Game 5 of their best-of-seven series with Houston on Wednesday night at Oracle Arena leading 3-1.

“I just feel bad for Steph more than anything,” Kerr said. “He’s worked so hard and now all of a sudden after really sev-eral years of being injury-free, back-to-back injuries. But in a lot of ways, he’s lucky. He’s lucky it’s not worse and if we can take care of business while he’s get-ting better, there’s a chance he can come back and be part of this playoff run and help us go deep. We’ll try to hold down the fort while he’s out. … He’s obvi-ously not playing any time soon.”

The Warriors won Sun-day’s Game 4 at Houston after Curry injured his knee when he slipped awkwardly on the final play of the first half and his legs split apart. Golden State hit eight 3-pointers in the third quarter alone to turn a tie game into a 21-point lead on the way to a 121-94 victory.

“It was alarm,” center Marre-ese Speights said of his reaction. “All the guys saw how emotion-al Steph was. We’ve never seen that before. It was like, `There’s no way we’re losing this game. We’re going to go out and play the best we can play for him.”‘

Shaun Livingston already started in Curry’s place for Games 2 and 3, and will be called upon again to carry a bigger load until Curry can play again.

“That’s where it comes to me being assertive and aggres-sive, exposing mismatches, mak-ing them make adjustments. Then also, too, when I’m able to do that, and score and be aggres-sive, then it opens the floor up a little bit for our shooters and for other guys,” Livingston said. “We’re more locked into atten-tion to detail.”

That moment seeing Cur-ry go down shook Speights. He had never seen his superstar teammate emotionally break or come close to tears, so Curry’s display of dejection immediately after the knee injury Sunday was hard to see.

“It’s a feeling that everybody has in their heart, to see how emotional he was,” Speights said. “He’s a great guy. You nev-er want to see a guy like that go down like that. … Things happen for a reason. He’s going to be all right. We’re going to be good, too.”

In fact, watching Curry go down fueled his teammates. They weren’t going to see him like that and not fight to win it in Curry’s honor.

And just as Golden State has shown all season when some-one goes down, this group be-lieves in depth as one of its big-gest strengths.

“We feel good because we’ve had this experience before. We’ve had it during the regular season, we’ve had it in this series and in the second half of the last game,” small forward Harrison Barnes said. “We want to contin-ue to build on that momentum and get off to a good start.”

THE Boston Celtics and their star, Isaiah Thomas, had a disastrous finish to Game 5 of their series against the Atlanta Hawks. After Boston held At-

lanta to 19 points midway through the second quarter, the Hawks caught fire and dropped 70 points on the Celtics over the next 1 1/2 quarters. The end result was a 110-83 loss for Boston that also saw Thomas — who fin-ished with seven points on 3-for-12 shooting — exit the

game with a sprained ankle. But don’t expect Thomas to sit out Game 6, writes Mark Murphy of Boston Herald:

Isaiah Thomas has no doubt where he’ll be when it’s time for the tipoff of Game 6 tomorrow night — on the floor.

The Celtics guard turned his left ankle early in the fourth quarter of the Celtics’ 110-83 loss to Atlanta last night and left for the locker room.

SPORTSEDGEDAVAO

UNINTIMIDATED. CJ Mc Collum of the Portland Trailblazers goes hangtime against DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 5 of their NBA Playoff series won by the Blazers.

KLAY TO THE RESCUECurry-less Warriors roll to next round KLAY Thompson

knew Golden State had to come

together, that every player needed to raise

his game with Ste-phen Curry side-lined.

“None of us can do it alone,” Thompson insist-ed hours earlier.

He sure got things started, scor-

ing 27 points with seven 3-pointers as the Warriors rolled

into the second round of the playoffs without their injured super-star, thoroughly em-barrassing the Hous-ton Rockets, 114-81, on Wednesday night (Thursday, Manila time) in Game Five.

“Urgency of the game and we did not want to go back to Houston — it’s a long flight,” Thomp-son said of his extra motivation.

Draymond Green added 15 points, nine

rebounds and eight assists for the Warriors, who will face the winner of the Clip-pers-Trail Blazers series. Portland leads 3-2.

“Everybody, they think Steph goes down and the entire series changes. But we thought otherwise,” Green said.

Without the MVP, Cur-ry’s fellow Splash Brother set the tone from the open-ing tip. Thompson became the first player in NBA history to make at least seven 3-pointers in consec-utive playoff games, while Shaun Livingston scored 16 points for his third dou-ble-digit performance in three games while starting in Curry’s place this series.

“We’re blessed, we are really lucky. You lose your point guard, you lose the MVP, and to be able to throw Shaun Livingston out there, he’s a fantastic basketball player, a great teammate,” coach Steve Kerr said.

Curry, in a brown sport coat on the bench while nursing his sprained

right knee, emphatically bobbed his head, clapped and bowed to Thompson during starter introduc-tions. He even worked the officials during a timeout, and gestured with hand sig-nals to celebrate big plays.

James Harden scored 25 of Houston’s 37 first-half points on the way to 35 points, but the Rockets had no chance with a one-man show against the deep de-fending champions.

So much for Jason Ter-ry’s guarantee there would be a Game 6 back in Hous-ton.

“The season, from the beginning, wasn’t going our way. Just had too many dis-tractions,” Harden said. “It’s just been like a bumpy road this entire season.”

Thompson hit a way-back, Curry-like triple from 31 feet at the top of the arc with 5:37 left in the third. He shot 7 of 11 from long range, 10 for 14 overall.

Curry could only grin, cheer and enjoy every sec-ond of seeing his team do so well without him.

NBA PLAYOFFS

Warriors confident even without CurryThomas vows to play in Game 6

CURRY-LIKE. Klay Thompson fired seven triples in Game 5 and finished with 27 points.

VOL. 9 ISSUE 43 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 29 - 30, 2016

BISERA BREAKTHROUGHIT was only a matter of time

before Davao City’s pride Florence Yvon Bisera will

make her breaktrough win in the country’s junior golf scene.

Bisera, daughter of lo-cal golf pro Pabling, won the 2016 Philippine Amateur Junior Open Championships (13 years old and below Di-vision) at the Sherwood Hills Golf and Country Club in Trece Martirez City, Cavite last April 12-15, 2016.

The stocky Bisera tamed the wind-swept course with her power off the tees and sharp game around the greens as she won running away and led from wire to wire with scores of 82-77-78-83 for a 320 total and 25 strokes clear of the second placer.

Bisera was joined by fel-low Davao City junior golfers Alessandra “Ella” Zozobrado Nagayo who finished fourth (4th) and Mafy Singson who finished 6th, respectively.

Nagayo missed a podium finish as she surrendered 4

strokes in the last two holes with a mishap off the tee on the 17th for a double and a missed save par putt on the 18th to lose by two strokes to the eventual third placer who had a lucky chip in birdie on the 17th to bounce back.

Nagayo finished with an 85-92-93-83 and 353 total while Singson fought valiant-ly but could not get her game going in the tough conditions to put up scores of 103-95-93-100 for a 394 total to bring up the rear in the compact field.

The tournament is the premier junior amateur event in the Philippines and one of the major events of the Na-tional Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP).

“I am very happy that there are emerging talents coming from the South, par-ticularly Davao. Yvon has great potential and can be a national team player in the very near future. I hope that she continues to practice hard and to play well,”NGAP Exec-utive Director and National team Program Director Presi-

dent Boom Coscollela said.Coscolluela said there are

plans to have Davao City as a regional training center of the NGAP where players from the

16 EDGEDAVAOSports

Davao jungolger Bisera wins PH Jr. Open, Nagayo 4th

By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.abf@edgedavao.net

Mindanao area can be trained for national team call ups.

Bisera’s win is her strong redemption after she failed to land a slot at the 2016 IMG Ju-

nior World Qualifying Tourna-ment held last April 5-8, 2016 at the Southwoods Golf and Country Club.

Displaying her unfamil-

iarity of the course having ar-rived only two days before the start of competitions, Bisera found the greens of South-woods too slick and tricky compared to her home course at the Apo Golf and Country Club.

Bisera, playing in the Girls 13-14 Division, ran into a very tough field of former junior world champions and veteran campaigners to finish a strong Fifth (5th) with scores of 86-75-79-78 and missed an out-right IMG Junior World invite.

Nagayo and Singson both played in the Girls 11-12 Di-vision , with Nagayo scoring 87-83-84-78 landing her on the Fifth (5th) place and Singson scoring 93-88-89-87, landing her on the Sixth (6th) place. Although both missing outright tickets to San Diego, Nagayo has already been giv-en a replacement invite to represent the Philippines at the premiere world junior golf event. She is also expected to play a couple of big interna-tional junior events including the FCG International, FCG World Championships and the qualifiers for the US Junior Girls Championships.

BIG WIN. Yvon Bisera of Davao City rceeives her trophy from Boom Coscolluela of NGAP.